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

[laurenande]

It had been so long since Galadriel had been confronted with someone who did not know that the Eldar were...unlike men and dwarves in this way, that even the simplest answer eluded her. It wasn't until Katniss replied, when she suggested it was something lost alongside longevity, that Galadriel's confusion cleared. Her expression shifted and a strange sort of nostalgic delight dawned over her features.

Grim as their activities were, as the Emprise was, the few times she'd been called upon to explain this--those were wonderful memories.

"Oh! Yes, it is," Galadriel answered a bit thoughtlessly and shook her head. "That is to say, it is something that comes with age."

It was a vague description and one that had been unacceptable to each of the children she'd given it to. Celebrian had been irritated, Elladan and Elrohir had launched into a litany of complaints, and Arwen had actually rebuked her for her failure to answer. She didn't expect Katniss would be so frustrated, nor so boldly inclined, so she continued without delay.

"There are many things you are skilled at? And you have learned to do them efficiently, cleanly and quickly, have you not? With great age such efficiency can become a part of you, an aspect of what you are, and then it becomes a part of the world as it reflects you."

She drew a cloth from her equipment and wiped her hands clean.

"For three centuries my granddaughter was deeply grieved that she could not keep the hem of her gowns clean. On several occasions she wept to find her favorite dresses frayed and soiled. Now, I expect she could wade through marshes and not a drop of water would dare cling to her once she stepped out of them."

[the_effect_she_has]

Instead of looking annoyed, or even vexed, Katniss's expression melted into a quiet sort of wonder. To live that long, to have an ability that you could train for three hundred years. Well, that was almost as impressive as getting no blood on your fancy clothes.

"So .. the longer you are alive, the more attuned it becomes to you. Like magic, or archery. Some movements just become second nature, like your clothes cleaning themselves is of no surprise to you, but surprise everyone else."

Herself included, and she smiles a little in awe. "Creators, if we only had the ability to live that long ... imagine what we could do as a people again."

[laurenande]

"The arts our people honed were without match, but age and skill do not always travel hand in hand. Even the very young can become truly masterful, but I find it is often difficult to convince mortals of this." Or the very young.

Her smile maintained but took on a wry edge. "Elf magic, they would call it."

To walk on snow, to stand tall, to remain clean, there was no end to what men would ascribe to 'Elf Magic'. It had baffled her for Ages, the very idea that their skills were limited to elves alone was baffling, but the term was rarely said in malice.

"It was not until I came to Thedas that I was forced to learn what mortal men mean when they say 'magic'. I am still not entirely certain what the term entails--it encompasses so much."

Galadriel cleaned and sheathed her knife before turning her attention to the skins before them. Katniss wore a familiar expression of hope and awe and, despite the cost of it, Galadriel was nearly excited about demonstrating skill for her. This, truly, would qualify as magic, but even a child of Thedas was likely to find some interest in it.

"If you stand aside, I can draw the water from the pelts."

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss nodded her head, soaking it all in like a sponge. She arched an eyebrow at the other woman's statement of 'elf magic', her lips twisting at the edges.

"It's ... very different, I would imagine. I'm sorry, I can't explain it any better than anyone else. I have no experience with it." She stated simply, before her eyebrows lifted again.

"Can you? Really?" She stepped back, so Galadriel could use her magic.