Pride Before The Fall
Torph had no idea what the fuck they walked into. A guy had been screaming, some creepy ass mage and abominations had been torturing him, but before anybody could do or say anything, the creepy mage was blasted with a shard of ice. The shard of ice ripping right through his chest. The man began screaming, immediately stumbling away from the tortured man, as did the two abominations with him.
Myra marched up the last of the steps and into the large chamber, her face murderous.
"YOU'RE A DEAD MAN, ULDRED!" she bellowed.
Ciara and Lawrien threw her frightened looks.
"M-Myra-" Uldred coughed up a mouthful of blood, staring at her over his shoulder.
"Myra-" Wynne protested, but another shard of ice pierced straight through Uldred's head, and his lifeless body hit the floor with a sickening thud, blood splattering the ground. The tortured man scrambled back with a whimper, trying to go towards the bound mages in the corner of the chamber for protection.
"Myra!" Wynne looked horrified. "You can't just execute people like that-"
"And you're acting like an naive idiot!" Myra snapped. "Focus or you'll die."
Torph had to admit, he wasn't expecting the battle to end so quickly. He went to head towards the tied up mages in the corner to help them, but Myra raised her hand, halting him.
"It's not over yet," Myra said, her gaze dark, eyes locked on to Uldred's body.
"I think he's kinda dead, ice girl," Torph pointed out.
Uldred twitched.
Torph's jaw dropped at the sight. "Okay..." Torph muttered. "I spoke way too fucking soon... what a creepy fuck..."
"The subject has advanced healing spells?" Cobian asked.
Morrigan shook her head. "No, he's no longer mortal. That is a demon."
Wynne paled drastically.
"Fucking fantastic," Torph groaned.
Uldred sat up slowly, tearing the shards out of his face and chest, dropping them to the ground. His body was a bloodied, broken mess, but much to Torph's disgust, the wounds began to heal over, stitching themselves back together to form Uldred's face and chest again, healing him.
"Myra, Myra, Myra," Uldred tsked. "You were supposed to be the patient one. How do you think Irving would feel, seeing one of his star pupils, murdering someone without a single ounce of hesitation?"
"I don't really care about his opinion on the matter," Myra said.
Lawrien cracked her knuckles. "We're here to beat your face in, Uldred."
"The two Amell sisters," Uldred huffed, then eyed Ciara. "And their Templar pet-"
"Don't you call her that-" Lawrien growled warningly.
"Uldred, how could you do this?" Wynne cried out. "You've destroyed our home! Tortured your fellow mages-"
"Ah, Wynne, always ready to scold everyone. You never did see the bigger picture. I am torturing no one, I am merely setting them free."
Torph snorted. "And making them ugly as fuck. Poor sods."
"A mage is but a larval form! Your Chantry vilifies us. Calls us abominations. When it is simply reaching our full potential!"
"My Chantry?" Torph blinked. "I ain't religious, mate."
"I don't think he means you, duster," Narascha said.
"That's your full potential?" Alistair asked sceptically.
"You can't hear them screaming?" Lawrien bristled. "They won't stop screaming. Every single abomination I've killed ever since I got here won't stop screaming."
"Lawrien, why didn't you say something-" Ciara looked alarmed.
Myra's face darkened.
"They were denying themselves the pleasure of becoming something glorious! I can give you this gift too, make you stronger," Uldred purred.
Yeah, the fucker had no idea the painful ways everyone wanted to kill him with. That topic was actually still in debate too, now that Torph thought about it.
Fire and ice leapt across the chambers from Lawrien and Myra, slamming into him, but this time Uldred deflected them away with some kind of shield.
"You two are in such a rush-" Uldred began.
"You have gone mad, Uldred!" Wynne yelled. "There's nothing glorious about what you have become!"
Uldred's creepy as fuck giggle made Torph shiver. "Uldred? He is gone. I am Uldred and not Uldred. I am so much more than he ever was. I could give you this gift, Wynne. You and all mages, I could make you all strong. You cannot resist me forever, not even Irving could."
The old man in the corner jerked as he stood, it was clumsy though, like a puppet attached to string.
"Your little Amell girls are here, Irving!" Uldred cooed. "You shouldn't be rude. Come and greet them!"
"What have you done to him?" Wynne gasped.
"...St-Stop him..." Irving choked. "He... he is building an army-"
"You're a sly fox, Irving." Uldred interrupted, grinning madly. "Telling on me like that, and here I thought he was starting to turn. No matter, he will serve me soon, as will all of you-"
"Was that supposed to be a secret?" Cobian asked. "You were creating many abominations, but they are all dead after we tore through the Circle tower-"
"That does not matter-" Uldred snarled.
"And even all the demons should be dead now that were roaming these halls," Cobian continued. "And besides that, you planned to set a demon army out right now in Ferelden during a Blight? The darkspawn and Archdemon would swarm you-"
Torph paused at that. "Huh, yeah, you've got a point there, Cobian."
"Again, that does not-" Uldred tried.
"It could be perhaps that you have been possessed by Pride, so these idea do not matter as you believe you will surpass that through your talent alone," Cobian continued. "But the problem was that you did not take control of the strongest mage in this tower, in fact you probably took control of a weak willed man. Yes, he had been in the meeting during Ostagar, which was in fact impressive, considering Uldred would have had to have been appointed for that position, but he is also more of a manipulator rather than powerful in terms of strength-"
Torph was starting to lose track of this rant now. In fact he got so distracted that he almost missed when Sten and Narascha cut down the two abominations, startling Uldred.
"You-" Uldred growled.
A fire spear stabbed Uldred's gut during his distraction, and Uldred tore it out then transformed into a giant ass demon-
WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT THING?!
"Pride demon!" Myra yelled.
Epona's arrows struck at its eyes as she ran across the chamber, Leliana copying her from the other side of the chamber. The Pride demon sent a lightning whip crashing down at Epona, but she dodged it while Shale charged at the Pride demon's legs, throwing a punch into its knee. Torph stared blankly at it, having no idea what the fuck he could do in this situation.
Faren and Zevran looked equally as unsure as him.
"Either of you fought a demon this huge before?" Torph asked warily.
"Nope," Faren admitted.
"Not fought, but one time I bedded a man as big as he-" Zevran began.
"Bullshit," Torph scoffed.
"Would I lie to you?" Zevran grinned.
"Considering you told these guys you could apparently pick a lock, then yes, yes you would," Torph said.
Faren smothered a laugh, even as Zevran pouted.
"You wound me!" Zevran cried, but it was light with a mocking tone. "I thought we could have been friends, but I suppose dwarves and elves will forever be doomed to be enemies."
"Would you three hurry up and fight already?" Morrigan yelled at them. "Or I'll wound you!"
"What the heck are we supposed to do against that thing?" Torph asked.
"Throw Narascha at it?" Zevran offered.
"If I could pick her up I would," Torph admitted. "But I'm afraid she'll break my arms."
"I'm going to try jump on its back," Faren said, slipping away from their side. "Maybe I can stab an eye."
Torph blinked when he registered that. "What?"
Zevran looked just as concerned.
.:.
Narascha sliced her axe deep into Uldred's fist when he tried to grab her, and Myra froze one of his feet to the floor. Lawrien launched a fireball in his face, earning a pained snarl, but she yelled when a lightning whip struck her arm, sending her crashing to the floor. Narascha winced, Lawrien's arm had been torn open from that hit, but Myra's healing magic immediately ran over Lawrien, healing the wound, and Epona's arrow got Uldred's eye in that moment, earning a pained shriek.
Cobian struck in behind, stabbing the back of his knee, making the Pride demon buckle, as Alistair charged in. Unfortunately Uldred smacked Sten away with his free hand, who slammed right into Alistair, knocking them both to the ground. Cobian barely shielded them in time from being crushed by Uldred's fist with his Cousland shield-
Did it just gleam like there was an enchantment on it?
Narascha shook off the thought. Not the time, but that was interesting.
A bolt of fire launched at Morrigan and Torph, the pair scrambling aside with curses, and Narascha herself barely avoided being blasted by frost. Epona ducked behind some crates when more fire blasted down towards her this time, but Leliana laid down some cover fire for her with her arrows. That was until some kind of crushing force slammed into her, throwing her away.
Then some other kind of crushing forced wrapped around Alistair, and Narascha swore she saw his armour beginning to dent-
Ciara's dagger plunged into Uldred's eye, startling him, and he released Alistair instantly from the crushing grip as Uldred roared. She ran around Uldred who tried to swat her away, but she dodged his hand and plunged her daggers into his thighs, cutting through them and narrowly dodged another fire bolt by sliding between his legs, back to Lawrien's side.
Lawrien who raised her hand. Narascha tried to see what she was up to, only to hear Ciara inhale sharply. Narascha followed her gaze and felt her jaw drop. Lawrien's glyph threw Faren up into the air behind Uldred. Uldred hadn't noticed, nor had he noticed Faren's fancy dagger sparking with lightning.
"Lawrien!" Ciara scolded, horrified.
Narascha paled. If he fell from that height he would surely break something, if not his neck!
"I'll catch him!" Lawrien winced.
"YOU DID NOT JUST THROW HIM!" Epona screeched.
Lawrien winced again, throwing them a panicked look. "I'll catch him!"
Faren spun in the air, and much to Narascha's surprise the spin actually gave him some force on the way down. He cut deep into the back of the Pride demon's head, earning a howl of pain as lightning sparked throughout its entire body. Huh, guessed it worked differently within the body than outside it even for a demon that uses lightning. Uldred batted a hand towards Faren, but Lawrien's glyph appeared below Faren's feet and threw him back out of the way.
"You're not giving yourself enough time to catch him, Lawrien!" Myra yelled and waved a hand, creating a slide of ice that thankfully brought Faren down back safely.
"Oops!" Lawrien laughed.
"ARE YOU NUTS?!" Alistair screamed.
"Momentum-" Cobian brightened.
"NO!" Alistair yelled.
"That was amazing!" Faren cheered.
"NO!" Epona and Alistair both screamed.
"Well done, kid!" Torph smirked and launched a bomb at Uldred's head.
It exploded right in his face, sending the Pride demon stumbling back. Myra froze the ground beneath its feet, forcing it back even further towards the window. Narascha charged forward with a battle cry, roaring at the top of her lungs as she launched herself at the demon. Sten and Shale right behind her. They hammered at the Pride demon, driving him further and further back towards the window.
Yes, apart of her thought gleefully.
A familiar glyth appeared beneath Uldred's feet, and Narascha grinned when she saw Lawrien pushing against an invisible force hard, her teeth gritted and feet planted. Uldred finally stumbled back, off balance, and Narascha, Sten and Shale leapt back when Torph yelled at them to move. Narascha saw him next to Epona, who notched her new arrow, and aimed it right at Uldred.
"Get back quick!" Torph yelled. "She's gonna blow!"
Narascha threw herself back, and screamed when Epona's arrow went flying and exploded right in Uldred's face. Narascha swore that explosion actually rocked right through her bones and made the tower tremble, just as glass shattered behind them. Narascha winced when Sten landed on top of her with a pained grunt of his own. Narascha sat up when the explosion had ended, peering beneath Sten's arm, as the Pride demon began to fall out the window.
"YES!" Narascha cheered, as Uldred kept falling, then disappeared over the ledge. "We actually through him out the window! Thank the Ancestors!"
"Is he really dead?" Wynne frowned, moving towards the window and peering out of it.
"I would hope so," Myra sighed. "It was quite the fall."
Lawrien however looked so disappointed. "I didn't even get to set him on fire!"
Narascha joined them at the ledge, Torph and Epona hurrying over to their side with Faren and Zevran. They all looked down at the giant unmoving form lying there, bleeding heavily into the ground.
"You do have some good ideas, Princess." Torph grinned. "Throwing that fucker out the window was so cool."
Lawrien peered over their shoulders and laughed. "Okay, you were right, Narascha. Throwing him out the window was great."
Cobian had Alistair's arm over his shoulder as they walked over, everyone else slowly joining them.
"I can't believe he actually fell," Alistair said weakly, wincing. "I swear my bruises have bruises after I was crushed like that..."
"That did look awfully painful." Ciara winced.
Thankfully Myra was already tending to him as Wynne went to Irving's side to free him. Lawrien watched them, frowning. Narascha supposed they all had a lot to talk about after what they found in Irving's study.