player plot: who's a heretic now?

[thunderproof]

WHO: Adalia (thunderproof), Gwenaëlle (elegiaque), Iorveth (aensidhe), Kostos (exequy or exsecutus why do you and cee hate me, mj), Nari (nadasharillen), Solas (dirth)
WHAT: Temple of Falon'din
WHEN: Now
WHERE: Northern Orlais
NOTES: CW suicidal ideation, blood, general creepiness. If anything else comes up I'll edit, and if there's a CW you can think of while reading that I didn't include, lmk and I'll add it!

PLAYER PLOT: WHO'S A HERETIC NOW?

The ruins look, on the surface, much like any other Elven ruins might — crumbling stone structures overrun by plant life, chipped mosaics and tiled floors almost entirely hidden by centuries of overgrown underbrush. A quick investigation reveals nothing of note; this temple, it seems, had been picked over many times throughout the centuries, and anything of note has already been taken. The venture seems to have been pointless, at least for a few minutes.

Until someone stumbles upon a hidden stairwell, camouflaged in the underbrush and a secret to the original temple besides. It's a long journey down, lit only by magelight and the torches of the Inquisition, but as soon as the first foot steps down onto even ground, the Fade-green flickering of veilfire lights up a massive antechamber. The veil pricks at the skin, here, warping perception and sensation for those sensitive to its fluctuations, and embuing the whole room with a sense of foreboding solemnity for those who aren't. An eerie silence broken only by the sound of flowing water, and the musty scent of stale air make it clear: this place, whatever it is, hasn't been seen in centuries, if not millennia.

At the foot of the stairs is a landing butting up to a moat of dark liquid, fed by a pool set into a dais in the middle of the chamber. The pool itself burbles quietly, a waterfall spilling into it from the two cupped hands of a massive elven statue. The only way to reach the dais is to ford the river, but as soon as the party approaches, it becomes clear — the dark liquid within is not water, but blood, still fresh despite the millennia of abandonment.

On the journey to the temple, Solas told a story of Falon'Din, and the words seem more apt than they perhaps had at the time, given the weight of myth rather than truth:

It is said Falon'Din's appetite for adulation was so great, he began wars to amass more worshippers. The blood of those who wouldn't bow low filled lakes as wide as oceans.

Comments

[exequy]

[ DAMN RIGHT HE'S VERY PRETTY and also primarily, when it comes to that sort of thing, more of a venus fly trap than a predator, so even though Iorveth's face is perfectly adequate verging on admirable from this angle, he's safe from anything more than that silent evaluation. ]

You should lend them the words they do not already have.

[ Reclaiming lost languages via loan words from probably nonexistent other worlds. Someone can write a book about it someday. ]

Which means sacrifice, doin or abathow?

[ His pronunciation wouldn't have been great before the Nevarran-Orlesian muddle of his accent got ahold of it, anyway, but with that added in it's a particular mess. ]

[aenseidhe]

I've been told shemlen translates to 'quick children', and I don't find it terribly accurate for your people. It's a loan and a revision.

[ which is a joke. he would not ever seriously try to replace someone's heritage (at least, not elven heritage, hurr hurr). but also, your people are slow and too rude to be children.

And there is a visible flinch for that pronunciation. my dude, stop trying. ]

The second one. No need to repeat it.