[CLOSED] PLAYER PLOT: The Ashes Underneath His Nails

[amygdalae]

WHO: Jim Kirk, Hermione Granger, Adelaide Leblanc, Herian Amsel, Anders, Inessa Serra, Raylan Gibbs, Ciri
WHAT: The Inquisition sends a group of agents to uncover the truth behind a string of mysterious disappearances.
WHEN: Kingsway 1st - 8th
WHERE: Emprise du Lion
NOTES: Plotting post is here - feel free to post in there still for queries and concerns and further stuff where needed. Warnings for blood, violence, talks about death, experimentation horror, abomination-related stuff etc and eventual on-screen child death. ALSO no tag order - just respond when you feel like you should and I'll try to hit it back if it feels appropriate!!

QUICK JUMP LINKS TRAVELLING TO FROMAGE & FROMAGE GENERAL THREAD ROUTE INVESTIGATION SEEKRIT CAVE ENTRANCE INTO THE SEEKRIT CAVE CAVE INVESTIGATION - LEFT TEAM CAVE INVESTIGATION - RIGHT TEAM KID ABOMINATION THREAD BACK TO SKYHOLD

(—he remembers the chill of the frost and snow biting at bare skin, its usual pure white now tinged a horrid pink from the blood on his hands. He's far away from them now, the danger and the pain and everything else, but the blood will forever be on his hands no matter how much he tries to wash it away. His father had been right all along. He truly was a monster of the greatest kind.)

QUEST: THE ASHES UNDERNEATH HIS NAILS (PART I) The message had come swiftly, the letter itself hastily written with a shaky hand. The request itself was simple; a plea for help from a village at the outskirts of Emprise du Lion, whose people have been mysteriously disappearing over the last few weeks. Considering the ongoing civil unrest that's still transpiring in Orlais the Inquisition made its decision to send out a team of agents to look into this message and see exactly what was going on. The eight agents tasked with the mission were given enough time to prepare for the trip ahead. They would all meet up first at the Inquisition camp set within the Emprise and from there travel for about a day until they reached where their destination was - Fromage, a quaint little village that rested at the outskirts of the area. From that point on, it was up to the agents of the Inquisition to solve this ongoing mystery. The mission: to discover the truth behind these disappearances - and to stop it, if possible.

Comments

[apostafuckyou]

Raylan was there next to her, naturally drifting toward the person on the team he knew best. He knew Adelaide a little from the council, but not nearly as well as he knew Inessa.

"All right there?" he asked, watching Inessa's face closely. It was both a genuine check in on her, and an attempt to modulate his own self. He was seeing some things in the townspeople that made him wary, but he wanted to confirm it with someone else before he passed that judgement. He had ale, himself, not worried about the effect one drink might have on him (which was zero).

[circleprodigy]

Offering a small smile in greeting, Inessa takes another sip before answering that question. "I'm just mulling over what we have seen so far. The villagers seem quite accommodating, don't they? Even to mages and elves?" Maybe her Grey Warden status alleviates that somewhat, but Inessa doubts it would otherwise vanish entirely. "It must be more dire here that we realized."

[apostafuckyou]

"I'm gettin' that sense," Raylan agreed, tapping his fingers restlessly on the table. "This is the exact type of place I expect to wanna burn mages alive, but they're actin' like we brought the sun with us." Even here in a random tavern, they were getting only the briefest and most perfunctory of hateful or nervous looks, despite a proliferation of robes and sharp ears -- no one was hiding what they were.

[circleprodigy]

"I passed through Emprise du Lion on the way to Skyhold, though not this general area. What I had seen was sobering, but not quite as desperate as this. The less time we linger here, the better." Inessa knows people are tired and need some rest, but still. This area just doesn't feel right and she can't be the only one picking up on that.

[apostafuckyou]

"From your lips to the maker's ears," Raylan said. He was never much for lingering, anyway, but he'd rather camp on the road than spend another night in the town.

[circleprodigy]

Inessa smiles a little at that and Garahel wags his tail, looking to them both. "It seems we're all three in agreement. I'm not about to advocate splitting away from the main party, though. Dividing forces when faced with the unknown is too much of a risk."

[apostafuckyou]

"No, no, we'll stick together. It'll be fine, between all of us I think we can handle just about anything gets thrown at us." There was a pause.

Raylan knocked on the wooden table top, just to be safe.

[circleprodigy]

Garahel barks confidently in response to that, and Inessa smiles as she leans over to pet him. He's definitely vital for morale, at least for her. "With our numbers and skill, I'd like to think so. I've also begun learning rift magic, so I'm eager to see its application on the field."

[apostafuckyou]

Raylan nodded, rubbing his chin with two fingers. It looked like an idle fidget, but he was thinking hard. "Let me know how that goes, yeah?" he asked. "Who are you learning from?"

[circleprodigy]

"Naturally. So far, it's proven interesting." Now, how to explain her trainer. "The woman I'm learning from is...a bit eccentric. She was part of a team of twenty scholars studying the Breach, but the only survivor. Her studies allowed her to use this new magic that focuses on the power of the rifts. Whatever incident happened, it's caused her to forget much aside from that, including her name. Now she just refers to herself as 'Your Trainer'. According to her, she's 'paid the price' of her learning, so that others don't. I did my homework before committing to that path, and what she says seems true, as other mages have been able to learn safely."

[apostafuckyou]

"I see."

Raylan just decided that with all his research, he's gonna die. Don't mind him.

Looking mildly perturbed, he cleared his throat and ran a hand over his hair. "Doesn't seem like something one person ought to be able to pay the price for."

[circleprodigy]

The reaction is noted by them both, prompting a soft whine from Garahel and a frown of concern from Inessa. "It's...disturbing, what she must have went through. But perhaps the more we understand, the better the chance there is for her recover. At any rate, I didn't want that risk to go to waste. On the field, I'll be able to do more with it than she can back at Skyhold."

[apostafuckyou]

"That's true," Raylan agreed. "I been doin' a lot of research into the veil lately." He chuckled a little, eyes crinkling with it. "Just ain't all that encouraging to hear that the last people who got close mostly died and the survivor lost her memory." Although of course, he was going to shrug it off like it was nothing now.

[circleprodigy]

Inessa nods, that frown lingering. "No, I suppose it isn't. Though it seems that their curiosity overrode their caution, and produced the current result. I doubt you will lose the latter trait and if you need a reminder, I would readily assist. Or Garahel can sit on you." Perking up, Garahel barks in agreement.

[apostafuckyou]

Raylan grinned, and leaned down to give the dog a rough scratch under the chin. "You gonna help me keep my mind? Huh?"

[circleprodigy]

Garahel pants happily and Inessa chuckles, after taking another sip. Tea and company is doing a lot to cut back on the tension, though 'relaxed' isn't something she's likely to achieve until the mission is completed.

"He's very good at reminding people what's important. Such as feeding him, playing fetch, giving belly rubs...."