[Closed] Foul and Corrupt Are They

[judgemewhole]

WHO: James Norrington, Vivienne, Adelaide Le Blanc, Garris Vakrie, Emmie Courtenay, Fenris, Lynette Valkyrie
WHAT: Field trip to the village of Montemps
WHEN: Second week of Guardian
WHERE: Montemps
NOTES: Extreme violence and bloodshed, cursing, Norrington losing his damned temper. Taking place after this message

Riding into Montemps

The ride is a short, three hour journey southwest of Sahnaria. Norrington had encouraged everyone to ride on horseback - the better to get there and back within the day. He honestly didn't think they were going to find anything except either hedge magic, which Adelaide and Vivienne could 'talk' to the individual well enough.

If there were Red Templars, well, then it would be a simple matter of finishing off more of them. Securing the area, perhaps seeing if there was something in Montemps worth trading with the Inquisition to see it got further protection.

Meanwhile, the trip up was the perfect time to speak with one another, and to plan as well.

Montemps

It is the smell of burning flesh that will assault all their noses first, and the horses will start to act nervous. Norrington will recommend going on foot from there, as it will only get worse for the animals. It will be eerily quiet, as if there is not another animal within five miles. If asked, Norrington will state that blood magic tends to send animals scurrying away. They could sense evil much more clearly than humans could, after all.

However, nothing could prepare anyone, even Norrington, for the carnage that would be displayed when they crested the last hill and saw Montemps for the first time. Over fifty bodies littered the ground, some templars who were clearly in the early stages of red lyrium poisoning, the rest were villagers. The village itself was a shell of empty houses, many of them burned down to the ground. In those, one would find the rest of the villagers, putting the death count at around sixty villagers and thirty odd templars.

Investigations
(or things your character can find/comment on)
- The villagers were a mix of men, women, and children.
- There are signs of shade influence, as well as people turning against one another. Many bodies are from the fire or smoke inhalation, and all have been set on by scavengers.
- On the hill, there will be templar cages, similar of what they found in Sahrnia. There will also be bodies of Avvar in the cages.
- It will be clear by journals that the villagers were working with the templars to save themselves.
- There is a full birth/death record in the mayor's house.

Comments

Norrington | OPEN

[judgemewhole]

Riding into Montemps

Norrington kept Dauntless under a firm rein, because the path was slippery and of course, did not look like it had been traveled in two months. He also kept to the lead -- this was his mission after all, but he did slow down his own horse's pace to come back and speak to others.

Montemps - WARNING RAGE

Norrington was the first to dismount, and tie Dauntless firmly to a near by wooden fence. He was the first to crest the hill, and thus, was the first to see the horror of Montemps.

The blood ran from his face, as the nightmare of his childhood swam up and drowned him in grief ... and in rage. His grip on his sword tightened, and his entire face thinned as he ground his teeth together.

Words slipped through his lips, filled to the brim with venom. "Monsters ... unholy monsters!"

[madame_de_fer]

Vivienne didn't need to hear Norrington's response to realize that something is terribly wrong. She could smell it, that sickening odor of burnt bodies, thick on the breeze. Oh how she wishes she'd brought a scented handkerchief now, as ungenerous as that thought is.

She comes up behind the Knight-Commander on foot as well and recoils at the sight, much as he did. Such a waste of life. A deep frown etches itself into her face. "Maker..."

It's not often that something can render Madame de Fer speechless.

[judgemewhole]

Anger radiated off of Norrington in silent waves, a fury so deep that he was shaking from it. Vivienne's quiet 'Maker' let him know that it was a friend, not an enemy, that came up to his side. His grip tightened on the sword, as he looked over at her.

"The Maker is nowhere near these place."

He started down the hill, where the stench of the dead hit one full on the face. He did not slow, until he reached the first body, and began to investigate. His fingers flexed into a fist as he took in the man's simple garb, charred to his skin, taking in the decomposition.

He knew Vivienne would right behind him, and without a comment he handed her his handkerchief from inside his cloak. His voice was tight, barely controlled, but it was controlled.

"Two months dead."

[madame_de_fer]

The handkerchief was accepted silently beyond a murmured expression of gratitude for the consideration. And well grateful she was for the gesture. Even as she held it to her face to cover her nose and mouth, her eyes were sharp on the atrocity laid bare before her eyes.

Two months. Two months of these poor people laid out exposed to the sun. It was added insult that they should be so defiled after being brutally slaughtered.

"The best justice we can see done is to find those responsible." And arrange for the bodies to be properly burned and interred, though it might take an entire abbey of Chantry sisters to see that work done. Something that Vivienne will see to once they've exhausted any avenues of information to be gleaned here.

"...my dear, is there aught I might do for you?"

[judgemewhole]

He looks down at the bodies before him, ravaged by claws and the sun, before he closed his eyes and rose to his feet. Every inch of him radiated anger, and he looked like if he found a blood mage here, he would tear them limb from limb.

"Madame Vivienne, if you would be so kind ... as to look for any evidence in the mayor's home? I am afraid my Orlesian is rusty." Was what he managed to grind out. He did not want to lose himself in front of the lady mages - they clearly had nothing to do with this.

But Blood Mages had, and he wanted them dead. "It will be the best way to identify the victims for the Chantry, and give us a better idea of just how many were actually lost."

[aggregiopavali]

He'd followed Norrington closely, anxious to get off the horse as fast as possible. He did not ride well, but did through necessity. He almost ran into Norrington as the man stopped dead, but the sight that greeted him had him cursing in Tevene.

His tattoos flared as he struggled to get his anger at the sight under control. He'd seen terrible things in Tevinter when he was owned by Danarius, as slaves were routinely used as sacrifices, but this was a level of horror he never thought he would see down south.

[judgemewhole]

Norrington was down the hill in a shorter amount of time that was possible, his sword bared before he had taken three steps. He had spoken to Vivienne for a few moments, terse words, before he went to inspect one of the huts. If Fenris followed him in there, he would find him staring down at the charred body of a child, clinging to a blood soaked doll, shielding it from whatever stabbed the child right through.

James's shoulders were heaving, deep, angry breaths before he lifted his fist and punched it -- directly into the wall, cracking the already damaged wood outwards in his rage.

[aggregiopavali]

Truth was, Fenris felt like doing the same, especially when he following Norrington into the hut. He watched silently as the man punched the wall. A Templar who truly felt the agony of watching what blood magic could do. Good.

"Punching the wall and getting angry won't help, but it might help you feel better." At least, it generally made him feel better. He had enough practise at it.

[judgemewhole]

Norrington jerked his chin a little, as he heard the low voice of the man behind him. Fenris, yes. The one with the ... odd tattoos on his face, that looked like they were in fact, carved in his face with lyrium.

He heaved out a breath, struggling to get control of himself and knew that it would be a long time coming. "... I do not wish to harm our mage companions."

Was his final response.

[aggregiopavali]

What it looked like, and what it actually was... was actually remarkably similar. How odd that was.

He grunted a little. "Then you have remarkable restraint." Though he knew that this wasn't the work of certainly the mages in his group. That was a start for Fenris. "If you want, after this, spar with me to get rid of the anger." He could take it, after all, and an angry Templar was going to do no good overall.

[fleurdesel]

"..." For a long, tense moment Adelaide stared out at the ruin of the village, half a mind winding about in soothing words for Compassion's sake. No pain. There was no pain to soothe here-

When one died there was no pain left to soothe.

The cruelty drenching every corpse, every bit of rubble twisted in her gut. This, this she was not overly familiar with- but she could not allow the horror of this to overcome what they meant to do. Carefully she pulled her emotions into a tight knot and set them aside, tucking them into a ball under her ribs. Later. They could cope, later. "Knight-Commander."

She swung down and began to descend the hill. As best she could tell? They were the only living things left in the village. "We must see what did this, yes?"

[judgemewhole]

Norrington emerged out of one the huts, his jaw tight and his expression grim, smudged already with soot and ash. He looked over at her, green eyes sharp, before he nodded quietly.

"Something truly horrific happened here." He stated simply, his anger barely leashed, but it was leashed. He looked around, his gaze taking in the scene, before he nodded. "The center of the carnage seems to be closer to the center of town."

Follow the trail of bodies ... he stopped in front of a man baked alive inside of his Templar armor, saw the small spikes of red lyrim caked into the dirt, destroyed.

"... Red Templars, here. But ... from the look of them, they all seem human, so they had just begun using when they came here."

[fleurdesel]

"I have never seen the like." Skirmishes, battles, even the slaughter at the Spire; none of it left marks quite like this. Burnt bodies and shattered steel, burning as they fled or burning to destroy evidence? Adelaide frowned as she knelt next to the templar in question, careful to keep from touching the crystals. The earlier stages of use from what little they knew of the practice.

"Were the villagers willing or threatened? With the war and most opinions on it- if they did not know what the templars were taking; I can see them easily assuming their cause righteous." Such was the faith the Templar Order inspired in the common man.

[judgemewhole]

"I have seen this. Many, many times. But nothing on this scale." Norrington's voice was grim as he shifted the body from the left and to the right. His eyes narrowed briefly at her question.

"That we are not going to find out staring at the body - I am not sure if there are any journals, or anything left - but we will need to find out."

[middle_of_calibrating]

Garris is not as quick, but he is soon to follow up the hill, nose wrinkling at the sight before Norrington yelled out into the dead silence of the village. This was more than just some templars going missing.

Though nothing seems to be alive, Garris is quick to pull out his bow, keeping it down and to his side, but at the ready just in case. "We should go see if there are any survivors," he offers quietly though he even doubts that anyone is alive in all this.

[judgemewhole]

Norrington looked sharply over at Garris, but the man had a pointed. He nodded his head, once, before he pointed to one side of the village to another. "We should not go alone. Whatever did this could still be ... around."

[middle_of_calibrating]

At the look Garris just stares back. He can see what the man is going through, has known it himself, but if there was anyone out there they didn't have long if they just stood there and stared.

"Agreed." A pause. "After we've looked around we should give them all a proper burial."

[judgemewhole]

"They are Orlesian." He said softly, as he looked at all the bodies. "They should be buried in the Orlesian fashion." He wasn't sure what that was - the Fereldans burnt their dead if they died in a war. In the Free Marches, there were entire groves beyond the cities filled with graveyards.

Re: Norrington | OPEN

[lennethvalkyrie]

Riding

Lenneth was not used to this. In fact, this was her first time on horseback. The mare she'd been given was an amiable enough mount, but it had taken most of the first hour for her to get used to the rolling back and forth shifting of her gait. To her chagrin, the others looked quite capable and relaxed.

When Norrington reigned back towards her, she offered him a small wry smile.

"I have never before wished so much for a skill I did not have."



Montemps

The valkyrie's face blanched, making her look positively ghostly against the silver-blue of her hair. She had seen death. She had seen battles, and what comes after. She had seen villages burn before armies, but each time the evil had been the evil of mortals. This was different. This stank of a greater evil, and even now the ground nearly roiled with its presence.

It took her a moment to find her voice.

"...This is blood magic?"

Garris | OPEN

[middle_of_calibrating]

Riding

Riding out feels like any other mission he's been on, the same feeling of anxiousness and concern. While used to it, it still made Garris a bit antsy in his saddle. Seeing as Norrington was taking the lead, Garris sticks to the back, making sure to keep up, but keeping enough space to mind the rear in case something case up. He'll welcome any company though.

Montemps

Norrington's rage is easily heard from the bottom of the hill, and once he crests it himself, Garris easily see why. The scene has the mercenary narrowing his eyes and him inhaling and exhaling a bit more heavily, but he remains silent for the most part. It reminds him terribly of Kirkwall, which has him hesitating for a moment before heading down into the town.

His pace is slow and cautious, checking around corners just in case if there was anything still around. For the most part he is looking to see if anyone is alive, which is highly unlikely, but worth a look.

DEMONS!

[judgemewhole]

They came while their small party had started to spread out, of course. Perhaps they were drawn by Norrington's rage, or perhaps they were simply waiting for their food supply to rise up and return again.

Shades, coming out of the ground. Rising up like ghost out of a child's nightmare.

At least a half a dozen or more, but looking at them let Norrington know that despite their numbers they were nothing more than fainter images to the more powerful shades. Demons that had started to lose their grip here and were rapidly losing power.

He pulled out his sword, shouting to the others. "Try to crowd them in! Flank them before they flank us! Vivienne, Adelaide, keep your distance!"

[aestimo]

It's not often that Emmeline curses, but she certainly did at the shout of demons. She never did like the idea of them, and seeing one up close for the first time isn't something she wants to do again.

She's quick to draw her sword, shield at the front. She had hoped that it wouldn't come down to this, after seeing all of the destruction here. But anything like this wouldn't have respect for the dead.

Norrington's orders are simple; shield up so they don't get you, crowd them in for easier pickings. She can't let her mind take over, she needs to let instinct take its place.

[middle_of_calibrating]

At the shout about demons, Garris cursing under his breath, turning back towards where he hears Norrington. It would figure that when they all started to spread that something would pop up. Looking for possible survivors would have to wait.

Bow already out he finds higher ground, climbing a half destroyed house. At her perch Garris takes note of the shades that have appeared.

His gaze quickly finds Emmie, trailing her movement for a bit before drawing his bow and readying a shot.

[madame_de_fer]

The directions given are solid and Vivienne agrees with them. She's not afraid to jump into the fray of a fight, but with only herself and Adelaide present for magical backup, her spirit blade will not be as needed. Mindful of the flanking tactics being employed, she casts Barriers on the melee fighters for their added protection before locating a sufficiently distanced location to begin her offensive magic onslaught.

To aid them with corralling the demons, she throws out a wall of ice as a perimeter barrier. To get around it and after her, the creatures would have to go around and leave their backs exposed.

[fleurdesel]

With Vivienne minding the space between them and the skirmish- there was time and space enough for rapid casting that might stack the odds in their favor.

Adelaide drove her staff into the ground before her, ice coiling up to keep it upright while her hands snapped out in intricate gestures, power roiled in the air around her. To Norrington that same Heroic Aura, to Garris the golden lines of Haste slowing the world about him till the count of Thirty. To Vivienne, a green glowing wisp circling her in a constant bob and weave to provide supplemental mana. To Emmeline a coil of frost that encircles her weapons to slow those she strikes.