But despite what you've been told

[mostlyvoid]

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.

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

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."

[justdesert]

"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."

[gatheringstorm]

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."

[justdesert]

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?"

[gatheringstorm]

"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."

[justdesert]

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?"

[gatheringstorm]

"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."

[justdesert]

"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?"

[gatheringstorm]

"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.

[justdesert]

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

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

[gatheringstorm]

"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."

[justdesert]

"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?"