faderift | DESTROY THE RED LYRIUM QUARRY

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DESTROY THE RED LYRIUM QUARRY

WHO: Norrington, Kas, Cade, Varric, Anders
WHAT: Smashing the Templar's Red Lyrium operation before it even gets off the ground, go Inquisition!
WHEN: Guardian 18
WHERE: Emprise du Lion - Red Lyrium Quarry
NOTES: Closed quest log. Death and violence!

Far to the south of the Inquisition's main camps, Corypheus' Templar allies have discovered a sizable source of red lyrium in the hills. The operation to extract it is still in its early stages: the plan is for a path cut through the ground in a semi-Circle, but the Eastern side is barely touched, and with Inquisition forces pressing the Templars back and into Suledin Keep, the quarry is not so heavily guarded as it might have been. There are more prisoners than Red Templars, in fact. Concerned for the safety of the villagers if the Red Templars see a force approaching, the Inquisition is instead sending small teams, under cover of night, to free the captured villagers and eliminate the guards.

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The Eastern half of the quarry is not yet a quarry. Norrington and Kas come upon prisoners before any signs of mining, finding four cages in a semi-circle nestled in the dip between two hills, with only three guards watching over them. Only one of these guards show obvious signs of Red Lyrium infection. The remaining two will be more reckless and aggressive than normal, when attacked, but their eyes are normal and their skin not yet overly pale.

If the team has been quiet enough on the approach, the two who are not yet succumbing to the lyrium may be caught playing cards by the fire. All three will attack on sight, however, and as the battle progresses one of the Templars will set fire to the wooden floor of one of the prisoners' cages to attempt to distract the two men from the fight.

When the guards have been dealt with, and the prisoners freed or left in their cages for safekeeping, Norrington and Kas can proceed forward. Not far ahead, the Red Templars have made some initial attempts at clearing away trees and snow to begin digging, but they won't see substantial signs of progress until they reach the rendezvous point.

Kas has a bone to pick with these monster-templars and their people-stealing after what he's heard from Korrin, and he's going to make her proud. They were going to pay for what they had done, right?

Headstrong as he may be, he was doing good as a scout and didn't have a problem quietly getting over to an area so he could overlook the not-yet-a-quarry and the caged people. The guards weren't the scary red monsters he had seen on a scouting mission once, and two of them looked pretty busy.

Frowning, he backtracks his steps to where the guy he was working with was. Some not crazy templar, right? Kas couldn't quite remember the name, but the teen still crouches down near Norrington to give his report. "Three guards. Two of them are playing cards. They look normal."

Norrington, on the other hand, wasn't quite sure how he felt working with a teenager -- but here they were. He pressed his lips together at the intelligence before he looked at Kas.

"What we need is a distraction -- which will be me. I'll engage them in combat, if you can get around them to the other side, to free the prisoners. As you are a scout, I take it you will not need a key?"

Yes, he's making sure you can lockpick there, Kas.

"Of course I can. I was taught by Zevran Aranai," Kas says proudly, patting the small leather pouch at his belt. It contained all of his thief's tools, and he was doing quite well with the practice lock. These rusty cages would be nothing.

"I'm pretty sure I can hit the guy standing around with my bow of you want less people to deal with," the teen continues, patting his hip quiver.

"Oh, well then! Perfect." There was absolutely no doubt the young man could handle it then. Zevran was clearly the best.

He nods his head. "Excellent thinking, soldier." He leaned his head around, "I shall wait for you to take out the third, then charge the other two. Agreed?"

If it was going to be this simple, then honestly he could only imagine the other three were walking through the next checkpoint like Chantry sisters into a Chantry.

"Agreed," Kas says with a little nod and grabs his bow. Now he just had to take the lone templar out. By himself.

He couldn't miss.

Moving over to a good place, he takes aim carefully. Breathe in, pull back the bowstring. Aim for the torso, the head was too difficult. Let go.

The arrow swept through the air, the piercing arrow easily bypassing already worn metal and lodging itself deep into the templar's gut. Breathing out, Kas drew his daggers instead.

"Go!"

James came around the edge of the trees in a full bull rush, slamming into both of the remaining guards as they started to rise to their feet and go for their weapons. Sword and shield swung with vigor as he called out.

"Now!"

And immediately went to holding off the two guards as he went between the two of them with his attacks.

Kas moves quickly from his position, avoiding both the dying templar on the ground and the other fighters to head for the cages. The people in them were already calling for help, and he sheathes his daggers to dig out his tools.

The locks were pretty shitty but did their job well, and Kas is relatively sure he can pick them. The battling is a little distracting, though, and he sinks the pick in a little too deep on the first try.

The next is better, and it doesn't take him long to open the lock and go for the next one.

James pulled his sword back and then directly into one of the soldiers, before he pulled his blade out and then slammed his shield into the other soldier as he shifted his weight so he could keep balancing between the two of them.

He glanced over in Kas's direction - making sure the young man was still getting those people out - before he twisted around to slam his shield into the soldier who he had just stabbed.

Holding the two soldiers at bay, hopefully long enough for Kas to finish this out.

The little qunari was doing well, opening two more cages before he's going for the last one. "Go, run! You better get out of here!" He calls out to the other prisoners before he starts digging for the tumblers in the lock. This one takes longer, however, as it's a little more rusty and it looks like someone kicked it.

Maybe one of the kidnapped people pissed off a templar.

"This lock is fucked!" He growls, reaching for a dagger instead to see if he could bend it open.

Well, they both seemed to be pissing off Templars. James muttered a curse, just as one of the Red Templars, his rage coming off of him in waves. James put up his shield to take the majority of the blows, feeling them hammer in in his side. He'd have a fair number of bruises when this fight was done.

He shifted his feet in the snow, so the soldier went glancing off the shield, sliding past him so he could lift his sword and slice the man's throat clean open.

It was only then he realized the other soldier was running towards the last cage, and he had a torch in hand.

"Behind you!" Came his yell, as he charged up after the other red templar.

Kas turns quickly at the warning, seeing the templar come running with the torch. He couldn't let the guy get to the prisoners, right? He had to... he had to fight.

It was the first time he had to used his daggers for anything other than training with Zevran. Adrenaline pounded in the teen's ears as he met the templar head on with his daggers, trying to stop the torch from reaching the prisoners or himself.

Embers flew everywhere as it connected, and the force was enough for the teen's arms and legs to buckle. His still small muscles didn't have anything to hold against a warrior like that, and the heat from the torch was overwhelming.

He was going to die. He was going to die. He was going to die.

...then everything turned black for Kas. The teen moves to the side, dodging easily and shoving his daggers into the side of the templar, right in a gap of the armor. A kick takes the templar to the ground and he slits his throat with another practiced movement.

...Well, that wasn't precisely what James had in mind with the warning, but it seemed to work effectively enough. He turned around, quickly searching the other Red Templar's body, as he called over to Kas.

"Quick thinking, there. Clean your blades on the snow, then help me find the keys so we can let these poor bastards out."

The bas was babbling, but Issala didn't care to reply. It was simple enough to pretend to be a witless imekari for now, and wipe his blades off in the snow. He pushes the templar over to check for a key, but it didn't seem like this was the guy carrying them.

"None," he says curtly. "It can be cracked with a pommel. Put it in-between the lock and the bars and bend."

Norrington nodded his head briefly, stopping his search immediately to move towards the cage. He put up a hand, speaking to the scared prisoners calmly and quietly, "I have taken no red lyrium, my friends. My friend here is a Valshoth, not a Qunari. We are not here to hurt you -- merely to free you. As soon as I open this cage, please follow the path of the others who have escaped back to our camps."

He went over to the lock, and following Kas's instructions to the letter, put it between the lock and the bars, bending it with his considerable strength. The lock gave way in a few moments, and he stepped back to let the prisoners go free.

He did not, however, sheath his sword, simply gave the young Valshoth a considering look before he nodded his head up the hill.

"Shall we?"

Issala watches the people run off, probably only to be captured again later. They were only treating the symptoms, to the illness itself.

"Let's go," he agrees, not quite yet ready to let the imekari get back in control quite yet. The bas would get suspicious.

Well, if they made it to the camp, they should be fine. They had killed all the Red Templars, and he had heard tales that refugees were being shipped from here back to Skyhold for safety.

As it stood - the illness was Corypheus, and one had to find the illness before one could find it.

He nodded, putting his shield back up on his back and leading the way to the rendezvous point, beyond these particular cages.

The teen follows in silence for a while as they head for the rendezvous point, while Issala went over what had just happened and how much it would effect his cover.

This bas didn't know the imekari, which meant it wouldn't be as suspicious as it could have been, and shock was a good excuse. Kas was young and experiences, and 'he' had just killed his first person on close combat after nearly dying.

It would have to do. Silent, he withdraws.

The boy stumbles slightly with a deep breath, looking behind him. "Did I... did I really do that?"

Norrington turned to look at the boy, looking surprised at the comment. He had thought that the boy had his first kill, certainly, but he seemed surprised by the lot of it. His voice quiets, as ever firm as it was.

"Yes, you did. It's what the training is for, after all. You can take some small comfort that he would have killed you, and all those people in the cage, without a second thought." Templars were, after all, trained killers with a purpose. Sigh.

Moving on. "You should never enjoy killing though. It is a means to an end, but not something to be done lightly, or without clear forethought."

"I'm not sure I even know what happened... first I thought I was gonna die, and then..." He shudders slightly. It wasn't his first kill, but it was definitely the first one Kas made in close combat. Shooting an arrow into someone was... way different than this.

"It's hazy. I'm not sure... but it's over. People are free and we should catch up, right?" That was the important part. "I don't think I'll ever like doing that, though."

"And then your body took over. It's not a big surprise." Norrington stated simply, "You'll find that happening a lot in close combat. You're a rogue, so I believe you should be able to pull yourself out of it a lot more easily than I can."

He nodded, gesturing up the hill. "If you would not mind taking point? I shall cover you closely."

Kas takes those words to heart, even if it seemed a lot more... missing rather than just instinct. But this guy knew what he was talking about, right? He was a fancy templar person.

Nodding to Norrington, Kas grabs his bow and heads forward, quick but slightly crouched and careful. Taking point and scouting ahead was something he could definitely do.

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DESTROY THE RED LYRIUM QUARRY

EAST (Norrington, Kas)

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