#patterns and styles | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lairofdragonagelore · 7 months ago

Text

Patterns and Styles: Avvar/Alamarri

Avvar/Alamarri design is quite rustic, stone-based, and sometimes it's hard to differentiate one from another considering their cultural history: the Avvar are a branch of the Alamarri that moved towards the Mountains. Alamarri as well as Avvar and Chasind have a long story of inter-racial mix with the dwarves of Orzammar, which is clear in their art: heavily based on stone and with some imagery of dwarves.

However, it is important to remember that Avvar in particular may have had also relationships with the Elvhenan, as Tyrdda's lover was an elven woman. Their tradition with mages and their treatment of the spirits also resembles their influence from the elvhenan culture. This strange mix is then reflected in the art.

This series of posts are not exhaustive since I’ve developed a very detailed list of tags tracking certain features of a given design. These posts merely try to gather in one place the symbols and elements I used most of the time when identifying buildings in my analysis of DAI.

[This post is part of the series “Patterns and Styles ”] [Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

Patterns

When it comes to patterns, the only one that I can assume is alamarri it's an intricated rhomboid pattern [celtic-like] that we can find in some columns of arches that are spread all over Ferelden. It's not clear for me that this pattern was later imported by the Avvar. However, it's interesting to highlight the resemblance to the elvhenan walls in temples such as in Mythal's Temple [see Patterns and Styles: Elvhenan] which also seems to be related to the pattern found in the pants that Dalish wear, and ironically, Qunari too.

Statues and decorations

1 - Keepers of Fear and their variations

Part of the reason I consider these statues as Keepers of Fear is that they represent similar imagery; they share the style and some characteristics, and are related to the codex The Keepers of Fear. They display the despair and fear that the Alamarri felt when the Blight came from the north. They tend to be elongated humanoids, usually with pointy teeth, without a nose, and screaming/cowering body language.

They also appear close to one another, in groups, in Kenric’s study room in the DLC Jaws of Hakkon [ Frostback Basin [DLC]: Miscellaneous ] implying similar origin for study. They also decorate the paths that head to the Avvar Hold in the DLC, and inside the hold itself.

In the Fade, we find the codex The Keepers of Fear on one of these statues, where we learn that the Alamarri/Avvar used them to scream inside them during the time of the Blight, thinking the darkspawn were spirits. As we know thanks to the DLC Jaws of Hakkon, the Avvar [and by extension most likely the Alamarri and the Chasind] would feed the spirits to keep them close [spirits] or away [demons] from their communities.

1A - Screaming Keeper [Alamarri/Avvar]

Where it can be found:

In Crestwood, in a place a bit isolated closed to a destroyed Andraste statue,

In Fallow Mire: Granite Point [not original from this place],

In Frostback Basin [DLC]: Stone-Bear Hold Avvars : Everywhere, specially along the paths.

In Hinterlands: Minor places, in several places and caves.

In Hinterlands: Redcliffe – Future, along the corridors of the fortress as the Fade and the Waking World get merged.

In the Fade Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, in many places, since this part of the Fade we visit is close to the lair of a Nightmare Demon who feeds upon the Fear and Despair. At some point one of these statues triggers the codex The Keepers of Fear.

The Fade of Flemeth: Part 1, Part 2, as decoration of an avvar/alamarri corridor.

Brief description: This statue is elongated. It has long arms, and its hands are grabbing the face, distorted in fear as it screams. It has no nose. There are some strange appendages falling down and making an extension of its chin [thick beard?]. We can see the ribs very easily, suggesting illness or hunger. It also has elongated legs, one of them crossing over the hip that conveys an impression of more terror and fear.

These Keepers appear quite regularly in all places over Ferelden and the Frostback Mountains. They are inserted in the landscape or along paths, and we can see they are a good reflection of what the codex The Keepers of Fear says: They are part of the Avvar/Alamarri "superstition”: They thought the Darkspawns were bad spirits that fed on fear, so they crafted these statues to feed them far away from their communities, to keep them satisfied and away from them. However, when this did not work [since the darkspawn are not spirits], the Alamarri/Avvar used these statues to scream inside them and pour all their fear into them, “burn” it in order to get rid of it, and go to battle against the darkspawn no matter their gender or age.

In the Frostback Basin [DLC], we can find these statues flanking the path to the Avvar Hold or inside it. In the Fade it makes sense for them to appear where the Lair of the demon Nightmare lives: he has been feeding upon these fears for centuries.

1B - Screaming heads [Avvar]

Where it can be found:

In Frostback Basin [DLC]: Miscellaneous: everywhere

In Hinterlands: Statues, paintings, and structures found in the open , Wolf Hollow, Tyrdda Bright-Axe Path [as a part of the stanza], and Minor places

In Hinterlands: Redcliffe - Future, as the Waking World and the Fade merge one another.

In Therinfal Redoubt [in the part of the Fade]

In the Fade Part 1, Part 3, in many places. This part of the Fade we visit is close to the lair of a Nightmare Demon who feeds on Fear and Despair, so it makes sense we see so many of these Keepers.

The Fade of Flemeth: Part 1, as decoration of an avvar/alamarri corridor.

Brief description: This statue is an isolated head with two faces [front and back display different shapes], I can see humanoid faces in them: one as a screaming melted human without nose [which can also be considered the face of a Terror demon or a ghoul], and the other one as a screaming boar of pointy teeth, which inside its mouth there is another screaming face. Everything is too deformed to be precise.

The game efficiently combines these heads in ways that seem to create new different horror statues by clipping them.

We find these faces all over Ferelden and the Frostback Mountains, specially in Avvar/Alamarri territory.

1C - Sitting screaming humanoid [Avvar]

Where it can be found:

In Frostback Basin [DLC]: Stone-Bear Hold Avvars : specially in small cliffs into the sea, where the Avvar can be seen fishing. It can also be found aside a path inside the Avvar Hold.

In the Hinterlands: The Unknown Ruin [Mihris] clipped with a skull.

In the The Fade of Flemeth: Part 2, clipped with a skull.

In Hissing Wastes: scattered objects and ruins, inside a crevice where a Fereldan vendor has been placed, but we only find their mabari and several objects of Ferelden iconography.

Brief description: This statue is elongated and shares many characteristics present in 1A and 1B. It shows long arms, hands covering the eyes, screaming out of fear as it cowers. It's sitting inside a basket. It has no nose and its teeth are pointy. We can see the ribs very easily, suggesting hunger or illness.

During the DLC Frostback Basin [DLC]: Stone-Bear Hold Avvars, Dorian will point out this is an Avvar statue, which makes sense considering we are in an avvar hold.

1D - Sitting screaming humanoid with hands inside the mouth [Avvar]

Where it can be found:

In Razikale’s Reach, as part of the stratification of the Temple when it was taken by the Avvar-Hakkonite and rejected the Tevinters that had been installed around the time of the first Blight.

Inside Skyhold if you pick the Avvar decoration.

Brief description: This statue is elongated and shares many characteristics present in 1A, 1C, 1E and 2. It displays long arms, but no hands. It’s not clear if the hands are inside the mouth or means they were eaten [I favour this second option since these statues tend to be scrawny, conveying the idea of famine, another very common fear among the Avvar, specially during the Blight times]. It has no nose and its teeth are pointy. Its legs are protruding from over the shoulders, giving the sense that this figure is sitting and cowering. We can see a bit of its ribs in between the arms. The position is similar to 1C and 2.

1E - Sitting screaming deepstalker humanoid [Likely Avvar]

Where it can be found:

In Hinterlands: The Unknown Ruin [Mihris] , at the sides of another Avvar/Alamarri statue [1C] clipped with a skull.

In the Fade Part 2 and Part 3, It is a zone where we find a Tevinter sacrificial altar.

In the Fade of Flemeth: Part 1, this statue is beside a sacrificial altar again.

In The Fade of Flemeth: Part 2, it appears at the end, where we find Flemeth. They are positioned as to form a frame for the statue that was stabbed in the back and bleeds.

Brief description: These statues share some similarities with 1A, 1C and 1D: they show long arms, with hands grabbing the sides of the face as it screams. It has no nose nor eyes. We can see the ribs very easily, giving a sense of skeleton [extreme famine?]. What makes this statue particular is the strange mouth, closer in shape to a deepstalker’s mouth. It’s not clear if the figure is sitting, since it has no legs. Its base has the outline of a figure that reinforces the idea of screaming in terror and rising its arms. This figure has a shape that also resembles a terror demon.

In some places in the Fade, the head of this statue is burning, making clear suggestion to the codex of the Keepers of Fear, in particular to the part where they burn their screams of fear to find courage to fight [and die] against the darkspwan.

Rarely appears alone [it’s usually presented in pairs], and when it does, bones and bodies are shown below it, relating it to sacrifices and death. Most likely the concept of sacrifice comes from the part of the codex where once the fears are burnt, the alamarri went to fight a hopeless battle.

What’s interesting of this statue is that it’s a central piece of decoration in the Lair of the Nightmare Demon, in the Fade [check Part 4]. There, we see four of these statues, vomiting blood. Around this spilled blood, some bits of red lyrium can be found. This construction may be entirely done for shock value, since it’s a reuse of several assets assembled in a way that inspire terror and fear just in the moment where the Inquisitor faces the Nightmare demon.

2 - Eroded dragon skull and variations [Avvar]

Where it can be found:

In Swamp Kulsdotten, in the Frostback basin

In Hinterlands: Statues, paintings, and structures found in the open , Wolf Hollow , and Redcliffe – Future.

In the Therinfal Redoubt [As part of the decoration of the fortress’ main room]

In the The Fade of Flemeth: Part 1 as well as the common Raw Fade.

In Hinterlands: The Unknown Ruin [Mihris], as the base of the main, central figure, which is 1C with a clipped skull.

Brief description: I personally call it "Eroded dragon skull", because I have no other way to call it to tag it in the blog. I see a kind of dragon skull with horns that go backwards and then forward, but it also looks like a statue of a humanoid, with elongated legs that protrude from the sides of the skull. Like in the previous statues, it has no nose and seems to have pointy teeth at the end of the “snout”. All the details are blurred for what it looks like erosion.

On its back, this statue has a G symbol which doesn’t present the same level of erosion than the front. I only found a remotely similar symbol in the elven artefact. It’s a strange symbol, dwarven-like even for an “elven” artefact [looks like a squarish swirl]. In fact, that symbol can be found in dwarven objects [specially tapestry and rugs]. Once more, it’s only what I’ve observed, I don’t think we have any evidence to even speculate on this. It looks quite on purpose, though. A whole eroded statue with a clear G on its back is a choice in terms of design.

If we compare this statue with similar ones found in Avvar/Alamarri-related places the common characteristics show up:

It has long limbs, open mouth, and pointy teeth, without a nose. Through these similarities it seems reasonable to relate it with the Avvar culture.

3 - Tyrdda statue [Avvar]

Where it can be found:

In Hinterlands: Tyrdda Bright-Axe Path

and in Hinterlands: inside the Grand Forest Villa.

Tyrdda Bright-Axe was a legendary Alamarri chieftain who is considered the founder of the Avvar.

Brief description: The statue is simple, with a woman holding a sword [which is strange considering the Avvar always knew she was a mage and was holding a staff]. It has limbs a bit elongated and her ribs can be seen.

4 - Lady of the Sky [Avvar]

Where it can be found:

In the Skyhold [Stone-Bear Hold Avvars ] when you pick Avvar Decoration

Brief description: This satue is an owl, representation of the Lady of the Skies. I find interesting in her design the ring around her head: small little spikes that may be related or may have inspired artistically other symbols in the game: the thorns that we have seen many times in vines, which have elven influence [after all, the Avvar have a strong elven influence in their culture if we consider the tale of Tyrdda Bright-Axe Path as more or less reliable with respect to her lover of leaf-like ears], or could be an inspiration of a sun. The symbolism of the Lady of the sky with the sun is also shown in her painted representation, as I talked about in the post Dragon Age Iconic Patterns: The Sun.

5 - Korth [Avvar]

Where it can be found:

Stone-Bear Hold Avvars , close to the entrance of the hold,

or in Skyhold when you pick Avvar decoration.

Brief description: This statue shares the similar position of 1C, 1D, and 2, but instead of being a squat position due to fear, in Korth’s case it’s because the weight of the stone. Korth is the Mountain-Father, so this representation shows he is supporting it. His face, so filled with beard, and his body, short and thick, seems to recall dwarven nature, which could exists since the dwarf influence in the Avvar is present in their tales [Trydda had a child with a dwarven prince]. Curiously, it has horns [that can be part of a potential helm he is wearing?]. He is snarling as he endures the weight of the mountain/Stone.

6 - Dwarf with long limbs [Likely Alamarri/Avvar]

Where it can be found:

In Crestwood: surface , Crestwood: Flooded Caves , at the entrance of the drowned village,

In the Stone-Bear Hold Avvars, in the main throne room

In Hinterlands: Statues, paintings, and structures found in the open , Wolf Hollow, and Tyrdda Bright-Axe Path showing the path to some of the statues that trigger Tyrdda’s story.

In an unknown place called the Forgotten Tower, where the presence of this statue seems to reinforce the idea that this place was inhabited by an avvar, as it shows the codex triggered in this place: Old Codex: Mouldy Journal.

Brief description: This statue shares the characteristic of having elongated arms crossed over the chest in similar fashion as some Fereldan drawings seem to have [see Nation Art: Ferelden]. It displays a short man with hair, long beard, and a long, curvy moustache. The back and the front are the same image.

This statue is one of the most reused all over Ferelden, specially in regions where the Avvar-Alamarri presence was strong in the past. I think they represent the dwarves, which makes sense if we read the tale of Tyrdda: Avvar’s chieftains descend from humans and dwarves.

A weak pattern may suggest them as “pointers” or “guides”. Sometimes they are placed in pairs creating a path towards a place of importance [see Tyrdda Bright-Axe Path]. Sometimes, as pointers of graves or special places.

7- Monolith with swirls [Likely Alamarri]

Where it can be found:

In Hinterlands: Statues, paintings, and structures found in the open , Wolf Hollow, Tyrdda Bright-Axe Path

In the Forgotten Tower , where the presence of this statue seems to reinforce the idea that this place was inhabited by an avvar, as it shows the codex triggered in this place: Old Codex: Mouldy Journal.

Brief description: I’m not sure if it’s a mabari or a horse. The Avvar are not fond of the mabari, since they are a tamed animal; however, they seem to use an “avvar horse” that looks like a zebra, and it is a bit wild. On the other hand, I also suspect that this statue may be Chasind, simply because in DAO we saw similar monoliths with line patterns on them in the Kocari Wilds [Check Ostagar post or The Blackmarsh and the High Dragon for details]. Unfortunately, these monoliths have no codex associated with them and there is little to speculate about.

8 - Monolith with ropes [Likely Alamarri]

Where it can be found:

In Hinterlands: and Crestwood, but in general all over Ferelden.

In the Frostback Basin and inside the Stone-Bear Hold.

There is no much to say about this element. It appears everywhere, more as a decoration or a support for other statues.

9 - Table of Wolves [Confusing. Likely Ferelden]

Where it can be found:

In Crestwood: surface and Hinterlands: Statues, paintings, and structures found in the open

Brief description: a metallic dark table decorated with spiky wolves. The wolves have a strong resemblance to the ones that were painted by Solas in his mural “Inquisition Formation” [Read “The actions of the Inquisitor”]. It seems related to the mabaris/wolves presented in 10A, which tend to appear in Ferelden-based enviroments. It seems to be Ferelden but it could also be inherited through the Alamarri culture. What always caught my attention was the material: unlike the rest of the Alamarri/Avvar statues, it’s not made of stone but dark metal, a Tevinter-origin characteristic.

10 - Mabaris

Mabaris are depicted all over Ferelden without much surprise; Ferelden has a culture deeply entangled with them. However, sometimes the hound silhouette seems to be confused with that one of the wolf and it’s hard to distinguish one from another. We know due to the legends [unreliable sources but decent enough for this level of understanding] that the Alamarri had their dogs. The potential Alamarri origin of the The Ash Warriors [who fight with their mabaris beside them] seem to support those [unreliable] legends. However, the Avvar are not fond of tamed animals, and prefer wild ones that can be befriended, hence why a wolf is more suitable for them. Considering this detail, it’s natural to understand the following statues as somewhat in between the lines of the Culture of the Alamarri, the Avvar, and the Ferelden [maybe even Chasind too?]. The blurred difference between mabari and wolf translates into the difficulty of deciding to which culture these statues belong to.

10A - Pointy Mabaris [Likely Ferelden]

Where it can be found:

In some places in Crestwood: surface

In Therinfal Redoubt as part of the decoration of the Fortress’ main room.

In Frostback Mountains: Haven, as part of the decoration.

Brief description: The look too similar to the wolves drawn by Solas in his mural “Inquisition Formation” [Read “The actions of the Inquisitor”].

10B - Mabaris with lines [Likely Alamarri/Avvar]

Where it can be found:

In Fallow Mire: Granite Point , it is not original from this place, but since it’s kept beside other Avvar statues it may imply same origin too.

In Hinterlands: Wolf Hollow, again found with other Avvar statues.

In Therinfal Redoubt as decoration

Brief description: It is almost a monolith, similar to the ones we find in the Kocari Wilds in DAO [ read Ostagar post or The Blackmarsh and the High Dragon for details] and to 7 but with less curvy lines and more angular ones.

In the Fade Part 3, one of the heads of 1B has this statue sprouting from its mouth, which offers the codex A Plea from the Warrior to the Spirits. It seems to be written by an avvar/alamarri or a descendant of them, for example a Ferelden person who remembers the “old ways”. It speaks about how the wolves had been allies to the humans once, but the softening of the human, the replacement of the hunt as a survival means for an agricultural lifestyle, changed this relationship, replacing the wolf and the hunt, by a hound and a sedentary life. There is a reinforcement of the concept of the wolf as a symbol of freedom and rebellion, as a creature who doesn’t simply obey, like a hound does. Then, the Darkspawn came, putting at risk this comfortable sedentary life, showing how little power hounds have. “Kill the hound in my heart […] in its place, give me the wolf”. The wolf is representation of power, bravery, and freedom, as the mabari represents obedience and loyalty.

10C - Beheaded female Mabari [Likely Ferelden]

Where it can be found:

In Hinterlands: Minor places, specially in a cave where we see several Avvar statues and some Tevinter ones.

In the Forgotten Tower, where the presence of Avvar statues combined with the codex of this place: Old Codex: Mouldy Journal seem to reinforce the idea that this tower was inhabited by an Avvar who was rescued by an Elvhenan.

Brief description: It depicts a female mabari which has been feeding puppies [flaccid mammals]. On her back there is a spiky pattern that could be related to the spiky style of the wolves in 9 or 10A. What it’s disturbing is her head, which is barely kept in place because it’s attached with strips that have written runes on them. Inside the space between her head and body, there is usually fire [Waking World] or meat [Fade].

10D - Spiked Mabari [Likely Ferelden]

Where it can be found:

Mostly in Hinterlands: Statues, paintings, and structures found in the open

And in the Seeker fortress during Cassandra’s personal quest.

Brief description: These are mabari-totem figures in styles that can be Ferelden most likely, but seem to be inspired in Alamarri/Avvar ones since they have some similarities in style to 10B and 10C. There are no codex associated with them.

11 - Additional elements:

There is an Avvar table used in Stone-Bear Hold Avvars , that was also used to erect the hero of Ferelden’s monument in Hinterlands: Redcliffe - Present , so we can suspect avvar-alamarri-ferelden origin of it.

In Skyhold, when we activate the Avvar decoration, we find a unique statue that is not seen anywhere else: it looks like a tree branch-hand holding a bowl. It gives me the impression of a sylvanian hand.

#patterns and styles #pattern design #avvar design #avvar #chasind #alamarri design #alamarri #mabari statues #mabari #lady of the skies #korth

25 notes · View notes

sakuravalenp · 5 days ago

Text

Don't eat anything else - Part 3 - DP X DC

Previous part

Masterpost

Sam had somehow fallen asleep after hours of rolling in her bed, so of course, when her phone started ringing, she was just about ready to send the thing flying across the room. She covered her ears with her pillow, hoping the thing would shut up soon enough, and cursed her past self for leaving the phone in her desk instead of plugging it to the socket that was just behind her bed. She could have already shut the thing off then, but no, she’ll have to get out of bed to do it. She was going to maul whoever decided it was a good idea to call in the middle of the night.

With a resigned huff, she got out of bed and went to the desk, stumbling over the chair because of course she hadn’t pushed it back into the space the desk left for it, and snatched the phone roughly, pulling the charger and making her pencil case fall off the desk. The clattering sounds let her know she had also left that open. She groans, and squints at her phone screen, her eyes complaining at the sudden light, she takes a look at the insistent caller: Tucker. She answers while letting herself fall into the chair.

“Tucker, it’s like two am. You better be dying, or I swear to the ancients I’m throwing your beloved PDA into a natural portal to never be seen again!”

“Check the Phantom chat.” Sam blinked. She was expecting some sort of dramatic response. Then her mind caught up to what her friend had just asked.

“Did Danny text anything!?” The call was already being placed on speaker as she took her phone off her ear and started looking for their chat server.

“You’ll have to check yourself, it’s a full text wall, I’ve just read like- the first paragraph. Just- check it out and call me back when you’ve read it all.”

Sam frowned at the beep of the call being ended. She had never hated so much that their server took so long to load. She understood why; a hidden server that went through the infinite realms? Tucker was a genius for creating it. Still, in times like this the waiting was excruciating.

Danny didn’t tell them anything about his life with Vlad. She would say it screamed red flags, but it was Vlad. The moment the man had gotten custody of Danny all the fire alarms were going off in Sam’s head, and they hadn’t stopped since.

They tried not to push much at the start. The Fentons and Jazz’s death was too fresh, so they just checked in, asking how things were going, trying not to prod. But weeks turned to months, and they hadn’t been able to see Danny, and he was not telling them anything.

They had been keeping tabs of what they could get. Danny checked in at least once a day, until he didn’t. There would be days without response, and then Danny would check in again with some vague excuse. When that became common enough, Danny stopped making up excuses and just directly checking in without explaining the absence.

His texts were useless to understand his situation, other than he was well enough to text them, so their next focus was his public appearance. There weren’t a lot of those, but they would be happy with any scraps they could get.

Vlad had taken Danny to more than a couple of galas and some political events, proudly flaunting his heir, and yet, there were barely any photos of Danny at said events. It was up in the air whether it was due to Vlad avoiding the pictures getting out or due to how difficult it was to get a clear photo of Danny.

Nevertheless, the few pictures they did get weren’t great. He looked emaciated, lost so much weight, lost any brightness in his eyes. Still, Sam had almost cried from relief the first time they got a picture. The mind can be cruel when there's nothing to hold it back, and Sam had about a thousand terrible thoughts of what Vlad could be doing to Danny. At least he was in one piece.

Her phone vibrated, letting her know the server had finally loaded. There was a bubble beside the Phantom group chat letting her know there were new texts. She pressed on the group chat and was indeed greeted by a wall of text. She scrolled back to find the beginning.

Hey guys, you’ll probably won’t see this until tomorrow but I needed to write this right away before I started doubting. Not that that’s really a choice at this point, not when the Waynes already left with those notes.

The Waynes? Oh, yeah, Danny had mentioned Vlad had invited them to dinner once. First visitors they would be getting. Sam had idly wondered if she would have gotten a chance to see Danny if her parents were more influential. She had never wished for her parents to be richer before.

So anyway, the Waynes visiting kind of changed things here a bit. I may not have been really honest about how things were going here with Vlad. Though, you probably already knew that, and I’m sorry, but I don’t know if I can tell you guys. I just don’t think I can get myself to tell you, and I’m so sorry, because you’re always there and deserve the truth, but I can’t. So, let’s just leave as things hadn’t been great, and Vlad was more of a monster than we ever thought he could be.

Sam didn’t like that, it was terribly vague. What had Vlad done to Danny that he didn’t feel he could tell them? Sure they had been dealing with Danny’s silence, but now he was straight up telling them he couldn’t get himself to talk about it. The fact that he couldn’t even explain what Vlad had done meant it was probably worse than what she imagined.

They’d faced their fair share of horrors over the years while combating the rogues, and there had never been a problem verbalizing it. Something horrible had happened. Sam was going to kill Vlad. She didn’t care what the full story was, if it was bad enough that Danny actively refused to tell them, it was bad enough to revoke Vlad’s right to existence.

The thing is, I can’t keep this up. The Wayne’s came in, and Vlad's plans for dinner made me realize I couldn’t let this keep going. I managed to sneak a note to Timothy Drake-Wayne. Everyone knows the Waynes have connections to the Justice league.

Sam frowned. The Justice League had been shining for their absence from everything involving Amity. That absence still burned like acid. They’d begged for help. Pleaded. Amity had become a warzone more than once, and no one had come. Would they really show up just because the Waynes got involved?

I know they hadn’t been answering our calls, but now it affected the Waynes. Again, I can’t explain how it affected them, but I’m pretty sure the Waynes will make sure the Justice League gets involved. I had to tell them that Vlad isn’t human. It would only end in an apocalypse if they came looking for Vlad without being prepared. They’ll look for you guys. I told them you had the means to combat him.

Oh shit. Was she really meeting with the Justice League? In friendly terms? After all the ignored calls, Sam had swore it would be on sight if she ever met the assholes. And if they really showed up just because the Waynes were the ones to call, Sam wasn’t sure if she could keep it civil.

I didn’t reveal myself to the Waynes, I don’t know what the Justice League stand on ghosts is, all this is already a big risk, the GIW are bad enough on their own, there’s no way we would survive the Justice League hunting us, but Vlad needs to be stopped. I need you guys to give them what they need to not be possessed, and the ectoguns that I modified, maybe an ectoshield. Nothing more, they have a good history with non-humans, but I don’t know if we can trust them to not start a hunting campaign after Vlad. Try making it clear that this is a Vlad problem, not a ghost problem. I’m sorry I’m leaving everything to you guys, I can’t do anything from this side.

Her breath trembled. If the Waynes were really able to convince the Justice league to finally intervene, they might have days. She and Tucker needed to prep everything.

Ghost attacks had become rare since the portal was destroyed, but sometimes ghosts still came through naturally forming ones. There couldn’t be a ghost attack while the Justice League was there. Not when they needed to convince them that Vlad was the exception, not the rule.

They needed to get the gear and figure out how to lie to the Justice League convincingly enough that they wouldn’t turn every ghost into collateral damage.

Because Vlad might be the monster. But the League could still be the executioners.

Still, despite all the anxiety running through her veins, Sam felt hopeful. Danny had reached for help, after months of silence he had finally reached for help, and for once there seemed to be a chance they'd see Danny again.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

They couldn’t continue reading the paper right away. There was no way to do it. Cass was more sensitive to people's deaths than anyone else in her family, and Bruce had focused on supporting her so he wouldn’t have to think about what he had just eaten. He had helped Cass to the bathroom like he hadn’t vomited as well. Tim had mumbled something about needing a shower, a really long shower, and left. Jason had forgotten the pretender had been bathed in that cursed soup.

He did think about taking the paper and finishing reading it himself, but green edged his vision, rage bursting under the skin, and he needed an outlet, which he didn’t have here. The punch he had thrown onto the wall had already left a mark, and this was a house they rented as Waynes, he couldn’t just trash it all.

He had worked through some breathing exercises Dick had introduced to him. He’ll never tell Dick, but they did work somewhat. It wasn’t really a surprise, Jason knew Dick had anger issues. The bastard seemed like the perfect young adult holding it together these days, but Jason was there for his teenage rebellion, and that was supposedly an improvement from how he had been as Robin. So of course the breathing exercises helped, but it wasn’t enough.

He felt like giving the wall another punch from the frustration, but he had been trying to “redirect his anger” in less violent ways lately, and this was the kind of situation where it would be better to clear his head instead of exploding. He could save the explosion for when they had that reprobate on their hands.

His phone was pinging and Jason knew it was probably the rest of the family asking for an update. The sudden silence probably got them worried the supposed poison had been something serious, and as the only one in commission at the moment, he should be the one reporting, but he was pretty sure he would crack his phone if he used it right then. His helmet took his attention where it resided on the desk, and he made a decision.

You’re not supposed to ride while you're angry, that’s how accidents happen, but that didn’t apply to people like him. Red Hood spent most of the night in his motorcycle while absolutely furious; they knew how to ride without becoming a public safety issue.

He grabbed his helmet and screamed before putting it on. “You better don’t read the damn note before I’m back!” And then he was on the road once again.

He rode around the small city, making the same circle over and over again at maximum speed. Harsh changes in direction that made the adrenaline pump in his veins. It was a good outlet. At some point the green receded enough for him to think clearer. He lowered the speed a bit, and connected his helmet to the comms. The questioning screams from everyone on comms came instantly.

“Shut the fuck up. I can’t understand a single thing you are saying.” As expected, that didn’t have any effect, but a minute later the line went dead silent. Babs must have muted everyone's lines.

“Hood, what’s the situation? Did the antidote work without problem?” Babs asked.

Jason almost laughed. Antidote. They wished it had just been some stupid poison. “It wasn’t poison, or drugs, Batman and Orphan are… physically fine.”

There was a moment of silence, then Jason could hear the crackle of a line joining the comms again. “What does that mean Todd?” Damian finally asked.

Jason could feel the rage try to creep back at the thought of what really was in the food, he pushed it back. He didn’t want to really talk about what really was in the food. Another crackle. “Little wing? What was in the food?”

Jason sighed. Why should he be the only one in commission to report back? No, he was glad to not have been anywhere close to that hideous concoction that didn’t have a right to be called food. He turned the speed back up.

“Apparently, Vlad Masters is a cannibal. One in the habit of sharing his taste with others.” The silence in the other line was about what he expected, so was the new explosion of voices that came afterward.

Yeah, no. Report given. They could deal with the news themselves. Jason disconnected from comms and started riding back to the house. Checking the time on the edge of his helmet screen, he saw he had been riding for quite some time. How has two hours already passed?

He left the motorcycle in the garage. There was no one there, so Jason wandered inside. He found Tim was sitting on the sofa with his laptop in the living room, the note folded beside him. Bruce sat on a chair beside him still looking pained. Jason talked from the door.

“Did you actually wait for me?”

Tim shrugged and without taking his eye off. “Figured it would be better to read once we were all here.”

“Where’s Cass?” He asked, walking to the opposite side of the couch.

“She asked to be filled in later.” Bruce answered. “It’s better we read the rest of the note already. I can’t imagine what else Danny would like us to know.”

Tim sighed, like someone had asked him to be the one to read the letter instead of him being the one to take it upon himself. He took the note, unfolding it again, and Jason could see he was making an effort to ignore the first line.

“I don’t know who the victims are, or where Vlad gets them, but they’re recently deceased. So somewhere there must be people disappearing constantly. It may not be the same place all the time, or it may not even be the same city. Vlad isn’t human.”

“Fucking great. Just what we were missing. What is it this time? A vampire? He definitely has the aesthetic going for him.” The pretender glared at him for the interruption, but Jason thinks the situation fully justifies his reaction.

Bruce sighed. “Language. Please, go on, Tim.”

“He’s a kind of ghost.” Tim raised an eyebrow but continued reading. “I know it may be hard to believe for outsiders, but ghosts are pretty much a common occurrence in Amity Park.”

“I thought that was just a tourist trap.” Jason commented, which gained him another glare from Tim. Jason didn’t bother to acknowledge it, though, inside, he was quite enjoying getting the little shit annoyed.

Tim huffed, and lowered the note a bit before commenting. “There are quite a few claims of ghost sightings, but we couldn’t find any proof of them when we took a look at Amity while searching for a house to rent.” He turned to the computer and started typing something.

“Even then, those reports were not of great importance, mentions of seeing a figure for a couple a seconds in the corner of a room, of a shadow following them around the city, or a pale little kid running around in the cemetery.” Bruce added. “The whole city works around the theme.The biggest school is called Casper High, and most attractions are named after ghost-related puns. We concluded it was, in fact, a tourist trap.”

“So what, the kid is imagining his guardian isn’t human? Making things up to cope with the fact that he is a cannibal? That-”

“Um. Bruce, you might want to see this.” Tim interrupted him.

His eyes were wide, scanning quickly through a webpage. Jason moved close to see the screen, and so did Bruce, standing up from his chair to lean over the back of the sofa. Tim started reading titles while he passed the mouse over them.

“Octo-Ghost Assists Kindergarten Party and Almost Becomes The Birthday Girl's Pet. First Ghost Attack of the Week in Casper High, Red huntress Captures It Before It Can Disrupt Class. Ghost Known as Lunch Lady Visits Local Restaurant and Asks for a Cooking Battle With the Owner: See the Unexpected Results. Don’t You Miss When Ghosts Would Interrupt Class at Least Once a Day? A ranting blog by Phan_number1. None of this existed when we were checking Amity!”

“How is that even possible? The Batcomputer should have pinged something if there was anything blocking the information,” Bruce says in what sounded like a monotone voice, but any of his kids could tell he’s alarmed by the fact that so much information was successfully hidden from the Batcomputer. “Try sending a link to Babs.”

Tim goes ahead to do that with the ranting blog, but honestly, Jason couldn’t care less if the oh-so-great Batcomputer missed this.

“So the kid isn’t making things up, great. Can you both have your freak-out about the information blockage after we finish reading the note?” If Tim were a super, Jason would have a hole on his front, he’s sure of it.

Babs: Why are you sending me a recipe for making ghost-themed pie?

Tim looks at the message in disbelief, and clicks on the link he had sent. The ranting blog opens, no pie recipe to be seen. Tim takes a screenshot and tries sending it, but a warning message appears, saying the file is corrupted. He tries to send an image of his gallery, it goes without any problems.

“This is weird. It’s not like any kind of blockage we had seen before. It even redirects links to a page that matches the city's theme.”

“Try sending the image through the Bat server.” Bruce says with a voice that it was more serious than Jason expected, which makes him glance back at the man.

Bruce is glaring at the computer with a dark expression. Realization hits Tim, and he quickly tries to send the image through the Bat server. It goes through, and even Jason feels relieved at the received checkmark.

“Okay… okay. So they’re monitoring private conversations, but the Bat server is still safe.” Tim murmurs. Then goes ahead and tries sending the link once more, with a message saying it should open the website shown in the image.

Oracle: All that link opens is the pie recipe Red Robin. If this is some kind of joke, you know the Bat server is not for that.

Tim rolls his eyes at the response and starts writing down a response, explaining the situation to Babs.

“The link must be blocked by IP Address. Tell her to try using a residential proxy.”

“Already on it.”

Jason hates when the old man understands more about technology than he does. Damn his time in the grave. He had been working on getting up to date, and he can do some basic hacking and whatnot. Enough that he doesn’t need external help for every little thing. But he’s still so far behind.

Oracle: I’m in. You’re also seeing all these things about ghosts?

Red Robin: Yes.

Red Robin: Somehow they have the city under a blockage that the Batcomputer wasn’t able to detect.

“Okay. Babs can take care of investigating that. We have a note to finish reading, remember?” Jason says, reaching for the paper Tim had left beside the computer, which Tim promptly snatches back. “Hey!”

“You won’t read it outloud for everyone.”

“According to whom!?”

“Kids…” Bruce sighed, “Continue reading, please, Tim.”

The little shit looked smug for a second before going back to the note.

“Please understand that in general ghosts aren’t bad, it’s just Vlad. But ghosts are powerful, and Vlad is really powerful. This can’t be resolved through normal means. I know the Waynes have contact with the Justice League, so I ask you to please get in contact with them, and don’t get anymore involved. I doubt the Justice league is equipped for the type of ghosts we have in Amity park. My friends Samantha Mason and Tucker Foley know where to find specialized weaponry and protective devices. Please, convince the Justice League to go for them first, it would be a disaster if one of the Justice League was overshadowed by Vlad.” That’s where the letter ended.

“Overshadow?” Bruce echoed.

Tim wasted no time putting the word into Google, which, now that Jason noticed, was decorated with little ghosts. Did Amity have its own Google doodle? The definition of the word popped like any other word would, and Jason wondered if that was something else that was blocked outside the city.

“It seems to be how Amity Parkers refer to possession.” Tim said after skimming the definition.

“What do we know about Samantha Mason and Tucker Foley?” Bruce asked, already in work mode.

“Not much, outside of being known friends of Danny. The Masons are a well positioned family in Amity; they’re new money. Izzy Manson, Samantha's great grandfather, invented a machine that twirled cellophane around deli toothpicks, the patent and inheritance placed the family where it is today. Pamela Manson owns a jewelry brand that’s grown in popularity in the Midwestern elite, while Jeremy Manson is a real estate developer. They often attend galas in Wisconsin, and sometimes in other big cities. Samantha Mason is a known teen activist, and has had her fair share of incidents at galas.” Tim said, as he opened the report he had made before coming to Amity.

“Incidents?” Jason asked.

“She has a sharp tongue and doesn’t seem interested in keeping appearances. It’s well known she isn’t fond of the styles her mother gives her for the galas. In any photo she posted on her personal accounts in the last two years, she has a gothic aesthetic.”

“Ah.”

“There’s less about Tucker Foley. His mother, Angela Foley, works as a chef at a local restaurant called “A Ghost's Secret Recipe.” His father, Maurice Foley, is an IT technician for the city government. Tucker seems to take after his father in his interest in technology, and has a history of winning local programming contests.”

“There’s nothing that really screams “I know how to fight ghosts and have ghost weaponry” is there?” Jason comments.

“Well, this is the information we have while searching with the city's information being blocked. Search for Daniel Fenton on the web,” Bruce says, and when Tim enters the name, a lot of news articles come to light. “We should have suspected something when there weren’t a lot of news articles talking about an explosion taking the life of a whole family.” Tim nods to that.

Jason frowns at the screen. “Are you seeing these titles? Local ghost hunters die from mysterious explosions? Something tells me that the access to weaponry has more to do with Danny’s parents than anything about Samantha and Tucker.”

“What did we have about the Fentons from the investigation in Gotham?”

“They were supposedly part of the tourist industry, “entertaining tourists with street shows about ghost hunting.” We were literally blocked from one of the most important details of Danny’s life.” Tim groaned.

Bruce sighed. “Let’s try getting some sleep. We’ll try meeting Samantha and Tucker tomorrow in the late afternoon.”

Jason raised an eyebrow. “Late afternoon?”

“They’re teenagers. I would prefer to interrupt their class time or disturb them too late. They might not even know we plan to meet with them.”

Tim nodded, already starting with the new background check. “I doubt Masters lets Danny have his own phone.”

Jason unceremoniously closed Tims laptop, putting it aside and carrying the kid in a firefighter carry.

“Trying to rest applies to you too.”

Tim protested as he trashed, trying to get him to let go, and if the pretender had actually been serious about it, Jason may have not been able to keep a hold of him.

“I’ll tell Babs to leave the investigation for tomorrow as well. You’ll have time before we go meet Danny’s friends, so let’s rest for some time first, okay?” Bruce said with that voice he always used when he was treating them like little kids. And if Jason found it soothing, that was between his mind and himself.

Tim groans, but relaxes, accepting defeat, and the kid is asleep before Jason even makes it out the living room. Jason wonders, not for the first time, if Tims ability to basically sleep anywhere, anyway, anytime, would go away if the kid actually followed the sleeping schedule Bruce and Alfred tried imposing, instead of taking random naps around the clock.

He’s sure the little shit will be back in front of the computer in 30 minutes. Whatever. He already did his mandatory older sibling duty by getting him to stop for a nap.

533 notes · View notes