[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

[justice_is_blond]

"What, you're not a fan of being ambushed and outnumbered?" He gives her a small smile, simply because it's better than looking grim. "We may have to persuade the swordy types to listen to reason, though. They like charging off, in my experience."

Most of them here are mages, which is... well. On one hand, welcome. On the other, risky. He likes when people in armor stand between him and things trying to shred him.

"Are you all right?" Hermione's world isn't as war-torn or conflict-laden as theirs, from what he understands. Demons everywhere aren't a regular thing for her and he can't begin to understand how jarring a transition this might be.

[bookish_lioness]

Flashing Anders a dry sort of look, Hermione huffs, "It's not particularly one of my favorite pastimes, no. But if the 'swordy types' would like to put themselves between me and the danger, I'm hardly in any position to argue with them."

Truth be told, despite everything she's seen and experienced in her short life, she still balks at the idea of actively fighting against demons and other sorts of creatures rather than trying to hide and sneak around her enemies. So willingly walking into the unknown and not having any real research to fall back on feels... well, it feels very un-Hermione.

"At the moment? I'm still breathing. Ask me if I'm all right in the next twenty minutes and we'll see how things are, then." Glancing up at Anders, she considers him carefully before asking, "What about you? Or is running off on some mysterious quest just the norm for you?"

[justice_is_blond]

He smiles wryly at most of what she says, before the smile fades a little and he looks out at the land ahead of him.

"It's... It used to be much of the norm. I traveled with the Hero of Fereldan for a time, and there were ridiculous errands to run any day of the week. Then I worked with Hawke for years, and if it wasn't dealing with a kidnapping, it was trying to save a few mages from Templars with power going to their head, or reports of qunari attacks on civilians, or demons..."

Trailing off, Anders shakes his head. "And then there were all the things I was dealing with, as well. I ran an underground, a network, getting some of the most endangered mages out of Kirkwall before they were abused too much. Too much. Any amount is too much, but when it comes to Circles, so much is expected. Accepted, even." At least he's not getting too worked up. These are known things. ...Or known by anyone who paid attention at all. Some here weren't good at that.

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione looks up to Anders, probably more than she really should considering the amount of poor choices he'd made in his past. Good intentions tend to pave a very dangerous road, and Anders' past proves that more than most.

But she feels for him, because she can't help wondering whether, if she'd been born in Thedas, she would have turned into someone not too dissimilar from him. It's a sobering thought, one that makes Hermione glad she doesn't focus too much on the what ifs.

"But the Circles are gone now," she points out gently. "And that sort of treatment isn't accepted anymore. The Inquisition is in the position the be able to change the future to the point where that sort of thing won't be expected, either. Who knows; once Corypheus is gone, perhaps you'll be able to go on quests simply for adventure's sake. Or stay home with your cat, if that's what you'd prefer."

[justice_is_blond]

The wry smile grows and he shakes his head.

"I'm a Grey Warden. We stand against the Darkspawn. There isn't retirement, or staying home with the cat. There will be at least two more Blights where they multiply horribly and pour out from the underground." A beat. "But it's all right. Not that the Blights are coming, but that there's no retirement in my old age. Or old age."

Considering his two very poor choices - letting Justice in, and going along with the destruction of the Chantry - that he's getting as much as he is is astounding. He has love, friends, a future, a cat, and even hope.

"All I can ask for is that the Circles never return, and that the treatment doesn't resume. There are people who want them back. But if enough mages see what freedom can offer, if enough mages refuse to return, they can't force it."