PLAYER PLOT: The Least of His Children

[pinprick]

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.

Comments

[justice_is_blond]

He's dressed in more simple robes than usual - clean, black, with just a touch of silver at the hems. There's no feathers, no other ornamentation; he's supposed to seem like he's a servant, a healer in Felix's employ.

That doesn't keep him from calmly noticing every detail he can. The man's watching them closely, but old. Ill. The words are no lie. Power is still present, but this man isn't going to lead any pursuit. He'll have to hand it off to others. And with no coin, that would be even harder. It's good news for if they slip up thoug Anders still hopes they don't.

[blightedson]

Being here, in front of this man, brings back a lot of the most unpleasant memories of Felix's youth. His parents shielded him from much of the more vile aspects of his homeland, but he knew enough to tell that this man before was not one they wanted to be caught scamming.

Not being caught meant playing is part well. Young altus mages were cunning, but proud, and while this character he was playing knew to be respectful there was still a tinge in his face of annoyance at the concept of age taking anything away from him. That tinge was something that someone like Valerius would expect from someone like a lordling, as long as it wasn't too much to be offensive. There was still an expected amount of bowing, of grace, of submission. There was the expected respect paid to your better - and members of the Magisterium were always better.

"Anguis, Magister Valerius. Of House Coriumitus."

The name was a careful choice too. Magisters couldn't be fooled by some made up house. Lineage was important, tracked, and closely guarded. That's another aspect of this that they had needed Felix for. He had picked a name of a house known for cousins and nieces and nephews all around but who hadn't had a member of the Magisterium since their last lord had fallen from grace twenty some odd years ago - some scandal involving an elven blooded child.

They were Altus still, of course, and extremely wealthy - therefore worthy enough to earn this audience, but not so important as it would be easy to discover that none of them were named Anguis. Though, given the popularity of the name it was highly possible there might be at least one of them running around. Then, to add to the flare, Tevinter politics being what they were, there were some in the house who were fighting and vying to return their name to full power. If they were successful, having some allies inside would be useful. If they weren't, there was little to lose. It had given the Magister another reason to see them, just in case the hint of wealth wasn't enough.

Now that he was back to full health Felix easily embodied the part of someone who knew his place well. Powerful enough in his household and clinging to that power, but not so much that he couldn't grovel when it was expected of him.

"And you needn't worry about standing, my lord. Your gracious hospitality is more than enough of a welcome." He bowed, paid proper respect, but never fully lowered his eyes. "Your estate is lovely." That tone was just as practiced and careful, a bit of wistfulness mixed in, exposing emotion that a better trained altus would keep hidden. There wasn't jealousy, so much as a longing that wasn't fully being expressed. Anguis had to seem like he was a fool, with some easily exploited weaknesses that could be used to the Magister's favor.

[judgemewhole]

Norrington stood next to the door of the parlor, his expression as blank as it possibly could be. He looked as if he was bored by the very thought of standing here, but he played the part of a guardman well. He swept his gaze from left to right, making sure to look out for possible threats, but not so much that he would be forced to be hyper-vigilant.

After all, they were guests here and this was not an enemy combatant. He kept his gaze far away from the old magister himself, knowing that he was the greatest threat in the room.