faderift | PLAYER PLOT: The Least of His Children

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PLAYER PLOT: The Least of His Children

WHO: Nathaniel Howe, Felix Alexius, Anders, James Norrington, Kaisa Daesun, Fenris, Araceli, Inessa.
WHAT: A quest to rescue a slave.
WHEN: August 26
WHERE: Tevinter
NOTES: Will update. Plotting post is here.

The Mastermind: Nathaniel Howe
The Game: Green Goods
The Grifter: Felix Alexius
The Mark: Magister Leo Valerius is an ailing old man, but his mind is sharp. His main concern of late has been to leave his sons a good inheritance, though he isn't exactly straight-up greedy.
The Prize: Alavda Endris is a slave to Valerius. The bad news is that she almost never leaves his side. The good news is that that makes her easy to find.

The Plan: One team is sent in, with Felix dressed as a minor lordling and his entourage trying to climb the social ladder by schmoozing an old magister. Felix claims to be staying as a guest of a nearby lord (technically true) and only visiting for the day. Valerius must believe this boy is an upstart with no political value and too much money.

Another team performs a heist and gains the money Valerius keeps at this estate by pretending to be contractors hired to work on the floorboards in the room with the vault door (an appointment Valerius set up months ago and our team hijacked). Planting bees in the floorboards will clear the room of guards. Felix pretends to fall in love with Alavda and asks to borrow her from Valerius. If Valerius hesitates, Felix offers him more and more money until he consents. He has loaned Alavda to other lords before, and Felix's show of being petulant and stupid should help wear away any suspicion that this is a set-up. In that way, it's a basic hustle. Once Valerius consents, Felix then sends an attendant outside to fetch that amount from the money stolen from Valerius' vault. The entourage departs, claiming to be returning to the local lord's house. They leave with Alavda and return to Skyhold.

MAJOR OBSTACLES:

Alavda is wearing an enchanted collar which allows Valerius to locate her. If it is cut away or in most any other way removed, it sends a massive and lethal shock through her system. The team will need to find a way to remove the collar without killing Alavda.

If/when the collar is removed, Valerius will send people to find her.

Valerius has about twenty guards on his property.

The vault door operates on reacting to a specific keystone which cannot be found, but aside from the magical lock, the mechanism is still a mechanism. A good thief can crack it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is vital that the members of this team keep their involvement and mission details secret before and after the mission. It must not get out that Inquisition members and affiliates were involved in hustling a magister.

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Anders look so horrorstruck that Fenris almost laughs. He'll make an empty demonstration of peace if he has to, but he isn't taking orders and he isn't apologizing. Especially not first.

He takes Anders' proffered hand with a jerky shake and snatches his own back quickly like the mage has something catching.

He made the first move with his hand. Now it's Fenris' turn, and Anders crosses his arm and raises an eyebrow, waiting. Anders can wait quite some time if he has to; Nate saw him initiate this. That has to count for something.

In response to Anders' raised eyebrow, Fenris raised both. Well? He straightened to his full height and crossed his arms again. He wasn't the one who felt a need to appease Howe.

He looked over at Nate, expression weary. Surely he doesn't expect Anders to do all the bowing? Not after all of what Fenris said?

Nathaniel's mouth presses briefly into a thin line. His arms cross. His instinct is to be defensive of Anders, but he knows he has to remain impartial.

"Fine," he sighs. "Neither of you are permitted your spirit ration for the duration of the trip. The first one to apologize will have his reinstated."

Of course Nathaniel brought booze. What else could he threaten to take away to enforce discipline?

Fenris frowns. Threatening his alcohol supply is in fact one of the few things that is actually capable of rankling him. Still, there's nothing in Thedas that will make him apologize to Anders or take back what he said. Demon or no, he is still a monster.

However... he shifts his weight and looks at Howe, who looks tired and is clearly just trying to be a peacekeeper. Fine. He sighs. He hasn't come here to cause trouble.

"I...apologize for my part in creating hostility. My behavior was disruptive to others and generally uncalled for."

Anders' expression clearly says that he wants to roll his eyes. That's not an apology. Everyone here knows it. And there's no point in speaking an equally empty apology, because Nate only said the first one will get to drink again. He shrugs.

"I went without for years. I can go without again." Some can't. Like Fenris. "We're done here, then? As there's nothing for me to accept, or even return, there."

Nathaniel is not sure what he was expecting. He's always thinking he can expect the people around him to be adults, but when has that ever been true? Well, Anders shook hands and Fenris apologized, so.

Bleakly, he considers the brighter side.

"Between the two of you, you have accomplished half of what I asked." His eyebrows raise a bit as he stares off into the distance. "That is something."

And there is discipline to make up for the rest. Fortunately, he's the leader of a private mission, not acting as Senior Warden here. He meets Anders' eyes and nods for him to follow him before breaking away and walking toward their tent.

A cold feeling of dread fills his stomach as Nate nods and walks off. He's just let Nate down, and he knows it, but he can't simply apologize to Fenris. He doesn't feel sorry to the elf. To Nate, yes. Fenris, not at all. Especially not when he often wonders when Nate will find someone better, because there are so many better options than Anders.

It takes work to keep his expression neutral as he walks away, to hide his fear, but he makes an effort. Fenris shouldn't get to see how worried Anders is.

Several things he could say are considered and dismissed as he catches up. Love, Nate, I can't keep from looking at someone, and so on. Eventually he settles on a nervous "Yes?"

Once they're out of earshot, Nathaniel becomes the man instead of the leader. His lips tighten and he's obviously displeased.

"Speaking as your boyfriend now instead of your leader--is there anything I need to punch him for?"

The wary tension leaves his shoulders as Anders exhales, closing his eyes for a moment.

"Plenty. But you can't. You need him." He reopens his eyes and looks down. "And he'll abandon the plan in a heartbeat if he's too vexed. Now he has his wine, and he's picked a fight that cost me, so he'll simmer but not go rogue."

Trusting Fenris for anything is very, very difficult for Anders. But he thinks the elf probably feels like he's won this one, and in a way he has. Fenris won't betray them. Yet.

"What you could do is hug me. If you wanted."

Once they're out of sight, Nathaniel pulls Anders into his arms and tucks his head under his chin.

"Anything you want to talk about?" Nathaniel can't, or at least shouldn't, appear partial on the outside. But a spirit ration isn't the end of the world, a small offering in exchange for peace in the camp. It's not, for example, love, affection, or sex.

He relaxes the rest of the way into the embrace.

"I... I don't know how much you heard." Probably all of the things that actually hurt, though. He and Fenris aren't the only ones who think Nate might be with him due to a flaw in his judgement, though, and he wonders how many times Nate has heard the sentiment expressed.

"I picked up my name first. Heard some of the...less fortunate things." One hand rubs circles on Anders' back. "Is this about him saying I have poor judgment in being with you?"

That was such a dreadful fear to see in Anders' eyes that one night. He doesn't want to see it again.

For a few moments he's quiet, simply letting the backrub continue, before he nods.

"It's not the first time I've heard it. And it's... not the only time I've thought it. Coming from him it should have less impact but it doesn't." He's had feelings for three other people. One he stabbed and killed, another he used and betrayed, another he deceived. Anders has a very bad track record.

"Being with me isn't the safest, or smartest decision."

A soft sound as Nathaniel breaks the embrace and cradles Anders' face in his hands.

"It's the best one, though," he says with a smile in his eyes. "Don't worry about him. Just because something is said, or considered, or even repeated, doesn't mean it's true. You can trust what you know, love. And you know this is the best decision we ever made."

Nate knows all he's done. Repeating what happened would be pointless, even though Anders feels the temptation.

"I know I'm lucky. I'm still not sure that you are, and I wish I could stop feeling that way because I know it has to get tiresome." Constantly comforting someone has to be exhausting, even, and that's another worry on top of the rest. If he could figure out how to stop worrying for just a few minutes, his life would be so much easier.

"I'll try very hard not to look at him for the rest of the mission. But if he yells at me for ignoring him, this time, I..." Anders exhales. "I don't like him, I don't trust him, and he knows exactly how to get under my skin.

"I'm not asking you to like him." Nathaniel pulls him back into a hug and rests his cheek atop his hair. "And I'll kiss every inch of skin he gets under. All right?"

Nathaniel doesn't think Fenris, of all people, would jeopardize a mission to rescue a slave from Tevinter. Maybe that's a bit racist of him, but he's fairly confident it's true.

He sighs, leaning against Nate. "All right." He'll work harder to not fight with Fenris again.

"I'm sorry. Not to him, but to you. I'll do better." Putting years of aggravation and anger to the side isn't easy, but at least it's gotten easier with the loss of Justice.

Nathaniel strokes Anders' hair for a moment before it belatedly hits him.

"This was...this happened because you were looking at him?"

He breaks the hug enough to give Anders a somewhat perturbed look.

It sounds ridiculous and he knows it, but all he can offer Nate is a shrug.

"I've glanced at him a few times today. Apparently it was too many times and it made him snap at me, even though it wasn't a conscious thing. It's not like we've ever had a good relationship." It isn't a secret that he and Fenris don't get along, either. Varric had played off that a great deal in the book. "He hates all mages unless they've the surname Hawke, I hate him because of this."

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PLAYER PLOT: The Least of His Children

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