MOD PLOT ↠ NONE TO RETURN

[faderifting]

WHO: All characters signed up to participate in the Battle of Ghislain
WHAT: The Inquisition regroups and heads home
WHEN: Covers the period immediately post-battle (11.28) through the journey back to Kirkwall (11.29-12.1)
WHERE: North of Montfort, Orlais, and on the road to Val Chevin
NOTES: This is Post #2, covering the immediate aftermath of the battle and the journey back to Kirkwall. It's a free-for-all. Post #1 covers the battle itself. More info on the OOC post.

The Inquisition and Orlesian armies eventually limp to a halt along the Imperial Highway north of Montfort, where wide fields and gentle hills offer clear lines of sight and a sparsely equipped fortress provides some shelter and fortification. It's a soundly strategic location—if Ghislain is lost, Montfort is the last major city between the invaders and Val Royeaux—but among the rank and file there may be too much chaos to appreciate it.

For the remainder of the day and well into the night, the fortress and surrounding land are a frenzy of activity. The wounded who were not left on the field must be triaged and tended to with limited supplies, while many healers and surgeons out of commission themselves and the remainder worked to the bone. Scouts, soldiers, and even support staff in sturdy enough condition to keep working may be tasked with assembling camp from the few remaining supplies, taking reports on known casualties or acquired intelligence, or further fortifying the new location. The Orlesian army sends one of its battered cavalry units toward Ghislain to attempt to provide some warning, and from the Inquisition's number a few patrols are sent back toward the battlefield or toward Ghislain, with stern orders not to re-engage, only to watch for signs of pursuit, and to direct any stragglers.

Those who remain in the fortress are in for a long, miserable night, with meager rations and makeshift bedding, if any of either, while the wind shifts directions and grows colder. By morning a number of the wounded have died, but attempts to build a pyre are hampered by the sudden swell of a storm that starts with freezing rain and then transitions to early and unpredicted thick, heavy snow.

For a few hours that morning the two armies attempt business as normal, but it soon becomes clear that the storm is getting stronger, and they risk being snowed in with more people than they can feed. Many, including the Inquisition's Gallows contingent, are ordered to disperse. Many crowd into wagons, with any transportable wounded receiving further attention en route and neighbors hunching close to preserve heat whether they like one another or not, while those able to do so follow on foot or horseback over the rough, flash-frozen highway toward Montfort and then west toward Val Chevin. The storm doesn't abate until they've nearly reached the city, but once there they're able to stop, eat, and spend a few hours indoors thawing out before proceeding home.

Comments

[aceso]

There's the slight uplift of her lips at the comment. She's even too exhausted to fully smile, but the thought is there because Wysteria correcting herself about how Christine looks is amusing, and she needs a little of that right now.

"Thank you, Wysteria. I have been working all day, but there are still injuries to mend." Her gaze shifts to look around them, but most everyone around the fires have bandages of some kind on them. How far was she brought from her original location? She takes up another spoonful of broth.

"How do you fare?"

[heirring]

"Oh fine. Perfectly well. --Well," a quick amendment. "No, it's a good thing you're sitting there to my left. I think if you were on the right side, I wouldn't have heard you whatsoever. That ear's all ringing even now. I believe something has burst in it." This all said with the conversational good humor of someone who is frankly too tired to be fussed about much of anything at all.

The ringing is quite annoying, but in the grand scheme of things the cut to her hand is far more irritating (let's be frank - listening is not one of Wysteria's primary skills to begin with).

"But really, otherwise I'm quite well. Scrapes and cuts only, I believe. Far better than most could say. And yourself? I hope you weren't hurt at all. Were you there when the healing tents were set fire?"

[aceso]

"Goodness!" Christine replies, sounding quite alarmed at the idea that something inside Wysteria's ear has burst. For all her medical knowledge, she doubts she can grow back an eardrum with magic.

"Yes, I was. It was an awful moment in time." Because there was hardly any time to do anything before the burning canvas started dropping. She saw a patient engulfed in the flames, and barely had a moment to grab some linens for bandages before running out. And in the end, she had dropped those linens to defend Skadi and Sidony during their retreat.

"A dracolisk bit me," she adds with a rueful smile. "Not too amusing at the time, of course, but it is a story to take with me into the future."

getting back on the rp horse; feel free to disregard if you'd prefer!

[heirring]

"Oh, how funny!"

This declared with bright good humor. She laughs and touches her chest. It's impossible to tell under the cloak she has drawn about her now, but there is a bandage under there covering quite the scratch. The blood from it had absolutely ruined the bodice she now has packed away in her traveling bag. "One of them got me too. We make quite the pair, Enchanter. --But really it's a relief to see you more or less in one piece. I'm sure we're all the better for it."