( 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

[fleurdesel]

It's...hypocritical, her anger. She herself pretended not to be a mage on the road- it was safer for her. Even in the Inquisition trying to find a place where you were not harried or hounded for what you were? To begrudge him what he did to find that is if not childish, intensely condescending. Perhaps it is that she thought they were close enough that she might have earned his trust that stung most.

Assumptions that did little good for either of them.

"However will it know when to come when you call?" Though it does not seem to leave his side much either. It is a thin attempt at humor. Something worn and frayed in her voice- Ruby likes Bruce, she knows that much. They are friends of a sort.

[amygdalae]

It's not as if he couldn't understand where the brunt of her anger came from - trust, too, is a thing for Bruce, and he understands the importance of it. He doesn't begrudge Adelaide for her anger and hostility in the last few weeks - he knows that he deserves it. But at the same time, regaining this connection... Bruce knows that he shouldn't, but despite everything she is a friend. There is no real way he could turn her away - especially not at this time, when the worry is so clear in her expression and in her voice.

He frowns at the question, trying to think of an answer - but ultimately finding none. Its not exactly the first time he's been asked this, too. "It probably comes running at the sound of my voice. I wouldn't be surprised, at this point." The damn thing acts more like a giant mabari than an actual dracolisk half the time. It even sits like one.

[fleurdesel]

"He does seem quite taken with you." A large, oddly affectionate darling. She is careful coming up alongside, hand slightly cool as she rests it against it's shoulder. Tension knotted in her stomach and shoulders, emotions she has to fight to keep down- that leaves her cool. Her smile is brittle, her eyes dark and uncertain-

But Bruce is capable. They will manage.

"I am beginning to think there is merit in my invention after all." A show of trust. Anders knew for he had seen her finish it. Martel holds it in his palm. "Months ago, I made it. Something like and not like a phylactery. For how often members of the Inquisition go missing, yes? I shouldn't have stopped that project."

[amygdalae]

"Maybe too taken with me," he mutters, tone more exasperated than anything else. He watches her as she touches it with a hand, and the dracolisk lets out a soft snort, ears flickering as it tilts its head and gazes at her quizzically.

Bruce on his part gives it a light touch at the side before he responds to Adelaide. "Don't blame--" he starts, then stops because he can all too easily recall the last time when he said those words at her. Not exactly something that should be brought up now. "It's not as if this is something that could have been expected, especially with such a large group. None of us can be prepared for every eventuality."

Indeed, they can't prepare for everything. His thoughts wander again to Highwind and the battle against him not long ago and Bruce's stomach clenches at the thought. Would he end up that way too, eventually? The thought is too horrifying to contemplate.

[fleurdesel]

"You require a companion that is as stubborn as you are." Be it in friends, in peers, in patients, or in mounts. Dracolisks are...fascinating creatures- and she supposes this one is lovely. Odd, but lovely.

Somehow that only serves to remind her more of Bruce and her smile becomes slightly less brittle. Slightly less false. "We ought to attempt to prepare for what we can. Things will only become more difficult as we move forward. The red templars, the Venatori- the Orlesian Nobility."

She snorts, some of her usual fire coming back. "The rifts and demons. I had always thought myself a realist but the past few months are making me feel more of a cynic."

[amygdalae]

Despite it all Bruce can't help but chuckle - a small, quiet one, but still. It is a chuckle all the same and his amusement - however wry it is - is also there.

"The last few months have been exceptionally harsh," he gives his agreement, then after a brief pause adds on further, "Though I think out of those three, I'd say that the last of those probably gave me the biggest headache." Dealing with people has never been his forte - even he would rather pick trying to fight demons and helping others close rifts at any other day. At least those were less complicated to handle as compared to politics.

[fleurdesel]

"Politics." Adelaide murmurs with no little weariness. She may have settled into her position as Councilwoman and report to Cullen easily, she might take the job seriously-

But it is, more often than not? Wearying. It is her vocation as much as healing and she does wish that things might be simpler. That those she deals with would state their case plainly instead of sidling up sideways with promises and gold 'if only' x, y, or zed. "As soon as the Civil war is somehow, somewhat settled? Our work will be easier. Or much more difficult. It depends upon who has the crown."

[amygdalae]

"Politics." He murmurs his agreement. They will always be far beyond him, and Bruce would rather keep it that way. He will never understand why people are so desperate for something as insubstantial as fame and reputation in that place. There are more worthwhile things to keep close as compared to those.

As for the Civil war, Bruce can only snort quietly. "The sooner the better, hopefully. The people there - the real people - have suffered under that petty squabbling for long enough." And again: there were more important things at hand.

[fleurdesel]

"Freemen run wild, conscripting those that want nothing to do with the fighting, taking food or shelter, running families from their homes- without a firm hand? There is chaos. I do not truly care who it is that takes the throne so long as they do something." Anything would be better than this polite ignorance. "We will be given leave to do more for those that require our help as well. Arrange convoys for supplies, for food."

[amygdalae]

"I couldn't agree more." Once the civil war was settled at least the Inquisition would have more leeway to actually offer assistance instead of... this limited capacity they were stuck with for now. Do this and these people would be angry. Do this and those other people would be angry. The world of orelsian politics will never be logical.

He bites down a sigh and stares out into the distance, remembering briefly the mission the Inquisition had assigned him to do in Orlais. Now that he was an actual agent they had been sending him out on more actual missions - probably the advisers way of getting him to pay back for his long subterfuge. At least this was better than any other alternatives he could have thought of. "Maybe hopefully when we return the war will have been over." A wishful idea, but still one nonetheless.

[fleurdesel]

"I doubt it. But that would be one less thing to worry over, would it not?" The War of the Lions cripples the country- and makes their enemy's movements all the more difficult to track. The sooner they stabilize Orlais, the sooner they will have aid, finances, resources for the Inquisition. "In the meantime we make do. As ever."

If there is one thing she can say for Bruce is that he improvises well.

[amygdalae]

Ending the civil unrest would definitely be one step closer to being able to deal with Corypheus and his army. Even until now Bruce can still remember the chaos that had ensued while Haven burned to the ground, Red Templars and Venatori swarming the area and killing those in their way. And the Herald...

If only she was still alive.

"It's all we can do." His voice is quiet now as the memories of the past come back for him to dwell upon once more. It was the year 9:42 Dragon, Kingsway--next month would be Harvestmere, and it'd have been a year since their arrival at Skyhold. It was a truly sobering thought, now more than ever.