OPEN ↠ FALSE GODS, GREAT DEMONS (PART I)

[faderifting]

WHO: Time Travelers & Future Kirkwall Residents
WHAT: Time travel, captures, escapes, explosions.
WHEN: ALTERNATE FUTURE, Early Cloudreach 9:48
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES:.This is the first plot log for False Gods, Great Demons, specifically for the time travel team and adjacent plot efforts. An open post for general Darkest Timeline adventures will be posted separately! A plotting post specifically for the escape from Kirkwall can be found here.

It's been over a year since the village of Haven was burned, ransacked, and buried beneath snow and ice--a year for the snow to melt and leave behind blackened, rotting wood for a new year's snow to fall over. The stone walls and Chantry stand, but the rest of the village is a jagged scar, and the path up the mountain to the Temple of Sacred Ashes still shows signs of the battle against the Breach: toppled carts, abandoned crates, a broken bridge.

Given the debris, obstacles, and lingering demon-infested tears in the Veil, it takes the better part of a day for even a well-armed team of trained fighters to make the trek from Haven to the Temple. Despite that, there's been a steady stream of pilgrims to Andraste's final resting place--and now the site of the Herald's death. More still wait on the road and outside the entrance to the Temple ruins, guarded now by Inquisition soldiers until the recent deaths within the walls have been investigated.

Save the wind and quiet crunch of bones being gnawed on, the Temple itself is silent. The molten-ash corpses that were once outside the walls, contorted from their final moments of agony, have been removed and given rites--but the icy dust beneath the band's boots is still partly bone and burned flesh, and patches of red lyrium still resist efforts at removal.

The bone-crunching comes from down the main staircase and around a corner. Five corpses are slumped around a campfire, dressed for warmer weather, preserved by the cold somewhat but withered and too decayed to have died within the week, let alone overnight while no one else was looking--and with one arm currently being chewed on by a bear while two others amble nearby.

Stopping them from eating the evidence is a good idea, probably. And perhaps as the effort to chase them away from the carrion gets underway, in the midst of the chaos and roaring, someone will notice one of the bandits splayed out across the icy stone floor. She's as withered as the rest of them, save one outstretched arm that's still fleshy-plump and pink where it falls outside some invisible line.

But if anyone does notice, it's too late. There's a flare of light that shifts quickly from rift-green to a blinding white, a white-noise roar and a gust of windy force that propels everyone forward to--

Exactly where they were, except a few yards to the left, and in the last two seconds the few stubborn scraps of red lyrium on the Temple walls have crawled and expanded to form whole walls of crystal. For a moment it's silent again, save the wind. The one of the bears--the only one carried along with the group--lets out a bewildered, irritable roar. Beyond the walls there's a shout, then another, then too many for it to be only the handful of Inquisition soldiers posted outside the Temple.

Seconds later, they're surrounded.

Comments

a visitor.......

[arlathvhen]

Footsteps tread down the stairs, lighter than those of the armored guards. A woman in the flowing robes of the Venatori arrives at the bottom of the stairs, and begins walking past the cells. It's hard to make out any details about her, covered in dark robes, the hood pulled low over her head. On her heel is a Red Templar, following like a pet dog.

She seems intent on the back of the room, but brings herself to a hard stop after walking past a handful of the cells. Slowly, she looks up, turning to one cell in particular. Those nearby can see a reflective glow of purple eyes as she studies the occupant, before finally speaking out loud.

"...Is that a bear."

[byblow]

Alistair is here for everyone's pissy two-word terrible comebacks, apparently, because he doesn't move, doesn't look up, doesn't acknowledge the bear in the room. He only says, loudly and with feeling, "Go away."

[arlathvhen]

There's a small pause, and the MYSTERIOUS VENATORI (Beleth, it's Beleth) takes a step back, examining the bear for a few moments, before taking a few side steps to peer into Alistair's cell.

"I'm afraid it's not listening, Alistair. You could try speaking bear to it?"

[byblow]

"You could try letting it out of the cell," Alistair says, mirroring her inflection and still not getting up from his crappy cot. Trapping him places he doesn't want to be has never done very flattering things for his personality. "I don't think it's eaten in a while."

[onlyhymns]

On the one hand, Cade really wishes Beleth didn't insist on coming down here so often, reopening these same wounds over and over. On the other hand, it's always good to see that Alistair and Seeker Malcolm are still alive. Even if... not... well.
Although he's fully decked out in the armor of a Red Templar, Cade seems to shrink behind Beleth as though she's his shield. He looks pointedly at the floor .

[el_tybs]

Hearing Beleth and Alistair heckling each other wasn't a new sight, but seeing Beleth in the robes of the enemy certainly was - and was that Cade?

Walking up to the bars of his cell, Sam grabs the iron and peers at the woman standing just next to his cell. "Beleth?" That couldn't really be her...

[arlathvhen]

The absent-minded way that Beleth reaches behind her to pat Cade's arm, without even needing to look to know where he will be, and that he needed the reassurance, certainly speaks to a closer relationship than they'd had five years ago. "If I did, you'd have nothing to worry about, Alistair. I hear bears hate bitter--"

But the heckling comes to a stop as Beleth turns to hear a voice of a dead man. Fully facing Sam, it's clear to see that it is indeed Beleth--minus vallaslin, looking a little worse for the wear (but not as much as the other prisoners). She stares at Sam with wide eyes, before narrowing them, and crossing her arms.

"Another unbound demon? Who summoned you? I don't care if they stuck you in a cell, this is unprofessional. I've written memos about it!" She turns to look at Cade. "They were very clearly worded, weren't they?"

[onlyhymns]

Put on the spot, Cade blinks a few times and then rapidly nods. Yes. Very clearly worded. Anything you say. Please do not draw attention to my existence.

[el_tybs]

Sam is equally in shock when Beleth turns to him and she just doesn't look like herself. Well she did look like herself, but the lack of blood markings made it hard to believe that it was still her. But she had responded to the name-

Unbound demon?

He's been called a demon before, but this doesn't feel like those other times. Beleth doesn't seem upset that he might be a demon, but just by the fact that he was unbound? It's only then that he really pays attention to the robes, eyes narrowing when he catches sight of the insignia. Likewise his eyes drift over to Cade, noting a similar change in outfits.

"You joined them?" He's not sure if he's more upset or hurt by this.

[arlathvhen]

"Who is them, people who follow basic safety precautions? Who try to avoid random possessions and other dangerous incidents?" She grouses, fishing in one of her pouches for a little pad of paper. "No offense, I'm sure you understand." She sighs, starting to scribble away what was probably a very scathing follow-up memo. "I bet it was one of the mages from Rivain, they are so careless when it comes to demons. Just because they don't care about getting possessed..."

She trails off, still grumbling to herself, before she jerks her head up, glancing at Alistair. "How many of these are there? I'll try to get them taken care of quickly. In the mean time, just...try not to get possessed. If you don't mind."

[el_tybs]

Safety precautions? Sam bites his bottom lip and raises a brow at 'Beleth'. Really? She thinks he's a demon and spouting about safety issues? That's just we- why does he even care about that? Beleth joined the Venatori and doesn't have her markings!

"No, the Venatori. You would never do this." Beleth who was so steadfast in Dalish heritage and the People, now working for a group who would want Clans wiped out?

[tactical_alert]

Sleep isn't really something he gets much when he's been bad and banished to the cells for 'reeducation' as it were, but he tries to rest however he can. Beleth and Cade, though, always seem to make enough of a ruckus to keep that from happening.

Well. Beleth does. Cade never does. "Get on with it," he growls through grit teeth. "Whatever you're here for. Do it and leave."

[byblow]

"Eight," Alistair says, somewhere in that mess of overlapping conversation, in answer to Beleth's question. That isn't true. It is probably obvious from the tartness of his tone that it isn't true. But unlike some people, he isn't going to make the Venatori's work any easier for them. She can do her own headcount.

[doneisdone]

At the sound of a familiar voice, Teren comes to the edge of her cell, peering through the bars.
"Beleth?" she says, more surprised than angry, then beckons her over. "...come on then, give us a hand."

Beleth is one of Zevran's, isn't she? No doubt she's taken the five years to get super amazing at all the shady shit he's taught his Kestrels, including picking locks and smuggling people out of a dungeon.

[arlathvhen]

Four different people (if you count demons as people) are talking to her about four different (but relatively related) topics, and for a moment Beleth just tenses, closing her eyes and trying to focus herself. Again, she reaches for Cade, this time as a comfort to herself as she tries to sort out this giant mess.

Alistair can be ignored, a statement that could probably be utilized to summarize Alistair's entire life. The problem is that she doesn't know half these new people, can't confirm that they're demons, and thus would risk accusing a very alive person of being a demon. She takes a breath, opens her eyes, and points at Teren. "I am trying to help, despite the best efforts of the people I'm helping. Well--I guess not you...? No offense, of course. It's just. You know. Demons."

Then she points to Malcolm. "I will leave as soon as I find out why there are a bunch of dead people in these cells. Any information you have would expedite the process." And finally, to Sam. "And...I'm not part of the Venatori, I'm just the poor schmuck that got stuck making sure that Kirkwall doesn't burn to the ground, again."

[doneisdone]

[byblow]

"Making sure everything runs smoothly," Alistair elaborates on Beleth's behalf in a quiet drawl that almost doesn't sound murderous. "Fetching their tea. Massaging their shoulders." He's settling back onto his cot, folding his arms behind his head, and airily giving this the minimal attention it deserves. (This is why people hated him at school.) "Nothing important."

[ombranera]

"So." Drawled and wry as anything, Zevran peering through the mess and the bars. "Everything she swore she wouldn't. I cannot say I am all that surprised."

Beleth does, after all, have a knack for survival. "Making herself indispensable or at least visibly so would make sure she doesn't find her throat slit in a blood magic ritual. Not a bad plan. Well done."

[onlyhymns]

Ohhh no. Ohhhh noooooo.

Cade had heard that there were people here who turned up out of the blue, after disappearing for years. He hasn't been too familiar with any of the names he's heard, not until now. But that unmistakeable voice turns his blood to ice.

Momentarily forgetting about Alistair and Beleth, Cade takes several slow, trepidatious steps toward the cell farther down, peering over but not too far, like a person investigating a frightening noise behind a shrub. He wants to see it before it sees him, since maybe that will give him time to escape.
Not that Zevran can come after him anyway, but that makes little difference to Cade. When has it ever?

[arlathvhen]

Beleth has her mouth open to tell Alistair off, no, she doesn't serve tea (they have servants for that, goodness). Then Zevran speaks.

She's not nearly as concerned about the sudden appearance of her old mentor (or a demon posing as him) as she is about the very real and immediate issue of Cade being in distress. Her head jerks in his direction, and she takes the steps necessary to cover the distance between them, quickly coming to his side and placing her hand on his arm, looking consolingly up at him.

Just Friends™

Then she steps between Cade and Zevran, which does absolutely nothing to hide the man that's over half a foot taller than her. But still!! She stares at Zevran calmly, eyes moving up and down. He looks just like how she remembered him. It doesn't do much to convince her that this isn't some trick. But trick or no, he's distressing Cade.

"The dead do not get to judge the living," She tells him, hand still on Cade's arm. "We're dreadfully sorry to have the gall not to show up maimed and murdered. Everyone is terribly disappointed, we know, we've heard." And she turns slightly to get a better look at Cade, leaning in to softly whisper to him. "It's alright. Everything is okay, don't worry."

It is, honestly, as much about being concerned for Cade, as it is that a riled up Cade has a greater chance to lose his shit and freak out at everyone around him (except Beleth). Mad dogs need a firm handler.

[byblow]

The sound of Zevran's voice makes Alistair's hands, which he'd placed under his head, curl into hair-clenching fists. But he doesn't say anything. This is all very Fine.

"The living are judging you just fine," he says to Beleth. He doesn't care what Cade is doing or how Cade feels, but he would prefer that he feel it somewhere else, if possible. "Did you need something?"

[el_tybs]

She said she wasn't Venatori, but from the conversations going around it certainly made it seem like that was the case. After all there was talk about doing work for them, writing memos, and a lot about judging. Not to mention her treatment to everyone in the cells, and the attitudes towards her from them. There's just a lot going on here pointing to Beleth not being on their side for whatever reasons.

"Demons can judge just fine," he mutters sarcastically seeing as their group kept getting called either dead or demon. Leaning forward so that his head was against the bars, Sam gives a sigh, watching the best he could as Beleth and Cade moved about.