faderift | Into the DANGER ZONE

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Into the DANGER ZONE

WHO: All Rifters + the 7 natives who signed up
WHAT: Searching the ruins of Haven for survivors, an Inquisition crew finds something strange. And demons. It's kind of scary that the demons aren't the strange thing.
WHEN: Third week of Harvestmere, 9:41
WHERE: Haven
NOTES: We've broken rifters and rescuers (or "rescuers") into two groups. This log has an arrival comment for each group--you can start smaller subthreads beneath those rather than try to have an eight- or nine-person log, just incorporate surrounding chaos/fighting--and a third top-level set for the whole group's journey back to Skyhold

You were asleep-- deeply or fitfully, for the last time or just resting your eyes for a moment-- and then you were not. And wherever you were was not, anymore, replaced by nothing but the sensation of falling, tumbling into endless, bottomless nothing. If this were still a dream, you would wake before you hit the ground. You can't die in a dream, they say. In some worlds.

But there's no waking here, just a flare of green-white light and a jarring impact, barely softened by snow that lies a foot deep with an icy crust that cracks beneath the force of your landing. The wind is biting cold, the sun is bright, and you are not alone. Others thud to the ground nearby, as bewildered as you, and others run up who look no less confused for having their feet beneath them.

You are also not as you were: in the palm of your left hand there glows a narrow splinter of light the same sickly green as whatever brought you here. It aches, a bone-deep pain that gnaws even through all the distractions. Like that you're being attacked by monsters, some tall, spindly stick-things with too many eyes, some hunched and hooded with no eyes at all.

Welcome to Thedas!

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She'd chosen well- for all his unfamiliarity with what they were fighting, he knew how to hold a sword and was brave enough to swing it. With the shield, the sword, the swiftness he had been granted she could turn her mind to the remainder of the field. Smite the demons, protect her fellows. She drew up walls of ice to split groups apart, shattered and spun others to shred the wraiths that did approach, all with an intense focus that shut out almost all else. Were there danger, Compassion would warn her.

Or rather, should, but so many spells and the song of lyrium after she'd downed the potion made hearing the cautious whisper to 'mind her back, mind the flank, they are coming for you child- ' almost inaudible. There was a field to master, ice to spin and spear and build.

Hands tight about her staff she drove another spear of ice from the ground into an adjacent demon, none the wiser that one was approaching from behind until her warrior said as such. She whirled and drew her staff up but it was too close, too large, too vicious for her to do much other than block the swipe and stagger under the force of it.

It had been what he'd been afraid of, at least in part. Yes, he'd managed to let her know it was there, but the monster'd still gotten in a shot at her, even though she'd managed to block the blow in the end. If he had any say in the matter, though, that would be the last time it'd manage that, and he continued to run, shifting his grip to one that would give him the most control over his swings - and one that would allow him to put the most power behind his them as well.

The yell that came from his throat might have been the same as before, but this time it came with a sweep of his sword over his head, a large circle that started a few moments before he reached the creature and ended with the magical blade crashing into its head, something that wasn't going to kill it outright but was meant to drive it back and away from Adelaide, buying her time to recover and get further away. In the meantime, he placed himself between her and the monster, following up his initial blow with a series of other attacks meant to weaken it until he (or she) could get the opening needed to get down for good.

"Think you can pick on a lassie, can you? Let's see how you like this, then!"

Edited 2015-10-24 01:52 (UTC)

There wasn't room enough for her to cast a spell, nor had she breath to do anything but swear. This was not her strength- holding against an attack. Reserves low and without any room to twist away she was caught. Without some manner of intervention she'd be cut down-

The yelling again. The sudden sharp sweep of the ice blade she'd created as her partner leapt into the fray and staggered the demon, offering more than enough room for Adelaide to scramble back and drink another lyrium potion. Two in one day and she'll regret it come tomorrow- but they needed to end this and end it swiftly.

Between the blows of the sword and the sharp crackling of ice rising up from the ground and impaling it from behind, the demon was weakened, slowed, more than enough for her rescuer to end it with a decisive blow.

Ending the fight swiftly was definitely a necessity, as far as Jamie was concerned. The longer it went on, the more chance there was that the fatigue he could feel creeping in at the edge of his consciousness would get him to slip up, make a mistake - and that could lead to one or both of them getting hurt or worse.

Bring able to distract the creature proved to be the right thing though, and not only because Adelaide had been able to get away. The ice she'd called slowed the beastie down, and as he continued to press the attack, it reacted with less and less intensity. Finally it grew weak enough that it provided him with the opening he needed, and before the moment could slip away he took advantage, lunging in to drive the ice sword through its chest. It might not have been the prettiest blow, but it was enough to do the job, and as he pulled the sword free it crumpled to the ground and lay still.

Quickly, he turned around, looking to see if there were any other creatures about. He could still hear the sounds of fighting, but nothing close by, and no signs of anything coming to attack them. A lull, then, and one he suspected they both sorely needed. While he had no intention of not going to help the others, he'd take the precious few seconds he'd been given, catch his breath, at least...and, more importantly, go to check on Adelaide. He thought she might have been able to stop that one blow, but he wasn't completely sure. That was something he meant to fix while he had the chance to, and he crossed the short distance needed to get back to where she'd wound up after he'd stepped in.

"Think they're gone, at least for the moment. Are you alright?"

It wasn't clean, it wasn't terribly kind- but it was decisive. That was all it needed to be. once she was certain he wouldn't require further assistance with that particular demon Adelaide turned her attention to the rest of the field. Fighting? Yes. Anything in the immediate area? No. A moment to breathe, then. One that she desperately needed. Expending this much of her personal power at once, so much so that she had to take lyrium twice? Wasn't something she'd had to do- well. Ever. At no point in her life had she ever been involved in direct combat quite like this. Her harrowing had been the last time she'd had to truly contend with demons and that? She'd faced alone. Here there were others that needed minding and theory was so much less exhausting than actual practice.

She was leaning on her staff when he came back around, shoulders dipped low and eyes closed for a moment. Just a moment. Warnings of exhaustion she'd heard while in the Circle suddenly made so much more sense now, using this much of herself all at once? There'd be a migraine waiting for her at the very least, a dull ache in her bones for Maker knows how long at the worst. "Tired, but safe, thanks to you."

It felt as though her head weighed as much as a boulder but she was able to draw it up, meet his eye. Even managed a thin smile to reassure him that yes, she was well. Mostly. Comparably. "You are handling yourself quite well for someone that fell out of the Fade."

She looked tired, but he certainly couldn't blame her for that. Anyone who'd been doing what they had would be tired, unless they were some sort of super human, with abilities that went beyond what normal people would have. Right now he was still under the impression that a lot of what she'd done had been through the staff. A weapon still needed to be wielded, however, and there'd been plenty of that from what he'd seen. So her being tired only made sense.

The Fade, on the other hand, wasn't something that made sense - at all. His brow furrowed, rather visibly, and he shook his head.

"The Fade? I'm afraid I don't know what that is. I've found myself mixed up in the odd fight or two before, though, so I suppose that made some sort of difference."

"What you passed through to arrive here from the rift. It is a tear between this reality and the next-" She cut herself off with a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It is complicated to explain. I am sorry."

Even for those that studied such things it was difficult to put into words, so much of the fade was bound in abstract thought and emotion, shades of memory and magic. It could be quite mad or quite peaceful depending on what had happened in the immediate area. Something left her feeling she'd be forced to explain in more detail in the future. It'd bear research.

"Quite a bit. All the magic in the world can't make a warrior out of someone with no temperament or skill."

Oh, so it was something like that. While he did want to know more - to see if he'd be able to get back eventually, if nothing else - at the moment a detailed explanation maybe wasn't the best idea. He might not know exactly where she was going with it, but every time someone'd tried to explain something complicated like that, half the time it went right over his head.

It'd take more time than they likely had right now to get it to a point where he grasped enough of it to get the notion to sink in, and rather than ask a million questions to try and get more of an idea, he simply shook his head.

"Look, don't worry about that. Chances are I'd not understand what you were talking about, anyway. However I got here, the fact is we're still fighting monsters and I'm thinking they're maybe a bit of a problem, since you knew what the best way to stop them was. Or am I wrong about that?"

"Demons." Monsters yes, but demons specifically. "They fell through the rift shortly before you did."

Whether or not that made the rest of them demons or spirits or something other entirely, she couldn't say. Too much of this was strange- much like this man she had no point of reference for it. This was all new.

"There are supposedly more of them also spouting demons." Whether or not they also spat out people, well.

"Demons. Och, that's just great."

They weren't exactly how he'd pictured them being, but that didn't make much of a difference in the end. They were still here, and that was more than enough to get his lips to press together and his mouth to tug off to one side.

"And we came with them, so..." So likely everyone was going to think they were demons too. "Don't suppose we're going to just be allowed to leave after this, then."

"I am afraid not. You're part of the mystery for us- what these are, what it means. You are also one of the few with a mark much like the rifts on your palm, yes? We do not know what that means. It might be in your best interest to remain." For whatever that was worth. "...I am fairly certain you won't be carted back to Skyhold in chains but- I do not think it safe for you to wander away."

That was more or less what he'd been expecting to hear. Granted, it won't be a surprise to him if chains do wind up being used in the end, but that was something to worry about later. They'd likely not be clamped on while there were demons still about, at any rate, and he'd take that for now.

"No, I suppose not. Suppose I shouldn't be surprised that there's a mystery here either." He shrugged, the corners of his mouth turning up in a wry smile. "That seems to happen to me a lot. How're you feeling now, by the way? Any better?"

"Falling through tears in reality into battle and further mystery happens to you...often." What in the Maker's name did that mean? Though it was better he be accustomed to this rather than startled, terrified, and asking many questions that neither could truly answer. Thank Andraste for small blessings she supposed. "Rested enough for another bout should they come, thank you. I am in your debt."

How to pay that, well. She would have to sort it out later. Standing did not seem so difficult any longer and she carefully moved her weight more to her own feet than her staff, shrugging off the earlier exhaustion. They were not yet finished.

"Not falling through tears in reality, no." Although there had been one time where that was a little closer to the truth than others, but he wasn't sure he was ready to explain the TARDIS and what exactly it was able to do, at least not in any detail. If he kept it more general, though...maybe that would work. "But the last place our ship wound up was almost right in the middle of a battle. And...well, usually when we do go somewhere some sort of mystery seems to turn up. Or trouble. Or both."

As he lifted his shoulders in a shrug, his mouth curved into a wry smile. While he wasn't accustomed to everything, he was used to a lot more than a fair amount of other people. Hopefully that would help with whatever came next. This fight, though, wouldn't have gone the way it had if he hadn't had other help, and he was grateful enough for that when she said that she was in his debt, he shook his head.

"Look, I don't think I'd have been able to fight those demons as well if you'd not done what you did to my stick. As far as I'm concerned, we're even. But if you need me out there again, let me know, aye? My name's Jamie."

"How does a ship simply- actually. No. I do not think I wish to know right now. Perhaps later, after the walk back to Skyhold." Something to keep her mind off the journey, the cold, and the demons. Something that might help him settle in this far from home.

That would surely take more than a little while as she wasn't sure exactly what manner of world this man came from in the first place.

"I was not very well going to let you fight unarmed, Jamie." It feels far too familiar for someone she'd only just met- but if that was how he wished to be addressed? She would call him that. "Adelaide. If you have need of a healer afterward or support in the middle."

Winding up where they did was complicated enough that he's internally a little relieved when she doesn't press the issue. If she really wants to know later on, then he'll have a go at trying to explain it, but for now it's probably for the best he doesn't have to. It'll take time they simply don't have at the moment - so later it is.

Unlike Adelaide, though, Jamie has no problems with the familiarity he's brought into things. It doesn't even occur to him that she might prefer a form of address that's not quite so casual. After three years with the Doctor, he's gotten too used to being introduced by just his first name, or occasionally by his first and last name. Without knowing things are different here, he simply goes with what he knows - and what he feels, which means that he winds up giving her a brief, but genuine smile when she offers that support.

"Well, I've no plans on winding up getting hurt, but I'll keep in it mind. Think we'll sort these demons out quickly enough that it'll not be a problem, though. Then we'll be able to talk later on. But, in case I don't get the chance to see you again...thank you, Adelaide."

With that said, he shifts his grip on his ice sword, holding it in such a way that he can move but still bring it to bear when it's needed again. Once that's done, he gives her one last nod, then starts to head towards the next group of enemies, letting the battle take him where it will - even if chances are that means they'll wind up separated. Once the demons are gone, he'll see about tracking her down again.

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Into the DANGER ZONE

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