2018-05-09: The Frozen Stampede
- Log: The Frozen Stampede
- Cast: Jack Van Burace, Riesenlied, Noeline
- Where: Meribus Roads
- Date: 9th May 2018
- Summary: Riesenlied and Noeline come upon a slain ambush harrassing a caravan, with a chill surprise...
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.
Travel along the roads of these beautiful plains is for the most part, safe. At least safe from bandits. There are still other hazards, especially for those that stray off the beaten path.
However where there are merchants and traders, there will always be those that weigh risk and reward and come down firmly on the side of risk.
Which is what sets up situations like this.
A small caravan of a pair of wagons. Just after the remnants of some kind of pitched battle. Maddened beasts of some kind litter the ground between two small hillocks not far from the road. Shell shocked merchants move between the wagons, both showing heavy damage. One missing a wheel. Another with a cracked axel. Wounded move slowly, slightly in shock.
And all around the field of the battle is...frost. Ice covering the ground. The corpses. Though the merchants themselves don't seem to be the ones that could have caused this level of destruction.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It's fortunate that Riesenlied isn't running into even more bandits, after the kerfluffle that she got into with Amelia that could've just led to her arrest.
But on her way back to Vane, joined by Noeline (who probably gave her an earful and a half), her breath hitches as she stares ahead-- cupping her mouth to her lips as she hurries ahead, driven by her instinct of protecting others. "A-are you all right?" she asks one of the nearby merchants. "What happened here?"
The shine from the Dragon's Tear is already lit in her hands, as she readies herself for healing for those who need it-- but she notices the ice as well.
"Frost...? Could it be..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is the one to spot the devastation first, naturally the more cautious of the pair when it comes to travelling around so close to major cities; it pays to keep a look out for the Guard, she's found, especially when your partner beloved has more or less just confessed to an array of heathen crimes. Amelia may be an ally of sorts, but it pays to be careful. Besides, Lunar's roads feel a great deal less safe than Filgaia's, teeming with life and Malevolence as the moon is.
Case in point: the wagons ahead. Having taken to gearing and styling herself as some kind of dark knight - and given it's Noeline, probably a darke knyght - the twintailed girl may be a welcome sight jogging up to the caravan, her slim spear held at the ready. "Is anyone hurt?" she asks urgently, and her brow furrows sharply as the edge of the ice field cracks under her boot.
That raises some questions, and she's not sure of the answers just yet. It could easily be a Seraph or a Guardian, as much as it could be anything Malevolent. Carefully, then, she nudges one corpse with the tip of her spear, trying to get a sense for what exactly must have happened here and who lost out the most. "Have they been driven off?"
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.
At first the arrival of two newcomers brings fresh worry to the faces of the poor merchants but their questions that worry turns to relief. The apparent leader turns towards Riesenlied first as he helps a young woman to her feet. There are only five of them there, most of them bearing some kind of wound. Beasts talon and fang having been brought to bear from...
"Ambush, m'lady." The old man says. "Maddened beasts fell upon us. They hid till we were close enough though. Cunning devils." He glowers at the pack of corpses. Some sliced in two. Some pierced by ice. Some trampled as if by some great beast.
"Our horses bolted, damaged the wagons when they ran. We can collect them now but..." All of them bear wounds. "...if either of you are good at the healing arts we would be much appriciated...our employer does not seem well versed in them..."
"No," This new voice comes as a figure astride a great steed tops the hillock. "No I am not."
Armored in dark blue armor, full plate of the finest craftsmanship. A cursed blade at his side pulsing soft amounts of Malevolence out into the atmosphere with each heartbeat of its bearer. He sits astride a massive warhorse, just as armored as he is. Every inch a dark knight. Or in his case a fallen one.
Garrett Stampede does know how to make an entrance.
His massive horse stamps once, ice-white mane matching the knight's hair as the angry beast glowers at the pair of Demons. Garrett's gaze is only slightly more friendly. Only slightly.
Hate and anger spike towards Noeline. Those the emotions are slightly more conflicted in Riese's direction.
"So," His voice an angry rumble. "I see you two survived so far."
The merchants at this point have the good sense to look slightly nervous. Their wagons laden with food, stone, wood, raw materials.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks towards the first of her wounds and already concentrates her senses on the Tear, bringing the empathic light to aid those that are injured to ease their pains and help their cuts and bruises mend. "Yes, right away..." as the merchant explains and asks them for help with the healing arts.
Employer...?
Her voice is clipped and halted when the new voice comes, and her eyes widen as Garrett arrives atop his steed. Still with that blade, ensconed in Malevolence... it visibly causes Riesenlied to wilt a little, just from how sensitive she is.
"Garrett...!" she expresses, her eyes widening. She winces softly, looking towards Noeline as if warning her -- then looks back towards him. "Did you... protect these people from-- the beasts?"
She'll continue her medical work unless interrupted, since tending to the wounds of those who need it is her priority at the moment.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's attention sharpens to a point on the man's words, furrowing her brow; she nods a single time once she's done listening, letting out a breath of relief as it becomes clear there isn't an active and present threat. "... I'm no healer, I'm afraid, but I can at least help keep an eye on things until your horses are safe," she offers with a lightly apologetic smile, turning to tilt her head towards her companion. "For healing, you would have to look--"
She stops dead with an amused huff when it becomes all too clear Riese is way ahead of her. "Alright, then," she notes as she turns back, clapping her hands together. "In which direction did they bolt? We don't have a great deal of time before sunset, I suppose, and I would not like to be out on the roads past th--en."
The pause is tiny, but it's there; she doesn't need to turn around to have an excellent idea of what's waiting behind her, and while her own senses are dulled when it comes to Malevolence she's still finding that having a Medium lodged inside of you carries with it a few fringe benefits.
"... despite the best attempts of two worlds and some old 'friends', yes," she says lightly as she turns slowly around, letting her spear 'dissolve' back into her. There's no sense in being hostile, not right now, but she can't help the very Noeline brand of sarcasm slip through into her voice. "We have enough to make up for, after all, that we cannot simply drop dead."
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.
A chuckle as the swordsman swings off his horse to impact the sod with a heavy thud. "Don't look so shocked, Riesenlied." He says darkly as he pats the neck of the warhorse for a moment.
The horse itself has its own miasma of Malevolence and stands stock still as Garrett leaves it to approach. Its gaze is fixed on Noeline. As if it thinks she might look tasty, but it doesn't move.
So that is a positive at the very least.
He moves with that save swift agility, even in his new armor. His sure steps closing the distance between him and the wagons. In face and bearing, apart from the armor, he looks not that different than he had before. The full Hellion form of his repressed for the moment, only his white hair marking him as something different.
The merchants meanwhile busy themselves, some clutter around Riese to receive that offered healing, their gratitude a soothing balm in the face of Garrett's sharp edged aura. "Ah please mistress, one or two of us can find the horses. Its the wagons I'm worried about. We can replace the wheel but moving it right now...we have not the strength."
The knight looks at one of the pair of wagons, the one with the splintered axle with a frown. Arms crossed over his chest he chuckles darkly. "Ah more is the pity." This is towards Noeline. "Would make my line of work much easier if you would."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied probably shouldn't looked so shocked, but it's pretty much standard procedure to give someone lipservice shock when they make a heck of an entrance on an armored warsteed, okay. And, you know, it's Riesenlied.
She looks concernedly to Noeline and-- lowers her head, biting her lip as she continues to bring healing towards the merchants that need them.
He isn't like when she faced him before, in that little border crossing in Krosse -- his malevolent aura was suppressed...
"... I had spoken with Ida, but I'd not caught wind of you or Rosaline..." Riesenlied finds herself speaking. She looks towards the wagon axle, and then nods to Noeline. She doesn't have the strength to lift it up, but Noeline easily could, with her full Hyadean strength.
"How... have you been?" she asks. It's a really strange question to ask, perhaps, but she doesn't want to aggress upon Garrett. It doesn't do them any favours, it doesn't do the merchants any favours either.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline takes a step back with a light frown as she's addressed by the merchant; all the better an excuse to draw away from the dread horse ever so slightly, the demon maintaining eye contact with it for a moment more before she decides it's probably best to break their gaze. "Perhaps," she agrees with the imposing man with a solemn frown. "Though these days, we tend to be in the same line of work."
It's tempting, oh so tempting, to just come out and say point-blank that Berserk is dead, partially thanks to her blade. Something stops her, though, and it takes her a moment to pin down the reasons why. It feels cheap, to use so pivotal a moment to score points. It's not that she even knows how Garrett, consumed by Malevolence, will react to the news, or whether it would even begin to be enough in his eyes. And meeting anger with petulance is probably a terrible idea.
Instead, she lets out a sigh, and focuses forwards on the wagon in front of her. "Better get a couple of you ready with that wheel, then," she comments instead as she kneels down, working her shoulder under the wagon's axle; a pause to gather herself and then she heaves upwards, squinting in effort as she hoists the weight of the carriage off of its broken wheel.
Perhaps Riese really has rubbed off on her - it's more of a show of trust than she'd normally manage in a situation like this, effectively pinning herself under a burden and leaving herself open.
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.
That horses dead eyes just /stare/. Unblinking. Unmoving. The colors all wrong too. Like a corpse of a beast too long in the ice. Makes you wonder what is actually under the armor.
But it doesn't smell and it's not attacking. So. That is something.
Right?
"I've been...adjusting." He says as he cuts a glance towards Riese and Noe. There is a calculating look as Noeline places herself in such a vulnerable position. A tension across his shoulders and his eyes. His hand twitches a fraction towards the hilt of his sword before he arrests the movement. The conflict is there. The hate against the /very/ begrudging realsion that not /every/ Demon lives up to the name.
His eyes cut back to the second wagon, even as the few merchants that can gape at Noeline's show of strength and then rush forwards with a spare wheel.
"J-just hold it there for a moment..." Calls one as they set to work. "...I...you can't be bigger than my niece at home how..."
"Bill! Stop gwapin' and start hammerin!"
"Found a place to stay," He finally says with a smirk. "Its not /that/ bad a place. Any more at least. The last resident was very stubborn about leaving though."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Adjusting..." Riesenlied finishes with the last of the merchants that need healing, patting them on the shoulder to express, "Don't strain your arm and it'll heal completely in a week or so." It's strange, but... alleviating, to be able to help people in this way. Watching her powers of empathy and feeling grow over time... even as her body continues to slowly degrade in exchange...
She looks back towards Noeline, standing up as if to stand in front of her. If Noeline is brushing off on Riese... it shows, because she has a protective instinct too.
"... a place to stay...?" Riesenlied asks, tilting her head. She can't help think of the Nameless Spire... but such places, infested by hellions, isn't exactly /rare/ where Malevolence is concerned.
"Garrett... I know I have no right to say this to you -- but do not sink deeper. Malevolence is not your ally, no matter how it feels... it will not hesitate to take advantage of you."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline has developed a very careful sense of caution over the years, and knows full well that the best way to deal with an angry horse - let alone a Malevolent one - is just to disengage. Besides, she would be entirely prepared to believe that all horses were Malevolent in some fashion or another. Even the ones on Filgaia, long before any sign of the mysterious force of nature turned up there.
The spy watches Garrett's hand slip towards his hilt - but whether it's due to her position in the midst of the merchants, or a brief show of trust, or something a terrifically devil-may-care attitude, she doesn't budge from her position. "It's a matter of training and good eating," she jokes instead, showing a fang as looks aside to grin brightly at the stunned man next to her. "You're telling me you couldn't do the same, old man?"
Again, she almost goes for the Crimson Noble joke, but-- well, something tells her that even white lies might not go down so well with the man stood in front of them, not right at the moment.
"--Lunar is just as thick with ruins as Filgaia is, I suppose. Less dust, mind you," she grunts with effort as she strains under the weight, wincing a little as Riesenlied moves to cover her. That part makes her more restless, puffing out a breath slowly - and she can't mask the wince as Riesenlied comments outright on the nature of Malevolence.
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.
"Mmmm. A place to stay. A proper castle. If a small one. Its cozy enough though, and I'm fairly sure it can be made to be pleasant. After all, if we're stuck here awhile...we don't have to be entirely uncivilized about it. I'm not quite sure you'd like to visit though..." There is a smirk towards Riese then even as she steps in front of Noeline. A quirked eyebrow. A chuckle. A shake of his head.
"If I wanted to start a fight I would have done it by now." He drawls towards the pair of them. "And if it had been any others of your type then I just might have." A pause. "/Did/ any more of them make it here?" He asks, back to the pair of them as he crouches slightly to grip the edge of the wagon.
He doesn't even pretend to hide the unnatural strength, hoisting the vehicle off the ground enough to point a hand at the axle. Ice forming and reinforcing around the break as the shapes and molds the frost into something that might hold till proper repairs can be made.
The merchants stare at the pair of Noe and Garrett and once again wonder just what the hell they got into.
This is what they get for trying to make a little extra coin.
"Oh it is. Ruins, haunted castles, strange beasts and corrupted wizards. Its full of all sorts of things to distract and test against."
There is a /whump/ as he lets the wagon fall back to the earth.
He dusts his hands off before he nods easily. "You're right, Rieseliend. You haven't got a right to say just about anything to me. But that never has stopped your kind in the past."
He's more proficient with the powers he has now. More adept at using them. More comfortable with them. Its a slippery slope he's on. Seduced by the siren song of more power, power that he actually seems to possess now. Far in excess of what he once showed.
"Its one of the few allies I have left anymore. I'll need it when I have to deal with the rest of the Quarters."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied softly draws breath, as Garrett explains that he has a /castle/. Even if a small one, it's a castle, and from the way he insinuates it... it's probably a castle that was probably lived-in by a hellion or some other kind of monster, given the 'previous inhabitant' he was talking about.
"... I know that Lord Siegfried and Alhazred did not," Riesenlied expresses. "And neither will Berserk be... joining us..." She doesn't mention Harken, because she genuinely doesn't know where the red-haired Quarter Knight went to.
Her lips are thin as she thinks on the memory again, which wounds her heart. It shouldn't, and yet it... still does.
She's surprised at how much supernatural strength Malevolence has imbued him with... it shouldn't, again, given how much of a powerful bruiser Ida became -- and how fast her wounds healed...
"... Cecilia and Rudy are both worried about you," she expresses firmly. "Don't forsake their trust in you. They are your allies, and continue to be. At the very least, trust them... because I know you cannot trust me."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
At least the spy can find it in her to joke, especially when Garrett makes his intentions today more clear. "You never know - I can appreciate a good castle. It's the right sense of gravitas," she finds herself saying, her mouth running just a little on automatic. "I wouldn't recommend making it too haunted, or glow, or anything of the sort, however. The Guard are rather a proactive lot when they're on their home turf, we're finding," she sighs out in mild annoyance.
She grunts as the man takes half of the load for her, reorienting herself to better carry the rest of the weight. It gives her an opportunity to catch her breath, gather her thoughts, and register the question they've been posed. "... Berserk is dead, and Lady Harken fled in pursuit of his body, presumably out of range of the transporter," she confirms it more clearly, pausing in her work to at least deliver the statement in a solemn manner.
The ice sculpts along the axle, bracing the rest of the wheel in place; Noeline raises her eyebrows just a little at the sight, letting her Medium-given senses feel out the sensation of Malevolent force before it's time to slip out from under the wagon. She tries to soften the way it rocks back to ground, but it's still a lot of weight for just her alone.
"... facing them with raw power alone will only mean you're met by raw power. It took more than a few people to fell Berserk, even with Miss Everstead-Rey there with us," she cautions. It's a distinctly different sort of argument compared to Riesenlied's, and she'd be lying if she said it wasn't an attempt to appeal to the man's overriding emotions.
That said, she's also careful not to linger on the statement, quick to check the cart and heave out a breath as she catches hers.
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.
"And if Ida hadn't been there," Garrett's voice is deceptively mild. "You would likely have been reduced to your component parts. I saw her afterwards. You forget, we happen to be friends." There is a twitch of a smile there. "I'd wish you two her best, but I'm not sure if that's accurate. Polite, but possibly not accurate."
His powers seem more in tune to him. The stuttering stop and start he had before is gone. He's confident but not desperate in search of this granted power.
He comfortable in his own, corrupted, skin.
The merchants though, they hurry to get back on their wagons. This talk of haunted castles and strange goings on have unnerved them. Not to mention Noeline's crack about the Guard.
They don't want to cross the Guard!
"Ah," Again his voice is soft as he turns towards Riesenlied once more. There is a crooked smile on his face, but his eyes burn with a violet hate that she would almost imeadeatly recognize. A hate kindled by one very specific name.
Alhazred.
"Well. I'll have to survive my little side trip here. So I can get back safe and sound and then happily rip the head off that little toads twisted body."
His words are quietly spoken enough, but with such conviction it is almost a physical thing.
He's trying /not/ to worry the merchants any more than they already are.
A odd touch of concern from the Hellion.
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.
"As for Rudy and Cecilia..." There is a pause. A frown of regret. "...I chose my path. I can't ask them to walk with me into the darkness. Cecilia might not understand, but Rudy...he might."
Noeline has partially disconnected.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied isn't about to really get into the argument of what might've happened if any of them weren't there, because... in the end, they /all/ pitched in. Including Odoryuk, whose voice she can't hear anymore... and speaking to Garrett, like this, reminds her of what she has forgotten in Elru all this time.
Garrett is definitely looking more comfortable with his powers than he did before. That's bad. Not just for them, but because with greater ease comes a greater desire to slip further into the role...
And the eventual fall will be all the more painful for it.
"... we all will. We must return to Filgaia... because our battle to protect the statues has not ended yet, even with this divergence," Riesenlied mutters. She casts her glance to Garrett with a quiet wince as he espouses his hate for Alhazred.
She can't disagree, exactly, but...
"I'll... send them your regards, if I happen to see them before you." She lowers her head. "I know they still work their hardest for you."
She lifts her head. Her eyes are full of resolve, even if slightly intimidated as she is.
"And I am too. I said in Krosse that I won't fail you again... and I mean that, whole-heartedly."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Patting herself down, Noeline offers a brief nod in return to Garrett's comment about Ida. "True enough - I don't doubt that were we even one person short, things might have been very different," she comments lightly, and almost to herself more than the man in front of her. She can find it in herself to chuckle softly, at least, touching at part of her hair. "I dare say you're right. I am not sure our own wishes would go down terribly well."
She falls silent again as Garrett responds to Alhazred's name; rather than quip back, she's more interested in seeing the way in which the warrior's face contorts, and the emotions that run across it. Anger, she expects, but if there's any sign of the man who warned them that Lady Harken might be more than she appears... honestly, she's not sure if he's still there, nor how to even tell.
She's not as conflicted when it comes to Alhazred, at least, her own eyes flashing with momentary anger. She can't say she'll cheer it, but she certainly would never suggest it would be a bad thing, either.
It leaves her at something of an impasse. She can see the dangers inherent in Malevolence, but isn't entirely certain how best to articulate them, or help someone out of them. In the end, that sort of thing is much better left to her partner - and she looks across, protective and quietly fond, as Riesenlied restates her promise.
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.
Garrett starts back towards his horse, swinging himself up onto the saddle. The horse seems to animate then and there, shaking itself before givinng Noeline one more glare as it turns towards the trek the wagons are taking. The wains creak as they crawl back towards the road the as fast as they can, trying to get away from this awkward conversation.
He has little more to add as he watches the pair of Demons.
His expression is a study in curiosity as he watches Riese. The anger and hate from a moment ago gone. The regret when he talked of Cecilia and Rudy gone. Just intense curiosity, interest, speculation as he stares towards the pair of them.
Then a smirk, part mocking but somewhere behind that. Somewhere deep past the violet light that shimmers in his blue eyes, perhaps a spark of something hopeful.
"I still don't trust either of you. But..." A snort of laughter. "...I dare you to prove me wrong."
The he's turning away, to follow the wagons. Though he does pause long enough to toss something over his shoulder.
"If you want to do something useful. Make sure Gwen and Hanpan are ok."
And then he's riding on, the massive tread of the Hellion Horse almost drowning out the creaking of the wagons.