inquisitor: thank you vivienne :)

(vivienne disapproves)

inquisitor: well screw off then

(vivienne greatly approves)

The Trouble with Wolves Part 1. (Read Preface down below for some context.)

            The day started with a mission, a mission just like any other: someone needed the Inquisition and the team rose to the challenge. The job was a small one; a pack of possessed wolves terrorized a small area of the Hinterlands, near Redcliffe. This time, it would just be three of them; Cassandra, Solas and the Inquisitor herself, Nanyla Lavellan. They had been wandering the Hinterlands most of the morning, as the sun reached its highest peak in the sky when they found a cave. Bones littered the ground at the entrance, blood and flesh pooled in depressions of the stone floor further in. Nanyla ventured towards the cave, she found a bit of cloth on the ground and picked it up to observe it.

           “This must be the wolves’ lair,” said Cassandra, they sneaked up to the cave entrance, Nanyla leaned in and listened for a moment. The sound of the air moving through the cave masked whatever noise the wolves were making. She signaled for her friends to stay back as she ventured further in. She ventured into the cave and was swallowed in darkness. Nanyla kept her hand pressed against the damp wall of the cave as she walked. She could feel something crunch underfoot as she went along, she didn’t stop to find out what it was; though, she could hazard a guess. Just a few minutes later, she saw a light and followed it. The ceiling of the cave opened up and sunlight poured in. From her hiding place in the dark, she could see the pack, they were agitated, pacing and fighting amongst each other. There were perhaps less than a dozen or so wolves, some looked weak and ill, others looked more formidable. Above them, on a ledge sitting on a sun-warmed stone was a demon lounging and watching his thralls below. It was tall and lean with long limbs reaching disproportionate lengths. Its disturbing form was covered in dull, sickly green flesh with darker scaly patches covering its crooked joints. Nanyla took stock of this creature from the Fade and crept carefully back to her comrades. She told them what she found in the back of the cave. Solas furrowed his brow.

           “Sounds like it could be a lesser terror demon,” he said flatly, “It will not be difficult to defeat with the three of us.” Nanyla nodded and thought for a moment.

           “Okay then, Cassandra and I will take the wolves. Solas, you’ll take the terror from a distance. I’ll help you if I can.” Nanyla’s voice was smooth and calm as she gave out her plan. She was confident in her friends and her ability to lead, she had been doing it a while by now. She looked at her friends, she watched them prepare themselves for the fight.

           “Ready?” she asked, a crooked smile curling her lips. Cassandra and Solas readied themselves; Solas closed his eyes, inhaled and charged his staff. Cassandra drew her sword, rolled her neck back and forth, loosened her shoulders and took her shield from it’s place on her back. Nanyla drew an arrow, readied it on her bow and she cracked her neck. She beckoned them to follow and led them through the dark cave to the pack and the demon. The few moments of darkness were unbearably tense and quiet. She found the light again, she made sure her companions saw it too. She slid up to the edge of the darkness and drew back her bow and aimed at one of the stronger looking wolves. She breathed in, paused, then out, she steadied her hand. With a twang, her arrow flew true to it’s target, it stuck in the wolf’s neck. It yelped and collapsed drawing the attention of the rest of the pack and the demon. There was a moment of complete silence in the chamber since the pack moved in there. The next moment Cassandra charged forward, fierce as a dragon she slayed her adversaries, one after the other. As quick as lightning, Nanyla drew another arrow, aimed, and fired; down went a wolf that weaseled its way behind Cassandra. She stepped out from the shadows and caught the eye of a few wolves, they charged her, but she was quicker. Arrow after arrow, she fired nearly as fast as Varric’s Bianca. Solas leapt onto a ledge close to Nanyla and worked his Fade magic on the terror demon. The demon roared its fury; it stretched its ugly arms above its head, slammed them on the ground. Raking its ragged claws across the ground, it tore open a portal on the stone, then it slipped through. A moment later, Nanyla felt a force lift her off the ground and slam her back down. She was face to face with the terror, it raised a clawed hand but was pushed away with a blast from Solas’s staff. Nanyla jumped up and pulled a pair of daggers from her hip. She lashed out at the demon and left a long, open gash on its front. She kicked it backward and it stumbled long enough for Solas to finish it off with a veilstrike. She watched the demon fall the ground and fade away, she turned to Solas and nodded a silent thanks. A few wolves slipped past them, escaping through the cave’s entrance. Their howls created an eerie sound that nearly deafened them. Once the howling subsided, Nanyla could still hear fighting, she looked around and saw Cassandra still fighting three of the wolves. Two of them held her attention to the front while one dodged behind her. Nanyla took aim, but it was too late. It had leapt up onto Cassandra’s back and latched onto her neck. She fell, her sword and shield clattering out of her grasp.

Nanyla dropped her daggers and gabbed her bow once more. She notched, took aim, and immediately loosed an arrow, it missed by mere inches. She watched as the other two wolves closed in, each taking a turn to tear at the woman now pinned to the ground. Blood-curdling shrieks, the sounds of claw against metal, the sound of tearing, cries of pain, snarling, and growling now filled the space of the chamber. Nanyla watched in frozen horror at the writhing mass of fur and armor and limbs on the ground. She focused hard, reloaded, fired, and struck one of the wolves in the eye, it fell where it stood. She aimed again, but a ball of fire arched past her and knocking the remaining two back. One of the wolves stood up and ran off, the other reared back and fell over, dead. Cassandra did not move.

“Cassandra?” Nanyla’s voice rang too loudly in the small cavern. Still, there was silence and stillness as Cassandra’s crumpled form lay on the ground. They ran to their fallen companion and saw the damage that had been done to her.

The smell of burning hair and flesh made the two of them grimace, the sound of simmering flesh still whispered its presence on the burned wolf. Cassandra’s armor had been wrenched away, the leather straps holding it in place having been chewed and ripped like parchment in the fray. It was mottled in blood, dirt, and saliva; nicked and scratched and bent, it hung haphazardly from her body. Her clothes had been shredded and tattered underneath as open wounds poured blood onto what were once fresh garments, staining them dark red. Blood pooled around her body and soaked into the grass and dirt around her.

Quickly, Nanyla knelt down and gently rolled Cassandra onto her back. She let out a soft gasp as she saw the marks left by the wolves on Cassandra’s face, marks sure to leave new scars. She hovered a hand closely over Cassandra’s nose and mouth, Nanyla could feel the slight warmth of her breath brush against her damp palm.

“Solas, she’s still- she’s still alive, give me a potion!” she said, panic rising in her chest. Solas had already been rummaging through his satchel as fast as his hands would allow when he saw how extensive the damage was. A potion was already in Nanyla’s hand before she finished speaking. She pulled the stopper out with her teeth, tilted Cassandra’s head back gingerly, and carefully poured the clear potion between her parted bloody lips. It seemed like an eternity before Nanyla could feel her stirring, the blood seemed to have staunched itself; Cassandra gasped then coughed, a globule of blood spattered against Nanyla’s face as more trickled down out of the corner of Cassandra’s lips. Her eyes fluttered as her hand shot up and grasped at Nanyla’s coat, her lapel now in a vice grip in the Seeker’s fist. Nanyla looked up at Solas with desperation, “Please, there must be more you can do, a spell, anything,” she pleaded. Solas nodded.

“There is something. Please, give me some room,” he said softly, kneeling down next to them. He set his staff to the side and took a deep breath. Nanyla scooted over to give him space to work. Solas raised his hands in front of him and closed his eyes. He began to mutter Elvhen under his breath, his face contorted into one of deep focus and concentration as he moved his hands to hover over Cassandra’s body. Slowly, he moved his hands over her, blue streams of light emitted from his fingertips and laid over her wounds and began to sink in. Some of the shallower wounds seemed to begin to close. At the same time, Cassandra jolted, arching her back, as an excruciating wail flew from her throat. Nanyla darted around to Cassandra’s other side to hold her hand, cooing softly to her. As Solas chanted, Cassandra became more and more agitated, her face twisted with pain and she agonized under his steady hands. “Hold her still, I am not finished,” Solas said sharply, sweat beading over his brows. Nanyla placed her hands on either of Cassandra’s shoulders to hold her down, still shushing and cooing, mainly to Cassandra, but also to calm herself.  The light seemed to grow brighter with each passing second as Solas continued to chant in Elvhen more fervently. Cassandra’s eyes shot open and rolled back as she let out one last scream and fell limp under Nanyla’s grasp. Solas’s shoulders went slack and his hands fell to his thighs, the blue light faded from him. “I’ve done what I can do for now, but she needs to get to Skyhold.” He said, his breathing was labored and ragged and his voice was hoarse.

“We are days away, Solas,” Nanyla’s voice was racked with panic, she fought to stay calm as Cassandra laid unconscious between them. “What did you do to her?” Nanyla’s eyes darted over Cassandra’s body, still riddled with large deep wounds, blood seemed to bubble up over them, fighting against magical barriers.

“I did what little healing I could do. I imagine the pain became quite unbearable, she must’ve lost consciousness because of it.” He said, standing up, his breathing still heavy. Solas held out a hand to help Nanyla stand. She could see his fingertips trembling, she imagined the energy it took from him just to do what he did. She took it and stood beside him, looking down at Cassandra. Nanyla could feel her knees begin to quiver. Her mind began racing, thinking where to go, what to do. Then a thought ocurred to her: the next best place to take Cassandra would be the camp near Redcliffe Farms, where Master Dennet kept his horses.

“The farm, Solas, we could bring her to the camp on the farm, they could have a field nurse,” she said quickly, her voice became thin as her adrenaline raced through her. Again, Solas didn’t say much, he simply nodded and knelt down to try to carry Cassandra. Nanyla bent down to help. They spent a few moments to try and work together to arrange Cassandra comfortably between the two of them.

The Trouble with Wolves Preface

So, lots of people are familiar with Dragon Age and its installments. I love DA:I, it’s one of my absolute favorite games of all time. 

I also love dark fantasy, which DA is, but I wanted to take it further. I always had this idea that healing potions should hurt like a bitch. I mean, when something, like a traumatic wound, is healing, it usually itches, or aches to some degree. Well, a healing potion greatly hurries the healing process along, magnifying the speed of the rate of healing, right? So, my next thought would be, “so would the aches and itches be magnified too?” I mean, you could say “magic is a painkiller,” but what fun would that be? And what fun would it be if it didn’t leave scars or if the process of healing magic and potions wasn’t fully known and therefore not very powerful?

This au fic is just me running through that idea. It’s kind of this idea of sort of blending the difficulty and poor survival chances of Dark Souls into what I already love about Dragon Age, which is a lot.