Snippet #2103895

As word spread from the Knight-General that an attack was eminent, Emil readied himself by hunting down his Templar's helm he had managed to "misplace" and sat it back on his head. His peripheral vision was shot to hell when he wore the thing, but he had a feeling he would need it this time. He returned to his perch on the corner of the building and nocked on of his white-fletched arrows on his thick ironwood bow. The weapon was a dangerous tool in the right hands, and it just so happened to fit the Templar Hunter's hands like a pair of gloves. Now all he had to do was wait for the signal that began the battle. As he awaited the ring of battle, he called back to Mirabelle and said, "Ready yourself Warden. If they attack and manage to get to us, I will not play the stalwart knight to your distressed damsel. You will pull your weight-- or die trying."

Despite his coldness and pessimistic words, he would see that the Warden would survive the battle. It wasn't that he particularly liked the woman, hell no. Emil just saw that the survival of the woman was his duty, and Emil was nothing if not dutiful. Despite all of his grumpy rumblings, Emil was a loyal man. Mirabelle was-- no matter how much he hated to admit it-- important in this battle. She was a Warden, and would be able to sense the approach the Spawn. He may not had known the exact mechanics behind actually being a Grey Warden, but in a fight with Darkspawn they were vital. His gaze lingered upon Mirabelle, gauging her. He prayed to the maker that his earlier assessment of her would prove wrong... For both of their sakes.

He broke the lingering gaze and his eyes fell upon the barrier with renewed hate. He was a Templar, it was not his duty to fight Darkspawn, his was to hunt down apostates and maleficarum. Yet here he was, watching over a dome of magic, an affront to the Maker himself, hiding leagues of Darkspawn behind it. It made him sick, both figuratively and literally. The tainted magic on the air was thick and forboding. It suffocated and oppressed him as the fade pressed down heavily on his shoulders. It was enough to make even the imposing figure of Emil despair in its shadow. He had faced Blood magic, abominations, and even shades, but nothing he had hunted and faced ever felt this... Wrong. He nervously shifted his grip on the bow and anxiously fingered the nock of the arrow.

"Pray to the Maker, Warden. Pray that you may see another day, or if that shall fail, pray that you may walk beside him in the end."

Mira rolled her eyes. "I'll bet you do enough praying for the both of us, darling. I'll think about how to stay alive, not where I'm dumped when I die, thanks." It crossed the Warden's mind that it probably looked bad for her to not have warned anyone about this attack. Wardens were supposed to be able to sense darkspawn, but according to those that had inducted her into the group, it wasn't something that happened immediately. It took time, more time than she had, it seemed.

By now the Spawn were swarming about the base of the building. It served as something of a watch-post for the main body of the Templars and Chevaliers, and as such it was on the edge of their defenses. The chances of getting any help seemed pretty poor. The darkspawn were coming inside, and as such, the two of them were trapped here, their only hope being to weather the storm until help arrived. Not an ideal situation. Mira wasn't so good at weathering storms. She needed to be able to maneuver, outsmart, confuse the enemy. Up here it looked like a straight fight lay ahead. She swallowed.

Mira hastily unbuckled her satchel to see what she had at her disposal. She hadn't gone anywhere unprepared for a fight since her Joining, and she certainly wasn't without her tools now. Glass vials were secured by soft leather pouches, separated into groups she knew well. The yellow liquid was a simply stunning gas, enough to leave a group of spawn vulnerable for a few moments. The blue one would serve to repel the darkspawn, to overlook anyone hit with it. The red, on the other hand, would attract them, direct their attention, and anger, towards a specific individual. These last two she had only recently created with the help of a mage-Warden. And the green? That one had interesting effects. It caused severe cases of rage in those it hit, and a tendency to attack anything nearby, friend or foe.

It was one of these green vials that Mira took to hand as she pulled open the rooftop door. A few hurlocks and a genlock had already reached the second level, snarling at her when they saw her. Her Taint had them flocking to this tower. Great. She tossed the vial towards the darkspawn, the glass shattering at their feet, a green cloud bursting outwards around them. Almost immediately they turned on each other, driving swords and axes into their former allies, spilling dark blood across the room. Even as they did, more charged forward, shoving them aside and cutting them down. A practiced hand snatched a yellow vial from her satchel and flicked it down, this one exploding with a more violent bang, leaving the initial group of seven or so darkspawn momentarily reeling in place.

"Care to shoot a few of them, archer? I don't have enough knives for them all, I'm afraid."

Emil grunted in answer, lifting his longbow and drawing the arrow back. To be fair, Mirabelle had managed to impress the jaded Templar with her unique set of vials. He particularly enjoyed the one that caused the bastards to turn on each other and rip their once comrades throats out, though she would never hear a praising word from it. He found himself hoping once again that she was as good with her knives as her vials. He drew a bead on the first 'Spawn stunned by the Warden's vial and sent the arrow ripping through the air and impaling itself to the fletching in the beast's throat, the white fletching now drenched in the black ichor. He nocked another and repeated the deed on another, and when the bowstring snapped this time, the arrow bit deep into the thing's chest and pinning it's lifeless form to the wall behind it.

In the time it took to singularly pick off the 'Spawn one at a time, the others were beginning to come back around and regain their senses. Instead of wasting time and arrows continuing his one-at-a-time approach, he opted for another strategy. He reached back onto his quiver and removed another arrow, though this one had red fletching in the place of the normal white. The shaft was also unique from the normal arrows as it was thicker in diameter. He nocked this arrow and aimed down the flight of stairs, and instead of drawing a bead on a 'Spawn, he aimed for their feet. The bow threw the arrow with a heavy thump, where it impacted in a brilliant display of fire and shrapnel easily quelling what was left of the stunned 'Spawn.

"They will overrun us in time," Emil stated in an emotionless matter-of-fact way. As if to prove his point, another wave of Darkspawn began to ascend the stair, eager to get their hands on the Warden they had sensed from the ground below. Emil made sure the first bastard on point payed for his transgressions with an arrow to the thigh, tripping it and causing it's body to slow the trampling procession behind it. "Let us hope our weapons keep in time for someone to reach us before the inevitable," if they were to be saved. Emil held no illusions that he may possibly end up dead in the battle, but that sort of pessimism only made victory all that more satisfying.

As the darkspawn forged ahead in their relentless assault, Emil sensed a disturbance in the air. It was a feeling he knew all too well, and one he was trained to deal with. Magic. Somewhere in the river of Darkspawn racing towards them, an Emissary approached. It wasn't often that Emil dipped back into his pirate tendencies, as he was a man of the Maker now. However, the feeling of a Darkspawn mage approaching was enough to make him cuss as he did back in his youth, "Shit... They got a mage in their damned ranks... Magnificent." he monotoned. He was not amused.

Mira sent a small throwing knife flipping through the air, to embed itself squarely in the skull of the hurlock closest to the stairs. "And here I was starting to think you were a Tranquil! Good to see you let loose." Her quip didn't change the fact that she was none too comfortable with having an Emissary trying to get its hands on her. Damn beasts were so impolite, thinking they'd get a handout from her or something. Well she wouldn't put up with it! She ducked out of the way of an incoming arrow, before sending a knife back the way it came. She couldn't afford to be too reckless with these things. There were only so many places she could hide razor sharp knives on her person, after all.

The Emissary made his appearance, identified by his fancy headdress and crooked, blackened staff. Mira aimed a throwing knife in its direction, but some fool hurlock was nice enough to step in the way, using his brains as a shield. That gave time enough for the mage to charge up his spell. Now, Mira didn't know a whole lot about magic and its various forms, but from word of mouth, she had concluded that it had a tendency to light people on fire. Or perhaps electrocute them, freeze them solid, or turn them to stone. None of those things sounded like something Mira would enjoy, and so the Warden found herself scrambling away from the doorway almost before the darkspawn had even cast its spell. A good choice too, as a mere moment later an angry looking fireball fell from the sky and burst where she had just been standing. She turned to look at the scorch mark, eyes rather wide.

"Did you see that?! I almost died! Again. One of these days I'm--" but she was cut off by a second fireball that fell behind her, the blast slamming into her back, heat wrapping around her like a warm, not so friendly embrace. She hit the ground face down with a grunt, barely having the sense to roll around, which she had learned could put out the fire, if her silken skirt happened to have caught flame. The darkspawn had conjured up a whole storm of fireballs. That, or there was way more than just the one mage. Hopefully the former.

She pushed herself to a knee, but found herself rather dizzy, and nearly toppled over again, using a hand to steady herself against the ground. Her ears were ringing, and she was only vaguely aware of the continuing explosions around her. No doubt the rest of the spawn would be coming up soon, their little blockade broken. Mira hoped Emil was a little more experienced in dealing with mages than she. He was a Templar, right?

"There he is... The bastard," Emil hissed as the Emissary made his appearance. Emil drew his arrow back and began to draw a bead on the heathen cretin. However, much like Mirabelle's issue, the onslaught from the storming 'Spawn refused him a clear shot at the tainted magi. He bared his teeth in a growl, given a intimidating effect as it reverberated through his helmet as he let loose the arrow into the sternum of a rank and file Genlock. If he could not get a shot off at the Emissary, then he wasn't going to waste time and give the advancing beasts breathing room. He had just nocked his next arrow when he felt the magic nearing it's completion. He took a number of steps backwards to escape the coming fireball. It still wasn't far enough to completely dodge it, and his thick armor had a roasting effect on the man inside, magnifying the flames and cooking him. He had to stop the fireballs soon. It occurred to him too late that he should have mentioned the effect of the spell that the Emissary had cast.

Luckily, the Warden had a quick mind and quickly scrambled out of the way of the intial blast. However, she paused and took the time to examine where the flames had landed. It wasn't over yet. "Don't stop! Keep-- Dammit!" he called too late. By then the next fireball had hit behind her and tossed her to the ground. Angry at himself and Mirabelle for not being more cautious, he dodged between the raining flames, still feeling the heat on the metal of his armor, and approached the Warden. He arrived just as she rose to a knee, looking worse for wear and catching herself from falling back down. He stopped next to her as the flames danced around them, which was when he decided he had about enough of the magical flames.

He quickly fired off the arrow nocked in his bow, tagging the first 'Spawn through the rooftop door in the shoulder nonfatally, but still dropping it to the ground with the force of the blow. With his primary hand now free, he raised it up to the heavens and drew a fist. Drawing from the Lyrium in his blood, a light began to emanate from his fist and when it seemed at it's brightest, he opened it. A dazzling blue light danced around them extinguishing the flames and dispelling the firestorm. With one issue dealt with, another presented itself. The charge of Darkspawn.

He didn't have time to nock another arrow as a Hurlock approached, twisted blade shining wickedly. He swung his ironwood bow with savage might, stunning the Hurlock and sending it reeling. In a whisper of steel on steel, Emil drew his blade a drove it into the chest of the offending creature, slaying it. "I told you, I'm not going to play your Knight. Stand and fight! You say you want to stay alive, I want to see it!" Emil scolded the woman. He looked back over to the rooftop doorway just as the Emissary strode out onto the roof, looking rather cocky behind it's personal horde of meatshields. Frankly, it pissed Emil off to no end. As it began to weave another spell, Emil thrust forward his offhand, holding his bow only by the thumb as he opened his hand in another flash of blue light. The Emissary would find it's voice silenced, and his spellcasting interrupted."Cast your foul spells now, cretin!" Emil howled at the silenced Emissary as he embedded his blade into the torso of another Darkspawn. He wouldn't be able to keep this pace for long however as his fatigue was mounting, and the silence would only be temporary. He found himself hoping not for the first time-- nor last-- that Mira would continue to prove herself useful.

By this point, Mira was getting her wind back, the ringing had subsided, and the dizziness had past. Most importantly, no major damage had been done to her skirt. Now Emil was shouting at her about something or other. Trying to get her to show how much of a powerful warrioress of a Warden she was. Funny thing about that... Mira didn't really know the first thing about fighting. She could tag things with throwing knives, and manipulate a fight with her vials, but in a straight up fight? Her slender form didn't hold up well under blows, nor did it deliver them very well. There was one thing she could do to get the odds more in her favor, and a way she could take out that Emissary Emil seemed so irked by, but the Templar certainly wasn't going to like it.

"Right, you asked for it. Get ready, they're about to dogpile you." And with that, she slipped a red vial into her fingers and tossed it at Emil with enough force for it to shatter on his leg, sending a small plume of red gas swirling around him. The effect was pretty much immediate: any and all attention the darkspawn had been directing at Mira was suddenly and abruptly turned on Emil. In fact, they no longer seemed to think she existed. The effect would last for a minute, perhaps more. It would be enough time. She took a slightly larger, curved knife in hand, immediately darting off in the Emissary's direction. The other darkspawn charged on past her like she wasn't there, and even the Emissary's eyes were locked on the Templar, though he still couldn't cast any spells.

She sidestepped a passing hurlock before arriving at the Emissary, shifting around to get behind him, careful not to touch any of the other darkspawn on the way, as certain things could get their attention even after goading them into attacking something else. Reaching up with her left hand, she quickly grabbed hold of the mage's headdress and yanked back, exposing the neck, which she then slashed across with her knife, sending dark blood spilling forward from the darkspawn. Even with his throat slit, the mage reacted instinctively, thrusting his staff backwards, the butt end catching Mira in the stomach, sending her stumbling back, right into a genlock, who growled angrily upon noticing her. He went to slash at her with his blade, but she caught him with a foot to the face first, kicking him backwards and off the edge of the roof.

She turned to see the Emissary clutching his throat, having fallen to his knees. She rushed forward and plunged the knife into the side of his breastplate, just under the armpit, the blade hitting the heart, at which point the mage stopped struggling, and Mira looked back to Emil to see how he had handled the swarm. That all the darkspawn hadn't bludgeoned her to death yet meant he was still breathing. That was good.

Emil glanced back at Mirabelle and had just managed to fire off a glare as he felt something shatter against the back of his leg. The red plume that followed did... Not look promising. The effect was immediate and obvious. All eyes now fell squarely upon him and paid Mirabelle no more mind. He could see the obvious tactical benefit of such a stunt, but that didn't mean he liked it, hell no. "Oh.. Maker preserve." Emil grunted as the force of the horde began to bare down upon him.

It was a flurry of motion with him at the epicenter. The first thing that struck out was the bow, gripping it on one end and using the other to bash the jaw of an encroaching Hurlock Alpha. The force was enough to throw the 'Spawn down, but it would be up again eventually, even more pissed off. Though he would have to worry about it when the time came as he was pressed. Emil's arm jarred in it's socket as he blocked a vicious looking axe with his sword. Drawing back to his swashbuckling years on the Black Raven he tilted the blade and guided the axe away from his person and then began to pivot around the axe throwing a heavy armored elbow into the Genlock's face, grounding it. A stomp on it's neck quickly ended the issue.

A sword eventually found it's way into his shoulder, but the armor served it's purpose and held against the slash. The shoulder was bound to be bruised and tender, but that was preferable to the alternative. The only indication of pain he gave was an irritated grunt and the chopping of the offending arm. Black ichor then stained his armor, providing a stark contrast on the white steel. The 'Spawn gave a pained howl as it stumbled backwards clutching it's newly recieved stump of an arm, though it's comrades seem to not notice or not care as their singular purpose was on him. He found himself cursing Mirabelle for putting him right in the middle of a brawl. Luckily, just as he finished the thought, the tainted magic he felt emanating from the Emissary was suddenly silenced. Apparently the Warden had an idea and saw it to fruition. He still didn't like the fact that she painted a bulls-eye on him to accomplish it...

Another sword came, this time in a piercing motion for his abdomen. Unlike the previous sword, this one managed to slip between the plates and embed itself in flesh. The shock of pain managed to twist Emil's face into something other than mild irritation-- a corsair's snarl--, though none could see it through the metal visor of his helmet. He dropped all pretense of control and began to put every ounce of might into his swings. The first swing came diagonally to cut the Genlock through his shoulder and nearly to his spine. A vicious kick unlatched it from his blade and he struck out with his bow, hoping to make room for himself. The 'Spawn had become privy to his wild bashes with his bow and either step out of range or ducked. One such creature was the Hurlock Alpha from earlier. Once it was clear of Emil's bow, it rushed him and got inside his defenses to where he couldn't strike effectively with either weapon. It grinned wickedly, it's razor sharp teeth haphazardly placed in it's head as hit reared back it's sword to skewer Emil once and for all. The smug grin enraged Emil and he did the first thing that came to mind. He reared back his head and sent a hard headbutt to the creatures mouth, sending it stumbling. To make sure it would never grin again, Emil lopped off it's head.

He then turned to the rest of the Darkspawn, silently daring the next one to step forward and meet their fate at the Hands of the Maker.

There were probably only a few moments remaining for Mira to work with impunity, before the gas wore off and the darkspawn's aggression would be under their own control once more. Seeing as there were quite a few between her and Emil at the moment, she figured it would be a good idea to get back to her ally. She darted forward, knife in hand, taking advantage of the fact that the darkspawn's back were to her. She slit a throat here, sliced the back of a leg there, stabbed a back and carved her way through. Her strikes were light, but precise, and the darkspawn's lack of ability to defend against them allowed her to pinpoint vulnerable areas and hit them. She had cut down perhaps five more by the time she reached Emil's side again.

"That worked out well, I think," she said between breaths, "I'll ask for your permission next time, by the way." She did feel somewhat bad about turning every darkspawn against him, but she didn't really have a choice here. Emil could survive a straight fight with a bunch of spawn. She couldn't. She had to use what she had at her disposal.