Test Drive Meme!

[faderifting]

No, Seriously, You're Never Getting Out Of Here

Maybe the Inquisition sent you, maybe you came seeking the Inquisition. Maybe you fell out of a rift into this world last week and are still just trying to find your feet. However it happened, early fall finds you in the Hinterlands. Tucked between Ferelden's massive Lake Calenhad and the icy Frostback Mountains, the Hinterlands are a hilly region covered in patchy forests and small farms trying to eke out a living between the boulders. Though somewhat remote, the area is rich with game and minerals and home to Redcliffe, a bustling town on a busy trade route.

Lately the Hinterlands have also been full of mages and templars and rifts, all threatening to turn once-peaceful countryside into a dangerous warzone. The Inquisition has set up several camps and sent personnel to try to restore order to the region, unwilling to let it slip into chaos. There's a lot to be done, some of it straightforward killing bad things, some of it weird and nebulous morale-building.

NOTE: We will not have an App Help/Enable Me meme this month, but anyone who has questions about OC concepts or AU adaptations is welcome to ask for assistance on the Mod Contact page.

1. WHERE THE SUN COMES UP ABOUT TEN IN THE MORNING

QUESTS COME AND GO BUT BEARS ARE ETERNAL: You have turned the wrong corner, forded the wrong stream, crested the wrong hill, entered the wrong cave. Maybe you are far from camp. Maybe you are in camp. Whatever has happened, wherever you are: you are being chased by bears. Did you provoke the bears? Are they huge? Babies? Fade-touched? Mage-controlled? What are they chasing you away from? What are they chasing you into? What do you plan to make out of their hide if you kill them? What do you think they'll craft out of your hide if they kill you?

2. THEY MOVED DOWN SOUTH OF REDCLIFFE

NICE PLACE FOR A SPOT OF CAMPING: If there were an inn, which there's not, there wouldn't be room for you in it. Traveling with the Inquisition means carrying your own bedrolls, putting up your own tents, and sleeping alongside whoever you've been told to share with--no matter how much you hate them or how loud they snore. If you really can't stand it, the alternative is sleeping outside. On the ground. With the bears.

3. AND THEY LAUGHED AND SANG A NEW SONG

Hey, there's a big, crazy light in the sky that craps out demons! Let's worship it!: Not everyone thinks the Breach was a bad thing. In the southeastern mountains, a burgeoning cult has taken up residence in Winterwatch Tower to wait patiently for the Maker to reach through the tears in the veil and gather the faithful to his bosom. They're a little kooky, maybe, but harmless, and they're happy enough to share their wine and lager with travelers in the area. The demon-spewing rift behind the Tower, on the other hand... Too bad the Herald didn't close that thing before she bit it. Watch your step.

4. NO ONE EVER KNEW THERE WAS LYRIUM IN THEM MOUNTAINS

TROUBLE IN THE DEEP: The Carta is everywhere, but it's here in force, occupying dwarven ruins in a chasm behind a waterfall. Inquisition forces have already cleared most of the smugglers out of the hold, but there's still a vault to break into, bodies to loot, and old texts to search through for anything worth adding to the Inquisition's growing archives. Also: darkspawn. Sorry.

5. AND THE SUN GOES DOWN ABOUT THREE IN THE DAY

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE: hunt game, kill demons, gather herbs, track bandits, haggle over the price of armor, fall off a deceptively tall rock, get lost circling the same hill ten times trying to find a way up to the weird glowing skull on a stick you can see is up there, climb trees or abandoned towers, rummage around in empty homes, run from a dragon, cry over how cute that fennec fox you just shot was, set up camp and chat around the fire, knock yourself out (figuratively, or even literally if that's more your speed)-- the Hinterlands are your Frostback Mountain oyster.

Comments

[madame_de_fer]

[Vivienne is just set to turn in for the evening when Bruce exits his tent. Curious, as she hadn't though he'd drawn the first watch. There's always a watch to be safe, there's bears, rebels, wolves and other unknowns lurking in the area. While it's perhaps none of her business what the man chooses to do with his free time, it seems imprudent for him to stay up working on tasks better performed in the daylight hours. Not to mention that people who are not sufficiently rested then become a hindrance if a fight breaks out.]

Can you not sleep?

[amygdalae]

[Bruce looks up when Vivienne speaks to him; he knows of her, of course - she's very well known within the Inquisition. He also knows that she's something among the mages as well, but he's been out of touch with a lot of general Thedas since the last few years.]

Not very well. [He replies with a small smile, doing his best to be as amiable as possible.] What about you, madam?

[madame_de_fer]

[Ah, he's polite. How perfectly charming. Vivienne likes the man practically immediately, though she's not foolish enough to fully hand off her trust after one brief exchange. Still, for the moment, she likes him, even if she is feeling him out.]

I shall be soon. It's best for one to take as much rest as circumstances allow before forging ahead with the next day's business. Though sometimes the mind needs as much of a rest as the body, wouldn't you agree?

[amygdalae]

[He's not so unaware that he doesn't know what she's doing, but he's never been one for games and such. Bruce figures as long as he keeps being polite enough, it'll be fine. That's what people like her want, right? Hopefully.]

Rest is always important regardless of who you are. [He knows that, of course, being a surgeon and all.] Even the mightiest of people can make a blunder if they don't get enough rest to recharge.

[madame_de_fer]

[Games are the bulk of Vivienne's existence. Even when she's 'relaxing', there is almost always some undercurrent of maneuvering involved. A cynic might remark that her need to keep control over her life is in its own way controlling her life. But she's incapable of turning off the drive to maintain the upper hand in all that she does.]

How very true. Keeping a balance in one's life is always ideal.

[Now to the point. Which comes with a smile, a genuine one, and not even a modicum of malice simmering underneath.]

I do hope you'll be able to take your own excellent advice tonight. Though I could hardly blame you if stargazing makes it difficult. The skies are lovely overhead without buildings to obstruct the view.

[amygdalae]

It's one of the good things of being out here.

[He nods his head as he says that, then glances up to the sky where the stars dot the night sky. Without any buildings or lights the sky is always so much clearer, and with all the time he's spent out of civilization Bruce has come to appreciate the stars a lot more. More than once, they've helped him through troubled nights and lost times.

After a moment he glances back down, looking at Vivienne, and gives her a smile at her words.] But I'll certainly make sure to get adequate rest, so there's no need to worry about me.