faderift | 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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Lexa takes in this reaction, watching Merrill with the quick, flickery eyes of someone who does a lot of observing and very little talking. It matches the set of her shoulders, curled in on herself to take up even less room than she already does, arms tight together on the edge of the table before her, mug clutched between long fingers like she expects someone might try to take it away if she isn't careful.

The way she observes Merrill is careful, too, and that's the honest part of this disguise. She turns the answer over in her head, though far more quickly than she pretends before replying with another question, one that feels obvious: ]

Why?

Edited 2016-02-03 17:03 (UTC)

[ It reminds her of the clan hunters and scouts; always ready for a chance, for an enemy or food for hungry bellies. There's food here, but there could be enemies; it's not a bad thing for people to do, to keep a look out. Merrill isn't going to do it in quite the same way, but she understands it.

She does not understand the question. ]

Why did we join the Inquisition? I imagine because the world is in trouble, but I'm not sure why they did specifically. I have friends here -- between wanting to help and them, and the fact that the other elves I was with wanted to get out of Kirkwall to help, here I am.

[ Lexa listens, fiddling with a loose thread at the cuff of her glove, twirling it between her fingertips. It's a little childish, fidgety and shy to soften the edge of her attention, which she drops down to twiddling fingers and away from Merrill, like maybe she's embarrassed at having asked so baldly. She's not, but she plays it well, even hesitating before she replies: ]

Oh. [ And then another pause, and more picking at the fraying hem of the cloth around her wrist. Her nails are short and blunt, clean by the standards of people who live and work in the dirt. It takes a minute and a visible swallow before she hazards another question without quite looking up. ] They don't mind you being Dalish?

[ Lexa plays it well and it stirs something in Merrill's heart. She has been the shy one more than once, the one who is awkward, uncertain. Another soft smile for Lexa and then she shrugs, taking a sip from her drink before answering. ]

Some, maybe. Some mind me being a mage too, I'm sure. But the ones that don't know me don't matter, as long as I'm still able to help.

open: something grabs ahold of me tightly

lol i redid my icons and now it looks like all these tags were horrifying

lexa just OH GOD TALKING TO PEOPLE??

jfc this is so late

licks you