THE FALLOW MIRE

[faderifting]

WHO: Open to all
WHAT: The Inquisition sends forces to the Fallow Mire to deal with undead, plague, and missing scouts.
WHEN: Firstfall
WHERE: The Fallow Mire: Inquisition camps, Fisher's End, The Tavern, etc.
NOTES: For more information about the setting and RP opportunities in it, check out the OOC Post.

The trip down the mountains from Skyhold is no walk in the park, and south of the Hinterlands the land turns wet and miserable, subject to seemingly endless storms. Villagers have tried to carve out a meagre existence in the Fallow Mire, but their lives are under constant threat by a tidal wave of undead rising from the murky waters flooding much of the region.

The Inquisition has sent a sizeable force, and travel back and forth between the Mire and Skyhold happens as often and as quickly as conditions allow. The camp is a neat patch of tents on the largest bit of dry land to be found. "Dry" is relative; everything's still pretty muddy. There are several clusters of tents, tucked between rock outcroppings and abandoned buildings, the least leaky of which are being used to store what supplies the Inquisition has managed to haul in over the difficult terrain. Campfires are numerous and fill the area with a constant smouldering glow and low-hanging cloud of smoke that mingles with the morning and evening fogs. It's lovely, really.

Fisher's End barely even counts as a village-- just a haphazard handful of ramshackle buildings perched on the edge of the swamp-- but it does have a single tavern. It's a dreary-looking wooden shack like every other structure in the area, distinguishable only by the lamp still lit above the door and the sign that swings creakily in the breeze. Whatever was painted on it has long since worn away and been molded over. The place is just known as "the tavern" because it is literally the only tavern for miles and miles around.

Inside is dim and smoky from peat-burning fires in the two grates. There are a half-dozen tables with benches, none of which ever seem quite level on the uneven floor. The bar is tended by Thorolf, a grizzled bearded fellow with a local accent so thick he's almost unintelligible. No matter the time of day he serves a simple fisherman's meal of hard bread, salted fish, and a hunk of strong cheese. His cellar is stocked with exactly three varieties of alcohol: one ale, one wine, and one spirit, all of which are strong and dark. There aren't many locals left, but there are usually a few hunched over a mug or huddled around the fire.

Comments

[ombranera]

"After you." Worst came to worst he was better able to avoid being grabbed, or break the grapple before he was dragged down into the murky depths. As soon as Ellana has made her way to more stable ground? He follows, eyes scanning the rippling water for a resurgence of their enemies. For the moment? They have a breather. "Well done you."

[serannas]

"Thank you. I'm glad there's something I can do to help. I don't have a lot of combat experience." But that's why it's good to be a mage. As long as you know your spells and can stay back out of the way, you can join a fight, unlike those who wield sword or blade, who need to practice so they don't get killed up close.

"You're amazing with those knives."

[ombranera]

"A lifetime of practice." He hops up on the bridge and scans the horizon. Nothing too close for the moment, and nothing coming up out of the bog. Excellent. It gives him time to scrape the mud from his leathers and check his pouches of poison. Those leaking would be quite bad indeed.

[serannas]

"I have some catching up to do." She doesn't need to have his dexterity, but there are still things for her to learn the more she fights. For now, it's just incredible to watch Zevran mow through enemies with skill and grace.

"Should we make our way back towards Fisher's End?"

[ombranera]

"I think we have, perhaps, done our duty well enough. I see no more undead on the horizon." The wine is...well. It is wine. Even for Fereldan wine it is terrible but it is untainted and that is all Zevran truly needs.

[serannas]

"Will they ever stop coming?" Ellana muses as she picks her way carefully along the rickety bridge. "This place can't have been that well populated. Surely there can't be that many bodies left. And how did they all get here? I thought Andrastians burned their dead. It couldn't be that this many people drowned here, could it?"

[ombranera]

"Well the corpses are also wearing rusted bits of ancient armor- so perhaps it is not only those that lived here but those that have wandered through over the ages. Also have you tried starting a funeral pyre in a bog? It does not work well." Too much wet and not enough dry wood.

[serannas]

"Perhaps if they didn't send their mages away, there would be people around who could burn the bodies without wood." The best solutions are often the simplest, and Ellana knows a thing or two about fires.

"What do you think will happen? Will the Inquisition convince those left to leave? Or will we find a way to cure this plague?"

[ombranera]

"People are loathe to leave their patches of land once owned. Even plagued, undead riddled patches such as this. Humans and elves have this in common, I think." Every race did, save perhaps the Qunari. They did not hold to any particular spot of land so much as group of people.

[serannas]

"I wouldn't know what that's like," she replies glibly, reaching the land once more and stepping of the bridge. "I always wished the clan could own land somewhere and farm it, but it hasn't happened yet, and I can't see it coming about easily." They had always moved at the first sign of humans getting antsy at their presence.

"Anyway, I'm looking forward to the fire back at camp. How about you?"

[ombranera]

"Ah yes, the simple life of a farmer." Sounds...terribly boring, actually. While the circumstances under which he came into his skills are less that desirable, he liked his profession well enough.

"Somewhere warm and dry? That will be lovely. What will be less lovely is the rather cramped quarters of our tent."

[serannas]

Not everyone wants a life of running across rooftops and sneaking poison into cups, Zevran. Ellana wants her people to be safe and healthy, which is probably the wish of everyone in the clan after they suffered their own plague years ago.

"You mean to say you don't like who you'll be cozying up to on this mission?"

[ombranera]

"I was assigned Merrick and Sam, Cyril by some means or another found out that we were sharing a tent and came to check on his 'brother'-" The airquotes are audible in this. "Who smokes quite a bit of elfroot. I've no taste for that or the odd tension in the tent and thus do not sleep well. Too many people breathing and none of them familiar."

[serannas]

"I'm sorry to hear that." Reaching out, she catches hold of his hand in hers. "I would invite you to mine, but my tentmates are Korrin and Krem. With the two of them plus all our armor, there isn't much room left. Could you make other arrangements?" She wishes her clan could make a better impression, but asking Merrick to be nice and Cyril to be serious would be asking the impossible.

[ombranera]

"Ah, I will find somewhere to rest. Taking watch helps settle my nerves somewhat- no need to concern yourself on my behalf. It is a bit more cramped than it was while traveling with the Warden, but I will manage." Fewer tents and more bodies made for cramped quarters, that is to be certain.

[serannas]

"But will it be safe? And warm and dry?" she asks, not letting go of his hand. "You should at least come and sit with us awhile before we sleep. There is room while we're all sitting up." Ellana can already tell that the atmosphere here is miserable for him, and she wants to lessen its effects if she can.

[ombranera]

"Yes, yes, and yes. But if you insist I will not deny you my company." He tugs her hand up, kissing her knuckles. "How fortunate am I to have so kind and gracious a lady worried after me."

[serannas]

"I do insist," she answers, smiling at the gesture. It's romantic and gallant and everything a young woman wants from a dashing rogue.

"You deserve to have others worry after you. My world would be a grayer place if I hadn't met you."

[ombranera]

"Mm, I used to have a woman worry after me- it was some time ago- though it was less the warmth and rest of my body she concerned herself with and more my soul." Many, many questions about guilt and remorse. Were she around to ask him now he might even answer honestly. Maybe. Still it is easy enough to tug Ellana in by their joined hands to hold her in a companionable embrace. "And mine without color and warmth had I not met you."

[serannas]

"Well if you're warm and rested, your soul will be in fine form too, don't you think?" Ellana asks, moving into his arms and smiling.

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that. I can picture you strumming your lute and the world gets a little brighter in color, don't you think?"

[ombranera]

"The world for others, surely, but not for me. I have not known color since you've stepped into my life." Theatrics, dramatics- sweet words and sweet nothings that she expects of him- kindness that he does not mind winding along for her.

[serannas]

She exhales a soft, amused sound before pressing her lips to his cheek.

"Then you are very lucky I'm here, aren't you? The Mire would be even more unpleasant without color."

[ombranera]

"I am the luckiest elf in the mire." He tips his face into her kiss, grinning. All of the frustrations of the day- well they are not gone but they are easier to bear in her company.

[serannas]

"You've made my stay here better too." Ellana can't say this is a place she would ever return to on her own, so if she has to be here, she's glad that there are others like him around to help distract from the landscape.

"Come on; let's get close to a fire and warm ourselves back up."

[ombranera]

"I think I may even have a bottle of sweet wine hidden in my pack. What do you say to cuddling by the fire and sharing a glass or two with me, mm? I could be compelled to serenade you." Not a terrible way to end the day, in fact? A warm fire, a glass of wine and a beautiful woman is one of his favorites.