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

This time the preparations are a little more directed - healing potions passed out, barrier double and triple checked, making sure everyone's entirely ready just in case. The mood is the most somber out of all of the rituals, and it's not only because Skyhold's betting pool has the highest odds for multiple people dying in this.

They'd figured something would go wrong. It's pretty much a given, considering. Demons were also pretty much a given due to how similar the fifth attempt is to the fourth. In fact, the crackling of the barrier and runes once they're engaged aren't that much of a surprise, just a disappointment.

The first thing that might be a surprise comes with the barrier stops crackling, starts glowing, and Anders yells. The second is a flash, bathing the whole area in Fade-green and electric blue. And while it's very possible that most of the scattered demons that pop up - wraiths, gibbering horrors, and lesser shades - are not a surprise, there's one more form that stands in the heart of the Circle, over Anders' prone form, raising a barrier over itself as it howls in anger.

Vengeance is furious, and the blue wall of flames that rise up in front of it are fueled by that rage. The other demons close in, sensing that they're about to have a feast.

Edited 2016-06-19 09:33 (UTC)

The dust takes its sweet time in settling, and when it does there's a whole lot of demon ash around the place and one former ally is dead and gone. A lot of the living aren't doing too well either, for that matter. It's time to try to get everyone stabilized and back to Skyhold. Everyone left alive, that is.

Edited 2016-06-29 05:44 (UTC)

"Quickly!" Demons. They should all be ready - they must be.

"As darkness closes," she murmurs, raising her bow with no hesitation and loosing an arrow at Vengeance, seeking to distract its attention from Anders if necessary, "I am shielded by flame."

She has a second arrow ready almost immediately.

1.
Leliana is silent on the way there. Her mind is weighed with much at the best of times, but she has spoken with Adelaide and a little with Anders of the pressures upon them - not enough, she suspects, not enough to truly grapple with the weight upon their minds, but she has a sense of its shape and shadow.

There is a bow and quiver at her back, knives conealed on her, and she finds herself murmuring a near silent prayer as they move.

2.
She is well aware that she is not an approachable person. She is also aware that is probably not aided by the sight of her polishing a knife before it disappears to somewhere.

She is aware of a presence near her without looking. "Yes?"

3.
Wiiiiildcard?

Edited 2016-06-19 11:47 (UTC)

"Well, for once in my life I am going to be blunt, and I'm not sure how it's going to turn out." Is Bethany's reply from behind her.

"But why are you doing this?"

Unlike some, Leliana has not attended all of these attempts. Her only prior effort had ended in her silence for a day to evade the gift of song.

"I have my reasons. Is that insufficient?"

Nathaniel stands by Leliana, bow strung, arrow in hand, and his jaw drops.

"What is that?" he asks in dismay. But he thinks he might know. Though he has never seen its like, for that very reason it must be a Vengeance demon. Gone is the shining armor Justice created for himself in the Fade on their first meeting. This is a thing twisted so beyond recognition that Anders could not possibly have held it inside and missed that it was no longer Justice.

Well. Justice was an asshole anyway. He is separated from Anders now, and all that is left is to kill him. The complicated things can come later.

Nathaniel looses an arrow at Vengeance's eye.

Andraste, guide me.

Her second arrow flies, aiming for the creature's throat. "An adversary."

Not obnoxiously; simply. An adversary, one for them to fell quickly, one that will endanger their people here. One they will act against swiftly. His dismay can be overcome.

Once he gets there, Kain takes some time to be sure he's ready. This whole matter is so serious, he's made a point not to include his dracolisk or even his bird, having left them both back at Skyhold distracted by treats. He doesn't want to risk anyone but himself here.

He paces around for a bit, stretching, staring up at the sky, getting himself in the right mindset. He also looks over his lance to make sure it's good and sharp and ready. He's as prepared as he's going to be.

...Ok, but maybe he also needs some of those potions too.

An adversary. Demons are pretty much expected at this point of course, but even he can tell that the thing that is Justice is far worse than any of the others. Kain knows that's got to be his first target.

He gets a ring of pain going in the area, then leaps skyward, far above the battlefield, to come soaring down with his lance aiming straight for Justice. It's risky to try a dragoon jump on him, of course, Kain figures it'll be well worth it.

He sees her lips moving, and for once he's pretty sure he knows what's going on there. It's not like it's a hard guess, after all.

"Shall I call you Sister Nightingale today?" It's delivered with a tight, tense smile. He may have money riding on them succeeding, but it's more out of defiance than any sort of optimism. "Do me a favor and don't die? I'd really prefer to not be raised from the dead and re-killed, and if anyone could manage it, it would be the first crew." Zevran, Alistair, Shale, Morrigan.

Ah.

She glances at him, and she is terribly good at appearing at ease despite circumstances. "Most settle for 'Nightingale.' The extra two syllbles can be a bit much."

Not quite in the realm of teasing, too quiet and restrained, but there is something of the tone of it that counts.

"I'm sure one of the deaths would be merciful, but I'll do my best. Likewise, if you die I'm likely to be accused of framing it," probably for good reason, "so you'd best see to yourself as well."

She looked over at Anders, then back at Leliana. Her brown eyes narrowed a little.

"Reasons are good -- but this ... this could put you in serious danger, Leliana. You could ... die, helping Anders."

Bethany closed her eyes and then focused on the group of them. A barrier shifted upwards, and around them, infused with spiritual energy, so they were protected. Then she shifted back so she could take on a sweep of Cone of Ice.

She looked around, taking in the field. Oh, this was going to be ugly.

[Open]

Cole crouches a ways away from the official ritual space, tracing swirling shapes in the dirt with a finger, murmuring to himself.

"Paths twining and tangling. The tree has grown tall. The roots go deep."

[Closed to Anders+Justice]

He isn't quite certain how to do this. The last time, he did it without meaning to... but he remembers how it felt. Like running a hand along a wall, and finding a sudden seam. A door you didn't know was there.

As the ritual begins, Cole reaches for Anders' mind, for the shifting space between the man and the spirit. Suddenly, the world disappears, and he's somewhere else entirely.

"No."

It didn't have to be like this. It shouldn't have been. But it is.

The lesser demons are advancing. Take care of them first, before they can hurt too many of the others. Cole draws his daggers, racing to position himself behind one of the shades. The blades bite into its back.

Well-

Anders is not dead.

The rest of them are also not dead.

Yet.

Several bookies will be pleased and mournful so long as they do not find themselves killed in short order. Adelaide swears violently under her breath, shifting her focus to the shades, and horrors. Bethany had them shielded- she could focus on the attack. Slamming the butt of her staff against the ground- shards of ice spread and spider out, frost running in fractal sheets along stone and grass, erupting upward in spikes about the horrors.

It definitely shouldn't have been like this. In a perfect world, Justice would have gone willingly and Anders' anger wouldn't have corrupted what was already a very stubborn and determined spirit. Instead, there are demons.

Vengeance looks at those attacking him as the arrows strike, and barely staggers at the lance. There are wounds, certainly, but they're small and it is fueled by something that pain cannot touch. One of the three arrows, the first one since it's the most shallowly buried, gets yanked out and tossed vaguely in Kain's direction. Kain is not Vengeance's focus just yet, even with a lance in Justice. That too gets yanked out, pushed back. There are a few ways to get satisfaction on this field, and one of them is right in front of him. A fireball streaks across the field to mostly dissolve against the barrier around Nate and Vengance snarls.

Meanwhile, ice is spreading across the field, spikes and spray, and the flame wall sputters and steams. The bunches of lesser demons slip and slow. One, a shade, doesn't stand a chance as two daggers come from behind. It fades out, leaving ash and allies behind.

But ice cannot stop the attacks. A wraith strikes Cole with a projectile, one that's greatly weakened by the barrier. A gibbering horror closes in on Nathaniel and bites, something that's almost completely blocked, while a lesser shade attacks Bethany with a weakened Weakness spell.

This is- horrible. It's close to what she expected; spirits and demons are the same, to the Dalish; they think differently, act differently, and while Merrill has never thought them intrinsically bad for that, they are always dangerous. And Justice- well, she has seen too much to trust Justice. There is no room for grey areas with spirits, and that is why they're dangerous. It's certainly part of why Justice hates her.

"Get him out of there!" It's cried out as Merrill swings her staff, casting Sleep on the advancing demons. There's a field of demons between her and Anders, between her and Vengeance. He's vulnerable there, more vulnerable now in the Fade without Justice, and a misstep could have sent Kain's lance for Vengance into Anders' skull.

There is fire and there is ice and weapons and spells flying while Anders lay dormant. Leliana does not grimace, though she grits her teeth for a moment-- it is not as though fire is a favoured element of hers. She's not sure what would be, truthfully, but it certainly isn't fire.

Taking a breath she starts to sing, low and quiet at first, but gathering strength as she goes, the song of courage. Merrill is right - and this will be for nothing if Anders does not live.

She looses an arrow at one of the demons, and tries to pick a path over to Anders. Around flame? Through flames? At the very least Vengeance's attention seems elsewhere, by her estimation, even if she has to try and navigate around a mess of fire and demons. This is bound to go well.

"If that were a reason not to help then a good many of us would never do anything at all."

She looks up from her blade and to Bethany. "The people of the Inquistion are in my care. Either Anders is one of them or he is a liability to them with Justice present. Elect whichever sets you best at ease."

Grabbing for the lance so he can leap aside, the tossed arrow fortunately just strikes across armor this time- but he knows it could have been a lot worse if it were purposeful. He jumps back into a spot close to his original starting position, getting a sense of what's going on before his next move.

Of course, Merrill's reminder about Anders' condition doesn't escape his attention. He glances over and figures he might make it close with a jump, though the fire makes it tricky. But then there are demons in his path, blocking him. He slashes and stabs wildly at what's nearest, moving like a fierce whirlwind.

He's never good at masking emotions. Sure, he can carry on a conversation and seem fine for a short while as the world collapses around him, but it takes effort. Energy. Things he needs to redirect elsewhere right now. Regardless, she manages to ease a little of the tension from his expression.

"Mm. Two attempts to help me could be reframed as two attempts on my life, yes. And some of the people I know would be glad to find someone to blame. We'll add that to reasons to survive this." He doesn't want his death used by anyone. "I've a letter if things go that poorly, though. It may help."

He can hope, at least. "Sometimes I wonder how you still have faith. Not that I'm complaining, mind. I'll try a great many things at this point." He doesn't think the Maker, or the Dalish gods, or the two remaining old gods will ever give a care, but that doesn't mean there isn't a point in trying.

He's finished an unnecessary round of recounting all of the potions they have when he catches Kain's look. The man gets a wave over.

"Take a few. Considering you, take two more than you think you need." His voice is strained, but at least he can try a joke.

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

Preparation

The Ritual Itself

Aftermath

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leliana | open

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Kain | Open

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Cole | open + one just for Anders

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