therookery | crystal; brandel's reach liveblog (jaws theme)

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crystal; brandel's reach liveblog (jaws theme)

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Araceli Bonaventura, Val de Foncé, Korrin Ataash, Helena
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: Translating some markings, mysterious seabeasts, setting the hearts and minds of the Chantry at ease (with this squad??? It's more likely than you think)
WHEN: Waves hand at Solace
WHERE: Brandel's Reach
NOTES: Araceli is blue, Val is green, Helena is red and Korrin is purple. Will update with anything else!

How is it coming señor de Foncé? Are we done? [Oh does Araceli sound hopeful? Does she sound tired? Is it just a trick of the cave bouncing her voice back at her or is it that she's probably aged ten years here with the dripping of the water all about her while she waits for whatever it is to be done.

Not even somewhere comfy to lounge.] I should've brought Fernando, he would've loved it out here. And how is it [and this is why the sending crystal is on, or maybe she just wanted everyone to hear her complaints re: Val's painstaking work to be heard by all] that waterproof ink doesn't exist here? It'd save many headaches, no?

If you were wanting to be inventing this waterpoof ink, and to give it to me-- [Val shouts, from somewhere across an echoing cave--where he is, by the way, hard at work, just because he isn’t doing anything demonstrably heroic does not mean his work lacks value--] --right now, in this moment, if you were wanting to invent this thing--then by all means! Invent away! But I can go no faster than I am.

I am personally more interested in these markings--astonishing! Do you know, they do not resemble anything that I have seen? No written language, they are all their own. Do you have any idea, the sort of discovery this-- Look, just here, you can see that the sea has been eradicating this part--but the markings here are stronger, and clearer, and they go all along here, see--down below the water, even--

Eradicates? [What slander is this?] The sea reclaims. Do you think maybe the people who went sailing off beyond the Amaranthine and never returned? [The cool kids who clearly found something so baller that the rest of Thedas got left behind, no forwarding address. Inquisition you may chime in whenever this is riveting stuff all this cool shit no one can see.]

( Helena is listening to these shouting people, unbothered by their sea bickering.
The giant devil woman she has met before is here, and the small one who sounds Spanish but is funny, and now the fancy French whose hair she sort of wants to ruffle. When she speaks, she sounds far off, and that’s probably because she’s scaling rocks in the cave to look for different angles, finding tiny crevices for hand and footholds on the seemingly slick surface and climbing towards a ledge and pile of boulders. Not that anyone can see that over the crystals, of course, but that’s why she sounds a little more distant, a little more echo-y. )

Pretty man. There are more markings up here. Cave-in, I think, blocking off higher tunnel.

( And then the irregular tap-tap-tap-tap of something - a rock, presumably - being pulled away and tossed down into the lower part of the tunnel. )

Fernando, here? That would be entertaining while we wait, at least. Though I don’t even want to imaging trying to wrangle him for the return trip. [Ignoring the sea bickering -because Araceli can hold her own, and there are other issues to address- Korrin glances over and up to the climbing Helena, admiring her skill. She frowns at mention of a cave-in, though.]

Let me help with that, it’s better than standing around waiting for him to finish. [She’ll climb enough to see what Helena’s talking about, then attempt to energize some of the rubble...carefully, not wanting to trigger an incident.]

[In the midst of the chatter, there's a noise. Easily overlooked but coming from the water, not the lapping of the tide but a disturbance. ~~How do you do fellow kids.~~]

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( Helena has her crystal held between her teeth, it sounds like. To make sure she does not accidentally throw away. )

Is someone hungry?

( Because that was not sounding like stomach rumble, but she is also throwing rocks with large woman's help, so— ? )

It's not me, I swear--

[Just focused on trying to get this done, until that noises causes her to look over and--]

...fuck!

[Something has been watching.

Something with two small fins either side a flat head that are peeking above the top of the water that sparks for a moment when the orange eyes realise that there are eyes upon it--

The water shifts, sparks again.]

Are you casting lightning on rocks? [Which would be Araceli, semi-alarmed because she knows what spells sound like and they're all sort of in here and y'know, just checking Korrin.]

No. No lightning from me, not this time. [Korrin's voice is quiet, tense, ready to cast a Barrier a moment's notice but not doing it just yet and certainly not tossing lightning around.]

Back away from the water, though. Those sparks...is that....

( Helena drops from the wall, landing like something spidery, and in the same motion her bow is in hand, draw back with a bow at the ready. The bow is one that she claimed form their time on the haunted boat together, and her gaze is calm and focused as she trains on the target. )

I think we find what happened to missing Chantry-man.

[Val--busy with recording and complaining to his best friends and ideal adventure companions who would be so much better in this situation, if only they were here instead of these people--realizes suddenly that something is happening. Which is, luckily, enough to stop him from chattering on.]

What?

[--For a little while, at least.]

What is it? What happened to him?

[He scrambles to his feet to get a better look, hastily enough to dislodge some loose rock. His proximity to the water means that those rocks fall in to the water, because he has not yet had the good sense to heed anyone's warning about moving away from the water, and also why would anyone want to move away from the water when the water is quickly becoming the most interesting thing in the cave, second only to the peculiar markings, but only second by a little.

Falling rocks may be enough to spook whatever owns those eyes. Only time will tell.]

( Helena briefly considers lowering the bow so she can grab the back of the pretty man's shirt and pull him back, but that would involve moving. Instead she shifts focus, and looses an arrow at Val.

Or, more accurately, through part of his shirt, to pin him to the cave wall. Not enough to keep him stuck there for a long time, but maybe just to make him slow down, stop. Perhaps think.

Maybe also give him little graze, as she nods to the eyes visible above the water, and grabs another arrow. )

[Wrapping her cloak tighter about herself, Araceli approaches on Val's heels with an arm thrust out just in case--

And up comes a face with the beginnings of the upturned end of the nose with thin slits for nostrils that flare wide. The eyes are wide, still that alarming shade of orange, and now it rises, rises--

Not quite so tall but the water is sparking about it, some of the rocks bouncing right back at the edge from it and Araceli swears as a long translucent fin emerges too. Floppy, almost charming really the way it's not quite able to stay upright. Or it would be until the mouth opens with a terrible shriek at all of them revealing razor sharp needles for teeth.]

Helena! [Maybe Araceli doesn't mean to shout quite so loud but there's something coming out of the water, and there's an arrow, and an abrupt dive as the whole of the creature dives deeper then bursts as high as it can right at the water's edge.] What the fuck is that?

[Korrin goes to sea, Val has too and he's an adventurer scholar but this is beyond the sea-birthed child here please assist.]

Aban-ataashi--

[Such is uttered with awe and dread, as Korrin's wide eyes focus solely on the creature, barely hearing the others at the moment. She's never seen one this close before; no one has and survived, not when the sea dragons are capable of cracking massive vessels in half and taking all hands with them. Even witnessing from the shore was enough to give her nightmares in the past, and now she's face-to-face with one. That ear-piercing shriek snaps her out of her haze.]

It's an aban-ataashi! A cetus! A small one, but still--stay the fuck back!

This is--

[Val, grunting, tugs at the arrow that arced from the Rifter's bow and pinned his bloody shirt to the wall of the cave. It did not strike him: so, that is lucky, but still he does appreciate. This is not his best shirt. He doesn't give a shit about best shirts. If he had a best shirt, he certainly would not wear it to a sea cave, during an adventure, but that does not mean that he wants it to be pierced by arrows.

Especially not when there is something to be seen.]

--horseshit, I am-- what?

[And that astonished what is because the creature's head has broken the water, and the qunari woman has said words Val has only read. Aban-ataashi.]

A cetus! By Andraste's-- [He half-growls at the arrow as he at last tugs it free and drops it with a clatter to the floor of the cave. Stay the fuck back? Yeah the fuck right--staying back means he won't see this marvelous sight.

There is a kind of caution as he gets closer to the water, but more the sort of caution put on by a man who doesn't want to spook a creature for its own good, less for his own safety. Val crouches, carefully, beside a boulder that will obscure him mostly from the glittering eyes of the beast.]

It is so rare, to see--to see one at all, yes, but it is especially rare here in the south--I cannot believe!

[He fumbles for his blank book again, and once he has it in hand, flips the page without looking as he continues to stare at the creature, unflinching even in the face of those razored teeth. There is a boulder between him and the beast. Safety enough, for now.]

I suggest we keep all arrows to ourselves-- [Helena] --until it has actually attacked, there is no point in-- ah, it is quite small, you know. For a cetus. If the texts are to be believed--I suppose a sailor is often a man of exaggeration, so we should take each account with their grains of salt, yes?

( Her eyes narrow at the French, and Araceli, and the Devil Woman, and she makes an unhappy sound in her throat that is not dissimilar to a cat. )

Is danger, we kill.

( Working in teams is absurd. )

Maybe it's a baby?

[A cetus baby would still be an enormous baby, she's seen baby whales bigger than other grown sharks or dolphins before, and the whole time she's been here she's wanted nothing more than to see one for herself.

And now at last here it is, alive and enraged.

Up it rises again and shrieks, an echoing caterwaul with every terrible tooth on display and the fins pulling forward either side of the face to make itself loom larger. The eyes dart, the head swivels, the whole neck of it writhes but the water remains without lightning for the moment.

Araceli draws up her hood, wraps her arms inside of her cape and absolutely ignores Korrin's advice, probably her own advice if it were anything other than a sea creature and gets right up to the edge in the same sort of crouch as Val.]

Sailors witness many things, who are any of us to say until we witness them with our own eyes? [No heat in her voice that she might have had, she's far-away and smiling at the cetus. A hand cautiously outstretched.] Hello, it's okay, are you frightened of us? Did we disturb your home?

[Araceli: rolls to befriend the abomination of the sea.]

( The cetus rises higher out of the water, electricity crackling over the water as it swerves, moves to see all the four little things in the cave.

Even as a young cetus, it is a massive thing. The dorsal fin that runs down its back is translucent, and the light that shines in the openings in the sea caves catches the jagged flesh.

The eyes that train on Araceli are tiny beads of glowing red light. Sharp, attentive, and the head swings forward towards Araceli—

as it's mouth opens wide exposing long, pointed teeth that are jumbled into the mouth, and it shrieks.

The tail, meanwhile, lashes out of the water, and loops around Val's waist, jerking him towards the water.

In essence: >:V! )

[Korrin opens her mouth to protest Val's words, not wanting anyone to underestimate the creature, but that's promptly forgotten when Araceli draws closer to the thing that everyone should be backing the hell away from.]

Araceli, no!

[Her eyes widen in horror as the angry aban-ataashi youngling turns its head toward her kadan and she rushes forward to cast a barrier before it's too late. But it's Val that the creature snares, and she curses under her breath for not seeing that in time. Drawing her spirit blade, the Vashoth mage rushes forward to swing it at that tail, hopefully with enough strength for it to drop Val.]

[Scholarly interest is not the same as underestimating; appreciation for natural wonder is not the same as befriending sea-beasts.

And Val would say all of this, except he has been seized about the waist and is being dragged toward the water.

The force pulls Val off of his feet. He drops his sketchbook and his pencil; his satchel drags and catches, looped around a rocky outcropping by the strap. The cetus wins that battle of strength easily, and the satchel is yanked over Val's head and left behind, sad and abandoned. He tries to grab for that same outcropping as he's pulled away from it, but it slips past his fingers as he's dragged over stone and sharp pebble, with the force of the cetus' tail tight around his waist.

The whole affair is dizzying, but even in the moment he thinks of what strength the cetus has, for what seems to be an adolescent. And then the cetus squeezes a little harder, as it muscles him over a swathe of pebbles that are particularly sharp, and a little brackish water, and Val thinks, Shit.

It's not until he has been pulled to the edge of the water and is struggling gamely to breathe that the Qunari woman rushes forward with a bloody glowing sword. Timely.]

What are you do--

[Is she addressing Korrin or the cetus or both of them, there's no time to think about that when her aborted grab for Val falls short, hands grabbing empty air instead of a handful of shirtsleeve. Her eyes lock with the cetus again, as if she might just will it to let go (the sea considers all things its due, and hadn't she not so long ago spoken of it reclaiming?) and already there is Silkdart in her hand.]

Let him go now. [As stern and flat as she might manage, the same tone used for Lux and Fernando when they're being difficult.

Not that it matters because the cloak is made of something firmer than leather, something with a certain slickness to it that does have the feel of some sea creature even if it's not seaskin, not something Araceli can name as she grits her teeth, cloak now up and over her mouth.

A few steps back to take a run before she can make a dive for it, trying to keep out of its line of sight, and she won't need to breathe, can stay under the surface of the water to get to Val as she starts swimming along, a smooth sleek line with her heart in her mouth.]

( Helena's mouth is curled back in a snarl, and Tezpadam's Bane looses two arrows. The first misses as the creature thrashes suddenly, its small size and place in what it has come to consider its home lair giving some advantage. Her second arrow strikes, sinking into its neck, but its gaze stays focused on Araceli, as the fines around its face flare and something in its eyes burns brighter.

Unfortunately for Korrin (and Val), the strike with her blade is not enough, to free Val. Instead the cetus snaps Val back through the air and uses him to essentially bludgeon her, with the footing in the cavern slippery and hard keep balance on as is.

Electricity crackles over it, lightning arcs through the cavern, amplified by the water, striking each member of the party. )

Val? [ excited, jealous, voiced raised as if that will help him hear her across the cave or whatever ] Do they bear any resemblance to the Fex markings we saw in De Bruynegge?

[Oh thank the Maker it's Freddie, if only she were here--hastily, Val switches to Orlesian.]

They do not! Freddie, it is astonishing. They are utterly different than anything I have seen. There is a pattern to them, I can make that much out at least--it is a language, certainly, and there is something almost glyphic of them-- ah, I cannot wait to show you these things.

[Not in Orlesian, because he wants everyone to hear this:] And no one here cares.

You must record everything.

[ Helping, not even slightly trolling. ]

Every little mark. Take your time. Do not let them rush you.

How remarkable! I don't recall ever hearing any suggestion that Brandel's Reach might hold anything of interest. As Jeannot says, do not let them rush you! A proper survey must be conducted--not only recording the markings, obviously, but the caves themselves as well. You know as well as I that we cannot hope to accurately interpret their meaning if we do not have a full understanding of their relationship to their setting.

Oh, it is thoroughly boring otherwise. I would not suggest a trip here for any prize--except should the prize of having discovered some new language prove to be one that I have grasped.

[And the others, but they hardly count. Oh, but--]

For the Inquisition. Obviously. I shall give it second billing in whatever I publish of this. Of course, Jeannot has the steadier hand--and you are quite skilled at the drawing of caves, Freddie, you know I prefer the structures of line and order.

Your disregard for the natural form has always vexed me to no end. Are the markings to be utterly destroyed? Is there no means of preserving them as they are, so that Jeannot and I might rush out and see for ourselves? I so prefer to record things in situ when I may.

I do not know of preservation. I fear covering the markings might mar them in some irreparable way. Then again--the sea is cruel, but it has not yet managed to lap high enough to obscure or wipe out what remains now. I suppose it might remain for your viewing.

Will you be rushing? I would be so much happier, if you were both here.

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crystal; brandel's reach liveblog (jaws theme)

over the crystals/action-ish???

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and this is me NPCing a sea dragon

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SORRY FOR THE SLOW doing NPCing for the cetus in this tag as well for ease

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