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

[el_tybs]

It's always amazing to see just how much the warrior was capable of lifting, but after watching for some time it was obvious that Taas was forgoing his own rest to do all this. Grabbing a water skin, Sam moves to where the large man has finally taken a rest, making sure to get within his line of sight.

For the sake of getting into the habit of using it, Sam signs a greeting, a simple 'hello'. "You shouldn't try pushing yourself too much. Not out here."

[quietblade]

Looking over at Sam, the warrior smiles and signs back. 'Hello, Sam.' It was nice to see that the man was using the sign he was teaching. Taas isn't surprised to read the next words on the healer's lips, though.

"Ah, I know. You're right." He shrugs a little bit. "It's just something to take the mind of other things, you know?"

[el_tybs]

He isn't trying to be rude by falling back into speaking, it's just that he still doesn't know enough sign to hold a conversation at the moment. There hadn't been enough time between starting lessons and being deployed for him to know more than perhaps a handful of phrases at this point. That and his other hand was a little full with the waterskin.

"Yeah... is there something giving you trouble?" As he asks he silently offers the waterskin, brows quirking up in curiosity.

[quietblade]

Taas fully understands that, and isn't really expecting him to push himself beyind his capabilities. He just smiles and makes a bit of room for the mage to join him, taking the offered waterskin with a nod and downing some.

"Nothing important. Just seen a bit too much shit in this hot-ass desert." There's a shake of his head as he hands back the skin. "Tends to get under your skin, and I like to work that off."

[el_tybs]

"Yeah... tell me about it." Figure of speak, Taas doesn't have to. He's just seen a lot himself in this place. Just as bad as Emprise du Lion in his personal opinion.

"That makes sense. Just don't work it off too hard. I'd rather not see you down because of heat stroke or anything."

[quietblade]

"I'll work withing my limits, I promise." Almost as if to empathize that, he takes another drink and then pours a bit over his face as well. Wiping it off left a smear of sandy dirt, and he sighs. "This sticks worse than day-old vitaar."

He big warrior eyes the mage with a softer look, sizing him up. He looked okay, all things considered. "...so how are you doing, Sam? I imagine there's need for both a smith and a healer around here."

[el_tybs]

"Can't say I know about vitaar - or much what it is - but yeah. Not only does it stick, but it gets everywhere." He's pretty sure that he'll be finding sand in places even after they're long gone from this place.

Glad to hear that Taas wasn't going to overwork himself with this heat, Sam smiles lightly, reaching up to wipe his forearm against his forehead. The way Taas is eyeing him though has him raising his brows, blinking a moment later when he's being asked how he's doing. "Not so much for a smith at the time being, though I'm sure there will be plenty of work when we get back. New materials, needing to sharpen weapons. Definitely a need for a healer out here. Can't do much for heatstroke save for getting some shade and liquids, but the wild life and the land itself certainly has enough to keep us healers busy."

[quietblade]

"Yeah. I have sand in the most uncomfortable places. Maybe we'll find an oasis or something to take a bath in..." There's a soft, longing sigh at that. He could probably spend a day in a decent water hole, just chilling like a bogfisher.

Taas does his best to wash off the dirt smear before he fully gives up and leaves the rest. Instead he takes another mouthful of water, fully draining the waterskin and putting it down.

"The wildlife here is pretty damn challenging. Have you seen the phoenixes and wyverns? Gorgeous beasts, right? Almost as fierce as a dragon." He grins again, enjoying that thought before he sombers a little. "Any losses?"

[el_tybs]

"Korrin mentioned an oasis to me not too long ago. Not exactly close. Worth it for the time until you get sand back up in those places." Sand is not a new thing for Sam considering he grew up along the coast, but for the most part it was usually wet and really only stuck to the bottom of your shoes. Desert sand though - a much different tale.

"I haven't seen the wyverns, but I have been studying the phoenixes." When they weren't trying to eat him or others of course. "We have lost people though I don't know the number. I think the most were lost when trying to take the Keep." So far. It was a war and the land was unforgiving, losses were something that were going to happen.

[quietblade]

"Oh, that is really fucking tempting. Maybe when things are not as shit around here, I'll ask her to show me." He grins widely, shielding his eyes a bit as he looks out over the keep and the clear sky above. The sun was merciless.

It's not nice to hear that they've taken losses, but it was expected. The fact that the keep had taken the most was a bit of a nod in the right direction, though. People were not dying from the heat or the weird gas areas.

Taas is quiet for a moment, reminding himself to ask about the names later from the people in charge.

"...you studied the phoenixes? Find anything cool?"

[el_tybs]

Merciless, yes, Sam would agree to that. Being someone from cooler climates and fair enough skin, the sun was really taking a toll on him, less so now that he's marginally gotten used to what to expect. The only thing he would consider a good thing was probably that the sunburn he's gotten on his cheeks was throwing everyone off of telling when he was or would be blushing.

Sam makes a noise in agreement that Taas should ask Korrin, before walking closer and flopping down onto a box next to the larger man. Giving a sigh at getting off his feet, he makes another thoughtful noise, considering the questions. "Unless you consider them producing a rather foul odor to throw off or distract prey and enemies, nothing much except that they function very well with the heat and sand. The main cool part would probably be turning into one."

[quietblade]

Hey, the little bit of color is a good thing! He bets Cyril really likes that.

However, any other thoughts are interrupted and Taas' eyes widen at that last part as he stares at Sam. "Turning into one? Fuck, mages can really do that? I thought that was just the dark-haired advisor lady. Morrigan."

Pardon him, he's already imagining turning into a phoenix. Or a dragon.

[el_tybs]

Farmer tans and red colored cheeks? If Cyril did like it he hasn't said anything about it. Then again Sam hasn't seen much of Cyril out here.

Ah, that was right, Taas didn't know he could shapeshift. It wasn't something he openly advertised and the last time they had talked was during those sign lessons. Sam chuckles lightly at the sudden excitement. "Well it's something a mage can do, but it's rare that they know how from what i understand. It isn't something commonly taught or practiced. I'm actually a bit surprised that Morrigan even taught me really considering I'm from the Circle after all." He wasn't the typical mage from the Circle he was learning, but still.

A dragon would certainly be cool, but is something he doubts he will be able to manage, even after years. "But yeah, turning into one. I probably can at this point, but I haven't tried it just yet. I've been putting it off since I don't think a bunch of people suddenly seeing a phoenix would react well."

[quietblade]

Taas is pretty sure Cyril is hiding in tents to not turn into a lobster in this heat. The pale elf seemed like he would burn really easily, the poultice he slathered on his body aside.

(He's not concerned or anything.)

That aside, he's still imagining that dragon thing. Eying Sam, he smiles a little again. "Man, here I thought mages were powerful already, and now you tell me they change forms." Part of him found that really unnerving, honestly. Sometimes he really understood the fear the world had for mages. Abominations and blood magic weren't the only dangers.

"How does that even work? Do you just... imagine it and it happens?"

[el_tybs]

That would make a lot of sense actually. Considering he's had to be out on the field or tending to the injured kind of added to that as well. Had to focus on the job right?

Keep telling yourself that Taas. If he's concerned, he's sure you are as well.

"Hmmm. It's a rare form of magic so it's unlikely you're ever going to see many." Save for in the Inquisition because some were being taught. "It's also not that easy. I can't just think of an animal and turn into it. I've got to study it, and then actually practice turning into the creature. In this case I've been learning what I can while not getting eaten. Lot of work that is."