Player Plot: Blue Gold

[keenly]

WHO: Colin, Cyril, Julius, Anders, and Barnabas.
WHAT: Colin's lyrium-dealing has drawn the ire of the Carta. His friends race to save him.
WHEN: Justinian 2
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: TWs for crime, hostage crud, everything to do with the Carta. Subtitle: "Sigh Hard."

You--

Your peddler friend came to the wrong city.

The game is over. The Carta is defending its territory. If you want your boy back, bring 500 sovereigns and his remaining lyrium to Lowtown as reparations for business lost by the Carta in the months he has been in Kirkwall. Not the stash in his store--we got that. Wherever the rest is, bring it to the cul-de-sac off the Blooming Rose in Hightown by dawn. Leave it in the barrel marked with a red X and go. If you linger afterward, you will be shot.

--"Len"

Comments

[justice_is_blond]

He picks up the box grimly, turning to look at the people coming in. Thankfully it's just two, and even more thankfully they're two he trusts.

"He hasn't been gone long, but he was supposed to be at the Clinic today and..." Anders gestures at the back room, and the gesture takes in the door, too. There's so little missing and he's more worried now that the box is clearly empty. How many knew Colin was dealing lyrium? How many Templars knew and might be upset that their dealer could take control of his own life and own phylactery now?

"There has to be something here that says who is responsible. Or suggests it." More than the lyrium being gone.

[overharrowed]

"This is... worrying." Julius seems instantly focused, even before he takes in the state of the shop. The explanation for that is in his hand: "There was a note --" He offers it to Anders, glancing at Cyril; they've not met, but if Anders is this relaxed in front of him, he assumes Anders has. Introductions can wait a moment.

[justice_is_blond]

He takes the note and feels both relief and more stress. Not Templars after all, but the Carta. That's a whole other realm of danger. At least the Carta probably won't habe started hurting Colin right away, unlike Templars.

"Of course they found out," he mutters. Len isn't either a familiar name or fake; Anders can't say if he's healed them before so he doesn't have a good in there. Varric is nowhere to be found either... but there is another dwarf with Carta connections.

"We need to find Barnabas. We've no way of getting the money and I don't know where Colin's other stash is, which means we need someone with Carta connections."

The glance from Julius to Cyril comes back to mind and he gestures at the men as he adds, "Julius, Cyril, Cyril, Julius. You're both good people." That should do. Any jokes about them both being good fun too can wait until after his apprentice is out of peril.

[samahl]

Cyril is trying to figure out what happened to Colin, but he manages to flash Julius a worry tinged smile. Usually, when he meets a new person he takes a moment to check them out, especially when they are male, but now he's really distracted by their missing friend.

"What's this?" he asks, as he bends down to pick up something by his feet. He picks up a small vial with a cord wrapped so tightly around it he can't make out what it contains. It looks as if it had been attached as if it was a necklace and broken off during a struggle. It doesn't seem to match any of the other broken pieces around, and Cyril can't recall ever having seen anything like it before in the shop.

He moves over to Anders to let him have a look.

[overharrowed]

"It looks like a phylactery," Julius observes, low, once he moves close enough to get a look. He doesn't try to take it from Cyril, but glances at Anders. He's willing to take "good people" at face value, but he also doesn't want to out Colin to Cyril by accident, if Cyril doesn't know about his past.

He also resists the temptation to ask incredulously if Anders knew Colin was undercutting the Carta; obviously he did. There's time for all sorts of lectures if -- when -- they retrieve Colin in one piece.

"Do either of you know Barnabas personally? I've heard the name, but we've not had the pleasure." And for all he's not deeply familiar with the Carta, he knows enough that 'just asking nicely' seems unlikely to get them very far without a pre-existing connection of some sort.

[justice_is_blond]

He eyes the phylactery the way a man dying from starvation would eye food that could be poisoned. It's everything they need to be free of... and there's no question about whether or not they'll use it with Colin's life in danger.

"It is," he grimly confirms. So much for his principles. And for secrecy. They may not have all that much time, and he's not going to waste that or energy dissembling.

"I've been to Barnabas' shop. He specializes in Rifter items and I try to identify what's magical or not. And what might be dangerous." Though looking at some of the items has taught him he's far out of his realm of expertise there. Anders folds the note carefully and tucks it into his belt pouch before shaking his head. "His shop is this way, unless either of you has a better contact. Let's?"

Between the note and the phylactery the image is all too clear and they've even got a way to find Colin. Dawn comes fast; there's no reason to waste time searching the shop for more leads.

i know we've moved on, but i want to make this one point about where the phylactery is?

[samahl]

Immediately, Cyril looks at the object in his hand with a certain level of disgust. "Here," he tells Anders as he hands it over. "I know your feelings on these things, and I understand why, but if anyone were to watch over it, they should be a mage." No non-mage should hold that power over Colin, if it belongs to him. He also doesn't out Colin, by hinting that he thinks he might know who it belongs to. He doesn't want to let that slip from him.

"And I say that plan works for me," so he easily follows after Anders now. "I've not had the pleasure of meeting this man just yet."

Tying a nice bow on it.

[justice_is_blond]

He takes the phylactery with regret on his face.

"Thank you," Anders says despite all of his misgivings about possessing someone else's phylactery. 'Not even once except in certain circumstances' doesn't have the same strength behind it as 'destroy them all' and he feels like they're losing something by using this. But Colin may gain from it, so he carefully pockets the phylactery and nods grimly before they head out.