faderift | Return to the Blackmarsh

Inessa beckons insistently from where she's ventured further ahead, nearly back to the entrance of the marsh but heading left instead of following the path to the village. Passing rubble and fence, she ascends the steps, the hill, and...there it is. She stops to stare in awe at the enormous, draconic skeleton resting atop the hill, where Warden-Commander Cousland and his team must have fought the beast.

"The Queen of the Blackmarsh...." She murmurs to herself while striding forward, resting a small hand against the sizeable skull. Glancing back as she hears footsteps, Inessa smiles. "I couldn't get you a dragonslaying for this mission, but I thought you'd want to see this, all the same."

Melys stoops beside the jaws (too heavy to bother trying to lift).

"Oi," She imitates, in a growl that might be more thunderous if it wasn't coming from, you know, her. Evidently this is what dragons sound like. "I'm the Queen of the bloody Blackmarsh, don't you go touching my crown,"

Get it. Because the crown. Of her skull. Melys' hand flaps open and shut, like she'd be puppeting the bones if she could. An appraising glance between the group. Is anyone laughing. Is anyone laughing?

No one appreciates her. A huff, as she stands and steps back. Whatever. It was hilarious.

Meanwhile, Anders stands back from the group and shakes his head despite the slight amusement on his face.

"I'd laugh if the bones hadn't already come back to life once," he says dryly. "Why are you touching it, Inessa? Do you know what's extremely hard to re-kill? Bones. That thing was a menace. Swords tink off it, it doesn't burn, arrows are almost useless, ice is almost useless, if we'd not had Velanna's vines with my healing Thedas would have a very different shape right now."

Kain at least does give a quiet little smirk to Melys' remarks.

"What a worthy challenge that must have been, though." He's thoroughly intrigued as he wanders over toward the bones. He pauses a moment, then, almost reverently, he reaches to place his hands upon the skull of the dragon. He can't seem to keep his hands off it, either, as he moves along the dragon's length, appreciatively looking it over. He glances over at Inessa, unable to repress the smile crossing his face. "I'm impressed. Just imagine seeing this creature fly..."

Kain doesn't have to imagine it. Inessa smirks at Melys' comments and turns to answer Anders...and then freezes as she hears the flap of wings from above. One moment, the spectral dragon is just there, dramatically spiralling downward and landing with a thud that makes the ground shake. Opening its maw, it unleashes an ear-splitting roar...and Inessa yanks her hand away from the skull to cast Barrier over herself and others. The creature, so present and real, fades away into the dark.

Inessa draws in a shaky breath, her eyes wide. "I knew the Veil was thin here, but this...!" She reaches over to tug Kain's hang away from the skull. They didn't bring it back, not really, but just maybe they shouldn't mess with it.

Edited 2017-10-09 04:03 (UTC)

Kain also freezes in place the moment that dragon appears, gasping in shock. His eyes widen at the sound of the roar, at the dramatic sight of its spectral form soaring down from overhead. He doesn't resist Inessa's tugging for now, only because his mind is so utterly focused on the appearance of that dragon. It's so stunning, so real that he sinks instinctively to his knees. He stays like that, as if absorbed in worship, staring up at the spot where the dragon had faded from.

He has no words, for the time being.

Smirks. Sure. Where's the applause? The gold coins? The dancing girls? The --

Aw, fuck.

There's barely time to register their impending death before it abruptly doesn't impend. That's something of a blessing, leaves her without a good chance to cower. Leaves plenty more time though for wondering what in the void exactly that was, other than nothing good.

"Well," Shakily, strained. She's trying very hard right now not to look like exactly what she looks like: Someone who's seen a ghost. "Reckon it does that every time?"

Maker. Just like home.

There's a healing mist cast the second Anders hears the flap of wings, flashing back hard to over a decade ago when they fought this thing... and then the illusion is gone. Anders turns on Kain, expression furious.

"You. Endangered. Everyone. You were told the veil was thin. You were told not to touch bones. But you had to go and feel it up because... why? You want to fantasize about fighting more dragons? This is a place of power, Kain Ventfort. It draws things, demons and beasts alike, and the next time it's more than likely not going to be an echo."

Worthy challenge his ass. It had been a nightmare, one that he's glad they'd all survived because there had been times in there he hadn't been sure they would have. He takes a slow breath before looking at Melys. She doesn't deserve his anger. At the moment.

"Probably, if someone's lacking enough self-control to grope at it everywhere. The Fade doesn't forget."

It takes a moment to focus on more than the thudding of her own heart, after beint startled like that. Inessa's gaze flits around warily, though her renewed vigilance grants her sight of nothing more than the dragon's skeleton along the area. She almost reaches to Garahel for comfort, then remembers he's with Myr.

"It's wise to remember what we're dealing with, to be sure. I don't think anyone will make that mistake again." Said as much for herself as for Kain. "We're only a short way into the marsh, relatively. Let's keep this in mind as we go further in, and prevent a repeat incident. Anders is right; what comes next might be more than an echo...and we don't yet know what may be guarding the orb."

Kain is mainly in a trance over the sight of the dragon. He's glad he witnessed its power, to be perfectly honest, and he would do it again if he had a chance. He's normally calm and measured about most things but dragons bring out a really dangerous, reckless streak. He has no patience for anything else at present.

"And? Inessa quite clearly did it first. We did nothing wrong, as far as I'm concerned." Petulantly, Kain stalks away from the group. He's still nearby and within sight and will follow to keep up with them, but for the moment? He really needs to not be directly near anyone, for a variety of reasons.

...Right. A full-grown adult, stalking off and acting justified when he could have brought down actual death on their heads. That will be in the report later, because it's a risk factor. A serious risk factor.

"No touching," he repeats, making sure his voice carries as they head deeper into the Marsh.

"Gonna be a long trip." She observes,

It's far milder than what she means to say, which is don't be a tit, we all did it, but Inessa's here, and Anders isn't anyone she trusts jumpy, and the day she comes riding to an Orlesian warden's defense is the day they toss her on the pyre.

One last, wary look to the bones. Not so hard as it was before to resist patting its nose.

Every one of us, back to mud.

There's also recognizing you aren't able to rationally deal at the moment and removing yourself from a situation before it escalates further. Sure, the bit of frustration and downright petty upset feelings set it off, given he's (in his perspective) not the only one at fault and all and is a bit grumpy over that aspect. But for the most part, Kain is just being careful that he doesn't make matters worse.

The apparition of the dragon Meant Something to him, and it clouded his judgment. Plain and simple.

After a while goes by, he rejoins the group. "I apologize. I would never intentionally endanger the group, but this specific situation... well. It's complicated. I won't ever do such things in the future. I take this place's darkness and dangers seriously." Dragons just fuck with his head, in a perhaps not so good way sometimes. "Admittedly I was also too entranced and intrigued to even hear the warning properly." Which made him all tunnel-focused and not paying attention to things and... well, and then he'd done something reckless. He's not someone to just risk everyone's lives for no reason, but... well... he's a bit unsettled, himself, by just how much it had overcome his mind. Enough that he'd ignored all else. "Who knows, our very proximity may have been just as much to blame as our touching it. Our merely walking through this place probably isn't such a good idea, if you consider it, but here we are."

Edited 2017-10-13 19:45 (UTC)

Relieved when Kain rejoins the group -the Blackmarsh isn't a place to wander too far away- Inessa nods, unsurprised at Kain's explanation. She could tell his state of mind definitely shifted when the dragon appeared, but...nonetheless, they must move on.

"It may have, yes, which means no more side-trips unless they are necessary. We cannot risk provoking what echoes in the Blackmarsh." Her look definitely says that she has more on her mind, but--"Let us refocus on the orb we must find."

(To the rift and the orb thread!)

Return to the Blackmarsh

Queen of the Blackmarsh (Kain, and anyone else)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject