( 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

[gatheringstorm]

"No, I get it, as much as I can for not being a rifter. Losing anything from your home is a big deal. I'd have missed it, too." She'd had enough of a rise in temper just thinking of the missing dragon tooth necklace she'd given Araceli, a symbol how close they'd become. At least that had been found, but even if it hadn't, she'd have eventually been able to replace it. A item from another world, especially one with sentimental value...well, that's a lot harder.

Turning to look, Korrin smiles a little as she stares at Araceli and Lux for a moment. Just the fact that Araceli is alive and safe brings that out, though she still has a long way to go in terms of healing. "You're welcome, Jamie. I'll get back to her soon enough, but Lux is being a good guard-fox. He probably needs a little one-on-one time with her, after being separated like that. At least those assholes weren't quick enough to catch him."

[wontforgetyou]

That smile on Korrin's face brings out a small one on Jamie's as well while her head is turned. He's glad that they're in a situation where everyone was able to get out. Araceli might need some time for healing, but she'll be able to heal, and he suspects Korrin'll be there to get her through it. That's a good thing, as far as he's concerned. Lux having been able to stay free was a good thing, too, and he twists his own head until he can catch a glimpse of the fox's fur.

"Aye, he's a clever wee beastie. I'd thought he'd been able to give them the slip when he didn't turn up in the cell with us." At least he'd hoped so, just like he'd hoped Avery had managed to escape as well, and while he's glad she had, he also wishes other things had gone differently. Maybe Araceli wouldn't be in such bad shape if they had. "We'd tried to get out, you know. Araceli and I. Turns out my kilt pin's not so good for getting manacles open."

[gatheringstorm]

"That explains her thumb, I guess. Not that I ever want a next time for either of you, but we'll have to look into better, more concealable, lockpicks." Korrin sighs and shakes her head, wincing as she remembers the sight of it. At least it's bandaged now and the rest of her tended. Absently, she touches her own bandaged forearm, where Ruby had clamped onto in her wolf form earlier.

"It's weird, having wounds that magic couldn't heal much." Not that it's anything to compare to what Jamie and the others have been through in general, but that it's a thing at all is too incredible for her to ignore.

[wontforgetyou]

"Don't think her thumb happened then. I think-"

His brows furrowed together as he tried to pull the memory to the forefront of his mind. It was like trying to think through cotton, only worse, and the harder he tried, the more it made his head hurt. After a few seconds, he gave up and simply shook his head the tiniest amount he could get away with.

"It was some other time, maybe, but I can't remember. It's all sort of fuzzy."

As he went to give her an apologetic look, his eyes wound up following hers to the bandage on her arm, and he frowned.

"Not healing, though, that's...like it is back home. There's no magic there, so it has to all do it naturally. There's medicines and some of that technology stuff that helps, but- what happened to it, anyway?"

[gatheringstorm]

Noting the strain, Korrin shakes her head. "It's alright, don't force yourself. You need the rest more than I do. The important thing is that you're all safe now." And anyone else who tries to exploit the shardbearers will have her blazing hatred to deal with.

Glancing down to it, she sighs. "Ruby bit it, in her wolf form. Maybe it's that or whatever experiment they did on her, but the healing mist grenade only took some of the ache away, didn't even close it. That'll teach me to be a dumbass and stand in front of a lyrium-mad wolf."

[wontforgetyou]

There was a part of him that'd been afraid of that, and he can't help but let out a sigh of his own.

"Wish I knew which it was. Maybe then I could tell you and you'd know if you're stuck with waiting for it to get better on it's own."

His second sigh was quieter, masked some by the faint shiftings as he leaned back up against her, closing his eyes once more. It was easier to not have to try and look at things right at the moment, truthfully.

"Fat lot of good I am when it comes to helping, eh? Right now I couldn't even tell you what's up or down, let alone if the lyrium's changed Ruby. Or me, or Araceli, or any one of us. I don't like it."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin sighs, trying not to move around too much for his sake. Jamie's in dire need of some good solid rest. "I don't blame you, but don't think of yourself that way. You're pretty damn useful when not lyrium-poisoned, and that wasn't your fault. It won't be pleasant, but we'll get that stuff out of your system. You'll need some time, but feeling normal will happen. I promise."

And she can promise that knowing that Templars have quit lyrium and made their way through it, with difficulty. Hopefully the fact that Jamie didn't have it in his system that long will be a point in his favor, since the amount given certainly won't. She'll remember to keep an eye on him as much as possible.

[wontforgetyou]

"Aye, well, maybe so."

The pessimistic side of him thought maybe he'd never feel normal again, but maybe Korrin was right. Maybe he'd go back to normal, eventually - well, as normal as he was in this place, with the shard stuck in his hand, and he opened his eyes a crack to peer back up at Korrin.

"What's to prevent this sort of thing from happening again, though? Or having it be worse the next time around? I'm used to having things like this thrown at me but what if next time they get someone else who isn't? Or if they've got the shard in a place where's it's already causing problems, like Sina? What happens then?"

[gatheringstorm]

Mention of Sina going through anything approaching this has Korrin wincing visibly. The others were lucky enough to not have the shard anywhere vital, but Sina...if the Venatori got their hands on her, the Vashoth mage has no doubt at all what would happen. The thought twists her stomach and she tries not to shudder, not wanting to dislodge Jamie.

"...I could say what I think will happen, but I'm sure we both know. Now that we're aware it's a thing, though, Sina will have even less cause to leave Skyhold than before. Anyone else with her issues will have to remain where they can be protected, too. It sucks, but it's better than the alternative." A horrifically painful death. "I think the only thing that will really prevent it is by starting off on the offensive to begin with; seeking out these places and shutting them down. You're right, it's not something we can just wait around for it to happen again. We find them, rescue who needs it, and blast the Venatori apart until there's nothing left of them to bury."

[wontforgetyou]

"Aye, it is." He doesn't much like the idea of Sina being stuck in Skyhold because the Venatori have gotten it into their had that they need to experiment on shards, but at least she can be protected there.

In theory, anyway, but he's too tired and too headachy to want to go down the road of what ifs and might bes right now, and a small yawn escapes him despite himself.

"Blasting the Venatori sounds like a plan to me, though. Just need to figure out how to get my mark to do that when I want it to and we'll all be set. Still not entirely sure how to do that, though."

[gatheringstorm]

"Give me a chance to get a Barrier spell up, and you can practice on me. Moments of stupidity aside, I can get those to stay up for a while, so you're free to hone your talent and use me as a target at the same time. It'll be fun." Korrin quirks a smile, trusting in not only Jamie's judgment but her own and her skill with magic to keep her unscathed.

[wontforgetyou]

"You want me to try and hit you with wee bits of magic or whatever this shard-stuff is?" Even though he gives her a disbelieving look for that, it's only for a second before he shakes his head and smiles. "Don't know what I did to deserve you as a friend, but whatever it was, I'm glad for it."

Another yawn escapes him, although he tries to partially stifle it by putting his hand in front of his mouth, and he snuggles just a little bit closer to Korrin before closing his eyes again. This time they stay closed, the rise and fall of his chest slowing some as he starts to drift back into sleep.

"Might have to do it later," he half-mutters. "Bit tired right now. S'okay with you?"

[gatheringstorm]

That disbelieving look is met with a brief grin. She's done way more reckless things in her time, Jamie. His lapsing back into drowsing off is met with a nod as she has no plans to disrupt his rest further. "Go ahead, Jamie. I'll wake you up when we stop somewhere." As for whether or not it will be anywhere near civilization or just a campsite, they'd have to wait and see.