Sisters of Tevinter

Impending Doom

    Kaisen pressed her back against the cliffside, peering down over the ledge at the hulking brutes of red crystal that paced their dumb, unimaginative patrol across the sand wastes. The Venatori banners flapped in the dry wind from the ramparts of the round stone fortress that was Griffon Wing Keep. Even from this distance, the building was massive. Constructed of smooth granite, it lay against the precipice, the clay and stone sweeping low in a thousand foot drop on the opposite side. 

      It stood stark against the sky, on the lip of foul sulfur springs that belched their toxic mist into the air in noxious clouds. A scaly phoenix trotted through the fumes, long tail swishing and snaggleteeth bared. Its mate lay in its warmed nest of eggs, embers flickering dimly in the stark daylight, unbothered by the military forces bent on destroying the world around it. Kaisen envied the ignorance of animals. 

    Max, crouching beside her, gave a low whistle. "That's a lot of security." His gaze scanned over the battlements, lined with idle mages and warriors in armor. There was at least one paladin-- a heavy hitter with even heavier armor, spiked helmet gleaming in the sun and holy blades at their hips. They would not be easy to take out, even with a fully armed battalion of soldiers. 

     Argus cocked his head to one side. "I hear... six... no, seven of the lyrium creatures inside. They breathe differently. They snarl. There's something else... big... but I don't know what it is." 

     "You can hear all that from here?" Kaisen glanced at him incredulously. The keep was at least a mile away. 

     Argus grinned. "What? Speak up."

     Spook laughed, ribbons of scarlet flame arcing eagerly up his arms. "Let me set fire to the place, captain. We'll burn those sons of bitches to the ground." 

     Max shook his head once. "No. Too risky. The blood mages on the walls would out play us in an instant, they have the high ground." His assessing eyes flicked from the behemoths in the sand to the front entrance. "They'll be expanding their reach through the Approach, it looks like they're attempting to set up some kind of blockade." 

     "I hear hammers too. Massive gearboxes. Throughout the mountains and beneath the keep. They're mining something." Argus pulled a knee to his chest from where he sat. 

    "Lyrium." Kaisen folded her arms, her dark cowl casting her face in shadow. 

     "This operation can't go on," Spook insisted.

      "I can get in, easy," the Crow mused. "Getting out will be the problem." 

     "No one is going in there," Max hissed. The warrior's fingers fell to the hilt of his father's sword. The pearl and steel of the handle was cold and reassuring in his hand. "Jor said not to engage." 

     "Hm," Argus said, noncommittally. Even he seemed to be itching to move in. His fingers flexed at his sides, picking absently at pebbles and sand, occasionally slipping those he liked into his pockets. Kaisen watched the rogue wrestle with his impulse, she knew the feeling. He wanted to use the bow across his back and the gold laced blades at his sides. 

      "We should go." Max rose, sensing his companion's unrest. He wanted to stick it to the Venatori as much as the next man-- they gave Tevinter a bad name and were generally assholes-- but attempting any kind of combat here would lead to loss of life within his party. That would be unacceptable. "Kaisen, you noted the layout?" 

     "Got it." 

     "Good. Argus, how many over all?" 

     "Thirty," the thief murmured. "Check?"