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

[el_tybs]

Grabbing hold of Cyril's arms he helps him up from his spot, holding on even after to make sure he doesn't wobble or lean too far and fall over. "Yes, I am." They still don't know what is causing this illness or how to fix it just then, but he's confident that it will get sorted.

There are a lot of others sick as well though so it isn't like he can just sit and take care of Cyril solely, even if he would like to. "Is it just the fever bothering you?" he inquires, leading them to the tent.

[samahl]

Cyril hums happily at the way that Sam supports him. Even with the fever he can enjoy this moment of connection. He shifts his body so that he's pressed a bit into Sam. It's not the best for walking, but he manages. "Mm, well now I seem to feel hot in another way," he mutters softly, still managing to flirt when when he feels terrible.

[el_tybs]

Sam smiles softly at that, enjoying how Cyril leans into him, even if it does make walking a little difficult. If only there weren't fevers, and spirits, and what else going on so that he could just enjoy that.

He huffs a bit at the flirt, knowing it's just a tease - it was only ever a tease. Sam frowns lightly at the thought, though easily puts on a smile when he has to look at Cyril again. "Oh, really? Should I be concerned?"

[samahl]

"I don't know. I might need more of your healing," Cyril replies, smiling a bit at Sam. "How much healing are you offering anyway?"

[el_tybs]

"More of it? I don't recall you ever needing me to heal you." He tilts his head slightly, smiling in confusion. Was his own fever messing with his head that much? "Depends on how bad you are - I can help with any discomforts mostly. Not hours, that's for sure."

[samahl]

"Yeah, you know, more than what you were offering before." He moves his arm around Sam's waist, sliding his hand a bit too low for comfort.

[el_tybs]

A hand is quick to grab Cyril's hand and bring it back up, not really thinking about it as he moves it to settle along his side as they walk, figuring it's the fever making his coordination wonky.

"How about you tell me how much healing you want and we'll go from there." At this point he's managed to get them into the tent, and stops near the cot.

[samahl]

Cyril's arm settles where Sam places it. "All of it?" he asks. "I don't want to be sick any more."

[el_tybs]

"I know," he says a bit forlornly, letting his free hand rub Cyril's back before moving to have him sit on the cot. Honestly he wished he could heal this.

"My healing doesn't quite work like that, sadly. I can help lessen aches and fever, but it won't get rid of it."

[samahl]

"Lessening is good. Let's go with lessening," Cyril replies, smiling a bit at the idea.

[el_tybs]

At least that was true with a normal fever. The illness going around... the fever was rather resilient and it took twice as much healing to have the same effect. Even with the help he had not seen any of the fevers break. "It's just the fever that is bothering you? Nothing else?"

[samahl]

"Um..." Cyril stares off to the side, looking towards one of the forms he can see. "Why? What's happening to other people?"

[el_tybs]

This time he cannot pretend that he doesn't notice Cyril looking off towards something. "We've been getting a lot of people coming in here saying they're hearing whispers - seeing things."

[samahl]

Cyril narrows his eyes and focuses on Sam. "You think I might be seeing and hearing things?"

[el_tybs]

Was that denial, or was Cyril possibly upset that he was suggesting such a thing. "You do keep looking off to the side when there's a noise from one of the spirits and you do keep looking over my shoulder at Fortitude."

'It seems a number of people have been noticing.'

[samahl]

Cyril blinks when Fortitude speaks. "Is that the spirit you have a connection to? The one who lets you heal?"

[el_tybs]

Fortitude simply crosses its arms and hums lightly at being acknowledged. At first it had been rather talkative, trying to figure out the things going on, but now that Fortitude was more accustomed it was more of a silent guardian and partner.

The questions have Sam smiling warmly and tiredly. "Fortitude isn't what allows me to heal, I am able to do that by myself. With a spirit I am able to draw on its energy instead of or along with my own mana to heal or cast spells. That's why we're called Spirit Healers."

[samahl]

"Is he always around for you, like this?" he waves to the form that is Fortitude. "Or are you sick too?"

[el_tybs]

"I'm not as bad as some. I believe Fortitude is helping with that." He hums lightly, rubbing the back of his neck while he looks over his shoulder at the spirit. "Fortitude is always around, but not exactly like this. I normally can't talk this clearly with it, or see it. Normally I just mentally communicate with it, and I feel more than hear what it has to say."

[samahl]

Cyril sort of examines Fortitude a bit. "So does he see you in the real world most of the time too? Isn't that possession?" he frowns a bit, trying to figure out how that connection works.

[el_tybs]

He doesn't blame Cyril for being confused. Magic was pretty complicated. "Possession would be that the spirit or demon is in your body and able to control parts of it. This isn't like that. Fortitude is able to watch the world around me, but it is still on the other side of the Veil. It's through my connection to the Fade and working with spirit magic that I'm able to draw on Fortitude's energy."

[samahl]

"Oh..." Cyril says, and he can't think of anything witty to say then, in part because he feels so terrible.

[el_tybs]

That Cyril only has that to say is a bit concerning. He always has something to say, and most of the time it's something to make him blush. Sam reaches out to press a hand to Cyril's forehead then, feeling out just how bad the fever was. It's bad to hear that Cyril had picked up that weird illness, but at least he knew what the issue was.

"Have you been able to sleep or eat anything since you got sick?"

[samahl]

"Not really," Cyril responds as he leans a bit into the touch. "It's been difficult."

[el_tybs]

"Which one? Or do you mean both?" He could understand not wanting to eat when you were sick, but it could get dangerous if it went on for too long. Sleeping... Sam can definitely relate to that being hard to get.