[CLOSED] Smoke & Mirrors: Kirkwall

[minrathousian]

WHO: CLOSED to those who signed up.
WHAT: Inquisition personnel work to identify Venatori agents who have infiltrated the Inquisition in Kirkwall.
WHEN: Early November.
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: Violence, murder.

In Kirkwall, the threat to the Inquisition is more covert:  four Venatori agents have infiltrated the Inquisition's base of operations in the Free Marches, and have insinuated themselves well into the workings of the organization. Perhaps they have made befriended you, or established themselves as a quiet loner who prefers only to focus on their work, with little interest in socializing. Actionable intelligence suggests that they will take advantage of the Inquisition's reduced numbers in Kirkwall to attempt to seize valuable information. The trouble now is identifying just who the infiltrators are--and stopping them before they access vital information, or create further havoc.

Comments

[paladingus]

"Oh, no, you're all right--" From anyone else, that note might make him self-conscious about how few and far between his intellectual pursuits are, but from Myr, he can read it as an it would be nice to see you more often, and it warms him inside.

But there's work to be done, and he hastens back to it. "I'm supposed to be figuring out which of the million names on these rosters are fake ones for sneaking Venatori scum we might have lurking about. And I don't even know where to start. I've barely heard a one of them before. This one here, it's the list of everyone who's ever been tasked with bringing the prisoners food, and I just started with it because at least I could cross my own name off it and feel like I'd made progress. But I don't know what I'm doing. You're down in the dungeons often enough, too--"

So says the visitor log, anyway, and the rumor mill, and his own recollection on the rare occasions when he'd been on guard duty at the same time, but perhaps now isn't the ideal time to ask Myr why he's always visiting the Vints. (Or perhaps it is, but Simon doesn't want to include him even tangentially in the suspicion here.)

"If I read off the names, could you let me know if you know any of them? And what you know about them if you do?"

[faithlikeaseed]

Myr's usual pleasant expression fades to something altogether more serious as Simon explains what he's about; there'd been some word of the possibility, but it hadn't seemed real until now. "I have been," he volunteers, without any need for the question. "They're a resource for us in Research," which doesn't explain the frequency of his visits, but he's not even aware it might need explaining, "and I've been around a time or two during meals, so--sure."

The fact he's been busy making friends with everyone in the Inquisition might come in useful here. He edges closer to the workstation once Simon's seated again, leaning in with a hand resting on his friend's shoulder as if he could read along on the list as Simon begins working through the names. Many of them he recognizes, a few he doesn't but in passing, but he's quick to volunteer whatever he remembers--and his memory's long--that might be of use: When he'd last encountered them, what they did with the Inquisition, whether he'd ever met them in the dungeons...

Tedious work, but it needs done.

[minrathousian]

One name comes up twice--Guardswoman Lysaria Hendon--which in and of itself wouldn't be that unusual. It's the timing that is odd, and something that could easily be missed given just how many rosters exist, and how many different schedules there are throughout the Inquisition. However, Lysaria appears to have been in two different locations at the exact same time: bringing food and water down to the prisoners, while also out in the field... in Perendale.

[paladingus]

Research is not Simon's forte, and he would be inclined to take that response at face value anyway, but the warmth and weight of that hand on his shoulder somehow makes him feel even less inclined to ask questions. If he's a little more careful in his page-turning, just to make sure Myr doesn't feel the need to move--well, clearly that's just courtesy.

"Do you know anyone who's off on the Perendale mission?" he asks, chewing pensively on the end of a quill. "I don't know if I'd recall this Hendon woman by sight, but if you know someone who's there, we can ask them if she's where she says she is. If not, we'll know something's up."

[faithlikeaseed]

"Ser Coupe's out there," Myr answers, reluctantly taking his hand from Simon's shoulder and stretching to get a crick out of his back. Should've found a chair, he thinks ruefully; standing for the whole time it took to sort through all those records was not the brightest idea. "Warden Serra and my-- Enchanter Vandelin, likewise."

He winces, faintly, and hopes as faintly Simon's not looking his direction; he hasn't slipped up that way in years and though it likely doesn't matter now--

Keep talking. "Though I think Ser Coupe'd be the best bet of all of them, given her position. Want me to check with her? --Though," he adds, suddenly thoughtful, "if Hendon does happen to be out there, we still might have a problem on our hands."

[paladingus]

He scowls, unseen, at the mention of Wren, even if he has no choice but to admit grudgingly that she'd be an ideal person to call. Especially if Myr's the one to do it. Warden Serra is the one he'd rather speak to, neutral and businesslike and free of baggage as that discussion could be, but while he would ordinarily pull a face at the third option and move on--

"Your what?" he asks, unable to swallow the question. Myr sounds as though he's talking about a secret lover he ought not mention, and of course it doesn't matter if he is; there's no reason why he ought to share such things with a sparring partner, and if he is fooling around with a notoriously volatile rebel troublemaker whom nobody Simon knows has ever said a good word about, it makes sense that Myr would want to keep it secret. It's hardly important, though, especially at a moment like this. It's not as if it matters. Not even if he's never once seen that bug-eyed little prick at a Chantry service.

"Never mind. Yes, you'd probably best ask her, but--how so?"

[faithlikeaseed]

"Cousin."

Because he knows--while denying precisely why--exactly what that question had meant, and the thought of somebody confusing his relationship with Van that particular way is disturbing enough to overcome his native caution. Hopefully a shared background in the Circles will equip Simon to understand that caution--because Myr's not going to linger overlong to explain it.

"As I see it, there's two--well, three--potential ways to look at this. Least interesting: Someone screwed up the scheduling and Hendon's wherever she's supposed to be right now. Or, she's out in Nevarra and someone here is using her name as cover. Or she's here and the assignment to Nevarra is cover. Whatever it is, though, knowing that someone using the name's out in Perendale tells us something, at least." He reaches for his crystal at that.

[paladingus]

"...oh." Yes, he understands without a moment's hesitation, his sense of vague undefined jealousy reorienting itself into a very different series of questions that now is not the time to ask. He can sate his curiosity later about just how different Hasmal really was from any Circle he's known.

"All right. If you don't terribly mind, I'll let you do the talking here." Myr knows why.

[faithlikeaseed]

His smile takes a turn for the sympathetic, should Simon look back to see it as he takes his crystal in-hand and steps back. "I don't mind." He knows why.

Fortunately, they're mopping up in Perendale when his call makes it through to Wren. Their exchange is brisk and business-like--he passes on word of what they've found and the information necessary (name, rank, serial--division, duty, base of origin) for identifying Hendon; she goes silent long enough to ask around and ascertain the guardswoman's presence with them. Word returns in short order: Lysaria Hendon's yet among the living out there in Nevarra and they're to continue the investigation in Kirkwall, soonest.

"You heard her," Myr says to Simon, tone wry, as he shuts the crystal off. "We'd best go see what our 'Hendon' here at home is up to."