If you go down to the woods today

[hlif]

WHO: Asher Hardie; open
WHAT: Hunting bears!  And maybe other things but mainly bears.
WHEN: Pre-dragon attack on the camp
WHERE: Emprise du Lion
NOTES: Language most likely.  Bear slankets will be on offer from the spoils upon returning to Skyhold.

It's the cold in Emprise du Lion that spurs Asher into action, that particular sort of cold that gets into your bones and can kill someone if they're trapped for too long.  There are plenty of problems to be dealt with, Red Templars chief amongst them, but Asher can let others with more of a personal grudge deal with them first because the wildlife here is bold, maybe because of hunger, maybe because of other reasns because wolves tend not to have bright green eyes.  Whatever the reason, someone has to deal with the other threats that might get bold and decide to come down to the camp and it's what he's spent most of his time doing so far, when he's not propping up the bar in the tavern that is.

Hunting's more fun with company, and so he puts the word about the camp, that he's looking for a few others to come up high into the hills with him where the game is thickest.  The promise of pelts might be an incentive here - it's one of the coldest places he can remember being and he's used to the cold, even one that's come on as hard and fast as winter has here.

The crew isn't the typical hunting party but everyone tagging along wants to be there, and Asher's in good spirits as he leads them all off just as the sun is coming up over the horizon.

Hopefully it'll just be bears and wolves they're fighting today and nothing that's going to fight back with more than claws and teeth.

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

For the past few days, Korrin's focus has been on the Red Templars. They're the ones who have despoiled the region, after all, and taken so many of its people. Their ends can't come swiftly enough, in her opinion. However, killing them doesn't help feel starving villagers, or keep them warm. For that reason, and because she's missed hunting with Asher, the Vashoth mage decides to take change things up for the day. She arrives ready and willing, her armor and staff in good repair and carrying a decent amount of potions just in case.

"Let's do this."

[hlif]

If asked how long it had been since he and Korrin had fought side by side, the only answer would be too long. She was Valo-kas to the bone, and the Boneflayers were all Asher had ever wanted but he trusted her to have his back and she was one of the few people he'd met in his life who happened to be bigger than him. They worked well together, and she knew how to read him so heading out to fight bears with her? No problem.

"Can't have you getting soft on me fighting idiots now can I? Wild animals are always going to have real teeth." He adjusts his axe as he goes, striding comfortably through the snow as Bronson goes on ahead, never straying too far but happy to pick up the trail for them. "This must've been what it was like back in Ferelden during the Blight, the people here have bugger all, at least the wagons were still moving at home."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin smiles fondly at Bronson before snapping back to attention, keeping her staff out rather than slung on her back. "I wanted to go and see the Blight for myself, back then, but I was young and stupid and still learning to control my magic. I thought it was monstrously unfair at the time it ended before I could, but now I'm just glad I made it here instead."

She shrugs keeping pace with him and remaining alert to her surroundings as they talk. Neither are built for stealth, so they'll attract attention sooner or later, which is thankfully the point. Bears can focus on them rather than those less suited for battle. "And me, soft? You're forgetting who's started Knight-Enchanter training. I'll be able to keep pace with you on the front lines just fine now. If anything, I'll probably outlast your reckless ass."

[hlif]

“I’d been gone a couple of years when it started, off in that first company I was in, I would’ve gone home if I thought I’d been wanted but well, it’s my mother, she’d have just thrown me at the Darkspawn instead of just out on my arse.” Not that he’s bitter, things are about as good as they’re going to get between him and the family, and he always sent money back, always wrote sporadic letters, helped out the refugees when he got to Kirkwall because they spent a long time struggling. “Who knows, if I’d stayed and behaved myself I might’ve ended up in the army at Ostagar, I think dad thought some of us would spend a few years soldiering before we settled down.”

Excuse you Korrin but allow him to make a farting sound for longer than necessary before he laughs, wiping away the tears. “Knight-Enchanter, oh Korrin that’s funny, except you’re talking to a Reaver. Barriers make you soft, you forget what it’s like to take the hit and really use it. Isn’t that just some magical bullshit that your staff farts out? It’s not like this bad boy right here.” Like shit look at this axe, this axe is a big real solid thing just made for killing.

[gatheringstorm]

"You mean the axe or what's in your pants? Do you even know the difference?" Korrin snorts and rolls her eyes, not needing to see any battle boners but if anyone would have them, it'd be Asher. "And fuck that, I'm a mage not a damn warrior. Taking hits is not what I'm made for, but 'magical bullshit' definitely is, and it'll take that bear down just as well as Reaver craziness." She sticks out her tongue at him just to match his maturity level for a moment.

"As for Ostagar, it's just as well you didn't behave back then. Wasn't that a massacre? You would have brought a lot of them down with you, but the Blight would have continued anyway. It'd have been a damn waste." She just shakes her head, glad not to have a personal stake in that particular event. From the way she's heard some speak, it's a wound that will never fully heal.

[hlif]

"Of course I do, I can't replace or sharpen what I keep in my trousers Korrin." Besides, the blood has to go elsewhere when he's fighting, he doesn't want to present a very valuable target to people, but that's the sort of thing a warrior understands and not someone who hangs back. "I'll push you off a cliff, don't think I won't, we'll see how good your barriers are then." You know that whole 'I'm going to start swinging my arms and if you get hit it's your own problem' thing? Guess what Asher, Aedan, and Tobias liked to play as boys?

He sighs heavily because sometimes it still stings. He would've just been old enough, better with a weapon than a farm boy had any right to be, and he'd probably killed more people by then than some of the older souls in that army. "But my family still stuck it out, instead of packing up and taking ship. It's different when you have to watch your own people living in Darktown, that place is a festering pit, I hope they got everyone out and burned it."

[gatheringstorm]

"You and me both, Asher. Ugh, 'festering pit' is a kind term for it." Korrin shakes her head, nose wrinkling. "If we'd been in the middle of it when it all began, I think my family would have done the same though who knows if that means we'd still be alive or not. They're as tough as nails, but battling a tidal wave of darkspawn is a lot for anyone to handle."

And then Korrin straightens, smirking as she shades her eyes. "I think I just spotted a pelt with your name on it, Asher. It's not quite close enough yet, but we can fix that."

[hlif]

"Redcliffe drew the worst of it, or the stories coming out of there did. At least one hold in Ferelden upped and left, they lost a lot of people from it and Avvar put up a bigger fight than others." And yet his family made it. No one got sick, they even salvaged most of the animals and took minimal damage, probably nestled somewhere safe enough not to draw as much of the wrath of the horde.

Beside him, Bronson goes still, hackles rising, ears pricked forward as Asher readies his axe. "Lure it down and stand ready or just rush it, I can go for either."

[gatheringstorm]

"I'll trap it, you rush it. When it's tries to leave, it'll be paralyzed and you can have at." Korrin approaches carefully with staff in hand, ready to make full use of Static Cage as soon as she's close enough. It's her favorite spell for moments like these, and she loves turning things around on the animals so used to ambushing her.

[el_tybs]

He wasn't terribly happy to be back in Emprise du Lion, and while he had come much later than the rest of the troops, Sam still felt he needed to help in some way. Hunting down game for food and furs seemed like a good way to contribute, even if he wasn't a skilled hunter - at least he could make sure the others were safe and well.

Course, while he was doing it for good reasons, knowing that Korrin's friend was the one leading the group might have perked his interest.

Pulling the furs around his neck a bit more tightly, Sam sighs as he squints at the glare of the sun bouncing off the snow as he tries to see if there was anything within sight.

[hlif]

Nothing would be quite the same as having the rest of the Boneflayers with him, and though he didn't mind going out on his own, hunting was often better with company. Especially if you were hunting bears because the cold here had made them hungry and that meant they were bolder than they any real right to be.

Having a mage fight against a bear with him had already paid off so he only shrugged as he picked up the trail he'd found earlier the day before, the wild animals having enough sense to stay clear of Red Templars.

"So, I like to know who I'll be fighting with - Asher Hardie, captain of the Boneflayers. I can tell you're a mage but name, where you're from, any bear or hunting related experience?"

[el_tybs]

"Let me guess, the giant stick on my back gave me away." He grins slightly as he follows behind and to the side by a couple steps, giving Asher space to do his tracking. Normally people don't have him pegged for a mage, but then again normally that's at Skyhold where he isn't always carrying around his staff. Out here? Bit easier to tell.

"Samouel Gareth, spirit healer in training and blacksmith of the Inquisition. Ferelden. I've seen bears and fought them, and I've hunted small game, but never hunted bears." He huffs lightly, taking a moment to catch his breath from the chilled air.

[hlif]

“Nah mate, those weedy arms, mages can do what they like but you need to actually do more than spin a glorified stick around to have muscles.” But he’s smiling because he talks shit about everyone and everything, casually flexing to demonstrate what his own look like, even under fur and chainmail. Actually it’s the staff but like hell does Asher pass up a chance to make a joke about a person, life’s too short to miss opportunities like that.

“Spirit healer and blacksmith? Explains why you’re one of the less limp looking ones. How do those two meet? We had a hard enough time convincing the mage in our company to learn something other than how to set people on fire, let alone get her to mend the weapons too.” This is why they have friends, some of whom are ex-Carta and ex-Coterie, they always get you what you need.

[el_tybs]

Weedy arms? Well that's the first he's heard someone say that about him, and at Asher's flexing Sam raises a brow. Alright, maybe he doesn't have that kind of muscle, but he wouldn't call himself weedy, which the man seems to note after hearing that he's also a blacksmith.

"My father and his father were blacksmiths. Before I ever ended up in the Circle I was learning to continue the family business. Started back up on it when I joined the Inquisition at Haven. And I learned my magic from the Circle. Easy enough to convince me to do more than reading scrolls. Pretty much why I'm here on a hunt I suppose."

[hlif]

When you come from a family that's part-Avvar on one side, part farmer on the other, burly comes as the standard. And though they're short, his two ex-Carta brothers are small mountains of muscle. Asher has always seen the world through a different lens and when he just runs his mouth? It goes about as well as expected.

"Circle could've made a fortune with that if they had sense, good smiths are hard to find, enchanted weapons even harder and people pay plenty for them." Unless you loot them from the people you kill, like Asher does because he's all class, all the way. "Wonder if heating a forge with magical fire would change anything about how often you could fold the steel. Anyway, the bears here are hungry, I think that the cold might've come on too fast for them to bulk up for the winter so they're coming on strong. Don't suppose any of you mages have a theory on what's wrong with the wolves do you?"

[el_tybs]

"Hardly would have been profitable. Most mages go to the Circle when they're rather young so they'd have to have people to teach them such trades, and that would've taken away from their magical studies. Also I hardly think the Circles would want to deal with mages having more weapons at their disposal. And no, fire made from magic doesn't change it at all. It's still just fire." He might have tried. Sh.

At the mention of the wolves, Sam hums lightly, taking a moment to check behind them and to their sides. Their luck would have it that a pack of wolves or a bear finding them just because they were talking about them. "Some are pretty sure it's because of the Rifts. Either they're getting possessed or the magic is driving them insane. Out here though? Could be the red lyrium at work. Just being near it for so long can drive a person crazy. I can only imagine what it does to wildlife who only have instinct to go by."

[hlif]

"But what do you even do? I only know apostates, and mercenary apostates at that because the other ones usually want to kill us so we don't stop to chat." Too many of the ex-Circle mages Asher has encountered have been the kind to dip into the blood magic very quickly, out of desperation in some cases but again, he doesn't actually bother to ask. It says something about a person when the mage he has, raised as a mercenary, wrinkles her nose with disgust at the notion of using blood magic even in an emergency when she has no other option. "You should at least do something - don't you get bored? There are stairs but still."

When Asher stays still for a long time he's injured, asleep, too full of food to move, or so drunk he doesn't know where he's put his legs. The idea of just being stuck in one place makes him shudder visibly, scalp braids swinging.

"Well that's great isn't it. Even the wildlife can't escape magical bullshit. But weird things pop up during the Blight, ugly buggers, bears and wolves with...with growths all over them, my family saw some back on the farm." And they somehow survived it but none of it sounded good.

Speaking of which...

"D'you hear that?" He asks suddenly, right as his mabari cocks his head to the side as his hackles rise, the sound faint unless you know what you're listening for, low huffing grunts. "We're in luck!"

[dragoon_pride]

When Kain hears about the prospect of a hunting trip, he's so very in on this. Especially if they're to go up against the more dangerous game, like wolves or bears. He's always one for a challenge, and really, a hunt is a practical thing at the same time too. So it's not just something like a crazy solo fight against dragons... which is something he's struggling to avoid doing. They're still out there after last time's trip, he has no doubt. He's been keeping watch on the sky.

For now, though, the hunt. He approaches, prepared and eager to get out there.

[hlif]

Since so many in the Inquisition present in the Emprise seem to have real grudges against the Red Templars, as much as he would like to join in on turning them into smears on the ground, it's not his place. But that doesn't mean he's going to sit around doing nothing when he's got armour on his back and an axe in his hand. Besides, Asher's rarely seen people who have it worse than the folk here do so if he can bring back some pelts to keep the cold off them or to craft and sell, or maybe some meat for the spit and the pot, he's happy to oblige.

The hound spots Kain first, cocking his head so he gets a better look with the one good eye as Asher makes a final check of his gear, whistling to attract the attention of both of them. "You here for the hunting? Asher Hardie, captain of the Boneflayers."

[dragoon_pride]

"I am." Kain nods in greeting as he glances first toward the hound then back toward Asher. "Kain Highwind, rifter and dragoon. Which mostly means I have a fighting style suited to aeral combat." He offers the explanation first thing, since while he still prefers introducing himself as such, he knows it's unlikely anyone will know what he means. "I could certainly use the challenge of a good hunt."

He, too, has had his fun with taking down Red Templars, but it's also not his world, not his fight. Besides, hunting is just as important a task as any.

[hlif]

He had to meet more rifters sooner or later, even if he’s not sure what he actually thinks about it. Other worlds existing and bringing people to his; it was weird enough when he saw a friend’s hand glowing with that same mark, a friend he’d known and fought beside many a time. And then there was the lass Korrin was mooning over but again, Korrin was mooning over her so he’d had to be polite or risk being beaten to death by an angry Vashoth mage.

“So...you jump. You fight. By jumping.” He says it slowly just to confirm that yes, this is what he’s hearing and his hound turns, cocking his head this way and that to see the stranger better with his one eye, circling slowly to sniff at him. “Well I won’t turn down company, I’m used to having a bigger crew with me, and the bears up here are hungry, and the wolves have absolutely lost it.”

[dragoon_pride]

"Yes..."

With that, Kain half-smirks, then tenses up his legs. He's unable to resist the urge to show off. So he pushes from the ground, as easy as a swimmer diving into water, soaring up, far into the air. He's nearly out of sight before he comes back down, swift and sure for a steady landing on his feet.

"...I jump." He's used to it, by now, and proving he can do what he claims. People find it weird enough he wears such draconic armor... let alone what he can do. "It's an ability from the dragoons of my word... and should be effective against wolves and bears alike. Shall we?" The usefulness of the jumping, of course, is that is surprises landbound enemies just as much as those of the air.

[hlif]

Asher watches the way he watches most things that aren't a potential fight: hand up to scratch at his beard so his mouth is hidden, brows pulled together. Usually Asher's staring something or someone down, or he'll look to his left and right at the crew but right now there's just Bronson. The dog cocks his head, utters a deep rumbling sound from his chest and butts his head on Asher's leg.

"Same, lad, same."

Fereldans and mabari okay, they have a connection that needs no words.

"Well if you shatter a hip I'll carry you back but it'll be a bumpy ride, just so you know the risks." He does smile although that's not always an improvement when it comes to Asher. "So is it magic or something in your armour that lets you do it? I only ever consider as far as my next job and how things are back home, I'm not one of those philosopher types thinking about other places."

You know, like Orlesians or Tevinters.

[dragoon_pride]

"I see no possibility of such difficulties arising." Kain manages his own sort of smirk back at him. So far, the guy is almost like a more tolerable Edge, perhaps. He can deal with that. He thinks back to all the times he's ever fallen or a jump has gone awry... even then, though he'd never gotten as brokenly injured as one might expect. Save an exception or two here and there.

Kain glances up toward the sky almost reverently. "It's an ability of sorts... not from my armor, and it doesn't draw on magic the way that spells do for mages." There's a few of those sort of skills where he's from, though he knows it all works... quite differently here. "I'm with you, though, all that matters is that it's effective."

[hlif]

“You’ve been in Thedas five minutes compared to the rest of us.” It’s not lecturing because Asher can’t do lecturing, he’ll never be that sort of person, it’s more like the advice you get in a tavern from someone who’s seen it all, and with his line of work then Asher feels entitled (as he so often does) to dole out something approaching it. Asher’s seen some shit and then some, he knows Thedas well enough to know that the thing you’re not looking for is the thing that comes up to tear you a new arsehole.

And right now the sky itself has an arsehole so, y’know.

Speaking of which, Asher only chances a look up, more intent on whatever might be coming for them, where Bronson is and how intent his head is on the ground. “Some warriors have abilities but usually it’s tapping into something deeper inside ourselves or drinking something that makes you more than what you were before it, like I did. I’ve been making my living by fighting since I’ve been fifteen, I like to know who I’m with and what they’re capable of. Doesn’t matter who they light their candles for but you learn to be prepared.”

That means getting his axe in hand the instant his mabari goes still, hackles up, low warning growl in his throat.