Cloudreach Rifter Arrival

[faderifting]

WHO: New rifters & her rescuers
WHAT: Weird people fall out of a rift with demons, now with bonus civilians to save.
WHEN: Early Cloudreach
WHERE: Jader
NOTES: This log is OPEN to new rifters and to anyone who might have volunteered or been ordered to go retrieve new rifters. It takes place during the migration from Skyhold to Kirkwall, along the way, so those going early and those staying in Skyhold can still easily participate. Rifters: the log is intentionally backdated to allow you to also jump straight into RPing elsewhere. It's safe to assume everyone lives.

You were asleep--deeply or fitfully, for the last time or just resting your eyes for a moment-- and then you were not. And wherever you were was not, anymore, replaced by nothing but the sensation of falling, tumbling into endless, bottomless nothing. If this were still a dream, you would wake before you hit the ground. You can't die in a dream, they say. In some worlds.

In this world, you wake with a jolt when you hit cobblestones, dropped from above by a flaring, crystalline green rip in reality that hangs overhead. Beyond it the sun glares down through scattered clouds, and there’s wind—strong salty wind off a sea, whistling now through the narrow spaces between the buildings surrounding the city square.

That’s where you are now: a city. Around you and the rift, merchants and shoppers freeze where they stand, a few with fish or coins extended. The shocked silence extends for whole seconds before it’s broken by two things at once: a man’s terrified shout, and the heavy, stone-rattling stomp of a massive purple demon that’s followed you through the tear. Then everyone is moving at once, screaming and shouting and snatching up children to carry with them as they run.

Another demon follows shortly—smaller, hooded, floating, shrieking horribly and freezing everything around it, emanating despair. But there’s also hope! Your belongings might save you; they’re scattered on the ground where you fell. There's also a narrow splinter of light in the same sickly green as whatever brought you here, now glowing out of the palm of your left hand. It aches, a bone-deep pain that gnaws even through all the distractions, but it’s going to help, promise. And it won't be long before more people arrive, armed and armored and not at all surprised to see you.

Comments

Post fight cool down

[justice_is_blond]

That had been... quite the fight, and not least of all because he's never seen anyone fight with a rope before. Anders is circulating through the combatants, seeing to injuries, when he comes over to the woman who is most definitely a rifter. And most definitely taller than him, too. Plenty of people are, but her skills at punching demons makes her height all the more impressive.

"How are you doing? Is any of the blood yours? I'm a healer, so I can help if you've need of it, magically or, if you've objections to magic, less effective salves and potions." And please let her not be someone who hates magic and magic users.

[intruthandlove]

"A portion of it is mine, I would imagine. Though if you ask me where it's from I couldn't begin to tell you," Diana says, tilting her head up slightly to look at the man from her seated position, "But I'm perfectly well, you should see to others first. Were there any casualties?"

What was a few flesh wounds anyway.

[justice_is_blond]

"No casualties, thankfully, and I've seen to everyone who was seriously injured already. Now I've moved on to the people who are sitting rather than walking around." He gives her a faint smile. "Like you."

Anders holds out a hand, letting it glow green. "I can assure you that what I do is entirely painless and relatively quick, since going by what I saw of your hand in the fight suggests you may not already know that."

[intruthandlove]

"I suppose I have little choice then." She says it with a laugh and does not flinch away as his hand begins to glow. Rather she watches it with some curiosity. Magic is always different, even within her own world. What the healers on Themyscira did with the Purple Healing Ray was far and away different from the arcane, sometimes hellish magic of Jason Blood or the straightforward backwards words of Zatanna.

"What's your name?" she asks. She has many questions, but that seems a good one to start on.

[justice_is_blond]

"I'm Anders, and you always have a choice about healing save when you're unconscious and bleeding out. Then I assume your desire for survival is a given." He flashes her a smile as he gets to work, closing wounds and easing bruising. It likely feels warm and a little itchy; healing skin isn't always the most comfortable thing.

"May I ask yours?" Meeting Rifters, while dicey at first because he never knows who will hate magic, often proves relaxing otherwise. They don't know his name and his past. They can't. He can just be him for a short time until someone else spills his secrets.

[intruthandlove]

"I have been told I am not the best patient," Diana admits, though she does sit still and manages not to scratch at the wounds as they close up, "Sitting still can be difficult at times, but thank you, Anders. I'm Diana."

[justice_is_blond]

"Oh, another not the best," he says, shaking his head but still more amused than anything else. "We seem to be gathering a lot of people who like to escape from the healing tents before their wounds have been given the time they need. All the same, welcome to Thedas, Diana. You likely have a multitude of questions, and I can try to answer some of them if you'd like."

[intruthandlove]

She laughs at that, pleasant and soft. "Well, can you blame us? There are always far more important things to do than staying in healing tents." She does pause to think over his offer.

"In truth," she says, "I can hardly think of where to begin. What were those creatures that came through that portal with me?"

[justice_is_blond]

He gives her a wry look and a shake of his head. He can blame patients because he then has to chase after them, but now's not the time for that discussion. Right now she's a billion questions and he can help with that.

"Demons. The portals, which we call rifts, don't simply touch other worlds. They also touch the Fade, a realm attached to this world but separated by the Veil, and populated by demons and spirits. Those were various sorts of demons, all representing different vices that they inspire and feed off of. It's best to take them out as soon as you see them."

[intruthandlove]

She attempts to not put too much strain on her various doctors. This... doesn't actually work, but the attempt is made. She nods as he speaks.

"I'm not unfamiliar with such things," she tells him, thinking of the realms she's walked, separate from her body. There was no simple word like demons for the beings that lived in those realms. Most called them gods. "And this?" She holds up the hand with the sparking, spitting shard, "This is part of it, isn't it."

[justice_is_blond]

Anders nods.

"It's a part of it, but we've no full understanding of it. Most of the people who are pulled here from other worlds, if not all of them, gain a shard, that. The shards can close the rifts when used right, but they seem to cause pain to their bearers from time to time." He exhales. He wishes the news was better, but there's nothing he can really help with there.

"We healers have pain potions that can ease the worst of it. I'd been working with the only apparently expert in the shards, Solas, while he was around, but he slipped away again before I was able to understand how to ease the pain from the shard itself. He's a habit of that, slipping away."

[intruthandlove]

Something in Diana lights up, curiosity maybe, a clear cut course.

"How does it close rifts?" That is rather good news as far as Diana is concerned. She does not care for a strange magic imbedded in her without knowing what the thing is meant to do. As to the rest. "The pain is bearable, you needn't worry on my account."

[justice_is_blond]

He nods about the pain, expression a little distant because of the question.

"I'm not certain, actually. I know some have done it. We'll be heading back to Inquisition headquarters, where most Rifters stay, and you can find out from them what training they have. Araceli's been here for quite some time, she may know. If you can't locate her, Jamie is sharp, he may know, Hermione studies a great many things and is likely to have an answer. I can gather more names if none of those three is available or able to answer the question for you, but those are who I'd go to first."

[intruthandlove]

"Excellent, I will start with that," Diana says, looking surprisingly pleased. She's not the drifting sort, having a course of action is the ideal for her. "Now all I need is a bath."

Anders might have done an excellent job healing, but there's not much to be done about the blood splatter on her Wonder Woman uniform. She picks at one stain a little thoughtfully, "And clothes, come to think of it. I seem to be a little underdressed for the crowd."

[justice_is_blond]

"The good news is we're not far from the current Inquisition headquarters, and there's a room for bathing. Clothing should be easy enough to find as well, though I can't guarantee it'll be anything exactly... fashionable."

Brown and grey basic pants and shirts and robes they have. Anything extra would be counted as a luxury, for good reason.

Anders tilts his head to the side, to where people are gathering. "And you can get a little more situated, away from people who are still, um, doubtful about people appearing through the Rifts." Which is a gentle way to say some of the city might not be entirely friendly to people they know aren't from these parts.

[intruthandlove]

Diana looks down at herself and the blood and gore stained Wonder Woman uniform and then back up to Anders with a raised eyebrow. "I think in this instance I would prefer function over form."

She is a realistic woman who is fully aware that at no point in history was the uniform considered fashionable, this does not stop her from loving it. She does follow his slight gesture to glance around at the assembling crowd.

"And something a little more inconspicuous perhaps."

[justice_is_blond]

He gives her an amused nod, conceding the point. No one likes running around in a blood-stained outfit, and hers is... unique.

"A moment. Let me see if they brought anything along with us." Sometimes they do when heading out to a rift, because you never know if there will be people alongside the demons spilling out. Anders steps away to speak quickly with someone carrying a sack and a few moments later he's returning with a brown tunic and a long brown skirt and a shrug.

"It's definitely inconspicuous."