faderift | MOD PLOT ↠ A THOUSAND WRONGS

WHO: Everyone!
WHAT: Assisting with the aftermath of occupation
WHEN: August through Kingsway
WHERE: Field of Ghislain
NOTES: OOC post. Please use appropriate content warnings in your comment subject lines as needed.

The Fields of Ghislain are, as the name suggests, broad open plains, more flat than not, more grass than trees. There are famous orchards around Arlesans at the southern end, but they fade into grassland and farm land, wide fields of wheat and corn separating quiet farming villages and the occasional bustling market town, the even more occasional country estate.

High summer here has always meant long hot days, dusty roads, and preparations for the harvest. Now it also means recovery from the sudden end to the area's year-and-a-half of occupation by the forces of Corypheus. On first glance, the area appears to have escaped relatively unscathed. There are a few burnt villages here and there, a few new rifts, and the scarred valley where the Battle of Ghislain took place, but there are also crops growing strong in the fields and markets open for business, people going about their lives.

On closer inspection, there's more work to be done. The immediate threats are obvious: an unusual number of rifts and the general thinning of the Veil they signal, small bands of enemies—including bands of darkspawn with red lyrium growths—still marauding through the region, isolated patches of red lyrium to be destroyed and Blight to be contained.

Most places have at least one building that's been destroyed by fire or force, some practically essential—a grain store, an infirmary, a watch tower—some invaluable in other ways—a chantry, a mayor's office, a monument to heroic ancestors. Some places showed more resistance than others, and there whole neighborhoods or even entire villages have been gutted by fire and the ruins shoved over like block towers. Some survivors fled and now return to pick through the debris, while others remained, living in shanties in the ashes waiting for a chance to rebuild. Despite the crops ripening in the fields there are signs of malnutrition in many places as well, stories of crops confiscated to feed the invading troops and only meager rations returned, worse off even than those affected by shortages elsewhere in Orlais.

And it's not just the material that the enemy has taken or destroyed. Every decent-sized village has its missing, people who were arrested and taken away in wagons or simply vanished one day out of the blue. Where there was resistance there were executions to discourage it, and while the inhabitants have already taken down and buried the displayed bodies, there are a few places where there is no one left to do so, or where magic placed remains out of reach but always in sight.

There are opportunities too: the enemy lived and worked here for 18 months. They did their best to cover their tracks when they left, but it was a hasty and unexpected withdrawal, and there is a wealth of information to collect and work through. There are houses they occupied that haven't been entirely cleaned out, papers only half-burned in an abandoned office, a storeroom in an outpost basement they forgot to empty. And there are the people who have been forced to live and work alongside them all this time to be spoken with, the names they've learned and the conversations they've overheard, the training exercises held on their village greens, all to be teased out and taken down.

One abandoned operation commands particular attention: the site that Riftwatch—then the Inquisition—observed on the eve of the Battle might be a shrine to the Old God Dumat. At the time this was a newly-discovered ruin and little could be discerned for certain, but during their occupation the Venatori have undertaken massive excavations. They've uncovered not just a shrine but a significant temple complex, much of it underground. Exploration of the lowest levels will be handled by a particular team, but there is more to see and do besides. The warren of ruins and the remains of the camp outside them must be searched for clues as to the Venatori's purpose here, and a preliminary study made of the site's contents. There are also the slaves who did the back-breaking labor of digging out the complex and now need assistance. Many are locals, who simply need a ride back to their homes. Others the Venatori brought with them from Tevinter, and they will need to be interviewed and local communities persuaded to take them in.

It is an unimaginable amount of work, but Riftwatch isn't doing it alone. The Inquisition still has a large number of noncombatants, many of whom have been sent to help with outreach and rebuilding in particular. The Exalted March, too, has plenty of volunteers that aren't exactly fit for the front lines. There is enough ground to cover for everyone, but there will be times when Riftwatch agents will be working with—or at least alongside—those from the Inquisition and the Exalted March, and orders are clear that they are to maintain good working relations and not start any trouble.

In between all of this there will be long rides by horse or cart from this village to that one over dirt tracks with cicadas buzzing in the sun, sweltering afternoons broken up by sudden, drenching thunderstorms, warm evenings playing pétanque on the green with the locals over a pint of cider. There will be as many wary as grateful, but hopefully by the end of the summer Riftwatch can tip that balance a little bit.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Motioning uselessly to Matthias, Barrow seems ready to concede to the resident mages. Too bad they don't agree with one another.]

I can... [he chimes in quietly, but then rolls his eyes, annoyed at his own reticence.]

...well, you know what I can do.

[It's the worst kept secret in Riftwatch that he's still enough of a Templar to stop even an advanced mage-- or an Abomination-- in their tracks.]

[ Matthias receives a beaming smile for his report (so concise and prompt, what a delight!). Poesia taps her chin thoughtfully and considers the men and the boy and their somber faces. ]

Are we not going to kill them, then?

[ It strikes her as something they ought to establish now. The answer to the question seems to have taken on a sudden unknown quality that is most troublesome. ]

[With a weary sigh, Barrow's head drops forward and he rubs his temple.

how is he always on missions with Poesia]

Edited 2020-08-27 06:43 (UTC)

[ Barrow's eyes roll, and (in the biggest display of hypocrisy this side of the Minaenter) Isaac's mouth tightens; grows sharp. A moment, before he responds, ]

They aren't going to stop, Matthias. We're what they left behind.

[ Riftwatch sounds like Inquisition, sounds like March. Sounds like a bad threat for five people to make.

Do they need to return with five? Flint would raise too many questions. Barrow would be difficult, but he could be surprised. Poesia - ]

There are too many to take directly. Every one has seen training.

If by some miracle they were willing to talk [—is a far cry from 'All right shut up, all of you,' but has some similar shearing quality to it—] all that would be accomplished by it would be to save them for the humiliation of an executioner.

What I want to know is whether we have the means to accomplish this here quickly and quietly. They've erected some scaffolding on the other end that might be knocked free and bring in one of the tunnel's retained walls. What does the passage look like on that side?

[The little touch of sick--you know what I can do--makes Matthias tighten up, boils down to anger.]

Riftwatch is different. Or ought to be.

[--addressed to Isaac, even if he's glaring at Barrow. But everyone is disappointing him, so maybe Riftwatch isn't different after all. And Flint has more questions, besides--also disappointing, but Matthias' respectfulness wrests back control--]

How far along is the scaffolding? I can double back down the passage and see what it looks like. Specifically. But then what happens?

From the look of it, it extends down into one of the central chambers they're using as a store room.

[That is the simpler part of this equation.]

If we're to avoid a spectacle, we must come to a definitive solution between us. Outnumbered as we are, our best chance would be to draw them into one section of the tunnels and then collapse it from both sides.

[Barrow winces, but doesn't argue. He's not a tactician: he's here to follow the orders of smarter people. Isn't he?]

Riftwatch sent a templar.

[ He knows better than to continue that conversation. They've shifted to tactics, they've agreed. Picking it apart isn't persuasion, just self-indulgence.

(Knowing isn’t doing. There are limits.)

He straightens his coat, straightens up. Stops fiddling. ]

I can’t move rock. Burning the scaffolds will fill this place with smoke — but that could drive them in, if we start it somewhere else. Trouble’s keeping them from putting it out while you bring the wall down.

[Matthias cuts a glance at Isaac, first, his expression (somewhat surprisingly) unreadable. Thoughtful, certainly. Then he looks back the way that he came instead.]

I might be able to do something, with the rock. It's not what I'm best at but I can have a go. I can do fire, no question. They can't have much more'n drinking water on hand in there, and I can do big enough a fire so that won't matter--but if any of them've got elemental magic as well, they might work against me, try to put it out. If they can keep their wits through the smoke and the fire and all.

So we need them distracted, while we smoke them out and burn their scaffolds and then collapse a wall on them in some-bloody-way or another.

[Pointedly not looking at Barrow on that one. It feels too close to betrayal, to be the one to suggest using the templar.]

[Matthias doesn't have to look; Flint does, his attention narrowing like a sharp point on Barrow.]

Assume the best of their number will be pushed forward. How long can you hold a choke point?

[Not 'would you be able to,' not 'could you.']

A few minutes, I expect.

[He's not excited about it, but work is work.]

Long enough to stun, briefly incapacitate.

[ Poesia, who'd rather thoroughly stopped paying attention because she is specifically here to follow orders rather than sort out the moral and ethical questions, perks up now that business seems about to be done. ]

I can double that, I believe. And if you burn the scaffolding quickly enough, it should be easy for me to break.

[Matthias nods. And he looks back, quickly--not the way that they came but back to where the mages are gathered, their scaffolding, the wall of stone that they're going to maybe cave in on them. He grabs hold of the strap around his chest, where he'd keep his staff if he wasn't holding it. Tugs at it, sharply, to tighten it.]

I'll go back, set the fires. Someone else'll have to see to the wall, then, if that's what we're doing.

[So poised to run off that he's practically vibrating, he looks to Flint.]

Hold on, hold still.

[ It makes better sense for him to go. A small target, one who knows the caves, and —

And not Isaac. And it wasn't Isaac in that ditch, won't be. His palm hovers above Matthias’ shoulder in indication, I'm about to touch you; in question, Is that alright?

He doesn’t wait for an answer. His grip is hard, and something seeps between the Veil and skin; a charge that longs for the fire of muscle and tendon and nerve. He’ll be faster, for a time. Whether he’ll be fast enough? ]

That won’t last.

[ A warning. Isaac drags a hand over his chin. Rotting the beams is a poor idea with Barrow present (with Flint). But his grasp of flame has never been what one might call "controlled". Or "fine-detailed". Or "appropriate next to several people in an enclosed space still looking to breathe after".

To Poesia: ]

Find me the weakest portion. I think we can make you strong enough.

MOD PLOT ↠ A THOUSAND WRONGS

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