[ CLOSED ] Lathbora viran

[serannas]

WHO: Ellana Ashara, Sam Gareth, Korrin Ataash, Mal Reynolds, Katniss Everdeen
WHAT: Gathering herbs leads to an elven ruin
WHEN: mid-Justinian
WHERE: Emprise du Lion
NOTES: ooc info post

The journey to Emprise du Lion is uneventful. The Inquisition has a secure supply line between the region and their base of operations at Skyhold, and that means no battles along the way. Once there, the group stops to rest at the camp near the Tower of Bone before they set out across Judicael's Crossing with satchels or bags in order to gather herbs.


[ ooc: please hold for three top level threads to be posted. all done! go wild. :3 ]

Comments

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss is looking around with a hunger she knows she'll never be able to feed -- but then Mal draws her back to the present. She tears her gaze away from the mural and then moves carefully over to where Mal and Jayne are kneeling, holding up a hand to the rest to stay where they were at.

Hooking her bow across her back, and her arrow back into her quiver, she moved to Mal's side. "Yeah, Zevran gave me the full course. What have we got?"

[serannas]

Jayne moves back to Mal's side, not setting off any sort of trap as he makes his way back. Then he turns, looks at the far end of the room, then back at Mal.

Go on. You know you want to.

What the group will find will be two dead bodies, long decayed though parts of their clothes are still intact. One wears long mage robes, in a style that possibly suggests Tevinter. At the corpse's side is a staff with a dragon's head carved into it. The other corpse is wearing simple, unadorned armor and a sword still stained with now dried blood lies just past the reach of its hand. Notably, this corpse is wearing a heavy collar around its neck, the lock front and center. Nearby is a journal lying face down, as well as a couple of rucksacks. Nothing about the scene seems to suggest that something here in the ruin led to their deaths.

Of course, nothing about the scene says the ruin didn't either.

Ellana turns away from the mosaic when everyone's attention is drawn towards Jayne, and she walks slowly to join the group, stuffing her journal and charcoal back into her satchel and retrieving her staff. She's too far back to see the scene just yet, but Jayne now moves forward, ready to lead the group there, though he doesn't seem happy about it.

[el_tybs]

Curious as well, Sam moves closer to where the others are, making sure to stay in the back so that Jayne and Katniss to do their jobs. That doesn't stop him from peering over them though in hopes of seeing what was up ahead. The fact that Jayne didn't look all too thrilled certainly was something to go off of.

"What's the call, Katniss?"

[serannas]

Being the leader of this exploration means Ellana doesn't want to cower back in fear while making all the others do the work, so she keeps walking forward to follow Jayne, reaching out to pat his head in comfort as he walks.

"It's all right," she says soothingly to him. "We'll sort it all out." It may be that it's something truly bad and a dog's senses can tell that, or it may be the creepy aura of this place putting Jayne on edge, but Ellana steels herself and keeps moving forward until she can get a good look.

"It's-- they're bodies," she begins, before casting a barrier over herself and Jayne and getting on her haunches down in front of one. "They've been here a long time. One has blood on his sword. There's blood on the other's robes." Her gaze shifts and she shakes her head. "I can't tell if they were fighting each other or an outside party."

[gatheringstorm]

"We have right over there, maybe it will tell us something." Assuming the pages haven't rotted away and are still legible, and that they'll be able to read them in the first place. Korrin doesn't have any great hope in her deciphering abilities, but she is here with those who can. It's worth a shot, anyway, rather than just blundering in blindly.

[serannas]

Getting up, Ellana moves around them to carefully lift up the journal. Dry, old pages crack as she turns the book over, reading over the last words. She frowns and moves back a page, wincing as the bottom of the page cracks.

"At least it's written in the trade tongue," she murmurs, more to herself than the rest of them. If it was ancient Tevene, she'd be lost.

"Let's see... it's talking about wanting to see if the elves left any clues as to their magic here... mentions it could be something to pair with blood magic. Oh, wait." Ellana squints at the words and then reads: "'Julius is acting suspicious. I know I should have brought one of the other slaves. This one has always been too willful. With no one else around, I fear he will try to use the opportunity to take his freedom. I will be on my guard.'" She turns the page and continues. "'I haven't been able to sleep for fear Julius will slit my throat. I cannot trust him anymore, and will have to kill him first. Regrettable, but I will hire someone to be my valet on the way back.' That's all it says." She looks between the two.

"It looks like nothing here did this to them. They just killed each other." Now she sets down the journal and -- with a curious expression -- picks up the mage's staff. "A staff without an owner."

[el_tybs]

Though faded through time it was still a gruesome sight to see, especially with the text to go with it. "So there were looking for elven magic?" Sam gives the bodies a fair amount of berth as he moved across to get closer to Ellana, curiously looking at the book in her hand.

"They mentioned that Julius was acting 'suspicious'. Do you suppose it was the prospect of freedom or something was making act out?"

[serannas]

"If you were a slave alone with your master far from home, wouldn't you consider it?" Ellana glances up at Sam for a moment before examining the staff. Being that she's Dalish and her people's philosophy is to never submit, she has a rather limited view on slaves and how they might think. She assumes all would strive for freedom.

"Well, he's not going to need this anymore. I wonder what he'd think of an elf taking it." Hers now, loser. "Let's keep going. I doubt they can tell us anymore about what they were doing here."

She passes through a doorway and they find themselves in a large room with a balcony running around a second floor. The greenery is a welcome sight, and Ellana smiles, eyes searching out every corner she can find. In the center of the room, flanked on one side by a small tree, is a series of floor tiles. Along each wall are numerous golden gates. And finally, at the far end of the room is a glowing door.