The closer it's come to evening, the quieter it's become, though the place was quiet already. The 'guests' were shuffled off toward their quarters by the housemen, and warned to stay in for the whole of the night. The servants made to leave as well, streams of them collecting from the kitchens and bedchambers to gather at the main entrance and be escorted away. The agreement has been made to meet in Umeko's room before sunrise. There's nothing to hear outside Anisa's chamber now, not even for the sensitive ears of either Lapi.

Rolling a glowing ball of magic over the backs of his fingers, Xander seems way too cheerful to be exploring a haunted castle. "Ready to go find out… uh… whatever we can, Anisa?" he asks, almost jauntily.

Anisa's frilly and lacy dress lies draped over an unused chair by the fireplace, the black fabric shining eerily with reflected light from the still glowing coals. The doe herself has changed back into her less formal attire, although her normal trademark blue garments have been traded for a shirt and pants of much darker tones. "Ready," she says, sliding her Shekdat shell over her wrist. "Although I'm not certain where to start out – Kin and Lilac seemed to know more about the place than I do, and… what's gotten into you?" The doe grins lopsidedly as she paces to the door. "You usually aren't so enthusiastic for this sort of thing."

"Don't you have white clothes?" Xander asks. "Then you'd look like just another ghost! Oh… I'm just cheerful, not enthusiastic exactly," the buck replies, with a big grin on his face.

Anisa looks at the buck with an odd grin, then turns back to the door, pressing her massive ear against it to listen. "White outfits aren't fashionable before Candlemass – if ever, for me. Besides, its bad enough that my fur will stand out like a big beacon in this place, the last thing I want is the rest of me like that." Carefully, she cracks the door slowly open, and takes a peek outside.

Through the cracked door, Anisa can see into a courtyard around which are arrayed other guest 'houses' around an open courtyard. The garden is empty and dark, the silence pervasive… no scuff of feet, not even crickets or vermites. The sun must have set, the night sky above is black as pitch with no sign of the Procession, probably hidden behind thick clouds. Of note, all the sconces are out, as if nobody lived here at all.

"Good thing I've got a light," Xander comments, as he looks over the shorter Lapi's head.

"I was just about to say… " Anisa says as she opens the door wider, looking up weirdly at the buck. She takes a cautious step into the courtyard, nose twitching and ears flitting about. "Its… quiet… very quiet… " For a creature that is used to hearing things constantly – loud or not – this is slightly unnerving.

The Fire Mage holds his Eye of Flame higher, and actually sets it on the tip of one his ears. "So, which way?" he whispers.

The rabbit is greeted only by her own footfall and the rustle of her clothes. There's no sign of the housemen. For all that the castle was gloomy by day, there was at least a sense of life, with servants going about their business, subdued conversations between 'guests', or serious-sounding exchanges between Korv muttered in Sylvanian. The silence is deep enough to make the ears ring on their own. From memory, both Lapi can recall that they're in an area off to one side of the keep's main area at its center. A section of the servant's quarters are nearby.

"Did Umeko tell you where she and Hagan planned to investigate?" The doe takes a few more confident steps out into the courtyard, scanning the castle skyline for any clues on where to go. "We should make sure we don't overlap."

"Err… it didn't come up," Xander notes, blushing a bit in his ears. "We were sort of distracted."

"And since when did you start calling Vandringar by his first name?" the buck asks, as if trying to change the subject.

Anisa arches a brow at Xander's blush, but then turns and starts walking to the castle center. "Since we've had our truce – its easier for me to not think of him as an enemy if it's more personal. It won't last, though. In any case, I think Umeko said she might be looking for Lord Rook's part of the castle – perhaps we should look for the Lady's chambers?"

Xander blinks. "Isn't that where Lilac is headed?" he asks, pointing upwards towards the tower.

Anisa stops in her tracks, and looks up to the tower. "Well, pellets. If Umeko is looking for the Lord, and Lilac, the Lady, what does that leave us to look for?"

"Ghosts?" Xander suggests. "Or we could try the town, or… the dungeons. We don't know where the Murder sleeps, do we?"

"I thought the town was unreachable," Anisa says taking a few more paces towards the castle proper. "What would be in the dungeons? Other than corpses, I mean."

The towers stretch up into the night sky, only just barely visible against it. It's a large cluster, some with bridges between them. A roof blots them out as Anisa steps under the archway to one of the castle's heavy double doors.

"Victims or their spirits," Xander notes. "They might have information, if they've been here the longest."

Anisa places an ear against the door, listening for sounds from inside the keep. "I suppose we can start there then," she whispers, "although I doubt we'll find much out. Ghosts aren't great conversationalists."

"You've dated some then?" Xander can't help but tease.

Nothing on the other side, sounds like.

The doe motions for Xander and his light to come closer, and she pushes on the massive doors. "I don't date anything paler than me, no."

The mage dips his ear forward to bring the light to bare.

The door swings open with a 'grrrrrreeeeeak' that echoes into the building beyond. Nothing comes to investigate the sound, however. Xander's spell-light rolls into the hall, stretching out across the floor and then petering out some yards into the gloom. All the sconces and candelabras are snuffed here as well, but enough can be seen to recognize the banquet hall from the night before, fairly close to the center of the keep. On the other side of it would be the Murder's wing, where the housemen live and took care of the business of the castle proper. To the right would take the Lapi toward the main foyer and the commons yard, where the family chapel and servants services like the smithy were arrayed, while the left would be toward the family wing, their meeting chambers for governance and other concerns of the noble family.

Anisa winces at the sound of the door opening. Its worrisome enough for someone with normal hearing, but to the doe's ears it might as well have been broadcast over a bullhorn. "It makes sense that that guards would be guarding the dungeon, so I guess we go straight." She starts off across the hall, thanking the Star that her bare, furred feet naturally muffle the sound of her footsteps. "You might want to tone that thing down a bit, just in case we get close to any of the Murder."

Xander cups the Eye of Flame back into his hand, and holds it close to his chest to block most of the light from it.

Crossing the banquet hall is simple enough, even in the dark, but it's big enough to take a while to navigate. All the tables are clear, their linens creased sharply and undisturbed. On the other side of it, a hall that runs a circuit around the banquet area intersects with another long corridor leading further to the housemen's wing. Here, the decor takes on a different tone, less ostentatious but still grand in its own way, banners of the House of Pieksvaldt crossed with the crests of the Midnight Murder. Artwork lines the hall… busts of past seneschals, paintings of the sworn loyal families, a few scenes of historical moments. At the end of the hall, a wide staircase leads up to various doors, while another to the side and beneath spirals down into darkness.

"Good think Lapi like being underground," Xander whispers to Anisa.

Anisa pads down the corridor as quietly as she can muster, trusting her ears more than her eyes as she moves through the gloomy darkness towards the stairs. She opens her mouth to whisper a reply to Xander, and suddenly freezes, her fur standing on end. "Did… did you feel that?" Her ears go on full alert, darting in every direction possible, as though trying to pinpoint something.

The buck freezes and looks around. "Feel what?" he asks quietly.

The doe starts to uncoil her whip, just enough to be at the ready. "It felt… it felt like there was someone else here, but it was probably just my imagination." Taking a deep breath, she starts forward once more, one hand on her pendant.

Xander follows close, just in case something jumps out at the pair. "Was it your crystal sense?" he asks.

Anisa shakes her head. "No, it just felt like there was someone in here with us… walking with us or something."

Once at the foot of the stairs, Anisa pauses. She cocks one ear towards the flight of stairs leading upwards, and another one towards the dungeon below. "The dungeons, right? We sure about this?"

"No?" Xander admits. "But we know the others aren't checking them out."

Nothing in either direction. Whatever Anisa might have felt, it's quiet now. Standing by the staircase down, she can feel cool air near it, though, rolling over her bare foot.

"Quiet as quiet can be. Well, shall we?" Smoothing her ears back, Anisa starts down the stairway to the lower levels, he fur fluffing out embarrassingly as the cold rolls over her.

"Need warming up?" Xander asks, uncovering more of the Eye to provide a bit of light for their footing.

Anisa shakes her head, stepping aside so that more light can shine down the stairwell. "Not yet, but if it keeps getting colder I might."

The staircase is wide, and the turn relatively gentle, but it's steep and makes at least several revolutions as the pair of Lapi descend… it must be deep indeed. The air doesn't get too much cooler, but it does get dank, Xander's light reflecting off a sheen of crawling damp on sweating stones. Xander's spell is the only source of illumination now, and at the bottom of the stairs the two find themselves in something akin to an office. A wooden desk that looks partially eaten by the wet sits off to one side, a few heavy-looking books resting on it, along with an inkwell and quill. A numbered pegboard behind it has ironwood keys hanging from rings on it. On the other side of the room is a barred door, through which can be seen racks with common-looking weapons leaning in them. In the center, a corridor of rough-hewn stone leads into the murk.

Anisa walks over to the desk, and inspects the desk with its books. "I wonder if they still use this place – it doesn't look like they do."

"See if the books are legible," Xander suggests, bringing the light closer.

Anisa gently reaches out for a book, biting her lip and hoping it doesn't disintegrate as she touches it.

The desk doesn't seem to have much to it. It doesn't seem to get very common use, but the books are in good enough repair that they don't have the abandoned look many of the other things in the castle have. The inkwell is sealed so its contents are still liquid. The quill's nib is stained, though carefully wiped mostly clean at the moment. The book Anisa chooses opens, its first page reading, in crabbed writing, "Prisoners – Head Gaoler's Log".

"I guess this was a list of the people they've had down here. Or is a list – it doesn't look that old." Anisa flips slowly through the pages, checking to see if anything interesting can be found among the pages. "Go take a peek into that armory or whatever it is, maybe there's something useful in there."

"Try to see if there are any familiar names in there, like Lilac's," Xander suggests as he heads to the armory cabinet and checks the lock. "That is… if you know Lilac's full human name."

Anisa cocks an ear, "She has a name other than 'Lilac'?"

"Yeah, that's her bard name or something," Xander mutters.

The book is thick, and the list is long… it dates back many years, with a feel to it that it might have gone back further, with the possibility the logbook might have been replaced at least once. Finding a specific name could be difficult. It's filled with notes such as the date a prisoner was received, a catalog of items they had, when a prisoner was released or died, and for what reasons. One of the pages is dogeared, however.

Anisa flips the book to the dogeared page, spreading the tome out on the table. The entry is one that has no date, the lack of date recording seeming to happen at some point decades ago. It reads: "Prisoner logged: (blank). Name: Borham Khuenn. Gender: Male. Species: Jupani. Notes: Taken from southwestern swamps. Separated during altercation with servants, wounding 3, one seriously. Unstable, deemed danger to self and others. May be offered to the mistress. Given cell 38. Items cataloged: Four chitin knives. Two ceramic knives. One steel knife. One set fist irons (stone). One ironwood hook. Three teeth of unidentifiable origin. One swatch of hair and skin, presumed to be scalp. Leather armor."

Other notes in different handwriting have been added below the receiving entry. "Kuenn chosen for offering, but cannot be located. Cell 38 empty and unlocked."

Anisa's ears perk up as she reads the entry, and wilt slightly as she comes to the footnote. "Xander, can you see any first irons in there?" Turning back to the book, the doe mutters, "I hope this happened a while ago… "

Xander keeps looking through the cabinet. "Fist irons?" he asks. "What'd you find?"

"Some crazy Jupani guy they brought in," Anisa examines the entry to make sure there isn't more there, "but I can't tell how old the entry is. Apparently, they were gonna feed him to the Lady, but he vanished. He seems like a tough customer."

Xander's digging turns up a key with a stylized dagger engraved on its end. It fits the armory door perfectly, and rifling through the cabinet there finds plenty of smaller weapons, among them a collection of knives and a pair of stone pieces that are shaped to curl ideally into someone's fist, with another part of hard wood attached that curls over the knuckles.

The wooden part looks to be very dense, but splintered, warn, and stained. It fits into a peg in the stone that lends the fist weight. Probably replaceable.

"This guy had big hands," Xander comments, as he brings the weapon over to Anisa. "What cell was he in? We should check it out," he comments. "For all we know, this guy managed to actually escape this place."

Anisa looks at the irons as Xander brings them over, and her ears wilt. Her paws are positively tiny in comparison to what would be needed to wield them. "Drat, I was hoping they're come in handy. He was in cell 38." The doe peruses the peg board, looking for the corresponding key.

Following a few rows down, sure enough, the key to cell 38 hangs from its peg. As Anisa looks at it, there's a sound. It's faint. Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat. Like very light footsteps belonging to someone small and barefoot, with a short stride, coming down the staircase. It sounds like they should have been heard much earlier, but they're already coming down the last few steps.

Xander shines his light into the corridor leading to the cells. "38? That's a lot of cells to pass first," he comments, focused in the wrong direction to hear anything coming from the stairs.

Anisa looks to Xander in a panic. Snatching the key, she grabs the buck by the collar, and makes a leap for the entrance to the armory, hoping to duck inside fast enough to avoid whoever is coming down the stairs.

"Glurk?" Xander gasps from the yank against his neck.

The mage isn't heavy enough to slow Anisa down much, and his light is carried along with him. The glow is subdued enough not to make the Lapis' position obvious, though it makes looking into the office very difficult… just barely enough to make out outlines. No additional light comes down the staircase… just the footsteps. Squinting in the darkness, it feels like Anisa should be able to see something, as she can see the shape of the desk across the room. Nothing appears, but the footsteps cross the room anyway, seeming ownerless, and fade down the corridor toward the cells.

"You had to have heard that," Anisa says to Xander, looking at the buck wide-eyed. "It sounded like a Skeek's footsteps, or maybe a child's – but there was no one there!"

"Maybe it was a ghost then?" Xander offers. "They told us the place was haunted, and that the ghosts were… uh… dangerous."

Anisa creeps back into the main part of the office, and slowly starts down the corridor after the footsteps. "I think we're past the point of not meeting any danger, so might as well keep on. Let's see what's down here first, and if we don't find anything, we can double back."

It's quiet again, at least. Anisa's sharp ears hear nothing coming from down the corridor now.

"Onwards to lucky number 38 then," Xander says. "Should we check the other cells along the way?"

"Just take a peek inside them. If we find anything interesting, we can always go back for the key," the doe says.

"I'll need to brighten my light probably," Xander points out.

It doesn't take more than a few steps to see a branch in the corridor that leads in another direction. A plaque bolted up by it reads "Cistern". Within sight of it is another desk and a stool, what was probably a guard station, though it stands deserted.

"Getting any more cold-flashes?" Xander whispers as they move.

Anisa shakes her head, peering inside the cell door as the pair pass them by. "None yet, other than the normal cold down here. What's a 'Cistern'?"

"Water collection pit, pretty much," Xander says. "At least… usually water."

As she and Xander make their way to the fork in the corridor, Anisa counts the cells they pass, making sure to see which cell has which number. "Do you think there'd be anything interesting up there? We can check it out after we finish down here."

"Either water, blood or body parts would be my guess," Xander notes. "Those are all interesting, after all!"

The cells are marked with carved numbers that rise as the pair of rabbits pass by them. Peeks into each don't show much of interest. Most are bare, some how ratty blankets or piles of rotten straw in them. Turns in the corridor keep the numbers concentrated. 10… 16… 21… A few cells stand open, some are closed, none occupied still. 28… 32… 35… A few have ironwood manacles with what look like something akin to armored skedat tails for chains. Anisa can feel her foot step in something wet.

The doe leaps backwards, looking down at the wet spot.

"Oof!" Xander complains, having been close behind Anisa. "What is it?" he asks, shining his light forward.

It's red. Spatters of it on the stone floor, pooling into cracks. Bright and vivid crimson in Xander's spell light, it spreads, filling the gaps between stones, overflowing and spreading across them… and then suddenly it's gone. There's a quiet sound from down the hall… sobbing. Sniffling. A high voice, girlish crying.

Hu… hhh… snif… ahuh… mmf… ""

Anisa muffles a startled cry, and almost practically LEAPS into Xander's arms, her fur straight on edge and horrified eyes wide. "What was… was that… "

"Ghost," Xander hisses. "Want to check it out?"

Realizing that the "blood" is gone, Anisa climbs down from Xander, and smooths out her fur embarrassed. "Um, yes. Let's." Jutting out her chin, the doe starts back down the hallway, and towards the sound of the crying girl.

The buck rolls his eyes a bit, and follows, holding the Eye of Flame aloft for better lighting.

36… 37… the sobbing stops.

Anisa stops as well, straining her ears for any sign of the sobbing's source. She peers inside cell 37, before moving on to 38.

The barred door stands closed, nothing in there but a chamber pot lying on its side. 38. The cell is dark, the door hanging slightly open. It smells strange here, a sickly sweet scent mixed with something foul, the dank air thick with it.

Covering his nose, Xander whispers, "I think someone was in here for a long time without a bath."

A deep feeling of unease wells up within Anisa, and she makes sure to keep the door between herself and the cell as she approaches. Keeping her ears trained on the inside, she motions quietly for Xander to bring the light closer.

Turning up the brightness, Xander holds his spell-light up to the door to illuminate the cell better.

Stripes of shadow play in the cell, cast by the door's bars, and illumination creeps over the cell interior. It's unoccupied, but inside, refuse seems to coat the floor. A serving tray lies on the floor, along with some shattered shards of pottery and lumps of dusty stuff that might have been mold that grew and died years ago. Large dark stains blot the stones. A pair of manacles lies at the back of the cell, bolted to the wall and lying empty. There's writing in there, on the walls, scrawled and barely legible. Something glints in the light, laying amidst the manacles.

"I guess we need to go inside," Xander whispers.

Anisa unfurls her whip completely, and nods to Xander. "I guess so. I'll go in, you stand guard." She opens the door wider, so as to let more of Xander's light inside, then cautiously heads inside.

The buck stands in the doorway, so that anything trying to sneak past should be noticeable.

Closer in, the words are easier to read, if jumbled. It's difficult to find order in them. "WONT WAIT WON'T HAVE ME" "MY LOVLY PAINTBRUSHS IN THE OFICE" "SHE GAVE IT TO ME GAVE ME ITS MINE" "FREE" "TAKE A PIECE OF THEM WILL TAKE A PIECE"

Anisa sets her ears back at the jumbled writing, and shakes her head in confusion. She turns back to the manacles, and inspects the glinting object.

It looks like a piece of a pin, broken off. It glints like copper, though closer inspection shows that it's a layer of plating over a cheaper grown spike of chitin. The plating has greened with age and damp, though a little of the metal shines through. The chitin part is cracked even where it isn't broken off, bent a little as though it'd been stressed.

Anisa kneels down, and picks up the pin. "This must be how he got out of the manacles. I'm surprised the guards didn't catch it."

"Won't get out," whispers a soft, high voice.

There isn't much time to react, and it could hardly be expected to have guessed what Anisa might have to react to… by the time Anisa has a chance to flinch, the manacles have leaped up at her, biting at her like snakes. One closes around her wrist and holds fast, another grabbing hold of her other arm just above the elbow, the skedat tail chains thrashing crazily. Xander has only a moment to see this before the door swings in front of him, trying to slam shut, its latch clattering.

Xander throws himself at the door to keep it from closing! "Anisa!" he calls.

Anisa gives a squeak of shock, and tugs frantically at the manacles, trying desperately to free herself using brute force. "Xander! Help!"

The door doesn't manage to swing shut completely, smacking into Xander but flailing its latch just shy of the cell doorjamb. Anisa's yank at the manacles makes dust trickle from their bolted base in the wall, but the stone is apparently still strong, and the white Lapi's jerk back ends a few feet out.

The halls begin echoing with the crash of cell doors flying open and closed, a din from dozens of them.

"Grrr!" Xander growls as he fights with the door, trying to drag it back open. "I might be able to burn the hinges," he gasps to Anisa.

Still yanking on the chitinous chains, Anisa eyes the manacles for any sign of a locking mechanism. "Do it! I think – oof – I think we need to high tail it out of here if we get free!" The doe grits her teeth, and pulls hard once more.

Extending the Eye of Flame into it's 'flaming sword' shape, Xander tries to stab the door's hinges in an attempt to burn them off.

It's hard to hold the flame blade level while fighting with the door, but the magic heat sears the manacles while Anisa heaves her considerable strength against them. The cuffs smoke, them deform, the smell of singed fur joining the odors in the cell.

Anisa grits her teeth in pain as the flame blade singes her wrists, but it gives her just the edge she needs to make her move. Grabbing the now weakened manacles with her paws, the doe rips one apart, and then the other – their absence showing the once snow-colored fur around her wrists now stained black. Once free, the doe makes a flying leap at the door, kicking at it with her massive Lapi feet.

There's a moment of time for the mage to get out of the way before Anisa's powerful kick throws the cell door open wide, the bars swinging against the wall to let Anisa out. The two Lapi find themselves in the cell corridor, and for a second they aren't alone. A half dozen yards down the hall stands a barefoot Skeek girl in a plain maid's dress, staring quietly, her fur a buff color, hair braided and tied with a ribbon. One moment she's there, and then she's gone. The rest of the cell doors stop slamming, the noise reverberating a few seconds more as echoes as they each coast to stillness again.

Xander retracts his spell back into a ball of flame, and asks Anisa, "Are you hurt?"

Anisa rubs her wrists painfully as she stumbles out into the corridor, surprised to see the Skeek girl, but not really surprised to see her fade away. She's starting to get used to this place. "Well, that was cell 38… " She looks to the buck, and shrugs. "A little, but I've had worse. I'm wondering if we shouldn't go elsewhere – think anyone heard all the commotion?"

"Just the ghost in the next cell," Xander notes. "And even if someone else did hear it… who'd be crazy enough to come and investigate?"

"The Murder would, that's who," Anisa says, peering back in the cell. "I wonder what that Jupani did to get free." She looks at the pin, thinks of the Skeek, and frowns. "I think I know, now."

"Well?" Xander asks, while looking towards cell 37.

Anisa holds the pin up to Xander so he can see it. "I think the Jupani used this to get himself free. Look at it – doesn't it look like something a girl might wear?"

"I… suppose," Xander notes. "I'm not that familiar with hair-pins I'm afraid," he adds with a shrug.

"Can't you use any of that magic mumbo-jumbo to get that little girl to come back again," Anisa asks. "Maybe she's trapped here or something."

"It's not mumbo… never mind," Xander says. He holds out his hand, and asks, "Can I have the pin?"

Anisa hands the pin to the buck. "Just don't break it. Well, anymore than it already is, anyway."

With the Eye of Flame back to its glowing ball shape and orbiting his wrist, Xander holds up the pin and starts chanting a simple enchantment cantrip to make the pin glow – figuring that applying any magic to the item should serve to attract an attached spirit.

It takes a minute or two, but soon the pin takes on a warm yellow glow, a bit of illumination that slightly brightens the pool of light around the two Lapi. There's a few more moments of silence, and then the echo of a door opening, from the direction of the gaoler's office. Light footsteps begin approaching again.

"I think it's working," Xander whispers to Anisa.

Anisa looks down the hallway, but shows a bit of nervousness. "Get ready to bolt down that other hallway if we have to," she says. "It might not be what we think it is… "

There's silence. Something enters the circle of illumination, turning slowly end over end in the air, the light reflecting off it. It's a dagger. It just floats along slowly. A small handaxe joins it, and then one of the spears that the Lapi can recognize from the armory. They don't come any closer, but they slowly begin to spread around the two Lapi ahead of a cloud of varied weapons. A small soft voice, a little girl's, says, "You can't get away. I won't let you go."

Anisa's fur bristles out. "Decision time Hotfoot – talk or run?!" The doe takes a few tentative steps towards the cistern hallway.

Xander clears his throat, and asks, "To whom am I speaking? I am Mage Lightfoot of the Sphere of Fire. And this is… my… apprentice." He pats Anisa on the shoulder as he introduces her.

"So I guess it's 'talk'," the doe says lightly, moving slightly behind Xander.

There's a pause. The air has become crowded with dilapidated weapons of every sort. The voice returns again, hesitant at first. "You… I won't let you leave." It becomes insistent, as fierce as a small girl's voice could be made to sound. "I'll kill you first. If I don't, SHE will."

"Is this because you helped Borham Kuenn escape?" Xander asks, taking a gamble.

The sound of the little girl's voice triggers something inside Anisa, and she works up a bit of nerve despite her apprehension. "But why do you want to kill us?"

"Because… because you killed me. You all… " The voice becomes tighter. "I didn't help him! I came with food! The gaoler, he wasn't there to take it, so I took it… I took it to the… and he… he… " The voice breaks, wavering. "… you won't get out."

"We didn't kill you," Xander says. "We want to help you. Was it Borham who killed you when you brought him the food?"

"What's your name," Anisa asks, taking a few steps forward. She looks back to Xander and holds up a paw, motioning him to hold off on questions just yet. "My name's Anisa."

The buck nods and waits, but shifts the pin to his off hand to free up his right for wielding the Eye of Flame if needed.

The voice becomes strained, and one of the daggers aligns its point at Xander. "He… you all did this to me! The lady is always hungry but she didn't hurt me, no-one from the House ever hurt me, it was all of you… " She stops when Anisa speaks, hesitating again, and there's a little choked breath, as if she had just held in a hiccup. "I… wh-… what?"

"What's your name?" The doe takes another step forward, then leans forward as though she were speaking to a child – though there isn't even one there. "I'm just curious. Like I said, mine's Anisa. Well, it's actually Christina, but that's what everyone calls me." Kneeling, she takes a seat on the ground, and sits cross legged. "My brothers used to call me 'Christy' to tease me."

"They did?" Xander asks the doe, sounding surprised.

There's a moment of confused silence, and one of the axes falls out of the air with a clatter. It's abruptly picked up again. "You're… I… um… T-… Tess."

Anisa smiles, "That's a pretty name. How old are you, Tess?" She leans forward, perking her ears upwards as though she were making smalltalk with a customer's child at the Tavern.

"I was… I… I'm nine." Tess is silent for a bit, seeming to think this over. "I'm nine," the disembodied voice repeats. It becomes small again, and there's a momentary sniffle, but it doesn't sound as tight as before, just quiet. "… Anisa. Don't you… don't you like your other name?"

"It's okay, I guess," Anisa replies with a small shrug, still smiling. "Anisa is actually my middle name, but it's what daddy always called me. I think it's because it was my gradmum's name, and it reminds him of her." She cocks her head to the side in curiosity. "Just nine? You seem very mature for your age – I would have thought you were ten."

As quietly as possible, Xander takes a moment to chant and recharge the Illumination cantrip on the pin.

There's a scuff of a foot on stone, and then a couple slow footsteps. A buff-colored Skeek steps partly into the light, her eyes large and her face round, but her expression serious, almost grave for such a young face. She's dressed as a common servant, her tiny hands are folded over the front of her apron, toying with the end of a long braid tied with a piece of torn ribbon. "It's because I have… I had to work. We all had to… to help Momma. It's too important… you can't be a little girl here, can't be a crybaby. Everybody helps." Her eyes flick over to Xander when the pin's glow strengthens a little again, and she wrings her braid.

The buck holds the pin out towards the girl, after squatting down so he's not towering over her.

Anisa lets one of her ears drop sideways, her face becoming serious yet still soft. "What's wrong with your momma? Is she sick? Oh, don't worry about him," she says, motioning her head back to Xander. "He's just a funny bunny, like how most boys are."

Tess shakes her head slowly, the slack of her braid wagging, though she still clutches the end tightly. She looks at the pin fragment wistfully, and starts to reach out, but then stops and wrings her braid again, turning sideways a little. "N-no, Momma was… she worked too. Everyone has to help at the castle or in the village, so we all can live. I don't… I don't know how Momma is now. I haven't-" Something about Tess seems to flicker. For a split second it's as though her dress becomes rags soaked with blood, as if one could see her skull through her face if seen at just the right angle, but then she appears normal. "I haven't seen her in so long."

"Maybe you could pin her braid up for her, Anisa?" Xander whispers to the doe.

"'We'? Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Anisa looks back to Xander, and holds her paw out for the pin. "Would you like to have this back, Tess? It's yours, isn't it?"

Xander drops the glowing pin into Anisa's palm.

"Some brothers and sisters," the Skeek says. "Sometimes I wonder if they're alright. I haven't seen them either in so long." She looks at the pin, but flickers again, and looks away moodily, her eyes on the floor. "It's broken. He broke it. He broke… me."

"Ask her if he's still here," Xander whispers to Anisa.

Anisa puts the pin in her lap. "I haven't seen my brothers for a while either." She straightens up a bit. "What happened exactly, Tess? Why was he even here to begin with?"

Tess twists her braid in her small paws again, a flash of anger crossing her face… not directed at either of the Lapi, but clearly there. "He… he had to be locked up. He hurt people. He didn't care who. There was something about him… something wrong. Some of the outsiders, they could yell, sometimes they tried to treat us bad, but he… he wasn't afraid, he didn't care. Didn't feel… I think… " She swallows, trying to keep her voice from becoming a tense little whisper. "… I think it's why she can't find him. Doesn't see him."

"He was empty too, it sounds like," Xander comments.

"You mean he's still here?" Anisa asks, cocking her head in the other direction. "You were nice to him though, weren't you? And he betrayed you… "

"Empty," the Skeek says, seeming to mull it over, large eyes thoughtful. She turns to look at Anisa gain. "I brought him his food. Brought it close… he was in the chains, he couldn't eat it. Asked me to bring it closer." She brings her fists up to her mouth, choking a little, but she squeezes her eyes shut and stifles it, drawing in a shuddering breath. "I was just… I was just helping… " A spear falls out of the air, rattling on the stone. A dirk falls after it, and neither weapon climbs into the air again.

"He must have been empty, to do what he did to a little girl," Xander grumbles.

Anisa nods in agreement with Xander, and her face falls in concern. "You didn't do anything wrong, Tess," she says, reaching out to the small girl. "You did nothing wrong. There are bad… empty people in this world, who can't be helped through any amount of kindness, and who only like to cause others pain. You don't have to keep on feeling that pain."

The girl swallows once, drawing in a shaky breath, and sniffling. Her face becomes harder, and her voice bitter, for all the hiccups in it. "I don't… I don't want anyone to feel what I did. It hurt, it hurt so much, nobody should ever feel that. I'll never let anyone out again… not that empty man, not anybody from the outside."

"You could leave with us though, instead," Xander offers.

The girl looks startled by the notion.

Anisa spreads her paws outward, but still keeps them in front of her. "We aren't going anywhere, we haven't tried to escape. We won't leave until you tell us we can – promise. But if you force people to stay here, they'll have a different kind of pain." She nods to Xander, then looks back to Tess. "Why do you stay here? You can come with us if you'd like."

The Skeek maid bites her lip, her chisel incisors pressing over it. "Pr-… promise?" The remaining weapons waver in the air, but slowly dip down to the floor, until they lay still again, littered about the prison corridor. "I can't leave. Maybe you'll keep a promise… maybe. But I know he won't. And I bet the others wouldn't either. I only ever let one person go, because he was lost already, and I felt sorry for him."

"He? You mean the empty one?" Anisa's ears go upwards once more. "I can't speak for anyone else but me, and I promise you I'll only go if you let me, although I must be honest in saying I wish you would. We're guests here, and we have friends who are probably worried about us. Who did you let go? Why did he seem lost?"

"I think that as long as we keep the pin with us, Tess can follow," Xander notes.

Tess shakes her head. "No, no… he was different. A little Gallee man, so skinny." She looks up at Anisa. "Skinny and scared, even more scared than I was. He was… lost. I let him out of the castle, but I… I think maybe in his head, he never left. Poor man."

Anisa's eyes momentarily go wide at this, and she shoots a quick knowing glance back to Xander. "You mean you let him out of the castle? You can do that? I thought you meant just let us out of the dungeon. Why was he so scared?"

"Maybe it just means he was able to get to the town," Xander says.

The little Skeek girl nods solemnly. "Out of the castle. I know ways… I played here all the time, and I never forgot." She shrugs a little, her expression sad for a moment. "I think he was scared because he saw our lady. She loves us… but she scares people. She's so thirsty. So hungry."

"We need to find out if there have been any unexplained deaths in the castle," Xander notes to Anisa. "If this Kuenn fellow is still around, he could still be killing people."

Anisa picks the pin up again, playing with it idly in her paws. "Do you know why she is the way she is? Is she that way… because of her love for you?"

Tess shakes her head, toying with the end of her braid. She begins retying the ribbon, which has come loose. "I can't understand it, not like the housemen can, or the Seneschal. She does love us, loves her people, and I think… I think she wants to keep us safe from something. She's a little lost too, though. And she's sad… very sad. I think she misses the Lord Rook. Her husband, you know?"

Xander nods. "We're… looking into that," he comments.

"He was killed, wasn't he?" Anisa changes tracks. "Can you leave the dungeon, Tess? Are you able to go to other parts of the castle?"

The specter considers this for a moment, then nods reluctantly. "Y-… yes. I did to let the little Gallee man out, but after that I was tired, and I forget what happened. I don't… it doesn't feel good to go too far from here. And I'm afraid if I go away, HE will get out. Or another one of those hateful men from outside."

"Maybe bringing the pin with us will keep you from getting tired," Xander says. "But we still should find a nice central spot to put it in."

"Who is 'he'? Do you mean Kuenn? He's still down here in the dungeons?" Anisa nods to Xander. "If we take this with us, you might not get tired. Would you like to try?"

"The empty man. The one who… " The girl grits her teeth for a moment. She looks at the little shard of chitin when it's presented, her nose twitching. "It's broken. He took it and he broke it and he broke me."

"We'll help you find him, if he's here," Xander says. To Anisa, he notes, "The man could be a natural 'null'. Someone completely immune to magic."

"Maybe if we can find him, we can stop him. And maybe… maybe we can fix this." She points to the pin. "We have a friend who is very good with these kinds of things. And you are not broken, Tess. Your body may be, but you still are who you are, and that looks whole to me."

"Plus, if you come with us, you can meet a genuine dragon princess," Xander offers.

"Y… you're kind, Anisa. But I'm broken. If Momma saw me… " Tess hiccups again, and sniffs, wiping her nose on a kerchief. "I don't know if I could face her. Or the empty man. But you're… you're not like the others. You're kind and you're not scared. Well… not scared like I was, or the skinny Gallee man. Not scared, not sad, not lost." She smiles then, just a little bit at Xander. "And she's right… you are a funny bunny." The ghost of the young maid eyes the pin wistfully, letting her hands rest on her apron again. "I'd… I think I'd like to go with you. Do you really think you could stop him? You're different but… so is he."

"I can still burn him," Xander says.

Anisa smiles gently at the little girl. "We've faced some big threats before – bigger than him, I'd wager. But we'll never know until we try, and we can't just let him run amok around the castle to hurt others. If you go with us, I promise we'll help to stop him, and we'll get this fixed for you so that it's as good as new. And I also promise that we won't try to leave until you let us." She sets her ears so that they make an 'X' pattern above her head. "Cross my ears."

Tess manages another smile, a little less tentative, but then holds a tiny paw out, her face worried. "You'll be careful, won't you? To think you'd do this, I'm afraid to hope and… and I'm afraid for you." She closes her eyes. "I couldn't see him, don't know exactly where he went, but I remember… remember red footprints. To the cistern."

"I remember the smell," Xander notes. "Let's go check it out?"

Anisa reaches out to take Tess's paw, still smiling. "We'll be careful, I promise." Remembering the dank scent that wafted from the cistern's hallway, Anisa shudders inwardly a bit, but buries the thought for the little girl's sake.

The Lapi can feel her hand closing over the little girl's paw. It's cold, and less like holding something than it is like closing her hand around some kind of resistance, but the Skeek maid smiles again, head down but eyes up and hopeful. "I'm a little tired, but I'll be here. With you both," she says. With that, she seems to fade from existence, leaving both Lapi alone in silence, weapons littered around them.

"Materializing takes an effort," Xander notes. "If I were a Spirit Mage I could give her more power – but spirits probably don't get much out of fire magic."

Sighing softly, Anisa gets to her feet, still momentarily holding her paw out to where Tess's paw was just a few seconds earlier. Palming the pin, she starts to unfasten the chain that carries the first stone. "No, you did good Xander, you were able to get her to show herself." Once the chain in unfastened, the doe loops it around the pin, tying the small hair instrument next to the rhombus. "She's just a scared little girl, that's probably made her tired too." Once the pin is secure, she loops the chain back around her neck. "Ready?"

The pin fragment sits securely, like a crosspiece above the First Stone. Where the copper plating still shows through, it reflects the Stone's soft blue-green glow.

"Sure thing!" Xander says, back to his previously cheerful mood.

Popping her knuckles, the doe nods. "Right, off we go then." With that, she starts up the snaking hallway towards the cistern, her paw clasped around the pin and stone.

A little backtracking, done in peace, takes the Lapi pair back near the gaoler's office, and a right turn at the guard station leads Anisa and Xander down another corridor, this one narrower than the others, the stone walls slick with damp. It eventually leads to a thick door standing slightly ajar, the wood swollen from the wet, but not so much that it can't open or close. There's a few pegs on the wall by the door, from which several lanterns hang, a couple pegs near the end are empty.

Anisa slowly approaches the door, as quietly as she can muster, and inspects the empty pegs closer. "What do you think, Hotfoot? Should we use a lantern, or can you keep us in light?"

"Hmmm, lanterns are generally more reliable," Xander notes, and chants an Ignite cantrip to try and get one of them lit.

A light winks in one of the glass housings, and the wick catches, a well-behaved flame soon growing and sitting within the lantern. The wood housings, built carefully away from the heat, casts shadows on the walls.

Anisa creeps up to the slightly open door, and carefully peers through the crack.

"Someone's been keeping these lanterns full," Xander notes. "Or else nobody ever comes down here anymore."

Inspecting more closely, Anisa can't spy much through the crack, other than that the passage beyond seems to descend… but she does notice a shadow of something small sitting on top of the door's edge. It looks like a small iron rod, maybe a piece of something long ago, held in place with a rock.

Anisa flattens her ears at the sight of the rod, and lifts her arm up to see if she can reach whatever the object is – although she doesn't try to actually touch it just yet. "Xander, bring the lantern over here – I think the door is boobytrapped."

The buck holds the lantern as high as he can to give Anisa more light. "Complicated looking?" he asks.

Hoisting the lantern up casts more light on the device… it seems 'device' can only be used in the crudest sense. It really is just a thin iron bar held in place with a rock, but it looks like it'd fall if the door were opened.

"I don't think so – it looks like something a Kavi might build. Pretty crude. Come here and give me a boost." Anisa motions for the buck to come closer. "It should be simple to disarm."

Xander sets down the lantern and cups his hands for Anisa.

Anisa steps over to Xander, and puts her foot into his paws. She starts to lift herself against the door frame, but pauses. "Are you sure you can lift me? Should I lift you instead?"

"You aren't that heavy, Anisa," Xander says. "Plus, I'm enjoying the view too much!"

Anisa flattens her ears at the buck's remarks, but turns back to the doorframe and lifts herself up. Carefully, she reaches her paw out to the contraption, trying not to disturb the door itself.

With the leg up, Anisa's put within easy reach. It's a simple matter to take the bar off the top edge of the door, and the rock with it.

Anisa does just that, carefully removing the rod and the rock. "Even if this didn't hit us, if it fell the sound could warn that we were coming," she says, lightly leaping down from Xander's paws. "This guy may be nuts, but he doesn't seem to be dumb."

"This is more of a sign that we're on the right track, and that there's someone behind this door," Xander whispers.

With the makeshift alarm removed, the door can swing open more or less quietly, if a bit creakily… a sound that doesn't carry nearly as far as the rod landing on the floor would have.

Nevertheless, to Lapi ears the sound is much louder than would be pleasant, and Anisa flattens her ears with a wince. Once the door is cracked open enough for she and Xander to slip through, the doe enters the dark corridor. She waits for Xander and the lantern to enter as well, her fur frazzling slightly at the darkness and the smell.

And smell it does. Not as bad as the cells, but it's very musty and wet here. The corridor leads down and seems to become relatively steep. Curiously, much of it seems to be braced with thick wooden timbers instead of stone arches, more like a mine than the rest of the castle.

The sound of flowing water is evident to both Lapi.

As he shines the lantern around, Xander purses his lips. "Hmm, think this may lead out of the castle somehow?" he whispers. "It looks different."

"Maybe," Anisa says, "or maybe it leads to something worse. Who knows with this place? If it leads outside though, why would Kuenn stay?" The doe takes a few paces forward, then stops and turns to Xander. "Do you want this rod? You might need it if you run outta spells or something."

The rod isn't very big, maybe the size of a small wrench, but it does lend the fist a bit of weight.

"Hmm, sure, I have a use for it," Xander notes, taking the rod. "I hope it's old."

Rust stains Xander's pawpads with powdery orange. It seems quite old indeed.

Handing Xander the rod, Anisa also pulls him up closer to her so that they're side by side. "You got the light, so you need to be up here with me. Be on your guard though."

A few strange words, and Xander's Eye of Flame extends as a blade from the tip of the rod. It adds some extra light. "You could always take the lantern if you want," the buck notes.

Anisa smirks, taking the lantern. "And here I thought you wanted to be brave for a lady. Ah well… never send a buck to do a doe's job." Holding the lantern out in front of her, she starts down the tunnel, ears perked forward like bunny radar.

"I was never very good in my hand-to-hand or weapon training," Xander notes. "But I know you can kick butt. I saw you knock out a huge Naga, after all."

Stepping down further down the tunnel, it feels like they're descending some distance, maybe a level or two below the dungeon. When it opens out, the lamp's light shines out over smooth rock… the cavern here seems to be natural, at least in large part. There are still supports here and there, and stone pavers even out the footing somewhat. Small shapes, dark and many-legged, scurry away from the light. The drip of water nearby is amplified by the cavern, and beyond there's a steady rush of small streams pouring into a larger body. The walkway here is protected by some stakes strung up with rope, and seems to go in either direction around what must be a large underground lake, or perhaps series of them; the light doesn't carry far enough to really get a sense of its breadth.

"Give me a few minutes, and I should be able to launch a flare," Xander offers.

Anisa walks up to where the walkway splits, and pauses to look out over the lake. "Dagh… I guess they were well prepared for a siege." The rabbit's ears shoot up. "Wait! Are you sure that's smart? What if Kuenn sees it?"

"We've got a lantern," Xander points out. "If he's in line of sight, he's already seen us."

"But we don't know how these walkways snake around," Anisa says, "we can't see where they go. What if he's behind some cropping and hasn't seen us yet? He definitely will if you fire a flare."

"Okay, which way then?" Xander asks.

Anisa shrugs. "Well, I guess one is as good as the other – let's go right." The doe starts off on the right walkway.

Following the walkway around is easy enough. The pavers make for solid footing even in the wetness. The lantern's light carries on ahead a little, but it has slats that can be closed on it to dim it should the need arise, though Xander's eye of flame is a little harder to dampen in that regard. The path winds quite a bit, dipping up and down, and crossing a footbridge at one point. Where the path comes close enough to the lake, the light shines on water that seems almost black, the cavern depths sloping in a way that gives no indication of how far down they go.

It's only after a little walking that Anisa and Xander can hear something… strangely, it's coming from out in the direction of the lake. Or… above it.

Anisa freezes, spinning to face the lake and swiveling her ears like mad to get a lock on the source of the noise. "Dagh, what is that… "

It takes some careful listening, but Anisa's sharp ears soon hone in on it. Xander can hear it too, though Anisa's extra-sensitive hearing legs her pick out a few more details. It sounds like the creak of rope, and the whirr of cloth slithering over it. A hollow knocking sound might be a wooden bucket swinging against something. The doe can further hear little grunts of breath, someone timing them while he works.

"Xander," Anisa says, not even at a whisper, "fire your flare at that noise – quick!"

"Uh… quick?" the buck asks, and then starts chanting. It's no cantrip, so it'll be a few minutes at least!

Anisa grabs one of her ears and pulls on it in frustration. "As quick as you can, then! Dagh!!" The doe crouches down, peering as hard as she can towards the source of the sound.

It's, unfortunately, somewhat slow going, and Anisa is able to listen to the sounds while Xander mutters his incantations. The sound seems to be getting louder… not closer, but the echoes seem to give the impression to Anisa's ears that it's coming from an aperture, and whatever is making the noise is coming down it. It finally reaches the opening, the cavern seeming to swallow the sound up. It pauses, the rope still creaking with its burden.

"Wait… is this… a well?" Anisa strains her ears even more – although its really not needed. "I think… I think someone is using the bucket to lift themselves… "

Xander keeps on chanting. These things usually take about… ten minutes.

The sound hesitates longer now. Anisa can hear that even the breathing has stopped. There's a pat of something against stone, and the rope swings less, its creaking diminished.

Fidgeting like mad, Anisa's mind races, trying to think of something to do. In desperation, she picks up a rock and flings it as hard as she can at the source of the sound.

"Ack!" Xander blurts as Anisa throws something, then has to concentrate again on his spell. At least he seems to be going faster now.

The rock hurtles through the air. There's a clack as it bounces off something, and then a 'ploonk' somewhere in the distance. The sounds quickly pick up again, the rustle of clothing and the huff of breath now traveling laterally. It must be moving across the ceiling somehow.

Anisa tracks the sound of the rustling with her massive ears. Taking out another stone, she this time flings it in the opposite direction, away from the sound of the movement.

The buck just gives Anisa a strained look as he works his spell.

Worried that the quarry will run off now, Xander fires off the flare early in the direction of the scuttling. It's more fireworks than flare at the moment though…

The stone flies off into the darkness. This time there's no clatter of intervening stone, just a 'splunk' as it lands in water. The noise continues to travel away in the opposite direction, and goes a short distance further when Xander's flare flies outward.

Anisa winces as the flare erupts, her eyes stringing from the sudden brightness. Still, she keeps her ears locked on the moving noise on the ceiling.

A globe of light, trailing sparks, shoots out across the cistern, reflecting bright orange on the surface of the water. Shadows slide along the walls, wrapping around stalactites and stalagmites as the flare travels. It flies past and below a figure who shields his eyes… a Jupani in ragged clothing hanging from the ceiling by one arm, the cavern roof studded with chipped out handholds, krampons, and even some ropes here and there. A wide hole in the ceiling has a rope and bucket dangling from it like a tongue from some craggy mouth. The glimpse is brief, detail difficult to pick out, as all too quickly the flare sputters out.

"Okay… so… call to him?" Xander asks Anisa.

"He's headed up the path! Quick – we can beat him there, get a spell ready… or the rod or something!" Not waiting for a reply, the doe bolts up the path, unfurling her whip and getting one of her rocks ready.

"I've got a flaming sword, is that good enough?" Xander asks in exasperation.

"It'll have to do!" Anisa replies as she keeps running down the path.

The dash around the cistern is a snaky one, the shore uneven, stone wet and slippery in places, but it only slows the Lapi somewhat… until something gives Anisa pause.

Anisa skids to a halt, her ears swiveling madly at some faint sound. "Xander, hit the deck!" she yells, quickly diving to the ground herself.

The fire mage oofs as he nearly falls flat in time with the warning. "I meant to do that," he moans.

Chak! Klakt! A pair of small objects shatter on the walls above Anisa and Xander, bits clattering to the stone floor… sounds like thin chitin breaking. The creak of ropes and harness continues to retreat over the lake.

"He's armed, Xander – be ready!" The doe springs to her feet, and readying a throwing stone herself, lobs it at the sound of the climber before continuing her sprint.

"Wow, the crazy killer is armed," Xander mutters. "Who would have guessed?" He reduces the Eye of Flame to a dull glow so it doesn't give away their position as readily.

The stone splashes into the cistern, but Kuenn can't be far ahead. When Anisa rounds a sharp corner, she finds herself looking into a 'room' of a sort… really it's just another section of the cavern, but stalagmites have grown up in something roughly like a series of low walls to the right, sheltering a bedroll and an assortment of supplies around a small fire pit. Stalagmites match their counterparts below, hanging down like teeth in the maw of some huge creature. On the left, the floor slopes down into the cistern. Shadows are cast from the spikes of stone by a lantern swinging from a stalagmite broken and pegged like a post… it must have been put there seconds ago, but its owner is nowhere to be seen.

Anisa stops in her tracks, and drops into a defensive crouch. She scans her ears wildly for the Jupani, slowly starting to make her way to the lantern.

Xander's attention is turned upwards, towards the hanging mineral spikes. "I bet some of those are booby-trapped to fall on us," he whispers to Anisa in Skeek.

Still scanning with one ear, Anisa points the other up at the Stalagmites, and stops. "They might be," she responds in Skeek, "but I don't know if that's this guy's style."

"So… he's pretty calm," Xander whispers. "Want me to set his stuff on fire to draw him out?"

"Then we'd have to fight him in the middle of a blaze," the doe says, "so let's wait on that." Raising up a bit, Anisa glares at the room. "Come on out already, mutt," she yells, "we know you're there. What's the matter – you can beat up on little girls but you're afraid of a pair of bunnies?"

A low voice rolls through the chamber. "No, no… you're very welcome here. Visitors, very unusual… why would someone want to visit old Borham, hm?" It's coming from behind a patch of stalagmites near the back and on the right.

"Because everyone else in the castle is boring?" Xander suggests to Anisa.

"Why, we're just dropping by for tea and scones," Anisa says with a small sneer. "Why don't you come out and do us the honor of a welcome wagon?"

"Nobody ever told you about the 'catching more flies with honey' approach, did they?" Xander whispers to Anisa.

The voice comes again, though from a different spot now. "Of course, of course… all in due time. We have all the time in the world, don't you know? But tea and scones, they serve that upstairs… the little servants scamper and scurry, and the guests eat it all up. You're here for something… else."

Anisa backs up a bit, readying her whip while he ears try to pinpoint the killer's spot. "Well, you're a quick one, aren't you? And what exactly did you come here for? Apartments for psychos too expensive back in Chronotopia?"

"We also wanted to know why the Raveness found you unpalatable," Xander offers to the ceiling.

A black paw steps into the illumination, and then another… a Jupani crosses the threshold of light around the side of one of the stalagmite walls, partially in and out of the lantern light. Even with shadow pooled over him, details can be picked out. His pelt is dark and ragged, criss-crossed with countless scars that leave puckered, pale skin bare, stretched over sinewy muscle. His eyes are set deep, but the lantern light still shines off them, his gaze intent. "I came to hunt monsters," he murmurs, his voice a low rasp but even in tone. "Ironic… no? Ha ha… she created 'nothing'… and I am 'nothing'. They needed me."

Eyes and ears zeroing in on her foe, Anisa once again drops into a combat posture, readying her whip for a strike. "Nothing but a baby killer, you mean. No one needs that, not even this place."

"Why do they need you?" Xander asks.

The wolf tilts his head a little, leaning into the light a bit more. He eyes Anisa, studying or leering, it's hard to tell. With more light on him, he looks eerily familiar… if he had more teeth, and wings perhaps… "They needed to learn what it is to be a monster. I hunted monsters, and I became one. When you have nothing inside, nothing to feel, you can be as a monster is. We're all empty… and so their lady cannot see me. I wonder why she hasn't seen you?" He lolls his tongue, 'smiling' at Anisa. "What can you do then, little girl?"

Anisa is taken aback at this, and is given a moment of pause. "She has seen me – sh-she saw me at the banquet, plain as day. As for what I can do, why don't you come over here and find out?"

"Now, let's not getting into a tizzy here," Xander urges. "Aside from being invisible because you're a monster, can you also leave this place like the Murder does?" he asks the wolf.

That tongue lolls again. "Why would I leave? I am where I should be." That open-mouthed smile stays on Anisa, though. "You're fierce, little girl, to come find me. You know of me somehow. Did she see you, then? But you're still warm and lively… no, I don't think she really saw you. Especially if you're here to kill me. Aren't you here to kill me?"

"If that's what it takes," Anisa says, baring her teeth – although admittedly, her teeth aren't as menacing as Borham's. "You murdered an innocent little girl, and now she doesn't even get the honor of resting. Your being 'nothing' or a monster doesn't justify that."

"Wait… er… did you become 'nothing' inside by killing someone in here, or did you start out that way?" Xander asks.

Kuenn looks faintly bemused, lifting his chin a little and licking his nose. Her stands a little more upright, stretching his back out, the knives on his belt clicking together a little. "Mm. Yes, I remember. I let myself feel a little, now and then… I felt something for my liberator, my little angel of mercy. She screamed… so sweetly, then. You'd like me to pay for her life? You've come a long way to do that. Are you sure you aren't using her too?"

Anisa's scowl deepens even more, and her teeth grind together so hard that Xander can actually hear it. Without another word, the doe shows that she's done with talk – namely by sprinting at the wolf, leaping, and making a flying kick at his head.

Kuenn stands his ground, that relaxed expression not leaving his face. He seems to stay there until just before Anisa's outstretched foot would collide with his head… and then he slips to the side and shadows her. His fist dart out, and Anisa can see a darkly stained ironwood meathook clutched in one that she narrowly avoids. Borham spins low and throws his elbow out and it thumps Anisa in the side, but it's only a glancing blow and doesn't hurt her.

Anisa lands in a crouch, quickly darting away after Kuenn's elbow pops her. She spins to face the Jupani, and cracks her whip at him, aiming for his ironwood hook.

With a startled yell, Xander extends the Eye of Flame back into its flaming-sword form, and tries to stab Kuenn before he can get a good strike at Anisa!

The skedat whip whistles, its barbed lash flicking out at Kuenn's ironwood hook, but he bats it away with little effort and glides into close the distance. Anisa finds herself toe to toe with her match… there haven't been many she's dealt with that had Borham's skill and speed… he moves with as much practiced ease as she does, and the Lapi finds herself in a match that leaves little margin for error, deflecting a fist, countering with a jab, looking for an opening. Every time she lets her head up a little, he throws a combination. It all seems strangely technical… until the Jupani does something odd. He lets a punch through without even trying to block it. It catches him in the side, but instead of flinching away, he trades the blow with a punch at Anisa's open side, leaving a stinging bruise on her ribs. It's a minor hurt for the tough little Lapi, but it's notable to her in that it DID hurt.

Anisa winces hard as the Jupani's huge fist slams home, more from surprise than from actual pain. Using her large legs, the Lapi leaps backwards to regroup for a second, then leaps forward once more – this time aiming a kick at the wolf's legs.

Trying to find an opening that won't involve Anisa, Xander realizes that the doe's height deficiency can work to his advantage! He contracts the Eye of Flame back into a tight glowing ball hovering over his palm, and raises it up before blowing into it to send a gout of flame upwards towards the wolf's head.

The flame billows in a bright sheet that fans over Anisa's head when she ducks low to sweep at Kuenn, bathing the cavern in brilliant orange for a moment. Xander's aim is good, not even singing Anisa, but the wolf's reflexes are quick… he lets Anisa sweep his legs out, only to land on all fours, throwing a gut-level kick out at Anisa that she's forced to catch on her forearms. When Kuenn stands again, he's unburnt but blinking rapidly.

Anisa is knocked back by the kick, but she quickly regains her footing, and – springing upwards – aims an uppercut at the wolf's jaw.

Backing up, Xander begins to speed-chant, drawing off tendrils of energy from the Eye of Flame as he works a spell.

Kuenn's blindness is momentary, and doesn't seem to hinder him much… he tucks his arms and head into absorb a few blows, Anisa's uppercut glancing off his elbows, and when he raises his head again, he seems to be seeing clearly enough to loll his tongue at Anisa.

Leaping back after the blocked attack, Anisa growls lightly at the wolf's irritating expression, and lashes her whip out at his tongue!

The taunting tongue flashes pale pink in the dim lantern light… whether it's laughing at getting under Anisa's skin or just Kuenn's usual expression, the Jupani reacts calmly and precisely, snatching at the barb and letting the skedat tail wrap over his wrist. He suddenly darts close and pivots to take Anisa's reflexive strike in the stomach. It really should hurt… she can feel her knee connect with lean belly, but instead of flinching or doubling up, Kuenn spins and puts a hard right across Anisa's face. She's taken enough hits to move with the punch, minimizing its damage, but it's rattling.

There's a voice in both Lapis ears now… Kuenn doesn't seem to hear it, or if he does, he doesn't react. It's quiet, soft, female, and pleading. "He-… he's too much for you!" whispers Tess. "Run! Run away, or he'll kill you too."

The blow connects with the doe hard enough for her to see a shower of lights behind her eyes, and she winds up momentarily dazed – although it passes quickly. Bracing herself, the rabbit once again uses her powerful legs to leap away from her opponent as far as she can, back towards Xander.

Borham stops when Anisa jumps backward… the Lapi finds herself splashing through knee-deep water for a moment before she can retreat back to Xander, having been pushed right up to the shore of the cistern. He could easily follow, but he doesn't… instead, he just stands upright again, and tilts his head, stretching his neck until it cracks audibly. He bobs on his toes, his long, jagged grin bright in the murk of the cavern, his eyes shining in the dark. "You see, little girl? You can't hurt what doesn't feel pain," he murmurs. "But you fight well, I haven't gotten to dance like this in a very, very long time. To feel your strikes against me, to smell your fear… I can almost taste you." His eyes flick over to Xander, and his hand suddenly goes to his belt.

"We'll see about the pain part," Xander mutters, and finishes casting his Hotfoot spell – focusing it right on Kuenn's eyes. For psychological effect, he calls out, "Samael's Exploding Eyeballs!"

The fire mage can feel his gathered energy streaming out through his fingertips at his target… just as the Jupani flicks his hand out. Something glittering flashes through the lantern light directly at Xander's chest.

Anisa's combat instincts tipped her off to Kuenn's planned counter attack, and with all her might she leaps and slams into Xander, attempting to knock him out of the path of the dagger.

"Wooof!" Xander gasps as Anisa knocks the wind out of him and sends him flying.

Borham doesn't have time to see what his flying knife hit or didn't… he hisses and squeezes his eyes tightly shut.

The flying dagger sails past Anisa's head as she and Xander go flying to the side. While Xander falls to the ground, Anisa luckily keeps her footing, and spins to face Kuenn – apologies will have to come later. "What's the matter, little boy? Are your precious little eyes hurting?" Breathing heavily, the doe wipes her nose, not noticing that the action stains her paw a slight shade of crimson.

The wolf's lips pull back in a snarl, baring rows of sharp teeth, though his eyes remain screwed tightly shut, the flesh over them twitching. "Nnnnh… yes. They are. Your friend has… talent."

Tess's voice whispers in Anisa's and Xander's ears again, urgent. "Now's your chance! Get away and lock yourselves somewhere safe!"

"Good idea," Xander wheezes.

Anisa fidgets – her Lapine instinct to flee screams at her from the back of her head, made all the worse by Tess's pleading, but her desire to keep fighting is just as strong. "I can't do that, Tess," she whispers, not sure if the spectral mouse can even hear her. "I promised you I wouldn't!"

"Wait, Anisa… " Xander manages, "Hold out your fist."

Anisa glances back to Xander, but quickly shoots her gaze back to Kuenn. She wordlessly holds her fist out, not sure what the buck has planned.

Chanting, Xander wraps what's left of the Eye of Flame around Anisa's hand, until she has what appears to be a glowing, burning set of brass knuckles. "Hit him hard, it'll all go off," the Mage whispers after catching his breath. "Shaped charge. Knuckle bomb… make it count."

Kuenn clutches his face for a few seconds more, his notched and ragged ears pricking up and swiveling. He takes his hands off his face, but his eyes stay tightly closed, a muscle at the corner of his brow twitching, but he lifts his head, as if pinpointing every sound around him. He stays crouched in a readied stance, still bobbing on his toes with he easy rhythm of a seasoned fighter.

Anisa gives an expression of amazement as the flame wraps around her paw, and she looks up to see Kuenn's ears swivel madly. The doe gets an idea, and flicks as many of the rocks from her shell into her palm as will fit. Then, bracing herself, she leaps upwards and forwards towards the wolf as hard as she can, simultaneously throwing all the rocks into the shallows of the water.

The rocks arc out in a 'steam' to splash into the cistern one after the other in rapid succession. Splunk-splish-splook-splash! Kuenn's head suddenly darts to face the noise, though he doesn't change his stance… it's not enough to get him to flail at the sound, but it diverts his attention, if just for a moment…

Still airborn as the rocks distract Kuenn, Anisa comes sailing downwards on the Jupani as she lets her flame-covered fist fly, connecting hard with with his chest.

There's a flash of light and a bang, and suddenly Anisa's ears are ringing… that buzz is all she can hear. Her vision is an afterimage of Kuenn's face hanging in the darkness, his eyes shut and his jaws slightly parted, slowly fading. She can feel her back on cold stone, and one of her feet feels like it's laying in water.

Anisa lays there for a few seconds, stunned and not entirely certain as to what just happened. Her mind begins to clear, and she sits up… just in time to start panicking thanks to her now useless ears. "Xander? XANDER?!"

Xander grabs onto Anisa's hand. "I'm here, please don't shout. Or hit me."

Gradually, the ringing in Anisa's ears fades bit by bit, and her vision clears. It's a few more seconds before she can make out Xander's face clearly. It sounds like he's talking through cotton.

"Can you hear me?" Xander keeps asking. "If you can't, then I think it's really cute how your clothes stick to you when they're wet. If you can, then I'm really grateful for you saving me from that dagger."

Anisa grabs Xander and pulls him close, using the buck to get back on her feet. He can feel that she's shaking wildly – depriving a rabbit of hearing is the same as blinding most animals. She blinks as her eyes readjust, but is still very visibly distressed at her hearing's current condition. "I can hear you… barely. I-I can't fight like this – we need to go back!"

"Shhh… please, rest… you don't have to fight anymore. You did it." Tess's voice comes through for both Lapi. She must 'speak' differently than they do, because her voice is clear.

The doe shakily regains her feet, and perks her ears up as Tess speaks (painful though it may be.) "We… we did it? We got him?" She glances about, trying to find the Jupani's body.

"See? We should get going," Xander tells Anisa, turning her towards the tunnel back to the dungeon. "No need to go look at the… results… "

Anisa looks over her shoulder at the battle scene as Xander leads her away, but her body aches too much to put up much of a protest. "I guess not. Let's get back up top."

Getting back up, Anisa has a clearer impression of what happened. Nothing seems to be broken, thankfully… surprisingly, not even her hand. The shaped nature of the spell must have directed most of the blast and heat outward, though it's obvious why such a method isn't used often… tendrils of scorch stretch up Anisa's forearm from her wrist, blackening the white fur from the point where the heated shackles had singed her earlier, and her clothes are covered in soot from chest to thighs. It feels as though she ran full speed into a wall. Kuenn seems to have fared less well… the Jupani lies in a heap on the opposite side of the small room, fetched up at the base of some stalagmites, his chin resting on his chest. An outline of Anisa's fist is burned into his right pectoral, fur seared away and the flesh an angry red. Blood dribbles from the wolf's jaws.

"So," Xander asks, to change the topic, "Still think my magic is useless?"

Smoke rises from the spot on his chest.

Anisa shudders as she catches a glance at the wolf, and turns back to the exit, exhausted leaning on Xander for support. "I never said it was useless – and I sure as Dagh won't do so in the future!" She looks down at her now blackened paw, ears wilting a little. THAT will take some time to grow out.

There's a bubbling sound from somewhere in Borham Kuenn's throat. "Hrrrgl… lucky… lucky."

Anisa freezes, her fur bristling out as the wolf stirs. "Dagh… he's not done yet." Letting go of Xander, the doe wobbles back to a defensive position, and starts to walk over to Kuenn. "Luck had nothing to do with it."

The Jupani looks to be in no condition to stand back up or fight. His breath rattles when he talks. "Hhhhh… not you… hhhh… don't want… this?" His lips pull back in a little grin, his tongue lolling again, though it's painted crimson now. One of his large hands twitches, and falls open. Something in it glints.

"I hate it when they suffer," Xander mutters, and follows after Anisa, just in case she should suddenly fall over.

Anisa keeps her fists up, although she doesn't look like she's in much of a condition to fight either. Getting closer but not letting her guard down, she looks to see what's in Kuenn's hand.

In the wolf's palm lays what looks like a little stick of copper with a green patina over it, though it seems to be snapped off not far below a little ornament on the end, like a broken chitin needle topped with a wooden coolect. "Lucky… lucky… that you didn't have to… hhhh… finish me… but… hhhhh… you still can if you… want. Hhheheh… she will if you won't… "

Glaring at the wolf, Anisa sniffs, and wipes some more blood away from her nose. As quick as she can, she bends down and snatches the object from Kuenn's paw, then clumsily falls backwards on her bottom, scurrying a few feet away from the Jupani before stopping and sitting. "Then she can do it. It's her castle, so it's her right."

"Ugh, that's cruel," Xander mutters, getting ready to help Anisa back up.

The wolf doesn't move, just sitting there and leering, eyes still open and alert. They track both the Lapi. Tess's voice quavers a little, soft. "We… we can go, if you want. Our lady is coming."

"Do you have any last message in case we make it out," Xander asks, getting a chill down his back that has nothing to do with a ghost whispering in his ear – it's what she says that does it.

"It might be cruel, but so was he," Anisa mutters to Xander.

"Hehhhh… klk… " The wolf rolls his head, tongue lolling. "Hhhh… say hello to… Von Horne for me… "

"Oh… her… sure thing," Xander says, and then tries to help Anisa to her feet. "Time to go-go-go… "

Despite the flames and soot not a moment ago, the air seems to be taking on a chill. The lantern hanging from the stalagmite flickers.

"Yeah, let's get out of here." Leaning on Xander once more, Anisa gets her footing and moves as fast as she can towards the cavern's exit. "Whatever you do, don't look back."

"I'm strictly looking forward," Xander says. "To a hot bath. For you. You really need one, Anisa."

Even though it's darker without Xander's spell and only the one lantern, following the shore back the way they came isn't difficult, and there's just enough light to see a dark, bent figure slowly walking across the surface of the cistern, a thin skin of frost spreading on the surface of the water behind her. Soon, the Lapi are back within the castle's dungeon, with the cistern door closed behind them. In the gaoler's office, a little Skeek maid stands, hands folded over the front of her dress, her eyes closed as if in contemplation.

Tiredly, Anisa lets go of Xander and sinks to the floor, sitting cross legged. Fishing her pendant from her shirt, she unfastens the first part of the hairpin, then places it on the ground with the second half in front of the Skeek. "He won't hurt anyone ever again, Tess. I promised."

"This should… help," Xander says, nodding as Anisa starts piecing the hairpin back together.

Tess opens her eyes, and nods slowly. "Yes… you… you really did keep your promise. He's gone now." A tentative smile crosses her face, both warm and a little sad at the sight of her hairpin, which she kneels down by, across it from Anisa. "And you got it back for me," she says, laying her hand over the ornament. "Th-… thank you, Anisa. And you too, Xander. I didn't think a friend would ever come to me, here, and… and it makes me sad if you want to leave, but I want to keep my promise too." She stands up, wiping at one of her eyes, but smiling. "I want to help you. I'll take you out of here, if you want me to… I can get you to the village, even out to the forest if you want. Take my pin with you."

Anisa gives Tess a weak smile, but a genuine one. "Thank you, Tess, it really means a lot to me. We can't leave just yet, though – our friends are still in the castle too, and we have some unfinished business to take care of. Can you take us to the village later, perhaps?"

The Skeek nods a little, chewing her lip. "I could, but… I don't know if I can in the daytime. The housemen go out at night, that's when I can get you out. Can you wait until tomorrow night?"

Anisa nods, "Nighttime works just fine." She picks the pieces of the hairpin up off the ground, and refastens them to her pendant's chain. "Do you… do you have to stay here now? Now that he's gone?"

"While you have the pin, she should be able to follow you, Anisa," Xander suggests.

The mouse seems a little uncertain, turning to look at the dungeon. "I… I guess not." She nods at Xander, slowly at first, then a little more sure. "I think I can stay with you. I mean… if you don't mind, Miss Anisa." She bobs in curtsy, as if in afterthought.

"Tess can supervise while you wash your clothes," Xander suggests with a grin.

Anisa smiles widely at the mouse with her bruised face. "I insist. Let's get you out of this dungeon – you can stay in my room with me." Slipping the pendant back under her collar, the doe gets to her feet. "Let's get back up top – hopefully, the others found out some things as well."

Anisa gives Xander an odd look, then a playful pop on the shoulder. "You creep me out sometimes, Hotfoot, but I'm glad you're with me."

"You scare me out of my fur, Anisa," Xander says, and pats the doe on the head. "Wouldn't have it any other way."