faderift | But despite what you've been told

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But despite what you've been told

WHO: Cecil, Kevin, Sherlock, Maxwell, Korrin, Lenneth
WHAT: Four brave Inquisition members go to rescue a group of very odd people
WHEN: the next few days
WHERE: on the edge of Emprise
NOTES: Rescuers feel free to use the ooc post here to plot out how you want the rescue to go down. Feel free to make up camp details/NPC actions. Action will be split into three main threads: Captive chatter, rescue, and travelling (both coming and going). Rescue will be a group log, but for the others feel free to do one-on-one threads.

The report’s directions are clear, at least, which is good - how else would the scouts be able to find the camp in this cold, desolate landscape. Snow as far as the eye can see, but there are great red shards of lyrium breaking through the ground. The only sounds are the grunting noise of red Templars stalking their way through the construction site echos along the frozen grounds, and the freezing wind that bites through skin and fur alike.

Scattered among these fearsome foes are cages. They look almost like caravans - giant cages on wheels, with cowering, shivering figures within. A few elves, primarily humans, all cold and hungry and uncertain about their fate.

Within one of these cages, a tattoo-covered human is conducting interviews.

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When the battle is over and the assembled group is clear of the Red Templars, Korrin's conscience is clearer that it has been for some time. Finally, at least some captives are now free. Not all, and she won't stop requesting aid until they were, but even one life spared such horror is a victory.

That isn't to say that there's any time to relax and savor it, however. Korrin knows they won't truly be safe until the region is behind them, so she'll do what she can in order to keep people moving. Gently, of course. If a cloak is needed, she'll pass it on; if fatigue is brought on by malnutrition, she'll take whatever is still in her travel bag and offer it without question. The Vashoth mage is fit and she can do without for a while, whereas others don't have that luxury.

Coming up to the nearest of those freed, Korrin looks them over with concern and slips free a healing potion from its place at her hip. "Here, have this. You need it more than I do."

"Oh, that is so very kind. But I simply couldn't. They very thought of it makes me nauseous."

Kevin smiles, the expression not quiet reaching her eyes as he takes in the...individuals. Qunari he's more than accustomed to, were individuals he spent most of his remembered life around. But one with magic could only be one thing, and he would let the shivering individual behind him take the healing potion offered.

"But thank you."

That his smile doesn't reach his eyes isn't unexpected; this man had just been through a grueling ordeal and Korrin can only begin to guess at the extent. She nods, not about to press the issue. The last thing anyone from those cages need is someone else forcing decisions for them or prying. So she's fine with letting the nearest person have it instead, taking a moment to readjust the staff on her back afterward.

"Fair enough, but if you change your mind, it shouldn't be difficult to spot me. I'm probably the only one of my kind in the area, after all." She smirks a little at that, glad her height and horns are good for something when they've been more of a hindrance during her scouting mission. Being the only Vashoth around makes keeping a low profile difficult, to put it mildly. "And I have plenty to go around, so don't think you're depriving me."

"It won't cross my mind. I promise."

Tal-Vashoth in the area were a rarity, even in these times of red Templars and other oddities. Kevin considered the tall female, content to ignore the rest of his fellow captives for the time being. They hadn't been terribly useful during the imprisonment, and seemed even less so now.

"The Inquisition must so wonderfully...open minded. To gather such a collection of. Heroes."

Heroes. That's the second time someone's used that word, and Korrin still doesn't know what to make of it in relation to herself, so she shrugs.

"You say it like there's the luxury of picking and choosing who gets to battle the great evil ahead, but it's not like that. Given that the Chantry thinks us all heretics and Orlais is too busy imploding to notice anything else, it's more a matter of pragmatism. Whoever's willing to do what needs to be done is welcome. Though I'll admit that kind of thinking has made acceptance possible, instead of a pipe-dream."

Kevin can't help but be a little charmed by the answer. Pragmatism was such a lovely word to hear, especially after his time in that cage with those...less level headed individuals.

"Oh, but there is more to it. Look at these...people." He nodded his head towards his fellow former captives. "And their kind across Thedas. How many still shun the Inquisition? Or any force willing to defend them. Simply out of fear of...differences. It is only after it is too late they accept any help available. And, I trust, it is not yet too late for the Inquisition?"

"It'd better not be. I didn't throw in with them only to see us fail now. The Herald may be gone, but her legacy remains. As does her power. We can still seal rifts, some of us. When faced with that or a pile of demons, I think most people will conveniently forget about differences for a time. If you're drowning, you don't refuse a raft if you've any sense."

He'd heard rumors, but the news of individuals still able to close Rifts is clearly a surprise- a very, very pleasant one- to the man. His eyes and grim widen.

"It really wasn't only Andraste's chosen one able to such us all? That's wonderful! That is simply- can any of you here manage it? To close those rifts?"

Edited 2016-01-02 23:49 (UTC)

"I can't, but one of us can. The guy in the dragon armor, Kain, he has a rift shard." Korrin gestures back to him briefly. "Everyone I've met who's come to Thedas through a rift has one, though some people from this side have gained one as well. They seem to be stable enough, at least for now."

"Came through the rift. Incredible."

Kevin's attention is fully on Kain for a moment, committing the man to memory.

"However did ones from....what was that perfect phrase? 'Our side' happen upon them?"

"Oh, that. It was a place of 'right place, right time', if you can call it that. We were sent to search the ruins of Haven and see what we could find. Well, what we found was a rift that spewed out demons and people. The people helped us kill the demons, so we took them back to Skyhold with us." And it was then that for the first time since the Herald's death that Korrin felt that there was hope again. The Herald was gone, but her gift lives on in others.

Kevin sat back to absorb that. Rifts and people, all at the ruin of Haven.

"Incredible. Incredible. Why, I believe you have convinced me."

"As long as I didn't convince you to get a shard of your own, I can live with that. We still don't know the long-term effects of that on people, useful as they are at the moment. It's better to keep as much of a distance from rifts as you can and let the shard-bearers be the ones to get up close."

"But more now could only aid the Inquisition. Long-term effects are hard to evaluate when the future itself is so very...questionable at the moment. Though, if such a technique of manufacturing is unknown, all that is just fantasy. And who has time for that?"

He was, admittedly, rather battered - but he had been somewhere in his own thoughts and hadn't noticed the Vashoth approach him, so looked a little surprised when she spoke. He turned to face her, looking down at the bottle, and then smiled with a very warm expression that most certainly did reach his eyes, and took the bottle.

"Oh! Oh, thank you. That's very kind." The smile only widened. "Though I wouldn't wish to be rude. Who should I be thanking...?"

Korrin smiled back, and it reached her eyes for what felt like the first time in days. After stewing in frustration over not being able to help a single soul in the area, this was a welcome change. That her height and horns didn't seem to be scaring him off improves her mood as well.

"You're welcome. I'm Korrin Ataash, of the Valo-Kas as well as the Inquisition. If you need any more, just ask. I have plenty to go around, so don't think you're depriving me."

Edited 2015-12-30 01:31 (UTC)

Cecil didn't get scared off by much, frankly. Especially not when that height and those horns had just gone and saved his life. That and, well, he looked bizarre enough himself that nothing really phased him.

"Of the Valo-Kas?" He asks, tilting his head with interest. "I'm afraid to say I haven't heard of them. What are they? Or - I suppose - What is it?"

"It's a mercenary company, of Vashoth and Tal-Vashoth. I'm the only one directly allied with the Inquisition, but they'll come when I ask them." Korrin knows that much, without a doubt. Thinking of them brings a brief pang of longing, but she shoves it back. There's too much to do now and she won't lose focus.

After the fight, Lenneth had volunteered to guard the rear of the train, leaving the direction of their bedraggled party to those more inclined towards scouting. She remained fairly quiet and kept to herself, though certainly not out of a poor mood. Every so often she'd gather power to her fingertips and then let it go, a small faraway smile on her face.

"What is that?" Cecil asked curiously, with no lead up what-so-ever, as he pointed to the green shard in her hand.

"I don't think I've seen anything quite like it."

"This?" asked Lenneth, lifting her afflicted hand. She flexed her fingers away from her palm and faced it toward him to give a better look. "I know little. I have been told it is a shard of the Anchor--the mark the Herald of Andraste bore before her death. Like her, I emerged from a rift. Unlike her, I do not originally hail from Thedas." She said this matter-of-factly, and didn't pause afterward to allow for the sudden consideration of other worlds. Or, more likely, interruptive questions.

"All of us who came from the rifts bear them. They are weaker than the Herald's. Smaller. But they serve the same purpose. If those who bear the anchor shards work together, we may close rifts. I have seen it done--and aided in doing it myself." She stretched her fingers once, then let the hand fall to the pommel of her sword again. "More than that, I do not know. Its origin, if it has any other power, why we were pulled from our worlds, what was it did the pulling, whether or not we may return..." She lifted her shoulders in a brief shrug.

"If you find aught out with your questions, I would be well pleased to know."

Edited 2016-01-06 04:59 (UTC)

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But despite what you've been told

TRAVELLING CHATTER

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Re: TRAVELLING CHATTER

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