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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"Mass hallucinations aren't unheard of," she offers, mostly because she doesn't want to deal with the possibility of there being demons on the loose. As it is, she's already jumpy, looking around dark corners and occasionally slowing a bit to make sure there's nothing hiding in the darkness. It's ridiculous, really, considering that she's had enough experience with demons to know that most of them aren't exactly the sort to lie in wait when they could just as easily attack, but she's not exactly in her most logical mindset at the moment.

She stops entirely at Korrin's question, pausing to look around. "I don't think so?" Granted, the fact that Hermione's asking means that she can't necessarily be trusted, especially when she continues on in a different direction when she starts walking again, carefully maneuvering Korrin the whole while. "Though I suppose this way might be shorter...."

"Mass hallucinations...sounds fun." Sarcasm aside, Korrin relaxes a bit as Hermione seems to know what she's doing. Perhaps the Vashoth shouldn't be quite so lax in that regard, but it's hard to trust her own judgement right now. Anyone else's has to be better, right?

"Sounds good to me. Anything to cut short all this stumbling around like way too much qunari hooch has been had. If I have to be like that, I at least want to earn it."

"Considering that they're usually accompanied by mass hysteria, I wouldn't think so," Hermione counters, dimly wondering if that's going to be the case here, and if Skyhold was going to be filled with panicking Qunari and templars alike.

"I know some people take whisky or some such thing for a cold, but I'd worry that you'd be more likely to tear your stomach to pieces, at this point. Just let me know if you need to stop and I'll get you somewhere reasonably dry for a light rest."

"No, I...want to keep going. You've done a lot already and I'm not going to keep you waiting on me longer than necessary. Besides, I doubt it's going to be dry anywhere outside. Not right now...."

Korrin stubbornly tries to continue, wanting to prove to herself or Hermione or whoever passes by that she's not completely helpless. It takes all her focus and energy, but she hasn't faceplanted yet. Once they get to the tents, she'll definitely be feeling it though.

Hermione isn't exactly of a mind to be impressed by any show of stamina - or pure stubbornness - Korrin chooses to show off. She's sort of surprised she hasn't fallen herself, though when she sees what looks like the healing tents looming up ahead, she does her best to walk faster without increasing her chances of taking a tumble and taking Korrin along with her.

"I don't mind being with you," she tells her simply. "You're my friend. If you need someone to be there for you, that's what friends are for."

Korrin tries to increase her pace, though it also increases her wobbling. She's not tipping over quite yet, but in her desperation to reach an area that's not sodden, all is possible. That statement gets a genuine smile out of her, though, however weak. "Thanks, Hermione...and likewise. I know that doesn't seem to mean much right now, but I'll do whatever I can."

Korrin's beginning to feel heavier with every step Hermione takes, but it wouldn't exactly be proper manners to remark on that or to risk having her drop onto the ground as she switches sides. So she bites her lip, trying to reassert that grip around Korrin even if her arm isn't nearly long enough to wrap around her waist, resisting the urge to double her speed when chatter from the tents becomes audible.

"You don't have to do anything for me," she tells her. "Really. I just appreciate knowing you're here, and that you'll be all right before too long."

Korrin's feel are feeling heavier with each step, so this...is a problem. She tries to push past it, but that's as effective as telling her body to stop the fever. At this point, there's nothing to be done but power through it and hope she reaches a cot before collapsing.

"I will...I have to. I'm never sick, not like this. It can't last." Right?

Hermione can feel the heaviness in Korrin's steps, and she finally does speed up a little, winding both arms around the larger woman to keep her from falling face-first into the mud. "Careful," she murmurs absently. "There's a tent right here; just make it ten more steps." And maybe ten more after that; it's sort of hard to tell, really.

"A bit of rest somewhere warm and dry, and you'll be absolutely fine. You'll see."

"Ten more? ...alright...." Korrin tries counting them in her head, using it as motivation to keep going, and for most of the way it seems to work. Her steps aren't steady, but she'll keep trying, dammit. The last couple of steps are increasingly wobbly, though, and just as she steps inside the tent, her legs give out. She falls to her knees, vision blurring as she clutches her head.

"Oh!" Hermione cries out softly when Korrin's legs give out, and she stumbles slightly, falling to her knees besides her. "Korrin, are you all right? There are blankets over here; I'll get one for you." Of course, that would require that she make it to her feet, and while she makes a valiant effort, gravity just isn't on her side. Between her light-headedness and the exhaustion from having helped someone Korrin's size all the way here, Hermione ends up falling onto her side, taking slow, deep breaths.

"Or we could just lie here. That's fine, too."

"...okay. Sounds good. Let's do that." Korrin would apologize profusely, but her head's swimming far too much at the moment, so there's no room for mortification. As it is, healers notice them and help Hermione up first, tackling the easier-moved one of the pair. Korrin they don't try to move until another joins them, better able to prop her up for those last few steps over to a coat.

Hermione had been supposed to help Korrin, and she reaches out a hand, making a small sound of protest when she's pulled away. She shakes her heads, insisting to the healers that she's fine, just tired, and they seem to believe her well enough to stop fussing over her as they get Korrin settled. Once she's settled on a cot, Hermione perches herself close besides her, reaching out for her hand.

"Just rest," she tells her gently. "I'll make sure they take care of you."

Korrin makes it as far as the edge of her cot and just sort of collapses over it, rolling over so that she's not half-on, half-off. It's pretty graceless, but gets the job done. Right now, she'll call that a win and sort out her dignity later.

"I'll...I'll try. If they can stop that muttering all around us."

"Int-... incan-... spells. They're reciting spells. They sort of have to do that, don't they?" At least, that's the best Hermione can assume, though she's not exactly listening closely to just what it is that's being murmured.

For now, she gently nudges carefully at Korrin, trying to get her entirely onto the cot. "Come, let's try to get you lying down a little better."

"I mean the spirits...." Korrin waves vaguely in their direction, annoyed as it feels like they'll crowd her before long. And what can the healers do, when they can't see them? But she doesn't fight Hermione on the cot thing and gets better settled, visibly relieved not to be upright anymore. "Thank you."

"Oh." Hermione blinks mutely for a few moments before looking up, frowning a little bit. She thinks she can make out something shimmering in the air, but it could just as easily be a strange flash of color before her eyes brought about by a headache.

"I can tell them to be quiet for you, but I don't know that they'll listen to me."

"Probably not, when they're ignoring everyone. If you see a Spirit Healer before I do, wave them over? Maybe their spirit buddy can do something. It's worth a shot, right?" Maker, she desperately hopes so. Even if she manages to pass out now, if that happens, Hermione might get some peace...and maybe it'd last long enough after she wakes again to feel less frazzled.

"I... how would I know a Spirit Healer when I see one?" She hadn't been aware that there were different kinds of healers; as it is, she's not even fully aware that there are different kinds of mages, though she can understand the concept of specializations. It had just never gotten more complex than a Healer or an Auror or some other general area in her world.

She doesn't really expect an answer, though, blinking blearily up at the healers bustling about as she absently strokes at Korrin's arm, as though trying to comfort her. She can always just ask someone, but somehow, despite her love of questions, starting a whole new conversation with a stranger right at the moment sounds like one of the most exhausting things imaginable.

"Adelaide or Sam or Christine...I dunno who else. If the spirits pay attention to them more, that might be a sign." Korrin's giving way to mumbling, now that she doesn't have to put all her energy into moving around and remaining conscious. It's doubtful her time on the cot will be very restful given circumstances, but she'll have to take what she can get, at this point. The comfort is appreciated, and she manages a ghost of a smile in thanks.

Edited 2016-05-05 14:59 (UTC)

She knows who those people are. She can work with that. She might need to remember to ask Adelaide just what is meant by a Spirit Healer and what other sorts of healers there are, but it might just slip her mind before all is said and done. For now, all she says is, "Okay. Rest now. I'll make sure you're taken care of."

Granted, it's probably just a countdown of mere seconds before she passes out herself, but it's the thought that counts.

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OPEN: Cloudreach Event

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