faderift | 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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Korrin accepts that apology with a smile, though she seems more surprised and mildly amused than upset. "I appreciate that, Beleth. I think I'm still sore from that last time, so I don't need to gain any new bruises."

But she'll stop giving Gavin a hard time, even if it was one of the more...interesting ways she's met someone here. Mention of climbing piques her interest, and she arches an eyebrow. "I'm sure that could be put to good use around here, now that you mention it. Sometimes it'd be easier to help repair this place if we had someone with a better view than that from below. I have to ask; what have you discovered, with all your climbing around? Skyhold's changed hands many times, or so I've been told. There have to be some things of interest around here for that."

Beleth doesn't answer right away--Though it's clear she's thinking on the question. She bites down on her lip and crosses her arms, glancing off to the side. Mostly, she discovered bird's nests and rotting roof tiles. But if she had to make any official observations about it...

"Some parts of it feel like it was forgotten about. It feels unfinished. I don't need the obvious...repair issues. There are these little...nooks and crannies, little rooms and holes. There's this entire area up near the kitchen roof, that looks like it could be...something. It's flat and open and I can't imagine it's just there for design, but to access it, you have to jump down from the ramparts. And that's after crossing a bit of it that's all broken, but that's not in the original design."

She paused, glancing over at Korrin. "Does that make sense...?"

Flashing a smile, Korrin nods. "Hey, I'm no scout or spymaster. I was just curious, that's all. Though Scout Harding might be interested in knowing that, when you get the chance. I don't think she has the same climbing ability you do." Or at least she's never seen the dwarven scout above the ground in any way.

"At least there's more to build on, if they decide to go that route? I wouldn't say no to more sleeping space for everyone, with actual rooms. I know, they have enough to do and that probably wouldn't happen until most of us are back out there again...but still, I can dream."

Practical concerns aside, Korrin does seem intrigued by Beleth's observations. "It does seem strange, though. Who just abandons a fortress like this, anyway? How in Andraste's name was it ever lost?"

Beleth can't help but give a graceless snort at that. No, she hadn't seen the dwarven scout do much climbing either, but when you had four Dalish scouts at your beck and call, why would you bother? "I'll be sure to add it to the report. If there's anyone around that'll get anything useful out of it, I'm sure she'll know who it is, and how to direct it to them. I don't really talk to any of those...important people." She waved her hand around a little. She suspected that whatever useful things she had to report got filtered up to Leliana at some point, she heard Cullen give his speeches, but she'd yet to actually...speak to any of them.

Probably for the best. What'd she even say to them?

"As for where the fortress came from...I don't know. That mage Solas, he mentioned that it had been elven originally. But if I know anything, it's elven architecture. And none of this is elven." She gestured to the nearest wall, shaking her head. Creators knew that she'd spent plenty of time spelunking around ruins. "This whole structure is too blocky, the material isn't right, and not a single piece of ancient magic has tried to kill me. Utterly boring, has to be human."

That crack makes Korrin chuckle as she gives the wall a once-over, nodding. "I'll take 'boring' over 'trying to kill me', we have enough of the latter outside these walls. And I'm no elven architecture expert, but it doesn't seem right to me, either. It must have changed hands a lot over the years, maybe even rebuilt over and over. It'd be a shame if absolutely nothing of its original state was left, though. Can't have the humans behaving as though this was originally their doing."

Her smile is an understanding one as she continues. "I don't actually talk to the higher-ups, either. I'm no diplomat or scout or soldier, so I don't answer to them directly. And every time I see them, they're always swamped with...something. I'd feel guilty for even approaching them when they have so much to do."

Skyhold

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