Adventures in the Far Reaches (for Weiss Ritter)

[Xatarias]

[Insight check: 9. Also a luck roll... For reasons <.<]

"Mhmm" Ilyanna grunts, thoroughly unconvinced. "Let's not test the bounds of your affection for sharp-toothed beasties. Their territory is thereabouts?"

She continues on, giving wide birth to the superpredators' territory. Progress slows as you are forced to maneuver around the Highland's many obstructions. The jungles were treacherous, but it only took a few close encounters with hidden ravines and sudden rock slides to form an appreciation for the danger of your new surroundings. The climb already begins to put an ache in your limbs. A quick burn of Strength would keep you going, but that was a luxury your companion didn't possess. Halfway through your next shift of pathfinding, you locate a travelers cache.

Finding the hollow in the granite cliff face is a relief. While these rest stops were carefully recorded in both map and memory, the shifting landscape often displaced or outright destroyed. The food would be left for clan members in dire need, but the water collector's reservoir would provide a welcome refreshment- not even the toughest ranger would claim to enjoy avoiding dehydration via razorgrass sap.

"Ry ry... Come look at this."

You pause filling your water skin to kneel beside Ilyanna. Her hand traces the surface of a nearby boulder which bears a scorch mark with a perfectly flat surface that is an utter contrast to the rock's otherwise oblong shape. After a thoughtful frown the Shamaness levels her gaze with the curious marking and gasps. She gestures you closer.

Lining up your vision along the flat edge, you see what's so surprising. A distant sapling missing a tree branch, another boulder with its top cleaved off. It was like some a giant blade had marred the surrounding landscape with one perfectly straight cut.

"I don't know of anything that can do this..."

 

[Weiss Ritter]

[Nothing ominous about that ]

"Yeah," Orion motioned helpfully to give a vague outline of the land they'd need to bypass. "So, we're not dropping in for a family reunion dinner? Damn, I guess no regurgitated meat for me. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to settle for ventcrabs and thunderhoof steaks with you and the rest of my family..."

The young man let out an exaggerated sigh and would have flashed Ilyanna a playful grin if she was baited into looking at him. Lingering fondness for the fearsome hexapumas aside, he wasn't in a rush to re-live that chapter in his life. Certainly not while Ilyanna's neck was on the line and even a playful slash or nip from such creatures could cause them all sorts of trouble on an already difficult and perilous journey.

Orion exhaled in naked relief when they made it into the hollow without incident. Routine milestones like this were still something even a prodigy like he learned to appreciate, if they had the slightest bit of sense. Even in the lands Cloudclimber had comfortably claimed for itself, nothing could ever be truly taken for granted.

"Hm?" The young warrior grunted and briskly made his way to Ilyanna's side. A puzzled frown formed as his crimson eyes scanned over the bizarre scorch mark. A frown that only deepened when the shamaness revealed the trail...whatever did this left through the landscape.

"Well, it certainly wasn't the weather or any beast I know," Orion pulled himself back up into a kneel, silent and thoughtful for a moment. Then he rose and looked down the edge of the cliff to conduct a quick calculation. "Ily, hand me the ropes. I know we don't have a lot of time for detours, but whatever did this is far too close to Skyhold to be ignored. Plus it seems to have left us a pretty clear trail to the source..."

With their climbing equipment, they could probably rappel back down the cliffface fairly quickly and easily. They could even tie the ropes together in a single, lengthy construct that might have been able to get them all the way down on it's own, as well as aid their way back up if they left it in place. It'd certainly mitigate the amount of time and energy this investigation would cost them.

 

[Xatarias]

Ilyanna's eyes practically gleam with excitement as you give your proposal and she immediately gives a eager nod, rifling through her bottomless pack for more rope. Apparently you were of the same mind... Then again, Ilyanna would probably need tying up before you moved on from such a bizarre set of clues. This was a mystery- and Ily had more curiosity than half the clan's shamans put together.

"It can't be an archcaster," She muses, helping you secure the climbing rig, "Far too straight for that. The unstable discharge makes the bolt- well arch. It almost reminds me of a plasma cutters from the foundry- or one of those cannons we salvaged from skyhold... Well before it blew up anyway. Is someone mining up here? And wouldn't the sensors have picked it up?..."

Well you were about to find out. In her rush to match the innocuous scorch marks with mechanisms she was familiar with, Ilyanna was missing something. The mystery device had to be small as it was transported all the way to the highlands without any signs of a skimmer or some other vehicle. Small meant portable... It took decades for your clan to harness the ancestral technology necessary for producing a handheld archcaster. This struck you as something more powerful and with a longer range.

You descend from the rocky boulder field, running down the inclined surfaces and using the ropes secured to your climbing vest whenever the drop became too steep. Ilyanna slides down the granite face next you, snatching you wrist when your course becomes precarious. Bullying your momentum towards a new angle, the Shamaness grunts as you fling yourself into the leafy canopy onto a sturdy branch.

(Speed check: 16)

"Ready Ry Ry!"

It didn't really matter at this point. Ily was moving too fast to safely halt her progress. Jumping from a lower angle, she wouldn't make it to your perch. You needed to hook your legs and hang inverted to catch her outstretched hands. The movement is done before you can finish your thought and Ilyanna grins up at you while she hangs one hand grip from oblivion.

"I'm starting to see why the huntresses like having you along~"

Your inevitable retort would be somewhat hindered as Ilyanna used your body as a climbing device.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Orion's reserved air was a stark contract to the overflowing cauldron of excitement that was Ilyanna. He frowned and shook his head at the shamaness. "You're thinking too big. There's no way the sensors or the other patrols could have missed anything like that. It looks more like a stray shot to me. Maybe someone who found the second-best piece of salvage in the last fifty years got attacked by one of the local predators?"

Hell, they probably could have hit most of the beasts in this jungle with such a beam and still carved the swath they did through the wilds. The thought of some unknown quantity loose in Cloudclimber lands with that much power unnerved him as much as what the clan could do with such a device if the shamans had a chance to study it intrigued him. Whatever awaited them at the bottom of this mystery, Cloudclimber couldn't afford for them to not get to it quickly.

"Thanks," Orion grunted when Ilyanna caught his outstretched wrist. Most others would have likely been baffled at the mere thought of descending from such a height so quickly and recklessly. Most among those who remained undaunted probably would have found they had more courage than skill, but he and Ily were a well-oiled machine the likes of which Skyhold's shamen rarely saw these days. Their running slides were well-honed by years braving the Warrens and beyond, and their support of each other came naturally as breathing.

...Truth be told, it was not just physical strain and concern that made Orion's heart flutter as they acrobatically danced among the stone and trees.

"Hrmph!" Orion grunted despite the danger and strain as he hung upside down with a shapely shamaness pulling herself up over him. "And I'm starting to wonder why I like hanging around with you so-Ack! Watch where you grab!"

The young man's thighs reflexively clenched closer together. As convenient a handrest as the gap between Orion's legs and groin made, Ilyanna wouldn't have needed a strength band to unwittingly do quite a bit of damage there if she wasn't paying attention.

 

[Xatarias]

You didn't need to look up to see Ilyanna's eye roll.

"Don't worry, Romeo, your boys are safe from this spinster's iron grip."

Strong and capable as Ily was, this wasn't exactly a well-practiced maneuver. There is a bit of squirming, wriggling, and one minor incident with your chin functioning as a ladder rung. Eventually, your friend makes it to the branch above and leans down to haul you up. You sit side-by-side, catching your breath.

"Flawless execution~" Ilyanna gasps, flashing that bright smile and rocking into you playfully. "Now, if I did this correctly..."

The shamaness pulls a roll of cord from her belt. The red string extends out from your position back towards the storage cache.

"We line this up, and it'll give us a good idea where to look," She explains pulling it taut.

Eyeballing the skyward line, you judge that your destination was further into the treeline at ground level. You drop down and help Ilyanna trail her cord backwards, pausing every few yards to adjust your trajectory. A red flash in the corner of your eye causes you to grab Ilyanna and force a halt. Ignoring her protests, you crouch low and blow a bit of dust from the ground. A few inches above the forest floor was a faint beam projecting from a nearby thicket.

"Trip wire?" Ily asks, following your gaze. "Am I good to move?"

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Orion tried to shoot Ilyanna a flat look as they sat side-by-side on the branch, panting and-in his case-quite sore.Something about the Shamaness's joy was contagious enough to get him to offer a faint smile back all the same. It was probably for the best. The first remark that sprang to mind was a suggestion that they needed practice this sort of thing more. Orion was in no rush to get stepped on again, Ilyanna wouldn't have been terribly amused by any "climbing" innuendos he'd be tempted to make, and it would be some time before they could venture beyond Skyhold together if all went here.

That thought gave Orion enough pause that he didn't realize what Ilyanna was up to until she spoke again.

"Good thinking," The young man nodded and scanned the jungle below one last time before hopping down. Orion remained just as, if not more, vigilant as they pulled their cord through the jungle.It wouldn't do at all to have their efforts disrupted and an easy trail lost just because neither of them noticed an opportunistic predator on the prowl. He wasn't quite sure what to expect, but an ominous crimson flash in the edge of his vision was definitely not at the top of the list.

"Trip wire," Orion nodded. His eyes briskly followed the beam's trail to the thicket and then began scanning for other bits of foliage, piles of rock, and similar places he would have thought to stash additional beams. There may well have been a redundant system at work here to deal with particularly clever or lucky predators...or even human hunters.

"Let me find out." The young warrior gathered more dust and carefully used it to check for additional beams along his path to the thicket. Orion willed himself into the Wake as he went. Not even the slightest, move briefest of hints betraying any other unpleasant surprises in his path would escape his notice that way...ideally.

(Applying a special point to any challenge rolls for this )

 

[Xatarias]

(Almost like you're nervous for some reason . Insight check: 11)

You creep forward, cautiously scattering your fistful of dust while approaching the tripwire beam's source. A few yards from the dense patch of greenery, you discover another beam crossing the first at waist height. It takes you several minutes to map the surrounding area even with the supernatural sense the Wake provided. For a second time, Ilyanna's length of cord comes in handy, providing a visible marker for each deadly beam. Only when you are absolutely confident of the location and angle of every tripwire do you signal Ily to approach.

"Let's see what we're dealing with." The shamaness murmurs, bending awkwardly towards one of the half dozen hidden traps. "This.... Well this is unusual."

Several suspenseful fidgets pass before you hear a quiet beep. Ilyanna comes away with a silvery sphere trailing several wires from where the shamaness conducted her disarmament. The device is sleek and compact- not at all like the jerry-rigged booby traps you were trained to deal with. How Ilyanna managed to decipher much less scuttle the cryptic piece of hardware was a testament to her skill as a mechanic.

"There's a detonator set to register nearby movement. The explosive is like nothing I've seen before. It's like the plastics we use in the quarries, but more dense."

She holds up an innocuous lump of putty, frowning at it.

"Something tells me this little guy packs more of a punch than your average hand grenade. Boost me up, I'll get the other bunch."

It takes longer than you were comfortable with, but after several hours, you had half a dozen dud grenades sitting in a pile. The project turned up more clues though. Several scorch marks similar to the one up in the highlands. Tracks left by steel-shod boots. This was the scene of a battle- and one not too long past.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

(Enough to make a point of not failing to use these things like in CTDC )

It had definitely taken longer than Orion would have liked, but the pile of advanced explosives was a small monument to how well-advised his caution had been and how lucky he was to have Ilyanna with him for this. He did not like imagining what probably would have happened if any other clanmates tried to solve this mystery in their place.

Now that imminent and horrifying death was no longer a concern-at least not any more than is usually was on this world-the hunter was free to examine the jungle around them in greater detail. It was obvious enough their mysterious marksman had fought here recently, but against who and to what end? The scorch marks were obvious enough to see and the steel-shot boots left an easier trail to follow than most footwear, but perhaps he'd missed some clawmarks or opposing footprints before.

"I don't like this, Ily. This is overkill for anything that walks in this jungle. Whoever planted these explosives must be pretty confident in their supply if they're willing to use these so liberally..." Orion frowned. It was still possible they were "just" dealing with a renegade salvager who'd had a lucky break in the same vein as his and Ilyanna's own, but that didn't explain all of this as comfortably as it had before.

"Are these safe to take with us?" The hunter gestured to the pile of explosive putty, his crimson orbs already narrowing in on the trail left by the steel-shod boots. "I'm sure the priesthood would love to get a look at them, and it wouldn't hurt to have proof of all this that doesn't take a trip through the highlands for someone else to verify,"

Especially at least trying to track down the one behind all this put them behind their three-day schedule. Things happened outside Skyholds walls that no one could predict and few would have batted an eye over a routine patrol running a little late, but there was nothing routine about being appointed Arbiter to the Gate District. The Donya weren't going to take that lying down, and nothing good would come of giving them another day or two to subvert Tysera's designs while he was away.

 

[Xatarias]

"...There was more than one of them," Your companion states abruptly. "Putting all the angles together, the scorch marks project from different areas of cover with an even split between apposing directions. Classic fire fight... Except they were all equipped with advanced hardware."

That leads to a moment of silence as you both contemplate the existence of strangers in the valley. Ones that seemingly avoided detection by Skyhold's sensor array and possessed weoponry not seen since the time of the Ancestors.

You watch as Ilyanna crouching in the scrub, eyes alight with discovery.

"Oh hello. Aren't you a beauty~"

She comes up with a segmented glove in hand. Looking closer, you realize that armor might be a more apt discription. While slim and form-fitting, each gleaming plate was perfectly articulated with some sort of corrogated material underneath. The 'cuff' is a mangled affair of wire, twisted metal... And blood. This last part doesn't seem to disuade Ilyanna in the least as she turns it over in thorough examination.

"There are motor fibers all throughout this thing! Active ones without the slightest bit of corrosion. It's like... A suit of muscle you wear over your hand. Amazing~"

And if the damaged section was any indication, this piece of armor was part of a larger set.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Orion said grimly. At first, he'd hoped the sheer number of scorch marks was merely indicative of a single lone gunman but...no. Ilyanna was completely correct.

It was unnerving to imagine a whole pack, perhaps even an entire clan, of outsiders secretly living in Cloudclimber lands with a cache of the Ancestors' technology that dwarfed even Skyhold's. Still...they hadn't made themselves a threat to his home yet for one reason or another, and this charred battlefield hinted at some violent divisions within this enigmatic new player. Maybe some good could come from this after all.

Ilyanna's all too familiar purr earned her an arched brow from Orion and an almost reflexive playful smile. "Oh, wow..."

The young man blinked and openly stared at the armored glove. It wasn't often that Ilyanna salvaged something that equally impressed them both, but that just made it all the more memorable when she managed to pull it off.

"That is amazing...Ancestors, I wonder how it'd compare to my strength band, or better yet: what I could do with the band and a full suit of that..." Orion's smile and tone remained playful, but that thought invited another disquieting one. Just how well would an average warrior of Cloudclimber compare against these mysterious marksmen? "Congratulations, Ily, I think you found one of the few things that could convince me to put a shirt on. The women of Skyhold will never forgive you for this."

Orion's gaze flickered over the trail left by the steel-shod boots...and possible blood as well. "I don't see any corpses on this battlefield, but that glove means at least one of them is wounded and probably moving slower than us. We need answers and they might need help. Add the armor to our stash, or do you have any objections to us taking a quick look?"

 

[Xatarias]

Ilyanna reluctantly stows the piece of armor, clearly wanting a longer examination. The explosive follow with an alarming casualness that has you cringing. She smirks.

"It's kinetically stable. Bang, twist, and mush it all you want, it'll need a pretty hefty jolt to be set off."

She crouches next to you, examining the strangers' trail with a speculative eye.

"I'm the tourist out here, Ry Ry. It's your call. Gotta say though, these people are likely packing all sorts of toys we have no experience with... And we already know they aren't exactly trigger-shy," She says, with a careful look in your direction. "This isn't a warriors pride spurring you to face a new challenge, right? Just reconnaissance."

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"...So, nothing that won't kill us anyway if it hits us once we reach the Barrows?" It would make a pretty sorry end to their story if they died at the hands of their own salvaged explosives just because a little too much static electricity built up in the air.

"Trust me, a challenge is the last thing I want right now," Orion gave Ilyanna a firm look in return. "Whoever-whatever-these people are, I'd prefer to avoid starting a war with them, but we barely know anything about them and I doubt we'll get a better chance than this,"

Orion shifted his gaze back to the trail before them. "Besides, if we duck out now without learning anything concrete, some other patrol is probably going to be sent in. Even if they somehow get as lucky as we have here, do you trust them to handle it as well as the two of us?"

 

[Xatarias]

"Appealing to my ego? Devious," She answered with a smirk that didn't quite reach her eyes. "But you're right. Who knows if we'll be able to track down these strangers again... We need to find out who they are and what they're capable of. Somehow I doubt we'll find many happy answers."

[Precision roll: 8]

You progress as stealthily as the restricted environment will allow, taking to the canopy when streams of lava and active steam vents bar your passage. The trail isn't hard to follow, even among the the treetops- these strangers moved with the carelessness of reckless pursuit. How they managed to make a direct beeline through such treacherous terrain, you couldn't say for certain, but the strange glove you discovered gives you a few ideas.

Crashes can be heard in the distance.

Ilyanna grabs at your wrist, causing you to pause just as a distant treetop descends with a cacophony of groaning wood. The wake registers less dramatic signs of your quarry: the clinking of metal plate and voices muffled by static overlay. You were close.

"Now how do we- shit!"

You both dive for cover as a barrage of white-hot beams lance through the jungle foliage. They don't seem to be cast in your specific direction, but that is little comfort as one wicked bolt cleaves through a nearby bough, sending the whole thing crashing to the forest floor below. Ilyanna's hands tighten on her enhanced compound bow, expression tight. What use the weapon would be against such advanced foes, you can only hope not to find out.

"Three angles of fire" The shamaness murmurs, clearly trying to remain calm. "At least three of them."

An second barrage lances from a different direction, closer to your position.

"Four... And I'll wager that's the one they're chasing."

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Orion felt more concerned than reassured at how blatant a trail the strange warriors left in their wake. It didn't offer the most flattering first impression of their skill at navigating the wilds and left an ample amount of proof for his comrades in Skyhold to verify and investigate later, but it was also a testament to the power of strangers' armored suits and raised a number of unnerving questions. What had changed to make these once-undetectable intruders discard any pretense of subtlety? Was it desperation or boldness?

Orion flinched alongside Ilyanna when a stray blast decapitated a distant tree in yet another display of their quarry's power and apparent lack of concern for inquisitive Cloudclimber clanmates.

"Shit!" The young warrior's curse echoed the shamaness's as they hurled themselves out of the path of yet another stray bolt. Another unfortunate tree was felled by the merciless beam, and by complete accident. Whoever was being hunted by the mysterious warriors, it was a fucking impressive testament to their equipment, skill, or more likely: both that they'd survived this onslaught as long as they had!

Orion gave his personal runeblade a speculative look while Ilyanna gripped her bow. It didn't seem like anything could stand up to their weapons, but they had proof that their armor wasn't indestructible. Granted, one of those super-arc casters was probably responsible, but a hexapuma capable of striking with the might of many warriors could be slain by a single well-placed blade. Hopefully the same principle would hold here, if it came down to it. It offered more nerve-steadying comfort than the alternative, anyway...

"Hrm..." Orion grunted thoughtfully at Ilyanna's assessment. He was curious about any warrior that could stand their ground against three of their compatriots, and the hunted stranger was closer. Then again, any safety that offered might have been more than made up for by the fact that not one but three plasma weapons were discharging in that direction. If something went wrong, would it better for the three to be within reach of his sword, or for there to be a healthy helping of jungle between them and their assailants? Jungle they were deforesting by accident so far...

"Tch...we'll take the long way and see if we can get a look at the attacking three," Orion raised his voice just loud enough to be heard over the skirmish without giving their position away. "The fourth might be more desperate, but I doubt they'll feel chatty while the plasma's tearing this place apart, and there's a lot more concentrated fire going in their direction than away from it."

(Applying a special point with snazzy narration on my part for any challenge regarding the stealthy approach. Orion will be using the Wake to make damn sure nothing happens to his not-waifu...oh, and something about ensuring they have the best tactical position they can reasonably expect, Tysera lectures, etc., etc. )

Also, I'm leaving this here to keep track of the special points: 3/5 SP remaining until the next rest.)

 

[Xatarias]

After issuing your directives and a burst of Strength, you kicked off from your perch with Ilyanna in close pursuit. The Wake relied on fast processing of your human perception, so bolts of light-speed energy were far beyond its ability to anticipate. However, the weapon operators took time to aim and seemingly reload. These momentary lapses were like musical rests in some grand tempo of battle and you took full advantage.

Ilyanna didn't have access to Strength or the Wake for that matter, but years of tandem practice gave her a knack of predicting your moments. She rolls across your back to vault gaps in the twisted footpath of boughs and branches. When a distance is too great for her un-augmented muscles to propel her, she snatches your waiting wrist and seizes the provided momentum. Even in the Wake, you double take seeing the shamaness let out a grin even as laser fire pierces the surrounding foliage. One of a kind, indeed...

(Speed check: 20)

You pull Ilyanna into another toss and in the corner of your eye, you catch a flash of metal. Your Wake-filled mind takes less than a second to register the flying explosive- exactly identical to the ones you dismantled previously. There was no time to dodge and you can already see the shamaness fix a steely gaze upon the beeping grenade. You pull harder. Ily's foot connects.

Boom

The bomb careens off course and detonates below far from the canopy. It takes you a moment to recover your beloved from her precarious position and you tumble together against a tree trunk, chests breathing hard from adrenaline-fueled exertion.

"Tell me you planned that" She gasped, the dare-devil smile more than a little strained now.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

The impossible, literally incomprehensible, speed with which the strangers' energy projectiles raced through the air was enough to make Orion's heart skip a beat. The Wake hadn't always allowed his body to react in time to the jungle's perils, but there was nothing in this jungle or the lands beyond that could strike too quickly for his Ta-Moko enhanced senses to register and begin mitigating if not outright countering.

Until today.

Yet a few moments and several coordinated maneuvers with Ilyanna later, it was exertion and adrenaline that fueled his heart's rapid beats rather than fear.

The young warrior could see the subtle movements now, even through the jungle's vegetation. The beams of searing light were effectively undodgeable and unblockable once fired, but the warriors directing them were not so flawless. They needed time to aim and pauses to reload their energy-hungry weapons. His mind was already starting to fill with hypothetical tactics and martial forms designed to master this exotic new tempo of battle. With his bands flaring, Orion could exploit an opening that lasted only a few miliseconds as surely as his enemies throwing their weapons to the ground and daring him to hit them...provided he was somewhere resembling striking distance, anyway.

Such thoughts was a greater comfort than the armored glove Ilyanna had found.

Shit!

Orion could feel his eyes widening at the sight of the all-too-familiar explosive. They were already committed to their hurling leap, there was no time to do anything but follow through. Yet, the Wake gave Orion all the time he needed to shove the panic back into the far reaches of his mind, realize the best-perhaps only-solution, and make all the minute yet crucial changes in the way he held and guided Ilyanna through the air.

*Ping!*

*BANG!*

It was impossible not to smile in triumph as he watched the unassuming piece of metal fly back through the air to detonate harmlessly in slow motion. Orion willed himself out of the Wake long enough to pull Ilyanna up next to him and pressed himself against the tree trunk.

"I planned that," The young warrior spoke with excitement and a broad enough smile on his face that Ilyanna may well have been inclined to take his words at face value. Then the thoughts of how it all could have gone wrong and that it would have meant that what was left of his beloved's charred corpse would have rained into the jungle. "Two seconds ago, but I did plan it. I guess...I guess good old Ry Ry is good for more than carrying your bags after all?"

Orion's smile grew strained as well and he could only attempt a chuckle as he shifted to get a better view of the strangers below. Ancestors, this was his idea. Ilyanna was in danger because of a choice he made. They both knew why it had to be done, but that was scant comfort as the cold and fearful sort of adrenaline began to surge in place of the triumphant sort he'd felt mere moments before.

The young warrior tried to force his mind back to the task at hand. There were mysterious strangers practically within spitting distance of them wielding monstrously powerful weapons for inscrutable reasons. He'd already learned an inkling of how the warriors of Cloudclimber might stand even a faint chance against such power just by making his way here. Orion couldn't afford to let hypothetical tragedies distract he and Ilaynna from gaining the knowledge to avoid real ones.

 

[Xatarias]

Ilyanna shakes her head, letting out a tight breath. It seems like you weren't the only one coming to grips with your most recent close call. While visibly shaken, Skyhold's best and brightest priestess proves her mettle once again with a quick recovery, somehow finding room for levity even as laser fire cascades around you.

"Well we aren't in a million pieces, so I'm not complaining," She murmurs, giving your arm a little squeeze before peeking around the tree trunk. "Pretty sure our approach won't go unnoticed from here... Funny, I'd thought we'd have caught sight of them by now."

Just as she leans a little further forward to get a better view, the base of your tree illuminates in a series of rapid energy blasts. You barely manage to pull Ilyanna to you and into cover while the stranger pauses to reload his weapon. How had they managed to get so close!?

Cautiously, you survey below, watching as a vaguely humanoid outline shimmers and pulses at the base of the tree. Squinting with the benefit of the Wake, you can make out articulated plates of armor and the glint of a visor. As the stranger moves, the scenery behind him bleeds onto his armor in an uncanny form of camouflage that was the next best thing to invisible. You hear Ilyanna breath in awe beside you.

Still, the fact that this stealthy trooper was seemingly still unaware of your presence didn't speak volumes of their skill or experience. Perhaps their equipment was the most formidable thing about this strange warriors... After all, the battle seemed to be tilted in their favor, but they weren't rushing or surrounding their quarry. Hunters instinct presents you with a myriad of possibility as suddenly these god-like figures devolved into something tangible... Vulnerable.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Orion placed his free hand over Ilyanna's own and gave it a gentle squeeze in turn. He glanced back at her with a faint but solemn smile. It was a silent promise: they would return to Skyhold together or not at all, whatever the jungle or these ancient ancestors made flesh dared to throw at them.

"Ily!" He hissed under his breath as soon as the tell-tale lights of the energy weapons flared right below their perch. One arm yanked the shamaness against him and into relative safety while the other partially unsheathed his personal runeblade. For once, the fact that Ilyanna's lithe and splendidly muscled form was pressed tightly against his mostly bared chest, if only for a moment, was pressed firmly to the back of his mind. Orion took a breath, thankful that the din of the raging battle covered whatever rustling his hasty movements caused, and released his closest comrade to sneak a peak at the warrior below.

"Ah..." The satisfied breath he exhaled and smiled he wore were yet another marked contrast to Ilyanna's naked admiration of the technology below.

It seemed that haste and armor-induced complacency were not the only reasons these strangers had left such an obvious trail in their wake. Few things could survive in these harsh lands without paying constant attention to their surroundings, and yet these shrouded intruders reminded him of younglings training with their arc casters for the first time. They aimed and fired...nothing else. They were blind to the world beyond their weapons' sights and their target. For all the brilliance it must have taken to produce such technology, the warriors failed to press the advantage their numbers truly offered them or fully exploit the potential of their borderline invisibility in this terrain.

Once again Orion found himself with more questions than answers. Whoever they were, wherever they came from, they could not have been of these lands in the same way Cloudclimber and the other clans were. Whatever their differences, each of the great clans had fought tooth and nail to carve out their territory in wilds that were as unyielding as they were merciless. Their warriors had been shaped by this world, made a part of it. These strangers...it was as if they hailed from some other star altogether.

Orion's eyes eagerly drank in the intricacies of how the hyper-advanced camouflage below him functioned. What kind of movements gave the trooper away, how fast could they move before his trained senses barely had to strain to detect them, and so on.

Then another thought occurred to the young warrior and his gaze homed in on where the three strangers closest to him were firing.

The damaged glove Ilyanna picked up earlier definitely hadn't been befitting from the camouflage that seemed built into these magnificent suits of armor. At least the hand it once covered was no doubt exposed, but how would the rest of the armor and camouflage contend with such damage? Was one good blow all it would take to force these strangers out of their almost magical hiding...?

He assumed that the answer was to be found with the stranger fighting off three similarly equipped warriors.

 

[Xatarias]

You watch them continue the fight and wince as one unfortunate marksman stands after unleashing a barrage from his weapon... Reloading in open view, his distant opponent answers with a volley of their own, hitting the armored warrior in a shower of sparks and plasma. They crumple to the ground, seemingly unhurt but only feebly moving. Impressive as that armor was, their lack of tactics was enough to make you cringe.

"They're... Not very good are they?"

A gross understatement by your measure. Strip those whelps out of that armor, and they wouldn't have a prayer against any experienced Cloudclimber- lasers or no lasers. Combat was far from Ilyanna's forte, but utter look of pity she shot the blundering troopers was more than obvious.

"I mean it probably wouldn't be hard to take one of them on the sly and pinch some of that armor. Maybe the weapon too?" Ilyanna suggested, gently prodding your shoulder as she squirmed over to you. "For the good of the clan of course."

While you suspect altruism has little to do with the proposal, other reservations crop up in your mind. If these bungling metal-men were representatives of some new clan, stealing their equipment likely wouldn't be the best way to initiate diplomacy. Just because these idiots were grossly incompetent didn't mean all of their warriors were.

As if to punctuate the thought, you spy a second armored stranger sail into the air, held aloft by a cleverly positioned snare. He squirms futilely before a well placed shot immobilizes him.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

When Orion made the comparison between these strangers and some of the most inexperienced younglings still permitted to train with weapons, he'd meant it as an exaggeration. However, these..."warriors" seemed to be doing everything in their power to prove he'd been giving them too much credit! It wasn't even a matter of taking initiative or acting like they'd spent more than a week in the wilds anymore! Leaving yourself completely exposed while your enemy had a tree-shatter ranged weapon...?! The instructor in him wanted to scream! By the moons, how were these people still alive?!

As if to answer him, the stranger with the brilliant idea to not conceal himself while reloading was struck down by a blazing lance of pure energy. If Orion didn't know any better, he might have regarded it as the pure, unadulterated rage of the Ancestors smiting a fool of a descendant. As it stood now, he couldn't help but be mildly horrified that the man...woman...whichever they were seemed merely incapacitated by a direct hit from the seemingly unstoppable force. Ancestors, there were walls in Skyhold that would have been hard-pressed to endure that!

"Ilyanna..." The warrior's jaw clenched and his well-muscled form visibly tensed. His strained tone was all the answer the shamaness really needed. "My grandmother has fought tooth and nail to keep the clan out of pointless wars. She's made it very, very clear to me what it will mean for us all if Cloudclimber is drawn into another one because someone was too impatient or...or angry to see the larger scheme of things,"

Orion took a breath to steady himself. Endless nights weeping by his father's side and in his hammock while the rest of the Fireveins coped in their own ways. Tysera barely managing to reign in a vengeful yet powerless young man who'd lost one of the few lights left in his life and was determined to find some way to avenge the dead of Skyhold, no matter how stupid or suicidal it would have been in the end. It was not a time he needed to relive right now.

"...We'll wait until the fighting is finished. There's only one more left and I doubt they'll last half a minute. I'll make contact once they're all disabled. Maybe the one who actually seems to know what they're doing will try and loot them so I can get answers out of them too. Would you mind covering me while I try and meet a new clan without giving them reason to think Skyhold is full of thieves?"

Orion glanced back at Ilyanna only to pause halfway into what might have been a withering look. "...You don't think this is their idea of training, do you?"

He would never have entertained the possibility before seeing the sheer defensive power of the metal-men's armor first-hand, but now? Even those explosives might have been little more than an incapacitating inconvenience to the likes of them. Both them and that distant snare would have taken time to set up, and it certainly would have explained the mind-boggling incompetence of what he had assumed were full-fledged warriors on a mission to track down one of their own.

"Ancestors..." The young warrior mumbled and tried to get as comfortable as he could. Right when he thought things were not as daunting as they seemed. Hopefully he would be able to put his worries to rest soon, one way or another. In any case, Orion had his plan. Wait until the last of the three fools were dispatched, see if the fourth emerged before they could recover, and then come down to at least attempt a talk with whichever faction was there to listen.

 

[Xatarias]

Ilyanna lets out a frustrated puff of air, rolling away from you along the tree branch. Even as a precise spray of plasma cuts down the final interloper, she manages to find the poise to pout.

"That's the sort of salvage that comes once in a lifetime and those.... Those bums aren't doing it justice." You watch as an errant thought creeps into the shaman's brain, spreading her lips into a familiar Cheshire grin. "You know, Shadowglen and Thunderfalls aren't likely to quibble about were they got sweet new tech. We should at least get a good look at what could possibly fall into the hands of rivals. Ry Ry~"

The last bit comes out more as a pleading purr. You recognize the tone. Ilyanna often used it to set your head spinning before getting a leg up in a friendly race or stealing your last bit of vent crab.

A twig snapped underfoot draws your attention back to the forest floor where a fourth stranger emerges from the undergrowth. They bear armor similar to the others, but caked with mud and smeared with the colors of the surrounding vegetation. Perhaps its cloaking capabilities were knocked out.

You watch as the newcomer darts in and out of cover, making use of their camouflage. Their movements are put slightly off-balance by a sling binding their injured arm, but the economy of motion was unmistakable. This was a warrior.

"You really want to talk with this one?" Ilyanna whispers, hands rapidly weaving an oversized noose out of vine. "Your manly chest isn't going to shrug off those bolts, Ry Ry. Think about what Tysera will say if I bring you back full of smoking holes."

 

[Weiss Ritter]

A warm flush and an accompanying tingle ran through Orion's flesh in the wake of Ilyanna's purr. No matter how many times the shamaness pull that trick on him, his mind and body never quite learned how to brace themselves against it.

But today was different.

So much more was at stake here than a faint dent in his pride or an extra mouthful of ventcrab, and the cold water of that reality was more than enough to keep him grounded. Orion's gaze no less sharp or stern as he met Ilyanna's Cheshire grin with a steely expression that would have made Tysera proud.

"Think bigger, Ilyanna," His gaze shifted back down to the three helpless figures below. The rifleman who neutralized was probably a lot more adept at taking full advantage of their cloak than their hunters. Orion would need more than his divided attention to pick them out. "There's got to be more warriors and more equipment wherever these four came from. They could be wonderful friends or terrible enemies. We need to get this right."

Orion understood Ily's eagerness, he really did. A team of Cloudclimber warriors equipped with such weapons and armor would be unstoppable, at least against anything the wilds could muster against them. No more dead comrades or lovers. No more hunts ending failure, putting even more strain upon Skyhold's limited resources. That barely even began to scratch the surface of what this tech could offer them if only the clan had a chance to master it. He couldn't even begin to imagine the possibilities rushing through Ilyanna's mind rapidly enough to turn most of her fellow shamen's minds to mush, nevermind his own.

But if they mishandled things here, they risked dragging Skyhold into an avoidable war and giving the Donya and their allies everything they could have asked for on a silver platter.

"Hrm..." Orion grunted under his breath with interest when the last of his quarry emerged. So, that high-tech camouflage could be disabled by a relatively light amount of damage. The warrior's use of more conventional camouflage in its place spoke volumes about their skill relative to the sorry three that had fallen to them, as did each of their carefully calculated movements.

"I'm more concerned about what grandmother will say if we start an avoidable war here or leave the Donya and their allies to investigate and judge these strangers," Orion murmured back, shifting closer to Ilyanna. "Besides, the other three aren't getting up any time soon and this one's got a wounded arm. I don't need to dodge those bolts, just their aim."

Orion suddenly snapped forward, planting a swift kiss upon the shamaness's cheek. "Wish me luck,"

A ghost of a grin was etched into the young man's face before he silently lunged from one tree to the next. She'd stolen a kiss from him and then slammed the door in his face only a few days before. Fair was fair!

More seriously, Orion's crimson gaze bored into the armor figure below as they drew ever closer. He shifted and waited until Ilyanna's position flanked the stranger's own.

"Hello there,"

The warrior called out just before dropping from his perch. Orion landed opposite of where Ilyanna was concealed, and made a point of getting as close to the armored stranger as he reasonably could. His rune-blade was drawn, but kept deactivated at his side. If the worst came to pass, it would be enough to bat the plasma weapon aside without damaging it.

"You and your...friends left quite a trail."

 

[Xatarias]

(Precision check: 13)

The stranger swivels in your direction as you close the last few meters. Their stance remains one of readiness, but you can take some comfort in not staring down the barrel of that fearsome hand blaster. A rustle in the canopy overhead signals that Ilyanna has taken up her position.

"No friends of mine, I'm afraid." The male voice is conveyed with a strange staccato, harshly filtered by his helmet's filtered mouthpiece. "I'd take it as a gesture of good faith if you keep that pig-sticker out of reach... And for any friends you might have in the trees to maintain distance."

It was likely a bluff. Ilyanna moved like a ghost when necessary and even you weren't aware of her exact location... Still the calm way he made the possibility known gave this man an air of experience. That and the fact that he didn't seem particularly surprised by your presence raised more questions. Were these new arrivals aware of the clans occupying the valley, or was he simply as unflappable in diplomacy as when under fire.

The man stoops to one of his fallen opponents. After a wary glance in your direction, he sets aside his ranged weapon and draws a knife. A quick slash to the base of the man's back causes a cascade of sparks to erupt and joints of his armor to seize up. From the way he struggles, you figure he remains unhurt, but his mobility severely hampered.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

(I apologize for any rough edges in this post. I'm on a quick academics related trip with my sister and circumstances have conspired to keep a laptop or other computer out of my hands until tomorrow. ^_^; )

"And I'd appreciate if you could keep that tree-chopper pointed away from me. Along with any actual friends' of yours," Orion's casual smile and tone belied the tension in his body, the suppressed bristle at having his personal rune-blade called a mere pig-sticker, and the constant scrutiny he subjected the armed man's every movement. He was still confident that he and Ilyanna held the upper hand for the time being, but the jungle was a fickle place at the best of times. Much less when a weapon as irresistibly lethal as the strange warrior's was involved.

His refusal to categorically confirm or deny Ilyanna's presence was no accident. Orion resisted the instinctive urge to glance anywhere near the source of the tell-tale rustle hinting at the shapely predator's presence.

The young did arch a faint brow at the way the wounded stranger's mask modulated his voice, as well as his apparent lack of surprise at the sight of a Cloudclimber warrior. Well, at the very least it confirmed that these strangers had not intruded into his ancestral home out of innocent ignorance.

"You seem a lot less surprised to see me than I was to see you not long ago," Orion noted idly, stepping forth to ensure the same, comfortable (for him) distance was maintained between them as the stranger approached his helpless foe.

Orion reflexively tensed when the knife was drawn and brought down upon the stranger's foe, but his eyes eagerly drank in the sight of the seemingly indestructible armor tightening into a man-shaped prison around its former master. The young warrior even slipped into the Wake for a moment or two to get a better look at the stranger's knife and how it compared to the clan's tune-blades. These fantastically equipped interlopers had already proven their fallibility, but a single well-placed blow to the back disabled them entirely...? That was a trick the warrior in him had to know.

Ilyanna was probably less than amused, though.

"If you're planning on replacing your armor with one of theirs, would you mind waiting until we are done here?" If the man stepped back far enough, Orion would have approached his uselessly squirming foe to brush any obvious weapons safely out of the way and attempt to pick him up with one arm and a flaring strength band. "There's a lot here to be curious about..."

Assuming he was successful in picking the fallen man up, Orion would have offered him a disarming smile. "That suit isn't stopping you from talking now, is it?"

With a human shield wrapped in seemingly indestructible armor, Orion would have felt comfortable enough to try and get both sides of the story...or at least more information than either faction was willing to give without the other there to play off of.

 

[Xatarias]

(Insight roll: 13)

The stranger makes no move to interrupt you, instead making his way to the other incapacitated warriors and dismantling their suits in the same practiced manner. You watch as his blade- ordinary durosteel if you were any judge- insert itself in a gap between the suits' back plates. In your state of heightened awareness, you notice the stranger's own armor has a solder mark in that exact spot- a modification to prevent the weakness he was currently exploiting.

"I'm afraid my intention is to put as much distance between myself and these three before sundown," He says, sheathing his blade somewhat awkwardly. "I've made one too many mistakes already and don't have time for idle diplomacy. Rest assured I don't mean you or your clan any harm."

He nods in the direction of the incapacitated men.

"According to your customs, what is theirs belongs to me now, yes? I offer it to you as means of safe passage through your territory. I don't want any trouble."

Somehow you doubt the person these men answer to would see it that way. It is an offer made in haste. He is hoping that your greed will win out and allow him to continue on your way.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Orion frowned a bit as the stranger swiftly disabled each of the suits in turn. Well, so much for the possibility of looting a fully functional set of strength-enhancing armor off the trio. Still, the damage didn't look like it would take too much time or effort to repair if the opportunity came, and-whatever Ilyanna thought-the chance to get some real answers out of this wasn't worth seizing their once-in-a-lifetime-salvage a few moments quicker.

The warrior arched a brow at the wounded stranger's offer. So, he not only knew of the clan's existence, but had some inkling of how minor inter-clan disputes tended to be sorted out? Just how far did this mysterious new faction's surveillance extend? How could they possibly know so much while three out of the four warriors he'd seen be so poorly prepared for the rigors of this world?

"So, you're not willing to kill these men yourself, but you are willing to have me strip them naked and leave them for the jungle to claim?" Orion's gaze and tone were more inquisitive than accusatory. Perhaps, when push came to shove, this man valued his life or freedom above those of his clanmates...or perhaps he was simply gambling that this warrior of Cloudclimber wasn't so ruthless and reckless. Afterall, Orion's chance to ambush the stranger from the canopy and steal his equipment as well had come and gone in the interest of this "idle diplomacy".

"It's a tempting offer, but...If I wasn't here, how much of this equipment were you going to leave behind anyway?" Orion asked pointedly. There was no way a man with a wounded arm hoping to make swift progress through this challenging terrain could have carried three warrior's worth of weapons, armor, and supplies. "Aside from those explosives I nearly stumbled into not far from my patrol route..."

That certainly would have been no small amount of trouble if some less gifted warrior without fellow prodigy like Ilyanna in tow came along after these strangers had departed.

"How about this: you take a few moments to explain very quickly who you and these men are, and what you're all doing in our lands. This isn't going to end with just me, and my clan could have easily lost people if this played out only a little bit differently."

 

[Xatarias]

The stranger hesitates, likely surprised that you didn't simply accept his offer and let him go. He crouches, slowly retrieving his pistol and placing it in a shoulder holster. For a few seconds, you stare at your own face reflected in his visor. Face completely obscured, it is maddeningly difficult to get a sense of what he is thinking.

"My apologies for the disturbance," He offers finally. "But as a warrior, you will understand that battle doesn't always afford the best choice of means. My.... Clan has had an internal dispute. It drove me to leave and these three were sent to retrieve me. I couldn't let that happen."

While your hunch of a conflict among these newcomers was confirmed, it only led to more questions. In regards to the grizzled individual before you, could you trust his word? He could be a criminal on the lam, a deserter escaping justice, or a rebel seeking a base of operations. Was this encounter a fluke, or was the valley soon to become a war zone? All you know for certain is that this man wasn't eager to supply you with explanation.... And that he was very very dangerous.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

As vexing as it was to have the answers to so many monumental questions dangling out of reach, the stranger offered as much as information Orion could reasonably expected to get out of him.

"Thank you," Orion offered a curt nod in return. "Whether or not your travels take you through my people's lands again, they'll at least be forewarned about getting caught in a crossfire,"

He took a step back now that the metal-man's weapon was holstered. "I won't keep you any longer. I am going to have some similar words with these three, though..."

Orion tapped one of the fallen figures with his foot to get their attention. "How much trouble do you expect to have limping back home?"

Looting the grizzled stranger's weapon and armor was going to take a fight and would be a death-sentence to the man. These three, however, probably had the luxury of a place they could return to even with disabled suits if their clan-mate decided not to simply mercy-kill them on the spot. That would make them serviceable messengers to their clan or whatever they wanted to call themselves.

Unless the defeated could make a very convincing argument to the contrary, Ilyanna was going to have one of their suits and one of their weapons to squeal over and use to prove once and for all that she was indeed the greatest living member of her order.

"If your people want your equipment back, they can either speak with my clan as they should have done before, or else I will make sure this private war of yours poses no threat to the ones I'm pledged to protect."

 

[Xatarias]

The man turns his gaze the imobilized troopers, his expression obscured but from the way he tilts his head, you can imagine a steady glower directed at his foes.

"The ones who will come for those three are no people of mine," He states roughly before leveling a condemning finger at the man you have restrained. "You tell Garoth that I have no interest in butchering his pups. If that oath breaker wants me, he'd better haul his own ass out into this jungle."

Your captive makes a feeble lunge, but between your Strength band and his cumbersome armor, he doesn't get very far. After a few futile moments of struggling, you deposit him in a clattering heap. He slumps in utter dejection, no doubt the failure of his mission become a quick realization. With their gear trashed, they would have no chance catching up with an experienced woodsman- wounded or not... Of course, you would have no problem picking up the trail if you so chose.

"What do we do with these misfits?" Ilyanna asks, dropping from the canopy, bow held at half draw.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

By this point, Orion expected every other word uttered by these strangers to answer one question and raise a dozen more. That didn't mean he liked it or was growing any more comfortable with the state of affairs. Garoth was some sort of leader among one of the factions, but some sort of oath breaker as well? Well...at least according to the clever stranger.

"Do you feel like sharing your half of the story now?" Orion regarded the uselessly struggling trooper with an even stare. Maybe he could wheedle a few more pieces out of this puzzle of at least one of the three fallen intruders.

It wouldn't really have made a difference whether they did or not, though.

"After you pick that up and help me get this one out of their suit, you mean?" Orion took his gaze off the three misfits in question for the brief instant it took to bat one of the discarded plasma weapons over to Ilyanna with the flat of his sword. "We'll let them go. The other two can cover the third on their way back home. We don't have the time to drag prisoners through the jungle, and even if we did, I'd like to at least try to make sure this...misunderstanding doesn't kick off another war,"

Orion's crimson eyes bored straight through the helmet of the closest immobilized trooper.

"Can we all agree on that?"