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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Kirk could feel a headache forming and his eyebrow twitching. He loved Iskandar, he truly did, but sometimes the man's ego got ahead of his common sense and things like this happened. He could already sense there was probably no point in fighting. But he felt he had to anyways, on the off chance Iskandar would be reasonable just this once.

"It behooves us to take the time to understand what we're up against and have a proper plan in place. Running in with no plan and causing chaos is a sure way to get anyone who needs rescuing killed, or even myself and Waver," Kirk said firmly, looking hard at Iskandar. "This isn't an open field with the enemy laid out before you and their numbers known. It could just as easily be a trap. I agree you have the advantage for scouting with your ability to go invisible, and so you should do it, but we need a more solid plan than just running in and hoping for the best."

"They are but an illusion here. Something they will not realize."

He looked at his companions. His lover, his good friend. They were both correct in their own ways but he also did not feel that this was a trap. It felt very much like these people were not even aware that they were here yet. This gave them the advantage. As he saw it, scouting could put more live in danger since he would only be invisible. He would still be solid and would have to open a door. Should anyone be watching that door all surprise they would have would be gone.

"Mm. You two will not die here. The plan stands. You can either follow me to support or you can let me stand alone but I will bring us victory either way. My abilities are too dampened in this world to use them for proper scouting when I can alert the enemy with but an opening of a door. That would give them time to destroy all those within. This is our best chance to save as many lives as possible."

Decision made, he turned Bucephalus towards the facility.

"None of us said go through the door--" Waver began, but it was too late. Iskandar was off and running, and all Waver could do for a moment was rub the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger.

"I swear, he was easier to manage when I was nineteen," he muttered, more to himself than to Kirk. But with that tiniest bit of anger vented, Waver perked his head up.

"We're stuck going after him, but do you want to focus on rescue once we're inside, or backing up the giant who's decided to ignore us? After we get through the fighting, mind you."

This was the part he hated. Yes, he had come to accept it, but he hated it too. The part where Iskandar tossed aside their concerns, seemingly gave no thought to them and let his ego dictate everything. He didn't feel like his lover, his companion, or even his friend. He felt like one of his soldiers, a pawn so easily tossed away in his wake, and it always made his gut turn sour. His fingers tightened hard on the reigns, Atlas giving a nervous jig at the slight increase in pressure.

"He is so sure of his own victory, he can earn it himself. We focus on rescue," Kirk growled, realizing he was letting his irritation get the better of his judgement, but unable to stop it and frankly not wanting to. He looked to Waver and motioned at a slight angle to the shack. "Let's approach from there and let Iskandar distract them. While he has their attention, we can slip in and look for an alternate exit and get people out. Or research or whatever else we find of import before they can destroy it."

It was the best way he could see to make of, to his mind, Iskandar's poor planning. How he had ever managed to rule nearly half the known world was beyond him.

Iskandar rode forward and let out a battle cry. In that moment an entire army seemed to materialize with him. It allowed his companions to be hidden from sight as he rushed forward and used a powerful force to smash through the door. A hole was created as a result and he used that to allow his illusion army to filter through.

The surprise was on his side with what seemed to be Tevinter stumbling over themselves. He took that moment to establish where everything was. Research to the left on tables. Prisoners with shards to the right. If he used his army correctly then he could filter the enemy into the middle. So far they hadn't realized that this wasn't real save for him.

Grinning, he lifted his sword and gave another cry. "Surround them! Bring them to me!" The cries of his men could be heard as they rushed forward to close distances. Since the mages felt they would need that distance to cast their spells it forced them to move where he needed them in order to attack. Just what he needed as he rushed at them to slam them with his horse and the heel of his sword. Killing would be good but interrogation was useful in this case. So he needed knocked out mages rather than dead ones.

All of this had to be terribly frustrating for the paid who had disagreed with him since it meant that his idiotic plan was working.

Waver only nodded in agreement with Kirk, before turning his attention to Iskandar's approach on the facility. The part of Waver that remained frustrated with the plan as-is critiqued it bitterly as the door was smashed, and all the rest filtered in. The part of Waver that was still a young man engrossed with Iskandar could only look on and be impressed at the proceedings.

"I think he's done the distracting thing for long enough."

And with that, Waver was off and headed towards the facility himself, knowing full well that there would only be chaos once he got in there.

It was frustrating. It was frustrating because this plan had so many weaknesses and ridiculous components and made no sense at all, which really hurt his image of Iskandar as Alexander the Great frankly. It was frustrating because it fed Iskandar's ego and made him impossible after. Not that Kirk wanted him to fail, per say, it would have just been nicer to have had their words better considered than the fluttering of birds' wings.

Kirk clicked his tongue and followed Waver down to the battlefield, working up the magic of his shard and drawing his staff from his back. He really would have to thank Iskandar later for the chaos, in that it only made this harder. Kirk whistled to Waver to get his attention above the noise, making a motion towards an opening for them to hurry through and go to where he could see prisoners and hope they remained unnoticed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the two come in and immediately rode his horse around to body block anyone from seeing them. Even with all that was going on, he was still aware of his surroundings and was working to make sure that the other two had the opening they needed.

In the cage there were some young men and women in what seemed to be modern attire. Rifters who had been captured but had never quite adapted to life here. Some others had and were there too but one thing was clear. All were obviously not of this world and had the anchors in their hands.

One older woman looked up from where she was. She looked so much like the old woman who had been Waver's 'grandmother' when he'd been in Japan with Iskandar. Another actually looked like an alien race belonging to Jim's world. They stared at their saviors as if they couldn't believe they were really there, some clinging to their hands due to the pain that was associated there. A young man stepped forward then.

"You're here...for us?"

Chaos felt like an understatement of what was being stepped into. There were too many pools of stuff on the floor from blood and from broken bottles, too many pieces of parchment scattered about, and far too much yelling. Waver had zero doubt that this was what the battlefield was like when Iskandar had flesh and blood, and that was something he'd need to meditate on in the days to come.

There was no magic from Waver. His abilities weren't strong enough for combat - they never would be. He had long ago accepted that, and so he instead drew into his pocket to take out a small knife. Gripping it tightly, he began to jam it into the nearest lock and began to fiddle.

"If you can run, move over to my right. If you can't, to my left so we know how many of you will need help," he said, voice low and terse. There was zero point in chit-chat.

Five years had thankfully dulled him to this sort of thing. Later it would rush in and he could let himself properly process it, but for his now his brain merely accepted it was there, and he kept moving. There wasn't time to be horrified or confused or any other emotion. There were people that needed them, a mission to complete.

Kirk came up beside him and put his hand on his shoulder. "Let me," he said, pointing his shard hand at the lock and firing a blast. There was no time to be pretty about this, or worry about what the people in the cells would think. Iskandar's chaos would last only so long and they needed to capitalize on that.

"Get them organized. I'm going to grab what I can in the next minute and be back," he said, turning to see to the scattered papers. He didn't bother to look at them, just grabbed and stuffed, sometimes whacking an opponent when they took an interest in him or Waver's efforts.

Jim and Waver seemed to be doing well but he kept the majority of the enemies away from them. They didn't need to be near them when those two were doing some good. Whatever experiments these people had been running, he would not allow it to continue. So already he was watching the enemy grab companions to haul them out, rather terrified of the army that seemed to respond so easily to the man on the horse.

He made a note to see about burning this place to the ground once everyone was out. Riding his horse over, he body blocked some that tried to stop the prisoners. "Go. Get out of here. We will protect you and lead you somewhere safe. Boy, take them to where we saw this place from. I will send Jim to follow you then I will come after."

"I need extra hands for those who can't move under their own steam if you can spare it," Waver said tersely to Iskandar, his eyes now on how the two groups had separated out. The split was maybe seventy percent able bodies, which was good, but it was still a lot of people to leave behind. He didn't want to do that if he didn't have to.

After a beat, his eyes went to see where Jim was standing in all of this and - ah. Good. Documentation. They'd need that to compliment all eyewitness accounts.

Seeing Iskandar move to the victims, Kirk figured his time was running short. He stuffed a few last pages and then came back over to the cage, glancing at the split and taking in what the able bodied people looked like in terms of physical strength.

"If anyone is capable of helping another, do so," Kirk commanded. He didn't like asking them to put themselves through even more, but their options were limited and they had little time and choice. The clock was ticking. "We need to hurry. I know you're probably in pain right now, and we will get you help as soon as we can, but we need to get somewhere safe first." He held out his arms. "I can carry one of you. My horse can carry two, possibly three."

It was all he could offer, and he hoped it would be enough to galvanize them, to give them hope.

"I can." His illusion was fading now but they had what they needed. Iskandar got down from his horse and went to gather up a few who looked able to ride but couldn't walk. With the size of his horse he was able to put several there and he patted the horse's nose. "Take them to safety on the hill, my friend. Then protect them."

The horse tossed his head then went trotting out as Iskandar went to lower himself so Waver could help put the older woman onto his back who was saying something about Alexi. He didn't have time to dwell on it just now though. They had to get these people to safety before they could spend time on the fact that any of them might be from their worlds. Or that they might know them.

Once she was on his back, he was helping a couple smaller people onto the horse his lover was riding. "Ride out to the others, Jim. Waver, follow him. I will bring up the back."

He said this even as he lifted one more person into one of his arms, his other still free to use his sword. Yet he still looked like he could indeed take on many like this, the look in his eyes challenging anyone to oppose him in that moment. This wasn't a time for argument. They needed to move out. Now.

"Can any of your illusions provide side cover for exit?"

Waver could see it too easily. Everyone at the door, and then one last well placed shot by a Tevinter agent who was clinging onto life just enough to ruin everything. It would be too easy to do, in all honesty, and hell. If he was on the other side, that was exactly what he would be doing.

It moreover wasn't argument, it was suggestion, and Waver made a point of moving towards the center of those starting to make their way out. He could and would focus on remaining the center link, but his mind was the best at anticipating worst case scenarios.

Moreover, and far more importantly, he took a final glance around. "We haven't missed anyone, have we?"

Kirk could see it too. It would take just one to screw them all over, and he knew by now that Iskandar's illusions were not limitless. The clock was very much against them, and he suspected luck.

"I didn't see anymore when I was grabbing research," Kirk said, at least, none alive. At this point, they didn't have time to go back and check. It wasn't a thought he liked having, but it was the realistic one. He took a frailer prisoner in his arms and looped his other arm around someone slightly stronger, pushing up to his feet.

"I'm take these two to Atlas and get the others away," Kirk said with a tight nod. "I'll come back to you both, so try and get outside before then." The look he cast Iskandar said much, filled with a warmth and concern and the needing of a promise. You had said victory, Iskandar. You had best deliver or he'll never forgive you.

With that he hurried out, mounting up on Atlas and grabbing Bucephalus' reigns, running towards a safer area.

"Go, boy. It will be easier for me to bring up the back. Follow him."

Iskandar was already looking back and he raised his sword to give a mighty cry. A moment later a powerful force slammed into a support for the room. A breath and he repeated it, causing the area to start to fall. It wouldn't land on anyone unconscious to his knowledge but it certainly would prevent anyone from following after them.

With things falling around him, he took off running towards the entrance and where the prisoners and horses were waiting with his companions.

Well, that worked.

Waver remained towards the rear ofo the group, his eyes searching and scanning for any sign of things gone awry. He watched Jim haul ass out of there, then Iskandar coming towards them. That was a sign that there was no lingering at this point, and things would be as safe as humanly possible.

"Okay, that everything?" he asked Iskandar, looking for the final okay to move out. His eyes moved beyond the door, and to where the crowd was starting to gather. "Looks like the bulk of folks are out of the line of fire."

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

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