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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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)

The shift of Malcolm's stance and the way Iskandar is looking at him have Anders a little less sure of himself. Anders considers mentioning that if Malcolm bolts there wouldn't be any witnesses, but he doesn't want to say anything along those lines with Iskandar watching him.

All right. He'll work on the issue at hand, and then if the other becomes an issue he'll... panic, or something. Panic's slightly more likely than 'or something.'

"I could also start simply stacking earth on the switch," he offers. "Iskandar can slowly shift off of it as I move more?"

Good, Anders, don't argue with the Seeker, you might not like where it goes.

"I'd prefer to see if the others can dismantle the mechanism first. The last thing we need is to not be sure and trigger the entire process by accident. If they can't disable it, then we've got more options to consider." Hey Nate, maybe don't fuck up, is what he's saying.

Edited 2017-06-30 23:28 (UTC)

Biting her lip, Inessa is utterly silent now as she attends to the rest of Nathaniel's instructions. If she isn't successful...no, mustn't think like that. One after another, she cuts the hoses and pauses to listen.

"I don't hear anything...."

Nathaniel lets out a laugh, his face lighting up at the sweet sound of silence. "Well done, Inessa, you clever woman! I'll be buying you a drink after this. Everyone!" He turns to the others, calling out.

"The poison is cut off from the rest of the trap. Anders, Seeker Reed, come with us across to the next gate. When we're there, Iskandar, run to us as fast as you can. It could be the same trigger activates another trap I can't detect, but it won't be poison. Once it goes off, it will be safe for us to close the second gate behind us and leave this blighted place behind us. Come on!"

He gives Inessa another fiercely proud grin before he starts bounding back down the stairs.

It feels like a mountain has been lifted off his shoulders. Today is not the day where they have to discuss how Anders will not leave Nate to die, and today isn't the day they die, either. Or at least not yet.

He moves forward quickly after a glance back at Iskandar. It's hard to read the giant at the best of times, and right now there's stress in play. What Iskandar is thinking, Anders has no idea. And right now isn't the time for that conversation either.

"We're checking for more traps as we go, right?" That's not his strength, but this seems like something that they should be doing while hurrying across.

"Just call when you are at the next gate. I will be there before you realize it!"

He still made a mental note to talk with Nathaniel later but for the time being they would be moving on. Nodding to the two men with him, he gave them a smile.

"Go on. I will be there before you can blink once you call for me."

He turned to look through the gate so he could figure out how far away the next one was in the meantime just to make sure he knew how fast he would have to use his abilities and how many times.

Malcolm lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. To come so far only to lose it all now? Unacceptable. He's no Warden flouncing off to the Deep Roads to die; he's here to drag a Warden back kicking and screaming if he must. Now if only he could do the same to the Champion of Kirkwall...

"Live to die another day," he says to Iskandar with a pat on the arm before hurrying off to join the others.

"After this, I might actually need a drink." Inessa mutters with a faint smile as she follows him down the stairs at a less energetic pace. She tends to avoid alcoholic drinks purely for the reason that she's a lightweight, but an exception, when circumstances permit, is for once very tempting.

But first things first, they still have the second gate to deal with.

The next gate opens more easily, as the switch mechanism is functional. Nathaniel checks for traps before they pass through. Once everyone else is safe away, he gives a nod to Iskandar.

"Come straight for us as fast as you can. We'll shut the gate behind you."

With a nod, the man vanished. It was like he was there then gone in the blink of an eye. And at the end of that blink he was standing behind them.

"Let us make haste shall we?" He grinned and turned to head onward.

The switch plate does not move for several seconds. Nathaniel starts closing the gate. There is a creak of ice bending, the crackles of some of it beginning to give way--then the click of a switch. No hiss of gas, but a myriad of bolts begin to fly across the room just before the gate shuts.

"Well," Nathaniel says to no one in particular. Then, "Well done, everyone."

He's tense as the ice starts to give, hands already glowing in case he needs to do something, anything, and the shutting of the gate doesn't really help. Anders stops casting, but he's very aware of how that plate could have cost him everything.

"Yes," he echoes hollowly. The staff goes back into its holster and he holds up a hand to cast after all - giving them light to move forward with.

"If it had been an easy task to track down the Hero of Ferelden, we would've found him ages ago." Malcolm isn't blind to the fact that they could all very well die down here. But may the Maker strike him down if he wasn't going to take up the first opportunity to take the search back up.

He gives a little bit of a smile to Iskandar. "That was impressive, by the way. Have you been a mage all this time and refrained from telling us?" It had been, after all, like magic.

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