[ CLOSED ] THE ANTIVAN CROWS SEND THEIR REGARDS

[ombranera]

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!

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

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."

[qunari]

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.

[arlathvhen]

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.

[ombranera]

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.

[gatheringstorm]

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.

[qunari]

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.

[quietblade]

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.

[arlathvhen]

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.

[gatheringstorm]

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.

[ombranera]

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.

[qunari]

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.

[arlathvhen]

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.

[quietblade]

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.

[gatheringstorm]

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.

[ombranera]

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.

[qunari]

"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.

[quietblade]

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.

[arlathvhen]

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...?"

[gatheringstorm]

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.

[ombranera]

What a touching moment. It'd be awful if something happened to break up such a charming group- like a low line of Antivan chanting that culminates in a shadowy vortex roiling into being behind them conjured into being by the shape of a mage at the end of the hall, knife dug into her arm, eyes glowing red. A similar, smaller vortex floats at her elbow and she shoves the hand without the knife into it, a massive fist boiling into being, lashing out at the group.

[qunari]

It's behind their group, not in front, so there's little he can do to take the brunt of the blow from that fist. He does spot the mage rather quickly, however, and it's her he takes a running charge at. If he can disrupt her spell long enough, the others may have a decent shot at her.

He's got a feeling running right up to her might trigger some kind of trap, but better he take it now than let her continue to take pot shots at them from long range. They're supposed to be making noise, after all.

[quietblade]

"I'm good," the warrior promises, smiling to Beleth to show he's fine and giving Korrin a nod. "Focus on the-"

Well, shit. This is why he took the rear, though, and he tries to shove Beleth to the side and out of range, before lifting his axe to block the worst of it. Taas barely has time to brace himself, and he groans as the fist knocks him back several steps and makes his upper body scream in protest.

That hurt.

[arlathvhen]

Beleth doesn't have time to register what's happening, pushed to safety by Taas and watching in shock as the fist materializes out of some creepy ass black hole and just punches Taas???

No one is going to believe her when she tells them about this.

But Bull has the sense of things, and he's making a dash for the blood mage. "It's always blood mages. Why aren't there villainous spirit healers..." Beleth murmurs to herself, grabbing a vial from her belt and tipping an arrow in it quickly, before firing it off at the blood mage. How easy would it be to do blood magic when that blood was poisoned?

...Hopefully, worse. Beleth was really hoping it was worse.

[gatheringstorm]

Blood mages. Korrin has fought them before, but every time she does so anew it reminds her why she's happy to blast them into oblivion. Her barrier holds as she immediately reaches for her spirit blade hilt, summoning the glowing blade. Using Fade Step to blur forward, the Vashoth mage swings it at the blood mage with vigor borne of utter contempt.

[ombranera]

There was a pressure plate not five feet in front of the mage; one that loosed a volley of venom tipped darts across the hall. Still elbow deep in the portal and bleeding from her arm the mage snarls something most likely insulting in Antivan about Bull's parentage and twists, the shadow hand at the far end surging forward to grasp at Beleth's leg and drag her up to the ceiling like a doll.

Not that she'll be dangling there long with the strike of the arrow hitting one shoulder and the spirit blade cutting the arm elbow deep in a small dark vortex free- it falls from the joint and so too does the massive one from the spell dissipate. Screaming she flings her blood outward in an arc, the red liquid twisting into an acidic mist.