Maya
- In the Duggins -
I am nothing if not a mage.%\1\%
Posts: 72
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Post by Maya on Oct 15, 2011 13:48:42 GMT -5
Realizing she'd started biting her nails out of nervousness, she let her hand drop and instead brought her staff to bear, in a position of readiness. If something jumped out at them and attacked, she wanted to make sure she could respond as fast as possible.
"Maybe there'll be some sort of clue in those ruins."
She squinted through the trees, trying to get a better view of it.
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Ailwen
- Ingenious Pilot -
Grey Warden%\1\%
Posts: 114
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Post by Ailwen on Oct 15, 2011 13:56:10 GMT -5
She took a moment to consider the situation. If nothing else, she was a leader--even before the Blight people had tended to look to her. Frankly, this was her element.
"The ruins, I think. Don't get too far ahead, Zevran--I don't like this. Maya, stay near me and keep your staff ready." She was reconsidering her position on enchantment--what else could this possibly be?
But usually the point of being enchanted was not suspecting you were enchanted.
"This doesn't feel like the Fade..."
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Maya
- In the Duggins -
I am nothing if not a mage.%\1\%
Posts: 72
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Post by Maya on Oct 15, 2011 17:05:47 GMT -5
Maya shook her head, emphatically no.
"Things would be...much worse."
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Ailwen
- Ingenious Pilot -
Grey Warden%\1\%
Posts: 114
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Post by Ailwen on Oct 16, 2011 20:09:37 GMT -5
"Nothing's attacked us yet," she observed. It was a small comfort, knowing they weren't being enchanted. She didn't even know what might attack them here, nor did she know where they were. Her blood buzzed uncomfortably. ((I wrote a DA-related song from Alistair's PoV right before the final battle. CALL ME CRAZY BUT HERE. Also, is something in the ruins? Elves?))
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Zevran
- In the Duggins -
"'Death happens,' as we like to say. 'And when I get paid for it, death happens more often.'"%\0\%
Posts: 65
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Post by Zevran on Oct 17, 2011 22:54:04 GMT -5
Zevran looked out to the ruins and nodded, "Then I will look ahead. If you hear me scream like a little girl, you might want to run in the other direction," He smiled a bit before darting off.
The ruins were old and broken, little left to indicate what it once was. But even more disquieting was the fact that the carvings and architecture was nothing like anything he had seen before. It was elegant, but not quite elven. Strong, but definitely not Dwarvish. And it didn't look human either, from any part of the world.
Curiouser and curiouser.
He was quite a distance from the others by the time he reached the center of the ruins and decided to stop. The sounds were so unfamiliar here that he didn't quite know what could be considered dangerous or not so you had to forgive him for being as unprepared as he was. He recognized at the last moment, however, the sound of metal against stone.
Which was why he wasn't dead.
At least eight Darkspawn, a bunch of grunts following a single Emissary, bringing their number up to nine. In a group, perhaps if the others were with him it would have been no problem. Alone and unprepared... again, you'll have to forgive him.
He had managed to counter the initial blow, sticking his dagger deep into the beast's chest, but doing so left him open to the second who came up into his blind spot. He wasn't fast enough, and the blade slid through his armor like butter. He didn't quite manage to stifle his yell of pain, and it echoed throughout the clearing, turning into one of rage as he whirled about and sliced off the offender's head, covering his blade in crimson.
He snarled as he wrapped his clean hand over the wound. He was bleeding badly, and he could feel the taste of copper in his mouth... Not good. Definitely not good.
He wasn't going down now. Not here, and definitely not before he took down these bastards.
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Ailwen
- Ingenious Pilot -
Grey Warden%\1\%
Posts: 114
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Post by Ailwen on Oct 17, 2011 23:06:40 GMT -5
The sounds of battle were imprinted on Ailwen's soul--the clang, the scrape, the thunk. She snapped to attention immediately, pulling out her blade impossibly fast. After a tense moment of listening, she took off in the direction of the fighting. It was seamless, natural... the pain in her abdomen twinged but she ignored it. She barely had time for a "Maya!" It was her way of telling Maya to follow, now.
Well it was something familiar, at least. One was on the ground and she cried out in warning as the other--
Her heart seized as she sized up the situation. He was standing, there were seven more. One was an--an emissary? They rarely, if ever, appeared outside of a blight...
But this took a fraction of a second. As Zevran decapitated his foe, Ailwen turned to Maya and snapped, "take care of the grunts. I'm going after the spellcaster." With that, she gave an almighty bellow in challenge as she charged towards the knot of beasts. They all turned for a fraction of a second, perhaps a crucial one for Zevran.
Of course, she charged down the most challenging opponent head-on, through an attacking band of them. Somehow it worked, though, and she managed to prevent the emissary's next spell and force him into physical combat. This wouldn't be easy either, but it was controllable--it was safe. No magic, not any being used against her, anyhow.
"Miss me?" She called to Zevran, not knowing how badly he was hurt.
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Zevran
- In the Duggins -
"'Death happens,' as we like to say. 'And when I get paid for it, death happens more often.'"%\0\%
Posts: 65
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Post by Zevran on Oct 17, 2011 23:15:27 GMT -5
Zevran couldn't help the smile that came to his face and the relief that flooded his nerves at the familiar battle cry. Ailwen; always the girl to rely on. He bit down the pain, shoving it behind a wall of adrenaline and blood-thirst that he knew all so well, and swallowed the blood in his throat. "Of course, my dear Warden! It wouldn't be a proper blood-bath without you!"
He removed his bloodied hand from the wound in his side and drew his other blade, crouching low in a familiar stance. With all the grunts facing Ailwen's way, it was a simple task to get behind the two closest to him. One blade went into the spine of the first, and with a whirl of blades the other was down and he was a mile away.
He couldn't even feel the throbbing in his side...
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Maya
- In the Duggins -
I am nothing if not a mage.%\1\%
Posts: 72
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Post by Maya on Oct 17, 2011 23:42:43 GMT -5
At the sound of Zevran's yell, and Ailwen charging in, Maya's heart all but leaped into her throat.
Oh, Maker's mercy...
She sprinted after the Warden, jumping and dodging undergrowth until she burst out into the midst of the ruins and fighting. Zevran was wounded, she saw, and Ailwen was attacking the biggest and meanest of the beasts...darkspawn. She'd seen them, pictures, and once a real one from a distance, but never so close. She didn't have much time to think more, as the unoccupied ones had noticed her arrival and seemed to recognize her for what she was.
One of them grinned as they headed in her direction, weapons drawn. They'd almost gotten too close when her mind finally snapped to and she unleashed one of the strongest spells in her arsenal.
There was loud shrieking as the snap and sizzle of electricity filled the air.
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Ailwen
- Ingenious Pilot -
Grey Warden%\1\%
Posts: 114
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Post by Ailwen on Oct 17, 2011 23:56:18 GMT -5
Ailwen grinned madly as she fought the emissary. Blows landed on both of them--oh, she would bruise tonight (memories of comparing blooming wounds and gentle kisses to purpling skin came back unbidden)--but she found her advantage. An elbow to the head cracked the creatures skull and it reeled as she skewered it.
She yanked her sword out of the creature, using one foot for leverage, then sped back towards Maya. Mages didn't do well surrounded, if she remembered.
"Don't let the blood--" but she was distracted, sword clanging with another.
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Zevran
- In the Duggins -
"'Death happens,' as we like to say. 'And when I get paid for it, death happens more often.'"%\0\%
Posts: 65
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Post by Zevran on Oct 18, 2011 0:04:10 GMT -5
Zevran turned at the sound and watched as three of the darkspawn were caught in a web of lightening. He couldn't stop to see if they had died, as he still had one more right in front of him, and the throbbing was becoming distracting.
He didn't do well in extended fights. Surprise and speed got him to fell the first four with ease, as he was always to do. But now he was badly wounded, and adrenaline doesn't keep the pain away forever, and this bastard was not letting up on him. He parried and dodged and danced around blow after blow, blood racing down his side but thankfully all of it was his so far, and oh for the love of Antiva he was getting tired...
One last parry and he finally found an opening to put one last wound in this bleeding beasts side. It buckled and he swept both his blades in an arc cutting a wide gash in its chest and it was finally down.
He panted, dropping the bloody handle to his equally bloody hand, and pressed it to his side. He was badly hurt, he could feel it. He'd been badly hurt before, certainly. But then they had people who could mix healing poultices as well as poisons, or a healer or something...
They didn't even know where they were.
The ground came up way too quickly as Zevren fell to one knee, no longer able to stay on both his feet. But he was not going to pass out, not yet. Not yet.
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Ailwen
- Ingenious Pilot -
Grey Warden%\1\%
Posts: 114
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Post by Ailwen on Oct 18, 2011 0:08:41 GMT -5
Maya would just have to deal with the two left (Ailwen had taken a sizable chunk out of one). The energy on the battlefield had gone wrong fast, and she realized something must have happened to Zevran.
Sure enough, when she turned, there he was. And all her feral focus turned to panic.
"Zevran!"
((Normally she doesn't panic, but she's in an odd place emotionally right now. TIME TO SHINE MAYA))
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Zevran
- In the Duggins -
"'Death happens,' as we like to say. 'And when I get paid for it, death happens more often.'"%\0\%
Posts: 65
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Post by Zevran on Oct 18, 2011 0:13:27 GMT -5
Zevran leaned on his knee with his entire torso, his other knee digging into the dirt as he gave a rough cough. His knuckles turned white under the blood as the cough caused the pain to spike. He was tasting copper again, and sure as summer when he opened his eyes there was a crimson stain where it shouldn't be on the ground in front of him. He could feel it on his tongue and on his lips...
'Damn...,' he thought groggily, 'Must have nicked my lung...'
He thought he heard Ailwen and turned his head to look at her through heavy eyes. He smiled, red on his lips as he said through a cracking voice, "Done already?"
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Maya
- In the Duggins -
I am nothing if not a mage.%\1\%
Posts: 72
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Post by Maya on Oct 18, 2011 13:54:58 GMT -5
It was going very wrong, very fast. Worse, Zevran was down and with Ailwen distracted, the remaining darkspawn were making a beeline for them, clearly confident of their victory. Not even thinking of what she was doing, Maya sprinted and stood in-between the monsters and her newfound friends, and aimed her staff.
"Back to the depths with you."
A fiery explosion engulfed the darkspawn, rocking the ground under Maya's feet and sending a blast of hot air outward. Some of the nearby ruins toppled from the vibrations, though thankfully nowhere near her or her companions. As the smoke and flame cleared, what remained of the darkspawn where now the smoking remains that were rapidly decomposing right before her eyes.
"Maker." She murmured.
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Ailwen
- Ingenious Pilot -
Grey Warden%\1\%
Posts: 114
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Post by Ailwen on Oct 18, 2011 15:12:30 GMT -5
The ground shook and Ailwen knew there would be no more attacks. There was none of the sick dread, the curling taint that she normally had when fighting Darkspawn. She fell to her knees beside Zevran, supporting him as best she could.
Of course, then she realized she'd sort of left Maya in the lurch. She turned and tried to apologize with a glance, or thank her for getting rid of the rest, or something, but turned back to Zevran.
"I didn't give you permission to get hurt," was all she could spout.
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Zevran
- In the Duggins -
"'Death happens,' as we like to say. 'And when I get paid for it, death happens more often.'"%\0\%
Posts: 65
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Post by Zevran on Oct 19, 2011 0:54:29 GMT -5
Zevren smiled, bringing the hand not wrapped around his waist up to wipe the red from his lips. He leaned heavily against Ailwen's side, but knew she didn't mind; even battle-weary the girl could probably lift him with one hand. He grabbed his blades and sheathed them one by one as he said, "True as that may be, I think the darkspawn are even worse about listening to orders than I am."
Bracing himself against Ailwen, he forced his legs underneath him in an effort to stand. Coddling as he may be towards others, he himself hated the attention. And they couldn't stop there, no matter how much his body screamed for him to.
He grunted with pain as he forced himself to stand away from Ailwen, his side protesting the abuse. He was breathing heavily, his vision was swimming slightly, and he wasn't sure how long he would last without some sort of aid.
"We must move. A ground stained with Darkspawn blood is not a good place to rest in. And..." he turned to Maya, giving her a tired grin as he sluggily walked past her, "Good job, Ms. Maya."
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