faderift | Skyhold

Skyhold

WHO: Anyone & everyone
WHAT: Open post for business as usual around Skyhold
WHEN: The first couple weeks of Harvestmere, 9:41 (aka October)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Please mark any necessary content warnings in thread subject lines. Also, make sure to check out the other log posts already made!

Far from the glamorous adventurous world-saving people signed up for, most of the hustle and bustle in Skyhold at present is cleaning. The Great Hall is a disaster, and crews are assigned to haul out the cracked and rotting planks fallen from the wide-open roof, and tear down the vines covering the walls. Ivy encrusts the main staircase outside and many of the fortress walls and is cleared in section while other groups assess or begin shoring up the stonework as it's revealed. There are scaffolding to build, materials to sort, crates to unload, tents to stitch together or set-up, and on and on and on, endless mundane chores vital to the survival of the organization.

When not hard at work, people cluster around fires across the courtyards. Many mingle freely, going about their business, running errands and messages, planning scouting missions, tallying up supplies, distributing or playing with the sending crystals that were found in a basement vault and which a group of mages have just today finished preparing for use. Once a good number have been passed around and the first Inquisition-wide transmission made messages start being broadcast; maybe you can help someone out.

The rebel mages and renegade templars mainly keep to themselves at opposite sides of the complex given the choice. Mages assist with healing and research and bicker amongst themselves about their options and their fate. Templars help train recruits in swordforms and basic combat techniques or spar with the more advanced and bicker amongst themselves about their options and their fate. Despite having all pledged themselves to the Inquisition, they still feel like separate factions and tension between them is palpable wherever they cross paths.

Like at meals, or the communal message board in the courtyard, or at the Herald's Rest. The mess hall/tavern is so new it still smells of sawdust, and its stock has been limited to one type of strong ale until today, when a shipment of West Hill brandy has finally arrived. The mood in the place is convivial in celebration of that, but there's still plenty of muttering, especially as the night drags on and the discontented get further into their cups.

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[Okay, that makes the boy grin widely.]

Hah! You sleep, you weep! I'll make sure to be quicker than you.

Go ahead and try, we'll see if you can beat my Fade Step.

[She might as well show off, because there have to be some perks to being a mage. She grins back.]

So, who are you? I'm betting you don't care for 'kid', but it'd help to call you something.

I can't beat any of your magical Fade shit!

[He rubs a thumb over his nose and grins again. He's met some mages in his day and not all of them were crazy, so he's not too worried about her being one.

It's pretty awesome to see another qunari, after all. It had been forever since he saw the people he grew up with.]

I sure as the Blight ain't a kid! I'm Kas.

[Compared to some of the looks she's gotten for just carrying a staff on her back, Korrin will take that reaction any day. She chuckles, crossing her arms.]

Well met, Kas. I'm Korrin, mercenary of the Valo-Kas company. And you're one of the new scouts, I see. [She nods approvingly at the uniform.] Are they sending you out soon?

[Kas reaches up and tugs a bit on the scout cowl with a small smile, almost vibrating pride.]

Not yet! I gotta learn things, first... but they took me in! Said I was good and they liked that I could read.

[Man, why is he spilling his heart out to this person? It wasn't like she was his mom or anything. Just... fun, maybe?]

You're from a mercenary band? I dunno anything about Valo-Kas... have you heard of Nehraa Anaan in Rivain?

[That pride is adorable, but she'll never say so. Kas can be spared that.]

They know talent when they see it, so I'm not surprised. And...no, I don't think I have. I've been to Rivain a few times, but not recently. Family of yours, I take it?

[Thank you for sparing him, Korrin. His tiny pride is fragile.]

Uh, kind of. It's all Tal-Vashoth. My mom was their wife, so I don't know who my father is. [Or, you know, their whore.] I was hoping you knew if they were alive. I hid on a boat when the Ben-Hassrath attacked.

[Korrin's expression softens, full of sympathy for anyone who had to deal with Ben-Hassrath or Qunari in general.]

I'm sorry, Kas. I don't, not offhand, but I can attempt to find out. The Valo-Kas have plenty of contacts, so they might be able to pick up where I'm lacking.

I dunno, they're... not the nicest people.

[Not like you, Korrin!]

That's... m'gonna send them a letter now that I'm in once place and not on the streets. Maybe they'll reply.

[She nods encouragingly at this idea.]

It can't hurt, can it? And if you change your mind, I'll see what I can do.

T-thanks.

[Why so nice?!?]

...what would it cost me?

[Korrin frowns and pretends to think this over.]

Sparing a hearth cake for me next time? Or something like it. I have a sweet tooth.

...dammit.

[He's secretly relieved, but hey.]

Guess I could save you one. Maybe.

[She grins at that, easily appeased.]

One is all I need. You can have the rest, and deal with the fallout from it.

[Whether that means gastric distress, angry kitchen people or whatever.]

[He has learned that gastric distress is now possible from eating too much and from starvation, but that will not stop him from eating everything he can get his hands on.

Including all the sweets. Now he just has to remember to save one for her.]

Uh... thanks. I guess.

No problem. Besides, if I have too many I wouldn't be able to move and help finish repairs around here. And the sooner that's done, the sooner they're likely to send people out again.

[Oh yes, please. She's so restless.]

It's kind of a shithole, but people are good at fixing.

[He crosses his arms over his chest, trying to look suave and cool.]

They better send us out soon so I can prove how good I am!

It's a better shithole than Haven, but true enough.

[And maybe it won't be by the time she returns from wherever. She nods firmly, encouraging.]

That's what I like to hear. I rely on good scouting reports, you know. Some of them have saved my life, or the lives of our agents. If there's trouble, I want to hear of it, the better to fry it before someone else gets hurt.

I never saw Haven... is it true they buried it in an avalanche to escape the Archdemon and the Elder One?

[He shrugs a bit, glancing at Korrin as the other vashoth keeps speaking. Hearing how much scouting reports meant fills him with both pride and fear, and Kas tries to straighten up a bit.]

I'll do my very best!

That's what I like to hear.

[Korrin smiles and nods firmly, not about to coddle him and certain that Scout Harding won't. They need everyone who can be of use, so Kas will have to learn and learn quickly. That smile fades as she thinks back to that last night. Like everyone else who was there for the destruction, she has a thousand-yard stare when mentioning it.]

It's true. I was there for what happened. I didn't see the Elder One up close, but it's hard to miss that Archdemon when it's burning everything around you. That avalanche was the only thing about that battle that went right.

[Have a somewhat fail salute, Korrin.

...then he listens to her words about Haven, and the blue eyes widen a bit. So it was true, and it must have been bad. Those eyes... she looked like some of the Tal-Vasoth back home, thinking about Seheron or other horrible things.]

It could have killed everyone, though. It would have meant the Elder One won!

[It's still a salute, so she'll go with it.

Korrin nods grimly at his comment, though.]

That was the plan. We would have died anyway, but at least we'd have taken them with us. But that old Chancellor knew of a secret way out and that saved plenty of lives while the Elder One and his pet dragon were distracted. Without that, the Inquisition would have been gutted, just like he wanted.

Wooow...

[It just sounds so much more awesome in person with someone that was there rather than the whispers and stories and whatnot. He'd even heard one where the Herald came back to life, broke the mountain and crushed the dragon.

This was real. Even better than dragoncrushing.]

I don't think we can do that here, so I'll make sure we don't miss any armies!

[She does have to admit that it does sound awesome, even as at the time it was horrifying and awful. But she made her point, the stakes are high and everyone in the Inquisition knows they might be called upon to give their lives. Corypheus has no interest in sparing any of them.]

I don't think we can either...and after Haven, I don't want to run again. We did what we had to do, but we're probably not going to get this lucky next time. So, we'll have to stand our ground and make it count. Every scout's going to be needed, I'm sure of it.

Don't worry, I'll be the best scout ever and find all the new pathways and stuff so everyone is safe.

[He puffs out his tiny chest a little.]

We'll beat the Elder One!

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Skyhold

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