( 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]

The Wolf is a fearsome thing, larger than any normal wolf, with shaggy black-grey fur and eyes that burn a bright orange-gold, all the better to see you with. It's teeth are all the better to eat you with, too, fancy that. The ice from before hardly makes the Wolf falter, crouches and lunging, moving with alarming speed. The fear demon falls, and the Wolf begins to tear at it's throat, at the spidery limbs extending forward from its back.

The scent of burning, and of sound of fire, make her snap her focus towards an advancing rage demon, black ichor smeared across her muzzle and jaws, and throws herself that way, next.

[youwonscience]

Cosima, like Avery, had every intention of staying far enough out of the way not to be a liability. This was meant to be a learning exercise, in which she'd get a second crack at the experience of closing (or at least helping close) a rift. She does have a walking stick; she'd brought it more in case of an inconveniently timed respiratory attack than with any intent to use it in combat. But Martel's going to need a second to get to them, and Avery's doesn't deserve to try and hold them off alone.

"Fucking gross," she mutters as she advances on the one Avery through a bag toward, swinging the long stick in an attempt to bring it down squarely on the things body, the way she'd swat a bug. Much, much larger and much, much more unsettling. Still.

[heda]

The sight of creatures skittering towards the non-combatants turns Lexa's head in concern, and for a split-second she considers heading back to defend, but Martel is closer and already heading their way. He will have to be enough, given the fear demon's interest in her.

The blast of cold stiffens muscles and slows her advance, and an acorn overhead suddenly freezes solid as it falls, hitting the top of her head with bruising force. She winces and blinks, but doesn't hesitate, slashing downwards with one blade at one flanking fearling, aiming a vicious kick at another when it raises up onto its back legs, punting it end over end. She keeps their demon master in sight, still wary of those pincers as they near.

[wontforgetyou]

Martel's maybe not entirely wrong when it comes to Jamie being the one to run the risk of dying first, because there's exactly zero hesitation before he lets out a battle yell and goes to swing at the first rage demon at just about the same time that it slaps at his arm, leaving painful looking scorched skin behind, even as his sword bites into the demon's side, deep enough that it may do some damage.

The fireballs are a problem, though, and any follow up attack will have to wait until he's not directly in the path of one. He twists violently to one side and back, feeling the heat as that pass perilously close - and seeing a brief flare of light as some of the falling twigs catch, bursting into flame. Luckily they're small enough to burn out quickly, but a couple of them do hit the side of his face before bouncing off and falling to the ground, leaving a some faint red splotches behind.

Almost if by reflex, Jamie lifts his hand, the green mark spitting and flaring to life before small projectiles shoot from it in the direction of the rage demon that's further away. He doesn't wait to see if the projectile hits, though, instead concentrating on pulling his sword free and trying to follow up on his initial blow on the first demon and giving the Wolf an opening for her own attack.

[eviscerates]

It might not be immediately obvious to them— it shouldn't be obvious, but there are more demons about this rift than the last. More demons, in fact, than would be found around most rifts, some of them obscured by the rolling mist, though there are three more rage demons starts to pull closer, starting to becoming visible. If the fog perhaps seems a little thicker, perhaps it is simply due to the cool turn the weather seems to be taking.

Surely that's it.

The two fearlings make an extremely unsettling chatter-hiss sound in response Avery and Cosima, one drawing up on their back legs to strike that them with their front ones, the other screeching more loudly as it turns to lash out at Lux, though it is still dazed by Avery's skillet, and as Martel draws closer (the audacity!!!) it tries to leap at him. One of the approaching rage demons starts to draw close to the sounds of fearling screeches and clanging skillets, Martel, Avery and Cosima will have company shortly.

The two remaining of the rage demons drawing closer through the fog start to move towards Araceli in a pincer movement, both flinging fireballs at her, keeping a distance from her blades.

Lexa's blade has felled one fearling very efficiently, the other rolling in a daze before bouncing back up and scuttling back to her, enrage. Through the fog, two more fear demons are advancing, hands resting on the tree trunk before they move over the gnarled roots towards Lexa, each of the triad extending their arms to inflict more ice attacks.

Jamie manages to land a solid hit on the first of the rage demons, making it list backwards before swinging into another attack, though it it slower, now, and falters in the face of his follow up attack. The second is drawn more to the Ruby-Wolf, abandoning flinging fireballs at Jamie— for now.


(From the other side of the tree, a large group is advancing, though the roar of fire and crackles of ice, the smell of blood and ichor and burning do as much to conceal them as the heavy fog.)

[thecookery]

"Look out!"

Avery has just enough time to react to the fearling's attack, but too busy grabbing Cosima and yanking her out of the way, she doesn't quite manage to avoid all of it herself and cries out as the strike catches the side of her leg, tearing a hole right through her trousers to flesh.

Without really aiming, she flails her makeshift weapon in the creature's direction, just trying to make a little space between them and buy herself a second to focus past the pain.

[youwonscience]

"Shi-" Cosima doesn't even get it totally out before Avery tackles her to momentary safety. As soon as she finds her footing again, she takes a semi-ineffective gab at the fearling that attacked Avery. "Go away, asshole," she says. She's not expecting to do much except buy Avery a minute to get farther back; out of the corner of her eye she can see the larger demon approaching and this is deeply not good.

(The voice chanting ohshitohshitohshit in the back of her head sounds weirdly like Scott.)

[foxsays]

Two ladies are in trouble, and with a grace seldom found in any fox - ah, but his mistress is skilled in parkour, and Lux has been in her pockets, or slung over her shoulders for years as she's gone scrambling - he gives the fearling one last bite before he leaps it, twisting neatly to land in front of Avery and Cosima. Not a big thing. Not a mabari. But still nasty with ichor around his muzzle, lip curled back to show all his teeth.

Does anything produce horrible noises quite like a fox though?

Half of Araceli is kicking herself for not snagging Korrin's amulet before she'd gone off to Tevinter. The other half is gritting her teeth as she crosses her blades in front of her to try to deflect or to at least not get burned to a crisp by them as she steps back, aiming for the one on the right. Evening the odds sounds like a better plan than being fireballed into oblivion.

[heda]

Lexa slices through the returning fearling before backing away a few paces; not in retreat before the advance of the fear demons, but to get clear of the roots, wary of stumbling over them while her attention is elsewhere, especially with the mist rolling in.

She's stiff and shivering in her armor under the chill fog and the near-continuous ice attacks unleashed by the (trio? duo? I'm not sure I'm sorry) of demons. She circles, spots a clear path between two large roots, and darts in again to take her opportunity. Both blades are out but one arm shields her eyes from ice until she's sprinted near enough to lash out with both swords at once, going low beneath the reach of grasping limbs and stabbing up, constantly in motion to try to evade as she strikes.

[wontforgetyou]

If Lexa wants to to trade, Jamie might not be all that opposed to the notion. Even with the other rage demon being drawn to Ruby and his demon being slowed somewhat, he's still close enough to the demon that he's feeling more heat than chill. Even the fog rolling in doesn't bother him any. He's seen that happen plenty of times back home in Scotland, and it doesn't occur to him that it might be something unusual.

He's more than a little busy fighting the demon, besides, and he circles around to avoid the demon's arm as it swings at him again, adjusting his footing as he goes to keep his balance as the ground becomes harder to see. The demon tries to move with him, but doesn't quite manage to keep up, and Jamie is able to go just fast enough that he has a momentary opening and a good shot at hitting the demon at a spot at the back of his head that he's taken advantage of before. It might not kill this one like it has the others, but if he can pull it off, it'll free him up to go and help one of the others. So he brings the sword back, swings with all his might...and throws in a insult, for good measure.

"Take that, you overgrown candle!"

It may not do much to the demon, but it gives him just a flicker of satisfaction all the same. No matter what the results are there, it's worth it.

[eviscerates]

The Wolf closes her teeth around the arms of one of the rage demons, tearing and wrenching until the arm is pulled away, and starts the task of tearing into it. It is not easily done, when the creature slaps at her with it's other arm and makes a singed smell rise off her fur, but she keeps tearing at it with a vicious, relentless sort of determination.

If she weren't trying so hard to fight this thing and get this done so she could help Avery and Cosima or Lexa or— any of them, really, she'd probably take a moment to look at Jamie for that candle comment. Alas, there's no time for fond incredulity right now.

[eviscerates]

They are fighting so hard. Trying so hard. It is not dire by any means, but— they have a certain amount of spark, these children.

Maris watches with a careful, intent fascination. He is here only to see the specimens before they are collected, watching from horseback on the hilltop, and simply raises his hand in a sign to his fellows, before turning his horse and riding on to return to the fortress.

It happens quickly.

Twenty blood mages begin to move closer through the fog, casting spells of Paralyzing Hemorrhage over the party. The fog is almost closer to a smoke, now, thick enough to choke on and getting harder and harder to see through.

Capture, contain, control.

[thecookery]

Already wobbling on her injured leg, when this new wave of pain explodes over her, Avery almost immediately crumples to her knees with a gasp. She's only felt pain anywhere close to this once before, when she was on death's door, and she can't tell if the fear or the anger is stronger when she notices the shadowy figures approaching in the fog.

"You..."

Her fingers dig into the dirt as she tries to stand again and... charge them? Run? Remember the demons right behind her?? It doesn't matter, because her body refuses to cooperate with her commands anyway, and she struggles just to keep from falling over and curling up on the ground.

[wontforgetyou]

Jamie has never been one to give up without a fight, and has felt his fair share of pain as a result. He's even been held fast in place before, immobilized by devices beyond his ken, unable to move.

Combining the two is completely unfair, though, and even though is instinct is to fight, to struggle against it, all he gets is pain racking his body as his limbs fail him and his sword slips from his grip and falls to the ground with a soft thump. The rage demons are still there, their heat close enough to sear his skin, and he tries desperately to move, to grab his sword, to do something before it's too late.

None of it works, though, and he's forced to stand there, frozen stiff, only his eyes wide with alarm as the rage demons continue to advance on him, ready to cement his certain doom.