Gravedigger Quest

[X] Help Melkorka

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Gritting her teeth, Lirra turned away from Chloe and Lucilia. If she really wanted to help her wounded teammate, she would first have to finish the last enemy. Melkorka was still holding the Shade at bay, but the monster moved too fast for her to land any decisive strike, even with its broken foot, courtesy of her earlier hit. At the same time, the Shade still hadn't managed to go past her shield and her heavy - and given the weapon she gave Lirra, probably enchanted - armor.

It was a stalemate that the changeling was well determined to break. Her first instinct was to rush it and try to somehow overpower it like the previous one, but now that her head had cooled just a little bit, she realised that could have very well have gotten her hurt, which, according to the information Chloe had given them, was a very bad idea. Thinking about that, she felt a knot in her stomach in worry of the mage; if any little wound could be lethal, Chloe could very well die soon.

Dark thoughts swirling in her head, she quickly and as stealthily as the situation allowed, she circled the two fighters before she finally arrived behind the Shade, whose attention was caught by Melkorka. Tightening her grip on her spear, she exploded forward, stabbing the monster in the spine. It shrieked until it was swiftly silenced by the svartalf crushing its neck with her shield, before crushing its skull in a powerful swing of her hammer, which she repeated twice after the first hit, at which point the creature dissipated in the same noxious fog as the other did.

Not taking the time to look at it or catch her breath, Lirra ran back to where Chloe was. She was on the ground, pale and shaking slightly. Kneeling over her, Lucilia was crying and gibbering in a constant stream of apologies.

"I… I tried to get her out of the way, I pushed her so she'd be away from the monster, I didn't mean to- I didn't want… You have to believe me, I didn't want that!" As Lirra stopped next to her, Lucilia grabbed her arm and started directing her stream of words to her.

Lirra didn't know what to do with this. On one hand, she wanted to calm Lucilia down, although she didn't know how. On the other, Chloe was the one who really needed attention right now, and the panicked girl wasn't helping; as a matter of fact, she was even a hindrance.

"I bloody well hope you didn't." Helping Lirra out of her predicament, Melkorka arrived and slapped the back of Lucilia's head. "No one doubts that, so pull yourself back together and either help if you know how to heal people or look out for more of these creatures while we try to heal her."

The blow apparently pulled Lucilia out of her panic, at least a bit. She gulped with difficulty before nodding and getting back on her feet, and scanned the forest around them, twitchily reloading her pistol.

Now that they had some space, Melkorka and Lirra looked at Chloe's wound. Gently, the changeling pulled the mage's hand away, uncaring of the blood that stained hers. It looked like the blow cut through all layers instead of selectively cutting only inside the body. The good news was that the wound was clearly visible, and the bad news that it was deep and already looked like it was about to fester. The skin around it, after they pulled the torn tunic's remains away from the wound, has darkened to a deep purple and veins were starting to appear around it. Thankfully, the bleeding had slowed, although whether it was because of coagulation or if Chloe had already lost too much of it, Lirra couldn't say. What she knew was that the sweaty skin of the mage was both too cold and burning, and it didn't take a doctor to know it was bad news.

"Oh, this looks bad. I… I could sew the wound shut so we can move her more easily, but, uh… I can't do anything about what's under the skin so if the Shade hit something important it would do nothing," said Lirra, nervously searching inside her rucksack for her sewing kit. "Can you do something? You took the Staff, so..."

"I'm no healer; my help comes from what I can make. If we had had time, you would all have had some protection, but it's too late to talk about what could have been," answered Melkorka, and even muffled through her helmet, the frustration in her voice was impossible to miss. Then, after hesitating an instant, she added reluctantly: "I... may try something. That could make her last until she gets to a proper healer, but in the worst case, it may outright kill her."

At that, silence fell upon them, only broken by the irregular breathing of Chloe. Her eyes had opened, although they looked at nothing, and her mouth was moving, although her voice was inaudible as usual. Her face was pale as chalk, except for her cheeks who were reddened as sweat beaded from her forehead.

"S-so what do we do?" asked Lirra, desperate for an answer that would take this terrible choice out of her hand. "Leaving her like that isn't a solution… though maybe if we go fast, we could arrive to the goal quick enough by not taking any time with the wound here? It's not like our solutions sound that good..."

There was silence again. Both knew that this was no solution, but at least they wouldn't be responsible for her death in the worst case.

"I'm not fast enough for that and Lucilia is in no state to run through the woods. If we try that, you'll have to go alone first. I… I don't know what to do, but we have to decide. Now. What'll it be?"

Lirra's lips were parched, and she nervously passed her tongue on them to try and moisten them, so she could answer.

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[] Sew the wound and carry her to the goal. Hopefully, it will be enough to stabilize her until then.
[] Try Melkorka's solution. Either she lives or she dies right now; at least you won't be slowed in the worst case.
[] You can cross the forest in no time, as long as you encounter nothing more. It's all or nothing, but losing time while trying to buy some will do no good.
[] You can't take that decision. You decide Melkorka.
[] You can't take that decision. Lucilia should decide.
[] Write-in

(just in case you're wondering, yes, she definitely can die, it's not just dramatic writing)