faderift | What Can One Grey Warden Do?

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What Can One Grey Warden Do?

WHO: Hercules, Jamie, Kain, Rachette, Alistair, Kaidan, Bethany, Dorian, Anders, and Nathaniel.
WHAT: The ambush and capture of Lord Livius Erimond
WHEN: Drakonis 4
WHERE: The Western Approach
NOTES: Info on this post. Feel free to start your own mingle threads for the journey there and back. Warning for violence.

It doesn't really rain here. The skies are blue and the sun is glaring, the sands shifting only when a merciful breeze blazes through, which isn't often. It's hardest on Team D, which has no shade or shelter. The other two teams are tucked away in the shadows, impossible to see as Erimond's party enters the gorge.

They had seen the demons from afar, Nathaniel peering through a spyglass. There are eight of them, each bound to a mage, and Nathaniel has chosen to continue with the plan, though he has urged everyone not to try to fight, only to push through with the plan as-is and get out. They are all very much outnumbered, but all they need to do is take one man.

So stay hydrated and move quickly, team. Anything can happen in the next few minutes.

[OOC: I will tag into each team thread as the action reaches each team. Feel free to mingle on team threads before then and react to the action in other threads. Also, please start your own threads for travel mingling, if you want that sort of thing. This will keep everything organized for everyone's AC purposes.]

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Seems the time to leave is fast approaching. Eyes narrowing, Kain watches the towering terror demon take form. Herc is in a bad position all the way over there, that much is clear. Can they stand a chance against this thing? Long enough to make their escape all together? He still has to remind himself this isn't the gods' war anymore... falling wouldn't be the same as there...

But he's stubborn and a warrior first and foremost. He's going to fight damn it, he has to do something. Push himself. Keep going. He tightens his grip on his lance, planning to try just that. If he can hold on long enough to reach it... just get one good strike in... Unfortunately, a wrong step aggravates his bad leg, and he howls in pain suddenly, dropping to a knee. Arrrgh, no! He grimaces, hating to admit that the wound is worse than he'd thought.

Herc still seems to be moving slowly, but he's moving, and that's something, at least - even if it doesn't do anything to cut down on the uneasiness Jamie's feeling at the sight of that spot. That part of things has him a little on edge, and when the order comes to go to help Kain, he almost doesn't go, instead flicking an uncertain look between the Warden and the green spot on the ground. However, there's enough urgency behind that one word that despite his misgivings, he goes, skirting the places where he remembers seeing those glowing lines as he darts across the battlefield towards Kain.

And then everything seems to happen at once. Erimond shouts, and the mages and demons respond, just as one of the largest terror demons he's ever seen springs into being and cuts off Herc from the others. Rachette's close enough that she can close with it, but Jamie is closer to Kain by now, and it makes more sense to close the smaller distance and get to the other warrior's side, hands reaching out to try and get him back to his feet. The dire nature of the situation isn't lost on him, however, and there's a level of urgency in his voice as he ignores the pain that flares across his throat as he turns head to look back at Herc and Rachette.

"Come on, we've got to go help them!"

Damn it. Herc glances back, takes in the regrouping mages and their demons, and the great terror looming in front of him. Not just looming, either, because the damn things could never make it that easy. "Rachette, go! You gotta go, now. Get Kain and Jamie outta here."

Now or never, isn't it? Time to do something really stupid.
Flame engulfs the blade of his sword and he whistles loudly, hacking at the side of the terror, moving backwards to lure it away from Rachette, from the others. "Come on, you ugly mongrel."

The thing swipes at him, and it'd be a lie to say he's doing as well as he would he if he hadn't been hit by that lightning spell, earlier. "Come on!" He yells at it again, and he's twisting to strike out at one of the mages as well, draw their fire to him so that the others can make a move. Better deal with the man with a burning sword right in their midst, than the rabble that can't do them any more damage, right?

"All of you, move out. That's an order." And he doesn't know if that'll mean much, if they'll listen, but he's trying to buy them some time to get away. He's been hearing the Calling for a long time, now, after all. He just figured he'd be dying at the hands of darkspawn, and not his fellow Wardens.

Warriors. And rogues. And hero-types in general, really. They all tend to have one thing in common - grand gestures when they might not be needed, and Anders is moving before the order is given, sliding down the hill but still staying out of reach because like void he's going anywhere near the thing.

He holds his staff while casting, hands and even arms glowing green as healing over a distance is not nearly as easy or refined as close-up. He can't fix everything Herc's got. Not from here, not with the short amount of time he has, but at least he can try to mitigate some of it. The crucial damage from the lightning, for instance.

And then the order comes and Anders is torn. It's the first clear order he's been given, and his very life hangs on showing that he'll obey Grey Warden orders. On the other hand, Herc's largely responsible for Anders getting a chance.

The others get a quick glance. If they start moving out, he'll follow. If they hold their ground, he's not moving just yet.

Now Anders, at least, is on Herc's side of the demon, which shows little interest in giving the fighters time to conference. It makes a swipe at Herc, which is easily dodged.

It's an order. Orders are bullshit, but--the plan has to go as, well, planned, or this whole thing is for nothing, and all the teams are fucked, and they'll all get slaughtered by demons or something. Or worse! Seems like 'worse' is definitely an option, given these mages and their demons.

She takes a roll back even though the demon is advancing on Herc, points at Jamie. "Get him out of here." Which she should also be doing. But she glares back at the scene with fire in her eyes. "Mage, move your ass!"

She's slowly backing up with her blades in a defensive position, scanning her feet for any more signs of green. Honestly, the healer's going to be useful for Kain right now while Herc is playing the big damn distracting hero. "You stupid load of nug shit, didn't come here just for you to die..."

Edited 2016-03-04 23:14 (UTC)

“I’m not out of this yet!” his voice is a growl, that defiant fighting attitude coming out full force. Reckless, definitely, when he can barely move as effectively as he needs to. Got to go help them, the words echo through his mind. Kain accepts Jamie's help up with a nod, gripping his arm for a moment as he attempts to steady himself. He’s still keeping an eye on the field the whole time of course, desperate to get back into action. The pain is still gnawing at him, and he’s doing all he can to adjust, putting more of his weight on the good leg as much as he can. Healing, though, definitely. He needs that if he can get within reach of their mage. Just enough to keep him on his feet a bit longer… Stubbornness can only take him so far.

Orders are one thing… when Herc gives that command it reminds him that they’ve got a specific duty to carry out here. But he glances at the others, readying his lance, fully preparing to attack and see this through if they are. One fighter can’t possibly take down this thing alone… if they leave Herc…

It's not until Kain grips his arm that he actually looks down at the other man's leg and gets a good idea of just how bad the injury is. He'd thought that maybe the man's leg had just buckled and once Jamie could help him up they'd be able to get back into the fight. With his leg like that, though, Jamie isn't at all sure the man'll be able to walk, let alone move like he'd need to while fighting the terror demon. Still, when Det- Anders appears over the hill, he almost reconsiders. If he can get Kain to Anders and Anders can heal him, they can then take on the demon and see about taking it down while it's still possible to do so.

Then the order comes to withdraw, and he too, is reminded of the plan. They're supposed to be going, or this whole thing is for nothing. He hates thinking about leaving, and if Kain wasn't as hurt as he was, Jamie would've already given into his impulses and already rushed the demon. But given the state of the other man combined with that order...well, he doesn't much like the idea, but it's enough to get him to listen. So he grimaces, clearly unhappy about the situation, but starts to withdraw as well.

Given that his attention is split between Kain and Herc with the demon, though, he's not keeping as quite of a close eye on the battlefield as he could. Whether that makes any difference given their path, he doesn't know, and if the others change their mind and start to run back in that may change things, too. But for now, he's going to try and get Kain to Anders before anything else goes wrong. so long as Kain is willing to go along with it. He just hopes that whatever long-distance healing Anders has managed to do on Herc is enough to get him back up to speed in the meantime.

If this was the time for it, he'd show Rachette some gratitude. As it is, he catches her gaze a moment, if he can, and offers a grim smile. Thanks.

As for the more stubborn members of the party:
"Anders, you get outta here or I'll kill you myself," Herc growls, even as he can feel his skin healing a little, and the next hack comes easier. He throws down to roll out of the Terror's swiping trajectory, but they're running out of time. One of the reasons Anders has his life is because of a promise Herc made to all of the Advisors, and he's not eager to follow through on that today. Not when the Wardens were losing enough as it was. Anders might be a bit of a pain in the arse, but he's their pain in the arse, and a decent healer to boot.

His voice is stern, and brooks no refusal. "It's now or never."

If this was the way the song in his head ended, well, there were definitely worse ways. Better that Max is guarding their camp and isn't here to see this. Mabari followed orders, but this was one a dog like Max'd have a hard time taking. And maybe, if he makes enough of a scene here, he can cover their retreat a while, as well. Maybe they don't get it because they aren't Wardens (well, some of them, anyway) but there's a song that's been drawing him to the Deep Roads for long months, and he was already due for that, Corypheus or no. In Death, Sacrifice, that was their deal. That was what he signed up for.

Clattering his sword against the shield and making as big a racket as he can, Hercules Hansen gets ready to buy everyone else some time.

Now or never. A glance around shows that it really is, and Anders grimaces. It's not even the threat, because Herc can't disengage enough to get to him and strike him down. It's the fact that he's leaving someone behind and he hates it. But as Justice confirms what Herc says and Anders already knows, the mage nods. The green glow isn't gone from him, but Herc is no longer the target of his healing. Instead, as he turns, it's Kain.

"We move."

He rushes toward Kain, hoping to get the other man's side so he and Jamie can get Kain away from here as he heals them.

"Can you cover us?" This is called to Rachette, because they're not going to be moving as fast as a demon can, plus they'll have their backs to it.

Stupid idiot hero types. He hates how easily they're willing to let the end come, sometimes.

The demon has paid little attention to the emotional struggle around it, instead swiping at Herc with a shriek. The noise seems to make it angrier, especially when its strike is blocked by the shield. From afar, a stream of fire is sent from the fingers of one of the mages, now outside the range of Alistair's anti-magic force. The fire lands only feet away from Rachette, a reminder that the battle is still raging.

"Damn!" They can't stay. They can't even dawdle with Kain, but they're not leaving two behind; this is why they have a healer with them, damn it. Isn't the second team supposed to be keeping them all busy? The heat is intense even from a short distance, and she hops back a few steps closer to the retreating group.

"Get him moving, we don't have time! We all need to get out!" Which includes the group attacking from the other end of the canyon, doing so to give them time to escape, so that they can also escape. Maybe...maybe they can do something for Herc. This team's time here is done, running into overtime. "I've got it!" She's got their backs. Even if she has to do something stupid like stand in front of a blast, but she's hoping it won't come to that.

Kain curses under his breath at the thought of not staying to finish this demon off. But he definitely doesn’t have much choice but let Jamie help him toward Anders. A leg wound like this isn’t so easy to just push along with, much as he’s struggling to try. By now, he’s bled out quite a bit, the red staining his leg, but at least the healing should alleviate things to some extent. He looks grateful about that at least. It should buy him some more time on his feet… Maybe? Right?! God, he hopes it’s not as bad as it feels, though there’s a definite possibility that shrapnel could have gotten embedded in there… Ugh… He’s got to keep moving no matter what else may happen.

The other team definitely have to be getting in on the fight by now… which’ll mean more cover to aid them. Good.

Still clutching his weapon, he keeps glancing back as they're going, wanting to do something more than flee. Stupid fighting instincts. He glances over to Jamie. “Perhaps.. if we… take one chance and all strike at once…”

The thought of trying to get together for one last strike is incredibly tempting, but that's an awful lot of blood on Kain's leg - and Rachette is absolutely right. They have to keep going, keep moving and hope for the best with Herc. Maybe the others'll be able to do something to help there. For Jamie, the best thing he can do is to get Kain the help he needs before he bleeds out, and even though his glance flicks back to Herc, he shakes his head.

"Look, we can't risk losing two people. We've been ordered to go, we go. Det-"

He breaks off before he can finish, grimacing at how naturally that false name comes to his lips. He and Anders are going to have to talk at some point, but now isn't the time for it. And then fire comes from one of the mages, reminding him that they really can't be standing around here. He redoubles his efforts to get Kain over to the mage's side, knowing that if nothing else, the sooner he can get Kain to Anders, the better, and lifts his head to call out to the mage.

"Coming your way!"

They're off, then. Good. Herc isn't exactly excited about the idea of getting potentially fried to death - nasty way to go - but he's even less keen on seeing his team go down. It adds a relentlessness to his attacks on the demon, easier after Anders patched him up, hacking at the thing as much as he can, trying to bring it down so he can focus his energy on those mages. He kicks the demon in the knee, batters it with the twisted metal of his shield, and hopes to the Maker and Andraste and whatever other beings might be out there (he can't afford to be picky, just now) that it goes down, stays down.

Even if he's not entirely sure about it, he's got some mages to deal with. Watching to make sure the others get out free will take too much of his attention, so Herc is holding his shield high to avoid any with the shield's resistance, and ploughing in to draw their focus.

Jamie gets an apologetic look at the grimace, but then Anders is more focused on Kain. There's blood loss, a piece of something still in Kain, and enough damage that if it's left too long there might be a lasting problem even with the blood loss stopped.

"I'll heal as we move him. But once we've got him on to a horse, you're going to need to make sure he stays on and gets to the rendezvous point." He can hear combat still going on, and it's not just Herc. Erimond has closed on Nate and Alistair and Anders is needed there too, and he has no idea how Bethany's group is doing.

Focusing internally, he casts, seeking to forestall anything lethal and stabilize. It's all they can afford, time-wise, for now. He can hear Rachette moving along behind them, giving them cover, and that's one concern gone as they approach the horses. By the time they've got Kain up and on, the bleeding's stopped. For now.

"Be careful, don't jostle it, I need to back up Nate and Alistair." It's hastily said because he's already looking for the two, trying to find... There. Nate and Erimond are entangled and Alistair is swinging, and Anders nods to this group.

"I'll see you at the rendezvous point." And then he's running, because he isn't done yet.

The demon is a fierce one, and Herc's attacks may stagger it, but it presses on. Its next swipe connects with Herc, though only the ends of its long fingers, dealing no damage but setting off his balance. Its long tail lashes out to wrap around Herc's ankle and yank him to the ground.

Damn it.

Herc's halfway to taking another step back to correct his balance when the demon's tail strikes. He's doing better than before, but he's still not up to his normal form and his body is protesting the lingering injuries. Landing at an awkward angle, shield caught between himself and the ground, Herc's arm takes a beating and sand meets his eyes and his mouth. Without looking he swings his sword to try and catch the demon's tail, flame still enveloping the blade.

The angle isn't ideal, but the blade hits, nearly severing the tail. The demon screams in Herc's face and grabs him with both hands, lifting him two feet from the ground before slamming him back down. The whiplash causes near-immediate unconsciousness.

He's not out for long. When he wakes, his hands and feet are bound. A Warden mage kneels before him, eyes glowing strangely. He removes his healing hands from Herc, then tilts his head, as if curious about what he is seeing. Behind him, a few mages watch, their numbers dwindled from what it was.

"Where are you in pain?" the healer asks in a monotone voice.

All in all, he'd say that potentially dying would have been an easier out that being trapped like this. Herc eyes the mage warily. Warden against Warden wasn't how it was meant to be, and on another day, in another battle, the guy patching him up might've been a friend.

As it is, Herc considers a long moment before responding.

"Everywhere," he replies, and it's mostly true. Eating sand wasn't fun, being slammed into it by a bloody great demon wasn't high on his list, either. Still, some pain and tension is potentially more worrying. "Neck's not great." A little shift, testing, and he winces. "Right collarbone and arm aren't much better." He's not looked, but breathing and shrugging made his shoulder yell a mighty protest.

And speaking of arms, he's guessing his sword and shield are gone, left back in the Approach or requisitioned to these bastards. His head is foggy, but he manages a rough, "Where are we?"

The mage doesn't answer, only reaches out to deliver healing magic to Herc's neck. After a thoughtful moment, he gives a nod to himself and stands.

"He can travel without dying."

Three other mages approach and begin to load Herc onto a horse, completely heedless of his pain. Something shifts horribly with the pain in his collarbone, and the movement will be agonizing.

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What Can One Grey Warden Do?

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I like that I had this written up about three hours ago and forgot to post the damn comment :'|

It happens!

Just me and Herc from here on

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