Scouting the Deep Roads under the Hunterhorns

[circleprodigy]

WHO: Inessa, Newt, Kain and Fingon
WHAT: Finding alternate routes, encountering difficulties every step of the way.
WHEN: Some ambiguous time during Solace
WHERE: The Deep Roads under the Hunterhorn Mountains
NOTES: CW: Starting with implied violence, cave-ins, claustrophobia, Warden Things and going from there. Will update as necessary.

It has been an arduous journey, both getting to the Deep Roads passages and scouting them throughout, and one not yet completed. While they have encountered their share of obstacles already, from dead-ends to darkspawn, the group has yet to fulfill their purpose. Finding passages under the border to the Anderfels has been an uphill battle, to put it mildly. Most routes are used by Kal-Sharok, darkspawn, or Ander Wardens, all on the 'avoid' list, and so the party must seek older trails, side passages, places less trafficked...and less likely to be maintained to any degree. That it's risky goes without saying, but better they find such passages than their enemies.

Inessa repeats that as often as need be, both internally and aloud. She says not a word of complaint, meeting setbacks with renewed determination and as long as the others are able and willing to continue. There's no pushing them to the point of collapse, though it's not difficult to see that she's very invested, and always seems to be a little more so whenever Anders Wardens are mentioned or encountered. Even her mabari, a bottomless pit of love, becomes tense at mere mention of those Wardens and gives them no quarter when forced to fight. Gaharel remembers well their time in Weisshaupt.

A few days into their journey underground, Inessa is marking their progress on a map when Garahel's sharp whine snaps her back to their surroundings. "Garahel, what--" The unfinished question dies on her lips when a piece of the ceiling slams into the ground, followed swiftly by another. Glancing up, her eyes widen as the entire tunnel is intent on coming down around them. There's no time to run away, so she casts Barrier and prays that the others are close enough.

Comments

[somethingwild]

Newt is especially grateful to have set aside the money to purchase new armor prior to setting out for the Deep Roads again, especially given all of the trouble they've encountered already. He's getting better at defending himself when it comes to battle, knowing more about the limits to his magic and which spells work better than others. And the armor helps aid in his defense, so he's able to fight harder and contribute more to battle whenever they do encounter enemies such as darkspawn or these Ander Wardens.

Of course, the armor can only do so much about a collapsing tunnel; he hears the crack above him just in time to dive out of the way.

"Merlin's beard!" He exclaims, very much grateful for the barrier Inessa manages to cast. He reacts swiftly in his turn, aiming his wand to try and break apart some of the larger rocks into smaller pieces, or outright casting them away, when he can. Naturally, given his magic's tendency to not always work correctly, he misses quite a lot. But he feels better for the rocks he does manage to deflect.

"Is everyone alright?" He calls back over his shoulder. Merlin only knows that this is the last thing they all need.

[circleprodigy]

Inessa's entire body remains tense until she can no longer hear the sound of falling rocks, and even then she waits a moment to be certain. Getting to his feet, Garahel barks in reply to Newt, as his mistress coughs and straightens. She sounds a bit dazed, but unharmed.

"I...I'm unharmed." She frowns in concern, glancing back over her shoulder. It was a quick casting, what if she hadn't been able to protect everyone? "Kain? Fingon?"

[utulien_aure]

"Here," Fingon calls out from a few yards behind her. He'd dived out of the way of the worst of the rock slide, though as he rises he can make a good guess already where he'll be seeing bruises come morning.

"I'm well," he reassures her, then scrutinizes his companions for a moment in return. From them his gaze goes to the tunnel, trying to make out how far the cave-in went.

For a moment, he misses Arda fiercely. Something like this would have been harder to miss is a world where you could hear the stones speak.

[in_death_sacrifice]

Kain is still hunched over, eyes shut tightly as he wishes desperately that he were in some wide open space with the sky above. He's questioning everything about his life choices. But the practical side of him takes over soon enough. He's no coward, after all, as much as he can hardly bear the feeling of the earth caving down all around him.

At least he doesn't appear to be badly hurt, aside from some bumps and bruises. He can take a bit of a pounding anyway. No, there's nothing physically wrong, but... well... he really wishes he were at the surface.

Pushing down a growing sense of panic, he forces himself to get up, moving carefully over debris to try and get closer to the others. He clears his throat, keeping as much shaking out of his voice as he can, "I'm here... and I'm fine. Though I hope that's over with. We need to assess the damage." And hope they can get through it.

[circleprodigy]

Garahel lets out a sympathetic whine to Kain, padding over to lean against him. Once Inessa has gathered her bearings, she joins his side, resting an hand on his arm for a moment. There's quiet encouragement in her eyes; the situation is far from ideal, but she knows her fellow Grey Warden can bear it.

Glancing over to the others, she nods. "Look around, but try not to move anything yet. I can attempt to energize some of the rubble when I'm certain not to bring more upon us."

[somethingwild]

"Would you like help with some of the rubble?" Newt offers, making his way over to her. He holds his wand up, lit up with a Lumos Maxima spell to provide some light as he walks. He tries to examine as much of the damage as he can as he does, trying to assess how bad the situation is.

He has a few scratches and bruises himself, but he remains intact, as ever.

"Merlin," he says, shaking his head.

[in_death_sacrifice]

Kain clutches at Garahel for a moment, then pets him, as if to reassure the mabari... but it's really more for his own sake, even if he'd never admit that. He's grateful for Inessa's light touch too, of course, and nods. It'll be fine. He's not too thrilled, but he's used to running on survival mode anyway. At least that light from Newt's wand helps, a great deal.

"If you've got the magic to move it away, by all means." Sure, Kain could probably manage it physically, but magic ought to speed up the process. He steps closer to where the rock has fallen to block their way, taking a closer look. He glances over toward the mages. "It's hard to say how stable it is... do you think it can be moved without further collapse?"

[somethingwild]

Newt glances over at the rubble, frowning. A moment later, he has to dim the light on his wand to preserve his own energy. Merlin only knows how they're all going to make it out of this particular mess. But he is, at least, going to try and help as best he can.

He moves carefully, taking care where he steps so as not to bring any more rocks down on them all. He shifts his wand to see if he can distinguish a good spot to try and at least attempt to move some rubble carefully.

"Perhaps," he mutters to himself. He waits a moment before pointing his wand to a small corner, muttering a spell under his breath. He waits another moment. A small fragment moves, slowly, but it moves. And it doesn't bring the roof crashing down on their heads.

"Well," he says. "That's at least a start."