Felix of Vale

"Not a good idea," says Varric with a scowl. This time he reaches for one of the special arrows- the kind they call the Archer's Lance. It's designed to rip through anything along its trajectory with thunderous force, and easily does twice the damage of a normal arrow, if not more. It's being aimed for the first chink he can find in the Dullahan's armor, or anything else that happens to lie between him and it.

Thoqqq.

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If the Dullahan feels their assault, it doesn't show it. The joints of its armor are starting to get a little dinged up, though.

Felix, for his part, is just fine. A bit annoyed - the lights were part of a temporary seal on some of his magic - but neither hurt nor disabled. He scowls, then throws his hand forward.

(Somewhere else, dark energies gather. A ball forms, then shatters, as a skeletal cloaked form emerges. It draws the energies more purposefully, then releases them in a burst.)
A rush of blackness, edged in dark purple, sweeps through the room. It's nearly upon them before Felix thinks to call out, "This is mine!" And indeed, none of the party members feels anything more than a chilly breeze. The Dullahan, on the other hand, gets knocked about quite hard for a moment. But then the darkness is gone, and the armor responds.

An enormous splash of lights surges around the group for a couple of seconds. Varric and Kate get no ill effects from it, but Felix staggers and grits his teeth. But only for a moment, because then is when the Dullahan summons the same blackness that Felix used. This time it's much more than a breeze, and worse than chilly. Fortunately the gale and the bone-deep cold only last for a moment, but when the darkness clears it reveals an unconscious Felix.

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Seeing the effect — or lack thereof — her bullets have on the Dullahan makes her stomach sink. She's watching Felix from the corner of her eye, concerned up until the moment the first blast of blackness rushes through the room.

She holds onto her hat, duster ripping wildly in the wind.

"You all right?" she hollers, barely having time to compose herself before she catches sight of the return blast. She turns her shoulder against the brunt of it, jamming her hat down over her ears, but it does her little good. It's the worst cold she's ever felt, sinking in deep, deep, leaving an ache in her very soul. She chokes, shuddering, and for a moment she feels utterly weak.

She glances at Felix.

"Shit. He's out cold!" she calls to Varric, moving closer to his prone form to at least protect him, if not wake him.

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"Maker's balls-"

Well, this is why Varric shelled out so much gold in that one strange herbalist's shop. You hear about lifeward potions every so often, but you never really expect to see one for sale- or have to use one. The dwarf darts forward, fishing a small blue bottle out of one of his duster's pockets. "Get his jaws open. This stuff's supposed to be as good as a spirit healer's revival spell, even for somebody like me."

Hopefully just pouring it down Felix's throat will do, because he's not sure how to administer it otherwise.

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Fortunately, it does work; Felix coughs and sits up almost immediately. Less fortunately, he doesn't quite manage to get to his feet before the Dullahan strikes again.

Its first assault resembles nothing so much as the Grim Reaper, although the image's scythe sweeps straight through Kate without any effect; if she had her eyes closed, she wouldn't even know it was there. Having her eyes closed would not be a very good idea, though, since even as the reaper disappears the armor swings its sword down blindingly fast. It's aiming at Varric, but all three are close enough together that they could be in danger.

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She holds her arm out to support Felix as he sits, so she's ready the instant she sees that massive sword thundering down. She grabs him and yanks him toward the wall. Twisting to her knees, her Colt is cocked and aimed before the blade has met any quarry.

Most armor is weaker under the arms. Granted, most armor ain't animate or magical, but that's where she aims all the same.

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Varric doesn't waste time swearing. He just scrambles sideways as fast as his legs will allow- it might not be fast enough, but he's sure as the Void trying! Hopefully he'll be able to fire on the thing again, too...

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As it happens, Varric isn't quite fast enough to escape, but he's close - only a glancing blow. Kate's quick shot probably helps.

And then Felix is back on his feet, and what looks like half the ceiling is crashing down on the Dullahan's shoulders. The fragments disappear when they hit the floor, but the dents they leave in the armor don't.

Unfortunately, the Dullahan doesn't seem to like being hit under the arm. With a twist of its wrist, lightning springs along the blade of its sword. It then lashes out, straight at Kate. The shield's eyes light up briefly, sending a ring of tiny flames to circle her head for a moment.

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"Are you — "

There's no time to worry about either of the boys. She feels metal slithering around her ankle again — the cold scales of the snake charm Weyland gifted her years ago, to provide courage and protection. It doesn't block the lightning, but it gives her enough warning to scrabble out of the way.

She hits the ground rolling, the only surefire way she knows of dealing with fire. Her hat comes off somewhere along the way.

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Varric comes up cursing, wriggling one arm around to see if it still works. Thank the Maker for Bianca being a crossbow, because he'd never be able to draw a longbow with what that thing did to his arm.

"You are so in for it now," he tells the suit of armor as he aims for the largest visible gap.

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By this point, everyone's pretty banged up. Felix glances around and decides he'd do better patching up his allies than trying to hurt the Dullahan further. He's barely conscious of deciding whom to help first, but it's Varric who gets the earth energies working their way through him. His arm isn't totally fixed up, but it's in considerably better shape than it was a moment ago.

The Dullahan doesn't seem to like being shot with bolts, either. Its shield's eyes flash again, this time at Varric, and another ring of little flames circles his head. They don't actually touch anything, or get in the way, but they do make themselves noticeable. The armor gestures again and the purple smoke is back, just as before. When it dissipates this time, though, one of the faces is left behind, swooping around and around Felix.

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Kate pushes herself up, gritting her teeth against the pain. Goddamn, that — that was her good hat.

Everything is a haze of magic around this mortal woman. There's one 'cursed' gun at the small of her back. Another, forged by a god, in her hand. But she holsters it. She starts forward with hellfire in her eyes, jaw set, moving right on past Felix and Varric. Maybe it's foolishness, or maybe it's the anklet at work, but she's just about had enough of this.

Pulling her Bowie knife from her hip, she makes a run for the Dullahan as soon as the purple haze clears. It didn't much seem to like it when she shot at its armpit, so that's her goal. If it swings that sword or casts another spell, all the better. She's unencumbered and lithe, and all she needs is for it to give her one opening.

(And then she'll pray to God she's quick enough to outrun the repercussions.)

"Hope y'ain't ticklish," she grunts, swinging with all of her might.

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The dwarves of Thedas are known for an innate resistance to magic, which is probably why Varric's arm isn't nearly as healed as a human's would be. On the other hand, his head's not on fire, and that's a good thing.

Also he still has that specially modified exploding arrow he picked up a while back. That Dullahan's about to get hit with a lot more force than usual.

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As luck would have it, Varric's and Kate's attacks hit at almost exactly the same time. The Dullahan reels for a moment (a moment Felix takes to heal himself), and seems to flicker slightly blue. Then it spreads its arms and each of the fighters feels slightly weakened.

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Kate puts some distance between her and the Dullahan, leaving her Bowie knife embedded in its side. She staggers to the closest wall, and leans against it to catch her breath.

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Varric scowls. "Okay, now you made me mad," he says as he slaps his next arrow into place. "Bianca, old girl, I'm not feeling so great, so you're going to have to smash this thing up for me."

Thoqq! And the arrow scythes across the open space between Varric and the Dullahan...

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...Striking it dead center in the breastplate, and leaving a dent. The suit of armor actually staggers slightly.

That's all the opening Felix needs. He levels his sword at the Dullahan, concentrating. Two spectral blades fly out of nowhere, slamming into it at oblique angles. A considerably larger sword of light forms around the blade Felix is holding, and he charges at the now-battered foe. As the outer sword touches the Dullahan it shatters, its momentum sending dozens of magical shards into and through the armor.

Said armor slowly collapses forward, taking no action of its own, until it comes to rest on one knee. It doesn't move.

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Kate has Milliways to thank for not being shell-shocked by everything she's just seen. After Felix's attack, she moves away from the wall, gun in hand. Her eyes are trained on the Dullahan, waiting for any small movement before she starts shooting.

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Varric readies another arrow and says, "That thing had better be dead. Care to make sure, Felix?"

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Felix nods. This isn't quite the way it happened the last time he fought a Dullahan. He slowly steps toward it, sword at the ready.

Before he gets more than a couple of steps, the Dullahan raises a hand. The same voice from before speaks to their minds again. You have passed the challenges, and done well in so doing, it says. I will now give you knowledge of the Light beyond Alchemy. Its use now rests in your hands.

The armor's sword and shield drop to the floor as it slowly stands, turning toward Felix.

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Ever wanted to know how it feels to have a strange voice inside your head? Unpleasant. Kate can't honestly recommend it.

"What's that mean?"

She keeps her gun trained on the Dullahan as it stands. It may have dropped its sword, but that doesn't mean it can't still use that powerful magic if it feels so inclined.

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"No clue," says Varric. "It'd better be something good, though. I don't have a lot left."

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Felix is nearly as confused as the others, but he doesn't say anything before the Dullahan reaches him. It lays its hands on his head, and both figures briefly shimmer purple.

Felix opens his mouth in startlement. It's a little bit like being part of a Mind Read, but both broader and deeper. There's suddenly a large chunk of information in his brain that wasn't there before.

The Dullahan, along with its discarded armaments, fades away into thin air. Felix shakes his head and looks toward the others. "I believe I just got what we came for."

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She sighs with relief.

"You all right, then?"

Her eyes flick to Varric, a slight nod in his direction conveying the same question.

For her part, she's sagging and breathing a little hard, but other than that she seems to be okay. She opens the loading gate and starts to reload her Colt before anything else has a chance to jump out at them.

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