CLOSED: It's Like Spitting on a Fish

[pinprick]

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?"

Comments

[tactical_alert]

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."

[circleprodigy]

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.

[pinprick]

"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?"

[justice_is_blond]

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?"

[tactical_alert]

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.

[circleprodigy]

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...."

[pinprick]

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.

[justice_is_blond]

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.

[conqueredhearts]

"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.

[tactical_alert]

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.

[circleprodigy]

"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.

[pinprick]

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."

[conqueredhearts]

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.

[pinprick]

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."

[justice_is_blond]

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.

[tactical_alert]

"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.

[conqueredhearts]

"Hm? Not at all. I am a Spirit."

He said it so simply too. Like it was no big deal. Of course he never tried to hide what he was from anyone here. He was a spirit and people would either accept that or they wouldn't and there was little he could do about that aside from be himself.

[justice_is_blond]

"Rifter spirit," Anders amends hastily. He doesn't have the measure of Malcolm yet so there's no point in taking needless risks with the Seeker.

"Not anything that would draw Chantry ire." Sometimes he thinks he should put together a pamphlet of what information Rifters shouldn't be telling just anyone, but it's not like he thinks Iskandar would pay attention to that.