( 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 shakes her head, as much as she is able, just a little wobble side to side. Even that aggravates the throbbing pain in her skull, but she pushes through.

"No," she croaks, forcing the corners of her mouth up even as eyes for a second close--the one that's not nearly swollen shut by now anyway. She swallows heavily, wetting her mouth to continue. "You don't understand. You think I'm a strong host by accident? The Inquisition chose me. They've been transferring shards for months and you're still--" she chokes out a laugh, "You're still trying to chop off hands! Is that why they've got you hidden away in a cave? The Elder One's great disappointment?"

[eviscerates]

That makes his hands still. Maris holds himself with great control for long moments, before looking over to Subject Twenty-One with a vicious sort of intensity, as he slowly returns to her side.

"Explain."

His control is limited, an urgent, furious sort of shake lurking in his voice. "If they can transfer shards, why leave them with the Fade travellers?"

[heda]

Lexa at first says nothing, just looking back at Maris for a long moment, as if the question was rhetorical. She knows it wasn't, but every moment of delay is precious, especially if it can be won without her insulting him further and risking tipping him over the line from unsettled and insecure as he is now (which is extremely gratifying to see), to murderously enraged.

But finally she says, "You haven't figured that out?" A snort out her nose, and a shake of her head. "They are strong in ways you cannot imagine. Unique abilities."

[eviscerates]

That earns a sneer. "Unique abilities? I have seen but one present any unique skill."

He does not say that she is bluffing, because he does not have the certainty for that. Maris pauses, tapping the knuckle of his index finger against his lips before looking back to the subject.

"Perhaps further tests can be carried out. They may yet have concealed their gifts." Musing, and but watching the Avvar to consider her reaction.

[heda]

There's nothing in Lexa's expression that indicates the uncertainty that usually accompanies a bluff. She lets him think it through, just a hint of smug satisfaction around her eyes. "You see very little, for a scientist."

Further testing draws just a flicker of a sympathetic wince in contrast. She takes no joy in the idea of subjecting any other members of her party to further experimentation. Though if it will save them all getting shard-hands lopped off in the meantime, it may be worth it.

[eviscerates]

"I would not except a southern savage to appreciate the subtleties of the work I do," he replies, rather clipped, closing the space between where he stands and Subject Twenty-One's bench, bracing one hand against her forearm, so he can start to etch marks onto her arm with ink, a few inches above the elbow. "One does not presume. One proceeds only with evidence and facts."

A thought occurs to him as he catches that wince, and it makes him smile, grandfatherly once more. "Though perhaps you would be a little more compliant and forthcoming with details if these experiments were conducted before you? You could learn a little of my methodology."