OPEN ↠ FALSE GODS, GREAT DEMONS (PART I)

[faderifting]

WHO: Time Travelers & Future Kirkwall Residents
WHAT: Time travel, captures, escapes, explosions.
WHEN: ALTERNATE FUTURE, Early Cloudreach 9:48
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES:.This is the first plot log for False Gods, Great Demons, specifically for the time travel team and adjacent plot efforts. An open post for general Darkest Timeline adventures will be posted separately! A plotting post specifically for the escape from Kirkwall can be found here.

It's been over a year since the village of Haven was burned, ransacked, and buried beneath snow and ice--a year for the snow to melt and leave behind blackened, rotting wood for a new year's snow to fall over. The stone walls and Chantry stand, but the rest of the village is a jagged scar, and the path up the mountain to the Temple of Sacred Ashes still shows signs of the battle against the Breach: toppled carts, abandoned crates, a broken bridge.

Given the debris, obstacles, and lingering demon-infested tears in the Veil, it takes the better part of a day for even a well-armed team of trained fighters to make the trek from Haven to the Temple. Despite that, there's been a steady stream of pilgrims to Andraste's final resting place--and now the site of the Herald's death. More still wait on the road and outside the entrance to the Temple ruins, guarded now by Inquisition soldiers until the recent deaths within the walls have been investigated.

Save the wind and quiet crunch of bones being gnawed on, the Temple itself is silent. The molten-ash corpses that were once outside the walls, contorted from their final moments of agony, have been removed and given rites--but the icy dust beneath the band's boots is still partly bone and burned flesh, and patches of red lyrium still resist efforts at removal.

The bone-crunching comes from down the main staircase and around a corner. Five corpses are slumped around a campfire, dressed for warmer weather, preserved by the cold somewhat but withered and too decayed to have died within the week, let alone overnight while no one else was looking--and with one arm currently being chewed on by a bear while two others amble nearby.

Stopping them from eating the evidence is a good idea, probably. And perhaps as the effort to chase them away from the carrion gets underway, in the midst of the chaos and roaring, someone will notice one of the bandits splayed out across the icy stone floor. She's as withered as the rest of them, save one outstretched arm that's still fleshy-plump and pink where it falls outside some invisible line.

But if anyone does notice, it's too late. There's a flare of light that shifts quickly from rift-green to a blinding white, a white-noise roar and a gust of windy force that propels everyone forward to--

Exactly where they were, except a few yards to the left, and in the last two seconds the few stubborn scraps of red lyrium on the Temple walls have crawled and expanded to form whole walls of crystal. For a moment it's silent again, save the wind. The one of the bears--the only one carried along with the group--lets out a bewildered, irritable roar. Beyond the walls there's a shout, then another, then too many for it to be only the handful of Inquisition soldiers posted outside the Temple.

Seconds later, they're surrounded.

Comments

[ichaer]

"Wait... what?"

Her mind isn't what it used to be and it shows as several different emotions flirt across her face with Nessa's words. Ciri's hand keeps the other woman's gripped tightly but she leans back slightly, eyeing the other cells with her own murky red eyes and letting out a sound that might just be a chuckle. A chuckle or a cough, it's terribly hard to tell but she looks back to her friend.

"What a strange time, indeed. Others had told me we had someone that liked to spit, some Fereldan dog with terrible hair and worse jokes." Hi, Alistair. Slowly, she frowns and squeezes Inessa's hand. "I'm sorry I was gone so long this time. They sent me across the sea and into Ferelden this time."

[circleprodigy]

That squeeze is met with a returning one, though Inessa barely has any strength these days, even compared to when she was in the peak of health. She glances at the guards out of the corner of her vision, glad to see that they haven't taken an interest so far. "Does Denerim still stand? Or Orzammar? I know, it's a matter of time, but...."

...well. While they still exist, it's a faint comfort. She rubs her temple with her free hand, sighing. "...I'm slipping, Ciri. I keep trying to hold onto myself, but...the red, it's getting stronger."

[ichaer]

Her own gaze is cut toward the guards with a low sound under her throat. "Yes," she says finally. "They are both fine."

And that is all she says because she knows that time is never long for them.

"I know, I know." Ciri murmurs, pressing her forehead into the bars with another force to cause some pain. "I can't stand it anymore. I won't. I've got to find a home for that cat though..."

Her code for Anders who knew the best way to destroy as much as this place as possible.

"And I've got a nice barrel of Antivan fire wine to sign off on before." And by that she, of course, means explosives.

[circleprodigy]

Inessa nods slowly, a grim smile on her lips. Once, long ago, she would never have thought to take such measures. But back then, she had her (physical and mental) health, freedom, mabari and friends. What does she have to lose now? Not a damn thing.

"I know. And I'll hold myself together until then, somehow. It won't be long, will it?"

[ichaer]

"A day or two... if that. Maybe quicker depending on the weather or any new orders."

Her grip, though weakened as well, tightens briefly once more before she sighs and slumps a little.

"I won't let you suffer anymore, Nessa."

[circleprodigy]

"Thank you." Inessa's shoulders sag in relief. She can't stop what's happening to them, but at least they can strike at those causing so much suffering. That eases her mind a little. "It's been so long, longer for you...I haven't forgotten that."

Her expression softens, knowing the years have been even less kind to Ciri. It's partly why she obsessed over her red lyrium research so much, that and Kain's own corruption. All that research did was ensure her own demise along with them.

[ichaer]

"This is nothing." She murmurs, grinning but it isn't hard to see just how tired she is. It's getting worse and worse by the day. In the end, she's strong. Much stronger than some who have come before her and drowned in this stuff but it all catches up with them eventually.

"I'll come back," And with that, she pulls back and hobbles upwards. "I promise. We'll both be better soon."

And with that, she hurries back out and away from any approaching patrols. Back to work, she supposes.