OPEN: The Western Approach

[faderifting]

WHO: Everyone!
WHAT: The Western Approach is a terrible place. You should definitely go there.
WHEN: Bloomingtide 15 onward
WHERE: The Western Approach
NOTES: This is open to everyone. Characters who would not happily go to the hell desert probably have to go anyway; it's a war, not a vacation.

Once these wastes were a land of plenty. Can you believe it? The rain came north over the Gamordan Peaks, turning the plains green and verdant for three months of the year. Eight hundred years ago, that changed. During the Second Blight, darkspawn spilled out of an enormous crack in the earth, corrupting it with their foul blood... and it never recovered, even after they were driven back underground. The Grey Wardens built Adamant Fortress to stand watch over that chasm, but eventually even they abandoned it to the wind and the biting sand.

What few of us eke out a living in this Maker-forsaken place do so knowing that any number of deaths await us: darkspawn raids, dragons, bandits—not to mention starvation from the lack of water and game. If we stay, it is because we know there are treasures buried in the bones of this place, ruins from the time when Tevinter ruled, and even earlier. We pass tales around our campfires of the things we have seen shrouded in the dust storms. My favorites are the ones about relics that could restore the Western Approach once more... but I don't believe them. Truth be told, on nights when the wind is calm, I can stand on a hilltop and see for miles in the moonlight over a stark beauty of which no other Orlesian can claim to know the equal. On those nights, I hope it will never change.

—From Lands of the Abyss by Magistrate Gilles de Sancriste

---

I. THE DESERT

When Scout Harding calls somewhere the worst place in Thedas, that's probably a bad sign. Even when nothing in the Western Approach is deliberately trying to kill you, there's nothing kind or forgiving about the landscape: bare and arid, carved through by sharp-dropped canyons, dotted with abandoned mines and signs of the deaths of lost travelers. Winds sweeping through to whip stinging sand into uncovered faces, and periodic dust storms obscure visibility entirely. It's warm enough to be dangerous but not so hot, at this time of year, that heat exhaustion and dehydration can't creep up on you while you aren't paying attention.

And at any given moment, something probably is deliberately trying to kill you. The food chain in the region is top-heavy, with quillbacks, phoenixes, hyenas, and varghests roaming hungrily and as likely to attack one another as the sparse local prey population. Compared to their natural competitors, the Inquisition's forces look like easy marks. The camps the Inquisition scatters at lookout points throughout the region require constant watch, and going anywhere alone is inadvisable. Not only because of the hostile local everything, but also because it is incredibly easy to get lost. One rock formation looks much like another after hours in the sun or bathed in shifting moonlit shadows, and good luck finding many other landmarks. There are a few: chunks of pillars or arches from some ruined structure, or the occasional odd pillar that might, if someone investigates, prove to mark a trail of sorts.

Plus: the only people who seem determined to survive out here are cutthroat bandits and stray Venatori. Double-plus: a high dragon makes occasional fly-bys, scouring the ground below for anything edible, armored or not.

Some reprieve comes at night, relief from both the sun and the area's primarily diurnal predators. But that's when the darkspawn come out.

II. GRIFFON WING KEEP

Bloomingtide 16-17: Taking the Keep

Only a small force of Tevinter cultists remains in Griffon Wing Keep when the Inquisition arrives, seemingly on their way out the door already, but the sight of Inquisition banners is enough to make them stay and fight. There's no need for siege equipment, but there is call for a little bit of patience. With it, a small battalion is able to evade the mages and archers on the walls and storm the doors with few casualties. Fewer than three dozen warriors wait inside. It's a quick, brutal fight; it only takes a night.

Bloomingtide 18 Onward: Home Away From Home

Once the Keep is cleared of occupants, it's ripe for the Inquisition to… occupy… But with implicit permission, at least. Those who aren't needed for fights elsewhere may be put to work clearing out debris and small animals and the remnants left by the cultists, and within a few days the fortress is a serviceable outpost, much more hospitable than the camps out in the sand. Barracks mean even those who don't have beds at Skyhold may have one here, and it takes less than a week for an enterprising merchant to arrive with ale.

III. THE STILL RUINS

Despite signs of recent activity, the lavish Tevinter palace tucked incongruously into the canyons is quiet and still, when the Inquisition discovers it—quiet, still, but not empty. The ancient ruin is brimming with demons and Tevinters in incredibly outdated fashions, all frozen in place, as they have been for hundreds of years. No one breathes or blinks, but their skin is still warm and alive to the touch.

Beyond the entryway and halls and through the courtyard, there are signs of research and experimentation, and one man stood unmoving with his hand clasped around something unseen.

Perhaps someone will discover the cause. Perhaps someone will undo the spell that's been cast over the palace. Perhaps, if someone does, someone will take the opportunity to not immediately murder all of these valuable sources of ancient information, and instead only murder most of them. In the meantime, however, it is unlikely that anyone will ever be able to get this close to a rage demon without receiving a face full of fire. Take advantage.

IV. CORACAVUS

Signs of the Venatori point upward: up the hills, up ladders and towers, and into the ancient Tevinter prison, Coracavus, that was built into the mountainside. The ruin is filled with sand now, with half-collapsed walls and anything not made of stone worn away by winds, and the Venatori are long gone, their hunt for relics from the glory days of the Imperium abandoned when an excavation attempt opened the prison to darkspawn, instead. The darkspawn have retreated as well, but there are signs of their presence. Namely the smell and the half-eaten corpses of slaves—primarily elven and dwarven—who were left behind to their fates when the Tevinters fled.

There's no sign of them now, but digging through their abandoned camps may turn up a name, if anyone would like to see that he pays.

V. ADAMANT FORTRESS

A day's determined walk from the nearest Inquisition camp, Adamant Fortress overlooks the vast chasm—dubbed the Abyssal Rift—from which darkspawn poured during the Second Blight. It stood abandoned for nearly 150 years before the Grey Wardens' recent reoccupation, and it's abandoned again now, emptied out well before the Inquisition's forces arrive. There are signs that the retreat was a hasty one: scattered belongings, opened doors, abandoned meals, and no fewer than fifty bodies left on a mass pyre that only half-burned without anyone to tend it.

The Veil has always been thin here, and it's thinner now, where demons have been pulled through from the Fade. Rifts hang over the battlements and in the corridors, and escaped shades lurk in the dark corridors, siphoning away the willpower of those who linger until they come close enough to attack. Those who visit the Fortress set up camp outside of it rather than within it, wisely.

There are clear signs of blood sacrifice, for those who look: the bodies, blood stains on the stone floors, neat lists of names systemically crossed through. Sorting through documents left behind may turn up vague notes in a mage's runic shorthand or the journal of a trepidatious new recruit (Lourde, a pickpocket, crossed through on the registers). Behind a locked door in the lowest rooms are the bodies of sixteen mages, still in their Circle robes, left lying where they fell when the Joining took them. Mages who were among the rebels in Redcliffe may recognize a face or two as belonging to the hardliners who left with the Tevinters.

Comments

II

[serannas]

"Are you sure it's safe to go down that way?" Ellana asks, peering down into the well and only seeing darkness. She worries the rope might not hold, and then how will they get the dwarf back out again? Ellana can energize wood and stone, but she can't lift people.

[sistertohermen]

Is the elf perhaps offering to go down instead if she's worried about the rope holding her weight? Didn't think so. "I could run around the entirety of the desert wasteland in search of where this might lead out to--and I'm definitely hoping it isn't a nest of darkspawn--but this seems a lot more direct."

So, safe? Probably not. Less likely to end in heat stroke or absolute boredom? Sure!

[serannas]

"A lot more direct and prone to breaking your neck than running around the entirety of the desert, yes." That said, she pushes herself upright and moves to a nearby wall where an unlit torch is just waiting to join Rachette in this adventure. Ellana takes it up and produces a flame in the palm of her hand, which she uses to light it before bringing it back over.

[sistertohermen]

"You're more worried I'll fall off the rope than of me waking anything that might be lurking down there," she muses flatly, though amused. "That's sweet. Maybe we should just reel the bucket up, and you can reel me back down in it if that'll make you feel better?"

[serannas]

"I'm not worried you'll fall off the rope," Ellana explains. "I'm worried the rope will snap because it's probably old and no one's been around to replace it." So putting her in the bucket doesn't really solve the issue. But Ellana sighs and looks down the well again, this time with the torch to aid her.

"If you're determined to go, we can do this however you'd like."

[sistertohermen]

To be fair...she hadn't thought of that. She looks at the rope in her hands, up to where it's tied, and...shrugs. "If I drop in, someone else is sure to have some length of rope around. If I haven't bashed my head in on a rock, you can come get me." Her smile is...not reassuring to people who want to play it perfectly safe.

She starts to shimmy down the rope, then looks up again. "Hold on, you said 'we'. Does that mean you're joining my little expedition?"

[serannas]

"Well," Ellana replies, allowing herself a small smile. "Once you test that rope for me, I would be happy to come down to help you." Hey, it helps get her out of the sun while doing something useful for the Inquisition. Win-win.

[sistertohermen]

With a roll of her eyes (and a tug upward of her lips herself), she reaches to snatch the torch from the elf's hand and continues down, minus one hand. "I'm sure the rope will be safe for anyone other than a qunari or a really big human by the time I'm through with it. You must weigh next to nothing." She can see the water glittering at the bottom, nothing else yet. Pauses and gives a little semi-echoing holler, just to see if anything stirs. It doesn't. That's a good sign, right?

[serannas]

"Then I'll be down as soon as your torch is out of range of my feet," she answers, leaning over the opening to watch Rachette descend. Once she's sure the torch is far enough away, she moves to sit on the edge of the well and take the rope in hand. Amazingly, it does seem to still be incredibly strong. She follows in after Rachette, though her skills with moving down a rope aren't that great. Still, she doesn't fall off.

[sistertohermen]

Good, because falling off would involve hitting stone wall, hitting a dwarf, and hitting a lit torch, before hitting the ground. The fall might not kill, but it would definitely break bones otherwise.

Rachette splashes into the water. It's shallow, enough that she feels her concerns over a water source are very justified. It's a desert; there are a lot of people here. They'll need an easier way of filling their sacks of water. The torch doesn't go far, though she's pretty sure she can see a glint of some shiny stone. But there's another light source from...somewhere down the way. Where that draft is coming from.

"If there's really an opening somewhere down here," she calls to the elf over her shoulder, "it would be better to reinforce it or close it off. Might get darkspawn wandering in. Or a sneak attack from Venatori in the night." Totally not a shudder or anything. That's just a trick of light.

[serannas]

Ellana touches down not long around and ducks to get out from under the stone walls of the well. Then she looks around the space and noticing the shiny stone as well. She sloshes through the shallow water to stand beside Rachette.

"Maybe metal bars from floor to ceiling?" she suggests.

[sistertohermen]

"Maybe brick it up entirely. It could just be a little hole in the wall. Maybe water's getting out that way?" She'll leave the shiny. For now. And trudge on ahead. It feels nice down here compared to in the sun, but a water shortage is imminent. The ground slants up and out of the water, which, well, water's not getting out this way then. But it's getting lighter, which is a sign of the right direction.

She walks all the way until the sun is clearly shining through a back way in--but it's covered in some sort of magical shimmer. Warily, Rachette touches it. Feels solid.

"Maybe we should just keep this up."

[serannas]

"Huh," Ellana replies once she's standing next to it. "It's possible the Venatori put this here to prevent anyone from coming up the well for a surprise attack." But she shakes her head. "It's not a very good barrier. Any mage could break it. Maybe... it was to stop darkspawn and animals from getting in to corrupt the water supply?"

[sistertohermen]

"Wish we'd known about it, though. Think of what a great surprise attack that could've been. Right out of the well." Augh, it would've been so cool! But no, frontal assault. Complete with bashing in the doors.

"Still, if any old mage could tear it down, and it's otherwise a gaping hole straight into the keep, and the pathetic little water supply, better we just lay down a wall, don't you think? No Venatori, no darkspawn, no animals, no Wardens, no dragons."

[serannas]

"That would have been a slow attack, trying to get us all up there through a choke point. But, I can see the appeal. The looks on their faces would have been hilarious."

Ellana looks back at the barrier and nods in agreement. "We should report this to one of the advisors. The sooner it's blocked up, the safer the keep will be."

[sistertohermen]

Right. Advisors. Ancestors forbid anything get done without the explicit say-so of three or four people. But she's in no place to argue, and official backing would get it done well instead of hastily. "Any ideas about the water situation, then?" That, she agrees, should go to people in charge.

[serannas]

"I'm no expert, but I suppose we could dig down and try to find the water table. That's what it's called, right?" Otherwise they'll have to haul water from elsewhere.

[sistertohermen]

Dirt and stone she knows. But. She's not miner caste. The terms confuse her. A table of water under the ground...? "I don't know. But yeah. Dig for more water. People could even start drawing baths to keep themselves cool. Wouldn't that be a blessing." Her shoulders sag. "Okay. So. Magical hole down on the side of the keep. Also, water issues. Also, that rope is definitely strong enough to climb down. Hopefully it'll survive us climbing back up."

[serannas]

"If it doesn't, I can get us out this way," she says, gesturing towards the magical barrier. She didn't bring her staff with her, but it's not necessary. "Let's just hope it doesn't snap when we're near the top. I don't want to drop back down."

But now that they've seen to that, what was that shiny stuff she saw earlier? She works her way back towards it.

[sistertohermen]

Yes, the shiny. Sure, shiny things attract most people, but if it's valuable, Chette wants at it. Maybe it's just stone that could be useful to the likes of Alejandro? She follows along with the torch and hopes it's more than just damp stone reflecting from the water.

Or it could be shiny metals and stones. She leans in, brushes her hand across the deep green stone. "I think we have some serpentstone here. Not a fruitless quest after all."

[serannas]

"Oh!" Ellana says, bending down to have a look herself. "I don't think I've ever seen it in its raw form before. I did hear some scouts say it was scattered around these parts, but I hadn't run into any myself yet. There's a good amount here."

[sistertohermen]

"We should let some of the scouts know about it, so it can be properly excavated, before trying to revive the source of water here." Of course, before any of that, she's going to try and see if any is dislodged enough for her to pocket some for fun/interest/future money...

[serannas]

"Good idea." She watches Rachette with a slightly amused expression. Somehow, she gets the impression that whatever the dwarf knocks loose, she won't be telling the scouts about.

"I'd better start back up. I'll need the extra time while you do this."