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

[sunshinethroughgrey]

She wrapped the blanket completely around her, sighing softly as she closed her eyes. The visions still danced there, though.

"It's the Fade, for me at least. I'm seeing the Fade - hearing it as well. Spirits and demons." She sighed out, "But they can't see us - we're not actually there."

[doneisdone]

This sounds like a bunch of magey bullshit to Teren, but she'll endure it. As long as Bethany isn't possessed. Then she will... quickly find herself far dead.

"Sounds like a bad reaction," Teren guesses, "stay right there a moment." She goes out to pull the kettle off the fire, pouring some boiling water (boiled from snow) into a nearby cup filled with leaves. Mostly she's just using remedies for sleeplessness, since it doesn't seem there's much else to be done for this.

She hands the tea to Bethany on her return. "Drink up."

[sunshinethroughgrey]

It was, in fact, a whole bunch of magey bullshit but it was true bullshit. Bethany should know. Possessed? Not a daughter of Malcolm Hawke, Teren.

She nods her head, shivering despite the blanket, and trying to ignore the soft whispers all around her. She goes to take the tea, carefully cradling it in both hands.

"Thank you ..." She sighed, sipping it deeply, feeling some of the heavy oppression begin to lighten. "This is good, what's in it?"

[doneisdone]

"Yarrow," Teren replies, "it will reduce your fever. "You ought to get some rest, so don't have any funny ideas about leaving your tent once you're finished. You don't have to sleep, but going out in the cold could be a death sentence in your state." She scans her eyes over the tent interior, searching for ways to either make Bethany more comfortable or confine her if necessary.

[sunshinethroughgrey]

"May I have more? This is the first time in hours that I haven't felt so horrible." Bethany asked, curling her blanket around her. "I might actually be able to get some sleep now.

[doneisdone]

"Of course."
Teren leaves the tent for another moment, then returns with the kettle so she can refill Bethany's cup. The herbs within will keep for a while, and make several cups as long as they're there.
"I've got to see to the others as well, but do try to get some rest."

[sunshinethroughgrey]

Bethany breaths out another pleased sigh, and sips the tea more slowly. It is making her drowsy - and above all - clearing her head. She smiles up at the other woman.

"I will, soon enough. You're sent by the Maker, Teren, thank you so much."

[doneisdone]

This merits a small smirk, and Teren simply nods as she takes her leave. She trusts Bethany will stay put.