JP - The Village Ruins - The Black Raven Tavern - Magic Fire

Alex would mutter several names in his sleep before coughing up blood.

“He could have skipped on the luck by not going in there in the first place.” The guard said, watching Alex worriedly. “Is Bai here or is he still at the Keep?”

“Who?” Beatrix asked. “I’m not from here, sorry.”

The guard groaned. “He’s probably not. Bai usually only comes with a bunch of others, and I think Alex is the only one to come from the Keep so far today.”

“Point us in the right direction of the Keep and I can go get this Bai for you.” Beatrix replied. “All I ask is you watch over Jacob while I do.”

"The road north of the village will lead you to the Keep." The guard said.

Nodding, Beatrix gave Jacob a quick hug and rushed off to find this Bai fellow. Hopefully she would run into him on the way…

Bai nearly ran over the cat girl on his horse. “What the hell?!” He asked, trying to get the skittish animal back under control.

Beatrix rolled out of the way and held up her hands toward the horse, whispering to calm it. Once they had the horse calmed, she looked up at Bai. “Do you know where I can find Bai? He’s needed for the mage? The man is in very bad shape.” She didn’t waste time. It was always right to the point with her.

“What the hell- is there anyone that doesn’t want me today?” Bai asked, annoyed but he listened to her. “I’m Bai, I was on my way to see that

“Sorry?” Beatrix muttered and rolled her eyes. “He’s with a guard and my little brother. Come on.” Turning, she ran back toward where Alex was, shockingly fast on her feet.

Bai galloped after Beatrix to the Black Raven Tavern. Bai’s horse was not happy to get close to the tavern, or the mage who smelled like vomit and blood. So Bai dismounted and walked the rest of the way to Alex.

Beatrix took him to where Alex was lying down on his side, her brother still hovering with worry. “He drank what I think was some kind of Mage’s elixir or whatever. I can’t remember the names of them.” She explained.

“Mage’s blood.” Bai said, irritable because he was angry at himself for missing the signs- which were obvious now. “Did you see how much he drank?”

“When I got to him it looked like he was almost halfway through the bottle. I guess it’s why he’s been vomiting up black stuff and blood.” She replied and helped Jacob with getting Alex more comfortable. The unconscious mage was in a very bad state, that much was obvious.

Alex's face was pale and his sweat was black and oily as he continued to mutter to himself.

Bai muttered to himself as he rooted through his bag and came out with a jar of some sort of paste. He swiped some over Alex’s upper lip like a mustache.

“What’s that stuff?” Beatrix asked as she watched. “And…is black sweat…a thing for people who drink that shite?”

“It’s supposed to help sober him up.” Bai said. “And yeah, black sweat is a side effect of drinking that shite.”

“Gross,” Beatrix mumbled. “Will he wake up?”

“He should wake up eventually.” Bai drew patterns on Alex’s cheeks with the paste.

Alex would start to awake a few moments later leaning over to cough up some more blood..

“He did that earlier too…” Beatrix muttered.

“Seriously Alex, mage's blood?” Bai asked. “You know what it’s doing to you, right?”

Alex pulled the collar of his robe down revealing a scar around his neck that resembled a shackle there was also similar ones on his wrists "not like I had a choice in getting addicted to it if I don't keep it up the withdrawals will kill me" he spoke in a raspy tone his eyes staring into space as memories emerged in his mind. "My home country persecutes mages my family lived in hiding until I got caught, 3 years I resisted The tortures as they tore my body apart and used magic to stitch it back together so they took a more extreme measure."

“If you told me I could have helped you with this.” Bai sighed. “You drank more than you needed to avoid withdrawals this time.”

"Tavern it's not just magic to rebuild itself, it has other ones like time dilation. I was in that basement for days" Alex replied.

“I see that you’re deflecting, but that is good to know.” Bai said, glaring at the Black Raven. “What else did you see?”

"Any temptation you can think of when Beatrix was pulling me out and try to cater to her preferences to leave me or stay there" Alex replied "not just enchanted the tavern is sentient."

“Great.” Bai grumbled. “Any ideas for how to destroy it for good?”

“Would setting it on fire help?” Beatrix asked, glaring down at Alex. “Yer a damn fool for drinkin’ that shite!”

"No arguments there" Alex replied reaching for his staff and aiming it at the tavern "They burned it down the past but I doubt they used magical fire."

“Mr. Mage are you gonna be okay?” Jacob asked, wanting to change the subject and make the man a bit more comfortable.

“We can try burning it with magical fire.” Bai agreed, hoping it would work. “I don’t know if they tried magical fire in any of the other times they burned it down.”

"I'll be fine Jacob" Alex replied with a smile "in the meantime watch the show." Standing up he kept his staff aimed at the building memory flowing through his mind. At that moment he wasn't in the town staring at the tavern. He was in his home country staring at the village that had sold him and his family out. Eyes glowing he let out a sigh before speaking several spells. In a moment a huge ball of fire shot out of his staff and hit the tavern directly on, as that happens several storm clouds appeared above the building and began striking it with lightning.

“I hope it takes.” Bai said as he watched the tavern burn. “Xo is going to be pissed if it comes back again.”