( closed ) player plot: the stars go waltzing

[eviscerates]

WHO: Adelaide, Araceli, Avery, Bellamy, Bruce, Ciri, Cosima, Daenerys, Jamie, Korrin, Lexa, Martel, Merrill, Ruby, Sabine, Teren.
WHAT: catch all log; the capture of shardbearers, their rescue, and related shenanigans.
WHEN: Gently timey wimey for flexibility, Team Rescue arrives at the outpost on the 10th.
WHERE: Orlais/Nevarra borders (roughly halfway between the Fields of Ghislain and Trevis), and then a Creepy Place.
NOTES: Log for the missing shardbearers player plot; ooc here & here. Only the travel threads for teams one and two are going up for now, the rest will go up on Friday :]b And to clarify - when I say party style, what I mean is subthread to your hearts content!
WARNINGS: HORROR THEMES. Abduction, experimentation/torture, forced ingestion of lyrium, implied past deaths/murder, violence.

SPEEDY LINKS

• TEAM ONE: travel to Craintellier
• TEAM ONE: rift two attempt & Venatori attack
• TEAM ONE: dungeons
• TEAM ONE: escape attempt — Cosima, Jamie & Lexa only
• TEAM TWO: travel to Craintellier
• TEAM TWO: post rift investigation — Adelaide, Bellamy & Sabine, Bruce, Korrin & Teren, Ciri & Merrill
• TEAM TWO: take the outpost — Attack & Distract & Stealthy & Stealy
• TEAM TWO: regroup & into the dungeons — plus a Lexa-shaped guest star
• ALL: finding your shardbearers
• ALL: boss fight
• ALL: epilogue & return to Skyhold — tba

click for bigger version. full map of Thedas here.

East of Perendale and south of Trevis, next to a river's winding course, there lies the bones of a fortress. It is an old and almost forgotten place, a dramatic, clawed seeming thing reaching up into the sky, harsh against the the rolling hills.

It is an ancient place, dating back to 660TE, a testament to an Empire suffering after civil war and grasping to restore its wealth and influence after it had been so shaken. It stands as a memory of grandeur, rather than an icon of it, and bears the marks of devastation and scarring that so much of the land suffered during the First Blight. It was all but abandoned thereafter, host only to the desperate and the greedy, and never for long. Once ornate mosaics now only hold flecks of gold, flakes that stubbornly resisted the hands of looters trying to pry them away. Other colours, reds, whites, greys and blacks, they all remain.

The site was chosen for its riches, sitting atop a mine that once held immense wealth, seams of gold that would bring wealth back into the Empire and help restore stability. Opulence, the central Tevinter staple (aside from slavery and blood magic, some might say).

But they dug too deep, and when the First Blight came so too did the darkspawn.

It has a new master, now, and he serves the Elder One. Parts of this stronghold may be in ruins now, but remember: it is not what lies on the surface that counts, but what lurks beneath it.


AD VICTORIAM, AD GLORIA.

Comments

KORRIN, BRUCE & TEREN: near some forest nonsense

[eviscerates]

Further along the trail, where the terrain has flattened out, erratic patches of white flowers growing here and there, leading into the woods.

Away from the hills the fog has almost cleared completely, and sunlight catches something on the muddy ground.

There is a lot of to explore, with some noticeable broken branches.

[gatheringstorm]

The glint of...something on the muddy ground catches Korrin's attention and she immediately heads over to see it up close. Maybe it's nothing, but she'd rather investigate and be sure that she's wrong rather than pass up a potential clue. Some part of her hopes it's an item of Araceli's, a sign of her presence.

[eviscerates]

There is something metallic and circular sticking out of the mud, though part of it has obviously been pressed deeper into the ground and will need to be dug out, the mud around it drying and thick.

[gatheringstorm]

Well, she's not afraid of getting her hands dirty. Korrin slips off her gloves and begins to dig, trying to hurry before the mud dries any more than it already has done. She'll frowns intently, completely focused on her task.

[eviscerates]

It doesn't take too much digging for it to come lose into Korrin's hand, a silver bracelet, some of the details obscured by clinging mud. The mermaids, however, are pretty distinct. Unfortunately, so is the dried blood worked into some of the details.

[gatheringstorm]

Well. That's a punch to the gut. Korrin's eyes grow suspiciously bright, and a lump in her throat forms as she bows her head, unable to take her gaze away from the the dried blood. Please be alive, kadan. She's thankful for mostly steady hands as she reaches for her waterskin, to clean off the bracelet. Araceli will have this back, whatever it takes.

[amygdalae]

So far Bruce's own search hasn't gotten him anywhere, but from the corner of his eye he sees Ataash apparently picking up something, so he goes over to her. "Find something?"

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin nods, her voice a bit rough when she responds, turning the mermaid bracelet over in her hands. "...yeah. I gave this to Araceli a while back. This had dried blood on it. If she's...." Nope, can't bring herself to finish that sentance.

[amygdalae]

Bruce is quiet as she speaks, lips pursed at the possibilities that run through his mind. There is a good chance things coukd have easily gone south and Bruce probably leans towards that himself, but...

"I'm sure she's fine," he says, voice soft. "She's a strong woman."

[gatheringstorm]

"She is...but sometimes that's not enough." Korrin's eyes are suspiciously bright, knowing how very true that can be. "Keep a lookout for a black fox. If Lux has escaped, he'll help us find her." She knows that much, knows that if Araceli had any choice, she'd keep him from notice, have him ready to slip away for help.

[amygdalae]

A black fox... Bruce has seen it before himself - the little critter that was always seen with her. He gives a nod to show that he's heard her.

"I'll be sure to keep an eye out. But in the meantime, let's keep looking. There could be something else." He gestures further down the road for them to walk. With luck, they might find other things that could give them more clues.

[gatheringstorm]

Clearing her throat, Korrin nods and straightens, tucking the bracelet into her armor. It was made for more slender wrists than her own, and she won't bend it out of shape when its rightful owner is waiting to be found. "Right. I think I saw some broken branches, before I got distracted...."

[eviscerates]

By the broken branches there are two things. The first is a smear of blood, lower down on the tree's trunk. Further along, there is something caught on a branch; investigating it would reveal something definitely not of Thedas, namely Jamie's watch, the brown later making it slightly tricky to spot.

[amygdalae]

The broken branches - yes, Bruce had noticed that too. He nods and starts to lead the way, walking down the path until they're close enough to see the clues that have been left there. Bruce in particular takes notice of the blood, frowning as he runs a finger across it, trying to see if anything comes off from the wood onto his finger.

[gatheringstorm]

While Bruce does that, Korrin paces ahead, looking for other signs. She nearly misses a particular branch, looking for anything that stands out, but upon turning her gaze to it again, she doesn't regret it.

"Hey--over here." Quickening her pace, she picks up the watch and grits her teeth. "Jamie...."

[eviscerates]

The blood is dry. Rather than sticking to Bruce's fingers, it comes off in flakes or sticks stubbornly to grooves in the bark unless scratched off. The smear is broad. If Bruce happens to look down, he might spot some notes in the grass at the tree's base.

Jamie's watch is hooked quite carefully. The height is not such that it could have simply fallen from his wrist - it is too high for that, too well looped onto the branch rather than simply hanging precariously.

[amygdalae]

Dry blood... not recent at all, then. Bruce purses his lips at the possibilities but sets them aside for later. Later. He can consider all of that later.

He's about to look down, but then Ataash gets his attention and he glances over instead, quick to notice the watch in her hands. He's seen it a fair few times enough to know who its from too.

"It seems like it's not just one of them," he murmurs, frowning, turning back to mull over it--then spotting the notes and crouches down. "Wait. There's something here as well."

[eviscerates]

The notes have been damaged by the elements, trodden underfoot a little. Still, a few things can be made out;

ah behold this fascinating text, it is most fascinating, so plot, many thought, wow wow wow wow oh look are you still reading WHY ARE YOU STILL READING i'm sorry i didn't think of something better to put here ilu also I think I did the code on this wrong oops

Frequency of humans delivered to Thedas via the Fade suggests that other species are rare even across other worlds, or are not fit for the journey. Weakness of local elven specimens was particularly disappointing.

I was going to re-write the lyrics of a song to be about text and exposition but I'm at my core a very lazy person so alas

It would be interesting to conduct a study of foreign versus native elves and their resilience. If the opportunity presents itself then may prove compelling topic for study?

[gatheringstorm]

Crouching and reading over Bruce's shoulder, Korrin tries to read along. Her eyes narrow as what's said almost immediately. Of course they would target elves, experiment on them as though they were animals. Gritting her teeth, she moves to stand.

"I'll enjoy destroying these bastards."

[amygdalae]

Bruce, likewise, doesn't quite like what he's seeing here, and he purses his lips once he reads the words. It is a fact that the presence of the Rifters, no matter how low key the Inquisition tried to hide it, was still going to be a thing eventually. He had just hoped that it would lead to situations like this.

He picks up the tattered notes and pockets them for later. "They've got a few things to answer for," he murmurs his agreement as he stands back up. "Let's see what else we can still find around here." There was Bonaventura's item and now this - perhaps they could be lucky the third time as well.

[eviscerates]

It looks like they've found everything of interest. All that remains are irregular, ofd outcrops of white wild roses. They've been dotting the trail very sporadically since around the second rift.

[gatheringstorm]

Peering around, Korrin sighs. "I...think that's it. At least we know if we see those flowers that we're still going the right way. So far." Let's see what the others have found."

[amygdalae]

Looking around himself, Bruce has to agree with Ataash. It seems like this is the end of the road for them, as far as finding anything else goes. Not surprising, but still... it is a bit disappointing.

"Yes," he returns, showing his assent with a nod. "Hopefully the others have found something as well."

[doneisdone]

Teren has trailed behind them with her daggers at the ready, prepared for any encounter that proves unfriendly to two magic users. They seem to know the Rifters involved, and she doesn't interfere with their speculation, though she does begin to range ahead to carefully follow the trail of flowers. Per Korrin's advice, she also keeps an eye out for a black fox.