[CLOSED] OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS

[katabasis]

WHO: Marcus, Julius, Tsenka, Silver, Matthias
WHAT: Hunting apostates
WHEN: Sometime in Harvestmere
WHERE: Somewhere in Wildervale
NOTES: OOC Info

Despite what the words 'isolationist mages' might imply, it's difficult for any group of people to completely fall off the map—particularly, when they've arranged to leave behind a forwarding address. Returning to the abandoned homestead the group once occupied reveals a concealed cipher, a message written in some old field code from the days of the Mage-Templar war, which points them roughly in the right direction. With that context in mind, little rumors picked up on the road or in public houses while moving in it take on new life.

A woman traveling with children who neither look like her or one another could be refugees from anywhere, or it could be a mage passing through with a number of young charges. A stranger who owns no land appears with a set of tools for repair, stays for two days until the job is done, and then disappears again. A ghost story about screams heard coming out of some dark wood, recounted in a tiny tavern by a shepherd fresh from fields which lie at the edge of the trees, might be a particularly over-embellished tale of an animal's wail or it might be someone's clever idea of discouraging anyone from traveling certain wooded paths.

Indeed, given a few hours travel through that dark wood during daylight hours and the group will eventually catch sight of a cluster of scraggly buildings in various states of salvage through the trees.

Comments

[overharrowed]

"I would be very shocked if the others are different in that regard," Julius said. "The Conclave was a vivid reminder that it's not a coincidence that many of the mages who have access to real resources see no particular problem with a continuation of the Circles."

He's not sure John knows his past well enough to know it's meant to be an inclusive remark, but it is. No one in Kinloch Hold, or possibly Ferelden, was rich by the standards of Nevarra or Orlais; still, he's seen enough of the world since to know that the offer of comfort is a quick way to starve a rebellion of some of its supporters.

"But," he adds, "they'll be more vulnerable fully isolated. Finding them, carefully, could give some of them more of a chance."