faderift | I have moved and I've kept on moving, proved the points that I needed proving

When one has studied as Morrigan has studied, hours can be spent in a place such as this, these relics and outposts with no true path to lead to them - did an eluvian once stand in these lands? Sam's voice gets her attention as she inspects the statues with the aid of the veilforce torch in her hand, staff still in the other out of habit.

"Elven," she replies near instantly but given where they are, that's hardly surprising though it bears closer inspection and so she approaches, kneeling and setting the torch down a safe distance away. "I have seen their like before, thought not where they should be."

Elven

The immediate response has Sam giving an amused snort and a slight roll of his eyes. Well he had figured that much out, but he still finds the answer humorous, mainly since he might have done the same.

"Not where... they should be? Are you saying it should be placed someplace else?"

"No, this one is where it should be, the others had been recovered from other such sites though tracing their provenance was somewhat impossible; too many only cared that they'd brought back some strange bauble." This man is a stranger to her so there's no way she'll say that they're just hanging around the Winter Palace in Orlais at present.

Besides, some baubles she brought back herself, sneaking into the palace with them much to Celene's delight.

"Still, one wonders if it was disturbed at any point, anyone might have found it before the entrance crumbled upon itself."

Well it was good to know that someone knew what it was, but that didn't exactly tell him what it was besides elven. Still, Sam waits to see if Morrigan would divulge any more, and only when it seems like she isn't does he press.

"So... what does it do? And by disturbed you mean... damaged or something?" He doesn't know elven ruins, and he's definitely not pretending to know, but he certainly wants to know if its something they have to be careful of.

"I cannot say." Much as it annoys her, she cannot. There are some things so old that there is no record of them and this place is a wreck; the bones, the symbols on the floor drawn in blood - all of it means that any number of folk could have lived here once. "Perhaps the Avvar held to this place, though not my area of expertise there could be a suggestion of it - see the ram's head?"

Not to mention the mabari and surely that must mean Ferelden influences at some point in the past.

"As for disturbed, I only meant that I believe it has been moved. Such a thing should not simply be sat upon the floor. There is a power within it, can you not feel it too?"

"Oh, I definitely can sense something from it." The spirits were particularly chatty about it, too, even if he couldn't understand anything they said. "Pretty much why I'm not touching it. It does something and I don't know what." And it seemed that Morrigan didn't know either, which makes him doubly sure not to do anything with it until it had been looked at more.

"Why do you think it might be on the floor? It does seem weird something like that would just be here, rather than on a pedestal."

"All the more reason to find out."

And that's what they're going to do, though whether it's here or Skyhold, she's not actually sure of the final plan.

"It could be that whatever it was placed upon, if it was, was damaged and destroyed though I see no evidence of that - wood might be lost to time, but stone should endure. I see no damage, it looks very much like those I have seen before." From where she comes to kneel, she can skim her hands over it, enough to feel the magic more strongly but not enough to do anything, not without her own magic, making sure there are no scrapes, no chips or damaged parts. "Or it could be that it was brought to this place by others, perhaps smuggled, or hidden."

Somewhere as out of the way as this? Who would look for it and she sees nowhere an eluvian might have stood.

Edited 2016-01-28 11:30 (UTC)

Well there didn't seem to be any wood, stone or metal that the thing could have been on before so it must have been on the floor from the get go. "Seems like a weird place to hide it if they just left it out in the open." Even though he doesn't plan on touching it, Sam does move closer to look over Morrigan's shoulder at it while she runs her hands over it.

"There were demons in here. Do you suppose they were drawn here by this thing or maybe something else that the device is supposed to react to?"

"If this place once belonged to the ancient elves then tis more likely that it would have been harder to find, there are no ancient elven roads after all." And if there is one matter where she is absolutely the expert, then she would say that because of the eluvians. "It might have been left behind, or perhaps if it was moved then those discovering it had no clue as to what it did."

She moves enough to give him a better look, if the former Circle mages are accompanying everyone else on missions and assignments then true hands-on experience can only be good for them.

"Part of me wonders as to the markings on the floor - they look to be made in blood, and there are all the skulls and bones piled about the place. If there was a sacrifice here in the past then they might be drawn to it. The Veil would be thin if such a thing had taken place here, but this seems inactive, there would be little to lure them closer. Demons desire something when they come here, and they cannot possess this object."

"So... are we to figure what it is here or hope it stays inactive and take it with us?"

Seeing Morrigan move to allow him to look at the device better, Sam takes the chance to come closer and squat down. It was tempting to offer that maybe the device was some form of magical trap to lure spirits, but since it was inactive it seemed silly to even consider it.

"So was that a blood magic ritual? Something that might have permanently thinned the veil here and acted up because of the Breach?"

"If it can be moved, we should take it. We know where it came from so if necessary it can be returned and in Skyhold there are more researchers, more materials and safer conditions."

After all, anything could appear in here, more demons, bandits, the native wildlife, even any bands of mages and Templars that might still be hiding, still nursing a grudge. Skyhold means they can document it better for the future and she'd prefer that route. If not well, she's spent much of the last while disappearing and reappearing with baubles for Celene, this would be simple work to take.

"I cannot say, it would appear so, alas all we can do for the moment is speculate upon it. The ancient elves used blood magic, that much is known, mages from Tevinter might have come here or anyone seeking refuge, Alamarri, Avvar, but they were here and waiting without a rift to allow them through and none nearby. And the Veil does feel different here, or more different than it has of late."

"Well you mentioned you've seen these things relocated before so we should be able to move it, right? Or is it a matter of making sure it doesn't activate during the process?" Taking it to Skyhold did sound like a better idea than staying here and trying it out. While they had a decently sized party they didn't quite the people or materials to be ready for anything that could happen.

The ancient elves used blood magic? "Like they used it secretly, or do you mean it was a prominent type of magic they utilized?" Perhaps it was silly to ask, but Morrigan seemed like she knew a fair amount about the culture. "So the demons down here have probably been here for a while then if there wasn't a rift." And probably stayed here because of the way the Veil felt in this place.

“There are enough of us to make it more than possible, it would require the touch of magic to activate, the will to do so. So long as the proper care and precautions are taken then all should be well.” Certain people might have a fit but Morrigan would argue that allowing Templars to roam Skyhold, Templars supplied with lyrium, is likely to cause more harm than one artifact.

Shrugging, she’s reminded of her discussion with Norrington and she rises, walking to inspect the symbols on the floor, to see if there’s anything she recognises. “Blood magic is not always what the Circle teaches you, and given we speak of magical bloodlines, that it runs through us, then all magic could be considered blood magic. Not just the sort that has you slicing your arm or bleeding slaves to bend and twist minds and lure demons closer. What may be abhorrent now would have meant so little to them, tis Tevinter and the Chantry who have given blood magic the name it bears today.” In response to his question though she can’t give a precise answer, instead simply sighing at the markings. “Any guess is as good as another, had it been more than shades and we with the proper preparation we might have learned something though most likely not. All we can do is speculate and perhaps in time someone will know enough history on this area to guide us down the right road. But I would very much doubt it.”

So him just touching it was not going to set the thing off, not unless he used a bit of magic and encouraged it? Well that was good to know. Even so the vibes he was getting from the device don't sit very well with him, and for that Sam doesn't try to touch it until he's told to.

At the mention that all magic would be blood magic, Sam stands goes to say something, though stops short and quickly closes it. She... had a point. If he really thought about it there were plenty of things that probably was blood magic in a way - like when they took their blood for phylacteries. Still, even though Morrigan had a point and had valid arguments, the idea still left a sour taste on his tongue. Even so, he was curious to what else she had to say.

Not exactly the time or place though - perhaps later. "We should see what the others have found and decide what we're doing with the stuff."

One major concern that she does have is what it might attract when the distance between here and Skyhold is hardly inconsiderable, and she would prefer not to do as she would with Celene. To appear past the guards in Orlais and to the side of the Empress was to leave them all gaping, to flummox them utterly. Skyhold has old friends and those who know her, know the truth behind the tales, it is not so easy to slip between spaces.

Glancing up, she watches him carefully before slipping paper from a pouch at her waist, beginning to copy the design lest it slip from her mind. "Magic is magic, much is down to superstition - they say washing your feet in winter will make you catch cold in the head. So much of the Chantry comes from long after Andraste was dead. Tevinter practiced blood magic and so that made it evil, I would never condone what they have done but death but burning a person alive, boiling the blood in their veins? Always the distinctions."

And never for the benefit of mages, once they're old enough then they become aware of the redundancy. Or outside they do, but the Chantry will continue to put names on things for their own comfort and to stop anything developing organically.

"As you wish, I shall make a sketch of this if you wish to call others over or investigate yourself."

Her reasoning, statements and questions were sound and there is little that Sam has to say against it. Perhaps blood magic had been something different at one point, maybe it had been Tevinters or the Chantry that made it what it was now, but even so Sam cannot see it being something to openly accept.

"I'll leave you to your sketch then." Nodding his head to Morrigan, Sam goes to see what the others are doing and get some of them to come help.

I have moved and I've kept on moving, proved the points that I needed proving

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