Mirror, mirror in the Hinterlands

[arcaneadvisor]

WHO: Morrigan, Merrill, Lace Harding, Maria Hill, Beleth Ashara, Malcolm Reynolds, Ruby Lucas, Kain Highwind, Clarke Griffin
WHAT: Eluvian extraction; Morrigan's eluvian has fallen into the hands of the Venatori and their Red Templar accomplices, so it's a mad dash to the Hinterlands to meet Leliana's forward scouts to fight the Venatori and provide cover for Morrigan and her team to secure the eluvian
WHEN: Final days of Drakonis
WHERE: Hinterlands
NOTES: Violence and possibly language? Related ooc post

 

Skyhold is rarely peaceful or quiet, not in any meaningful way but like pristine glass, tis shattered in the early hours. Morrigan can be seen heading from her rooms towards the back of Skyhold before she is suddenly gone, a few of the more loose-lipped scouts gossiping about how the Witch of the Wilds strode from the rookery later, not angry. Worried.

No argument either with the Nightingale.

Perhaps some had already been informed that she might need assistance. Others might have stopped her on her journey to ask what has someone with her reputation in such a flap.

The answer is the same: something of great value has fallen into the hands of the enemy, assistance and swift action are required to ensure it never falls into the clutches of Corypheus.

Comments

[arcaneadvisor]

The advantage that this small group had is that the Venatori are given orders. They haven't delved through what Morrigan has - there's too much at stake to allow them to know exactly what they have in their possession. Some of them might know, might suspect. They might see it as Tevinter's right, reclaiming what they believe to be theirs but she can't know for certain. This one she had restored herself, had forged the glass in Serault until her voice had burned away to a rasp, the doorway to a place without a name but for the one she's given.

The word has been said, however, and she grits her teeth, reaching deep within herself for her magic before she sets her staff down where it won't be damaged. There have often been tales of her, and she taught Twisted Fate, but still, it's something to behold when she runs forward, body changing until a spider faces their foes. Dark grey, black, and purple, the spellbinder is distracted as she shoots webs to slow him.

Rarely does she do this in battle, but then this is something of an exception. Distracting though, perhaps even for those with her as something red slinks through the shadows until it almost disappears, seemingly stalking them.

[nofury]

It's a mirror, is Maria's main thought, but what did she know of Dalish magic- or whatever magic it was the mage from Orlais may have- who was now a spider. Maker.

Time for that later. Maria focused her energy on pulling apart the magics of the Venatori agent, slamming a strong enough strike against him through Diving will they have a few seconds where he will not be able to cast.

"Discuss later."

[chainlightning]

Something isn't right here. Morrigan charges forward as a spider, and Merrill shifts on the balls of her feet, sucking in a breath. They're in a cave, surrounded by the land, and she can use that. Roots and vegetation and stone break from the ground and the walls and the ceiling around her, reaching and grabbing for any enemies in range. She only sees the mage, but if there's anything else, well- hopefully the land will find it.

"Watch out for the roots-" she warns her comrades. While the magic won't strike at them, they could trip.

[arcaneadvisor]

From behind, an inhuman shriek comes.

Sprinting at the party from the darkness comes a Red Templar, still clad in a helm and scraps of armour with the boots long gone, pale feet, stark red veins bulging unnaturally, hunched awkwardly though that doesn't hinder how it moves, seeking to slash and stab quickly from behind before they know what's hit them. Small growths of red lyrium sprout up from the shoulders but those hardly matter when the arms are entirely transformed into long cruel growths. If any have been unfortunate enough to have seen a Shriek then it is much the same; each arm is the weapon now, though there's something more terrifying about how red lyrium can do this to a person and still allow for them to be so changed and yet capable of moving, capable of fighting.

Capable of killing.

[arlathvhen]

What the fuck. What the fuck? What the fuck.

First, Morrigan turns into a spider, and Beleth has heard of shapeshifters, heard that Morrigan possessed that ancient knowledge, but it's one thing to hear a friend idly mention it, and it's another to have someone turn into a spider right in front of you. It's enough to make Beleth stop arguing, and Maria's words remind her that there's a more important task at hand than spiders or yelling about eluvians.

She nods, drawing another arrow, and keeps an eye on the roots. Those, she can handle. That kind of magic was no mystery to Beleth.

However, that beast? That--it was no person. It had been, once. But now--? Beleth feels a chill in her veins, but she manages the sight of it well enough. This wasn't a flesh golem, at least. Though Beleth had three large qunari between her and that golem. Still. She draws an arrow, and pulling out a vial, quickly poisons it. Then she gets on her knee, concentrating, before firing the arrow, aiming for whatever flesh there is left for an arrow to find.

"How is this even possible..." She mutters it, loud enough for the others to hear, though it's more of a statement than an attempt at discussion.

[nofury]

Her stomach churns at the sight of the...the creature. It's no comrade of hers, no one she's known personally. But what red lyrium represented to a Templar was terrifying enough on its own.

Morrigan was facing the mage, she'd dispelled what she could. Maria pivoted on her heel, aiming to charge directly into the path of the Red Templar. If anyone would be bearing the brunt of it's attacks, it would be her. And her plate mail and shield.

[chainlightning]

The shriek makes Merrill freeze for a moment before she's renewing the barriers on everyone. If that red lyrium fractures off upon a puncture wound, they could easily end up the same way, and she does not want to ever deal with that sort of thing ever again. The land is still working to grab at the mage and now the Templar, twisting around whatever they can grasp, whether they're limbs or weapons. It's happening without any conscious direction of Merrill, which leaves her free to cast another spell.

Lightning crackles through the air, despite being hidden from the actual sky, arcing in between both enemies. Right now, she's not sure which threat is the biggest, so it seems best to try and take them both out.

[arcaneadvisor]

It's a simple thing really, to leap as a spider; Tevinter mages might expect giant spiders but they do not expect for them to have once fought as women first so when she makes that leap to tear out his throat, he falls hard to the ground, staff spilling out of his grasp. She's done this countless times, enough that she doesn't really think about the taste in her mouth now when it isn't really her mouth, when a spider isn't equipped to taste exactly.

She turns at the sounds of the new attack, eight eyes glinting in the dark, rolling as a spider and coming up as a women to lift her staff again as she spares a glance for the eluvian, keeping herself between it and the new threat. The barrier is welcome protection for her as she glares into the dark of the cave, aiming a spell to disorient the Red Templar, hoping that the confusion will cause him to harm himself rather than to any of them.