faderift | Into the DANGER ZONE

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Into the DANGER ZONE

WHO: All Rifters + the 7 natives who signed up
WHAT: Searching the ruins of Haven for survivors, an Inquisition crew finds something strange. And demons. It's kind of scary that the demons aren't the strange thing.
WHEN: Third week of Harvestmere, 9:41
WHERE: Haven
NOTES: We've broken rifters and rescuers (or "rescuers") into two groups. This log has an arrival comment for each group--you can start smaller subthreads beneath those rather than try to have an eight- or nine-person log, just incorporate surrounding chaos/fighting--and a third top-level set for the whole group's journey back to Skyhold

You were asleep-- deeply or fitfully, for the last time or just resting your eyes for a moment-- and then you were not. And wherever you were was not, anymore, replaced by nothing but the sensation of falling, tumbling into endless, bottomless nothing. If this were still a dream, you would wake before you hit the ground. You can't die in a dream, they say. In some worlds.

But there's no waking here, just a flare of green-white light and a jarring impact, barely softened by snow that lies a foot deep with an icy crust that cracks beneath the force of your landing. The wind is biting cold, the sun is bright, and you are not alone. Others thud to the ground nearby, as bewildered as you, and others run up who look no less confused for having their feet beneath them.

You are also not as you were: in the palm of your left hand there glows a narrow splinter of light the same sickly green as whatever brought you here. It aches, a bone-deep pain that gnaws even through all the distractions. Like that you're being attacked by monsters, some tall, spindly stick-things with too many eyes, some hunched and hooded with no eyes at all.

Welcome to Thedas!

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“No, fire attracts attention. When it’s the only spot of light for miles around it draws everything to it, it’d be like leaving the doors and windows opening to invite in the thieves.” Actually that’s a lie, a thief is invited simply by the want or need of what another has but that’s for thieves to know. “Besides, if I stay by a fire then I might not want to move and you’re saying that we need to go to Skyhold. And, given that it has sky in the name, I’m assuming that means all the way up.” She casts a dubious glance about at the surrounding mountains, all unfriendly sights to her this close and she sighs, looking at a rather smug fox. “If you puff yourself up my good sir I will be forced to shave you and I have only my rapiers and my little knife, show some respect for those of us without fine furs attached to ourselves. But why do I have it? Is it just from the coming out of that rift? I can’t do the-- you’re more than a street conjurer though none of them wore horns without a mask.”

Of course she noticed them, and the height (her neck will hurt if she has to keep peering up and up), but it might all be connected and really, she does wish she had a good enough imagination for all of this.

Still, she does listen quietly, nodding along and trying to make sense of it all. When the explanation ends, she falls silent to compose her thoughts, hoping she’s not about to sound like a fool because the last thing she wants is to be laughed at. “First I need to know what a Templar is. I...if mage is to do with magic then that would be like you? I mean we don’t have such things, it’s just parlour or street tricks and the old wise women, not,” she mimes an explosion and the corresponding sound effects, “so if there was to be peace then they’re on opposite sides for at least one thing.” Educated guesswork but she’s been to plenty of Leandra’s councils to pick up the threads even if her head is starting to hurt far more than the damn hand. “The Divine is, was rather, a leader? Or someone to be listened to? And the breach is like a great crack in the sea but instead of being in the sea it’s in the sky and instead of venting up boiling water, steam or lava it rains demons.”

Man does she not want to see your seagulls now.

"If they haven't been drawn by my explosions and whatnot, one small fire isn't going to snare their interest. But Haven -or what's left of it- isn't really a place to linger, so I'll let it be. We did bring supplies, though, and have uncovered more. If you need something warmer -and you probably will- then let us know."

Well, when all is calm again. At being compared to a street conjurer, Korrin snorts. "I've never heard of street conjurers who could do such things. Not unless they were apostate mages, and that would get them caught by the Templars quickly, anyway." So many questions, but if it were her, Korrin would be just as needful of them. She'll try.

"Templars are warriors trained to deal with blood mages, abominations, and apostates. Among humans and city elves, magic was highly regulated and mages were kept in Circles, places were they could learn but weren't allowed to leave or even contact the outside world. The Templars were supported by the Chantry -our dominant religion- and though some of them might have been decent, all too many abused the authority given them. I've heard horror stories, but that's for another time. Anyway, all that is past tense because the Circles fell as mages sought freedom, and Templars broke away from the Chantry to fight them. And yes, the Divine is -was- the head of the Chantry. That's past tense as well, because she died in the explosion that caused the Breach.

As for why you have it...I don't know. It could be through exiting the rift, but I hate to jump to conclusions. Entering and exiting the Fade physically has only been done once -well, twice, after the Herald- so it's not exactly a known quality."

"Perhaps it's different at sea; explosions are rarely a good sign, you wait until you're sure all is calm but if you spy a light in the dark then you think to yourself 'perhaps I might return to my own ship a richer man or woman', no? Opportunity, fortune, fate or chance, all the same name for the same thing." Of course this isn't a ship or the sea but it makes her feel a little braver to remember the lessons her father and other sailors taught her over the years as she turns in a slow circle at the remains of buildings and fencing. "Not so much of a haven now I think," a soft murmur because no one likes to see anywhere looking like this do they? If I could maybe have a cloak or a cape, even a blanket if no one minded me trailing it through the snow then I'd be very happy." As happy as it's possible to be but a little warmth would go a long way.

"It's not like you. Some of them breathe fire but anyone can do that with practice or they spin and dance with it. They make a coin disappear and reappear behind your ear, I mean I can make a coin disappear and reappear in my hands but...but that's not important. Apostates? All these words, by the waves it's like being in my lessons again!" Okay that laugh is unfortunately forced but better to laugh than to weep and there's a lot of mental juggling happening already.

Said juggling only gets worse as she tries to follow along, a frown creeping across her face all too quickly because there's an element of passion that needs to be present if there's violence, living life to the fullest. Not what she's being told now as she looks up at Korrin with sad eyes, shaking her head. "I expect I'll need to be told much of this again but this is a very violent place I've found myself in, all this hunting and...and blood. Wouldn't real magic be a source of wonder? It's in all the stories - women who can whip the seas into frenzies to the heavens, where maidens can kiss a bear made of snow to find their one true love, where the trees can wake and speak to those who learn their language - they're never locked up and hunted in those tales unless they do something wicked." Well, some of them are but they're falsely accused for one reason or another, or there's a misunderstanding and invariably there's a happy ending, at least in the stories with magic that come to the ports. "And, I must ask before you think me rude or ignorant - what is an elf? Are you..."

After all, she likes to learn about other cultures and she's from a place that gets plenty of stories and there's a royal library she's free to peruse but that's a very new one. She's just trying to add two and two and not come up with twenty-two so she can at least have some sort of a victory even if it's in her own head.

"But I came from my home to here, maybe I missed a bit in the middle but I don't remember being anywhere else, just falling and then landing."

The question about being an elf makes Korrin chuckle, and she shakes her head after gesturing for an agent to come bring Araceli a cloak. "I'm no elf. See the slightly shorter people with pointed ears? Those are elves. Mine are pointed too, sure, but I'm a Vashoth. You'll hear people call me a qunari too, and I've gotten used to that, even though they're wrong. You won't see many of my kind down south, but there are a few in Skyhold."

As for magic, she shakes her head, a wry smile forming. "Some of it's a source of wonder, or at least I think so, but to people who don't have such magic it's a source of fear...and those without the gift far outnumber those with it. They also fear blood magic, which can require sacrifice and is used to control people. It's hardly fair to those of use who never used such magic and don't intend to start, but to someone paranoid enough, any mage is a potential blood mage." And a potential abomination. Korrin almost mentions that but holds back, thinking that Araceli's been scarred enough for the time being without adding that fear on top of others.

"Apostates are mages who left the Circle or were never a part of it. Technically speaking, I'm an apostate, too. Though now that the Circles have fallen, that applies to all mages. Either way, I've never heard of a Vashoth in a Circle before. I doubt that speaks well of them as much as attests to the fact that my kind aren't widely accepted in Thedas, anyway."

Given that she’s short, the cloak is too large but beggars can’t be choosers and it just gives her more fabric to wrap herself up in until only her face and folded arms are visible from the layers of fabric, hood drawn up over her had. “We have mermaids,” she’s never seen one but minor details, “so it’s a bit more obvious than peering at ears, I didn’t want to stare and look rude. Or be taken for a cretin. And you say shorter but I think if I took my boots off I might be about a height with some of them.” What must the world look like to Korrin, to be that tall without climbing up things. “So...Vashoth, not qunari. Which again, of course, I don’t really know but that seems to be the theme of today.”

But she’ll remember as much as she can even if there’s a chance it’ll all get hopelessly jumbled. Vashoth though, she definitely has to remember that, at least for Korrin.

“I can understand being afraid - I wouldn’t like to face you but anyone can carry a sword or pistol or put their mind to it and do just as much damage as you did. A couple of barrels, a little alcohol and one spark then up it all goes, no magic required for something like that. And certainly no magic to go about stabbing people either.” Fear she understands because everyone fears at least one thing but she’s always thought that letting your fear master you means living less of a life than someone who at least accepts the fear and lives with it. “Blood magic is something to be feared, sacrificing blood the way I’m imagining sounds wrong, very wrong.

“And most people are just fine with this system? For an accident of birth marking you thus? And people don’t like the Vashoth either?”

What sort of hateful mess has she landed herself in?

A very hateful mess. Sorry, Araceli.

Not wanting to venture into self-pity, Korrin tries to elaborate at least to place her own mind at ease. "It's less that they don't like Vashoth and more that they fear the actual Qunari, those that came over here a few centuries ago and forced war after war in an attempt to dominate the continent. They'll try again, too, mark my words. So, I understand where they're coming from to some extent."

That doesn't make it easier to live with, though, and it's still not an excuse for the slurs.

"I've never seen any mermaids in Thedas, not when I crossed the Waking Sea getting here. There were jokes about sea dragons, but I've never seen those, either. Real ones, now, are a different story." That reminds her, Korrin still wants to deal with the one in the Hinterlands at some point.

"If you swapped Qunari for Zimevur that sounds like home; Zimevur's talent was war and they nearly conquered all the lands until they came to Castileos where we chased them all the way back to their own shores. Zimevur never really recovered, they're still bitter." It's maybe too flippant but invading other lands and resisting any overtures beyond the terms of treaties seems like cutting your nose off to spite your face to her. "If Zimevur were to rise again...it would have much more than pride and wounded dignity to recover." It doesn't stop the rumours that come to the attention of the palace however, the ones that cause the servants and staff to be so harsh with the one guard hailing from there even though she never did a thing.

Everyone came from the sea, it's what ties them all together because blood flows and gives life as the water does, here it seems about the same.

"The Waking Sea!" Delight enters her tone and it's like the clouds parting to reveal the sun, her smile wide and bright, hands clapping together. "Oh that's such a wonderful name for it but of course there are sea dragons, the sea is full of mysteries! The sea is the only place that mysteries can come from, it's so vast we can never know all there is to know of it."

Araceli's enthusiasm gets a chuckle out of Korrin, despite the latter not wanting to relax entirely yet. She's not convinced that the ordeal is over...but nothing more comes from the rift, which is sealed. "I'd say that's true of the Fade, too, all the more so for what it just brought us. But if it's the sea you want, then you'll want to make your way to the Storm Coast. The name is apt, but I bet you'd appreciate the view."

Finally, she decides to just place the staff on her back once more. If trouble surfaces, it's not as though having it there will make it impossible to retrieve. "You know I'm picturing those Zim-people with horns now, right? That sound Qunari enough to me, at least in combat. Though unless they have anything like the Qun, I'd say that's where similarities end. It's a system where individual freedom is nonexistant, where people don't have names but roles chosen for them, where mages...are treated far worse than what you find in the Circle. My parents left that long before I was born, thank the Maker."

"Aren't you worried I'll manage to find a ship and sail away into the sunset and take my magical hand with me?" She's teasing, well, mostly teasing, because she can't just sail a whole ship on her own with no provisions and no map and no actual plan beyond figuring out how to get home. "If demons come from the Fade then no, the sea...the sea has rights to me because I came from it long long ago, your green magical thing with the habits and dinner manners of a basking shark? No."

Still, a view of the sea would set her heart at ease but mountains and the sea are opposite directions and she has that sinking feeling that her chance is going to take a while.

"Oh no, no horns but they're equally striking I think: most have dark hair now but a sign of the old blood is to have skin a bit darker than mine but with golden hair. Not blonde, I mean gold, many of them have eyes the same shade. The lion is associated with them for very obvious reasons. Zimevur was the master of strategy until it came to besieging an island nation where everyone can crew a ship." Oh but she wishes Rajani had been here to hear that remark, she'd be affronted. "Learning about Zimevur is tricky - Castileos is considered...loose? We live life to the full and our practices are frowned upon, by Zimevur most of all but they have names, they can rise as high as they might - pushing yourself to excel is one of their greatest values. You need keen minds to thrive as they have with so much hot sun but so little rain." It just pushes them to conquest though because they rely on the breadbasket nations only they wanted to own the basket and the bread in it all at once and decided to try to wrench it away. Castileos has always been about trade and cooperation and just paid a fair price from the start. "What, do they chop off hands like they do with thieves in Zimevur so they can't continue on like that?"

The Zimevur sound interesting, and Korrin will have to make a note to ask more about Araceli's world when they aren't in the middle of ruins and chilly mountain air. Maybe over a drink or few? Somehow, she thought that might appeal to the short Antivan-sounding human.

"Maybe they do? But I know that they chain their mages, stitch their mouths shut and kill them if they so much as stray from their keeper. I've even heard of them removing tongues, from someone who's lived in Qunari lands. Believe me, I have a vested interest in ensuring that they don't succeed in their invasion plans."

She shudders, trying to get those horrifying thoughts and images out of her head though it's not easy. It's not as though she hasn't seen the stitch scars of former saarebas and heard their stories. "And no, I'm not worried. Sure, you could flee, but staying put is the best chance you have at learning more about what's on your hand. If it gets worse, no one else is going to know enough about it to even begin to help. Besides, I don't know how others are going to react when they find out about people entering Thedas from the Fade. Out there, it could get ugly. I doubt the Inquisition will know what to do about all this at first, but I've been with them long enough to know that you won't come to harm."

"People allow that?" The way she staggers back isn't affected at all, one hand fluttering at her mouth as she gropes behind her for something to lean against. "How could anyone do that! It's not enough to deny freedom, they would deny them a voice too? Silenced and shackled, that's no way to live a life, even animals have more freedom than that. And people just...they do nothing." It's the sort of horror that would never have come into her mind at all - oh there's silencing with threats or a blade slicing a throat but those are cleaner, as strange a thought as it may be but to actually sit and stitch a mouth closed for a whole life...

She takes a deep breath, grimacing as she swallows the bile creeping up to scorch at her throat.

"Can it be much worse than a man sending his whole household guard after you when he catches you in bed with his daughter?" The joke falls a little flat in light of the conversation but she does try because if she lets herself languish now then she'll have a hard job when reality sets in. "But if I got there and explained things, they wouldn't force me to stay, would they?"

Korrin's expression is apologetic, realizing she's been far too blunt, especially to someone freshly arrived. The sort-of Antivan has had enough of a shock, she doesn't need gruesome images piled on her like that. Sighing, the Vashoth decides to try and curb her tongue, just a bit. She won't sugarcoat things, but she doesn't need to pass on anything nightmare-inducing, either.

"I don't think so, no. But I think they would provide you with incentive to do so, or at least travel on the Inquisition's behalf. If that mark can close rifts, if it can hurt demons...then the Herald's death won't have been for nothing. You have no idea the hope that would give to some of us."

"If and if again." A certain measure of sadness creeps in because to her at least, they're such big ifs. "Perhaps to you they may not be but they might think very differently of someone who doesn't know a single thing about this place. I could cause alarm if I go somewhere else and meet a normal person because there are all sorts of things the 'common'," even saying it that way makes her grimace, remembering noble faces and their sneers all too well, "aren't privy to. Please though, don't think me uncaring - I just...I have to look out for myself, I only have me and Lux here after all."

It makes her feel so small, without the queensguard and Leandra, without her parents, without a country that all love her and worry for her.

"Come, shall we walk a bit? I think I need to get away from this immediate place at the very least."

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Into the DANGER ZONE

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