faderift | OPEN ↠ FALSE GODS, GREAT DEMONS (OPEN LOG 1)

OPEN ↠ FALSE GODS, GREAT DEMONS (OPEN LOG 1)

WHO: Living Residents of the Horrible Future
WHAT: Ah ha ha ha stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
WHEN: ALTERNATE FUTURE, 1-15 Cloudreach 9:48
WHERE: Anywhere, but especially Orzammar
NOTES: This is the first open log for False Gods, Great Demons. Anything that happened prior to Cloudreach 9:48 should go on the flashback meme. Most members of the TTT and their friends in Kirkwall will be arriving in Orzammar on approximately Cloudreach 7. In the meantime, feel free to make your own adventures. If you want to blow up an bridge, assassinate an NPC of your own invention, steal supplies, or anything else--it's all yours, go for it!

SOUTHERN THEDAS is a wasteland. The Blight crawling across the Orleian countryside and into Ferelden leaves nothing alive in its wake, scarring the land like an insatiable fire until no birds sing and the only things that grows is the Red Lyrium that speckles cliff sides and crawls up dying trees until they look like rows of jagged bloody teeth. And where it's still green, where people can still survive, the atmosphere is nearly as stifling. Every city and settlement is watched over by a Venatori or trustworthy collaborator. Those who don't keep their heads down and their dissent a whisper may vanish without warning. They may take their whole families with them. There are flashes of hope--an assassinated lordling here, a village rousing itself to brief and doomed rebellion there--but for every man the Imperium loses, they seem to find two to take his place.

NORTHERN THEDAS is at war. The worst of it doesn't reach west into Tevinter or the Anderfels; the line between the Qunari and the Imperium is drawn straight through Antiva, with Nevarra and Rivain on either side quiet and calm as only lands under martial law can be. The Free Marches vary between complacency and rebellion, but the rebellious ones risk ruin--there are murmurs it won't be long before a whole city is made an example. A steady stream of desperate refugees is fleeing north to the Qun, but plenty are picked off and punished as traitors before they can cross into Qunari-controlled territory. Your best best for a clean escape are the pirates who still hold Llomerynn free from both sides of the conflict.

ORZAMMAR is the only kingdom in Thedas that looks much the same--and Kal-Sharok, but they're not accepting outsiders. The heavy doors at Orzammar's entrance are sealed and guarded, as much against the steady flow of refugees asking for help as against the Venatori. The refugees are turned away. There's no way to know who can be trusted, and even if there were, there's not food enough for people who can't fight. Orzammar Thaig is still the dwarves' home--though with stealing shrinking numbers and poor prospects, King Bhelen has been amenable to allowing casteless surfacers some leeway--but the once-abandoned Ortan Thaig is the Inquisition's. Quietly. The only things stopping a full assault on Orzammar is the Venatori's need for dwarf-mined lyrium and the plausible deniability that the Inquisition's remaining rebel bands are using the Deep Roads with Bhelen's consent.

An hour's walk through caves and deepstalker swarms, Ortan is a city in its own right. A crammed city, one where cots and bunk beds crammed into shared housing are the norm no matter how important someone is and you occasionally have to protect your dinner from a restless, swooping griffon, but one where you can still find a pint of ale or a game of cards if you've time to waste on them. It's just that not many people do. There's the watch to keep; the tunnels that creep further into the deep teem with darkspawn who are held back at barricades, while the hidden, narrow tunnels that lead to the surface are watched at all hours so anyone coming or going can be identified. There are weapons to forge and sharpen. Plans to make. Bands to lead. Maybe you weren't a leader five years ago, but these days, there aren't that many people with more than five years' experience still alive to give orders. Fewer every week.

And so we burned. We raised nations, we waged wars,
We dreamed up false gods, great demons
Who could cross the Veil into the waking world,
Turned our devotion upon them, and forgot you.
Threnodies 1:8

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He laughed gently at that, aware of what he meant. He knew what others were like here, the reactions Sam must have received upon being seen. He was so very different from all of them in comparison that it had to feel good. Which was really his intent these days. To show there was still some hope out there.

"Good. Now, come. Come have some food with me and you can tell me of your experiences."

"I'm sure my story is a lot shorter then the one you have."

For him it's only been almost two weeks since leaving on the mission, and for the rest of the world it was five years ago that they disappeared. It was still difficult to follow that at times seeing as he had not witnessed the passing of time like the rest of them.

"Food sounds great."

"I will listen to a short tale and still tell you my long one."

He gave his head a rub that was filled with so much affection before wrapping his arm around him and bringing him with him. Away from everyone who might have judgement or question and to his place for some privacy. Just for a break. Waving for him to sit, he went to see about any soup they would have in the pot. They should surely have some of that left.

"Go on and begin while I get this for you."

For a time Sam is quiet, watching Iskandar move about the place he assumed was where he lived, curious to what he was getting him. When he isn't able to guess at what kind of food they would have on hand here he then moves to take a seat in the chair offered, plopping down with a small grunt - it felt good to be off his feet.

"Where should I begin?" he asks, though it is in a rhetorical sense since his gaze if off to the side while he rubs his chin. "I suppose the temple. We had made it to the place in a relatively quick amount of time after leaving Skyhold. Actually we didn't get to see much of it, a bit more perplexed by a campfire surrounded by old remains that were still sitting around the long snuffed out campfire. With a bear chewing on one of them."

Getting enough soup for the both of them, he brought the bowls over and set them on the table with some spoons to go with them. Sitting down, he listened to him as he took a bite of the broth.

"So you first arrived in Skyhold? Mm. Go on. Tell me more."

Sam thanks him for the food, leaning in to give it a sniff, but doesn't start eating right away, a bit engrossed in talking more at the moment.

"Actually we first arrived at the Temple of Sacred Ashes. That was the mission we were sent on, to go investigate a strange campfire. Except when we investigated it we ended up... in the same place but everything had changed. Not to mention the group of Venatori that were suddenly there and took us captive."

"And so you were taken captive. What happened then?" Resting his hands on the bowl, he let the warmth sink into his fingers. He didn't need the warmth since he was rather immune to the chill but he still enjoyed being able to feel it all the same. It was one of the reasons why he loved to have someone in bed with him. Jim lately.

"Tell me everything."

"A lot of us were given magebane, myself included, to make sure we didn't cause trouble. I don't know how long we, or at least myself, was out, but they had taken us all the way to Kirkwall and put us in the dungeon. Lucky me, I had a bear for a cell mate."

Come to think of it, what happened to that bear...?

"In there it's when we learned that five years had passed and that all of us had been thought dead. And then... everything just happened so quick. After a few days we were suddenly breaking out of the dungeons, fighting our way out of Kirkwall and traveling back to the South."

"You had a bear for a cell mate? It wasn't just you being a bear?"

It seemed a good enough question to him given the fact that he knew that Sam could turn into one. Stroking his chin, he nodded slowly.

"Yes. Five years. It was hard on us losing you. A lot has happened and changed since you were gone."

"Pretty sure I would've known if I was a bear." Also magebane. "And we weren't in the same cell. She was in the one next to mine, but yes, there was a bear in the dungeon with us." Which tried to chew on him a couple times, but that wasn't an important bit of information.

'Us'. Sam's lips thin slightly at hearing that. From how the others reacted it was easy to tell it had been hard, but with how energetically Iskandar had greeted him... it felt like time had not gone by and forgotten that he too had been one of the people to lose him. "I can see that. Exactly what happened, Iskandar?"

"It's a long tale. It begins with all of you going missing. Some looked for you but there were no traces. You were simply there one moment and gone the next."

He then began to tell him what had happened over the five years. How Corypheus had become bolder in his movements and how red lyrium darkspawn had begun spreading lyrium along with the blight. How someone claiming to be the Herald of Andraste had stepped forward to denounce the Inquisition. How leaders had fallen and how those with shards had been hunted. How many of them had died or been spread apart. How there had been some who had come here to Orzammar.

And he included how Pel's daughter was here living with Cyril. That he lived with Waver and Jim. He lifted a hand to the earring he wore. "Jim and I became very close over time. We are not exclusive for that is not our nature but we are very in love and bonded. I suppose one might say this is our version of a marriage."

There was a pause there that said he had more to say but he was pondering where to begin.

That sounded accurate; there one moment and gone the next. Nothing about them was left behind so of course the lot of them would be thought dead.

As Iskandar tells the story, Sam finds himself eventually looking down at the bowl of food in front of him, frowning. The Inquisition had been dealt a heavy blow and a lot scattered or killed, especially those who carried the mark. That meant that Iskandar, Waver and Jim were all staying here because they were being hunted.

His lips thin when he hears about Pel, didn't know that Cyril was taking care of her daughter. Honestly Cyril hadn't talked to him much, their meeting brief, and even if he had the mage wasn't sure he would've brought that up.

What eventually draws his eyes up though is Iskandar talking about Kirk. That... he's not sure how to respond to that, mostly since he still feels involved, but also extremely removed from the matter. It makes sense though, having five years together. It's an important fact since Iskandar makes it known, but at the same time it probably isn't something he should concentrate on at the moment.

Sam notices the pause though, tilting his head slightly. "There's more isn't there?"

His face became more serious as he went to show off the hand with the shard in it. Even now he could feel the pain spasm in it though there was no reaction for Sam to pick up on that. The spirit's pain tolerance was simply too high for that. Still, he knew now why it had been acting the way it had. What that meant for all those with the shards in their hands.

"A small group of us went on a mission to learn more about some with shards being killed. What we found there was not...what we thought it would be."

Iskandar let out a sigh then looked up at Sam, waited for him to look right into his red eyes before continuing.

"There was a facility where we found those with shards being experimented on. At first glance it seemed that they were being killed in order to intentionally advance these shards. However, that was not the case. We found evidence that told us that the Tevinter were trying to help these people. To slow down the progression."

He gave a soft laugh and shook his head. "It seems if you have one of these that within five years you reach the point of dying at any point. Every person with one of these in their hands here now unknowingly waits for the day when they will perish."

Seeing Iskandar present his hand Sam of course looks down at it, as if expecting something to happen. What had they found? When he doesn't hear the man continue he looks up, eyes narrowed in concern at the look that Iskandar was giving him.

The look on his face only grows more grim when he hears about the facility, but it's quickly replaced with a look of confusion. Slow down the progression? The progression of what- Sam's eyes grow wide when Iskandar answers his silent question, a myriad of emotions crossing his features.

"What?!" His chair fell back at how quickly Sam stood up, hands slamming on the table, only to have his bowl shake and spill some of the liquid past its brim onto his hand. He hissed lightly at that, taking his hands up instinctively, but his gaze was still focused on Iskandar.

The shards were killing people after five years? But everyone was saying they were gone for five years-!

He didn't tell him to calm down because he understood why Sam had reacted as he had. Honestly he had a right to. So instead he simply nodded to him then took Sam's hand so he could carefully dry it off. The burns weren't serious at least but it looked like they might sting awhile.

"We looked through their research and they had not found a way to put an end to what is happening. From what we can tell there is no stopping this. That or they might have begun this research too late. But in the end the fact remains that those of us with anchors could die at any point and there is no stop to it."

He didn't look afraid though, only accepting. He had faced death more than once now. If it was his time soon then it would be so.

It does sting in places, but at the moment Sam is too upset, too angry to care at the moment. Every time he learned something more about this future the worse it got. It takes a moment of Sam taking deep breathes before takes a seat again, apologizing quietly for spilling on the table, rubbing his hand softly.

"So you and Kirk-?" Five years would put Iskandar at that time threshold, and Kirk would be a year past that. He had been relieved to know that both of them were still alive, and now finding out that the shard was killing them? He suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore.

"... was there anything about slowing it down?"

"That is what they were experimenting on. They were looking for a way to slow it down, the growth of these anchors. However, there appears to be no progress and those with anchors are dying."

Iskandar actually took a moment to lift the bowl of his soup up to his mouth for a long and slow drink of it. Like he had nothing in the world to worry about. Naturally he did but he also knew that there was little point in him panicking over this. It would do no one any good.

"So there is no telling when this will strike for Jim and I. But when it does that is the end."

This was all a lot to take in; time travel, the Inquisition practically in shambles and living underground, being thought to be a demon or undead, and those he cared about dead or dying... he was just not quite prepared for this.

He knew in the back of his mind that being here, being part of this war, might mean Iskandar or Kirk could die, but to hear that what brought them here was slowly killing them? And he had not been here to help with any of it.

"Maker..." he sighs, bringing a hand up to rub at his face. "Does everyone know, or-?"

"No. Only myself, Waver, and Jim know. We haven't spread this around since it would cause panic." Iskandar was one to be open about things but he also knew when it was for the best not to. If one shared everything in times as dark as these then there would be no victory.

"Yet, I feel as if I should tell you this. It could be important for you should you be able to get back."

That... made sense, not to cause panic, but at the same time it wasn't fair to not let the others know. It wasn't a good situation either way.

And now he knew about it. If he ever got back-

Sam sighs heavily at this, resting his face in his hands as he leans against the table. He would have to inform the Inquisition and the Rifters of that, push for them to find ways to either stop it or send people home faster. He frowns heavily behind his hands at thinking about telling Kirk and Iskandar in his time. Iskandar he can see taking it with an odd calm like he had when the man informed him about dying when he got home. Kirk... he wasn't sure Kirk would react.

"Well that's if I can get back, right?"

"If? I feel as if some force brought you to this time so some force must be there to take you back."

Iskandar got up and went around to take Sam's hands in his own, to look up at his face as he knelt beside him. Even through all of this, his expression was still warm, the smile still there on his face. He knew all of this information now, had shared it with Sam as well, yet he was still finding the will to smile.

"Until then I can only further tell you that I have missed you and that it warms me to see you before me again."

'Like the rifts should be able to send you back home?' he thinks bitterly, biting his tongue. He isn't bitter at Iskandar in the least, not by a mile, but after hearing all that, how could he not be? The rifts had brought Iskandar and the others here, was killing them slowly, and still they had not found a way back, not even after five years.

Even with how he was feeling, Sam cannot help but snort lightly in disbelief at Iskandar once he kneels before him with those words. "Only you would find some way to be charming after talking about a subject like this."

Iskandar blinked at that then gave a soft laugh. "Ah well I refuse to let darkness take me. I have allowed despair to hold my heart before and I have screamed in agony from loss. Now is a time when my smile can do good so I will continue to wear it. And charm hearts as I go so that others might hopefully not feel the pain so strongly that I felt once many years ago."

Though he didn't talk about his death often it wasn't out of a lack of avoiding it. Rather it just didn't come up often. Iskandar wasn't at all ashamed of the sorrow that had led to him losing the will to live, after all.

Perhaps it is because they have spoken about Iskandar's deaths before - long ago technically he supposes - that he doesn't seem at all surprised to hear this. "I can't imagine it's easy to smile all the time, Iskandar. Especially with..." Sam sighs, his eyes peering around the room, "all this."

He doesn't mean the room itself - though it is a drastic change from what they had before - rather he's talking about the whole situation. The shards, rifts, the war, going underground... there had to be times where this was even too much for the large man.

"If things were always easy then they wouldn't be worth doing. I prefer not to walk a path that will be smooth and simple but rather a path that achieve greatness. I have seen dark times multiple times now. Possibly other times I do not even recall. This is what I can give in those moments."

Besides, others needed him for those smiles. It was their one glowing path in the darkness. Who would he be to deny them that last bit of light? No, he was still a King at heart and forever the one willing to be looked towards when other options ran out.

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el_tybs - 2017-04-29 04:50 (UTC) - Expand

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