Into the Maws of Ice and Stone (Darren)

by **Danyella** on March 8th, 2011, 2:48 pm

Timestamp: Spring 11 511 AV

Danyella woke up surprisingly refreshed considering she was up most of the night shining an armor order for the Icewatch. She walked downstairs to see a couple Icewatch members leaving, hauling the armor. Her father beamed "Another job well done snowflake." She laughed, grabbed a loaf of bread, and tore into it like a polar bear into a seal carcass. Spraying crumbs everywhere, "Oh wah obs oo ee ave oday?" Her dad glared at her, though mildly amused. She swallowed the food, then repeated, "So what jobs do we have today?"

"I have to make shoehorses for a caravan passing through, and you have an optional job. Apparantly an inexperienced miner mined into and through a few blocks of the hold's foundation, and it needs repaired. Basic stuff, repair three grade 1 blocks, reseal it, and mark it off to keep from happening again. Materials will be provided by the hold, you need to go an pick them up, fix it, and report back to the hold. Do you want it?"

Her eyes turned a determined and excited emerald, "Of course Dah, I'll be back when I'm done. Have fun making the horseshoes," she added the last part as a jibe, knowing he hated making horseshoes. She put on her tight leather breeches and her toolbelt, put on her coat, gloves, boots, and grabbed her pickaxe and hammer. She started out after hugging her dad, her arms unable to get around his massive, pure muscle torso.
She made her way into her hold and found the supplies room. She started to load a single person wooden minecart, when she saw the extremely high stacked stone blocks against the wall, and above her head.

"Well what am I supposed to do now? No one is around to help lift that."

by **Darren** on March 8th, 2011, 3:28 pm

Darren was already done with his usual run and was just bumming around at the hold bored out of his mind. He was just making passes at the random craftswoman as they moved from the workshop to workshop. Sigh* "I should really just do something productive" he thought as he walked around looking for something to do.

His eyes fell upon Dany who he watched was pulling out stones from the storeroom. He watched her for a minute or two before he decided to walk over and help. He looked up to see the stone blocks above Dany's head. "Need help hon?" he asked as he reached over her and picked up two blocks. "member me back at the store?"

by **Danyella** on March 9th, 2011, 5:54 am

Tatiyana startled as the man picked up the blocks for her. She reached up to grab the third and final one since he could reach now. She gripped the massive block of stone and slid it out. Nearly losing balance she set it into the cart with the other two. "Whew, what are you doing in this neck of the ice? Doesn't matter, I'm just glad your here to help. Well off to the mines I go, I'll see you around, you still need chains right?". She quickly threw in a sack of mortar and sealed water sack.

She grabbed the cart handles and slowly but surely began hauling it toward the mines, grunting in strain. She reached the mouth of the mine and saw the first marking to the damaged foundation and sighed.

by **Darren** on March 10th, 2011, 2:52 pm

Darren followed after Danyella and watched as she made her way inside to clean up the foundation."Yup Yup, that's righttttttt......."he said obviously bored, hmm I didn't know there were mines down here I thought it was all workshops and angry Dany clones that made up this place he thought. He grinned as he continued toying with Danyella as he thought about it some more. "I mean master Danyella is SOOOOOOOOO perfect, she's the epitome of good manners, patience and love and care. If there was more of her around the cuteness in one area might cause another Mizahar world war, and here she is thinking about little ole' me worried about my chains" he ranted not knowing what he was saying now. He watched her continue pushing the cart and sighed. He obviously wanted something to do as he walked around into the mines a bit looking at what everyone is doing.

Just then, he took a look and saw Danyella's mine cart and had an idea. He grinned to this walked over to the cart and helped Danyella push the cart deeper inside. Alright when we stop I'm gonna jump in and lurk in this cart. If ANYONE comes near me I'm gonna pounce on top of them and run he thought as his boredom was turning him into a crazed psycho annoyance. His eyes peered over the of the cart watching people come to and fro. 0_0

by **Danyella** on March 10th, 2011, 6:11 pm

Danyella pushed the cart with Darren, following the markings until she found the damage. She sighed loudly as she went over to inspect the damage. Two blocks had been horribly mined to pieces, the third remained in place with a pick hole in it. She was about to pull out her chisel when she heard some shuffling behind her. She turned and saw Darren sneak into the cart. She sighed, "Idiot" she muttered. She grabbed a small chunk of Icestone and lobbed it into the cart hearing a satisfying thud followed by a klang. She turned and began to chisel away at the remaining block. She placed her chisel, struck it with the hammer, and watched it slide into the rock, a corner of the rock falling away. Another strike of her hammer and more crumbled. She got the rest away and went back to the cart to get the mortar. She knew she had to hurry before the foundation settled in the newly made gap.

She almost made it to the cart when she heard a faint scuffling sound from further into the mine. It sounded like walking only... She swore it sounded like rocks moving on rocks. She ignored it and grabbed the morter and water and hauled them back to her work spot. She began mixing to make the morter, then did it again when the first batch came out wrong. She began to apply the morter to the first hole when she heard the scuffling again. "Do you hear that Darren?"

by **Darren** on March 10th, 2011, 8:09 pm

Darren turned to reveal his newest small bruise on his head. Whatever she threw at him hit him oh the shoulder and then bounced and lightly tapped him on the forehead. Hmm, his latest plot didn't seem to sucessful as his skills stealth and camouflage skills were absolutely horrendous. But Danyella asking him if he heard anything gave him rise to a new plot, "nope nothing"

He awkwardly got out of the mine cart as she was still working on the foundation and walked over to her slowly. He was right behind her "But..." he started a very dark smile enveloping into his face, a shimmer of red emanating from his eyes. He put his head a bit over her shoulder speaking slowly, with a sinister tone. "I've been told a few miners every year mysteriously vanished a long time ago when they were first carving out this place. A monster supposedly ate some of the helpless Vantha here, and by the time the others noticed it already retreated to the deeper crevices of the cave." he ended letting the idea of a terrible beast envelop in her head. Probably imagining it's claws...tearing and grabbing at the fle- "GOTCHA!!!" He finally cried out as he suddenly grabbed her hands and forced a semi-bearhug from behind. After a second or two of the random attack he finally backed off 2 steps. "Hehe, joking!" He smiled as he looked to see a reaction from Danyella, angry or surprised anything would be good. "We should do this more often" he said smiling widely, obviously having fun with the fellow Vantha.

by **Danyella** on March 11th, 2011, 1:28 am

Danyella's eyes turned a furious obsidian black, then laced with a devious red. She slowly grabbed the large hammer off of her belt. Her eyes were piercing through Darren, as she began to raise her hammer. Her hammer reached full height when she heard a rumbling groan behind.

"Shyke!" she roared. She quickly ran over and jammed her hammer into the gap of stone, just before the foundatio could crumble.

"See what your games did?!?" she began furiously spreading morter, and shoved the first brick into place. It was higher than the other two spaces, and it wedge tight. She grabbed her smaller hammer and quickly pounded it into place. The load was lifted off of her hammer and was transferred to the stone. She pulled it out and turned to Darren, her eyes swirling obsidian and ruby. She began walking toward him her hammer raised high, "You mother...," then her eyes flashed a scared yellow gold. She heard that same stone on stone scuffling, but this time it had a face. Or rather, they had faces.

Behind Darren was see through blue and white, and looked to be made of stone. Icestone, to be specific, and the face looked strangely Vanthan. It had a pickaxe made of the same Icestone raised ready to swing into Darren's skull. Danyella threw her hammer at Darren, it missed his cheek narrowly, scraped his ear, and connected with the creature's face with a crunch. It's head fell off and it feel to the mine floor.
"YUKMEN!"

She heard another groan from the foundation, and she rushed back to it.
She had seen at least eight more Vantha shaped Yukmen and one polar bear shaped one. "Hold them off! I have to finish this or the keep will collapse on us!"

She began spreading morter fast, her hands slipping, and nudged the second stone about halfway into place. Cursing she started hammering it into place. It moved a hair at a time. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye, and twisted around to see a pickaxe swinging down at her. She tried to block with her hammer, but was two slow. The pick slashed a bit of her arm and buried into the rock beneath her. She kicked at the creature's abdomen pushing it away, and grabbed the pick lodged into the ground. She swung it, but it connected with the roof of the cave and crumbled, a chunk hitting her in the shoulder. She cried out in pain as a stone fist collided with her cheek. She saw lights in front of her eyes. Like lightning the creature swung again but missed by a hair's breadth. She grabbed her bucket of mortar and splashed it into the creature's face. It backhanded her blindly and she fell to the ground. From the she smashed her hammer into it's knee cap, crumbling it's leg from beneath it. It fell backwards and she leapt atop it and drove the hammer into it's head, killing it. She raced back to the foundation and began work on the last brick as blood trickled from her mouth.

by **Darren** on March 11th, 2011, 3:45 pm

"Ehhh? Umm Dany? You know I didn't mean any of this...Right? Danykins? he said softly a bit surprised at the foundation's reaction and now Danyella's as he saw her start towards him with her hammer. "Ah!" he exclaimed as he suddenly saw the hammer fly out towards him, his reaction wasn't too great as it barely brushed his head, he felt the hot friction of the hammer as it brushed his ear, the cold metal sending a shiver down his body. "Huh?" he turned to see an almost humanoid-looking creature behind him. "What the-" "YUKMEN!" he heard Danyella shout out behind him. Oh! This is real! He thought looking at the scene laid before him, Focus!

"Hold them off! I have to finish this or the keep will collapse on us!" He heard as she started fixing the foundation. "What are you crazy? Let's get out of here!" he shouted as he looked at the Yukmans coming closer. "Tck darn it, Oh no you don't!" He shouted as he sent out a thrust kick that sent the first eager Yukman flying back. That's one he thought as he faced the other two that were still there. But the odds were still against them, other miners in the area were dealing with the some Yukman, the bear looking one causing a huge panic within the mines. He gripped his gauntlets tightly anticipating their attack as Danyella worked behind him.

He successfully managed to keep the pair of Yukman at bay jumping out of their attacks and using kicks at safer opportunities. His gloves parried blow after blow with his gauntlets, as he made sure that his kicks were fast so that they they couldn't retaliate back. As they were fighting the 1st Yukman he kicked shifted back into consciousness as it was slowing recovering from his first kick. Tck, I can barely keep up with two he thought as a number of cuts and bruises starting to pile up on him, I have to end this. He duck under a wide horizontal swing from one of the Yukman, it's not or never! he thought as he put his hands together out open and pointed them towards his assaulter. His arms then separated as he moved them in a small arch pulling them towards his body. "Hah!" He cried out as he felt enough of his bodies' energy was stored up into his arms and sent two palms out colliding with the creatures abdomen. Darren's latest victimwas sent flying back quite a distance before hitting a thin wall near the first Yukman that he kicked.The thin wall started to crumble as it collapsed upon the two Yukman. He after the strike he almost immediately moved to adjust his gloves, having the his flux gesture in place in anticipation of the next attack.

Which came almost instantaneously as the last Yukman aimed a lethal pickaxe aimed at his head. Wasting no time he preemptively moved to counter the strike, an vicious uppercut hit the Yukman square in the jaw sending it flying a few feet in the air before it hit the ground possibly incapacitated. "Alright Dany let's get out of here before anymore of them show up" he said as he turned to see the Yukman that was hit with the hammer attack Danyella. "No!" He yelled as he tried stalling it throwing a knife at it's side before it slashed her with it's pickaxe. "Gah!" He cried out in panicked worry as he ran started running over to Dany's side throwing another knife at the thing, hitting it in the shoulder now. He came just before the final hammer blow was applied. He grabbed the two knives back from the creature before checking the area around them. "Alright Dany we almost done here? That bear Yukman and some of the other ones are already almost done terrorizing the other miners just a matter of time before they come towards us" he said. His hands and feet already hurt hitting the rocky people, his anger however was reaching a new level as he cursed silently at the Yukman for hurting Danyella.

by **Danyella** on March 12th, 2011, 1:29 am

Danyella shoved Darren out of the way of the foundation, and began swinging her hammer into the final block with her good arm. Her arm began to numb when she felt claws rake across her back and force her to the ground. She hit the ground hard, her back scored with five bloody streaks. They didn't appear to be too deep but prevented her from moving much. She rolled onto her back, causing excruciating pain to spike through her mind, and brought her hammer up to guard as a stone mouth snapped shut on it. The hammer kept the jaws pried open much to her relief. She held it there, pain beginning to take over. She ripped her hammer out of its snarling snout, knocking out a few teeth. Her hammer swung back and hit the stone nearly getting it all the way into the foundation.

The bear squared off with her and lunged. She leapt away a single claw slicing her calf. She watch the bear's stone head smash into the block lodging it in place. Danyella grabbed her pickaxe, and swung it at the bear's head. She missed, nearly gutting Darren in the follow through. The bear ran up the mine, roaring, as it headed to the surface. "Follow it! I'll be fine here!"

by **Darren** on March 12th, 2011, 2:33 am

Darren turned to see the bear Yukman slash at Danyella from behind "Ugh darn it!" He growled as he looked at the bear. He was just about to actually leave Danyella and follow it when he heard her from behind. "Follow it! I'll be fine here!" he turned back to see Danyella with a pained expression on her face.

Even though she kept a tough face he could tell she was in serious pain. He took her over his shoulder and started out of the cave. Outside the scene looked alot better as some of the guards from Icewatch were informed and were pushing the Yukman back. The polar bear Yukman stood no chance against the actual polar bear Kelvics, as they were getting forced back into the cave. Darren seeing this as a chance to get away he moved himself and Danyella away from the action. Going down a small tunnel he stopped as they reached a dead end, figuring this place would suffice he finally let Danyella down. Looking staight into her eyes , his eyes a blazing blue, shook her furiously before making her sit down. "You stupid, stupid girl! Don't ever sacrifice yourself like that ever again! What were you thinking? If I left you in your condition you'd be in a world of trouble if more Yukman showed up! he growled as he checked over her injuries. "Now please...shut up for once and let me help you!" he said as he looked over her back and then the scratches on her arm and thigh.

He applied some pressure to the afflicted areas to stop blood from oozing out from the attacks. He then focused on having the cuts hurt less, as he massaged the areas around the bits to help increase blood flow to the areas and in turn possibly close up the bleeding from the added platelets in the blood. He stood behind Danyella praying to the healing goddess Rak'Keli to aid him in the process of healing. Sigh* "I'm just glad your okay" he managed to say as he finished his massage. He was exhausted from the fighting, the flux use, and the massage. His muscles were sore, his palms hurt from hitting the rocks and the worst thing about it was he might have to get new pants after all of this was over. He sighed taking his gauntlets out of his bag and put them on, a look of underlying fear in his eyes as he made a fist with the them.