The First Blight: Curse of Dumat [RP/Closed]

[Slycne]

With the fighting halted, Jarrik raised his visor, finding it stifling. Down below the ogre's corpse lay finally still, a mess of wounds and its massive axe discarded nearby. He let a sigh of relief over White Fury having toppled the the beast before it could hit him again, and he made a mental note to treat the griffin in some way, Nadja would certainly know how.

The commotion finally caught his attention, and he turned to where everyone was gathering over the slumped archer, suddenly feeling not so worse the wear given the situation. He'd been in enough scraps to know how to wrap up a wound, but this was well beyond him. So he merely began to ease his way forward, while flagging down the other griffins with an outstretched arm.

 

[Cinnonym]

Fidelity dismounted fluidly beside Delphina, taking brisk strides toward the others and their fallen comrade. With singular purpose, and most notably without the snide remarks Thaedrin would have made, the spirit knelt opposite of Sulahn'nhen with the archer between them on the stone. His armor had been weakened considerably by the emissary; it was no wonder the arrows had pierced him so easily.

"This is not beyond my ability to repair. Please, remove the arrows. I will prepare a spell."

Nadja swung down from White Fury's saddle, stroking her palm over the beast's massive beak comfortingly before she left him to wait beside his ilk. She wandered towards where Diocles lay still, but without the urgency of the others. Her attention faltered from the archer, and she looked to Jarrik.

"Well. I would have expected it to be you bleeding out. You're welcome, by the way." The woman frowned, shifting her weight from foot to foot awkwardly, "Will he be all right?"

 

[FortyThree]

Diocles' eyelids fluttered open, staring up at Sulahn'nehn and Fidelity, a small smile forming on his face.

"Those are some pretty faces. But judging by their expressions and the pain in my back, I'm alive again. Which is getting a bit trite, I'm afraid. Ah well. Na via lerno victoria."

 

[ShadowFolk]

You must stop doing this to me.

She watched Fidelity work and waited to see anything from Diocles. It was likely a very short procedure, but it felt like it went on far too long. And then the archer opened up his mouth and spouted out his usual brand of banter.

"Thank the Creators. Are you alright? Of course you're alright. Listen to you. What of the rest of you?"

 

[Slycne]

"Aye, thanks for leavin' me to duel the brute and flitterin' about" He said with a snort while putting a mailed gauntlet to his shoulder and rotating the arm, Jarrik tried to stifle the wincing - as if it'd been nothing more than morning exercise. "In truth, I owe you and your bird a treat for keeping it harried. Damned thing hits like wagon full o' bricks. Don't suppose a griffin would enjoy wine as much as its rider?"

Turning back to where the group was standing in vigil, he let his tone grow more neutral and the mocking grin creasing his face go slack. It was hard to be jovial while a man lay dying. "Aye, our former mage had a hand for stichin' folks back together of sort. He should see to it, I think." Though Jarrik hadn't the slightest clue how magic was passed from a living host to a spiritual procession. Maybe it was just like riding a horse, you never truly forget.

 

[FortyThree]

Good. She's done worrying about me. Hate it when they do that.

"I try not to listen to me, actually. It's hard on my self-esteem."

Diocles rose slowly, feeling the holes in his armor where the wounds had been. They were almost all gone, of course. The majority that remained was the damage to his torso and the scar across his nose from his death. Those had never quite healed all of the way. He gave Fidelity a sort of frown, as if he blamed Thaedrin for failing to heal him entirely during his miraculous resurrection.

"I was very handsome once, you know."

 

[duckflesh]

"Rats," Delphina said, coyness belying her concern from moments before, "He's alive. I was hoping I might be signed up to receive his pension..."

She glanced at Jarrik. "You withstood every blow that ogre paid out. I'm... impressed."

 

[Rosen2012]

Ulrin shook his head as Diocles stood and made jokes as usual. Perhaps death kept trying to claim him to teach him a lesson. The elf reached over and put a hand on Sulahn'nehn's shoulder, "It would seem the rest of us are in better shape than Jarrik and Diocles. But now I wonder, how did the city hold up?"

 

[Slycne]

Jarrik nodded to Delphina, happily receiving the complement. He brought a fist up to thud against his breastplate. Boasting that, "Aye, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." Though after the pithy idiom had left his lips, it occurred to him that the phrase was a little odd in present company.

 

[ShadowFolk]

"That is fortunate." Sulahn'nehn looked over her shoulder at the smoke and ruin. "If I am honest, I think the city will have done as well as any other place we have passed."

It was not the most cheery outlook, but given all they had seen, she felt it was a highly possible outcome. Optimism would likely only cause disappointment down the line.

"Still, we must go on."

 

[Cinnonym]

"Were you?" Fidelity asked Diocles, impassively.

"Please don't give my griffon alcohol." Nadja seemed relieved that the archer was sitting up and speaking; she'd never seen a man drop like that and get back up again, magic or no. With this very pressing matter now resolved, there was still one other thing weighing heavily on her mind. Her arms folded, weight shifting from one foot to the other as she addressed the group. "Well, if the Senior Warden will be able to get back into the saddle, my suggestion is that the lot of you climb down off of this wall and assist surviving Antivans. Constable, could I have a word with you, please?"

 

[ShadowFolk]

Sulahn'nehn kept her opinion on Diocles's appearance to herself, although Fidelity's response to it could almost be considered comical. Had it been a different situation it may have merited a chuckle.

Upon hearing Nadja, she nodded her head. "Yes, ser." She then looked to Ulrin, reaching over to squeeze his shoulder gently. "Well, it seems we'll be finding out just how the city and it's people have held up." Not lingering, the elf very carefully made her way to the ground and awaited the others.

 

[FortyThree]

Diocles frowned at the creature, his nose twitching in irritation.

"Yes. I'm certain your body remembers."

Diocles shook his head, turning to Ser Flufferkins for a goodbye before beginning to climb down after Sulahn'nehn. Perhaps he should have used his speed to go past and help earlier, but he felt a need to give the elf a respectful distance.

 

[Rosen2012]

Ulrin followed Sulahn'nehn and Diocles down to the ground and the city streets. There were already so many bodies of Darkspwan and people strewn about, the city looked just as it had when their first arrived weeks ago, though perhaps there were less buildings.

"What a horrid sight. I doubt we will really find anyone left to help this time."

 

[Slycne]

All Jarrik really wanted was a barrel of wine and a crate of bandages, but he was anxious to see how the city fared. Besides the battle scars would make him strike that much a dashing figure heaped in glory. The thought motivated him to get moving, and he retrieved his equipment, resting spear across his shoulder and made his way down the tower steps.

No shower of flower petals and gold coin greeted him though, just ruin and the dead or dying. The districts near the walls looked to have seen the heaviest amount of fighting, where the darkspawn had overrun the defenses, much like the day the wardens had saved him.

"Aye, good thing we arrived when we did. Like I said earlier, our best bet is to find holdouts down by he docks. We should head that way again." He pointed down a charred street where between the buildings the ocean peaked through off in the distance.

 

[ShadowFolk]

?The docks??, if she recalled correctly, they?d been near the docks before and the way there had not been the most held together. The destruction seemed to have just barely stopped at the manor where they rested and this time around she fully expected everything to be gone, charred, or still on fire. However, Jarrik could have sound reason to check there and she had no better ideas.  ?What if we find no one there, do we work our way backwards??

Sulahn?nehn started forward down the pathway. Aside from living, breathing people walking about, she didn?t exactly know what to keep an eye out for. ?Are there any particular signs I should look for? I?d like to be helpful this time around.?

 

[Slycne]

"Report back." It seemed the only thing they could do if the city had indeed been wiped out, shrugging would have been overly cold, and probably would have hurt from the ogre's thrashing, so he kept his shoulders stiff and level.

Jarrik continued a slow advance down the street. "Aye, watch out for 'spawn. Might be a few lingerin' about." He paused to check on a fallen city guard, only realizing as he got closer how bad the wounds were. "Unless that rumor about wardens being able to sense when the 'spawn are 'bout is true. I think my mind is to fresh an' clouded from the Joinin' for that." He tossed back over a shoulder.

 

[FortyThree]

"It's true."

Diocles made his way carefully, staying at the back of the pack. Not just looking for survivors, he felt little guilt about looting the dead. The archer made a particular effort to retrieve any surviving high quality arrows. He also kept his eyes out for replacement armor. The darkspawn had done much damage, though, and pickings were slim.

"We'll sense them. Or I will. Just focus on finding survivors and useful supplies."

He seemed unusually quiet. Perhaps it was yet another reminder of his debt to Thaedrin, of the nature of his mortality, of the loss of a dear friend. Or perhaps he was simply annoyed about the comment on his appearance.

 

[Rosen2012]

"We could always use any supplies left undamaged." Ulrin was not so reserved as Diocles about their need to loot the dead. Though he hadn't been damaged as badly as the archer or Jarrik, he looked back at the armored man. "You especially, that ogre put quite a few dents in you. If there are no survivors they won't mind if you take what's useful."

He continued along next to the other elf trying to keep an eye out for anyone alive or anything of use. But only piles of bodies filled his line of sight. He shook his head as they traveled the streets and the Senior Warden collected arrows. If there was anyone left he figured they'd have seen or heard them by now. It was best to assume the city and its inhabitants were all dead.

 

[ShadowFolk]

Contrary to what could be the popular belief, Sulahn?nehn didn?t exactly have an easy time with dead bodies. Fidelity excluded. Or included. It wasn?t clear to her if that counted or not. Perhaps if she could let go of the fact that it was formerly Thaedrin?s body she could feel less uncomfortable around it.

Still, there was work to be done and in case any of the higher ups were watching her for performance issues, the elf made sure to at least  do quick checks of bodies and rubble.

They had all done well to make it out of there with only one bit of trouble. If only they had all shown that prowess weeks ago, maybe then?

No, no. Stop that. Focus. Task at hand, task at hand.