[ CLOSED ] hands like skeleton bones

[gynvael]

Who: Geralt + the Queen, Yennefer, Various
When: After Nov. 12
Where: Castle Thorne, Nott, Cadens
What: Geralt goes on an Adventure and has a great time
Warnings: Blood, violence, trauma



(( placing starters in the comments below. find me at discontinued or at Noa#1979 to plot stuff! ))

THORNE: the queen + yennefer | kylo | mal | jolene
NOTT: julie | nadine | lloyd
CADENS: jaskier + sam | sam | ciri | jaskier

Comments

[abraxasnpcs]

[ Jolene is clearly not waiting for recognition. Few remember the mages from when they came out of the pool, and Jolene had not taken a more active position with the Summoned until after Geralt had already fled the kingdom. What she does wait for is him to step out of the way.

Once he does, she makes a series of quick gestures, and the bars of the door explode in toward where he was with a flash of blue energy. There's no sound, and the shards of iron hang eerily in the air only long enough for him to exit, at which point they move in reverse and reassemble themselves. Another movement and the far wall begins to crumble, leaving a space just barely large enough for a person to squeeze through, as a better explanation of the escape. In this shape, of course, Geralt could not possibly crawl through a wall and out of Thorne without being captured, but the list of people who could have aided is a short one indeed.

Turning toward him, she gives him a brief smile out of courtesy, then gestures toward the stairs. ]

Shall we? I'm afraid we're pressed for time.

[gynvael]

[ He steps through the shattered bars, glancing behind him only briefly to see the wall crumble. The ground spins. He doesn't know where she plans to take him, if she's taking him anywhere, but he needn't be told twice to go towards the stairs.

She gets a grunt of acknowledgement to show he's heard her, which is all he has the energy for. He puts his focus on not tripping up them, or cracking his head on the wall. That's the last fucking he needs and at the moment, it feels too much like a possibility. He grips the grooves in the stone walls as he makes his way up each step.

Later, he will consider who she is, what it means, her connection to Kylo and Yennefer and the queen. For now, it remains in the background. He stays close to the sorceress, aware he's in no shape to do much of anything on his own. Doesn't even ask her name, because it's not important and something tells him the less he knows, the better. But there is one thing he asks: ] How long have I got?

[ Before they realize he's gone, he means. ]

[abraxasnpcs]

[ She is clearly not expecting much out of him, if the way she follows him up the stairs is any indication: wary, ready to catch him mid-air should he start to fall backward. It's only once they are upstairs that she slips ahead of him, glancing each way before heading down the hall to the left.

She glances back over her shoulder when he speaks, seems to consider as she walks. ] I give it an hour before they realize that the hole in the wall is a decoy. Maybe slightly less. Cut through here.

[ Pointing, she takes him through a half-hidden entrance to a darkened corridor, which she lights with a ball of flame hovering above her open palm. This is clearly a hallway meant as a shortcut for servants, given the many branching paths it seems to have, but she walks straight for quite some time. ]

You'll have to ride south. Portals can be tracked, and untrackable ones can be detected. A portal back to the Free Cities is likely to put you in more danger than you'd face here. But if you can make it to Nott, there are... less scrupulous mages willing to risk the danger in exchange for coin. I don't expect the hunt for you to be particularly intense, given that Queen Ellya is not acting officially at the moment, so once you are in Nott, you should be safe. At the very least, you'll be able to rest before figuring it out. I believe there are still a few Summoned living there, perhaps try finding one of them.

[ A sharp turn and another, shorter hallway take them to a door that leads outside. Jolene stays in the shadows as she walks out. ]

[gynvael]

[ He absorbs that information, silent except for his heavy breaths. He follows her light; there is blood, probably, that he's tracking across the floors, the walls, but he assumes she has her ways of taking care of that before it comes back to bite either of them.

Should be. That's as much assurance as he can expect. He doesn't question it further. ]

I can make it. [ If he gets a horse, he can make it. Truthfully, he just wants to be on a horse in the first place, out of here. Nott, the portals, where the fuck he's meant to get the coin for a mage—those are problems for when he's made it further than some steps from the castle.

He stumbles once as they slip through the darkness, catching himself on the nearest thing. The fresh air hits him, and his eyes cut through the moonlit night. For as long as he'd been in Thorne, he's not set foot outside its walls more than once or twice at best. Most of his time was spent locked away. The exterior is as unfamiliar as ever, and he trails close behind her, having little sense of what's where. ]

[abraxasnpcs]

You don't have a choice. [ Her voice is not cruel or hard when she says it — if anything, she sounds regretful. But it's the truth. Either he makes it to Nott or he dies. There is unlikely to be any other option, and if there is, it's sure to be far worse than death.

He slips and she reaches toward him with her free hand, though he catches himself before she can help. It's apparent, though, that he can keep walking, and they need to, so she continues on, leads him to the stables in relative silence.

At the stable door, she closes her hand to extinguish the flame, then conjures a few things: a simple dagger, a waterskin, a loaf of bread. A few small vials of healing tonic, just enough to get him through a few days without bleeding out. A burlap sack to throw it all into, which she thrusts at him unceremoniously.

She looks over her shoulder and around the corner before she speaks. ]

Take a horse, one of the green bridles. They're familiar with the path. The gate is southwest of here, then go south as quickly as you can. Follow the western shore of the lake once you can see it, that will take you directly to Nott. I'm sorry I can't give you more, but the less I make for you, the safer we'll both be. This should be enough to get you through a few days, at least. It's a week's ride, give or take.

[gynvael]

[ He's already moving towards one of the horses. Getting on is not a task he's looking forward to, but he grits his teeth and just. Hauls himself on, gripping as hard as he can so as not to tumble off the other fucking side.

There's a moment where he catches his breath, steadying himself—and when he finally turns, he's got a sack pushed towards him. He takes it without question, without wasting time to look inside. Whatever might be in there, it'll be more than he expected to have, which was nothing—but then, he didn't expect to even be put on a horse at all. Or to be outside the walls.

He blinks at the mage once. There's a lot he has yet to put together and a lot he wants to know. Time is lacking, though, so he only pulls on the reins. No reason to linger. He can find answers if he makes it out the other side. ] Thank you.

[ He doesn't waste another second, doesn't really let himself consider exactly why she's helping him, why she's deemed it worth the risk. He takes off with only a brief glance back before his attention turns to the road ahead. ]