therookery | closed; squirtle up

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closed; squirtle up

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Araceli Bonaventura
RECIPIENT: naval presence project members
WHAT: A brief catch-up
WHEN: Whenever people aren't involved in Perendale/Venatori infiltration things
WHERE: Wherever
NOTES: Hopefully I've caught everything that needs to be caught, if not make your own starter for it?

Forgive me, it's been some time; I put a message over the sending crystals not long ago about the island but I thought it best to discuss some things privately amongst ourselves should anyone have ideas or information. Some are in more than one project, you know people in them, talk to them so--

[So this. Over the crystals because people are busy. Better she not take them away from their lives if she not need to.]

The rift opening over the water was one matter, the uncharted island-- those are both what they are, rifts have opened in many places and we were unfortunate in that. It was the kraken and serpents tainted by the red lyrium, they caused us the most problems; had we not encountered them, the retrieval likely would have been as expected. Only wetter than usual. But red lyrium in the waters is now something we have to think about.

Having to make for Llomerryn for repairs brought us a new ally in the form of a high-ranking pirate captain as far as watching for the activity of certain parties goes somewhere we have fews eyes.

Anything else you think should be brought up now? Let's hear it while we're together like this. [Wherever people are.]

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In Llomerryn we now have Capitán Gloriana Valdez to call friend, she'll be watching for Qunari and Tevinter activity, advancement, that sort of thing. She also delivered us Red Templars found at sea that can only have come from the shipwreck encountered by Knight-Commander Norrington. There's a copy of the report in the office.

Llomerryn has a reputation. The captain has a reputation. I understand if there are concerns about the friend we've made, I'm willing to hear them, as well as any experiences or information you have about the area, the people, ideas you might have for going forward?

We can trust her to act in her own self-interests, and right now that includes not being corrupted by the shit that's spreading around the sea. When we drank and I told her what was going on, she did seem genuinely rattled about it. It's nothing that she couldn't confirm for herself, either.

That said, it wouldn't hurt to have agents in or around the area on a regular basis. She needs to see that we aren't abandoning the area, and that she'll have backup if it's needed.

Even if she's a captain with a rank, compared to those of the nobility she's still someone who has to worry more about her reputation as well as her bottom line. Fear and respect only get you so far, if there are Red Templars and rumours abound? It won't help her. That's probably the first confirmed news of it away from where we've been dealing with it in Ferelden or Orlais, no?

The issue with agents is the same as it would be anywhere: they're exposed, and how does it look for someone like the Inquisition to go putting its people there? Someone could just as easily say we're making some sort of move.

Others might say we're being sensible, by keeping an eye on where we've seen an obvious threat emerge, and showing that we're not going to set back and let our allies do all the work for us. It's worth at least bringing it up to Beleth, seeing if she thinks it worthwhile or not.

But if not, then what's the next step? Focus on the other side of the Rialto Bay, in Antiva? They're not too far away from where disaster struck, relatively speaking.

If there are people willing to volunteer for it, even just for some prolonged supply drops, to share information? In the interests of friendship? That could work. A little etiquette reminder wouldn't hurt but we've had the party with nobility here, it should be easy enough to remind folk about how to behave.

[Pirate etiquette isn't the same but who wants to run the risk of upsetting them?]

Outside of a few trips there, Antiva hasn't seen much part in any of this but it's a port. All ports have trade they won't want to talk about. [Kirkwall's got that too, and Llomerryn, and Rivain, and probably everywhere that the Qun don't hold.]
Relations with Antiva might do well if we're careful

Supply drops and info sharing will go a long way towards keeping allies happy. We can always send those more familiar with that area and how it works, but a refresher for anyone interested works, too.

Antiva will want to keep their trade flowing; what affects us will affect them, sooner or later. And Rivain isn't so far away that they can easily ignore what's happening to it. Emphasize that, and they might listen. That or carefully placed bribes and duels.

I'll catch up with Beleth, see what we have that we could more easily trade that they might need from us.

Antiva is the problem of the king versus the merchants, the Crows are nearly gone now; for better or worse, they at least seemed to stabilise things from talk. Rivain hasn't reached out at all though, and I'm wary of trying to overplay our hand without a good enough reason. Chantry and Qunari relations being what they are there.

...I hope Antiva isn't going to end up being a rehash of Orlais; that was a pain in the ass the first time around, and doing it again might be pushing it. Didn't the Hero of Ferelden have to do that all over Ferelden, solve everyone's problems before they could join against the Blight? If that's the road we have to take....

[Sigh. At least it can be said that Thedas doesn't do anything by halves, especially when it comes to everything blowing up at once.]

I think Rivain will reach out at some point, though. News of a red lyrium kraken gets around, and I really doubt that's a one-time thing. We'll focus on what can be done within our reach, and if they need us, we'll extend that.

Politics in Antiva are different, appealing to trade goes better than having to play games at court if and when it comes to it. As for the Hero, I only have the stories to go on, you know my opinions when it comes to that.

[Fifth Blight survivors are fewer now, other matters more pressing than were you there when the Hero did something ten years past now before I ever came to this world. If Thedas could stop recording everything through a Chantry lens she might rely upon the books a little more with less concern.]

I wish The Outsider were still here. He'd-- [well she can imagine his opinions, his feelings.] I miss his insight on things like this.

[Korrin sighs, and her tone softens. She knows how important the Outsider was to Araceli, and liked the strange being for his own sake, too.]

His perspective was always an interesting one, to be sure. You never know, he might come back. And if he does, this is the perfect project for him.

...damn, I never got to show him my new whale tattoo.

If anyone knows anything about red lyrium creatures I'd be glad to hear it because the damage to our ships was severe. The Inquisition had a considerable presence to retrieve the new rifters but even so there was so much damage to the ships we limped into the harbour, and I saw someone badly burned by a kraken when we were trying to escape.

Speaking to señora Delacroix, as well as reading Knight-Commander Norrington's report of the shipwreck he investigated - I have a copy, I can make it available too - but the spread of it over the ship, into the water...Alarming doesn't cover it.

The way I see it, we have the following problems: how do we engage any ships with red lyrium, and do we have a duty to make sure they reach land to try to prevent this in the future; the likelihood of more creatures eating red lyrium, and if they'll attack or in smaller ones if they'd be something people might eat by mistake; finally is there anything that might be done about attacks beyond warning as many sailors as we can about the possibility of this new threat?

Reckon whether folks'll eat it in turn depends on how they got into it. If the serpents and all been eating bodies, means you got to worry on the little ones too, anything what'll scavenge from parts.

If it was big bits, shit they were taking direct, might not be such a worry. Not a lot out there bad enough to take a bite out of one of them in turn — nothing folks'll fish up, at any rate. Y'all get a chance t'open up a belly?

Some things might not show so easily either; what would you see in a crab or a lobster, picking away at lumps of flesh hidden behind the shell? If something gets fished up early in the corruption--

[It's upsetting. Araceli doesn't normally cut herself off that way but her voice is cracking.]

Apparently the state of corruption inside the body of the serpent that was examined on the island was the same as would be in a human that had suffered the same.

Yeah, [ it's hushed a little for it, a conscious effort at softening rough edges (and how rare that, but araceli's been good to her, and she doesn't often seem a kid as she does sounding raw) ] 'S fucked up.

[ alright, so she's still not a poet ]

Mean, though, we got any idea whether it was still eating? Or just killing? [ sick animals, sometimes that's the first thing to go ] Won't be the first time they've faced hungry ones. Probably there's different tactics.

I only saw them trying to kill when we were there, and this is going to sound terrible, but it looked like attacking. Not hunting. Mindless. Vicious. I've seen some of the Red Templars that are far on where they don't look like people, that's what I thought about after.

Figured they might be.

Don't think nothing oceanwise takes rabies, they'd scare themselves right out of the water. But you ever seen a Blight-sick animal, they go th'same way, just without the foaming. Plenty of tainted water down south, even still — and plenty of folks left had to cross it, getting north.

Might be worth seeing if nothing similar might be known. We know how folks take care of the old shit, maybe we can tell them a little better how to handle this new shit.

So find a Warden, see if I can charm something more than their usual vague dour nonsense out of them? Worst I've seen here that aren't monstrous looking are those wolves with the green eyes.

[Being this out of her depth is a challenge she should enjoy but weighing lives against it? No, not so much.]

Better you than me. [ talking to wardens, times really are dire if she's agreeing with that ] Green ones're right dangerous, but don't reckon they're Blighted. That's a whole new bloody puzzle.

Used to be stories sometimes, on spirits taking up in wolves. [ in south reach. where she is absolutely not volunteering to go. ] Could be something to it, with th'Rifts. But don't figure that's quite our area, unless we start seein' that from the fish too.

I thought spirits were interested in possessing people? Isn't that why it's important that mages are taught a certain way, made to go through the-- I forget the word, the thing that they have to go through when they're younger before they're full mages? [Which doesn't fully make sense to her since they get taken away when they're children as mages but then they're not somehow entirely mages? The thing she can't remember is a big part of it but it's been quite a while now since she was as caught up in mage politics.]

Yeah, but they'll take plenty what ain't, too. Dust. Bones. Trees a'plenty — seen those, only heard on the animals, but got no reason not to believe it. 'S the worst with people, because,

[ because they're people. an oak's not such a loss, however dangerous its branches. ]

Because they like people best, I reckon. Dunno. Never exactly stopped t'chat.

Dust. [So that's...well her brain is off, spiralling away somewhere else which is why she can't really say anything. (Sand. All she sees is sand, something rising up out of a stretch of shoreline with a spectral arm--)

Pinching herself is enough to stop that.]

Between you and I, there are a lot of things I like best when they're books I can put away on my shelf when there are an awful lot of terrible and frightening things already.

Whether it's land or sea, Thedas suffers for the presence of that toxic shit. But if push comes to shove, I'd like to keep it from spreading across the sea floor even more than it's already done.

I doubt anyone will eat red lyrium infected seafood by mistake, it's pretty obvious it's tainted. That might not stop anyone hungry or addicted enough from chowing down anyway, but the latter is a lost cause.

Cleansing runes are pretty effective against red lyrium, right? So, let's use that. I saw a mage's staff embedded with one tear through one of those creatures. We need to make more of those, and spread them around. The more there are on our ships, the better. Secure the supplies to make them, and we'll have a solid line of defense.

Not everything shows itself so easily - if it's in shellfish, do we know that it's going to look the same and say they were caught shortly after eating it, it would still be there. [There's so little they know, that's why she'd rather get through this painful discussion then bring in whoever all might be needed from red lyrium.]

Señora Delacroix spoke of them and their use, if we can make the push for it I can speak with her, see that we make sure she has the funds to make those that we'd need but the problem remains: what happens when it gets into the water.

There was a body she examined in the Fallow Mire, infected with red lyrium that had been fished from the water. The fish in the water were dead. At the time it was believed that had been the source of the plague but it wasn't confirmed but after this? A red lyrium infected corpse, water, dead fish? The serpents and kraken that attacked? I would rather be cautious.

Red lyrium isn't subtle, that I've seen...but true, I wouldn't want anyone to find out the hard way that we overlooked something.

[Sigh. That would so bite them in the ass, she knows it.]

Honestly? If the red lyrium has escaped its containers, I'm not sure there's much we can do beyond warning others about the location and being mindful of the current flow to predict where it might end up. We could have divers determine if chests are intact, but that's still risky, because if they aren't? Those people could have been exposed.

...now I'm curious if a modified rune would protect them, but you'd still have to ask Christine about that, too.

At least we know that they've moved out that way now. Better than thinking it's being kept to here.

Thedas doesn't have the diving equipment I'm used to, I don't know enough to know how to make it either. Unfortunately the people who might know would be the Qunari but right now, I can't imagine they'd share anything like that with us.

[Somehow she doubts relations with the Qunari are that far along yet.]

Getting as many ideas as we can here helps, that way we know what we can take back to maybe have a solution.

...ex-Qunari might know, or at least some of them. I can ask my parents; if they don't know about such things, they might at least point us to someone who does. It might be a good idea to have it anyway, red lyrium or no.

Let me know as soon as you hear something, I'll see if de Foncé knows anyone who might know anyone. University connections and nobility might as well be used to our advantage for a change if at all possible.

Salacious rumours that we should all be aware of? Suggestions for anything any of us should get involved in?

Oh: I'd like to know your favourite food and drink, just for the future.

[Or make your own starter for a topic if you'd like!]

Uncharted island, yeah, but there any stories around that area what might fit it? Y'all sound you found some right strange shit out there. Most tales got a grain of truth —

And quince. Got this paste from a friend, right, and 's got some lemon in it too I reckon because it ain't quite the same. Might be alright with some of that red stuff.

[ chili powder, she means ]

Looking over some of the other reports and talking to people out there, there are things that make it sound like it has a lot of elven ruins, things to do with Arlathan?

[Here to help in the best way.]

What's quince? You need to come over with some, we can experiment in the kitchen!

'S like — [ what fruit do rifters even have, other than lemons apparently, ] — Y'ever seen a pear? Only don't eat it raw none, you'll get sick. Don't reckon they're sending me t'Nevarra anyway, I got time.

[ probably. maybe. we'll see. ]

Thought that place got swallowed whole or somethin', in the stories anyway.

[ it's about all she could say of it. elf stuff. vint stuff. and neither of them much her concern, until lately ]

Edited 2017-11-20 00:56 (UTC)

Sometimes, they rot fast. [There's a two second window of pear enjoyment.] Home is hot with a lot of sea between places, usually citrus or things that last if we can't grow them.

[Preserved isn't the same, she's intrigued now.]

Ruins aren't my area, I asked when I went exploring with someone who does go to those places so I think she'd know? Not a whole place sinks, parts of it survive.

[Castileos is 9000 less shit tier than Arlathan her ancestors were awesome.]

Don't know I want t'see the rest of it, hearing how all that went with y'all. But alright. Reckon the elves got that much covered. Probably all got lucky the smugglers weren't going there intentionally.

[ just, you know. piss if she knows much of why. ]

I'll bring some, next time you got a moment. Just let me know whether 's for two or three.

[From Nevarra, sounding absolutely bone tired.]

We've spread the word amongst the merchants and the pirates - has anyone gotten to the fishermen yet? They'll need to start watching their catches for red lyrium infected fish.

Say it too quickly without full evidence and we risk causing too great a panic, what we need is evidence and for that I need enough to go to the red lyrium project without wasting time when they have your report and the red templars from Llomerryn we delivered to the Gallows.

Is there anything else you noted at all, I trust you to be a thorough man but the report was on the ship, the lyrium, was there any detail you thought irrelevant to the report that might be helpful here in knowing how we proceed with this. Have you seen creatures before infected with red lyrium?

Well, that should be easy enough to do, yes? Just go to Inessa Serra - she's a friend of mine - and let her know you need access to all her research. I don't know if you know Christine, but she has also be working on this project from the beginning.

[He is quiet for a moment.] I do not think so - but right now I am dead tired to the world, so I will search for details when I am more rested.

[Tucking the sigh into her chest, Araceli takes a breath, pulls a few papers closer to the sending crystal before she speaks.]

Asking for access to the entirety of a person's research even if we are all working together says something in and of itself, takes time that might be best served since there are all matters requiring attention without reading through then trying to understand the work of another. Even the getting together of research and documents is no small feat. [Sending notes to Warden Serra that might be of use one day that she herself had kept scrupulously had taken far longer than expected.] Señora Delacroix and I know one another, yes, and she has been made aware of the situation to the best of my ability. The hope here was to have more I might take to her that not take up more of her time and resource than needed.

[Being thorough, being precise, having a plan is very much the point of any of this.]

[He nods on his end, thoughtful, before he asks quietly.]

All right then, fearless leader. So what is our next move?

[He knows Araceli might be asking for their input -- but she already has a plan working on the backend. A next step for them to take. The woman seemed to be three steps ahead of everyone else as is.]

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closed; squirtle up

Llomerryn

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