faderift | open: something grabs ahold of me tightly

open: something grabs ahold of me tightly

WHO: Inquisition Forces
WHAT: Inquisition forces cross the mountains into Orlais to deal with Emprise du Lion
WHEN: Wintermarch 25 onward
WHERE: EMPRISE DU LION
NOTES: This is a mingle-style log for the Inquisition camps, local tavern, and general/open Inquisition work, etc.

This time they hike down to the west, but the trip through the mountains is no easier. The snow is heaped up about the road where wagons have pushed it aside, stomped into slippery pack beneath the feet and hooves that have gone before. Of the main track it is ankle deep at best and in places it drifts, waist-deep on a tall man and enough to bury a dwarf who hasn't come prepared with snowshoes. Everywhere the wind howls, biting cold, and the sky hangs low, a pale flat grey that makes it difficult to judge distances. Those who know winter weather call it a snow sky, and near-daily squalls prove them right.

They set up camp in Sahrnia, across the broad expanse of frozen river that has trapped the villagers here upstream. Tents pop up in rows and in the shells of tumbled-down buildings, fires blazing and thawing the ground to mud. When the supply wagons roll in they re-open the local tavern, brightly lit with flaking paint on the walls that might once have been colorful and patterned tiles on the floor that seems to swim like an optical illusion after too many glasses of the cheap red wine that fills the cellars.

Even deadlier reds hold the hills: Red Templar sightings have been frequent and it is said they are operating in several locations in the region in significant force. Some of these men and women have become hulking, crystalline beasts. Many others are in the earlier stages of corruption: red-veined and -eyed, aggressive and superhumanly strong, but still visibly human and coherent if spoken to. Red lyrium is even easier to find, jutting out of the ground or cliffsides, filling caves-- the Tower of Bone, a fortress that has stood for centuries, now threatens to split from the inside out. The area's wildlife was none too friendly before, but now the wolves and bears have begun to be corrupted by the lyrium and many will attack on sight, without provocation. (The snofleurs that bumble harmlessly around the river seem unaffected.)

Everywhere there are ruins: broken bridges, crumbling colosseums, and the great hulking mass of Suledin's Keep tucked between the distant hills. Scouts reported that Red Templars hold it as well.

RIFTER ARRIVAL - SAHRNIA - THE HILLS - TOWER CAMP - A HANDY MAP

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[The cold isn't overly pleasant, but there are ways around it. He's glad he's brought some of his nicer furs along, just in case.

What he doesn't expect when he gets into their tent is the scarf landing in his face.]

I usually like it when someone is eager to undress. [Scarf is gently deposited aside.] Need any help there?

[Curls wilder than usual from the scarf coming off, she spins quickly and swears, a sheepish smile on her face.]

My apologies! I'm not used to wearing all these damned layers, though if you could maybe grab a sleeve?

[There are layers. There are several layers when she isn't going off to fight and is instead just lending a hand or heading off to the tavern so bending to get her coat off is honestly a pain in the arse.]

This isn't how I wished to make an impression, the cold makes me very clumsy. Araceli Bonaventura, a pleasure.

Quite all right. Happy to help.

[And so he does, snagging onto a sleeve end and attempting to assist in her undress.]

People who claim to like the cold are just showing off. You're absolutely fine.

Twisted Fate, and I agree: it's a pleasure, madame.

[Coat off, she takes a seat to remove another top as she shakes her head.]

So living in a stinking bog where the dead come out to kill you and giant people kidnap folk and want to kill the rescuers, up a mountain in a fortress that's falling apart, and now out here in a frozen armpit of nowhere - tell me, does anyone live anywhere normal in Thedas?

[So far she gets the impression that no, people like to live in places out of spite to prove to the world that they can, not something she can say she's a fan of.]

At least I brought some cards and dice here with me.

That really, truly depends. What do you consider normal in Thedas? Because I surely cannot think of many things by this point.

[He chuckles.] Wise woman. I've brought much the same. It seems I've lucked out in having decent company who knows how to pass the time.

I don't know, I'm still learning this place. Antiva sounds the most normal but only because it sounds so much like my home, everything else? Everything else sounds mad when I stop and take the time to really think about it, y'know?

[Well, more is slotting into place but sometimes it does catch her unawares, the strangeness of it all, the mages, all the races, all the conflicts, all the different factions. Too many cooks and all that.]

I think we might have spoken you know, on the sending crystal? [Voices she's good at, and it's part of her ridiculous mission to learn what she'd know at home, how to match an accent quickly to a country.] I know I spoke to someone about Liar's Dice.

Antiva is... a place, for certain. I certainly enjoy visiting, and there are things I certainly like about it. Less fond of the Crows, but I'm good at staying out of sight. When I want to.

But I understand. Part of why I had traveled as much as I had. Everywhere has a shade of crazy to it.

[He pauses, then smiles sharply.] And it was me. I thought you sounded familiar, but I've heard many lovely voices in the past several months I didn't want to assume.

It's selfish of me to hope that a rift opens there that we must deal with but when I can pass as one of them and speak the same language, I think I would get to climb to the very front of the line to go. Somewhere warm, unlike here, but less miserable sounding than the Western Approach.

[Is that part of the deal here, she wonders, that places must be so terrible?]

And the craziest place? Where the Qunari come from sounds that way to me, but I don't like the thought of chains and having but one place.

[Nor the thought of mouths stitched shut, of the other stories she's been told by Korrin that make her shudder.] I confess: spend your whole life on the docks, you learn to remember voices, sometimes it makes a very big difference. We will have time enough here if you wish to learn, and there are plenty of scouts and soldiers for the fleecing.

[You would think they'd have less honest faces but apparently they don't.]

Personally, I like being in Rivain. But really only if you're a fan of pirates, which most aren't. I tend to find they're fun to swindle, personally.

[Twisted Fate smiles, but it's a bit grimly.] The Qunari as a whole concerns me, but I'd never been. Out of any place I've been to, Tevinter is my least favorite. Don't know how much anyone had told you about it.

No, that's an excellent skill to have. I usually have a decent ear for voices, but I'm frankly better at reading body language. But I would love to learn. I'm sure I have something to teach in return.

My father is a pirate captain as it happens though of course it’s others who would call him such, there is a different word for what he is in our home country. I feel most at home among pirates and whores, it must be said, it was from both that I was taught how to play at dice and cards.

[As well as how to cheat and how to read as much as possible about a man before he’d even finished a hand but well, everyone has a different upbringing don’t they?]

You’ve actually been to Tevinter? I met a man from there at Skyhold, I will not lie, he was absolutely not what I expected from the tales I had been told. [And that’s even taking it with a pinch of salt but he had been more honest than some, and he had made her smile. It was enough for that moment.]

My parents saw fit to make sure I could make my way in the world, my duelling instructor did much the same. I can read a body when I have the space to see it but-- imagine at the edge of your main city, there is another city, and another again, and it is always packed and noisy, often with the sun hitting the water. Those are the docks on the main island of my home, a voice is often all you have to go on. I’d be happy to trade back and forth, it’s how friendships are founded back home.

Then you and I have a bit of that in common. Pirates, vagabonds, and whores are an environment I know better than most, despite all appearances. I lived in the woods when I was a boy, but after that, I preferred the city life.

[Cheating at cards? Well, that's just another way of winning. At least to him.]

Dorian, I presume? Don't let him give you a good impression. I'm not one to say that everyone is going to be like my experiences, but Tevinter is a place where power is everything. Your ability to cast magic is just a shard of importance; noble birthrights and money are much more impressive there, and it doesn't hurt for the amount of slave labor they have.

He's not so bad, I suppose, but I've met more than my fair share of Tevinter mages.

Your parents were smart to do so. The world is filled with people with motives, and few of them know how to negotiate without giving everything away. Knowing a voice is a skilled thing.

What can I teach you then, hm? [He cracks a smile.] Someone must have shown you how to play Wicked Grace by now.

I did notice the Vallaslin since I’ve spoken with quite a few of the Dalish in Skyhold; one cannot turn a corner without bumping into an Ashara at the very least. [An exaggeration when she hasn’t met them all but that so many of one clan are here is unusual, if she puts together all the pieces she’s been given so far.]

Is this Dorian so infamous as he seems? I haven’t met him yet but another seemed to think I spoke of him too; I met a different man, Vergil, and he isn’t a mage either. [It isn’t her business to reveal more about him, only fellow rifters get a little more out of her or Korrin, trust in the latter case and tentative kinship that she hopes to foster for the first.] He was good enough to ask of my home with sincerity, even in my own world there are others who sail to our shares only to be rude before we have a chance to open our mouths.

[And here she is careful to be whatever she feels the need to be: a pretty girl missing home, a thief quick to flirt, someone who laughs her way through life. If people see more then that can’t always be helped, with someone seeing more than others but being able to speak freely of something she loves without mockery? It was enough to earn him her gratitude.]

They’ve tried, but the tavern is loud and your face cards are all so strange.

Trust me, I know. I'm surprised that they didn't just send the whole bloody clan at this point. [He snorts a little. Aw well. He doesn't have a specific problem with the clan, but the fact that so many are part of the Inquisition does amuse him.]

My apologies. The amount of people who are Tevinter in the Inquisition are fairly small, but Dorian is the one most often spoken of. Frankly, I'm glad there are so few. [For many reasons.] But I'm glad he was so considerate.

Ah, well. Then it would be my pleasure to teach you. I've played the game more times than I can count, and if I can teach River I can certainly teach you.

Well it doesn't sound like the Inquisition has been around for such a long time, they might all drop by for a visit. If proper ships [sorry, a land ship is never going to be worthy of the title of ship, not when you have the blood of a sailor] can meet out at sea to catch up and trade news, they could come rattling up to see their kin.

No, no apologies necessary, I feel though that I shall have to find this Dorian just to see what all the fuss is about. I do know of their reputation, and their history, but we Castileans made peace with those who wished to take our home and we have not had a war in living memory. [More than can be said for here, if someone sneezes wrong then a skirmish seems to break out.]

Gratitude, I cannot abide being bad at gambling, I've done it since I was so small it's embarrassing to sit there like an idiot!

I dread the day, then. [He smiles anyway, so it's hard to know if he means that.]

I assure you, I don't really know what the fuss is other than he's the designated nice Vint. Other than that, I suppose that he is a fine individual, but I've only really spoken to him a handful of times.

When you know the hands and the general rules, then, you'll be a natural. If I can learn and I only started gambling when I left my clan, then you'll be fine. Shall I find my deck?

Would it be so bad? Actually…[when ships meet up, or when lots of captains get into port at once there’s no moving, the noise swells for days and weeks on end, you never get a seat in the tavern and they’re all friendly.] Actually no, it might be bad.

I cannot believe that an entire country that big can possibly be made up of purely evil people, people are people. [Thedas in general requires some chill. A lot of it. Like an ice age of chill.] Nice doesn’t even mean good, I’ve met plenty of nice people that would cheerfully have carved out my kidneys and apologised at the same time.

[Maybe if Wicked Grace cards had more naked ladies she would remember better but dragons and swords are apparently cooler.] I would be in your debt if you could teach me so the scouts and soldiers no longer have any advantage against me.

For various reasons. Half of them would want to adopt me, and half of them would probably be muttering harellan as if I couldn't tell. [He rolls his eyes a little.]

I don't disagree, particularly, but Tevinter has a stance that is very difficult to deal with, in general. There is power play and belief in their own blood. Nobility and strengthening their blood rights is everything. Some are worse than others. [Fate shrugs.] I don't believe in pure evil, just that some people are more wicked than others.

Ha! They won't for long. [Twisted Fate goes digging into his coat.] Fortunately for both of us, I won't have to teach you to cheat either.

Harellan? Is that a rude name? [At least she’s learning more words, that’s always a good thing.]

We still have nobility that think nothing of stepping all over people to get what they want where I come from but when we share the same blood, we cannot use that against each other unless we wish to look foolish. Our blood is the sea and the sea does as it pleases, it doesn’t love you more and honestly, the nobles are further from it. They forget who they are but the rest of us don’t. [Thedas though is more complicated than that, more complicated even than when Zimevur wished to rule the whole world and failed.]

I hope your face is less open than a soldier’s, you would think they’d know there’s more than one sort of battle.

Something like that. These days, it's Dalish for "blood traitor". Not a word I would repeat, my dear.

At the very least, it sounds like I'd be more comfortable with the expectations of your home than Tevinter. Though I suppose that's easy to say, based on my experiences. Grass is greener, and all that.

[That makes him chuckle.] Well, you're about to find out for yourself. [Twisted Fate starts to sort out the cards so that she can at least get a look at the suits.]

The first thing to understand would be the suits, and which ones are stronger than the other. In order from weakest to strongest: Serpents, Daggers, Songs, Knights, then Angels. That is the most important thing to remember when you're playing Wicked Grace. Follow so far?

What a terrible thing to call anyone! [Her little intake of breath isn't an act, it would be the very worst sort of accusation where she comes from and her face falls, head shaking as if she can pretend she didn't hear a single word of it.] Betrayal is not a small word of itself, saying that of someone though...no, not a word I will repeat, but one I will remember.

[This is what happens when your father is literally a pirate preacher and your mother a holy prostitute though, blood traitor would be something that could not be forgiven.]

The grass is actually scrubbier and most of it is salt grass. [Bad jokes o'clock okay.] You would find many a fine hat there though, captains pride themselves on dressing to show their status, as flash as you please.

[Shoving her hair behind her ears, she leans forward to get a good look, nodding along. They have similar things, merlings, whales, sea snakes, captains for some games, as well as the usual hearts and spades, diamonds and clubs.]

A dagger cuts a snake, a song can stop a blade, a knight is armed and armoured, and angels are above them all.

[The reaction is a bit more than he'd have expected from her, but it earns a warmer look from Twisted Fate. He smiles faintly, shaking his head.] The older meaning was "trickster", something I could live with. But that's not the intent of the word these days. I'm not exactly a typical Dalish, I suppose. Still, I appreciate that.

[But onward to card games. Something he enjoys immensely.]

Good. That is a good way to remember it.

Now then: let's talk about winning conditions. An important thing to remember is that the game of Wicked Grace is over when the Angel of Death card is drawn. [He turns the card over to show to her.] Players will reveal their hands and decide who has won at that point, no matter what.

So there are a few ways to ensure your victory. The person who has the most cards of highest rank will win. For example, if I had two knights and three daggers, but you had two daggers and three snakes, then my hand would be better. If you had two angels and two daggers while I had two songs and two knights, you would most certainly win. You could theoretically... hold onto the Angel of Death card until you felt you had a strong hand, but that isn't exactly playing by the rules. [He winks.]

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open: something grabs ahold of me tightly

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