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

[faderifting]

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

Comments

[conqueredhearts]

"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.

[kartereo]

"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?"

[universal_charm]

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.

[conqueredhearts]

"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.

[kartereo]

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."