fadewalk | Demon Hunt: Grey Warden Party (Anders, Sigrun & Alistair)

Neria left the dungeons and strode to the courtyard, green eyes carefully scrutinizing the battlements; there was some good time since she had to hunt down a demon. Actually, the first (and last) time she had done it was during her mission to set Kinloch Hold free from Uldred and the Sloth Demon. In that occasion, she was also in the Fade, hunting a demon, but not in flesh like now. And the consequences of losing herself to the Envy Demon seemed far more dire as well.

Fortunately, like before, she had people she trusted by her side (and, with a bit of luck, she wouldn't even have to save them from their own minds). Now, it was just a matter of time until they find the demon.

She paced, turning and spinning her staff in her hands without really noticing her gestures, waiting for them to gather. Demons weren't really the Grey Warden speciality, but with two mages, a former templar and a legionnaire of the dead, Neria was confident.

(ooc: hey guys! neria/anders/sigrun/alistair for the rp order)

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Sigrun gradually uncurled when the roaring sound coming from the fire-consumed demon stopped. She blinked a few times, raising a hand to the back of her head and probing at it with her fingers.

"Yeah...I think so..." she said, taking the potion Neria offered her and downing it in one gulp. She wrinkled her nose as she felt it go down, washing her whole body with heat. She did feel a lot better already, though, like maybe she could stand up without swaying.

She smiled at Anders and Neria. "Nah, I think I'm good, Anders. I'm okay." Looking past them, she made a face when she couldn't see any evidence that the demon had been there at all. "Ancestors, that thing is damn hard to put down."

Alistair moved closer to the others but not crowding in to cluster with them. He wiped the demon ichor off the blade of his sword with a cloth that he tossed away with a grimace. "Icky," he muttered under his breath, giving Anders a sidelong smirk.

"Neria, how's your neck? Do you need a potion for the bruising? I've only ever been strangled by an ogre like that, but I can't imagine it feels any better. Like your muscles are going to give up and your head's just going to pop off." He was rambling, he could hear it, but he was worried, not just that she was hurt but that his concern was unwanted, and Maker this was awkward. "It'll be worse tomorrow if you don't take something or wiggle your sparkly healer fingers at it or something."

"M-my... neck?" she tilted her head, grimacing at the gesture and immediately recalling how the demon had waved her around like a toy "Creators... I had forgotten about it, entirely. Anders, could you please...?"

And as she waited for Anders to heal her, she handed Alistair a simple and clean handkerchief. "Here, for your face. Can't be easy to fight with blood dripping on your eye."

Edited Date: 2015-08-15 07:34 pm (UTC)

(OOC: Sorry for the long delay, guys - I ended up being out of town most of the weekend)

Anders eyed Alistair, one brow lifted. His lips twitched.

Focusing on Neria, he moved his hands up and down twice without quite touching her, summoning a healing spell to bring down the swelling and bruising. Then he looked around at the group as a whole and wiggled his fingers, a last group heal settling over everyone.

"That should take care of the worst of everything," he said, rocking back on his heels and standing.

Sigrun prodded at her head once more and gave a decisive nod, as if satisfied. She squinted at Neria and Alistair and got a very small smile on her face which she attempted to hide quickly by biting her lip, and looking at Anders.

"Thanks, Anders. Did I mention we missed you?" She grinned.

Alistair accepted the handkerchief with a puzzled quirk to his eyes, but took it, using it to scrub the blood off his forehead and temple. It was a rushed job, but it would do. It still matted down his hair in a gory red smear, but that would have tow wait for a bucket of water.

He shivered as the final heal settled over them, rolled his head a little, and nodded to Anders as well. "I mean I didn't miss you. But, thanks, right." He shook his head at himself, and wandered around the rotunda, looking at the scorch marks and smoldering timbers. "Can you get any sort of scent in all this char, Neria?"

"If I know my fox nose well, and I do, I'll most likely smell char, and more char. The Envy Demon is alive, that much I can tell without shapeshifting."

She sighed frustrated, hand rubbing her neck to check for any remaining bruises and scratches.

"It will try to find another place to heal after the explosion. Another place like the rookery, far from people, dark and quiet. I can, though, try to find its scent again, after leaving this place." she turned to Anders "Do you feel anything significant to this matter, Justice?"

Anders grinned at Sigrun. "Everybody misses the healer when he's not around. It's a rule, or...something."

Then he chuckled at Alistair, raising both brows. "Yes, but I missed your asides, my not-friend, friend. He looked down at his staff and stated once more for posterity, "This is all very strange."

At Neria's question, he cocked his head abruptly, the motion off somehow, more like an aping of a human expression of thought than anything else.

"You are correct," Justice's voice said as Anders' eyes flared blue. "The demon is not dead. If it had died here, I would be able to sense a...remnant of its essence, I presume, since this place does seem to act rather like the Fade. As for where the creature has gone...it is possible I may be able to sense it and track it from here. We have wounded it gravely and it is bleeding physically and spiritually. I think it was able to shield itself from my view when it was stronger, but no longer."

Sigrun tried not to giggle at the smear of blood in Alistair's hair, which for some reason struck her as absurdly funny. Not that the sight was that unusual, all things considered, and maybe that was what was comical about it - here they were, in some wacked out Fade dream that wasn't a dream, chasing one of the most powerful demons Sigrun had ever heard of, and this Alistair wasn't even the right Alistair, but he still managed to get blood and gore all over himself. Which, everybody did, but Alistair had always seemed...worse about? It was strangely normal and therefore strangely reassuring.

She got to her feet and went over to check Neria's neck from the back when she noticed the Commander fussing over it.

"You're good, Commander," she said, squeezing Neria's shoulder when she found nothing.

Alistair's wasn't that messy... no he absolutely was. It's what came from getting hit by arterial spray and also just plain hit. He scritched at the blood in his hairline, grimacing as he noticed Sigrun trying not to laugh at him. Which was odd. Normally people pointed when they laughed.

He went very still when Justice began to speak through Anders. That was just... strange. Not normal at all. He took a deep breath. Nobody else seemed worried about the glowing spirit-abomination, so he wouldn't be either. They'd all just seen each other through this fight, and that was reason enough to trust them.

"I guess we should carry on then? If everyone is ready for another round with Mr. Icky." He couldn't help it. His lips twitched as he said it.

"Yes, let's continue our search. Justice, do you mind looking for it this time, or trying at least until I get some of my mana back?"

She rested her hand over Ander's shoulder and smiled, softly.
Maker, she was really glad to have him, Sigrun and even the not-her-husband Alistair around.

Anders laughed outright at Anders this time, the blue leaching from his eyes. He rubbed his eyes, which were still stinging from the expansion of the Fade inside his body. Maker, but that hurt, and it was getting worse with Justice continually taking over like this. This place - it was too close to the Fade, too close to home for Justice, and the spirit almost always had control over their body when they visited the Fade. He had much less sway over Justice than usual, and it was...unnerving. And physically painful, not that he talked about that side of things much.

"I think we can track him, yes," he told Neria, after taking a moment to gather himself. The weight of her hand on his shoulder was as grounding as it had ever been, back when he was just a mage on the run from the templars and not a possessed apostate wanted for murder. "Though I'm gonna try and do it myself rather than let Justice take the lead; it'll be much less painful for both of us, and I think less disconcerting for Alistair here."

He rubbed at the back of his neck, and motioned to the door leading to the Great Hall.

"That way first, I think."

Sigrun took a moment to rummage around in the beams for the daggers she'd dropped when she'd fallen, and then she whipped out a rag from a pocket to scrub some of the blood off. She glanced over to where the demon had fallen and made a face.

"Damn, I keep losing all my best throwing knives to that thing, 'cause they keep disappearing when it does. New tactic next time, hm?" She slides one blade home and twirls the others in her fingers, moving to follow Anders when she's scanned the room once more wistfully.