OPEN: Cloudreach Event

[faderifting]

WHO: Anyone at Skyhold
WHAT: Cloudreach showers bring weird shit.
WHEN: Cloudreach 15 onward
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: For information about the illness, its effects, and its cure, please make sure to also read the OOC Post.

This high in the mountains, snowstorms are to be expected. But this one is large and lingering, hanging over the valley and the fortress for days. In Skyhold, with its eternal spring, the snow becomes rain before it hits the ground, leaving inhabitants and visitors to wade through puddles and mud in the courtyards. In the valley, snow and ice accumulate under cloud cover—and worse, when the clouds finally thin, a whole winter's accumulation of snow begins to melt in the sunlight.

Within a day, the ground is sodden and mucky enough to give the survivors of the Fallow Mire (or Ferelden in general) unpleasant flashbacks, and those who live in tents are issued additional hastily-constructed wooden pallets to raise their floors above the mud. It is worse outside the fortress: streams and rivers have overflowed their banks, rapids run twice as fast as normal, and flash flooding has made even road travel treacherous.

On Cloudreach 17 a mudslide buries the pass into Skyhold from the west, and on the 19th a sheet of snow loosened from a mountainside collapses into the shadowed passage from the east. An Inquisition supply caravan is caught in the latter, scattering wagons and goods across the hillside and leaving a dozen people and horses in need of rescue and medical care.

Healers may find themselves stretched thin, as in addition to the usual rash of blisters and sniffles that come from days of rain and flooding, an illness begins to sweep through Skyhold's ranks from around the 16th onward. It's marked first by climbing fever, then by flashes at the edges of vision—green light and jagged formations that aren't there, beings of light and shadow gathering around people or clustering in corners—and distant voices, coherent for brief moments if you're quiet and still and not trying too hard to listen.

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

Waving off further medication because it doesn't seem to do anything or there's a delusional need to 'tough it out', Korrin sighs and tries to gather the strength to leave on her own. That her body isn't cooperating for the time being has no effect; she hates just laying here isn't accomplishing anything. 'Rest' doesn't count when her energy is sapped no matter what she does. And the voices of those spirits, ever-curious, is starting to genuinely grate on her.

"Ugh, just leave me alone to die. Shut up.

...not you." She darts an apologetic glance to Cyril when her gaze can focus again.

[samahl]

"No, no," Cyril responds waving off his apology. He's too exhausted to do more than sit up right now, though he desperately wants to try to run. "I know you're not talking to me, but honestly if you telling them off gets them to go away you should tell mine off too."

The only reason he can acknowledge that he's hearing stuff too is because his family is, blissfully, nowhere to be found right now. For instance, he'd never admit to hearing things that weren't there around Merrick.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin sighs and shakes her head, then immediately regrets it and winces. "It doesn't do a damn thing except make me feel better for a second. If I'm not paying attention to them, they're loud but shift my focus and they clam up.

What the hell kind of sickness is this, that turns people into damn mediums? The Veil's not thinning, is isn't the Fallow Mire...yet." Though the puddles outside give her uncomfortable flashbacks.

[samahl]

He takes a deep breath and then shrugs. "Maybe it has something to do with all the shards here?" he suggests. "Though not everyone affected has one, and I wouldn't say that too loudly. I don't want to give anyone any other reason to be wary of the Rifters."

[gatheringstorm]

The shards. It always comes down to those damned things, doesn't it? Korrin heaves a sigh, thinking along the same lines, as much as her fogged brain will cooperate to that end. "Neither do I. Besides, Araceli has one and she's perfectly fine. Whereas none for me and...ugh. I haven't felt this terrible in years. Maybe a decade."

[samahl]

"I know what you mean, I never get sick. This is ridiculous." He basically pouts for a moment, even crossing his arms over his chest. The moment of silence makes one of the whispers stronger and he tilts his head a bit.

"They really do need to discover how to quiet those things. It's becoming more than a little frustrating."

[gatheringstorm]

That moment of silence gets her too, and Korrin twitches as she darts an annoyed look around. She's not sure whether it's more aggravating that they shut up when she tries to pay attention or not. "Tell me about it. Dealing with this crap in the Fade is bad enough, but when waking? Ugh. There's a reason I didn't go with being a Spirit Healer and it's this. Spirits can do their own thing...over there. Away from me."

[samahl]

"How are things different here than in the Fade?" he asks, thinking it might be good to talk about things rather than dwelling.

[gatheringstorm]

"Usually, I'm the center of attention there. You know, the usual temptation song and dance, or spirits just curious and looking for a chat. But that's it, they talk to me, not do this passive-aggressive shit of talking around me and then shutting up when I pay attention to them. It's fucking annoying." As Cyril must be aware, but trust Korrin to underline that fact.

[samahl]

Cyril nodded a bit at that. "I guess that's good. I can't see why any mage would want to stick around there if that was the case. It's driving me right up a wall."

[gatheringstorm]

"Maker, yes." A moment later and a small smirk forms. "I might have a small amount of maraas-lok left, at my place. Given our state, it'd knock us straight out. It's better than listening to their crap for hours on end, right? ...though that'd require moving." A challenge of its own, not to mention those monitoring them.

[samahl]

"Okay," Cyril says. He focuses on his body and tries to push up. "Let's try to go." He usually avoids drinking but he trusts Korrin and wants anything that will help quiet the voices.

[gatheringstorm]

Drinking socially isn't something Korrin would be in the mood for right now, even if she could handle it. Drinking to get some respite from annoying spirits/demons? Absolutely. So, she takes a moment to gather her strength before pushing herself into a sitting position, swinging her legs over the edge of the cot. "If we're lucky, we won't even dream. I'm tired of people seeing what's in my head."

Glancing around to be sure that no one's approaching or paying much attention, she then attempts to stand. There's some wobbling, but at least she doesn't faceplant.

[samahl]

Cyril stands as well and looks too proud of himself for having do it. "Too bad we're not more equal in size, I'd offer to support you as we walked."

[gatheringstorm]

Smiling weakly, Korrin shakes her head. "Don't tempt me, I'd just knock you over as it is. Though you can lean on me if you're feeling wobbly. I think I could handle that." Would she ever dare admit that she can't support a much smaller, much lighter elf? Probably not. She glances back, then ushers them toward the entrance while it's quiet.

[samahl]

Cyril isn't going to lean on her unless he absolutely needs to. He doesn't want to admit that he feels as bad as he does, even to her. She might already understand though, given that she's much in the same boat.

When he gets to the tent door he pushes aside the flap for her. "Lead..." he starts, and gets distracted for a second by the form next to him before pushing through it to finish. "Lead the way."

[el_tybs]

He had just been about to reach for the tent flap when it had gotten pulled away out of his reach. Hearing the voices on the other side and then seeing a head poke out of the tent, Sam crosses his arms. "Lead the way to where?"

It had been a while since both Korrin and Cyril had come to the healing tents, so Sam had figured that he would come and check on them, see if they needed anything. Seemed like he had come at a good time. "You two shouldn't be walking around."

[gatheringstorm]

"Vashedan." Is absolutely nothing destined to go right, lately? Apparently so. Korrin sighs, normally happy to see Sam but she was hoping to have this conversation after they got back.

"The spirits are too noisy, so we're getting something to drown them out. That's all."

[samahl]

Cyril's eyes narrow a bit when he sees Sam, because he hadn't noticed before how the spirits interacted with Sam. After a moment, he comes closer and puts his arm around Sam.

"You can let us go, right? We'll be back." Eventually.

[el_tybs]

He's all too familiar with how noisy the spirits are, a number of them muttering behind him - they had been louder but it seemed when he was near others they died off a bit.

"Drown them out. So you're going to go drink?" He raises a brow at that, more so when Cyril comes over and wraps an arm around him. As much as he enjoys the attention he knows what the elf is trying to do though - nice try.

"You guys are in no condition to be walking around as you are." He raises a brow at how both Korrin and Cyril seem to be struggling to stay on their feet and leaning slightly. "I can't on good judgement let you go." There's a long moment as he just looks at them, but eventually he sighs, shoulders slouching a bit.

"I'll help you where you need to go, and back if there isn't someone who can watch you in your own beds. You have to promise me you'll actually stay in bed then." Seriously it was not safe for them to be walking around, they've already found a number of people huddling in corners because they couldn't make it where ever they wanted to go.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin starts to nod to what Cyril's saying, though that seems to be a bad idea as she winces, somewhat lightheaded. Instead, she takes note of the attention Sam's garnered, eyeing the spirits -minus Fortitude- with a wary gaze. If there's one thing she does not want to handle right now, it's more spirits.

But they've been caught, and Sam's option is likely the only way they'll be able to proceed from this point. She relaxes slightly, able to focus enough to respond. "...alright. It's just to my place, to get my stash. You know the stuff. Even a little will knock us right out and spare you from dealing with us for a while.

Can Fortitude get the others to be quiet, though? All that chatter's not helping."

Those who are seeing things - and should probably be in bed - will notice a form standing around Sam and following him around, or other figures gathering around where he's trying to rest.

[samahl]

Cyril grins widely when Sam agrees to help them. He chuckles a bit at Korrin's insistence that Fortitude help them out a bit. He focuses on Sam for right now and then leans up to kiss him a bit on the cheek.

He likely wouldn't have done that if he was in his right mind. "You're the best," he tells Sam. "Come on, lets go to your place before someone else not as great as Sam tries to stop us."

[el_tybs]

Korrin was not having a good time with the spirits it seemed. Well no one was, but those not used to dealing with them certainly so. They got a little annoying, but it was no worse than it had been in the Fallow Mire really. He feels bad for his friend but he cannot help but smile just a bit at the request.

"Sure, Korrin. I'll try-" The words fall away when he feels Cyril tug at him a bit, which has him leaning down to see what he wanted, only to have his eyes widen slightly at the kiss being planted on his cheek. Being touched was a rather normal thing when around Cyril, but at the most it was usually a hug. He can feel his cheeks growing hotter - not just from his own fever - from that, and being called the 'best'

There's a moment when he just stares down at Cyril, eventually giving a sigh and then looking back to Korrin. "I can't promise it'll be able to keep them all quiet, but Fortitude will try. Right?" The question is asked as he looks over his shoulder, finding Fortitude and watching as the spirit just gives a nod of its head.

"Do you need a hand getting there?" he asks, turning back to Korrin and raising his brows at the fact she wasn't standing quite straight.

[gatheringstorm]

The cheek kiss prompts a brief smirk from Korrin, who might have given in to more amusement at Sam's reaction if she had the energy. As it is, she relaxes a bit at that promise to at least try, casting a grateful look to his spirit companion. And then she reluctantly nods, hating to admit it but it's easier to do so with a friend than just a healer. "I might. If I start wobbling just steady me. I'd hate to tip over and all on anyone."

[samahl]

"We can all just sort of lean on each other when needed then?" Cyril suggests, still grinning over how red Sam was. "Which way to your room?"