faderift | [CLOSED] PLAYER PLOT: The Ashes Underneath His Nails

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[CLOSED] PLAYER PLOT: The Ashes Underneath His Nails

WHO: Jim Kirk, Hermione Granger, Adelaide Leblanc, Herian Amsel, Anders, Inessa Serra, Raylan Gibbs, Ciri
WHAT: The Inquisition sends a group of agents to uncover the truth behind a string of mysterious disappearances.
WHEN: Kingsway 1st - 8th
WHERE: Emprise du Lion
NOTES: Plotting post is here - feel free to post in there still for queries and concerns and further stuff where needed. Warnings for blood, violence, talks about death, experimentation horror, abomination-related stuff etc and eventual on-screen child death. ALSO no tag order - just respond when you feel like you should and I'll try to hit it back if it feels appropriate!!

QUICK JUMP LINKS

TRAVELLING TO FROMAGE & FROMAGE GENERAL THREAD

ROUTE INVESTIGATION

SEEKRIT CAVE ENTRANCE

INTO THE SEEKRIT CAVE

CAVE INVESTIGATION - LEFT TEAM

CAVE INVESTIGATION - RIGHT TEAM

KID ABOMINATION THREAD

BACK TO SKYHOLD

(—he remembers the chill of the frost and snow biting at bare skin, its usual pure white now tinged a horrid pink from the blood on his hands. He's far away from them now, the danger and the pain and everything else, but the blood will forever be on his hands no matter how much he tries to wash it away.

His father had been right all along. He truly was a monster of the greatest kind.)

QUEST: THE ASHES UNDERNEATH HIS NAILS (PART I)

The message had come swiftly, the letter itself hastily written with a shaky hand. The request itself was simple; a plea for help from a village at the outskirts of Emprise du Lion, whose people have been mysteriously disappearing over the last few weeks. Considering the ongoing civil unrest that's still transpiring in Orlais the Inquisition made its decision to send out a team of agents to look into this message and see exactly what was going on.

The eight agents tasked with the mission were given enough time to prepare for the trip ahead. They would all meet up first at the Inquisition camp set within the Emprise and from there travel for about a day until they reached where their destination was - Fromage, a quaint little village that rested at the outskirts of the area.

From that point on, it was up to the agents of the Inquisition to solve this ongoing mystery. The mission: to discover the truth behind these disappearances - and to stop it, if possible.

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Ciri is, at first, glad for the response. It hurts to know that they would as far as to hurt a child but they could do something for him now, right? They could at least save someone from this hellhole. She almost gives her tension away, almost smiles but then it goes all horribly wrong.

She remembers the abominations of Weisshaupt. The mages there, years more experienced than a child vanishing underneath whatever demon had called to them. The scar on her face is proof than more times than not? There was no coming back from this once a demon had latched onto them and dug into their skin.

Her movements are careful as she steps back, sword drawn and trying to reach Inessa. Until Kirk speaks at least and Ciri levels a glare on him. Where Herian does not snap, Ciri does.

"Do not speak to us as if we're children who have not faced these sort of dangers before. It's a demon, an abomination and it will tear us apart if we forget that for even a moment."

"You heard Adelaide," he reasoned, turning his gaze to Ciri. "This condition has been cured, Anders is proof. Just because something has always been, does not mean it always will be. Sicknesses once thought a death sentence can be cured. If anyone deserves to have that chance taken on them, it is a child. He deserves better than us giving up on him so quickly."

He turned to look back at the child, hoping that whatever Adelaide was doing would work. If the kid started rampaging, even he might admit that there wouldn't be an option. But until there was no other choice, wasn't it their responsibility, their duty, even, to try and help him? All other options needed to be exhausted first, to give this child a chance to live the life stolen from him. That was his belief anyways.

"Come on, kid, I know you're stronger than this," he said as he watched. "Don't let the people who did this to you win. You survived up to now, don't give up just yet."

"And do not act like all abominations are the same."

He's not looking around, but he's tense, as is his voice.

"As Kirk says, I was this. I am not any longer. We can do something about this rather than condemn him when it is clear he did not even make a choice of this. He had no chance, he was taken, this was done to him."

This is all too personal. Some might count that against him here, but if anything, he thinks it helps his case.

"You are not children, you are not inexperienced. But there is a possibility here and just because the Chantry and Circles never allowed for that does not mean it should be ignored. Please."

The dispel spell hits the child - the young abomination - sure and true, and the fire within his body cools down--

"Nuggins is gone. Everyone is gone. Died to make me better, as they keep saying, and I have."

--but only for a moment. It comes back almost in the next instant, the steam stronger than ever, and a corner of the book in his arms begins to shrivel up into ashes. The the skin around the scar on his cheek begins to turn bright red.

"I am better. I am stronger. I can hurt everyone. I can burn everything."

Inessa draws a deep breath, not able to calm herself at all and it shows in the slight tremor of her voice that she can't hide. She knows what the boy is now, fears it with all her heart, but the fact that a successful ritual has been made is a solid argument to try it. If they'd had the time for Kain, maybe he would still be alive. "If we can save him, then we should try. But we dare not bring him back to Skyhold. If he--"

And then that demonic voice causes Inessa to go rigid, any slight hope sinking fast. They have to do something before it burns everything around them. Garahel begins to growl, staying put but tensing and getting ready to act if the demon threatens his mistress in any way.

Edited 2016-09-10 05:48 (UTC)

Her spirit blade appears in an audible surge of magic, and she starts to move forward.

"Your claims are meaningless if he cannot be controlled long enough for your cure to be enacted," she starts, moving toward the child with no hesitation. It must be done. It would be done, even if no others have the stomach for it.

"Herian!" Her hand tightens on Herian's shoulder, staff snapping out with a more focused, more powerful dispelling. If the boy burns there is no hope for him. He must be subdued, he must be taken somewhere isolated-

And they can debate the point after he is no longer an active threat.

Well fuck this. Raylan took two strides toward the child and pointed his staff at it, silently praying to the Maker that this would even work. Who knew how a demon would react?

"Sleep."

"So we are to put all of our faith in one instance? We save one but if I am not mistaken we also lost others just as recent." The tension is back in her bones as she puts herself in front of Inessa, sword drawn and held in a fixed stance. "I will not risk the lives of those in nearby settlements on a might because if we fail, it escapes and they die. I won't risk them for one."

She watches Herian's approach before she is stopped. There is only a second of delay before Ciri pushes forward instead, moving toward the abomination as he burned and tightening the grip on her. There's a motion as she moves to bring her sword downwards, readying herself before Raylan steps forward and utters a word.

There's no telling how it will go in her mind but it gives her enough to pause for now. She steadies her blade but not does not unwind in her stance, still positioned for an attack.

Edited 2016-09-10 06:18 (UTC)

The dispel hits again, and once more the fire in his body flickers, going out once more. In the next instant is Raylan's sleep spell, and the child's eyes flutter, slowly glazing over--

The hum of lyirum kicks in, louder than ever, and then the fire returns in full force yet again. The child jerks back upright, lips curling into a snarl, the scar on his cheek welling up with blood and sliding down his jaw, dripping off from his chin.

"The screams remind me everyday. I hear their pain and their rage and now they're mine. Their rage is mine, and it will burn this place down."

The tables lined up along the sides catch fire with those last words, wood cracking and breaking as the demonic fires rip through them, quickly reducing them into ashes.

"Yes, antagonize the child possessed by a rage demon, you are both brilliant." And not entirely wrong either. Not wrong but they'd been close. They had been so very close to perhaps finding a peaceful resolution and now?

Fire, snarling, a demon staring them down from within a child. This is not the way any of them wanted it to go- but the way most of them expected it to go. "Stand. Down."

Herian she might command- The Warden? They do as they like. Adelaide spares no thought to trying to corral her beyond the earlier chiding. Frost snaps through the air, hissing and crawling over every burning timber, every shard and ash frozen as the ice overtakes the heat, as chill whirls to combat the heat. "Anders, drain its mana!"

And that fire is too much for Inessa to ignore. Having stayed close to Ciri though still behind, Inessa casts Barrier before aiding Adelaide. Her talent also lies in ice magic, and she desperately needs focus, so rather than fall apart, she'll put that to use and stifle the fires as best she can...at least for the moment.

He had hope. He had hope for a fraction of a second, because he thought it would work, that they could help him. He wanted this child not to suffer, to try and make up for the wrongs that had been done to him. But hearing that, watching what he was becoming - the hope died a little more. Even so, he didn't want to give up, not just yet. And yet...

The needs of the many before the needs of the one.

"Damn it!" he pulled his staff from his back, not that it would do much, but he stepped back and out of the way. The swords, at least, could make it quick if it came to it, and right now he knew he was only being in the way with his current position. Still, he hoped that Adelaide and Anders and the other mages could do something, anything.

"Come on kid!" he called above the crackle of magic and flame. "I know it hurts and it's scary and it's not fair, but think! Would your parents want this from you? Would this be what they want you to become? Fight it!" He had no idea if his words meant anything to the child, but they felt like the only weapons he had, so he used them as best he could.

There was a time and a place for her to express her many complex feelings about Adelaide grabbing her shoulder, and that time and place is not now. She casts a barrier, first, over Ciri and Raylan to try and protect them as they stood closest.

Being told to stand down all but gives her whiplash, looking to Adelaide in shock. She must protect, she must move forward, and she might argue that when the Spire fell they had both been Enchanters, and her teacher was no longer so senior to her as to issue orders. It is a battle of instincts.

She stays her hand, though, the fire at the head of her stave burns more fiercely.

He, however, is a senior Warden. And as he stands and follows Adelaide's suggestion, casting quickly, he glances over. She has Herian covered. He may have the Wardens. It's hopefully just Raylan to worry about.

"Warden Ciri, I suggest you stand down as well, until he actually attacks someone." Anders is only calm because he has to be, because there's Rage here and they sorely need calm. They need thinking, not panic.

"We've barriers up." And he's clearly draining magic from the demon. "We've every advantage over this if we think and breathe. There is still a boy trapped in there, his body is not warped. He is not yet lost. And one case of this working is all we have because it's only been tried on one person."

Raylan stepped forward again, keeping his staff in hand, but he felt safe enough with the barrier and the mana drain that it wasn't pointed any particular direction.

"Hey," he said, not shouting, but firm. The kind of voice he'd use on a young student who was acting up, but hadn't crossed the line yet. "Come back to us, kid. You can fight it. You survived this to become strong, not to let it take over. Tell it to go, and it'll go. We can still help you. We can still protect you."

His mind was a vague blur of praying, calling out to every deity that would listen to make this work, bring the kid back down. Part of him feared they were past the point of no return.

"Because flinging spells and giving a rage demon pep talks like a child was going so very, very well." If she could roll her eyes any harder then they'd roll out of her damn head. They only had to react because their solutions failed to do anything but enrage him further.

If she was less in control of her emotions then rage might have blossomed in her chest as well when Anders speaks to her as if he had any say in her actions. Fine. They wished to reach him? Then she'll hit it square where it hurts. She wasn't going to swaddle a demon and hope for the best.

"Hey, kid." There is nothing but bite in her voice as she approaches closer to the child and the fire. Unlike Raylan, there is no praying. "And after you burn this place down then what is going to happen? Do you think the demon will just let you go after it gives you what you want? You know that isn't true, you know it's lying to you and you're scared. You'll leave here with that thing and all you'll know is screaming and pain but you'll be the one causing it. You'll do to others what they did to you and those you loved."

What the hell was she playing at here? She couldn't get through to mages more experienced than this kid at Weisshaupt... what chance did they have here? "Do you really think the ones that died here wanted you to bear all this pain and rage?"

The child grunts as Anders drains his mana, and without it to sustain the fires they're quickly snuffed out by Adelaide's icy spells - most of it, that is: the book in the boy's arms continues to burn still. There's still a fire burning in his eyes despite it all too - a fire that is clearly more than just the rage demon itself, now.

"It no longer matters what papa and mama think," he says, only the faintest hint of sorrow in his voice that's quickly covered by the anger that follows. "I made this choice. I wanted it to stay. It's the only friend I have who'll help me." The book in his arms is burning from all four corners now, but the heat of it barely stops the child at all, entirely unfazed. "It knows my rage, because it is my rage."

The blood along his cheek abruptly crystallizes, a flurry of frozen red fractals covering the side of his face and quickly starting to spread. The hum of lyrium heightens even further, and the steam from before returns once more, this time in tenfold.

"Nobody will hurt me again. Nobody will touch me again. I'm stronger than everybody else. I can crush them. I can crush everything--starting with you!"

With an inhuman roar the child suddenly surges forward, the ashes of the storybook crumbling onto the table, and fire burns underneath his skin as he lunges straight for the individual closest to him.

Raylan had stepped in close and was standing the closest. He jumped back with that lunge, and lashed out with his staff before he could think about it. A bolt of lightning arced from it and connected with the child's heart. Praying for calm had passed, and now Raylan was just hoping he could end it quickly. He was ready to move if it kept coming, and the slightly hysterical thought that he hoped the others liked him enough to hit it too crossed his mind.

One day she'll recognize a lost cause for what it is. Apparently? It is not this day. She ought to have known better, they wouldn't have left the boy alone otherwise. Not unless they'd already gotten what they wanted.

The boy shifts. Twists. Lunges- and Adelaide released Herian's shoulder. Snapping a glyph of paralysis under him would only do so much- and run the risk of catching Raylan. All she can do- all she does? Is summon wisps for her student. Provide a heroic aura for Ciri- as close to an apology as she will manage.

Herian lunges forward, staff at her back, spirit blade in one hand at her standard issue sword drawn in the other as she moves. Her orders to not matter, now. What matters is protecting the people here, in saving their lives, and when she is in the heat of battle her mana recovers all the faster.

As the demon moves for Raylan, she keeps the sword ready for defense, and brings the spirit blade swinging down towards the creature's shoulder. This time she will not be so easily stopped, determined to keep striking and keep its focus as best she can. She understands rage very well.

That's it, then. He only asked for until the child attacked, and the look in his eyes has gone too deep. Anders reinforces the barriers he put on the party from the start, casting paralysis under the boy.

At least they could make it quick.

Despite her attempt to reach him there isn't a moment of hesitation when it shifts, lunging for an attack on the nearby mage. She jumps back from the initial attack, breathing in as lightning burns in the air and the magic that follows lights up the room.

There is little time to acknowledge the spells cast over her, she sprints forward and takes aim at its back as it is exposed in the lunge. She takes no pride in this or enjoyment that she had been right.

Ciri wants this done now and aims for his heart.

The child is all but relentless in his attack - Raylan's strike hits him first and he does drop mid-lunge, but recovers quickly and surges forward to try and strike again before Herian's blade hits his shoulder. Again he drops--but the blood crystallizes again, sealing up the wound, and the child pays it no mind as he tries to attack the next closest person.

Tried being the keyword, since that's when Anders's paralysis hits him.

The child snarls as the glyph activates, the pain enough to make him temporarily pause in his tracks. The pause is enough for everyone to see the new state of the child, cracks in his skin glowing an eerie red, wounds that have all been sealed with crystallized red lyrium. He looks nothing like a child and more like a miniature monster, ready to strike and tear, to hurt just as he claims to do so.

That want burns strongly, enough for the child to trash himself out of the paralysis just in time to catch the blade with a hand. It slices through his palm cleanly, and before Ciri can pull it back out the wound crystallizes around it.

"I'll crush and tear you to pieces. Burn, burn--everything needs to burn!

With another snarl he grips onto the sword by its blade, not caring for how it cuts him, holding it tight as he attempts to swing it himself and throw Ciri off to the side.

"Fuck them. Fuck them all to the Void and back," Anders mutters angrily. They'd taken and done this to a child, and there will be no justice here. For a split-second he stills at that thought, worried about its source, but the moment is gone quickly. He's himself. He'd be furious even before Justice had been a part of him.

"We have to take off his head!" That's far louder. "It's the only way to kill an abomination that still has human form. It can take any other wounds." He had. Casting again, this time Anders tries for an arcane prison to hold the boy in place a bit longer.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR99ubyBCGE

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