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

Diana/Wonder Woman | catch all | OTA

[intruthandlove]

1. All Around the Low Towns

The good news was she's done this sort of thing before: dropped head first into a world she didn't know, where things so much bigger than herself were already in motion. At least she spoke the language this time. That helped. She still had quite a bit of current events to catch up on.

In between that, she made herself useful, if only because she would go absolutely mad otherwise. Her mother would have a fit to see her now: dressed in hand-me down leggings and tunic, running errands for snappish men. But her mother is dead.

So.

There is no reason to limit herself to the Inquisition when there's the need to make a little good will with the locals, so the word does spread that if one needs a tall, beautiful and disturbingly strong woman to do a task that isn't morally dubious, call for that crazy Rifter woman.

1b. Drink Up Me Hearties Yo Ho!

The Hanged Man makes her think of her time in space. The people here are certainly no less diverse than her old crew, vicious and rough and at times more than a little thirsty for violence. It is shockingly easy to slip back into that part of herself. When she wasn't Wonder Woman. When she was Captain Diana of the unbound ship Hippolyta.

She lounges in her chair, no less commanding a presence than when she stands tall and straight, but the sharp watchfulness of her gaze is shuttered behind the play of an almost roguish smile. She'll wave over to anyone who looks like a native and glances at her a half second too long, gesturing them over. "Ho friend, join me in a drink?"

2. Stone vs Clay

They might not know what else to make of the strange Rifter, but there's one certainty about Diana and that is that she is disturbingly strong and durable. So it makes sense that the durable and strong get sent to deal with the other disturbing articles in the Gallows.

Diana does not like red lyrium. It is entierly possible that the red lyrium isn't wild about her either. It hums louder in her presence, the air shimmering and rippling as spirits on the edge of consciousness jostle around. Though that maybe just be the large hammer she's been using on the massive cluster dominating a room. It's hot, uncomfortable work and the red lyrium itches at her skin and mind. The mark in her left hand aches, a steady, unpleasant throb like a second heart beat.

Diana does the only sensible thing one can do when there's work to be done and a demonic presence to ignore: she strips off her shirt, tying it around her face and nose. She binds the lasso around the mark in her hand, over her arm, around her shoulders and chest and down her other arm. The lasso is not itself. It does not open her up and strip open her heart and mind the way it has in the past. But it grounds her. It clears her head enough to go back to swinging the hammer.

The room cuts a strange, but striking scene; a tall, strong woman- her face wrapped and nearly naked from the waist up- the gold of the rope wrapped around her glowing bright in the dim room, burning against the haunting red of the lyrium that cracks and shrieks and shatters as she brings the hammer down again. The heavy presence of the spirits lingers in the room, punctuated by the occasional piece of furniture or plateware flying across the room to crash against the wall or Diana's hammer.

2b. For Asgard!

A large hammer, as it turns out, is also an excellent tool against screaming, lumbering statues. Diana normally doesn't favor two handed weapons, but she makes due in a pinch, swinging it hard into the middle of one of the statues with a grunt.

"Watch your head and get behind me." She's not really paying attention to who she's talking to, but she really does hope they follow her advice.

3. Rest and Recreation.

Diana can lift heavy things, but the finer details of construction and repair are a little outside her wheelhouse. She goes where she is needed, but is occasionally side tracked by the crowd of natives outside the gates. She smiles and calls out to them, occasionally answering a inane question or two, careful never to reveal anything that may be too important. It's difficult to say if anything she knows at this point is important, she's still gathering her own information.

Like now. She stands among a group of women, laundry on their hips, pausing to interrogate the stranger on their way to the fountains, but sidetracked in their question by a sweet smile and the genuine curiosity. What has been going on in this city? That's all she wants to know. Just a little gossip.

4. Wildcard!
Choose Your Own Adventure.

2b.

[poleaxe]

Ioane has been tasked with giving refreshments to the workers, which is fine, honestly, it's easy. Running food back and forth is pitifully simple compared to the work everyone else is doing, the work she's done before. So, passing out beer and brown bread to workers, she lets her guard down.

Damn fool she is.

The statues come to life, and Ioane screeches in fear. The fear is good, it boils over into anger quick-- how dare these things, these abominations, try to get the jump on her? She lets the food spill to the floor, and holds the wooden tray like a weapon. It's a shitty weapon, but if she's gonna get crushed by a statue, she's gonna go down swinging.

A lady with a hammer calls out, and it looks like she knows her mind. Ioane gets behind her, but she's still tensed, ready to spring. She refuses to cower. "If you gotta plan," she says, "I'd love to hear it."

[intruthandlove]

"Something like that."

It's the only preamble Diana gives before she swings her hammer, putting all of her strength into the blow. The giant crumbles at the knees, falling forward. Diana reaches behind her, lifting the young woman without warning and jumps back, keeping them both clear of the creature's path. Gently as she can, she releases the girl and pushes her a little further back as she steps forward and swings again, down this time, letting gravity help her already flagging strength to drop the hammer into the head of the stone creature. It shatters. It doesn't stop flailing, but the screaming stops at least.

Down the hall, a new scream takes up. Diana pauses and turns to the woman. "Are you hurt?"

[poleaxe]

"Ah-" And then the woman-- the warrior woman-- picks her up like she's nothing. Ioane flies through the air, and a strange thought sticks in her mind. Is this what being a mage feels like?

Is this what Bede felt?

But it's over, and Ioane is put back on the ground. Normal again.

The statues still lurch around the courtyard, attacking warriors and servants alike. Ioane doesn't understand what started this, but she knows that the woman in front of her is formidable. A warrior, a fighter. She stares into her eyes, expression hard. "I'm fine," she says, "what do you need me to do?"

[intruthandlove]

Amidst the chaos, Diana's heart warms at the expression on the young woman's face. She is frail and small and unarmed, but determined and no Amazon could look unkindly on that. Diana lays a hand on her shoulder, squeezing briefly.

"Get the others away," she says, nodding to the servants trying to escape the heavy blows of the statues, "Get them safe. Clear the wounded from the field of battle and keep your head down." Pray my strength lasts long enough to be of use.

And then she flies. As much as she would like to make sure the young woman is safe, there's little time and it's impossible to ignore the screams of the statues and the cries of servant and soldier alike caught by a blow of the craggy red rock. Diana does not waste a moment of her powers; hammer swinging down to land like thunder as she joins the battle with a vicious cry. "Back to the gods that spawned you, creature!"

Later she will look for the young woman. Later when she is covered in dirt and red dust and her lasso glows hot around her arm, she will seek the girl out. For now, she fights.

[poleaxe]

When it's down to the wire like this, Ioane knows better than to argue. Ioane does her best to be fast, keep her head down, and drag people away from the fight. She's always been strong, and getting two regular meals a day has made her stronger. She carries the people she can carry, and drags the people she can't.

The fighting runs long. The monsters are huge, and their warriors were taken by surprise. Ioane prays to Andraste and the Maker, and does the best she can to help. By the end of it, she's exhausted, but not nearly as much as the people who were in the thick of the fighting.

She's been tasked with tending to the wounded, something she's not particularly good at, but she tries. She changes people's bandages and feeds people watery broth. And she keeps her eye out for the amazing woman warrior who saved her life.

[intruthandlove]

Diana is tired in that strange new way that has plagued her since her arrival here, as though her strength were just out of reach. And there is the bone tired weariness of the fight. Faulty powers or no, she was not one to turn away from a battle.

It is through the sheer force of several healers that she winds up in the tent. Red hair catches her eye and she smiles immediately, warm and weary and pleased. She is filthy, covered in dust from the red stone and dirt from more than one fall, bruised and a little bloody, but not the worse for wear. She settles heavily on one of the makeshift cots, calling to the young woman when she finishes with the soldier she was tending to.

"You are well, little sister?"

1b

[universal_charm]

Kirk is not a native. Not by a long shot. But by this point he probably looks like one. He wears their clothes, all except for his boots, but those are so much-crusted most of the time that they can easily go unnoticed. His shard is wrapped in bandages, hidden from view and for good reason. The natives aren't very fond of Rifters, he's found, and it's easier to talk to them when they aren't staring at a green gem in his hand that they seem to think will bite them at any given moment.

He blinked when the tall, black haired woman called to him, surprised to be addressed at all. He paused, as if waiting to see if she really meant him, then smiled when he realized she did and came over to take a seat.

"A beautiful lady asking for my company? How can I refuse," he chuckled, giving a small bow before taking his seat. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, lady -?" He raised his eyebrows expectantly.

[intruthandlove]

He looks enough like someone who knows what's going on, which is certainly more than what Diana has. Her own mark is unbound, flashing slightly as she waves to the bartender. The green light catches on the silver bracers on her forearms, at odds with her threadbare trousers and tunic and well worn boots.

"Diana," she says, returning the smile easily as the bartender brings a pint for her new acquaintance, "I'm afraid I can't treat you to anything finer, but I hope it will suffice." Coin isn't something she has, aside from the bit from the few odd jobs she's run, "And what should I call you?"

[universal_charm]

"The way my days have been going, anything is a wonder," he assured her, catching the flash of the green shard, but not really needing that to tell him she was a Rifter. "My thanks," he nodded and took a sip from the drink to show good will, though unlike most in the bar he didn't make to immediately wash it down.

"Full name's James Tiberius Kirk, but just Jim will do," he smiled, just a little crooked but charmingly so. "Whom do I have the pleasure of sharing a drink with?"

i c what u did there

[intruthandlove]

"Just Jim then," she says, tilting her head slightly to look him over, size him up enough to get a better sense of him. "I'm a bit of a stranger, you could say. I'm educating myself on this strange new land." She gestures to the bar as a whole. "But you don't seem to be a local either, Jim."

Not immediately inhaling the drink was a good clue. The populace did seem to be fond of their ale.

Re: i c what u did there

[universal_charm]

"No, I come from Skyhold, across the water where the Inquisition has a stronghold," he said aloud for anyone listening, but for Diana he raised his hand slightly to get her attention and pulled at the bandages across the back of his right hand. A flash of green peeked through them, a duplicate to Diana's own, then disappeared beneath them once more.

He shot her another one of those smiles. "But you still haven't answered my question. I can't properly thank a person without knowing their name."

[intruthandlove]

The flash of surprise is brief before Diana schools her expression back to something a little more neutral. "I see..." She knew there were others like her, had even met one or two, but how many of them there truly are remains a mystery to her, "I've heard much of this Inquisition. I believe they're the ones to throw ones' lot with around here."

His smile pulls one out of her, with a light laugh, "Ah, forgive me. I'm Diana."

2b

[kartereo]

"Happily!" is the response from Waver, for who all intents and purposes, is mostly around to make field notes and discover patterns in the movement of the things still hanging around the Gallows. Where there's a thin piece of Veil, where there's been higher ghost activity, anything that can boil down to pattern and analysis. The man is a twig otherwise, hardly made for fighting.

"Don't mind if I go low to the ground, that thing's arc is impressive."

[intruthandlove]

The statue swings as Waver speaks, aiming for the two squishy things that are in it's way! Diana has time to spread her feet and raise her arms. The loud clang of the hammer head hitting the ground is a contrast to the sharp chime of crystal on silver as the statue's hand scrapes against the bracelets, the heavy sick thud of rock hitting flesh that fails to yield.

Diana does not budge.

"Then let's shorten its reach," is what she grits out, wrapping her arms around the statue's arm and hauling back with a sharp twist. Brittle rock cracks and shatters. The statue lurches away, still screaming, but off balance now. "That's a start."

[kartereo]

It takes Waver a beat to fully digest what he just witnessed. Between home and here the weirdness of statues coming out and attacking people doesn't register. If anything, it feels a little underwhelming.

That display of strength, however, is goddamn impressive and save Iskandar, not something Waver sees much of in his day-to-day life. So he gives himself that moment before returning to the present.

"No shit," he says. "What's the next step, in your estimation?"

[intruthandlove]

Diana spares the man a glance, rolling her shoulders a little to loosen bruised muscles.

"Crushing the head should drop it," she says bending down to grab the handle of the hammer, hefting it to rest across her shoulders. She's much more used to a sword, even more accustomed to her lasso, but the hammer is heavy and solid. It'll do. "If it doesn't, pray I can get through the rest of it fast enough."

The statue is screaming and flailing with it's remaining arm, tottering a little unsteadily.

"Stay back," Diana warns and then she flies. The statue screams at her and swats, heavy, jagged red stone just narrowly missing her. She spirals up, up and up, until she's just out of the creature's reach, then higher still. She slides the hammer off her shoulders, raises it above her head and let's herself drop. Forces her momentum down, faster than gravity can drag her, swinging the hammer as she connects with the screaming, flailing statue.

Hopefully Waver is well and clear out of the way, both Diana and the statue tumbling. The scream cuts short as the flailing arm slams her against the ground. It's Diana who staggers to her feet, blinded by the dust and dirt for a moment. Well. That definitely stopped the noise, but she can't tell if it stopped the creature.

[kartereo]

At the words stay back, Waver is quick to do just that, finding a handy little spot in an alcove that provides just enough cover for him to be safe and to have a good vantage points of the proceedings.

The statue's flailing with a remaining arm is no small disturbing sight, but his eyes remain trained on the thing's approach and the immeidate area behind it. Another statue's approach would be impossible to hear over the cacaphony of battle, but visually the same wouldn't hold true.

When the thing goes down, down and seems to be staying down, Waver walks back out, ears straining for anything nearby. He frowns, then looks to his left.

"There's another one in that direction," he indicates dryly as h approaches both Diana and the now fallen statue. "But far enough away that someone else can deal with it. Here--" he continues, shrugging his gold colored scarf and offering it to Diana once she's up and on her feet.

His attention remains on the statue though, now still. That should be enough, but a frown remains on Waver's face. The thing's head is still attached.

"Best to destroy the head, I think."

[intruthandlove]

She takes the scarf with thanks, letting the head of the hammer drop to the floor again and leaning her weight a little on the handle as she wipes grit and shards out of her eyes. Wouldn't that be her fortune to blind herself again in another fight?

"They seem to come without end," Diana says, "I suppose I should be thankful they don't shoot lightning from their hands or something." She follows Waver's gaze, grimly nodding. "Aye. Stand back."

These aren't normal rocks after all, one hopes that shattering the head will be enough to keep it down, but she wouldn't put any tricks past it. Magic could be funny that way. She hefts the hammer up over her head and puts all her force, leashed or not, into the swing. It connects to the remnants of the things head with a noise not unlike a thunderclap.

3;

[foxsays]

The fox struts along ahead of Araceli, as out of place in Kirkwall as he was in Skyhold and even back home but confident enough to come trotting up ahead of his mistress. Calling him back before he can entangle himself and dirty anything, he sits at Diana's feet, staring upwards and offering a paw.

Don't be fooled by the gentleman act, he's shameless.

"How much do you want to know?" She offers since...well, better let them decide how much they actually want before she gets going, the hazards of being a captain's daughter.

[intruthandlove]

Act or no, Diana is charmed. "Hello, friend," she says, a soft laugh in her voice as she kneels down to greet the fox, "What a fine coat you have."

Her communion with nature is a little strange here. It doesn't flow as seamlessly as it did back home, but the affinity was certainly there. Diana stays where she is kneeling, looking up to smile at the woman who addressed her, "As much as you can tell me. I'm afraid I am very far from home and unfamiliar with the land."

[foxsays]

"It's why I gave him his name. Half because it means light where I come from but because he's always had such fur ever since he was a baby." Araceli explains, trying and failing not to laugh when he ends up wiggling his whole body as he wags his tail, ears pricked up.

As Lux continues to be his usual self around any lady, Araceli tries to pick a place to begin. "The Inquisition has only recently arrived in Kirkwall in order to establish a presence in the north, before we were in Skyhold which was much more isolated when it was so high in the Frostback mountains. Kirkwall has suffered much in the past years, however." As she begins to explain, Araceli's glad that she had to study so much of the history as part of her bard studies now even if she'd chafed against some of the reading at times. Gesturing with her left hand, a glowing green mark on it, she sighs quietly. "Kirkwall was where the Mage-Templar war began, or where the spark was kindled at least; the Chantry was destroyed by a mage and from there...it spread. And I realise now that I didn't ask if magic is something you have where you come from."

She's gotten so used to magic now that it's only when she doesn't understand something or a new rifter tells her about their own things that she really thinks about it. Not bad when magic as it happens in Thedas only exists in stories back home.

[intruthandlove]

Diana stays where she is kneeled as she listens to Araceli's explanation, hands absently stroking Lux's fine coat.

"And then this Coryphius appeared," she muses softly, then smiles at the woman, "I am familiar with it, though it's not a gift I have myself." She rises now, giving Lux a parting stroke before offering her hand, "My thanks. I am Diana."

[foxsays]

"Yes and no. In the end they called a Conclave to put an end to it, headed by Divine Justinia, the leader of the Chantry as a whole. The Conclave was destroyed and she was slain, as was almost every other soul in attendance but for one with a mark much like ours. They called her the Herald of Andraste. She could seal rifts with her mark though...I have asked little of her." Araceli's arrival in Thedas isn't something she's thought much of in a long time but touching her hand carefully lest someone look too long at it, she knows it's the only way to tell the tale correctly.

"Corypheus attacked Haven in the end, that was where I arrived, found by some who were scouting the ruins after. The Herald's body was found too when we all arrived at Skyhold together. Araceli Bonaventura, at your service." In a public place or not, she gives a bow because traditions for her are still traditions even a year and a half of Thedas life later.

[intruthandlove]

"I see." There is genuine sadness for the fallen Herald, for the dead Divine. Fallen sisters must always be given their moment of solemn sadness, even if one never knew them. Diana curls her fingers in to brush her own mark and then returns Araceli's bow politely.

"Ah, I've heard of you," she says, some of her normal warmth returning, "A healer, Anders. He mentioned you might know how to use these marks, like the Herald, to seal the rifts."