JP - The Village Ruins - The Black Raven Tavern - Temptation

Alex wanted to push her away from him. He wanted the bottle and nothing else. But thankfully The moment of clarity came to him as he saw Beatrix. Shaking he let take the bottle away from him as he moved towards the corner of the room and began vomiting blood. He had taken too much of it.

Next to the stack of mage’s blood cases was a cask of catnip ale. There was a flagon on top of the cask.

Beatrix covered her nose with her scarf the moment the bottle was in her hand and set it down on the nearest box. She caught a whiff of the catnip ale - recognized it for what it was, a temptation. And oh, boy was she tempted, but she had learned to focus. Had to with her brother’s safety always on the line.

Making her way to Alex, she grabbed his arm and started to pull him toward the stairs. Ignore the ale! Ignore the ale! Her mind screamed, but she glanced at it. There wasn’t any harm in one sip, right? “No!” She blurted at herself and kept pulling Alex. “JACOB!”

“I’m still up here!” The teen called down. “Why do I smell blood?!”

The flagon tipped over, spilling the catnip ale, releasing a strong smell of catnip.

Alex followed her barely able to move "just leave me and get your brother out of here" he whispered.

A haunch of smoked pork fell from its beam onto Alex’s back.

Alex grunted and fell hitting his head on the steps.

Tightening her scarf around her face, Beatrix rolled her eyes at Alex and his obvious bad luck. Grabbing his staff and the collar of his shirt, she started to drag him up the stairs. “You’re gonna have a headache after this bud.” She flinched every time his head hit the steps.

Alex groaned as he fell unconscious. Soon enough memories of his past began to plague his dreams.

The smell of bloody vomit and catnip suddenly vanished once they were out of the cellar, as if it was automatically cleaned.

“Lets get this fool outside,” Beatrix said as she closed the door.

“Can I have his staff?” Jacob asked.

“No,” She snipped and they both worked to sneak Alex outside and away from where the guards might see them. It was a struggle that included a lot of accidental drops for poor Alex. They both felt terrible for it, but for a dude that looked skinny he had a shocking amount of weight.

Setting him in some grass, Beatrix finally sat down and sighed heavily. “I have a horrible feeling I might have given the guy a concussion…” She groaned.

Alex began to convulse in his sleep, his skin sweating a black oily substance. Between withdrawals and overdosing on mage's blood his body was beginning to pay the price.

“Hey! what the hell are you weirdos doing?!” A guard demanded.

Beatrix was too busy helping Alex, so when the guard showed up with his rude demands, she glared at him. “Have some respect, pig! This man needs medical attention!” She hissed loudly, giving him a look that would even frighten the devil.

Jacob could only giggle as he helped his sister with Alex, getting him on his side so he wouldn’t choke on his own vomit and blood. He loved how scary she could get.

“Nobody was supposed to go in there!” The guard said angrily.

But a second guard recognized Alex. He swore and ran over to help him.

Beatrix looked at the second guard. “Thank you,” She said and gave the first one another nasty look. “You should be fired, pig.”

“How did you get past us?!” The first guard demanded.

“What happened to him?” The second guard asked Beatrix.

“I’m a cat,” She said to the first guard. To the second guard, she explained what happened in the cellar, describing what Alex drank while down there. “I think there is a lot of horrible magic moving around in there.”

The second guard groaned. “That’s why no one is supposed to go in there.”

“Lucky him, Beatrix was there to help.” Jacob told the guard. “She got him out of there.”