Trees are jerks

[unbrokenoath]

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Kaisa
RECIPIENT: People in the Chantry Relations project
WHAT: There's BLOOD MAGIC AFOOT. And it's GROWING PLANTS.
WHEN: Right after this
WHERE: Right smack dab next to what was once the chantry memorial garden
NOTES: Elthina would be rolling in her grave. If she had a grave. And a body that wasn't a fine ash.

Hey guys! Kaisa here. So, uh. Remember how we all agreed on how we ought to work on getting that Chantry memorial garden back up and running? Well, I'm there right now, and we've got a pretty big problem here.

[ A pause, and then helpfully: ]

It's not my fault.

[ Just putting that out there. ]

The entire area where the garden used to be is a forest. Like. A real, honest-to-Andraste forest. It's...actually really pretty? Everything is flowering and it smells really nice. But still. There's a forest here. Right in the middle of Hightown and everything.

I guess it wouldn't be a huge issue, aside from maybe squirrels attacking random nobles--that'd actually be pretty funny--but forests don't just sprout up. I may be a city-slicker, but I can tell you that much. So I poked around, and I believe I found evidence of blood magic being involved.

[ There was a bunch of blood in the middle of a magically created forest. Kaisa does, admittedly, share her religion's intolerant view of blood magic (Warden bullshit aside, that's different), but she's pretty sure that's a solid cause for suspicion. ]

I don't know why someone would use blood magic to grow a forest, but they used blood magic on holy ground--is it still holy ground? I'm not sure about that, but still. You guys get why this might be more of an issue than a few extra trees, right?

Oh, and don't worry, I destroyed the evidence of the blood magic. Figured that's the last thing people around here need.

[ Well, she is a Warden. Suppression of sketchy facts is their MO. ]

Comments

[paladingus]

You got rid of the evidence before any of us could have a look at it?

[Simon's not sure he would have had anything to contribute on the matter of whether this was Definitely Blood Magic or not, but the principle of the thing seems to merit a comment.]

[unbrokenoath]

Well, yeah. [ Duh. ] I'd rather be uncertain than have some random assholes see it and become certain that there's a blood mage who likes to mess with Kirkwall structures running about. I'd say they've pretty much had it up to their eyeballs with mages redecorating their city, yeah?

[ She may like Anders and all but she isn't really keen on the shit he pulled. ]

[paladingus]

I understand it from the standpoint of not starting a panic. I do. It's just that now we've nothing to work with if we want to get to the bottom of this, and if we can't get to the bottom of it, we've got some...awful prolific blood mages running around unchecked.

What all was it you found?

[unbrokenoath]

[ A small huff, but she relents. ]

I found a bunch of bloodstains right smack in the center of a forest that had sprouted up overnight, with everything all flowering and vegetating and all that shit. The blood was all I found, but you're free to come over and check it out yourself.

Do you have, like...some kind of blood magic detecting Templar powers? Or, uh. Anything like that?

[ For what it's worth, the question is genuine. The finer details of Templar abilities are a vast, shinily armored mystery. ]

[paladingus]

If only. It would've made everything in Kirkwall a hell of a lot easier. [Or worse. It could have just made everything exponentially worse. It's a tossup.]

It would have to be in a vial to do us any good that way, so whatever sort of blood it is and whose, that ship has sailed. But if it's the residual effects we're worried about, on what's meant to be holy ground...we could try to cleanse it.

[He considers for a moment, pondering the number of templars that might be needed for such an endeavor. How exactly would one cleanse a blood magic forest?]

...no, on second thought, best not. If the trees are magic-grown, it might just kill them. And blood magic or no, a live forest's still better than a dead one.

I suppose the thing to do first is question whoever does the gardening, if nobody's asked them already.

[unbrokenoath]

Yeah, it sure beats a hole in the ground, or a half-finished garden. Definitely beats a bunch of dead trees. That's some bad mojo, right there.

I've already been interviewing everyone working here, but I guess this calls for a new interview...? To see if they saw anything sketchy, at the least.