[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

[circleprodigy]

That gentle bumping is enough to rouse Inessa out of her staring, and she leans in a little, rubbing at her eyes. Those eyelids are getting heavier, but she'll fight the urge as long as she can, just watch. Garahel wags his tail a little at Ciri but otherwise doesn't move from his spot.

"...I'm sorry." Her voice is a little rough from disuse, so she clears her throat. "I shouldn't have clung to the idea of a cure as long as I did. He...it...was past saving."

[ichaer]

"You don't have to apologize to me."

She hates it. Ciri remembers everything at Weisshaupt and she has heard of the horrors that happened in the Circle during the Blight when her friend would have only been a child. Seeing something like that happen as it did would not be easy on anyone even someone like herself that wished to cut down the boy.

All she can do is sigh. "I should be apologizing. I shouldn't have stopped my attack or I should have gotten you out of there... you shouldn't have had to watch that."

[circleprodigy]

Inessa sighs and looks as though she's about to protest; she wouldn't have wanted others to focus on her needs at the expense of what needed to be done. But the words stick in her throat, and she swallows hard, wishing that the image of the boy could fade from her mind, knowing it won't. Sharp memory isn't always a blessing.

"...I've never seen a child abomination in the tower before. I don't think. Those in the tower were all the same size, much larger. If they were, they were warped beyond recognition. It...it wasn't like this, where you could still see the child that was." Which is significantly worse, in her mind. That voice speaking out of a child's mouth will forever haunt her.

[ichaer]

There is a moment of silence that follows as Inessa speaks to her. It is one where she simply stares off into the distance without much of an expression, her fingers drumming out an unknown tune and helping to calm her nerves.

"The red lyrium... it must have done something to change the entire process. The mages we lost in Weisshaupt did not look like that either when they became abominations." It is the only thing she can imagine as to why everything went so, so wrong.

Quietly, she stops drumming her fingers and offers one hand to Inessa to take if she wants. She cannot think of the words to help but perhaps this gesture would help to let her friend know that she'll be here. She'll help in whatever way she can.

[circleprodigy]

That offered hand is taken, Inessa's smaller fingers wrapping around it and giving a gentle squeeze. She doesn't expect Ciri to lift the weight in their hearts; that's too much for any one person, but having her near keeps her calmer, more focused. That's something, isn't it?

"We need to learn more about what they're doing...and stop them. Corypheus is still our main target, but I want every Red Templar dead. If they're doing this elsewhere...." The thought sticks in her throat and she can't continue.

[ichaer]

Although Ciri still feels like shit this is enough for now, she thinks. It helps to soothe her nerves and keep that fire of anger running through her veins from overtaking everything again. Idly, she raises a hand to her face and touches the scar there. It has been months since the events that ended with Weisshaupt burning to the ground but sometimes she finds pain lingering where the staff blade cut her face open.

"We'll stop them. We have to stop them. I can't..." She stiffens, chewing on her lip briefly. "We can't let this happen to someone else."

[circleprodigy]

Inessa's eyes stray to that scar, deeper and more extensive than her own. It's bothered her that she couldn't do more to lessen it or the pain, her meager healing not being enough on that end. She nods and stares downward again, swallowing hard. "No, we can't. If we can't save those they take, what's the point? No one deserves that fate...."