Lost

[justice_is_blond]

WHO: Myr, Prompto, Cyril, Vandelin
WHAT: A report of missing children
WHEN: Current
WHERE: Ferelden
NOTES: Open plotting thread here.

An anonymous report has come in that several children of mages who were housed in Ferelden went missing recently, the dorm they lived in burned to the ground with the guards slaughtered

Comments

On the Road Again

[justice_is_blond]

[For all your hanging-out needs]

ota

[samahl]

Cyril takes the matter of missing children pretty seriously, but to stay gloomy on the trip is going to put them all on edge. That might end up making them useless when if it comes down to fighting - and it probably will. Everything in Thedas does.

"Does anyone know any good songs?" he asks, mostly as a joke.

[faithlikeaseed]

After the incident with the warehouse last year, Myr's still a little tender around the idea of missing children; it weighs heavy on his mood, even though the company's near the best he could ask for such a mission. Two friends and his cousin--what's not to like about that?

Cyril's question snaps his attention round from gloomy internal musing; any mention of songs is a great way to get Myr's attention. "We-ell," he begins, turning a rueful smile in ... it's not Vandelin's direction but he tries. "I think our particular favorite," i.e. 'Bad Children Get Eaten,' "might be in poor taste on this trip. But I've a Starkhavener ballad that isn't half-bad--'I Wish I Was in Ferelden'."

[samahl]

"Who in the world wishes for that?" Cyril teases, clearly not meaning it seriously.

"Let's hear it."

Nearly there

[justice_is_blond]

Siobhan meets them on the road as it carves its way through the woods, two hours out from several ruined villages. She’s a little wary, looking the four over, but they match the description given so she nods.

“You’re sent from Kirkwall, then?” She’s on foot, seemingly alone, and her body language is relaxed enough despite how wide-eyed she looks.

[samahl]

Now is the time to take things seriously. He wants to make sure that she knows that they are indeed here to help. He nods at her question.

"We are," he says. "And we're here to help."

[crowncitizen]

"Yes ma'am." The thought of these kids being missing and unaccounted for makes Prompto beyond uneasy. And gods know what has happened to them between when their dorm burned and now. "What do you know about the missing kids? Does anyone have like, any idea where they were taken?"

[faithlikeaseed]

Myr's content to let the others take the lead on this one, standing to the back of the group with his staff grounded and hands folded around it. He can't see the ruin of the dormitory--but there's lingering scents of smoke in the air, and dried blood, and charred flesh. It's a sickening mix and puts his nerves on edge, brings a silent prayer to the Maker to mind: Let them be safe, wherever they are. Let us find them, Maker and Preserver of all.

[misdirection_hex]

This isn't a diplomatic mission, nor anything to do with Northern Powers, and Vandelin is therefore not precisely in his realm of expertise, but he can't help but feel responsible for these children's safety on a deeply personal level. He's the only full enchanter in the group, the one who ought to be protecting mage children when the templars won't, and he can't help but envision the lost ones with the faces of all his old apprentices, scattered to the winds now as they are.

(And isn't that, too, in part his fault? In fighting to free them, has he led any of them to their deaths?)

Prompto's questions are a good start, and he leaves them there to build on. "Can you also tell us about the state of the guards? How were they killed?"