faderift | 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

"Oh, of course," Hermione tells her. "I doubt anyone would let me just borrow their staff and have me walk off with it. I'd make sure to start small, with things I already know, and try to gauge just how different it is from using a wand."

She pauses for a moment before asking, "Where would I get a staff of my own, if that ends up working for me? Or if I end up accidentally damaging someone else's and need to replace it? It's not technically a weapon, is it? I mean, it is, but would it be the sort of thing a smith can make from scratch? I suppose it would make more sense for them to be able to make staves than for them to repair wands, considering that they're more familiar with them...."

Right. She should probably eventually learn to let people answer one question before asking a dozen others on its heels.

"The smiths are capable of building staves. All they require is a schematic and the correct materials." She raises an eyebrow. "I doubt you would be capable of damaging a staff, not if you are careful. But perhaps it would be best to request a simple one from the smiths to start with, rather than 'borrowing' another mage's." She can hardly see Dorian or Vivienne simply handing over their staff, in any case. "I am sure it would make training easier as well."

"Would I have to bring them anything? Money, or perhaps the materials in question?" She has a tidy sum that she's managed to stash away in Skyhold and away from prying eyes (so far), but she really has no idea how much these sorts of things would go for. "I confess, I don't really know much about the weaponry here, though sometimes I've wondered if I should learn how to use something other than a wand or staff, given how many times I've been on excursions that have gotten more... physical than I'd like them to be."

"There is no need to pay for a simple staff made of common materials. Any rare materials will have to be paid for, or provided if the smiths do not have any to hand." With even the rifters and refugees least suited to combat available to help in gathering supplies, there is no shortage of iron or other basic crafting materials. And the Inquisition is happy to compensate the smiths for their time, if the weapons made are to be used in its service.

She lifts an eyebrow. "It is possible, of course, to become proficient with other weapons. Most mages do not bother; there are a number of defensive spells and even those that serve to keep them somewhat hidden from their foes. But it is a possibility." An unlikely one, she thinks, if Hermione has gone this long without any weapons training at all. But it is possible.

"I don't know nearly enough about staves to be able to appreciate the benefits of any sort of rare materials," Hermione replies with a brief chuckle, shrugging it off. "So long as I know that it works. And they aren't as personalized as wands. My wand wouldn't work as well if I loaned it out to another witch or wizard from my world."

Pausing for a moment, Hermione points out, "Most mages have a more reliable store of magic than I do here. And if a staff doesn't work or something happens to my wand... well, I'd just rather not be completely defenseless if I find myself far from Skyhold."

Cassandra nods slowly. It's not something she would recommend for most mages - the right spells are more than enough to at least provide defense long enough to get away - but if it's true and Hermione is never able to master magic in the same way that a native mage could, a backup plan might not hurt.

"It is certainly worth considering," is all she says. "And there are any number of soldiers and specialists at Skyhold who might train you." In the basics, if nothing else.

In the distance, the keep comes into view, and Cassandra straightens. Their destination at last - but they still have to retake it before they can relax, and that means developing a strategy. Already, she's scanning the group for other soldiers to consult with.

"Excuse me," she says to Hermione, but pauses to look at her before she hurries off. "Your thoughtfulness and ambition are...admirable," she says. "The Inquisition will have need of such things."

"And the soldiers would probably be more likely to accidentally break my neck during a spar than teach me how to protect myself," she remarks dryly. "Fisticuffs and swordplay aren't things most of us take very seriously in my world, so I'd have to find someone who could adequately train the equivalent of a small child who'd never held a weapon before." Or, at least, who'd never used a weapon in a fight, since the sword of Gryffindor is technically a weapon.

Seeing that Cassandra appears to catch sight of something, Hermione follows her gaze, seeing the intimidating-looking keep come into view. She immediately decides that she doesn't like it, but given that the alternative would be walking around in circles in the sand for no apparent reason....

She nods when Cassandra moves to take off, though she blinks at her in surprise at what sounds suspiciously like a compliment coming out of the Seeker's mouth. "I hope I can help rather than prove a hindrance, then," she says, managing a small smile before giving her a wave as she walks away.

OPEN: The Western Approach

no subject

no subject

no subject

ready to start wrapping this one up?

sure!

no subject

no subject