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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"I'll have to keep using that strategy... that's the only thing that seems to work, to make them be silent..." Kain really isn't too fond of this predicament, it's bad enough to be hearing things, but to be ill on top of that... it's just an all around unpleasant state to be in. Ugh. "Are the demons making contact as well? I hadn't realized..." Ugh, it would explain though why sometimes the voices and such are even more disturbing.

Korrin sighs, her expression grim. "Yeah. Mostly it's fear demons right now, drawn to people freaking out about all this. But there are other kinds, too. Despair, Rage, Pride...they can't do anything to us, not when they're on the wrong side of the Veil, but it's still damn annoying. Don't listen to those, all they want is to undermine us."

"Wonderful. Just what I don't need to be dealing with..." Kain groans, realizing that Korrin has put a name to all of the things he's heard... Pride, Envy, Despair, Desire... those ones especially. He wonders if they're drawn to him purposefully... if they ever found out abut his weakness, he hates to think of what might happen. "They may not be able to get out, but... words are often all too powerful. They could... they could still manipulate someone in that way, couldn't they?"

She falls silent, thinking that over as best as her fogged mind will allow. "Normally, yes, but they're drawn to mages above all else, and you're not a mage. There's also the fact that they're behaving weirdly right now. They talk to each other, not us. When we try to focus on them, they fall silent. It's hard to play the tempter with that routine."

Kain nods slowly, almost too weak for even that simple motion. Still, that's good to know. She's right that at least focusing on them makes the voices stop, something which he was glad for once he realized that. An instant way to silence them. "Right... I don't think I've ever heard one actually address me, nor even the one I've seen..." Still, their presence makes him immensely uneasy. "I hope that doesn't change, that they don't notice us..." He sighs. "I thought one of those voices was Bastard at first, you know. I was almost impressed he managed to speak a whole sentence without swearing."

That gets her laughing, though she really shouldn't. Sore all over, she can't help but wince as her ribs and lungs protest that amusement. Ow. It was worth it for a moment, though. "That...that would've been something. Now I wonder if birds can get sick, too. Or the mounts. But some of them are skittish and if they could see demons and such, we'd probably be hearing the racket from here. So, maybe not."

"As far as I can tell, they don't appear to be affected. Though I think I can do without the constant swearing at the spirits... they'd probably end up hearing him, with my luck..." He can see it now, Bastard being the true cause of some kind of spirit war against their world. He's certainly loud enough. "It seems that animals are spared, fortunately."

"You never know, they could react to Bastard the same way the Chantry sisters do, and give you a wide berth as a result. It's worth trying, anyway." Korrin doubts it'll do much, but given that there's little else to do but lay here and be feverish, she'll take her spots of amusement where she can find them. It's better than shouting and throwing things, at least for the moment.

"Now that would be worth it. Imagine if it means spirits would leave me alone for all time..." He can dream. Kain has always been fearful of the demons and what they might do, if they found out about his vulnerability. But they apparently can't get to him the way things are with this illness, so perhaps it'll be all right. Perhaps. "I hope they find a means to cure this as soon as possible..."

"You and me both. I prefer everything about the Fade remaining where it is, not bleeding over into here. At least there's not another rift in Skyhold, but that's not much comfort, either." Korrin sighs, and closes her eyes, trying to rest or regain her calm or...something. But she's not quiet for long. "I'm going to go for it. If they can't knock me out, I'll do it myself."

“Right, the less we have to deal with those awful rifts, the better…” He sighs. He’s managed not to really come across any other than the one he’d arrived through, but he has a bad feeling it could be only a matter of time before something happens. He really hopes it doesn’t happen in collaboration with this illness though. “Go for it? What do you mean?” He asks curiously, if there’s something to be done about this nonsense, sign him up for this plan too.

"Maraas-lok. I have some left in my room. If I can reach it, then it ought to knock me out. Like this, there's no way I have any resistance." It's not much of a plan, but it's all Korrin has to offer. Of course, the major sticking point is mobility and she hasn't quite worked out that one yet.

"Ah, what I wouldn't give for some of that right now... that would be very helpful..." Kain recalls that experience drinking the stuff, and how he'd felt afterward. Yep, that's exactly what he needs right now. "I could help you in this mission." Not that he's all that capable either, but he can dream, can't he?

Well, at least that's one person not trying to discourage her the moment they hear of it. That alone as her gratitude."If you think we can remain upright between the two of us, I won't say no." Mutual support she can attempt, but a one-sided burden is not something Korrin can manage right now.

Kain would never discourage, especially since this sort of thing is exactly how he responds to being stuck inside recovering. He’s had enough with white mages and the like telling him to stay put… and healers are all the same about this sort of thing, in all worlds.

“I absolutely can. Look, I can…” As he half gets up, he groans, then collapses yet again. “Almost have it… just give me a moment, and I’ll be up for it…”

"...that looks like the opposite of 'I can'. What you need to do is slide off and stand up slowly, then you won't get that head-rush." As Korrin tries to demonstrate, after a moment. She makes it a little further than him, but with a slow and steady pace, she just can't manage to remain upright for long. All that's accomplished is her clinging to another cot. "Fuck...."

“Yes, just like that… right… well done…” Kain sounds far too weak for his sarcasm to have much effect, alas. He sighs. No, they’re definitely not likely to get much of anywhere in this state. It’s really unfortunate and unpleasant, to be stuck like this. Siiiiiigh. So much for getting anything accomplished, until this damn sickness finally resolves. Soon, he can only hope.

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OPEN: Cloudreach Event

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