RP:Investigation at Lake Frysta
Part of the The Ice Plague Cometh Arc
Lake Frysta
Dami 's arrival was signaled by the sound of the wyvern's roar, and oddly enough it wasn't the front tunnel she came in through. It was one of the passages Rocky had dug over time. They wyvern had just scooped up the half-elf only minutes ago from a bloodied battle field of frozen shards and decease legionnaires. Dami had caught not one, not two, but three of the explosive creatures. Mostly to the back, but she had several dozen of the frozen icicles protruding from odd angles of her body; there was also a pair of deep claw marks bleeding around her neck. The wyvern took the landing gently before depositing Dami on the ground. Here she simply fell to her knees and crawled a fair distance before getting to her feet. She had the halberd in hand and used the staff to keep her up. Where was she.. please, she thought to herself, please be here. It was an odd limb to go out on, but she was determined.
Hildegarde was unaware that battle was raging somewhere in Frostmaw, tasked with sending priests, shamans and a contingent of guards to Lake Frysta, “Purge the water, guard the perimeter, let none drink here!” she commanded assertively. Once the men had stationed themselves around the lake and along the streams that subsequently made up Frostmaw’s water supply, the knight wandered off to Dami’s home in an effort to get some more equipment; if war was at the door, she would need every blade she could get a hold of. But once she stepped into the cave, she saw the vampire struggling to stand, so wounded she was! The knight dropped her own halberd and darted to Dami’s side, arm instinctively winding around her waist in an effort to hold her up, “My lady!” she exclaimed, “What happened?”
Dami found their timing impeccable, and knowing Dami she'd let it go to her head, too. That was later though, for now she was more than glad to put a majority of her weigh on Hildegarde. For once she was willing to admit defeat here, and let both pride and ego go out the door. "You have no clue how happy I am-" a sharp breath, and a hiss. That same shard that was buried in between her ribs was still there. "How long has Frostmaw been like this? Whatever they were, attacked by the gates." She pointed to one of the few cots and tried to lead the way. Her body felt like it was on fire, with how much of the Ice Devil's shrapnel was buried in her. "Casualties all around, only a couple dead I think. We pushed whatever it was back, Eilson, his men, and a few others."
Hildegarde was shocked to hear it, but she needed to tend to Dami first. “My lady, these shards must come out, you have no idea how quickly this must come out,” she said worriedly, “Is your other side free of shrapnel?” she asked, wishing to lay the woman on the cot in order to tend to her. With a sharp whistle, the glass hummingbird brooch seemed to come to life, “To Satoshi, quickly now, tell her war is breaking.”
Dami felt around her body and checked to make sure most- if not all - of the shrapnel was on her backside. "I think just one side- both were behind me when they died?" She wasn't quite sure if they were actually dead. With Hildegarde's help though, she'd let go of the silver, and lean towards the cot before laying carefully on her stomach. Like bee stings, each burnt with an icy frost that was comparable to dry ice, the sensation only spread. "What.. are they? What are these? Hildegarde.." Dami wasn't one to panic in dire situations, even when faced with death her composure never faltered. But that didn't mean she could be concerned for an outcome she knew nothing about. The wyvern like the big baby it was, edged near the two, lifting its head high as if to get a better look over Hildegarde.
Hildegarde gently helped Dami onto the cot, glancing over her form to check the shards sticking out of her. She frowned with concern, “Devil’s ice,” she answered, “which is a corrupting element. They use it to turn your darkest thoughts – no matter how small – against you, until you serve their dark cause.” The knight noticed the wyvern edge ever closer, looking to him, “If she yells with pain, it’s the ice, not me,” she warned, so the wyvern would not panic and lash out at her from seeing his companion in pain. “M’lady, I’m going to start removing the ice,” she said, pulling off her gloves and settling on the edge of the cot beside Dami. “If it helps,” she said more quietly, trying to be sweet, “you can hold my hand while the other takes out the ice?” she offered her hand up to the woman while her other hand rested on Dami’s back; carefully avoiding the shards of ice.
Dami had a feeling this was going to hurt, and with Hollowed's pain tolerance missing, she was feeling the burn of each shard. It felt like the pain was trading with her insides, no longer did her back feel engulfed, but her insides instead. Closing her eyes, she reached back and cupped Hilde's hand in her own and held it tightly. "Tear the coat away if you need. I have others.. Just- Just don't let that happen."
Hildegarde smiled as Dami cupped her hand, “I will be as gentle as I can be,” she said, using her free hand to very gently and carefully remove Dami’s torn coat. She didn’t want to rip it away or anything like that and she had the time to go slow, given that the corruption would not start immediately. That done, the dragon drew in a deep breath until she felt the familiar ‘click’ in the back of her throat, causing her to lean forward and gently blow against Dami’s back. The paralytic gas might work to numb her back a little or to at least dampen her pain, so she would wait a few moments to let that get to work before her hands even attempted to remove the ice. “Did I ever tell you about the time I broke my arm?” she said, fingers curling around the shard of ice and gently pulling it out.
Dami rolled her head to the side and sighed as she studied the wyvern. "I'm fine, you big baby. Go relax, you earned it." She was mildly amused by his antics but wouldn't patronize him for it; Dami was mom to the beast. In his eyes, mom was in trouble. Reluctant, the wyvern slowly turned and made for its corner, never once taking his eyes off the two. "No.. I don't think you did." She heard the click and felt the breath, confused she turned her head again to look up at the silver. But before she could question what she was doing, the gentle numbness shut her up immediately. Oh, she thought to herself. "I'm not going anywhere after this.. am I?"
Hildegarde did not use much paralysing breath, truly, just enough to make Dami’s back feel a little but numb so the pain was not so terrible. “Well,” she began, pulling the shard of ice out completely and placing it gently on the floor. It’d be better if she had a bucket of water to place it into, but she hadn’t thought of that before. “I was climbing a tree with my brother, Calhoun,” she said, smiling fondly as she thought back on it, fingers curling around another shard of ice, “and I climbed far too high. Suffice to say, if I was human, it would become difficult to breathe with how high I was! Alas, I got a little scared,” she chortled, “imagine that, a dragon afraid of heights.” She pulled on the ice gently and slowly, slowly removing it from Dami’s back, “So, Calhoun started climbing the tree to come get me, but he was a slow climber. I tried to make my way back down, but I slipped and fell. Hit the ground hard and discovered that I had broken my arm. Oh, I cried and cried until Calhoun told me it wasn’t so bad; that a warrior would laugh it off!” the knight smiled, dropping the blackened shard of ice to the floor once she inspected it for any breaks or chips. “Anyway, he carried me home and my parents had to call for a healer. In short, I was banned from climbing big trees again!”
Dami could feel the wounds closing up as each shard was removed. Albeit incredibly slow, her vampiric traits were coming into play. Hildegarde could most likely see that; she only hoped nothing was left inside once the wound healed. Dami couldn't help but smile at the knight's story, finding it adorably cute and if anything, daw worthy. But she kept such reactions to herself, and instead found her grip loosen a bit. It was hard to tell between the paralytic gas and Hilde's comforting, but the vampire was more relaxed than she should have been. "I broke my leg once, climbing a small cliff. My brother mended the bone as best he could, and made me finish climbing the damned thing!" She winced as the next sliver of ice came out, wondering just how much blood she'd lost at this point. It was definitely time to feed after this.
Hildegarde noticed the wounds were beginning to seal shut which was a bit of a relief to her! Vampires were lucky in that sense, they could heal incredibly quickly. “You broke your leg?” she said, while removing a shard of ice; the very one that Dami winced at. The knight flushed red and spoke much like a chastised child, “I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.” After a few moments of waiting, she continued pulling the shard out and placed it carefully on the floor again. “Brothers! Can’t live with them, can’t live without them,” she grinned, even though it killed her inside to say it. After all, her own brother had tried to kill her and she had broken his back in return. The Silver’s hand drifted lower, moving down Dami’s back to collect more shards of ice: “I feel that your arm is still scarred,” she said quietly, her voice apologetic.
Dami sighed and looked away, her grip loosening even more. "I'm glad mine is gone. It's him I have to thank for.. well. What I am." She paused and looked up, those crystal like blue eyes of her catching the Silver's. "Let's just say I don't like what I am sometimes." To the next shard, she hissed and her whole body tensed. "No no, it's fine. Don't worry-" The next came out as a whine, probably not the best for timing. "You're pulling ice out of my body, it'll hurt." The wyvern lifted its head, studying curiously. "And Hilde, the scars are nothing." She even rolled onto her side so she could face her better. "There is no need to apologize for them. I'd rather have the scars, then think about what could have happened if I didn't find you that day." Dami usually wasn't this good with these kind of conversational topics. Consoling a friend wasn't her forte.
Hildegarde was ready to ask a question about Dami’s vampirism, to sate her own curiosity and maintain the conversation until that pained hiss; that painful whine reached her ears! The woman’s mouth fell open slightly and her eye widened with fear of hurting the woman, forcing her to raise her hands off of Dami entirely! “I do not enjoy causing you pain, Dami,” the knight said, rising off the cot and looking at the woman with knitted brows; eye full of worry for her. Her fingers moved deftly to the buckles of her breastplate, undoing it and placing it gently on the floor as she knelt down to scoop up the removed shards and deposit them into her removed breastplate. She sat back down with a sigh, unwilling to admit that her armour had been long irritating her own wounded side, “You are good to me, Dami,” she said with a small and genuine smile. Her hands returned to their former position: one on Dami’s back and the other near her hand, ready for her to take if that was what she wished. “Will you tell me about you becoming a vampire?” she asked, fingers curling around another shard of ice.
Dami felt guilty with how much she adored Hildegarde's.. well, adorableness. She'd never tell her that, she'd never tell anyone that; that was going to the grave with her. But, it was all in friendly nature. Truth be told, it was kind of nice to know someone cared as much as she did. Left the undead with an almost warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Or was that the paralytic gas? Either way she reached for the hand and squeezed it tightly. She was being just as much of a baby as the wyvern, she didn't need to whine as much as she did, but she was too relaxed to keep from doing so. "Tell you about how I became a vampire? You sure about that? It's.. a pretty heavy story." She had no problem telling it, with Hilde's reaction to hissing whines, she wasn't sure how she'd react.
Hildegarde offered Dami’s hand a squeeze in response, attempting to comfort her or show her support. “It is your choice, Dami,” she smiled, “you can tell me anything you want or I can bore you with more stories about me!” she chuckled, pulling on the shard of black – or Devil’s – ice. The woman winced as the jagged ice bit into her own fingers, dropping the shard into her breastplate and wiping her hand upon her shirt just to be on the safe side.
Dami felt the black ice tear free of her flesh, and she'd bit her cheek when it came out, too. She figured the tougher she was, the less likely she'd make Hilde feel bad about the pain she was causing. In a strange.. masochistic, I-enjoy-reverse-acupunture sort of way, it had an almost relaxing element to it. Almost. "I was drunk, and wandering through the Nameless. I have no clue why I was out there.. Alcohol tends to make you do the damnedest things." She grinned, for all the wrong reasons. "Chasing a dragon, I think- I ended up falling into a pit. Razor sharp teeth along the walls, tentacles.. horrifying. Real fuzzy, Kasyr says I blew it up from the inside out. Sent me flying hundreds of yards across the sand." Ah yes, she remembered it now. "Disemboweled, bloodied, broken.. I was on death's doorstep. Kasyr found me. Why he found me when he did, I'll never understand. He felt the history between us was worth keeping alive, in some sense." She wasn't aware that she'd been squeezing the woman's hand tighter now. "Sometimes I wish he hadn't found me.."
Hildegarde listened quietly to Dami’s retelling of her vampiric turn, moving onto the next shard as she did. She dropped it silently into the breastplate, stopping entirely at the last remark. The knight slipped off the cot and knelt directly in front of Dami, so that she might face her and gaze upon her with her one eye, “Dami,” she began, “if he had not found you, then I would not have known you. Meaning, I would have been dead a long time ago,” she said truthfully. “I… I know it is not my place to tell you how to feel, but I wish you would not think so. You are important to me, believe it or not,” she offered her a champion smile, “and I will not have you think such dark thoughts about yourself, do you hear me? I am glad you’re alive.”
Dami let the knight kneel down before her, but she took to sitting up herself. She couldn't tell how many of the shards were still in her back, but sitting like she did shouldn't pose any danger. Hopefully. Hildegarde was tall, her kneeling while she sat brought her pretty much eye level. She listened to what she had to say carefully, and when it was all said and done Dami sighed. Something about her reply, specifically the part about being important to her left an odd, tingling sensation in her stomach. Almost a flutter, truth be told she wasn't really sure what to say back, so instead of saying anything at all.. she simply reached out and draped her arms around the knight. Dami forced the silver into a hug whether she wanted to or not. "You make things weird and complicated, you know that?" She said this softly, and with a chuckle.
Hildegarde’s brow knitted again as the woman sat up, hand tempted to reach out and offer her some kind of support in case she hurt herself while sitting up. She was a protective soul, that much was obvious. But then Dami’s arms were reaching outward and draping around her; pulling her into a hug that she did not expect and did not fight. The knight fell completely still before chuckling a little bit nervously, “Oh”, she realised her eye was beginning to mist a little, “come now, you’ll make me cry,” she murmured gently, almost a touch embarrassed. What was it about a hug that could possibly make the brave knight cry?
Dami closed her eyes and stood her ground. "Oh no, we're doing this, now shh." She couldn't help the playful grin that surfaced, glad Hildegarde couldn't see it. Leave it to Dami to go from travling companion, to Ice Devil vanquisher, to sappy dragon-hugging dope. "Hey, maybe when this dark plague thing is over.. we can spend some time together." It took a second for it to sink in, and when it did.. "I mean, like friend stuff." Her eyes opened and her cheeks went red. Suddenly she felt the need to make sure the knight didn't end the hug, if only so she couldn't see Dami's face. "Like hunting or training or reading or something.. gods damn it." And from sappy dragon-hugging dope.. to foot in mouth dork. Dami was glad she was hopefully as clueless as she suspected.
Hildegarde sniffled a little bit and shook her head gently, “Gods above, I’m too soft to be a knight, I cry at everything,” she murmured, trying to be a little bit funny. She always tried to be funny, she enjoyed making people smile and laugh. “If we live through it, that is,” she said, not trying to be glum, just being a little too factual than she should have been. At the insistence of ‘friend stuff’, she frowned and laughed at her own confusion, “Friend stuff? Is there any other way?” she said, before sighing, “I really ought to get the rest of that ice out of you, Dami, before I lose my sight to these tears.”
Dami laughed softly, "Yeah. Corrupt me is the last thing you want to see. I'm cranky enough in the mornings as it is.." A little light humor to match hers, nothing to see her folks. That said, she pulled away from the hug and was quick to turn around on the cot. She scooted to the middle of the thing so she could sit cross legged, giving Hilde enough room to hop on as well. "I think I got the ones in the back of my legs, should just be the back. I know the shirt is shredded to pieces, I'd remove it if that wouldn't make things weird. They seem big enough that you should find them easily, no?"
Hildegarde waited until Dami was comfortable on the bed before sitting behind her, ready to remove more shards of ice as was necessary, “You always say such strange things,” she said, referring to Dami’s ‘make things weird’ comment. That said, she pressed her hand to Dami’s shoulder and gripped another – and extremely jagged – shard of ice. “I cannot promise this one will not hurt,” she said with an upset tone of voice, fingers curling ever tighter around it before she pulled it out quickly rather than slowly. The ice was so sharp; she swore it had cut her fingers! With a hiss, she dropped the shard onto the breastplate and wiped her hand on her shirt; noticing the streak of red on her cotton shirt. “Not much left to go,” she murmured.
Dami sucked in a deep breath through her nose, held it, and let it out in a long sigh. Her eyes were watering for all the wrong reasons now; she hoped there were no more that size, otherwise Hilde was going to have to feel bad at some of the pained sounds she'd make. "Hey.. what were you headed this way for, anyways? I saw you coming in through the tunnel.. It's none of my business. I was just hoping I'd find you here when I landed." She let out a nervous little laugh. "Talk about coincidence.. aha."
Hildegarde answered as she gripped another, yet far smaller, shard of ice, “I was coming back here to pick up what weapons I may have left, along with my helm,” she said grimly. “I intended to guard the lake all night and day, but the contingent I left will be able to do so. I just prefer to be with my men and show them that I am their equal,” she said, pulling out the shard quickly and hopefully painlessly. “Why were you hoping I’d be here?” she asked, genuinely curious.
Dami laughed quietly. "Truthfully? You're the only one that comes around. My wyvern took her here instinctively.. I was only hoping you'd be here for.. well. This." She was scratching the back of her head by this point. "I was hoping I could rely on some help, for once." A brief pause, "Thank you." As if her cheeks weren't red enough by now. "I would love to accompany you, but I think rest after that encounter might be best.."
Hildegarde removed the last shard of ice from Dami’s back as she spoke, smiling some as she did. “I told you when you took me in, I am your shield before death,” she said it so seriously, then and now. “But yes, you ought to rest and I ought to go see to my duties,” she said, rising from the bed to toss the shard into her breastplate. She would need to dispose of that ice soon. With a sigh, she rubbed at her side to gently itch her bandaged wound without disrupting it. “You best rest, Lady Dami. I fear that Frostmaw – or even I – will need you in the coming days,” she said, almost sadly.
Dami looked over her shoulder and sighed with relief. "Hey.. the feeling goes both ways. I'll be around, hopefully we'll bump into each other soon." She turned around to face the woman while she started to suit up again, not quite sure what to do now. "If your men need rest, they're always welcome here.. that is if you don't already have preparations set up"
Hildegarde grinned at that offer, "Oh, I think it's a bit crowded for a contingent of frost giants!" That said, she picked up the breastplate and decided it'd be best to burn the shards of ice in order to cleanly dispose of them. "We'll bump into each other again, Dami. But in the meantime, please rest. If you need me, you need only send word for me and I shall come to you."
Dami gave her a nod and smiled. "That I shall. You have my word." With that, she'd say nothing more until the silver left. There she'd sit in silence while pulling her knees to her chest. What in the world was she doing, she though to herself. The wyvern stirred and she glanced his way. "Oh don't you even start.." it hadn't even said anything; it couldn't say anything. "It's painfully obvious, isn't it?" The wyvern tipped its head to the side. "Thought so. Why.. Why why why." Dami hugged her knees and buried her face against them before falling to her side where she'd doze off in time.