Unfortunately, the dwarves were more able to maneuver in this hallway, due to their smaller size. Stocky or not, their weapons were generally smaller and so more of them could swing properly without hitting one another. Nostariel would prefer that they not swing at all, quite honestly. Thinking fast, she charged an arrow with a mind blast of all things and shot it in the direction of the main cluster of dwarves. It buried itself into the ground, the resulting wave of telekinetic force issuing around it in a small, but serviceable radius. Several of the dwarves were thrown from their feet, and even those who managed to stay upright were staggering, no longer wielding their weapons with anything resembling efficiency of coordination. The Warden smiled, just a bit. At this point, the rest was basically a forgone conclusion, and only a matter of time.
A clump of the disoriented foes stumbled in his general direction, and Lucien cleaved the first with a mighty vertical blow, one that sent shockwaves through the ground and tripped up a few more, the closest of which he held down with a foot and grimly drove the small spear-point at the tip of his axe straight down into. The metal came back coated in blood—he had not missed the heart. He had no idea when whatever that arrow had done to their heads would wear off, but he didn’t want to risk it being sooner than he could get through the rest, so he decided to take advantage of the fact that he had allies.
In a maneuver that would have been much easier with his scythe but still worked acceptably with the axe, he swept his weapon outward, catching a cluster of three with the pole rather than the head of it and twisting his body so as to yank them all forward and form what was essentially a row of targets who couldn’t move much. Leaning in the opposite direction himself, he exposed the triplicate of thugs to the rear ranks, and whatever any of those three could think of to do with them.
Ithilian was the one to take the free kills, and kills they would be, regardless of how lethal anyone else intended to be or not be towards these scum. In an extremely indelicate introduction to the underworld of Kirkwall for Milly, Ithilian loosed the first arrow to punch through the first dwarf's open mouth, the second making a more resounding crack through a skull and into the brain, and the third going cleanly through the last dwarf's eye. Each fell heavily on their back in a row with a pleasing thud of leather and mail.
Two more came Sophia's way from Nostariel's magical arrow, the first of which had no means to defend himself against her pommel strike, which came down hard on his light leather helm, enough to take him out entirely. The second began to regain his faculties, raising knives, but Sophia easily had the advantage of range with her hand and a half sword, able to catch him in the middle and bring him down before he closed the distance. The close quarters proved slightly awkward afterward, as she struggled momentarily to remove the blade from the thug. A third charged forth with a warhammer, swinging downwards. Sophia got her guard up in time to catch it at the height of the blow, but the dwarf was more than strong enough for such a weapon, the force of the clash of weapons shaking her slightly. Fortunately, her blade bit into the wood of the shaft enough to hold his weapon aloft with her guard, leaving him open for an ally to strike. That said nothing about the fourth Carta member coming up behind the hammer-wielder swiftly, with a pair of knives of his own.
He'd have to cut through the redhead first. Aurora had taken the sudden confusion for her own advantage, and with the incredibly large targets both Sophia and Lucien were painting made her more subtle approach all that much more effective. She'd slipped around Sophia when her blade caught the hammer of the dwarf and deposited herself right into the path of the knife wielding one. Not one to stay still for very long, lest give the advantage back to the enemy, she didn't decide to stop and face off with the dwarf, and instead she kept moving forward. Her knee rose and she put a little effort into her other foot, taking her off the ground and slamming her knee into the face of the dwarf, snapping his nose like twigs.
When both mage and dwarf fell back down, Aurora knelt on his ribcage, effectively pinning him. There was still a little bit of fight left in the dwarf, of which Aurora effectively drained by throwing three punches in rapid succession to his face. Perhaps a bit more than was strictly necessary, but dwarves' heads were harder than the average human. She then pounced off of the dwarf's chest and and dropped into a crouch. That only left one more-- the one Sophia was currently dealing with. In an effort to end the fight sooner rather than later, Aurora spun with her foot outstretched, sweeping the feet from under the roguish fellow, and allowed Sophia to do what she would with him.
The weight released and the dwarf fell sideways, crashing heavily to the ground and providing relief for Sophia's arms. She gave the last enemy a swift kick in the face to put him out cold, only then realizing it had been Aurora who had taken him to the ground. She hadn't even noticed the woman slip up in the confusion, but now she found herself face to face with her again. Rather than speak, she simply nodded, and the group moved on, the end nearly in sight.
Milly's eyes widened as the group in front of her effortlessly dealt with the twelve or so dwarves running at them. Who were these people, and how did Rosy meet them? More importantly, where did Rosy learn to fight like that? She was a mage, Milly was expecting a magical display, but no. Rosy dismantled her own opponent without using so much as a drop of mana. And the way she slipped through the battle like a ghost-- she didn't learn that in the Circle. It brought certain questions to mind, like what had she been doing since her time out of the circle. She was just as dangerous as any one of the warriors or the dalish. Milly followed the group speechlessly, and once Aurora had to pause to close her mouth for her.
The tunnel came out on a sandy area near the coast line, though not so far out as the one Petrice had led her to. Really, she wished she could stop equating these two missions, it was beginning to drive her mad. The sun was beginning to lower somewhat, and they would probably only have a few hours before night fell. Before them was a single dwarf, and this one not in armor, but the finer clothes of a merchant. Javaris obviously put some care into his appearance, but he looked understandably ragged at this point. His eyes widened when he saw that it was six strangers (and two less so) approaching him rather than the Carta thugs he had hired for protection. He began to back up, looking ready to bolt, and Sophia noticed the Dalish man on her right knocking an arrow in preparation.
Lucien held up both hands, his axe safely replaced at his back, and spoke quickly, but calmly. “Javaris. We’re not here on behalf of the Coterie. We’re not going to tell them where you are. We just need to know if you know anything about a stolen Qunari formula.” He trusted that his company was intimidating enough, and tried to lessen the impact of his own presence by remaining nonhostile. He wasn’t so sure this was where they needed to be after all—the dwarf looked far too panicked for someone who believed he had successfully stolen his future fortune.
Javaris looked confused for a moment, but stopped his retreat, and Ithilian lowered his weapon, though he was not so kind as Lucien, and left the arrow nocked. "What?" Tintop asked. "You mean... she didn't hire you? Oh, I thought for sure you were going to come and take my head back to that sodding elf." The string on Ithilian's bow tightened a tensed a little, and the glare Javaris received was enough to make him swallow. "So... who are you working for, then?"
"The Arishok advised us to track you down," Sophia answered, having sheathed her own sword, and crossing her arms. "Who's this elf you're talking about?" The dwarf looked rather disturbed to hear the news. "Wait... you're tracking for the Qunari?" He sighed. "Then she did it. That elf got them after me for nothing! Bitch-born!"
"Speak sense, durgen'len, and do it quickly," Ithilian advised. Javaris nodded, scrambling a bit. "Right, look, I'm minding my business, same old, and out of the blue some elf tries to kill me. Says she's got the Qunari powder and I'm her cover. I slipped her, hired some bodyguards, and ran for it. And now you're here. Great."
Sophia placed her hands on her hips, and shrugged. "If you're innocent, why not explain this to the Arishok?" But Javaris shook his head. "Let's break this down. An elf with explosives wants me dead. The Qunari may think I'm a thief and also want me dead. Either option seem promising? Didn't think so. You wanna get to the end of this, go for it. I had a man follow her, she's in Lowtown, the southeast district, between the stairs to the docks and the Alienage. I would simply like to leave, if you'd be so kind."
Nostariel sighed quietly, shaking her head. “Go ahead and go then, Javaris. Please try to take care of yourself.” And maybe not by selling illegal goods this time. Still, she left that part unsaid. Dusk was nearing already, and they had to make it to Lowtown in enough time to stop this woman from spreading the poison to the entire southeast district. It was bad enough that anyone had this poison, but that was a densely populated area, and quite close to many of the residences of the people here, to say nothing of their friends and countless other individuals. “We need to go, too—quickly.”
"Right, got me a rosy future to plan out," Javaris said, turning towards the caves, "Think I'll start by selling some boots." He began to grumble to himself. "Sodding bunch of... take a long breath on a short shaft you... blasted nug-humpers..."
Doubting that any of her companions saw need for further delay, Nostariel turned and hastened to go back through the passage they had just emerged from. Time was of the essence; they could not possibly afford to delay. Once back in Darktown, they blew past the Coterie representative without a word, reaching the nearest staircase to Lowtown, which took them out a little north of where they wanted to be. The air was much fresher here, but there was something acrid in it, something she would usually only expect to smell at the Foundry district. That couldn’t be good.
A few more minutes of quick walking, and the smell was growing stronger. She finally located an alley she thought might be promising, but before the group could get any further, they were stopped by a member of the City Guard. He was in the process of speaking to an already growing crowd of civilians. "All of you, I can't fight the damned air! You want to live, stay out!"
Sophia tried to get a better look at what was going on, but the guard was stopping them just before a corner of a multiple story building, and she couldn't see past it. "We're here to help, guardsman." The guard's eyes widened upon seeing her. "Wait, Lady Sophia? Maker, please, the street is death. There was a cloud that drove people mad, and now a seeping mist that slowly kills. All I can do is warn people. If someone like you dies on my watch..." Sophia shook her head. "Then it would be my risk, and you would not be to blame."
She turned back to the rest of the group. "There's little time. We need to stop this, now. The poison is saar-qamek. Amalia should have at least some amount of antidote with her. The poison won't bring us down immediately. If someone goes to get Amalia, the rest of us can get a handle on this, and cure the poison afterward." She had a bit of antidote herself, but there was really only enough for herself, and it was all the way up in the Keep. Stupid of her, to not bring it when it would be useful...
Well, this day was getting better and better, now they got to go dive head first into a poison mist that could most likely kill them. Aurora was neither enthused, nor impressed by the way she stood. In fact, she seemed apprehensive, but she did what she had to do. This was her home now, and she'd fight to protect it. Upon Sophia's suggestion, Aurora turned to Milly and spoke, "I need you to go get Amalia for us. Tell her about the poison, and help her with whatever she needs. You'll probably save our lives." Aurora could see the no creeping into Milly's eyes, which caused her to put a hand on the elf's shoulder. "We can handle this, but we will need Amalia. I need you to do this. She's in the Alienage, ask for her by name. The elves will point you in her direction. She's a human of the Qun,"
That brought a flicker of confusion into Milly's eyes, but Rosy was right. She wouldn't be able to help them here. She'd watched them all fight in the tunnels, she'd just slow them down-- maybe even put Aurora in danger by worrying. They were right, what she couldn't do by helping here, she could help by finding this Amalia. "Okay, I'll find her. But you can't die while I'm gone, understand me? I just found you," She said, stepping backwards. "Believe me, I don't plan on it," Aurora said with a smile. And with that, Milly turned around and ran, heading back toward the Alienage.
"This... Isn't going to be pretty, is it?" Aurora asked rhetorically, lifting her crimson scarf up from under her chin and wrapping it around her nose and mouth. Maybe it'd help, but it most likely won't. No harm in trying though.
A clump of the disoriented foes stumbled in his general direction, and Lucien cleaved the first with a mighty vertical blow, one that sent shockwaves through the ground and tripped up a few more, the closest of which he held down with a foot and grimly drove the small spear-point at the tip of his axe straight down into. The metal came back coated in blood—he had not missed the heart. He had no idea when whatever that arrow had done to their heads would wear off, but he didn’t want to risk it being sooner than he could get through the rest, so he decided to take advantage of the fact that he had allies.
In a maneuver that would have been much easier with his scythe but still worked acceptably with the axe, he swept his weapon outward, catching a cluster of three with the pole rather than the head of it and twisting his body so as to yank them all forward and form what was essentially a row of targets who couldn’t move much. Leaning in the opposite direction himself, he exposed the triplicate of thugs to the rear ranks, and whatever any of those three could think of to do with them.
Ithilian was the one to take the free kills, and kills they would be, regardless of how lethal anyone else intended to be or not be towards these scum. In an extremely indelicate introduction to the underworld of Kirkwall for Milly, Ithilian loosed the first arrow to punch through the first dwarf's open mouth, the second making a more resounding crack through a skull and into the brain, and the third going cleanly through the last dwarf's eye. Each fell heavily on their back in a row with a pleasing thud of leather and mail.
Two more came Sophia's way from Nostariel's magical arrow, the first of which had no means to defend himself against her pommel strike, which came down hard on his light leather helm, enough to take him out entirely. The second began to regain his faculties, raising knives, but Sophia easily had the advantage of range with her hand and a half sword, able to catch him in the middle and bring him down before he closed the distance. The close quarters proved slightly awkward afterward, as she struggled momentarily to remove the blade from the thug. A third charged forth with a warhammer, swinging downwards. Sophia got her guard up in time to catch it at the height of the blow, but the dwarf was more than strong enough for such a weapon, the force of the clash of weapons shaking her slightly. Fortunately, her blade bit into the wood of the shaft enough to hold his weapon aloft with her guard, leaving him open for an ally to strike. That said nothing about the fourth Carta member coming up behind the hammer-wielder swiftly, with a pair of knives of his own.
He'd have to cut through the redhead first. Aurora had taken the sudden confusion for her own advantage, and with the incredibly large targets both Sophia and Lucien were painting made her more subtle approach all that much more effective. She'd slipped around Sophia when her blade caught the hammer of the dwarf and deposited herself right into the path of the knife wielding one. Not one to stay still for very long, lest give the advantage back to the enemy, she didn't decide to stop and face off with the dwarf, and instead she kept moving forward. Her knee rose and she put a little effort into her other foot, taking her off the ground and slamming her knee into the face of the dwarf, snapping his nose like twigs.
When both mage and dwarf fell back down, Aurora knelt on his ribcage, effectively pinning him. There was still a little bit of fight left in the dwarf, of which Aurora effectively drained by throwing three punches in rapid succession to his face. Perhaps a bit more than was strictly necessary, but dwarves' heads were harder than the average human. She then pounced off of the dwarf's chest and and dropped into a crouch. That only left one more-- the one Sophia was currently dealing with. In an effort to end the fight sooner rather than later, Aurora spun with her foot outstretched, sweeping the feet from under the roguish fellow, and allowed Sophia to do what she would with him.
The weight released and the dwarf fell sideways, crashing heavily to the ground and providing relief for Sophia's arms. She gave the last enemy a swift kick in the face to put him out cold, only then realizing it had been Aurora who had taken him to the ground. She hadn't even noticed the woman slip up in the confusion, but now she found herself face to face with her again. Rather than speak, she simply nodded, and the group moved on, the end nearly in sight.
Milly's eyes widened as the group in front of her effortlessly dealt with the twelve or so dwarves running at them. Who were these people, and how did Rosy meet them? More importantly, where did Rosy learn to fight like that? She was a mage, Milly was expecting a magical display, but no. Rosy dismantled her own opponent without using so much as a drop of mana. And the way she slipped through the battle like a ghost-- she didn't learn that in the Circle. It brought certain questions to mind, like what had she been doing since her time out of the circle. She was just as dangerous as any one of the warriors or the dalish. Milly followed the group speechlessly, and once Aurora had to pause to close her mouth for her.
The tunnel came out on a sandy area near the coast line, though not so far out as the one Petrice had led her to. Really, she wished she could stop equating these two missions, it was beginning to drive her mad. The sun was beginning to lower somewhat, and they would probably only have a few hours before night fell. Before them was a single dwarf, and this one not in armor, but the finer clothes of a merchant. Javaris obviously put some care into his appearance, but he looked understandably ragged at this point. His eyes widened when he saw that it was six strangers (and two less so) approaching him rather than the Carta thugs he had hired for protection. He began to back up, looking ready to bolt, and Sophia noticed the Dalish man on her right knocking an arrow in preparation.
Lucien held up both hands, his axe safely replaced at his back, and spoke quickly, but calmly. “Javaris. We’re not here on behalf of the Coterie. We’re not going to tell them where you are. We just need to know if you know anything about a stolen Qunari formula.” He trusted that his company was intimidating enough, and tried to lessen the impact of his own presence by remaining nonhostile. He wasn’t so sure this was where they needed to be after all—the dwarf looked far too panicked for someone who believed he had successfully stolen his future fortune.
Javaris looked confused for a moment, but stopped his retreat, and Ithilian lowered his weapon, though he was not so kind as Lucien, and left the arrow nocked. "What?" Tintop asked. "You mean... she didn't hire you? Oh, I thought for sure you were going to come and take my head back to that sodding elf." The string on Ithilian's bow tightened a tensed a little, and the glare Javaris received was enough to make him swallow. "So... who are you working for, then?"
"The Arishok advised us to track you down," Sophia answered, having sheathed her own sword, and crossing her arms. "Who's this elf you're talking about?" The dwarf looked rather disturbed to hear the news. "Wait... you're tracking for the Qunari?" He sighed. "Then she did it. That elf got them after me for nothing! Bitch-born!"
"Speak sense, durgen'len, and do it quickly," Ithilian advised. Javaris nodded, scrambling a bit. "Right, look, I'm minding my business, same old, and out of the blue some elf tries to kill me. Says she's got the Qunari powder and I'm her cover. I slipped her, hired some bodyguards, and ran for it. And now you're here. Great."
Sophia placed her hands on her hips, and shrugged. "If you're innocent, why not explain this to the Arishok?" But Javaris shook his head. "Let's break this down. An elf with explosives wants me dead. The Qunari may think I'm a thief and also want me dead. Either option seem promising? Didn't think so. You wanna get to the end of this, go for it. I had a man follow her, she's in Lowtown, the southeast district, between the stairs to the docks and the Alienage. I would simply like to leave, if you'd be so kind."
Nostariel sighed quietly, shaking her head. “Go ahead and go then, Javaris. Please try to take care of yourself.” And maybe not by selling illegal goods this time. Still, she left that part unsaid. Dusk was nearing already, and they had to make it to Lowtown in enough time to stop this woman from spreading the poison to the entire southeast district. It was bad enough that anyone had this poison, but that was a densely populated area, and quite close to many of the residences of the people here, to say nothing of their friends and countless other individuals. “We need to go, too—quickly.”
"Right, got me a rosy future to plan out," Javaris said, turning towards the caves, "Think I'll start by selling some boots." He began to grumble to himself. "Sodding bunch of... take a long breath on a short shaft you... blasted nug-humpers..."
Doubting that any of her companions saw need for further delay, Nostariel turned and hastened to go back through the passage they had just emerged from. Time was of the essence; they could not possibly afford to delay. Once back in Darktown, they blew past the Coterie representative without a word, reaching the nearest staircase to Lowtown, which took them out a little north of where they wanted to be. The air was much fresher here, but there was something acrid in it, something she would usually only expect to smell at the Foundry district. That couldn’t be good.
A few more minutes of quick walking, and the smell was growing stronger. She finally located an alley she thought might be promising, but before the group could get any further, they were stopped by a member of the City Guard. He was in the process of speaking to an already growing crowd of civilians. "All of you, I can't fight the damned air! You want to live, stay out!"
Sophia tried to get a better look at what was going on, but the guard was stopping them just before a corner of a multiple story building, and she couldn't see past it. "We're here to help, guardsman." The guard's eyes widened upon seeing her. "Wait, Lady Sophia? Maker, please, the street is death. There was a cloud that drove people mad, and now a seeping mist that slowly kills. All I can do is warn people. If someone like you dies on my watch..." Sophia shook her head. "Then it would be my risk, and you would not be to blame."
She turned back to the rest of the group. "There's little time. We need to stop this, now. The poison is saar-qamek. Amalia should have at least some amount of antidote with her. The poison won't bring us down immediately. If someone goes to get Amalia, the rest of us can get a handle on this, and cure the poison afterward." She had a bit of antidote herself, but there was really only enough for herself, and it was all the way up in the Keep. Stupid of her, to not bring it when it would be useful...
Well, this day was getting better and better, now they got to go dive head first into a poison mist that could most likely kill them. Aurora was neither enthused, nor impressed by the way she stood. In fact, she seemed apprehensive, but she did what she had to do. This was her home now, and she'd fight to protect it. Upon Sophia's suggestion, Aurora turned to Milly and spoke, "I need you to go get Amalia for us. Tell her about the poison, and help her with whatever she needs. You'll probably save our lives." Aurora could see the no creeping into Milly's eyes, which caused her to put a hand on the elf's shoulder. "We can handle this, but we will need Amalia. I need you to do this. She's in the Alienage, ask for her by name. The elves will point you in her direction. She's a human of the Qun,"
That brought a flicker of confusion into Milly's eyes, but Rosy was right. She wouldn't be able to help them here. She'd watched them all fight in the tunnels, she'd just slow them down-- maybe even put Aurora in danger by worrying. They were right, what she couldn't do by helping here, she could help by finding this Amalia. "Okay, I'll find her. But you can't die while I'm gone, understand me? I just found you," She said, stepping backwards. "Believe me, I don't plan on it," Aurora said with a smile. And with that, Milly turned around and ran, heading back toward the Alienage.
"This... Isn't going to be pretty, is it?" Aurora asked rhetorically, lifting her crimson scarf up from under her chin and wrapping it around her nose and mouth. Maybe it'd help, but it most likely won't. No harm in trying though.