closed: compelled to forge on

[byblow]

WHO: Grey Wardens.
WHAT: Post-Weisshaupt discussion.
WHEN: Vaguely backdated to after everyone returns.
WHERE: The Valley, near the river, out of earshot of everyone else. Eavesdroppers will be electrocuted. Maybe.
NOTES: No set tag order, but try not to boomerang too much and leave everyone else out. Feel free to add your own discussion topics.

This is not a party, or really planned at all beyond we need to talk; there's no spread of food, no seating except chunks of ice or stones or leftover building materials dragged over by those passionate about sitting down, and no liquor except what anyone has the foresight to bring for themselves. (Alistair has a bottle, and if someone grabs it from him he'll only whine a little at having it passed around.) It isn't that late, but it gets dark early in the valley, everything cast blue-gray when the sun disappears behind the peaks.

And there are only nine of them--some gone, some stationed elsewhere, Maja unwilling to leave the griffons--so it's more of a huddle than anything. Easy to keep their voices down. Kaisa.

Comments

[twelvelabours]

"Maybe we can start selling some of that Grey Whiskey."

Dry, quiet, and he shakes his head even as he says it. Strain marks each movement, distraction in the way he tilts his head, trying to stave off some gnat or fly buzzing about his ear. (Not a song. Not that song. Obviously not that.)

"You want to start from nothing, you can't get nobles to fund you, then there's hiring yourselves out as mercenaries," (no) "taking on debts," (difficult, and no) "or setting yourselves up as having some skill no one else as got. We've got that, but we've got a reputation as well." It's an unfortunate reality, but not necessarily a new one. With a nod to Alistair, "Vigil's Keep might be worth a look, but Ambassador Montilyet might be able to work some magic. She seems to have her head on all right."

[sunshinethroughgrey]

Bethany now let out a long, long breath -- before she lifted her hand once more. Honestly it was all just going to be things that were going to get her stared at for now.

"I ... can ask some friends. For the money. If you all don't mind being in debt to the Merchant's Guild. At least until we find something at Vigil's Keep." She paused for a moment, frowning, "And what about that other fortress up in the mountains - what was it called? Soldier's Peak?"

She waved her hand, "Regardless - if we are rebuilding the Wardens -- then we have to start with Weisshaupt. And for that we're going to need military help." And now, she was not going to be looking at Anders or Alistair, but right at Hercules. "And I only know of about two or three branches of military service right now that are currently out of work."

[justice_is_blond]

"Do we actually need Weisshaupt? Yes, eventually, when we've more numbers, but right now..." He gestures at the gathered group. "Taking the fortress for ourselves, when there are still a great many demons in the vicinity in all likelihood, abandoning the Inquisition who has lent people for this errand, abandoning a position that's somewhat defensible, for something that large far away from anyone who would back us at this time, seems a little hasty."

Purrelden, who has been contenting herself by batting at a fraying thread on the bottom of Anders' robes, starts scooting forward, looking around as if searching for something, someone. She fixates on Max's tail and wiggles her butt as if about ready to pounce. Anders doesn't notice, he's a little more focused on matters at hand.

"Ambassador Montilyet might be our best bet, with searching, searching Vigil's Keep for any remnants as a second. Nate, Velanna, and myself know the Keep and its secrets. We can certainly look around."

[unbrokenoath]

"Fuck Weisshaupt. That place is creepy as all fuck, and it's a million miles away from where we're needed." Kaisa makes a face, wrinkling her nose. "We aren't going to be be getting any of our reputation back by squatting in that demon-infested castle while Corypheus is tearing up Southern Thedas. We need to be where the trouble is, and we need to help solve that trouble. That's what'll get us back into being respectable." Not that Kaisa was overly worried about money.

"I say, if we're going to do this rebuilding thing, we ought to start from somewhere that isn't all cursed and shit. Vigil's Keep would be a good one." Not that Kaisa is BIASED (she is). "Or, I don't know, our cozy little camp for the reprobates and troublemakers. No one could accuse us of being pretentious, at least." If there were anyone accusing them of that, at least.

[byblow]

Alistair raises his eyes toward the silhouette of the house that's being slowly constructed nearby--massive, apparently there will be fountains, people could probably find a way to call them pretentious whether it was their idea or not--but he only says, "I have to stay here."

If they're going to reclaim Vigil's Keep. He doesn't precisely stay out of Ferelden, but there's a difference between poking quietly around the Bannorn and taking up permanent residence in a fortress near a major city, and that difference is probably the difference between being arrested or not.

"I think we should all stay here," he goes on. "They already have the manpower, the infrastructure--the goodwill. More than us, anyway. Given what we apparently do when we're left to ourselves, I think we could stand to be a little dependent on someone else. For a time."

[failedfirst]

"I agree with Alistair," Velanna speaks up, her arms crossed in front of her while she's processing all the information in front of them. "We are weak, and striking out on our own just makes us targets, for Corypheus or otherwise." The last sane Wardens in Thedas probably shouldn't get wiped out in the event of another Blight.

"Once things have settled down, we should try to find Jonas. He should be here, with us." He might be a jerk but there's no denying he'd been a decent leader.

[sunshinethroughgrey]

Bethany shrugged; if her idea was shouted down then it was shouted down. Beyond that, her friends had made good points on why not to take Weisshaupt -- but .. "We can't leave the Anderfels in the hands of that monster. We just ... can't. I don't care if we do it from Weisshaupt, or Vigil's Keep, or Camp Shady Fucker, or from a hole in the ground filled with ghasts -- but we can't leave those people up there. It is our fault -- " And yes, she will take this one personally, "And we need to fix it. Sooner rather than later. I am less worried about money and more worried about more innocent blood on our hands."

She looked over at Velanna, and nodded, "We should find Marian as well. She was the one who faced Corypheus, one on one. Maybe she knows something we don't."

[unbrokenoath]

"I'm assuming that the Inquisition will continue to feed us if we continue to help them. And, you know, let us squat here with this camp and all. That's something." She shrugs. "I think Alistair has the right of it, more or less. I don't want us to be dependent on the Inquisition, but it'd be mutually beneficial for us to stay here for now. The more we help, the more goodwill we'll gain back. If we can say that we helped fix the problems Corypheus caused, they can't throw us entirely under the wagon for it."

She hums thoughtfully at the suggestions to find Jonas and Marian--she was pretty sure if either of them were coming back, it'd have been before all of this. But she's not that rude. "King Cousland is a leader, but he's also the leader of Fereldan." She points out instead. "He's probably going to have a mountain of problems when he gets back, from every direction."

[byblow]

The mention of Jonas makes Alistair's nose wrinkle, an involuntary reflex, but he doesn't say anything. His face smooths out for Hawke, who they should find, and then brightens a bit at the proximity of his name and the word right. That doesn't happen terribly often.

But then back to Jonas. Ugh.

"If he hasn't shown up already, I'm sure there's a reason," Alistair says. Whatever he thinks of Cousland, he cares about Ferelden. And it isn't like him to vanish during an international crisis instead of sticking his fingers into everything. He's busy or he's dead. Alistair refuses to care which. He shifts, and drinks, and says, "Someone should talk to the Inquisition before we get to ahead of ourselves, anyway. We may have worn out our welcome."

[justice_is_blond]

"Let Jonas, and Marian, have what peace they can find. They've carried enough." If they're even still alive. He rather hopes they are. "Marian's likely with Carver, and likely taking a break from everything messy. ...Or rather, Marian's likely with Carver, and getting into smaller trouble than usual."

"And that sounded like volunteering, Alistair." There's a faint flicker of smile on his lips that fades a moment later. He'd been about to add that Alistair had a friend leading the Inquisition, but he remembers how Zevran had been isolated from Morrigan at the very least when it came out he'd known Anders was here. Alistair could be paying for that. Anders should probably not crack jokes about it. "Half of them are in love with Templars, you're halfway like one, they may like talking with you. Take Doghren and threaten them with drool if they don't want to see you."