faderift | OPEN: The Western Approach

WHO: Everyone!
WHAT: The Western Approach is a terrible place. You should definitely go there.
WHEN: Bloomingtide 15 onward
WHERE: The Western Approach
NOTES: This is open to everyone. Characters who would not happily go to the hell desert probably have to go anyway; it's a war, not a vacation.

Once these wastes were a land of plenty. Can you believe it? The rain came north over the Gamordan Peaks, turning the plains green and verdant for three months of the year. Eight hundred years ago, that changed. During the Second Blight, darkspawn spilled out of an enormous crack in the earth, corrupting it with their foul blood... and it never recovered, even after they were driven back underground. The Grey Wardens built Adamant Fortress to stand watch over that chasm, but eventually even they abandoned it to the wind and the biting sand.

What few of us eke out a living in this Maker-forsaken place do so knowing that any number of deaths await us: darkspawn raids, dragons, bandits—not to mention starvation from the lack of water and game. If we stay, it is because we know there are treasures buried in the bones of this place, ruins from the time when Tevinter ruled, and even earlier. We pass tales around our campfires of the things we have seen shrouded in the dust storms. My favorites are the ones about relics that could restore the Western Approach once more... but I don't believe them. Truth be told, on nights when the wind is calm, I can stand on a hilltop and see for miles in the moonlight over a stark beauty of which no other Orlesian can claim to know the equal. On those nights, I hope it will never change.

—From Lands of the Abyss by Magistrate Gilles de Sancriste

I. THE DESERT

When Scout Harding calls somewhere the worst place in Thedas, that's probably a bad sign. Even when nothing in the Western Approach is deliberately trying to kill you, there's nothing kind or forgiving about the landscape: bare and arid, carved through by sharp-dropped canyons, dotted with abandoned mines and signs of the deaths of lost travelers. Winds sweeping through to whip stinging sand into uncovered faces, and periodic dust storms obscure visibility entirely. It's warm enough to be dangerous but not so hot, at this time of year, that heat exhaustion and dehydration can't creep up on you while you aren't paying attention.

And at any given moment, something probably is deliberately trying to kill you. The food chain in the region is top-heavy, with quillbacks, phoenixes, hyenas, and varghests roaming hungrily and as likely to attack one another as the sparse local prey population. Compared to their natural competitors, the Inquisition's forces look like easy marks. The camps the Inquisition scatters at lookout points throughout the region require constant watch, and going anywhere alone is inadvisable. Not only because of the hostile local everything, but also because it is incredibly easy to get lost. One rock formation looks much like another after hours in the sun or bathed in shifting moonlit shadows, and good luck finding many other landmarks. There are a few: chunks of pillars or arches from some ruined structure, or the occasional odd pillar that might, if someone investigates, prove to mark a trail of sorts.

Plus: the only people who seem determined to survive out here are cutthroat bandits and stray Venatori. Double-plus: a high dragon makes occasional fly-bys, scouring the ground below for anything edible, armored or not.

Some reprieve comes at night, relief from both the sun and the area's primarily diurnal predators. But that's when the darkspawn come out.

II. GRIFFON WING KEEP

Bloomingtide 16-17: Taking the Keep

Only a small force of Tevinter cultists remains in Griffon Wing Keep when the Inquisition arrives, seemingly on their way out the door already, but the sight of Inquisition banners is enough to make them stay and fight. There's no need for siege equipment, but there is call for a little bit of patience. With it, a small battalion is able to evade the mages and archers on the walls and storm the doors with few casualties. Fewer than three dozen warriors wait inside. It's a quick, brutal fight; it only takes a night.

Bloomingtide 18 Onward: Home Away From Home

Once the Keep is cleared of occupants, it's ripe for the Inquisition to… occupy… But with implicit permission, at least. Those who aren't needed for fights elsewhere may be put to work clearing out debris and small animals and the remnants left by the cultists, and within a few days the fortress is a serviceable outpost, much more hospitable than the camps out in the sand. Barracks mean even those who don't have beds at Skyhold may have one here, and it takes less than a week for an enterprising merchant to arrive with ale.

III. THE STILL RUINS

Despite signs of recent activity, the lavish Tevinter palace tucked incongruously into the canyons is quiet and still, when the Inquisition discovers it—quiet, still, but not empty. The ancient ruin is brimming with demons and Tevinters in incredibly outdated fashions, all frozen in place, as they have been for hundreds of years. No one breathes or blinks, but their skin is still warm and alive to the touch.

Beyond the entryway and halls and through the courtyard, there are signs of research and experimentation, and one man stood unmoving with his hand clasped around something unseen.

Perhaps someone will discover the cause. Perhaps someone will undo the spell that's been cast over the palace. Perhaps, if someone does, someone will take the opportunity to not immediately murder all of these valuable sources of ancient information, and instead only murder most of them. In the meantime, however, it is unlikely that anyone will ever be able to get this close to a rage demon without receiving a face full of fire. Take advantage.

IV. CORACAVUS

Signs of the Venatori point upward: up the hills, up ladders and towers, and into the ancient Tevinter prison, Coracavus, that was built into the mountainside. The ruin is filled with sand now, with half-collapsed walls and anything not made of stone worn away by winds, and the Venatori are long gone, their hunt for relics from the glory days of the Imperium abandoned when an excavation attempt opened the prison to darkspawn, instead. The darkspawn have retreated as well, but there are signs of their presence. Namely the smell and the half-eaten corpses of slaves—primarily elven and dwarven—who were left behind to their fates when the Tevinters fled.

There's no sign of them now, but digging through their abandoned camps may turn up a name, if anyone would like to see that he pays.

V. ADAMANT FORTRESS

A day's determined walk from the nearest Inquisition camp, Adamant Fortress overlooks the vast chasm—dubbed the Abyssal Rift—from which darkspawn poured during the Second Blight. It stood abandoned for nearly 150 years before the Grey Wardens' recent reoccupation, and it's abandoned again now, emptied out well before the Inquisition's forces arrive. There are signs that the retreat was a hasty one: scattered belongings, opened doors, abandoned meals, and no fewer than fifty bodies left on a mass pyre that only half-burned without anyone to tend it.

The Veil has always been thin here, and it's thinner now, where demons have been pulled through from the Fade. Rifts hang over the battlements and in the corridors, and escaped shades lurk in the dark corridors, siphoning away the willpower of those who linger until they come close enough to attack. Those who visit the Fortress set up camp outside of it rather than within it, wisely.

There are clear signs of blood sacrifice, for those who look: the bodies, blood stains on the stone floors, neat lists of names systemically crossed through. Sorting through documents left behind may turn up vague notes in a mage's runic shorthand or the journal of a trepidatious new recruit (Lourde, a pickpocket, crossed through on the registers). Behind a locked door in the lowest rooms are the bodies of sixteen mages, still in their Circle robes, left lying where they fell when the Joining took them. Mages who were among the rebels in Redcliffe may recognize a face or two as belonging to the hardliners who left with the Tevinters.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

“Nothing friendly,” Kain says as he eyes the creature. It looks… painful to land on. If he’s going to get the jump on it- literally for him- he’ll have to do so with a great deal of care. Who knows how those prickles work as a defense after all.

But, well, there’s no sense hanging back. That creature’s going to be trouble if they don’t deal with it. “If we can take on a dragon, we can handle this, right?”

The corner of Lara's mouth pulled upward.

"I haven't seen it breathe any ice or fire yet," she replied, shooting Kain an amused look. "That certainly helps."

She eyed the beast speculatively, trying to decide on the beast way to approach it.

"It's like a stretched out raven, with porcupine quills and a couple extra legs."

"I can think of no better description." It truly is a freakish looking thing, and while it's definitely no dragon, it probably will be a pain to handle with those quills.

Kain narrows his eyes as he watches it. Already, it's much too close for comfort, so they'll have to deal with it one way or the other, preferably before it charges into camp and makes a mess of things. "I can come at it from above... avoiding those quills won't be easy, but it looks possible."

"Porcupines don't actually throw their quills, that's just a myth." Which meant absolutely nothing as far as this beast went, but it was a comforting thought. "I'll move that way--"

She gestured down the length of the platform to the ledge beyond. It was a narrow, tight, squeeze, but she could make it.

"See if I can't distract it while you come in."

"Let's hope this thing is aware of that fact and holds onto the quills," Kain says dryly. He supposes they'll find out soon enough what it's capable of, though. There's something exciting to him about fighting a creature he's never seen before. Kain nods to her plan, it seems like it'll work well. The quillback won't know what hit him.

"Right... I'll give you some time to get into position, and then act from there. I'm ready when you are."

She nodded and shifted her bow, slipping it over her head as she crab-walked along the edge and called down to the beast below.

"Come on, then, you great bloody thing. Follow me."

It seemed to consider it a moment, dark, beaded eyes glancing between them as its tail twitched. Then with a click of its sharp, hooked beak it bounded after Lara, kicking up sand and splashing into the shallow pool.

"That's right, don't I look appetizing? Mmhmm..." Holding her breath, she squeezed through the wooden supports of the platform and began to traverse up the rock face. "Come and get me."

Edited 2016-05-26 11:05 (UTC)

Kain watches, curious about the creature's movements, the way it defends itself. It's giving him a good initial sense for what it's capable of... It's a lot faster than one might expect for one thing. Definitely going to be a challenge, but Kain's got a handle on where it's headed next as it charges after Lara.

"Right where I need you to be..." Kain murmurs under his breath, legs tensing as he readies to jump... then springs up, soaring high into the air. His jump is swift and well-targeted, and soon enough he's descending to make a first stab at the quillback. The creature growls, definitely hurt and not too pleased about that.

It was an impressive thing to see, Kain taking to the air - even it wasn't, technically, flying. For a moment Lara watched, looking back over her shoulder where she hung on the rock face, quillback snapping and clawing below... until suddenly he struck and the beast whirled with a hiss, and Lara remembered she had a part in this deadly little play.

Hauling herself up onto a narrow ledge, she used what little room she had to pull an arrow and let it fly, aiming for the small ridge at the base of the animal's head, hoping it was soft.

Now up close to the creature, Kain can appreciate just how ferocious it really is. Sure, it’s nothing on the level of a dragon, but the quillback is a stubborn beast all the same. It charges at him, enraged, attempting to get a hit with those sharp quills. Just as it comes close to striking, the arrow hits it. The quillback rears dangerously, and Kain does a shorter, but still impressive jump, out of the way. Stubborn bastard. But it’s definitely getting weaker.

OPEN: The Western Approach

quillback!

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