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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
keep_busy
first-and-final
"Well, then, while I'm imagining that we survive the Deep Roads and bring back the Anvil of the Void and reverse my exile and remove my traitorous brother from the line of succession, I will also imagine that we get some engineers to put together a tricycle for you."
first-and-final
"We're imagining that you can live wherever you like, but I wouldn't expect you to prefer to spend literally the entire rest of your life underground without exception, and once they've got the design worked out we can also begin exporting them to the surface, where I'm sure lots of people would like more wheels than they've got."
first-and-final
"While I'm at it," he adds wistfully, "I am definitely also imagining being able to get a bath. Ancestors, I miss being clean."
keep_busy
"...Well, if we don't find water eventually I'm in trouble, but I suppose you might not want to rinse off darkspawn blood into running water."
first-and-final
"Common enough that I don't expect you to die of thirst, not common enough that I've been able to wash."
first-and-final
Backtrack and more backtrack, all the way to an unpromising-looking cross-tunnel that winds deeper and deeper, and from there...
An ancient road cut into the stone, still intact after all these years, easily the most civilized place they've been since she arrived even though it has clearly been abandoned by everything but the darkspawn and assorted animal life.
"Shit, I think this might be Caridin's Cross," says Stalas. He laughs softly. "My crazy plan to find Branka begins to look substantially less crazy."
An ancient road cut into the stone, still intact after all these years, easily the most civilized place they've been since she arrived even though it has clearly been abandoned by everything but the darkspawn and assorted animal life.
"Shit, I think this might be Caridin's Cross," says Stalas. He laughs softly. "My crazy plan to find Branka begins to look substantially less crazy."
first-and-final
"Yeah. Unfortunately if there are darkspawn here we're going to have to deal with them, because I need to figure out how to get to Ortan Thaig from here and then go that way regardless of how many darkspawn are between me and it."
first-and-final
"Five is a good number." He goes that way. "Any of them enormous with horns? Those are ogres. I like to be warned about ogres specifically in advance."
first-and-final
"Genlocks, then. Good, that makes things simple."
They approach the five darkspawn. Stalas stops talking and unsheathes a pair of daggers.
The five darkspawn appear to be manning a pair of ballistae set up at the T-junction where the three branches of this road meet. However, happily for Stalas and Annie, the two of them are approaching from the direction not already covered by a ballista.
There are five darkspawn. Then there are four darkspawn. Then there are three, then one, and finally zero. Stalas wipes his daggers halfheartedly on a dead darkspawn, sheathes them, and starts picking over the bodies to see if they have any equipment worth looting.
They approach the five darkspawn. Stalas stops talking and unsheathes a pair of daggers.
The five darkspawn appear to be manning a pair of ballistae set up at the T-junction where the three branches of this road meet. However, happily for Stalas and Annie, the two of them are approaching from the direction not already covered by a ballista.
There are five darkspawn. Then there are four darkspawn. Then there are three, then one, and finally zero. Stalas wipes his daggers halfheartedly on a dead darkspawn, sheathes them, and starts picking over the bodies to see if they have any equipment worth looting.
first-and-final
"Oh, thanks." He picks it up. "Yeah, that'll be handy." It can be attached similarly to Stalas's own leg; there's room.
When he's all done going over the bodies, he takes a last look around, unloads the ballistae, cuts their strings, and smashes them into scrap with a war hammer borrowed from a dead darkspawn. "Right, time to move on. Let's try this way."
When he's all done going over the bodies, he takes a last look around, unloads the ballistae, cuts their strings, and smashes them into scrap with a war hammer borrowed from a dead darkspawn. "Right, time to move on. Let's try this way."