faderift | OPEN: The Western Approach

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

"All right. It sounds like you know what to do. In the meantime, should we head back to base?" Katniss is right that the two of them shouldn't start following these markers on their own.

"We should." She shouldered her quiver, before mentally marking some of the other places here so she would remember where it was.

"See anything we should note?"

"Beyond the abundance of hyenas? Not really. There aren't a lot of plants to collect out here, are there? Of course there's elfroot, and deathroot grows at the base of trees, but there are hardly any of those out here." Anything else she hasn't seen just yet.

"Well, here we are at the end of the ass end of the world ... " She sighed, shaking her head a little. "Good hunting though, as little as that probably means to you."

"I've never ever fired a bow before," she admits with a sheepish smile. "Though a lightning bolt will bring down an animal too."

"I have always meant to ask a mage this ... but if you kill an animal with lightening or fire, just how usable is the beast after that?" Katniss asked, one eyebrow raising. "I mean, I would think it would be mostly charred to shit."

"Oh, well the way lightning works is that it finds the fastest path down to the ground. It does damage the animal's body, obviously, but the worst is at the entrance and exit points. The rest isn't so bad. And the fire actually helps burn the fur off if you're going straight to using the hide for leather. It usually doesn't leave the body charred. That requires a much longer burning flame, and the burning effects of a spell only last seconds."

She sounds like she's given this a lot of thought. When there's nothing to do in the clan, you tend to see what your spells can do.

"Interesting. What about the after-effects of the spells themselves? Does it leave them with a Fade tinge or like, an ozone taste?" She would imagine an ozone taste.

"A little. Which is why we usually left hunting to those with the bows and arrows." She grins and leans into Katniss a little as a nudge. "It's far from ordinary for a mage to use their staff for hunting, but I can, if there's need."

Katniss smirked as she elbowed Ellana in turn. "Well, I guess it would be as silly looking as me trying to freeze an enemy with my gaze."

Ellana lets out a giggle, raising her fingers to her lips for a moment.

"That would be a very intense look. They might freeze with fear, if not ice."

"I'll take fear."

Katniss replies, oh so casually. She will though. She is not in the mood to deal with anyone trying to mess with her, or anyone she cares about, right now.

"I could picture you sending people fleeing in panic," Ellana admits. "You have steel in you. You're stronger than people realize, and they'll underestimate you until they come to realize you aren't to be trifled with."

It's something Ellana can admire as she works towards becoming a more well-rounded individual who won't be scared of the evil things in the world anymore.

"Steel is what I need right now." Right to the core of her soul. "And I don't intend to be trifled with."

However, the tone of Ellana's words make Katniss eye her. "Is someone trifling with you?"

"Oh, no. But I've been trying to... learn more about people in order to protect myself. It hasn't been easy. I keep thinking I understand only to be told I'm wrong, and I want to get it right. I want to know what to do when someone comes at me with harsh words. They can do almost as much damage as a blade."

She exhales and looks down at her feet pressing down the sand as she walks. There are footprints being left behind, but with the next strong gust of wind, they'll be gone. It's a good metaphor for her. She wants to make an impact; wants to matter. But some will always see her as lesser or not see her at all. She'll be worthless to them. Handling herself in tough situation does not come naturally to her, but she's trying to learn. She can't rely on the clan to help her anymore.

The look that Katniss gives her isn't cutting, but it is concerned, and slightly dubious. "But ...you don't really want to turn out like me, do you? Or some variation of? You should just be your own person and ... not worry what they say."

She certainly did not want to see Ellana become hardened. Yes, she could be naive but that was part of what made Ellana - Ellana.

Ellana lifts her eyebrows a little, having not expected that. She shakes her head a little, to hopefully reassure Katniss.

"This is a harsh world, and I can't always rely on others to protect me. I can't expect everyone everywhere to treat me with kindness, and I need to be ready. If I'm going to go out into the world on my own someday in search of elven ruins, I need protection. Being able to shapeshift is a good safeguard, but I want to learn many different ways. I want to be prepared."

Katniss stopped, turning to look at her, her expression grave. "Just ... don't let it change you so much that you don't recognize who you are."

There was something tight in her face, as she started to walk again.

The warning is concerning, and Ellana gently takes Katniss's hand in hers.

"I won't. I don't want to become a different person. I just want to know more, and become more worldly. But if I change my personality completely, I wouldn't be a person I'd like. So I'll be careful."

Katniss looked back at her, searching her face with concerned grey eyes. After a moment or two, she nodded her head slowly, exhaling out a long breath. "Thank you."

"Of course, but it's not anything you need to thank me for." There are questions swirling in her head, but Ellana never likes to pry too far, so she doesn't press. Instead, she just gives Katniss's hand a squeeze.

Katniss's expression became slightly grim, and she stepped away from Ellana, moving towards the camp once more. "Believe me, it is."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OPEN: The Western Approach

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