Adventurers of the Inquisition: A Dragon Age RP (started)

[Athol]

Kari felt the air crackle as Ash?s magic sizzled past her, and she swore vehemently when she spotted Berund joining her charge. Why is that Maker damned idiot HERE? She thought. There was not time to worry about that now though. With a roar the ?ogre? charged Berund, and as the other two?s blows connected, she drove the tip of her own blade into a fracture in the creature?s body; as it died, her sense of accomplishment died before it sprang fully to life as she saw the unopposed emissary cast something on the weapons of the reanimated darkspawn, bathing their weapon in flame.

?HORSE FUCKING MORON!? She swore, directing a furious glare at Berund. Off to her side Jarrett was calling out, but she couldn?t understand his words over the din of battle. Taking a deep breath she shouted as loud as she could, using her sword single handed-ly like a pointer. ?Ash! Crowed control!? She hollered, pointing to the ?regular? darkspawn, even as Jarrett began tearing through them. ?Von, Nola! Hit that prick again!? She called out, once again indicating to the emissary. The look she gave Berund a second time, threatened to make his armour smoke. ?If you can?t follow directions keep the fuck outta the way, lest your incompetence get someone useful killed!? She snapped. Going to a two handed grip, she looked to Cailen and jerked her head towards their foe. ?Flank ?em? With that she charged the emissary, hoping to catch it in the side while it was distracted by Von or Nola.

 

[StormShaun]

The mental ringing had stopped after a few seconds, but that had placed Von in a position to be attacked. After a series of dodges, another slash came crashing down from the Darkspawn specter, but the Templar blocked it with his sword, and gave a countless number of stabs at this enemy, until it fell into nothingness. Spotting the open Emissary once again, the hopes that he held for a final attack would be smashed into dust as Von spotted the dashing Dwarf, who had ignored the orders from Kari.

It was as if someone had plucked Von's heart strings, the trust he had in the current plan became non-existent. "Why?.." He said with a hurt voice trailing off. Then once again, his mind went to the darkest of places. See... This is what happens when you trust a plan from someone who has it out for you. His mental spoke, which led to the Templar grinding his teeth as a pack of spectral Shrieks jumped out from the disguise of battle.

Meeting both his blades to the multitude of strikes, Von could feel the anger that rose within him. Eyes narrowed down, teeth remain clenched, and his fists bulged veins. All of the Templar demanded the view of some kind of blood or gushing defeat. That was when the claws of the enemy spawned fire, that curled out like the tongues of many snakes. That was when the strikes became faster, and aiming for more critical points on Von's body. Yet, he smiled at their effort.

"Von, Nola! Hit that prick again!"

"Uh... how about... no!" He squeezed out his loud voice, as the spectral Shrieks kept sticking to their relentless attack. The flames licking at the Templar's face, and right then he couldn't care for what the Qunari had to say, after all, he might become bait if he does. "My turn." He announced. With a bulging body, Von erupted, forcing all sides to stop their attack. Yet, as they tried to recover, it was all too late as he started spinning, twirling, becoming a whirlwind of metal and blade. As he came to the stop, most bodies fell to defeat, leaving one kneeling, who had accidentally joined the Shrieks effort.

Giving an unusual smile at the Dwarven ghost, Von walked over and immediately plunged the blade through the old armour, allowing the spirit of the stone to whisk away. Taking a deep breath, a new calm mind was raised, "rest in piece, memory of the stone." He mutter, soon noting his many cuts and scratches, he took one hit of his red potion. Remembering Nola's effort to distract the enemy forced, he dashed to help his other Dwarven comrade, by carving through even more of the ghosts.

"You can go help her if you want!" He tried yelling over the battle at Nola. As he yelled, it seemed a electric field was set up, striking at their enemies. Of course, such magic could only come from a mage. "Storm magic." He huffed, lowering his weapons in relief, yet he knew somewhere that he wanted the fight. Easily finding the source, he shot a disapproving glare at Ash, at least that's what he thought he was doing. In reality, it looked more of an insane glare that one would see when walking into worst of battlefields... and was there a hint of yellow in his eyes? No of course not.

Hmm, the mage, huh? An annoyance or protection, I can't decide. You could easily override it... But... Once again the inner-voice chimed, and while the mental demon made it seem like a natural thing to do, the Templar shook his head, for that would most likely lead to someone's death. Not only that, but that would mean having to use Lyrium at one point, and that means he would get closer to me. Von thought, leaving his own demon to cackle with delight as he closed his eyes in irritation.

 

[DarkRawen]

Defeating the ogre had gone well, but something went wrong with taking down the Emissary, Berund had gone to take care of the spectral ogre instead of the emissary, and Nola and Von hadn't been able to take it down on their own. Ash had hoped they'd get that guy away quickly, because he felt forced into a small box of possible actions, one of the main ones being simply not acting at all.

"Ash! Crowed control!"

Let's hope this works, then.

Without hesitating, Ash created a field of lightning around the regular darkspawn. If everyone followed Kari's orders, he figured it wouldn't hurt to turn up the volume, to use as much mana as possible, as he drank a health potion. However, for some reason, Von kept to the middle of it, and he was either forced to stop his attack, or keep it up. He choose the latter, they were in the middle of a fight, and it was the only thing Ash could do, with the Emissary still alive. If Von was stupid enough to get hurt by it... well, then that was his problem.

What a moron.

Ash thought. Kari's plans seemed decent enough, and they needed a common idea, so why did no one follow what she said? If only so that everyone else could know what the heck people were doing, so they didn't accidentally throw lightning-fields at them.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

"Emissary needs one more push! Berund you best make up for lost ground and back up Von."

"Right you are, friend," Berund huffed, uprooting his maul from the broken ogre.

"If you can't follow directions keep the fuck outta the way, lest your incompetence get someone useful killed!"

The dwarf only scoffed and shook his head in response. He knew what he was doing, and he didn't need some horned hothead scolding him. He heard the sound of grating stone as a ghost had readied a strike with its sword. It was halted as its head exploded into rubble and dust from the flat of Berund's maul. He kicked the lifeless stone body away and hurried off towards the emissary.

 

[sage42]

Nola growled in frustration as few spawn than she had expected came after her. Still, it had made the fight towards the Emissary easier for Berund and Von. Or for Von at least as she spotted the other dwarf charging for the ghostly ogre. She couldn't exactly blame the Ex Legionnaire, but even his experience should have pointed him towards the caster first. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted as the long dead Darkspawn fell upon her. She stood her ground and moved her shield to meet the blows from the rusted blades, lashing out with her own when she could.

"Von, Nola! Hit that prick again!"

"Workin on it!" She could over the clash of metal. The spawn that came at her falling slowly. One blade against may would take a while unless the one was the size of Kari. She was still thankful when Von came cleaving through the spawn that had rushed her.

"You can go help her if you want!"


Her gratitude was quickly wash away as sh saw Von preparing to go off on his own. Again. "Wrong human! Get your ass back in there and help us take care of the emissary! Be a coward on your own time!" She yelled at him before turning back to the caster. Now was not the time for childish fits. She knocked a Ghost to the side, her shield denting the rusted helm and stone as she pushed forward to the emissary.

 

[StormShaun]

"Wrong human! Get your ass back in there and help us take care of the emissary! Be a coward on your own time!"

The voice spoke through the internal laugh, and as Von opened his eyes, he witnessed the dwarf woman running toward the fight. He was happy, yet partially insulted. "I so would, but..." His sarcastic indicated tone the lightning field he was currently trapped in. "Don't worry though, I'll be fine here. At least I won't be bait again." He said with bitterness towards that short back. The Templar thought it was reckless simply running back into the fight. Isn't she injured? He asked himself.

Feeling guilty of not re-joining the fight, Von recalled the situation of the surrounded Nola, his meeting with the gnashing of the Shrieks, and the sudden demands of Kari. The Templar clamped his teeth shut. A leader wouldn't do that, they would take care for all members, and she surly wouldn't mind if I died as a twisted lump of flesh, he mentally told himself. Slight anger raised within him, and finally, both voices agreed to the same thing.
Tch, what a terrible leader.
"Tch, what a terrible leader... But..."

Noticing the fact he disobeyed something, surly he would be confronted. "I'll tell that to her damn face." He muttered as rings of battle still echoed, yet he still heard his deep breathing. ...Though, more calmly than her, and I'll apologize. I have to show them I'm somewhat better, or tell them the truth. He thought, preparing himself to feel both mentally and physically worse. "I'll probably have to dodge until she tires out... if she does." He muttered again, giving an uneasy smirk.

"Anyway, time for a first step." He told himself, slapping himself lightly, ignoring any and all profanity that came from his split personality, inner-voice, demon, thing. Once again spotting Ash, he cupped his hands. "Good job, Ash!" The Templar yelled, hoping that the mage heard that, after all, he knows that he was extremely mean to him. Uncertain that the meaning reached him, once again, Von yelled. "That isn't sarcasm, it is the truth... Also sorry for being a... uh... dick!" He yelled once again, making sure that his face was positive, and his tone was generous.

 

[IFS]

The battle raged on, moving steadily into the groups favor. With the dwarves rallying at the fall of the ogre the remaining darkspawn ghosts were pushed back and encircled around their emissary. Calien lobbed an antivan fire into the tightly packed grouping, and Ash's lightning mopped up many of the ghosts afflicted by the flames. Hissing in mindless anger the Emissary threw out hexes left and right, afflicting the attackers with stabbing pains and biting insects. Still the group pushed forward, Kari, Nola and Berund carving a path through the defenders while Von picked off stragglers. The Emissary raised its staff and blocked one blow from Kari's sword, sending a hollow ringing through the cavern, only to be struck in the side by Berund's maul driving it back and sending fragments of stone skipping across the ground.

Hissing again a spell formed in the air around it only to be cut short by a blow from Nola knocking the staff from its grip. Still it gathered lighting around its rusted claws and then, fell as Jarrett's daggers plunged into its back. Another cheer rang out from the dwarves and without the support of their mage the remaining ghosts fell one by one.

Laughing Anso pulled his maul from a pile of rubble that had once been an enemy "Held yourselves up well surfacers!" he said "fastest I've seen that Ogre go down yet, and we've killed it probably twenty times now."

"You mean these things come back?" Calien asked, examining the chips striking monsters of stone had put in his sword before sheathing it.

"Aye," Anso said "Hard to tell how often down here, but they come like this every dozen hours or so it feels like, we'd move but it'd likely be even more dangerous pushing into the dark with our wounded. We've been trying to tunnel back through the collapse but no luck."

"So you've been trapped here?" Calien said "ever since you got lost down here?"

Anso shrugged "I've had scouts looking for other paths, so far all that's done is cost me men," he said "and we weren't lost, we had to collapse the cavern to kill this... thing. Not sure we succeeded either."

The dwarf shuddered at the memory "you're free to take what you need from our supplies, meager as they are," he said "and I suppose I can answer whatever questions you might have, talking is better than silence down here, better hearing voices of friends than whatever might be moving out there in the dark."

Calien nodded then turned to Ash "see if your magic can help their wounded," he said, forehead wrinkling as he tried to think up a plan of some sort.

 

[StormShaun]

The battle ended, the group cheered, and yet, the danger in the air still lingered. Waiting for the lightning magic to be disabled, Von gave a wave of thanks to Ash, before giving himself a physical check. Scraps, scratches, and cuts. Yet thanks to the potion he took, many have seemed to stop bleeding for the moment. "This place is more dangerous than I thought." He muttered softly, unconsciously going for a Lyrium potion. Yet his current and sane mind was quicker, which allowed him to brush his hand off gently, and sighed.

"Well, it could be worse." He said, placing a uncertain smile on his face. Starting to walk, he heard Calien and Anso speak.

"You mean these things come back?"

"And we thought demons were bad..." Von announced, coming to the dwarf and Inquisition squad leader. "I'm impressed with you and your team, Anso. I've heard difficult challenges that lay in the Deep Roads, yet you survive things that I had no idea existed." He said, giving a generous nod to the Dwarf. "Your brother is one of them, and if I may say, he is a stubborn arse, but... have any of his men reached you?" He asked with intrigue, after all, if they got Anso back to the surface, less people will be sacrificed to the Deep Roads.

"Anyway, onto the main point. I believe we would have more luck scouting, but splitting from the group..." His voice trailed off into uncertainty, but shortly met Calien's eyes with his own serious look. "No matter what the circumstances, I just want to say that no one should be left alone. Back within that battle, I was left alone and almost fell prey to those Darkspawn. The ones that linger in the darkness." He said, looking around the environment.

"Thanks to adrenaline and multiple steel, I survived. I don't mean to sound paranoid like before, but they might be in the shadows even now."

 

[DarkRawen]

"Good job, Ash! That isn't sarcasm, it is the truth... Also sorry for being a... uh... dick!"

Ash raised an eyebrow, but gave a brief nod. It was odd to hear the praise and the apology, especially from Von. The Qunari mage didn't even bother to consider if it was a trick or not, if it was, then he'd deal with that later.

I suppose I should apologize for... this, then.

"Sorry for the shock!" he replied, wondering if Von could hear him. He wasn't sure what else to do, but he disabled the electric magic, it didn't seen necessary anymore. The darkspawn were falling, and he felt light-headed and dizzy. When the fighting was over, he almost collapsed where he stood, sitting down and closing his eyes. Most of the conversations around got ignored in favour of simply sitting there, drinking more health-potions and one for mana, and then healing the small wound he had given himself.

I wonder if I should talk more to Von...

Ash didn't really know what had changed during the battle, but he wasn't sure he needed or wanted to know. Besides, both Von and Berund had ignored Kari, so he assumed she would be busy with the two of them first.

"see if your magic can help their wounded,"

"Eh?" Ash said, looking up at Calien with dazed eyes. "Oh, I... yeah, give me a moment," he muttered, and forced himself up and over to the dwarves. Leaning on a broken off piece of... he wasn't sure entirely what it was... he assessed the situation, and then started healing the dwarves, wanting nothing but to fall asleep or at least take a breather himself.

 

[Athol]

As the last stone and steel darkspawn fell, Kari let out a relived sigh, and turned an unhappy eye to her sword; using it to pry and break the creatures had been pretty hard on the blade. Armour held up well. She thought, making note to thank Nola for her work.

"Held yourselves up well surfacers! Fastest I've seen that Ogre go down yet, and we've killed it probably twenty times now."

?You?ve gotta be fucking with us?? She said, giving the dwarf a hard look; but from the look in his eyes she could see there was it was no jest. ?Oh what I wouldn?t give for a barrel or twelve of gaatlok?? She sighed. While Cailen and Anso talked, Kari took some water from what remained in one of the dwarves casks. Not as much as her body wanted, but now was not the time to be greedy.

Distancing herself from Von and Berund; lest she do or say something that wouldn?t help their current situation, she followed Ash towards the wounded. Resting her sword and helm with in arms reach, she began to lend a hand. ?Hey?umm?Ash?? She said a bit hesitantly. This was something she needed to ask him, though she really didn?t even want to think about the possibility. ?Can I ask you a favour? It?s not something pleasant, but it may put my mind at ease??

 

[DarkRawen]

"Hey...umm...Ash... Can I ask you a favour? It's not something pleasant, but it may put my mind at ease..."

Ash was thankful for help, though the question was unexpected. As he started healing one of the more severely hurt of the dwarves, using his knowledge of herbs and bandaging to fix as much as he could before actually using his healing skill, he looked at her.

"Sure, I've already asked you about something unpleasant, haven't I?" he said, smiling tiredly. "Let's... see...give me a moment..." he spent a moment in deep concentration as his hands glowed in a soft blue glow, mending flesh. He didn't have that much experience with the magic yet, though that'd change by the time he was done with this gang. It was clear that he was deeply concentrated on the task.

Good thing I made an extra batch of potions.

"There," he said. "Now you've got my attention again. What did you want to ask about?"

 

[Athol]

"Now you've got my attention again. What did you want to ask about?"

She finished up she was doing, and sighed. ?It?s the darkspawn.? She said finally. ?I?ve heard what they do to women, how they try and take them alive?during the Blight I didn?t think about it much, I was above ground, we had decent fortifications, and never faced a really heavy attack; but here, we could get blindsided by something we can?t hold against.? Closing her eyes, she suppressed a shudder. ?You?re the only one in the group with any real range. If shit goes sideways while I?m out front, I need you to make sure they can?t drag me off?at least not breathing; I don?t want to end up as some monster spawning breeder.?

 

[Protocol95]

"Held yourselves up well surfacers! Fastest I've seen that Ogre go down yet, and we've killed it probably twenty times now."

Quickly counting the numbers, Jarrett grimaced at the danger the dwarves faced. "You've been down here... a while." He muttered quietly, hoping no one heard the obvious statement.

Awkwardly waiting for Calien and Anso to finish speaking he went up to his group's apparent leader. "Got a few ideas on how to move forward. Talk to you about it when everyone's had a moment. Just keep in mind if the fat bastard up top and his men haven't noticed we're gone already, it won't be long. No knowing what they'll do, just keep that in mind." Giving Calien all Jarrett thought he needed for the moment, he moved to one of his other concerns.

"Berund! Quick word?" Running over to his friend Jarrett was a bit more at ease than a moment ago. "Great work on the ogre. Just forward word, anyone comes pissed at you, might want to downplay your disagreements. And I hate to be a bother but I might need a favour."

 

[DarkRawen]

"It's the darkspawn. I've heard what they do to women, how they try and take them alive...during the Blight I didn't think about it much, I was above ground, we had decent fortifications, and never faced a really heavy attack; but here, we could get blindsided by something we can't hold against."

"Oh." Ash frowned, he knew what she was talking about. It hadn't really been one of his worries -and personally it still wasn't since he was a guy-, so he hadn't thought about it, but it made sense that Kari would do. Probably Nola as well, she surely knew about it.

So she wants me to make sure she can't be taken alive?

Confirmation came as she finished speaking.

"You're the only one in the group with any real range. If shit goes sideways while I'm out front, I need you to make sure they can't drag me off...at least not breathing; I don't want to end up as some monster spawning breeder."

"Don't worry, I won't let them take you. Or Nola," he glanced over at the dwarven woman, then back at Kari. It wasn't very pleasant having to say it, but he would be willing to kill them, if it was the only opportunity.

"I'd hate to harm any of you, and honestly, I think whatever lives down here would be harder to kill than you guys, but you've got my word. I won't let them take you alive, and I won't allow anything like that to happen, if that means I'll have to... murder you as they drag you off, then so be it." He smiled, carefully, then went back to healing. He figured that he couldn't do anything else than promise to do his best and hope nothing bad happened.

I'll have to keep an eye out. For her. For both of them. I'm sure they would be willing to do the same for me.

 

[Athol]

"Don't worry, I won't let them take you. Or Nola, I'd hate to harm any of you, and honestly, I think whatever lives down here would be harder to kill than you guys, but you've got my word. I won't let them take you alive, and I won't allow anything like that to happen, if that means I'll have to... murder you as they drag you off, then so be it."

?Thank you,? She replied quietly, tending to a battered dwarven fighter. ?I know?it?s not an easy thing to be asked to do?but in a weird way, it puts my mind at ease.? With that she gave Ash a companionable pat on the shoulder and finished what she was doing, before moving on to assist the next wounded dwarf; one didn?t work as a soldier-for-hire without learning at least a few things about tending wounds.

 

[sage42]

Nola stood for a moment after the rest of the ancient enemies fell, listening for more approaching from the darkness. When she was sure things were quite she sigh and relaxed her shoulders. She slid her blade into it's sheath and made her way behind the barricade. She didn't bother talking to Anso, preferring to keep her helmet on so as to avoid any awkward conversations. Then she heard her name mentioned between the two giants as they tended to the wounded. She let out a grim laugh before making her way to the two.

"Thanks for the promise there Ash, but with luck you won't have too. If it looks like I'm in a losing fight I'll gladly cut my own throat." she shivered at the thought of being taken alive. "If I can make a request though? Use lightning, hopefully that would numb the pain."

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

Berund isolated himself from the majority of the group, shifting the crumbled remnants of the stone ogre. Now that he had a moment to reflect, he considered exactly what he'd done. Or rather what he'd not done. He was disappointed in his own bloodlust. It didn't feel right to not have a clear head. These caves hadn't taken him years before, but they seemed very set on taking him now. If he carried on so recklessly he would only succeed in allowing them to do so. Or worse, allow them to take one of his comrades.

"Berund! Quick word? Great work on the ogre. Just forward word, anyone comes pissed at you, might want to downplay your disagreements. And I hate to be a bother but I might need a favour."

"Bah!" The dwarf scoffed, waving off the notion. "If it's Kari yer talkin' about, no need to worry. I've gone toe-to-toe with foes twice as tall an' half as ugly," he joked with a hearty laugh. "I'll be just fine. An' don't forget, it was yer blades that went through the beast. All I did was give 'em a bit of a push. Now, what's this 'favor' ye had in mind?"

 

[Protocol95]

"If it's Kari yer talkin' about, no need to worry. I've gone toe-to-toe with foes twice as tall an' half as ugly,"

"Wouldn't that ugly part mean she's more dangerous than others you've met in that category?" Mostly going along with joke, Jarrett still took a second to seriously contemplate the ugly part.

"I'll be just fine. An' don't forget, it was yer blades that went through the beast. All I did was give 'em a bit of a push. Now, what's this 'favor' ye had in mind?"

"Please, the compliment isn't needed. The favour might not be needed but I might need your back on it." Hesitating a moment, Jarrett swallowed the fear of asking the request. "Scouting. Hiding in the shadows, thinning a few and looking for the best path forward. You seem like the best to tag along."

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

"Wouldn't that ugly part mean she's more dangerous than others you've met in that category?"

"My thinkin' is the prettier somethin' is, the less yer inclined to hit it," Berund replied with a shrug.

"Please, the compliment isn't needed. The favour might not be needed but I might need your back on it. Scouting. Hiding in the shadows, thinning a few and looking for the best path forward. You seem like the best to tag along."

"Well, ye came to the right dwarf," said the former Legionnaire with no small amount of pride. "I've been doin' exactly that for the better part of my life. Rest assured, friend, ye'll have my full support. Just say the word and I'll be at the ready."

 

[Protocol95]

"My thinkin' is the prettier somethin' is, the less yer inclined to hit it,"

"Logical enough." Jarrett put his hand to his chin, giving a moment of thought to the idea. Whether he had differences in difficulty killing something based on it's looks was something he hadn't considered. 'Is this something others have to think about?', he thought to himself. As Berund spoke up, Jarrett gave himself a small slap to refocus his attention.

"Well, ye came to the right dwarf, I've been doin' exactly that for the better part of my life. Rest assured, friend, ye'll have my full support. Just say the word and I'll be at the ready."

"Thanks. We get the okay for this, we'll check if Anso has anything that's better suited for this than defending. Now just follow my lead for the moment." Gesturing to Berund to follow him, he moved to Calien and stood at attention. "Sir, any orders?"