Let No Soul Hunger For Justice: And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going

[justice_is_blond]

WHO: Adelaide, Anders, Bethany, Cole, Cyril, Isabela, Kain, Leliana, Maria, Merrill, Nathaniel, Velanna
WHAT: It's the final countdown, the fifth ritual attempt to defeat Justice.
WHEN: Justinian 19th
WHERE: About 30 minutes outside of Skyhold
NOTES: Violence, death of a character. There's no tag order, plotting post is here.

The clearing is worse for wear. There's burn marks, spots where the earth has been torn apart, and some of the ruins are a little more ruined.

Comments

[chainlightning]

Merrill screams.

It's not the firebolt that makes her scream, though her barrier doesn't absorb all of it. It's the sight of Vengeance moving toward Anders, toward Adelaide; it's the sight of Nathaniel landing on the ground so hard that she's certain he had to have broken at least one of his arms trying to catch himself, of watching Vengeance proceed to kick him in the chest.

She doesn't have enough air to scream for long -- it's short, piercing, and it sounds overall like the word no.

Raw nature magic erupts from her in tendrils, curling around Vengenace's limbs to yank him back toward her. Ensnare has never been a spell that she's necessarily wanted to employ unless she's had no other choice, if only because mages are not always meant to fight up close and personal. This time, she feels she has no other choice. This ends now, with magic working to drag him away and injure him at the same time.

[sunshinethroughgrey]

After all of this, Bethany is going to let herself faint. She is going to let herself fall on the ground after she's done something for Nathaniel but right now? Right now - she's going to keep this damned thing away from her family.

"You should listen to Compassion!" She growled, her teeth ground together, as she shifts towards Adelaide's/Compassion's side, to stand in front of Nathaniel. Healing pooled around her, battlefield only but it was dirty and quick and she pushed it into Nathaniel and Adelaide, before she lifted her hand to thrown down a closer Cone of Cold - added on a Deep Freeze, making the ice spikes slam upwards into Vengeance himself, into the rage demon.

"You're Not Having Either One OF THEM. Any of them!! You are done!"

[failedfirst]

Trying to turn the earth against her is a foolish move, really. Velanna slams her staff down as the earth quakes, and it shifts before ever touching her, rolling away towards Vengeance, although she loses focus on the spell when she sees Nathaniel fall, and the obvious path that Vengeance is taking towards Adelaide and Anders.

"Leave them be!" she screams, her voice added to the others, her staff slamming into the ground again and her left hand sweeping out in front of her, sharp-edged roots shooting from the ground again to attack several targets, though her efforts are clearly favoring Vengeance and the demon focused on Nathaniel.

[easternseaqueen]

Isabela's footing shifts when the ground does, but she dodges the roots, burying her blades deep into Vengeance's flank.

"You're probably enjoying this. Vengeance. Take this for my friend."

[justice_is_blond]

One down. It may have killed Nathaniel, and that's satisfying. What is not is the fact that it cannot make it to Anders, not with Bethany and Adelaide and Compassion standing in its way. There is not time. It should have forced Anders to not accept so much help, chased more away from standing alongside him. But now is not time for regrets. now is time to lash out and take vengeance on whomever else it can.

Adelaide and Bethany's twin spikes of ice prove the point; it cannot get to Anders. It also cannot take either of them as host. Enough small fragments of Justice remain that Vengeance does not wish to force itself upon Velanna either, despite how her roots tear at it and its demons, killing most of the very-weakened horrors. Isabela's daggers sink in and it swings at her, shoving her away. With a ruined throat it cannot howl, but it can find the one option remaining and stagger toward Merrill. To destroy a blood mage by taking her body as host would not be crossing a line. If Marethari had not stepped in, this fate already would have befallen her.

Its progress would be slow if not for Merrill suddenly attacking back, unleashing her will and hauling it toward her. Almost, almost it gets within arm's reach and it braces to make its attempt... only for the roots to tear their way into Vengeance, burst through its body, and break it. Vengeance's eyes grow wide in denial for one brief moment before it falls apart and becomes ash.

A rage demon sends a wave of fire across the field, newly fueled by the anger Vengeance felt before its passing, while the terror demon vanishes from Nathaniel and appears again underneath Isabela, striking out. But those two and one more rage are all that remain of Vengeance's last effort to stay in the mortal realm - it is dead, and they stand little chance.

[sunshinethroughgrey]

She can't get the barrier up in time - anything up on time - and fire slams into her, right into her already damaged chest, sending spikes of sharp, excruciating pain through her as the fire burns through her healing and she begins to bleed again.

She goes down to her knees, choking, as she looks wildly around for Nathaniel, Anders, or Merrill. She has to protect them from the rage demon, she has to keep going ...

Her skin boils and she lets out a cry, tears in her eyes as she tries to ease ice magic into her already tortured flesh. "I'm coming ... I'm coming ... hold on ... please just hold on ..."