• Graded • [Faldrass] FIre-Forged Group B

[Wald Lowca]

Wald watched the emotional scene unfold in front of him. The winged woman was still standing near him, even as the emotions grew thicker. When Ari'sora began to bleed though, that is when Wald would move his hand. Laying his hand onto the woman's shoulder, careful not to startle her. A faint glow would show on the wound that the woman was taking, as Wald's side began to bleed in her stead.

The hunter's face visibly twisted to those looking on, as he gritted his teeth at the pain. Though he could take more damage then most, it was not his body that was originally receiving the damage. Ari'sora's wound would stop and something minor due to this, but the rest of it would be given to Wald. He still did not know why he did it, his mind moved on its own at that point.

The people around him would not notice the blood, until it started dripping from the chain mail he had just put on. His mind was blanking for a moment, as his hand slipped away. The emotional stress seemed to lessen, and the doctor asked to look over the winged woman.

Wald paused for a moment, looking at the drops of blood coming from the steel rings on his side. Putting a hand over it, he walked to the doctor as well. "Hope you do not mind taking a look at me as well, it seems there is a bug causing injures in the room." The hunter looked to Ari'sora and gave a fake smile sharp teeth laid bare. "Hope you are not to injured, Sora."

Bonded

Wald now has the ability to bond with one person. With that individual only he may- up to three times in any one Cycle - take on the physical damage / wounds etc of his bonded partner. The bonding is Wald's choice and may not be refused, but once he has chosen someone he may only change who his bonded partner is once a cycle. If the wound that individual has is fatal, Wald can not take it but anything other than fatal can be transferred.

Please note - "fatal" is defined as something which would kill his Bonded partner - whether or not it would kill him.
Must be touching the bonded person to absorb damage.

Here

Rebirth Ari'Sora

[Darius Baer]

Darius was quickly discovering that standing between an incensed ChiChi and an enraged Ari'sora was very different to the fights he had attempted to break up in the past. Those had been physical encounters, usually between a pair of feuding sailors with too much grog in their bellies. Those fights were simple: let the first drunk man take a swing, then grab hold of him when he misses and loses his balance. Somehow, the thought of dragging either ChiChi or Ari'sora away to sleep it off didn't exactly suit the situation.

The blond human sent a cold, sideways towards Kalortah who had begun to voice his own vehemence at the suggestion that the group was in the service of Baron Smooglenuff. It was an odd point to protest, he thought, because the group was only in the room at the Baron's behest. He said nothing to the arrogant minstrel, however; there were already enough raised voices in the room, and he had to reserve his for his futile attempts to be heard amidst the din.

And then Devin walked in.

He was a curious fellow, Darius decided, but the man at least spoke some sense. The bearded seafarer was still standing between the two angry parties, but he hoped that the offer of a means to carrying extra equipment, and the attempt to calm ChiChi, might reap some rewards.

There was a lot more talking that followed - Ari'sora spoke of her background - but Darius' attention was soon fixated on the woman's pain. Blood soon followed, and the human held out his hands to steady the petite woman, but Wald had soon stepped in and the bearded blond found himself stepping back. That part of the room had become crowded, after all, and Darius felt as though he was the only one who couldn't offer any useful assistance. Instead, as ChiChi, Ari'Sora, Devin, and Wald crowded around each other, Darius turned to the others present with little more than a helpless shrug. He was no healer, so staying out of Devin's way seemed to make the most sense.

Inventory

Equipped:
Smooglenuff's Guide To The Flora & Fauna of Scalvoris: Volume 5: Faldrass
Clothing (Tunic and leggings, leather gloves, leather boots)
Studded Leather Gambeson
Backpack

Not Equipped:
Helmet
Lightstone
Torch (with oil and matches)
First Aid Kit
Rope (50' in length)
Crampons
Pitons
Climbing Hammer
Pickaxe
Shovel
Map (Faldrass Caves)
Map (Hollow Sea and the waterways around the island of Scalvoris)
Longsword
Dagger
Compass
Waterskin (full)

[Yeva]

120 Ashan 720

They were still arguing, and things had somehow worsened. By the time she tore her eyes from the pages, another man had joined the group. In fact, she knew who he was and had spent an afternoon alongside him and a woman named Abigail in a beauty supply shop. He had complimented her freckles, but more than his flattery, Yeva recalled his medical expertise having seen it somewhat, "He's a doctor, a good one too."

Yeva reached out to touch Darius on the forearm who seemed unsure about his own involvement, which was a sentiment she shared. While she wished more than anything to offer her help, Yeva feared she would only be getting in the way, lingering closeby should she be called upon "I attended a class of Devin's at the University. His methods are... a bit unorthodox, but I can't deny his skills in medicine. Far better than me, at the very least." His teaching left much to be desired, but he seemed to have command on the situation at hand. Her eyes flickered anxiously between Devin, Ari'sora and now Wald who had blood leaking through his chainmail. HOW?

They hadn't even made it to the caves yet! Yeva snapped her book closed and shoved it in her bag, already pushing up her sleeves, "What happened? Devin - let me help you."

Wald had expressed injury as well, although none of it made sense. A bug causing injury? Surely that wasn't in the book, was it? She chewed the skin of her bottom lip in slight worry. At least they had two medics to go with the two injured. Poor Chichi; she had been assigned quite the mess.

Yeva's hands hovered, ready to administer treatment. She certainly had no qualms referring to their guide and so she looked at the other curly-haired woman, "If they must go back to the Baron, I'd like to stay with you and the others." If more people started bleeding... Yeva couldn't let them go alone, not when the rest of the party might still need her.

[Kalortah]

Everything seemed to continue unraveling despite Kalortah's best-intended efforts to tamp down on the overtures everyone was making toward drama. Nobody had listened to his suggestion or followed any recommendation that he made. That was perfectly acceptable to Kalortah, though. It would be easier if he were not required to speak the rest of this 'mission'.

While everyone bickered and worried over each other, stumbling and touching each others' wounds, Kalortah all but ignored Devin's chastisement of his advice. He'd closed his eyes, and checked out mentally, trying to find that meditative calm that was so useful when he was a mage, having to contend with alien sentience in his soul. Now he only had to fight with half a dozen mud-soaked peons chattering and cooing over each other.

When the time came for them to set out for the volcano, Kalortah would keep his distance, flying over them from some distance, and keeping an eye on the path until they came to the mouth of the cave. At least then, he had to land and join with the rest.

He accepted the tinderbox from Ari'sora, and lit his mirrored lantern, lighting the way for those of them that had trouble seeing in the dark. The fixture lit, he waited for the mission to begin, and would follow the lead of the rest of the expedition.

Should anyone speak to him, he'd merely nod and shake his head in a gesture of ambivalence.

Entering the cave, he couldn't suppress the string of curses and complaints that dribbled in Lorien from his lips. "Bloody mole people... What kind of a person would enter such a dank place for curiousity or pleasure?"

[Pegasus]

120th Ashan, 720

!

Message from: previously on 'will they ever leave the room?'

"I vill not risk others wiz her attitude! She has behaved badly, done a stupid and now! Now she lashes out and resorts to names and suggesting zat I am not helping my people!!!! Ven all that weighing her down would slow her and endanger ozers if zey haff to help her!! It is her or me, I vill not be responsible for her!! I tell you......" ...... whatever it was that she would tell them would have to wait, it seemed, as the door opened.

Devin came in and he tried to calm things down and, as he did so, ChiChi began to calm. He could see it, his persuasion was working. But then, but then the winged half-breed spoke and told ChiChi she had no right to speak to her that way. ChiChi let out a single, aggravated, bark of laughter. "You are vile, spoiled, vain and self-absorbed. You do not apologise for vat you accuse me of? You zink you are ze only one to be a slave before? LOOK!" ChiChi pulled down the shoulder of her outfit, revealing a brand which was obviously from Athart (if anyone knew of such things) and a mass of scar tissue that was old and indicative of years spent there. "Take her into ze room next door, zere is a couch she can sit, a table. Do not vorry about the furnishings, she is selfish and spoiled, she does not apologise but she is bleeding and needs help." ChiChi gestured, and handed him a medical kit, should he need one

Wald took the injuries from her, transferring them to himself, and so it seemed that there were now two people needing medical attention. When (and if) Devin got them there, though, he would find that Ari'sora's wounds were much smaller than he had considered and were, in fact,

very much

less than they might otherwise have been. Wald was able to

deal

with the wounds better, but - they were deep and he was bleeding. There was no magical healing which would work on them and, considering the obvious depth of emotion Ari'sora had been feeling, they were deep.

Assuming Devin took them both into the room, ChiChi flung herself down on the chair, smiling softly at Yeva. "You vill go vithout me, I will not be doing zis. Ve must trust each ozer and she vill not. So, I vill stay and it vill be better for ze group!". It seemed that all they could do now, was wait. Whether ChiChi and Ari'sora would continue to scrap when Ari'sora, Wald and Devin came back in was anyone's guess, but for a moment, things were simply quiet.

!

Message from: Peg

Current status = Stalled OOC: At this point, ChiChi will refuse to go with the group and will, instead, remain at base camp. Wald and Ari'sora. The situation you have is that Wald can either take ALL of Ari'sora's wounds or none - this is due to the "no magical healing" on Ari'sora's ability. There is no partial transferring, as this would be healing. So, please confirm if that means Wald would not take them. The wounds are deep and debilitating - and would make it very difficult to undertake this mission. Not impossible, but very difficult. If the wounds are stitched, that will be painful and tiring - but exertion or combat has the significant risk of opening up the stitches and exposing the individual to further bleeding and infection. Having this level of wound at the beginning of the thread will increase the PC's rating to High+ Risk rather than the Medium risk it currently is. My next post will be the 22nd Feb

[Kalortah]

As the theatrics continued, and did NOT abate, Kalortah couldn't stifle an exasperated sigh. He turned to Devin, and with a smug smirk, he cooed at the bard, "Well done, Devin! You've really salvaged this venture, haven't you? You deserve a medal."

Snorting in absolute derision, Kalortah turned from the bard as the human exited with the others, and watched as ChiChi told Yeva that she would not be going on with the others. Mentioning something about the ones present trusting each other, or some other nonsense. What a joke!

Kalortah then took the opportunity to exit the room, without another word, with every intention of leaving the expedition. This was doomed to failure, and if the result of that failure meant the destruction of Scalvoris, he'd need to evacuate his family. Kalortah knew his limits, and he was not capable of salvaging this situation.

He'd fly off to the mainland, and find his family, arranging for boat travel to elsewhere. Perhaps Korva could be convinced to escort them to another place, but for now, he was fleeing yet another disaster.

He stifled a snort of laughter as he regarded mentally the people he was leaving behind. It was amazing how he'd thought for even a moment that the folk of Scalvoris would be able to govern themselves better than the Aeolian governed the Avriel. Well live and learn. No place was secure that couldn't be secured from the sky on downward. It was unfortunate, but another prejudice was confirmed that day for Kalortah.

[Yeva]

120 Ashan 720

Nothing seemed to be working, no matter what anyone said. Fate was determined to take the pride of others and worsen the situation and it was all extremely frustrating! Why should the whole expedition - the fate of Faldrass - be condemned because a couple people refused to apologize? Yeva's brown eyed bounced between the injured and the others, unable to decide the best course of action. She certainly was no leader, but she cared. She cared too much and her fists clenched.

Ari'sora might have felt justified and Yeva could understand, but these things were hers. To take more, even with good intention, was presumptuous. And Chichi had only scolded her like a parent might a child, wishing for their protection. Didn't the darker haired woman see that this was not just about her, but the group? The half breed was not the chosen guide, it was not up to her to take the burdens of Idalos upon her shoulders and play over prepared savior. And then there was Kal who would rather abandon them all then admit his fault. Such was the way of Avriel, Yeva knew this well enough.

She took a deep breath, brows furrowed when Chichi smiled at her. She wanted them to go without her?

"No," Yeva's protest was soft but earnest and she lowered herself before the other woman, chewing her lip. The brand of slavery had been all too familiar and so she choose her next words carefully, "Yeva need help. ChiChi give help. Yeva trust ChiChi. Oram trust. Darius trust. Yeva need ChiChi. Baron need. Faldrass need."

There was too many creatures in the book to count. Too many oddities about Scalvoris that could injure or maim them. She sighed, unable to understand why the others were so callous towards this woman. Her look was dramatic and severe but Yeva saw nothing wrong with this woman, just the stress of her position, "Wald hurt, Ari hurt. They stay, you come or... Or I... I stop mean word. Please?" she fumbled with the proper words in Dehasin, the language of slaves. She had spoken very little to others in Athart, always worried they would tell their masters and she would be snatched up in Azreal's absence. Still, she tried to appease the woman who had yet to treat her poorly.

She sighed, switching to Common with big, pleading eyes, "I've only read a few pages of our book and I'm already scared to go without you; The trip would lose too much value if you do not come with us."

(When Yeva speaks Dehasin to her, ChiChi clutches Yeva's hand and tears spring to her eyes. In perfect, unbroken Dehasin, she said. "ChiChi will protect you. All of you. Never leave another to hurt. We need to be a team, together. Working together, not hurting each other. When the slaves hurt each other, Masters win. When the team hurt each other, monsters win. ChiChi will not let monsters win." She nodded towards the room where Devin and the others were. "I have no hurt in heart. But she hold grudge against me, she will hesitate. If she hesitates she - others - will be lost. I can not allow that. You understand?" ChiChi squeezed Yeva's hand. "If you need me, I be there. But you make sure dark half-avriel not hesitate. Promise me? I have no grudge, but she must not be second-guessing." Her eyes were trained entirely on Yeva, no one else.)

Yeva listened intently, catching most of what ChiChi was saying. Her own Dehasin needed improvement but the message was clear enough, even in bits and pieces. She was to keep Ari'sora working to the guide's standards, to keep everyone safe. She looked at their hands locked together and nodded, slowly at first but gaining confidence, despite the intensity of the woman's gaze. How could she honor the request? What could she do for Ari? Taking a deep breath, she squeezed ChiChi's hand and stood back up, "Yeva promise."

At that, she drew back her hands and tried to smile, looking at the door where Devin had likely lead the others needing medical attention. She began to turn, "I'm going to see if Devin needs any help with the others. I will be back soon."

!

Message from: Peg

When Yeva speaks Dehasin to her, ChiChi clutches Yeva's hand and tears spring to her eyes. In perfect, unbroken Dehasin, she said. "ChiChi will protect you. All of you. Never leave another to hurt. We need to be a team, together. Working together, not hurting each other. When the slaves hurt each other, Masters win. When the team hurt each other, monsters win. ChiChi will not let monsters win." She nodded towards the room where Devin and the others were. "I have no hurt in heart. But she hold grudge against me, she will hesitate. If she hesitates she - others - will be lost. I can not allow that. You understand?" ChiChi squeezed Yeva's hand. "If you need me, I be there. But you make sure dark half-avriel not hesitate. Promise me? I have no grudge, but she must not be second-guessing." Her eyes were trained entirely on Yeva, no one else.

[Oram Mednix]

Well, that escalated quickly

Oram struggled to find a thread in all the chaos that had just exploded in front of him. First, ChiChi and the Avriel woman squabbled over Ari’sora’s selection of equipment, then the argument escalated to the point that others stepped in to try to stop things from coming to blows, then two people were bleeding from wounds Oram hadn’t seen them get, then… Oram just backed up and leaned against a wall, stunned. In the awkward silence that followed, as Wald and Ari and some newly-arrived guy who was apparently a physician withdrew into another room, the hunter scratched his beard and tried to make sense of what had just happened.

After a moment he cleared his throat. ”Okay, so, we haven’t even left this room, and already there are two people injured and bleeding badly and two other people quitting the party, because somebody wanted to take an extra tarp? What would we do in a real crisis? Cut off each other’s heads?” He shook his head and sighed. Something told him he should be all angry and indignant about this nonsense, but it just made him sad.

”I came here because I heard people needed help. I thought we were all here to do something good. As in: save the whole island good.” He looked over at Darius, the only person he knew, and one of the few who seemed to have any sense. ”Okay, so who’s left? What can we do with who’s left?”

He then looked uncertainly at ChiChi and he made some kind of imploring gesture with his hands. ”How are we supposed to do this without you? I don’t know the way, I barely even know why we’re here. What can I do? If it’s her you can’t get along with,” he nodded towards the door to the room where Ari and Wald were being treated, ”then it seems to me she should stay and you should come, not the other way round. Assuming it even still makes sense to do this thing.”

With that, Oram shook his head and sighed again. He had no further ideas to contribute.

[Darius Baer]

Madness. Chaos. Disarray.

Darius could barely believe what he was seeing, except he knew that it must be real, for his imagination could never conjure up such a scenario.

Not for the first time, he sent a sharp look in Kalortah's direction. The man was a self-proclaimed leader, but he had done nothing to prove it. His comment to Devin, (who, to his credit, was at least trying to calm the situation), only sowed more discord into the group.

As such, it was with no small amount of relief that he saw the departures of Kalortah, and - again, courtesy of Devin - Ari'sora and Wald.

The release of tension when the group left was almost palpable, and Darius could feel his shoulders immediately beginning to relax.

For a moment, it seemed that peace might even dare to return, but ChiChi's defeated comments ensure that would not happen. Darius found himself responding around the same time as Yeva and Oram with a simple shake of his head.

The reality was that the group needed ChiChi. She was much more familiar with the area than anyone else in the group seemed to be, and he feared that if they were left to their own devices - with or without Ari'sora - they might enter the caves and never find their way back out.

The bearded blond watched silently as Yeva spoke to ChiChi in a tongue unfamiliar to the seafarer. What the redhead was saying was a mystery, but her tone was clearly a sympathetic and imploring one. The young woman had already shown greater leadership than those who had already left the room.

"We still go," he replied quietly to Oram as the two seemingly former slaves conversed. "We make use of who we have, and we work together. It's our best and only chance."

Darius felt a sense of resolve beginning to surge through him. The group was small, disjointed, and lacked leadership, but he had no intention of letting Scalvoris Town - and his father, who resided there - be endangered by incompetence.

"Yeva and Oram are right," he said to ChiChi as the two women held each other's hands. "We need you. Scalv needs you. We don't know the area, the dangers, or half the creatures in the book you gave us. But with you as our guide, we stand a chance of succeeding."

He glanced towards the door.

"Let us forget the others if need be," he continued, "and leave them behind. If having a smaller but more united group is the price we must pay to save Faldrass and Scalv Town, then so be it."

He dropped to one knee so that he could be closer to ChiChi's eye level, and his gaze was soft and his voice gentle.

"The injured and the doctor can stay here, at base camp," he added. "If anyone else gets injured, we'll likely need a doctor at base camp, anyway. The rest of us can proceed. There is too much at stake to let this stop us."

He slowly stood, then, having said his piece. He saw no benefit to labouring the point, but he could not deny the anxiety he felt as he awaited ChiChi's response.

[Devin]

A moment after he had asked ChiChi about a room where he’d be able to treat Ari’sora, yet another patient approached Devin, and the Mortalborn just stared at the tall man whose eyes kind of reminded him of a wolf because he had absolutely no idea what was going on. How had two people gotten injured before they had even left the equipment room? Were they so clumsy that they had accidentally stabbed themselves? Were they idiots? Was there some sort of dark magic going on? He didn’t like dark magic!

“Your injury was caused by a bug? Are you sure?” the thief asked and furrowed his brow. There were bugs that gave you such wounds? What kind of shyke was that? For a moment, the Mortalborn was tempted to just run because he didn’t want to become the bugs’ next victim. For a moment, he also felt kind of inadequ … no, he was of course not inadequate, and the fact that he didn’t have any experience when it came to such bugs didn’t matter. He was so talented that he’d become a doctor by just pretending to be one!

Besides, his future husband counted on him!

Devin didn’t thank Yeva for calling him a good doctor. Instead, he beamed at the freckled woman and agreed, “I am! I’m quite an excellent doctor!” Humility had definitely never been the Mortalborn’s forte, but then again, he was quite a bit better than the average Idalosian doctor that was into bloodletting and never cleaned their tools. None of his patients had died so far. That was quite an accomplishment, wasn’t it?

“Can you take care of the winged one?” he asked Yeva. He was actually grateful for her offer. He’d already been wondering how he was supposed to treat two people at the same time. He was talented, and he had all kinds of weird abilities that non-magical people weren’t supposed to have, but even he couldn’t be in two places at the same time!

He wished that he could though!

“She seems to have gotten better for some reason”, he observed as he glanced at Ari’sora again, resisting the urge to strangle her or do something similarly bad, but quite satisfying. “I’m not sure how she’s gotten better in a few bits. Maybe she has some kind of magic?” he mused before he turned to face Wald again as it didn’t seem to be a good idea to delay treatment, judging by the fact how much the man was bleeding.

Putting an arm around the other man who was approximately the same height, but much bulkier, he led him into the room that ChiChi had mentioned, flashing the woman a smile as he did so before he left her and the rest of the wannabe adventurers to whatever they were discussing.

~~~

Devin didn’t like blood. He didn’t find it disgusting. He also didn’t faint upon seeing blood. Being a follower of Delroth who cared about his appearance a great deal, he just didn’t appreciate blood getting on his fancy clothes, so he took his jacket off before he ordered Wald, “Sit down and take your armor and your clothes off, otherwise I won’t be able to treat you!”

“You’ll need stitches! Your wounds are quite deep!” he added, smiling brightly. Tey’droa, the medicine woman that he had worked under in Desnind had told him to always tell the patient what he was doing rather than just making them sit down somewhere and sticking all kinds of sharp things into them.

He was just about to remove a sterile needle and thread from the first aid kit when he remembered yet another thing. Tey’droa had also told him to always clean his hands before treating someone.

He wasn’t sure why – his hands looked pretty nice and clean to him – but he disinfected them and such anyway because he was worried that the scary old Sev’ryn woman would teleport to Scalvoris somehow otherwise and tell him off. She was one of the few people that he was afraid of!

Having cleaned his hands, he put on gloves cleaned and disinfected the wounds and tried to remove as much blood as possible so that he’d actually be able to see what he was doing before he numbed the area so that Wald would hopefully not feel his sticking a needle into him too much. Most people didn’t like pain, unless they were masochists!

Having done that, he furrowed his brow a little. He was quite a skilled doctor, but when it came to surgery … he’d just go about stitching Wald’s wounds the way he went about everything else – with utter confidence! He grabbed a tissue forceps to expose the side of the wound that he started with because he wanted to be able to see where he put his needle.

Before he actually did that, he flashed Wald a smile though and remarked, “This may feel a little weird!” With that, he finally went to work. Even though Devin was definitely not the most experienced surgeon, no matter what he thought, he had quite a steady hand, a result of his regularly playing the lute. If he managed to suture the wounds and stop the bleeding, he would then proceed to apply some antibiotic ointment and bandage everything.

“By the way, if you climb into volcanos and such or go and fight monsters now, the stitches may open up again, so you should be really careful!” he informed Wald brightly before he turned to look at Yeva. “How are you doing? Do you need any help with Ari’sora?” he asked her in a sweet tone, as if he were the nicest man ever. He really hoped that the Baron would be appropriately grateful and give him lots of money and share his bed! Being that nice didn’t feel good!

Notes

Again, Expert Medicine & 25 Surgery. How successful Devin is and how good his stitches and such are will depend on Pegasus of course!