"That's...a lot of darkspawn."
Nathaniel would have shot Anders a glare, but the man had a point, the darkspawn ahead was a small army...and that wasn't even counting the three monsters at the rear, probably capable of spewing out reinforcements if needed.
Hidden behind three low boulders the crouching group regarded their goal with what seemed to be mixed emotions.
Their guide, Sigrun, was grinning from ear to ear, eyes slightly narrowed, eager for vengeance and perhaps even death...who knew with a soldier from a group that called themselves the 'legion of the dead'? In contrast to her Lynn's face in the open visor was impassive and uncaring, calmly regarding the numbers arrayed against them, unworried by the danger they presented.
Anders, despite his chuckle and casual tone, looked worried, reminding Nathaniel that the man indeed was no fool...just as Nathaniel knew the mage understood that they might well all die before they even got close to their goal. With the rings under his eyes the mage looked gaunt and weary, his hair damp with sweat as he looked at the arrayed army with a feverish stare.
As for Velanna...Nathaniel glanced at the woman with a frown.
Ever since the elf had gone to get their Commander she had been quiet, of course she usually didn't speak that much unless you started the conversation with her...but this was a different sort, it was an oddly pressed quiet, sad even. Did something happen? Nathaniel hadn't pushed the issue, having the feeling that the woman wouldn't have told him anyway. Instead he endured the oddly sad silence, that even now, when faced with overwhelming odds, seemed to linger within the elf.
Nathaniel shook his head. I can focus on that later. Instead he looked back at their goal, at their obstacle.
If he jumped over the boulders they were hiding behind he would have found himself in a slope made of dark rocks and brown dust that was straight as an arrow down to a large chamber. The chamber itself had a domed ceiling of brown stone with streaks of silvery metal in it, if it was veins one could mine or reinforcements made by the darkspawn was impossible to tell. Most of the floor of the chamber was flat, like a large courtyard, but by the walls the floor rose into three mounds of now blight-covered rocks.
The courtyard was swarming with darkspawn though, a near hundred hurlocks just...standing there. Despite their feral nature they were standing in nearly orderly ranks. Their feet were constantly shuffling back and forth and they raised their weapons to strike at nothing at times, and growls constantly escaped them...yet they stood there, guarding.
Even without the creatures they guarded being there it was an unnerving sight.
But the creatures they guarded were there, and they were huge. With their torsos resting on large mounds of pink flesh they resembled three extremely obese dwarven women. But the thick tentacles sprouting from their backs were black with the blight. Their mouths, despite having the jagged teeth of a darkspawn, looked like sad grins with all the flesh of their face covering them, their pale eyes were the same, blighted yet...sad.
Nathaniel felt a mix of revulsion and sympathy at the sight of them. Is this what happens to all women they take? No, many probably die or we would have been overrun a long time ago. Death is probably preferable... He couldn't help but shoot Velanna a glance. I hope this is not the fate of your sister...and if the fight comes to the worst...I'll end it for you. The thought made his chest tighten, but he ignored it, knowing it would be the merciful thing to do.
As if sensing his thoughts the elf turned her head, though she still had some of that adorable haughtiness in the way she held her chin and the way her bright grey eyes regarded him...it was dampened now, sad perhaps...or maybe just thoughtful.
A moment passed as the elf cocked her head to the side, her mouth a thin line as she regarded him.
Then she slowly nodded...before turning to Lynn, after such a long time of her staying silent it was refreshing to hear her soft voice, despite the sad undertone in it. "What is the plan?"
Instead of the Commander Sigrun answered though, the dwarf's blue eyes afire, with her roundish face and dark hair in pigtails she almost looked like a child eager over a new toy. There was nothing childish about the reply though: "We go down there and kill them, or die trying."
Nathaniel blinked even as Anders managed a weary chuckle: "Oh yes, brilliant strategy there, you know that thing above your shoulders? It can be used for things other than head-butting..."
Sigrun answered his chuckle with one of her own, her lips parting in a wolfish grin as she regarded the opposition below. "I like head-butting."
"Yes well I'm not as eager to greet the Maker as you are, so just hold your horses or...whatever you dwarves use."
"Brontos?"
"Whatever."
Ignoring the banter Nathaniel turned to Lynn and repeated Velanna's question: "Commander, what's the plan?"
The elf frowned, a mere whisper escaping her lips. "We cannot win if we charge.." It wasn't a worried whisper, just a statement of fact, by the looks of her she seemed as ready to charge down as Sigrun, despite knowing what the outcome would be.
Velanna looked way, biting her lower lip, but Nathaniel forced himself to ignore the oddly timid behaviour of the other elf as he kept his focus on the Commander. "Then we don't charge them directly, victory is what's important."
Silence.
For a horrifying moment Nathaniel actually thought the elf would just rise up and charge the beasts, like some shining knight of the bardic tales. But then she nodded, cold eyes regarding the monsters below even as she spoke: "Agreed, we need a plan." A glance back, at Sigrun for some reason, the dwarf still busy with Nathaniel. "I saw a tavern a while back."
Nathaniel blinked. What use would an abandoned tavern be? And what did that have to do with the dwarf? "And?"
The cold eyes suddenly met his, making him shiver in some wordless disgust. "And I have a plan."
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The darkspawn hadn't moved.
They still stood there when the group returned, feral beasts held in a tight leash, wishing slaughter, yet holding.
They didn't see the liquid.
Most of the barrels they had found in the tavern were either smashed or empty, but the group had found two...which would be enough considering how big the dwarves made them.
As Nathaniel watched from his cover the content of the two barrels slowly moved down the slope, transparent and nearly invisible in the poor light. It was a slow but steady advance, sneaking its way down to the chamber below as Lynn and Sigrun slowly emptied the two barrels at the top of the slope, careful so as to not pour it too quickly, or to make themselves visible to the monsters below.
Standing slightly crouched Nathaniel had his bow in his hand, an arrow notched but not drawn, the thatch wound around it just behind the arrow-head covered in black tar that Nathaniel had only moments ago applied.
He was ready, narrowed eyes set on the creatures below, waiting for a reaction, ready to cover the group's retreat if their ploy was discovered too early.
No reaction came though, the darkspawn still stood there in the courtyard, growling at nothing, shuffling their feat, straining against whatever order that kept them from rushing forth and finding foes to slay.
Nathaniel wished he didn't know the feeling, his own yearning now a distant throbbing, not because it had gotten weaker, but because it had become part of him. Filthy creature's, we are nothing like them. He nearly growled at the though, but suppressed it. I hope killing the broodmother's will weaken this...urge.
The hurlocks didn't move, didn't react, not even when the liquid touched the foremost ones feet, their steel boots keeping them from feeling it clinging to them.
From above Nathaniel could see the pool shimmer as the light from the chamber was reflected in it, but the hurlocks were too close, in the wrong angle, and couldn't see it. Or perhaps they simply don't understand? Or care? The pool grew, expanded across the chamber's courtyard.
And there was no reaction.
Nathaniel watched, feeling his heart hammer against his chest, as the liquid finally reached the edge of the broodmothers only licking the edge of their fleshy body due to the slight raise they rested on.
Lynn's order came a second later: "Begin."
Suddenly feeling a jab of excitement Nathaniel turned to Velanna who was crouched down to his right and grinned at her as he inched his bow closer: "My lady, some fire if you will?"'
The elf blinked at him, then scoffed softly...before a small smirk stole its way to her lips, despite the slight glow of irritation in her eyes. "If you so desire..." She reached out with her left hand, slender fingers touching the thatch wound around the arrow...only to pull back as the tar caught fire from her minuscule spell. "Don't miss."
Nathaniel found himself smirking, surprising himself even as he shot Velanna a wink. "As you command, my lady."
Forcing himself to ignore the amusing sigh of the woman Nathaniel smoothly rose and drew his string back, making sure to stand in the light as much as possible, knowing the fire on his arrow would stand out all the more if he stayed in the shadows.
The darkspawn had yet to see him, and he didn't squander the opportunity to let loose his arrow so he could watch its descent.
A guttural hiss escaped one of the darkspawn as it spotted the arrow arching through the corridor towards the courtyard of the chamber, making the others look up, pale eyes narrowing as they saw the lone missile heading their way.
A hundred pair of eyes moved away from following the descending missile, following its route towards the top of the slope, towards the cover where a lone archer looked down at them as the others waited in tense silence.
A hundred pair of blighted eyes on him.
They roared as one, causing the caverns shake with their hatred, making Nathaniel's chest quake with a fear he barely thought himself capable of any more.
Then the arrow struck the ground.
A great whooshing sound washed away the roars of the hurlocks, the explosion of light blinding Nathaniel and making him raise his arm to his face as the fire rushed up the slope, nearly hitting him as well as the liquid reached the outer edge of the boulders they were taking cover behind.
Then the light diminished, the fire returning to the courtyard as the little alcohol clinging to the slope was quickly burnt off.
And with the receding of the fire came the shrieks.
The hurlocks were aflame, living balls of fire rushing up the slope, shrieking in agony even as they in mindless hatred scrambled to reach the group, pressing up against one another in an effort to squeeze through the small corridor leading upwards, some even hacking at each other in a mindless frenzy of animals near death.
"Velanna!" Barely had Lynn's order left her lips before a fireball hurtled down the slope.
Another great explosion of blinding fire, and the darkspawn were smashed backwards, the entire compressed group visibly buckling backwards, as if they were a mass of flesh punched by the exploding spell.
Behind them Nathaniel could see the broodmothers shrieking as well, their dark tentacles swinging in the air as the flames covering the courtyard licked their flesh.
He didn't have time to see how much damage that actually did though as his attention was drawn to Lynn and Sigrun rushing forth, the later with a great cry of hatred, the former silent.
They reached the reeling darkspawn at the same time, both leaping the final few feet and crashing into the foremost hurlocks, bowling them over and into the next. A second later their blades flashed in scything blows, felling a near dozen of the burning darkspawn within the blink of an eye. When their blades begun to burn, covered in the ethereal fire of Anders' spell, it only added to the carnage as they with great cleaving blows tore apart the burning darkspawn.
Drawing a fresh arrow Nathaniel loosed it over the heads of the two women, feeling a bit ineffective as he watched a solitary hurlock fall to the missile even as Lynn and Sigrun's weapons gutted and tore off limbs of their opponents, sending burning entrails and limbs rolling down the slope as the entire darkspawn army gave way. Many at the rear were already falling as the fire under their feet added to that already covering them, searing their flesh from their bones...rapidly diminishing the force between the group and the howling broodmothers.
Then he saw Velanna stand up as she with a concentrated frown and sweat dripping from her face, moved her arms above her head in an intricate pattern Nathaniel hadn't seen before. "Velanna! Don't! You're already tired!"
The elf ignored Anders protest as she with a low groan continued to move her arms, faster and faster. Nathaniel nearly rushed at her, only the fear of what would happen if he interrupted her mid-casting stopping him from bowling her over. Damn idiot woman!
A sigh and Velanna's shoulders dropped...
As the chamber below became a storm of fire, a whirlwind of fiery destruction that sucked up the fire of the floor, pulling it with it in a great force of an ethereal wind and slashing the three broodmothers with coils of fire, tearing into them with it, leaving scorched welts in them as they shrieked in agony.
Then she fell.
Nathaniel caught her, not having realised that he had dropped his bow and moved to get her.
Her face was relaxed, covered in smudge and sweat, mouth slightly open, slack...it made Nathaniel's heart jump in fright. No... Holding her back with his right hand his left reached out, feeling her throat, feeling for her pulse.
Nothing.
NO!
Then a single thump, barely pushing against her fingertips.
I...she's...Nathaniel found himself light-headed as his breathing hitched, staring at her as the healing light of Ander's spell enveloped her, making her hair glow like a halo even as he saw a slight twitch in her face, a minuscule cough escaping her even as Nathaniel felt the thump of her pulse return with more vigour.
Nathaniel found himself grinning, nearly laughing with relief. Bless that man...
"Nathaniel!" Looking up at the shout he found Lynn and Sigrun bodily tackling the remaining, and much weakened, darkspawn into the storm of fire of the courtyard, the slashing coils of fire tearing the already scorched creatures apart into ashen pieces.
Neither stopped though, they both leapt forward, onto the courtyard, into the fire, Anders healing spells glowing around the pair as they heedlessly rushed against the shrieking broodmothers.
I...no...focus. He gently placed Velanna onto the ground and pulled up his bow, drawing one of his special distraction arrows with a flourish.
Aim, loose.
The arrow streaked through the air, the whirling fire storm put it off course and set it afire But Nathaniel had taken that into account and the arrow only went a little off centre as it struck the leftmost broodmother in the face, the burning arrow shattering against its skull and spilling now glowing flakes of steel over its face.
It howled in equal parts pain and confusion.
Aim, loose.
Aim, loose.
Distracted the creature's tentacles uselessly swung at the air as Sigrun, her armour glowing with the white light of a healing spell, rushed up its bulbous body. A swing of her right axe took the creature in the throat as she, using the momentum of her run, swung herself over its shoulder and came to stand atop it.
A roar of hatred and the dwarf swung down at the skull of the broodmother. Another roar and she swung at it again. Again and again the swings came, tearing piece of sizzling flesh and burnt bones off the creature's skull as it with a howl tried to reach the dwarf atop it.
A grunt, nearly disappearing in the howls of the combat, and Sigrun rose up...and smashed her foot into the back of the creature's skull, forcing it forward, forcing its now opened skull further into the fiery storm.
A shriek, the tentacles rising high in pain...and then collapsing as the beast went still, sizzling brain-matter dripping out of its scorched skull.
Lynn's armour was glowing as well, but from the heat of the fire she had just rushed through. The elf didn't seem to care though as she, still burning, leapt at the howling broodmother to the right. A thrust of her sword smashed into its gaping maw, through its skull, the still burning blade sending scorched pieces of bone flying. She twisted the blade sideways, forcing the monster's head sideways with a loud crack even as her axe came swinging.
The broodmother's head came off in an explosion of blood, a dark rain of taint that sizzled and boiled as it landed on the Commander's red-hot armour.
"No!" Anders' sudden cry made Nathaniel whirl around, only to take a step back as he saw the sudden darkspawn reinforcement come at them from the rear they thought they had cleansed of enemies. There's hundreds of them! "Nathaniel! Get Velanna!" The mage cried out even as his staff struck the ground, making the ground between them and the horde of hurlocks and genlocks become slimy and green, sending the first two stepping upon it hurtling to the ground.
Nathaniel didn't need to be told twice. Grabbing a hold of Velanna's arm and waist he heaved her over his shoulders and jumped backwards, taking cover behind the boulders on the opposite side then before as he watched a dozen arrows blindly arch over the heads of the charging darkspawn struggling to cross the slime covering the ground.
We can't stop them...
Nathaniel went cold, his arms feeling distant as they moved to gently drop Velanna down behind the cover so that they could use his bow. It didn't feel real...
Sighing he drew an arrow and sent it into the skull of the foremost genlock, making it stumble into the ones behind it even as two hurlocks pressed past it. One of them fell to a cold spell of Anders, the other to a second arrow, but three genlocks pushed past the dead, grinning with victory even as a bolt of lightning and two more arrows felled them. And why shouldn't they grin? Even as those died four hurlocks pressed through, past the slime impeding them, at the two men.
Nathaniel sighed, looking down at the still unconscious Velanna with a painful jab of regret. This isn't right...it...I should have...I'm sorry.
Drawing a fresh arrow he took aim at her before closing his eyes.
I'm sorry.
"Hell no!" Anders cry made his eyes snap open and his head turn to watch the mage suddenly rush forth, staff held horizontally as the mage bodily crashed into the four hurlocks, taking them off guard and sending them tumbling back into the slime where they slipped and fell into those following them.
What the...?
Anders shot Nathaniel a glance, then Velanna, then shook his head with a scowl on his face. A scowl rapidly turning into a grin as he repeated: "Hell no!"
He charged.
The overhand slash of the staff struck a sword raised for a parry, only for the other end to quickly strike the parrying hurlock in the crotch, making it stumble back with a hiss.
A second later the two genlocks flanking it were atop the mage now in the centre of his own grease spell, their curved daggers flashing...and entering the mage's flanks.
He's...
Spewing blood Anders doubled over as the mass of darkspawn trudged through the grease, the hurlock closest to him kicking him in the face and dropping him on all fours.
Yet the man managed to cough. "I'm...free..." Anders looked up, his face a torn mess of blood and a hint of exposed bone beneath, his blood-filled mouth grinning at Nathaniel. His eyes became sad for a moment, lost in thoughts of someone else, then twinkled in amusement as they focused back on Nathaniel. "Love her."
Then ice erupted from his hands.
A howl escaped the nearest hurlock as the grease under its feet turned into ice, ice that rushed up its feet, its legs...then its entire body.
The ice spread, becoming part of the grease on the ground, catching the creatures marching over it in its grip, stopping them as they with pained howls looked down at their own bodies becoming frozen. The only one not screaming was Anders, the mage still grinning as the ice travelled up his arms and legs before reaching his torso...and continuing.
It didn't take long, but then the entire area was frozen, more then a dozen hurlocks and genlocks frozen into place, creating a wall of living ice blocking the path of the others. And at its centre...a completely frozen mage, still grinning, as if amused by the spectacle.
It was no use.
With a crash the darkspawn pushed through, swinging swords and maces crushing their own kin, tearing the frozen bodies apart in a frenzied need to kill those not of their own kind.
It's not fair...
Even as Nathaniel watched a massive hurlock wielding a great maul of dark steel swung, its head striking the frozen Anders between the shoulderblades. The man cracked, then broke, his upper torso breaking in two parts, his arms snapping at the wrists, his head smashing into the ground, shattering.
Strangely detached Nathaniel could only wonder at how bright the mage's blood seemed against the ice it was spilt over...
The darkspawn roared out in their victory, the horde crashing through the last of their frozen kin, their hatred washing over Nathaniel as he stood there, unable to do anything else, his mind blank. He should kill Velanna, make sure they couldn't get their hands on her...but the moment had passed, he couldn't bring himself to it, he could only stand there.
Stand there and wait.
The rage of the hurlock that had killed Anders burnt into Nathaniel, yet he remained cold as he watched the creature cross the final distance, the head of its maul smeared with bright red blood of the mage as it was pulled back for another swing.
I'm sorry...Velanna.
Then it stopped, the rage disappearing, turning into a pained howl of fear.
The entire horde stopped with the hurlock, dropping their weapons, howling as their talons reached up to rip at their own faces, wide eyes staring past Nathaniel, making him slowly turn and look down at the chamber below.
He watched Lynn leap from the dead broodmother and straight at the one survivor in the centre that had its thick tentacles wrapped around a struggling Sigrun. The tentacles not trying to crush the dwarf uselessly missed the living missile hurtling at the broodmother...which smashed sword first into its chest, stabbing the blade deep between its ribs.
The axe came down as well, a diagonal slash digging into the other side of the creature's chest as Lynn twisted her sword around within the wound, making the already severely bleeding and scorched broodmother cough in pain.
A wrenching sound from the chest of the broodmother, a hiss escaping the Commander...and the entire ribcage of the broodmother opened up like a flower, its dark ribs almost looking like spidery arms, ready to embrace the woman standing before it.
Lynn's weapons were still stuck in between the creature's ribs, but she didn't bother to wrench them free, instead her foot was pulled back...and then smashed into the opened chest of the broodmother with a crunch.
The broodmother died, its tentacles going limp and dropping Sigrun onto the floor.
And a new howl escaped the darkspawn before him.
Turning Nathaniel found the darkspawn screaming, clawed fingers boring into the their faces, tearing flesh from bone in a horrible display of grief and agony, as if they had just lost a loved one and a limb at the same time.
Maker save us...
A last scream escaped the horde...before they as one whirled about and ran back the way they came, scrambling over one another to escape, to leave whatever horror they were experiencing, many falling and being trampled to a bloody paste by the others that in blind panic continued to flee, oblivious to anything but their own fear.
Then there was silence.
And it was deafening.
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Thanks to Abydos Jackson for her eager aid.