( 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

[heda]

Lexa's brows draw briefly together at the mention of a big hat, and she flicks a look toward Ruby, checking for signs that this is a joke, or maybe trying to picture her in a big hat. Hmm.

She wobbles a little when they first step off onto the dock, but it's not that different from the transition after a long day on horseback, and after a few strides and discreet shaking out of one knee, she manages not to embarrass herself. She heads up the docks at Ruby's side, leaning around her a little to peer up at the city walls, eyes constantly moving in an effort to take in every single thing without swiveling her head around like a loser tourist.

"You didn't like it?" she asks, a little absently, attention still clearly on their surroundings. "The ship?" She doesn't mean to be rude. Ruby's great and all, but Cumberland is amazing, and she doubts she'll ever get the chance to see it again.

[eviscerates]

"I liked it! It was just... a longer trip than I've done by sea. I'm more of a useless landlubber." She grins brightly, and rolls her shoulders. "But we are back on land now."

She detects Lexa's fascination with the city, rather than taking the lack of singular focus as rudeness. Conspiratorially, she leans slightly Lexa's way. "Want to explore a little? It probably wouldn't hurt to pick up some provisions before we go adventuring across the countryside."

[heda]

Lexa hesitates, already a little embarrassed at Ruby having caught on to her distraction and interest and ready to kneejerk refuse and demand they remain on-task to make up for her lapse. But the rifter hasn't actually called her out and has instead made it sound useful, and it is Ruby's mission, after all. Lexa shuts her mouth and then after another second, nods.

"Yes, good idea."

Once they've turned and are heading into the city, getting swept into the crowd, Lexa's resolve cracks a little further. There's something about Ruby and her grin that makes her feel the need to say more and something about getting lost in this mass of people without anyone taking a second glance at her that lets her say it. "I'd read about Cumberland but I hadn't imagined it this big. We don't have cities. And we don't leave the mountains. I'd never been on a ship at all before this."

[eviscerates]

"I know what you mean. I've read about all these big cities in the world that I came here from, but I've never seen any of them myself. I don't think movies really do them justice." And then she pauses, looking to Lexa and taking a pause. "It's sort of like if a play in a theatre was crammed into a painting, I guess? You watch it any time, like how you can read a book any time, but it's a moving picture with sound and stuff."

She gestures, vaguely, to Cumberland and the ornate carriage that just rolled past them. "I've always been more of a small town country gal than a city person. I think this place is exciting."

Nothing cramps plans to travel like the risk of losing your memories and sacrificing part of your existence, after all.