faderift | OPEN: We couldn't bring the columns down

WHO: Samson vs. Inquisition, in particular the Iron Bull, Ciri, Bruce, and Norrington
WHAT: BOSS FIGHT
WHEN: Harvestmere 20
WHERE: The Dales
NOTES:There is an open portion of this log for people who want to fight Red Templars or help with the clean-up at their leisure—you'll be NPCing your own fights for that, but team up and have at it—and a closed portion for the team that will capture Samson.

Sources say the Red Templars number twenty, maybe thirty; that they've slipped south through eastern Orlais using the Civil War and the wilderness to obscure their movements; and that they are moving with an unknown purpose to an unknown place. There's a brief window of time where their path may be predicted, funneled through the only viable road in this area of the rocky foothills of the Frostbacks. If they aren't stopped before they enter the southernmost wilds then they may never be found.

The Inquisition's force--a small unit of forty, dispatched quickly and quietly--arrives a day ahead of the force it means to intercept. That's time to blow a bridge, place archers and mages, and tuck reinforcements into the gorges.

In summary, an ambush.

It's nice to occasionally be the springer rather than the sprung-upon.

Threaded | Flat

The guttural bellow of the Red Templar Behemoth rumbles several decibels above the chaos of battle, snapping the eerie, wintry silence that had filled the rocky forest hallway. Their wagons, with contents disguised beneath burlap, rope, bundles of timber, have drawn to a halt. Horses whicker in panic.

Standing twice as tall as any of its comrades, the monstrous, craggy silhouette lurches for where the fighting is thickest, dragging arms heavy with spiked red lyrium claws. Around it, the earth, lightly frosted with snowfall, trembles beneath each step, cracking when jagged pillars of red lyrium erupt up and outwards, the fall of Inquisition arrows fired from tree cover shattering uselessly against it. The Behemoth seems immune to pain as he fights, but then, if what remains of his human face is anything to go by, he is already consumed with agony. And rage, of course, as he brings up one massively oversized arm like a warhammer and sends it crashing down upon the enemy.

Upwards of twenty more Red Templar soldiers bristle with sword and shield. Red eyed and pale-skinned, they fight with a semblance of their prior Templar training. Shields defend against magic and arrow, and swords cleave powerfully, efficiently. Traces of red lyrium magic seem to glimmer over their armor, their weapons, and every now and then, a wind of dispelling magic sweeps through the battle to steal away any mage's link to the Fade. None of them retreat, or surrender. They fight tirelessly, only stopping when something finally cuts them down.

That oppressive silence of the forest floods back in when the last man falls. A horse, loose from its reins, goes wandering alone through the carnage, picking around the still corpses of Red Templars. The taste of red lyrium in the air is bitter, with those massive spikes in need of collection or destruction where they've tumbled off wagons to knife up from the earth and hum with corrupt energy, throwing off a glow of evil scarlet.

The Inquisition had no forewarning that he would be here, but he is--Samson, their commander, encased in his impenetrable armor. If anyone wouldn't recognize his importance on sight, one of the archers who was there at Haven is quick to announce it with an outraged shout and an equally outraged arrow that zips past him, emotionally and therefore poorly aimed, to embed in the side of a wagon.

Other arrows miss, too, and by the time the Inquisition's swordsmen reach the Red Templars, Samson is gone, cargo in tow, leaving behind orders to hold them off and a wagon trail through the snow. Some of his men follow. It's a strategic retreat that might have worked, if not for the wrecked bridge further along the road leaving a steep drop and an icy, shoulder-deep river in his way.

[ In addition to the NPC Red Templars with Samson, the Inquisition team may have four NPC soldiers with them as well (one per player) to control and/or kill off as desired. ]

OPEN: Red Templar Battle

CLOSED: Samson