[Player Plot] Protecting Val Gamord from Darkspawn - Pt 1

[sunshinethroughgrey]

WHO: Bethany Hawke, Teren von Skraedder, Ciri, Merrick, Inessa Serra, Kain Ventfort, Aleron Darton, and Amelie Durand
WHAT: The Marquise of Val Gamord has called to the Inquisition for help, and the Inquisition has answered.
WHEN: Last week of Harvestmere, first week of Frostfall
WHERE: Val Garmond, in Orlais.
NOTES:Based off the war table mission. OOC details are here

Val Gamord is a small village in rocky hills, surrounded by walls, and presently very cold. Outside the walls, a sizable and semi-organized force of darkspawn has gathered. Reaching the village without passing through the darkspawn requires traveling along a narrow path to reach a small opening in its gates. The main road and entrance to the town are blocked and being battered by darkspawn on a nightly basis.

As noted in the original War Table Operation from DAI, Marquise Bouffon has already committed her handful of personal soldiers to the Inquisition's cause, so the town's only defenses at the moment are its walls and the efforts of the farmers and merchants who have taken refuge there. They'll all be exhausted and incredibly grateful for help. Several will be quarantined and suffering from blight sickness. (Note: They can't be saved; if the team does attempt to put through the Joining, they'll die during the ritual.)

Marquise Effiloche Bouffon will be a gracious host and very thankful for the team's efforts. She will call everyone involved noble a lot, and refer to herself as humble and devout; there will be some apparent truth to that, as her personal home is small and sparsely decorated, for an Orlesian noble's estate. She'll allow the team to stay there if they desire and feed them well. Once the darkspawn have been driven away, she will be particularly eager to see the team leave the town without lingering or asking any further questions. She will permit them to stay at most an additional day before insisting that they leave.

Comments

[lifeofendurance]

Ah but he would attempt the impossible if she asked it of him. Bethany has made him happier than he thought was possible and far beyond what he still feels he deserves.

He willingly sinks into making a study of her face. The way she dimples when she smiles. The way the light flickers in her eyes. The way her dark hair slightly curves and brushes against her face. The map? Utterly forgotten. Which is uncharacteristic for him to put aside something that obligation demands he attend to, but ah the distraction. (It's good for him to stop focusing so intently on doing the right thing, sometimes.)

Where Bethany is impulse, he remains controlled and proper. It makes them a good pairing, balanced.

"May I kiss you?" Again. Like they weren't a moment ago. But he will ever be a model of propriety and Aleron would never consider acting in any other way. He adores Bethany, but more than that, he respects her too much to push beyond her own wishes.

[sunshinethroughgrey]

What they should consider, and what she would tell him if he had asked if he could do the impossible ... is that he already had. A Seeker and a Grey Warden falling in love in the middle of a war with one of the old magisters from the Chantry tales who was attempting to pull the world down around them? Impossible. Improbable. Yet here they were. So impossible they already had done.

She was more interested in the possibilities of their future.

Another flush to her cheeks, and her eyes shine a little as she states with utter seriousness, "Yes, you may."

She can be serious, and this ... this is something to be serious about. If she gives permission now, she's giving permission in the future, and she wants him to know that window is now open. For both of them.

So permission and a teasing warning? Probably.