So, there we were, outside the caer. Or, at least, there I was. This is really frustrating. I tried casting a spell to do my karma ritual, but, oh, right, I can't cast spells "light" unless I get rid of all this taint, or succeed by more than 14 I convey to Joan that I want to try a joint ritual with T'zeika. T'zeika seems to agree to it, and she goes through the motions of the karma ritual. It seems to work on the first try for her, but she has tries three times to get the wind to flake the mud off my face and fails. The third time, she *really* fails, and I get no Karma. Suck. T'zeika's air spell backfires and the pebbles throw themselves at us. I ask Joan to get her to try again. She manages to summon the wind this time, but it doesn't seem to work... I need to think of something. This isn't working. They left me alone, *again*!!! Eek! aagh!!! Steven Mandrake cast dispell magic on me as I ran up to him to try to shake him and scream at them for leaving me. I didn't quite get to him before his spell hit me and I crumpled to the ground. I had a vision of sitting in front of a tree, opening presents. Inside one is the horror. It says "Enjoy!" and suddenly I am in my body, permanantly, because the horror put me there. I am still horror-marked and tainted, and have access to Bk. Magic. I am awake, freak and run out of the caer until I get to the camp, where I collapse in a crumpled pile of crying elf. Once I calm down, I talk to Tzeika. I tell her "I am tainted. I am ... not fit to be an Elementalist right now. All my spells will fail. Maybe uf I can do my karma ritual now, a lot, it will help. This is even more bad than normal taint. TRUST ME! I still have karma. I couldn't use it to fix this, though I lost it all. This is weird. And now the horror Gilad suggested that we should all gather in a circle around the dancers next time K'shrick tries to dance with her. I pick up my flute, and indicate that I will play for them. He says "So you can provide music. Good!" and asks if I can also provide a fireball. I shake my head. He asks "so you can offer a punch then". I try to punch him, succeed, and he totally ignoresd it, since he's wearing armor. Thwack tries to hit me but I dodge, and, having made my point, put on some studded leather armor just in case, gesturing to Gilad "See?" K'shrik gives me something to eat. yum. I tell him (and then the party) that I am not undead, but it was the horror who put me in my body. He suggests they put a guard on me, and I tell him "I won't do anything. It had nothing to do with anything except the horror kinda-sorta decided it liked me. I really am not sure it's a good idea for me to *ever* cast another spell in the caer again." He hears a voice in his head. "Did anyone else hear that" I write to him "That's the horror" "You're not marked, you're tainted" We all go into the gym, and I try to play my flute. I can't seem to make it work right today. So I poise to grab K'shrik if he falls. He seems to be finally succeding, but then falls over. Now the spirit lookes rather miffed and is trying to beat him up, but, er, no. I pull him away from it, and try throwing my poncho at it. I don't quite make it. Damn. I go back to pulling K'shrik towards the hole, now with Steven Mandrake's help. I take a second to ready my my staff, and charge into combat. I keep trying to follow it and attack with my staff. My attack goes right through, as Steven creates a fireball, and Gilad is charging around the room. Tzeika is trying to fire-sword it, and Joan is hovering over it, poking it with a spear. Maura is concentrating very hard on something, presumably a spell. As the party beats up the dancer, it appears better, but is still hurting us. It attacks Joan, and she is being consumed by incredibly-rapid gangrene. Now my staff has passed through it twice. The little voice in the back of my head says "go ahead, try it" and tempts me to try casting a Black spell. I start concentrating to dispell all horror-magic realize it's dead, and stop, despite the fact that the horror said "you know, that might be a bad idea" suddenly, there are trollish shouts from downstairs, and the twang of arrows.