faderift | OPEN ↠ HEART LIKE ICE

WHO: New Rifters & Inquisition Members
WHAT: A journey south to make new friends and kick some ass
WHEN: Drakonis 15-25
WHERE: Sunless Lands
NOTES: Violence and language assumed. Warn for anyting else. OOC post.

The Sunless Lands are not, in fact, sunless. This time of year there can be as many as eight hours of daylight, some of it blinding where it reflects off of snow and ice that stretches from the southern edge of the Kocari Wilds as far as anyone can see, broken only occasionally by rocky masses of land jutting out of the snow cover or barren tundra peeking out in patches where constant, unforgiving wind has pushed it aside. You'll be traversing this span primarily on foot—there are sleighs, too, pulled by hardy dogs, but they're carrying essential supplies rather than spare people. The only way to get a ride is to successfully feign passing out.

Beyond the dogs, the area isn't devoid of native wildlife: white fennecs hunt rodents underground, and a herd of excessively fluffy wild druffalo is seeking out whatever vegetation it can find. But hunting down a meal or two early and preserving rations for further south would not be a bad idea, because the further south the team travels, the more inhospitable the terrain grows, and the less life can be seen. And sometimes not much of anything can be seen, when clouds roll by and burst with snow thick enough to halt progress entirely for hours.

The nights are cloudy as often as clear, but when they are clear the sky is split by green and purple ribbons of light.

I. THE RESCUE

Two days' journey south, the monotonously icy horizon is broken by something new: smoke rising in interrupted puffs, an intentional signal. Someone is out there. Chances are, it's the rifters, with or without their first group of intended rescuers. But there's no way to be sure. And approaching with caution is wise either way. Rifters have strange powers (and strange personalities), and they've been out here for days now, dealing with demons and Maker knows what else on their own. For all anyone knows, they could be the reason for the rescue team's disappearance. Orders are to approach carefully.

Then, once contact has been made and initial concerns have been allayed, make sure those poor people have something to eat, and try to figure out where their original rescuers disappeared to.

II. THE STORM

After the rifters are recovered, there's still the matter of the red lyrium mine to address. Another two days' journey south will put the group within good range of the mine: not so close as to be seen, but close enough to be able to get there in a couple of hours as needed.

Halfway there, however, in the middle of the day, progress comes to an abrupt half when the darkest clouds yet gather suddenly on the horizon and barrel down on the group, bringing with them a glut of snow that reduces visibility to only a few feet and wind that roars so loudly you have to shout to be heard. Magic can help some with heat, but the storm shows little sign of quickly abating and with hours of deadly cold conditions to deal with, digging in and getting cozy for a few hours might be the most feasible solution for everyone.

III. THE VILLAGE

Shortly before the point everyone is aiming for—one marked by an enormous stone carving of an owl, several times taller than a man, that's inexplicably been left by the ancients in the center of the tundra—something else appears not far to the west. On closer inspection, it turns out to be a circle of low-sitting animal-skin tents pressed down into the snow to protect them from wind, rocky fire pits, and abandoned sleighs. Overall, it's a cross between camp and village indicative of a nomadic group that's staying a while but not forever.

It's empty now, with a coating of snow on most of the structures that indicates it's been at least a few days since anyone was here. Closer inspection reveals personal belongings inside the tents, including toys and clothing belonging to children—and, in many tents, chunks of red lyrium in the center or beneath the skins that form the beds, each piece emanating heat. They probably thought it was safer than fire.

Wherever they went, they don't come back while the Inquisition is there. But the activity does get noticed. A few hours after arrival, enormous white bears apparently moving in a pack come within a hundred yards of the camp and pace at a distance, watching the interlopers with wary interest. Some of them are wearing collars or harnesses decorated in the same style as the tents. For enough food, they may come closer, and they'll turn out to be abnormally tame.

IV. THE BATTLE

The red lyrium mine that Corypheus' followers built when their operations were crippled in Emprise du Lion is nestled in an icy canyon, with massive scaffolding built up the sides of the cliff and too many cages to count, though few of them hold living prisoners anymore. It's a massive operation, but one that's been crippled by its distance from civilization. It's sparsely guarded compared to its size, and other than the cliffs, it has minimal natural protection. The enemy has magic-silencing Templars, enormous behemoths, and a chained white-furred giant, but they are clearly not prepared to be attacked.

Ahead of the onslaught, traps are set and any surviving prisoners are evacuated under cover of darkness. Everyone else sent to fight either creeps down shortly before dawn, rappelling quietly to avoid notice in the dark, or waits at the top for the first surprise strike to provide enough distraction for them to descend more openly. If anyone has been particularly nice to the bears (see above) then it is entirely possible they'll allow themselves to be ridden into battle.

Once their presence is known, their orders are pretty simple. Destroy it all. Leave no one behind and nothing worth returning for.

Fire is a good strategy. Red lyrium doesn't do well in heat.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Iorveth honestly isn't sure how Prompto ended up here either - one moment he was picking a tent, the next he was rushing inside and the two of them were just there, sharing. He hadn't spoken to him or observed him much yet in this journey, but Iorveth watches him now, from the other side of the small tent, wondering how someone that seems so sunshiney and breakable is even surviving here.

Oh, right. The bird. Hrm. ]

My pack-mule. Or my stalker. It's up for debate.

[He's full of surprises.]

Stalker-mule? Pack-stalker? Though wouldn't just being a regular pack-mule sort of necessitate being a stalker?

[Which sounds kind of creepy when he says it out loud, but hey, it's an animal. One that he reaches over and gently pets. Good chicken... thing.]

It kind of reminds me of a chocobo.

[ That's a lot of thought about terminology Iorveth hadn't been terrible concerned about, a brow arching towards Prompto. ]

We can just settle on 'chicken'.

[ Everyone seems to feel compelled to pet the chicken, something Iorveth's felt no urge to, but the bird seems to enjoy it plenty with each admirer, fluffing her feathers and letting out a pleased little trill. ]

A choco-what?

[Clearly his priorities aren't where they should be then.]

Chicken it is, then. Big, big chicken.

[Of course they pet the chicken. How can you NOT pet the chicken? It's so soft and fluffy! Well, feathery but close enough.]

Chocobo. They're from my world. Two-legged birds, like Mr. Chicken here, but you can ride on their backs. They also have longer necks.

[ it's smelly and obnoxious, but seems to think Iorveth is its mother now or something, so here we are. But at least it's mostly predictable by now.

Prompto, on the other hand, is now talking about riding around on deformed livestock and what the hell. ]

Have your people never heard of horses? [ birds seem so... breakable??? ]

Uhhhh... no, considering we don't have them in Eos. [Kinda hard to ride on horses when they don't exist and all.] I never saw one until I came here.

[ A world where horses are replaced with giant skinny chickens. This place gets more strange with every new person he talks to. Iorveth blinks a couple times, trying to wrap his mind around it. ]

To be fair, these -- [ his head jerked to the side to indicate his mammoth chicken couch ] -- don't actually exist in my world either. I've honestly no idea where it came from.

[ his freaky weed dream, that's where. ]

Wait, it's not yours at all?

[Neither his or even from his world. Now that's strange.]

Did any of the other rifters recognize him? He must have come from someone's world.

None of the others recognized it's kind, no.

[ and he's fairly certain of this last point here - ]

It came from the dream world in between, I believe. [ he's pretty sure because he remembers dreaming about it. don't do drugs, kids. ] Helena brought along a mass of fish and a horrible cake in the same manner.

The Fade? That's really weird. I never heard of it spitting out chickens and food. [What's next? It's almost kind of scary to contemplate.]

OPEN ↠ HEART LIKE ICE

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