player plot: thorns of the rose (2)

[fightingale]

WHO: Alistair, Shale, Zevran, Dorian, Bethany, Bruce, Christine, Eirlys, Sina (closed.)
WHAT: Gathering rare herbs, slam poetry night with a tree, and other things.
WHEN: Departing 24th and returning 27th Justinian
WHERE: Brecilian Forest, mostly
NOTES: This is one of the missions for the Thorns of the Rose player plot. Potential themes of death and attempted murder, also an intense forest, violence, other things to be added as necessary. If something heavy comes up in a thread that isn't mentioned here, please add relevant warnings to the subject line.

Comments

[eolasemah]

A favor for a favor: emboldened by her ability to continue living while away from Skyhold on one mission, Sina has made it her business to embark on another. She may not necessarily owe Leliana, but Sina is as shrewd as she is honorable and has assigned herself the responsibility of finding the right herbs for the task. She is, after all, one of Skyhold's most dedicated herbalists.

This is the bulk of her usefulness, although she also proves quite adept at navigating a forest, even if it isn't her own. She has a keen eye for game trails, subtle landmarks, and other helpful assets of a terrain not too unlike the one from which she hails. She's the only Dalish here, and her vallaslin honors Ghilan'nain; it'd be more than a little embarrassing if she couldn't competently navigate the wilds.
Especially since she can't fight.
What she can do is cast protective wards over the party as they do so, healing on a moment's notice, taxing her energy to maintain a bubble of protection around the lot of them as they dispatch the bandits. After the encounter, she collapses from the overexertion. This happens periodically, and, like the expedition to the Deep Roads, it often results in her having to be carried to prevent slowing down everyone else. It's not very dignified, and she asserts that she could catch up to them just fine, but also recognizes that this isn't about her and staying together is important to the mission.

Bears she tries to pacify. She doesn't speak to animals, per se, but she understands their behaviors to a degree, and tries to head off conflicts before they arise. Just give him the sodding fish, we can catch another.

[amygdalae]

Though Bruce can fight if he absolutely has to, he's more content with sticking to the sidelines as well; he's never been one for combat, and even if he can use his magic freely now, he'd rather focus on healing and defence since almost everyone else has offence covered.

And that's probably a good thing as well, since Sina possibly can't handle it all by herself.

After what seemed like the millionth encounter with more bandits Bruce is at her side once the fight is over, doing his best to support her before she collapses entirely.

"Do you need a moment?" he asks quietly. The dracolisk he had with him could carry them both if need be, but he understands that Sina needs her space too. He doesn't want to push things unless absolutely necessary.

[eolasemah]

Sina's eyelids flutter as he catches her, but she offers a small smile of gratitude. It quickly turns into a wince as the shard crackles, magic thrumming all through her body, rendering her limbs powerful in one way and nearly useless in another.
"Serannas," she breathes, her head lolling against Bruce's shoulder. If she were too proud to accept assistance, she wouldn't have lasted this long.

[amygdalae]

Bruce manages not to wince at the crackle of magic that runs through her, the inside of him roiling at the sensation of a part of the Fade so close to him physically. He soldiers through that feeling, however, just as he soldiers through most things these days. It hasn't been that all great since his status as a mage became common knowledge in the Inquisition.

It takes a moment for him to translate the word, but once it clicks to him he gives a small nod. "No problem," he returns, voice still soft. "We can both stop here for a bit, then catch up to the rest once you feel better."