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

[zombra]

"Huh. Truuuue." She draws the word out as she considers the truth in tales. That's some wise shit right there.

"I don't know. Maybe. It's a pretty optimistic view, and I kinda lost all that from living day to day in that place." But the last shred of optimism flew away while in the hospital. She thought she could help find a cure, but from the desperation of the med staff, she saw that probably wasn't the case.

[coiledscales]

"I've never lived through such a thing, so I can't honestly help you with any glimmerings of hope. But there's always a solution to a problem - even if it's an unpalatable one that you have to choke down temporarily."

He speaks from experience in that regard, anyway. He's had to make his share of compromises to keep himself moving. To keep climbing. He makes a little noise and settles his chin in his hand.

"I find that giving up does little for the spirit and even less for the odds of success."

[zombra]

It does sound like an answer that comes with experience. She's kind of curious what that was for him, but at the same time, it seems like a dick move to ask. He's trying to help her out here, and she shouldn't press for more detail.

"Yeah, things don't tend to happen if no one tries," she agrees, though a voice tells her that the methods used in "trying" can do more harm than good. But maybe she's just bitter at how much she was poked and prodded and treated like an experiment rather than a person.

"But as long as I'm here... then there's nothing I can contribute to home anyway. I've got to figure this place out instead."

[coiledscales]

"Welcome to, as they say, the club," Alacruun sighs, "I'm having to figure out magic almost from scratch. It's similar and yet... incredibly different from what I'm used to. I was a master of it at home. Here, I'm merely a very skilled novice. Not to mention I know nothing of its history or how magic has actually influenced their society..."

He pauses.

"I am learning, though. And that's something. Wouldn't you agree?"

[zombra]

"We don't have magic at all back home, so this is so freaky right now. Like, I can't even... I can't even." She gives her head a shake and laughs. "Hard to put into words, obviously."

But she gives him a nod. "Yeah, dude. Totally. It may be different, but you'll get the hang of it. How's that for optimism?"

[coiledscales]

"Optimism? I view it more as... a reassurance that we can change the world. Shape it. We just have to try hard enough. Or persevere."

That's definitely a viewpoint. Then again, it's brought him this far, so maybe there's something to it. Who knows?

"Besides, it could be worse. You could've arrived at the bottom of a crevasse..."

[zombra]

"Whoa, that's pretty deep." A little too deep for her. She likes to follow the crowd, not make waves, and just get on with things. There's no drive in her to build a better world; just to survive in it.

"As is a crevasse, now you mention it. Yeah, I'd say this landing zone wasn't too bad."

[coiledscales]

"We spent a week in an ice-bound hellhole," Alacruun sighs, "It was... deeply unpleasant. And we weren't sure anyone was going to actually show up for us. Highly unfortunate."

Which is understating it, honestly, but he tends toward understatement.

[zombra]

"There was a rift there? Damn, that sucks. I definitely feel luckier now, knowing that." Jury's still out on whether this situation is really "lucky," but seeing how there are no zombies currently trying to eat her, she thinks this place might be better than home.

"How often do these rifts dump people here?"

[coiledscales]

"Fairly regularly. This is... the second time it's happened since my own arrival? So the third, altogether. Which has unpleasant implications if it happens as often and as regularly..."

Basically, how many people are going to get dumped here? Makes him think about the future and how they're going to be able to maintain this.

"I still don't know how it all works, though."

[zombra]

The same thought crosses her mind. Is this world going to become flooded with people from other worlds? What will that do to the native population? Seeing how things like viruses are fresh in Tessa's mind, she wonders what would happen if new viral strains were introduced here. Isn't that why scientists always say aliens could never conquer Earth by landing and starting a ground war? Because humans' illnesses would kill aliens that had no immunity. She doesn't want to voice any of this out loud, however. There were theories as to why Tessa was immune; one being that she was a carrier of the virus. But seeing how she's been here hours now and no one's started trying to eat anybody else, she's thinking that theory isn't true. Thank God.

"Yeah. It's just weird magic shit to me. I can't even begin to work it all out." Sighing, she sets her chin down on drawn up knees, looking out over the scene before them.

"Still alive, though. That's something."

[coiledscales]

"Living is the important part," Alacruun replies. He's not generally given to being reassuring, but it's something of his own philosophy and he always enjoys talking about that.

"Imprisonment, suffering, pain - it can all be borne and recovered from, if one lives. And eventually, one can move past all of it. Become something better than you were, with lessons learned and fresh ideas. And hopefully... not too terribly damaged."

Well, not exactly the most comforting. But still something. Right?

[zombra]

"You're preaching to the choir." There's the edge of a smile as she says this, because if anyone knows about overcoming terrible things and surviving, it's her.

"I don't mind being a bit damaged. It gives me character. Makes me edgy." She scrunches up her nose at the last word. Her dumb sense of humor has helped her through too, damage notwithstanding. "And hey, at least the shit I've been through has taught me some life skills that I didn't have before. So instead of being a lost little lamb once we get to Kirkwall, I'm gonna find something to do with myself."

[coiledscales]

Ah. There's a spark there that Alacruun rather enjoys thinking about. Seeing. A thin smile curves on his lips and he dips his head in a nod.

"I look forward to seeing what you do with the opportunity."

Maybe this world will be interesting after all.