faderift | OPEN LOG: Establishing a Base in Kirkwall

OPEN LOG: Establishing a Base in Kirkwall

WHO: Many People
WHAT: Cleaning up Kirkwall
WHEN: Cloudreach 1-21
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: This log post is for characters who go early to Kirkwall to assist in preparing it for the rest of those assigned there. We strongly encourage IC discussion of things left to character discretion—someone should definitely do a crystal post to discuss what to do with the personal belongings left behind in the Gallows or what new form the statues should take!

Kirkwall once lived on the edge of the Tevinter Imperium and was home to nearly a million slaves. Stolen from elven lands or shipped from across the sea, all slaves fed the Imperium's unquenchable thirst for expansion. They worked in massive quarries and sweltering foundries that produced stone and steel for the Empire.

The city's complicated past is not easy to forget, history having earmarked many corners of the stone city. A ship approaching the harbor spots the city's namesake: an imposing black wall. It is visible for miles, and carved into the cliff side are a pantheon of vile guardians representing the Old Gods. Over the years, the Chantry has effaced many of these profane sentinels, but it will take many more years to erase them all.

Also carved into the cliff is a channel that permits ships into the city's interior. Flanking the channel are two massive bronze statues—the Twins of Kirkwall. The statues have a practical use. Kirkwall sits next to the narrowest point of the Waking Sea, and a massive chain net can be erected between the statues and the lighthouse, closing off the only narrow navigable lane. This stranglehold on sea traffic is jealously guarded by the ever-changing rulers of the city as the net trolls taxes, tolls, and extortions in from the sea.

—From In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of a Chantry Scholar, by Brother Genitivi

Establishing a presence in Kirkwall is a delicate matter. First, there's Provisional Viscount Bran Cavin—a man so used to batting back friendly offers of entirely harmless occupation of the battered city-state that his first three responses to the Inquisition's leadership appeared to be slightly personalized form letters. Proving that the Inquisition is here to work and not to conquer will be a process. The first step in that process is the second reason the move is delicate: the only building the Provisional Viscount is willing to part with is the Gallows, left quarantined and unoccupied since Knight-Commander Meredith Stannard's famous crystallization into red lyrium in the courtyard. The Gallows have since overgrown with red lyrium. If anyone is going to live and work there, there's a lot of work to do.

↠ Cloudreach 1-3: The Journey There
↠ Cloudreach 3-4: Arrival
↠ Cloudreach 4-14: Haunted
↠ Cloudreach 14-21: Spring Cleaning

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh, COME ON."

Prompto barely skirts out of the way before a statue tries to stomp on him. Luckily, before the statue can get much further, it's suddenly sucked into Inessa's Pull. He hears her call for help and runs over, though admittedly:

"What do you need? I... only have a dagger. I don't know how you'd even fight one of those things. They're solid rock!"

Only a dagger--Inessa shoots him a worried look, not wanting to endanger Prompto in the process. But there's no real time for anyone to head back and arm/armor up. Whatever happens, happens now.

"We need distractions! The workers must finish the red lyrium removal, or this will never end!" And Garahel can't protect her all by himself, much as he's trying. She yells at her mabari to get back before casting Veilstrike, twisting and pulling at the essence of the Fade, causing them to slam back down. But they'll recover, and they outnumber the trio.

Distractions, huh?

"I can do that, keep their attention on me while you do your thing. Will you be able to keep this up awhile?"

Prompto's not the greatest fighter ever, but he is a quick runner, if nothing else.

"I should hope so!" Meaning, there really isn't another choice. Inessa's used to battle, but usually alongside other Grey Wardens and facing darkspawn, not...statues. Speaking of which, those that were knocked down are starting to get back up and the ground trembles as they approach. As quickly as she can, Inessa begins placing misdirection hexes, one after another. Those hexes flare to life as one steps within range, swings...and misses. They'll have a harder time making their direct attacks connect now, but it won't take away the force of those blows that do manage to overcome such luck.

And not everything takes the direct approach, either. As Inessa still works on casting those hexes, a statue begins pummeling the ground beneath it, causing it to tremble even more. Garahel yelps, skidding off-balance and the elven mage stumbles, losing her chance to finish what she started.

Prompto nearly falls over from the trembling, barely managing to stumble and stay on his feet. Dagger out, he runs at the statue and swipes at it with the blade. It... really doesn't do much, but it does at least draw the thing's attention. The statue leans down and swipes at Prompto, but its slow movements make it easy to dodge.

Time to play chicken.

Prompto whistles loudly, waving his arms and causing enough of a ruckus that he's got their eyes on him. Ten to one, this will end with him getting drop kicked across the place by a walking statue, but hey.

Inessa will look for a good opening to hit Prompto with a Barrier spell, but at the moment she has to make his attention-getting stunts worthwhile. She focuses on shielding the workers further for the moment, causing a wall of ice to sprout up between them and the statues. It won't last under sustained assault, but it will have to do for now.

Garahel enthusiastically joins in the game of chicken, aiding Prompto by playing it from the other end once he's on his feet again. He charges, becoming a mabari-shaped battering ram only in time for that statue to become distracted by the noise from Prompto. If only there were fewer statues to content with...and not all of them were hit by the hexes.

The distraction game won't work forever. The statues swipe at him a few times. Most narrowly miss, but one clips him and sends him stumbling. He groans and gets to his feet, trying to keep moving.

They have to bring these things down. Surely there's a weak spot on them somewhere.

He looks up at their faces. They have eyes. And those are usually weak.

"The heads!" he shouts before he grabs onto one of the statues and begins to try and climb up. This might not be the brightest idea he's ever come up with...

Well, so much for hoping he would remain unharmed before she gets that Barrier off. Inessa winces at the stumbling at sends some healing magic Prompto's way, layering on a Barrier afterward. It cuts down on her response time with the statues, but she doesn't care, preferring to keep others as alive as possible. When he starts to climb up, Inessa aims her staff at the head while Garahel attacks from below.

He has no idea if this will work, but hey, no risk, no reward. It's a dangerous climb up the statue as it moves and tries to swat Prompto off. He nearly loses his footing once or twice, but eventually he reaches its face. The statue goes to slam its hand against Prompto. He quickly stabs his knife into its eye... or eye socket. Whatever it has. Surprisingly, the knife goes in. The statue reels and drops to its knees, knocking Prompto off as it falls.

"Well done!" Because really, bringing down one of those big solid statues with a dagger is no insignificant feat. Even so, Inessa worries as to whether his luck will hold with the rest. So it's time to think of large area-of-effect spells, those that will whittle these down to an amount they can easily dispatch.

"Lead them here, then give me room!" She'll do the rest, hopefully negating some property damage by being out in the open instead of closer to the walls.

Yeah, that was his burst of luck and Prompto knows better than to think it'll last. Still, he's got to try. As he gingerly gets to his feet, he nods to her and begins waving his arms at the statues, trying to get their attention again. Not that it's particularly hard, given he's in the middle of the lot. They converge on him, and rather quickly. He starts running, but one goes to stomp on him. He dodges, if only barely.

"Oh crap oh crap!"

He's running for his life, leading them towards where Inessa needs them and just generally trying to GTFO of the area.

Garahel tries to provoke them onward with his barking, though he remains close to Inessa so she can work her magic. She has to be careful with its exact placement and timing, so her spell isn't instant. Once she's certain that they won't have a better chance, Inessa summons a volley of flaming meteors, raining fire down upon the statues for the next several seconds. It won't be kind to the courtyard, but if they can destroy the majority of the statues in one blow, then she couldn't care less about property damage.

Well, that's a new one for Prompto. "Holy crap!" He runs and dives for cover, scrambling under some stone jutting out as the meteors rain down.

Good idea, Prompto. The meteors tear into the nearby statues, brutally pummeling them into the ground. When the last meteor has fallen, the area is a sea of dented statue pieces and scorch marks. Even the most intact of the lot area still badly damaged and considerably less mobile than before. It wouldn't take much to finish them off now, and since Inessa is a bit winded after unleashing that much magic, Garahel rushes to help with that.

When the coast is clear, so to speak, Prompto crawls out from under his hiding spot. The statues definitely seem worse for wear. Prompto isn't terribly far behind Garahel, running into the fray a ways behind him, dagger out and ready to plunge. One statute is on its knees and looks unable to get up, so Prompto takes the opportunity to sink his dagger into its side, hacking and slashing a few times until the thing finally seems to crumble and collapse for good.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OPEN LOG: Establishing a Base in Kirkwall

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