Cloudreach 9:44 Rifter Arrival

[faderifting]

WHO: New rifters & their rescuers.
WHAT: Welcome to Thedas.
WHEN: Cloudreach 10, 9:44
WHERE: Amaranthine
NOTES: This is the arrival log for all new rifters, open also to current characters who would participate in their recovery. New players can also assume everyone survives and arrives back in Kirkwall within a couple of days, but please note there will be a brief quarantine period when they won't be permitted to leave the Gallows, to get them up to speed while ensuring they're not diseased or otherwise going to kill anyone, before they're set loose on the city.

You were asleep—whether deeply or fitfully, falling unconscious for the last time in a pool of blood 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 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.

In this world, bathed in the light of a flare of too-bright, greenish light you will find yourself hitting mossy cobblestones with an unforgiving smack. You're alive, and you're fine, except for the narrow splinter of light the same sickly green as whatever brought you here that now glows out of the palm of your left hand. It aches, a bone-deep pain that gnaws even through all the distractions.

Above you is a shifting, crystalline tear in reality; beyond that, gray clouds and a sea breeze, framed by the high walls surrounding the city you've landed in. There are people on the walls, some of them armored and armed, all of them briefly and collectively paralyzed by the sight below.

Don't let their terror go to your head. It's not you that has them intimidated, nor is it any of the humans (or Qunari) who are sprawled out on the ground around you, nor is it the assortment of unfamiliar—to them, not to you, perhaps to you it's very familiar—junk that's spilled out as well, most notably some flaming metallic debris and a giant wooden cross.

It's the beings that are coming out after you, almost as if in pursuit. Two are drifting, spindly things with six spidery limbs in addition to grasping skeletal arms, eager to grab hold of anyone who comes too close and fill their field of vision with swirling darkness and corner-of-the-eye glimpses of whatever frightens them. Several more most closely resemble trees, perhaps, with half-melted squids for heads—which might not sound particularly scary, fine, but their ability to dive into the ground and resurface anywhere with rasping screams helps on that front.

All of these things would like to kill you, and the people around you, and the people on the walls, and perhaps the other people screaming and scurrying into taverns and shops for cover. But you're not alone. Out of those same taverns and shops come people who do seem to know what they're doing; many are wearing a symbol that looks a bit like a hairy eyeball being pieced through by a sword, and at least a couple of them seem to know what they're doing. Almost like they've been waiting for you. In fact, exactly like they've been waiting for you.

---

AFTERWARDS, the grateful citizens of the City of Amarenthine might provide a drink, a meal, or a place to tend to wounds before everyone sets back toward Kirkwall. It's not a long trip, but one that requires boarding a ship to cross a narrow sea. It will be a rough, stormy journey, but there won't be any demons.

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

"Nope, whatever that is, but I've heard the bunny comment before. That's Lake Calenhad, in Ferelden. I've seen it before, mostly passing through from Redcliffe or the roads along it. Ferelden has crap weather and they're obsessed with their dogs, but they're not bad folk overall. I'll take them any day, over the Empire of Orlais, to the west. Snobby, racist, invading assholes.

...though we're technically allied with them now, so I probably shouldn't be shit-talking them. Oh well, oops." She gives a very unconcerned shrug. "Kirkwall is in the Free Marches, a bunch of city states that only have a sense of shared identity for the Grand Tourney. That's where I'm from, in Wycome which is basically known as party central. A little to the west of us is Nevarra. They have some weird practices about their dead, and their royal family is famous for its dragonslayers. Wayyy up north is the Anderfels and I hope you never see it yourself since it's a shithole; too hot and barren and it's a political mess, anyway. Next to it is the Tevinter Imperium, which is even worse than Orlais since slavery and blood magic are still actual practices over there. The asshole who created the Breach and the rifts is a vint, to no one's surprise."

[zombra]

By the time Korrin says Redcliffe, Tessa is already lost. It's a lot of names to throw out at her at once, and there's no way she's going to keep all this straight. At least not yet, anyways. She doesn't really want to stop to consider just how long she's going to be here, and whether or not she'll eventually become familiar with these places. But she keeps listening, nodding along like a person who lost directions after the third turn, yet lets the person go on anyway.

Her interest is piqued at "party central," and Tessa wonders what constitutes a party in medieval magic land. Is it all fancy dresses and court dances, or do they get down with booze and games? Might be something worth looking into. The rest? Sounds like a bunch of racist, slave owning, necrophiliacs to her.

"What's Kirkwall known for, other than being a port city?" If that's where she'll be headed, she figures she should get a sense of what it's all about. Is it 'The City that Never Sleeps,' like New York or 'The City that Falls Asleep at 10pm,' like Pittsburgh?

[gatheringstorm]

Fortunately, there isn't going to be a pop quiz about Thedosian locations. Korrin doesn't expect her to remember most of it, but she does hope having a visual helps somewhat. She smirks a little at that question...oh, where to begin.

"I'm not going to lie; Kirkwall has a reputation for being the center of several shitstorms in the past. In ancient times, it used to be a center for slave trade until a revolt happened. In more recent times, it was ground zero for a qunari rampage that saw the death of the reigning Viscount and later on an explosion that destroyed the Chantry, killed a lot of people, and startled another revolt.

Since then, the place has rebuilt and the issues of the past that lead to those bouts of chaos either aren't a thing anymore or it's on hold while we deal with bigger issues. That isn't to say that there's no tension -anyone who tells you that is lying- but right now, it's as stable as it's ever likely to be until we deal with the asshole that started all this."

[zombra]

Well as long as there was a revolt and there isn't still a slave trade. Imagine if Tessa had landed here before that happened. She wouldn't want to be anywhere near that shit.

"Okay, I'm a little lost. Sorry. What's a qunari rampage? And what's the Chantry?"

[gatheringstorm]

"It's alright, I'd be lost too. The Chantry is the dominant religious organization in Thedas. It's based on the Chant of Light, a series of teachings written by Andraste, the prophet of the Maker and founded by the first emperor of Orlais. The Chantry's followers are known as Andrastians.

The Chantry's goal is to spread the Chant of Light to all four corners of the world and to all races. Once all peoples have accepted the Chant and practice its teachings, the Maker will return and restore the world to its former glory, blahblahblah. You get the idea. It's usually lead by the Divine, who's always a woman because of Andraste, but the mess that spawned the Breach -the mother of all rifts- killed her off along with a lot of leadership, so the Chantry's been without ever since. That's a mixed blessing."

[zombra]

This is starting to feel a little bit like school all over again, and Tessa isn't a very attentive student. Once again, the names all start to blur together in her head until she can't tell one from the other. It's like trying to memorize the presidents or something.

"So when you said there was an explosion that blew up the Chantry, you meant blew up all their leaders?"

[gatheringstorm]

"No, what happened in Kirkwall was different explosions that 'only' took out one of their leaders, and that was done by someone else. It's...well, look, no one expects you to memorize everything the second you pop out of a rift. The important part is that shit's happened and Kirkwall doesn't like change...probably because it's almost always come with something awful. So, they're keeping an eye on us and we're at least trying to behave enough so that they don't kick us out. We need a port, after all.

That said, some people won't be too fond of that green glow in your hand. So, just be careful. I've tried telling everyone and anyone that you lot aren't demons just because you fell out of a rift, but not everyone buys it. Nevermind that I'm a mage and I know what I'm fucking talking about when it comes to Fade shit...."

[zombra]

"So no pop quiz when we get back? That's a relief." Falling through the rift may not have been the plan, but it got her out of a dwindling world where each new day could be her last. Despite the joke, she doesn't mind learning about this place and where she stands in it, but she's not ready to become a Thedosian scholar just yet.

Once again she turns over her hand to inspect her palm, frowning at the eerie green glow. It makes her feel like she's got some radioactive goo under her skin and she might develop super powers any minute. Well, in a way she already has, because whatever that nonsense was with closing the rift, it definitely wasn't natural.

"Does it ever stop hurting?"

[gatheringstorm]

"...mostly. The initial pain will wear off in a matter of hours, if that helps. There are times when it fill flare up again, though; when you're near a rift or a place where the Veil is really thin, when you're overexerting yourself with your anchor, if you ingest a large amount of lyrium -don't do that-, or if you spend too much time too far away from the majority of our anchor-bearers."

Korrin sighs, her expression apologetic as she explains the catch. "If you go too far away, it'll begin to hurt worse and worse, increasing the longer you're away and further afield you go. Returning to Skyhold or the Gallows will take that pain away, and traveling with a group of other anchor-bearers will make that pain advance more slowly...but the end-result is the same. I think the most time I've heard with a smaller group away would be a month. Closing rifts also provides some temporary relief."

[zombra]

"So I just shouldn't go on vacation in Rift Town, Veil-landia; got it." Sounds simple enough. Sticking together with the other rifters was in her plan anyway, since it's better to stick with people stuck in the same situation as her. "Where's Skyhold? And what's lyrium so I don't accidentally come across it?"

[gatheringstorm]

"Skyhold is over here, up a big-ass mountain." Korrin points to a spot in the Frostback range, tapping the marker. "Lyrium is usually found and mined underground, so I wouldn't worry about it...at least the regular stuff. You have to ingest it long-term for it to mess you up, anyway. Red lyrium, on the other hand, really doesn't fuck around. Even brief exposure can taint you, make you go mad...you eventually turn into the stuff, literally. So, if you see any red crystals jutting out of the ground that have a weird haze, stay the fuck away."

[zombra]

"Red crystals. Got it." Because it can taint you. Her kneejerk reaction is to make a joke about taints but she's pretty sure it would fall flat here.

"I appreciate all the tips." Maybe she'll last more than a day now that she knows not to lick hazy red crystals and such. "Do you happen to know when we're headed out from here?"

[gatheringstorm]

"Probably as soon as the Inquisition ensures that Amaranthine is left the way we found it, minus the rift. We'd have a terrible reputation if we just came and went without picking up after ourselves, and reputation could make or break our situation. It wasn't that long ago when we were heretics no one would listen to even as the world was falling apart. I'd rather not go back to that."

[zombra]

"Wow, this place sounds pretty judgy. And super religious. Are people, like, gonna convert me to the Chantry, or whatever?" Because she really doesn't want to be in such a situation. No, thank you.

[gatheringstorm]

"...good question. You're human, so that's a point in your favor, but on the other hand, you're a rifter and plenty of natives worry that you lot are all demons in disguise, anyway. Nevermind that I'd know and keep telling them such, some people wouldn't believe the sun rose in the east if there wasn't a Divine to tell them." She thinks it over, then shrugs.

"In the Gallows, you should be fine. The Inquisition cares more about getting shit done than making sure everyone follows the Chant of Light. And if I see you or anyone else getting shit, I'll be more than happy to step in. People usually back off when I loom over them."

[zombra]

You're human. It's so mind-blowing to be in a place where humans aren't the only intelligent species. She wonders how her world would have dealt with that. Judging from history, probably not well.

"As much as I'd like you looming there as my bodyguard, I'll need to take care of myself too." It's what Mike would want her to do, even if the prospect of standing on her own two feet is a little terrifying right now.

[gatheringstorm]

"That's fair, and entirely true. I couldn't be there all the time, anyway. That said, you don't have to rely on just yourself all the time, either. Especially if you join -but that's not a requirement, we'll still house and feed you if you don't- we try to look out for each other, or at least the folks who remember that at least two of our local leadership are rifters and pissing them off might not be a stellar plan."

[zombra]

The shift to having no one but Mike to a while Inquisition willing to look out for her is a lot to take in. In fact, she has this strange urge to just reject it all, which is weird because she does so much better as a follower. This situation should be ideal. Maybe it's recent events that has her brain all screwy. Her thinking she could trust the medical staff and them acting shady as fuck for no reason she could determine might be what's making her want to draw away now. But again: she's pretty sure she doesn't have a choice in the matter, and she can't turn down food and shelter in a completely foreign world. She just has to push down this instinct to go it alone and accept that she's going with the Inquisition to their base.

"Really? Rifters as leaders? And people haven't revolted against them yet?"

[gatheringstorm]

"Well, we used to have three in Kirkwall. Things got pretty tense with the locals there, but the leader of the Forces division vanished back to wherever he came from. The woman who replaced him is a native, human and non-mage, so they adjusted to that much better." Korrin rolls her eyes, still annoyed at all the tension on behalf of her rifter friends. It's so stupid, in her view. "Thedas has to be dragged into any kind of change kicking and screaming, apparently, even when the world is at stake."

[zombra]

Tessa isn't so sure she'd be as chillax as Korrin if people fell into the world from other dimensions back home. She'd definitely wonder what they were capable of. Hell, she knows she's no threat, but she doesn't know about other rifters. Even so, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get to know them and form a sort of alliance, if people are going to group them together anyway.

"People panic when change comes too fast; believe me." She's seen it firsthand. It's how her father ended up killed. "Thanks for all the info here. I'm just gonna keep my head down and feel out the place to see how people take to me."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin nods to that. "It can't hurt. And if you need to ask questions more than once, it's fine. Adalia talked about making a welcome packet for newcomers, so we might have something more organized to pass on sooner or later. Hopefully sooner, as it's really long overdue."

[zombra]

"A Quick Start Guide to Thedas," she jokes lamely. The words don't really express what it is: one of those guides you get with electronics that's just a couple of pictures and minimal words on one page, to get you going. They usually don't even put owners' manuals in the package anymore and just tell you to go online to learn more. Or, well they did. Tessa's going to have to get used to the fact that she's escaped her world and all the zombies in it.

"I'm gonna go grab something to eat. Thanks. You helped a ton." Tessa won't forget it either.