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

[universal_charm]

He takes the bluntness, not so soft-skinned to be hurt by them. It was less about ego than he disliked being talked about like an object when he was standing right there. He understood why she asked, but it still rankled all the same.

"Hand-to-hand combat," he stated matter of factly, even though he had a staff strapped across his back. "I was trained to survive in unknown and harsh terrains and explore them as well. I was a captain back in my world, on my ship." He tilted his head at Katniss. "I will follow her lead on this mission. She works for you, and you don't seem like a woman who puts up with idiots or those who are not capable. Katniss also knows more about Servis than I do, and the last thing we need on this is a blind man leading."

He kept those fierce blue eyes on the Nightingale, aware that what he was about to say might make her disagree with him going, though if he was honest he could just tag along anyways. She had no authority over him, but that wasn't how he would like this to go down.

"I'm new to this world," he admitted. "I still don't understand all of it, and I don't know that I ever will. But I do understand that what Servis did to those people was wrong." He clenched his fists, blue eyes darkening. "And I don't like seeing people who treat life so casually just getting away with it. We were to late to help those people, so the least we can do is make sure he can't do it to anyone else."

His voice never rose, but they were hard and sure. He tilted his chin up slightly to Nightingale, as if daring her to say he couldn't go. Wanting to do something was not the same as being able to do it - he knew that. Even so, he had thought it important to say the words, to let out some of his own frustration.

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss glanced over at Kirk again, her expression narrowing slightly. He looked a little soft around the skin for a ship's captain. However, considering all she knew about the Rifter's worlds ... it could have been any kind of ship, really. She shifted her gaze back to Leliana, keeping her expression bland as she added, "I'm not an idiot."

While Kirk continued to speak to Leliana, she took the time to look again at the maps in her hands, as well as the correspondence. "I'm not sure if he has more slaves with him - but I know he's not likely to be doing the physical labor himself. We can expect that resistance will be distracted in protecting whatever he is carting out of here."

She looked back at Leliana. "I've been getting everywhere around here on foot - do we have mounts available? We might be able to catch them before nightfall, and send word back on their position."

[fightingale]

His words do him credit, even if she is surprised to hear that he captains his own ship - and it does seem a bold claim - she has no specific reason to doubt him. James' sentiments resonate with her own, no matter their respective worlds or their vocation. "Very well. We will be glad to have you assist."

There are more questions to be asked and more that should be done, but time is against them. It would likely be wiser to send someone with whom she is better acquainted with, whose work she knows, but she has learned to adapt.

"Mounts are in short supply, but speak with the requisition officer. It may be some can be pulled from another mission. This terrain is as unkind of some of our mounts as our people." Her voice is soft, thoughtful.

"Take your crystals. They will mean that a secondary party is able to pursue you and change course swiftly, if necessary."

[universal_charm]

Kirk was grateful she had agreed, looking to Katniss with a slight curl of his lip that is a determined smile. He gave a nod of thanks to Leilana, though the mention of mounts made his stomach twist. Not that he was scared of horses, just... well, he hadn't ridden all that much.

So he sidled a little closer to Katniss, murmuring softly. "Uh, we'll only need one - I'll have to ride pillion behind you." He figured this was the time to mention it, right?

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss met Kirk's gaze with a faint smirk of her own, and a nod. She turned towards Leliana and gave her a slightly deeper nod, to let her know she understood the orders. "As you say, Nightingale. We'll leave as soon as we've gathered supplies and mounts - "

She glanced sideways as Kirk murmured to her, then changed it, "Or mount, just one sturdy one."

She hoped they had a sturdy one.

[fightingale]

"Very well." A moment, and then, "Go. I will ready a group to follow."

Which is basically a dismissal, and the Nightingale is already turning away. "If you can avoid engaging any darkspawn, I would advice you do so."

[universal_charm]

Kirk knew a dismissal when he heard one, which was fine by him. He nodded his head to the Nightingale, as much of a salute or any other gesture of respect he was willing to give at the moment. He turned to follow Katniss away to prepare, eager to see justice done.