faderift | OPEN: Cloudreach Event

OPEN: Cloudreach Event

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.

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Her responses were... strange, which makes Bruce consider it for a moment. There was that illness that had started to break out across everyone within the Inquisition - was she affected too? It would be rather bad if that was the case...

"...yes, she will, with some care and effort." Bruce glances back down as he says that, taking a blanket from the pile he had with him and draping it over the girl. She was going to need some attention from the mage healers but for now, this would do. "It's good you brought her over now. It would have been harder the later she was attended to."

"Good." Cassandra slumps in relief, the taut tension dissipating, but the woman it leaves in her place doesn't look much better. Without the girl to focus her energy on, it seems to drain out of her entirely, leaving her pale and shaky. She slides down to sit on the ground, leaning heavily on one hand. "I should tell her mother." But she makes no move to do so.

Bruce glances at her with something of vaguely wary expression. He doesn't want to cross any lines, obviously, but looking at her and recalling all the people he had been attending it was clear that something was up. Her exhaustion was more than apparent.

"I can do it," he offers, giving her a way out if she needed it. "Just let me know where she it and I'll go look for her."

Her immediate reaction is to protest, to keep fighting, and she shakes her head. "I was the one sent to look for the child. I should - " She should, but as she shakes her head she's overcome by a wave of dizziness, and she leans forward, pressing a palm against her forehead and closing her eyes. "Ugh. I will - give me a moment - "

Something is clearly wrong. Bruce is instantly up the moment she leans forward, going over to her side. He doesn't reach out to try and touch and handle her, but he does stay close.

"Are you alright, Seeker Pentaghast?" ...he's pretty sure she will say 'yes', but he has to ask anyway. And it'll help him to better gauge exactly what is wrong with her.

She can't answer right away. Not with the world swaying before her, the sudden lightheadedness and the chills that unexpectedly shoot through her body. She shivers, keeping her eyes closed and her head bowed, seeking stability. There are whispers, there in the darkness behind her eyelids, and she makes a frustrated noise, trying to drive them away.

And so when she does answer at last, ever so carefully raising her head and opening her eyes, her response is less than believable. "I am fine. It was - a momentary spell, nothing more." She has to prove it, she thinks in a strange, detached sort of way; he will not believe her, and so she must show him the truth of her words. To that end, she takes a breath, pushing herself up to her feet -

- and immediately sways, pitching forward as the land shifts unfairly beneath her feet.

If he was already skeptical before then now he certainly couldn't take her words for granted. Bruce quickly darts forward with his arms outstretched in order to catch her before she could actually fall or--well, anything, really. There most definitely was something with her.

"You are not fine," he says as such, doing his best to have his words come off as stern as he could - which probably isn't much, considering that he's talking to the Right Hand of the Divine herself. "You should at least sit down somewhere warmer. It'll do you some good."

She grabs hold instinctively as he catches her, her hands grasping his upper arms and holding on tight. She stares for a moment, shocked and wide-eyed, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

Even Cassandra can't claim that everything's all right now, not after that. She stays as she is for a moment, just breathing and trying to regain her sense of balance, before reluctantly nodding.

"...Yes. I...all right." She opens her eyes, blinking at him, before casting her gaze to the little girl still lying on the ground. They can't just abandon her - and it's difficult for Cassandra to ever ask for help, in any case. But the thought of stumbling through the snow, finding someplace safe and warm to sit on her own - it's overwhelming.

Bruce would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit startled himself. Nothing to set out anything beyond a temporary increase in heartrate, but it was still a bit of a shock, nonetheless. He blinks a couple of times himself in order to reorient his bearings, though he keeps his hold on her just so that she's wouldn't actually fall if he did let go.

But at least she finally agreed to rest. Bruce doesn't miss the way she glances at the girl, still pale and shaken and cold, and Bruce can understand her worry but Cassandra as she was right now was not going to help anybody in her current state.

"The other healers will look over her," he assures her as he starts to guide her in the direction of the main tents. "I'm certain her mother should be in the main camp with the other refugees; we'll both go and look for her, and then you can rest once the matter is settled." Hopefully that could give her a peace of mind.

She nods, frowning, but not fighting as he leads her away. Her first few steps are slow, nearly hesitant as she finds her footing, but the dizziness has passed, for the moment, and before long she's able to walk normally, straightening her spine and lifting her chin proudly as she does.

She keeps her hand on Bruce's arm at first, grateful for the reassurance of support if she should need it, but as they approach the tents she gently detangles herself. She has a reputation to uphold, after all, and she cannot be perceived as weak.

The girl's mother spots them first, rushing over to them, and Cassandra reassures her and points out the location of her daughter, gracious if somewhat quieter and more reserved than usual in the face of the woman's profuse expressions of gratitude. She waits until the woman has hurried off to find her child before she slumps, letting out a heavy sigh and looking suddenly as tired as ever.

At least she doesn't try to fight against the support. Bruce does his best to guide and provide the support that she needs, though he doesn't stop her from pulling away once they get close to camp, even if he's not exactly one to agree. He does make sure to stay close, however, in the event that she might fall down again or should something else happen to her.

He stays quiet as the mother rushes forward, letting the Seeker handle it, though he does put in his own reassurance that she will be alright--with the required care and supervision. He watches the mother as she goes to check up on her child herself, then glances back to Cassandra who clearly looks a lot more exhausted now that the matter has been settled.

He gestures in the direction of where the campfire would be. "This way, Seeker Pentaghast."

"Of course."

She forces herself forward, and while she doesn't reach for his arm again, she does stay close enough to easily grab hold if she needs to. The mountain wind seems to bite against her face, and she huddles in on herself, shivering with a sudden chill.

"Ugh." She makes a face, both at herself and at the situation, and shakes her head as they make their way towards the campfire. "This is terrible."

The accident, the fevers, crisis upon crisis - and most of all, her own apparent helplessness in the face of it all.

The weather doesn't exactly help with the situation - not that it has ever been of much help, but right now its even less of a help than usual. At least there's more than enough people around and nearby to be able to help rescue the caravan, though whatever could be salvaged was another story entirely.

Still, that was something to dwell on later. Bruce glances over to Cassandra when she makes as well-known 'disgusted noise', only giving a pause before he nods in agreement to her words.

"It hasn't been a good few days." With everything piling upon one another things had been pretty hectic; it was almost as if there was some outside force that was intent on making the Inquisition's way harder than it already was.

She makes a noise of agreement, concentrating more on putting one foot ahead of the other than on making conversation. The last thing she intends to do now is stumble and fall in the snow.

Luckily, they've drawn near the campfire, and a few more steps brings them up to the makeshift seating surrounding it. Cassandra lowers herself carefully onto an overturned crate, sitting with obvious relief and immediately drawing close to the fire.

"Thank you." She glances up at him, and frowns. "...Forgive me. I - do not know your name."

It only takes a while more before they do get to the campfire, and Bruce feels some sense of relief as he sees Cassandra set herself down on a crate. He had almost been sure she would have been those 'needlessly pushing herself' types even against everything else and its nice to not have to... attempt to do anything drastic or something just as discomforting.

When she apologizes for not knowing his name Bruce quickly waves it off, hardly bothered by it - why would she know? He was just a surgeon, after all, nothing unique or special about that. "It's Bruce, ser."

"Bruce." She frowns, not liking having only his first name, without a family name or a title to address him by. It seems too familiar, for a stranger. But it is what he has offered, and she accepts it. "Thank you. For your assistance. And your - discretion." In the way he had not insisted on helping her walk when she had eased away, the way he had allowed her to keep her dignity when addressing the girl's mother.

And for his comforting manner, the way he had set her mind at ease and made it easy for her to accept his help in the first place - but that is more difficult to express gratitude for.

It's easy to see Cassandra's discomfort, although there's not much Bruce can do to relieve it - he doesn't want to risk any chance of his true identity being discovered and his family name could easily be a key to unraveling it. He could fake one, perhaps, but that was a lot harder than most would think of it to be.

Either way, it was too late for that now.

He bows his head slightly at the gratitude, even though honestly he doesn't need it at all. "You don't need to thank me, Seeker Pentaghast. I'm merely glad to have been of help." She had some share of her own thanks too, for being mostly cooperative and not trying to do anything too rash. That was almost rare to see now, these days.

"All the same. You were of help. And I thank you for it."

She sighs, pressing a hand to her forehead and closing her eyes briefly. The dizziness had receded, but not entirely dissipated. A few minutes' rest, perhaps, and then she should be able to make it back to Skyhold.

She hopes.

"I should not take up any more of your time."

Well, when she put it like that, it was more or less impossible to turn down the display of gratitude.

"I do whatever I can," is what he does say after a pause, carefully watching her as she presses a hand against her forehead. He's pretty sure she would be alright with a bit more rest, but he could never be too sure...

Although its not like she'd appreciate anybody hovering around like this, he's sure. Bruce nods at the words and inclines his head once more.

"If you are feeling better, I will take my leave then."

She nods, doing her best to look as well as possible. No doubt he - any healer - would eagerly encourage her to rest longer, an hour at least. They are overly cautious, the lot of them. She does not have time, not when there is so much to do.

And the healer - Bruce - has as much to occupy his time as anyone. There is simply no reason for him to waste any more time on her.

"I will be fine." She gives him what she hopes is a reassuring look. "Return to your duties."

Seeker Pentaghast would most certainly benefit from a bit more rest, but he knows well enough that she's probably too stubborn to stick with that advice. The best he can hope from her is that she won't push herself to the brink of collapse. That's the last thing they need right now.

"As you command." He inclines his head again, out of respect and understanding more than anything else. "But please don't hesitate to find any of the other healers should you need assistance."

"Of course."

Not that she plans on needing assistance anytime soon. This had been bad enough, and she's just grateful that it hadn't been more public; the last thing she needs is for rumors to start circulating about how Seeker Pentaghast is weak and frail. She gets to her feet, cautiously, but pleased at how steadily she manages it, and how clear her head remains as she stands.

"And should you need any supplies, you and your healers have priority. You need only mention my name." She carefully nods in response. "Thank you again." And with that, she leaves him, making her way to the castle - slowly, but with her head held high.

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OPEN: Cloudreach Event

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