Ghost Story

[Varric]

Oh. That-- that's actually somewhat clever (rather obvious though). "Right. Get inside, head to the ritual room. Lock the door and stay inside, don't come out until I come back or you run out of water. Go!"

[Marian Hawke]

"No," she says sternly. "Not without you."

[Varric]

"I'm not hiding away when I could help save--" Varric jerks his head twice, then starts mixing infusions. "No."

[Marian Hawke]

"Then-- then I'm coming too," she says, and steps off the porch. 

[Varric]

"I have six toxins that will render you unconcious in less than thirty seconds. Get in the house. Now."

[Marian Hawke]

Her lower lip quivers, but she holds her ground for a second, another. Finally, tears of shame burning bright in her eyes, she turns and runs into the house, slamming the door behind her as the mabari leaps through it. 

[Varric]

Well (could have handled that better) fuck. Gonna have to (make that up to her) deal with that later. He starts to call after her, but stops. Later. For now... He looks towards town even as he lifts off the ground, invisible and protected. For now, there's work to do.

[GamesMaster]

He arrives in a ghost town; not a soul out of doors, not a peep from behind the shut-up houses. There's a rumbling in the distance, as if a large herd of beasts were rushing toward him all at once. Then he spies them:

rats.

Hundreds and hundreds of rats. 

Their leader is the size of a Mabari: a black-furred dire mouse with copper eyes, flanked by no less than five dire rats alongside. In their wake, infesting every nook and cranny, are a swarm of rats of every imaginable color, from black to brown to white to peachy pink. They tear up the village, clearly hunting for food, and he can swear he can hear a woman's laughter above the din of rat feet and biting. 

[Varric]

There's not much a single adventurer-- outside of some of the more powerful spell-casters with the right casting on tap-- can do against something like that. Oh sure, Varric manages to kill three of the dire rats in an attempt to 'nudge' them along. And he saves a few of the townsfolk, though having to stay unseen and unnoticed makes it harder. But it's all he can do to blunt the worst of this disaster. Tired, windblown and frustrated, the dwarf returns home with every intention of eating cold stew, drinking hot herbal tea and getting some sleep.

[Marian Hawke]

He has to open the door carefully; Emma's crumpled just inside, having sobbed herself to sleep still warring with her nature and the urge to go after him. At her back is the ghost mabari, who gives a whine as he enters, tail wagging helplessly.

[Varric]

"For the love of--" Varric cuts himself off, a surge of relief that he'd added an anti-vermin ward after the spider incident blunting his annoyance. Damnit, is it so fucking hard to listen? To be (alive) smart and keep neself safe?  He takes a deep breath and then another. 

"Anything get in?" he asks the mabari gruffly. The wards will prevent common, weak vermin from staying, as the feeling of oppression will trigger their flight instincts (and hinder them enough to prevent feeding if they did, for some reason, hang about) but those dire rats could stick it out. Be shit but still a threat to a sleeping girl.

[GamesMaster]

The mabari shakes its head, then sets about licking Emma's cheek to wake her. 

[Varric]

"Lead her to the kitchen when she's up," Varric snaps out, striding off for that stew and tea. He considers ale but firmly pushes the urge to the side.

[Marian Hawke]

A few minutes later, a sheepish, puffy-eyed Emma appears in the doorway to the kitchen, the mabari behind her. "Hi," she croaks, her voice hoarse. 

[Varric]

Varric gives her a flat look as he finishes preparing the tea and doesn't say a word.