"Varric!" Merrill squeals excitedly, extracting her staff from a fresh bandit corpse. "I did it! I defended myself! I..."
She turns to the party and deflates; so absorbed in her duel that she missed the actual ambush. Amidst the ruffian remains now decorating the alley, Fenris struggles with the dead mabari latched to his thigh. Bloodied, Marian rifles through the bodies in a panic.
"Varric, did you…?"
"Sorry, Daisy. I was dead at the time." Varric croaks weakly, returning to his senses. He flinches as Marian plucks arrows from his person, then smiles through a split lip. "Do it again?"