open.

[exequy]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Nell Voss & Kostos Averesch
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: Helpful advice
WHEN: On the way to Nevarra City
NOTES: Necrophilia mention

Hello, Inquisition. Since we are now on our way to Nevarra, we--your friendly [ accompanied by a quiet snort in the background ] local Nevarrans--thought it would be helpful to provide some basic information about our homeland.

Specifically, questions you should refrain from asking when we get to Nevarra City.

[ They do sound Nevarran, more or less. (Him more, her less.) They also sound like they're probably sharing a bottle in addition to sharing the crystal.

Nell begins: ] Does everyone have sex with corpses?

Do the Mortalitasi have sex with corpses?

Can I have sex with corpses?

Are there dead people in this tavern?

Are there dead people beneath this tavern?

Can I talk to the dead people?

Can you talk to the dead people? Are you a dead person?

If Andrastians elsewhere burn their dead to honor Andraste, because she was likewise burned, does that mean Nevarrans believe she was mummified and stashed somewhere?

Can I see mummified Andraste?

Can I see a mummified dragon?

Are there dragons at court? Does the king have a pet dragon?

Did the king kill his pet dragon?

Isn't the king a dragonslayer? Aren't all Pentaghasts dragonslayers?

Isn't everyone in Nevarra a Pentaghast?

What about necromancers, aren't you all necromancers?

Is the king a necromancer?

Is the king a dead person? And isn't Nevarra basically just Tevinter Junior?

The answer to all of these questions is no. Whatever obvious question we didn't include that you now want to ask us, the answer is also no. If you think it would be clever to make your question a negative so the answer will have to be yes, you are both wrong and obnoxious.

Comments

[thunderproof]

❰ drily, ❱

What's a Perendale and why did it need defending?

❰ come on, myr, you can't just say things like that and assume she knows what you're talking about.

that is just the answer she had been hoping for, and it solidifies her resolve. she won't stay with this group if it will put charis in danger and herself in contact with necromancy. when she gets... wherever she's going, she'll apologize for leaving and make herself as useful as possible and this will all be forgotten in the course of a month or so.

though she's not ashamed of her plan, myrobalan calling her out on it does make adalia blush, and even though he can't see her she shrugs. ❱

Maybe. If I was, would you want plausible deniability?

[faithlikeaseed]

[Laughingly,] Sorry--you'd think I'd know better than to do that, since half the things anyone talks about around here are new to me, too--but it'd be worse for you.

Perendale's a city in western Nevarra they took from their neighbor, Orlais, oh--years and years ago. The Venatori, [and oh, how to explain them; he'll think on that a moment,] laid siege against it; if it had fallen to them, they'd have that much firmer a grip on the north and a foothold for pushing further into Nevarra and Orlais alike. Needless to say, the Nevarrans--and anyone else who isn't in Corypheus' thrall, [damn it, another name to explain,]--weren't having any of this and called the Inquisition out to repel the assault.

The Venatori are a group of fanatics dedicated to restoring the glory [he puts heavy irony on that word,] of the Tevinter Imperium--Tevinter's to the north of Nevarra and the Marches and once counted most of Thedas their territory. Mages and magic rule, there, and have for ages; aside from that, they're also known and reviled for their slave-taking. To his credit, their current Archon's not thrown in behind the Venatori, but-- Well; I don't have much of a head for politics, [international or otherwise] so I'll spare you the inept speculation.

By themselves, the Venatori would be worrisome but not nearly so much of threat without the ear of someone in power, but this fellow Corypheus--he's claiming to be a sort of ancient Tevene hero, one of the Seven Magisters who-- [...he trails off, then gives a brief helpless laugh,] Maker, this is only going to get worse if I go on like this. --well, suffice to say they did a lot of harm to the ancient world with their magic. Which I can explain at more length, if you'd like, but it's a long story.

[And given what she's intending to do, well, she might not have time to sit for it--but he'll give her that option.]

No, but thanks for thinking of it. If someone comes to me direct I won't lie about knowing what you intended, but I don't think that's likely.

Just keep your wits about you if you go, take company if you possibly can--and stay in contact at all times with someone in the Inquisition. Doesn't have to be me, if you've found someone else you trust, but the Venatori have kidnapped and tortured shardbearers in the past. You'd be at much more risk for quietly vanishing since you've not been around long and no one knows you well--and we'd do poorly to lose you. You deserve better than that.

[thunderproof]

❰ as usual when someone is explaining something thedosian to her, adalia has her quill to the pages of the book inessa gave her and she takes notes without thinking about what she's hearing, so that she may write it all down as quickly as possible and avoid having to ask for any repetition. even the things she already knows of — tevinter and its slave-owning magocracy — get written down, because who knows if myrobalan will have given her any new information? when he finally stops, the scratching of her quill sounds over the crystal for a few moments more before she sets it down. ❱

So, to sum up: A big bad evil from the country of big bad evil wanted a thing, and you wanted him to not have that thing, so you booted his forces out of the thing?

❰ another one of those things she knows is more complicated than she's giving it credit for, and it's not as though myr explained it poorly, or even that she doesn't appreciate the extra information, but it was a lot of words to explain "it was a place the enemy wanted we couldn't let them have". ❱

I appreciate the advice, ❰ she says to the last, and she does, even as you deserve better makes her stomach turn in a strange way. with a thoughtful hum, there's the sound of rustling, then of footsteps. ❱

Do many people on this plane fly, Myrobalan? ❰ adalia asks speculatively. a strange question for anyone who doesn't know she has a flying broomstick, probably, and yet... adalia feels no need to explain. if nothing else, it will be a way to get a leg up on anyone who supposes her bound to terrestrial transportation. ❱

[faithlikeaseed]

[For a moment, he's caught in the very strange position of wanting to leap to Tevinter's defense--because whatever else they're responsible for, Corypheus' modern manifestation isn't precisely the Imperium's fault. (There's something beneath that, too; something he won't quite confront head-on. Half his blood is Tevinter; if it's all unmitigated evil--)

File that one away for later thought and prayer; keep going.

Wryly,] Got it in one.

[He'll cop to be prolix when he gets going; it's hard not to want to share everything at once out of sheer enthusiasm for a subject.]

Ah-- [That is a strange question, though he's accustomed enough to thinking practicalities that he's a hint of why she's asking.] --not many. Shapeshifters and the Wardens if they're out with their griffons. Is it more common where you're from?

And what's a "plane", beyond a flat spot with a lot of grass?

[thunderproof]

❰ it's not as though adalia's above being wordy when she gets going either, and she won't ever mind more information. there's just a time and a place for such things, and this is maybe not the time. she has made a mental note, though, that myr is to be called upon any time she has a question she wants a detailed answer to. ❱

It's... not uncommon, precisely, there are spells that can manage it, and items, if you can't do magic yourself. Not many people can just fly whenever they feel like, though, not without some kind of assistance. You're more likely to see birds in the air than a person.

Oh, a plane... Well, it's like this world and the Fade! Different planes of existence, interwoven and impossible to separate, but they rarely overlap and they're difficult to move between. I'd never heard of Thedas or the Fade before I fell through the rift, but I imagine they're just two more planes attached to Toril that no one's managed to come to or from yet.