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

[serannas]

The soldiers hear her, but when you're currently sword to sword with a Templar, you don't put your back to them. There really is no safe way to retreat from this encounter, and so they continue to fight. Ellana presses the villagers forward, looking over her shoulder to see a Templar knock a soldier to the ground. Perfect. Having them separated gives her the opportunity to send down a lightning bolt, which paralyzes the Red Templar in place. The fallen soldier cuts at the Templar's legs, sending him to the ground before the soldier drives his sword into the enemy's chest. The rest of the soldiers look like they have the upper hand, and so Ellana refocuses on the people they are helping to escape.

"Yes, keep going. Up there!" The path up the hill is easy to follow, and the villagers are familiar with the area, so they hurry that way without delay.

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss half twisted around, her lips pressing together as she took a moment to fire off a shot to take one templar off balance, before she pressed the others to head up. Ellana was leading the way, so Katniss took the rear guard, shooting off shots to clear the way for all of them.

[serannas]

With the battle nearly over, Ellana stays with the poor villagers who are freezing and scared out of their wits. But once they see the tents and Inquisition banners in the distance, they perk up and seem less afraid. Ellana looks back down the trail, and soon the soldiers are following Katniss. They've slain every last Templar, and they need to regroup and check over themselves and their weapons before they press on again.

Slowing down, Ellana waits for Katniss, releasing a worried breath as the archer covers the rear.

"I thought they were just using the villagers in the quarry. But to do this to them? Fen'Harel ma ghilana." In other words, the Red Templars had to be guided by the Dread Wolf to make such horrible choices.

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss kept her gaze on the ridge, breathing out as the soldiers ran past her up the trail. She kept her arrow leveled, until the last of the soldiers were past, then she led up the rear. She stopped when she came across Ellana, and at the other woman's statement her own jaw tightens.

"They are truly creatures with no souls." Is Katniss's tight answer, as they move down the path, "We have to let them know what they are doing."

[serannas]

Ellana nods seriously. If they're doing this to the people here, it could be the same elsewhere. How many innocent people are being forced into the Templars' plans?

"Hopefully we can send out scouts to other areas where there may be Red Templars. We've saved the people here, but others might not be so lucky if word of this doesn't spread. So we make sure it will."

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss's expression became more grim, as she looked over at Ellana, then at the villagers ahead of them. Then around at all the Red Lyrium here. "I think we should evacuate the villagers then. I wouldn't put it past the remaining Red Templars to kidnap them again."

She sighed softly. "And we'll need to find out how they are getting the red lyrium out."

[serannas]

"That's true, but perhaps the Inquisition will leave some people stationed here, so the Templars can't return. The villagers should probably evacuate regardless. With all this red lyrium, they will most likely become ill the longer they're exposed to it, until we destroy it all."

It's a sobering thought. Here they've rescued the people, but Sahrnia and the surrounding areas are still in danger because of how this red lyrium has spread.

[the_effect_she_has]

She looked over at Ellana, then out to the frozen landscape again. She exhaled, slowly, before she nodded her head once. "I don't know how we even do that -- but once we tell the Commander, the Nightingale and Seeker Pentergast what we've found out, I'll talk to Harding about organizing and getting these people to safety."

[serannas]

"Yes, the organization is something that needs more minds behind it." Ellana knows how her people organize and move, but they're more united. Surely some here will argue leaving their homes.

"You're the best person to do that," she adds a moment later. "I think you've been very dedicated to the refugees at Skyhold. You know their needs."

[the_effect_she_has]

"I'd say pack light - but these people have already lost so much. Maybe I could see about requisitioning some of the wagons for a return trip for supplies... " She frowned at the thought of it - they wouldn't want to leave but until the Inquisition could ensure their safety, they would have to be convinced to leave.

So Ellana's compliment caught her off-guard, and she looked sheepish. "I know what it is to go hungry, to not know where you are going to live, and what you are going to do. I just ... I can't stand to see people suffer, especially when they had nothing to do with any of this. Innocent bystanders in a war they never even asked for."

[serannas]

Ellana's clan had experienced the thin times too, when they were reduced to eating bugs to stay alive. Her returning look is one of understanding. Life can be harsh, and all that can be done is to hold on and keep pushing through until things get better.

"And after everything that has happened to them, I wouldn't blame them for not thinking clearly. That's why they need you. You can convince them that they need to all leave for their own safety, and that the Inquisition will protect them." Ellana isn't sure they'll want to hear this from an elf, and to their eyes, Katniss looks like one of them. The news would be easier to take from her.

[the_effect_she_has]

She meets that gaze, with a quiet, understanding nod. It's a silent understanding that goes for those living on the bottom rungs. You climbed up by surviving.

She nodded her head once, "I know I wasn't thinking clearly - hadn't been for some time. It should be fairly easy to convince them to leave while the frost is on the village -- hopefully by the time spring returns we'll be able to send them back home." She paused before she sighs, "... I'm going to have to speak to the Lady Ambassador, too. We need to build proper shelter for all these people. The soldiers too. This was a flash freeze - can you imagine what will happen in Skyhold over the next few months?"

[serannas]

It's a huge task ahead of them all, but Ellana is willing to do what must be done. Maybe she'll return to Skyhold early to help put up tents for the new influx of refugees.

"If anyone can make all this seem easy, it's our Ambassador. She always figures out ways to get the Inquisition exactly what it needs." Some call Ellana a people person; someone diplomatic who can get along with anyone. But she absolutely believes that she has nothing on Josephine. That woman breathes diplomacy.

[the_effect_she_has]

Which was why Ellana was in Katniss's list of people she knew she could count on, especially when it came to the refugees.

"I hope so. I haven't met her yet but her work ... sort of does speak for itself." See: Skyhold, and the fact that their army was here, well funded and well fed. She has no idea how the woman does it, but she'd love to learn how.

[serannas]

"It does." But for now, they need to speak with the higher ups about what's going on here. Ellana, along with Katniss and the soldiers, see the villagers safely back to the camp.

"Let's go tell the Captain what the villagers told us, and see if we can get word to the Commander and Leliana from there."

[the_effect_she_has]

"Agreed." Katniss stated, as she looked around the camp for Captain Rylen, or another one of the senior officers. "Then we'll get started on the next leg of the fighting."

[serannas]

"That sounds like a good plan."

And with that, they'll flag down someone in charge.



[ ooc: good stopping point? ]

[sunshinethroughgrey]

((Perfect! Thanks so much for the great RP!))