faderift | the cave is filling, fills

Inessa's not sure what she dislikes more, not being able to see or having the only light sources perfectly highlight the vile substance that is red lyrium throughout the area. She grips her staff and follows her mabari, who is taking point but also exhibiting a healthy dose of caution and going nowhere near those red crystals. He'll even whine and nudge someone away if he notices them getting too close, protective over all his two-legged buddies.

Peering around at the famous Primeval Thaig, Inessa frowns as she notes the carts and pickaxes. She slowly approaches to have a better look, though halts abruptly upon feeling that rumble. Straightening, the young Warden frowns and scans the area. "...what was that?"

The whispers are enough to have Six on her guard; she has learned from personal experience that whispers can bode well or ill, and she does not think the word of a God is speaking to them here. Some of the people she is with are familiar, at least, which eases some of the tension in her shoulders, but she's still on edge. There's no familiarity here, there's nothing she recognises, and she left Two behind for fear of what the Deep Roads might do to him.

Moving forward, she lifts her hand and lets it rest on the pommel of her greatsword, eyes narrowing a little, her height making her feel a touch on edge in the tightness of the Roads.

"Nothing friendly, I imagine."

Being here, remembering being trapped for so long, has Anders joining the on-edge brigade. The glow of the red lyrium is more than a little unsettling pairing with the whispers so he sends out a wisp, letting it flit around and hopefully help them see a little more of the solution.

"Surely only welcoming things are down here," he says dryly. "This has always been such a warm, friendly place."

Then, after a short beat, he glances over at Six. "I'd go ahead and draw that, honestly. Anyone here, anything here, won't be glad to see us unless it's hungry."

Jester, who is munching on a flaky cinnamony bear claw, looks down mid-bite toward the remainder of the pastry. Shit. If there's hungry things down here, they might want her food. She hastily crams the rest of the bear claw in her mouth and chews, flicking crumbs from her fingers onto the floor of the cave.

"They better not try eating us," she whispers, from around her mouthful. "I did not come all the way down here to a creepy glowing tunnel of creepy red rocks to be eaten, man. Hey, should we be trying to be sneaky? Because I can totally help with that, unless it's too late and they already know we're down here."

Although he's always preferred open air to being underground, Kain had grown accustomed to this being a necessary part of his life as a Warden. He's used to repressing his feelings as much as he possibly can in order to do the tasks ahead of him. But the presence of the red lyrium has him just as uneasy as the others. This is also the first assignment he's been allowed out on after a month's recovery from the whole Tevinter ordeal. He's determined to hold it together here.

"From that sound, I'd guess 'too late'... we'd better be on guard." Sword in hand, Kain listens carefully, trying also to just sense what's out there.

Dolores, who brings up the rear of the party, is duly on guard but seems overall unconcerned by the sight of the Red Lyrium. She notes it, in a distant sort of way, and then looks on, focusing on the carts, on the signs of smuggling and other people. There are tracks that lead in and out of the darkness, but with the red light it's hard to say if they're new or not.

Personally, Dolores is more bothered by the idea of an ambush, of rough men with weapons leaping around poorly lit corners and picking them off, than she is of some hungry animal. It's not an opinion worth voicing, however, as everyone is already on guard. Instead, she stays quiet and carefully watches the rear of the group.

The good news, at least, is that everyone is right to be suspicious. The bad news, unfortunately, is that the things in the dark are, in fact, hungry.

Merrill yelps as a rock near her foot begins to move. A slab of stone reaches out, grabbing at the crumbs Jester has discarded. The body of a rock wraith emerges out of the darkness, attached to the stone slab - it appears to be its arm, in fact. There is a red glow now as the wraith lifts itself; the glow of red lyrium that had been dulled before.

There's more rumbling. More stones move, seeming to detach from the walls or pick up off the ground. Each and every one is a rock wraith, and each and every one has the red glow of red lyrium coming from it. Some of them even move from behind the ancient pillars and statues where they had clearly been eating, drawn in by the promise of new food.

"Not good-" The words barely get out of Merrill's mouth before the rock wraiths advance, swinging stone limbs at the party. Those on the outskirts - Merrill, Garahel, Six, and Dolores - are right in the way, and without quick reactions, may end up being knocked down to the cave floor.

Automatically recoiling, Inessa is about to cast Barrier on herself and those nearby when the advancing rock wraiths change her mind. Drawing in an anxious hiss of breath they close in on the four, she directs her Barrier spell to them instead. Hopefully between all the mages in the group, there will be enough of that protection to go around.

Garahel, as protective as ever even when it's not Inessa's life immediately at stake, moves to shield Merrill as best he can manage. The blow knocks him down, but the barrier seems to absorb the blow. Other than getting the wind knocked out of his lungs, the mabari is still in fighting shape. He snarls and darts back to his original position, determined to draw attention away from those who need it.

Six's immediate reaction is to move forward and stand between the mages and the wraiths, drawing her blade and lifting up. She's tall and thick, heavy with the weight of her size and her armour. Her greatsword is large enough that it almost drags along the top of the ceiling as she draws it, her attention on the beasts in front of them.

Lifting her head, he angles her sword to try and parry the blows, to push herself as a means of shielding the others.

"Move back!"

"Oh, shit--"

Jester almost can't blame the rock monsters. Even the crumbs of the bear claw were probably pretty tasty. She would totally come to life to eat them, if she was just a rock.

But there's no time for that. She's at a safe enough distance from the monsters, for now, with a little contingent of the party in between her and then. Not good, yeah, for sure. Jester clutches at her holy symbol, the little path and door, and with a burst, her spiritual weapon appears: the giant floating lollipop. It glides smoothly forward, beside Six, and swings down to smack one of the rock monsters on the head, like a deadly candied croquet mallet.

Oh, great. Rock wraiths are just the company they needed on this little venture. He'd almost rather take darkspawn, but that's mainly because that's the enemy he knows best. That and they don't sort of... feed off of the lyrium, like these awful things. At least he'll get good satisfaction out of killing them.

Kain, of course, has his two-handed sword ready, also moving forward to join Six in the front line, such as it is. They've got a decent balance here of mages and warriors, and even... whatever that is that Jester is using... So all in all, they ought to be able to handle this. Well. Provided they aren't completely overwhelmed here.

He activates his Ring of Pain, planning on the fact that they'll definitely counter sooner or later, and then starts stabbing forward with a strong, steady blow at the first wraith to cross his path. Maker, does it feel good to be back out in real combat again.

Merrill gasps as Garahel leaps in front of her (good dog, you are getting so many treats later), even as stone leaps up around her. It covers her limbs, her torso; it's armor of stone, steady as long as Merrill doesn't move. She follows it with a Crushing Prison to try and stop one of the many wraiths advancing, leaving it frozen in place as it tries to strike Six.

The wraiths don't seem to know what to make of Jester's weapon - is it food? Can they eat it? They can certainly eat the rest of them, though; one follows Garahel, stone claws reaching out to try and grab the faster dog. The others invest themselves in the front line fighters, snarling as they're hit and wildly swinging back. They're strong, but they're single-minded; tactics aren't their strong suit, and they're easily distracted by those in the way instead of the squishier people in the back.

the cave is filling, fills

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