faderift | I dream of gardens in the desert sand

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I dream of gardens in the desert sand

WHO: Rachette Dakal, Salvatore, Dismas, Clint Barton, Fenris, and a couple of NPC redshirts
WHAT: Scout the Western Approach
WHEN: After leaving the Emprise du Lion group past the Frostbacks
WHERE: Western Approach, aka video game desert, near Griffon Wing Keep
NOTES: Violence, needless redshirt death (maybe), bickering

a. On the approach
Tracking the Wardens from the Highway to the desert, playing pretend as mere merchants and fellow travelers along the way. Possibly gaining some gossip as to the whereabouts of the Wardens. When they finally get there, it's clear Venatori are about.

b. Cave and cliffs
Setting up camp. A Tevinter palace in the cliffs! (Guarded by Venatori. Who wants to try and sneak it?) More Venatori behind an extremely suspicious and extremely unbreakable door in the cliffside. Hanging out in their cave and exploring it. Mines, resources, places to map and scout.

c. Griffon Wing Keep
Scouting it out. Watching the Wardens. Hopefully able to get close enough to get some idea of what they're up to without tipping them off. Watching them start to leave for the Fortress. Hmmm, suspicious!

d. Margot
A young Warden recruit on the run, stumbling on the group. Please let her go with you and away from all these blood sacrifices! (And possibly blow the mission by tipping off the Wardens!)

e. Scouting and trouble
Sulfur pits, ugh. Also, dragons. Or singular dragon. Look, there is a dragon somewhere around here, you're sure of it. Resources! Mapping! Getting food and water please it's a desert it sucks it's dangerous. Venatori stumbling on the group--what do?

f. Wildcard
For all your None Of The Above needs.

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B.

He has sand in places sand should never be. But that’s okay. Because this is amazing. Exciting. They are camping in a cave. He takes a break from setting up to dump the sand from his boots, then pulls out a little notebook he’s been jotting notes in periodically since they’ve left Skyhold. In the back is a rough sketch of a map of Thedas. He marks an X over the Western Approach. The novelty of being a new place will wear off soon, but for now he’s awestruck.

C.

So that was Griffon Wing Keep. Even from a distance, it was intimidating. Salvatore thought so, anyway. Who designed that thing? As if a fortress full of Grey Wardens wasn’t threat enough. The giant spikes were overkill, really.

“Who wants to get closer?”

"We need to know what they're up to." It's not hissed, not really, but there's still a serious undercurrent of steel in Rachette's tone, focused on the objective in her mind. "Just be mindful that they don't catch you wandering about in the open."

"Yeah. Right." There was an unfortunate amount of out in the open surrounding the keep. "Think we could up those rocks on its backside without being noticed?"

"I think I can." Maybe that sounded haughty, but she felt it to be true. "Whether you think your skills are up to the task is in your hands." She waits only a beat before slinking on the move. They could take a wide way to the back, and even if they were spotted from a distance, with as many Venatori about as there are, they might just be ignored.

"Only one way to find out." There's a first time for everything, right? She's already on the move, so she might miss his grin as he follows a few steps behind. His staff makes for a good walking stick on the uneven ground. "Do you smell smoke?"

"And something else." She sniffs at the air as they move, face scrunched up. "Something like meat?" They do have a good number of mouths to feed. "Or blood." To be fair, she's more used to smelling the decaying blood of darkspawn, but there's still something in the air that could either be innocuous or...something else."

"There's a comfort." Not one with a whole lot of experience with various degrees of smoke-meat-burning flesh-smell, he nods along with an agreeable hum. He would note that it didn't smell like a usual roast a critter over a fire-fire. The plume of smoke curling up from behind the walls seemed too large to be from a cookfire as well, even one for a large army. Too ominous. More so when they come around their wide circle and start to make their way closer to the back of the fortress.

She stays as low, small, yet swift as she can manage. For a dwarf, that's not terribly difficult. But rather than barge in, even through the back, probably dying in the process, she holds up behind whatever rock gives her some cover, peering around it for any more details. "These people, they burn their dead, don't they?" Could it be some giant funeral pyre? It's an option, even if it's an optimistic one.

Sal is not as small as a dwarf, but he's not big either. He has to crouch down to utilize the rocks, and hey, his cloak is nearly the same shade, so that's convenient. "I think so. I think that may be what this is." All signs point to yes. But why so many bodies?

Strange surface rituals. Human rituals. But to each their own. She can't imagine not being taken back to the Stone, but then again...well, according to everyone she knew, the Stone isn't going to accept her anymore. Maybe she might as well burn.

She shakes that thought out of her head. "Surely they can't have so many dead. They are meant to be quite fierce warriors." Her nose wrinkles. "Are there any other rituals that might be happening? Could they be a sacrifice...?"

D

Dismas was rather critical of the young lady, of course. But she could still prove to be of some use. Perhaps as a bargaining chip, or as well of information. Alternatively she could also cause them no small amount of trouble as well. The Wardens are able to sense the Taint, after all. So who's to say that they can't feel some small measure of the stuff within her body? Still, her uses could outweigh the cost....

"I say we keep her."

E

The smell of sulfur bit his nose harshly, even with the scarf wrapped around his face. It was disgusting, and dulled one of his senses something fierce as a result. One, not all, there were still things that he could pick up on, things only a rogue with his experience could pick up on, there was the obvious signs of dragons, yes, but there was also human activity as well from footprints, to empty bottles and ejected...waste that he nearly stepped in, all too obvious.

Then there was the distant sound of one of his alarm bells being tripped by an outsider. "We have company." He muttered to the group."

"She's trouble." She couldn't even say it was her general distaste for the Grey Wardens (who are now participating in blood rituals, that never ends well) that guided her decision. "They're likely to notice one of their own is gone and go looking. And that's if she isn't a potential spy."

All right, this young lady didn't exactly look like a spy. More like a scared girl in over her head. It was a little paranoid. "Could they be able to follow her?" Her, specifically, and not them. She had enough faith in their collective skills to think they wouldn't get themselves caught so easily.

"She's an asset." He grunted in contention. He really couldn't care about her being a Warden, so long as she had something to offer to the group. The question as to whether or not she could be followed was also a rather large one as well. Could she be followed? If so then they may as well take what they need from her now before sending her on her way.

Most preferably to the Inquisition.

Fenris had also heard the alarm bell going off, and had stood up, sword in hand, ready for action. "Venatori?" An elf could hope, after all.

"Perhaps, best to prepare ourselves." Quickly and quietly, he slunk away to hide in some brush, if they were then he'd like to at least get the jump on them before they do to him.

And his partners of course!

Fenris perhaps wasn't so quiet as Dismas, but he was perfectly capable of being cunning and unseen - until he wanted to be. An advantage to going barefoot most of the time. He padded around the edge of the camp, not hiding, but not drawing attention to himself. He could make himself a target if need be.

Well so long as he didn't immediately rush out and instead played it smart, then this knife-ear would just fine with Dismas. Above all else, the thief rather like living, and being overwhelmed kind of dampened that plan, or made it a bit more difficult to enact.

But hey, lo and behold, a group of Venatori do appear! It seemed to be rather small, and the two of them do have the element of surprise now, unlike before. Dismas goes ahead and knocks an arrow and gets ready to fight.

Fenris faded out, using the brands to become wraithlike, meaning he wasn't seen as he crept closer to the group. A small group, indeed, easily dealt with. Hoping that his companion was ready, he faded back in, swinging that giant sword of his, easily lopping the head off the nearest Venatori.

Fenris wouldn't need to wait for long, as Dismas almost instantly launched an arrow at the head of one of the men further to the back so the others don't see one of their fellows crumble to the ground. Silently he knocked another arrow and prepared to let it fly towards whatever target the elf doesn't go for next.

Good. Someone who was as anxious to kill as he was. Fenris let himself forget about everything except killing, trusting his new found friend to keep up with him.

B

Venatori. It was like he could smell them. The whole place reeked of Tevinter. When he agreed to help out with the mission (it seemed the thing to do, and it got him out of Skyhold for a while), he underestimated the sheer amount of Tevinter influence that was here.

He wasn't sulking at not being allowed to go and kill them, but it was close. Sulking in all but name. "I still say we should go and slit their throats before they creep up on us."

D

He didn't trust this Warden. Didn't really trust any Warden, even though Hawke had. Why should they go and follow her? But it would appear he was outnumbered in this matter, and with a sound of disgust he wandered over to the edge of their camp, in part to watch out and make sure she weren't followed, but in part to watch this Warden silently, waiting.

Paranoia and Fenris seem to go hand in hand.

"Aren't you just a ray of sunshine."

Clint's not a big fan of Tevinter either; maybe it was something in the water up in Minrathous that seemed to make them insufferable, or the fact that mages were mostly insufferable by nature, but something rubbed him the wrong way about them. Evil mages just seemed to be so cliche.

"Easier would be an arrow to the neck."

Fenris cocked his head to one side, looking out into the desert at where there were most definitely Venatori hiding, then back at Clint. "It would be silent. Not as much fun as taking their heads off, but I could live with it."

He truly was giving it serious consideration.

"Not as bloody, either, but sometimes you have to make compromise."

The archer shrugs, holding onto the limb of his bow, tugging it slightly against his chest. "We should be doing something instead of just waiting here."

Ah, nothing quite like fighting and ending up absolutely covered in blood.

"I agree," Fenris said, shifting slightly, shuffling on the spot. "Perhaps scouting to find out the camps?" Because then they could avoid them, of course. Not raid them later.

Clint would rather kill a bunch of Venatori and raid their camps than spare them. They've caused way too many problems for his liking. "Scout their camps to find some decent food. Something the sand hasn't gotten into."

He's really beginning to hate the sand.

Sal trusts the Warden. But Sal trusts just about everyone. She could be useful. More, he's worried what will happen to her if they send her away.

Once he'd voiced his opinion, he slides away. Big Important conversations really aren't his thing. He'd rather leave the big stuff to other people. So he wanders over to where Fenris has gone.

"You're not sulking, are you?"

"I do not sulk." He was very precise about that. He may do many things, including brood, but he most definitely did not sulk.

He glanced at Sal, unsure what to make of him in the time they have been in the Approach. "You aren't concerned she will turn on us?"

"But you are upset?" He shrugs, digs a hole in the dirt with the butt of his staff. He didn't come over here to change minds.

"Not really." He spares a glance over his shoulder at the Warden in question. "Doesn't seem the type." But then, he's an awful judge of character. Everyone deserves the benefit of a doubt. "Besides, if she does turn, don't you think we could handle it?"

"Concerned." Not upset over anything he would understand. Concerned that inevitably, it would all go wrong. Fenris just didn't express it very well.

"Have you seen many Wardens in action?" he asked, curious now. "Especially those that have got nothing to lose." Because she would fight harder than he might think. He was probably right, that they would have no trouble in taking her down, but he would much rather be safe in the long run.

Concerned was alright. Sal was concerned as well, though probably for different reasons.

He shakes his head, thinking it over. "Ahhh, no. None, really." Well, Sabriel. But she hadn't been a Warden back then, and training in the Circle hardly counted as 'in action'. "Still, she could be valuable."

Fenris was always concerned, especially since he'd been out here in the approach. Nothing he saw was helping assuage this.

"Valuable. Or a traitor." Wardens acting like this seemed completely out of character. Not that Fenris was always a great judge of character, but he was willing to admit his failings. Blood sacrifices would always put his hackles up.

"You." Pause for effect. "Are just a ball of sunshine."

Blood sacrifices should put anyone's hackles up. That seems like a normal reaction. He reaches to his side for a canteen and offers it to Fenris. "Water?"

He huffed out a brief chuckle. He knew what he was. If his travelling companions hadn't worked it out yet, that was their problem.

It wasn't wine, but it would quench the thirst for a little while. He took the canteen, opening it and taking a small sip - who knew when they would be able to fill them up next? Care was needed. "My thanks." He glanced over at Sal. "So why did you volunteer for this mission?" Small talk. He wasn't good at it, but it was a safe way to pass some time.

Oh, no. He'd worked it out. Pointing out the obvious was a pastime of his.

He nodded back at the thanks and gave the question a little thought. Then shrugged. "I wanted to see what was out here. It might be a poor way of going about it? Maybe not." There's just dirt, dirt, and more dirt all around them. And some scrubbly plants. But he looks kind of wistful staring out at them. "I've spent most my life inside walls. Any chance to see what I've missed out on, I'm going to take it." His gaze slides to the elf beside him. "Why did you come?"

He was used to people pointing out the obvious, and just shrugged it off. How people viewed him wasn't his problem, after all.

"There is only so much sitting around in the tavern I can take." A truth if ever he heard it. Still, if he was here, he might as well be useful, and you never knew when there might be some slavers. "I'm curious as to what the Venatori are doing out here."

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I dream of gardens in the desert sand

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D

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Sorry for being so slow.

Not a problem!

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Sneaks in late...

sneak sneak sneak B

=)

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