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

[lettersfromhome]

"Honestly, I don't think I've felt this ill in years," she murmurs, lowering her spoon and raising a hand to rub at her temple. "I've started...seeing things. Hearing whispers. Here, at least, that doesn't seem so extraordinary."

It's a sign of tremendous trust that she's even mentioned this out loud, but she trusts Ellana well enough.

[serannas]

Ellana can guess at this being something Mia would want to keep quiet about. She's a straightforward woman, but strange happenings aren't something that she'd likely own to proudly.

"You aren't alone," she says gently. "I've heard others suffering from the fever saying the same. I wish I knew how to make it stop, but I'm no healer. I'm sure they can't reach across the Veil and hurt you, but it must be annoying to have them here."

[lettersfromhome]

"The Veil?" That earns her attention, her hand lowering as a frown deepens across her face. "What do you know of what it is we're seeing, then? Is this...magic?"

It might explain a great deal, or seem to anyway. She still knows precious little about magic and the Fade and all those things mages seem so well-versed in.

[serannas]

"I can't know for sure without experiencing it myself, but it might be. People are saying the voices or things they're seeing out of the corner of their eye are spirits, but the Veil isn't thin here. It's something that mages can sense." There's a frown on her face, because mages have it bad enough as it is, so to have something like this occur just heaps more suspicion on them.

"We'll figure out what's causing this fever, and a way to cure it."

[lettersfromhome]

"Well...that will certainly be a relief. Here's to hoping they find the curse sooner rather than later."

Her eyes fall back to her soup. She should eat more, she knows it, but her body refuses to want to do anything but curl up in misery. It's taking all she has to remain upright and talking, at this point.

[serannas]

Ellana watches Mia a moment before leaning in across the table a little.

"I hope that too. But for now, would you like any help? I could carry your soup for you, and we can return to your room."

[lettersfromhome]

There's a very long pause, wrestling with her pride and with practicality. In all likelihood Ellana has the right of it. Dear girl.

Finally her gaze lifts, slightly hazy but focused enough to respond, at least. "...very well. I suppose I'm not doing anyone much good in this state, am I?" she murmurs ruefully, the very corner of her lip curling upwards.

[serannas]

"Just making us worry, I think," she answers, though not harshly. She stands and carefully collects the soup from Mia, before waiting for her to stand.

"I'll be right at your side, and if you feel faint, just lean on me, all right?"

[lettersfromhome]

"Maker forbid it take a cold to make me faint," she murmurs, scoffing lightly, before relenting and finally pushing up to her feet. The room didn't precisely spin as it did feel a little hazy and dreamlike, but there stood Ellana. Pretty as a picture and waiting dutifully with soup in hand.

Mia's expression softens considerably. "You really are a treasure, you know."

[serannas]

Mia is the one who needs to be focused on now, but Ellana's greatest weakness is compliments (and tiny cakes, but mostly compliments). Whether real or imagined, she's felt underappreciated for so long that anyone giving her a compliment just sucks her in completely. The Inquisition is filled with people who have shown they appreciate her, and while she soaks it all in, it makes her want to work all the harder to be worthy of their acknowledgment.

"Oh, Mia," she says, moving to her friend's side. "You take care of everyone. But sometimes you need someone to take care of you too."

[lettersfromhome]

Mia shakes her head at that, as though still disbelieving despite the circumstances. But she's trying to relent here, to admit when she does finally need help and be gracious about taking it. It's not an easy thing to unlearn.

One hand settles lightly on Ellana's shoulder, though no weight is put upon it as of yet. It's simply a way to keep her steady as they walk, and might look to anyone else like a friendly gesture.

"I can't even recall the last time I let myself fall ill, truth be told."

[serannas]

"Let yourself?" she asks, an edge of amusement to her voice. "I didn't realize it was a matter of allowing the illness in. But I can understand how no little cold would want to trifle with you." Ellana walks slowly, allowing Mia to set the pace and lead them to her room, but the former is careful to watch for any signs of faintness.

[lettersfromhome]

"Clearly you don't have much experience with Fereldens. We fight illness off through sheer stubbornness," she replies with a faint chuckle and a cluck of her tongue.

"But I'm certain you understand. Life on the road must have been difficult enough without illness getting in the way of things. Sometimes it seems easier just to push through it, however poorly you may feel."

[serannas]

Ellana chuckles. "Not enough experience yet, it seems." But Mia's words do cause her to sober a little, and she nods.

"It's true. We've all suffered in some way. Years ago, there was a plague that tore through the clan. It took so many... and we had to recover from it and move on. I was just a child at the time, but people needed to take on additional tasks to keep things going."