The Amell Legacy: Transgressions

[Varric]

Varric is quiet a moment, thinking. "Anything else in the scene but attacker, defender and darkness?"

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene frowns, looking down. "I knew we had made a fire and banked the coals. I was sleeping. It was dark, but the assailant was darker still. I needed to see who it was that was killing me, but all I got was cold, empty eyes. Then I awoke."

[Varric]

"Well, we can avoid making a fire easily enough, though I suspect that was just a stand-in for something. Resting, a time we think we're safe, something." His tone is even, thoughtful and professional. His hand reaches out to rest on nirs.

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene flips nir hand upside-down, takes his loosely. "We will be prepared. We have been warned, now. Surely that was the intended message."

[GamesMaster]

The infestation isn't hard to discover; Raplin's roots run deep, but they stop shy of the Underdark entrance, so the fungus attacking them is clustered on the near side of the breach. Huge bulbs that look almost like brain-coral dot the roots, sapping strength from the tree the god calls home; it is, after all, only a tree, if a supernaturally strong and extremely ancient one. Raplin himself cannot be harmed by the fungus, but should the tree die, his connection to the mortal realms will be severed. Probably. They're not a hundred percent sure, but it seems as likely as anything else. 

Marian prods one of the coral with a stick, and it lashes back at her, slapping her with a tendril; now roused, the colony attacks in earnest, trying to drive what it sees as predators away. The battle commences; Lightsong helpfully points out which of them seems to be leading the attacks, and Helene reaches out with nir mind to attack it, hoping to glean insight as well as damage the thing in a way it cannot protect against physically.

Helene's eyes widen, glowing faintly, and ne screams, stepping back rapidly in fear. Ne slams nir head against the wall, hard enough to draw blood; clawing at nir eyes, ne turns to flee back the way they have come. 

Just as ne is running, Marian is grabbed by two of the tendrils, flailing and shrieking as she is gripped. She reaches for Jassinth's hand, hoping to use him as leverage to get free -- the tendrils are pulling her worryingly closer to the leader in the center of the colony. 

[Haliel Lightsong]

Lightsong flicks a glance towards Helene, worry clear on her face. Oh thank HE-THAT-IS-BASTION, Varric has ne. Focusing on the fight, the paladin deliberately wades into the otherworldly fungal creatures, leaving herself open to attack from all sides. She's already noticed that their strikes- the scant few that get past shield and armour- are virtually nothing against her innate resilience, so she's perfectly happy getting swarmed if that means less of them are attacking the others. Especially given that- 

"Jass!" she shouts, seeing him struggling to keep hold of Marian. "Hold fast, I'm coming!"

[Varric]

Varric does indeed have Helene- or at least, he plans to. Taking one last potshot at a critter attempting to flank the boy, the dwarf bolts into the tunnels after Helene. 

[Helene Dakesh]

Helene races back the way they came, plunging through the dark, clawing at nir face. Get out, get out! get out of my head, get out! 

Ne begins to slow before long, panting, unused to this much exertion. Ne looks around, trying to figure out where ne is, still scratching at nir face, shaking nir head. Just as ne turns back to look at Varric, there's a loud crack, and ne freezes, picturing the rock shelf ne is standing on plummeting into the Underdark. hold your breath, no loud noises, pray it's not under you

[Varric]

"Don't move," Varric says softly from only a few feet behind nem, his eyes closed as he tries to feel the earth and stone under his feet. After a second, he relaxes just a hair and opens them. "Not under us. I think-"

He never gets to finish.

[Helene Dakesh]

An explosion rocks the area, sending a cascade of stone over them, and for a moment Helene chokes on the dust, losing sight of Varric even as rocks pummel nir small body. Ne reaches for an escape, for a spell, but cannot cast, cannot see, cannot breathe, cannot think, and there's pain, terror, suffocating -- suffocating! some small piece of nir brain notes, recalling the dream.

The dust settles, and Seeker Helene is alive. This was not expected; ne closes nir eyes, coughing violently as ne prays silently in gratitude. "Varric," ne manages, between coughs, but all ne can see is rock; if he is standing where he was, then he'd be directly under those large rocks, trapped in the dark, possibly dead or dying...

"Varric!"

[Varric]

Silence.

[Marian Hawke]

Marian leans against the wall, panting, as the healing energy surges through her. "Thanks," she says to Lightsong, coughing a bit. "Damn. Is that all of them? Where did Seeker go?"

[Haliel Lightsong]

"i believe so- Jass, can you-"

[Jassinth]

"On it!" Moving lightly, the ranger starts to patrol the room to ensure there are no more fungal monster hiding.

[Haliel Lightsong]

"Thank you. Helene is..." Haliel frowns as information she had heard and pushed away as not being relevant in mid-combat comes back to the fore of her mind. "Down the tunnel we came in but..." She gestures at the tunnel in question. "Is... is that where that loud crash and thunder came from?" she asks slowly.