WIP Wednesday
Tagged by @fiberpunk027 ! Thank you :D
I’m deep in @black-emporium-exchange work right now, so here is an on-hold WIP I will be picking up again at some point. This did finally get me to open up my tablet, so I’ll be working on something or other after this.
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It was late afternoon when they came upon the group of Venatori fiddling with the power crystal that warded the [pergola]. Bellara heard them before she saw them, familiar with the crackle and sputter of a misaligned crystal. Were it anyone besides the Venatori, she would have sympathy for them. She’d singed her hands and sleeves enough times before she worked out the technique to untangle the old magic. Now, though, she was glad the Venatori hadn’t had that same chance to experiment, and she wouldn’t give them a moment more. She looked over her shoulder, nodding to Imekas, Neve, and Harding, who readied their weapons. She crouched down, pulling at the ancient magic steeped throughout Arlathan. A shimmering barrier manifested in front of the group. It wouldn’t be enough to hide them from direct view, but they’d become just another blind spot in the Venatori’s peripherals.
It was quick work to dispatch the disorganised and flighty group of blood mages and their grunts. For a long time, Bellara had wondered how their numbers swelled so fast, even with the freedom mages had in Tevinter, but it turned out that a lot of non-mages craved the same chance at power, or to even be around the people who did have it.
The cave, once Bellara had realigned and deactivated the crystal, held some minor trinkets and a staff that Imekas picked up with interest. It was too rigid for Bellara, and too long for Neve, but Bellara hoped she could get some use out of it. The part of her that had lived so many years with her clan raged at giving an outsider, even an allied mage, one of their few artefacts, but with the emergence of Arlathan City, those relics were becoming more and more common. More than the relics, Bellara wished there were still any ancient elves or spirits hanging around to provide information.
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Tagging @queenofangrymoths @volkoss @birdylion if you wanna