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

[fleurdesel]

She'll be leaning for a little while longer, scraping together her composure bit by bit until her hands and voice no longer shake. Until she is settled in her skin and the present once more. "I am grateful for your voice and your friendship Korrin. Truly."

She lost so many at the Spire. She hadn't hoped to make new connections in the Inquisition, to have a voice worth sharing. And yet here they were, attempting to build something new. Something better. "I ask for your patience with the templars and their issues- when they are brought up. I know you have no desire to work with them and you have been vehement on this point- but I am making an attempt to work around them if not with them, despite my reservations, despite my fears. I would thank you to make a similar attempt."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin nods her head against Adelaide's; gently, so her horns don't get in the way. "Working around them...that, I can do or try to support. Patience and compromise is not my strong point, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse any longer. I'll try not to make matters more trying for you than they need to be. Your friendship matters to me, too, Adelaide."

She sighs, trying to sort out her own thoughts. "I just...I'm afraid. I've lived all my life as a free mage, and the thought of having that freedom stripped away is terrifying. Before the Circles fell, I felt like I had to be looking over my own shoulder every time we entered civilization. We hadn't heard of any Vashoth Circle mages, but I sure as hell didn't want to be the first."

[fleurdesel]

"Thank you." It is no small thing to ask- she knows this. It is no easy promise to make, to even promise to try. That Korrin offers is more than she'd hoped for, truly. It will not be managed overnight and likely they will argue the point again in the future- but for now? She will take it in the grace it is offered, sitting back slowly.

"While I do not know what will come after the Inquisition- whether what we've built or not will last; I promise that I will not let you be taken to a Circle." Much as the system had been a comfortable home for her- Korrin would wither in such a place.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin's temper will no doubt fray again when the Templars overstep their bounds, because of course that's what they do best. However, this conversation will stick with her. While her opinions will never be hidden, it's a solid reminder that they're better off not renewing the war when there's a bigger threat to face. Afterward....

A small but genuine smile forms at Adelaide's promise. "And I promise that if it's within my ability to do so, I won't have you subjected to Templar madness again. Whatever comes next, it must be better than that."

[fleurdesel]

"If we save the world and the order is made that we should return to the circles- is there room in your family for a healer?" She does not wish to think so far ahead, to plan for such a failing of the Council- but it seems prudent.

[gatheringstorm]

While there are so many variables and all of them could change before the end of the Inquisition, Korrin doesn't fault Adelaide at all for her mind straying to that scenario. Her expression softens and she nods without hesitation. "Of course, Adelaide. You would always have a place there, if you want it."

[fleurdesel]

"I could ask for nowhere better." Well- she could; a tower, a library, a home- but living on the road with a friend, making certain they and their family is safe and well tended to? She would not trade such a certain future for anything.