terror takes the sound before you make it

[faderifting]

WHO: New rifters & characters in the Fallow Mire
WHAT: More people falling into the bog than usual
WHEN: Firstall 21
WHERE: The Fallow Mire
NOTES: This rift will open just as the Inquisition manages to close another with the assistance of previously-arrived rifters, and reinforcements will be called in quickly, so everyone in the Mire is welcome.

You were asleep--deeply or fitfully, for the last time or just resting your eyes for a moment-- and then you were not. And wherever you were was not, anymore, replaced by nothing but the sensation of falling, tumbling into endless, bottomless nothing. If this were still a dream, you would wake before you hit the ground. You can't die in a dream, they say. In some worlds.

But there's no waking here, just a flare of green-white light and a jarring impact, a plunge into waist-deep water that smells sour and tastes worse. It's raining, dark, and you are not alone. Others splash into the murky water nearby, as bewildered as you, and those who have already found their footing in the muck are no less confused.

You are also not as you were: in the palm of your left hand there glows a narrow splinter of light the same sickly green as whatever brought you here. It aches, a bone-deep pain that gnaws even through all the distractions. Like the freezing water. Or the fact that you're being attacked by monsters--some tall, spindly stick-things with too many eyes, some hunched and hooded with no eyes at all. Every splash into the water and every thrash thereafter brings wakened corpses rising out of the bog with their old weapons still in hand.

From dry land--near a small cluster of homes, one with firelight--there's a shout, then another, where Inquisition forces had just closed a larger rift and begun to regroup when the Veil split open again across the bog. A few arrows are loosed at the demons that look most likely to succeed in killing someone. Help is on its way; just last until it arrives.

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

"Don't worry, not going to happen!" Korrin's control over her favored element is quite strong, and she hasn't accidentally blasted anyone since she was a young teen. The new rifter has nothing to worry about, as a result. While the terror demon is paralyzed, Korrin takes advantage to fire at it from her staff relentlessly. Even as it staggers free of paralysis, she manages to freeze it in place, and that last blast seems to do the trick. "Fucking finally."

[motherfucking_ghost]

Okay, see, he can admit that that's pretty cool for what seems to be fucking magic or at least some kind of crazy element-controlling gun or something??? And much more effective than...well, what he's being, which is cold and wet and smelly and in pain and kind of freaked out.

(God, what if this is some kind of fucked up iteration of the Meta's head? What would that even mean?)

"Okay, awesome, you're awesome, killing things is awesome, could we maybe get away from the things also trying to kill us or..."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin waits a moment, peering around to ensure that nothing's going to ambush them, then straightens. She doesn't place her staff upon her back, though, still wary for the moment. Things can easily change on the battlefield and she knows it.

"I don't think there's much left trying to kill us, that group over there seems to be getting through to that--oh, good, it fell."

And she pauses to look him over. "Are you hurt at all? I can help with that, if you are." Not that she has healing magic, but carrying an abundance of potions helps.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Hurt? Not that he can tell, but he's also shocked cold and has a bone-deep ache stemming from the--the--what is this, a fucking piece of uranium shoved in his hand? Christ, is he going to get robot cancer and die?

"Uh." He's so eloquent. Church has one damp arm wrapped around his middle, pff, like that's really going to keep him warm, and offers up the faintly glowing hand. "I mean, aside from the fact that swallowing swamp water is probably going to make me feel like shit, and I'll probably catch some kind of cold and be bedridden for days," THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE, MIND YOU, "then uh, it's uh, it's just this...whatever bullshit thing I guess I sort of fell on."

[gatheringstorm]

"Yeah, sorry about the Fallow Mire. We all hate this place. There's an Inquisition camp not too far from here. It's -relatively- dry, though don't expect too much."

Her gaze lngers on the flickering light in his hand, and perhaps there's a touch of concern in those eyes though he seems rattled enough. There's no point in worrying him further when as far as she's seen, the marks have been stable.

"Everyone who's pulled into Thedas from those rifts arrives with that mark. If it stings, that's normal. There's no removing it, as far as we know, though it's stable and might even be useful. You ought to ask other rift-people about that, though. I'm no expert."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"'Rift-people'," he echoes. "So like...other people with fucked up radioactive hands? Great. Look, just...uhhhh I have had a rough day so far, and it's kinda only getting rougher. So um...so if maybe I could, y'know, get dry at this camp, that might be a good start."

It strikes him that maybe he shouldn't seem completely ungrateful to the person-thing that just saved him. "Thanks," Church mumbles, hunching his shoulders in. This fucking sucks.

[gatheringstorm]

"'Radioactive'? If that means 'it glows' then sure." Korrin shrugs, the term utterly unfamiliar to her. But the request is a reasonable one, so she nods and gestures for him to follow along.

"You're welcome...and be careful where you step. Dry land is fine, but any splash in the water is bound to attract undead. They're everywhere in this Maker-foresaken place."

[motherfucking_ghost]

Well, radioactive stuff does typically glow. Not that he's a god damn nuclear physicist or anything. So focus on the much more important part of this. "Undead. Seriously? Undead? Undead like zombies? I'm sorry, some of those fuckers did not look like god damn zombies!"

[gatheringstorm]

"No, those were demons. There's more than one kind of threat in the Fallow Mire, so naturally a rift needs to open up and spew out people into the middle of it. I so can't wait until we leave...."

The last part is more of a grumble to herself than anything else, but for all her complaining, Korrin doesn't remain any less alert, any less willing to fight.

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Okay. 'Demons', sure. I mean, aliens, demons, same difference, right? And zombies. So that's nice."

He knows enough that asking 'wtf are you' is a stupidly rude question to ask anyone, especially someone who just saved his life. Someone more worried about making friends might try to avoid asking it. But this is Church, and he's having a very bad, no good, fucked up day. "Then what does that make you? I mean, with the horns and the ears and tallness and shit."

[gatheringstorm]

At least Korrin knows the question is all but inevitable at this point, since apparently no other world has her race represented. Which, given the majority of them, is probably a good thing. If only the actual name of her race wasn't so complicated.

"I'm a qunari. A Vashoth, to be exact, but I don't expect you to remember that. Most have horns, some don't, but we're all large by human standards. I'm Korrin Ataash, of the Valo-Kas mercenary company...and, more relevantly, of the Inquisition."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"A mostly-horned person who is massive and is not only a merc, but part of an inquisition." Okay, so, generally, Earth history? Not his strong suit. Still, the word's got plenty of negative connotations. ...And he is a nerd, much as he tries to hide it. "Look, I didn't come here to get tortured for information or, like, to convert to a religion or something. Nobody would expect that."

[gatheringstorm]

That causes her to raise an eyebrow at him, and she shakes her head. "You'll get none of that here. The Inquisition is seen as heretical anyway, so the Chantry has no great love for us. And while some are definitely suspicious about anyone emerging from the Fade, they have reason for that. The Fade is a realm of demons and spirits, and that's it. So, people emerging from there...is not normal, and in an already chaotic time, 'not normal' is not something you want to be. That said, the Inquisition has made it clear that they're not torturing or imprisoning anyone for something they can't help."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"...Okay." Just...gonna let the crazy-sounding stuff go for a second before he ends up screaming at the sky. "So what do do you in the 'Inquisition'?"

[gatheringstorm]

"Try to keep this world from falling apart, more or less. That rift you came out of is only a symptom of a much bigger problem. Not too long ago, there was an explosion at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, a blast powerful enough to tear a giant hole in the Veil, what separates the physical world from the Fade. That is what created the rift-spewing demons all over the place. The Inquisition's task is to close the Breach -done-, find the one responsible, and restore order."

Her glance to him isn't unsympathetic, knowing that's a lot to handle. "And that was before the rifts started dragging in people from other worlds, which presents a whole new issue."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Okay, so...what you're trying to say is, there was a crazy-ass explosion, aaand reality broke in that specific location, and now all these monster aliens are pouring through? And also people from. other dimensions and shit. And your job is to close them." He snorts, then coughs because god bog water is kind of the worst and it's gross and now he accidentally snorted some ew??? "Sounds like you've really got your work cut out for you, lady. I'd ask if there's a way to put me back," but he's not sure that'd be any better, "but I get the feeling the answer's a resounding no."

[gatheringstorm]

Yeah, bog water is gross. Korrin reaches for the flask at her hip, offering it over. "Here, to get the taste of bog out of your mouth. It's just ale. Not great ale, but it doesn't need to be." It's mostly full, too, since she doesn't care to drink up before assignments. It's mostly for afterward, when she's tired of being sober in the hellhole. "And no, we have no idea how to return anyone. People arriving is not a brand new development, but it's still fairly recent."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"...Thanks. Again." He refuses to freak out about the sudden influx of bodily functions and takes a drink. And it sucks. It just doesn't suck as bad as swampy marshy water with fucking corpses in it. Corpse water. ...Another swig sounds good. But he won't be a dick and drink it all (this time).

"Guess it might be hard to shoot us up into the air and hope the interdimensional rip in the fucking fabric of space sorts us back out."

[gatheringstorm]

There's a soft snort of amusement at the idea, and she nods with a wry smile, glad he isn't demanding the impossible. Which, if the situation were reversed, she might have done. Korrin isn't the most patient of people.

"It's a tall order, especially right now. That isn't to say that learning what we can of this clusterfuck isn't on the priority list. No one here needs life to become even more chaotic than it already is, trust that."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"It's that there's a lot of shit going on, and nobody knows what the fuck this is, so for now, I'm stuck here. Peachy." Not sure if it's better than going back, but back there, he wasn't bogged down with wet shitty clothes and wet shitty water and wet shitty demons and zombies.

"Kind of hoping to see if this is a crazy dream that I end up waking up from. Or something like a dream. I'll take a hallucination, man."

[gatheringstorm]

"Hey, fair enough. If our situation was reversed, I'd be hoping for the same thing. Who'd want any of this?" Korrin can't blame him for thinking that way at all, though the 'dream' part does make her wonder since he did just exit the Fade.

"I know, it sucks. At least we can get you clothes that don't smell like swamp -yet- and something to cut down on sobriety, if that's your thing. And our actual headquarters is in a much less terrible place, which you'll get to see soon enough."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"All of that would be awesome." He would also like to be angry, but he's feeling a little blue-screen right now. The anger'll come later. Besides, he wouldn't want to anger the qunari bull person thing person that saved him from alien demon zombies.

Jesus, this is the worst B-grade movie.

"So uh. You know how I got here, falling through a sky portal to other dimensions, same old same old. How'd you end up on a quest to fight demon portals?"

[gatheringstorm]

That's not a question Korrin was expecting from a rifter, so she shoots him a startled glance before answering. "A few people from my company were providing security at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, for the Conclave. Mages and Templars couldn't trust each other, so they needed a neutral party. I was nearby, in case they needed backup. But everything literally exploded before I could get to them in time. I've been here ever since, to get the bastard back that killed my kith members."

[motherfucking_ghost]

There sure are a lot of words and concepts that he had no idea what the fuck they mean. But. He can get the basic gist of it. "Bastard singular?" At least it was a distraction from the LITERALLY EVERYTHING HAPPENING SO MUCH. "I thought this was about demons. Or did someone specifically blow shit up, and then demons?"

[gatheringstorm]

"Exactly. It's a darkspawn magister named Corypheus, and he's leading an army. That explosion I talked about was his way of trying to punch through the Veil, to get into the Fade. And all this crap is just from a failed attempt. Lovely, huh? I don't want to think about what will happen if he actually succeeds."