( 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

[eviscerates]

By the broken branches there are two things. The first is a smear of blood, lower down on the tree's trunk. Further along, there is something caught on a branch; investigating it would reveal something definitely not of Thedas, namely Jamie's watch, the brown later making it slightly tricky to spot.

[amygdalae]

The broken branches - yes, Bruce had noticed that too. He nods and starts to lead the way, walking down the path until they're close enough to see the clues that have been left there. Bruce in particular takes notice of the blood, frowning as he runs a finger across it, trying to see if anything comes off from the wood onto his finger.

[gatheringstorm]

While Bruce does that, Korrin paces ahead, looking for other signs. She nearly misses a particular branch, looking for anything that stands out, but upon turning her gaze to it again, she doesn't regret it.

"Hey--over here." Quickening her pace, she picks up the watch and grits her teeth. "Jamie...."

[eviscerates]

The blood is dry. Rather than sticking to Bruce's fingers, it comes off in flakes or sticks stubbornly to grooves in the bark unless scratched off. The smear is broad. If Bruce happens to look down, he might spot some notes in the grass at the tree's base.

Jamie's watch is hooked quite carefully. The height is not such that it could have simply fallen from his wrist - it is too high for that, too well looped onto the branch rather than simply hanging precariously.

[amygdalae]

Dry blood... not recent at all, then. Bruce purses his lips at the possibilities but sets them aside for later. Later. He can consider all of that later.

He's about to look down, but then Ataash gets his attention and he glances over instead, quick to notice the watch in her hands. He's seen it a fair few times enough to know who its from too.

"It seems like it's not just one of them," he murmurs, frowning, turning back to mull over it--then spotting the notes and crouches down. "Wait. There's something here as well."

[eviscerates]

The notes have been damaged by the elements, trodden underfoot a little. Still, a few things can be made out;

ah behold this fascinating text, it is most fascinating, so plot, many thought, wow wow wow wow oh look are you still reading WHY ARE YOU STILL READING i'm sorry i didn't think of something better to put here ilu also I think I did the code on this wrong oops

Frequency of humans delivered to Thedas via the Fade suggests that other species are rare even across other worlds, or are not fit for the journey. Weakness of local elven specimens was particularly disappointing.

I was going to re-write the lyrics of a song to be about text and exposition but I'm at my core a very lazy person so alas

It would be interesting to conduct a study of foreign versus native elves and their resilience. If the opportunity presents itself then may prove compelling topic for study?

[gatheringstorm]

Crouching and reading over Bruce's shoulder, Korrin tries to read along. Her eyes narrow as what's said almost immediately. Of course they would target elves, experiment on them as though they were animals. Gritting her teeth, she moves to stand.

"I'll enjoy destroying these bastards."

[amygdalae]

Bruce, likewise, doesn't quite like what he's seeing here, and he purses his lips once he reads the words. It is a fact that the presence of the Rifters, no matter how low key the Inquisition tried to hide it, was still going to be a thing eventually. He had just hoped that it would lead to situations like this.

He picks up the tattered notes and pockets them for later. "They've got a few things to answer for," he murmurs his agreement as he stands back up. "Let's see what else we can still find around here." There was Bonaventura's item and now this - perhaps they could be lucky the third time as well.

[eviscerates]

It looks like they've found everything of interest. All that remains are irregular, ofd outcrops of white wild roses. They've been dotting the trail very sporadically since around the second rift.

[gatheringstorm]

Peering around, Korrin sighs. "I...think that's it. At least we know if we see those flowers that we're still going the right way. So far." Let's see what the others have found."

[amygdalae]

Looking around himself, Bruce has to agree with Ataash. It seems like this is the end of the road for them, as far as finding anything else goes. Not surprising, but still... it is a bit disappointing.

"Yes," he returns, showing his assent with a nod. "Hopefully the others have found something as well."

[doneisdone]

Teren has trailed behind them with her daggers at the ready, prepared for any encounter that proves unfriendly to two magic users. They seem to know the Rifters involved, and she doesn't interfere with their speculation, though she does begin to range ahead to carefully follow the trail of flowers. Per Korrin's advice, she also keeps an eye out for a black fox.