faderift | EVENT ↠ THE DRIFTING ROADS

Entry tags:

EVENT ↠ THE DRIFTING ROADS

WHO: Everyone
WHAT: A Crossroads Adventure
WHEN: Most of Cloudreach 9:46
WHERE: The Crossroads
NOTES: OOC post!

A team recently discovered a cluster of eluvians, one of which leads into the attic of an occupied home in Minrathous. This could be an extremely useful route if it can be made safely accessible, but that will require careful planning. In the meantime, Riftwatch needs to urgently explore the other eluvians in the cluster to ensure that none of them make the Minrathous route too dangerous to keep open (for instance, if another leads into the center of Val Royeaux or the royal palace in Cumberland, or anywhere else that a party of enemy combatants could quickly cause terrible trouble).

To that end, teams are assigned to explore and (as much as is possible in the Crossroads) map where the others lead and what the paths between them are like so that the danger/usefulness of each can be assessed. Because there are dozens and this needs to be done as quickly as possible, anyone with any time may be ordered to take on an exploration shift. Assignments will be given to small teams or pairs, but never to just one person alone. Some people may be assigned multiple shifts. (These assignments will be made IC, but OOC you're free to choose your own teams.)

The aim of this event is to focus on the Crossroads themselves, so the eluvians investigated will almost all lead to other eluvians and to islands of disconnected pieces of the Crossroads. It may be necessary to travel between and through several successive eluvians to different portions of the Crossroads to ensure there's no access to a vulnerable location.

The portions of the Crossroads teams will be exploring now will come with a variety of frustrating geographical hazards, any number of which your characters may encounter during their travels:

RECONCILIATION ROAD: One eluvian will be positioned in the distance on a narrow island of the Crossroads and reachable only by two paths that unfurl ahead of people as they walk and finally converge to reach the island. The paths will slowly angle toward one another if the people walking on each of them discuss a topic of disagreement, coming together to meet at the eluvian if the parties are reasonable and calm during the discussion and make some earnest effort to find common ground along the way. They won't have to wind up in perfect agreement to reach the end, but breaking into fighting or being stubborn or petty will result in the paths diverging instead of coming together. People who already agree about something won't be able to make it work—they'll have to find something to disagree about, even if it's just the best color of flower. A monument at the beginning will explain its purpose (using Veilfire writing that gives mental impressions, rather than requiring knowledge of ancient elven languages): the paths were designed to require people to calmly discuss their differences on their way to reach someone appointed to mediate disputes at the end, rather than allowing them to barge in shouting.
IMPULSE AVENUE: An area will be populated by spirits who will act out a form of people's repressed feelings/impulses on their behalf. That might mean a nonverbal wisp or a more distinct verbal spirit. So a wisp who is acting on behalf of Person A might shoot little icicles at Person B because Person A is annoyed with them, or a more substantial spirit might hit on Person B because Person A thinks they're cute, et cetera. The spirits won't volunteer to explain why they're doing this, but the verbal ones could identify Person A as the source of the desire if pressed on the subject, especially if Person A secretly wants it known.
INNER CHILD BOULEVARD: Teams may need to pass through a particularly twisty, shifting maze that's only passable with the guidance of spirits—specifically, spirits who, for some unknown reason connected to their original purpose when the Crossroads were a thoroughfare, present as ghostly forms of the people they're guiding as they were when they were children. They'll know that they're spirits and that their purpose is to guide people through the maze, not mistake themselves for "real" people, but they'll behave and speak in the manner of the child they're imitating while doing so. (Like all spirits, they rely on the information available to them from people, so if there's some significant difference between the way a person recalls themselves as a child vs. how they really were, the spirit will only be able to imitate what the person recalls.)
SUSPICION CIRCLE: A pack of fear spirits (specific breed: suspicion) has control of a dark, tunnel-y portion of the Crossroads. They're able to rearrange the paths to lead people in circles rather than allowing them to escape, all the while trying to stoke fear and drive wedges between people by whispering to them about any fears they may harbor (or that just seem reasonable) about their companions' motives, loyalty, etc. Resisting the fear will prevent the spirits from feeding and eventually make them unable to keep up with rearranging the paths, allowing people to escape. Otherwise, if people do give into fearing one another and thus feed them, they'll have to be fought or outsmarted some other way.

They may also encounter other minor hazards and irritations, such as:

SPIRITS OF VALOR: Bridges or paths may occasionally be occupied by these fierce spirits who will demand that any who wish to pass first best them in single combat. They can also sometimes be passed without a fight, if you manage to out-swagger them.
WILD GOOSE SPIRITS: Spirits that will lead anyone who follows them in pointless circles for as long as possible. They may appear offering assistance, claiming they know the way to the party's destination and can lead them to it, or claiming to have been sent by another group that needs their help urgently. On rare occasions the aid they seek will be real, just far too late--they may lead people to scenes of spirits falling to their deaths as paths crumble, crying out for help but unable to be saved.
MOOD WISPS: Characters may encounter clusters of small wisps that will follow them about and change color depending on the mood of the person they're hovering near. If that person's emotions are particularly extreme they may also hum a little, annoyingly, in a way that vaguely indicates the relevant feeling.
TRUTH PATHS: Paths that will fall away if you tell a lie. It doesn't require active truth-telling to cross, so you can be silent the whole time if you like, but if you lie about something while wandering the path will vanish ahead of you and will not reappear until you correct the lie. They aren't clearly marked.
PUZZLES EVERYWHERE: There are puzzles. They're everywhere, and they're frequently required to unlock an eluvian or make a pathway appear. Some of them might require people to play Ancient Elven Symbol Twister. Or Ancient Elven Symbol Hopscotch, if that's more your thing.

This project will be ongoing, in addition to characters' normal duties, until events TBA.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Erm."

Matthias tips his head--left first, and then right--so that he can see around the buzzy cloud of wisps. The wisps shift after him, lazily determined to remain blocking any clear line of sight. They don't make for entirely unpleasant traveling companions, but Matthias is also feeling that slight pinch of worry at the back of his neck at the thought of how conspicuous their escorts have made them.

"Look about the same," he says, as he straightens. The wisp cloud follows, bumping against one another. "I usually go for the left if I'm allowed to choose. Clear off, would you--"

One particularly inquisitive wisp has drifted forward and is right up against his nose. Matthias brushes it away, with a little scowl.

"Don't s'ppose you'd know of any way to get rid of these things."

Silver seems capable in general, the sort of person who has a vast knowledge of a bit of everything. And a pirate, at that, which adds to his allure. He's not likely to be adept at wisp-banishing, so it's mostly a sarcastic inquiry. The wisp zooms forward again, tickling at Matthias' nose; he shoves at it, trying to clear it off.

"I'd suggest being less interesting."

What exactly do wisps find boring? The surly Nevarran isn't on hand to consult, so the suggestion is more sarcastic rejoinder.

After a moment, he does make a cursory attempt at shooing some of Matthias' adoring and insubstantial companions aside with the sheaf of papers in his free hand. One wisp breaks off to spin in excitable circles overhead as the others shift and swarm around Matthias' shoulders.

"I suppose they're all coming left with us."

And potentially all the way to the other side of this path, unless it they end up having to turn back. John's mapped a few corridors that end in nonsensical dead ends.

After a few moments, John ventures, "I'd actually meant to speak with you, after our last assignment."

Noted tone shift towards seriousness, though how serious can one be with a teenager?

Left. Matthias marks this with dogged attention. It's a simple instruction, and it's not as if he'll have much choice to stray from the path. But his very life has often depended on following simple instructions, and keeping them firmly in mind is key to that.

He looks around at the change in topic, attention swayed. Through the haze of the wisps' glow, he finds Silver, and makes a quick study of his face. Hard to read. Not surprising.

"We did all right," he says, vaguely. Professional opinion, that. "What about?"

It's noted. "Takes direction well" is catalogued somewhere in the back of John's head, though John's yet to decide whether that's an asset or a liability in this case.

"About my contributions to our efforts on the road there."

Similarly vague.

There is no evidence indicating that refusing to speak aloud the exact nature of his magical transgressions is helpful in sweeping it under the rug, but that's not stopping John from invoking the truth of it here.

"Or more specifically, the need to ensure they aren't spoken of to anyone outside of this corridor." Wisps aside.

Oh. That.

Matthias sneaks a glance over. The glow of the wisps bathes Silver's face in an otherworldly sort of light, and deepens what shadows already there. It doesn't make him any easier to read now. It will likely make him more difficult to read than he already is.

"Riftwatch is all right. For mages, I mean."

It seems like a non-sequiter, maybe. He means it more invitingly than it sounds. Why keep a secret when it's not that bad?

The ring of that statement lands differently coming from Matthias than what hangs, unspoken, over every conversation he holds with Flint since the truth was dragged from him. Matthias is young, but he's suffered. John knows this, even without know much else about him.

"Aye, so it is."

Another man might be angered or tired at the thought that the best he can hope for is "all right" in terms of places he can deem safe. Instead, John bats aside another wisp as they pass a set of crumbling doorways leading out into nothingness. A faint, ungodly wail comes drifting out of the dark after them.

"But I don't intend to spend the whole of my life safe-guarded by my association with Riftwatch. Do you?"

Safe-guarded chafes, and Matthias pulls a face appropriate for the feeling, and does something between a shrug and a wiggle of his shoulders, as if to clear that off of his back. Some of that is for that quiet wail--distant, but still unnerving, enough to raise the hair on the back of his neck. Of course there's nothing, when he looks behind him. Only darkness. But the glow of the wisps has fucked his eyesight a bit, so perhaps there is something there, something that he can't see.

"If that was the way I meant it--which it isn't--I reckon it would be shit, yeah. I'm not hanging my entire life on Riftwatch. 'Cause it's bound to all go away once Corypheus is killed, right? But it's good enough for now. And what other choices have we got?"

"Obscurity," John offers. "It's served me fairly well for a time."

A time. As if that isn't encompassing nearly the entirety of his life.

"I suppose you intend to return to the war Corypheus interrupted, if it's necessary after he's dispatched?"

"Seeing as there's to be war back on for certain, no matter what it is that happens to Corypheus, yeah. That's my plan. Unless the Chantry changes its mind very quickly. Things they would offer aren't enough for me."

He's frowning now in earnest, as he looks back at Silver, studying the man with a critical eye.

"You don't care? About mages? About--being a mage, properly?"

"On the contrary, I care very much for mages. I'm invested in their freedom, hopefully through negotiation, but if necessary, other methods."

But that wasn't quite the question. John teeters to a half, leaning against the crumbling stonework. They're safe enough for the moment, apart from Matthias' wisp escorts.

"But no, I don't have any interest in being a proper mage. I imagine that's part of your cause as well, the right for a man to choose."

"Yeah, 'course--no one should have to do anything. I didn't mean it that way. Not even that you ought to go to a Circle, or any of it, just--"

Matthias directs his frown down at his boots now. They're of such good quality that they're still fine and sturdy, even after all these months of him having worn them. That's underrated, and a small example of a thing a man might choose to stay free for.

"Who taught you what you know?"

There was never any real expectation that Matthias would have the same reservations Ilias expressed. John doesn't know this boy well, but he's heard him often enough on the crystal. The larger danger is the inevitable disapproval that will come if John is even half as honest with him as he's been with Flint.

"At the start of it? Someone who's long dead, and I doubt you'd have met."

The answer comes easily enough. Is it the truth? It's convenient, but does that mean it's untrue?

"After that, well. The world is vast, and there are people who are willing to teach you a trick or two for a little coin as long as you're planning on leaving the next day."

What can be gleaned from both these answers: not anyone the Chantry would have approved us.

"I know enough. I don't have a need to know more, like others might." Leander. Isaac. Ilias. "Or rather, I don't have enough need to trade what I have now."

"But it's better, if you learn." Isn't it? He thinks that; doesn't ask. "Or else it can go to shit."

Then again, Silver is still here. Older than you think of when you hear the word apostate. Not been hunted down by Templars. Not turned into an abomination, nor gone off his head. There's apostates out there who never have anything happen to them. And it would be a better life, being a pirate, being free. Both then and now and during whatever comes next, whatever happens to mages.

What Matthias is thinking of is his own fear. Like a pebble stuck in the side of your boot during a long march. You can get past it, but it's still there. It's that thought: that he's the one liable to turn into an abomination. Go off like a mine. Silver is all right or else he wouldn't be here.

Matthias traps his shirt cuff with his fingers, pins it against his palm so he can scrub his shirt sleeve against his face. The wisps bumble out of the way before closing in again, settling around his head like a halo.

"S'ppose it doesn't matter, really. We none of us know what's coming next for us. Mages or otherwise. Once this is over, it's all going to be different. Might be better. Might be a chance to start something new. Mages might not have to go to Circles. Maybe they could just learn. You could too, then. If you wanted." After a beat, he adds, somewhat shyly: "It is brilliant. Magic. Learning what to do with it. You ought to, if only so you know what it's like. To--have it. To know it."

Had there ever been in a moment in John's life when he'd felt something like Matthias? The brightness of optimism in his voice feels so foreign to John. What would it be like to love magic, instead of feeling that crush of dread every time he reached beyond the Veil to drawn forth some borrowed power?

Studying Matthias, haloed in wisps and offering up some small, glowing piece of himself, John finds himself momentarily at a loss. Neither Isaac nor Ilias had spoken about magic like this. Even Leander was more tepid in his discussion of his abilities. Their wariness of magic had been easier to field than the wealth of possibility inlaid in Matthias' words.

"We'll see," John answers after a moment. "There's no point in planning for the future when we're still fighting a war."

And then, because John cannot let this pass without being clear about one thing—

"The kind of fresh start you're talking about, that's what we've wanted for a long time." How long had he been here? Two years? "If we have the chance to force the Chantry to agree to it after the war is over, we're going to take it."

We. Flint. He thinks Matthias will understand that.

That first bit is in line with what he'd said to Kitty: sort Corypheus, make plans after it's done. But she'd said otherwise--now is the time to think of it, of what comes next--and that's been rattling around in Matthias' head ever since. It's what he wants to do. So if it looks like his ears prick up, when Silver says the next bit--well, that can't be helped.

"I don't reckon the Chantry'll go for that easily." He tries to say it casually, warily, the way he imagines someone cannier than him might say it. But there's such a hope in it that he can't erase. A fresh start. It's all right there, within reach.

"What's your lot imagine that looks like? If it's good for mages, you won't be alone in it. You'll have help."

Him, for starters. Whatever that counts for.

The need to excise himself from the offer Matthias is making twinges in the back of John's throat. But the correction doesn't get him anything, except likely Matthias' disappointment and suspicion. John needs neither.

His hands fold together, two scarred palms meeting.

"What we came here wanting for Nascere is different, I imagine, than what you were fighting the Chantry for in your war."

That John is acquainted with the trials of Southern mages, well.

"But we want to be able to chose for ourselves, govern ourselves. We want to be free of those would try to force us into lives we do not want. If we were able to manage it, the mages among us would be given the same freedoms as any other person."

The attitudes are vastly different in the North. He assumes Matthias understands that.

"I assume when the time comes there'll be a fair amount of discussions, but the overarching desires don't change. As long as we're all in agreement, what comes of it will be good for all of us."

If the wisps glow brighter, maybe it's Matthias that has charged them, by force of his emotion, to do it. Maybe he only imagines that they glow a little brighter because he feels as if he is glowing a little brighter. There is nothing firm or certain in what Silver says, scant details and nothing to go on. It doesn't much matter. Matthias feels a lift in his chest particular to hope. He can only do so much to fight it down.

If there's more than one person that has an idea, that means the idea could live. It could spread. If enough people are thinking of it, that's how it could become real. Not all precisely the same, but close enough to be real.

"Yeah," he says, too quick to retain the coolness he'd been trying to keep on. "I reckon you really won't be alone in that. It varies, like. What everyone wants to see done. What I want for me, and my friends," the mages he knows in Riftwatch, and those that he knew before, the ones that are still alive, if they're still alive--he doesn't say it but he's thinking of them all, each of the last times that he saw them--"is something like that. Freedom. Sort of like Riftwatch is, but it'll be everywhere. Not just here. And see, then you could learn, if you wanted to. Properly. I mean, you could learn before now as well, if you wanted to, but if everything was all right, and everyone was free to live as they wanted. Then you wouldn't have to worry about it. You could just do it, 'cause you wanted to. It'd be brilliant."

Well, no. He stops himself, takes that again: "It will be brilliant."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT ↠ THE DRIFTING ROADS

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