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

[pinprick]

"Following the man with the lantern." He passes Teren the pigment. "Oghren, stay well behind. One of the mages will send up fire as a signal for you to move forward. Everyone, move quickly and quietly, stay low, and stick to cover. Follow my lead."

With that, he is moving forward, more parallel to the target than angled toward him.

[doneisdone]

She nods sleepily, and though she puts some of the pigment on her face, Teren is rather darker than the others and is less likely to show up in the moonlight.
She passes it idly to Oghren and then pulls her hood up, disappearing before anyone can even turn around and see that she was there at all. Her trajectory is a little ahead of the target, where she hopes to meld into the darkness of their destination and get a good look at who it is.

[sunshinethroughgrey]

Bethany nods, trailing behind after Nathaniel, keeping hers, Nathaniel's and Anders steps light with a touch of force magic. She nods to Anders, trusting him to light the fires behind them while she maintained their near silent approach.

Funny, to be the one hunting someone, instead of the other way around. She'd never get used to it.

[wardeneructate]

"Got it."

With that, he sat down so he could wait for the lot of them to get pretty well ahead before he went off. Might as well give them some distance right now while they sorted this out. He could always come running in later. Not like they couldn't handle one person, after all.

[pinprick]

The stranger's base camp is about a mile and a half away. It is small and cleverly hidden, with only three other people waiting for the stranger. The camp's occupants appear to be guardsmen. The stranger sets his lantern down and begins to speak quietly with them.

Nathaniel looks at Teren and gestures for her to go on ahead and see what she can find in the camp, while signalling the others to remain still and silent.

[sunshinethroughgrey]

Bethany nods, and huddles down inside her cloak, making no noise, brown eyes peering out into the darkness. Trying to see if there is any magic at play, so she can disengage any traps that might ... pop up unexpectedly.

[doneisdone]

She does so, creeping forward as soundlessly as possible for someone moving through brush. Teren tries to match her footsteps to moments when the targets speak to each other, keeping low and out of sight.

Before too long she's even out of view of her fellows, crouching and waiting and listening-- then she spots a missive. It's across the camp, and she'll have to move around its perimeter to obtain it, but Teren is nothing if not confident, and she approaches.

[justice_is_blond]

Oh. Good. He's lost track of Teren. He can see some people moving around, can't hear them, and can't pop up protection around Teren in a second if need arises. That's a fantastic feeling, really, and he glares at the nearest fern as if it's at fault. Sitting and waiting are things he's definitely not good at, but at least they seem to currently outnumber the assholes who are the cause for them sitting and waiting in the dark.

It's a shame that the person they're following is in robes. It means he can't risk casting to make the lantern flare up for a second to show the groups' faces better. It means he can't really do much of anything until they're ready to move forward, and he switches from watching the group to watching Nate and waiting for the 'charge' or 'set them all on fire' or 'they have free cats adopt them all' signal. One of these is less likely than the others.

[pinprick]

The missive Teren finds is, at a glance, Definitely Important and almost certainly in code. Beside it is a closed book. The people in the camp are engaged in conversation and the area Teren is in is not at all lit, as the camp is supposed to be difficult to spot and lights defeat that purpose. Nathaniel keeps up the signal to stay low and be silent.

[doneisdone]

Still listening for every tiny motion, any indication that anyone might come near, Teren slowly and carefully slips the missive and the book off the table in turn. She walks her fingers across them, silently pulling them towards her until they lose their balance and fall into her waiting hand, which she proceeds to curl under her and come back the way she came.
When she appears again beside the group, Teren simply whispers "light". They need to see what they have.

[pinprick]

Nathaniel gestures for everyone to follow him back to camp. Keeping his head down, he moves with quick, quiet purpose.

They arrive and he repeats Teren's request. "Light. Bethany, Anders?"

[justice_is_blond]

"She's probably lighter than I am," Anders says jokingly before he's casting and producing a light. This is serious, there's no question about that, but that just means there's tension to cut through. Especially when he knows Teren and Oghren are probably currently annoyed with each other.