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

There's an understanding nod of his own at that one. It'd taken a fair amount of time for him to get the armor and weapons that he tended to use, apart from the knife currently sheathed at his side, which had come through the rift with him. Prompto seems confident enough when it comes to using the sword, though, and if it'll help him, Jamie's glad enough to lend it for the moment. It's not as though he doesn't have a few tricks up his sleeve - literally. He holds up the hand with the shard in it, his mouth quirking into a slightly lopsided grin.

"Aye, well, it'll not be the first time I've fought the demons here with things other than swords. This comes in handier than you might think. Ah, no pun intended."

Prompto gives the sword a few testing swings, trying to get a feel for its weight. Funnily enough, this is the second time he's had to use one. He had to fight with one when he first came out of the Rift that dumped him in Thedas.

He laughs a little at the unintended pun. "Still totally worth the pun. Okay, do you wanna open this thing or should I? I haven't done it yet, honestly. This is the first one I've come across since the one that brought me here."

"Ah, so you've not had much of a chance to deal with them yet, then."

There's more than one rifter that hasn't, so that doesn't surprise him so much. The fact that Prompto's here, though, is a good thing. The more people with shards that can get the hang of dealing with rifts, the less rifts there'll be - and maybe the folk around here get the notion that the rifters are helping and not something to be feared while they're at it.

He can hope, anyway.

For the moment, however, he opts to study the rift considering it thoughtfully for a moment before glancing over his shoulder at Prompto and bringing his hand up at the same time.

"Opening's a wee bit trickier than closing, I'd say, but I've done it a time or two. I could have a go at opening if you want and once we've dealt with the demons should be easy enough for you to close it. If you want the practice, though, I can talk you through it instead."

Prompto considers it for a moment. Honestly, he's not comfortable at all with his shard yet. Using it unnerves him, though he doesn't want to admit it. "Ah, you can take opening and I'll do the close? Work my way up to opening one eventually." If he says it, he hopes it'll make him stick to it and eventually do it.

What Prompto says makes sense - and really, he can't blame the man for wanting to work his way up to opening one. That part of it isn't something that even he's entirely comfortable with. Fighting off demons that pop in out of nowhere's one thing. Knowing you're the one who's in charge of letting them loose is another. Not doing it isn't an option, though, and the sooner the demons are taken care of, the better. His answering nod is only a second or so in following, and he shifts his weight slightly, readying himself to react to whatever's coming out the rift.

"Right. Let's do this. Get ready."

Even with that, he has every intention on letting Prompto the chance to get settled first, though, and he watches out of the corner of his eye until he's sure that the other man is as ready to go. Only then does he turn his mind to seeking and finding that sort of edge that Galadriel described to him at one point. Once he has it, he stretches out his hand a bit further, twisting it a little even as he mentally reaches out and 'pulls'.

It's still an odd feeling, but there's no time to dwell on it. The moment he 'pulls', the rift swells, bulging outward in a flare of light - and the demons waiting on the other side sense the opening and start to boil through, even before the flare of light fully fades away. The fight, it seems, is on.

Prompto gets into a fighting stance, sword clutched in hand as he watches and waits for the rift to open and for the demons to come. He hates this, this waiting for the fight. Knowing it's coming but having to wait and anticipate, not knowing what's going to come out.

One of the demons that crawls through is one he hasn't seen before. It's bright red and hot, like it's made of lava or something. To the informed, it's a Rage demon, and it comes out already breathing out fire and lashing out at the two men.

"Looks like it's gonna get a little toasty!" Because what's a battle without some awful pun. Prompto runs in, swinging at the demon. The swing is clumsy but it connects, slicing into its lava-y hide.

And like all awful puns, it gets a response from Jamie - namely a faint groan coupled with a brief grimace. In other situations, it might have also garnered a comment on his end, but with the demons starting to pour through, there's no time for a witty reply. Instead, he brings his hand up, pointing it towards a pair of semi-transparent green shapes that have popped up at the far edges of the field

They don't seem to be inclined to close to attack but these demons are Wraiths, and more than capable of firing upon them from a distance, something they show no hesitation in doing. Luckily, Jamie's hand is up for a reason, and as they fire, he fires right back, sending bolts of rift energy back towards them in return. However, he's more than aware of the danger the rage demon poses, and while he's moving to dodge the blows from the wraiths, he calls a warning back over to Prompto.

"Watch that one! It can burn you if it connects!"

Prompto gawks for a moment at Jamie deflecting the shots, and he almost asks how he managed that, but the Rage demon cuts off his forming question with a swipe of its arm. It narrowly misses Prompto as he drops and rolls. He figures it's safer that way, in case his clothes accidentally catch on fire.

"If you get those guys, I can handle lava breath here!"

If Prompto wants, he'll happily explain later. For right now, he knows he's got to focus, since if he doesn't take the wraiths down quickly, they'll be trouble. The rage demon's trouble as well, but he knows once he takes out the wraiths he'll be able to help there - assuming the little green patches of light all around that seem to swell and bubble aren't signs that terror demons are hiding and biding their time before attacking.

He can't really worry about that, however, and he brings his hand up again, sending another beam of rift energy towards one of the wraiths. It's a solid hit, and while the wraith's not out yet, it's definitely showing signs of injury.

"Aye, alright then," he calls back. "Keep an eye out, though. There could be more around here we've not spotted yet!"

"Roger that!" He's not as cautious as he should be. He's still inexperienced with these things, and he's hardly seen the extent of the different kinds of demons and what they're capable of. Someday he will. Probably the hard way.

He turns his attention back to the rage demon. It spits more fire at him, but Prompto's ready to dodge it. He still feels the heat through his boots, but at least the lava's on directly on them. Pretty sure that would hurt a fair bit. He swipes at the demon again, then spins and digs his dagger into the beast. It roars in pain. Prompto takes his sword and thrusts it into the demon, twisting and turning until the creature goes down.

"Ha, got-"

Too bad he doesn't see that demon come from under him and strike him, sending him flying before crashing to the ground. So much for being careful.

Careful, unfortunately, does not help when it comes to terror demons, something Jamie's learned from experience. Knowing when they're turned up, however, is easier, simply because of the sound they make - that unholy shriek that be felt in your bones. Luckily, he's far enough away that it doesn't send him reeling, like it's done in the past. And also luckily the wraiths have already been weakened enough that a well-timed move of his hand is enough to drop first one, then the other.

What's not as lucky is that he's far enough away from Prompto that it's going to take him a few seconds to get over there, although he has the presence of mind to grab up the lid from a broken barrel and throw it like a frisbee towards the terror demon. It's not going to do much in the way of damage at all, but with luck it should distract the demon and hopefully buy Prompto a few precious seconds to scramble free. In the meantime, Jamie starts to run towards the demon, brandishing his dirk in one hand and yelling at the top of his lungs in the hopes it'll distract the demon further.

"Creag an tuire!!"

Prompto only hears the lid slam into the demon, and he only hears it screech in distress - or maybe just annoyance, who would like being hit by a lid like that. Whatever's going on, he can't see at the moment, but he crawls away when he feels the demon lift off of him even the tiniest fraction.

The good news is, he breaks free, the terror demon more focused on the mortal yelling and charging at him. Bad news is, his weapons went flying who knows where when he got hit, so he's left with nothing but his fists. "Crap. Crap crap crap, where did...?"

He finds one in the distance, and makes a run to grab it.

So far, so good. Prompto's free, and the terror demon is - well, okay, so it's more annoyed than hurt, but it's also quite nicely focused on Jamie, which is exactly what he wants right now. That's not to say it's not dangerous, mind, and it viciously swipes at him with both a talon-tipped hand and a barbed tail as it leaps forward. He manages to twist to one side to avoid the blow from the hand, but the tail strikes his leg - not as badly as it might have if he hadn't been dodging, but still hard enough that it brings out a hiss of pain on his end.

However, he can still move, and that's the important thing. Undaunted, he jumps at it, using what's left of his momentum to bringing up his arm and strike, the dirk slicing along its side and leaving a rather nasty-looking score along its side. So long as he can keep its attention firmly focused on him, Prompto should be able to make it to that sword - and to that end, he darts away again, trying to draw the creature back and away from where the weapon'd wound up after being knocked free, adding in some taunts for good measure.

"Take that, you overgrown twig! Let's see how you like being the one that's sliced up, eh?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OPEN LOG: Establishing a Base in Kirkwall

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rl is not cooperating rn, sorry for the delay

no worries!

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