The Bright Water was fairly aptly named. As the Inquisition's small party approached it from the northwest, they could see moonlight reflecting off the surface of Lake Calenhad beyond, like a silvered mirror. They'd docked Riptide several miles up, to avoid spooking the Venatori, and now approached on foot, moving neither especially quietly nor in such a way as to make a production of their presence. Arguably they would have found actual stealth impossible, particularly considering that Asala was here. Khari knew she was next up on the list of not being able to keep it down, but the gap was more like a gulf, if she did say so herself.
They hadn't passed much of interest so farâjust farmland, crops ripening that last touch before harvest, some of the leaves on ears of corn beginning to turn brown at the edges. This far south and at this time of night, the air was a little chilly; Khari was glad of her cloak, to be sure. A few times throughout the trek, she'd gotten the distinct sense that she was being observed, but none of the bastards had shown themselves, so she'd done her best to ignore it and keep moving.
But now they could see the inn ahead; it was a comfortably-sized building, two stories tall, sitting on a well-tended plot of land. Warm light poured from the windows, golden illumination pooling onto the surrounding lawn. She could make out smoke wafting regularly from the chimney, sure signs of a fire working to stave off the chill. In her traveling days, she'd have bypassed it, uncertain she'd be able to afford a room and too prideful to make any attempt to plead the fee down. She supposed that, with the Inquisition salary she got pretty regularly and never had much use for, that probably wouldn't be an issue anymore, but they weren't here for any purpose so mundane as staying the night and eating a hot meal. Much as she would have preferred that to what they were doing.
She stopped a good fifty yards from the building, turning over her shoulder to glance at the others. âSo... are we just going in, or...?"
"In a moment." Rom was never the most talkative sort, but he'd been especially quiet on their way over, for the obvious reasons. He hadn't drawn up his hood or done anything else to conceal who and what he was. In the darkness a faint green light was usually visible emanating from his marked hand. None of the others needed to disguise themselves either, or hide the fact that they were ready for a fight. If anything, it might help warn the civilians in the area that they should avoid them. Trouble had a way of following them after all.
Rom took several moments to observe the inn, the surrounding area, the lakeside, the narrow extending a short ways out into it. Only big enough for a rowboat or something slightly larger. It wasn't clear what exactly he was looking for, or trying to read on the ground. Looking for signs of the Venatori, maybe. If he found any, he didn't comment on them. "I don't see where the Venatori would be hiding," he said, finally. "At least, not in numbers capable of ambushing us. They're probably inside already. Which means they're almost certainly disguised, trying to blend in." That wasn't a trick they'd seen before. The Venatori were usually pretty obvious with their bright white robes and obnoxiously pointy armor. And if they were mages, they didn't need to conceal weapons on their persons to be highly dangerous.
Leon considered this for a moment, crossing his arms and studying the building from afar. "The only other place I can think they might be would be the roof, counting on easy access through windows, or the upper floor, where they might need less by way of disguise, but both are less likely options." He glanced once at Khari, then back to the inn. "I think our best chance of figuring out who is whom is being proactive. Doing something that would make a trained Venatori agent react differently from a normal civilian. That would allow us to isolate and neutralize them while keeping the others out of harm's way."
He hummed. "If there were a way to draw them outside, that would be best, but I'm not convinced they wouldn't startle and kill Chryseis if we tried. So it will probably have to be once we're already in."
âWhy not just kick the door down and force it?" Khari shrugged. âI mean, look: we do something really startling. Venatori react like they're trained to do, which is going for their magic or weapons. Civilians cower, or find cover, or whatever. We know who's who. Asala jumps in first, throws the best barrier she's got on Chryseis, and then we all get down to business. If we start the fight on our terms, we're most likely to end it that way, too. I don't like the idea of letting them strike at us first, and we're not out-subtling anyone as we are, in this group. We know what needs to happen, so let's just do it."
"If I might suggest a slight amendment," Leon offered, "the door will be drawing the initial attention, and whoever is first through it should be able to handle that. If Asala is shielding Chryseis, she is not shielding herself immediately." He glanced between them. "Better if some of us go in through the windows on the ground floor. I should likely handle the door, and the immediate retaliation that would result." He paused, his attention shifting to Rom. "And it might be better to know which windows go where, and where Chryseis actually is, before we kick over the hornet's nest."
"It would help," Asala added, repeatedly steepling her fingers together. A nervous twitch undoubtedly, "If we knew where she was before we entered," she agreed with Leon. "It would, uh, save me the time it would take trying to find her over the ruckus," she said with a shrug.
"Right," Rom said, tapping his knuckles lightly against Zee's forearm. "Think you can scout the place out for us? A few passes around the outside. Try not to be seen, but probably better to play it casual than full on sneak." It was likely a few people were already outside of the inn, on one side or the other. There would be no easy way to tell their intentions, or if they'd inadvertently tip off the Venatori if they reported it inside. Zee's appearance was also a little more subtle than Rom's, even avoiding taking the glowing hand into consideration.
Zahraâs eyes tore away from the building ahead of them and though her grin was a shade grimmer than usual, she stuck up her thumb and ambled away from them. Fortunately, she didnât look too out of place here. It was an inn, and to anyone who spotted her, she may have well passed for a traveler. Just another face. A drunkard to anyone else lingering on the innâs outskirts; they knew well enough she was an admirable actress.
She tugged her dark cloak tighter around her neck and headed towards the back of the building. There was another sound aside from her footsteps. A greeting of sorts. Slurred. Most assuredly hers. A mumbled response. Clearly uninterested. Nothing more. A moment later, and she reappeared at the opposing side of the building. She rounded back to Româs side, and regarded the others, âChryseis is alone, sitting between two of the lakeside windows. Once we drop in there, weâd be swimming.â She paused for a moment and shuttered her eyes closed, âNorthernmost is another window. Itâs closest to the stairwell. Whoever goes through there will take a little longer to get to her. Thereâs more windows on the west wall. Bedrooms, and the hallway. The last one is in the south. Someone left it open a wee bit. Smells good. Good chance itâs the kitchen.â
There was a pull to her expression; as if she was unsure. She bobbed her head in a nod and reopened her eyes, âThereâs a lot of bodies in there. This innâs popular. Farmers mostly, I think. But⊠if youâre right, and theyâre disguised, itâll be hard telling whoâs who.â
âProbably best to draw the attention away from her." Khari figured that Asala could shield from outside if she could see herâaccording to Stel, she'd used barriers from behind a hedge before, so it'd be a similar principle. If everyone else was climbing in through windows other than those ones, any Venatori in the room would have to divide their attention. And the possibility of giving themselves away increased. âIf Leon's going through the door and Asala's shielding from lakeside... then I guess we all go in a different way. I'll take the kitchen." She did best when making a fuss, not trying to avoid one. Might as well give the Venatori something else to worry about so they didn't all gang up on Leon for too long.
"I'll go in from the lakeside," Rom offered. With Asala shielding from the other window there, that side was covered. "That leaves the north window for Zee. Should give you a better view of what's happening, and you'll be the first to meet anyone coming down the stairs. I'm willing to guess most civilians will stay in their rooms if they hear this kind of noise, so be wary of anyone you see." He took a deep breath, cracking his knuckles. "Ready?"
Khari glanced at the others; everyone seemed to be in agreement. âReady."
They split up, then, everyone taking up their positions. Khari kept low and moved to the window Zee had picked out as belonging to the kitchen. It did smell really nice. She'd have to do her best not to mess anything up on her way into the main room, but she did still intend to cause a commotion, since she'd probably reach the fight quicker than anyone but Leon did. Assuming he managed to start one. But Leon knew what he was doingâif anyone could force the Venatori to reveal themselves, it was him.
Loosening her sword a bit in the sheath at her back, Khari placed both palms on the windowsill, counting her breaths as the cooks moved about busily inside. Elves, most of them, all intent on bubbling pots or kitchen knives and vegetables. She kept to the side a bit to avoid spoiling things too early; the knight wasn't getting in on this assault until the bishop had initiated.
And he certainly initiated; it didn't take too long for her to hear a bang, followed by a splintering crack right on its heels, then another bang, probably as the broken door slammed back against the wall or maybe the floor. Several shouts followed, many pitched high with urgency and surprise, and the hissing sizzle of magic fire being conjured.
There was no better cue than thatâKhari swung herself up and over the window-ledge and into the kitchen. It took a few seconds for anyone to even notice; all the cooks' eyes had swung to the door leading into the main part of the inn. "What's goingâgah!" The speaker, an elven woman probably about Khari's own age, noticed her only partway through the sentence, and suddenly the room's attention had whiplashed back to her.
âI'd stay here if I were you. Better yet, go out that window. This could get ugly." Grinning, she reached back over her shoulder to unsheathe her blade, heading for the door as she did. The kitchen staff scurried to get out of her way, a few of them already heading for the window to take her advice, no doubt.
Pushing open the door, Khari emerged almost directly behind a man with sparks of lightning shifting between his fingers. From the fact that he was neither ducked nor covered, and looked to be aiming at Leon, she decided he was one of the Venatori. Her sword found his ribcage accordingly, erupting from his chest. Khari whistled sharply, drawing more hostile attention, and planted her boot in the mage's back, pushing him off her sword and fixing a bright green glare on the next, flourishing her sword and falling into a crouch, grin firmly in place. âWanna dance?"
He did not want to dance, unless throwing a wide cone of flames in her direction could be considered as such. It was a delaying tactic, and one meant to cause more chaos than anything. The entire room had fallen into almost instant anarchy, as the patrons were temporarily at a loss as to what to do, and where to go. The main door was still mostly blocked by the towering figure of Leon, and other strange figures had come through all the windows, making it unclear if they were being attacked by the Inquisition or not, since by all appearances the mages in the room were defending themselves, and not obviously of Tevinter descent.
The fire caught quickly, igniting several tables and licking at the ceiling. One or two people were partially caught in the blast; a young woman screamed as she fell, trying to put out the flames that had stuck to her sleeve. The barrier in the room was already around Chryseis, who had gotten to her feet at her table, knife in hand. She was dressed like a traveler, and a poor one at that, her cloak torn and fraying at the edges. A thick spike of ice speared the barrier just after it came up, leaving a crack but no more.
Chryseis eyed the woman that had let loose the spell, sparking lightning at her own fingertips. She threw it at the barrier in front of her, the spell shocking it heavily, something it seemed she expected. "Get this thing away from me!" she shouted, lighting another spell.
Rom attacked the ice-slinging Venatori from behind, but her senses and reactions were quick, and she managed to turn and avoid both his grab and the first slice that came for her. They tangled, and soon fell, with Rom trying to end the fight quickly and failing. An older man tripped over them and fell. He'd still been carrying a mug of ale, but that went flying as he went down. Everywhere there were people cowering, hiding, looking for a safe escape route. These couldn't be all of the Venatori, so they had to assume some among the civilians were better at keeping their cool than these first few.
Leon stepped away from the door, throwing his Venatori opponent hard enough into an empty table that it split and collapsed. She did not rise. He diverted his attention momentarily to the panicked civilians, whether any of the Tevinter agents were among their number or not. "Get out!" he bellowed, the gentle rationality with which he would probably have normally approached this replaced by the urgency of trying to keep as many of them safe as possible in a very dangerous situation.
A few of those nearest the door were startled into compliance, making a break for the door and nearly tripping over themselves on the way out. One of those, however, unexpectedly veered off course. With a flash of steel, a short knife buried itself into the meat of Leon's shoulder, kept from anything more vital by the fact that he moved on reflex. His hand closed around his assailant's neck, lifting him off the ground and driving the heel of his free hand into the man's face. Under the blow, the fine cartilage of the Venatori's nose cracked, and he howled, managing to kick free of Leon and land more or less solidly, driving forward again with the knife, this time with a coat of magical frost on the blade.
Khari took a hard step forward and hewed him down from behind, but they punished her for it, an ice spike impaling her thigh, still held in the hand of the Venatori who'd conjured it. He swept her legs out from underneath her, putting her on her back with a hard whoosh as the air left her lungs. The pain, she could deal withâthe larger problem was that she'd landed nearly against the wall, cutting off most of the obvious avenues for escape. Someoneâpresumably Marcusâhad really taught these fuckers how to fight.
Growling, she lunged from her spot, hooking the crossguard of her sword around the back of his ankle and yanking, spilling him onto the floor. He grabbed the edge of a table to steady himself on the way down, spilling the food and liquid contents of it down on both of them. Unluckily, Khari found herself with ale in her eyes, and the Venatori used the opportunity to pin one of her arms, drawing a short blade with his free hand.
The Venatoriâs face contorted as he leaned forward; dark eyes bulging and mouth gawping down at her. The sword heâd been holding clattered to the side. His fingers twitched. There was a croaking noise, a wet gurgle, before a froth of blood spilled from his lips and spattered onto Khariâs shoulder. The tip of a slender blade poked through his throat. Deliberately slow. It disappeared as soon as he slumped off to the side, the weight liberating the rapier.
Only then did Khari see Zee standing above them. Her expression unreadable. There were a few more spatters of blood on her face; a streak of it across her jawline. Whether it belonged to her or someone else was anyoneâs guess. The tavern had turned chaotic. Tables flipped and streaks of lightning snapping above their heads. She was already offering to help her up, reaching down to grab onto her forearm, âYou OK?â
Khari rolled her her feet with the assist. âAll my parts are still working." Which meant she was fine to keep fighting.
At some point during the tilt, Asala had slipped in through the window stood next to Chryseis. "Stay close!" Asala asked of the woman. The barrier no longer surrounded her, but from the tone in Asala's voice, it seemed that she intended to protect her the best she could regardless. Instead of around Chryseis however, the barrier was alive in a different spot. Over near where Zee had entered, up the stairs that led into the second floor a barrier lived, cutting off access to and from the rooms upstairs. With the barrier in place, Asala split her attention between that and picking out spots to spring another in order to help them, just as she tried in her practice.
"Get out of the way!" Chryseis roared at the confused cluster of people in front of her. She thrust her hand out, a blast of arcane energy non-lethally throwing them onto their backs. All but one, anyway. One of the men in the group had instinctively shrouded himself with a magical shield of his own. Promptly realizing his exposure, he reared back with a fire spell, but Chryseis's stunning lightning struck him first, leaving him paralyzed momentarily. It was all she needed to rush forward and slice her blade across his throat. The blood fell unnaturally, drops of it hovering and circling around her hand, but the body collapsed normally enough.
Rom finished off the Venatori he'd been tangled with, getting back to his feet only for the first shock of a chain lightning spell to strike him in the back. From there the spell went wild, arcing in every direction and bouncing repeatedly on the bodies of Inquisition, civilians, and Venatori alike, leaving many who tried to escape momentarily pinned in place while they struggled to regain control of their bodies. It wasn't even clear where the spell had come from, but obviously they weren't out of the woods yet. Not to mention something was blasting Asala's barrier at the base of the stairs, steadily breaking it down.
Leon was among those hit by the lightning, but shook it off much more quickly than those surrounding him, returning to motion a moment after impact. He'd clearly taken note of the wear on the barrier, too, and hopped over a downed table to head towards the stairs. "Take it down, Asala, and do your best to get the civilians out. Push if you have to!" The sense of 'push' was obvious, if he was asking her specifically. He disappeared from sight as he passed into the short hallway beyond the barroom.
As ordered, Asala's barrier fizzled out soon after Leon left sight. With a new task at hand, she whipped toward the clusters of civilians and cupped her mouth to make herself be heard over the din. "If you are able, please leave!" she shouted in her firm, but gentle manner before she started to get more directly involved. She began to help individuals who needed her personally, her barriers flicking to life whenever necessary to protect them. As asked, some required more than that, and that was where her barrier encouraged them to move, while keeping them safe as well.
Someone had knocked Zee off her feet as the arcing lightning lit up the air, paralyzing those unfortunate enough to be in its path. The offending person was still grappled onto her shoulders, punching with his fists rather than with any noticeable weapon. She crashed into a table, splitting it in two with the weight of them both, spilling them onto the floor. Chairs were kicked away and whatever had been on the tables surface shattered on the floor, scattering across it. Mugs, glasses, plates; crunching underfoot.
The scuffle hadnât lasted long. It took Zee a moment to reappear, shouldering her way from underneath the manâs immobile body. She heaved him off with a groan and tossed the shard of plate away; arm soaked to the elbow in red. Her face, however, had received the brunt of the damage. Her nose, and lip, bled freely. Swelling had begun to show just below her eye socket. From Khariâs vantage point, she was already pushing herself back to her feet, stooping to pick up her rapier, before bee-lining towards Rom.
Instead of offering her hand as she had with her, she hunkered down and slipped her arm around his back, shifting underneath his armpit, in an attempt to aid him back to his feet. Her words were inaudible, but a slip of a battered grin could be seen.
At this point, Khari was having more difficulty deciding who she needed to fight. The Venatori that had exposed themselves most obviously were dealt with, as were a few that had attempted stealthier maneuvers in the heat of the conflict. It was likely that those who remained knew the fight was lost, their numbers dwindled, and the smart thing for them to do would be to maintain their disguises and allow Asala to shepherd them out with the civilians. She wasn't sure there was any avoiding thatâstartling them into revealing themselves had probably exposed more than they would have noticed otherwise, and prevented anyone from being knifed in the back as of yet, but it wasn't a perfect solution to the issue.
Scanning the remains of the inn's front room, she tried to figure out if anyone else was obviously hostile. Maybe they'd managed to get them all; there was certainly no shortage of dead or incapacitated mages on the floor.
There was at least one left, though, and he came sliding in across the floor from where Leon had engaged him around the corner. He was dressed as a mercenary or adventurer perhaps, sword armed and leather armored over a long coat, with short brown hair and well groomed, curly beard. He might've been a decent-looking fellow under normal circumstances, but presently he was beaten and bruised, clearly scrambling and holding off panic.
He physically scrambled behind the nearby bar, grunting with the effort of it, and pulling a young woman to her feet with him, producing her from behind the counter where she'd been hiding like a sleight of hand trick. She looked to be a serving girl, perhaps even a child of the establishment's owner. Immediately the Venatori's sword was at her throat, his eyes rapidly shifting between the Inquisition members.
"Stay back!" he demanded, baring teeth. "I'll open her throat. I'm walking out, understand?" Chryseis exhaled an amused breath, droplets of blood still circling her bent fingers.
Leon emerged from the hallway then, the left half of his face a sheet of crimson where a blade had opened a long gash on his forehead. The eye on the same side was closed, though he reached up to wipe the blood off with his thumb and the side of his hand. The rest had a prominent burn, like he'd had to defend against a close-range fire spell with it. He spat a glob of blood to one side, split lip already swelling, but paused his motion as soon as he took proper stock of the situation.
"That's not the smart thing to do here," he rumbled, residual aggression or pain roughening the edges of his tone, though it was for the most part reasonable as he ever was. "Let the young lady go; it only gets worse for you if you don't." His eyes narrowed, like he was concentrating hard on something, or trying to make a particularly difficult decision, but the focus was entirely on the Venatori man with the hostage.
"Don't try anything, Seeker!" the Venatori demanded, putting his back to the wall and letting the blade's edge touch the girl's throat.
Chryseis rolled her eyes impatiently. "Enough of this." She hurled an arcane bolt at them, the magic missile striking the girl rather than the Venatori, but both of them were thrown back against the wall. The blade left a shallow cut across the throat during the collision, but the force was enough to separate them as they went down. The sword came up for a downwards stab that would end her, but before it could fall there was a low thrum of magic being called upon.
Blood magic, if the shifting of the blood around her hand, and the pools on the ground were anything to go by. For a moment it seemed like the firelight from the hearth and the braziers dimmed slightly, and then the Venatori shrieked in what could only be incredible pain, every muscle in his body seizing up. Chryseis twisted her hand, and the sword dropped to clatter against the ground, the man arching his back from his knees. A second shriek of pain followed when Chryseis pulled him onto his back with her magic, walking the necessary steps to be beside him.
"Decius, please," she said. "You must have known coming south would be the end of you. And with so few..." She clicked her tongue, then wrenched her hand sideways. Decius's next cry of pain was cut short as he was violently taken from consciousness, left sweating and breathing lightly on the ground.
A patron that had been cowering in one of the back corners, an elderly farmer by the looks of him, shakily got to his feet. "What... Maker's breath, what the hell was that? Youâyou're the Inquisition, aren't you?"
âSome of us are." Khari felt her lip curling, and not in any kind of smile, but she forced the expression down. She had to at least make their position clear here. âThe disguised ones were Venatori. Tevinter cult. We're, uh... sorry about the intrusion." Shattered furniture, blood smeared all over the floors, and a pile of dead bodies were a bit more than an intrusion, but it was probably still the best word to use. Maybe.
"Can't breathe," came a weak voice from behind the counter. "I can't breathe."
It was Rom who nimbly climbed over the counter to hop down to her, carefully pulling her to a seated position with her back to the wall. "Slow down," he advised, his voice even and focused. "One breath at a time, it'll come back."
Chryseis noted the exchange with passing interest, but then turned her dark green eyes on Leon. "We'll want to bring this one with us, I think." She gestured to the unconscious Decius at her feet. "He's the leader." She looked around at the carnage and the destruction, some of the flames still trying to cling to wood here and there. "That was interesting."
Leon sighed heavily. "That's one word for it," he agreed. "Can someone tell me which of you is the innkeeper? I believe the Inquisition owes you for property damage."
They hadn't passed much of interest so farâjust farmland, crops ripening that last touch before harvest, some of the leaves on ears of corn beginning to turn brown at the edges. This far south and at this time of night, the air was a little chilly; Khari was glad of her cloak, to be sure. A few times throughout the trek, she'd gotten the distinct sense that she was being observed, but none of the bastards had shown themselves, so she'd done her best to ignore it and keep moving.
But now they could see the inn ahead; it was a comfortably-sized building, two stories tall, sitting on a well-tended plot of land. Warm light poured from the windows, golden illumination pooling onto the surrounding lawn. She could make out smoke wafting regularly from the chimney, sure signs of a fire working to stave off the chill. In her traveling days, she'd have bypassed it, uncertain she'd be able to afford a room and too prideful to make any attempt to plead the fee down. She supposed that, with the Inquisition salary she got pretty regularly and never had much use for, that probably wouldn't be an issue anymore, but they weren't here for any purpose so mundane as staying the night and eating a hot meal. Much as she would have preferred that to what they were doing.
She stopped a good fifty yards from the building, turning over her shoulder to glance at the others. âSo... are we just going in, or...?"
"In a moment." Rom was never the most talkative sort, but he'd been especially quiet on their way over, for the obvious reasons. He hadn't drawn up his hood or done anything else to conceal who and what he was. In the darkness a faint green light was usually visible emanating from his marked hand. None of the others needed to disguise themselves either, or hide the fact that they were ready for a fight. If anything, it might help warn the civilians in the area that they should avoid them. Trouble had a way of following them after all.
Rom took several moments to observe the inn, the surrounding area, the lakeside, the narrow extending a short ways out into it. Only big enough for a rowboat or something slightly larger. It wasn't clear what exactly he was looking for, or trying to read on the ground. Looking for signs of the Venatori, maybe. If he found any, he didn't comment on them. "I don't see where the Venatori would be hiding," he said, finally. "At least, not in numbers capable of ambushing us. They're probably inside already. Which means they're almost certainly disguised, trying to blend in." That wasn't a trick they'd seen before. The Venatori were usually pretty obvious with their bright white robes and obnoxiously pointy armor. And if they were mages, they didn't need to conceal weapons on their persons to be highly dangerous.
Leon considered this for a moment, crossing his arms and studying the building from afar. "The only other place I can think they might be would be the roof, counting on easy access through windows, or the upper floor, where they might need less by way of disguise, but both are less likely options." He glanced once at Khari, then back to the inn. "I think our best chance of figuring out who is whom is being proactive. Doing something that would make a trained Venatori agent react differently from a normal civilian. That would allow us to isolate and neutralize them while keeping the others out of harm's way."
He hummed. "If there were a way to draw them outside, that would be best, but I'm not convinced they wouldn't startle and kill Chryseis if we tried. So it will probably have to be once we're already in."
âWhy not just kick the door down and force it?" Khari shrugged. âI mean, look: we do something really startling. Venatori react like they're trained to do, which is going for their magic or weapons. Civilians cower, or find cover, or whatever. We know who's who. Asala jumps in first, throws the best barrier she's got on Chryseis, and then we all get down to business. If we start the fight on our terms, we're most likely to end it that way, too. I don't like the idea of letting them strike at us first, and we're not out-subtling anyone as we are, in this group. We know what needs to happen, so let's just do it."
"If I might suggest a slight amendment," Leon offered, "the door will be drawing the initial attention, and whoever is first through it should be able to handle that. If Asala is shielding Chryseis, she is not shielding herself immediately." He glanced between them. "Better if some of us go in through the windows on the ground floor. I should likely handle the door, and the immediate retaliation that would result." He paused, his attention shifting to Rom. "And it might be better to know which windows go where, and where Chryseis actually is, before we kick over the hornet's nest."
"It would help," Asala added, repeatedly steepling her fingers together. A nervous twitch undoubtedly, "If we knew where she was before we entered," she agreed with Leon. "It would, uh, save me the time it would take trying to find her over the ruckus," she said with a shrug.
"Right," Rom said, tapping his knuckles lightly against Zee's forearm. "Think you can scout the place out for us? A few passes around the outside. Try not to be seen, but probably better to play it casual than full on sneak." It was likely a few people were already outside of the inn, on one side or the other. There would be no easy way to tell their intentions, or if they'd inadvertently tip off the Venatori if they reported it inside. Zee's appearance was also a little more subtle than Rom's, even avoiding taking the glowing hand into consideration.
Zahraâs eyes tore away from the building ahead of them and though her grin was a shade grimmer than usual, she stuck up her thumb and ambled away from them. Fortunately, she didnât look too out of place here. It was an inn, and to anyone who spotted her, she may have well passed for a traveler. Just another face. A drunkard to anyone else lingering on the innâs outskirts; they knew well enough she was an admirable actress.
She tugged her dark cloak tighter around her neck and headed towards the back of the building. There was another sound aside from her footsteps. A greeting of sorts. Slurred. Most assuredly hers. A mumbled response. Clearly uninterested. Nothing more. A moment later, and she reappeared at the opposing side of the building. She rounded back to Româs side, and regarded the others, âChryseis is alone, sitting between two of the lakeside windows. Once we drop in there, weâd be swimming.â She paused for a moment and shuttered her eyes closed, âNorthernmost is another window. Itâs closest to the stairwell. Whoever goes through there will take a little longer to get to her. Thereâs more windows on the west wall. Bedrooms, and the hallway. The last one is in the south. Someone left it open a wee bit. Smells good. Good chance itâs the kitchen.â
There was a pull to her expression; as if she was unsure. She bobbed her head in a nod and reopened her eyes, âThereâs a lot of bodies in there. This innâs popular. Farmers mostly, I think. But⊠if youâre right, and theyâre disguised, itâll be hard telling whoâs who.â
âProbably best to draw the attention away from her." Khari figured that Asala could shield from outside if she could see herâaccording to Stel, she'd used barriers from behind a hedge before, so it'd be a similar principle. If everyone else was climbing in through windows other than those ones, any Venatori in the room would have to divide their attention. And the possibility of giving themselves away increased. âIf Leon's going through the door and Asala's shielding from lakeside... then I guess we all go in a different way. I'll take the kitchen." She did best when making a fuss, not trying to avoid one. Might as well give the Venatori something else to worry about so they didn't all gang up on Leon for too long.
"I'll go in from the lakeside," Rom offered. With Asala shielding from the other window there, that side was covered. "That leaves the north window for Zee. Should give you a better view of what's happening, and you'll be the first to meet anyone coming down the stairs. I'm willing to guess most civilians will stay in their rooms if they hear this kind of noise, so be wary of anyone you see." He took a deep breath, cracking his knuckles. "Ready?"
Khari glanced at the others; everyone seemed to be in agreement. âReady."
They split up, then, everyone taking up their positions. Khari kept low and moved to the window Zee had picked out as belonging to the kitchen. It did smell really nice. She'd have to do her best not to mess anything up on her way into the main room, but she did still intend to cause a commotion, since she'd probably reach the fight quicker than anyone but Leon did. Assuming he managed to start one. But Leon knew what he was doingâif anyone could force the Venatori to reveal themselves, it was him.
Loosening her sword a bit in the sheath at her back, Khari placed both palms on the windowsill, counting her breaths as the cooks moved about busily inside. Elves, most of them, all intent on bubbling pots or kitchen knives and vegetables. She kept to the side a bit to avoid spoiling things too early; the knight wasn't getting in on this assault until the bishop had initiated.
And he certainly initiated; it didn't take too long for her to hear a bang, followed by a splintering crack right on its heels, then another bang, probably as the broken door slammed back against the wall or maybe the floor. Several shouts followed, many pitched high with urgency and surprise, and the hissing sizzle of magic fire being conjured.
There was no better cue than thatâKhari swung herself up and over the window-ledge and into the kitchen. It took a few seconds for anyone to even notice; all the cooks' eyes had swung to the door leading into the main part of the inn. "What's goingâgah!" The speaker, an elven woman probably about Khari's own age, noticed her only partway through the sentence, and suddenly the room's attention had whiplashed back to her.
âI'd stay here if I were you. Better yet, go out that window. This could get ugly." Grinning, she reached back over her shoulder to unsheathe her blade, heading for the door as she did. The kitchen staff scurried to get out of her way, a few of them already heading for the window to take her advice, no doubt.
Pushing open the door, Khari emerged almost directly behind a man with sparks of lightning shifting between his fingers. From the fact that he was neither ducked nor covered, and looked to be aiming at Leon, she decided he was one of the Venatori. Her sword found his ribcage accordingly, erupting from his chest. Khari whistled sharply, drawing more hostile attention, and planted her boot in the mage's back, pushing him off her sword and fixing a bright green glare on the next, flourishing her sword and falling into a crouch, grin firmly in place. âWanna dance?"
He did not want to dance, unless throwing a wide cone of flames in her direction could be considered as such. It was a delaying tactic, and one meant to cause more chaos than anything. The entire room had fallen into almost instant anarchy, as the patrons were temporarily at a loss as to what to do, and where to go. The main door was still mostly blocked by the towering figure of Leon, and other strange figures had come through all the windows, making it unclear if they were being attacked by the Inquisition or not, since by all appearances the mages in the room were defending themselves, and not obviously of Tevinter descent.
The fire caught quickly, igniting several tables and licking at the ceiling. One or two people were partially caught in the blast; a young woman screamed as she fell, trying to put out the flames that had stuck to her sleeve. The barrier in the room was already around Chryseis, who had gotten to her feet at her table, knife in hand. She was dressed like a traveler, and a poor one at that, her cloak torn and fraying at the edges. A thick spike of ice speared the barrier just after it came up, leaving a crack but no more.
Chryseis eyed the woman that had let loose the spell, sparking lightning at her own fingertips. She threw it at the barrier in front of her, the spell shocking it heavily, something it seemed she expected. "Get this thing away from me!" she shouted, lighting another spell.
Rom attacked the ice-slinging Venatori from behind, but her senses and reactions were quick, and she managed to turn and avoid both his grab and the first slice that came for her. They tangled, and soon fell, with Rom trying to end the fight quickly and failing. An older man tripped over them and fell. He'd still been carrying a mug of ale, but that went flying as he went down. Everywhere there were people cowering, hiding, looking for a safe escape route. These couldn't be all of the Venatori, so they had to assume some among the civilians were better at keeping their cool than these first few.
Leon stepped away from the door, throwing his Venatori opponent hard enough into an empty table that it split and collapsed. She did not rise. He diverted his attention momentarily to the panicked civilians, whether any of the Tevinter agents were among their number or not. "Get out!" he bellowed, the gentle rationality with which he would probably have normally approached this replaced by the urgency of trying to keep as many of them safe as possible in a very dangerous situation.
A few of those nearest the door were startled into compliance, making a break for the door and nearly tripping over themselves on the way out. One of those, however, unexpectedly veered off course. With a flash of steel, a short knife buried itself into the meat of Leon's shoulder, kept from anything more vital by the fact that he moved on reflex. His hand closed around his assailant's neck, lifting him off the ground and driving the heel of his free hand into the man's face. Under the blow, the fine cartilage of the Venatori's nose cracked, and he howled, managing to kick free of Leon and land more or less solidly, driving forward again with the knife, this time with a coat of magical frost on the blade.
Khari took a hard step forward and hewed him down from behind, but they punished her for it, an ice spike impaling her thigh, still held in the hand of the Venatori who'd conjured it. He swept her legs out from underneath her, putting her on her back with a hard whoosh as the air left her lungs. The pain, she could deal withâthe larger problem was that she'd landed nearly against the wall, cutting off most of the obvious avenues for escape. Someoneâpresumably Marcusâhad really taught these fuckers how to fight.
Growling, she lunged from her spot, hooking the crossguard of her sword around the back of his ankle and yanking, spilling him onto the floor. He grabbed the edge of a table to steady himself on the way down, spilling the food and liquid contents of it down on both of them. Unluckily, Khari found herself with ale in her eyes, and the Venatori used the opportunity to pin one of her arms, drawing a short blade with his free hand.
The Venatoriâs face contorted as he leaned forward; dark eyes bulging and mouth gawping down at her. The sword heâd been holding clattered to the side. His fingers twitched. There was a croaking noise, a wet gurgle, before a froth of blood spilled from his lips and spattered onto Khariâs shoulder. The tip of a slender blade poked through his throat. Deliberately slow. It disappeared as soon as he slumped off to the side, the weight liberating the rapier.
Only then did Khari see Zee standing above them. Her expression unreadable. There were a few more spatters of blood on her face; a streak of it across her jawline. Whether it belonged to her or someone else was anyoneâs guess. The tavern had turned chaotic. Tables flipped and streaks of lightning snapping above their heads. She was already offering to help her up, reaching down to grab onto her forearm, âYou OK?â
Khari rolled her her feet with the assist. âAll my parts are still working." Which meant she was fine to keep fighting.
At some point during the tilt, Asala had slipped in through the window stood next to Chryseis. "Stay close!" Asala asked of the woman. The barrier no longer surrounded her, but from the tone in Asala's voice, it seemed that she intended to protect her the best she could regardless. Instead of around Chryseis however, the barrier was alive in a different spot. Over near where Zee had entered, up the stairs that led into the second floor a barrier lived, cutting off access to and from the rooms upstairs. With the barrier in place, Asala split her attention between that and picking out spots to spring another in order to help them, just as she tried in her practice.
"Get out of the way!" Chryseis roared at the confused cluster of people in front of her. She thrust her hand out, a blast of arcane energy non-lethally throwing them onto their backs. All but one, anyway. One of the men in the group had instinctively shrouded himself with a magical shield of his own. Promptly realizing his exposure, he reared back with a fire spell, but Chryseis's stunning lightning struck him first, leaving him paralyzed momentarily. It was all she needed to rush forward and slice her blade across his throat. The blood fell unnaturally, drops of it hovering and circling around her hand, but the body collapsed normally enough.
Rom finished off the Venatori he'd been tangled with, getting back to his feet only for the first shock of a chain lightning spell to strike him in the back. From there the spell went wild, arcing in every direction and bouncing repeatedly on the bodies of Inquisition, civilians, and Venatori alike, leaving many who tried to escape momentarily pinned in place while they struggled to regain control of their bodies. It wasn't even clear where the spell had come from, but obviously they weren't out of the woods yet. Not to mention something was blasting Asala's barrier at the base of the stairs, steadily breaking it down.
Leon was among those hit by the lightning, but shook it off much more quickly than those surrounding him, returning to motion a moment after impact. He'd clearly taken note of the wear on the barrier, too, and hopped over a downed table to head towards the stairs. "Take it down, Asala, and do your best to get the civilians out. Push if you have to!" The sense of 'push' was obvious, if he was asking her specifically. He disappeared from sight as he passed into the short hallway beyond the barroom.
As ordered, Asala's barrier fizzled out soon after Leon left sight. With a new task at hand, she whipped toward the clusters of civilians and cupped her mouth to make herself be heard over the din. "If you are able, please leave!" she shouted in her firm, but gentle manner before she started to get more directly involved. She began to help individuals who needed her personally, her barriers flicking to life whenever necessary to protect them. As asked, some required more than that, and that was where her barrier encouraged them to move, while keeping them safe as well.
Someone had knocked Zee off her feet as the arcing lightning lit up the air, paralyzing those unfortunate enough to be in its path. The offending person was still grappled onto her shoulders, punching with his fists rather than with any noticeable weapon. She crashed into a table, splitting it in two with the weight of them both, spilling them onto the floor. Chairs were kicked away and whatever had been on the tables surface shattered on the floor, scattering across it. Mugs, glasses, plates; crunching underfoot.
The scuffle hadnât lasted long. It took Zee a moment to reappear, shouldering her way from underneath the manâs immobile body. She heaved him off with a groan and tossed the shard of plate away; arm soaked to the elbow in red. Her face, however, had received the brunt of the damage. Her nose, and lip, bled freely. Swelling had begun to show just below her eye socket. From Khariâs vantage point, she was already pushing herself back to her feet, stooping to pick up her rapier, before bee-lining towards Rom.
Instead of offering her hand as she had with her, she hunkered down and slipped her arm around his back, shifting underneath his armpit, in an attempt to aid him back to his feet. Her words were inaudible, but a slip of a battered grin could be seen.
At this point, Khari was having more difficulty deciding who she needed to fight. The Venatori that had exposed themselves most obviously were dealt with, as were a few that had attempted stealthier maneuvers in the heat of the conflict. It was likely that those who remained knew the fight was lost, their numbers dwindled, and the smart thing for them to do would be to maintain their disguises and allow Asala to shepherd them out with the civilians. She wasn't sure there was any avoiding thatâstartling them into revealing themselves had probably exposed more than they would have noticed otherwise, and prevented anyone from being knifed in the back as of yet, but it wasn't a perfect solution to the issue.
Scanning the remains of the inn's front room, she tried to figure out if anyone else was obviously hostile. Maybe they'd managed to get them all; there was certainly no shortage of dead or incapacitated mages on the floor.
There was at least one left, though, and he came sliding in across the floor from where Leon had engaged him around the corner. He was dressed as a mercenary or adventurer perhaps, sword armed and leather armored over a long coat, with short brown hair and well groomed, curly beard. He might've been a decent-looking fellow under normal circumstances, but presently he was beaten and bruised, clearly scrambling and holding off panic.
He physically scrambled behind the nearby bar, grunting with the effort of it, and pulling a young woman to her feet with him, producing her from behind the counter where she'd been hiding like a sleight of hand trick. She looked to be a serving girl, perhaps even a child of the establishment's owner. Immediately the Venatori's sword was at her throat, his eyes rapidly shifting between the Inquisition members.
"Stay back!" he demanded, baring teeth. "I'll open her throat. I'm walking out, understand?" Chryseis exhaled an amused breath, droplets of blood still circling her bent fingers.
Leon emerged from the hallway then, the left half of his face a sheet of crimson where a blade had opened a long gash on his forehead. The eye on the same side was closed, though he reached up to wipe the blood off with his thumb and the side of his hand. The rest had a prominent burn, like he'd had to defend against a close-range fire spell with it. He spat a glob of blood to one side, split lip already swelling, but paused his motion as soon as he took proper stock of the situation.
"That's not the smart thing to do here," he rumbled, residual aggression or pain roughening the edges of his tone, though it was for the most part reasonable as he ever was. "Let the young lady go; it only gets worse for you if you don't." His eyes narrowed, like he was concentrating hard on something, or trying to make a particularly difficult decision, but the focus was entirely on the Venatori man with the hostage.
"Don't try anything, Seeker!" the Venatori demanded, putting his back to the wall and letting the blade's edge touch the girl's throat.
Chryseis rolled her eyes impatiently. "Enough of this." She hurled an arcane bolt at them, the magic missile striking the girl rather than the Venatori, but both of them were thrown back against the wall. The blade left a shallow cut across the throat during the collision, but the force was enough to separate them as they went down. The sword came up for a downwards stab that would end her, but before it could fall there was a low thrum of magic being called upon.
Blood magic, if the shifting of the blood around her hand, and the pools on the ground were anything to go by. For a moment it seemed like the firelight from the hearth and the braziers dimmed slightly, and then the Venatori shrieked in what could only be incredible pain, every muscle in his body seizing up. Chryseis twisted her hand, and the sword dropped to clatter against the ground, the man arching his back from his knees. A second shriek of pain followed when Chryseis pulled him onto his back with her magic, walking the necessary steps to be beside him.
"Decius, please," she said. "You must have known coming south would be the end of you. And with so few..." She clicked her tongue, then wrenched her hand sideways. Decius's next cry of pain was cut short as he was violently taken from consciousness, left sweating and breathing lightly on the ground.
A patron that had been cowering in one of the back corners, an elderly farmer by the looks of him, shakily got to his feet. "What... Maker's breath, what the hell was that? Youâyou're the Inquisition, aren't you?"
âSome of us are." Khari felt her lip curling, and not in any kind of smile, but she forced the expression down. She had to at least make their position clear here. âThe disguised ones were Venatori. Tevinter cult. We're, uh... sorry about the intrusion." Shattered furniture, blood smeared all over the floors, and a pile of dead bodies were a bit more than an intrusion, but it was probably still the best word to use. Maybe.
"Can't breathe," came a weak voice from behind the counter. "I can't breathe."
It was Rom who nimbly climbed over the counter to hop down to her, carefully pulling her to a seated position with her back to the wall. "Slow down," he advised, his voice even and focused. "One breath at a time, it'll come back."
Chryseis noted the exchange with passing interest, but then turned her dark green eyes on Leon. "We'll want to bring this one with us, I think." She gestured to the unconscious Decius at her feet. "He's the leader." She looked around at the carnage and the destruction, some of the flames still trying to cling to wood here and there. "That was interesting."
Leon sighed heavily. "That's one word for it," he agreed. "Can someone tell me which of you is the innkeeper? I believe the Inquisition owes you for property damage."