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.

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Intrigued by the hand, the dracolisk turns to sniff at it, seemingly curious to what's been held up in front of it. Bruce watches it do that for a few moments before he glances back at the other, giving him a skeptical look.

"'Magnificent' is not what most people would call them," Bruce returns, as just at the same time the dracolisk seems to have decided that Kain's hand was something of a delectable and opened its mouth to lightly clamp its teeth around his palm.

Right... it probably does sound like an odd thing to say about such beasts. Kain can't blame him for saying such. But he doesn't have time to reply at first, as the dracolisk decides that his fingers are worth exploring. With its mouth. He gives a startled cry, and slowly slides his hand out.

"That's not food," he says in a firm tone, keeping his voice steady - not sounding angry, though, because that does no good in the end. He glances over at Bruce. "Well... fine. Perhaps I exaggerated a little... but they look like the offspring of a horse and a dragon... they've intrigued me since I first saw them."

Bruce immediately looks over to the other at the sudden cry, and alarm sets in when he sees that the dracolisk apparently has his hand in its mouth. Instantly he's up on his feet, one hand grabbing under its jaw as Bruce attempts to pull it away.

"No biting," he says, just as firm, and it seems like the dracolisk is inclined enough to listen to Bruce - or maybe it just has a new targeted, because once it lets go of Kain's hand its nuzzling its snout into Bruce's open palm, its tail swishing excitedly from behind.

Bruce looks at it for a few moments before he sighs and turns back to the other man. "They're not very common out in the wild," he says, and then glances at the hand that the dracolisk had bit on earlier. "Are you alright?" It didn't seem like a particularly hard bite... but dracolisk teeth were quite sharp.

"Ah... wasn't expecting..." He grumbles some under his breath. Ok, so maybe he ought to have expected it, but there was a reason he'd not just gone ahead and tried to pet without letting the creature take a sniff first. Kain holds up his hand, there are some light marks where the teeth got him, but it's not so bad.

He sighs. "It could have been worse. Don't worry."

Bruce glances at the raised palm as well, squinting a little as he attempts to discern any injures from where he's looking. It certainly doesn't seem like there's any sort of damage... which was good, but Bruce still couldn't help but feel responsible for what had happened.

"My apologies," he went as much, giving the other an apologetic grimace. "I should have been more careful. It isn't used to human interaction, after all."

Aside from a bit of some indentations where the teeth pressed in, it at least didn’t break the skin. Which is good, he’s not too sure he wants to know what would have happened at that point.

“It’s fine… he’s still somewhat wild, it would seem. I probably should have expected as much, too.” He eyes the dracolisk thoughtfully. Over time, the creature could get used to humans… well, that is, if that’s what he’s aiming to do. “Are you planning on keeping him around?”

There's only a brief pause at the question, and once that passes Bruce is shaking his head. "Not really. There's no reason for me to do so, after all." It's not as if he travels out of Skyhold often enough to warrant one, and there were already so many other mounts for Master Dennet to handle. It wouldn't benefit anybody to bring in another just because it seemed to be particularly attached for some reason.

Not to mention Bruce doesn't feel comfortable enough to have the responsibility to handle something like this. As a surgeon it was easy to take it as his job, but this was very much not related to his job.

It is a lot of responsibility caring for another living creature, but isn't that always how things are? Kain finds himself missing the days long past when he'd once done all he could to aid his father's dragon. It seems like so long ago now.

"Well. Of course. It's a great deal of responsibility. That's certainly your own decision to make..." Then he eyes the dracolisk closely for a moment. He doesn't blame it any for what it did a moment ago, it's just how wild creatures are. They have minds of their own. Which is an important consideration. "At least, in part. Just... keep in mind that it might be just as much this dracolisk's decision as well."

Bruce laughs quietly at the words, although the laugh itself is wry. "I'm afraid it'll be disappointed if it decides to stick with me." He certainly was no man of adventure - he ran around Thedas for years because he had to, to avoid the Templars and keep himself and his existence hidden. And now he was only here because the Inquisition asked for it. He liked his comforts and his stability where he could get it, and those were far and few in between. Any animal wouldn't really benefit from company like his.

Though, with that said, Bruce looks at the dracolisk as it moves its head back to rest in his hair before sighing. "But I'll keep your words in mind."

“It definitely is worth keeping in mind. A reliable mount is still a good idea, even if you don’t intend to travel very often. It makes the journey easier.” That’s a little bit of stability right there. But Kain also has a little soft spot for dragons and things resembling them… which these lizard-horses do. He’s suggesting this just as much for the creature’s sake. “And if he’s chosen you, all the better. That sort of bond isn’t easily found.”

As for travel… it’s pretty much the opposite for Kain, who would be bored and restless if he didn’t get out and see more of the world, and find challenges to battle. In fact, being around this dracolisk, talking about the matter is helping him solidify a decision he’s made some time ago. He’s interested in finding one of his own. It probably won’t be easy… but still…

It's easy enough to say that he's used to tedious journeys, because he is, but he supposes even if he was it didn't really matter, especially when a mount would change that anyway. But really, he could easily give himself a thousand reasons why he owning anything was never a good idea - even if he couldn't voice out most of them anyway.

So all Bruce does is to give a small shrug. "If it happens, then I suppose it happens." But not before Bruce doing his best to make sure it doesn't happen.

“It’s worth keeping an open mind, at least.” Though Kain certainly won’t push the matter, he can’t help but think it would be in both his and the dracolisk’s best interests to team up. If such a creature had chosen him… well… he definitely wouldn’t let that chance go. His own mind is made up now, anyway.

Kain looks toward the dracolisk again for a moment. “I think I’ll have to take a look for my own while we’re out here in this area, though. Seeing yours… sorry, I mean seeing this one… reminds me I’ve been considering it.”

That was a bit of a surprise. Bruce blinked and raised his eyebrows at the words, though said surprise did pass quickly and instead he regarded the other with curiosity.

"You want to own one of these?" Dracolisks were... well, they were owned by people, to be sure, but they weren't usual mounts for many reasons. A wild dracolisk only made things all the harder, what with their temperaments and such. A horse would be far easier to handle compared to this.

Kain nods, surprisingly eagerly for him. "I've been thinking about it for a while. Where I'm from... I'm a dragoon, and we bond closely with dragons. These creatures remind me of them in a way... I think I'll get along with them far better than I do horses." He's much more of a lizard person than a horse person. It all kind of just... makes sense for him. "And I'm told they especially like the Western Approach, that it's a good place to find them wandering."

"They do prefer drier places." And the Approach was about as dry as it could get, save for a few places. Bruce nodded to the rest of his words, rolling them over in his head. A person who had connection with dragons... its a bit hard to digest, what with what he knew of dragons, but who knows how dragons were like when they weren't in Thedas.

And wasn't that thought a thing to wrap his head around still.

The dracolisk snorts into his hair and Bruce stifles down another sigh. "If you don't manage to find one you can always try this one when it finally gets tired of me."

Kain nods, he's heard that the Western Approach is a good place to go about finding one. Which is why it's definitely in his best interest to start looking. Sure, it's not quite like a dragon, it won't fly or anything... but he still likes the idea of a scaly mount-companion.

"I don't know about that... after all, he already seems to be very attached to you." He says while observing the creature's interactions with Bruce. He has a good sense for these things.

"It's only attached to my food," Bruce returns with a small snort. He's had his fair share of dealing with wild creatures during his time on the run, and a good number of them were just like this - interested when food was a thing, and then not once said food ran out. It'd get the hint eventually and move on.

He looks to the other with an arched eyebrow. "Once it gets bored enough to move on, I'm sure you can attempt to tame it for your own."

"Perhaps," Kain replies, not about to deny that this is a thing that often happens, wild creatures can be very single-minded about this sort of thing. Still, he has a sense that there's more to this. He's seen this sort of bond happen plenty after all.

"We'll see about that." He smirks a little bit, but figures that it's worth giving it time just to see what does happen. He's fairly willing to bet that Bruce isn't returning back alone, though. Kain will have to do a little searching of his own soon enough. "Just allow him to do as he wants, and I'm sure you'll find out soon enough what he truly wants."

"Not much I can do besides that." The words are said with a sigh. Bruce doesn't want to hurt it, no matter how annoying it can be, and despite everything it hasn't really done anything to warrant something drastic... yet. Bruce was still waiting for it to happen sometimes in the near future. Dracolisks weren't exactly known for their patience - more like the opposite, really.

Anyway, even with a dracolisk intent on being an annoyance, Bruce couldn't let it keep him from his duties. He nods at the other and gestures vaguely to the side. "I should go and make my rounds now. I'll speak with you another time."

He'd better get back to what he was in the midst of as well. Nodding, Kain takes another close glance at the dracolisk. Really, they're fascinating creatures in every way to him. Perhaps later this evening he'll start looking around the area and see what he finds.

"Good luck..." He turns, then looks back toward them. Yes, he's got a pretty good sense for this sort of thing. He can tell the animal is way too stubborn to ever leave. Who knows how Bruce might deal with that in the days to come. "...to the both of you." He adds as he starts heading away.

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OPEN: The Western Approach

i'm so sorry kain

loool... he's just being friendly!

don't worry kain you still have your hand

hehehe... LUCKY HIM

:'D

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