the cave is filling, fills

[chainlightning]

WHO: Merrill, Inessa, Kain, Six, Jester, Dolores, Anders
WHAT: Red lyrium, rock wraiths, and tunnel collapses.
WHEN: mid-month-ish
WHERE: the Deep Roads
NOTES: Bartrand's Folly Assigment & where I got the cut text from

Comments

[somethingyettocome]

Dolores is not given to arguing with the group, it's not in her nature to disagree with guests. She does give them a strange look as they debate, however, and finally works up the nerve to say something. Her descent from the milder opinions is clear in her tone.

"Yall want to board it up and call it done?" Dolores asks sounding a bit aghast. "This place is poisonous and full of monsters, a few rocks leaned to isn't going to stop anyone or anything from coming through here."

She crosses her arms and shakes her head.

"We can't stop them from reopening it, not if they have a mind to, but the least we can do is cut off the paths to and from this awful place. Collapse the way behind us, if not the whole thing."

[justice_is_blond]

He exhales, looking at the place. "This should be sealed off... but it is not the only source of red lyrium, and what if collapsing it causes other things to collapse as well? I'm no expert on the stability of caves. We could bring it down on top of us."

There's more to think about than just closing it off, even if it makes sense to close the place off somehow. "If we seal it, they'll find another way in. We need to make a headache for the smugglers without potentially killing us, so maybe rocks stacked along with destroying all of their tools that we find?"

[chainlightning]

"We'll have to block some of the tunnels, for sure, but- I mean, I don't know how to safely collapse sections of the Deep Roads. Anders is right; I don't want to accidentally trap us here."

But Anders isn't the only person who's right, and Merrill sighs, rubbing the back of her head.

"We should ask the dwarves - probably send something to Orzammar, since they'd probably care the most. Granted, then there's the risk of someone grabbing something they shouldn't, and I don't know that there's a way in here that they could get to without going to the surface." As an aside, for the Rifters, she adds, "Orzammar dwarves aren't allowed back if they see the sun, usually."

But that takes time; time they don't necessarily have. "I mean, the way in that we took- that's close enough to Kirkwall that there could be Inquisition forces watching it. And we'll definitely need to destroy the smuggling tools."

[circleprodigy]

The debate -both outer and inner- has Inessa frowning and pacing, as her mabari peers at every person speaking in turn. She wishes Christine was here to weigh on this, considering it touches on the red lyrium project, but as assistant leader her own voice will have to do for now. A report can always be made later, once they decide.

"As much as I'm in favor of a collapse, that's probably best done by those who know how to safely manage such things afterward. No one here seems to be an expert on that, so perhaps we should focus on other means. I have no wish to bury any of us." In death, sacrifice...but many of the others here aren't Grey Wardens, and that should be a last resort, not a first.

"Is that where we should start, then? Destroying the smuggling tools, then moving the rocks? We can't just wait for Orzammar to decide what to do, but that will buy us some time and we have more than enough mages to help energize them."

[the_cleric]

"I want to take the tools." Jester is already swinging her pink haversack around and tugging at the top to open it. "Some of them, anyways. If we steal the tools, they won't be able to use them either, right? And we'll have smuggler's tools."

The rocks they're talking about moving are pretty big, and Jester sizes them up. "I can help move rocks, too. I am like, really really strong. Who will we send to Orzammer? Some diplomat or something? Or can we go, since we were here?"

It is so weird and sad to think of someone not being able to ever see the sun. Even Jester got to see the sun, when she was little, and she was basically raised in one room. It would be nice to help them, maybe. If they want help and can't send anyone here themselves.

[in_death_sacrifice]

"Take them or destroy them, it makes little difference as long as those tools don't remain here." Kain isn't too concerned about the fate of those tools, overall, and really wouldn't they be better off being put to some use? It's really just the lyrium that has him uneasy. Which is why he's part of the red lyrium team as well, oddly... but he does like opportunities to destroy it. That's his main motivation, anyway.

Kain eyes the rocks and looks over at the others. "There seem to be enough of us capable of moving the rocks, then. We could probably finish the task in a timely manner. As for contacting the dwarves... I would suggest bringing along someone in diplomacy, or at least someone who has a good connection to them." Negotiations and such are far from his strong suit, although he would certainly go if it was required.

[chainlightning]

"Unless the tools are tainted," Merrill points out, with an apologetic glance at Jester. She doesn't want her friend to fall prey to the red lyrium. She sighs again, rubbing a hand through her hair.

"Orzammar would have the knowledge to seal the tunnels more permanently. We can seal what we can - Anders and Inessa and I might be able to put up some magical barriers, too." She thinks. Maybe. "Enough to, at the very least, make it very difficult for someone else to get in here. If I have to guard the way that we took in until we hear something from Orzammar, then fine."

But she will not be responsible for another people losing their culture, their history.