Nightshade

[Sahji]

One summer night, a group of armed and very bruised people arrived at the temple of Ioasia. One at a time, they stepped through the door: A bulky, imposing half-orc, a dark-skinned woman with a powerful aura, a shadowy intense figure, an earthy Ioasian practitioner, and a man, his features tight, carrying a young woman, her armored body limp and skin pale. With hardly a trait in common, they went at once to the priestesses and appealed for treatment. Poison.

She was brought to lay on a bench before the sacred center pool; her armor was stripped, her wounds treated. The priestesses spoke softly to each other and the strangers waited in strained, helpless silence, to the peaceful babbling of water and the shy calls of animals. They were left with time and uncertainty.

The young woman in question heard, saw, felt, and thought throughout.

"I spoke with the high priestess, she will assign someone to watch over her." A calm, steady female.
"Is everyone alright?" A wavering, tired, but somehow warm male's voice.
"So, now dat yous all here.. What happen? Korr find yous almost deads." Unfamiliar...gruff.

What had happened?

"She thinks she can win, I intend to show her just how wrong she is."

Slow seething, the voice wreaking havoc on her temper.
No...he had lost.
The poison was shared, the difference being, she had grown a tolerance.
The game was over...
When had it started?