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Annie is on her trike on her way to school.
This van labeled HAZARDOUS MATERIALS is also on its way to school.
The van hits a patch of black ice. It goes spinning, it turns over, it slices itself open on a wrought-iron fence with spikes, and it disgorges boxes which smash open on the pavement. Some of them skitter clear into the slush.
Some of them - along with most of the van - land on Annie.
There is a whirl of bewildering pain and confusion -
- and she falls to the ground, injured and in more kinds of discomfort beyond that and moaning.
She slowly starts to heal before the eyes of her sole witness.
six artifact pileup annie in thedas
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keep_busy
first-and-final
"You have correctly observed that I'm not a particularly selfish person," he adds, "and whatever ludicrous tradeoffs you find yourself contemplating, it's safe to assume I don't endorse them."
first-and-final
"Which actually makes me really worried about risking this, because if I started contemplating ludicrous tradeoffs it could get us both killed. Might be best if I stuck to the healing power for now, however tempted I am to disintegrate some darkspawn."
keep_busy
"That makes sense. Also one of the drawbacks does seem to have been interdimensional transport and I'd definitely have trouble in here on my own even with my disintegrating ability, to say nothing of where you could wind up."
first-and-final
"Yeah. No more experimenting with magical powers unless it's another situation like this," he shrugs his shoulder and the second crossbow bolt falls out of it, "where we're both vastly more likely to die if we don't try it."
first-and-final
He considers, then says, "I think it's safe to try revoking the healing power."
keep_busy
And the healing stops. Presumably along with whatever pitfall accompanied it.
first-and-final
"Okay, checking..." He pinches his arm and observes the resulting bruise. "Successfully revoked. Give it to me again for a moment, to confirm it wasn't a one-off?"
first-and-final
No more bruise. "Okay, good. I don't want to walk around with it on all the time but I'm confident it'll be there if I need it. Thank you."
first-and-final
Time to raid the dead darkspawn for useful equipment!
"Since you're pretty conclusively immune to the taint, do you want to take any armour while there's so much on offer?"
"Since you're pretty conclusively immune to the taint, do you want to take any armour while there's so much on offer?"
keep_busy
"I'm worried it'd make me worse at moving around than I already am. Do you think it wouldn't? ...Also warmer. It would make me warmer."
first-and-final
"Yes, it would unavoidably make you warmer, but it's not inconceivable that we'll get shot at again and you're not currently very well protected against crossbow bolts, which, let me tell you, are really uncomfortable. Up to you. If I were in your place I'd wear what I've got on regardless of the heat, but you do have that healing thing on all the time and I suppose there are tactical advantages to being underdressed when you disintegrate darkspawn at a touch. Maybe just a helmet? In case the healing thing would give up if it had to handle a serious head injury."
keep_busy
"That seems like a reasonable compromise," she nods, and she finds the least bad-fitting helmet and disintegrates all the darkspawn gunk in it she can and puts it on.
first-and-final
"All right... any more sharp daggers you can point me at in this bunch?"
first-and-final
He scoops them all up, drops his worst one because he has actually run out of room to carry daggers, spends a little time cleaning all his weapons as best he can, and then leads her onward along the road.
"I'm pretty sure this is the way."
"I'm pretty sure this is the way."
keep_busy
She will disintegrate blood on daggers if that will help, and then follow along.
first-and-final
It does totally help!
On to Ortan Thaig.
...
Ortan Thaig is beautiful. Even as a ruin. A huge cavernous space cut not quite in half by an underground river, with a pair of bridges arching across the gap. Ruined stone buildings stand beside chipped but mostly intact stone statues.
Stalas sighs quietly, in something like relief, when they step out of the tunnel into the thaig itself.
On to Ortan Thaig.
...
Ortan Thaig is beautiful. Even as a ruin. A huge cavernous space cut not quite in half by an underground river, with a pair of bridges arching across the gap. Ruined stone buildings stand beside chipped but mostly intact stone statues.
Stalas sighs quietly, in something like relief, when they step out of the tunnel into the thaig itself.
keep_busy
"Ooh. ...There's enough of a lost civilization here there might be a bathtub if you wanted to haul enough water. Maybe even a reasonable place for me to sleep. I'm going to need to sleep in a while."
first-and-final
"Yeah. I think I'll take even the pathetic facsimile of a bath I'll be able to get from a thousand-year-old bathtub in somebody's ruined home with water I haul out of the river myself. And you can find somewhere safe to sleep. Anything moving nearby?"
A few somnolent giant spiders over thataway, but her range covers barely a quarter of the space. They'll have to do some searching if they want to confirm general inactivity.
A few somnolent giant spiders over thataway, but her range covers barely a quarter of the space. They'll have to do some searching if they want to confirm general inactivity.