Retrieving Honour

OOC: There are still two of Lorek's guards posted outside the warehouse, if someone could take em out, that'd be dandy.

IC:

Rakot leaped into the battle, as Lorek's bodyguards attempted to form a defensive formation to protect their master. Their proper stance did not save them, the spiked end of Rakot's maul fell from above, piercing the shield and going deeper, until it went through the leather armor and into the bodyguard's flesh. Three blades reached for the berserker, thrust by the guards attempting to flank him. Rakot swung his maul sideways in a circle, his first victim's body still impaled on its pike, and slammed the corpse against his opponents. The mercenaries took on the full impact and were thrown against the wall, non of them were able to get up immediately. Finally Rakot pulled the spike out of the corpse and bashed the handle of his weapon through the forehead of yet another attacking guard. Another body dropped to the ground, Lorek was quickly running out of defenders. Rakot tossed his maul, and it hit one of the three remaining guards on the chest, sending him flying backwards, as blood poured out of his mouth. The last two mercenaries were inspired with bravery by seeing the berserker lost his maul and came at him from the sides, roaring their battle cry. Rakot caught one blade with his gauntlet, and twisted it out of the bodyguard's hand, then immediately bashed him in the face with its handle, breaking his nose, the pain forcing the attacker to fall to his knees. The berserker, still holding the weapon by the blade, then tossed it at the last guard piercing his neck as he charged.

As Lorek cowered on the ground, Rakot took out his knife and walked around the room, finishing off the dying by cutting their throats. He then picked up his maul, and approached the noble.

"I'll give you money, as much money as you want! Please! Don't kill me!"

Lorek screamed, as Rakot raised his maul above his head.

"At least have the decency to die with some dignity, you sodding vermin."

Rakot said through clenched teeth, and swung his maul. The weapon's blunt end fell onto Lorek's head, causing his skull to explode in a fountain of bone and blood. The floors, the walls, and even a bit of the ceiling were covered with blood still leaking from the corpses, Rakot remained the last one standing.


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Hearing the commotion coming from inside the room there he left the mages, Ostef opened the door and took a peek inside, then immediately slammed it shut and took a few steps back.

A dragon!? Damn the Maker, how the hell did a dragon get in here?

He ran down the hall towards Rakot.

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Back in the cart Tendir was growing more and more nervous.

If Lorek kills Rakot, I am dead, if Rakot kills Lorek, I am still dead....screw this, I am going to make my own head start.

He jumped off the cart and ran into the opposite direction from the warehouse.

Drake saw the young man kill the last Tevinter mage and swatted one of the frozen with a claw. The main one, the arch mage was still frozen but he did nothing with him. He looked at Dartmoor then changed back to Jezarine's form, not wanting anyone to know who was doing all of this form changing.

"Don't kill this last one." He said to the half-elf while looking at him with big brown eyes, "The Warden-Commander wants him alive. She never asked for him to be warm. Thank you for the help."

She used a powder on the frozen form, melting the ice with it and thanked the stone that the real Jezarine knew some powerful herbology. Then, some more powder was poured into the Tevinter's mouth to keep him asleep, "Do you think you could carry him for me?" Her eyes stayed on him like puppy dog eyes. Once again, Drake didn't want to give away much of anything so to have the youth do this it would help.

After her initial Bison rampage Kassina morphed back into wolf form to assess the situation. Bisons were large and powerful but had dull senses. She determined that everything inside seemed to be working itself out, but there were still 2 bad smelling guards flanking the front enterance. The smell of so much blood threatened to overwhelm her senses and drive her into a fury, but she forced the insticts down and concentrated. Slowly she edged her way around the one that smelled strongly of rage and blood. He seemed to be on her side, or at least not against her at the moment.
Quickly and quietly she went back the way she had come in, and lept out the open window. She slunk around the corner of the building and pounced on the closest guard, knocking him to the ground and quickly tearing out his throat before he could even scream. The second guard whirled toward the noise of the body hitting the ground, but he was too slow. She was on him before he could even draw his sword, tearing at him with fangs and claws. When both guards were down she let out a mighty howl of victory. She hoped Dartmoor would understand the signal and went to hide in the shadows to lick the blood from her paws.

Rakot tore off a piece of Lorek's robe and wiped the blood off his maul. Something caught the corner of his eye.

Did I just a see a wolf? And during my rage...was there a sodding bison in here?......I must be going insane after all, damn you Maghai....I need a sodding drink.

Ostef ran into the room, and slipped on a puddle of blood, falling to the ground. He then jumped up and looked around the carnage.

"Maker's balls, did you do all this?"

"Yes, I did, I am all done here. Did you deal with the mages?"

"No! Well, I didn't, but they're dead, I think. I don't know what the sodding shit happened, but I think I saw a dragon!"

"A dragon? Hmm...let's go see, lead the way."

"Let's go."

Ostef turned the way he came from, Rakot followed him, maul still in hand.

He had not killed. The scent of blood and the sound of dying - dead - men had not stirred Griffinhart into action. He had moved, shadowy and Faded, above and around the charnel house, eyes ever watching the scenes that unfolded. Observation was key to victory, and so instead of fighting, the warrior observed. They had done their killing quick enough, and with skill enough. He approved of some methods, and not of others - too flashy here, too much moving about there, kills that should have been taken earlier but had not...

Rakot especially, forgetting of the two guards that were flanking the entrance, and leaving it up to... a wolf. Perhaps the watchman and Griffinhart's tail hadn't, in fact, belonged with the Tevinters. Griffinhart did not wholly believe that - or even partially - but he kept the possibility in mind.

Drake especially, with the chaos he caused as a dragon. There was a skill that Griffinhart would have liked to learn. Another weapon in his repertoire, another weapon he could become. Never had he been able to claim to be both sword and dragon.

Griffinhart took his eyes off the fighting and looked back at the cart - perhaps it had been stupid of him to park the thing within observation distance of an elevated point near the warehouse, but it was necessary; he could not be in two places at once - and saw an interesting sight. The betrayer was taking off. Griffinhart grimaced. Was their task done? Did they still need Tendir? This was a command decision that he was not qualified to make, and didn't have the time to consider all the options -

No. It was too risky to let the berserker chase after the betrayer. But at the same time, they needed to know where the cart and where Griffinhart had gone...

Fuck it.

The warrior kicked in one of the high windows of the warehouse, peered in, looking down upon the carnage and the still-remaining fighters, and called down below: "The betrayer makes to escape. I will chase. The cart is south of here, visible from this position, in an alleyway. Wait there for me."

Griffinhart leapt from his perch and let the Fade catch his weight, let the Fade speed him through the air, and went, rooftop-to-rooftop, with an inhuman speed as he moved after Tendir from above. The betrayer would not escape. No betrayer escaped Griffinhart.

"Yes, if you could. I am not good at carrying someone that big in this form." It did not matter whether this youth knew Jez's form was not his or not, in fact it could be better as he couldn't point at Jez if he ever saw her and yell dragon.

"That was brave of you to attack that mage. Oh hello, Rakot. Ostef. Is the mess out there all clean? I believe we should get going."

Then a window was broken out and Griffinhart called in, "Huh. Looks like your garbage has left, Rakot. Well, let's get ready to go back. This one will stay asleep more than long enough to get him to the Warden Commander."

Kassina looked around frantically when she heard the window break. The dark one was dashing off and her first instinct was to give chase. But her fear for Dartmoor and the good-smelling girl won out. She dashed into the building following their scents. Finding everyone ok and the fighting temporarily at an end excitement overcame caution and she began frolicking in circles around Dartmoor, her tongue hanging out like an excited puppy. The cute image was slightly marred by the blood still staining her muzzle and splattered elsewhere on her fur.

"Doesn't look like a dragon to me."

Rakot nudged Ostef with his elbow.

"I am telling you, there was a dragon....anyways, you think these two elves would have been able to deal with five Tevinter mages? And capture the archmage to boot?"

"...true...but its irrelevant now, I need a drink."

"You're not even a bit curious as to what happened?"

"Not till I get my drink, there will be time for sorting this out, and its not now."

Rakot then turned to Jez.

"Yes, Tendir couldn't fight his nature and took off......sod it, I wanted to kill that nug humper myself.....but the tin can can have him if he so wishes, dead is a dead, and there is little honor in wiping off that puke stain with my maul. Fine, lets go to the cart....try not to slip on the blood in the lobby."

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Tendir kept running, he could feel a gaze on his back, gaze full of cold determination, it made the dwarf uneasy but all he could do was continue forward.

"You will get your booze at the palace with no problems, Rakot. No worries about that." She-he started walking out as Kassina rushed in, "Hello sweety." Jez-Drake said as she ran around Dartmoor and she-he smiled at the action then looked to the young man.

"If you two wish to come with us then you are more than welcome. There is a garden where I am sure you will be comfortable until the rest of this is resolved and I am sure that Nygozy would like to see you both."

Jez-Drake started walking and went out then to the wagon, setting the Tevinter mage in the back and tied him up.

He leapt from the rooftops like an eagle - no, like a griffon, fully in possession of his namesake - and sundered the air with his falling grace, brown-green cloak arrayed with the gray of the sky. The griffon blew right by Tendir in his descent, chased by a blinding Fade-shadow that enveloped the grime-coated alleys through which the dwarf had run. Darkness enveloped the path, and two eyes peered out of the blackness, unblinking, merciless.

A pregnant silence - for Tendir could not even hear his own breathing (did he still breathe?) in the choking darkness.

And then - the silence was severed by the sound of a sword unsheathing.

And then - in the silence's dying echoes, a voice.

"Return to the Warden-Commander's mercy, betrayer, or die here."

As the darkness flowed in around him, Tendir stopped. As the Warden issued his command, the dwarf stood trembling for a minute, but then found his courage and unsheathed his daggers.

"I AM TENDIR HAMMERFELL, AND I WILL NOT BE HUNTED LIKE AN ANIMAL! I CHOOSE THIS AS PLACE OF MY DEATH! RAAA!!!!"

He swung his blades towards the eyes.

[OOC: Assuming it's okay to kill Tendir, then.]

The dwarf charged with intent to kill - what? Himself? Death's eyes, icy and cold, blinked out of existence, and all there was, was darkness. Silence. Tendir stumbled forward on his charge, hitting nothing.

"So be it."

He could not see them, but felt two shafts pierce him from behind, long, slender blades that erupted through his torso; in the same moment, the darkness had lifted itself from his eyes - a mere illusion that had been cast on his mind. There had never been an all-enveloping darkness. There had never been two eyes peering out from the darkness. The Warden that had killed him had always been right behind him, waiting.

A different sort of darkness fell over his vision, now.

They had returned safe and sound, bloody but not as messy as they could have been, and sent directly to the offices the Warden-Commander was using away from her rooms and in a secure part of the building in case there was any trouble.

Jez-Drake had taken the two new people to the gardens and left them there to relax and have something to eat while he went off to check on a rumour he had heard.

But Nygozy stood, looking down at the Tevinter mage before her eyes returned to the two humans in front of her. Griffinhart was there as well, quiet and serene as was the always hidden Kai, both ready and willing to defend her.

"I take it the plan went as we thought it would?" She said it to no one in particular but waited for a response or responses.

"So it has." She said without inflection then looked to Griffinhart, "What do you think? Was this mission contained in such a manner as to what we should expect and do you believe these two men deserve another chance to prove their worthiness?"

Nygozy waited, calmly looking at the dark enigma by her side.

Still in wolf form Kassina sniffed around the yard to make sure they were alone. The ride in the cart had unsettled her, as she had never been in one before. And being in a confined space with so many people! Today was definately a load of new experiances for her.
Finally the smell of food made her hungry enough to leave the safety of wolf form, and she transformed once again into the young elven girl. She looked at the table of wierd looking food, and then looked to Dartmoor.
"Where we are? What doing?" Since he had a mouthful of food, she began picking up random things off the table and sniffing them before putting them in her mouth. After her third bite she wrinkled her nose. "Wierd food! Not taste right. What wrong with it?"

Griffinhart spoke no words for a moment, considering everything, looking past even his paranoia. The berserker had performed as well as expected in combat for a berserker, and had gone beyond Griffinhart's expectation of betrayal. He had no fear of death - or rather, was the sort willing to die if his death had meaning. That kind of attitude was always useful amongst the Wardens.

In death, sacrifice.

"Rakot did not betray us, like Tendir did," gestured the taciturn Warden to the bag that contained Tendir's head. "He has paid back his own betrayal without turning to betrayal. Whether his debt to Jezarine is paid is not in my judgment."

As for Ostef? "His companion should share his fate. They erred against Jezarine together; they are freed or hanged together."

It was a tacit, roundabout approval. They had done admirably, but at the same time, would not have done so if they had not acted against the Wardens. Griffinhart had spoken his piece; the men's fates would lie in the hands of the Warden-Commander.

Griffinhart's words were direct, to the point and exactly what Nygozy was looking for. The man could sum things up in such a manner that no one could truly deny his words, or at least if they tried it would be a useless joke as this weapon was always carefully aimed and took it's mark seriously.

Nygozy looked to Kai who nodded, gave Griffinhart a quick glance as if to say, "If you let anything happen to her ..." then left the room. Torture yawned from under the table at the side of the room as if to enforce that thought.

"There are a couple of choices you can consider." She said to both men, "One is to leave and be sent outside of Fereldan so you can make a new life elsewhere, never to return. You could bring your family if you have any. Another is to become a Grey Warden, if your next test is met with satisfaction."

OOC: Just to clarify, Ostef and Rakot are both human.

IC:

Upon hearing the Warden-Commander's words Rakot scratched his head.

"Eh...well...I am a bit surprised I must say...we kidnap one of your own, and you offer us to join you?"

Is this the choice that Romek spoke of.....heh.....sodding bastard must have broken out of hell to appear in my dream after all.

After a few more minutes of consideration, Rakot spoke out.

"Killing darkspawn has been a hobby of mine for quite some time, also its better than having to decide what to do with the rest of my life myself. Fine, I'll take the job offer."

"And me as well."

Ostef lifted his eyes.

"I may not like this...but this is the best option for my family, getting sent out of Ferelden might as well be a death sentence."

"And there you have it Warden...hope you know what you're doing, cause I sure as sodding hell can't figure out your motives."

Kassina wasn't quite sure what the not-quite elf was doing, but it helped to calm her down. It made her feel safe and warm inside. It brought back vague memories of her mother, the mother she had before wolf mother.
As he sang she picked at some more of the burnt meat. She remembered seeing others she had helped over the years burning their meat. She had never really understood why they would do such a thing. It made the taste weak and wrong.
When she'd had enough she curled up in the shade of a nearby tree and watched Dartmoor as he finished the song. She had so many questions for him, but still lacked the ability to communicate well. She also felt somehow that she shouldn't just bombard him with questions. She'd been told before that that was "rude", whatever that meant.
"Not understand why burn good meat" she began in a grumble. "You look elf, but not smell quite elf. Why? So many strange smell people here. Where good smell girl go? What 'bout others? Dark one, and angry one?" With that she realized she was doing just what she had meant not to do, and stopped abruptly.

((Kassina and Dartmoor have jumped to here - https://dragonageafter.forumotion.com/t228-shifting-gears#3250))

Jezarine walked into the room, escorted by a guard and looked at the two men who had been her kidnappers only days before. She stopped like a fearful deer, looking at them with fearful eyes.

"Jezarine, these two men may become Grey Wardens but the last word hinges on you." Nygozy stated calmly, "Men ... what do you say to her?"

The healer put her hands in front of herself, realizing that Torture had come to sit beside her. The mabari was licking a paw with one eye on the two humans.

Rakot looked at the Commander, then at Jezarine.

"What do I say to her? Well, lass, I am a warrior, a weapon. A weapon does not choose whom to strike, or in what manner to do so, it simply does as guided. That said, there is no excuse for what we have done to you that you would accept. Just know that you have nothing to fear from me anymore, nor from Ostef here, for he is the same as me. We are but weapons, and should the Wardens wield us, we will work only towards their purpose with all that we are. I give my word that this statement is true."

"And so do I."

Rakot turned back to the Commander.

"That is all that we have to say."

Jezarine rubbed her arms as Rakot explained himself to her and she watched his face to make sure he was not lying and glanced at Ostef as well for the same thing. She was terrified and trying not to show it but she trusted Nygozy to rip their throats out if they even considered trying anything.

What this man said was true. She knew many people had gone through the same things and much of it was the fact that they had been paid for such things and made to do what they did not want to for one reason or another. The young healer understood. Her fears were not relinquished by the fact but she did understand.

"You ... scared me." Jez finally said, painfully aware of her voice, "But you did not hurt me like others would have. In fact, you made sure I was ok. I can't ... I can't ... ok so I'm still scared! I'm no warden and I'm no fighter so yes that did terrify me and it still affects me."

She took a deep breath, gulped and went on, "But I understand. I cannot, in good conscience deny you a second chance. Either of you. I'm a healer. I heal and maybe you becoming wardens will heal things for you too. But ... I can't be around you. Not for a long while. Nygozy ..."

Her eyes were wet as she turned to the commander, "I can accept this but please, please give me time to come to terms with it."

"Very well." Nygozy announced as Jezarine finished speaking, "You two will become Grey Wardens. Family members will go where you go; however, you will not join our order until after you go through training and a relief period of no less than six months for Jezarine to heal from, and come to terms with these events. A suitable tenure with a military household of my choosing will be set up and you will adhere to the rules thereof."

The commander put up a hand before Rakot could speak, "It will be with someone I know has no problems with ale or any other alcohol. Trust my instincts on this, I am a dwarf, you know."

She sat up on the desk, "As for your comment before ... yes, you kidnapped one of our own but you also did not kill or physically damage her. If you had done either of those things we would not be discussing this now. As you probably can tell, I am castless and therefore have been in situations I have had no control over which could have had me killed for what I had done. Both of you have proven yourselves to be honourable and true to your word. You have the right to more."

Nygozy hopped off the desk, "Until tomorrow the two of you will reside in a guarded cell block which contains a communal room but no ability to leave. Food will be delivered to you as will two kegs of ale for your consumption for a job well done. Tomorrow, you and those you wish to come along will be sent to the household that will be your home until you are called to the new Grey Warden facilities."

She gave them a bow from the neck and Kai opened the door for guards to come in and issue the men out. Once they were gone she walked over to Jezarine and hugged her, letting her friend cry on her shoulder.

It was more mercy than Griffinhart would have given them; for he would have had them Joined, and then, only then, would he have wasted resources - food, and training, and a place to live, above all things? Were the barracks of a keep not good enough? His stark, spartan Anderfels nature welled up for a moment, but passed away without further incredulity - on the two. Or one. Or none, as the case could be. The Joining, in his mind, would have been suitable judgment, even if he knew that their crimes were irrelevant. Everything, in the eyes of the Joining was irrelevant - either you survived or you didn't. Nothing could affect the outcome, as far as Griffinhart knew. It was one of the few things in life that was perfectly fair.

As for the crying woman, and the all too-human (human, despite being dwarf, for what else could describe the nature of the woman as she appeared now?) Warden-Commander that held her? He could not begrudge them their humanity. His standards for himself were for him, and him alone. Not everyone could cut out their heart on a cold winter night with fire-charred, bloodstained hands...

The memory drifted up, but was quashed down with the same question, ever-present since that night at the campfire: how could he remember something that had never happened?

Caught between the memory and the question, Griffinhart stood silent, as if a statue, watching without seeing - as was his presumed nature. That was, after all, how he had set himself up, and let himself be perceived. It had suit him fine before, and in this moment, was a blessing.