faderift | OPEN: The Nightmare's Domain

OPEN: The Nightmare's Domain

WHO: Everybody present for the effort to draw out the Nightmare.
WHAT: Oh no.
WHEN: 28-30 Bloomingtide
WHERE: THE FADE as it exists, approximately, in an incomprehensible nongeographical way, alongside the Western Approach.
NOTES: You can only participate in this plot if you signed up in advance. (Not really, this is a joke.) For driveby GM taunting or to have the debris of personal nightmares appear in the Fade sign up here. Check here for notes on crystal functionality, which will not be normal. (GIF source.)

The plan is simple enough, on paper.

Lord Livius Erimond, locked in Skyhold's dungeon since his capture, finally cracks when he learns that the Grey Wardens have moved on and no one is coming to negotiate for his release. There's no mind-control driving the sacrifices, he says, only fear. Corypheus has an arrangement with a demon to amplify it and extend the reach of the song that's driving the Wardens to desperation. Handle it, and maybe they'll see that they're being manipulated.

In practice, it's a little fuzzier. Some guesswork. Some optimism. Approximating the demon's location takes time and effort from the Fade-fluent. There's a rift nearby, but it's small, nondescript. Making it bigger, drawing attention and drawing the demon out onto solid ground where it can be fought, calls for every anchor shard on hand, mages and Templars to assist, archers and swordsmen at the ready. The Herald did it before, at the Temple of Sacred Ashes. It's feasible. Just wiggle your fingers, and--

--and the sky opens up wide, then wider, too wide, green light flooding out like water finally cresting over a bank, and the ground beneath your feet turns from sand to stone. In some places it becomes vertical. In others it stops existing at all. The rift sprawls and spiders out with almost sentient aim, encompassing everyone it can reach. It takes two seconds, maybe three.

Then it closes.

I. THE NIGHTMARE

The good news is: the Inquisition pinpointed the Nightmare's location correctly. The bad news is: the Inquisition pinpointed the Nightmare's location correctly.

So if you find a second to to wonder where you are, there are two possible answers. The first is the raw Fade, where few have trod since the ancient magisters entered the Golden City and began the Blight. The City is Black now and it hangs in the distance, always on the horizon, always visible, but never within reach. The light is sickly green and seems to come from everywhere and nowhere, creating shadows from any and all directions. What direction is up and what direction is sideways is open for debate anyway. The ground--if it can be called that when it is only sometimes below you--is dark and rough, all crags and cliffs and spires. It's wet, too, with puddles and stagnant streams wound through the rock.

The second possible answer to the question of where, and the one that might warrant even more attention than the first, is right on top of a damn demon.

The Nightmare is massive, as large as a small fort. It has a dozen legs and at least twice as many eyes; a warm, civilly sinister voice that knows your deepest and darkest fears; and a seemingly endless supply of minions. Terror demons spring out of the ground around you with creaking screams. Fearlings take the shape of your simpler phobias: here a spider, there a snake, or roaring flames, a lyrium-encrusted Templar. Fighting through the flood of demons and bringing down the Nightmare will take every sword, every staff, and several hours. Pick a leg.

And when it's over--when the Nightmare is dead and only straggling Fearlings and occasional Terrors present an immediate threat--try to figure out what's next.

II. SEARCHING

Attempts to tear a new hole in the Veil from the inside will produce no results. But those sensitive to the Fade may be able to feel something--not quite like a draft guiding you out of a cave, but there's no closer analogy in the common tongue. A faint whiff of reality, somewhere in the distance, straight away from the distant Black City. There's no sunrise or sunset, and an hour can feel like a day or feel like a minute, but time is passing, and the walk is long by any measure.

While it's in your best interest to stay with the rest of the Inquisition's forces, this region of the Fade is a twisty, treacherous thing that seems to actively conspire to separate and mislead its visitors. More Fearlings slither out of crevices to menace anyone who lingers alone or tries to sleep. There's a marshy expanse that does its best to trap feet, and a field of memorial stones with the names of visitors etched into their surfaces, each with a cause of death marked below. Everywhere you step the ground is littered with evidence of terrible dreams, worked into the landscape like they were there first and it has grown up around them. There are skeletons in the stone, rock formations that twist into the shape of gallows, lost toys underfoot, an entire home tucked down a winding path, achingly empty.

III. ESCAPE

The Nightmare is dead, but its absence creates new reasons to fear. It begins slowly, things crumbling: the edge of a stair giving way unexpectedly, a towering hunk of rock a ways off collapsing upward into the open air and reforming there. The path rearranges as it's walked and takes wanderers in different directions, leaving them to fight their ways back to the main group. It was the concentration of fear and willpower embodied in the Nightmare that held this domain of the Fade intact, and without it, there's a power vacuum to fill. The spirits drawn here are drawn by lingering fear, and warped by it.

The forms they take may not be those you're familiar with from outside the Fade--less deformed, more malleable, more insidious, the things you most or least want to see. Those who long for safety may find a gentle Desire demon willing to offer it. Those whose fears stem from insecurities may hear the whispers of lurking Envy, mimicking their voices from its hiding place, cautiously testing for a foothold. If fear only pisses you off, be prepared to face your Rage. And if you refuse to be afraid--if you have this under control, if you know you'll be all right--a smiling embodiment of Pride may appear to praise your prowess and ask you to put those skills to other uses.

Whatever form your demons take, they are distractions from the larger issue: this part of the Fade is collapsing, unstable, and not meant for creatures like you to survive in. As important as it is to face your fears, it may in the end be more important to run from them. Regroup, keep moving, take head counts. There's a rift ahead, small enough to slip through one at a time, out into the desert, with its bright sun and relatively solid ground--and however long it feels like you've been walking, days or weeks, Adamant Fortress is visible across the sand.

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It’s far from an easy route, but then again, it’s the same in all directions, the world breaking apart everywhere, even under their feet sometimes. Kain has to jump a few times, once grabbing at Hermione to take her with him as he leaps across an especially fractured section of ground. He keeps hold as best as he can even as the world is crumbling worse and worse all around.

Kain pushes himself to keep going at first, survival depends on it, after all. But seeing that she’s starting to lag, he slows his pace a little. “Not without you!” He won’t step through until he’s sure she’ll make it. If he has to help her in any way, he’ll do just that.

She doesn't hide her surprise when he slows, allowing for her to keep up with him. Part of her wants to shove him, to send him flying along towards the rift to ensure that he makes his way out. But if she can get close enough to shove him, she can get close enough to run with him, and that's easier than starting up an argument at a time like this.

Ignoring her throbbing knee, she reasserts her grip on his hand, still pushing but at least limping along with him as she pushes. "You can run faster than me; you should save yourself!"

He's far too much of a knight to leave someone behind, too guilt-prone to ever do such a thing. What kind of dragoon would he be if he didn't try to defend others? What kind of teammate, for that matter... fighting alongside the other Cosmos warriors had really taught him a lot about that sort of thing.

"No! I refuse! Not until you're able to get through!" Especially with her seeming to slow down, a bit of a limp to her run. He urges her to keep going, lance at the ready as he prepares to hold off against any demons who might be in the way. They're so close, but in this chaotic landscape he expects anything to happen. "I'll cover you from any threats!"

That stubborn urge to argue that there's no point in him risking himself wants to rear its head again, but Hermione forces herself to stifle it. Wasting time and energy that can be better spent getting them both to where they need to be is nothing short of foolish, and Hermione might be a lot of things, but foolish isn't one of them.

So she keeps a strong grip on Kain's hand, not daring to let go and trusting him to keep her from outright falling to her death. "I'm more concerned with you coming with me than protecting me!"

"There's no need for concern!" Or so he says, anyway, as he attempts to keep his pace steady, at the same time accounting for Hermione's. He's used to being in dire situations, anyway, though usually they involve standing his ground and fighting. Making a retreat like this is definitely wearying, and he'll be glad when they get back. Soon... he sees that rift getting closer...

Hermione's decided that the only way they're going to get out of here without one of them being forced to fight for the other is for her to focus in on the rift with all the tunnel vision she can manage. It makes it a little hard to keep her balance as the landscape keeps shifting and crumbling, but it isn't too long before the bright green slash of the rift is directly in front of her, and she squeezes Kain's hand tightly, making sure she doesn't lose him at the last possible moment. It seems like the sort of thing that might happen here, and she'd never forgive herself for it.

Kain keeps clinging tightly to keep hold of her, knowing that the moment he lets go, all could be lost. He doesn't know if that rift might close, if they could end up stranded here. All he needs is to get back, get to a world that's more steady and stable. He pushes himself even harder to keep going...

"Look out!! Hurry!" He pulls at her hand suddenly, as a demon is suddenly closing in fast from one side. It's going to be a close call- he could stop to fight it off, but at the moment getting through is much more important.

That sudden tug to her hand has Hermione crying out, and for one terrifying moment, she finds herself losing her balance and wondering if whatever sudden threat it is that's materialized is suddenly going to claw into her back. But she forces herself to lean into Kain, to use him as a sort of temporary foundation, and she keeps moving, literally stumbling into the rift. If not for the fact that it doesn't feel as though there's any up or down or any other direction here, she likely would have fallen headfirst into the ground.

Kain keeps hold of her as he continues to run, practically jumping, leaping forth to get into that rift. He does all he can to keep Hermione with him, to keep pulling and bringing her along. He supports her when she needs it, letting her lean all she has to. He's got enough strength to keep going, even though he's getting weary, the adrenaline is keeping him going at this point. He hears the sound of the demon screeching after them, a high-pitched, horrific sound...

...and then he's falling through the rift, and the shifting, chaotic world begins to fade away behind them.

Hermione isn't sure what's worse: that strange, weightless feeling of jumping trough the rift and feeling as though she's falling through a dream, or the hard impact of solid ground beneath her, rattling through her hard enough to make her teeth clatter. Through it all, she hasn't let go of Kain's hand, and if anything she's managed to squeeze it even tighter as she lies there, attempting to gather her wits again. It's a slow process, given that she can't do much else but lie there and groan for a few moments, but she's vaguely aware of the fact that the world doesn't seem to be falling apart around them anymore, and she's incredibly grateful for that.

It's an exhilarating sensation at first to Kain, who loves the wildness of flying and free falling... but he tends to have much more control in the air, so even he's overwhelmed by the feeling of falling through the portal. It's soon enough over, at least. He tries to do what he can to minimize damage in the fall- dragoons are taught this from an early age, after all. But even he gets the wind knocked out of him.

It takes a moment, gasping, trying to relax and get used to the fact the world is no longer crumbling around them. "Are... are you... " He gets his breathing a bit more under control. "Are you all right?" At least they'd kept hold of each other, he doesn't want to think what getting lost in a portal would entail.

Hermione finds it very hard to move at first, especially when she still doesn't want to let go of his hand. When his voice eventually sinks in, she groans as she tries to move, first her shoulders, then her arms, and eventually squeezing his hand reflexively as she tries to pick her head up.

"I-... I think so," she eventually manages to murmur. "Are you?"

It's still a bit overwhelming, trying to get his bearings. Kain takes a deep breath, steadying himself. He's almost expecting a demon to pop out at any moment, or for the ground beneath them to drop away... when none of that happens, he's relieved. It's the regular world of Thedas. Not... exactly the safest world to be in by any stretch, but it sure is compared to the Fade.

"Yes, I- Yes. I'm fine. Better than I was back there... We actually made it..." From the start of the whole ordeal, he'd feared getting stuck somehow, lost forever in that world of spirits and demons. He's glad that's not the case.

For a long time, Hermione is still reasonably sure that this is another illusion, some trick from a demon to provide a false sense of security. But after several long moments pass and she's still alive and relatively safe, she manages to bring herself to look around and ascertain that, much as she hates the desert, she's back in the relative safety of the Western Approach.

She's so relieved that she really can't help herself; she lets out a shaky cry as she turns to Kain, throwing her arms around him and holding him tight. "I'm so glad you didn't let go," she manages to say after a moment.

It seriously is good to be back in a world that’s steady and stable, and without demons present in near every direction. He’ll definitely take the quillbacks and other native creatures of the desert any day over the demons. Fortunately, this stretch appears to be very peaceful, with no signs of trouble. Good.

He’s breathing a sigh of relief as Hermione throws her arms around him. He’s so caught up in that feeling that he doesn’t have the usual surprise or standoffishness he might otherwise have had. He’s just so glad to be back. So, he doesn’t hesitate to hug her in return, needing that moment to just bask in being out of the Fade.

“I never would have, either… no matter what it took.” If nothing else, Kain has always been determined and stubborn. And when it comes to protecting any of his comrades, that becomes all the stronger.

While she might be given to hugging her friends, Hermione hasn't really found many people here in Thedas that she'd count among her friends. But in times like these, she can let go of her reservations.

So she hardly notices that he's hugging her back, just glad that he hasn't actively pushed her aside just yet. "Thank you," she murmurs softly, still holding him tightly. She can hear the sounds of other people slowly picking themselves up, gathering their wits after falling out of the Fade. She knows how some people here feel about absolutely anything that falls out of a rift, and so she's just going to cling to Kain for as long as she can before anyone might attempt to tug them apart. "I wouldn't have made it without you."

The whole ordeal was bad enough that Kain doesn’t mind the contact, in fact he needs it more than he’d probably ever outwardly admit. After being in that world of spirits and shifting landscapes, it’s a relief to just be on solid ground, among the land of the living again. “You’re welcome, of course… but I’d say the feeling is mutual. I wouldn’t have been able to shake that demon’s delusions on my own, after all.”

That’s the part that scares him most about the Fade and demons. He can handle enemies that just want to fight with physical power… not so much these creatures that mess with the mind.

It's a long time before Hermione can bring herself to slowly begin to break the hug, though she doesn't necessarily let go of Kain just yet. "Next time, you'll be stronger. We both will be." Though if it's all the same to him, she'll just fervently hope that there is no next time.

Looking around, she bites at her lower lip for a moment before beginning to climb to her feet. "Come. I have the feeling we're going to start heading back to Skyhold sooner rather than later."

"I hope that's the last we'll see of that place, but if it comes to it, if there's a good reason... I'll risk it again. At least... we'd know what to expect. We can be stronger." Right, demons everywhere and a crazy landscape straight out of a nightmare. Wonderful really. But being ready for it could make a difference.

He nods as he likewise starts getting up. His usual collected demeanor is finally returning now that more of the panic and awfulness is behind them. "We'd better... the sooner the better. Let's hope we're all accounted for."

Hermione can't say for sure whether she'd be so willing to face the Fade again, even if she's marginally more prepared for it now. But if her hands are tied and there's absolutely nothing for it....

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," she murmurs. "For now, let's see if there's anyone who needs some help collecting themselves."

That's how Kain feels about it as well. He'd rather not have gone at all, but this time at least had been accidental. Still, he'll do all he can to avoid a repeat incident. Unless there's good reason to return, of course. A very good reason.

"Right. We'll handle it when we must. For now... let's see what's needed. I'm sure others may not have fared so well, after all." Whether physically... or mentally. As for Kain, the mental toll has yet to fully settle in. It'll all start bothering him in time once he starts overthinking it, undoubtedly. For now, to deal with the present.

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OPEN: The Nightmare's Domain

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