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 hadn't really been sure if small stature was a trait of elves in this world, or if the group that came for them just happens to be comprised of a lot of short elves, but Nari's question solves that puzzle for him. He's apparently abnormally tall for an elf, by this world's standards. He chuckles, moving to cover the trap back up, before he stands.

"Yes, most Aen Seidhe men are about this tall, women not terribly much shorter. I take it that isn't the case here." 'Aen Seidhe' meaning what this place calls 'elves'. Of course, he knows the term, but back home, it was one invented by humans who were to clumsy or too lazy to call them by their proper name. As for the word she says - " Arda? I've not heard that before."

Nari raises her eyebrows, a smile twitching at the corner of her mouth as she spreads her arms in response as if to say No, this is it.

"...An Sayd?" she repeats as a question, rolling the unfamiliar term around in her mouth, "is that what the Elvhen are called in your world, then?" It's not quite 'elven' when she says it. Easy enough to see how humans had gotten their word. As far as the other, "You'll meet some when we return, I imagine. They're..." Hard to describe. "Also tall," she says wryly, fully aware of the inadequacy of the description. Old too. Nari blinks. "...your people. Do they still have their immortality?"

"En-shay. Yes, we're called Elves by humans." Iorveth corrects the pronunciation, saying it slower. The 'dhe' are small, barely there syllables, part of what made humans give up on saying the word so quickly and replacing it simply with 'elf'.

Immortality, though, that's an... interesting way to put it. Yes, there were stories of extremely long lived Aen Seidhe many, many years ago. But all things must perish eventually. "Perhaps not immortal, no. Some Aen Seidhe are extremely long lived, into a thousand years, but all things die. We average between 300 and 500 these days."

Which seems like an eternity to humans, perhaps. One of the reasons they aren't as quick to forgive atrocities as man is - while it may be the son of the son of the criminal, it is still the same victim.

Edited 2018-04-01 20:12 (UTC)

"Aen Seidhe," she repeats again with a furrowed brow, doing it correctly this time. She's got a good ear.

(Humans are lazy and can't be arsed to be properly respectful in any reality, apparently).

And then, "A thousand..." It was beyond her ken. Even the lower (ha) figure in the multiple hundreds was boggling. Nari crosses her arms over her chest, thoughtful. "It's said we used to be immortal, before the shem'len came. The oldest among us, who had become weary of their eternity, would go into uthenera, a deep sleep, where they would wander the Beyond with Falon'Din and Dirthamen-- two of the Creators, our gods. Some would wake after centuries to share what they'd learned."

She sighs, bends to scoop up a handful of snow to shape and then crumble in her fingers. "The way of it is lost to us now. With much else."

"That's it." He nods, a small smile on his lips for her effort in pronouncing the name of his people correctly.

Tilting his head, Iorveth rolls the concepts around in his head, and tried to search his memory for any stories he might've heard about immortality or older age. "It has been said we used to live much longer than we do these days, but I can't recall anything said of immortality... Then again, much of our history was lost to us when humans raided and demolished our cities and art works."

Aen Seidhe history wasn't recorded in texts, like other races do. It was put in art, songs, passed down in stories, carved into the walls of their cities. Most could simply remember their history, at that time, so there hadn't been much point.

Well that just sounds horrifyingly familiar.

"Seems they're the same everywhere," Nari replies a bit sourly, "just killing us isn't enough, they've got to reach down to the roots and try to kill who we are as well."

She wonders briefly if the quickening of the People had been slow rather than all at once, that if it's said the Aen Seidhe lived much longer before Iorveth's time someday the children's children's children of his people would live only the lengths of the lives of the ones who'd taken their history.

Well. Her general feeling about humans-- what with this conversation and the one she'd had with Solas-- was certainly taking a hit this trip. Not that it had been particularly good to begin with.

Girl, that is hardly even the worst of it, and from what he's heard thus far of the world he'll be heading into from here, Iorveth's sure they have equally sickening stories to tell.

The sentiment's shared, and Iorveth's eyes cast to the side for a moment. He could go on so many rants about them, tell so many stories of atrocities he's witnessed, he's been involved in. But it's all just more evidence to the same end.

"It's told, in my world, they arrived only after leaving behind a sundered, ruined homeworld." Through the Conjunction of the Spheres, the same time the monsters showed up. More of the same. The point being - "It's their nature, to bring war, horror and tragedy everywhere they go."

They'd call the Scoia'tael war criminals, but it wasn't them that marched on peaceful cities, that burned and pillages Aen Seidhe settlements with no provocation.

She'd like to argue (...would she?), but no matter her feelings about the few individual humans she'd become close to, every human that actually held power in Thedas seemed to use it about the same. To bring war, horror, and tragedy. Perhaps Divine Justinia would have been different, as Myr suggested. Perhaps not.

And yet, here they were laying traps for another human power.

"Sometimes I think the only thing holding the Inquisition together is them," Nari says, gesturing toward the mine. "The second Corypheus's corpse hits the ground, for all of everyone's fine words, and no matter they part we play, it'll be the same. The Chantry did it to Shartan, and they'll do it to us."

[Gee, Iorveth, it's real easy to be bleak around you. 8)]

"But until then, he's the greater threat, and we're together."

OPEN ↠ HEART LIKE ICE

lol WOOPS

woops again because I thought I responded to this days ago

lol no worries at all!!

Re: lol no worries at all!!

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