MOD PLOT: With Strides Immeasurable

[faderifting]

WHO: Everyone
WHAT: Moving days
WHEN: August 9:50
WHERE: Everywhere, really
NOTES: OOC post. Use appropriate CWs in your subject lines. The image in this post that isn't just straight from the games/promotional images (Qarinus) is by Meggie Rock.

The world is too large and Riftwatch too small to be everywhere, involved in everything. The days of trying to keep their fingers in every pie across Thedas may be past, but the scope of the war still is what it is, rifts can still open on any corner of the continent, the enemy is active all over. So while much attention has naturally been on rebuilding and refortifying Kirkwall and the Gallows since the Venatori attack, they can't remain focused inward for too long. The reorganization of the eluvian network created a protected nexus in the Crossroads, eliminating the need for long journeys through the newly-volatile landscape. Now, Riftwatchers need only pass through the Gallows eluvian (secured in a guarded basement space in the central tower) to find themselves within steps of central Minrathous, Val Royeaux, or Antiva City. Other mirrors in the cluster provide access to new outposts in Qarinus, Nevarra City, and the Rivaini coast, or a long-neglected base in the Hunterhorns.

The priorities of turning outward now are clear: operations in Minrathous and Qarinus must be expanded, the better to marshal forces behind enemy lines. The existing base in Minrathous needs expanding, and a new one in Qarinus established. In Nevarra City, the Mortalitasi have requested assistance with a rift at the Necropolis that is hampering efforts to finally repopulate the city after its long undead occupation. Elsewhere, there are spaces to be dusted off or construction to be overseen, the lay of the land taken for future operations. While not an emergency situation, the work is urgent in the sense that all of their work is urgent. No one who might be unusually unsuited to passing as a local will be sent to Tevinter, where all work is inherently clandestine and therefore dangerous, but it's otherwise more or less all hands on deck, with the ease of travel meaning people can come and go on staggered schedules. Just make sure you've memorized the list of which eluvian is which.


I. MINRATHOUS

Riftwatch's base in Minrathous may be unfamiliar to those outside the Scouting Division, but expanding operations in the city means making space for more visitors. The eluvian is housed in a hidden room in the cellar of the Bear's Tooth tavern, a busy taproom on a middling market street near the center of the city. It's the sort of place that sees a constant stream of diverse customers but few regulars, where a minor nobleman on business might cross paths with a farmer bringing produce to market. The block behind the tavern is more residential, respectable if not quite fashionable, and home to Widow Tavisa's Boarding House, a fading but clean establishment similarly catering to short-term visitors of the mostly-middle classes. The two properties are secretly connected by a tunnel, an ancient winding servant's stair, and their owners' loyalty to Riftwatch.

The upper floor of the boarding house, with its steep eaves, dark velvet wallpaper, and inescapable scent of old flowers, has been kept available for visiting Riftwatch agents for some time now, but there's a secret expansion underway to add the bunk rooms and communal workspaces that will turn this into a proper outpost. Long ago, Widow Tavisa's extended to a second wing next door, but a fire burned most of it to the ground. Left untouched was a hidden basement—a taproom and smoking lounge only ever known to only a select few Tevinter hipsters—that now lies below the walled garden that was built on the ashes of the upper floors. Riftwatch is digging a couple short tunnels through the cellars to secretly connect this space to the other two buildings, and then performing clean-up and some light construction work to make it fit for use.

The place is all dark wood and marble and the over-gilded furnishings typical of Tevinter design trying a little too hard to look more luxurious than it is, now covered in layers of dust and ash. Some fire damaged areas will need to be repaired, and a few ruined walls are better demolished to create a space open enough to house a collection of salvaged tables, chairs, and desks for communal eating and working, centered around a large two-sided fireplace and a lightly singed Tevinter-billiards table. There are bunks to install in the adjoining private rooms, making each fit for at least three agents, and repairs to neglected plumbing in the shared bathroom.

But Minrathous is too large and dangerous a city for just a single safe house, no matter how large, especially now that the Venatori openly control the city, the streets crawling with people in silver-and-blood livery and stalked by fear of their patrolling guards and rumored spies. In addition to pitching in with construction, Riftwatch agents will be tasked with searching out and securing other spots throughout the city for potential future use. This will be good practice for those not yet familiar with moving about the city discreetly, and a chance to feel out the conditions in various neighborhoods.

Someone might be assigned to wander the fashionable cafe district around Tenquillis Square in disguise as an aristocrat's agent looking to secure a pied-à-terre for a mistress, watching the palanquin traffic and listening to the anxious edge to upper-class gossip about the Elder One's inner circle, or to pose as sailors looking to let rooms in the spindly tenements crammed between the canals of Waterside and keep an eye on the new quayside inspection patterns, as artisans in need of a new workshop in the Iron Heights where the surface dwarf community is rumbling about divisions in the Ambassadoria, or mages fallen on hard times looking for lodging in the worker slums near the magic forges of West Shrek where military recruiters haunt the street-corners and the able-bodied but unwary are sometimes snatched from alleys and pressed into service.

The Venatori aren't the only thing setting the city on edge. Pockets of strange magical effects have begun to appear in the city. There are places where gravity abruptly ceases to function as expected, the world flipped on its head for 10 yards and then just as suddenly normal again. In others, it's time that is out of sorts, the walk from one end of a certain block to the other somehow taking an hour longer than it feels, the movement of clouds overhead slowing to a crawl until the next street is crossed. Some places have simply ceased to be—half of a building replaced with a mess of crumbling walls and stairs or jagged crags of rock that Riftwatch will recognize as pieces of the Crossroads or the Fade drawn physically into this world. Even where all appears normal, one may become aware of an uneasy sensation of something passing nearby unseen, of being watched, of sounds just on the edge of hearing, emotions surging suddenly out of nothing as if catching the mood of a non-existent mob.

Street prophets cry that only the Elder One can save the city from crumbling, the decay caused by centuries of worshiping the non-existent Maker and his false chantry, and restore the Imperium to its glory. Among the populace, a fair number believe these claims. Some also blame the southern Chantry for the damage, claiming they've sent their own barbaric mages or their Templars or both to disrupt the magic that's always held Minrathous together. Still others believe that this is the beginning of something wonderful—that the Elder One is restoring a greater magic, and soon Tevinter's nonmagical population will begin to exhibit magic themselves and bring Tevinter into a new era of equality and dominance. Meanwhile, iffy areas have been marked with signage, though that doesn't keep the curious out, and outright dangerous areas are under guard. An area near the docks around the old slave market has been quietly sealed off by soldiers with stories of some sort of dangerous enemy sabotage attempts, but there are whispers in nearby taverns of Wardens seen coming and going.

There are rifts, too. Ten years after the Breach they're not unprecedented, but the frequency with which they're opening in Minrathous right now is unusual, both to Riftwatch and to the locals. The sudden proliferation over the last few weeks will be a topic of nervous conversation (and sometimes fascinated conversation, in certain circles). Whether to help close them or let Minrathous suffer for Corypheus's choices might be a topic of debate within Riftwatch, but it turns out those aren't the only two options. Riftwatchers might come upon a team in Venatori colors arrayed around a rift with anchors outstretched, shutting it themselves as others hold the demons at bay. They might also notice some members of such a team being closely watched and ushered back into wagons for transport when the work is done.


II. QARINUS

In Ancient times when Tevinter ruled the known world, Qarinus was at the heart of the Imperium, its queen married Darinius, uniting their kingdoms to create the empire and make him the first Archon. But as borders shrunk in Ages past, it found itself more and more on the outskirts, nearer Antiva and Rivain than Minrathous and nearer Par Vollen than comfortable. Positioned at the gate to the Nocen Sea, it has been a magnet for both trade and conflict. It was conquered and occupied by the Qun for the better part of a century, was the last major city to be freed by the Exalted Marches of the Storm Age, and recently suffered the ignominy of being officially renamed 'Ventus' in honor of the commander of the fleet that drove off another attempted Qunari invasion in 9:12 (a name locals still defiantly refuse to use). This history, along with its location on the border, the danger of the surrounding seas, and the large population of foreign travelers and emigrants passing through, have given it a reputation as the frontier city of Tevinter, rustic and lawless, the Imperium's version of Llomerryn.

In reality, it's closer to a normal mid-sized Tevinter city than it is an outlaw haven. Its rocky coastline has certainly long been home to plenty of smugglers' dens and pirate hideaways and the crowded port is wound with narrow, ramshackle alleys leading up to dusty central plazas still showing damage from Qunari incursions. It does have a provincial air in places, but its rougher areas are also balanced by its share of lush palm-shaded gardens and lavish cliff-top villas, citrus trees and draconic statues lining the wide stone promenades around the floating Praetor's Palace, and an outpost of Orzammar's Ambassadoria. But its reputation has become a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, especially since Corypheus revealed himself and the Venatori began to imprison its opponents. The current praetor is Magister Havian Sulara, Venatori and a close ally of Calpernia. Even so, the city has less of a conspicuous Venatori presence, and since they've tightened their hold elsewhere the number of magisters coincidentally retreating to summer homes by the Straits has markedly increased. Rumors abound that several prominent opponents escaped to Qarinus and are still hiding out in the city, running a network of smugglers shuttling those targeted by the Venatori to safety in Qarinus and beyond.

This last is true, and certain erstwhile Riftwatch leaders have had a key part in coordinating those escapes through a network of naval contacts operating in the Nocen, assisting not only in discreetly ferrying people out of Minrathous and other port cities, but helping identify those willing and able and direct them to an anti-Venatori organization based in the city called the Lucerni. Run by a woman called "Thanira," actually Magister Maevaris Tilani who has managed to slip the Venatori net, the group is quietly gathering itself in the shadows of Qarinus. The People of the Silent Plains are active here as well, with a cell in the city similarly dedicated to smuggling escaping slaves into Arlathan Forest and beyond (which they'll report used to be pretty easy before all these shem politicians started sneaking about). While the city does not share the pervasive anxiety shivering beneath the surface in Minrathous there is a restless energy to the place and its people, a chippy edge to everyday conflicts and minor disputes. Maybe it's just the sweltering weather and the crackle of daily thunderstorms, but there is an unspoken sense of something brewing.

It's time for Riftwatch to do more to help. The eluvian giving access to Qarinus is set into the wall of a sea cave, which floods with the high tide. While moving it without breaking the glass would be difficult (potentially impossible), the good news is that the cave was once used by smugglers and connects to several others, leading up to the cellar of an old lighthouse set atop the cliffs at one edge of the city. Riftwatch has taken over operation of the light and the ramshackle smuggling base hidden within it. Here most of the conversions have already been done by the prior occupants: there's a room full of bunks and hammocks for at least 12, kitchen and dining areas, and a surprisingly cozy space for off-hours relaxation full of furniture made primarily out of barrels, rope, and grain sacks.

Qarinus isn't large enough or hostile enough to require more than one or two auxiliary safe houses, but in addition to establishing those, there are allies to make contact with and intelligence to be gathered. Agents will be tasked with assisting in moving refugees both into and out of the city; escorting potential political prisoners, escaping slaves, and supply deliveries from smuggler's landings to meets with Lucerni or the People's agents at various places throughout the city; and helping others slip out onto ships bound for still-neutral Rivain, caravans into the mountains or toward Arlathan, or the ships or wagons of smugglers trading illicitly with Antiva.

While their presence is light compared to Minrathous, there are plenty of Venatori still running the city, on watch against both agents of the Qun and any rumored resistance movement. They're doing their best to prevent any enemies of the Elder One from passing through the city in either direction. Riftwatch agents will also be assigned passive surveillance missions, tracking Venatori movements and observing their operations to get the lay of the land will also help get Riftwatch up to speed, keeping a lookout especially for weaknesses that might be exploited in the future.


III. NEVARRA CITY

The crypt is mostly empty of corpses—some destroyed or missing, others relocated to the more prestigious Grand Necropolis now that there's so much empty space—but that doesn't stop the space from being unsettling to people who are unsettled by that kind of thing. The door to the crypt is set into a hill, with ancient windows that allow some tree-dappled sunlight to pass through into the entranceway, but further back there's no daylight, only a mix of fire and veilfire braziers that throw long, flickering shadows. The halls are lined with enclaves that seem like a mix between bedrooms in an inn and big-windowed storefronts: the possessed corpses that reside here do so on perpetual display, unconcerned with privacy. The materials used to construct these little houses echo the eras and preferences of their occupants, and while they're largely empty now—the furniture and belongings that once surrounded each body have been looted, reclaimed by families, or relocated—there's still something arguably disrespectful about settling into what are essentially abandoned graves. Anyone who stays here overnight will be advised to do so in the entrance hall.

But this isn't a place where Riftwatch might routinely need to settle in and hide. They only need a place for an eluvian that's safe from observation. Outside the crypt, Nevarra City and its environs are friendly and happy enough to see them; the inn along the road to the city proper will gladly put them up for its standard fee.

The royal palace and the city center are occupied by the Mortalitasi, who are still overseeing the city's reconstruction and making painstaking attempts to match abandoned corpses to their correct ancestors, but also taking their time with it to try to settle the situation between the Van Markhams and Pentaghasts before having to commit to handing the capital over to one or the other. There's no real danger left. If Riftwatch agents visit to meet with Mortalitasi allies, the narrow streets are quiet, eerily empty. The black marble statues of Nevarran ancestors and heroes dotting the public spaces might be the only new faces anyone comes across on a walk. But around the rim of the city, outside the older walls from when it was a much smaller place, citizens have returned to occupy the sprawl of smaller houses. Most of them are poorer folks who never found anything better in the intervening years, but a number of people employed by Nevarra's wealthy and noble families are living there too, essentially glamping in large tents filled with comfortable furniture, to make sure they can be among the first to reclaim their employers' property and fend off looters or squatters when the rest of the city reopens.

The Grand Necropolis is a hulking, glowing shape on the edge of the city. A long cobbled road flanked by statues of robed skeletons, each holding a lantern lit with green fire, leads to a towering onyx gate. It is a forbidding entryway despite that Riftwatch has been invited, their presence required to close a rift. A pair of Mortalitasi greet them and escort the way into a long hall, this too flanked by skeleton statues, now three stories tall. The shape of their ribs is echoed in the twisting striping of the even taller pillars and the loose arches of the ceiling above, the gaps between leaving the space open to the air. Mausoleums line this road, style and state of repair varying widely. These levels have been cleansed of rogue undead, the Mortalitasi explain, and those that could be returned have been, but restoration of the individual tombs themselves are the responsibility of the families. Their route curves gently, and slopes even more gently, enough that they may not realize they are winding their way underground until they pass through an arched tunnel overgrown with ivy and find themselves in a cavern beside a yawning pit, its squared sides marked out by a perimeter of more green lanterns and by a set of weeping willows, ghostly pale and tinged green only by the lantern-light, branches shifting in a draft from the deep.

Here they meet the Mourn Watch, a group of elite Mortalitasi (their escorts have explained) tasked with the protection and preservation of the Necropolis and its occupants. Johanna Hezenkoss, a 60-something woman with a sturdy build, long steel-gray hair, and minimal patience, and her recently-inducted apprentice, a young elf named Lukas Rutter who looks as if he'd like to smile but is too nervous, explain the rough outline of the problem as they ride the elevator cage down (how far is difficult to gauge). Efforts to fully restore and make safe the city have been long delayed by a continuing plague of rogue undead, new uncontrolled possessions, mostly demonic, continuing at a rate the Mourn Watch has eventually managed to contain to lower levels of the Necropolis but has been unable to stop, and which is straining their resources such that they cannot guarantee the city is safe to repopulate. The source of the problem eluded all manner of investigation and experiment. The Necropolis is vast and difficult to navigate even for experts and grows only more so the deeper you get, Hezenkoss will tersely and defensively explain. But finally, someone happened upon a corridor never before seen or recorded in the order's archives and blocked by a massive rift.

To get to it, Riftwatch and the Mourn Watchers (a larger group awaits them at the end of the lift journey) will have to fight their way through an uncommon volume of demons, some in pure demonic form but most in some sort of body: corpses in various states, collections of bones reconstituted in approximation of a skeleton, scrabbling limbs clawing their way up through the dirt, giant-sized golems formed of loose collections of bone and stone and matter. The rift, when they reach it, is a gaping slash in the center of what looks like elven architecture plucked from the Crossroads and inserted into the Necropolis, like a chunk of shrapnel lodged in a wound. It is a piece of a hallway lined with doors, and while none are passable, a breeze flows outward, and the sickly green light of the rift flickers off something through one arched doorway to create an impression of depth beyond. It will take an uncommon amount of time and effort to force closed the rift, even with the Mourn Watch assisting in keeping the demons occupied. When it is done, Riftwatch will be thanked (genuinely, if grudgingly by Hezenkoss) and escorted back to the surface. Any offer or attempt to scout beyond the now-cleared corridor will be firmly rebuffed, politely at first but less so if pressed. The Necropolis is a sacred place entrusted to the Mourn Watch's keeping. Should they be in need of any assistance in future, they will be in touch.


IV. ELSEWHERE

Val Royeaux is less in Riftwatch's crosshairs these days, having stepped back from attempting to keep up with The Game enough to exert influence on the imperial court's influencers. But Orlais remains a crucial ally in the fight against Corypheus and the Chantry is, well, the Chantry. An eluvian has been located here in the shop of a fashionable and sympathetic modiste, Cecelia Clavet, allowing Riftwatch quick travel into the central shopping districts and access to the wealth of court gossip ladies spill during fittings. The latest has drawn attention: not romantic rivalries or feuding families but a ball (Baroness de Dreux's biannual Mid-Summer Mummery) disrupted by spires of stone suddenly appearing in the ballroom and the dancers finding themselves suddenly on the ceiling. The baroness will be grateful for Riftwatch to investigate (it is, as suspected, an intrusion of the Fade into the physical world), but less grateful to be informed that this is a phenomenon they have encountered before but can do nothing about.

In Antiva City, a boathouse along the Canneti canal has an eluvian installed in its upper-floor apartment. The space is neither large nor luxurious but provides a secure and comfortable spot for Riftwatch to come and go, and for Anselmo Barzini, the owner, to keep an eye on passing traffic for Riftwatch when he isn't poling travelers through the canals on his gondola and eavesdropping on them for Riftwatch. It's an excellent way to gather information, and Barzini is eager to broker a partnership between Riftwatch and I Fratelli della Forcola, a quiet and discreet organization of gondoliers in Antiva City. That's still in its early stages, but Anselmo is certain that bringing a few Riftwatch members to an informal gathering and letting them mingle and participate in a few gondola races (at which they will presumably lose embarrassingly but hopefully with good humor) will win some goodwill.

And near Seere, along the northern coast of Rivain, Riftwatch stashes an eluvian inside a wrecked ship in an isolated cove along the coast. Getting to and from shore requires either a rowboat or a short swim, and Seere itself is half a day's walk away. But much closer is a small village situated on a coastal cliff that overlooks the Northern passage, where Riftwatch has one friend in particular: an elderly Tal-Vashoth woman named Karaas who's as wary of the Qun as they come. She's spending her retirement from life at sea watching the horizon through a spyglass and keeping meticulous notes on any ships from Par Vollen in particular. It's easy enough for her to add Tevinter ships to her particular area of concern and keep an eye on their hidden eluvian for them, and she has a sailboat they can borrow to get to Seere faster if necessary. She'll also alert them to the presence of a young whale caught in yet another area of strange veil effects, trapped in a pocket of water now suspended in the air as if filling an invisible room. It will require some ingenuity, but if they can find a way to climb up, they might be able to use reality-reasserting magic, runes, Templar abilities, or anchors long enough to weaken the effect and help get the whale back down into the actual sea.

V. THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

While most of Riftwatch's eluvians are dedicated to the need to reach the middle of a given city as quickly as possible, two are set aside for getting away from it all.

For the first: Riftwatch has long had access to a sparingly-used hunting lodge in the Blasted Hills, near the Hunterhorn Mountains and Anderfels border. It's a location that will be made infinitely more useful by trading its resident eluvian for one large enough for griffons to pass through—the transport of which requires volunteers to take a road trip with a slow-moving cart and team of draft horses and camping overnight in the Orlesian countryside rather than risk storing the enormous eluvian in a roadside inn's stables. But the ability to pull up the canvas in the cart and drop through the eluvian to trade shifts with those back at the Gallows in a matter of minutes makes it less miserable, maybe, for those who pull the short straw on any given day.

The hunting lodge itself, when reached, is unforgivably heavy on antler-based decor and covered in a year's worth of dust and cobwebs, but otherwise it's in serviceable condition. If anything it's too large; the previous owner frequently hosted guests and their horses and hounds, with spare bedrooms and an expansive stable to accommodate them, and the appointments are rustic in aesthetic only. (The fact that the woody decor and enormous murals of the chase are a bit overdone and, arguably, cringe in the capital this decade might have something to do with Riftwatch's uncontested possession of the property.) It will take some carpentry and heavy lifting to transform the existing stable into an eyrie that can comfortably house a couple of the griffons at a time. Once there's a place for them, griffon riders will need to begin practicing coaxing their griffons through the eluvians and short stretch of the Crossroads—unpleasant but blessedly quick, and something they're generally clever enough to learn to do efficiently—and can begin flying loops into Ander territory to accustom themselves to the landscape. Roving darkspawn are common in the Anderfels even between Blights, and the rule of Corypheus over the last few years has brought with it an increasing problem. A band of rogue Wardens, escaped from Tevinter-ruled Weisshaupt and living in a rough but well-established camp in the mountains, do their best to protect the villages of the area, but some help wouldn't go amiss. They'd also be struck by the sight of the griffons—previously thought to've been lost again as hatchlings during the First Warden's coup eight years ago—and will be eager (even jealous) to get the opportunity to work with them.

And on the opposite end of the continent, beneath in the southeastern reaches of Ferelden, Riftwatch has recently been granted use of an abandoned dwarven outpost. The quickest route for transporting a spare eluvian is to take a ship down the Fereldan coast to Gwaren. The isolated city was, in fact, built to support the shipping needs of the outpost in its heyday as the center of dwarven salt mining operations. After the mines were abandoned, old access points nearer to the port were walled up or collapsed for fear of darkspawn incursions. The remaining accessible entrance is a day's journey through the damp, foggy Brecilian Forest and down into a narrow, easily-overlooked cave that ends in a fortified door. Riftwatch has a key, but getting the heavy doors open also requires repairing a rusted-through chain and cranking some gears. Fortunately, once the eluvian is inside, they won't have to go through the doors every time, or possibly ever again.

Inside, they'll find the remnants of a village that was abandoned centuries ago when it became clear that darkspawn would ultimately make the Deep Roads between Gwaren and Orzammar impassable. The occupants had enough warning to pack up their valuables, and decay has had hundreds of years to do its work, so there's little in the way of personal belongings to find. But the homes were carved into the stone walls directly. Aside from a few that have been eroded by streams or drips of water, they show minimal signs of damage. Much of the furniture is stone as well: bedframes, tables, chairs, and desks all remain, though most will be improved by the addition of some kind of cushion. There's an open expanse that was once a pasture for brontos and nugs that's now been overtaken by the latter and a variety of mushroom species, a smithy just shy of still being operational, a network of mining tunnels that turn eerie and white when the salt deposits are reached, and a quiet mausoleum of stone tombs. Altogether, it's large enough to house all of Riftwatch, if that ever became necessary—it just needs cleaning and stocking, including removing debris from the underground streams and pond that could serve as a long-term water source and dealing with a giant spider and her many large children.

Spider aside, there's no sign of serious danger. The rune-encrusted, fortified entrance to the Deep Roads is still holding strong. There's no sign darkspawn have ever managed to breach the outpost itself, once it was closed up for the last time, and no sign of scavengers ever finding the entrance in the Brecilian Forest. It might be the most secure secret clubhouse ever.

Comments

for vanya (& special guest); nevarra city

[portalling]

It’s a smart idea to have a buddy system, for so many documented reasons. Strange isn’t picky about who he journeys through the Crossroads with, so long as they can put up with his occasional jokes about supervision and tying themselves to each other for safe-keeping.

Today he’s walking alongside Vanya Orlov, and he very politely doesn’t remark on why it’s such a good idea to have company. The other man is quiet and hard enough to read, difficult to tell if Orlov’s bothered at all by being back here. Their conversation remains mostly polite and professional as they head for the Nevarran eluvian, mage and (former) templar together, headed for the crypt exit where they’ll eventually be met and escorted further to the Necropolis by one of Riftwatch’s Mortalitasi allies.

As they approach the mirrors, the sorcerer finally just has to ask: “When was the last time you were in Nevarra City? Has it really been overrun by the undead for almost five years?”

Okay, but sound less excited about it, Stephen.

[wearyallalone]

"Undead have been a problem for closer to seven," is very quiet. "I don't know that I would say overrun that entire time, but it was 9:43 when the Inquisition was attacked here. They — we, I suppose, I was in the organization at the time — damaged a large portion of the Necropolis and, as far as I understand from those in Diplomacy, the Inquisition's alliance with Nevarra, though it seems that both have been at least somewhat repaired in the years since."

Whether it's because he's Nevarran or it's simply his temperament, Vanya seems more sad than unnerved by the prospect of what they're facing as they approach the mirror that will take them to his hometown.

"My mother, I think, was frankly more concerned with the power struggles between the Pentaghasts and the Van Markhams than she was with the undead, at least to judge by her letters. Then again, they have been staying with cousins in the country the past few years, so I suppose the political strife strikes her as the more pressing reason the city hasn't been restored in the meantime." A pause. "To answer your question. I was here with the Inquisition, in 9:43. I haven't been back to the city since, though I've been in other parts of the country." And it wasn't as if that last visit had been in any way a social one.

[portalling]

“Still, what a pressing issue: a capital city rendered unusable due to too many zombies. You’d think it’d be top-of-priority for resolution.”

There’s a perpetually annoyingly jokey tone to Strange’s voice, a pithiness that hadn’t ingratiated him with the locals even all the way back to his and Vanya’s first mission together to Cledwyn. But perhaps Vanya’s learned this much about the sorcerer since then: Strange is in fact taking this seriously, despite that light tone.

“I suppose…” he muses, as they walk. “When aliens attacked New York and left so much in rubble, reconstruction took ages afterward. Budgetary concerns balanced against all the other running costs of keeping a city going. Entire new departments had to be created to deal with all the debris and alien technology — like unvetted magical artifacts, strewn everywhere — and the construction contracts were a nightmare. So perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised at the delay. But I had no idea our preceding organisation was responsible,” directly or indirectly? “for the mess, though.”

[wearyallalone]

"As far as I'm aware," because hey, leadership didn't tell him everything, "the Inquisition was not at all responsible for the actual undead. Non-Nevarran agents treating the Grand Necropolis with less care than they might, but even I can allow attacked by rogue undead is not a condition under which most people are their most careful." It'd be a joke except it's also true.

He does add, "I don't know the condition of your New York, but I think things might have been handled more rapidly if it were clear who was in charge of the country. The disputed succession didn't only split attention, it split resources. I presume both contenders thought they could rebuild the capital once they were securely in power."

[portalling]

“And in the meantime the contenders are, what, wasting time squabbling over ruins?”

It sounds a little withering, but thankfully Strange has the wherewithal to soften it a moment later: “Sorry. I know it’s your homeland.”

—and wait, should he have asked about hometowns on the medical questionnaire? Maybe not. Whether someone’s from Nevarra or Rivain might be a matter of mild social interest, but it’s ultimately irrelevant for the Head Healer unless there’s some hyper-regional-specific Orlesian syphilis, he supposes.

He’s distracted. They’re drawing closer to the mirrors. “On that note. Got any particular plans while you’re in Nevarra?” he asks, the way you might ask if someone’s got plans for the upcoming long weekend.

[wearyallalone]

"I am not a politician," is a response to Strange's apology. It's his homeland, but it's not as if he's ever been in charge of anything about it. If he has an opinion about which faction should win, or what he thinks of them leaving Nevarra City in disarray, it's not like anyone has asked.

He doesn't linger there, however. "With my parents in the country, it is likely impractical to pay them a visit. They wouldn't expect." Given the handful of times he's seen them in person since he was an adolescent. "And I did not ever live in this city as an adult, really. I'm not sure how many people I know are here, and who on that list would be pleased to see me. I suppose I hadn't given it much thought." Because of course he hadn't.

[portalling]

“You could send notes to find out who’s still around. Test the waters. A… visiting card, or whatever people here do.”

This, from a man who didn’t even have that many remaining friendly connections in New York to pull on, either. So as a result Strange isn’t as invested in pushing Orlov as certain others might be (cough, Cedric Carsus), so— he doesn’t push on that angle too hard.

“And what about the contact we’re meeting? The Mortalitasi. The… Thevvynet?” Godawful pronunciation, he’s never heard the name said aloud before, simply read it scribbled on a report mentioning who’d be monitoring the Nevarran eluvians and escorting them on the other end.

It’s one of his last opportunities to pry for information and do a vibecheck before they’re standing in front of the woman herself, and by then it’s too awkward and obvious to whisper to his colleague, hey so what’s this person’s deal.

[wearyallalone]

"Thev-veh-nay," he corrects without apparent judgment. Strange may be especially bad with languages, but he's hardly the only non-Nevarran to struggle with them either. What comes less easily is the answer to what about her, it seems. Since they'd been talking about his connections, he starts with: "She and I have been well-acquainted for many years. Long before the Mage-Templar War. We write, some, now."

(In no small part because if he stopped, he assumes she'd show up and demand to know why, but that is not information he assumes is especially useful to Strange.)

"Do you know much about the Mortalitasi as a group? What they do, their reputation?"

[portalling]

That sounds like a little bit like an euphemism and he very nearly almost waggles his eyebrows at Vanya: well-acquainted, eh?— but then, blessedly, the other man asks a question instead and we’re spared the moment.

And if Strange sounds even brighter and more eager than usual, with a little bit of fanboyish excitement as he talks about this, please forgive him:

“Only inasmuch as I’ve read about the order, but never met one in-person. They’ve all been rather busy, for obvious reasons,” the entire situation they were being invited to assist with, after all. “They’re death mages who specialise in necromancy and stewarding the spirits attached to dead bodies in the Necropolis, right? Plus trucking with wisps and animated skeletons, human and animal alike?”

[wearyallalone]

"I've never known her other than busy, to be honest, but this is a particular problem," Vanya acknowledges. "They do maintain the Necropolis; the wealthy have Mortalitasi directly perform their mummification. But it isn't only that. Wealthy and powerful families often cultivate one or more as an adviser. As a group, they wield considerable political power in Nevarra. Directly, not ... I understand many Orlesian mages influence policy through their influence on nobles or academics or soldiers. The Mortalitasi are in the rooms the matter, themselves."

Which may give at least some context to Vanya's observations about being shocked when he learned how mages lived outside Nevarra, in hindsight.

"She's very much of her order," of Benevenuta in particular, which is to say: Fingers in a great many pies, and not to be underestimated.

[portalling]

“Huh. Sounds nice. From my reading, if I theoretically could’ve chosen a specific order to go into, I suspect I wouldn’t have minded Nevarra and the Mortalitasi. Not just for all the skull decor, although it is a little bit about the skulls—”

And there’s more potential questions buried there that he could ask, like so what was your Circle like and trying to draw the line between the Mortalitasi’s political power and the Tevinter Magisterium and effectively what’s the difference between them,

but they’re at the mirror now, and there’s a rift in the Grand Necropolis to investigate. Strange does earmark the topic for later interrogation, though.

“Ready?” he asks the other man. Waits for Vanya’s assent, then checks over his belongings one last time, the staff he’s sometimes taken to carrying around to look more magely in Thedas.

And they step through, to meet the lady very much of her order.

[ungovernable]

And she is a lady, of course; though the correct term of address is Speaker Thevenet, she has come to claim the slightly mocking Lady Benevenuta as her own, inimitable and unfazed. Of medium height and striking looks, she hasn't lost a step or gained an inch of fabric in black and silver, a few strands matching it in her hair the only particular suggestion that at any point in the past decade she's broken stride for the march of time.

“Vanya,” she greets, warmly, Nevarran from the top of her head to her neatly-shod toes, the accent not softened in the slightest for her years of traversing Southern Thedas in her diplomatic capacity, “and Doctor Strange, of course,” who needs no introduction to a woman who has her claws sunk quite so firmly into the family of his stroppy little mistress.

Benevenuta presents her cheek for Vanya to kiss. This does not appear to be optional.

“You must pass my regards to Enchanter Isaac,” she says, “I believe he mistook his destination, he dashed back through it so quickly I had hardly a moment to greet him.”

[wearyallalone]

Whether or not it's optional (and whatever "well-acquainted" did or did not cover), Vanya kisses her cheek without hesitation, even going so far as lightly resting his hand on her arm for a moment before he takes a respectful step back. "Doubtless he was urgently needed elsewhere," of Isaac. It's incredibly mild, but it's closer to archness than Strange has probably heard from him.

"I believe it's the doctor's first time to Nevarra," he adds, before anyone can linger over his comment. "You will find him an attentive student of culture." Also he's cognizant that Benevenuta is well aware of Strange's connection to Gwenaëlle, so he is trusting her to play at least somewhat nice in a way he might not, absent that context.

[portalling]

“’An attentive student of culture’,” Strange echoes, bemused. “I’ve never actually been described that way before. It’s nice, I could get used to it.”

He’s still fairly warm and casual, not the hypervigilant polite creature he was in Val Royeaux with l’Duc: genteel although not walking on eggshells anymore. But he has, yes, taken note of two very interesting pieces of information, watchful and practically scribbling it into his mental rolodex. That lingering hand-on-arm from a man so otherwise pointedly reserved; and Enchanter Isaac’s seeming allergy to Nevarra City. Interesting.

“It’s a pleasure, Speaker Thevenet,” he adds, pronunciation preemptively corrected, and holds out a hand for a pleasant, professional handshake. After his first startled up-down look taking in her attire (gosh), he’s now keeping his gaze firmly rooted on her face.

“I was just saying to Orlov, you’re the first Mortalitasi I’ve ever met, so I’m afraid you’re now going to be a stand-in for your entire order, first impressions-wise.”

[ungovernable]

Doctor Strange is not the first man to attempt to offer Benevenuta Thevenet a pleasant, professional handshake, but it is sufficiently rare that she has yet to bother altering her own course: she places her hand briefly in his as she might a gentleman about to waft a greeting over her knuckles, and not for long enough that he could actually shake it. For as delicately manicured and moisturised as her hands are, he will briefly feel the likely-familiar calluses that reflect the regular use of a staff, subtler for her careful upkeep but present, all the same.

She would be easy to mistake for a fluttering, frivolous thing and not the sandstorm in woman form that she is; it seems likely she courts that more than she doesn't, her terribly intelligent eyes (and a terrible intelligence—) above her easy, oft-flirtatious smile.

“My,” she says, with a widening of those eyes, “a great responsibility!” This is playing nice, Vanya, shut the fuck up. “I had hoped to make your better acquaintance, in fact, Dr Strange, as I wish to press a favour from you— one that I believe shall be paid to you in kind, by virtue of carrying it out.”

He can reasonably expect a fair number of the Mortalitasi to talk in exactly these sort of circles; more of them are courtiers than not, even if it is far from all that any of them are.

The small package that she produces is not upon her person; she turns away briefly to collect it from a nearby alcove. “I understand,” warmly, “that you are enjoying the hospitality of l'Duc de Coucy during your visits to Val Royeaux. He will be in your debt if you would be so kind as to see this safely into his hands. You may tell him I said so.”

The full force of her pleasant expectation he will take it from her is nearly its own enchantment, although admittedly one that sometimes works better when the subject is not quite so focused above her neckline.

[wearyallalone]

If Vanya privately feels that being asked to do something and being informed that doing so is in your best interest actually is, in fact, a representative introduction to the Mortalitasi, he knows better than to make the observation aloud. Similarly, a smile absolutely does not briefly tug at the edge of his mouth before vanishing again.

[portalling]

“I—” Into l’Duc’s hands? What—

But the woman is a force of nature; somehow it seems he surrounds himself with them. So Strange is left helpless as Benevenuta steamrolls over him and presses the package into his hands (soft, it seems there’s quite a bit of paper there) and he’s forced to take it with appropriate care and only mildly terrified diligence. Is this personal correspondence for Gwenaëlle’s grandfather? He’d been planning on going into the depths of the Grand Necropolis to fight zombies and close rifts. What if he loses the package? Oh god, he’s going to die.

Right. Safekeeping. Instant, absolute safekeeping.

He shoots a quick look at Vanya, a sort of sanity-check to make sure he’s not imagined this unexpected favour, this unforeseen entangling of the different corners of his life.

“I wasn’t aware you were,” what is the right word here, “acquainted with the Duke.”

[ungovernable]

“Just as well as you find yourself acquainted with his granddaughter, if dear Thomas's letters are to be believed,” she says, quick off the draw and that is still landing as she pivots to the poker-faced statue at his side—

“And what a pretty piece of mischief that you should know it and he should not, Vanya Orlov,” just in case he thought he was getting away with that.

(She is delighted.)

claiming my tithe

[dissolving]

He's walking fast.

There's always more than you'd think needs hauling. Someone's got to drag through the spare bedrolls, and the supplies, and the small marks of goodwill arranged for their hosts. So he's got a crate of — something, either coffee or the box of rocks it weighs for — when he steps through the mirror and nearly into Strange. Cedric stops short, half a step before collision; swings about as though he always meant to mince sideways into the hall.

Which is when sees Benevenuta.

"Ah," He isn’t looking at her face. It isn't really voluntary. "Speaker — ma’am —"

And then he's looking anywhere else: Strange, Vanya. Isn't Vanya awful close to her there? And right, there's her face again,

"Sorry t'interrupt."

And the hall, down which he is walking fast. Walking faster.

[wearyallalone]

Vanya looks mildly nonplussed. If he is in any way enjoying not being the most awkward person in a given conversation, he is doing a heroic job of hiding it. (In fact, if Benevenuta suspects this is what he's doing, she might even be proud.) He might have said something when Cedric made eye contact, but it was only brief before he was hurrying away again.

Instead, he decides to respond to her observation about what Strange knows, evidently deciding the kindest thing to do for Cedric is to let him go without comment.

"If I had been aware it would immediately be pertinent, I might have mentioned it to the doctor," he allows. "I had the advantage of overlapping in Kirkwall with both yourself and his grace." No one had needed to tell him in as many words. He'd been at Thomas Charnier's birthday party, roughly three years ago.

[portalling]

Strange is thankfully spared the rest of his reaction being headline news, thanks to Cedric barrelling through even more conspicuously, rendered even more off-kilter by the apparently inimitable Benevenuta Thevenet. He watches the templar go, amused at another’s misfortune, before hauling his suspicious gaze back to Vanya — the man sounds dry, dry as a desert, I might have mentioned, and it isn’t quite like Isaac pulling his leg, but still irritatingly adjacent.

“I am so consistently at such a distinct disadvantage,” he says, long-suffering, but he slips the package into an oversized pouch at his belt. Normally meant for carrying herbs and medical supplies, but it’ll do as a mailbag for now. A mailbag for personal correspondence. Cool. Let’s hope it doesn’t get set on fire.

“Regardless: happy to help, Lady Thevenet. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays this courier from the swift completion of his appointed rounds, etc.”

What a curious slogan. It does sound like something you might see carved over an arch in the Grand Necropolis.