OPEN: The Western Approach

[faderifting]

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.

Comments

Re: II

[el_tybs]

"Managing," he says in reply, turning so that he can see her better without getting sun in his eyes. Looked like Ellana wasn't faring well either with the sunburns - he's only surprised she doesn't have more considering she's been here longer.

"Looks like you've been out in the sun for a while."

[serannas]

"Only right after arriving, but that was all it took. I've been trying to stay covered and do most work at night since then." She shrugs and looks out from their spot of shade to the people still working in the sun.

"I helped Korrin clear a pass of darkspawn a few days back. We took them on at night."

[el_tybs]

"And at night it becomes freezing." Deserts were weird. "I agree though, much better temperatures to work with. The only draw back is that it is dark. I can't imagine fighting Darkspawn - Darkspawn? - at night was easy." Weren't the Darkspawn used to the dark?

"I can only imagine how red I am going to be by the end of all this." Sam glances down as well, giving a sigh as the people worked on whatever job they had at the moment. He was only taking a break, but soon he'd have to get up and do some work as well.

[serannas]

"But fighting helps keep you warm," she says with a smile. "And you forget I'm an elf. We see better in the dark than you humans do. I did some scouting ahead as a sparrow too, so I could let Korrin know their numbers and position. I didn't want her at a disadvantage. Besides, she was the one who came up with the plan to go out and hunt them in the first place."

"I hope it's not so bad that you peel. I hate that part."

[el_tybs]

"No, didn't forget that." He's very well aware that elves can see better in the dark - the one time he's thankful about sunburn on his cheeks. "A sparrow, huh? Already putting your new skills to the test I see." Figures Korrin would want to go off hunting for dangerous stuff.

Sam makes a face at the aspect of peeling. "Well that doesn't sound like fun at all."

[serannas]

"I am. It's been good to actually spread my wings and get up there. I've never felt so free before." And now she smirks a little. "And speaking of that: I just so happen to have found a new form to shift into."

[el_tybs]

"Oh, have you now?" Hearing that has Sam sitting up a bit straighter and leaning in closer to Ellana. "Guess it's no surprise that you would be finding a new form here as well." Like minds it seemed.

[serannas]

"There are so many animals I haven't seen anywhere else! Have you ever heard of a honey badger?" Oh, yes; she is diving right in to tell him all about this. And maybe to show him, if he wants.

[el_tybs]

"A honey... badger?" Sam blinks at that, the look on his face making it clear that he had in fact not heard of such an animal. "Well, no. Can't say I've seen many animals myself, and zoology wasn't my biggest subject in the Circle." He would certainly be interested to see this.

[serannas]

"I never heard of it before either. Korrin told me what it was. But we saw it fighting a darkspawn! It tore at its armor and even the darkspawn's sword couldn't pierce its hide. It was incredible, and right then and there, I knew I had to observe it to learn how to take its form."

[el_tybs]

"It was fighting a darkspawn?" Normally creatures didn't go near those things from what he heard. Sounded like a brave little bugger. "So you're going to start turning a one badger army? Well damn. Have you learned it yet?"

[serannas]

"I have! They get easier to learn every time." It helps that Morrigan was such a good teacher too. Or perhaps it has something to do with being an elf that grew up outside a Circle. This type of magic just fits her.

"Would you like to see? I promise I won't bite you." She gives him a teasing wink.

[el_tybs]

"That was quick." He's a pretty quick learner himself, but it still takes him a little time to learn a new animal. After all he had only learned to transform at the beginning of the month, and with helping Anders and now being here, there hadn't been much time for him to learn.

"Oh well since you promised. Yes, I'd like to see this honey badger you're able to turn into."

[serannas]

"All right." And with that said, she shifts before his eyes with the customary black smoke that comes from the change. In her place is now a honey badger, and she comes up to Sam, stepping up onto his thigh with her two front paws to give him a good look at her. She is, of course, careful not to dig her claws into him.

[el_tybs]

When Ellana poofs into a cloud of black smoke he does jump a little, having not expected her to do it as soon as she had said 'all right'. When he sees the creature in her place there is some silence and Sam simply just blinking at her. Honestly he didn't know what to expect for a honey badger, but somehow he had definitely not expected that.

The claws do give him a bit of a pause, leaning back a bit when he feels the weight and sharpness on his leg. "How fast can you run?"

[serannas]

The question has Ellana getting down off him and taking off across the sands. She's a fast little thing, and it's interesting to her how different this feels to her fennec form. They're both creatures that move on all fours, but the fennec is light and bouncy, while the honey badger is much more solidly built.

After running out a ways, she quickly turns and runs back for Sam, baring her teeth as she draws close, because she may be small, but she's seen a honey badger fight, and it was both impressive and a bit scary.

[el_tybs]

Even though Ellana had promised she wouldn't claw him, she never said anything about biting. So of course when a mouthful of teeth comes darting right him at a very impressive speed, Sam cannot help but jump up to his feet and get up on top of the box he had been sitting on a moment ago. Because that is a damn scary sight, even if he knows it is the other mage, and now he can see why Asher has a thing for the little devils.

[serannas]

If honey badgers could laugh, Ellana would be doing it right now. Sam should know that she would never attack him, but the image of this tall human scrambling up on a box is just too funny and she milks it a little, standing up on her hind legs with both front legs on the box like she's going to follow him up. She leans in, mouth still open, but then she retreats back, making a huffing noise that is her version of a laugh in this form. She takes a seat in the sand and watches him to see if he'll come back down.

[el_tybs]

If honey badgers could laugh it would probably be horrifying - please don't figure how to do it Ellana.

Can't really blame him from trying to get away, what with you charging at him like that. That and having heard that a honey badger was Asher's hold beast - favorite animal as well - and that Ellana had picked the creature for the fact it took on Darkspawn and ripped them a new one. Yeah, he was going to jump away.

For a while Sam just stands on the box, watching in case Ellana was going to do anything again. Once it looked like she wasn't he makes a noise and slowly steps down though stays on his feet. "Yeah... that's a little terrifying."

[serannas]

Since she can't verbally comment in this form, Ellana shifts back in a puff of smoke, hands resting on the sand and lowered into a crouch. She scoots over into the shade and sits cross-legged, grinning impishly up at him.

"So you agree it's a good choice for a form, don't you?"

[el_tybs]

"As long as you're not going to be chasing me around Skyhold or anything, then yeah, I can agree it's a pretty good choice."

With Ellana back in her normal form, Sam is clearly more at ease, returning to his seat. "How long did that take to learn?"

[serannas]

"If you're good, I won't have reason to," she teases, coupling it with a wink. When has Sam ever been less than good?

"Not long at all," she admits. "I already observed a four-legged mammal for my fennec form, so I think that helped cut down on the time it took. What about you? What forms do you have so far?"

[el_tybs]

Ellana better not ask that question to Christine, because he's pretty sure his Orlesian counterpart would have a few words on that. "So if I do anything bad you'll come charging down the halls?" That... was actually kind of amusing to think about. Terrifying but amusing.

"So far I know how to be a dog, and I've been studying the phoenixes out here. I'm considering what else I should try and learn."

[serannas]

"A dog!" she exclaims, clasping her hands together in delight. "Are you a cute, little dog? Or a big, ferocious dog?"

[el_tybs]

At least someone else seemed excited by that. "Hm... I'd say a mix of both?" Yeah, both sounded about right.