Adam, Bram and Cassandra were not the only ones of note that were fighting through the chaos. The Conclave attracted many a people, most of which were some form of combat ready. There were four of them - ways ahead from Adam - that fit this definition.
One was an elf. A bald one, with the look of a solitary traveler about him. He bore no marks of the Dalish, and his clothes told passerby that he lived in no established cities, especially human ones. Like Adam, he carried a staff. And it was used to box in the first of their assailants with a wall of ice.
The other one was a dwarf. There were two of them, actually, but this one was male.
In appearance, he was in direct contrast to the elven mage. Most of what he wore was laced or adorned with gold, if it wasn't jewelry outright. But the real jewel was not his attire. It was his weapon.
It was a repeating crossbow of dwarven engineering, and a powerful one to boot. It was used to slay any demon that preferred to attack at range, and at one point pinned one to the crumbling walls surrounding them.
Its head was then sliced off by a hatchet; the work of the second dwarf.
One look at the female would tell any who viewed her that she was a shifty one. Her attire was fit for a person that did not want to be seen, complete with a hooded cloak and a retractable leather mask. She had vials strewn along her belt, presumably to aid in being a shadow. They wouldn't be much use to her at the moment.
Her coat and pants were lined with throwable weapons, which was where the aforementioned hatchet spawned. She felt no need to retrieve it just yet; the course to it was too dangerous. For now.
To rectify that, she set her sights the demon before her; a sickly looking creature with elongated limbs, a gaping maw and numerous eyes. It was attempting to "flee" through a portal in the ground. Not on her watch.
The dwarf removed daggers from the inside of her coat, and flung it at the demon's palms as they touched the cold floor. The screech from the pain nearly deafened the soldiers defending with her.
They would be relieved, fortunately, as a large bladed weapon - akin to a cleaver - divided its head in two. Its body went limp almost immediately.
The cleaver was pulled from the corpse by a hulk of a woman, with silver hair, ashen skin, and horns curling from her skull. One of Thedas would call her a qunari. She does not respond to it.
Of all the defenders, she was the one that wore the most armor, but still the least. The heaviest of greaves and tassets - adorned with red and green sashes, poultices and vitaar - had clothed her, but failed to slow her down. Her torso and face was covered mostly in ceremonial paint. Or at least, that is what the others assumed.
With the wave of demons felled, she was to first to break silence. "We're not going to be able to keep this up." She said, and turned her eyes to the source: a small rift, suspended in the sky above them.
The female dwarf was not convinced the ox-woman's worry was genuine. "C'mon." she prodded. "You act as if you're not enjoying this."
She was rewarded with a small laugh, and a maybe. "We still need reinforcements." She added, as she checked for casualties.
Two men were killed in this wave. From the initial twenty that engaged the demons, only five of them survived. Their bodies were carried away from battle radius, so they could be properly tended to, should they survive the current onslaught.
"Aren't your mercenary buddies nearby?" The male dwarf said as he performed short maintenance on his crossbow.
"Shokrakar took the men to help at the forefront." The ox-woman said as she laid the last man in line. "Its worse there than it is here."
"Well," The female dwarf said, shrugging. "Least we have a mage handy." The sentence earned her a look from the short glance from the elf.
Before he could respond, his eyes caught the appearance of another approaching the site. It was Adam, who looked no worse for wear after leaving his last party, even though he was visibly exhausted.
"Two, in fact." The elven mage said, alerting the others to Adam's presence. The ox-woman moved to greet him.
"Trevelyan." She said. "Thought you were back at Haven."
After catching his breath, Adam cleared his throat and responded. "I just left there. I'm headed to the forward camp to give news to the Left Hand."
"And that news is...?" The ox-woman said, trailing off to allow Adam to finish for her.
"That the Right is on her way there with the prisoner." He went on. "They may be right behind me."
"Well, why aren't they with you?" The male dwarf asked. Adam lightly shook his head.
"The uh...Prisoner...Abraham? He's not the most friendly person." Adam said. He motioned behind himself as he continued. "He did something that made the Seeker want to send me ahead."
"This is that Pentaghast lady, right?" The female dwarf asked, to which Adam nodded. Her brows heightened briefly, and a small smile crept upon her face. But she wasn't happy in the slightest.
"You want company?" She said with a pep. The question caused the ox-woman to turn in her direction. Her expression was one of disappointment.
"Really?" She said flatly, and the dwarf began to explain.
"Look, the guy's winded. Probably from tangling with demons. He's gonna need a quicker, safer way to deliver his message, and sneaking past hostile shit is kind of what I do."
"Then there's that small issue with the fact that I'm not supposed to be here. If that lady's anything like I heard, I don't wanna be here when she shows up."
"Eh. Can't say I blame her." The male dwarf said with a chuckle.
"Go, then." The ox-woman said, in compliance. "We'll stay here, wait for them to show."
The female dwarf motioned for Adam to follow her to an unbeaten path, and they were soon out of view. The ox-woman, the male dwarf, the elven mage and the five soldiers remaining had then steeled themselves for the next wave. As they waited for the rift to surge open once more, one of the soldiers spoke out.
"We can't fight them like this." He said. Worry lined his voice. "We need a plan!"
"The plan is 'don't panic'." The ox-woman said. And almost immediately after, the rift opened again.
This time, it had spawn three wraiths, two terror demons, and five shades. All three wraiths fired upon the party, but the blasts were absorbed by the ox-woman's cleaver. This method of defense was interpreted as a moment of weakness by one of the shades, who immediately dove towards the woman, claw first.
It was a boon for her that the demons were either incapable of learning, or could not apply what they did learn into their strategy, as they failed to realize she suffered no hinderance in speed. Her weapon was quickly spun into the the protruding arms - and face - of the shade that charged her, almost instantly turning it into dust.
The remaining dwarf took cover aside nearby debris, and provided cover fire for the soldiers that followed the woman into battle. When one of the wraiths attempted to punish him for it, they were met with a speedy bolt to their would be chest. The force caused it to dissipate quickly.
The terror demons were split in their focus; one was attending to the five soldiers trying to keep it at bay, the other was closing the distance on the elven made that sheltered them in barriers. When the elf realized the demon planned to spring from beneath him, he redirected some of his energies to propel him backwards, chilling the wind as he did. A large ice spike was forced from the orb atop his staff, and lay in wait for the demon to leap from the portal that formed. When it did, the spike was sent straight into its chest, forcing it into the four shades behind it.
The shades - who were engaged in battle with the ox-woman - barely had time to recuperate. Almost immediately after gaining their ground, stones the shape of razors cut into them, rendering them no different from the rags they wore. At this time, the terror demon managed to repel the soldiers that held it back. But instead to taking them, or the ox-woman, the demon turned to the one who felled its comrades.
Behind them all, from a ledge of an upward road, stood Abraham. He jumped from the ledge to level ground, and the terror demon instantly lunged for him. It would get no retribution however, as the heel of Bram's boot, glazed in flame and conjured blades, sunk into the torso of the grotesque creature. He flipped himself, using the demon's momentum against it to send it flying to the ledge from which he came. It was there that it was cleaved in two; the work of Seeker Cassandra, who wasted no time in joining the fight.
Her blade was driven into the spine of one of the wraiths trading fire with the dwarf. Before the other could retaliate, the blade crescented vertically into its head, expelling it just as quickly as the other.
With all the demons felled again, Bram turned his focus to the rift that spawned them. Before he could truly register what he was seeing, the elven mage took hold of his left hand, and aimed it directly toward it.
"Quickly!" He shouted. "Before more come through!"
In an instant, the light emanating from the rift surged into his hand, and rippled violently, before collapsing on itself in exploding fashion. Bram swung his hand away from the elven mage's grasp, unsure of what just transpired.
"The hell did you do?" He asked accusingly. The mage smiled in return. "I did nothing." he said. "The credit is yours."
He understood now. His refusal to voice such, however, prompted the mage to continue on.
"Whatever was responsible for The Breach also placed that mark on your hand." The mage explained. "I theorized that the rifts it spawned could be closed by using it." He looked towards the area where the rift had once been. "And it seems I was correct."
Cassandra approached the mage and Bram, her brows lowered in thought.
"Meaning it could also close the Breach itself." She said to the mage questioningly. "Perhaps." was his answer, as he looked to Bram. "It seems you hold the key to our salvation."
It was not a notion that excited Bram. He half hoped that he'd be unable to help, as the opposite meant more scrutiny from those he was trying to avoid. He grinded his teeth in annoyance.
"And here I thought we'd be ass deep in demons forever." The dwarf said as he approached. He placed the crossbow on his back just as soon as the ox-woman stepped forward as well. Now, he thought, was the time for introductions.
The dwarf gestured towards Bram in greetings. "Varric Tethras." He said. "Rogue, storyteller, and occasionally..." He turned to Cassandra and winked. "Unwelcome tag along." The seeker grimaced slightly in response.
"I am Solas, if there are to be introductions." The elven mage said next. "I am pleased to see you still live."
The ox-woman was next, and the quickest. "Vess Adaar." She said. "Mercenary."
She then turned to Cassandra. And cocked her head towards the road Adam left on. "You just missed Trevelyan and Cadash."
"Cadash?" Cassandra asked quizzically.
"Another dwarf. Carta spy - came along to see what would happen to the lyrium trade." Vess explained as she sheathed her cleaver. "Fought with us a for a while before she left to escort Trevelyan to the forward camp. Which is were we need to be."
"Agreed." Cassandra said, but before she could continue, Varric had spoke up.
"Suppose you could use Bianca's help getting through the valley." He said aloud, specifically so that Cassandra woul hear it. He was given the exact response he was expecting.
"Not you." She said as she turned to him. "Your help here was appreciated, bu-"
"Are you really going to tell someone else to not fight?" Bram cut her off, slowly turning his head to her as he spoke. "How well did that work out a few minutes ago?"
While Varric's shifted to Bram, Cassandra lowered her head, and closed her eyes to suppress her anger. The party remained silent.
When Cassandra's eyes reopened, she scanned the area. The road she intended to take had been blocked by large stones and fallen trees, complimented with fire. Clearing it would take more time than they had. So she turned to the gap in the stone walls, that led out into a frozen body of water.
"We'll move through here." She said. And with her order, Vess moved to prepare the remaining guards for the journey. Solas and Varric were the first to clear the gap. Vess, the soldiers she commandeered and Bram left soon after.
Cassandra found herself in deep, but brief thought; what would she do with Bram, should he be successful in closing the Breach? While it seemed his "willingness" to help seemed genuine, time and again he has shown his contempt for the people he choose to serve. And she believed that, had her men not found him before he woke up, it was highly unlikely that they would've ever found him at all.
He would call his servitude forced, if asked. And he would not be wrong; If it came to it, she would have dragged his unconscious body to the Breach to suppress it, then executed him immediately after. Trevelyan's vouching for him was the only thing keeping her from considering that, or any other harsh judgement she could conjure.
She relented on this thought, however. It was not her intention to guess the psyche of a man she cared nothing of. This was a mystery she knew she was never going to solve.
"Ugh." She exclaimed, and pushed ahead.