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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Feb 8, 2023 21:49:03 GMT -5
Not one to typically be knocked off her feet, Astrid pushes herself up and looks around. With the magic subsiding, so too does the rumbling. She looks at Gerhart, grateful he seems alright, though somewhat injured, and she lets out a sigh. “That sure was somethin’...” she says, getting to her feet and summoning her war hammer back into her hand.
Looking around at the cavern, bits of dirt and debris still fall, but at a slower rate. Dwarves build these places to last. “I… I think we’re alright,” she says.
Finally, her eyes land on the dwarf half-conscious in the middle of the room. His hand is mangled, and there are scars all across his muscular, warrior frame. The beard covering his face is braided in much the same way the yeti king’s was and just as snow white. Astrid glances over at Gerhart then creeps over to the dwarf carefully. His hand is mangled from the damage of the smash, and there are wounds covering him from Gerhart’s strikes.
She looks over at Gerhart and fishes out a small vial from below her cuirass. “I-I’ve got a thin’ that could heal ‘im fully,” she says. “But if yer hurt, I could give it ta ya instead..?”
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Feb 8, 2023 21:55:49 GMT -5
"No, no, I'm fine I promise." He waves her off before moving to pick up the dwarf a bit. "Maybe uh...close your eyes."
Gerhart shifted the dwarf to sit upright, leaning against a cave wall. He covered the dwarf with a blanket from his pack to protect his dignity and not make anyone see him in such a state. When it seemed like that was settled, the young knight stepped back to let Astrid step in.
He felt the back of his head, noting the little bit of blood. That seemed bad. While Astrid worked on the dwarf, he would take out a bandage and do his best to clean and dress the wound. The throbbing pain in his head was not fun, but the dwarf was in much worse shape so he was fine to just bear the brunt of it for now.
"How's he doing?"
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Feb 10, 2023 23:51:33 GMT -5
With Gerhart turning down the healing in favor of the dwarf, Astrid nods. She lets him cover the man with a blanket and looks at her partner with worry while he bandages his head. If only she had other medicines to help people... Later problem.
Astrid hurries over to the dwarf and pulls the little pendant out, cracking the surface and releasing a drop of glowing blue water, which she lets fall into the dwarf's mouth. His wounds glow with soft white-blue light and slowly stitch themselves closed. She sits back on her knees with a sigh. This guy will probably sleep for a while and they won't get any answers out of him.
A false assumption.
With his wounds healed, the dwarf's eyes open, and he immediately shoots up. His long white hair trails behind him like a glorious snow-white mane. "AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHHH!" he shouts suddenly, his hands rising up, clenched like monster claws. Feeling pain shoot through his back, he instantly clenches and howls in pain. "OUCH! ME BACK! ARGH!! THAT SMARTS!"
Completely fuckin' startled, Astrid scoots back away quickly, her hammer flying into her hand, poised for attack. She looks as much like a startled cat as Cantio ever has.
Essence of the North (1/topic)
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Feb 11, 2023 11:12:32 GMT -5
"Whoa whoa easy there eeeeeeeasy." Gerhart tries to calm the down the dwarf who's eyes fill with confusion, pain, and fear. "You're not a yeti anymore...you're free buddy. Back to your old dwarfy self."
The dwarf eyes them both suspiciously, his gaze darting towards the axe for a second. He goes to make a lunge for it when he sees his hand and stops completely. The dwarf holds his hand closer to his face....then his other hand is brought close for inspection. The hands suddenly slap the face, patting it and moving around his newly shaved and naked body. As the realization starts to set in the confusion in his eyes turns to elation. He slowly starts a little laugh that devolves into a cackle.
"Ya did it! I've been that cursed yeti few centuries and now I'm back! I don't know how you tall folk do it, I kept bumpin me head intah everything!"
Gerhart gives a small laugh and sigh of relief, thank Ginma it worked and the dwarf was just a little weird and not still blood thirsty. "Well if you want to be thanking anyone, thank Astrid. If she didn't know dwarf stuff we probably really would've ended up killing you."
"Well....can't say I woulda blamed ya. Probably woulda tried to kill ya to....looks like I did anyways." The dwarf laughs and points at the head bandages.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Feb 12, 2023 20:06:44 GMT -5
"Ya sure did," Astrid says, letting herself relax with a sigh. "Figured ya would. Ya were holdin' onta that axe like yer life depended on it..." She sits back on the broken stone floor and sets her hammers down beside her. "Sounds like it was part of this curse of yers, huh?"
"Aye, it were!" the dwarf says, spinning on his ass to turn to look at her. His thick brow furrows and his pink bottom lip purses out while he looks at her. "Ye know 'dwarf stuff,' as yer friend said? What's that mean, eh? What are ya? Not thick enough ta be a dwarf. What d'ye know about the dwarvish tongue?"
Astrid thinks this guy asks a lot of questions for someone who's been a yeti for a few centuries. Also, a few centuries?? "Erm... Me mum's a dwarf," she says. "Not sure about me da. I can read a bit and speak dwarvish. That's how we got ta talkin' with ya and figured out what we needed ta do ta break yer curse."
"AH! A dwarven bastard! A devil-blooded one at that." He taps his head as if noting her horns. "Well, I'll take whatever I can get!" he laughs gleefully. There's no malice in his seeming insult, and his laughter reveals a couple of missing teeth. "What clan are ye from, girl? Oh, me name's Hekkun of Clan Blodbrev."
It's a bit surprising to be called a bastard and this taken lightly as a joke. Hekkun seems a bit off-kilter to say the least. Astrid glances past the laughing dwarf towards Gerhart for a moment before looking at the raucous, white-haired man again. "I'm Astrid Stormstone," she says. Suddenly, the laughter dies.
"Stormstone??" Hekkun cries, his eyes wide. His palm meets his forehead, and he's obviously exasperated. "They're still kickin' about? Thought they got rightly banished from good ol' Frost Gale. Damn bird worshippers. Er, no offense, girl."
In all honesty, Astrid just looks really confused but also shocked. "B-Banished?" she stammers.
"What? Yer a girl of Clan Stormstone, and ye don't know nothin' 'bout yer history?"
Astrid's eyes fall, and she gives a disheartened shrug. "No. I'm an orphan, I guess."
"Ye guess?"
"Ain't seen me mum in years... Never lived with no clan or nothin'. All I really got's the name."
"And ye don't know yer da. Hm. Well, I s'pose that's too bad, ain't it? Afraid I don't know much more than that they were banished. Figured they'd all 'ave died out after bein' cut off."
"Why?" Astrid asks, looking at Hekkun again. "Ya called 'em bird worshippers. That mean they worshipped Avasha?"
"Aye, caused a real stink with the other clans, it did. Ol' Ginma's our proper patron! He an' the ancestors, o' course." As he says this, Hekkun puts his fist to his hairy, bare chest proudly.
A small smile plays at the corner of Astrid's mouth. She found Avasha in her own way, so hearing that her clan worshipped the sky goddess feels nice, like she's found some connection to what little family history she has. "Well, what about ya?" she asks. "How'd ya get cursed ta bein' a yeti?"
"Ol' Clan Blodbrev were warmongers!" Hekkun laughs. "Came an' bit us right in the arse, it did. Some mage came 'round an' cursed the whole clan, 'e did. Told us te lay down our weapons or 'e'd make us pay. Said if we wanted te act like monsters, we might as well be monsters. We thought we'd just kill 'im." He looks over at the remnants of his battle axe in the spell circle. "Look where that got us... Well, ye've both figured it all out and fixed the lot o' us. Ye have me thanks fer that."
Hekkun gets to his feet and the blanket over him slides right off his legs. "Ah, whoops," he says, gathering it up and wrapping it around his waist like a kilt. "There we go. Now... Where in the Hells are the rest of me clan kin? Come on out! We've got a home te rebuild!"
"Blodbrev..." Astrid repeats in a murmur. "Bloodletters. Ya don't think that's a name ya wanna keep, is it?"
Hekkun strokes his beard with a contemplative hum. "Good point. Think of somethin' new, would ye?" Without waiting for her, he starts walking towards the hall out of the throne room. Each footfall sounds like a wet slap against the stone. He carries the same limp he did as a yeti. Truly, Hekkun is a man without shame. He starts clapping his hands together slowly, trying to draw some attention to himself as he yells down the halls.
"Come out, ye lazy louts! Let's gooo!"
Astrid looks at Gerhart, just absolutely baffled by the strange man they saved from the curse of a yeti. Apparently, the room full of yetis were also dwarves because as they follow the clanleader, they start to see confused and delirious dwarves wandering out of the halls towards the noise Hekkun's making.
"Well... that explains why they were a bit smaller than a regular yeti, don't it?" she asks tiredly. Looking ahead, she sees many of the dwarves have icy white hair. Is it a carry over from the yeti curse? Or maybe their hair was always white. That gives her an idea, which she presents to Gerhart. "Hm, what d'ya think about suggestin' Clan Frostmane ta him?"
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Feb 13, 2023 10:49:27 GMT -5
Gerhart takes a much needed seat as well seeing as everything had finally winded down for good. For a centuries old yeti, that dwarf could still kick some ass. His ribs were going to still feel it in the morning.
He listens quietly at the exchange, dwarven history going far over his head. Though when Astrid mentions being an orphan, that he can connect with. He can't even remember what his real parents looked like at this point....what they did....who they were. Hearing Astrid's whole clan had been banished over the god they worshipped added a whole new level of complexity to this.
Slowly, the ranger pulls himself to his feet as he sees they are getting ready to move again.
"Well first I'd suggest some proper clothes, an actual pair of pants is a good start." He gives a tired laugh as he watches the dwarves start to file out in varying states of confusion. "But Clan Frostmane seems fitting....they don't seem to mind to cold much and well they got the look."
He pauses to look around the cave and all the faded dwarven imagery. "Do you think they should stay here? I can't imagine any of the stuffed shirts in the Pale City would be happy a surprise clan of dwarves is just building an outpost...Don't want to get these guys hopes up for a new life only to get bullied again."
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Feb 14, 2023 0:23:27 GMT -5
It never really occurred to Astrid to bring an additional change of clothes along to give to someone who might need them. In this case, there’s way too many dwarves for that to matter, she thinks. Still, she can’t help a tired chuckle in response to getting them some pants. “Ya got a hundred pairs of pants in yer bag?” she jokes.
“Aye, they look the part’s exactly what I was thinkin’, but…” Astrid looks around at the ruined dwarf home. For this place to be functional again would take quite a lot of work, but if it’s their ancestral home, they’ll probably put the work in even if they don’t stay here. “I dunno if we could convince them ta go. They’re a stubborn lot, an’ dwarves take a lot of pride in ancestral places… Maybe we should just tell the folks in Pale City about ‘em. They can do all the politics or whatever.”
With that, she strolls over to Hekkun with Gerhart and waits for him to stop barking out orders to the dazed dwarves in front of him.
"Ah, 'ere they are, our 'eroes! Little Astrid an'-" He realizes he didn't get the human's name. "an'...?"
"He's Gerhart!"
"-An' Gerhurt!"
"GerHART."
"GERHART! 'Eroes o' our clan! And we'll be leavin' that ol' blood monger name behind in favor o'-" Another pause as Hekkun looks at Astrid and Gerhart. "Ye get a name fer us yet?"
"How's Frostmane sound?" Astrid asks.
Hekkun's eyes light up with glee and he lets out a raucous roar as he presents it to his dwarven fellows. "Our clan's 'enceforth known as Clan Frostmane!! It's a new day! Our 'ome looks like shit, so get te work!" The dwarves cheer, though it's half-hearted as they all look like they've woken from a deep slumber. Hekkun turns back to Astrid and Gerhart. "So. What's next?"
"We're headed back ta Pale City," Astrid says. "We'll let 'em know that yer here, and ya can handle the rest 'cause I don't know much about politics."
"Aye, wouldn't expect ye te, yer a child," Hekkun says, nodding as if he said something of sagely wisdom. "Best let the big guy do the talkin'."
Astrid ignores the definitely not veiled insult. "We'll work together like we've been doin', I think. But yeah, he can do all the talkin'."
"Well, ye both 'ave me thanks and me axe should ye ever need it," Hekkun says, offering them each a handshake.
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Feb 14, 2023 16:57:35 GMT -5
"You say that as if I'm any better at talking politics." He gives a small laugh as he shakes Hekkun's hand. "Let's maybe think of new thinks you fellas can do that has less to do with axes....or at least less violence....suppose you could be like lumberjacks. Still would use your axe."
Gerhart shrugs as he starts to lead them out the cave and back towards the Pale City. He wasn't quite sure what to say to anyone in a position of power about this. Can't just waltz up and say hey, there's like a hundred or so naked dwarves in a cave who used to be yetis, but they are back to dwarves now, can you be cool about it?
Actually.....maybe that would work. It's about as simply put of a situation as he can manage. Astrid can handle the finer points of dwarven customs or whatever gaps there are in Gerhart's short-term memory, but eh....it's as workable a story as they got. Let's see if it works!
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Feb 14, 2023 23:12:06 GMT -5
Hekkun's face suddenly grows cherry red as he gets as angry as if Gerhart just offended his mother. "True dwarves work stone, boy, not wood! Lumberjacks! PAH!"
"Okay, now yer bein' super rude," Astrid says. "How ya gonna say warm in this cold, huh?"
The red fades from Hekkun's face. "Ah, true." With how quick the man is to anger, it makes sense that his clan came to ruin as warmongers. Astrid starts to wonder if they attacked merchants for fun at this point. "Anyway, ye two can be leavin'!" With that Hekkun waves them off and gets back to barking orders at his people.
Astrid goes with Gerhart to get out of the ancient dwarf home. "So we'll just keep it simple, I s'pose, and we'll let the fancy adults handle all the crazy stuff!" she says with a laugh. When they go by the entrance chamber, it looks like the yetis in there that consequently became dwarves again seem to be in alright shape, being treated by other dwarves. "Ah... I'm real sorry about alla this..." she says apologetically. They shrug a bit and wave them off.
Before long, Astrid and Gerhart are on the road again returning to Pale City feeling tired but in much better spirits about the whole thing than before. They did technically deal with the yetis...
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