HUMAN
“ self-fulling prophecy of endless possibility. ”
|
Post by GABRIEL CAZAL on May 9, 2014 13:43:40 GMT
It was amazing how the lingering remnants of unfathomable corruption could make somehow make the Deep Roads even creepier. Gabriel knows he doesn't scare easy; he's no green recruit, and a decade of trawling these tunnels has hardened him to most of what the darkspawn can spit out.
He's also not stupid. Even if whatever was once here is gone, whatever it was, the echoes it left in this place reverberate still, in both taint and magic alike. Gabriel can feel the press of corruption over his senses, like a blindfold muffling his sight, his movement. He can still feel the movement and swarm of individual darkspawn somewhere in the distance, as always, but they feel overshadowed by a lingering shadow. Something gone but not forgotten.
The magical imprint is worse. Beneath the eyepatch, his eye socket is on fire, burning and shrieking in alarm. Gabriel ignores the distraction, but he can't ignore the oil-slick trace of magic that lies over everything he can feel down here. The slithering trail of some primeval beast. Wounded, perhaps, as it dragged itself out, but not dead. And growing stronger.
He's going to give himself the jumps if he keeps on like this. Gabriel pushes his thoughts aside and raises one hand, watching flames flicker and dance on the tips of his fingers, throwing shadows on the wall.
He's supposed to be meeting some Ferelden Warden for investigations. It seems like a waste of time, overall. If he's doing recon, he'd rather do it on his own. If he has to work with a Ferelden Warden, the only ones that seemed useful are all mysteriously unavailable. And to be honest, after the last alleged doglord Warden, this one is probably some street urchin who found a tunic with a griffon on it and decided the Deep Roads were a kinder fate than the slums of Val Royeaux.
LAIKA OF GS! |
|
|
Post by alya karimi on May 9, 2014 14:23:18 GMT
island soul of me cast off to cross the ocean
ah, the world is so big!  if gabriel is carrying some really unusual expectations into the vimmark mountains, then he's about to be either incredibly disappointed or a little too sober for whatever's about to unravel in the next five minutes. alya is practically bouncing up the steps on her way to meet this orlesian warden. an orlesian warden. she's heard the stories, and alya is more than a little eager to find out if they are true. surely the westerly wardens don't really rub shriek livers onto their ankles for good luck? that sounds like something that zelda would say. and of course, alya has been reprimanded by her predecessor about souring relations with their allies for the sake of some silly questions. she actually squeals a little when she sees a man in a set of warden robes come into view. alya runs towards him and grabs his hand so that she can shake it vigorously. "i'm pleased to meet you, gabriel cazal!! oooh, do you think i could call you gabriel?" she spits out the words like rapidfire, and not out of nervousness either. five thousand words a second seemed to be her natural pace, which is probably why one of the rogue wardens came up to her one day and begged her to let him teach her a few hand signals for use on the battlefield.
"my name is alya karimi, warden-constable of ferelden!! you can call me alya if you want!!" her voice carries through the tunnels. hell yeah, she can feel the edges of the taint as well as any other warden, but they're not far in enough for her to really care if a few stragglers come their way. "i'm really glad to meet you!! you speak the trade tongue, right? my orlesian is kind of piss poor, sorry!! maker, please tell me that i don't have to embarrass myself with my orlesian!"
because she's not embarrassing herself right now, not at all. GABRIEL CAZAL LAIKA OF GS! |
|
HUMAN
“ self-fulling prophecy of endless possibility. ”
|
Post by GABRIEL CAZAL on May 9, 2014 15:29:55 GMT
The fire in Gabriel's other hand flares white-hot for a moment before extinguishing as the elf bounds out of nowhere and yanks him in for a handshake. She's babbling on about something, and it takes him a moment or two to parse the quicksilver flow of trade tongue into something he understands.
Fereldans. They have no subtlety at all.
"I'm so sorry," Gabriel says in Orlesian. "I have no idea what you're saying. There seems to be a communication barrier."
He glances at his leather-gloved hand, still lying like a dead fish in her grip, and sighs, giving in and shaking her hand.
"Are you the Ferelden Warden sent to accompany me?"
LAIKA OF GS! |
|
|
Post by alya karimi on May 9, 2014 15:58:10 GMT
island soul of me cast off to cross the ocean
ah, the world is so big! if alya's hope was like a forest fire, then gabriel had just reduced it to little more than a candle flame at their current predicament. she is almost half-tempted to invoke fen'harel's name. "please...magically speak the trade tongue...please..." it's probably the closest that gabriel will get to seeing a warden officer beg. he better enjoy it. he's not...he's not speaking the trade tongue... the warden-constable takes a deep breath and resigns to her fate. she switches to some really muddled language that could probably be constructed as orlesian lexically, but that might have been a tad generous considering that the common tongue is what alya is using as a base. "greyed...warden. warden of grey. greys?" is this the part where she has to make it plural? does she prioritize the individual or the status of an organization? "greyed constable warden for ferelden." thank god she had asked how to pronounce her own rank, at least. "kill poisoned larvae in cave as two. work as one. you ... have been named gabriel cazal?"even alya has to confess that orlesian grammar is a bit odd, but maybe it sounded better on the other end. GABRIEL CAZAL LAIKA OF GS! |
|
HUMAN
“ self-fulling prophecy of endless possibility. ”
|
Post by GABRIEL CAZAL on May 11, 2014 3:49:40 GMT
Gabriel doesn't bother hiding his full body shudder as the Warden-Constable begins speaking. If you can call what she's doing to the Orlesian langauge speaking it. Butchering, maybe.
He's strictly unsympathetic. Children speak Orlesian! Fluently! She has no excuse, especially if she's managed to claw her way into whatever passes for a position of authority in Ferelden. But he does slow his speech noticeably when he answers.
"Sure," he says. "You lead on. Kill away, glorious warrior. I'll just trace the deadly ancient magic and do my research."
He steps back and talks with his hands, gesturing for her to advance in front of him. He even mimes unsheathing a sword and hacking away with it, although his lack of an actual sword makes the charade game a bit difficult to pull off. He thinks he got it down though. How many ways can you hack something with a bit of metal anyway.
LAIKA OF GS! |
|
|
Post by alya karimi on May 11, 2014 6:47:09 GMT
island soul of me cast off to cross the ocean
ah, the world is so big! alya winces a little. that bad, huh? she pats him on the shoulder gently, as if that would possibly make up for her misguided attempts at orlesian. she strains herself to try to differentiate the individual words in gabriel's string of speech. the dalish never taught her to pander to the different human languages from other lands, and the fereldens certainly did not teach her to pander to the orlesians. really, it's like an alternate universe england and france. whatever the situation, the other warden's words sound enough like an affirmation for alya to start grinning again. she even giggles a little at his charades. she may be formally trained to kill things with a sword, but that didn't mean that she didn't find his attempts endearing. "that's sooo cute! it's really too bad that you don't speak the trade tongue! but we can still be friends!" her assumptions about his inability to comprehend her make her a little braver than she should be. alya practically skips her way in the direction of the darkspawn nest, hopping along the steps and skirting around the small pieces of debris on the way, her armor clanking with her movements. "oh man, i'm really glad that you turned out to be an okay guy! all my subordinates were telling me about how weird orlesians are." she speaks in her usual rapidfire common tongue. the mage may not have been able to understand her, but it still felt like they were being sociable, even if alya is the only one talking. awkward silence would be even worse! "i mean, yeah it's kinda odd that your knights hold annual oil wrestling contests and all, but not even your wardens would be silly enough to be rubbing shriek livers against their ankles for good luck!"hey, it's a step up from the days when the dalish elders would be telling alya about how humans stole disobedient elf children from their tents to boil in stews. they come up to a clearing, and a genlock is the first creature that they meet. alya charges in and bashes in the creature's head with a pommel strike before striving to cleave its head off. it's a lot easier than trying to get through all that armor, at any rate. "behind me! sit, gabriel!" she really meant stay behind her, but that becomes a little lost in translation. as far as she's concerned, mages have no place at the very front of the carnage. or what should be a carnage, anyway. where are all the other darkspawn- her question is answered when arrows come flying her way. alya makes short work out of the genlock before striving to block most of the arrows with her constable armor. if the genlock is finally oriented enough to attempt shaking alya off, it certainly wasn't anymore after alya forces her entire weight onto her greatsword, the rotten flesh giving away to well-forged metal. blood splays all over her armor, but she knows that there is more to come. GABRIEL CAZAL LAIKA OF GS! |
|
HUMAN
“ self-fulling prophecy of endless possibility. ”
|
Post by GABRIEL CAZAL on May 12, 2014 16:23:57 GMT
She talks like clockwork. Relentless, pressing forward, a word for every moment. He wonders if she remembers they're supposed to be on a recon mission.
He wonders if they sent the mission report to her in Orlesian. If they did, she probably doesn't know why they are here at all. Gabriel listens to her with one ear, a chattering background hum, constant against the faint overlay of mana he's tracing. Something that was here. Something that was here, and now is not, but where?
Gabriel is very, very good. He is not accustomed to failure. He dislikes the sense of this magic, the latent humor he can feel curling from it. The smug superiority. The only disdain he appreciates is his own.
The Warden-Constable's hum is interrupted by new sounds: metal on metal, the crimson hue of darkspawn cries. Gabriel wrenches himself away from the snake of magic, annoyed with himself, with the darkspawn, with this game. She dispatches a grenlock, and a hail of arrows curves like a cresting wave towards the two of them.
He twists the air, uses telekinetic burst to send the arrows directed towards him skidding through the air, dead wood rippling to shreds under the wave of force. The row of hurlocks facing them puts down their crossbows and reach for their blades. Ugly, jagged things, darkspawn blades. You'd think they wouldn't want such ripping edges--it must tense the meat something awful, but they do. Gabriel doesn't wonder about how they were forged.
He strides forward, waves a hand to send a line of flame rippling along the edge of Alya's greatsword courtesy of flaming weapons, and then slams his hands together in a knotted fist. Two of the hurlocks stampede towards him. Perhaps they learned that the men in cloth and light leather are easy prey if you can get close enough. And look--this one doesn't even carry a staff.
More pity them. His hands spread, palm-up, as if in supplication. They don't hesitate, and flame blast roasts them, blackens skin and peels muscle from bone. This meat is inedible.
LAIKA OF GS! |
|
|
Post by alya karimi on May 12, 2014 18:58:38 GMT
island soul of me cast off to cross the ocean
ah, the world is so big! he really doesn't give her very much credit. she has her own translator okay!! alya winces when the darkspawn charged towards gabriel. "sorry!" aw damn, that really shouldn't be happening. she abandons the corpse to run towards the other line of enemies before gabriel roasts them like overcooked steak. huh - it seemed like the orlesians sent someone really decent after all. she looks down at her sword to see fire licking the edges of her blade. andraste's knickers, that's cool. alya grins from ear to ear. she could certainly get used to this. she pivots on her foot just as a genlock rogue is about to catch her in the back, using the momentum to cleave through its midsection. her weapon is heavy, but killing things with it isn't so bad when the enemy is disoriented or recovering from a burn. bash, stab, and repeat. her wide arcs are kind of crude, but her righteous strike prevents the fight from being too unpredictable. she's the victim of some pretty near misses and yeah that dagger kind of hurt, but even the darkspawn find it a little hard to ignore the elf that's prodding a flaming greatsword into their insides. just a little. a chain lightning comes at them. an emissary, here? alya doesn't intend to become a beacon for the attack to latch onto her ally. she rushes in and takes the attack by herself, grunting as the electricity passes. annulment helps with that. "that kinda hurt!" she charges towards the emissary with something akin to excitement. alya silences the general before drawing her blade back. perhaps in another verse, she might have been a little disturbed at her eagerness to cut into something that can't fight back. in thedas, she simply doesn't think about caring. GABRIEL CAZAL LAIKA OF GS! |
|
HUMAN
“ self-fulling prophecy of endless possibility. ”
|
Post by GABRIEL CAZAL on May 13, 2014 4:03:56 GMT
She raises her blade and Gabriel flows forward, calling the flame back from her sword effortlessly.
"Stop!" he cries out in trade tongue, his game set aside in favor of his mission. Let them say what they say; he gets the job done. "I need that one alive. I need to see if it will talk. If it can talk."
Even as he speaks, he grounds the emissary with pull of the abyss, a vortex that turns the area the darkspawn is in to a different, slower world. It struggles feebly, futilely, against the spell for a few more seconds, and Gabriel readies a fireball in his right hand, smiling at it.
"Are you one of those fancy new speaking darkspawn? I really hope you are."
It glares at him with cunning eyes, with intelligent hatred, but remains mute. LAIKA OF GS! |
|
|
Post by alya karimi on May 13, 2014 14:46:45 GMT
island soul of me cast off to cross the ocean
ah, the world is so big! with considerable strength, alya stops the blade a few inches from the emissary's neck. okay, that hurt, but she doesn't think that she's pulled anything. that's not what's important. what's important is that this asshole has been playing her for a fool. "you speak the trade tongue--!" she does not keep her eyes off the darkspawn - alya is no amateur. "seriously? you're a lot easier on the darkspawn than you are on your own comrades?" she does her best to sound offended, except she probably sounded more like an offended five year old than a warden officer. nevertheless, alya is cooperative. hence why she actually got promoted. she lays another blanket of silence on the restrained darkspawn for gabriel's benefit. "you've got about half a minute, guaranteed."oh, and there comes another volley of arrows from a corner. alya dashes over with her greatsword, grunting. "enjoy your date!"GABRIEL CAZAL LAIKA OF GS! |
|
HUMAN
“ self-fulling prophecy of endless possibility. ”
|
Post by GABRIEL CAZAL on May 14, 2014 1:09:01 GMT
"Of course I speak the trade tongue," Gabriel snaps back. "I speak three languages fluently. Who would send someone on a mission where they don't speak the other person's language?"
Not that it matters now. She runs off to take care of whatever else is trying to kill them at this particular moment and leaves Gabriel alone. With his date. Lovely. He does perform the basic courtesy of reactivating flaming weapons for Alya though. He's a good guy. Kind of maybe in the right light.
The emissary kept those almost human eyes on him and Gabriel realized he'd known the answer even before he started.
"You're close," he says. "You're close but you aren't all the way there. If you were, you wouldn't be out here, would you? You wouldn't be expendable."
Its gaze didn't flicker. He sighs and pushes his hand against the emissary's chest. Flames lick at the cloth, the flesh beneath. He's glad for the leather over his fingers, keeping him from touching the darkspawn proper.
"Talk," he said one last time. A formality. Both of them were silent.
The fireball ripped through the emissary's torso, incinerating it. Gabriel could feel the wave of heat pass over him, blow his hair back. He shut his good eye against the sudden dryness of the air, and then turned to face whatever the Warden-Constable was dealing with, the burnt husk of the darkspawn's body collapsing onto the ground behind him. LAIKA OF GS! |
|
|
Post by alya karimi on May 15, 2014 0:18:22 GMT
island soul of me cast off to cross the ocean
ah, the world is so big!
"oh, i don't know. me, maybe?" there weren't many officers who were highly ranked enough to give her assignments, after all. no one except... the warden commander. alya winces and hopes that the commander is doing alright without her. she had been a willing volunteer, and not even gabriel's barbed comments will deter her from making the necessary decisions. okay, the flaming weapons are still cool as hell. she is going to pretend to be too busy to thank him right now. which isn't far from the truth, she thinks as she hacks off a warrior's head. gabriel's words catch her off guard for a moment. alya had joined the grey wardens back when the blight was only just over. back when darkspwan emissaries were a lot more common. that is why she decided to become a templar in the first place, isn't it? the presence of the emissary had not struck her as odd at all. the year is now 9:40 dragon, and these assumptions are a lot more likely to get them killed. as if on cue, several magical bombs in the ceiling explode as the emissary dies. the ceiling begins to fall in, starting from the center. creator's breath-- her first instinct is to get the other warden out of here. alya sheathes her greatsword and runs in the mage's direction, intending to shove him towards the corridor on the north side, away from the falling brick. the exit may have been in the opposite direction, but alya wasn't looking to save only herself. GABRIEL CAZAL LAIKA OF GS! |
|
HUMAN
“ self-fulling prophecy of endless possibility. ”
|
Post by GABRIEL CAZAL on May 15, 2014 18:39:02 GMT
Gabriel was quite content to let Alya shove him to safety. She was physically stronger, anyway, and while he was fairly certain he could keep a collapsing cavern roof off himself, why go through the effort when there was someone willing to save him? That was what warriors were for. Hauling people around and hitting things very hard.
When they were safe, he closed his eyes, concentrating.
"Well," he said. "Now that the darkspawn have started trying to kill us on purpose instead of just killing us because we happen to be there, that's a good sign that we're going in the right direction."
The emissary's magic had overlaid the fainter, older trace to an extent. He took a moment to pick the trail back up, and then cracked his visible eye open to glance at Karimi.
"Are you ready to go on, or would you like to take a nap? Lunch break? Sword sharpening time-out?" LAIKA OF GS! |
|
|
Post by alya karimi on May 16, 2014 17:06:42 GMT
island soul of me cast off to cross the ocean
ah, the world is so big! if he was content to be physically shoved by alya, then it meant that he was also fine with the fact that he's probably lying on his back with the other warden on top of him, since she wasn't really thinking of anything but getting the both of them to safety. alya decides to feel a little bad about it, but not for long since a bit of dirt on his robes probably won't kill gabriel. not like collapsing stones will. okay yeah but if they're ambushed by the darkspawn again, lying there certainly will kill them. alya coughs as she gets back up, offering a hand to gabriel. "nah, i'm good" alya seems to have selective hearing for when she is being mocked, and she's perfectly content to let it have free reign where little shits are concerned. "just don't be walking us into another trap, i guess."GABRIEL CAZAL LAIKA OF GS! |
|
HUMAN
“ self-fulling prophecy of endless possibility. ”
|
Post by GABRIEL CAZAL on May 17, 2014 13:49:22 GMT
Gabriel rolled to his feet and brushed some dirt off his robes, more for something to do than any actual displeasure with it being there.
"Try not to go running off into the middle of a pack of darkspawn next time then," he said. "You have the unfortunate flaw of not being a mage, which means you actually have to get close to things to kill them. I don't. Next time there's a large wide open expanse filled with enemies, just let me charbroil them from a distance rather than haring in on your own. It'll bruise your pride, maybe, but when the rocks start to fall we won't be under them."
He hadn't enjoyed "sit, Gabriel" very much.
Seizing a direction seemingly at random, he began walking away.
"What did they tell you we were down here for, anyway?" LAIKA OF GS! |
|
