fadewalk | RP: Open (ALSO in the dungeons of Skyhold) DEMON FIGHT

Cullen left his weapons and armor locked away safely before going down to the dungeons and locking himself into the cell. He carefully pushed the key beyond his reach, then went to sit in the center of the cell with his legs folded beneath him.

He'd thought it through as carefully as he could.

They needed to be able to defend themselves against potential threats that arrived. That much was painfully obvious to him. But they also needed a system of checks and balances to make sure no one would attack a rival and claim it was for the good of the group. Without a governing group or lawkeeper--and with mistrust so easy here--the best solution seemed to be to put himself on trial as well as the woman he was accusing. If he was a danger to the group, they could leave him to rot, and considering Anders was in charge, there was always a chance they would...but as he closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, he felt weirdly almost peaceful.

He'd seen her, he faced her down, and he'd managed to choose justice over vengeance. He'd managed to let reasonable doubt sway him toward what felt like the fairest and safest course that might even help build that law out of chaos they so desperately needed.

He couldn't help but feel Cassandra would be proud of him, even as she threatened to knock him about the head. But he wasn't allowed to be a man with feelings when he had to be the Commander, and this? This was a very good reminder of that.

(OOC: Later, the thread gets a bit bloody. Trigger warning for semi-graphic description of dirty fighting and injury.)

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These bloody big hat weirdos with all their trials and talk and most things could be done up with either an arrow in the eye or an axe in the skull.

Part of why Sera liked Bull so much.

Still, if there was some demony Herald running around killing people, hurting people, Sera wasn't okay. Not much was okay. Commander Scowly-arse wasn't the worst, he'd never gone too hard on her after a prank, even if she'd had to hide in the Inquisitor's loo for two days after that time with she put the embrium in his hair whatsit and he turned purple.

Purple. Brilliant.

She was silent as a ghost past the cells, hugging the shadows. She'd found a tin in the cupboards above the stove in the kitchen, in the cubby that one of hers used to pass notes. What kind of Fade shits you might get from Fade food wasn't something Sera cared to find out, but... she slid the small tin through the bars toward Cullen from just out of his line of sight past the cell.

Shortbread, scented with orange flower water and cinnamon. She just wanted everything to be real and normal again. She settled down in the dark to wait, pulling a fistful of feathers out of her pocket and started stripping them for fletching.

Why'd she even have to make arrows if it was the Fade? Couldn't she just dream them up?

Cullen looked up, more thanks to the scent of cinnamon than any sound Sera made. He looked over with a confused frown--which slowly broke into a little smile.

He moved close to the bars, snagging the tin and scanning the darkness until he spotted her. Settling comfortably, he opened the tin and set it just on her side of the bars, taking a piece of shortbread. Sharing it.

It had taken time to understand Sera...and yet, not much time at all to like her. She reminded him a little of his sister at times, which is why the pranks got under his skin, but never in a way that riled his temper. You didn't get angry with sisters. Annoyed, yes. But angry? Not over dyed hair and wobbly desks.

Not when they brought shortbread.

He let her break the silence if she wanted to. That always seemed to be the best way to approach Sera, Cullen had long ago figured: on her own terms.

The tin rattles as her grubby fingers fish out a piece of shortbread. Better than anything she'd ever baked by a long sight, that was sure. Sera nibbled on a corner as the silence stretched and then said, softer than her usual bluster, "I'm going to kick your shiny stupid too-big arse as soon as you're out, yeah?"

This wasn't the Commander of her Inquisition, but nobody deserved to be in a moldy dungeon for nothing. Not unless they had demon bits. "You don't have demon bits where you're from, right?"

She's made a simple map of the occupants of Skyhold in her head, her at the center inside a circle. Hers, inside, not, outside. So far Varric's the only one she's sure of being inside, but the lines are blurring.

"I'll no doubt deserve it," Cullen agreed easily enough. He stood by everything he had done, but he understood the risks were high. "But not because I have any demon bits. My stance on demons remains stab them with the pointy end."

Sera snorted. "And keep stabbing til they stop screaming, and everyone else goes 'yeaaach'." She tilted her head forward a little to catch a glimpse of Cullen's face in the dim light. "Looks like your Herald got some demon bits, hey?"

"Never proven," he said. "It would be easier if we could blame that instead of the power of the rift driving her bloodthirsty and mad, or...other things. But it's always been something I--"

He glanced toward Eve's cell.

"Worried about," he finally finished.

Sera frowned at Cullen and stuffed the rest of her shortbread into her mouth. She nudged the tin back toward him and then spoke around a spray of crumbs, "My Herald didn't kill anybody didn't deserve killing, and she had the freaky fingers and Coryphshits after her. Didn't go crazy. Didn't turn on us." She flopped back onto the uneven floor and groaned at the ceiling. "Why is this all so stupid! This is why no person should have bits that glow! The world would make sense if everybody would stop frigging glowing!"

(OOC: Mind if I butt in here, guys? Anders wants to come and persuade Cullen out of his cell.)

(OOC: Oops, sorry! Demon battle happening now!)

"I used to agree with that," Cullen said, frowning down at his own hands. The noise from the other cell had ceased what felt like ages ago and only Sera had returned to him. There was a part of him--the old, bitter part that would probably never fully go away, though it had diminished to a quiet whisper over the years--that wasn't surprised.

But he wasn't going to let that part of him win. Mages were people just like him, and people were endlessly complex and, yes, surprising. There was hope.

"Maybe if we," he began, only to startle to his feet at the sight of Evelea.

She wasn't there, and then she was--standing between him and Sera, just on his side of the bars. She flickered as she turned burning eyes on him, mouth twisted into an inhuman snarl. "I was close," she said in a booming voice. "I was going to be her, but the two of you knocked me free. Maybe I'll be you instead."

He instinctively reached for his sword--the sword that wasn't there--even as he called up a defensive ability, keeping the demon's eyes fixed on him...and its back to Sera.

"I'd die first," Cullen said, bearing down. "But honestly, I'd rather kill you more."

Edited Date: 2015-08-09 04:08 am (UTC)

Sera had been sprawled on her back staring at the ceiling making a gabby puppet mouth with her hand while Cullen talked. She sighed heavily, pushing up just as the thing, whatever the pissing shite that was, appeared in his cell.

"Facking void!" She scrambled up, all elbows and knees and had her bow drawn before her feet were under her.

thik thik thik

Three arrows in the blink of an eye in the back, placed low under the shoulderblades, because you could crack those but chances were they'd glance and Sera hadn't time for pain when that thing was reaching for him. "Shite shite arse nugget shite face! There's no bloody blood!"

(OOC: I have a feeling we're going to need a healer soon. Give us a couple of rounds and then bring Anders in?)

(OOC: Ooh, chance to play the mage in shining robes? Count me in!)

(OOC: Okay, come on in. This should probably be the tail end of the fight--perhaps Neria and Anders come in and chase the injured Evelea-shaped demon off in the next rep or two? Order Sera, Neria, Anders, Cullen?)

"Key!" Cullen commanded, dodging the first blow. He knew he didn't want the thing to touch him. He couldn't be sure what sort of demon Evelea was, but he could practically feel the cold weight of its power. This close, he could feel the sharp tug of it on his mind, too.

And all he had to defend himself was a handful of Templar abilities and a tin of shortbread.

He ducked the next blow, hitting the ground hard and rolling. There wasn't much space to get away in the cell, but he did his best, grabbing blindly for the shortbread on instinct. He popped up just beyond the demon's reach, flipping open the tin and letting the bottom of it fall out--one hand gripping the top and the other a handful of crumbling bread. He flung the crumbles into the demon's eyes and used the bare second that earned him to desperately use all his strength to twist the top until it snapped into two jagged metal shards.

Cullen was trained to wield a sword, not knives, and certainly not knives as fragile as these. But it was all he had, and he pressed his advantage, charging forward with a snarl to drive the metal spikes into the demon's eyes.

Blood spattered his face in a hot...yet not entirely real...spray, and Cullen quickly sprang back.

Or he would have if the demon hadn't been so fast. Even partly blinded, it managed to grab him by the front of his shirt and fling him at the far wall. He hit with a loud crack, tumbling into a growing halo of blood seconds later. He wasn't out of the fight, but he was hurt, badly.

The arrows never stop, through all Cullen's rolling and stabbing, as Sera sidled to where she thought she'd seen the key when she'd come creeping down. She put them through one hand, in the ear of the its freaky head, another through the neck until, yeah, there it was under her foot.

She scrambled for it, having to let the bow drop to grab it, spring forward and jam it in the lock with one motion... just Cullen hit the wall so hard she though he might just explode, like a melon dropped off a battlement on the cobbles below, and thank the frigging Maker he hadn't.

Flinging herself sideways as she pulled the door open, she came up with the bow and put an arrow through the demon's knee, and it stumbled, its next step all fumbly, but the one after? Steady and right pissed. "Get up, get up, get up, get up you shiting shiny arse biscuit!"

"Oy, demon-face, whatsit, I'm over here, I'm the one with all the pointy things!" She pulled out one of the special arrows, the ones that smelled like Antivan fire, and cackled when it exploded, lodged in the thing's left arse cheek. Did it have cheeks? It was looking less human, all stretched like melted tallow.

He hurt--searing, terrible, almost mind-numbing hurt--but Cullen pushed past that pain as best he could. His hands slipped in his own blood as he tried to lever himself up...just in time to watch as the demon-Evelea turned toward Sera.

He didn't have time to think as it struck at her. He was staggering up and after it, grabbing for one of the arrows bristling off its back and yanking it free. The heat of flames remained, smoldering its skin, filling the air with a heavy stench. He could hear the sound of Sera falling back a few steps...taking a blow? Rolling aside? Maker, let her be okay...and he curled his fingers in Evelea's soft hair to yank her head back, exposing the long line of her throat for one of Sera's arrows even as he drove the one in his hand into the curve of her side.

(ooc: oohhh, am I late for the battle? Care if I join in?)

(OOC: Sure, come on in. This should probably be the tail end of the fight--perhaps Neria and Anders come in and chase the injured Evelea-shaped demon off in the next rep or two? Order Sera, Neria, Anders, Cullen?)

(ooc: works for me! time to play the tough shapeshifter, yaaaay)

(OOC: Sounds good!)

(OOC: This is all been going on after you guys escorted Evelea back upstairs, so not much time has passed since you let her out?)

(no subject)

From:

thecryoftheseagulls - Date: 2015-08-09 05:42 am (UTC) - Expand

That hadn't been the best plan, yeah? Sera rolled back in an awkward somersault and fetched up against the wall with a grunt. The things claws came at her, and she slid sideways feeling the pain lancing through her flank. The cursing had stopped, all her breath seething though her teeth as she scrambled for enough distance to line up another shot. She should've packed flasks! Bloody piss bucket.

But the Commander was still fighting it, stubborn as a brick to the face, like always. The exposed throat was exactly where she wanted an arrow and the shot she let fly was brutal in its force. It sank halfway to the fletching in what was once a pretty throat, and the thing gave a screech that wasn't happy, all gurgly around the shaft, even as the arms, growing gangly tried to swipe back at Cullen.

"Die you demon... thing!" Sera's voice turned shrill. She lined up another shot but the arrow would explode, the danger that it would splash back onto Cullen was too great. "Get clear, you arse!" Her shoe had blood in it she thought, step squelching.

"Get clear, you arse!" was the first thing Neria heard when entering the Dungeons again, the demon presence causing her blood to chill. She stormed downstairs to see Cullen avoiding a close, explosive arrow shot that hit the unsettling demon version of Evelea Trevelyan in a critical point.

The Envy Demon screeched again, stumbling back a couple of steps before motioning to attack Cullen, the man still recovering from his dive to avoid the explosion. Without a second thought, Neria turned into a dire bear, roaring ferociously as she stood in her rear legs to stop the demon, between it and the Commander. She bites the demon's shoulder, trying to use her massive weight to pin the demon down, surprised to meet that much resistance from a small form.

Anders was slower in his approach, having stepped outside to get some air before he came back to speak with Cullen. For a dungeon, the place was rather airy, but it was still underground, and still a dungeon, and Anders hadn't been easy in either of those sorts of places in years.

When the sound of combat met his approach, he quickened his pace, descending the last of the stairs to find everything in chaos. He had only enough time to mutter a quiet, "Shit," and raise his staff before Neria launched herself in bear form at the demon.

From his angle of approach, there was no way for Anders to shoot off any kind of offensive spell without also hitting Neria, and he settled for casting a swift healing spell at Cullen, who seemed to have taken the worst of the blows, instead.

Cullen felt the healing spell wash over him and spared just enough time to shoot Anders a nod of thanks before he was moving in--careful not to be in Neria's way--and grabbing the bristles of arrows. With Neria's weight and the painful tear of flesh, the demon was dragged around, exposing its flank.

Which was Cullen's cue to stumble back, giving both Sera and Anders the vantage they needed to finish the creature.