[OPEN] FROM RIFTWATCH WITH LOVE: PART ONE

[unshut]

WHO: Everyone and anyone
WHAT: An abomination redecorates the Gallows.
WHEN: Early August
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: Part One of FROM RIFTWATCH WITH LOVE. Will include some violence, some general chaos, and some light murderin'.

There is a man in a worn traveling cloak. He is dark haired, with sharp features dominated by a dark horizontal scar near his hairline, and later someone will describe him as having been soft spoken when he asked for directions.

But something in the Gallows' dining hall, with its unreliable population for the midday meal, must catch under his skin; he's found his voice again by the time he steps up onto one of the benches.

"Is this all of you?"

Someone nearby tells him to get his boots off the furniture, so the man climbs higher onto the table and is louder the second time: "Is this really all you are? A few people in a tower on an island?"

Heads are coming up. As his voice rises, he produces an envelope from his pocket.

"Do you think this is funny? Playing at being something, and telling people you can make a difference to them? You were supposed to be helping, but you're all just sitting here! Don't touch me"—to someone encouraging him to get off the fucking table—"You were meant to be helping us. You promised you would, and I told her I believed you!"

Hands are reaching for him. No, really, get off the table. You can explain what's wrong once you're down; you're with friends— The man jerks his arm free, snarling, "Don't touch me! You're nothing!" A stronger hand finds him then and begins pulling him struggling down. With a wrenched cry of, "Livia!" the man slips from the table.

A column of fire pours upward out of him like molten heat from a crack in the earth. It bursts so high that it scorches a circle on the dining hall ceiling, and burns so suddenly hot that it sends those nearest to him recoiling backward as their clothes catch. The fire licks again in random directions, in chaotic fits and starts of light and heat, and the thing that rises up again in the mage's place isn't really a man at all.

The rage abomination will ravage its way through the dining hall and prodigious Gallows kitchens, then out into the courtyard beyond leaving considerable destruction in its wake until finally brought down by Leander. In the charred aftermath, the following can be recovered from among the mage's belongings: a leather corded bracelet with a green bead woven in it (too small for anything but the smallest wrist), a functioning phylactery, and a letter from "Riftwatch" which implies a history of correspondence and familiarly refers to the recipient by name, 'Felix.' An investigation of Riftwatch's files will reveal the log of having received a message from a similar Felix, No Lastname six months earlier. The message itself is nowhere to be found among the Gallows records.

The recovered letter assures Felix that all will be well, and includes instructions to wait in the woods above the crossroads of a small Wildervale village.

'Help will be on its way. Good luck, and safe travels.'

Comments

2

[keenly]

"First one's always the worst," Colin agrees, dropping to sit by Sawbones. "Are you hurt?"

[okayimin]

"Skirts got a bit singed," she says, not bothering to conjure up Colin's name, since she had absolutely called him "Browdie" for the better part of ten minutes, "That's all. Startled me more than anything."

'Startled' is perhaps a mild term for how worn out and hollow eyed she looks.

[keenly]

He doesn't think she thought his name was Browdie. He suspects she thought he was someone else. And considering her background, it wouldn't be surprising. He leans in to speak in a conspiratorial tone.

"I could roll you some elfroot to smoke. Just between the two of us."

[okayimin]

She snorts at him, but doesn't say no. "Go on then." And she watches him, "You're holding up well."

[keenly]

A shrug as he takes dry leaves and a bit of paper from his gear. "It's not my first abomination," he says. "Not even my second. And I'm counting by event, not by numbers of abominations. How upset do you get about darkspawn?"

It's an oversimplification, but he's feeling fine, so he doesn't want to question it too much. He finishes the joint and hands it to her before conjuring a spark to light it for her.

[okayimin]

"Everybody should get upset about darkspawn," Sawbones says. It's grim, but there's no heat to it, more the weight of the Deep Roads settled heavy on her. She takes the joint and leans into the spark, lighting it and taking a heavy drag.

"I get your point, though," she concedes when she finally lets the heavy smoke blow out of her mouth.

[keenly]

"You do know what I mean," he says with a squint. "By the time an abomination is made, someone has already died. Usually one of my friends. But I have a lot of practice at not losing it until it's safe. And in this case, it was just the one death. It can wait until tonight, when the nightmares, you know."

Another shrug.

"How are you feeling?"

[okayimin]

She's quiet for a while, takes another drag from the joint and then offers it to him. Might as well share. "Yeah. Yeah, it was like that with the Taint. When it took someone, they were dead. Wasn't fuck all you could do about it."

Her hands are a little steadier now, but she's still got a far away look to her. Sawbones sighs, letting her head drop and rubbing her forehead, "Felt like I was back in the Roads. Not sure I ain't still."

[keenly]

Colin takes a drag of the joint himself.

"Try something for me," he says, smoke puffing out as he speaks. "Take this."

He pulls a scrap of burlap from one pocket and passes it to her.

"Rub that between your hands, breathe slowly, and tell yourself it's 9:46. Pay attention to the texture."

[okayimin]

She gives him a look, clearly not comprehending where this is going (they don't have mental health in Dust Town, Colin), but she does as he asks. She takes the burlap and rubs it between her hands, letting her fingers catch the texture. She breathes. She tells herself it's 9:46.

After a moment, she asks, "Is it 9:46?"

[keenly]

They don't have mental health up here, either, but Colin knows what works for him, and has compared notes with others.

"It..." He blinks, tries to recall, and is genuinely in doubt for a time before he nods. "Yes. It's 9:46."

[okayimin]

She nods, feeling more settled now that she's got the time. Impossible to tell up here with the way the sun plays with the light.

"What's this do, specifically?" Because if nothing else, talking about it turns her away from the smoke and the blood of the Deep Roads. Her fingers keep working over the burlap.

[keenly]

"For me?" He holds the joint to her lips. "The feel of it reminds me where I am. Lets me know I couldn't be anywhere but here."

[okayimin]

She considers that, taking a long drag off the joint when he holds it for her. The elfroot is helping and in some of the less soupy parts of her mind, she's glad it didn't trigger one of the less favorable reactions.

She still feels unmoored. She's here, but a part of her isn't clear on where that here is or why she's there to begin with. But she's not in the Deep Roads. That's something.

"It's a good trick. You come up with that yourself?" She's still worrying the burlap, but she's starting to get a little more color back to her face.

[keenly]

"Yeah. I noticed cold things helped, but I can't exactly keep ice in my pocket as I go about my day." He takes a drag of the joint before holding it out to her again.

[okayimin]

She takes another drag and this is good, though she wouldn't begin to know how to verbalize it. But given a problem to puzzle over catches more of her attention, dragging her a little closer to the present.

"What about a stone? Some kind of mineral deposit, maybe, so it's not completely smooth. Quartz and the like don't retain body heat too well... Maybe with an enchantment?" That's outside of her scope, but not outside of her interest. Enchanting exclusively weapons and armor was a waste.

[keenly]

"Ooh." Colin's eyes widen slightly. "That's a really good idea. Like a geode?"

[okayimin]

She nods, "Or somethin' smaller, maybe a carved down one. Make it easy to carry in a pocket."

[keenly]

"So like a quartz cluster. That's really good. I'll look for any next time I'm at the market."

[okayimin]

"Be a trick to find someone who can do the enchantment though."

[keenly]

"Doesn't need an enchantment. I don't even know if we have any raw lyrium. I can't bring it in. I can't even go near it."

[okayimin]

"We don't or Poppell and the rest would have gotten into it by now. Small favor there, I guess."

[keenly]

"Poppell? You mean Wisteria? Is she...do I need to be careful with what she asks for in the apothecary?"

[okayimin]

Sawbones snorts and waves off his concern, "I doubt it. You wouldn't really be stopping her anyhow, she doesn't strike me as the type to give up on the first go when she's interested in something. No, she's just aggressively curious and clever. Good qualities than can get someone in a lot of trouble."

[keenly]

"Oh, I see what you mean. Well, she hasn't got into the refined lyrium, but I keep that locked up tight."