( closed ) player plot: the stars go waltzing

[eviscerates]

WHO: Adelaide, Araceli, Avery, Bellamy, Bruce, Ciri, Cosima, Daenerys, Jamie, Korrin, Lexa, Martel, Merrill, Ruby, Sabine, Teren.
WHAT: catch all log; the capture of shardbearers, their rescue, and related shenanigans.
WHEN: Gently timey wimey for flexibility, Team Rescue arrives at the outpost on the 10th.
WHERE: Orlais/Nevarra borders (roughly halfway between the Fields of Ghislain and Trevis), and then a Creepy Place.
NOTES: Log for the missing shardbearers player plot; ooc here & here. Only the travel threads for teams one and two are going up for now, the rest will go up on Friday :]b And to clarify - when I say party style, what I mean is subthread to your hearts content!
WARNINGS: HORROR THEMES. Abduction, experimentation/torture, forced ingestion of lyrium, implied past deaths/murder, violence.

SPEEDY LINKS

• TEAM ONE: travel to Craintellier
• TEAM ONE: rift two attempt & Venatori attack
• TEAM ONE: dungeons
• TEAM ONE: escape attempt — Cosima, Jamie & Lexa only
• TEAM TWO: travel to Craintellier
• TEAM TWO: post rift investigation — Adelaide, Bellamy & Sabine, Bruce, Korrin & Teren, Ciri & Merrill
• TEAM TWO: take the outpost — Attack & Distract & Stealthy & Stealy
• TEAM TWO: regroup & into the dungeons — plus a Lexa-shaped guest star
• ALL: finding your shardbearers
• ALL: boss fight
• ALL: epilogue & return to Skyhold — tba

click for bigger version. full map of Thedas here.

East of Perendale and south of Trevis, next to a river's winding course, there lies the bones of a fortress. It is an old and almost forgotten place, a dramatic, clawed seeming thing reaching up into the sky, harsh against the the rolling hills.

It is an ancient place, dating back to 660TE, a testament to an Empire suffering after civil war and grasping to restore its wealth and influence after it had been so shaken. It stands as a memory of grandeur, rather than an icon of it, and bears the marks of devastation and scarring that so much of the land suffered during the First Blight. It was all but abandoned thereafter, host only to the desperate and the greedy, and never for long. Once ornate mosaics now only hold flecks of gold, flakes that stubbornly resisted the hands of looters trying to pry them away. Other colours, reds, whites, greys and blacks, they all remain.

The site was chosen for its riches, sitting atop a mine that once held immense wealth, seams of gold that would bring wealth back into the Empire and help restore stability. Opulence, the central Tevinter staple (aside from slavery and blood magic, some might say).

But they dug too deep, and when the First Blight came so too did the darkspawn.

It has a new master, now, and he serves the Elder One. Parts of this stronghold may be in ruins now, but remember: it is not what lies on the surface that counts, but what lurks beneath it.


AD VICTORIAM, AD GLORIA.

Comments

[thecookery]

Thinking back, Avery comments dryly, "You're not wrong. My mum worked in a tavern, in Denerim, 'til I was about... ten? Something like that. And she is not someone you want to cross."

Her expression is pretty deadpan, but at the name of the game she can't help letting out an amused huff of breath, one eyebrow raised in disbelief. "You're having me on. It's not really called that, is it?"

[foxsays]

"Mothers seldom are, did she teach you to cook? I'm sure I've seen you when I go to visit Burly, Raas and Kalla." Also she too is not that jam thief, she just sighs at the spice rack.

"Taxes, are a most terrible business. That's one of the other names for it. And another is Beggar My Neighbour. We're a nation of sailors where I come from, that's what my father called it when he taught it to me." There's a grin on her face, one that manages to hide any sort of homesickness she still feels when it's getting on for a year of being in Thedas now. "You want to catch a girl's interest and sit her down to learn things, you say a name that'll get her attention."

[thecookery]

Avery nods, vaguely remembering their paths crossing but not much beyond that, as is the case with her and most of the people in Skyhold. "She taught me a little. Her husband the rest. She's alright, but he was damn good."

She listens curiously to Araceli's explanation of the game with a small smile, but at the last comment, Avery suddenly sits up a bit straighter and, cheeks flushed, awkwardly turns to stare at the cards with great interest! "So," she says, voice hitched just a little too high, then clears her throat, "I just flip a card then, do I?"

Maker preserve her poor, gay heart.

[foxsays]

Honestly she usually just goes to make sure she doesn't need to get ready to go fight a duel for Burly. She's ready for it. She will defend that giant man when she comes up to, like, his elbow. "Did he teach you? My father taught me every card and dice game he knew when his ship was in the docks." If they were at sea, it was sailing stuff until she collapsed in his cabin from exhaustion every night.

Araceli and Korrin might be creeping closer to a solid year as a couple but there is absolutely nothing wrong with friendly flirting. Which is good because Araceli pretty much can't turn that off even if she wanted to, it'd be like asking her not to breathe or to love the sea.

"Flip a card, then I flip a card. It's a more relaxing game than some of them. I think we could all use it after a long journey. I know I would have preferred a ship to a damned horse."

[thecookery]

"He taught me a lot of things," Avery answers with a hint of warmth to her voice... then frowns ever so slightly. "But he wasn't my father. I never met that bastard." The last part is said almost flippantly, like it's no big deal at all.

She runs a hand through her hair, then glances in Araceli's direction again as she goes to flip her first card. Flirting is beyond her capabilities, but hopefully she at least can manage to continue holding up a conversation without making a fool of herself. "Well, you ought to have a chance on the way back if you're coming with us, yeah?"

[foxsays]

"Interesting dishes I hope. There's a dreadful harridan in the kitchen, she hates me." Probably because Araceli complained about her food to all the scouts and soldiers over cards in the Herald's Rest but if you don't even put pepper in the food then you're asking for it.

Araceli's first card is a boring card and she nods. "My previous mission is complete so yes, that's the plan. Alas, I don't think we'll see any whales like there were to and from Rivain." A sign of good fortune, both she and the Outside had believed spotting them to be the case on their separate voyages out. On the way home? It had just put her heart at ease, to watch them breaching or coming up for air.

[thecookery]

Avery smirks slightly and reassures her, "Oh, don't worry. Most of them hate me, so..." She shrugs. It's whatever. "Except Burly. Not sure he's got it in him to hate. And he's been teaching me some new things, since most of what I knew before was as Fereldan as can be."

She plays another card as well, frowning in thought. She's never seen a whale before, but maybe she vaguely recalls hearing a story or two about them... "Are those the ones that smash ships apart?"

[foxsays]

"Burly was heartbroken when someone thought chocolate was a spice, back when we were convincing them they should come join the Inquisition back in Antiva. He was crushed." Who knew such a big guy could look so hurt? "I sometimes like to cook for Korrin and I, but I pay my way, and I'll help out with anything else that needs doing while I'm there so if you see me? You can ask me to do something."

Unless she's just using it as a shortcut because it's a really handy shortcut to the tiny library, sorry.

Now it's Araceli's turn to look heartbroken though it's put on in her case, a hand to her chest before she places a card. "No! Oh no, a whale could but they would have to be driven mad by cruel men and women with harpoons to do that! They're giant but gentle. Very wise. A good omen on a long voyage."

[thecookery]

Blinking in surprise and... slight confusion? Avery simply nods and answers, "Alright. If you say so."

Frankly, she's not sure how anyone would know if a giant sea animal was wise or not, but she'll take Araceli's word on it.

[foxsays]

"Have you ever seen one? Ever?" Laying down a card, Araceli tugs off her coat - it's not overly warm but she's had a good bit to drink - and folds it over the back of the seat. "I can't show you the real thing but I can show you almost as good."

Sorry in advance for your poor gay heart Avery.

[thecookery]

"No, I, um..." The least suspecting of imminent cardiac danger, Avery just tilts her head a little to the side and continues to look confused as Araceli removes her coat. "What?"

[foxsays]

"Hang on," Araceli says and that's pretty much all the warning there is before she wiggles out of her shirt enough to bare her right shoulder, swivelling around in her seat, curls tossed casually over the left out of the way to reveal a tattoo of a whale (a humpback whale to be precise) as she looks back at Avery.

What a shame Thedas doesn't know what pin-up girls are, that's probably what this looks like even if Araceli's mostly in her shirt. "That's a whale. One of the whales from my home."

[thecookery]

Okay, yeah, no. She was so not prepared for that, and the look on her face is probably pretty comical in its shock (and quickly redness as well).

"It-" Avery tries, brain stuttering for a moment, "It's lovely."

IT'S THE BEST SHE CAN MANAGE, DON'T JUDGE!!

[foxsays]

At least it's not one that'd require more stripping than this one, and she does tug herself back into order since alas, it's not Antiva or Rivain where everyone is more chill about this sort of thing unlike basically everywhere else. Should've packed her antaam-saar maybe.

There's always next time.

But because Avery seems flustered, she decides to cheat a touch and rig the game. In Avery's favour. "Gracias, it was well worth the pain, and here? I have another little piece of home with me. Ah! I owe you cards, well done!"