A simple process of elimination.

[seesobserves]

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Sherlock Holmes
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: Sherlock had a theory, but it's not quite panning out
WHEN: Cloudreach sickness event
WHERE: Sent from the Undercroft
NOTES: Incidentally, Korrin went to help Sherlock out and is semi-passed-out in the background of this post. Whether she comes to and chimes in on anything is up to Isana ;)

[Sherlock sounds really not quite good. Apart from the rasp of frustration, there's an occasional waver that betrays the fever he's fighting against.]

There's no lyrium. No traces of Deathroot or Deep Mushroom. No poisons that would cause these sort of hallucinations.

[Huff.] But there must be something, something — magical, probably. [Ooh, the disdain in that word.] But not a curse, not raw magic, or the Templars could have stopped it. It has to be contained in something. Something any of us could have touched, that could infect at random.

[That last bit was more for his own benefit than anyone else's. Talking himself through to make certain he hasn't missed something. Knowing he hasn't? Doesn't exactly help, given the lack of results.]

What's the one constant between everyone at Skyhold? Everyone with a pulse, anyway — mages, dwarves, people who fell out of the rifts —

It has to be something in the water.

Comments

[eviscerates]

I think you're right. I mean, it--

I don't know, I think the fever is screwing up my sense of smell, but it doesn't smell right. It's subtle though, really... really subtle, and I cannot pin it down for the life of me.

( wolf smell, hurrah, so useful. )

I mean, metallic maybe but it... I don't know.

[seesobserves]

Metallic.

[There could be something there... but also. Smell. What.]

You can — smell impurities? [Healthy skepticism there, but he'll give her a chance to explain.]

[eviscerates]

I have extremely good smell and hearing, by human standards. It's a Rifter thing.

( She's left the Wolf out a few times, but announcing what she is to a stranger is a bit more daunting. At least with Twisted Fate she'd had a common cause... this is an actual stranger. )

Private

[ombranera]

Not my fault.

Private

[seesobserves]

Of course it wasn't. Not your style, poisoning for a prank.

[ombranera]

Well- not this sort of poison. There is one I have that might-

Well it would not do this and it would not be lethal.

[qunari]

Make sense. That'd be why I haven't been hit with it.

[seesobserves]

Mn. So the Bull's Chargers do survive solely on mead. [Dry humor, the dryest.]

[aggregiopavali]

I always knew there was a good reason to only drink wine.

[seesobserves]

I'll consider that an endorsement, until we can work this out.

[middle_of_calibrating]

So up until now you only 'knew' there was a good reason, but didn't have one?

[He's not really mad, but the fever certainly doesn't put him in a good mood - he's a little grouchy.]

You should've passed that knowledge along before.

[el_tybs]

The water?

[There's a sigh and a bit of a grumble on his end.]

That... would make sense. It is something we've all had. Figures it would be something we need to live.

Why are we only being affected now though?

[seesobserves]

Well, something must have changed. But it's none of the obvious culprits.

[doneisdone]

Well then stop your pontificating and tell us what to do about it. If boiling it doesn't work, and the snow is dirty, we're running out of options for the sick.

[seesobserves]

Their best chance will come when the mages in Skyhold take more than a moment to think.

The cause must be magical. For all its practical applications, alchemy does have its limits.

[arachnophobe]

All right, I'll bite, brainiac. This happened suddenly, so somethin' must have just shown up in the water recently.

Anyone know where Skyhold's water source is from?

[seesobserves]

The water's drawn from underneath the castle. The wells run deep — anything could've slipped in with the disturbance from the weather.

[nonsibi]

Great. And none of that rules out the possibility that this could be something purposeful.

[seesobserves]

First the cause, then the culprit — if there is one. Anything could've seeped in through the foundations.

[fightorfright]

If it's not poison, and it's not magic... what is it, then?

[seesobserves]

It is magic. [He's like. 99% sure.] The only question is how it's infecting us.

[failedfirst]

It wouldn't be possible to enchant an entire water supply. Something in the water, maybe...

[seesobserves]

[Sherlock recognizes that voice from the broadcast the healers put out. The only one who didn't offer any platitudes.

Sherlock Approves.]

Some substance infused with magic? An enchanted item? [He's brainstorming here; help him out.]

[universal_charm]

Never before have I wanted those words to so badly be a joke.

_{[ But the logic is sound, isn't it? Damn it, it's sound and he just knew that the water was somehow going to come back and bite him and everyone at some point. ]}

plz forgive the late

[seesobserves]

...do people often joke about tainted water where you come from?