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faderift2016-09-06 10:28 pm
eviscerates) wrote in faderift2016-09-06 10:28 pm
( closed ) player plot: the stars go waltzing
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.
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: escape attempt — Cosima, Jamie & Lexa only
- TEAM TWO: regroup & into the dungeons — plus a Lexa-shaped guest star
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.
no subject
While Jamie's been teased before about sometimes being a little slow on the uptake, it's not entirely without reason - although in this case, it's because the use of the unfamiliar language throws him. He understands that it's a question, just not what the question is, and he winds up shaking his head at her in confusion.
That turns out to be a mistake, as it makes his head throb the room spin just enough that his stomach threatens to rebel. He hasn't been able to get at any of the water, though, and it's empty enough that nothing happens apart from his looking a bit queasy about the edges. He ignores it, though, and does his best to take a guess at what it was she's asked instead.
"Don't know who this Esta person is, but if they've been here I've seen no sign of them."
no subject
What an awful reminder of being so very far from home, when the language isn't right, but she does give Jamie a half-smile that's too tight around the edges to be anything more than her trying to keep a brave face on. It's half an apology too; adding to the confusion isn't what people need but the mother tongue is an easy slip and an easier comfort, isn't it?
"Jaime," and that's more her, the way her accent shapes his name, "do you remember what happened? La niebla-- the fog, it was so thick-"
no subject
"Think I could ask the same of you. But I'm alright."
For a relative value of all right, at any rate. Better if he could get to the water, and his head turns towards the bowl of it that's been set out, tauntingly out of range. Reflex makes him run his tongue over his lower lip in an attempt to moisten it, but it does nothing to reduce the parched feeling in his throat. Or the unhappy look that comes with her question, either.
"There were...demons. More than you get with rifts. And mages of some sort, I think. I was fighting, and then suddenly I couldn't move, and then-"
Darkness and confusion, except for a few brief moments where he'd had enough of his facilities about him to try and do something about the situation. It wasn't much, but it was all he could manage given how he'd been slung over one of the horses.
"Not sure where this particular dungeon is, exactly, but we passed through a bit of forest to get here. I managed to get my watch on one of the branches before they noticed I was awake. Don't remember much after that, I'm afraid."
no subject
"We're alive," she agrees, "and they didn't separate us. Or most of us."
Avery is missing but she tries to quell the panic before it can come to anything when a level head will serve her better. They need to be able to plan while so many of them are here all at once because that's short-sighted of their captors, isn't it? To leave so many of them together? Bound, yes. Weak, certainly. Stripped of their gear but they aren't helpless. She leans against Jamie for a moment, listening as she tries to fill in the gaps in her memory.
"I thought there were too many. Even with so many of us." Could mages mean there would be more demons? With two rage demons coming at her from behind her crossed blades it had been difficult to tell at the time, but at least she hadn't been alone in her body suddenly feeling wrong and refusing to respond to what she wanted it to do. Had the mages looked familiar? Or is that just her mind trying to fill in blanks with the recent trip to Tevinter? Better not to try to put words in anyone's mouth when she's out of it.
Nodding to her left wrist as best she can, or rather to the blood that's dried around there, armour sticking to it, she makes a face. "That was smart, I lost my bracelet. The mermaid one. I think they had to fight me for it, it doesn't feel good under there."
no subject
That gives them time, but how much? It's hard to say, just as it's hard to tell how Araceli's wrists are doing. Between the way they've been shackled and the lack of light in the room, it's difficult to tell what's happened. There's some spots there that look like they may be dried blood to his eyes, but then again, he could just as easily be imagining that. He frowns up at them for a moment anyway before shifting to try and provide a better spot for her to lean against, although he can't promise it'll be anything close to comfortable.
"Can't tell for sure but...aye, there might be blood there. Or it could be shadows."
He hopes, for her sake, it's only shadows. Still, if she's saying it doesn't feel good under there, well- he shoves the thought out of his mind for the moment. Time enough for that once they're well away from here.
"We'll get someone to look at it once we've gotten out of here, though. Don't suppose they've left you with anything we could use to try and get out of these shackles, have they?"
no subject
She's wondering, if she could use him as leverage to attempt to hook the water over if it got desperate. Just about. She's flexible enough and she's got a fixed point, but then there's a good chance they're being watched; sound carries better in cells, she hates doing jobs in the lower levels of Castileos where one wrong move and she has a dozen guards roaring after her. Even as a queensguard they'd still have them running with pistols and blades.
"Bastards took my lockpicks," she mutters darkly, feeling oddly naked without the familiar earrings and necklace she's worn for years. "Do you have anything on you?"
no subject
"They've got my dirk and my sporran for sure." His Saint Christopher medal, too, but even though he doesn't have any talent for picking locks he's fairly certain it'd not have done much even if it had been there. There's one other thing that might help, however, although it depends on how thorough they'd been. He cranes his head somewhat, trying to get a good look at his leg, without much success.
"I'm no so sure my kilt-pin's still there, either. Don't suppose you're seeing a wee bit of metal near the bottom of my kilt, are you?"
no subject
At least she's somewhat used to this bit. Looking for something shiny in the dark, hoping that no one is going to see her while she does it, telling her heart to be quiet while she does it. Only it was fun then. The stakes weren't quite so high. And her hands weren't bound.
"I think…" Scooting again, she pulls as much on her chains as she can to let her get a proper look-- "Yes. Down at the bottom?"
[[ooc: if Jamie isn't meant to have the pin let me know here or on plurk and I'll edit!]]]]
no subject
There's a variety of things that he tends to keep in there, and some of them may have even given them something to work with, but it can't be helped it's gone. No sense in regretting it not being there - especially not when Araceli has spotted something that may work just as well, if they're lucky. And if they can figure out a way to use it, but that remains to be seen. Still, there's a note of enthusiasm in his voice as he gives her the smallest of nods, although he also keeps his voice down so as not to draw attention from the guard.
"Never mind that, though. If the pin's there, that's better than I hoped for. You're better at this sort of thing than I am. Would something like that work to spring these shackles open, maybe?"
no subject
There are other ways to get through locks, breaking them, blasting them with magic, but those are noisy. Maybe the least fuss is the best way to go. Or that's how Araceli is used to conducting herself since she used to work alone all the time, in and out, sticking to the shadows when she wasn't pulling off a con.
"I don't know, they're very sturdy." Giving an experimental pull, she tries to see if she can even feel for the lock itself, find the shape of it to know if it'll work and as much as good as she is? Well, false hope would be bad. "Wouldn't hurt to try, I can't get the angle for me, I can try it for you though."
no subject
His thoughts have already been going down similar routes. If they get to their things, they'll not only have the lockpicks, but weapons, and properly armed they might be able to hold their own against the guards. And now that they know that there's magic that can be thrown at them, they'll not be taken by surprise again - well, in theory, anyway. But it's better knowing than not knowing, because if nothing else they stand a better chance of finding a means to counter it.
Getting out of here first is half the battle, though, and Jamie stretches a hand experimentally towards his leg. It'll be a near thing, but if he can angle himself in the right way, his fingers are long enough he might be able to pop the pin free and pull it out to get to her. The question is if he'll be able to manage that without the guards noticing, and he pulls at his lower lip with his teeth before murmuring to her again.
"Look, I think I might be able to get the pin free, but I'm going to have to twist to do it and they might notice. Do you think you'll be able to cover that, and then I can cover you once I get the pin over to you?"
no subject
"I can cover. And if anything happens? Play along."
Araceli has played plenty of games and one of the simplest ones is to be a pretty girl who can cry when she needs to (this isn't too far from the truth at the moment, stopping will be more of an issue than starting) as she starts to move carefully, as if stretching out a cramp in her muscles. The leather of her armour creaks, but she links her fingers into her chains to hold them as steady as she can for the moment. Coughing might help. Her throat is dry enough too, and the water is out of her reach so again, she can play pretend.
"Jaime," her smile is bright as she can manage in the dark because well, you have to at least try. "We can do this."
(And get snapped back to reality but it's MacGyver time.)
no subject
He's gotten out of tighter scrapes before. He can get out of this one, too - and he has just as much faith that Araceli can do the same. As for playing along if he has to? That's not a problem at all, and he gives her a nod before starting to move just as carefully in what, at first, might look like a similar manner. Pretending to try and stretch out a cramp is a good idea, as far as he's concerned. Not only would it seem perfectly normal to a casual glance, it'll give him a chance to draw his leg up on the side that the kilt pin's on and bring it that much closer to his hands.
It's the part after that that's trickier. He's got to be able to reach down far enough that he can get a good grip on the pin and push the side in with enough force that it'll pop open at the top, and then he's got to wiggle it through the wool and pull it free.
Assuming he can manage that without being interrupted, though, it should be easy enough to get the pin over to Araceli without too much trouble. If the guard does see what's going on, he supposes he can always claim he was trying to get at an itch...or go along with whatever plan Araceli's managed to cook up in the meantime, whichever seems to be the better option. For now, though, he's going to keep working to get the pin open. One step at a time.