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Post by Noa on Jul 30, 2019 19:49:50 GMT -6
Aster had seen halfbreeds before, ones created by the labs, and not all of those came well either. But even looking at it now, when it was still enough for him to study the details, he wasn't sure what they could have possibly combined to make this thing. The heads---
No, he didn't want to look at the heads. Aster was no stranger to grisly sights, but he didn't have it in him to make sense of the corpse before him today. He had no desire to know anything more about it, though he did suddenly have the very strong urge to find the man who had given him this task and deck him.
[That,] said Avander emphatically, [was awful. I’ll be glad if I never have to fight that kind of thing again.] The drake was breathing hard, bleeding from an assortment of new wounds, and bruised and aching besides. He was still conscious, and it was clear that he could still move, but they would have to get him to a healer’s within the day.
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Post by Noa on Jul 30, 2019 19:51:43 GMT -6
Aster, who had emerged relatively unscathed, felt a little guilty looking at the drake. Now that they weren’t fighting for their lives, he could make out an ugly red weal across Avander’s left shoulder, where the beast must have roasted him in their initial exchange.
At least it was now just one wound among many. Though Aster didn’t know if that made it better or worse, actually. Probably worse.
"You said it," Aster replied, but there was no energy in his words. Now that the adrenaline had left him, he felt drained. He felt deathly, horribly tired, even as anger toward the mage or understudy or whatever that man had been moved through him.
Gingerly, Avander nosed at him. [You alright?] the drake asked.
Aster did manage a weak chuckle at that, though it was more to reassure Avander than anything else. "I should be the one asking you that," he said, shaking his head.
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Post by Noa on Jul 30, 2019 19:55:13 GMT -6
When the drake pressed his concern, however, Aster shook his head again. "I'm fine. Just a couple of bruises. Nothing that won't be gone in a couple of days." He had been through such magnitudes of things worse than the condition he was in now that the idea of his not being okay at the moment felt laughable, but he knew that this wasn't what Avander wanted to hear.
The drake had come along to protect him, after all. And what a grim, thankless job it had turned out to be. He looked around him with disgust, then began making for the stairs. "Let's get out of here," he said.
Avander said. The drake limped slowly after him, and Aster, clocking his gait, slowed his own pace so that Avander might not have to push himself.
"Change my mind. We've done our job. If he wants a cleanup crew, he can hire someone else to do it."
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Post by Noa on Jul 30, 2019 20:02:14 GMT -6
What, monster slaying and housekeeping? That would be way too convenient. And after what they'd just gone through, Aster was feeling the opposite of charitable. He had calmed enough to conclude that punching the man on sight wasn't conducive to getting paid or being hired by anyone again, but he had only let go of the idea reluctantly. Very reluctantly.
[Whatever you say,] Avander said.
"Well, it's not like either of us have fire powers," Aster said. "And last I checked, I wasn't carrying a flamethrower on me.
[More's the pity. I wouldn't have minded seeing that thing go up in flames,] Avander said.
Small talk and banter got them up the stairs, and Aster had to force himself not to dwell on how strained the drake's breathing had become, or the worsening of the limp as they went.
It abated again somewhat once they were on level ground, but they still had to go slowly. Aster wanted to ask how Avander was doing, but wasn't sure the drake would tell him the truth.
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Post by Noa on Jul 30, 2019 20:05:32 GMT -6
And given the choice between letting him be and spurring him into some false show of bravado, Aster felt that he'd rather take the former than the latter.
As they came around the corner that separated the stairs from the main receiving room, Aster blinked in surprise to see the mess from earlier. It shouldn't have come as a surprise at all; they had just been here, what... less than an hour ago? Yes, certainly less than an hour, though somehow it felt much longer than that. And in the meantime, he had forgotten all about all this.
Would that he had some magic left to clear away the debris. But he didn't bother trying. He didn't do a great deal of magic, but he knew his limits well, and he knew with certainty that he had spent himself down there between getting free and restraining the beast with his spells. There was nothing left.
(Avander: +9)
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Post by Renathan on Jul 30, 2019 20:17:17 GMT -6
Well, it is quite a mess in here, isn't it? Enough for something to be hiding... How many monsters were there supposed to be again? And what was that infernal scratching sound?
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Post by Noa on Jul 30, 2019 20:31:38 GMT -6
There was nothing for it but for them to pick their way through the mess again, this time much more slowly and painstakingly than they had done before. Aster went in front this time, taking point much as Avander had done in the beginning. He cleared away as much as he could to make the passage easier for Avander to navigate.
If the drake noticed, he made no protest, nor even any comment on the proceedings altogether. That was a bad enough sign. If he didn't notice, well... It was probably just as well that healing was free in the city, though Aster didn't look forward to explaining this one to the healer.
Just as they reached the door, however, the drake paused. Aster paused with him, brows furrowing in concern. "What is it---"
[Quiet,] Avander said. The thought was a labored one, but there was force behind it, a mental tone that brooked no argument.
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Post by Noa on Jul 30, 2019 20:34:50 GMT -6
Aster was still concerned, but he complied, and they waited for the span of several long breaths. He could see Avander's ears moving back and forth, and some of the focus had returned to the drake's eyes, though he looked as though he had to call it back from some ways away.
[There's something else moving up here,] Avander concluded.
Aster's eyes widened, then narrowed. [No,] he said firmly. He shifted back to using their connection through the ribbon, but this time only so they could avoid drawing any unnecessary attention. If there was any other nonsense in this thrice-blasted tower, then that was someone else's problem, or at least a problem for another day. Aster didn't actually have a death wish, and even if he wanted to die, this wasn't the kind of place where he'd have wanted to do it. [We are leaving now. Maybe when you're well again and I've got my magic back, we'll think about dealing with it, but we're not going to go hunting anything now.]
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Post by Noa on Jul 30, 2019 20:37:44 GMT -6
Aster's tone brooked no argument either, and Avander, in his current state, was loath to put up any protest. Indeed, Aster couldn't have imagined that the drake had any reason to. Avander was not the kind of eager to please creature that reveled in a job done thoroughly to someone else's satisfaction, and his stake in all this was even less than Aster's own, for all that he had suffered more in their attempt at it.
The door opened, and after a long pause, the door closed again. The two of them had come out much the worse for wear, but they had come out alive. That was something, at least.
Still, the drake's words haunted him, and Aster was the one who now paused just outside the door, considering it.
"You got any ice left in you?" he said slowly. Avander turned to him, tired but curious still, silently questioning his line of thought.
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Post by Noa on Jul 30, 2019 20:41:46 GMT -6
"This," Aster said, motioning to the door. "You think you could case it over with ice?" That would at least keep anything from getting out the most obvious way. In all honesty, he didn't want to be asking this of Avander when the drake was clearly ready for some rest. And though the effort required to make the ice wall was more mental than physical, his wounds had to have taken a mental toll on him too.
But Avander didn't refuse outright, and seemed to be giving the question some serious thought. Experimentally, he glowered at the door, and a thin sheet of ice began to form over it, some of it clustering into the nascent beginnings of something that might have vaguely resembled the icicles that comprised his fully formed ice wall.
Avander stopped, then began, then stopped again. [Feels like I could do it,] he concluded at last. He didn't sound eager about it, but he didn't sound uncertain about it either.
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Post by Noa on Jul 30, 2019 20:47:01 GMT -6
Thus, Aster stood back to let him have a proper go at it. Avander closed his eyes a moment, as though he was gathering power, then glowered at the door again. This time there was an audible creaking of ice groaning against ice as the thin layer that he had already formed expanded outward. The spires were less dramatic, and the whole thing seemed a little lopsided from being adhered completely on one side to the door and its surrounding wall, but when Avander finally stopped, they'd formed a pretty good barricade.
{I don't know how long that's going to hold,] Avander said. [Ice melts.]
He had a good point, but at this point Aster couldn't think of anything else they might do beyond bringing the whole tower down, and he was pretty sure that wasn't what the man at the quest board was looking for. He could have always claimed ignorance, said that the request was just to kill a monster, but even so, that would have been stretching things a bit.
(Avander: +10) (count to here added to Aster's levels)
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Post by Renathan on Jul 30, 2019 21:03:03 GMT -6
You have rolled a success! Your QP will be added to the bank, and your prize will be sent to you shortly via message. Feel free to continue roleplaying if you wish!
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