Healing Mishap -2-
By Lanzaq
As Cael walked up to the door however the stone eye jumped to life followed him with a grind of stone on stone. Cael just stood in place outside the door. "Kate. This is all too much I am glad you are willing to do this for me but I don't think this is the best idea. I mean I am fine living with pink eyes its no big deal. I am sure people back home have lots of pink eyed men." he said
---

The four set down into the catacombs. Arric just stood at the back quite a look on his face. "Whatcha' thinking about?" Kate asked a confused look on her face. "Is it about Cael and that horrible person who was ready to attack him?"

"Huh, what? No." He paused placing his hand on his chin to look around at the dank, dark and claustrophobia inducing walls of the catacomb. Ash stood at the front of the group, slashing at the webs created by the giant spiders that could easily be heard crawling around corners before the light from Cael's magic could reach them. "I was thinking about how I almost had those two young ladies willing to preform for me." he said ruining the mood.

"WHAT!?" Cael screamed, causing the spiders lurking on the outside of his light to skitter about ."I almost get attacked by a religious zealot, and you can't help but think of how I ruined your night!?" Cael continued, the anger making its self apparent by turning his cheeks a bright red.

"Settle down. I knew he wouldn't attack you. He didn't have the spine." Arric said continuing to inspect the walls. "By the way Kate, why are we doing this?" he asked looking at the healer who was busying trying hold a conversation with Ash. "KATE!"

"What?" She asked bubbly turning around and hitting Cael in the head with her staff causing him to stop creating the light. "Oops."

Arric just sighed, drawing his knife in the smothering darkness. "Good job Kate. Good Job."

The group held their ground as they fought off the spiders in the dark. They weren't sure who or what they were swinging at. Eventually when everything quieted down Cael re-light the torch to survey the damage. Kate was left perfectly unharmed, Arric had his knife broken at the handle, the blade stuck in the nearby wall. He noticed his staff was bitten off at the end and Ash staggering around poisoned.

"Well, it could have been worse." Kate added with a smile.

"How is that Kate." Arric asked a little peeved that his favorite dagger was broken.

"We could have been ambushed by the undead living, well not really living because undead are Well, undead."

"Kate, you never mentioned anything about undead down here." Cael said, looking a little frightened.

"Don't worry they are controlled by a litch."

"A Lich! They are evil necromancers that brought themselves back from the dead, They are everything that is evil in living...er....Undead flesh."

"Nope." Kate said looking at the two men fighting back and forth. "She is a friend of mine!" She added with a grin.

"Kate...Cure please." Ash said staggering close to her. "Please." she said holding out the spider bite to Kate.

"Ash, why didn't you speak up sooner?" Kate asked before Arric interrupted.

"Wait, Kate. You are a healer, someone who channels the holy powers above into magical energy to heal wounds and cures those with ailments."

"I have ailments." Ash interjected flatly.

"We understand Ash, but this is kind of important." Arric continued. "Are friends with someone who channels the dark energy from shadows into unholy power to raise the dead and create pestilence?"

"Yeah, that's a problem?" She asked rubbing the cross at the top of her staff. " We have known each other since we were tiny." she said placing her had at knee height. "We always knew we were best friends. We laughed together and cried together. We shared many moments of fun and I want you guys to meet her, and I think she can help us with Cael's eye problem." she added the last part in with a whisper

"MY eye problem?" Cael asked walking up behind Kate leaving the slowed Ash outside the ring of light. "My eyes wouldn't be a problem if a certain someone understood what they were doing when they tried to Res me back from the gates of hell itself!"

"Guys. Help." Ash said from the shadows behind the three. "I need it."

Cael quickly turned around to see Ash holding a spiders head a few inches away from her face, its hairy legs pressed against the wall behind her and planted in the ground behind itself. The spider, as soon as the light made contact with it, shrank and became harmless.

"Thank yo-" Ash managed to say before passing out.

"Anyone else feel bad now?" Arric said looking at the passed out Ash. "She WAS trying to get our attention."

"Bad doesn't even cover it." Cael said. "Kate, you know Cure right? Correctly, right?" He asked turning to kate who was playing with the now tiny spider. "Kaaate. Yoohoo, Kate. KATE! Ash needs your help! Kate, help ash!"

"What?" She said throwing the poor spider over her shoulder and turning to the passed out Ash. "Yeah I know cure, its actually a really easy spell to cast. I bet even you could do it." She added

"Yeah, that will be the day, Big strong Cael, casting Heal, Cure, and Resurrection. Last time I checked most elves couldn't cast healing magic."Arric said. "Before we waste time with magic I should have an anti-poison in my backpack." He said rummaging through the leather bag slung over his shoulder. After awhile he stopped and gave up. "I can't find it, or any potions for that matter."

"Potions? You mean the things in the bottles in your bag?" Kate asked. "I dropped those when you gave me the bag back in town because I thought we wouldn't need them." Kate said smiling "I knew we would need the extra space when the undead we would run into dropped stuff."

Arric just stood where he was standing his face betraying no emotion what so ever. "you dropped them. The potions that I spent the majority of the money I had earned from the last THREE dungeon crawls. The expensive potions that I bought knowing our healer, who, although she is a great person isn't the most capable healer on the face of the earth...Those potions."

"If 'those potions' were the ones you left in your bag then, ummm yes!" she said mimicking the way he had said those potions. "they were heavy and they didn't look like they were safe for drinking so I thought that they were junk you had managed to pick up and stored in your bag."

Arric turned around so he was turned away from Cael and Kate. "Three, Three crawls to save up enough for those potions, I can't believe -."

"I kept this one though!" Kate said retrieving a small red phial out of her bag. "It looked pretty so I kept it. What is it exactly?"

Arric swung around quickly, looked at the small potion with a sigh. "You managed to save the smallest, and strongest, dose of anti-poison I had bought. Good job Kate. Good job." He sighed. "Now don't go pouring it all on the bite at once. The anti-poison is known to cause hyperactivity and headaches when overdosed. So be safe and only use half of it, if she complains of pains then use more."

"Okay!" Kate replied slowly pouring the vial onto the bite. "Did I ever tell you guys that I sneeze when I get too close to spider webs? Its actually really interesting my mother never figured it out until just recently because when I was little I always had a spider that would build its web right above where I slept at night and I guess that the spider would mess with my nose because I would sneeze all the time at night or at least my mom said so." She said before she realized she had empty the entire bottle on Ash's arm.

"Thats Great." Arric responded still mourning the loss of his expensive medicinal potions. "Can I at least have what is left back?"

"Oops."

Arric didn't even turn around he just smacked his forehead. "At least maybe ash will be a little more talkative.

Everyone waited quietly for the swordswoman to wake up, and when she did however the effect of the overdose was, as cael described, odd. Instead of being overly talkative or jumpy, the exact opposite happened, she spoke even less if that were possible and she moved a lot slower.

After a few minutes Kate decided to address the problem her way. "Ash....hey Ash....ASHLEY, ash...hey ash are you listening, Ash are you there!? ASH I WANNA TALK WITH YOOOOOU!"

After being unable to take it anymore ash spun around her sword drawn and a look of pure pain on her face. "Damn it, I have a headache, don't you ever shut up, I am not that fond of men, I prefer being on my own, I go by Ash don't call me Ashley, I hate the name Ashley, my god I think I would have been better off if you had just left me poisoned. Kate I blame you for hitting Cael causing him to drop the light and then spilling the rest of that potion on my arm and not even trying to wipe the excess off. I was unconscious but I could still hear you, Arric why did you trust her with the backpack if you understood she would probably do something unintelligent with it. I AM NOT FEELING GOOD." She managed to rattle off in less then five seconds before turning back around and sheathing her sword in a quick motion.

"that was...Odd." Cael said slinking back behind Arric.

"Meh, I have seen worse when a woman that I was dating at the time went postal during her erm...tenderer moments in the month, and tried to kill me for apparently not buying the right kind of fruit for her. That was fun. She grabbed my bow and tried to shoot me. She nearly hit me. If the postman hadn't come by to drop off a package I wouldn't be here right now." Arric said.

"He wasn't hurt was he?" Cael asked still on the look out for the undead and a lich

"He only sustained one wound." Arric answered.

"Good."

"An Arrow wound to the head isn't too bad is it?" Arric asked rhetorically knowing what an arrow to someone's unarmoured head could do. " He lived, he never spoke any semblance of CAL, but hey, who needs to speak Common Area Language when you know High-Church."

"In other words he was a former holy-man?" Kate asked mildly interested at the spiderwebs hanging about. "I mean I wouldn't be willing to give up my place in a church for being a Mail deliverer. " She said.

"Oh, so you would rather give up your place in a church to become a wandering Dungeon-Crawler?" Cael asked a mischievous smile stretching slowly across his face.

"No." She responded. "My church was burned by a group of non-believers claiming that they were Atreeists, or something like that."

"Atreeists? I think you mean Atheists." Arric said correcting Kates mistake.

"I dunno. I just knew that they hated my beliefs enough to try and burn down a church while our congregation was still inside." Kate said before smiling. "Well guys. We are here!" she said gesturing to A large door with a single stone eye set in the center. Kate quickly ran up and held up a small block of cheese to the door and said. "PATT! I came with the boy!"

The door ground open, leaving a cloud of dust raising from the floor. The four stepped through the door. Kate smiled, Arric looked disinterested, and Ash walked on holding her head with her hands.

As Cael walked up to the door however the stone eye jumped to life followed him with a grind of stone on stone. Cael just stood in place outside the door. "Kate. This is all too much I am glad you are willing to do this for me but I don't think this is the best idea. I mean I am fine living with pink eyes its no big deal. I am sure people back home have lots of pink eyed men." he said

"Liar." Arric whispered back to him before returning back to normal volume. "Cael, I am so glad you took the initiative to walk to the front of the group like a true man and protect two lovely ladies and an elderly man." He said resting his hand on his lower back and using his bow like a cane.

"Ha. Very funny. Well you see I have to go, I have an errand I need to run and if yo-"

"No you won't. I was willing to come along, and get rid of all sorts of sick things. I risked dying and an overdose on antidote, I have a splintering headache, and so help me, if you don't walk through that door I will knock you out and drag you to this Lich myself! Besides you have the light!" Ash screeched running over to Cael and grabbing him by his slightly pointed ear. "You are going with us, you will see the Lich we will all go back to town together and I will drink until I pass out afterward to get rid of this headache until it comes back tomorrow, but then I can blame it on a hangover!"

"That's a positive outlook!" Kate said smiling. "Well Patty will be glad to see him and look at his eyes. She has had the last hundred years to work on her magic as a Lich!"

"Wait...you said 'Patty' is a Lich right? Which means she has been dead for at least a hundred years." Cael stated, as Kate mhmm'd at the right moments. "Which means you knew her while she was alive and " He gestured to his knees. "This tall?"

"This tall." She corrected putting the height at her knees. "And Correct!"

"That means you are over one hundred years old?"

"Its not nice to ask a lady her age." Was her reply. "We are now actually here!" She exclaimed running to a large stone door and with a quick push the stone door opened, letting out the smell of dirt, dust, death, and rotten food. "You see, since she is a Lich she can't actually eat, so she sort of collects food." Was what Kate explained lifting the hunk of cheese after Cael asked.

"This isn't helping my headache." Ash added.

"Well, at least she has something to do other than terrorize people." Arric said plugging his nose. "And raise the dead."

They walked inside, they meaning Arric, Kate and Ash. Cael was dragged in by the power of Ash, the crypt. However it wasn't just any crypt it was large and extremely ostentatious, Gold leaf covered everything that wasn't rotting food. However the space that wasn't taken up by rotten food was the top half of the wall and most of the roof. A voice rang out from the single sarcophagus lying in the back of the room. "Hello!" Three of the four companions were expecting some sort of dark and ominous greeting probably alluding to 'Patty' stealing their souls and using their bodies for minons. However the Plain "Hello!" issued from the Coffin confused them.

Eventually it opened up revealing what appeared to be a young girl dressed in a stained and ripped ankle length robe. She smiled when she saw Kate and dashed over and gave her a quick hug. "I hope you brought some sort of dessert, I haven't seen a decent dessert since that pie you brought last Month!" She said looking up at Kate.

"Sorry Pat, all I have is a block of white cheese from the market." Kate said trying to pry the girl off of her. The pair struggled for thirty seconds before Kate was able to peel the Lich off of herself and hand her the cheese.

"Its white like pearls except you can eat it." Patty sighed before setting the cheese down on a table that stood next to the Coffin. "Only thing I really miss about being human. Eating, oh and being able to talk to people with out them suddenly fearing for their life. I don't understand why I have an evil aura I guess its just part of the package. But I mean it, the only people that come down here are mourners who just sort of look at me before running off, and the odd pair of dungeon crawlers who hope to 'Vanquish the Lich terrorizing the innocent.' Half the time I don't even leave this room and the other half is spent further down where I practice on the long dead."

"Wait you mean you don't steal souls and use bodies for reanimation?" Cael asked looking at the 'girl'. "I mean you are supposedly a super-powerful lich who controls a vast army of the dead."

Patty just laughed at this. "No. Zombies are gross and they only speak of eating brains or flesh, or flesh and brains. Never anything interesting like the texture of ground beef." She stopped to stare at the cheese hunk. "Besides I don't want zombies I prefer skeletons, they don't talk and their soul is long departed so I don't have to worry about trapping an innocent persons soul in their dead body."

"Anyway. Patt. Can you help me? I botched a res for Cael here and well, look." Kate said shoving Cael close to her.

After a quick look into his eyes Patty laughed. "I know what I can do!" With a quick enchant and a few elaborate waves of her hands Cael cried out in pain.

"I am on fire!" He screamed before it suddenly stopped and he looked about and was quite shocked. Arric burst out laughing and Ash cared so little it was obvious. Kate however just stopped stared and then suddenly ran over to Cael and scooped him into her arms.

"I...am....SHORT!?" he screamed looking over at Patty.

"Only temporarily!" She said a smile on her face.

At this moment it was painfully obvious why Patty and Kate were friends. Ditzy Friendship can last centuries. The weight of the world pressed on his (already lowered) shoulders and Cael just sort of looked up at Kate.
---
"I won't get used to this." Cael said as they walked out of the Catacombs into daylight.

"You don't, Patty said its temporary." Arric said a smile on his face. " 'sides, I think that height is kind of cute. Maybe we should turn back around and get it permanent."
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Thus ends part two of I don't know how many of Healing Mishap. Also I won't post over the next six days as I am going on a little spring vacation and getting away from my baby. (my computer)

THANK YOU ^^