Moribund

When news of the alliance first came to her clan, she had been ecstatic. She insisted to her clanmates that this was perfect! It was exactly what she had been hoping for, exactly what she had asked their deity for, day and night. Peace between Plague and Nature, an olive branch of sorts. Despite the misgivings of her clanmates, the alchemist was quick to pack her bags and bid her family goodbye before she set out for the domain of the Plaguebringer.

Once she arrived, she met a guardian named Hewn, who was very kind and welcoming. It was her that showed Ivy around, told her all about the ambassador and who to keep an eye out for. The best places to look for herbs and clean water, how to survive the hotter days in the Scarred Wasteland. Ivy, in return, taught Hewn how to mix ingredients and create healing potions, and let her borrow her equipment. The two became quick friends, and the spiral was friendly with Valor as well, whenever he deigned to come back from his travels anyway.

Perhaps it was a good thing, the night it all happened. Ivy had gone to the outskirts of their set up, looking for a specific type of flower to help with a cold one of the dragons had caught. She had only heard the screams moments before something big hit her from the side. The last thing she remembered before hitting her head, was the pain of her skin burning....

When she woke up, she was somewhere unfamiliar. She still had her bag of tools, though half of them were broken in whatever had happened to her. Ivy could only distract herself with taking inventory for so long, though. Something had happened, even though she barely remembered any of it. Just...pain. Pain like she had never felt before. It was like someone had set her on fire, only to douse the flames in some harsh chemical that burned and smoked...

She wished she couldn't remember it. But the pain lingered, a bone-deep ache that curled her tail and caused awful tremors. The pain wouldn't let her forget.

And neither would her appearance.

She noticed it after she tried to wash away the burn in a small pond. Her once vibrant green scales were now a sickly, dark green and black, with markings like bone smeared over her face and body. Even her eyes had changed! Once pale and soft, they now shone like emeralds; no pupils, just a smooth dark green, broken up like the eyes of a dragonfly.

---

After some time wandering and taking notes on her condition, she eventually bumped into a dragon named Weyr. The pink nocturne recognized what was wrong with Ivy, and told her about the Dead Zone, about Pestilence. The spiral, just relieved to know she wasn't alone, immediately agreed to go with the nocturne. They traveled across the Scarred Wasteland, until they reached the clan of Misfortune.

There, Ivy came to know that the dragon Pestilence had once been her friend, Valor. The two had a tearful reunion, where he told her of Hewn's death and what had happened that night. He told her about choosing his new name, and advised her to do the same. There was no point in holding on to who they had once been. They were just...too different now. Changed forever by what had happened, twisted into monstrous creatures of disease and death.

She couldn't help but agree with him. Whatever she was now, she was no longer Ivy the alchemist, the energetic and lively spiral that hummed and danced when she worked. She was...something else. Something beyond death, but teetering right at the line between alive and dead.

Weyr made the suggestion, quietly from her perch just out of the afflicted dragons's reach; Moribund.

And so, Ivy was dead. And Moribund - known as Mori to her friends - was born.

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Lore notes:

• Last of the original trio, she was once an alchemist and healer before the Seedscar events. She still practices healing, but no one but the other Dead Zone dragons go to her now. Occasionally one of the undead will wander into her den and ask her to reattach a limb or two, and sometimes Cancer's reapers will come looking for a bit of help - but really, its just Pestilence and Corrin that keep her company these days.
• Commonly known as Mori, she spends most of her free time reading and doing experiments, trying to find a way to cure them all. Despite her best efforts, all that she's managed to do is grow a few of the hardier plants in her den, where she can protect them from Corrin.
• Much like her pseudo leader, Moribund chose her new name after much consideration. Her old name is of no importance, and meant very little to her; she likes to joke that their curse was her chance at a new life, separate from her overbearing parents and militant clan.

What she looked like before: