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

"I sure didn't get much of a choice, but I also think saying you'll obey orders and shit doesn't count when it's under duress." So...suck on that. "Go nuts."

He makes a face at giant spiders. See! This is a reason he doesn't leave Skyhold much, people! In what universe is giant spiders at all okay? "Dude, I have no idea, but the fact that I know there are dragons is enough to make me want to just stay inside for the rest of my life. I've been here since...uh...they don't call it November here, but I think it was around then. So not even a year." No complaints. Well, all the complaints, but everything's gotta be compared to spending 14 months completely alone, so. It's pretty peachy in comparison. "Demons also suck. And zombies. Zombies with weapons. Those guys really suck."

"Well, I wouldn't count it," he consoled the other, leaning back against the wall and considering him. "And thanks, I will. I have a feeling it'll come in handy, at some point down the line."

Call it a hunch, but he had a feeling one day the Inquisition might not be so lenient with the Rifters or anyone with a shard. He could be wrong, but with two wars looming, and their shards seemingly the only way to close Rifts... well, sometimes people did the wrong things and said it was for the right reasons.

Have you run across giant crab monsters, Church? They are much worse. "Really? I like the dragon part. I mean, it's like a fantasy tale made flesh and blood. Korrin says they're not something you want to see up close, but... well, what can I say?" He shrugged, a goofy grin slipping onto his lips. "It would feel like a waste being here and not getting to see at least one up close."

It slipped away at the mention of zombies, fingers pressing to his temples and rubbing in slow circles. "Zombies... of course there would be zombies. What fantasy land is complete without zombies?"

Have you run across any crab-faced aliens who also murder you, Kirk? ...Wait...wait, maybe don't answer that one. "I don't know about you, but I'd really rather not become one of those cartoony knights that get burnt to a disintegrating crisp. The dragons can stay far on the other side of mountains or wherever as far as I'm concerned. Also the lizard-dogs, the carnivorous giant porcupines, the...acidic fucking shits, whatever else running around out there. The zombies. The bears. The giant bears. The giant spiders. The wolves. Y'know, at this rate, any untamed wildlife can just give me a wide berth and I'd be pretty happy."

Huh, maybe he'd get along with Shale for the sake of hating on birds, then.

Not crab-faced, no. There are these ones with ridges though...

"Come on, you don't want to find out how it is they breathe fire, much less fly? They're like bees - they shouldn't be able to fly, but they obviously do, much less breathe fire or any of the other elements Korrin mentioned." Seriously, dragons, as a whole, made no sense. None at all. He wanted to see one up close, not only to satisfy his childhood curiosity, but because - well, he wanted the damn thing explained.

"Hng, I have to agree there are an uncomfortable amount of creatures that can kill you on this planet," he grunted. "Like a planet-sized Australia." Thanks for that awesome list, Church. "But the natives manage, so we should be able to, right?" Come on, Church, they're both future men. Are they really going to let something like wild beasts bring them down?

"...Dude, you have thought way too hard about what is usually considered a fictional animal until we got here. I'm not gonna play vet to a dragon. I don't care how it breathes fire; I just care that it doesn't breathe on me."

Yes, wild beasts have a high chance of bringing them down, because in the future, you can shoot wild beasts from a distance with high powered weaponry. With high grade armor that can sometimes resist bullets! Donut got a grenade latched to his head and didn't die! But Church would bet good money on a bear eating Donut if Donut was dropped in the middle of the woods with literally nothing.

"The whole world isn't desert, but god damn, might as well be Australia, huh. I mean, the plants don't seem to kill anyone so far, though, so that's a plus. And I haven't seen any oceans full of killer sharks and jellyfish and poisonous fish yet."

"It's because it's usually fictional that I'm so interested!" he protested. "Come on, you can't tell me you're at least a little bit interested in them." He refused to believe that someone presented with a fantasy made real would just let it go without further examination. It was a once in a lifetime chance!

Kirk was used to running into situations without high-powered weaponry - just his phaser - and no armor. A lot about this whole situation wasn't precisely knew if he looked at it from an exploration angel. The whole kidnapping from across potential universes was less than ideal though.

"Let's just hope we never have to go out to sea then, huh?" he snorted. "Though judging just on what we've come across so far? I would probably say it's a safe bet that killer sharks and jellyfish and probably a host of other crazy things exist. I bet they have their own version of Atlantis complete with mermaids."

"From a distance," he'll amend. Because, yes, sure, actual real dragons, those are things. But things that are still good at killing.

"You know, these people haven't gone across the sea yet? Like, the map stops down south a ways, to the west there's I guess crazy mountains at some point, north across the sea I guess is land owned by some nasties constantly waging war, I think, and fuck knows what's across the sea to the east. Like, there's so much about this world people don't even know about!"

He chuckled and took the small victory for what it was. He couldn't fault Church for not wanting to get to close. He had his own reservations about getting close to one too, but his curiosity won out in the end. At least in his little fantasy.

"That's... kind of surprising, given they have mages," he said, crossing his arms as he mulled that over. "You would think they'd send at least a few exploratory groups to see what there is, not to mention the potential profit from gaining sea routes and opening dialogue with new trade partners." It didn't make much sense to not explore it, and he thought they would have an easier time of it than his own world had.

"Maybe if we end up being stuck here for awhile, that can be my project. And yours if you like. Exploration is always more fun with a companion or two."

"Man, do you know how many hundreds or thousands of years had to pass before whole maps of the world started to pop up?" No, neither does Church, but that's not the point. "Maybe these guys need to sort their own internal shit out before spreading their shit to other places."

He could have answered the question, rhetorical though it was. But he supposed Church might have a point too. It would open trade routes, but what else would it bring? In his world, such exploration had not been kind to foreign lands in many respects.

"You probably have a point," he shook his head. "I would hate for this Corypheus guy to find a way across the ocean and drag a whole other continent into this. Not to mention if it spread things like the Chantry. I can practically see a religious war when that happens."

"Man, I'm not saying don't explore until all your shit is figured out, I'm just saying, historically, humanity has kind of fucked other cultures over just because their shit isn't at least marginally sorted. ...And I guess that's kind of the same here. Y'know, regarding humanity. Since it's not just humans. Have you seen these qunari? Holy shit."

"They're pretty awesome, aren't they?" Kirk grinned widely. He was good friends with Korrin, though he had seen others around, if not been able to exactly talk to them. "You know, I'm not to pleased about being more or less trapped here, but I suppose I can kind of look at it as living out that fantasy adventure I dreamed about as a kid. Just with less space ships and space pirates and robots."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OPEN: The Western Approach

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