[ CLOSED ] THE ANTIVAN CROWS SEND THEIR REGARDS

[ombranera]

WHO: Alistair, Araceli Bonaventura, Beleth Ashara, Anders Detlef, Korrin Ataash, Taashath, The Iron Bull, Twisted Fate, an Zevran Arainai. Guest Starring: Samouel, Cyril, and Merrick, Super Special Guest Star: Leliana.
WHAT: The Crows come for the Ombra Nera.
WHEN: Begins Guardian 6
WHERE: Skyhold/Antivan Border/The Road
NOTES: CW/TW FOR: Flesh hommonculi, violent/gruesome content, torture, blood magic, non-consensual drug use, adult content, adult language, reader discretion is advised. Sign up post, original plotting post, hit me on PM or @ thesouthernbelle if you have questions.

It's a normal morning in Thedas until, abruptly, it isn't. The Crows come calling; they are swift, they are certain, they are silent and leave behind but one witness that won't be alive for much longer (or so they assume). Prize in hand they ride North for Antiva.

Subthreads for portions of the plot are yours to tag around in as you like!

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The Remnants of The Ambush

[ombranera]

There is, at first glance, little left to see in the clearing just beyond the gates of Skyhold where Zevran and Merrick had been walking. Zevran himself? Was gone. Merrick had been unceremoniously dumped at the base of a boulder, bundled in a cloak to hide the awkward sprawl of his limbs and the puncture wound at his neck. Between snow and wind and hard stone there is little to show for what happened unless one knows what it is they are looking for.

[el_tybs]

It was sighting the odd gathering of ravens while he took a walk on the battlements that had gotten his attention and drew him out into the field. Knowing what he did about the ravens it seemed likely that they were gathering around a dead or dying animal and as such he had expected to see just that. So it is with a decent amount of surprise when he finds a pile of cloth at the base of the boulder instead, and has the mage hesitating for a moment.

Only when he's moved closer and notices boots sticking out of the pile does Sam move quicker, concern moving him, that another traveler had fallen to the cold. "Hey-!" The words are quick to die in his throat as he yanks carefully around the cloth, immediately recognizing Merrick when the elf's head lolls out.

There's a small curse from Sam then, working quicker to roll Merrick over, noting that his skin was extremely cold and not responding at all to any of his words or being moved around. It's only when he moves to press his fingers against Merrick's throat to feel for a pulse that he notices the wound, which doesn't look all that fresh. It's small, and there's also very little blood pooling from it, which leads him to believe that the wound isn't for bleeding out, but rather that Merrick has been injected with something. The only thing that stops him from panicking further is the faint, slow drum of a beat under his quickly chilling fingers.

Sam's first reaction is to yell out, hoping guards would hear him, but with the wind it's clear that they won't. His next action is to grab his crystal and call for Zevran - if anyone knew about trying to sneakily get rid of someone it would be him. There's no answer. Cursing again Sam then starts to wrap Merrick back up so that carrying him would be easier, hefting the Elf against his chest in hopes in getting him warmer before making his way towards the gates.

Awkwardly with his arms full and trying to rush through snow, he uses the crystal again, hoping to get someone this time.

"Cyril! Maker- Are you in Skyhold?!"

[samahl]

Cyril can hear the panic in Sam's voice when he's reached and that makes him think something is wrong with the mage. He feels his heart drop as he grabs at his own crystal to respond. He's thinking that Sam has been targeted by some wayward mage hate, or that he's in trouble in some other way.

The thought that it's Merrick that Sam is calling about doesn't even cross his mind.

"I'm here. What's wrong?" And there's urgency. He wants to get to Sam right away if he needs help.

[el_tybs]

"Cyril!" Oh thank the Maker, he responded. There is clear relief in the sigh he gives after yelling his name, cursing lightly afterward when a guard approaches him as he nears the gate. Sam moves the crystal away at that point, his words loud, breathless, and unclear over the other end as he hurriedly explains his rush and the trouble. There's shouting from the guards after a few moments about tightening the watch before he starts talking to Cyril again.

"It's Merrick-! I need you to get a bunch of blankets and bring them to your room." He had considered taking Merrick to the healing tents, but after being around him and the others it was clear a sense of privacy was much more appreciated, even if he wasn't responding at the moment.

[samahl]

"Merrick?" And that question is said in confusion but then the reality starts to filter through and Cyril is moving to get the blankets even as he talks.

"What happened? What's going on?"

[el_tybs]

Sam huffs as he continues to try holding Merrick, moving as quickly as he can and talking to Cyril on the stone. It's a bit much to handle and probably would be easier to just move without holding the stone, but honestly it's helping him keep his head together with all of it.

"I don't know what exactly happened, but I found him wrapped up outside the gates - it looks like he's been attacked."

[samahl]

"Attacked?!" Cyril is hurrying now. "Is he-" He stops, he can't even consider all of the possibilities. "Breathing?"

[el_tybs]

The shout has Sam pulling the crystal away from his face, wincing slightly at the volume of it. "He is- barely. Just hurry alright?" A pause. "The room isn't booby trapped is it?" More than likely he'll be beating Cyril to their room, and the last thing he wants is to worry about a trap upon trying to get into the room.

[samahl]

"It's not," Cyril replies. "I'm almost there. I'll meet you there." He really isn't sure he can talk much more. He really just wants to get to his brother.

[el_tybs]

He's a bit thankful that they're done talking since it makes it easier to get into the room. Sam tries his best not to knock anything over in his rush to get Merrick to a bed, wincing a bit when he does hear some knives hit the floor.

By the time Cyril gets to the room Sam is already stripping Merrick of his clothes, needing to get him out of the wet leathers so that he can work on getting him warmed up. Even though Cyril has just got there, Sam is quick to take the blankets and already giving the Elf more tasks to do. He knows it won't be easy for Cyril knowing how he and Merrick were, but it was important.

"Cyril. I need you to focus. I need a bucket or two of water." A pause. "I already alerted the guards about it, but we need someone to check the area where I found Merrick - I was a bit pre-occupied. We need to know who or what did this."

[samahl]

It's good that Sam took charge and told him what to do, because the moment that Cyril walked in he was frozen in place. He felt like there was something thick and horrible stuck in his throat and gripping at his heart. Sam's voice filters through it though and gives him direction. Get water. That's an easy thing he can do.

He gets the water and comes back, bringing it to Sam's side. He just wants to be by Merrick's make sure he's okay, but he has to focus too. He has to make sure that everything was okay.

"He was with Zevran," he says. His eyes are still on Merrick but he has to share this information. Zevran might be somewhere out there dying. "They were training this morning. Is Zevran hurt too?"

[el_tybs]

Merrick is still not responding by the time Cyril returns, but he isn't doing worse. On the upside his body temperature was slowly coming back.

He's in the middle of using the water to clean the wound when Zevran gets mentioned, which has the mage stopping and turning a bit to look at Cyril better. It's the first time he's seen Cyril so out of it, and it takes him a few tries to grab his attention again.

"Hey. You said Zevran and Merrick were training?" It's good information, but it's unsettling as well. "I did not see him... Merrick was wrapped up on his own next to a boulder. I need to keep an eye on Merrick, but if Zevran is out there... Cyril, I know you want to stay here, but I need you to go and check to see if Zevran isn't out there. Take someone with you just in case."

[samahl]

He wants to protest, to insist that he stay here with Merrick and never leave his side, but Sam is right. Zevran might be out there, alone in the snow, and that idea is terrifying.

Cyril trusts Sam. He knows that he's a gifted mage who will do what he can to protect and save Merrick. He knows that Sam has a better idea of what needs to be done right now for his brother.

More than that, every second he stands here like a fool is a second more that Zevran is in danger. He nods. "Contact me if he gets worse," he says, but then he's rushing out the door to get someone to help him find Zevran.

Beleth is someone he can trust, who he knows cares deeply for both Merrick and Zevran. That and she's close. He seeks her out so they can head back to where Sam found Merrick.

[arlathvhen]

Beleth moved into Skyhold's gate, lingering to the side. Tasked by Cyril to contact members of the Inquisition who could help with trying to figure out just what in the damned void happened, she formed a short list of necessary people.

Iron Bull, Leliana, and Alistair would all be contacted via sending crystal. There were probably more people she should get, but time and her thoughts were in short supply.

"Hello, um--This is is Scout Beleth Ashara. Please meet me by the main gate as quickly as possible." Pause. Should she spell out what happened? That was one doozy of a message to give a rock. "There's been, ah...There's been a very serious... breach, I think?" Dear Creators, she had to do better than that. Deep breath, think of what you need to say. Cyril trusted her

"We have reason to suspect there has been a serious breach in security by an unknown and hostile group, with one confirmed injury." Whew. "Please, um-- I'll explain. At the gate. Thank you." Good enough. She shut the sending crystal off before she had a chance to make things worse, leaning heavily against the stone wall.

If all else failed, she could always start screaming about blood mages and get the Templars to help when they materialized.

[fightingale]

Leliana does not take long to arrive. Indeed, she takes an almost alarmingly short time, and when she arrives she moves towards the scout with long strides, quiver full of arrows at her back and a bow in hand, and Maker only knows how many knives could be found on her person.

"What is it?" Quiet and stern in the same moment, urgency not yet dominating her tone. This is a harsher Leliana than the one Beleth saw in the gardens. This is the Nightingale, she who moves swiftly and silently, and whose machinations could make nations shudder. "What has happened here?"

More scouts would be on the way, more beginning the search, many poised awaiting her orders via crystal. How had she missed this? How had they been so infiltrated?

[byblow]

Alistair isn't far behind her, but he's looking far less dangerous about it. Skyhold isn't his fortress. This isn't his Inquisition. There's a faint, worried crease between his eyebrows, because the only reason he can think Beleth might have called him personally is that Clarel's Wardens came and tried something stupid.

"Hello, Leliana," he says, and since there's an audience and possibly an emergency, he even says it with all of the respect someone in her position deserves--for example, sans a friendly shoulder-to-shoulder knock to try to make her stop looking so serious. Then he gives Beleth a quizzical look, waiting.

[qunari]

Infiltration was bound to happen. That he was there was proof enough of that. As the Inquisition grew, so would interest, and so would the chances of people they couldn't keep track of slipping between the cracks.

But Leliana was no fool. If they'd been had, it was at the hands of professionals. This wasn't an accident.

When Bull arrives, the scene already seems fairly grim. He hadn't spoken much to the elf, but he's here at her request, waiting to hear what the word is alongside the others.

"Let's hear it, then."

[arlathvhen]

The whole gang is here. Great. Leliana is looking particularly scary today, and the Iron Bull is kind of intimidating up close, she didn't know people got that big??? While she tries to stand upright and look like a professional scout, she's definitely inching closer to Alistair. Like he's going to protect her from their stares or something.

"I'm sorry I didn't name any names over the crystal--" This is said more to Alistair than the other two, "--But I didn't, um. Know how quiet you wanted to keep this, and people could overhear, and I was thinking, what if more of the people who came are still here--" She's rambling. It's hard not to fall into the defense mechanism of being as adorably awkward as possible, look how she's tripping over herself, isn't that cute, don't be mean to her. No. Professional time.

"My clanmate Merrick Ashara left Skyhold to train with Zevran. Shortly afterwards, he was discovered by Samouel Gareth, alive but unconscious. He was attacked, and, ah. Poisoned." She falters here, but keeps going, fidgeting with her scarf. "My clanmate Cyril Ashara and I were alerted, and we went to look around and see if we could figure out what had happened. We found evidence of a struggle, and, um. Torn cloth from Zevran. And one of his possessions. The footprints showed three other people were at the scene."

She's tensed now, waiting for the reactions. For them to be upset, because of course they'd be upset, demanding answers she doesn't have, or worse--telling her that she has already managed to risk Zevran's life by fucking up giving this news. "I didn't know what to do. I figured if there's anyone who would know--Um. It'd be you guys." Her eyes flicked over to Bull. "Someone told me you're a spy for the Qunari. I, ah. I thought maybe you'd know things we wouldn't."

I apologise for hideous typos, phone tag life

[fightingale]

"Alistair," Leliana replies, and her tone is cooler than it would ever normally be. The Iron Bull receives a nod, and she wonders what the thread might be to bind the three of them together. Nothing good, nk doubt.

She is partway to telling the scout to take a breath when Beleth seems to focus herself. The woman hardly seems steady, but she is one of Zevran's students, and they all of them have had to learn. They have those willing to learn, and that is what matters most.

You chose wisely, she would say, were this not so rushed and urgent. Instead she is watching Beleth's every motion, every flinch and expression.

Perhaps her own posture gives her away too easily, as well. Her jaw clenches, mouth tightening and the leather of her gloves creaks quietly as her hands balls into fists. Only Zevran taken, another poisoned, and the expertise to slip under her notice and her gaze.

"Crows," she all but hisses, looking to Alistair, as if there were some hope he'd not consider the same implications. "Who else could it be?"

And a sharp look to The Iron Bull, questioning rather than accusing, though there is anger in each stroke of motion. "Unless you have heard of any other organisation we should consider?"

It seems less than likely, and yet, she cannot neglect it.

[byblow]

As Beleth talks, and Leliana tightens like a bowstring, Alistair goes quiet and distant behind his eyes. Not vacant: he's still listening, but most of his head is miles and years away from here, listening to Zevran work through the list of bloody, painful reasons he could never go back. Alistair went pale, then, and he's going pale again now.

But he meets Leliana's gaze and nods without hesitation. Crows, yes. It wouldn't have occurred to him to inquire if there were any other possibilities. Good of Leliana to. He looks at the Iron Bull, but his gaze doesn't linger in wait of an answer before turning toward the gate and the mountains beyond it.

For a second or two he looks like he might be sick. Then it passes, and his unfocused eyes have resharpened when he looks back at the others.

[qunari]

Whatever Bull might feel hearing that is his own concern. Nothing makes it to the surface, other than a darkening look at the realization. Crows in Skyhold. Not a comforting thought.

Zevran's fear appeared to have come to pass. Only one thing to do, in that case.

"They've got the means and motive. There are other groups would could have pulled it off, sure, but in this case?" Bull grunts quietly, arms folding over his chest. "You thought of them first for good reason. And we know why they'd come for him."

[arlathvhen]

They seem to have come to a conclusion, and Beleth nods, as thrilled as the rest of them at what the signs point to. She had hoped they might have said something--She was overreacting, there was an easier explanation, something that didn't involve the possibility of the Crows kidnapping Zevran. But even Iron Bull agrees, and Beleth has to accept that this isn't just her imagination taking off.

She glances at Alistair, and puts a hand on his arm when he looks positively ill. This is even worse for him, he has far more idea of what could happen than she does.

Then she turns to Leliana, straightening up.

"They left a trail when they took him. I can follow them. I'm a Hunter, I've been trained to be able to do this," Maybe not with people, but a gaggle of assassins can't be harder to track than a hart. "He's my teacher. I'll find him." And then what? Ask nicely? Well, she's got a bow, and the element of surprise, she might be able to take on three Crows. Probably.

[fightingale]

He is right, of course. And what benefit would it grant them, to take someone in the Inquisition? Not an advisor, but certainly not someone without connection. It had to be personal.

"Then we will see them burnt to the very ground."

It is not the wise response, the one that would consider the void such a loss would create and what it might encourage to grow in place of the Crows, in a world where voids are like invitations to Corypheus and his ilk. In the present moment, she does not care. Leliana has few friends, and Zevran is especially close to her heart.

"Alone? Not a chance." Not in this, not against the Crows. Beyond that, one of her clansmen is already poisoned, and who knew what their recovery might take? "They will have sent their very best, to accomplish this. We must take up the trail, but you will not go alone. Alistair, Bull, we will need parties to go to Antiva City."

Where else could they have taken him? And with the head start they must have... is this the cost of her indulgence? Of her thinking the crystals were communication enough that she could leave Skyhold? This was on her head, and so must the consequences be.

[byblow]

"Volunteers won't be hard to find."

The Inquisition is full of big damn heroes, and Zevran is beloved. They could probably step back through the gates and shout at the courtyard and have a small army in minutes--but Alistair doesn't say it like a joke. No wryness. He sounds strained: an attempt at professionalism that's stretching at the seams. He's still pale. Zevran said not to come after him, once, if something like this happened, and the possibility seemed so remote that Alistair scoffed by didn't argue.

He puts a hand on Beleth's shoulder and squeezes--gentler than the manly shoulder-clap or back-slap he'd give someone of greater stature, but the intent is the same. Good job, and thank you.

"We'll need a healer," he adds, in the same tone. He doesn't know any who like him.

[qunari]

"Won't be hard to find one. But we've got to keep the group small. Don't want them to see us coming."

Bull's gaze shift towards Leliana. She's taking this personally, though it's not as obvious as it could be. Not when compared to Beleth, to Alistair. But that quiet fury in her voice says it all. She'd go herself if she could, but they can't afford not having her here.

Bull's chin lifts. "I'll go." He offers no personal reason for it. If he has one, if he jokingly gave his word once in a quieter moment, it's not their business. But they'll need tactics going in, and he's good for that. Good for distractions too, when it comes to it.

And whatever it is he feels, he's not letting it get in the way of thinking clearly, getting this done.