OPEN LOG: Establishing a Base in Kirkwall

[faderifting]

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

Comments

Healing

[gatheringstorm]

For Korrin, it was less one particular incident and more the fact that she had been working long hours, with perhaps less care than she should have taken. While there are no bruises and cuts on her body, nor anything broken, eventually her work had resulted in some pulled muscles and a lot of pain as she hobbled over to wherever the medics had set up. This is definitely one of those times where Korrin regrets not learning even the basics of healing magic.

"Fuck that hurts. I need a little help here...or someone to put me out of my misery." So dramatic. Thanks to being distracted, Korrin hasn't absorbed rumors about an Avvar in Kirkwall but being right there, face-to-face gives her pause amidst her complaining. "...Kattrin?"

[theexile]

It was the voice that had caused her to respond before anyone else. She knew this woman, like it had been another lifetime ago. Then again among her people it would be. And then again she knew she should stop calling them her people even in her own head.

"Korrin." Yes, she remembered this Qunari woman who had visited her former hold. Back when she'd been married and learning to become a spiritual leader. But that time was gone now and in this moment Korrin needed healing.

"Sit." The fennec at her feet came to sniff the Qunari then danced away to jump into Kattrin's bag instead. "It has been a season since I last saw you. What ails you?"

[gatheringstorm]

"Let me guess, I've grown since then." Korrin manages a wry grin that turns into a wince. "Pulled a muscle in my back and I still haven't gotten the time or talent to learn how to fix it with magic. Believe me, I'm rethinking my life choices about now. It almost feels as though my nuggalope trampled me."

[theexile]

Kattrin gave her an amused sort of look before giving a wave to have her lay down instead. "In that case on your stomach." She wouldn't need those clothes off if it was just a strain but better access to the injured area certainly wouldn't harm anything. And once she had Korrin like that, she was softly murmuring a prayer to her gods so that she could use them to heal this woman. Her own skills were impressive but she always felt most comfortable with the spirits guiding her.

[gatheringstorm]

Not about to make a fuss, Korrin complies and lays down as instructed. As Kattrin gets to work, she less out a quiet sigh of relief. "That...helps...." The intense throbbing of that pulled muscle begins to subside, giving her pain-fogged mind a chance to clear.

[theexile]

As the repair began, she was able to relax and let the magic flow through Korrin so that strained muscles were relaxed and tension unwound. A better cure for a strain than touching it honestly. Though... "You should be aware of how you lift to avoid such damage to your back, Korrin."

[gatheringstorm]

This has the most relaxed she's been since arriving to Kirkwall, so Korrin is slow to sit up. A wry smile forms as she does so, rubbing her neck. "Yeah, well, things happen when you get distracted. I'm sure you noticed how there's a fuck-ton of work to do everywhere you look.

...hey, did you just get here? Why aren't you at the hold? Not that I'm complaining."

[theexile]

She'd known that question was coming so she took a moment to rise to her feet while she gathered her thoughts. Just to be sure that she would be able to answer well. Korrin was someone she trusted and knew so she felt she deserved an answer to the question presented.

"I would now be dead to the hold since I left and put myself in exile. Many things took place since the time you last were there and I broke my oath. I would never be welcome there again." Looking over at the fennec that was sitting there watching them with a tilted head, she sighed softly. "After I left I feel the gods gave me signs to join the Inquisition instead. For this holy quest they are on."

And that guilt of breaking her oath was one that she would have to continue to carry. For this had been her own choice.

[gatheringstorm]

"Exile??" Korrin sits up straighter, eyebrows raising. And she did this voluntarily? "Andraste's ass, what the hell happened? You don't strike me as someone who'd just up and leave without a damn good reason.

...and damn, that's some weird timing since we just left the Frostbacks." She shakes her head, though her expression is sympathetic. "Does that make it better or worse?"

[theexile]

"It is something I have yet to decide. The better or worse." She was away from her people who were no longer her people. Perhaps distance was for the best. However, would it end up being so good for her? That much she couldn't say just yet.

"There was...an incident. I was given a sign that night to run." At least she felt it was a sign. She'd been in a great deal of pain at the time. "This is not a place for more detail though."

Korrin was one she felt could have her story. However, telling it in a place where anyone could hear seemed to not be the best of ideas.

[gatheringstorm]

"Fair enough." Korrin glances around, seeing for herself how not-so-private their surroundings are, by necessity. People need easy access to healers, after all. "Tell you what, if you feel up to talking whenever you're not working, I've a small set-up nearby. It's a little more private than this. I don't know that we'll get much more so until we're all settled in."

[theexile]

Kattrin nodded, grateful that Korrin would respect her wishes on this. Then again, she never thought for even a second that the Qunari woman would not. Their interactions had been brief when Korrin had visited her former hold but they had been memorable. Apparently to the both of them since she had been remembered as well.

"When things have settled more then I will come to you. We can talk in length then where outside ears will be less likely to hear us." She was not keeping this to herself really. It was more that she felt this was something deeply personal that someone would have to earn the right to learn. Or stumble on. In Korrin's case she'd truly earned the fact.

[gatheringstorm]

"Let me know your poison, I'll have some ready." It's only fair to have difficult conversations accompanied by good drink, after all. Korrin rolls her shoulders and sighs in relief. "Thanks, by the way. That would have been hell to deal with all day, and I've had no real rest later. I know, I know, one day I should really learn this stuff for myself. But I'm ass with Creation magic."

[theexile]

"I have no preference for drink but thank you for whatever you share." Kattrin could hold her drink rather well since alcohol could be good for keeping the body warm during harsh winters in the mountains. Besides, the dwarves were fond of their drink and pleased to share should the trade call for it.

She offered the woman a smile then. "I have good memories of your visit to the hold. It was an honor to heal your hurt."

[gatheringstorm]

"It's too bad I don't have anything left from my last visit to Honey Badger Hold. But don't worry, I still have quality stuff I've been saving." And maybe the other selections won't be a stark reminder to Kattrin of what she left behind. That smile prompts one of her one. "Likewise, it's good seeing you again. Kirkwall's a strange place for a fresh start, but if a bunch of Fereldans fleeing the Blight could make it work, then so can you."

[theexile]

"Thank you. Your words mean much to me." She'd been needing something like that. Though she was hardly shaken in her faith or the path that she had chosen, it hardly meant that the little demons of doubt didn't try to eat at her. To hear that she could make a new start here... "I will call on you when things are more settled. Try not to work so hard until then."