open: something grabs ahold of me tightly

[faderifting]

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

Comments

[aceso]

"Oh, I doubt you will be taken elsewhere just yet. We've only just arrived. It will be at least a week before a group of supply wagons start to head back to Skyhold. That would be the earliest you could leave." He's taking this remarkably well, and that earns him just a tiny bit of respect in Christine's book. She has to wonder if his world is not so different from this one.

"How did you think to help come morning?"

[maladgogo]

"Seems like fortunate timin', then. You all weren't here, I'd prob'ly be an icicle by now. Or somethin's lunch." His head tilts some at the mention of the supply caravan, but then he shakes it. "Would rather know I could do some good here than leave y'all hangin'. See I can kinda...fuckin' feel this shit floatin' in the sky. Like that one, I could feel it all the way to the bar there. N' I can feel others too. One out that way-" He pointed off in the direction opposite Judacael's Crossing, "-n' another couple out there." He pointed with his thumb toward where there were more rifts that hadn't even been spotted by the scouts. "Figure I could be helpin' find 'em. Maybe get more folks that come through like me to help close 'em, if they got the capability."

[aceso]

Christine's brow lifts, as she hasn't heard any other rifters say they can sense where other rifts are. She nods her head, looking thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder how far your senses can reach. Such a talent will be very useful to the Inquisition, as those who fall from the rifts are the only ones who can close them." Now that the Herald is gone.

[maladgogo]

"Ain't sure how far it extends yet, but prob'ly not all that far. Only got those three from where I'm sittin'. Might lose track'a one n' pick up others if I go too far in one direction. But ain't exactly safe to be puttin' all yo eggs in one basket regardin' what I got goin'. If I ain't the first one y'all found, might be good to be gettin' them in on whatever it is ya gonna be gettin' me doin'."

[aceso]

"I know of no others who can sense the rifts, but it's said that all of you are capable of closing them." She shrugs a shoulder delicately. "You should probably speak with one of the Inquisition's advisers. They are in charge, and not I."

[maladgogo]

"Alright then. Guessin' the advisers are gonna be up at Skyhold. Can't see anyone bearin' that title bein' down here in the cold n' snow with the rest."

[aceso]

"No," she says quickly. "Two of the three are here now. Ask for Commander Cullen or Sister Leliana. The third is back at Skyhold. She does her best work from her desk." And Christine cannot blame her for that. Josephine is back where it's temperate and yet she's reeling in support for the Inquisition with her quill and her sharp mind.

[maladgogo]

"Y'all got more proactive leaders than what we's used to back home then." Gam shrugged some and rubs his hands together, looking Christine over momentarily then settling back down at his place beside the fire. "You wanna keep warm here a while?"

[aceso]

"I do," she replies, taking a seat and extending her hands towards the flames. "Our leaders have been holding the Inquisition together most admirably. We had someone like you -- the first to bear a mark on her hand -- and I thought she might take the role of leader. She was already spreading the word of the Inquisition and gathering support. She-- saved people." Here Christine paused. Trevelyan saved her and all the other rebel mages of Redcliffe from a life of servitude in Tevinter.

"But she is no longer with us."

[maladgogo]

Gam looked down at his hands, rubbing his fingertips across his palm. "Damn. Sorry f' y'all's loss, 'magine she was a great lady, to be gettin' such a big damn followin' at her back."

[aceso]

"I think she was, yes." Christine smiles faintly as she stares into the quickly dancing flames before them. "I never spoke to her personally. She had a group she would travel around with, and when they found trouble, they would get out of it together. I feel badly for them. They must have counted her a great friend."

But the world is still moving forward with the rising of the sun each day. And every day forward is a day the Inquisition makes its influence known to more and more people. The Herald helped in the beginning, but they've been building on that too.