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]

By the time she returns, Purrelden is quite pleased to be a hat, though she's making a few protesting sounds when Garahel bounces a little too much, and Anders has much of his clothing tidily folded and on a rock that should be out of the mabari's reach, left in leggings.

"In we go, then. Purrelden, behave." He has to say it, even if the cat is, well, a cat.

Anders heads into the water, getting to where she'll be about waist-deep. "The hardest part to this will be relaxing and trusting. I'm going to hold out my arm on the surface. I want you to lean back, having my arm at the small of your back, and act like you're simply lying back on something solid. I'll catch you if you slip, so breathe and take this slowly."

[circleprodigy]

Garahel learns to slow down, not wanting to dislodge his furry hat friend, and when Inessa returns he'll seek a good vantage point for them to plop down and observe their owners doing silly things in the water. "Garahel, play nice. Remember, she's not a mabari."

Pretty confident that he'll behave himself without further instruction, Inessa wades into the water--and stiffens a little. The warmer waters of the sea facing Tevinter are still cooler than she expected. Still, she'll adjust. As a Warden, Inessa has endured far worse, after all. So she nods at the instruction, a slightly sheepish smile as she did the opposite of relaxing just a moment ago. "Alright, I'll give it a try."

She takes a deep, calming breath and does as instructed, leaning back slowly and fighting the instinct to right herself. Anders wouldn't let her sink. "...like this?"

[justice_is_blond]

"Like that." His tone is the he one takes with patients and students alike, low and encouraging. "Now, before I move my arm, I want you to pretend you're on a very short bed. Your head dangles a little off the top, your feet dangle a little off the edge. When you've got that, I'm going to lower my arm just a little, enough for you to start floating without me. But I'll still be right here. If you slip, I'll catch you. When you're ready."

There's no more glances given to Purrelden. As much as he complains about mabari and drool, he's known three very obedient ones already, and knows their reputation. Garahel will behave, Purrelden will be fine, and his focus is on Inessa. Besides, he likes teaching. This is fun.

[circleprodigy]

That tone actually does put her more at ease, as much for the fact that it reminds her of her mentors back in the tower and simpler times. But she tries to keep her mind on the here and now, not wanting to put Ander's lesson to waste. (Or sink. That, too.) She nods, a glint of amusement reaching her eyes. "A too-short bed? Now there's an experience I've not yet encountered."

It may be a strange idea for her, but she tries to follow along nonetheless. Taking steady, deep breaths, she eases herself into doing as instructed, finding it easier than she would have thought. It's strange, letting go like this, though not unpleasant. "...alright, I think I'm ready."

[justice_is_blond]

She's also probably never slept on a table, he reflects, but it's not like he begrudges her the added comfort. He's the one that chose to run a clinic in Darktown.

"All right." Slowly, carefully, ready to catch her if she starts to sink or struggle, Anders lowers his arm to try to leave her on the surface of the water.

[circleprodigy]

A table, no, but as a Warden, Inessa has slept in plenty of places that were less that comfortable. The floor of a cave, an old prison cell, and so on. They do what needs to be done, so comfort is often on the back burner.

As Anders lowers his arm, Inessa tenses at first, wondering if she made a mistake in saying that she was ready. But she continues to do as instructed and doesn't seem to be sinking, at least yet. That gives her a bit more confidence. "I...it feels odd, but not unpleasant. And easier than I thought."

She smiles at that, a little childlike wonder showing at something so simple. Yet she hadn't really had the opportunity before, so it's a bit overdue.

[justice_is_blond]

There are few sensations that are more like freedom than floating on the water with the sky filling your eyes. Anders is smiling as well, at her smile, at the risk she's taking, at how something this simple is in itself an act of rebellion. He firmly believes that the more tastes Circle mages get of life and its opportunities, the more they'll refused to simply go back. This is, perhaps, an entirely peaceful way of undermining Vivienne and the Circles and anyone who still believes in the old ways.

"People are naturally good at floating, for some reason," is what he says, though, rather than anything about the future. "You can safely hold that for some time. Though if you want to start moving very slowly in a direction, you're going to flap slowly."

He makes the motion himself, a gentle arm flap that feels very reminiscent of what chickens to. "This won't get you anywhere very quickly at all, but if you've gotten tired in the water and need to keep heading toward shore, floating and doing your best avian impression is the greatest way to increase your odds of survival. Making a chicken noise is optional."

[circleprodigy]

Inessa attempts that arm flap, gentle and slow, just to test it out, though that last comment of Anders gets a sputtering laugh out of her. "I'll pass, I--" She has to break off and focus her efforts on not sinking due to her amusement. This will take some getting used to, but it's not insurmountable. In a way, it's a good morale-building for what they'll face next.

[justice_is_blond]

"But what if I tell you you get bonus points for it?" He's trying not to grin at her laughter, but there's something endlessly rewarding about making someone else laugh.

"When feel like you've got a handle on that, we'll go for the backstroke - far faster, but definitely more taxing. And then two front-down strokes. Just the basics on everything; I don't expect you to master them. Knowing them, however, is important." They'll mean that when she gets into the water, she can get back out. They'll open up a whole other side of the world to her.

[circleprodigy]

"I always was a sucker for extra credit." Teacher's pet, your name is Inessa.

After righting herself, she takes a moment to be sure that sinking isn't and won't be a problem before responding. "Moment of distraction aside, I think I'm managing this. Tell me if I need adjustment, however. If we can continue, I'm ready."

[justice_is_blond]

"If I was a little younger, and not single, and not without some sort of teacher code..." He lets the teasing linger for a moment. Granted, he'd broken the whole teacher code before, it had just been backward. He'd seduced Karl.

Then, once the moment's over, he's nodding. "You seem like you have that. So." Now it's his turn to lay back, and he cups his hands like he'd shown her before. "You'll be going from flat when the hand goes into the water, to cupped as soon as it's in, and you'll be kicking. It's going to make a lot of splashing, so I'll stick to just the arm movements at first."

He demonstrates, swimming a rough circle around her with the backstroke, generally just using his feet to steer rather than for speed.

[circleprodigy]

When Anders lays back, Inessa turns her head enough to watch him. She can learn from lecturing alone if she must, but it helps to see the positions and movements for herself. "Just arm movements is fine, then. One thing at a time...."

Now that she's taken the first step, the next doesn't seem so intimidating. So she's eager to try upon viewing the demonstration, waiting until he's out of the way before attempting to circle around him in turn. Her movements aren't as graceful, and she doesn't quite get the hang of steering as he does, not yet.

[justice_is_blond]

He watches her try it, nodding despite how she can't really see him until she's paused.

"Good. Good, you're getting it. It's going to take more practice to get it down, and improve your strength, but you've got the core of it. Would you like to leave it there for the day, or do you want to learn the mabari paddle and the breast stroke as well?"

[circleprodigy]

"My strength is never something I've had to develop, so that will take time." Inessa almost wants to say 'what strength' but even as small and slight as she is, she'll give it a chance. And there's a soft laugh as she answers. "The mabari paddle? That sounds too good to pass up." One more won't tire her out too much, but past that she'll call it a day.

[justice_is_blond]

Mages often didn't have opportunity or reason to really train their strength. Swinging a staff around took some effort, but for most it had been a scholarly thing alone for quite some time. He's not surprised she doesn't have a lot of strength just yet.

"I had a feeling, considering your choice of animal companion. And the good news is that the mabari paddle is very easy, provided the water isn't too worked up. It's on the front, with your arms going like this."

The motion he makes as he stands is very much how a mabari swims, paddling the water.

"Feet kick too. So you wind up..." He sinks down and starts paddling. It looks ridiculous and he knows it. After a few moments, he stands back up. "It's slow. It's not very efficient. But it's very easy."

[circleprodigy]

Ridiculous though it appears, Anders has a point about it being easy to learn. With that in mind, Inessa tries it based on that. If he has to look ridiculous, it won't be alone. She can always abandon its use when more skilled with other forms of swimming. As before, she's better at the hand movements than remembering to use her feet effectively, though she manages.

"...I can see the drawbacks, but at least the water is calm. And if I freeze up and forget all else, this would be easy enough to recall. I'll hope to at least remember how to float first, however."

[justice_is_blond]

It's definitely ridiculous-looking, but it's as easy as it gets. He gives her a smile and a nod when she talks again.

"It's something you can use when you're low on energy, and it's hard to forget even if you've been tossed around by the current some. Both of those are fairly important. And we can work with this more as we've time, if you'd like. I enjoy the water."