[ 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]

Well. This is a moment Korrin will always remember, as much as she would love to excise it from her brain. She's slicing those corpse limbs off Taas's ankles when that rather dramatic -and deeply disgusting- moment happens. The sight of those corpses exploding and showing them all in blood and bile, and the stench alone...she isn't nauseated by much, but has to fight off a strong gag reflex just then and there.

At least her barrier is holding, and when the moment passes -not really, but enough where she can focus on something else- her spirit blade is out again. Helping Detlef is the main priority, but part of her really, really needs to take her disgust out on something just then. 'I'll trap it.' Ugh, worst decision ever made.

[qunari]

Bull only just managed to roll out of the way of the collapsing body of the flesh golemn, swiping at the remaining bile burning on his skin with a low growl. Finally, the thing was down...and it appeared the rest of their foes had fallen as well. In a manner of speaking.

One of the least satisfying wins he could recall, everyone covered in filth, bloody and beaten. But the thing was dead. Mostly. Seeing that head go sailing across the room earned an exasperated, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

Well. If they can keep it still long enough, one of them can plug it dead, and they can move on. Just a matter of who reaches it first. Bull? He's willing to let someone else take the shot, at this point.

... welp

[byblow]

Hunkering down to help guard Fate and Zevran around a few corners becomes an increasingly less smart idea the longer the others are gone; it's easy enough to tell from the shouting that they're still alive, mostly, probably, but it doesn't sound like that's guaranteed to continue.

"Andraste's—watch him," he says to Fate, and runs.

And stops

He is so overwhelmed that his face goes blank and sort of stupid—which might be funny later, if any of this is ever funny—looking at the toothy head... thing... that's just crashed into a nearby wall. It's on fire. It launches itself off. He knocks it away on reflex, with his shield, back toward the fray.

Never let it be said that Grey Wardens never contribute anything outside of dealing with the Blight.

why is everything on fire?

[ombranera]

The trouble with lighting undead things on fire is that, then, you have the flaming undead. Bile drips and fat sizzles, popping under it's bulbous flesh, the acrid stink of decomposing bodies suddenly offset by the scent of cooked pork. The shrieking, sizzling thing had launched itself from the wall with all the force it's bone tipped arms could manage and sailed through the air at Alistair, only to be batted away in a high arc right at Korrin.

Shrieking maw open and talons spread wide it snaps for whatever part of her it can reach while on the descent- a flaming ball of animated, decomposing flesh.

[gatheringstorm]

"Vashedan!" There are many creatures Korrin wants nowhere near any part of her body and right now a soaring, flaming undead is right at the top of that list. Thankful to already have her spirit blade in hand, she lifts it to slice at the thing with renewed vigor borne of complete disgust. That unholy mess needs to die and die now.

[ombranera]

The cut is clean- slicing the beast's burning skull neatly in two- spattering the surrounding area with cooked flesh, splinters of bone, the congealed pudding that was the beast's brain- and the two cracked halves of some warped, burnt gem filled with lyrium. Both halves fly past in artful spirals to land with a meaty thud behind her.

A few of the limbs of the crows that survived the initial round of bursting now, well, burst, showering Alistair with ripping, greasy corpse juice.

Beyond them all the headless corpse of the golem gives a great, gurgling roil, the other heads writhing and lolling along it's spine, the massive flesh undulating like a leather sack full of pudding, coiling with tension not yet loosed- and then?

BUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrr_rrrrt thh^hpp_bbbb ^rrrrrt

The corpse went still after one final, flatulent bellow that filled the room with the harmless odor of sulfur and eggs as it emptied it's rotted bowels.

At last, the beast is dead.

[qunari]

"That...was some weird shit."

This from Bull, leaning against his axe and staring dead-eyed at the fallen creature before tossing a look at the rest of the group. Best to get moving, to get these wounds cleaned out before they got infected, and see to getting Zevran back to the keep safely.

Still.

That's going to be a hard fight to forget.

[justice_is_blond]

"Next fortress, we grab the prisoner, run, and set everything on fire on the way out." There are injuries everywhere, but at least it looks like no one's on the brink of death. They need to get going before another surprise lurches out of some dark corner.

"Or I'm grabbing the prisoner and setting everything on fire. People can follow if they'd like." He doesn't care if no one's listening. Most of his words are for his own benefit as he leans on his staff for a moment before slowly straightening and holding out a hand for Beleth.

"Thank you." That's more quiet than the rest. He never would have lived down being hit by that thing's head.

[quietblade]

Taas is finally up on his feet, nearly covered in viscera and fuck-if-he-knew, blood pumping so loud in his ears that he could hear it. Breathing heavily, he's half-dazed and half blood crazed, and he doesn't have his weapon, where the fuck was his soul, where were the enemies?

There's a stench so foul that he wants to roar back at it, and there's an enemy, there's a target next to the monster they had just taken down. It wasn't over yet, there was still blood to spill and he had to take him down.

Roaring a challenge, he's charging, weaponless but ready, eyes half-glazed and teeth bared. It's a miracle he isn't frothing, and as he passes the golem, he tears loose his axe.

Soul returned. Now the enemy would die.

[arlathvhen]

Is it over? She thinks it's over. Everyone is on her side, or dead. She's dead tired and everything hurts and she's kind of covered in the vilest bullshit that she's ever witnessed. Gavin's lavatory digging had nothing on this. She gives a quiet wheeze, staring thoughtfully at Ander's hand as she slowly started to sit up.

"Good plan. Solid plan. I have another plan: Can I just lie here? I want to just lie here for a little bit."

Despite that, she nods at the thanks and reaches for his hand.

Except now Taas is charging at Iron Bull and he isn't looking really happy and shit might be about to go down? Beleth should probably. Do something. About that.

She takes a hold of Ander's hand, and attempts to drag him back down, behind her. "Stay behind me." And she's pretty sure that counts as helping. Without even having to get up. If she manages to die somehow than whatever, she doesn't even care at this point, at least this way she can do it without having to try standing and at least pretending she was doing something useful.

[qunari]

What the--

"Shit."

And Bull shifts stance, ready to block that swing as it comes for him, all of the warrior's weight behind it. He's seen that look before, knows it. The frenzy of battle untapped.

Savage fury. He knows what it feels like, consuming, burning away at your insides and urging you to tear the nearest living thing to pieces. It's why Tal-Vashoth are so dangerous. Why he willingly submitted himself to the re-educators all those years ago.

At least it's him, and not the elf, or the healer. He can fend off Taas until he runs out of steam.

[gatheringstorm]

"Taashath!" But of course he can't hear her and he wasn't reacting to that code anyway. Damnit. Korrin's not foolish enough to intercept, but at the very least Iron Bull can have a warning and a barrier. She's not about to have Taas begin a rampage and not do something to at least help mitigate it.

[justice_is_blond]

For a second, one beautiful, tiny, fantastic split second, Anders thinks it's all over and they're alive and he can breathe. Then one of the qunari is yelling and charging at... at another one of their own? Seriously? He didn't get enough of a fight?

"I'd rather be up and ready to run than down and possibly getting trampled," he tells Beleth, trying again to tug her up. He's so done. "Let's go. At least to the others, and then we can come back when the yelling's done and no one is swinging weapons anymore."

[arlathvhen]

"Right now, I think I'd take getting trampled. It might hurt less." Every part of Beleth groans (including her voice) as she nevertheless tries to stand up. But her body already declared the fight done, and the adrenaline keeping her going took a hike, probably somewhere with baths. She was perfectly content to watch from the floor, and roll if necessary, why did everything have to be so difficult.

She eyes the fight between the qunari carefully, even as she slowly rises, moving like an old man in a storm. She could understand why Taas' anger was directed to Iron Bull, and she found it hard to really...care. Taas wasn't going to consider her an enemy, surely, so she was safe. And she couldn't get involved, because that would probably really end up with her getting trampled.

"Alright, let's go. Swinging weapons is bad." Despite all complaints to the contrary, Beleth straightens up to what could be generously called standing, leaning against the mage. Well, here they were. A bunch of jackasses standing in a circle.

Kind of.

[quietblade]

He growls, snarls, roars, swing after swing blocked or mitigated by Korrin's barrier. Not being able to draw more blood is frustrating, why isn't the enemy dead?

The enemy. Ben-Hassrath, his enemy. Not their enemy.

Not the people he tried to protect. Who...

Shit.

Taas stays his axe, chest heaving in forced breaths. What was he doing, again? He eyes the remnants of the golem corpse, and tries to remember, to focus.

It's not working too well, but at least he's not actively trying to chop Bull to pieces.

[gatheringstorm]

"Hastas!" Now that he's pausing, Korrin gives that code another try, desperately hoping that he'll be alerted to the vibration of his armband. If that doesn't snap him out of it by now, she's out of ideas.