[Closed] Wartable: RESCUE WAYLAID INQUISITION CARAVAN

[justice_is_blond]

WHO: The Iron Bull, Malcolm Reynolds, Anders, Jamie McCrimmon, Lenneth
WHAT: Five people set off to figure out what happened to a caravan
WHEN: Backdated, pre-Emprise
WHERE: A village east of the emerald graves
NOTES: Violence, death, fun for the whole family.

A shipment of rare materials bound for Skyhold from Southern Orlais and several refugee families picked up along the way disappeared somewhere in the Dales, where Empress Celene and Grand Duke Gaspard's war currently rages. The Inquisition has managed to narrow their last location to a village east of the Emerald Graves.

Comments

The approach

[justice_is_blond]

Scouts' information will point your characters toward Gironde, a small village located in the rocky Frostback foothills east of the Emerald Graves. Villagers will be able to point your characters to the remains of the merchants and Inquisition guards who were accompanying the shipment, now shallowly buried alongside the road.

[lennethvalkyrie]

"At least whoever took our supplies had the decency to bury their guards." Lenneth's voice is calm and matter-of-fact, but her knuckles are white where she grips the hilt of her sword.

"Whoever did this had the situation well in hand. How else take even the little time necessary to do so?"

[qunari]

"Custom's usually to burn, not bury. I'd almost say they were looking to cover their tracks, though this is pretty sloppy work if that's the case."

Bull crouches beside the graves, running his fingers over the soil, testing how long it's been since it was overturned.

[justice_is_blond]

He looks at the graves, puzzling this over. These people have just robbed the Inquisition but they felt they had enough time to dig rather than burn. Or they didn't want the telling plume of smoke?

"They may have been worried about a group from the village coming to investigate too early. Interrupting them. I don't take it anyone here knows the reputation of Gironde?" It hadn't seemed a bad little town. Watchful, though. Maybe they had made a name for themselves with that. That would at least mean the attackers were from the area, to have known it, and that there may be a base not too far away.

"Or maybe they thought we'd scouts in the area."

[wontforgetyou]

"Never heard of it."

Not that that's really a surprise coming from one of the rifters, but Jamie not knowing something's never really stopped him from making observations before. While he does glance at the graves briefly, he stands back, letting the others study them more closely while he scans the area, looking for any other signs that might help explain what's going on.

"Doesn't make sense to take the time to bury them and then move on if they were in any sort of a hurry, though. You'd think that they'd just leave the bodies and go, or just pull them under some sort of cover. Doing this would take too long...unless they weren't worried about being discovered, that is."

[aintwejust]

"You don't bury noth'n 'less you're try'n t'hide somth'n." Jayne's sniffing about, trying to get a sense of the area. Mal's seen plenty a things like this in his time but never quite so messy, and it weren't bodies what were buried. Tools, goods, swag, sure. Bodies?

Not all that normal.

"Mighta gotten started, got spooked?"

[qunari]

"By the townspeople? Us? Or something else?"

Too many possibilities. They'll need to find where the rest of their caravan went before getting any real answers. Bull grunts as he pulls to his feet, eyes falling to the dog sniffing around the still dark earth.

"Think we've got a trail to follow?"

[justice_is_blond]

If they were spooked, the cause could be important. Walking into far more than they were ready for was a risk. But at the same time, there was too much of a risk to any possible survivors for them to linger much longer.

"Let's hope we do." He shifts the staff on his back, reminding himself it's there. "There may be more we can find here, but I'd like to press on. If any of our people have been taken hostage, they may not have a great deal of time." It probably went without saying that he had a personal investment in keeping people from being captive, as a mage.

[wontforgetyou]

Whatever the reason behind the burial is, Detlef has a point - and a good one, as far as Jamie is concerned.

"Aye, the longer we wait here, the more we risk something happening to them. I say we get going and we can see what we can pick up along the way."

As far as he's concerned, the sooner they get going, the better. He takes a few steps away from the grave in preparation to head off wherever the group decides, but as he does so his eyes wind up flicking over to Jayne, just on the off chance the Mabari's managed to pick up some sort of scent. Something like that would definitely help point them in the right direction, at least to start.

[lennethvalkyrie]

Lenneth lingers slightly.

"...If your custom here is to burn, then Inquisition soldiers still lie here unattended to. They have been left once, they must not be left again. Especially not by their own. Are there any here who know the proper rites?"

[aintwejust]

"We linger and mind that, we lose the trail. Ain't really a place we oughta split up neither." It ain't all that kind, that much he knows, but they don't got time.

"Say a few words and we oughta git. They're with their fuzzy gods now." Or rott'n on the cold ground but- she seemed a faithful sort. No need to spit on that.

[qunari]

"He's right. Better to keep the others from sharing their fate, while we've still got the time."

Lingering for sentimentality's sake isn't going to serve anyone, isn't going to solve anything but add balm to a few consciences. His is clear. These men are beyond help, and rites are a luxury they can't afford.

[lennethvalkyrie]

The valkyrie frowned slightly, but nodded. It was difficult to remember to care more about the living than the dead. Nevertheless, disrupting the cycle of souls always did damage. She was still unclear as to how that cycle worked in Thedas, but the lingering spirits of the dead created dark places. Places that might one day be as much of a threat as any mortal could be.

"Upon our return, then."

[aintwejust]

"We'll get this sorted, then? We'll get them sorted." Out of respect for what they did or...what have you. Faith isn't something Mal holds to all that much, but it's useful for those what need it. Mal? Don't much need it, don't much understand it, but spitting on it just to spite people that ain't even here? Not his way.

"C'mon."