Following Ferris, who was the Grey Warden appointed as the guide for this... test, Xavier, a young even tempered recruit, had been eyeing the others for some time now. Knowing little to nothing about the other two males and female he was curious about their abilites and how talented they really were. It was obvious that the woman was a warrior since she was lugging around a huge blade that most men wouldn't want to carry. Then there was the archer, he seemed capable enough and there was the mage... Xavier didn't have a problem with mages... but he wasn't fond of them either. The rogue made it a point not to speak to anyone unless spoken to and since there had yet to be a word spoken on the trip except for Ferris explaining very little to them, he was quiet for the most part.

This walking was getting tiresome since they had been headed up a mountain for a while now but it seemed like they were getting close, the presence of the mountain was changing as they continued on.

The female hadn't spoken even once, not when introduced or even spoken to, making simple re-directive motions to pass people away from herself. She wasn't mute, no-one had ever said that, but she definitely didn't talk. Her face hidden and entire body coated in the bodysuit and armor. The lack of protective gear facilitated her need for agility and as much lightness as possible, it helped reserve her stamina for fighting, plus made dodging attacks much easier. but what she did wear was extremely durable and the complex leather body suit did provide some minor defense, the rest was all down to her.

She looked at the others, through the hidden slits in the helmet, it seemed impossible for her to see but she could. She'd heard all the old jokes before, the large sword seemed ridiculous, no normal man could hope to wield it yet here was a woman, supposedly the weaker, who was carrying it. Some even thought it was a bluff, not really a weapon at all, at least not one she could use.. That would be their underestimation, she didn't care too much for that. So long as she kept silent she left them questioning the very nature of the person behind the mask..

She didn't tire or stop to rest, actually looking back at the man carrying a crossbow, he was lagging behind a little, but a littler further behind was the other man, he was nearly as quiet as her, maybe more enigmatic.. Quiet.. Though her attention turned back to the Warden that was leading them. He had cleared his throat as if to say something, seeming to stop and prepare himself, though she glanced for a moment at the Mage. Even she didn't have too much fondness for Mages, but he looked interesting enough.. Now just to see what the Grey Warden leading them wanted.

Hearing Ferris clear his throat as they approached their apparent destination, a small town that had apparently been distorted by the influence of the darkspawn, Xavier made a mental note to himself that he should catch up to the others instead of lingering at the back. Which didn't take long since he was in incredible physical shape just somewhat lazy. The archer however didn't seem to be doing to well, probably because he wasn't used to travelling like this. The mage and the woman however seemed to be doing fine although he caught up with them fairly quickly.

Ferris held a hand up to signal that the group should stop as they reached the entrance to an old desolate town that had obviously been warped by the influence of the darkspawn. Turning to face the four recruits he looked at them all with a stoic expression and finally cleared his throat and began, "This was once the town of New Haven. As you can see it's obviously been overrun by darkspawn, so to make a long story short, our job is to purge New Haven. You are to eradicate all the darkspawn here and obtain one vial of blood each for a total of four vials. Simple enough, any questions?"

Xaviers golden eyes never left Ferris' figure as he spoke and his ears didn't miss a word that was said either. Raising his hand like a child in school he said, "So am I to be correct in assuming that you won't be helping us to 'purge' New Haven," his voice slightly irritated at the observation but unworried. All he got out of the Grey Warden was a simple nod and a slight smirk that he was unsure of the meaning of.

It was then that Apollo chimed in and spoke up for the first time, "Good, so i can unleash my full power on them with no consequence then correct?" His answer was awarded with a simple nod as well. Reaching to his back he pulled his custom made staff from his back and readied himself for the task ahead.

Chryll stared in the direction of the warden for a while, listening to his explanation on the situation at hand before looking up at the village. So drive the darkspawn out and drain one of them for a vial of blood.. She didn't have a question, the objective was simple enough for her to perform.. Perhaps too simple.. She didn't care, if it was what was required then it was what she would do. Even as the others spoke in return Chryll had already firmly resolved to begin moving further into the town and did so before Apollo had even begun talking, trudging on the lightly packed snow but shifted her left hand back to the giant weapon rested behind her hips.

Her fingers wrapped around the inner handle, since that was the main grabbing point, the extended section built for increasing momentum. With a metallic scrape of the blade sliding steel across the metal holster fitted to the back of the armor, the cleaving blade was drawn off to the side, the large weapon being held off to the side, her right resting its palm against the pommel, fingers curling over the edge to grip it.

The archer stared at the woman with a little disbelief, puffing slightly as he rested his crossbow over his shoulder and sighed exasperatedly,
"Are ya serious..? Girl's walked all this way, same as us lot an' she's already lookin' fer a fight? The maker's kinder.." He grumbled, looking at the others, even they were prepared, but he just groaned and carried on after her, "The hell we gettin' vials o'blood for anyway, eh?" He questioned, but it was rhetorical for the most part, he just wanted it over. Atleast he could rest and fire from a distance, though the fatigue wouldn't help his precision much.

Ferris looked at the archer recruit then he looked back at everyone else who was already making there way into the village weapons in hand then back at Kezric and said, "No more questions or you're liable to miss all the fun, no?" Seeing Chryll walk into the village with no words said and pull the large blade from behind her with relative ease was a bit awe inspiring to the mage and rogue.

Reaching behind him into the two black sheaths that contained his twin fire enchanted daggers and drew them out very slowly. Both had jagged saw like edges on both sides to maximize cutting potential as well as blood spill. Holding both blades backwards, allowing them to run the length of his arms the silver haired assassin would have loved nothing more than to be able to walk into the shadows and kill from there but since it happened to be broad daylight, quick kills would have to suffice. His mind although was quite impressed with the woman and the ease in which she wielded the gargantuan blade that she carried. It would seem that it was not just an attempt to intimidate...

Apollo (it's gonna be a shame to have to kill him but slight back story time) already with staff in hand was not far behind Chryll with a cynical smirk on his face. He had been an apostate until he was found and recruited by Marcus after slaughtering a group of ten templars with his blood magic. The raven haired mage carried a small sacrificial dagger with him at all times that he used to activate his blood magic abilities by cutting a slit into both of his palms. All blood mages who were still getting used to activating their power had to after all, but nobody but them knew that. Cracking his neck and back as well as several other limbs awkwardly his mind was already prepared for the mass genocide to take place.

Kezric took the time to load a bolt into the bow, he'd been chosen as a special individual simply for his marksmanship, although fatigue didn't help but he'd been an excellent shot from a young age, they must have believed such accuracy a blessing, however his slight lack of motivation and stamina made him a little slow at times, nonetheless he steadied himself as he walked after the others, lifting the crossbow and resting the stock against his shoulder. The hair-trigger on his crossbow was sensitive, but he had gentle fingers. His attention shifted to the blood mage and he shivered internally, he'd heard they could be dangerous, even liable to turn into abominations, which made him want to stay his distance.

Chryll stopped for a moment, being far enough ahead as she moved her right hand away, lifting the blade and resting it over her shoulder as she raised her right to her helm, grasping the bottom of the protective mask and pulling it open for a moment so she could survey the area until she heard footsteps too closed, pulling it shut just as quickly, with a breath of cool air in her and a better idea of the layout from a single glance, she would be able to fight more easily because she would memorize her position with various landmarks that she could see through her mask and take advantage of that ability.

"So whats wi'Miss silen' treatment? She friggin mute or some'n'?" Kezric asked with a chuckle, keeping at pace nearer the back and looking about for a target, though nothing was visible he could smell the blood of battle, and something else.. whatever foul thing that was, it must have been the Darkspawn,
"Always thought it were us guys mean'ta be strong, silen' types, we sure that ain' a man?" He jibed, Chryll half turning to look over her shoulder,
"Shut up," She stated coldly, it was simple enough but her voice was unmistakably female and she was obviously no mute, "Damned loudmouths.. Walking Genlock fodder.." She muttered, looking forward again. Did she hear something..? She took a few more steps before shifting her sword suddenly on another step, in that instant she'd brought the blade down with her left leg. There was a resounding twang was a bear trap shot up from the snow, attempting to put a vice on her leg, only to find itself stopped by the blade's broad size, protecting her leg from harm.

There was a deep grunting laugh nearby, she knew this sound.. But no time for that as she pulled her leg out to safety quickly, twisted the blade so that the bear trap had it clamped form both sides and tore it out from the grasp of the metal jaws, before running to the side, holding up the massive weapon as a shield from a hail of arrows that partly undershot her, slipping past her legs and digging into the ground, setting off several more hidden bear traps, but by some luck she'd managed to evade them. The Genlock archers were just up on the ridge where they were preparing to fire again.

A stunned Kezric watched this initial scene before hearing the twanging of bowstrings as the Genlock fired, he himself looking up at the opposing party, what a filthy lot of creatures.. He aimed and squeezed the trigger, the bolt whistling through the air and impaling itself in the eye-socket of one of the Genlock, his body crumpling to the ground.
Meanwhile Chryll's run to the side had curved to a direct charge up the hill, each footstep heavy but quick, snow crushing and kicking up behind her with each long stride as she again held her shield up in front of her in a defensive motion, it was so broad that it could ward off arrows in a shielding manner quite effectively, only precision shooters could have dared hope to hit her.
She crashed into the group, having turned the blade horizontal to catch to together and throw them back into their twisted counterparts, knocking them down like training dolls with no back support. With a twist she pulled her body in a circle, hands shifting to pull the giant weapon around with her but then raising it up and wrenching it down suddenly to bring the blade down on a recovering Genlock, splitting his skull and cutting down to the midsection of his body in a single blow before kicking off him to pull the blade out and stand defensively in preparation for another attack.

Hearing Kezric spout off about Chryll caused an innocent defense from Xavier's lips, "Now, now, Kez... you should be careful what you say. Woman or not she's liable to cleave your head in two if ya push her far enough," he commented sarcastically with his smooth tone. Apollo on the other hand chuckled to himself silently before he burst into a maniacal laugh and then spouted, "Let the slaughter begin..."

The smell of this place was foul and extremely repulsive easily overshadowing the rusted smell of the minefield of bear traps that had been hidden cleverly in the snow. X had stepped on a few already and had been aware of them even before Chryll set one off. He was so light on his feet that he was able to walk on them as if they were normal land but as soon as Chy (nicknamed pronounced shy if you don't mind :sweat:) set off the first one he immediately reacted by swiftly running around the minefield in a pattern that resembled a zigzag setting off all the other traps and therefor disarming them. It would have taken entirely too long for him to disarm them all separately so he would set them all off without harming himself.

Watching as Chyrll launched into the first wave of genlocks like a kid with a tree full of presents on the holidays Apollo decided he would do some back up work. Seeing a wave of hurlocks coming to attack from the other side of them in an attempt to flank them, he launched mass paralyze on the wave of enemies freezing those that were within his target which was about half of them. Finished setting off the traps, X flipped his blades around to be held in the traditional combat dual combat style, and dove into the remainder of the hurlock force. Slicing the first hurlock's blade arm off then his head, blood gushed from the beast's body but no motion was wasted as he immediately impaled the next in the heat area with two swift strikes followed by a straight kick to the chest. The third swung in a wide horizontal arc that was easy to read and got its legs sliced right from under it. Leaping onto the darkspawn X jabbed the now legless being right through the temple then slipped his blades around skillfully awaiting the next wave.

Apollo, meanwhile, wasted no time shifting from the immobilizing spell to his powerful blood magic. Putting his staff back in its place on his back, he slit his palms and watched as blood leaked from them with a crazed look in his eye. Barking out in laughter that would have a bone chilling effect on anyone he made a deep breathing motion with his body, similar to motion that would be emulated from martial arts training. Then as if to let out his breath he thrusted his hands forward and then there was a mass eruption of darkspawn screams. They turned on one another and slaughtered each other then when there was but only one left... it took its own life by cutting its own throat. The sight was extremely gruesome but Xavier simply smiled and announced, "Glad he's on our side..." again in a sarcastic and smooth tone of voice.

Chryll fended off a retaliation from a Genlock, his attempt to charge her with a short sword warded off as she swung her blade in it's path, smoothly dancing around the other side of her own weapon and hopped forward on her back heel, the other leg stretching out in a solid kick as her left heel. The steel underside of her heel connecting with the smaller creature's skull in a sickening crack as she leaned forward, pushing the Genlock over onto his back again. With the momentum of her body leaning forward she pulled around in a circle again, driving the blade out of the ground and through the air, the weighty weapon's bladed side cleaving through another Genlock, the sheer force of the attack tearing a large section of his upper body off along with his head and arm on the side that had been sheared off.

One of the accompanying Genlock beside it yelled in agony as the blade continued to travel down and sliced through its leg, breaking through the armor and muscle with no difficulty. She drew the blade back, scraping it through the snow and the stone paving beneath, kicking up grit and dirt as it went until she pulled it up violently, catching another from below, the sharp point digging into it's gut but seeming to stop for a moment, but she had accounted for that, placing her other hand across the back of the blade and pulled the handle back over her shoulder, the hand on the back pushing up to tear through the Genlocks body and ribs, tearing its chest open in a large gash.
Her hands shifted again as she held the weapon over head and pulled it down on another, slicing his sword arm off and digging the blade into the ground as again she hopped in the creature's direction, this time kicking it in the chest and sending it stumbling and rolling over the nearby small edge. The gray steel armor was spattered with blood from the violent exchanges she made but not completely. She wasted no time, drawing her leg back and heaving the weapon over her shoulder.

The ready position on her shoulder was the cue for her to start running for another group that appeared from further, up, the woman skipping past the already tortured and screaming Darkspawn. Meanwhile Kezric had been firing but staring in utter awe of the woman.. She was a monster..! He'd never even imagined a man being like that, but she tore through Darkspawn as though killing was second nature to her. She had no fear.. Here he was looking at these creatures and even finding their screams of death utterly frightening. All the same he continued to fire on those he deemed troublesome.

To Xavier's slight disappointment what approached next was not another horde of genlocks or hurlocks but something much larger... Turning around briefly as the ground shook at the beast's approach he said to Apollo, "Sir mage, I gots this one... so your services can be turned elsewhere." He gestured up the hill towards Chyrll and a an abundance more of darkspawn. Apollo let his hands hang over at his side in clear utter disappointment yet still he obeyed. He knew he would need to get much closer to the action in order to even be of some help with his spells so he began walking through the pile of bodies that the woman with the over sized blade had produced. She was quite impressive but now was not the time to dwell on such things.

Back in the square towards where the lake had been in New Haven an ogre had climbed out of the pit that was now waterless letting out a powerful war-cry that could be heard easily from the bottom of the mountain. Taking a moment to actually take in the size of the ogre, X let out a slow long whistle, "Wow, she's a beaut..." was all he managed before a foot was planted into the ground where he had been originally been standing. It was easy to dodge the large beast's clumsy attempts to strike him but he needed to find a way to kill the thing quick. After another wild swing of the ogres backhand, the rogue struck at the beast's left foot with a barrage of well placed attacks aimed for what was the heel area causing the beast to screech out in pain.

Jumping back a bit Xavier gathered himself as the darkspawn turned around and attempted to grab the man nut instead got a dagger to the hand. However the attacker found himself with only one dagger to use now and let out a sigh of pure frustration. Now he was without one of his flaming daggers which put him in a slightly difficult position at the moment. Blowing the hair out of his face in the form of another sigh the white haired male figured it was all or nothing now and darted straight for the overgrown hurlock. Anticipating a direct attack the beast did exactly as he thought and launched a straight punch in which he leapt onto its arm. Unable to swat him off with the dagger stuck in the opposite hand the ogre tried to shake him off. Piercing the shoulder before it put its arm all the way back down, again the beast cried out in pain but figuring out a new form of attack, the ogre slung the back of its hand at its shoulder in an attempt to rid itself of the pest. Using the dagger for momentum, Xavier planted his feet on the bicep of the beast and ran around to its back and dislodged the dagger only to plant it now in a shoulder blade. Figuring it was time to end this now he gathered himself quickly then again used the dagger as a springboard to the neck of the beast where he went berserk in stabbing the side of the large darkspawns neck. By the time the beast was able to slap at it's neck the damage had been done. Stumbling awkwardly to the side, it eventually collapsed like a tree on its face. Walking over to the seared hand that was palm up, Xavier claimed his dagger, "Well, that was fun..."

Chryll continued running up the hillside, finally meeting her opposition. She'd skidding across the ground and spun quickly, releasing the weapon into the group so that it embedded into a Hurlock, throwing him off his feet so far that he crashed through several of his compatriots, clearing a path for Chryll to run through them and grasp the handle of the blade, twisting it out and spinning to decapitate another of the taller darkspawn by cutting high, instead tearing away a better part of its skull so only the lower jaw remained, the rotating motion allowing her to add momentum as she flipped around with the weapon once, cracking her ankle across the face of another Genlock and was again in position to lift and pull her weapon in a half circle, this time fully beheading her target, the one standing next to the one she'd kicked, however she managed to stopt he blade going any further as she then ran forward.

The one she'd kicked was just recovering from a dazed position as Chryll ran forward, having enough time to see as her gloved palm grasped its around the face, pushing it backward against a line of the other Darkspawn behind it. Piling them up before she began to mow through them, first with a cut to her left hand side, throwing the first out of the way in multiple chunks, the blade was stopped, and she twisted about, cutting full motion to the right, again tossing the body aside with the sheer force of the cut. She rounded the blade again and cut upwards, the third target practically jumping off the ground for a moment and falling back down again, Chryll bursting forward again but coming to a skidding halt just as quick, her body turning fully once again to force the blade into the same enemy, cutting through blood muscle, bone and twisted organs and even the spine, all the way through tot he upper body of the opponent behind it, digging in deep enough for Chryll to lift him up, off the ground and throw him overhead, smashing it on the ground behind her and cutting through it also before retrieving her blade and turning towards the remaining lot from the same group.

No-one could see the smile plastered on her face under the mask. She had never imagined the joy of battle being so great, combat with her mother and her brother had always been soft, sparing. But Chryll had more to unleash, much more.. mother had taught her the special training techniques that she had developed since before Chryll was born. The woman's thirst for battle was complimented with her skill with a blade, another thing her mother had taught her. Mother was intelligent, so was her father, they taught her to use the weight of even the heaviest weapon to its fullest advantage, and with the strength she'd developed under her mothers training, or so she believed, she handled the cleaving blade with frightening power.. It was one of the qualities the Grey Warden who had come to recruit her seemed to prize about her.

The only problem was she understood that she would be underestimated too constantly because of her face, her mother had commissioned her some armor for a birthday present, but instead it became a parting gift when she was seen off. With the helmet hiding her appearance, her sheer silence most of the time and her frightening strength; she was comfortable knowing that she would either be respected or feared, as a true warrior should.

Kezric was once again so put off by what he was watching, Xavier with that giant beast, and the woman with the blade.. He couldn't match up to it at all.. He felt almost useless, his ability to kill was slowed by the constant need to reload and take aim. This was absolutely ridiculous...

Apollo walked up that hill with a slow but deliberate walk almost as if he was weary but the look on his face was that of a man who had lost all sanity. His eyes bulged and he had a slump in his walk as blood dripped from his hands. His mind was... unstable and he was mumbling, "Blood, kill, death... exterminate" Meanwhile Xavier came trotting past Apollo after handling the troll with a fair amount of effort but after seeing all the bodies that had been left, he debated whether or not he wanted to even get in her way. She seemed to have everything under control. So he took the time out to analyze the situation.

It was apparent that the source of the darkspawn is at the top of the hill, their leader was most likely there. With that being said, they were apparently smarter than they had been before as they had an organized ambush waiting on them plus an ogre whom he assumed was to be the trump card. All their plans had failed but it was the fact that they even had a plan that gave the white maned assassin pause. It was as if someone had tipped them off. The situation was weird he would have to admit but he would have more time to ponder this after the city had been fully wiped clean of these infestations.

By now he had caught up to Chry and was actually kicked back watching her slaughter them by the dozen per minute. She was far more skilled than he had imagined that was for sure but even she had to get tired. Using her slight pause as his dramatic entrance the male leaned forward and turned his blades around so that they ran up the length of his arm then shot forward with almost inhuman like speed. he carved a pathway through the remaining few with ease decapitating them all as he ran through. Then changing directions effortlessly and fluidly like water he began picking off the last of them. Xavier had flipped his daggers as soon as he made his pivot to take out the rest, to him, it was second nature to flow like this. The first genlock he encountered was stabbed through the face and the next caught a jab in the throat. Sliding his feet ever so slightly and swiftly he made his way to the genlock who had the unfortunate pleasure of being impaled by both daggers then lifted in an arc motion over Xavier's head and crashed onto another of his darkspawn brethren, killing him. Then there was a pivot made and a head lopped off followed by a kick. As soon as that foot hit the ground it was used to propel the white haired assassin into the air and onto his victim who was ravaged by a series of thrusts into the gut.

Getting up to look around there was nothing but bodies left in their wake. They had reached the top of the hill and were in front of a temple that had been sacked by the darkspawn and altered probably to be used for their purposes. If there was once a door to the temple... it wasn't there anymore. There was a strange neon green light emanating from the temple. It was an obvious aura of evil that was radiating out of the temple as well. Looking at Chryll, Xavier said, "Ladies first," in a smooth gentleman like tone that held a hint of sarcasm as well. He was lightheartedly optimistic guy who liked to keep even the bleakest of situations looking positive.

Chryll watched the assassin at work, he was certainly doing an impressive job of things, perhaps in a battle he would be more fitting opponent than her own brother.. However she still wasn't sure if she could defeat mother.. Even in sparring can some-one identify an opponent's abilities, and her mother, though being soft during the sparring practice, was hiding the lions share of her strength and skill, Chryll could see the subtle hints of pausing or slowing down back then. Though mother claimed Chryll would be stronger with an odd determination... Perhaps because unlike her mother she had the advantage to knowing mothers training secrets early on.. Maybe that was it..? She shrugged the thought off placing her hand on her hip when Xavier motioned for her to go first. Under the helmet she sneered a little, sending a lady first into a dangerous situation was hardly chivalrous..

She simply passed it off in her mind and proceeded into the temple, weapon firmly rested over her shoulder again. The place was relatively small butt he lighting was enough to reveal at least two shapes already, that of another Ogre, though this one seemed tougher.. And way more dangerous.. Typical.. Though something was off.. She couldn't quite make it out as her eyes set on the other thing in the room, wasn't that an Emissary..? Now he would definitely be a problem. But something seemed wrong.. She couldn't quite make it out but there was something distorted in the air..
It was then that they appeared, creatures out of thing air, she'd heard about such things too, Shrieks, or Sharlock.. And they were much too close for comfort as two of them thrust toward her, others charging past. The first two however lashed out at her. She had the time to bring the sword down to guard off one attack, but the other passed her defense, the blade in its arm cutting just past her ribs in her side and she recoiled slightly, raising her hand on the wounded side to cover the gash while the Sharlock withdrew its arm and prepared to strike again with its partner.

Quick enemies were a pain to deal with.. She dropped the sword with a resounding clatter suddenly as she took the counteroffensive almost immediately, but weaponless. Ordinarily this could be considered madness, but Chryll didn't qualify for ordinary. The two Shrieks tried to stab at her again quickly, only for her to slide under the arms and get up again, grasping their outstretched arms. Their first instincts were to try and attack her with their other arms, but she used the ones she was gripping tightly to ward off their attacks. The next instinct was to try and wrench themselves free but Chryll tugged the two towards each other, one turning its head to screech at her only to find the blade of its partner being thrust down its throat, the second snarling and preparing to follow the same tactic, jaw just opening before it was clamped firmly shut by the first's arm being thrust under its chin, the fore-arm blade sticking out the top of its skull,
"Shut up.." Chryll muttered, bowling them both over with a thrust from her palms to the sides of their skulls, immediately then retrieving her sword and turning to face up to the Ogre and emissary.

However to her dismay the Emissary had been preparing as it thrust its hand out, casting paralysis on her alone. She could feel her muscles freeze and quiver unresponsively, her mind even going slightly numb. She'd been working up a good bit of fury over the wound in her side but now it was gone and she was exposed to a very big problem, about ten feet of problem in the form of an Ogre that took advantage of the paralysis to run up to Chryll and grasp her in a large paw, tossing her across the temple into the wall where she hit the stone with a cry of pain.
It chuckled loudly, stomping towards her for a moment before looking like it was preparing to run full pelt at her again, it looked like it intended to crush her between itself and the stone wall, not favorable.. To further compound the problem the Sharlock were going to be getting in the way of any possible rescue.. Chryll could feel the effects of the paralysis draining away, if she could only get some response in her legs and one arm.. Almost there.. Her eyes widened slightly behind the mask, the Ogre had begun charging. Only three heavy steps and..
The Ogre Alpha crashed through the wall, smashing out the side but was looking a little confused, it was sure it had hit her. But no, just as she'd needed; her legs and an arm had begun functioning again, enough to steady herself and roll out of the way at the last second, though she was slowly recovering, pushing herself up and trying to get full control of her body again.. The only thing she'd appreciated about the paralyzation was that for a moment she couldn't feel the pain that her body was now wracked with from that impact..
Then again.. As the pain got greater, the more her mind began to blank it out and replace it with rage..

Chryll knelt down again, grasping the handle of the cleaving sword and jumped out into the open where the dazed ogre was, preparing her sword for the upcoming battle.

Kezric, who had been hanging back and picking off Darkspawn jumped as the ogre came crashing out of the side of the temple, only to be followed by Chryll,
"Th'girl's friggin' mad...!" he chimed in, running in the direction of the fight some ways but stopped, looking at the main entrance where the Sharlocks were coming from. This was way too much! He hadn't expected anything like this at all...!
"Maker 'ave mercy..! This is mad-mental-crazy!"

Xavier and Apollo followed closely behind with the mage now snapped out of his mental lapse that had caused him to mumble like a lunatic. He still had a dark crazed look on his face but it held a new found intense look that was drastically different from before. The air in the temple was thick and... disturbed. There was an emissary and ogre... but of a different look and feel, as if it was more battle hardened than the one before.

But before they knew it the disturbance in the air revealed themselves. A clan of shrieks. Forced immediately into defensive positions the mage and rogue were cut off from Chryll as they were pushed back outside of the temple. Dodging the many blade arms that he could while countering at opportune times was getting nowhere. So desperate times called for desperate measures and Xavier had a plan... or more like a technique. Calling out to Apollo, who seemed to be having a hell of a time blasting the shrieks that came his was to oblivion with his lightning rod, "Hey... Apollo... I have an idea, so leave these guys to me and go ahead and handle the Emissary for us please?" The half masked apostate had a distasteful look on his face as he reluctantly agreed, "Fine, but he had better be worth my time... or you will owe me," he spouted almost hatefully. The response only brought a smirk to the assassin's face as he nodded.

Disregarding the remainder, all twenty of them, of the sharlocks, the mage raced inside to come face to face with the hurlock emissary. He snarled when he saw the ugly beast and in response the emissary let out an unusual battle cry. Both looked at each other battle staffs in hand and then the shootout began. Apollo ran around the room casting lightning bolts while the emissary bounced around shooting stone fists. This went on for about the length of a minute as the room lit up with lightning and walls were busted and remnants of furniture broken by the stone fist spell. Then suddenly the emissary smacked the butt of his staff to the floor and he became armored in stone from head to toe. So to counter Apollo did the same but was instead protected by a magical aura around his body.

The two mages, darkspawn and elven (yes Apollo is an elf), stared at each other as they sized each other up. Then Apollo dropped his staff and began to chant, the emissary seeing this as an opportunity to attack launched a stone fist that hit him but not directly thanks to the magic barrier. Apollo was almost done casting spells since he was short on time being conscious and all he figured he would go ahead and finish off the enemy spellcaster. It would be difficult to fight him much longer as is, so he would need to be quick about it. Seeing how the spell didn't stop the man from chanting the emissary's hands started waving in the air above him in a circular motion but just as he was about to thrust them forward the raven haired mage slammed his hands to the ground as blood from the floor launched itself at the emissary with complete disregard of the stone armor. The blood seeped through the cracks and attacked his system causing him to convulse violently although he seemed to be resisting it to some effect. Thinking on his feet and knowing this was all he had left Apollo cast crushing prison which caused the emissary to fall to its knees as the stone armor collapsed to the floor and it began spewing blood all over the place. "Bloody darkspawn, it'll be a cold day in hell before I die at your hands..."

Meanwhile outside Xavier had created some space between himself and the horde of shrieks that were now crawling all over the place and vanishing and reappearing in an attempt to quickly take his life. Unable to dodge them all successfully he now had a few scratches here and there in his all black leather armor. It was annoying to him at how many of them there were and how fast they were. They were almost as quick as he was... when he first began his training as an assassin, which is actually saying quite a bit. Taking a deep breath he called out to Kezric who was quite the liability at the moment, "I think you should probably back up, this is gonna get... messy..." And with his warning being out of the way he rocked backwards onto his right leg then forward onto his left and vanished. When he appeared again instantly he was impaling a shriek through the chin, then it was repeated as he flashed around the battlefield almost like teleportation. Each time he appeared he was killing another of the sharlocks instantly, usually either impaling them through the heart or brain. After a few minutes went by there was nothing left but a pile of bodies and a sweaty rogue sitting on his last victim filling his vial with blood. Looking over at Kezric, once he was done, with an exhausted smirk on his face he asked, "You got some water there friend, I kinda parched ya know?"

(Just so you know the ability that X used is called flicker... its a new technique in DA:A in case you wanted to look it up... so awesome lol)

The ogre had finally turned around to find where Chryll was, staring at the young woman who brandished her great sword once more, striking an offensive pose, which was responded to by the ogre howling in response as he charged in her direction again. A large paw was raised into the air before crashing down toward Chryll but she rolled out of the way to the outer side of the right arm, the one the Ogre had attacked with and spun, using the mighty bled to slice a chunk of flesh from the back of the creature's arm. It roared with fury at the pain, but swung his arms to the left first, shifting his body in an attempt to barge in her direction, swinging his arms to try and hit her full force.

The attack was futile as she had quickly jumped back and out of range of the blow, again rolling out of the way as it tried to kick back at her with it's leg, and once more launched a responsive blow, digging her blade into its other heel and ripping it to the side, the beast howling in agony and stumbling on the injured heel, however steeled its nerve and turned to Chryll again, charging at her once more and this time swinging it's other hand down at her. In return, Chryll threw her blade up to cut into the flesh between his knuckles, the edge biting deep into the hand of the creature, who once again howled, it's pain furthered as she thrust her other palm into the blade's spin, forcing it deeper still before she wrenched it to the side, twisting the creatures arm and snapping the hands two halves apart.

Without wasting a second as the creature tried to deal with the agony, she had wrenched the sword away, the beast stumbling back and holding the bleeding mangled mess that was his claw, too distracted to watch Chryll as she took another brave swing at the monster, the talon-like tip tearing through the hardened flesh on its chest, spraying Chryll's armed with a spattering of its dark blood. It doubled over, again roaring, its only good hand reaching over the wound, but its eyes locked on Chryll, watch as she turned around once again, lowering the blade and bringing the blunt spine directly into its Jaw, causing the creature to straighten almost immediately, taking a step back on the weakened heel, its grip on the ground weakening near the steep cliff-side. But she was not finished, leaping forward with the weapon raised above her head she forced it down across the beasts chest, barging into it during the attack and forcing it off the cliff, however she too disappeared with it off the cliff edge as it fell, howling on the way down to its doom..

Kezric had been watching the madness around him, dazed and confused, even as he got solid this in, but he stared at the battle between Chryll and the Ogre, she just didn't seem to quit, but her final act made him gawk even further, just like that, the woman was gone.. Such a simple loss of life.. How could he possibly stand up to any of this? He looked around at the others, even the warden that was supposed to be guiding and protecting them, he wasn't sure what he was even doing here anymore.
But did she really fall? No.
Chryll was hanging onto the edge, her blade jammed in the cliff-side, form dangling over the steep drop where at the bottom a broken monster bled across the stones, however, as a result of severe pain and physical exhaustion, she was having difficulty pulling herself up.

Watching the ending of battle of the hardened ogre and Chryll, Xavier was quite impressed and was sure that she was physically the strongest person here obviously. He did however wonder if she would be able to beat him in a fight, just exactly how sharp were her senses compared to his. He analyzed her fighting style knowing it to be that of a berserker's and a well trained one at that, she was most definitely skillful in her art. Then as she finished off the ogre and they both seemed to disappear off the cliff, the white haired assassin seemed to find that bit of energy he was lacking after killing all of the shrieks, he raced over to see if she was indeed dead. And with a slight bit of satisfaction he sighed with a smirk on his expression and said, "Damn you gave me a scare... Wouldn't want to lose a broad who fights like that. I'm impressed... now all that's left is to know what hides under the mask... a beauty? Or a beast?" He extended a hand out to the woman hoping she would take it...

Chryll's head angled up to look at the other or what she could see of him through the visor, the enchantments on the head-piece made it impossible to look into her gaze so it was little more than looking at a steel and leather armored doll, the glowing blue lines remaining still, but it still would have felt like he was being stared at. Behind the mask however she pulled a look of disdain, wanting to yell at the man, but either answer was bad in their own ways.. Instead she held her silence, shifting her body ahd pulling herself up as much as she could with the one hand holding the blade, the other swinging up to grab his outstretched hand, there was just enough distance.

She planted her foot against a small hold on the cliff, hand on her sword pulling at it several times gently until she'd pulled it loose and threw it back over the edge on the level ground where she could get it once again before using Xavier's help to get back up. Back on even ground she simply turned her head to him,
"Define them.." She answered simply and walked towards her blade, only to collapse, having to use her hands to steady herself. She lifted one to her helmet, pulling it open only partially so a hint of pale flesh on her cheek could be seen but the shadowing was too much to make much of a judgment as she cough for a moment before spitting out large globules of blood for a few seconds, though once the blood was less and saliva more she snapped the helm shut, grasping a vial and looking for a prominent body.

Reckless... Not to different than me, the male though to himself as she walked past him and collapsed. Unconcerned with the woman from that point on he left her as she was and went to check up on Apollo who had been inside the warped temple for some time now. He walked over and around the graveyard of corpses he had created in front of the temple entrance and slowly crept through the opening. He was unsurprised to see the raven haired male laying down on the floor looking pretty dead although he had looked half dead when he was awake so who was to say. Being careful to avoid landing on something awkwardly with all the debris and furniture broken and collapsed everywhere it was a somewhat tedious task getting to the man. When he reached him the assassin immediately checked for a pulse to see if he was alive or dead. It didn't take long for him to realize the man was just asleep, he was exhausted. Grabbing him and tossing him over his shoulder the man made his way out of the temple and over to where Kezric was standing still apparently in awe, and laid him down. "Watch him, I'm going to go get... nevermind."

As he finished Ferris arrived with that stoic look on his face only to hear him say, "Well done... I sense no more darkspawn, it seems your tasks are finished and all that is left is for you to obtain a vial of their blood." On that note Xavier reached into the pouch at his side and whipped out his vial of darkspawn blood, "There ya go, I'm fairly sure that our corpse friends there wouldn't mind us borrowing that for whatever the purpose." It was a subtle way to ask what they needed them for but if Ferris had picked up on it, he had chosen to ignore the white haired male. Sighing in discontent he reached down into the mages pouch and pulled out his empty vial and went back inside the temple and filled it with the hurlock emissary's blood. The blood of the last kill was most valuable, to him at least, then he came back and handed it to Ferris.

Chryll reached over to her sword, grasping the handle silently and pulled the weapon over to herself, shifting it around and holstering it on her back again, she needed to check the bodies for a health poultice. Some Darkspawn would carry them, she wouldn't be surprised if there were a few here. After an agonizing few minutes of searching the bodies she pulled up one of the remarkably red vials, turning her back to the others as she opened her face mask, popping the cork off with her thumb. With that done she placed the top to her lips and downed the fluid. She never really liked these things, they had a hollow, copperish taste to her tongue, but at least the rejuvenating affects were a blessing as the pain was washed away, forced out by an aura of calm warmth that spread through her body.

The emptied poultrice was tossed to the ground and she looked for a more intact body of one of her kills, bleeding out into the vial which she then corked and made her way back to Ferris, handing him the vial. Kezric too had gone to one of his kills, though the bewildered look on his face remained, he still wasn't sure about all this and it made him begin to question it all even more. He really was small-time compared to these people.. It was a disheartening feeling to know there were people out there who were far more capable.
Once retrieving the blood of a kill he placed it in Ferris' hands, then checking on his Crossbow quietly and staring over at the only woman of their group. She really was beyond anything he had ever expected, and even the blood mage was understandably powerful, not to mention that assassin type..
It appeared the odds were stacked against him.

Ferris took the vials and for the first time on this entire trip he cracked what Xavier thought was a remnant of a smile. Never met a man so stoic before... he thought silently. Looking around at the recruits the man's face went emotionless again as he announced, "Rest for a bit... then meet me at the campfire in the town square just before sunset. We will have the joining then... and I will answer all of your questions," he finished looking at Kezric who was obviously having second thoughts.

Xavier sighed but nodded and looked down at Apollo, "So what should we do about him?" Ferris looked down at him briefly before saying, "Leave him til he wakes..." and just like that he walked off down towards the square. Unreasonably satisfied with that answer the white haired rogue simply shrugged and decided it would be best to see what the bodies held on them for the time being.

Walking to the fresh pile of corpses that he had just made minutes ago, he knelt down and started looking through them for anything useful he could find. Most of the bodies held nothing in particular that was of any quality to him but he did find a few small poultices, some bronze and surprisingly a lyrum potion. Xavier however didn't want anything to do with the mage's potions so he left it there where he found it. After spending those few minutes of time he walked over to the elevated porch of the temple and took a seat at the edge. Looking over at Apollo he shook his head then wanting some company he called out loudly, "Chyrll!!! Chryll!!!"

Chryll had taken to standing at the cliff-edge, rather than looking down at the bottom where the mangled remains of the ogre could just be seen, she was staring out into the white void, feeling the strong wind rushing in from the valley, as she stood still the warmth of her armor was drenched in the cold little-by-little, cooling her as well. She didn't hear the first call as a gust of wind whistled air through her helm, butt he second came through, paired with the echoing of the first call. She turned her helm to locate the man who had called, Xavier. She recognized his voice mostly because he was the one who would speak to her rather more than the others, even if she wasn't replying.

She wondered why he was even calling her now, but she supposed she could comply, turning from the ridge and walking in his direction, hands resting at her side as she took the uneven strides on the ground, finding her way up to Xavier, in front of whom she folded her arms,
"Shout louder.. You may call an avalanche down in the process.." She stated, a slight scolding sound to her voice, though it seemed to have a twist of dark humor to it, it was an attempt at least. Chryll barely showed much personality beyond a rather hostile attitude if she had to, it seemed to carry on over even whens he was trying a little humor. She'd often been like this.. Even as a child.. Perhaps it was her mother's expectations.. Too late to take it back now, she supposed,
"What?" she added, wondering what he wanted exactly.

Xavier chuckled lightly at her first comment and then patted the spot on the cinder (rather than brick i suppose?) porch next to him and rebutted, "Relax Chry, sit next to me for a while if you don't mind keeping me company for a moments time?" His smooth tone and accent was foreign yet familiar as if it was slightly similar to the Antivan's yet somewhat hinting at that of a normal Ferelden's (imagine Zevran's accent with Gregoir's voice or something like it). His golden eyes scanned over her fit figure from head to toe then back up and it made him wonder, "So now that the fighting's done, how about you show me the face under the mask?" It was a simple request that somehow he figured would get turned down but that wasn't his real reason for asking, he had another motive.

Chryll stared at him through the visor silently, following his gaze down then back up. Typical man, with how the suit was built it accented her perfectly, slabs of leather fitted together with solid stitching, the way to remove it was hidden but there was a tight series of laces hidden under specific folds of the suit itself, the ends hidden under her gauntlets, greaves and the short chest plate. She folded her arms, rather than sitting down, she had no interest or reason to, if she wanted to rest she'd do so away from others.

His request to see her face however, was met with disdain hidden behind her mask, but she then turned, keeping her arms folded, though dropped them then, half turning, but turning her head further so that the right side of her mask was there, though she wasn't looking at him really,
"No." Was the simple response, that was what she was like, or had become like, having steeled herself to become a Warden she had vowed to be simple and precise, this Xavier man was asking things of her on a whim or so it seemed, and it wasn't in her interest to do as others pleased on their whims. At least as a Warden she would be commanded as a soldier, she respected that strength alone.

She looked forward again and continued back down the hill,
"I'm going to rest." she mentioned, but turned her head sharply, as though looking back to him again, "No more frivolities.." there was a dark warning tone that accompanied it, unlike Xavier, she wasn't the type to joke so often.

Xavier gave the woman a sly smirk he was sure that she would notice and was quite used to women acting this way towards him although he usually got his way in the end. Standing to his feet and dusting off his backside as he popped his neck, the man acted oblivious to the sharp warning in her voice and followed after her merrily. "Well then, I'll come with you. Besides as future Grey Wardens, i think it only right that we," he paused for a moment and tapped on his lips his index finger as thought of the right word to insert before continuing, "...Bond, yes?"

Xavier picked up his walking speed and cut in front of the woman and turned to face her as he walked backwards holding a carefree smile on his face. Then he squinted his eyes as if he was actually going to be able to see something within the eye slit of her helmet before he asked, "Why lock yourself out to the world?" Originally that was going to be the end of his sentence but he decided it would be more fitting to add, "...Both figuratively and physically." By this time he had placed both of his hands behind his head as his golden gaze eyed what would normally be just a face but in this case was a helmet.

The white haired rogue knew full well what he was doing but what he didn't know was what the outcome of his efforts would be, but that was all part of the fun. Being an assassin was more than simply knowing how to kill it was being able to break down your prey mentally at times and it worked on and off the battlefield. Although how effective it actually was depended on the person and the target and in this case he had figured Chryll would be a tough one to crack but time had a way of changing people and if the maker was on his side, he had plenty of that left.

Chryll continued to walk quietly, in fact she sped up her steps for a moment but then slowed them down again, if he was determined to keep ahead of her then that was fine. She came to a stop for a moment when he asked his question, but then continued to walk, slowly increasing how fast she was walking until he'd backed up along the back of a building with her stopping at the corner of it and abruptly turned to the side, going out of site around the corner, continuing back on her original path.

Chryll didn't expect that to deter him, he was trained in trickery and deception, being an assassin, she simply carried on, waiting for his next attempt at the matter, if he was going to be relentless for his answer, she supposed she could make him work for it as much as she pleased before he got the answer he wanted. Unlike the more simple-minded or easily scared, he wasn't about to get what he pleased out of Chryll. The warrior instead began to think back on the days of training and sparring with her mother. The relentlessness of Xavier reminded her of those sessions, which oddly enough put a small smile on her face.
Odd, she supposed, to be reminded of her mother, but then her family had been the most important things in her life, finding things to link to them meant she'd never feel alone or afraid. She was also counting down in her head for his next approach, effectively hitting zero when he reappeared.

The young rogue ran into the back of a building as he had allowed the woman to steer him as she pleased which had effectively turned out like so. Still it brought a grin to his face as he rubbed the back of his hands and his back from the impact but, of course, he was not about to give up so easily. He sighed slightly, not out of frustration, but rather because he knew that this would be a tedious task but it would be something for him to do as time passed and it was quite easily the most entertaining thing that he could be doing at the moment. After all Chryll was shrouded in mystery and he was quite interested in the black shroud that seemed to linger around her constantly, so he made it ihs duty to investigate.

Sliding smoothly off the wall of the building around the corner, Xavier made a quick and silent dash to catch up to the woman making a leaping enterence for dramatic effect stopping slightly behind her. For some reason he had this feeling that she had been anticipating him, though it would not have been surprising, after all he was persistant. "Dear dear Chry, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were attempting to get rid of me?" His sarcasm was glaringly obvious but still he would follow her when she continued on, this time he had made up his mind to walk beside her yet slightly behind, so he could easily see where they were going.

"So ya' gonna answer my question? Or am I gonna have to beg it out of you?" Of course there was still loads of sarcasm in hsi voice as he spoke yet still a hint of the truth remained. He hadn't planned on giving up anytime soon and they had some time before they had to meet in the square. If luck was on his side, as it usually was, then he would have the answer that he sought long before their time was up.

His eyes had always had a mind of their own and they started to drift downward after waiting a few more seconds taking a peak at her backside before shaking his head roughly and snapping his eyes back forward. He had hoped that she didn't notice his short moment of weakness, after all it had been a while since he had been with a woman and his body had needs. But of course no matter how beautiful the body looked... if there was a beast underneath that mask he would never touch her in as many lifetimes as he would willingly live.