Night of the Living Dead (Umbralume)

[Evil_Cake]

Titian would have been crying tears of joy for their safe return, if Abigail's place didn't freak him out nearly as much as the outdoors did.

[Kodos]

Abby was ecstatic. "Oh my gods, that's fantastic! I was really worried it might have already been looted, or burned in an accidental fire during the commotion!" She held the stack of papers and books close to her chest, grinning widely. "So, I'll have some money for you tomorrow. More work, too, probably." She said, still going a mile a minute. "My home is your home. Please be comfortable."

***

It wasn't that hard to get comfortable. It was, after all, a very large and very nice mansion, and since Abigail lived alone with Mishkala, there was a lot of empty bedrooms. Despite the disuse, most of the place was in good and clean condition, probably kept that way by Mishkala or, more likely, by Abigail's creations.

The group didn't see much of Abigail. She had disappeared into her laboratory in the sub-basement and barely came out except for eating and sleeping, the latter of which she wasn't doing much. During her nights with Mishkala she'd go on endlessly about what she was working on, although most of it flew over the Drider's pretty head.

Somehow she'd found the time to send a Flesh Golem to the party with a note around it's neck and 1,000 gold coins for each of them. "Busy with work. Sorry. Lots of love and kisses. Will have more work probably in a few days?"

Lucy apparently wasn't sticking around to find out having to put her own affairs in order, and left for her own mansion on the 'morning' of the third day, after she'd been paid.

[Regantor]

Every single day, Titian found breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and a hearty dinner mysteriously appearing within his room, right on schedule. Always piping hot, always looking and tasting a little too good to be true. The floor, the furniture and the sheets were always spotless. His pants continuously had the feeling of being newly cleaned and pressed.

Only every once and a while, did he spot the slender tip of a stringy black leg fleeing into one of the mansion's many servant passages.

The only communication that the spider-thing ever left behind was a little card note aside his dinner that read "Please do your best."

///

Mishkala was a little disappointed that Abigail was so distracted, but cared for the woman relentlessly none the less. Meals seemed uncharacteristically late at times, as if she was preoccupied with something, but the dutiful monster still poured plenty of care and attention onto the master of the house whenever she was around.

Whisking the slumbering stitcher from her workbench up to bed had become a common occurrence, too. A kiss to the forehead was always used to wake her when the pseudo-morning came again, regardless.

///

Three days past.

Titian awoke not to the sight of an eerily vacant room, but instead a giant granite and crimson coloured spider-demon-woman-chimera standing at the foot of his bed.

"How is it?... Is it done, cute one?... It is, isn't it?..." Her red eyes gazed at him unflinchingly, adding back in all of the intimidation that her soft, cooing voice took out of the equation. "I'm sorry, but I am quite, quite anxious..."

[Evil_Cake]

After Titian realized what he was looking at, he instinctively freaked out and fell out of his bed. After realizing who he was looking at, he calmed down, but only a little bit. "Oh gods, it's you," he sighed, "The.. The potion is almost complete... And I think it will turn out well but..." He stared over at Mishkala for a moment, before averting his gaze again.

"There's one more ingredient that I need, to make sure it works..." he started biting his nails, "I need a bit of your.. Your- your blood..."

[Regantor]

Titian's apparent fright made the creature duck back down to the foot of the bed, with a slightly disheartened look gaining a hold on it's doll-like face. The move was probally supposed to calm him down, but instead just made it harder for him to see where the ungainly creature's limbs were wandering. As yet, it had still not managed to blink, either.

"...Good. This is good.... Good.... I... I-I can d-do that..." Even when the drider's raspy voice became higher pitched and excited, it still somehow managed to remain a hollow whisper, just on the edge of hearing. "...Were?... How much?... This isn't just because you want some for yourself, is it, darling?... Alrough I... I guess that I would be okay with that t-too... s-since you're helping m-me... and... and... all..."

A desperate, fanged smile.

[Evil_Cake]

Titian walked pass the drider lady, over to his handy haversack which was at the base of the bed. He reached in and pulled out two vials. "Here... Two of these should be enough." He held them out to Mishkala for a second until jerking them back suddenly. "Actually, just one should do!" He put one back and offered the remainder again.

[Regantor]

The spider-thing just carefully raised the vial out of his hand, examined it, and then quickly dissapeared back into the depths of the servant passage without saying anything.

Re-appearing a good hour later, she had a massive bandage on her 'good' arm, and the filled vial in hand.

"...It's... It's not as bad as it... l-looks..." It looked meek, staring out behind a tuft of white hair. "...Just... Just... don't want to loose my last.... my real..."

"...Is it good?... Is... Is the s-sample okay?..."

[Evil_Cake]

"This will be perfect!.. I think... Yes it should be good!" Titian took the vial and stashed it in a pocket. "It might take a few hours to put it all together... I'll find you when it's done!" He picked his pack up off the floor and slung it over his shoulder. "Oh, and please.. uhm.. stay away from me while I'm working... Distractions are no good."


A while later, a scary Drow man walked out of the lab, wearing an apron stained by many experiments. Suddenly the Drow turned into Titian. He licked his teeth and smiled to himself, "I guess it works!" though he wasn't one hundred percent sure if it would work on a drider or not.

Anyways, he started searching for Mishkala, though he figured she would be the one to find him...

[Regantor]

"Y-you should make more of it for yourself! T-that was a-a-adorable!"

The raspy whisper came from... above?

Mishkala either lied about not watching him, or had been hanging on the wall above the doorway waiting for him to finish the entire time. All those extra limbs seemed to fill the entire alchove and give it the appearance of being overgrown by hairy black vines.

"...Does... It work properly, darling?... Is it safe?..." Her face wasn't really visable, but you could tell that she was happy by those highly reflective red eyes beaming down. "...y....y-you know this makes y-y-you, like... smart, and... are you s-sure that you aren't.... Titian, are you... really a girl?..."

[Evil_Cake]

Titian's eyes were bulging out of his head as he stared up. "Uh- Ah..." He started scooting his feet across the room, trying to get out from under the spider. His eyes kept zipping between her legs, just in case of any sudden movements.. " It- It should work just fine! I'm pretty sure it will work just fine!!"

When he got out from under the drider, he took a liquid-filled flask out from his apron pocket, and placed the potion on the ground. Then, he started backing away from the concoction. He took a few nervous bows and pointed his hands toward the flask on the ground. " There it is! It should work, and last for at least twenty minutes! Probably a little bit longer!"