Molly winced as he felt the bruises around his ribs, cursing that half-elf in infernal. At least, he was forming the words in infernal but the enchantment of this cell restricted any sound from reaching his ears. He sat on the ground and leaned up against one of the solid rock walls, nursing his wounds. He wondered how long he had been in the cell. He was starving and the chamber pot in the corner of his room needed changing, but the more pressing matter was how the flying fuck was he supposed to get out of this?

He had tried to jiggle the lock, but that was absolutely pointless. He'd pulled on every bar and pushed on every stone but everything was firm and sturdy. Wherever he was, this was a place made to securely hold people. This was definitely some form of secure prison.

Suddenly, sound reached his ears and the silence scattered as the intense darkness fell away and the enchantment faded. Molly heard the squeak of a wooden door from down the torch-lit hallway. Heavy footsteps echoed off the stonework as someone walked down the hallway, towards the lavender tiefling's cell.

A cloaked figure emerged, one of his captor's associates, armed with a dagger that glinted in the firelight.

"Oh dear," Molly sighed, elated to hear his own voice but very concerned about his current situation. "I don't suppose you're here to offer me some company," he smirked in what he hoped was a seductive way.

The figure unlocked the cell and swung the bars open, putting the keys back on his belt and drawing another dagger. Now that Molly could see his face he made out this being to be a human-ish person whose ears were concealed but whose eyes displayed ill-intent. Molly very suddenly felt like a mouse cornered by a cat.

"You're no longer useful," the dagger-wielding man explain simply.

"Oh, no, I'm very useful for many different things," Molly feinted confidence as he got to his feet and prepared himself for a fight.

The man moved first, slashing out with one blade, an attack aimed for Molly's neck that the tiefling just barely avoided. The second knife grazed his chest which made him snarl. Unarmed as he was, he had to pray that he was strong enough to overpower his foe and so he tackled the man, pushing him to the floor and pinning his wrists down to restrict his blade maneuvering.

The man, surprised that his quarry had given him such a fight tried to break free but Molly held firm. The tiefling slammed the man's right hand into the floor repeatedly until the dagger fell from his grasp. His tail flicked the dagger across the floor far away from where the two were grappling.

A moment later, Molly was pushed off and the man got to his feet but Molly was prepared. He kicked out, slamming his heel into the opponent's knee, feeling bones shatter. The would-be murdered let out a scream of pain and crouched down, holding his broken leg. Molly jumped to his feet and punched the poor guy in his face while his tail whipped out and just barely managed to snag the keys from the guy's belt and pull them to Molly's hand. 

He bolted for the door, leaving an open opportunity for the hurting individual who lashed out to try and grab Molly by his horns and pull him away from the door. Molly just barely avoided it, the man instead grabbing one of his dangling ornaments and ripping it away. The tiefling didn't wait a single moment but instead scrambled over to the cell door, kicked it open, ran out, and then slammed it shut while his opponent was still struggling to stand.

"Sorry, but not really," Molly smirked as he used the keys to lock the would-be killer in his cell. He then bolted out of the hallway, heading for the open door at the end of it.

The trapped man cursed and looked at the piece of jewelry he had managed to pull from the tiefling's horns; a dangling chain with a metal crescent moon affixed to it. He threw the chain away and began to yell for assistance as the prisoner escaped, cursing his fate.

Molly heard the man's shouts and began desperately searching for some way to reactivate the enchantment. By some absolute miracle, he found a collection of arcane symbols carved into the archway of the door, and without any idea of what to do, he pressed his hands against the nearest one. Luckily for him, it had the intended effect.

The hallway of cells behind him was enveloped into absolute darkness as the man's cries for help suddenly vanished. Molly allowed himself a small chuckle and a pleased flick of his tail before he snuck through the rest of the house above. 

He crept up a flight of stone stairs apprehensive, trying to listen for any commotion up above. As he snuck to the next level, he could've sworn that he saw a green-cloaked figure out of the corner of his eye but when he whirled around to face them, they were gone. He did, however, feel confident for some reason, as if he had just given a small sliver of luck... or a blessing. He had no time to ponder that for the next room he came to had two cloaked figures sitting around a table, playing some card game.

Molly looked around for another exit and spied another flight of stairs across the room from where he was peeking out. Somehow, the two enemies had yet to see him. Molly scanned the room for a moment, making it out to be some form of an armory with a plethora of weapons lined up on the walls, including two familiar scimitars that caught his eye. He measured distances and prayed for some miracle as he dashed across the room, causing the two opponents to jump up in shock but by the time they had gathered their weapons, Molly had grabbed his swords and was upon them.

Take a note people, this is why you don't put armories right next to prison cells. Prisoners escape and make a very bloody mess of things - literally.

Molly managed to escape with a few wounds and a few more scarlet stains on his clothes. He scrambled up the next flight of stairs, hearing the sound of other alerted enemies who were running around trying to understand the commotion. He pushed open a trap door at the top of the stairs, emerged, and found himself in the main level of a strangely well-furnished house.

No time to question, it was time to fucking run.

He bolted down the hallway, his eyes set on the front door before him. Another cloaked figure emerged from down another hallway, coming to a stop right in front of the door and holding their position. This left a huge front window off in the living room to the left of Molly and a single enemy standing between him and the door. 

Molly's course shifted and instead, he avoided the opponent entirely and threw himself out of the front window of the living room. Glass shattered and slashed against Molly's skin as he flew through the air and landed with a hard 'smack' on the stone road outside. It was night, and the street outside was cloaked in darkness with only the occasional street light burning to illuminate the neighborhood of the tri-spires.

There were startled yells and cries of alarm from the house behind him but Molly didn't both to pay in any mind. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, glancing back only once to see a cloaked figure leaning out of the broken window, an arrow notched in their bow.

Mollymauk darted into an alley and made his way out of the tri-spires as fast as he could. He didn't make it far before he ran into crownsguards which weren't too willing to buy a "demon's" story about rich kidnappers with a dungeon in their seller. So it wasn't too surprising when Molly was forced to run from them too.

That made two different enemies he was trying to avoid. Fuck.

He found a moment of respite and took it to find shelter in an alley and catch his breath. He tried to calm his heavy breathing and looked up at the bright silver moon above him. Instead, he found himself staring up at a large black raven who was perched on top of a building. The raven hopped once, let out a small cry, and then flew down to Mollymauk, perching on his shoulders.

"Well... that's weird," Molly managed, looking in shock at the raven who was staring back at him. It was a fucking shitty day and it was only getting weirder.

The raven studied him for a few moments, let out a soft call, and then alighted from his shoulder, landing in the street before him and making a gesture with its feathered head to follow.

Mollymauk had absolutely zero reasons to trust and strange Raven... he also had zero reasons to not trust it and he wasn't doing too well at the moment.

"Fuck it, lead the way," Molly ordered of the black-feathered beast.

The raven led him through twists and turns, just barely avoiding crownsguards and hunting cloaked figures alike, eventually leading Molly to a small house with its only door opening to a back street. The rave perched in the open window and looked to Molly expectantly, gesturing with its head towards the door that was left open a crack.

The freaky bird had yet to try and kill him, but Molly had basically accepted that he was probably going to die for the third - third? it was third right? - third time. 

The yells of crownsguards approaching made up Molly's mind for him and the tiefling walked into the house and slowly closed the door behind him. Taking a long sigh as he scanned the empty room. He looked back to the raven in the windowsill who's feathers now looked silver in the moonlight.

"Thanks?" he questioned, wondering if this bird was a real fucking bird or some shape-shifter.

The raven nodded and shifted on its talons expectantly.

"He says 'you're welcome'," a new voice explained from behind Mollymauk. The tiefling whirled around, drawing his weapons only to see a woman, concealed in a beautiful silver cloak, sitting at a loom. A heavy hood concealed her features but her gloved, delicate hands weaved silk on her large loom. At a glance, the silk seemed to be glimmering in the moonlight until Molly took a longer look at them and found them to actually be glowing.

"Uh - " Molly managed.

The woman didn't look at him but kept her eyes on her loom.

"The raven, I mean, he says 'you're welcome'," the woman elaborated.

"Ah... he yours?" Molly asked.

"No, I wouldn't dare try and take one of the Raven Queen's champions," the goddess laughed, her voice a beautiful lilt in the air as she continued weaving.

Molly had many questions, few of them managed to actually find words.

"Who... who are you?" Molly laughed nervously.

The woman finally turned to look at him. Her skin was colored stark white with a few discolorations on her face. Her eyes were a mirror of the starry sky. 

"I am called Moonweaver, and it is good for you to finally meet me, Mollymauk Tealeaf," the goddess smiled.

"Oh, you're a god," Molly realized, very quickly reassessing his options.

"Aye, and you're a tiefling," the Moonweaver smiled.

"This is true," Molly smiled. He eyes narrowed and he seemed to think for a moment. "You... you wouldn't happen to be one of the reasons I'm alive... would you?"

The Moonwaver laughed again, softly. "I am a big reason."

"Well thanks for that," Molly expressed.

"Do not be too thankful," the Moonwaver murmured, turning her attention back to her loom. "I am a woman who sees many things with her waning and waxings presence... this includes things that have been and things to come. I simply preferred a future where you knew of things to come. This does not mean I did you a favor... many prefer the presence of the Raven Queen."

Molly wasn't quite sure what to say to that.

"Of course, the Traveler was the one who convinced the Wildmother to help. She's a very agreeable one, but she's not amiable to resurrections as they are unnatural. You should thank his silver tongue for her assistance. He somehow convinced her that your return wouldn't be a sin to the nature order. How he did so... I do not know."

"Well I'll thank him when I see him then," Molly supposed, nervously glancing out the window for any oncoming opponents.

"And then Vax here was the brave soul who convinced the Raven Queen to release you from death a second time," the Moonweaver continued, pointing to the raven at the windowsill. Molly looked to the raven and the bird returned the stare.

"He was... adamant that you find your family," the Moonweaver supposed. She then giggled and grinned.

"Family?" Molly echoed.

"Your adventurers... they are the same thing, no?" the Moonweaver asked.

"I guess that's fair," Molly supposed with a grin. He looked at the bird and gave a small nod. "Thanks for that."

The raven said nothing but shook himself and made ready to fly.

"Vax'ildan says the coast is clear and you can escape your pursuers, he will be your guide," the Moonweaver murmured.

"W-wait," Molly demanded. "Why... why did you bring me back?" It was a question that had bothered him to no end and he wanted an answer... just for now. What was his purpose?

"You can do much more good out there, then you can in the ground," the Moonweaver murmured after a moment.

The raven squawked impatiently and flapped his wings.

"Make haste, Vax'ildan can only do so much. Make haste Mollymauk Tealeaf and live... live and know that that this will not be a regular occurrence," the Moonweaver ordered.

Molly gave a solumne, but slightly puzzled, bow and opened the door behind him. The raven took to the air and demanded Molly follow. The tiefling looked back for a moment to see the goddess one more time but found the room empty as it had been when he entered.

The tiefling shook his head in wonder and then ran after the raven.