faderift | [ CLOSED ] THE ANTIVAN CROWS SEND THEIR REGARDS

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[ CLOSED ] THE ANTIVAN CROWS SEND THEIR REGARDS

WHO: Alistair, Araceli Bonaventura, Beleth Ashara, ~~Anders~~ Detlef, Korrin Ataash, Taashath, The Iron Bull, Twisted Fate, an Zevran Arainai. Guest Starring: Samouel, Cyril, and Merrick, Super Special Guest Star: Leliana.
WHAT: The Crows come for the Ombra Nera.
WHEN: Begins Guardian 6
WHERE: Skyhold/Antivan Border/The Road
NOTES: CW/TW FOR: Flesh hommonculi, violent/gruesome content, torture, blood magic, non-consensual drug use, adult content, adult language, reader discretion is advised. Sign up post, original plotting post, hit me on PM or @

thesouthernbelle if you have questions.

It's a normal morning in Thedas until, abruptly, it isn't. The Crows come calling; they are swift, they are certain, they are silent and leave behind but one witness that won't be alive for much longer (or so they assume). Prize in hand they ride North for Antiva.

Subthreads for portions of the plot are yours to tag around in as you like!

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"Yeah. This might not be a trap, but that doesn't mean the place isn't loaded with them," Bull grumbles, surveying the half-ruined fortress. There might be a few spots worthy of infiltrating, but they'd have to choose them carefully. No hold like this wouldn't have surprises stowed for uninvited guests, likely enough to rouse their attention in short order. The 'secret' entrance most likely to bring about the Crows attention?

That'd be the best option for those intending to bring the noise.

He glances back at the others, his expression grim. He'd rather have his boys for a mission like this, but every single one of them want Zevran back. They're working together on this, like it or not. So. Time to weigh in.

"Thoughts?"

"There's no way this place isn't full of boobytraps and sneaky fuckers at every turn, no matter if they set a specific trap for us or not." Taas says bitterly, eyes flickering from the fortress to Bull's lips. He's not looking forward to fighting by this man's side, but frankly he'd team up with fucking Corypheus to get Zevran back.

In one piece. Please.

His hand tighten a bit around his axe, and he gives a shrug. "Make a lot of noise, kill a bunch of Crows, be an excellent distraction? I'm sure the rest of them can sneak better than guys our size." It's nothing more than a suggestion, though. Taas does better with orders; he was Karasaad, not even a Sten.

Korrin's eyes meet Taas for a moment, having similar thoughts. She hasn't had to fight alongside a Qunari before and isn't thrilled about it now, but they all have a common cause. They can focus on that, and let the rest take care of itself later, after they have Zevran back.

Slipping her staff free from the strap on her back, Korrin grimly nods at her Tal-Vashoth companion's assessment. "Taas has a point. We concentrate on being noisy and flashy, keep them focused on us. I can't help with traps other than deliberately triggering those I see, but given that these are Crows, who know what will come of that. I'd trust Beleth to disarm them, though." She glands over to the Dalish elf, lighter and quieter than any of the rest.

The familiar press of anxiety rises up in Beleth's throat, and she has probably worn a hole through her scarf as she tries to direct the nervous energy away from her mind. It was her, who suggested the three qunari fight at the front, making the biggest distraction. If they got hurt, it would be her fault, it was her plans that made this.

If they died, it would be on her.

She nodded, snapping out of that cloud when Korrin mentions her. Okay, yes. She can do this, she's a Dalish hunter, proud and strong. She's not afraid to die. "Yeah--Um. I can disarm traps. I practiced with, ah--" Pause. Mental reminder that adult Dalish do not cry just because bad things are happening. "I can take care of traps. And--Yeah. The idea is to attract attention. Like, um. I can make their door explode."

That idea seems to cheer her up.

"Don't get in a hurry. We make it too obvious, they're going to know we've got people going in the back. These guys have their reputation for a reason." Bull scowls, folding his arm, though it's more at the situation than any one of them. "We need to look like we're doing this for real. So. Disarm the traps you can. If we trip some on accident, it looks real enough. Then we start shaking the walls."

His eye darted across the other three, brow raised. Anyone got a different plan, now's the time to say so. He's not in charge, but this isn't his first break-in.

It's a bit hard to follow, but Taas gets the gist of it and nods. It seemed like it was a plan as good as any other. Make noise, make it look like a full frontal attack. Focus on killing shit and not getting killed in turn.

Sounded like a Tuesday.

...he just had to trust that the other team knew what they were doing as well. There would be traps and guards not attracted by their mayhem.

Nothing better comes to mind, and Korrin reluctantly nods. He's right, the Crows aren't stupid and they aren't going to get anywhere by underestimating them. So she'll do whatever it takes to keep the assassins' attention fixed where it should be, on them.

"Zevran needs us to do this right, so let's get to it. The sooner we begin on our end, the sooner the others can get to work."

Neither Korrin nor Taashath looked at all hesitant about what needed to be done. But Beleth? The elf is looking a little unsteady, and no doubt it's the mission starting to mess with her head. Maybe the pressure starting to get to her?

Can't blame her. No one wants to lose a friend here. But she's got to keep it together for this to work.

"Beleth." Bull gives her a steady look before nodding towards the fortress. "You got this. We'll follow behind you."

None of them are undertaking this alone. That's why it's going to work.

Beleth nods, and tries to look nearly as confident as all the others are. She was a Dalish, she was going to face danger without fear. Okay. She can do this. It's not like eight--nine--lives are depending on her to not fuck this up. And it's not like fucking up is her main skillset. What would her mother do if she were here instead?

Send a letter to the Crows that made them feel so utterly humiliated that they turned Zevran over of their own free will, probably.

Slowly, she gives another nod, as if to assure herself as much as them. Her eyes dart over the three figures gathered there, and then she turns to the stronghold. Bull nixed the exploding doors, so she was going to have to do this the hard way. Crouching down, hanging on what shadows she could, Beleth sneaks on down to the door that they selected. She inspects it a moment, and takes out one of the lockpicking tools from her belt, slowly poking at the lock. After a few moments, she frowns, prods the lock once or twice, then shakes her head.

Silently, she motions the qunari away, and backs up herself, pulling an arrow out of her quiver. Well, they weren't supposed to make more noise than necessary, but when the only other option is disarming the trap by having someone blunder into it...She gets on her knee, steadying the shot, and fires an exploding arrow at the lock.

At the explosion, she smiles, and feels a little better.

The noise and rumble draw attention immediately shouting in Antivan from within calling a group of five down from the Ramparts to investigate; it will take time for them to make their way to the caves; but the hornet's nest is certainly stirred.

Upon hearing the reaction from Beleth's shot, Korrin instantly casts Barrier just in case any Crows are closer than they think. Hers ought to last a while, but she'll keep renewing it for the others' sake, to provide them with some protection. One hand grips her staff, the other on her spirit blade hilt. The blade itself will be seen as soon as their targets appear.

That's one way of ringing the bell.

Axe falling readily into hand, Bull takes to the front, pressing forward through the ruins of the door. Time to see how far the Crows would let them in before converging on them. "Let's move!"

They need to make this look earnest. Press ahead like they have every intention of taking on the entire fortress if it means getting to Zevran.

Taas lets Korrin in after Bull and takes up the rear with his axe drawn and eyes narrowed. This was the hard part for someone with his disability, because he could not hear any orders or read lips in this low light, so nothing less than physical touch would catch his attention away from enemies and dangers.

He had given the code word - 'hastas' - to his vibrating arm band to Korrin, just in case he needed a quick head's up. Other than that? He's going to kill.

Beleth hurries in once the smoke clears. Her bow in one hand, not drawn for now, because she's more focused on finding traps as she moves along the passageway. "Um--The door was trapped, by the way..." She figures that at least she could bother with an explanation for why she'd decided to go ahead and unlock the door the fast way. "So, it was going to explode no matter what." Unless they'd had a rogue who was actually skilled at picking locks. But she didn't say that.

She'd motion to them to stop as soon as she ran into any traps to disarm. If the Crows came first? She'd signal them with a hand gesture, and dart back, bow drawn. She...really isn't a front line fighter.

Stopping whenever Beleth needs to disarm traps, Korrin tends to renew barriers around the same time, just in case she fails and sets off something. She also pauses to look and listen, practically itching to fight some Crows by now. They'll come soon enough, and the new Knight-Enchanter will be ready and waiting for them.

The ringing of the explosion dulls out the cries of Antivan, the back way, the secret way? as the one braced for an assault. Not ten feet in are there pressure plates rigged with gas that need to be disarmed- and not thirty down the hall? A wire strung across at eye height to release poisoned darts. The first Beleth manages with ease, disabling the trap without causing additional alarm. The darts? Caught mid air by Korrin's barrier when an over sensitive wind of the mechanism trips.

At the far end of the hall there's the tell take snap of a bowstring- as the first volley from two crows and all their poison tipped preparation come into play. At the second intersection to the left? Three with daggers, waiting in the shadows for them to pass in their confusion and be attacked from the rear.

Poison might be a problem. But they're expecting a frontal assault. Rushing into their midst is just going to close off any chance they have of breaking out again.

So Bull stands his ground, bringing up up the axe to deflect as best he can. The barrier still shimmering around him helps, but that's only going to last so long. He can't see what waits at the intersection, but he's certain two Crows with bows aren't the extent of what they have waiting.

Fight ranged with ranged. Beleth again has her chance to shine.

Beleth doesn't even notice the three with daggers, attention divided between scanning for traps, spotting the archers, and praying. Praying a lot. All the Creators, the Dread Wolf, even Andraste and the Maker, if they want to prove themselves useful. The failed trap had been harmless, thanks to Korrin, but earned an undignified squawk of alarm. Embarrassing.

But archers, she can handle. This is something she's actually trained to deal with. She draws an arrow, and shoots it at the two Crows, attempting to kill two birds with one explosion.

Heheheh. Two birds. Crows. One explosion. She snorts to herself, committing it to memory for retelling when they're not actually fighting said Crows.

Taas holds back with Bull, keeping his steps as light as a qunari warrior can to not set off any extra traps. The axe wasn't the best thing to deflect with, but damn if he wasn't going to to try.

He needed to bleed to get into his berserker state, but poisoned weapons were a bad idea.

Poisoned weapons are indeed not ideal and Korrin doesn't intend to get any closer than she must. So instead of charging ahead, which is what she bets their opponents want, the Vashoth mage contributes with her chain lightning. Hopefully that will catch any they can't see, as well.

There's a derisive snort when Beleth aims, a low, mocking laugh when she lets fly. Why is she aiming for anyway? Apparently the stone just between them and that's all it takes for the explosion to send them both flying in a mass of ash and blood. The chain lightening is almost overkill, crackling down to silence the one that had survived after a fashion-

And looping around the corner to stun the first of the crows attempting to slip around to their flank. She staggers, convulsing from the crackle of electricity, grenade in her hand locked in a tight grip she can't release. There's a scramble of panicked Antivan behind her as the other two dart back deeper in the hallway to avoid the inevitable explosion.

"Nice."

It's an off-handed remark meant for both of them, as Bull's grin sharpens and he cocks an ear for the babbling in Antivan. One arm lifts to halt the others from moving forward until the grenade detonates, the walls vibrating with the impact.

Alright. Now they move forward. Hopefully there were still some waiting ahead for them. The more they had to tangle with, after all, the fewer obstructions for those actually breaking Zevran free.

Well. That was new.

They were either being underestimated, or the Crows were throwing their cannonfodder forward first to see what was going on. He's leaning towards the latter, here. It would make sense.

...then the explosion hits and he's stunned, grasping his head and not sure if he made a sound or not. Explosions, his only damn trauma. Not good. Beleth's he expected, not... this.

It takes him some breathing, some hard, bruising smacks to his chest with the axe haft to steady himself again. Now he really wants to kill something.

Well, shit. Beleth is almost too busy feeling cocky about managing that explosion to realize there is another explosion about to happen. But she manages to dart away in enough time to avoid the grenade, giving another indignant squawk at having been so easily surprised. Once the grenade blows, she turns to look back down the corridor, making a face at the mess left behind. But--had she heard more people down that hallway? Was that Antivan from the woman?

"Um--I think--"

She looks at the rest of the group, then down the hallway apprehensively, bow drawn but not pointed down the hallway. One more glance between the group and the hallway, and she bounces on the balls of her feet, before an angel of common sense descends upon her, whispers don't go down hallways of enemy territory alone, dipshit. and leaves.

Instead, she hurries back to the group, frowning up at Taas and reaching up to put a hand on his arm. "Are you okay...?"

Korrin automatically braces herself, though her barrier holds and she's far enough away where it doesn't matter. But Beleth's question has her turning around, remembering from past experience how Taas is around explosions. She looks up at him, not stepping in closer, but making sure he can read her lips.

"Stay with us, Taashath." Practically the only time she uses his full name is during moments like these, when he needs to remember the meaning of it. Hopefully between herself and Beleth, he'll be centered enough to move on. Whenever he seems ready, she'll gesture for them to continue, with Iron Bull in the lead.

Team Mayhem

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