faderifting: (Default)
Fade Rift Mods ([personal profile] faderifting) wrote in [community profile] faderift2017-04-02 10:59 pm

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
kartereo: (09  Hunched over facepalm)

[personal profile] kartereo 2017-04-14 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"I meant about Merrill getting lost."

Moreover, that was a lot of information to take in in one go, so Waver breathes out through his nose and slowly rubs his temples.

"The rest I can only react to in a single word, and that is fuck."
gatheringstorm: (wry smile)

[personal profile] gatheringstorm 2017-04-14 04:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Korrin laughs quietly at that, raising her drink and flashing him a crooked smile. "Yeah, pretty much. There's no part of it that doesn't suck. I'm telling you now so that you have some defense later for when you hear it's even worse. Because I've only passed through here before, not lived in it, so I'm sure there's a lot of shit I don't even know about."

Or probably wants to know about, ever. "...and yeah, that's what Varric said. He gave her a ball of twine so that she could find her way back, I think it saw use for years."
kartereo: (11 Looking downward angrily)

[personal profile] kartereo 2017-04-14 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Waver's face looked as if he had just downed an entire lemon in one go. "I believe my only defense is hunkering down and waiting for the big guns to come in." Story of his life, come to think of it. "But is there any way I can help you deal with stupid biases?"

That was a far more practical thought than digging into the great book of Why Kirkwall Is Terrible, by the Entire Population of Thedas.

"You know what's the worst part here? I find myself doubting that statement more than anything that has been said about this entire place."
gatheringstorm: (dread)

[personal profile] gatheringstorm 2017-04-14 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'd say ask Varric yourself, but...I don't know where he is, at the moment. He didn't come back over with us, did he? Maybe the Inquisition needs him elsewhere." A shame, that. He would be a guide much less likely to get them lost.

"There probably isn't much you can do, other that alert Inquisition agents if there's a forming mob we need to be aware of, but...do you know Kas? A scout and Vashoth, like me? A good kid with a good heart, but he's also kind of a hot-head and doesn't always think things through. I've been meaning to talk to him about keeping a lid on that temper here anyway, but if you see anything happening around him, let me know before it escalates?"
kartereo: (11 Looking downward angrily)

[personal profile] kartereo 2017-04-14 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)
"If he did, I didn't see him." Waver sighed, but then again. "Probably easier to find Merrill and ask her. Find the ball of twine until it leads back to hr."

Speaking with her in general was probably a good idea, come to think of it.

"I'll keep an eye out," and the way he said it, it was clearly a promise. "And if frankly there's more than three people muttering, I'll let someone know. Easier to nip things in the bud with numbers that low."
gatheringstorm: (relieved)

[personal profile] gatheringstorm 2017-04-15 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Thanks, seriously." Korrin manages a tired smile, relaxing a little. "It's enough of an uphill battle as it is, just being here, without adding to it everything that could go wrong."

Because let's face it, that's a seriously long list.
kartereo: (06 Lighting up)

[personal profile] kartereo 2017-04-15 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
"I thought everything that could go wrong was already a part of the uphill battle. I didn't realize it was extra."

This needed more than a drink. Waver pauses, and reaches into the pocket of his coat.

"Do you mind if I smoke?"
gatheringstorm: (reclined)

[personal profile] gatheringstorm 2017-04-15 03:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's like an onion, with layers of deeper awfulness." At that question, Korrin shrugs. "As long as you're not blowing it in my face, knock yourself out. If I couldn't handle a little smoke in the area, I'd never be able to enter a tavern."
kartereo: (10 Leaning on books)

[personal profile] kartereo 2017-04-15 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"Not everyone likes the smell," Waver said by way of explanation. His hand disappeared back into his coat pocket, and he plucked a match out. "I try to be aware of that."

But no matter. With the cigarette lit, Waver shifted so that Korrin would be downwind.

"Also the onion metaphor works but go deeper. Kirkwall is a terrible onion farm, and each onion bulb is it's own set of ever worsening issues. The farm is probably going to be bankrupt any day too."
gatheringstorm: (judging)

[personal profile] gatheringstorm 2017-04-16 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
"And then a high dragon arrives from the Bone Pit to burn it all down anyway, because yes, there was a mine with a fucking dragon in it. For all I know, a new one could have shown up by now.

...don't tell that to Kain, he'd go looking for it and get his dumbass Reaver self killed." Snorting at the recklessness of Reavers in general, she downs the rest of her drink.
kartereo: (04 Ominous face)

[personal profile] kartereo 2017-04-16 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
"--Uh."

Waver stares, cigarette barely just hanging onto his lip.

"Has anyone gone to double check this dragon situation? Because if there is one there, maybe we should take care of it sooner rather than later?"
gatheringstorm: (armor of the dragon)

[personal profile] gatheringstorm 2017-04-16 01:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"Why, you volunteering?" Korrin stretches, looking thoughtful. "I wouldn't mind going. It'd be a break from Circle mage hell, anyway. Since Kirkwall hasn't been put out of its misery yet, I'm guessing either the mines are still empty or whatever's there doesn't give a shit, but it never hurts to check it out, just in case."
kartereo: (04 Ominous face)

[personal profile] kartereo 2017-04-16 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"I wasn't, but now it seems like I'm going to." Waver's inner monologue chided him for opening his mouth. "As long as we don't have to engage the thing in combat, I suppose I'll survive."
gatheringstorm: (smirk)

[personal profile] gatheringstorm 2017-04-17 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
"Though it is the ultimate way to put those grenades lessons to use. Think it could work as a final exam?" Korrin flashes a grin, obviously not about to endanger students like that. They're lucky not to be part of some merc bands she knows, because they absolutely would have done that. "It'd be scouting, not fighting...not unless we've no other choice. I'll ask Fenris about going there soon, since he's been to that area."
kartereo: (10 Leaning on books)

[personal profile] kartereo 2017-04-17 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
"I'll agree to this only if you get Fenris to come along with. Because we'll need a third person to go run for back up if it comes to it."

Part of Waver worried that a grenade might only make a dragon very, very angry.

"But otherwise, sure. Let's blow up a dragon. If nothing else, we'll bear distinction for the sheer novelty of the kill."
gatheringstorm: (watchful)

[personal profile] gatheringstorm 2017-04-17 01:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"Alright, I'll contact him over the crystal soon. If nothing else, he can confirm or dismiss any new sightings, and that will give us an edge." Korrin forces herself to stand, so she can refill her glass. "Call it crazy, you're probably not wrong, but I'll just be glad to be somewhere that isn't here for a while. If the Bone Pit has a dragon but the Veil is less fucked up than here, I'll still consider it a nice break."
kartereo: (Default)

[personal profile] kartereo 2017-04-18 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
"This place has oppressive baggage. I don't blame you for wanting a break." Waver flicked some of the ash off his cigarette, then realized there was no tray.

"If you're refilling, can you grab me some kind of metal bowl so I'm not flicking this stuff everywhere like some kind of monster?"
gatheringstorm: (mod 1)

[personal profile] gatheringstorm 2017-04-18 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Can do. Though if ash was the worst of our problems, we'd so have it made." If only. Korrin gathers both before she loses the willpower to move, ready to refill his glass as well if need be. "That's a good reason to check out the Lowtown market, too, for supplies. Contrary to what you might have heard, it's alright to go there during the day as long as you keep an eye on your coinpurse. It's only at night when the stuff from Varric's books happens."
kartereo: (06 Lighting up)

[personal profile] kartereo 2017-04-18 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
Waver places his free hand over the top of his own glass. There's about half left, meaning that there's no point in a refill yet.

"I may take advantage of that in a day or two. But believe me," he grinned, gesturing to the great red coat he had on. "A picket pocket would need to find which pocket was the right one before anything else happened."