julius and marcus's no good, very bad roadtrip. ( closed to division heads )

[delphian]

FORM: Crystal.
SENDER: Tsenka Abendroth.
RECIPIENT: Exclusively the division heads.
NOTES: After receiving a letter, Marcus and Julius set out to meet old friends. When they fell out of contact, Tsenka found her brother.

( tsenka does not send her message from within the gallows.

not so unusual; she lives in lowtown. she is not always within the gallows. she could have sought the division heads out in person for this, requested a meeting, made her way across the water to where she could easily and quickly gather the help she needs—

but while she offers and asks this in good faith, and wants their help, and wants to believe that they will back their own ... she has been with them for less time than many. she has stayed for her brother, mostly, willing to learn to see what he values but not there yet. and if they say no, they don't know where she is to stop her. )

This is Tsenka Abendroth, with Scouting. I'm a dreamer mage. This is the reason that Tevinter took and kept me, and why in all that time they were never able to force me into their service. I destroyed the mind of every person that tried until they learned to keep me insensible, and hoped to find some means of bending me to their will or leveraging for my cooperation. They failed, and I'm here now. Dreamers are rare, and few of us survive to adulthood. I never met another one. In the Circle we kept my ability a secret so that the Templars wouldn't see me as too much a risk to suffer alive. In Riftwatch, we've kept it quiet for the same reason.

( she speaks briskly, not emotionally. a summary of the facts, to bring the four of them up to date with the situation as it stands. more formally than she usually speaks, which yseult and byerly have spoken to her enough before to know. it is precise. the sound of—motion. packing. )

Marcus received word from what he believed were old friends of ours who we were parted from—he thought that they might have to move on from where they were, and hoped to tell him in person where they intended to go instead of committing it to a letter. The letter came from Wildervale and that's where he and Julius departed for.

( all perfectly above board, not kept secret, an unremarkable personal errand expected to be brief. )

When they stopped responding to their crystals, I searched out Marcus in the Fade. He's in the hands of Templars who ambushed them outside of Wildervale. He saw Julius struck down and didn't see what happened to him after that, doesn't know if he's alive. In his memory I heard them speak of stopping at Val Chevin. I intend to take the path that they took, search for Julius, and go after Marcus. I'll try to find him in the Fade again, if he can help me find him. I'm going to leave shortly.

Can I take a party with me? If we find Julius, someone will need to bring him back to Kirkwall before we continue.

( she isn't—

she isn't sure what else to say. she doesn't sign off with anything in particular, she just stops talking. )

Comments

[katabasis]

[A long list of possible responses spring to mind. The one which isn't promptly discarded or put aside for some later moment is—]

You'll cover more distance if you travel by griffon.

['You' doing a considerable amount of work here in relation to the question she'd actually asked.]

[delphian]

Then I'll need griffon riders.

[katabasis]

I believe we're in possession of a few of those as well.

Where are you now? How quickly can you be ready to depart?

[bouchonne]

[ Delicately: ]

While I understand the desire for swiftness, I cannot help but think that we should briefly pause to consider this. This sounds to my paranoid ear like a perfect trap.

[delphian]

Yes, Marcus is in the trap that was set for him.

I'm ready to depart and I'm prepared to delay an hour.

[katabasis]

Give us two, [is brisk.] That will allow for us to pull the right people in off their work and see you all outfitted appropriately.

[And maybe keeps her in place long enough for the rest of them to wrestle over the details.]

[delphian]

( one hour is longer than she wants to wait and two is a tough sell but so the right people get the right things— )

Two hours.

( if she sounds like she'll be counting the minutes to leave bang on 120, well. )

I — we have the element of surprise, if we're quick. The crystals are obviously gone. They must believe he can't communicate with anyone.

[bouchonne]

[ By opens his mouth - then closes it again. His reservations remain, but, well, this is Flint’s domain, and he’s not going to undermine his colleague in public. ]

[delphian]

( as ready as she'd been to think, alright, I have to fight the chantry, they won't let me come back here, there's enough relief in finding support that she keeps thinking out loud instead of keeping tightly to herself, )

I'll try to reach him again. It was difficult to get much out of him, he's certainly been given magebane and I think sedation. The more he can pass to me, the easier we can intercept before they reach their destination.

[katabasis]

Do that. [Is approving, or at least a cousin to 'Good.' Maybe it's for Byerly and his prudence too.

Who can say.]

There's an abundance of territory between us and Val Chevin. Any landmark may be of use.

[hassaran]

Do you have any sense of their intentions?

[delphian]

They said stop at Val Chevin, not arrive. Wherever they need to take him, to whoever, is further. And it was him they wanted, specifically.

If he remembers me coming to him when he wakes, he'll have the sense to fight less so they drug him less; we might learn more, if I can reach him again.

[hassaran]

[ Yseult makes a noise of acknowledgement, but not of hope. There are a lot of "ifs" in that sentence. ]

He knows a great deal about the Gallows' defenses. We must assume that is the motive, unless you're aware of any other?

[delphian]

Julius has been here longer and knows plenty, too, and they didn't care about him. Marcus Rowntree made a name during the conflict as a Templar-killer.

I don't think they'd have left Julius for dead if it were about Riftwatch. If he's alive, what sort of plan could they have that they can take the time to get him somewhere else and risk Julius raising an alarm? And if he's dead, why didn't they think he might know anything of use?

in the war room;

[katabasis]

[It takes relatively little time to convene over that large map stretched over the heavy table.

Flint scavenges a spare marker from the map's edge, but doesn't get as far as placing it anywhere. Instead, the wooden triangle is simply turned about in the hand. The murkiness of the direction in which they're ostensibly meant to be headed is the least of their concerns.]

I doubt she'll hold the full two hours before starting to ask questions. So we've slightly less than that to decide how we actually mean to treat this.

[Throwing a leg directly over a griffon is a fine pitch for someone who might otherwise disappear without reassurance. In this room, Flint appears markedly less interested in that particular breed of haste.]

[hassaran]

[ Yseult perches on the edge of the table, within reach of the map without blocking access. Dangling feet are crossed at the ankle. ]

This is most likely personal business between Rowntree and the Templars; we should take care not to convert it into something more.

[bouchonne]

[ A slight flicker of the eyelid betrays Byerly's surprise at Flint's abrupt turn in the conversation, so utterly in contrast to the man's ostensible support of Tsenka over the crystal - but, well, at this point, he shouldn't be surprised by something like that. ]

If I were to be ruthless, I would say that Rowntree is a capable soldier but a decided diplomatic liability. His reputation harms ours. And he stirs up discontent amongst the mages. His capture would, bluntly, make my life easier.

[ But this is Byerly. Despite his posturing, he never actually supports the ruthless option. ]

But he is still one of ours. And Julius is not confirmed dead, besides - abandoning him without a search would be short-sighted. [ And, pragmatically: ] And if we are not seen to put enough effort into this, we will likely have a considerable mage problem.

[katabasis]

[Maybe it's that very flicker of surprise that keeps Flint from flattening a look back at Byerly on behalf of 'diplomatic liability.' Ordinarily, it's a remark that would warrant at least a measure of pettiness. Instead, as if in rhythm with Yseult—]

We don't know that they're proper Templars either. The Order may have been formally recalled to the Exalted March, but it's hardly as if we're lacking in outliers.

[Would Marcus care to discriminate between the two? Enough to communicate it in some fashion Tsenka might parse with any confidence?]

To that end, I imagine it would be in all of our interests [he's counting Riftwatch's mages in this assessment] to see that whoever we send after them is able to recognize this as a complex question. Derrica, one of our ex-Templars, a Warden if one can be scrounged.

[bouchonne]

[ Dryly, in response to that specific group composition: ]

Sadist.

[katabasis]

[Not the first time he's been charged so, surely.]

[propulsion]

Yeah, can't leave out a sadist.

[ Ha dee ha, from this end of the table. Tony is standing, arms folded, looking like this meeting got between the forge and a bath. Sacrifices. ​]

Is this a diplomatic intervention or a fight? How many guys are we sending to how many guys?

[bouchonne]

[ Byerly, for one, thoroughly appreciates Tony's sacrifice. (What? He's married-with-two-lovers, not dead.)

With an elegant shrug and a dry smile: ]

Who knows? The details are vague at best. And the parties involved reluctant to wait for information. [ So: ] I expect whether this is a diplomatic intervention or a fight would depend very much on who his captors are. If they're legitimate members of the Templar order bent on retribution, that's a different calculus from if they're rogue agents without a sense of duty.

[hassaran]

Unless you're suggesting the Divine has sanctioned this, they are rogue agents.

[ Yseult's tone makes quite clear which of those options she thinks the more likely. Not that the Divine would never kidnap anyone, but why Marcus? Why now? Why ambush as a first resort when there is plenty of leverage that might be brought to bear to make Riftwatch give him up? ]

We're unlikely to learn more unless they are captured alive.

[katabasis]

If we get that far.

[Here, finally, Flint turns the marker in his hand and plunks it unceremoniously and entirely arbitrarily down into Wildervale.]

We should seek out Julius first. Rowntree is secure for the time being, and if Julius is alive he may be able to provide the best guidance for the route the others may have taken toward Orlais.

[propulsion]

Yeah, I need him for things, [ is support for locating Julius, considering the table, the map, the absence of this conversation when Ellis went dark. It's fine. ]

The Chantry apparently loves generating rogue agents getting their sticky fingers all over us. As long as it's still on the road, there's some deniability.

[hassaran]

[ Good points; she nods. ]

Then a large enough group to split if Julius can't be quickly found, or requires an urgent return to the Gallows. Seeker Hart seems an obvious choice. The rifter Ellie has also proven reliable, and rides a griffon. She and Tsenka have worked together before.

[bouchonne]

[ A shrug of agreement. ]

Though I do fear, a bit, that we may be making this group up of those who are a touch too - shall we say - courageous and righteous. It would be nice to have a coward in there, who'll be willing to advocate for turning back if the resistance proves too fierce. Since this mission could easily be a fatal one.

[katabasis]

[All of this arm's length reason, and this is what manages to elicit a flatly unimpressed look out of Flint.]

Most are.

[bouchonne]

[ Which gets a rather unimpressed look in return from Byerly. ]

This more than most. Rationality tends to be compromised on rescue missions.

[katabasis]

[The temptation to contest over the difference between cowardice and rationality—]

Then I'll go, if that's your concern.

[Is dismissed in favor of better bait.]

[bouchonne]

[ A droll look. Yes, let's send Flint, known paragon of rationality. ]

Jealous it's someone else getting kidnapped for a change, Commander?

[katabasis]

[The flat look he fires in Yseult's direction has an entirely different tenor: This fuckin' guy.]

[hassaran]

[ Had anyone previously realized it was possible for Flint and Yseult to look so alike? The mirroring expressions are almost uncanny. Maybe they practiced it in the dungeon.

Her sigh is both response and segue back to the point. ]

Our best option is a group with as much good sense and respect for our judgment as can be found in Riftwatch. One of us present might help enforce that, though it could limit our options if things go badly.

[propulsion]

[ There had been a raised eyebrow at Byerly's pitch, then some tooth-picking during the inevitable little snarl that occurs after. Now, speaking up; ]

Plus in my experience, it's super easy for a bunch of heroes to disregard the token rational person anyway, or the [ a deferential gesture to Byerly...'s word choice ] coward. I vote one of us for leash-tugging.

[bouchonne]

[ Byerly purses his lips. A danger-filled mission to save someone he dislikes, carried out at a considerable height above the ground? Sounds like his idea of hell. ]

While I have plenty of cowardice to offer - if little rationality - I think I'm an ill fit for this mission.

[ He's out. But it sounds like Flint is enthusiastically in. ]

[katabasis]

[An ill fit indeed.

To say nothing of Stark's point, which warrants the faintest tip of the head in something near to agreement.]

The same may well go for whoever has him. [he says to Yseult.] It's possible they may change their attitudes once they realize the extent of the problem they've created.

[hassaran]

[ The tilt of Yseult's head concedes the point, even if the tilt of her eyebrows is less optimistic. To Flint, who seems the consensus choice: ]

You'll keep us apprised?

[katabasis]

I'll make contact once we find Julius.

[Simple enough, easily agreed—a fleetingly optimistic affirmation. Sure. Once they do that, not if they do that.]