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

[wontforgetyou]

There was a place I went once where they did some things like that. Sort of pampered you, as it were, but it was more...impersonal, I'd say. For the good of the Colony.

[And he hadn't been all that keen on that at the time, for a few reasons. On the other hand, having a friend do it seems rather nicer, all things considered, and he idly starts sorting through the various feathers and plants, picking out some things with long stems before lifting his head again.]

Come to think of it, you could have had your hair done there, so they might've been willing to braid things into it. I don't know, I didn't have that done. Haven't since, either. Just get it cut sometimes. Anything you lasses want out of this pile while I'm over here?

[chainlightning]

I think there are places that human nobles go to for things like that. "Spas", or something?

[ Merrill has no real idea, but it sounds like Something She Heard Once. ]

Maybe a few more feathers? Any color you'd like.

[kallian_endris]

Definitely not something we do much in the alienage.

Red, or blue, maybe, for the feathers...

[wontforgetyou]

Red or blue? Alright, then.

[There were some small, but colorful feathers mixed in the lot, and a bit of sorting he was able to come up with a selection of red and blue ones, along with what he'd already gathered. He wanders back, setting the feathers down by Merrill before sitting down next to Kallian with the long-stemmed plants and starting to idly braid them together.]

But aye, I think spa is the word for it. Although I'm pretty sure that it's not always restricted to nobles back in my world. There's a lot of things that regular folk can do without having to worry about their status. At least in most of the places I've been.

[chainlightning]

I imagine they would still have to pay for it though, right?

[ Merrill's income has primarily been adventuring, aka killing people who try to attack her, so spa days are likely out either way. ]

Although... what else do they do, at these spas?