(closed)

[byblow]

WHO: Advisors + Wardens Blackwall, Teren, and Alistair
WHAT: Post-Weisshaupt Fortress discussion
WHEN: Mid-Justinian
WHERE: Skyhold, whatever room the advisors would stuff them into.
NOTES: After this chat!

A brief recap: The Wardens in the Anderfels have deposed the king. Corypheus was there, at some point, for some reason, probably a bad one. Several hundred mages are still bound to demons in the north. The Warden-Commander of Ferelden is missing and the Warden-Commander of Orlais is in the dungeon. Whether or not the Grey Wardens at Skyhold still have any authority over anyone or anything if they're not answering to Weisshaupt is up for debate, especially since Weisshaupt Fortress was last seen on fire. But on the positive side, there are griffons in Skyhold, and they're adorable.

Comments

[byblow]

Blackwall is here because he's the ranking officer. Teren is here because she's the liaison (and clever, and terrifying). Alistair is here because he knows Leliana--not his idea, he's avoiding her--and perhaps because his loyalties are less split and his conduct less cagey, who knows.

He's leaning against the wall when the advisors file in, picking the good nuts out of a small sack stolen from the kitchens, but he straightens up quickly enough and folds both arms behind his back. Whatever else he is, he's not poorly-trained. Sort of. Mostly. A beat later he unfolds one arm to hold the sack out toward the advisors in offering, with a rattling shake to demonstrate its contents, a faint smile and raised eyebrows--look, snacks. Please don't banish them.

[doneisdone]

Teren stands straight and tall and imposing, not even bothering the parade rest-- she may have been conscripted into a military of sorts, but she's about as far from the perfect soldier as one can get. Her arms are folded in front of her as she looks silently around the room, taking in its details. She does, at one point, glance down to see what Alistair is doing, purses her lips in a small sigh through her nose, and looks up again to nod a greeting to the advisors.

[scalethewall]

And then there's Blackwall, looking, as is the norm in these kinds of situations, guarded and carefully neutral. His stance betrays a military background, like the other two, though it's fair to say he's a tiny bit more polished. There's just something about donning full griffin plate armor that makes him stand a little straighter.

He also gives the advisors a brief, shallow bow of his head in acknowledgment as they enter before glancing towards -...were those nuts?- with a sigh.

[fightingale]

Wardens, she has come to realise, are a source of a good many headaches, the sort of headaches that seem a steep price even for seeing the world safe.

The Nightingale has also realised that the headaches are seemingly endless, and not all of them can be attributed to the Wardens.

She does not nod to any of them, not Blackwall, not Teren, and definitely not Alistair. She is trying to sort through the facts at her disposal, and finds them lacking. After a moment of scowling at a fixed point on the floor, the Nightingale snaps her gaze up.

"You did not lose anyone." A question, as much as a statement, glancing between them and assessing.

[stabsbooks]

Cassandra follows behind Leliana, looking in confusion at Alistair as he rattles the bag at her before shaking her head shortly in refusal. She glances over the assembled Wardens, and though she hardly looks any friendlier than Leliana, she does grant Blackwall a small nod of greeting.

"Nor could your mission be called an unqualified success, however," she points out - she had been the one to receive the distress call from Howe, after all. She looks between the wardens one more time, as if uncertain who to address her questions to. Who is in charge. "What did you learn?"

[byblow]

Rebuffed by all, Alistair shrugs his eyebrows--not his shoulders, he does have more discipline than that--and returns his hand and the bag to rest behind his back while he looks aside at Teren, who was there, and Blackwall, who's technically in charge, before piping up to fill the silence.

"Griffons aren't extinct."

For starters.

"There are a lot of demons in the Anderfels. The First Warden being an arse isn't new, but he's not usually this sort of arse, so..." Blackwall and Teren should have said something while they had the chance. This is what you get. This time Alistair does shrug his shoulders. "With Weisshaupt under duress or--whatever, and Cousland missing and Clarel downstairs, Warden-Constable Blackwall is the only ranking officer we have left."

[doneisdone]

Teren shoots Alistair a look, but it's not entirely chiding. He wasn't with their particular party, so what he knows is what he knows.
"Macrinus was a traitor," she says curtly, "whether by his own volition or because he was compelled to be so by Corypheus." She puts special influence on the past tense: that dude is dead.
"There was an attempt to force us to some manner of ritual, which no doubt had to do with the bound demons wandering the halls like they belonged there. All questions were evaded, and an attempt was made on several of us when Macrinus tried to use Gamgee's shard as a weapon."
She pauses, and clears her throat.
"...it didn't work. And the elf made short work of him. But we the Wardens have discussed the possibility that Weisshaupt was under Corypheus' influence somehow, as apparently there is a history between him and Wardens sworn to keep him. The Champion of Kirkwall ensured a swift end to that arrangement, but it seems the creature's return has once again connected him to us."

Teren concludes speaking as abruptly as she began, her lips pursing as she awaits further prompting.