faderift | [Closed] Just a regular ol' side quest

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[Closed] Just a regular ol' side quest

WHO: Iskandar, Jim, Sam, Anders
WHAT: There have been some thefts. Iskandar has been charged with forming a team to help stop them.
WHEN: Beginning and mid month
WHERE: Warehouses
NOTES: Thieves! Possibly some violence. Time will tell.

Iskandar had done some investigation of his own before forming his team. Easy enough to do when one could become invisible at will. He'd only needed to do so then wait a few days to see who was stealing from the warehouses. Of course, the culprit soon turned out to be culprits. Three different groups to be precise. What was interesting was that none of them had anything to do with each other. They were all just there for their own reasons.

With that in mind, he found three who had some time to help him our. Anders, Sam, and Jim. It was helpful to have two healers in the group and equally as helpful to have someone with some charm under his belt like himself. Not to mention they were all quite strong together.

So now with his mabari pup at his side, he waited in the shadows with them on a few different days...

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The first set of culprits happened to be a pack of dogs. They seemed like some mixture of mabari and whatever the locate street pack was. Breeding had created some strong but hungry animals. It was easy to see them wriggle their way through the fence before sniffing about for something to eat.

"Keep quiet. We may be able to just catch them," Iskandar whispered to the others, hand up and eyes trained on the dogs.

He raised a hand, lightning crackling between his fingertips... to stop when Iskandar put his own hand up.

"I'd like to point out that they're wild and likely used to eating people. Kirkwall has had them for ages, perhaps literally."

Iskandar had the lead, but Anders had the experience in these streets. Hawke had lead them in more than a few battles against roving packs, human and animal and dwarf and demon alike.

He nodded so he wouldn't disturb the animals, eyes on them and a hand still up. They hadn't caught scent of them but he was prepared to move himself in the way of any of the other three due to his size.

"If you can, cut off access to the hole in the fence. Anders or Sam."

"Not like we have readied cages or rope either," Sam adds in quietly to Anders's comment on capturing dogs. Even if they did catch them, where would they take them or who would they take them to? If they had been mabaris there perhaps might have been some solution, but at the same time it was probably better they weren't that smart.

Sam nodded, hand already at his belt, looking just as ready to jump out if necessary.

Iskandar is going to get them all bitten, but Anders sighs and nods anyway. The lightning vanishes and instead there's a frosty blue glow around his fingertips as the hole ices over.

"At least we've ice," he mutters. They can wall the dogs in... but the question is if their reaction speed will be quick enough when Iskandar decides they can actually do something. At least both mages seem to be on the same wavelength about this being an idea that isn't the brightest ever.

Kirk, for his part, didn't think he would be much help against dogs. He had been up against wild animals more than once in his days, and it usually didn't go so well for the group. But he also knew that once Iskandar got something in his head, he was practically unstoppable. It would be more dangerous to fight him than it was to just figure out how to work out how to accomplish getting the dogs out.

"Can either of you do a sleeping charm?" Kirk whispered, glancing to Sam and Anders. Easier to move a sleeping dog than herd live ones and risk having your arm ripped off, right?

The dogs sensed something had taken place and grew tense. Lowering down they looked around, sniffing the air to locate what the problem was. When they smelled no one but four people in here with them plus a dog, they started to growl, backing up despite the fact that they were cornered. The typical action of a creature wary and giving a warning but not wanting to attack without knowing what was going on.

Less so when Iskandar stepped out. From under his cloak, he pulled out several bits of rope, some which he tossed to Jim along with a comment to Sam, "I was not unprepared. I already knew they were one of the ones we might encounter."

The dogs seemed more nervous now but also less eager to attack now that there was a giant in the room with them. So they watched, waiting to see what the humans and dog would do.

"Sleeping charm? Well I know I cannot," he muttered glancing at Anders. "Sleeping potion I could but didn't exactly bring something like that with me." He could paralyze one or two, but not for very long with an instant cast, which didn't really help.

The growling certainly signaled that the dogs knew that they were there, which didn't surprise Sam at all really - they were going to sniff them out sooner or later. What does give him pause was Iskandar pulling out rope. "Do you have cages under that cloak as well?"

"On me? No. But I can haul them just fine to some cages once we have them roped."

Obviously. Iskandar grinned at him like he was already having the time of his life and they'd barely even started with this just yet. "Just let us know what you mages got under your belts and we'll use them. Then the muscle will tie them up."

Kirk really isn't sure how comfortable he is with this on the fly plan, but... well, that would be the pot calling the kettle black wouldn't it? He had more than his share of on the fly plans and this was Alexander the Great, so surely he was putting more than just a little thought into it all.

Except - "Wait, do we actually have cages and know where they are?" he asked, because if he was going to be helping with the dogs, and he assumed he was since he was no mage, he needed somewhere to take the dog.

"I can hold them in place, paralysis glyph them, but it's short term. Healers generally can't cast sleep." This isn't the time to explain to the two Rifters about how some schools of magic were opposites. This is the time to not get bitten to shreds.

"Give me a signal and I'll cast it. ...And we'll protect the two of you as you go in with rope." Another thing about healers? They generally weren't foolhardy enough to charge a bunch of dogs with just rope.

Charging into a pack of dogs with just rope? No, but Sam couldn't say he hasn't charged into anything foolhardy. Course he always had his magic or some sort of idea what he was doing.

"If I could make a suggestion. Just getting ropes on them isn't going to stop them from attacking after the glyphs have worn off. Perhaps we could... coral them into a corner and we put up some ice walls? That could give us enough time to bring the cages in here. Then we could work out a system with the ropes that'll get them in safety into the cages?"

"Mm. This is a good suggestion, Sam. A temporary cage while we gather the others." He nodded a bit then gave them all a warm smile. "Let us do it this way then. Anders and Sam, I would like one of you in charge of glyphs and the other in charge of creating the ice wall. Should any injuries occur I leave healing to you. Jim, I want you to flank that direction while I move forward. This will provide us the best chance of moving them all into that corner there where they can't escape."

It was a very quick and improvised plan but something about it seemed like it would work. He'd been studying these warehouses enough to know their strong and weak points. Besides, strategy was his strong point. One of his strong points.

The dogs clearly had no idea what was going on but didn't move to attack. The fact that Iskandar was there between the others and them likely had a lot to do with it. Even with his side to them they seemed to be wary of him just due to his size. Still, they were looking for a way to escape, sometimes moving slightly to one side before backing off again.

"We have no time to discuss so we move now. Whichever of you is doing the ice, wait for my signal."

He left zero room for further debate at this point, aware of the fact that they had to move before they lost the dogs they were cornering.

"I'll glyph," Anders says after a beat, glancing at Sam. "Barrier and glyph, if you can ice."

And hopefully no one loses a leg.

Not losing a leg would be the best outcome from this surely. But with Iskandar moving and the bare bones of a plan, it seemed to be the best they could hope for as Kirk went to get into his own position, nodding to the two mages as he went. He wished he had brought his staff, personally, but he supposed if he had to defend himself he had his shard to fall back on.

He took a breath and just hoped to make himself big, hunkering down and waiting for a chance to surprise them if they came this way rather than let them have time to determine he was the lesser of the threats.

It's a good thing he can ice because Iskandar is already moving to set the plan in motion. Nodding his agreement to Anders, Sam moves to position himself between Iskandar and Kirk to help with cornering the canines and to have a better view of where he'll have to set the wall.

He slowly draws the empty hilt of his sword as they go, eyes flickering towards Iskandar, ready for his signal. Whatever it may be.

Using the fact that he was massive, Iskandar moved forward and started to herd the dogs towards one corner of the room that seemed the most defensible. He took his time with this, making sure he was able to cut off the path of those trying to get past him.

The dogs were realizing they were getting cornered though and finally one crouched like he was going to leap at one of the two men approaching, another following the action. No attack just yet but it seemed like it could happen any second now.

Iskandar rested his hand on his sword but didn't make himself overly aggressive just yet. "Just a little more..."

It was definitely best to be proactive. Anders let Iskandar close in a bit, but there came a point at which there wasn't really any point in waiting any longer. Paralysis glyphs glow into being underneath the dogs, and barriers follow around everyone.

"I think that's enough of a little more..."

A startled yelp came from a couple of the dogs before Iskandar stopped his approach. He laughed a bit and then studied the area before waving for Jim to step back.

"Sam, now."

Oh right. Ice. He did not want to get caught in that, thank you, especially since he didn't even like ice all that much to begin with. He edged back further, hoping he's mostly out of whatever casting range Sam is going to use on the dogs, and he hopes he does it quick. The dogs are not scared rather than wary from what he can see, and that's when an animal is most dangerous.

"Aim true, Sam..."

The fact that Anders had already paralyzed the dogs and everyone was keeping a distance back still, it made it easier to place the wall of ice. The wall that goes up isn't as impressive as perhaps someone who had primarily studied in ice magic, but with the amount of practice he's put in it is solid, and should be high enough to prevent the dogs from jumping over it.

Once it is done, Sam gives a huff, putting his hilt back into his belt. "That should hold them for a bit."

"Long enough to grab the cages. Alright I'll trust you two to magic them into submission. Jim, come. We must fetch these cages for them."

He gave a wave of his hand before just heading out. Might as well get them right? No point in waiting around when he wasn't as familiar with ice magic of this world to know how long that wall would last.

The good news was that he was right about the cages being close so it wasn't too hard to get them into the warehouse. At this point it was just a matter of getting dogs into them.

Must fetch the cages. Anders eyes went wide as Iskandar bolted, raising his hands to be able to recast depending on how long it took the men to return. At least the return was quick, but that was not what he'd been expecting to happen.

"Are we set now? Can you get them into the cages? Did you need to go change your shoes first?" He was amused and a little bemused, not angry. Who didn't bring what they thought they would need along with them?

He blinked, obviously missing the joke there. "Why would I need to change shoes? That would be unnecessary and inconvenient for you."

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[Closed] Just a regular ol' side quest

A. Who let the dogs out?

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