closed.

[byblow]

WHO: Alistair, Anders, Bethany, Ciri, Felix, Inessa, Kaisa, Nathaniel, Oghren, Teren, and Velanna
WHAT: Visiting Ansburg
WHEN: First week of Bloomingtide
WHERE: Warden Fortress, Ansburg, Free Marches
NOTES: TBD

Comments

II. EXPLORATION

[byblow]

The fortress isn't the largest or most impressive one that anyone here will have seen—not compared to Skyhold, not even compared to the Gallows—but it's obviously well stocked and cared for, with large Grey Warden banners hanging from the walls and showing minimal wear. Few regions in Thedas have all that many active Wardens, save the Anderfels, but there are a few dozen here now, not counting those out working in the Deep Roads across the Free Marches. Several are out in the courtyard, practicing archery or swordsmanship in a way that's as much play as training; others seem busy but not too busy to smile in greeting or pause to watch the newcomers pass by with curiosity.

Once everyone has been fed and given a moment to rest their feet, Warden-Commander Humphreys invites anyone who's interested in more walking to tour the fortress with him while he asks questions and discusses his hopes for the Wardens-Errant. Anyone who doesn't think that sounds fun is free to explore on their own—and later, once the beleagured cook has managed to catch up with the extra work that so many guests create, there's a fairly boisterous dinner in the main hall, with amateur musicians and a small gaggle of baby-faced young Wardens eager to hear about the griffons. And other things! But mainly the griffons.

[ The tour will be NPCed, so please group up into one log for that! You can make your own threads for the other two options. NPCs or GM comments will also be dropped into other logs during the party or exploration, but feel free to RP on your own, too. ]

[ichaer]

ＴＯＵＲ —

A tour with the Warden-Commander does indeed, not sound fun but Ciri is nevertheless here. Perhaps it is out of curiosity for what he has to say or perhaps (and much more likely) it is to keep her sober for most of this experience. That is hard enough, and harder still with all her displeasure bubbling under the surface waiting to come out like an explosion. Lost in her thoughts and forcing the lid down on her feelings, she still manages to listen to what is being said among the group though remains notably silent.

ＤＩＮＮＥＲ —

The boisterous dinner is more her style because it makes it easier for her to blend into the crowd and most importantly: a chance to eat again. For someone so mad at everything, the food is definitely not suffering under her gaze as she picks and munches on the wide assortment of offered food. The drinks are great but, once again, she avoids getting too deep into the drink. That would lead to trouble and some of her fellows actually seem... excited to be here. It was strange to her when her thoughts are filled with the disaster that was Weisshaupt. A disaster that these Wardens were absently from while the Inquisition dived head first to save them. Somewhere near, she overhears a baby Warden is talking vividly about griffons and how lucky they are to be so close to them.

"This reminds me," she says picking at her plate filled with tiny cakes to whomever it unlucky enough to be near her. "We should have the others stuck out in Valeska's Watch and Griffon Wing Keep come to visit and see the griffons. They'd bloody love it."

Dinner

[circleprodigy]

Ciri's not the only one whose mind constantly returns to Weisshaupt. Inessa holds a glass of wine more to give her hand something to do than because she's interested in imbibing, taking a sip only once every so often. The tiny cakes interest her more, though the majority of food on her plate is for the purpose of discreetly feeding Garahel so that he doesn't beg from others. With all the offered food and attention, the mabari is undoubtedly having the best night between the three of them.

Checking to ensure that Garahel behaves himself, Inessa turns her gaze back to Ciri with a small smile. "They would, though I think it fair to warn them of our griffons' quirks beforehand. I don't want my lap griffon catching them by surprise, or Buggie's biting, or Little White Monster's screech...."

[pinprick]

"You've seen the griffons?!"

There are suddenly three young Wardens at Ciri and Inessa's table, all three of them talking over at once.

"Talk," one of them demands tersely.

"Have you ridden them?" gasps another.

"You want to see the eyrie upstairs?" babbles the last.

[ichaer]

"Maker's bloody balls, one at a time."

It comes from over the rim of her cup as Ciri shoots the three a look with a raised brow to try and make sense of the mess of words. Carefully, she looks to Nessa out of the corner of her eye and sighs with another needed gulp from her goblet.

"Dark and grumpy," she says, popping another tiny cake into her mouth with a pointed look to the demanding one. "You first, what is it you wanna know? I'm not one for babbling and there's too much to go over considering their numbers."

Tour

[justice_is_blond]

Taking in the sights isn't exactly high on Anders' list of entertaining options, but he's hoping there's a library as a stop where he can backtrack to later, and maybe there will be interesting information on offer too. It's worth a shot, at least.

"So this place looks nice." Small talk is not Anders' strong point but he's trying.

Solo Asplorin'

[doneisdone]

"Right, so you can walk us straight into the dungeon," Teren intones when invited to 'take the tour', though she follows along at first, wanting it to be less noticeable when she splits from the group about ten minutes later.
She goes down a different hallway, gladly taking the opportunity to explore and deciding to root out whatever foul play is obviously at work here. Her snooping is as subtle as possible for someone who isn't even trying to stay concealed; on the contrary, she walks with purpose, inspecting the place as though she belongs there.

[pinprick]

The fortress is several hundred years old but in good repair. Teren doesn't see anything too unusual as she explores, for the most part. She may see a look in the eyes of some Wardens, an odd tension, until they see her and give her a smile or a nod. The most conspicuous thing, however, is the odd placement of some of the guards. Some are placed on the outskirts, as if guarding against an outside threat. But a number of them are also placed at intervals along the halls, all of them acting like they are off-duty. But off-duty guards are more likely to hang out in the mess, the courtyard, or the barracks.

[doneisdone]

She doesn't smile back, though she does nod, taking careful note of their low-key unease. And each time Teren passes a set of off-duty guards, she quiets her footsteps, listening for any muttering or shifting behind her. She doesn't introduce herself, waiting to be hailed first, if it should happen. They already know why she's here.
Teren is investigating the armory when the jovial clamor of people heading to dinner reaches her ears. Instead of joining them, she steps to the door and presses her ear against it, listening for movement in the halls.

Dinner

[wardeneructate]

Now, Oghren was the type to not care too much about exploring all the places around. He figured someone would tell him about something interesting and he could go there later. So really what he was here for was the food. And to grumble at any babies that thought they could so much as catch him near any of those sodding griffons. He preferred to keep his feet on the ground thank you.

And thus he was sitting there eating basically anything that came along and had finished off more than a few drinks. In fact, he was finishing off another before belching loudly and looking at another baby Warden that had come up to him.

"You want to know about those griffons? How about this. You beat me at a drinking contest and I'll tell you everything I know."

...someone should probably stop this.

[pinprick]

"Deal." The young Warden sits. He is a human, probably in his early twenties. "But as the challenged party, I get to choose the game."

[wardeneructate]

He gave a snort that was clearly him clearing his nose. Well, the fact that he picked it and studied what he got out of there before flicking it away was a good clue too. "Sure. I'll let you have that one. Name your game."

DINNER (!!!)

[doneisdone]

Teren comes into the dining hall a bit after everyone has settled, and she makes no pretense of subtlety to the others as she marches right over to the table and inserts herself between the most tightly packed of familiar Wardens she can find.
"They're poised to attack," she announces in a low voice, pitched away from any of the nearby Ansburg Wardens, "we'd be wise to go on our way before they get a chance."
Anyone who looks like they might interrupt her is served an icy glare; Teren isn't fooling around. "We were fools to come here thinking there'd be an overture of friendship."

Re: DINNER (!!!)

[sunshinethroughgrey]

"... Oh good grief." Bethany muttered under her breath, as she pushed her plate away and leaned in towards Teren. She really wish she had been absolutely without suspicion but it was just ... weird how they were acting. Too nice. Too pleasant. It was absolutely eerie and thus - trap.

"How many guards in our way?" She had learned how to whisper, in the last year and a half, pitching her voice to just a murmur.

[circleprodigy]

"...of course it was too easy." Already quiet and alert, Inessa sits up straighter as Teren's new reaches her. That outward demeanor remains calm, but she motions subtly for Garahel to remain close, and glances over to Ciri. If only they didn't keep having reasons to distrust their fellow Wardens outside of those in the Inquisition...but they aren't being given a choice, at least now. She only pauses for further information, ready to leave at a moment's notice.

[ichaer]

"Guards," she snorts. "Let 'em get in the way. We can just burn the Maker be damned place down like Weisshaupt."

Ciri is edging on drunk and thus edging into more aggressive (and badly though out ideas) territory. Someone should probably take her drink away, or at least take away the flask of fire she is tilting on the table and letting it catch in the candlelight.

AFTER THAT

[doneisdone]

Teren hasn't made much progress. She's still pacing the halls, trying to get the lay of the place, memorizing each turn and door and where people are currently posted. On the surface, she appears to be lost, and is banking on her Grumpy Aunt aura to keep the Ansburg Wardens from asking too many questions.

[byblow]

Alistair's approach probably isn't a surprise. He's jogging to catch her, and he isn't a quiet walker, let along a quiet jogger. He's not in full armor, but there are still things that jingle and jangle, plus his heavy footfalls—and if that's not enough, he also says, "Teren," as soon as he sees her.

[doneisdone]

She turns in annoyance when she hears the heavy footfalls, but Teren relaxes slightly when she sees that it's Alistair. She still takes a moment to look incredulous at him just stomping over here and saying her name while she's trying to do some reconnaissance, but she waits for him to speak, in case it's urgent.

after dinner

[ichaer]

ＳＴＡＢＬＥＳ —

There was a great many things to love about horses. One of the most important things, currently, was the lack of terrible decisions. Terrible decisions in her mind, of course but currently: it was all fucking awful. Be among their own kind? What good had that done them at any point. There was problems with the Inquisition but at least they had done something for them. She wouldn't be alive without the Inquisition and with an already shit lifespan on her hands that meant a lot. There wasn't anything here for them, certainly not her and Maker be damned if she spent another day here.

Grabbing at her crystal, she considers contacting Avery just to hear the other woman's voice but ultimately decides against it and leans further against the young mare that she has befriended in an attempt to hide away in one of the stalls. The Paint lays on the ground, dozing away and allowing Ciri the chance to both sit and relax. Once again, she turns a flask over in her hands but this one reflects ice instead of fire. A sign of a better mood, perhaps?

[circleprodigy]

Ciri soon has additional company, of course. Inessa soon follows, Garahel at her side. The mabari closes the gap first, letting out a soft whine of sympathy as he plops down and leans against her a little. The slight elven woman does the same, substituting the whine for a deep sigh as she settles in and forces herself to tune out everything else. They can be bitter and untrusting together, at least for the moment.

EVEN LATER

[justice_is_blond]

He breaks off eventually, needing a walk to clear his mind. They're all under a lot of stress, but he hadn't exactly expected to see the cracks this clearly. Trauma, personality clashes, it's almost like they're a bunch of people shoved together by accident and dealing with being tossed to and fro constantly.

He'll be there to support Nate when Nate's ready for a respite, but right now he's worried about someone else. Eventually he spots her and comes over, leaning against a convenient tree near her.

"Fancy finding you out here." 'Are you feeling better' seems a poor choice of opener, after all.

[doneisdone]

This is maddening. Teren thought, ever so briefly, that she was being taken seriously, that the others would jump to get to the bottom of her suspicions. As the night wears on, it becomes increasingly apparent that this is not the case. Frustratingly enough, she hasn't been able to find any leads either to confirm her worries or to safely get everyone out, and doubt has begun to creep into her mind that she may be lunging at shadows.

Sitting on a barrel in the courtyard, Teren is using her belt knife to slowly whittle a fallen piece of bark into nothing. She tells herself she's waiting and listening, but in reality, she's avoiding any sort of company at all. Perhaps she was wrong. She doesn't need that in her face at the moment.

"Fancy that," she mutters impassively, without looking up.

[justice_is_blond]

He exhales slowly, looking down at his feet. Even though there'd been nothing solid about them being in danger, Anders feels a little guilty.

"I've been there," he finally says quietly. "I've seen imminent danger when there wasn't. But you helped put everyone on alert." They were already, due to the cheerful welcome that they weren't used to. But she'd put an edge on that

"We're a little more prepared for whatever is truly going on here, as it's rather difficult to believe there's nothing up."

[doneisdone]

Teren pauses in her whittling to listen, then scowls and proceeds once more. She doesn't speak for a while, too busy stewing, hating the notion that she might have been wrong and sent everyone into a tizzy for no reason. This means the next time she won't be taken seriously. And perhaps she is just losing her mind-- it's not like Wardens are known to live long.

After at least a minute of pensive silence, she chucks the last chip of wood to the ground and drapes her hands between her knees. "You don't have to do this," she says, still glaring forward, "perhaps I just don't know a good thing when I see it."