faderift | it's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark

[ everyone is gathered and told what they need to know: what an eluvian is, that merrill has one her clan found several years ago stashed in the hawke family manor in kirkwall, that they are to fetch it with the assistance of a second team coming by boat, and that corypheus wants it and therefore everyone absolutely must keep their mouths shut about what they're doing and what they've just learned.

morrigan has readied her eluvian for use. they all go through, with merrill leading the way to her own eluvian. it isn't much of a walk, but the sights are certainly distracting; there are dozens of dark eluvians all around them. this eluvian is opened and the party goes forward once more-

-but it does not smell of basement, of slight mildew and damp. it smells old, ancient, of rotting wood and blood. and right in front of them is a group of venatori. one of them, palm obviously bleeding, quickly raises it and casts something. runes drawn in blood around the eluvian glow and it makes a sound like shattering glass, though it remains intact.

there is no way back. based on the massive firestorm that one of the mages casts toward the party, it doesn't necessarily look like there's an easy way forward, either. ]

[Learning about eluvians is enough to get Inessa's interest and compliance, no issue there. Though not especially 'elfy' in many respects, she can't help but retain an (academic) interest in elven magic. It may far removed from her own experiences with magic, but it's magic nonetheless and thus has her curiosity. With Garahel at her side, the Grey Warden mage peers at every aspect of the crossroads along their path, noting the eluvians and blooming vegetation. She pauses to pick a budding flower for later inspection, then rushes catch up. They have a job to do, after all.

Upon stepping out of Merrill's eluvian, Inessa's on instant alert as Garahel's hackles rise. Spotting the Venatori and their use of blood magic, Inessa's eyes narrow and she quickly casts Barrier over herself and those nearest, hoping to mitigate that firestorm. When it passes, Garahel will charge forward and attempt to overwhelm the nearest one.]

It's beautiful. Ellana never dreamed that something like this could happen to her. The stories she'd heard growing up said that the eluvians were used for communication across long distances, but they could have simply been a myth. To find out they're real, and not something you speak through but walk through is an incredible thing. This is better than any elven ruin because the crossroads are intact. Neither Tevinter nor Orlais has found this and stripped it bare of what it once was. The colors are so bright and even though it's quiet and many eluvians are dark, Ellana still gets a sense of life here. It's like something is sleeping, just waiting to be awoken, like the ancient elves who practiced Uthenera.

As they exit the eluvian into Kirkwall, Ellana brushes a tear from the corner of her eye. She wishes they could have stayed longer. But now she experiences mood whiplash as the Ventatori attack out of nowhere. Like Inessa, Ellana's immediate reaction is to put down a barrier over the area around her and then to send Chain Lightning down on the nearest enemies.

This was--well. None of this is what Bruce had quite been expecting, that was for sure. From the Eluvians to the Crossroads (which was another thing altogether) and--this. This very harrowing situation.

Fortunately for Bruce he is at the back of the party for the most part, which allows him a bit of time to draw out his own staff and begin casting barriers to everyone else he can reach around him and when necessary, throwing some healing and other support spells too. Apparently this was no time to think about the stuff he had heard and seen recently - he could do all of that later, once this situation was handled.

But one thing seemed to be pretty clear - this was probably not where they were supposed to end up at.

[OOC: I'm gonna be gone for the weekend (working at a con for both days), so feel free to skip me when needed! Just assume he's at the back throwing support spells and healing when he can. Just keep in mind that he's not a spirit healer so he can do all of those fancy things spirit healers can do - just standard stuff for him.]

Edited 2016-10-07 17:25 (UTC)

Once Inessa has her barrier cast, she goes on the offensive with Blizzard/Ice Storm, summoning dark clouds and freezing winds to target the Venatori ahead. She smirks a little as the chill takes hold, knowing it will progressively slow them until they're frozen. And when that happens, Garahel can shatter them as he pleases.

A moment to press her palm to cool glass that ripples beneath it to the touch of magic as it has so many times before when she has had a need of it, and one last parting glance to the door that guards it. Morrigan is the last through her eluvian after giving the warning to all who will travel through it with her; necessity hardly means she must be happy about any of this.

She and Merrill had an agreement. An understanding about such things. And she is very clear that even the edge of a word to anyone no matter who they might be, no matter their character, and her wrath will be severe. For all that Morrigan is quiet, there is no mistaking that she is a Witch of the Wilds, a daughter of Flemeth in that moment of the warning.

Venatori hardly surprise her, not after her own eluvian almost slipped through her fingers barely more than half the year ago. Ellana and Inessa are hurling lightning and ice? Well, she can help them along with a Vulnerability Hex.

This is, to put it mildly, not good. The Crossroads were amazing, of course, but coming out of them into a dark tunnel? To Venatori? To magic being used that does something to the eluvian?

They weren't fast enough. They weren't fast enough but they're here now, and Merrill refuses to leave without her eluvian. Corypheus wants it, clearly, which means he isn't going to get it. It means they, the Inquisition, need to have it, for safekeeping at the very least. Besides that- Merrill's rather upset by this turn of events, and so a Virulent Walking Bomb is cast on the Venatori who used the blood magic. Explode, baby, explode.

--

The Venatori may not have expected anyone to actually come out of the eluvian, but they were prepared to have to fight. Some of them clearly have seen battle today already, for those who take the time to look; there are some rips in clothing and more than one blood splatter. They're still alive, though, and they use the cover of fire to back off and regroup. One casts his own barrier on their group, while their warriors advance with swords drawn. They're immediately caught by the ice from Inessa, the wind howling through the tunnel; three of them are stopped in their tracks, while one is frozen from the knees down and uses his sword to swing at Garahel. The lightning from Ellana arcs between the warriors as well, bringing a second unfrozen warrior down to his knees with help from Morrigan's Vulnerability Hex.

The mages themselves, meanwhile, are backing into the darkness further; let the warriors be a living shield between themselves. Merrill's Walking Bomb misses and catches upon a barrel instead. It's thrown back among the party via magic by the blood mage and another of the Venatori mages casts his own Chain Lightning, trying to set it off and electrocute the members of the Inquisition with it. Another is casting his own barriers while a fourth blasts his own Blizzard spell back at the tightly packed Inquisition members.

Stepping out into the dark- that is familiar. The tight quarters, the smell of blood old and new- for a moment Zevran is back in the cell strung up like meat, both eyes fixed on the middle distance. Only for a moment. Glass shatters without shattering, magic is hurled and he? Slips into the shadows. This is his home, where he stalks and strikes, where he does his best work. A moment to apply a vial of magebane to both of his blades is taken as he slinks around the edges of the room. Warriors are men with blades and a problem- but mages?

They need to die first, and die quickly. Darting between ice and lightening, remaining unseen- it is much like a month ago, a decade ago- easy enough and familiar enough for him to settle into the skin of the Ombra Nera without missing a beat. Slipping in quickly to cut as many of the mages as possible he darts through the huddle, blades flashing along joints and ribs as he skitters back to the shadows along the other side.

He'll think about the Eluvians and the Crossroads later. He'll consider his options later. At least all these Venatori are Men- and he'll take conveniences where he can find them. First thing- they're trapped in a bottleneck, all of them coming out of the mirror all at once, and that mage takes advantage of it. The cold burns, but it's pain like any other pain, and he can force it down even as frost forms along the edges of his cloak and makes the tips of his ears burn.

Thranduil feels the barrier settle over his skin and moves, glad to spread the targets out. He chooses a warrior- the big one- and readies himself, a moment of calm before he descends, all inhuman speed and swinging blades. They always leave the eyes uncovered, even in their ridiculous helmets- at least it chooses a target for him.

Those barriers annoy Inessa; they have to come down, and so she casts Dispel at the nearest mage still standing from their onslaught. She'll continue to make use of that magic when possible, but for now, time to make use of other spells. The lightning and ice make her very grateful that the barrier still holds, not looking forward to any unfortunate moment of timing in between it wearing off and being able to renew it. As Garahel leaps and aims to clamp down on his trapped prey's sword wrist and force a disarm that way, Inessa focuses elsewhere. It's time to cast Veilstrike; those targets within range that are the closest together will now be on the receiving end of it, as she uses the essence of the Fade to smash them into the ground.

Ellana focuses on renewing barriers on her allies, taking advantage of the Fade Cloak built into her staff to protect herself. This area is dark and cramped and she decides against either shapeshifting into an animal or using Frost Step to get around and freeze people. It's best to just make a stand here with the others to bring these Venatori down.

The blizzard eats through her latest barrier and coats her armor and face in frost. She stands still in place, shaking from the cold and hoping someone can cover her until the spell wears off.

Keeping his focus on support, Bruce does his best to keep up with the attacks that come from the Venatori. He renews whosoever barriers that he can reach, backing up the Dalish spellcaster - Ellana, that was her name - as much as he can. The blizzard spell bits at him harshly, his unique physiology making him vulnerable to ice attacks, and he staggers back at the how it drains him, sweating breaking out at his temples. He needed to--

He feels it stirring within him, called forth by the sounds of battle, but he quickly shoves it back down. Not it, never it - nothing would ever make him resort to that.

Bruce focuses and casts a healing spell on himself, pulling himself back together. Its not a lot but its enough to keep him going and he gets back up on his feet and goes for a brief offence. With a wave of his hand he calls out a set of fireballs that move along with the gestures of his hand, zigzagging around the battle to hit their targets - one at the barrel to make it explode before it reaches anybody on their side, and the others striking at the weak points of the warrior's armor.

Merrill huffs as her spell hits the barrel instead. The barriers are a welcome warmth, though she too is hit by the Blizzard, teeth clattering together in the cold. She's able to cast a Crushing Prison, however, toward the mage that uses the blood magic. It seems she has a bit of a grudge, as he's the one who did something to the eluvian.

Inessa's Veilstrike slams each of the warriors, some harder than others. The frozen warrior that Thranduil is attacking shatters free from the ice with the force of the blows of magic and metal, slashing back at the Rifter with a longsword even as he bleeds heavily upon the ground. The warrior that Garahel is biting uses his free hand to slam his shield into the mabari, trying to get the dog off. The Veilstrike frees him from the ice as well, which sends him scrambling to fetch the sword the dog made him drop. The Walking Bomb barrel, an innocent bystander caught up in everything, is sent hurtling down by Bruce's fireballs even as they light up along the other warriors. It crashes amidst Thranduil, Garahel, and Inessa exploding and spraying a disgusting, corrosive liquid upon them and the enemy warriors, who are having a bad time.

Zevran is able to hit three of the mages before one of them casts a Wall of Flames, illuminating some of the passageway just in time for anyone paying attention to see a chunk of stone fall from the ceiling onto another barrel. Another Venatori shouts a warning, something unclear in the chaos that is presumably about the structure of the place, even as he casts sigils on the ground for traps made of ice. One of the unfrozen warriors tries to make an insane dash toward the eluvian, striking with a great maul toward Ellana. Despite the warning, one of the mages casts Tempest, with lightning striking down toward Bruce and Merrill.

He steps back to avoid the longsword even as the liquid splashes; it should become apparent that even fancy elves have bad language because he certainly hisses something even as he sheds his now ruined top layer, letting it fall to the ground. He can do nothing about the pain he currently feels, unable and unwilling both to discard the pants even as the acidic liquid eats through the leathers and cloth in a few patches. Adding to that problem is the need to step around the puddles-- and turn his attention on the warrior with the longsword, hoping he was hit harder by the liquid than Thranduil himself.

Ellana will know what Morrigan is up to instantly, Merrill too; the air about her shimmers as her body writhes in what would look like purple smoke if it weren't so dark.

What was Morrigan is now a spider, a large one, with eight glittering black eyes alighting on the enemy. Webbing will slow them down, help give them all some sort of buffer on the floor and she-- well she rolls, eight long legs tucked in with an awful clicking and hissing as she does so.

Hopefully avoiding anyone. But you know, these things happen and better it's webbing than something nastier.

There's definitely some guilt when he sees where the barrel ends up at, and internally Bruce curses himself for it. He knows there wasn't much of a choice, but at the same time he definitely felt bad. This is why he was not one for fighting.

Back to focusing on support and defense - and just in time as well, what with that spell coming straight for him. Bruce quickly casts a barrier for both him and Merrill, hoping that they will take the worst of the damage - though Bruce still attempts to physically dodge either way. Its sort of an instinct at this point for him.

While he does that Bruce casts another quick offensive spell - more fireballs just like before, flying with precision towards the warriors, but before they hit their mark they burst into even smaller fireballs, multiplying in number and swarming together like a cluster of fiery bees as they strike at the mage that had attacked him.

Thank the Maker for that Barrier spell; Inessa doesn't want to imagine what that corrosive liquid would do has it actually come into contact with her. Bruce's skill with fire is certainly impressive, and Inessa would love to discuss it...later. At the moment, their battle takes priority. The soldier attacking her dog gets a Misdirection Hex slapped on him, then she focuses on casting Winter's Grasp to freeze that warrior dashing toward Ellana.

As if being frozen wasn't bad enough, Ellana gets to come out of it to see the Venatori throwing everything they've got at them. The space is illuminated by the wall of flames and that helps, but only so much as seeing your probable death coming towards you instead of seeing only a hint of it in the darkness. Her reaction time is slowed due to the recent blizzard and before she can set a barrier, the warrior's maul hits its mark, smashing against her ribs and sending her flying backwards. She would scream, but all the air has been knocked from her lungs. When she lands, she wheezes for breath, her vision swimming from the pain. She's definitely broken at least one rib. Maybe several. At least she held on to the staff. That's an accomplishment, right? So she now casts Barrier on herself to keep from being finished off. The warrior got to her a second before Inessa got to him, but he's now frozen. That doesn't mean someone else can't throw a spell her way to kill her.

Ceiling collapsing, traps on the ground, fighting half in and half out of the dark, Morrigan a spider? Zevran is right at home. Even with the light offered he slips in quickly, making a second pass through the huddle of mages. Ribs and joints, seeking out the soft, vulnerable spaces with his flashing blades. He leaps over one of the icy sigils etched into the ground to continue his darting attacks, sliding past the mage caught in Merrill's crushing prison. Dropping a bottle of Antivan fire at his feet to add to the chaos and obscure his fellow's attempts at traps he vaults over the skittering roll of Morrigan's spider form.

Familiar tactics for an unfamiliar place.

A piece of ceiling crashes down right in front of her and Merrill shrieks, nearly dropping her staff. "We need to get out of this section!" Of- wherever they are. It's clearly not stable, and all the magic being thrown around is probably not helping. Ellana's hurt on top of that, and Merrill uses Stone's Throw to be brought to her side in an instant, crouching down next to her.

"If we can get you behind the eluvian, you should be safer; they want it, so they won't want to hurt it. Can you stand?"

--

The warrior facing Thranduil screams -- acid has flown into the open wounds Thranduil already inflicted. While his armor protects most of his body from it, his face is not protected. Luckily he falls forward before anyone can get much of a look at what's happening to his face thanks to the corrosive liquid, because it's both not pretty and very fatal.

The warrior attacking Garahel misses thanks to Inessa's Misdirection Hex, which makes him slam instead into the frozen warrior that broke Ellana's ribs. The ice and remains of the Walking Bomb make it harder for the two to extract themselves, an easy target for Morrigan in spider form. Webbing also lands on two of the Venatori, making them easy targets for Zevran and his blades. The two warriors still frozen break free from the ice now, one attempting to hit Morrigan with a warhammer.

The mage attacked by Bruce and his firebees screams, trying to flail both at the firebees and the flames coming to life on his robes. In his panic, he runs right toward Inessa. The remaining warrior attempts to back away, only to be frozen in place by the Venatori that first used blood magic -- and then thrown right toward Thranduil. If the man is going to run, he can be used as a weapon instead against the strange elf.

Worried about Ellana, Inessa quickly follows up with a Heal spell. It might not take away the worst of the damage, but at the very least, it will ease her pain. A more accomplished healer can do better work on her, she's certain.

Upon seeing the flaming mage running towards her, Inessa recoils and casts Chilling Array, placing a set of ice mines before her. That ought to put out his fiery robes...and hold him in place long enough for her to finish off.

Garahel lets Morrigan finish off the two idiots if she pleases, though the one with the warhammer gets his attention and on the way back, he tries to charge that one from behind. If he can knock him over, then Morrigan can finish it off. Teamwork is fun.

He's distracted very easily by the very large spider that appears out of nowhere, and centuries of bias don't disappear in a few moments. Especially as it shoots web, and he's learned what that can do. Between that and the firebees (what is Thedas, he doesn't know) the Venatori with the creeping realization he's losing gets an up on him enough to throw a person at Thranduil- points for creativity- and all he can do is bring his swords up and duck, hoping to shatter the man. All hope of rolling away has been ruined by the webbing and the acid.

"Yes," Ellana says through gritted teeth, even as her mind is screaming No. This pain is a different kind from the injury she sustained in the Fade, but she can bear it better somehow. Creators, she wonders if she's growing used to extreme pain. As she struggles to find her feet, using Merrill's shoulder to help push herself up, Inessa's spell reaches her and the pain becomes more bearable.

"I can still cast from behind the mirror," she offers, not wanting these damn Venatori to think they've taken her out of the fight. Though from the way a couple of them are screaming, she's betting they're not long for this world.

That took care of most of their opponents - he could leave the rest to Zevran and the others, and besides, he's not a fighter, and right now there is somebody who needs immediate medical attention.

Bruce quickly hurries over to Ellana - who he had seen getting struck earlier - feeling a little out of breath from all the magic he's had to constantly cast, but its nothing he can't handle. At least he's not too far away from her, and manages to get to her side not long after Merrill, crouching down as well.

"I'll take care of her." He's already casting another healing spell on top of the one the Warden had done earlier, doing his best to quickly encourage recovery and ease the pain. It'll definitely not be as good as that of a spirit healer, for for now they had to make do. As he casts he glances between both of the elves for a moment, then focuses on Merrill first. "Can you provide some form of protection until I can get her to the eluvian?"

A thing you never quite forget: how it feels when her chelicerae punch through flesh, though a spider thankfully isn't equipped to taste in the same way that a person is. Inessa's hound being there, along with Zevran? Some of it feels almost painfully nostalgic. No one would be comforted by that though. To know what it was like to fight in the filth and the mire, with things that wanted nothing more than to rip you apart limb from limb.

At least the Darkspawn were mindless to a degree, driven on by the Archdemon. Tis a different thing when these are men serving their master, something so like old tales rising from the grave to prowl the earth once more.

The warhammer comes too close; she rolls again, blood and poison spraying from where she's bitten the first of her foes. The man is screaming as she lets out her own angry clicking noises, backing up and away without looking (because she can't, not when there's a warhammer) as quickly as she can to try to spit more webs in an attempt to slow him down. At least this body doesn't feel the sting of acid when she moves though next time? Perhaps a corrupted spider might be better. Or a stinging swarm.

it's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark

TEAM A VS VENATORI

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