[CLOSED] SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE

[katabasis]

WHO: Tertia, Derrica, Redvers, Stephen Strange, Viktor, & Jayce
WHAT: Riftwatch delivers support and supplies to the People of the Silent Plains
WHEN: Early Kingsway
WHERE: The Silent Plains and the Hundred Pillars, the Tevinter Imperium
NOTES: OOC Info; please include content warnings in your subject lines if applicable.

In the last days before Kingsway, a new face appears in the Gallows. Toma Cassel, hailing from Rivain, is in his late forties and has an unhurried air that sits at odds with a wiry, almost too-slim frame. If not for the sword and various armor fragments that communicate his once-association with the Templar Order, he might be an aging field hand or the lean kind of dock worker. He's straight forward about his presence here in Kirkwall—Riftwatch seems to have its head on the most straight, and he'd like to help where he can.

Four days later, a formal escort is assembled to see Cassel, a collection of (cheap but reasonably effective) weaponry scraped out of the Gallows' armory, some basic first aid supplies, and a stock of Research Division-devised supplies such as alchemical hand bombs, artificer's trap components, and Fade-touched poisons delivered safely across the Imperium's border where they might aid the People of the Silent Plains—a rebel faction lurking in the wilds of the Tevinter composed primarily of ex-enslaved.

The passage by griffon into Tevinter is uneventful, studded with a few nights of camping. Guided by Tertia, who is herself a member of the People, Riftwatch eventually successfully links up with a band of approximately twenty ex-enslaved rebels in the rolling, largely treeless plains which abuts Tevinter's southern border.

The group they meet is a mix of elves and humans, albeit (unsurprisingly) primarily the former. They're fairly ragtag—their equipment and supplies have largely been scavenged off Tevinter and Anders soldiers they've killed, or from raiding supply caravans on the roads. Given their cobbled together appearance, it's somewhat surprising that they're as organized and effective as they are. They've based their system of leadership off of Nocen Sea pirates (Tertia's not the only Flint and Silver fangirl in this group), with their general and lieutenant having been elected by general acclaim among their fellow rebels, and with anyone possessing the right to call a vote to oust or affirm those positions as they see fit.

Their current general is Irene, an elven woman in her 40s with shorn hair and sinewy muscle, a rigorous attentiveness that is kind but not nice, and a reputation for being a wanted criminal (having murdered her master). She keeps the People—of which these twenty are only a fraction—nomadic and mobile. They seem to have no permanent base, and part of the reason they've been as effective as they are is that they've perfected the ability to disappear and survive in the inhospitable landscape of the Silent Plains for long stretches of time.

Though guarded, Tertia has consistently written to the People about Riftwatch's decency and so they'll get plenty of benefit of the doubt. Hardcore survivalists, demonstrations of hospitality and comfort are lean and sparing. There is no anti-mage sentiment here; mages are so common in Tevinter that the People consider their enemy the magisters more than they do any mage. It speaks to the frank sensibility at play—an instinct that Riftwatch is playing to by delivering people and supplies geared to assisting their work of killing slavers and robbing supplies being moved to and from the occupied Marches.

During their time with the People, Riftwatch will be responsible for anything from helping to scramble together a training program for the People's less than martially adept members, hunting the lithe ruminants that populate the plain in order to make up for all these additional mouths to feed, repairing, improving and adapting equipment, and running the People's armorer through the various items that Riftwatch is providing. This is in part a diplomatic effort, and building relationships and trust is as important as handing over an armful of swords.

To that end, when news of a Tevinter military caravan passing through Hasmal and into Tevinter by way of a passage through the Hundred Pillar foothills reaches the temporary encampment, it's critical that Riftwatch join in the effort to overthrow the caravan. They'll be accompanied Cassel and roughly 10 members of the People's group, the most prominent of which are Salonae, a human woman in her late thirties with a wide mouth, a quick laugh, and a murderous knife, and Eryx, a young elven mage in his early twenties whose good looks and youthful sense of melodramatic ennui are both amplified by the scar that splits his forehead.

The caravan proves to be a long string of what appears to be loot from the war front, being escorted by what at first appears to be a debilitating number of Tevinter soldiers. But the People (and Riftwatch) have the landscape, a cache of new equipment and supplies, and the element of surprise on their side. With a little luck, it's just possible that they might find themselves on the winning side of the fight, and thus uncover the caravan's precious cargo.

Comments

[portalling]

It’s useful, having a big strapping lad with blacksmith arms to move things for them. He should make Jayce haul heavy things around the workroom and the infirmary more often.

And the fact that they don’t hesitate to start examining and touching the stones is part of why he likes these two so much: they’re all cut from the same cloth, the sort of people who can’t wait to sink their teeth into unexplained magical phenomena.

“Please do.” Strange moves aside as Jayce hops up into the wagon and starts to reach into the crates, hefting out the fragments.

He’s bad at the political part of this, but after a moment, he makes sure to mention: “I didn’t want it to seem like we were stealing supplies from the People. No one could work out what the hell these things were on the field, so I told them that we’re good at this particular type of research; that we have an entire working division accustomed to studying magical artifacts, and so we were going to take a look. Hopefully try to figure it out for them.”

The shared understanding: that there was no chance of squirrelling away an entire wagon unnoticed, but it’s their expertise buying them a seat at the table, giving them the room to investigate here.

[grindset]

These fragments aren't so heavy that he can't lift them—at a glance he'd say some weigh less than the crates they were brought in—and so he does, removing one irregular shape from its straw-lined cradle before Jayce can unload it.

As he moves out of the way, he says, "I suggest you first lay a few of those lids down as a working surface."

This is distinctly an instruction couched as suggestion. Does it fall under the category of Yeah, No Shit? Almost certainly.

To the doctor, then: "We'll figure it out." He's releasing the grip of his crutch, turning the fragment over in both hands in search of distinguishing features—some pattern in the inlays, perhaps—any sign of prior use— "Whether we can achieve that out here remains to be seen."

[pathlit]

The suggestion is met with nary an acknowledgement; Jayce simply and wordlessly does as instructed. So, investigating the function of these artifacts, if they possess such a thing, is meant to foster more cooperation between the People and Riftwatch? Makes sense; these vengeful, freed slaves can negatively impact Tevinter with more political freedom than Riftwatch.

Crouched next to the pieces, he lifts one here, another there, holding them up to another, considering. When he finds two pieces of stone whose inlays appear continuous, he thinks this might just be a little inconvenient to hold together while trying to match the rest. Lifting his head, he cocks a brow at Viktor in silent query.

[portalling]

The sorcerer had taken a seat on a nearby (deeply unmagical) boulder to drink his water while they begin their investigation, as if he’d just let two animals loose to sink their teeth into this mystery and rip it apart, whatever it is. He’s distantly aware that he should rest. His feet ache and he’s exhausted from all the expenditure of magical energy during the earlier battle,

but, still, Strange can’t resist peering over as they start to move the pieces and lay them out on the lids as a makeshift worktable. Even as they work, he finds his gaze drifting between both Jayce and Viktor. He doesn’t know either of the two men well, but they’ve spent months in the same workroom and he’s vaguely accustomed to what they’re normally like: finishing each others’ sentences, that automatic ebb-and-flow of two people who work well together. And this time, the vibes are weird. Strange isn’t an expert in interpreting other people or reading those silent looks, but even he can tell that the vibes are weird. The urge is there to simply rip off the band-aid, ask what the hell is up with you two, but instead he keeps his attention on the artifact and opts for the more tactful:

“Do the patterns match? I never had the patience for jigsaw puzzles.”

[grindset]

The vibes are indeed weird. For his part, Viktor is taking a parallel route to Strange—that is, going on as though no weird vibes are detectable, even as he obliquely perpetuates them. The cooperative cold shoulder thing Jayce is doing in response is, for the record, quite annoying. And so, having ignored the silent query just long enough to indicate it's on purpose, he now follows Jayce to the makeshift stage, fragment in hand.

Of the patterns, he says, "That does seem likely."

As Jayce crouches there, Viktor holds the piece of stone nearer his face—this isn't an irritation tactic, he simply wants him to take it. "Look for wear marks, too—like this edge, here. They may be faint." This one, at least, is very faint.

[pathlit]

Despite the fact that Disney's Frozen does not exist in Runeterra, the years of interacting with politicians and wealthy patrons for the sake of Hextech has taught Jayce a certain level of conceal, don't feel -- enough to maintain appearances, anyway. It is this skill, in addition to the Doctor's request, that keeps Jayce in check despite the slight furrow to his brow when it becomes obvious that Viktor is intentionally ignoring him.

"Sure," he says, a casual, throw-away remark to avoid too-long of a silence on his end, though he thinks the suspected pattern is of greater diagnostic value -- but as he keeps an eye out for both factors, and does indeed show, through the rearranging of pieces, that there is a pattern -- the pieces remain individual.