Roleplay

The ridgeback went quiet for a second, her teeth clicking together slightly as she mulled over what to ask. In truth, Misery was certain that this was just killing time. But she may as well play the game; maybe she would learn something.

"Were you, and whatever entity this is that you work for really not behind what was happening in that town when we showed up?" She asked after a moment, "not counting the tundra burning it down, of course."

Something caused a tingle to run down her back. A feeling that something wasn't quite right. There wasn't much she could assume, but in the back of her mind she knew it must have to do with her companions. Iratha was a stubborn dragon, set in her faith and her principles. The guardian would have little patience for games, and Misery feared it would be- had been her undoing.

Her face didn't let on that she suspected anything. The ridgeback was neutral in body language as she leaned on the table and tried to listen.

The Imperial shook his head.
"Despite how I may seem, the organization I work for is not evil. Hell, I'm even under orders not to kill. Although your friend was a particularly hard nut to crack. Had to basicly kill her to actually apprehend her due to her wards. Though I'm getting off topic. No the destruction brought upon that town was not our doing".

The ridgeback nodded slowly. "Stubborn as the sunrise," she rasped, "as they say. Though she wouldn't have been so if she didn't believe she were doing the right thing. I suppose we did as well."

The tip of her tail curled inward slightly, spines clattering together. Her claws flexed lazily against the table as she slowly adjusted her stance. Sitting in one spot for so long was tiring, and made her limbs stiff.

She tilted her head towards the imperial, waiting for his next question.

The imperial rubbed his brow and looked down at the file on the desk.

What can you tell me about Flame."

"Before we suspected that there was something strange going on," she tapped a claw on the table, "she just seemed like a dragon at wit's end."

The ridgeback paused, a protracted coughing fit forcing her to stop talking for a while. Her long claws left scratches in the finish of the table as she gripped it. After a moment she righted herself, though her voice was less stable than before. She had to supplement her words with sign.

"After so long, so many deaths, she just seemed to snap and declare that she was going to take them and the whole town with her. I'm surprised that more didn't, after sleeping in that vault for a few nights."

She shifted slightly. "It was a wonder she gave us time to get everyone out. And then as far as I can tell she only got herself," her eyes scrunched closed in a sort of grimace, "of the two. . . things. . . we know to have been hanging around- she got neither."

The imperial shook his head and let out a sad sigh.
"Despite her destructive rampage, we did manage to capture her alive. We don't know what, but something is very, very wrong with her."

"Something was very, very wrong in general," pointed out the ridgeback, her face contorting into a sort of grimace, "not ending with whatever had become of that ridgeback."

She sat up slightly, still looking as perturbed as she could manage. "Did anyone ever find the other one? That tundra couldn't have been a victim of the one I tussled with."

Well, yes. Flame actually managed to kill it. But that's where the good news ends. When the Fifth garrison rolled into the town we found flame eating the carcass of the other Wendigo. I'm sad to inform you that she has turned into a Wendigo. We are trying to find treatment, however that may take some time.

Misery huffed in suprise. "Must be a powerful affliction, that could convince someone to eat that," she said, "that thing smelled like carrion, and tasted even worse somehow. Could turn a wasteland mirror off their lunch."

The imperial shook his head.

"She like the two that became Wendigos were part of a frankly inhumane experiment consisting of DNA modification. This was done by the former Project Valkyrie. Well project Valkyrie did a lot of what could be considered... malpractice during its time. Times change and so did Project Valkyrie's funding until its assets were liquidated during the creation of the organization I work for. And with it came the problems project Valkyrie created. All the test subjects and genetically or physically modified dragons were deemed unsafe to be allowed to breed into the general populous. So outpost rejection was created and the subjects were moved there. When Subject 056 attempted to access the former project Valkyrie database it set of alarms. Up until then we had no sign that anything inherently wrong had happened."