OPEN: turn off the lights and I'll glow

[faderifting]

WHO: New rifters & characters in Emprise du Lion
WHAT: More people falling on ice than usual, this time with demons, templars, and bonus nighttime
WHEN: Guardian 23
WHERE: Emprise du Lion
NOTES: This month, the arrival log is open to all.

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 onto freezing stone or ice that is twice as cold and just as hard. When your breath returns and the light's after-image fades from your eyes you will find yourself beneath a dark sky, a full moon straining to be seen through intermittent clouds, and a second moon low on the horizon. Its light reflects off snow to add an eerie ambient glow to the darkness, made stranger by the sickly green tint added by the fluttery menacing shape of the rift hanging in mid-air. Be careful getting up: you are at the edge of a cliff, what was once a waterfall now frozen solid in a massive curling sheet of icicles. The drop to the bottom is several stories, surely a deadly fall even without the huge humps and spikes of ice and snow that litter the ground where splash and spray were petrified.

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 the fact 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. Some are entirely different but perhaps more monstrous for it: men and women in heavy, gleaming armor, all of them with chunks of red crystal protruding out in a way you soon realize indicates it is actually growing out of their skin. Their eyes are a dull red, hollow and empty, and they attack with a single-minded determination.

Luckily, you are not on your own. Around you others are waking up, equally confused, with the same green lights flaring from their hands. There is stuff scattered about, like the contents of someone's life exploded through the rift with them: a picnic table and benches upended, metal camp furniture flung about, clothes and utensils, bits of wood and canvas and mattress littering the ground. Even better, you are not far from a path leading toward an Inquisition camp, and noise travels far in this terrain, echoing up canyons and off cliffsides, carried by the chill night wind. Help is on its way; just last until it arrives.

Comments

After the rift is closed

[gatheringstorm]

Relatively nearby when the rift erupted, Korrin acted swiftly and decisively upon seeing the demons and rifters emerge. She'd wasted no time in putting up defensive barriers and drawing the demons to her with shouts, explosions and other uses of magic. Her spirit blade saw liberal use, tearing through demons as quickly as she could manage. At least Vivienne's teachings were being put to good use, and she couldn't ask for more than that.

When there are no demons left to slay, the Vashoth mage will be pacing the area, offering healing potions to those who need it. She'll also be peering around with some puzzlement, as there's quite a lot of gear that's traveled with the rifters this time. Looking over the picnic table and other camp furniture, along with other far less familiar items, she just raises an eyebrow. "...the fuck?"

But, yes. Her main priority will be guiding rifters back to camp and answering the usual questions.

[aceso]

This is the first time Christine has been close to a rift that's opened, and she can't say she enjoyed the experience of battling demons. She stops next to Korrin, a booted toe peeking out from under her mage robes to poke at a metal camp kettle with a hinged lid. It slides on the ice, and she looks up at her friend.

"You have seen the rifters arrive before, have you not? Were there things like this with them the other times?"

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin shakes her head incredulously at the sheer amount of items strewn about the area. "No, there was nothing that wasn't on their person at the time. It's always been demons and rifters and that's it. This looks as though someone's entire campsite came with them through the rift, but that shouldn't be possible as far as I know."

[aceso]

"That is troubling news. If the rifts are changing what they do... there may be no limit to what they can pull in." Her face is etched with worry as she thinks of worse and worse scenarios. "They could grow bigger. Perhaps whole cities from other worlds will come through." She blows out a breath, shaking her head.

"I know I am skipping ahead to the worst, but... it is not beyond imagining, is it?"

[gatheringstorm]

"No, I don't think so." Though given Korrin's horrified expression, she's really wishing she hadn't heard that. Now it'll be on her mind every time she spots a rift, wondering if it could possibly get any worse.

"Andraste's ass, that'd better not be what's happening. Thedas is enough of a mess without adding that to it."

[aceso]

Christine let's out a huff of a laugh.

"I agree. One mess at a time, no?" She shakes her head, then looks around the area. "I'm sure some of this could be usable. Shall we gather some of it to take back to camp?"

[gatheringstorm]

Glancing around and picking up a tea kettle, Korrin nods. "Whatever's portable and useful for camp can be brought back with us, especially anything to help keep warm. The rest can be picked over by whoever wants it, but I doubt a picnic table is going to see much use here."

[aceso]

"Not the way food has been trickling in," Christine says with a sad shake of her head. She moves to scavenge for something they can make use of back at camp, thinking the ripped bits of canvas would work to patch holes in their own tents. The clothes will be useful too, with how cold it currently is here. Soon she has a selection of items, and she turns to see how Korrin is getting on.

"Anything else?"

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin has grabbed a bunch of scarves and gloves, placing them in an old gym bag for convenience. Those ought to do nicely for any needing something extra. Glancing around, she points. "I see some blankets over there. They could go in this bag as well, since there's still room." When do they ever have excess blankets? Never, that's when. They'll see use, of that Korrin's without a doubt.

[aceso]

"Ah," Christine says, acknowledging that she sees them. She makes her way over easily enough and collects the blankets, folding them over her arm to carry back before shaking them open to fold nicely.

"I would take one of these myself, but I've been gifted with a warm blanket already from someone here who created one from a bearskin."

[gatheringstorm]

"This someone wouldn't happy to be a loud, hairy Avvar who also runs a Templar-punching service, would it?" Oh, yes, she knows. Korrin grins though really, it's just some light teasing. Consenting adults can do what they want...and besides, she knows Asher's appeal, having been there before.

[aceso]

Christine's head snaps up to meet Korrin's eyes in surprise before she looks back to her blanket folding.

"It might be," she admits. "I was not keen on the idea of a smelly bear hide, but he cleaned it thoroughly first."

[gatheringstorm]

"Of course he did. Asher's a battle-crazed, obnoxious oaf with no impulse control, but he knows his stuff." All that's said with the affection of one who's known him a long time and is thus unsurprised at anything he does. "I knew there was a good reason for bringing him in around this time. Bear hides for everyone."

What were they doing? Oh, right, packing. As the bag seems almost filled to the brim at this point, Korrin waits for Christine to shove in what she can before hefting it over a shoulder. "C'mon, let's go dump this and stretch out by the fire. I think we've earned it."

[bookish_lioness]

Less than an hour earlier, Hermione had been in her dorm, having just finished her nightly review of her notes and feeling confident that she would do well on the next day's Arithmancy exam. And now she was limping, harboring a broken wand as well as a tender backside and possibly some frostbite, and she wouldn't be able to tell someone the difference between advanced Arithmancy and basic maths. All in all, this wasn't how she'd expected waking up.

She also hadn't expected coming across another horned figure like the one she'd seen on the battlefield, sifting through oddly-familiar items. She didn't know how any of this had gotten here, not having noticed the tattered remnants of the small beaded bag she still (sort of) had slung over her shoulder, but she also didn't know how she felt about pieces of her life being strewn about the ground as someone attempted to make heads or tails out of it.

It was seeing the bedraggled remains of the dress she'd worn to Bill and Fleur's wedding that made her cry out forlornly, staggering towards it as she plucked it from the ground. "My dress! How did-...?"

That was when she frowned, looking over at the woman (?) who seemed to be scrutinizing the items scattered everywhere. "These are my things," she explained weakly, clearly not knowing anything more besides that.

[gatheringstorm]

Upon hearing that voice, Korrin finally turns her attention from the scattered assortment of items and gives the human girl a once-over. The way she moves indicates some pain, and she can't let that go unremarked. Frowning slightly, she reaches for a potion at her hip and offers it. Her tone is concerned if slightly distracted, just trying to remain alert given their surroundings. The demons are gone, but wildlife and Red Templars are still very much a possibility.

"Here, it'll help with healing. And...how is all this yours?!? What the hell happened, did the rift yank in the entire campsite? That would be a first; rifters usually just have what they can carry."

[bookish_lioness]

She was being handed a vial of sorts, and there was talk of a campsite and rifters and Hermione was just becoming more confused with every passing moment. Uncertainly accepting the potion, she absently murmured, "No, I-... I don't know. The furniture, this dress... it was all in my bag-...."

Eyes widening, she drops the dress and searches about her person, soon finding the relatively small bag that's now little more than half-beaded rags. Oh. She'd liked that bag.

"The Extension Charm... it must have caused an explosion of some-.... But why now? I haven't put anything in this bag since the war ended. I've been taking things out, if anything." Especially her books. Heaven help her if she finds that any of her books had been destroyed.

[gatheringstorm]

"...extension charm?" Korrin's not even touching mention of a past war, not yet. The one she's currently in is headache enough, more specifically the entire situation in Emprise du Lion. Inspecting what remains of the bag, she arches an eyebrow.

"So, not only do rifts spew demons and people from other worlds, it can destroy enchantments. Wonderful. There's no way all this can be carried back to camp, but tell me what you actually need from this mess and I'll be an extra pair of hands." If there's trouble on the way, that extra pair of hands will need to set those aside in terms of weapons, but she'll do what she can not to ruin anything in the process.

[bookish_lioness]

"Camp?"

Hermione had enough of camping, to be perfectly honest. That was why all this camping gear had been in her bag and she'd been forced to place a not-strictly-legal Extension Charm on her bag to carry it all around. But that didn't need to be said, since it was growing progressively clearer that there were much larger matters at stake.

"I don't even know what all was in there! I'd unpacked these things weeks - months - ago! Have you seen any books about? I'd hate to leave any of my books lying around when Muggles might just randomly pass by and see them."

[gatheringstorm]

Glancing around, Korrin then points at a few tomes scattered not to far away. One is open face-down on the ice, its spine not broken but certainly not in good shape. "Over there and--muggles? What are you talking about?

And yes, camp. It goes like this; there's the physical world and the Fade, land of demons, spirits and the souls of the dead or sleeping. Not too long ago, an ancient magister asshole punched a hole in the Fade, creating the Breach. Imagine that rift you came out of, only a thousand times bigger. It spawned countless rifts, causing demons to pour out...and later, people like you. Every one of you has that mark, too, a mark which can seal rifts when you learn how to use it properly.

Anyway, the Inquisition is a group dedicated to finding the asshole responsible and restoring order, and we have a camp nearby. Are you with me so far?" As Korrin talked, she headed over to gather those books, handing them back over to Hermione. She glanced around again, hoping to find a backpack or or something to hold them in.

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione immediately moved off in the direction she was pointed off to, obviously caring much more about her books than about her dress. Crouching down, she carefully lifted the one that had been lying face-down, making a small, disappointed noise. Of course the one that now had wet pages and runny print would be Hogwarts, A History. Somewhere, somehow, Ron was laughing.

"People who can't do magic," she answered absently. She was listening, really she was, but she was also trying to avoid to temptation to use her magic to try and repair the book. Given the way her magic had been acting lately, she'd be more likely to set it on fire than to fix it.

She didn't seem particularly bothered to be handed the books and have nothing with which to carry them; if anything, the slim girl carrying an armful of books seemed strangely natural. Standing up, she looked around, trying to figure out if it was worth gathering everything together when she wouldn't be able to carry it all.

While she understood the logical progression of what she was being told, it wouldn't be Hermione if she didn't have a plethora of questions. "What do you mean, people like me? Just... random people throughout space and time who happen to be asleep? What kind of magic can just pluck people from their beds and deposit them in a completely different part of the world? It makes absolutely no sense, especially given that I would have heard of something like this by now."

[gatheringstorm]

Used to rifters and their questions by now, Korrin just takes them in stride. She listens while looking around for anything that seems both important and portable. They're not going to be able to transport all or even most of this, but it'd be cruel not to let the girl take what she could with her.

"No, you probably wouldn't have; nothing against you personally, but the Breach and rifts and whatnot is relatively new even to this world. It's hasn't been very long, only months, and there's a lot we can't answer about it yet because we're still figuring it out. All we know is that the Veil -what separates the Fade and the physical- has been torn to shreds, hence all the demons. And yes, rifters are people like you, drawn in here through the rifts, all bearing the mark of our late Herald. Some of our native people have it, too."

She tilts her head, regarding Hermione curiously. "And your muggles don't know about magic? Odd. Here, it's well-known, though well-loved is another story. Mages are often suspicion for several reasons, some of them valid, a lot of them bullshit. But no one in the Inquisition is going to give you hell for abilities, especially the only one that has any effect on the rifts."

[bookish_lioness]

If she's going to be here for any decent length of time, Hermione's going to gather up whatever clothes she can find. If there's one thing she'd learned while spending a year on the run, it's that few things have as much of an immediate effect on you as wearing familiar clothes, hopefully still smelling like home. She'd done her best to keep that effect going for as long as she could, but she highly doubts she'll be here nearly as long as she'd been camping out with Harry and Ron. She has more tests to study for, after all.

Frowning a little as she listens and moves to pick up a jumper from the ground, she replies, "This all sounds very... metaphysical. You wouldn't happen to have a book on all of this, would you? Perhaps if I review it a few times, it will make more sense, but as it stands...."

As it stands, she realizes that the jumper she'd picked up off the ground isn't hers, but Ron's. She had packed several changes of clothes for the three of them on their journey, and apparently, dreaming about the small bag had brought along everything that had been inside of it.

... everything.

Turning to the woman speaking to her, she tries not to look as worried as she actually is. "Magic is a secret. You only know about it if you can use it or if you're very close to someone who can, usually family or a spouse. But... if the people here know about it and don't like it...."

Scanning the area once again, she explains, "Some of the items in that bag may have been magical in nature. Some stronger than others. If you see any small vials, or a cloak, or, um.... a thousand-year-old, ruby-encrusted sword, I'd appreciate it if you could bring those back to me."

The vials were more than likely, and would definitely prove useful. But the cloak and the sword are mysteriously nowhere to be found, if they'd even made it through the Fade with her to begin with.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin raises an eyebrow at mention of such a sword, though glancing around doesn't reveal the location of such an ostentatious weapon. "...no, that sword doesn't seem to be around anywhere. Are you sure it was in your bag?"

She'll check around for the cloak, just because that sounds like a practical item to have in the frozen landscape that is Emprise du Lion. Any scarves and the like will be passed back as well, though with such bright colors, they'd be easily spotted against the pale snow. "As for magic, right now it's more about what you do with it. You'll be fine if you're healing people or defending yourself; say you're with me, with us, and people will leave you alone because this area is in dire straights. They need all the help they can get, and they're not going to focus on one mage when there are far more pressing issues to deal with.

By the way, see those red spikes in the distance? Don't touch them. They're highly toxic and we've had problems with people not taking their threat seriously enough. I can go into more detail somewhere warm, but for the moment, please just trust me. It's not worth it."

Finding a few uncracked vials, Korrin hands them over. "I know, all this is overwhelming. There are plenty of books about it, in fact, back in the library at Skyhold. That's our fortress, to the east of here. Supplies come and go from there all the time, so taking new people over is not a problem."

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione hesitates for a few moments before mentioning, "I have no idea. I haven't used this bag since the war, and we didn't have the sword the entire time." She really hopes that the fact that she didn't remember about it until just now and doesn't see it on the ground means that she won't have to worry about it.

Of course, she also hopes this whole thing is only an extremely vivid dream and so she won't have to worry about any of it, but that's besides the point.

She's about to explain that she isn't with them, she isn't with anybody, and so it feels bad lying about an affiliation just to protect herself. But then she remembers how badly her magic had acted up, and if she's forced to defend herself against people who don't like these "mages," she can't be absolutely certain she wouldn't just end up causing more trouble for herself.

She doesn't understand why anyone would touch red spikes growing out of the earth when they're warned against it, but before she can say anything about that or ask for specifics despite the cold, she hears the magic word. "A library? That sounds convenient!" Pocketing the vials she'd been given, she almost smiles, picturing Hogwarts' huge library and imagining that it must be similar, given the open use of magic here.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, then, that does sound like the best way to answer all my questions, especially since I'm not exactly cut out to defend myself against any more green holes in the sky that might crop up."

[gatheringstorm]

"Actually, you're better suited than any of us without them. We have no ability to affect the rifts, but those with that green flicker in their palms can raise it up to a rift and they'll...interact with each other. The result is a closed rift, which means no more demons."

Korrin still worries about anyone with a shard, but at least the girl's shard is in her hand, as is normal. She would hate to encounter anyone with a shard in their chest, like Sina. Trying to push her frail Dalish friend out of her mind for now, she crosses her arms and nods. "Alright, just follow me back to camp then. We can get you on the next supply run back to Skyhold. Which isn't to say that I won't answer questions as I can, though, and the rifts are relatively new, so you won't be finding books about them yet."

What she will find are extremely dry books about the Chant of Light and all that contains. And if she remembers right, also some passive-aggressive notes scribbled in the margins when it comes to the history of the Dales. "I'm Korrin Ataash, by the way, member of the Inquisition Council of Magi."