faderift | CLOSED: It's Like Spitting on a Fish

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CLOSED: It's Like Spitting on a Fish

WHO: Malcolm, Iskandar, Inessa, Anders, and Nathaniel
WHAT: A hunt for the Hero of Ferelden
WHEN: Present
WHERE: The Deep Roads
NOTES: Will update with any warnings.

First, it's a ship taken to Amaranthine. Then, it's a hike to the Deep Roads entrance, and the journey through Kal-sharok. It takes a day or so for Nathaniel to find Jonas' trail leaving Kal-sharok, and they are later able to confirm that it is definitely Jonas upon encountering a doused fire with some evidence about--things the queen's men would have found, had they been able to make it this far. The truth is that few besides a Warden could have made it this far.

With time, the team is able to track Jonas to a long-abandoned thaig. Nathaniel squints at the gates that are closed before them, and yet their hinges are eroded. They are off-kilter a little, and look moveable.

"Iskandar, Malcolm--help me force this open. Inessa, Anders, can you use your magic to help us?"

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Malcolm, too, added his weight and strength to the thing, feeling the structural weakness allowing it to budge. Iskandar was...of course doing most of the heavy lifting but one more body can't hurt. "The dwarves can thank us later for giving them access to one of their old thaigs, then."

Nathaniel braces himself against the gate and begins to walk it forward. The grinding rumbling of stone against stone fills the air, and he has no doubt that the mages as well as Iskandar are doing the brunt of the work. Bit by bit, the gate inches forward. When it is at about a forty-five degree angle, the grinding sounds almost mask the telltale click of a switchplate being depressed.

"STOP!" he bellows. "Nobody move." He looks down at his feet--nothing there. Nothing at Malcolm's feet. Iskandar, however, is standing directly on top of the culprit--a wide switchplate that was flush with the floor, so it did not interfere with the gate, but once stepped on, it sank about an inch below floor level.

"Don't move, Iskandar. Everyone stand back while I have a look about." With that, he is off, studying the area immediately around the switchplate and following with his eyes to where there ought to be other mechanisms to work the trap it will trigger. And it will trigger. Dwarves have abandoned this thaig, but Nathaniel has never found a dwarven trap that stopped working because of something as silly as time.

Iskandar looked down when he felt the ground move beneath him. He didn't look surprised or startled at all. Nor concerned about the fact that he'd found a trap. Nope. He looked impressed.

"Clever."

Abruptly stopping as ordered, Inessa glances over to Iskandar and then downward, to catch a glimpse of the switchplate he's standing on. His non-reaction has her raising an eyebrow; doesn't he care for his own safety? "Clever, yes, and deadly. Dwarven ingenuity is nothing to underestimate.

"Deadly being a relative term," Anders says, casting a barrier around the large man and Nate since the archer is looking for the rest of the trap. It might not help a whole lot, but it's worth trying.

He takes a few wary steps back from Iskandar, close enough to perhaps be able to do something should it go off--or get himself killed, depending on the nature of the trap. "That it hasn't immediately gone off, despite being right in front of the thaig, that ought to be a good sign, yes? If I was protecting my homeland, I wouldn't want to take the risk of giving people time to dismantle it."

Nathaniel returns, hearing the tail end of what Malcolm says. His face grave, steely grey eyes hard.

"Giving the target more time is exactly what the designer intended. It's a counter-siege weapon. The more time there is, the more enemy troops can march into the blast radius. What we have is a poison trap. The bad news is that it was designed to kill whole battalions, and there are only five of us--one wrong move and we may all die. The good news is that it can be disarmed, but only by hands smaller than my own. I think there were special tools designed for the task, making it nigh impossible for a dwarven enemy to disarm. But they had to have some mechanism, to allow friendly groups to safely leave the thaig." He points at each person in turn.

"Anders, I need you to lay ice in and over the seams, as thick as you can make without breaking anything underneath. It likely won't keep the trap from going off, but it ought to slow it if worst comes to worst, and give us a few seconds longer to run. Malcolm, I need you assisting Anders however possible. Finding rocks to put on the switchplate, maybe, but don't overdo it--you break the plate, we all die. Once the two of you have done all you can, I want you out of here as far as you can go. Iskandar, don't move. Inessa, I need you with me."

And with that, he takes off through the cracked-open gates, expecting Inessa to follow. Just inside and to the left is a set of stairs leading to a turret nestled against the wall. Nathaniel takes them three at a time.

He pales a little. "The good news? That's supposed to be good? Stay here while I wander toward the source." It's just worry talking, words that aren't anything more than sounds because he hates silence and he hates Nate being in danger even more.

Most of his focus instead is on coating the mechanism with ice and trying to prevent it from going off. Though he's fairly determined that he's not going to abandon Nate.

"How many rocks do you think you weigh?" He asks Iskandar.

...wait, what. Inessa stiffens in alarm as it becomes clear what is needed. A variety of protests surface, namely that she's no rogue and has no training for this whatsoever, but...well, he already knows that and there's no real alternative.

"I...of course." Quelling her tension as best she can, Inessa follows along though she can't dream of keeping up with his pace. Garahel whines softly, but remains where instructed. Darkspawn won't sneak up on them, not on his watch.

"Far more rocks than we have time for, I'm afraid." He looked to see if the gate would stay open but still didn't look that concerned about the situation for his own safety. Not a normal reaction for certain but when one knew things others didn't about themselves...

"Take your time though. I probably am immune to the poison." Probably. As in he really wasn't sure. But hey at least there was a chance?

Edited 2017-06-28 03:11 (UTC)

Help Anders, oh good show, put rocks on the plate, Maker above, Iskandar's right, they'd be putting a whole mountain on the bloody plate. "Probably? When would you have built up an immunity to poison?"

Once Inessa has caught up with him, Nathaniel has removed a panel hidden in the wall to reveal two access ports. Both are very small, each about as wide as one of Inessa's arms. Something gleams dimly inside. Nathaniel turns and gives her a calm look.

"Thank you, Inessa. This one isn't very complicated--easy, for a first-timer, so long as we are careful. You won't be able to see what you're doing, but I will be with you every step, describing to you what you must do. We'll do this together. All right?"

"No. This is ridiculous. You might somehow survive a poison from this world, I'm supposed to leave Nate behind, no. I'll freeze it. I'll freeze it, and if we can't do rocks then we won't do rocks but we'll... something. I'm not walking away."

Kal'hirol is always, always a bad idea.

Peering at the access ports, Inessa nods slowly. She's not thrilled with not being able to see what she's doing, but Nathaniel's reassurances keep her focused. As long as she follows his instructions precisely, then it should be simple...right? "Alright. I'm ready to begin. Tell me what I must do first."

"Anders, take a deep breath. No one has asked you to leave anyone behind. However, panic will serve no one. Least of all him." Odd how he was the one trying to calm the mage down considering the fact that he was standing on the trap trigger here. "Just do what he needs you to do right now. Ice the seams."

Nathaniel is, perhaps, shitting her a little bit. More than a little bit. He has to stay calm so she will be calm, and his reassurances to her, while exaggerated, will ultimately keep her hands steady. He nods.

"Go ahead and slide your hands inside. Slowly, until you feel glass or metal with your fingers. Those are the glass cylinders holding the liquid poison. If the liquid touches air, it becomes gas, which is why the glass isn't easy to break. Slide your fingers down and you will feel the tubing that runs from the cylinders to the trap. I am going to give you tools to pinch those tubes off before you cut them. First, I need you to count how many cylinders there are so we know what we're dealing with."

He doesn't particularly feel calm, or like calming down.

"He said to get out once we'd done all we can," he points out a little obstinately. "I'm not getting out while he's still in there, and I am putting down ice. I don't know that it will make any sort of difference if this thing is meant to take out armies."

"Yes. He said to get out and leave me behind. Did you miss that part? Now take a deep breath. I have conquered armies before with smaller groups and we will conquer this with but five people." Iskandar figured there was no point in holding the gate open now because it was already so. Releasing it, he noted it didn't move and crossed his arms instead.

"If you panic over one person then you are more likely to doom the rest. Breathe. He is fine and has a capable person with him. Another reason he left you here to help me."

Narrowing her eyes, Inessa carefully -very carefully- does as Nathaniel requests. Her small, slender hands slide in with no difficulty. Now, where is--ah, there's the metal and glass of a cylinder. Sliding her fingers down, she nods as her fingers brush the tubing. "I feel them. There are...two, no three cylinders."

"Good." Nathaniel takes a wallet of tools from his pack and unfolds it. "Now look at this."

He holds up a small tool, like a small pair of scissors, but the ends oddly shaped and two hooks between the two handles.

"This is a clamp. Here, take it and try it. When you close the clamp over the hose, you must fasten the hooks together. That's how you will know it is completely closed. Try it in front of me so you can tell how it will feel when you do it right. And Malcolm--"

He raises his voice.

"Malcolm, if Anders refuses to leave when you're done, fling him over your shoulder and carry him. Do whatever you must."

At least that's one worry he's fairly certain he doesn't have to face. Anders looks at Malcom and shakes his head before speaking in a much lower voice.

"Yes, Seeker. Save the life of Anders a second time." The first time had been welcome, he's still grateful, but it hadn't been when Malcolm had any time to think about it. A Seeker is not going to save him when there's time to consider the options.

Iskandar is trapped, Nate isn't leaving, and Malcolm won't grab Anders. There's comfort in the fact that if Nate dies here today, Anders won't be separated from him.

"Iskandar," he continues in a more normal voice, starting to get his feet back underneath him due to that particular realization, "has anything about the way it feels underneath you changed?"

"No."

He was watching Anders closely now, more than aware of what that look meant. It was a foolish one but he wasn't going to fault him for it. The likelihood that he'd allow it to happen was another story but he'd get to that later.

And bring it up with Nathaniel privately when this was done.

So arms crossed, he glanced over at Malcolm then back to the mage. Oh he was going to be keeping an eye on him right now.

Malcolm raises his eyebrows at Anders, but he makes no argument or at all any comment about his ridiculous sarcasm and otherwise stands his ground. Maybe stands his ground slightly, slightly closer to Anders. That's fine. It'll make saving the man who helped start a war again a little more satisfying to know he's apparently defying expectations.

"We could start piling stones and then also icing them over to add some weight. Iskandar could at least relieve a little pressure of his own weight, but it would still have to be an incremental thing. No offense, but I am wary of adding much more onto that plate with you already on it, dwarven craftsmanship be damned."

Inessa doesn't respond to the others, not allowing herself to become distracted when she must play a vital part in this. Taking the clamp from Nathaniel, she closes it as instructed, paying close attention to how it feels. With a small determined nod, she looks back up to the senior Warden.

"If that's all, I'm ready to begin." Poor Iskandar has waited long enough, whether or not he sounds at all distressed. She takes a deep breath, steadying her nerves as best she can before plunging in. Close the clamp over the hose, then fasten the hooks. That's simple enough.

"That's the spirit." Nathaniel gives her a nod, passing her the next clamp. Then the next. As far as Nathaniel can tell, she's doing splendidly. He will buy her a drink after this. Maybe a whole cask of wine, to share with her young friends. Once all the clamps are in place, Nathaniel hands her a pair of razor-sharp scissors.

"Now you will cut the hoses a few inches below where you clamped them. If we hear any gas escaping, we will need to hoof it. Understood?"

Edited 2017-06-30 14:11 (UTC)

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