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

[fortheloveoffalondin]

"Nah, the only people they give a bad name is their own. Rebels could be a respectable organization, sort of thing, except they go around thinking everyone in armor is someone out to disband them or some rubbish. Maybe if they didn't attack on sight this wouldn't even be necessary." He huffs, arms crossing as he looks back the way he'd come, and the scouts gathering the remaining detritus from the fight. Good, don't waste anything or leave it to be tripped over.

"Anyway. Well-met, Korrin! Salem, of clan Ghilan." He bounces a little on the balls of his nearly bare feet, as if full of pent energy even after having climbed up here and then joined the fight. "D'you know which way to get back to the Crossroads? I wanted to go see the healer. See if she might have some dried Embrium to spare."

[gatheringstorm]

Well, at least there's someone not interested in condemning all mages due to the actions of a few. That it's one of the Dalish doesn't come as a surprise to her, but given that smile of hers, she still appreciates the sentiment nonetheless. She glances to the scouts but doesn't retrieve anything for herself this time, having plenty of supplies of her own and wanting to see that the rest is distributed among the others.

Looking back to Salem, that extra energy of his gets her to chuckle. At least he's resilient, and that will bode well for him. "Oh, I can lead you there. I might as well sell some of what I've accumulated while scavenging the Hinterlands, anyway. Not all of it's relevant to a mage's needs. Follow me, then."

She'll wave him along as she can find the Crossroads automatically from here. How much time has she spent in the Hinterlands? Too damn much.

[fortheloveoffalondin]

"Brilliant." He follows right after her, like a slightly excitable young mutt with a particularly forgiving master. He stops every now and then without thinking to ask Korrin to wait, each time picking a slightly ragged leatherbound book from a belt hanging at his waist. He presses a couple of different plants in it, taking a little charcoal pencil to it and scribbling until he has to jog to catch up with her again.

When the little stone walls near the settlement come into view, he slows down. There are a lot of armored men here, and the vast majority are human. He glances up at Korrin and starts to lag behind. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come searching for a healer here, after all...

Qunari, he was apparently fine with. But humans?

"Shems," he mutters, easing a little closer to Korrin as they pass a group of Inquisition soldiers and scouts.

[gatheringstorm]

More that once, Korrin glances over to say something, only to realize that Salem isn't at her side. She begins to realize how easily distracted he is and starts checking to see that she hasn't left him in the dust. It's a bad time to wander the Hinterlands alone, after all.

Hearing that mutter, Korrin glances down to her elf companion. She'd tell him they aren't so bad, not these ones, but actions mean more than words. They'll just have to prove it themselves. "Yeah, I know. They shouldn't give you any trouble, but if they do, I'd be happy to remind them who you're with. It's free entertainment, if nothing else."

[fortheloveoffalondin]

With his book back at his hip, he crosses his arms, elbow clasped in his hand. It's more his suspicious glaring that's attracting looks than his being Dalish, but he takes to heart that Korrin will keep people back, regardless of the reason. He figures he can trust her judgment, at least.

"How long have you been with the Inquisition? Are there a lot of people?" he asks as they head into the main hub. "Not really used to a lot of people at once."

[gatheringstorm]

"You'll get used to it faster than you think. I know I did. And I've been around ever since the time of the Conclave. Some members of my company were running security there. I...stuck around for their sake."

Someone had to avenge them, after all. And since Korrin was nearby, she felt that it fell to her. Given how her lips form a thin line after that, she still does. That darkspawn will get what's coming to him, but not without a member of the Valo-Kas to see him fall.

[fortheloveoffalondin]

"But I've lived all my life with the clan and humans...suffice to say they didn't live very long when they found us," Salem huffed, narrowing his eyes at one of the men looking his way. He looked back up at Korrin when she started talking about the Conclave, mouth falling open a little bit. "You were at the Conclave? Did you see the Breach? What happened?" Surely she would be able to tell him something that he could send back to the clan, something that might tell them what they should do next.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin just shrugs at the notion of humans falling to the Dalish; they have every right to defend themselves, as far as she's concerned. But her face falls as she thinks back to the day when everything changed, most of it not for the better.

"I wasn't at the Conclave, but I was nearby in case they needed extra security. We thought hostilities might resume if things weren't settled, but not...that. I never got close enough to find out if I could have helped and when everything exploded, I was then too busy fighting demon after demon to do much else for a while. And I had to do it while that awful green tear in the sky kept getting bigger. If the Herald hadn't sealed it, I know we wouldn't be here."

[fortheloveoffalondin]

Salem's brow knits as he listens. Disappointing, but it couldn't just be that easy to learn what was happening, could it?

"Oh." It's all he can think to say at the moment. Until something else occurred to him, and he looks Korrin over as much as he can manage from where he is at her side. "Your people were at the Conclave. Does that mean that you're not from Par Vollen or Seheron or somewhere like that? What's the word for the non-qunari people?"

[gatheringstorm]

Par Vollen? Seheron? Korrin can't shake her head fast enough. "I'm most definitely not Qunari, no. I'm a Vashoth, those who never lived under the Qun. You'll hear Tal-Vashoth, too, for those who were in the Qun but left it. If I'm from anywhere, it's the Free Marches."

And no, she doesn't really expect him to remember those terms since most people don't and just default to 'qunari' anyway. As long as they don't think she follows the Qun, though, she doesn't care.

[fortheloveoffalondin]

"Right, that!" he says quickly, taking note of the terms to write down later on when they weren't still on the move. Vashoth, Tal-Vashoth. Got it. The bit about the Free Marches catches his attention though, enough so that he's once more a great deal more interested in Korrin than he is about the humans around them watching a qunari woman and a tiny Dalish man walking through the little village. "Where in the Marches? We hadn't heard reports of mercenary activity nearby our camp at least, last I knew."

[gatheringstorm]

"All over, to be honest, but I've spent more time in Ostwick and Wycome...not Kirkwall, though. Thanks to the crap the Qunari pulled there in recent years, it'd be idiotic to even try entering the place. Not that I'd want to."

She sniffs at that, not thinking much of Kirkwall and the way it's treated mages. Those Gallows alone sound like the stuff of nightmares. She hasn't had any reason to enter its walls and, Maker willing, will never need that.

[fortheloveoffalondin]

"Kirkwall's not worth it anyway," Salem assures her, making a bit of a face. He hates cities as it is, and Kirkwall hadn't been worth the visit he'd paid it, as far as he was concerned. Never been through Wycome, but one of ours got himself caught once and was being held in Ostwick. Never want to go back."

[gatheringstorm]

Reassured about Kirkwall, she raises an eyebrow at mention of Ostwick. There's no specific hometown loyalty, as Korrin's never had a hometown, but he has her curious. "Caught, for what? Or was it 'pick on the Dalish' day and he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

[fortheloveoffalondin]

"Not entirely sure, but from what he'd said it sounded like he'd been wandering around the outskirts tracking...something, he never did find it. He got caught on suspicion. Suspicion of what, they never did say, but he was being cagey or some't and they dragged him off to a holding cell. Keeper, me n' a couple others had to go into Ostwick to get 'im back."

Salem snorted quietly, rolling his eyes and stepping over a stone in the road, wrapping a hand around a signpost when they came to it. He glanced around, ears subtly moving until he'd located the healer's hut. He glanced back at Korrin, wondering whether she'd want to part ways here. He hoped not; it'd mean he would be alone in the middle of this place surrounded by unfamiliar people.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin echoes the snort, shaking her head in disgust. "It's always the outsiders that are the suspicious ones. Marvelous coincidence, isn't it? I'm glad it didn't end worse, though I can see why you wouldn't want to return. I liked Wycome better, anyway. You might, too."

Sharing his glance back, she smiles. This new elf isn't bad company and she has no real reason to depart for anything specific at the moment. "We can keep going, I'm in no rush."

[fortheloveoffalondin]

Salem's relief is obvious when he hears that. He nods up to the hut and starts up that way when he's sure that Korrin will be behind him.

He might be expecting to catch an arrow in the back, from the way he moves as he heads up the rough stone steps. There is no such incidence and really not much reason for him to believe anyone here would kill him on sight, but paranoia could be a hell of a thing. At least when he reaches the healer and sees that she's an elf, and that she needs help with her own supply of herbs, he knows they'll be able to trade.

After most of his elfroot has been switched out, he turns back to Korrin. "What all did you need to do here now?"

[gatheringstorm]

Noting how he moves, Korrin can't blame him for being on edge though for her part, she seems relatively relaxed and not expecting an attack here. Which isn't to say that any won't be met with a swift and brutal response if she's wrong. After Salem gets what he needs, Korrin adds to her elfroot stash, just to be on the safe side and give the healer some business. She can afford it, after all.

Glancing back to Salem, she frowns in thought. "Stabilize the area, mostly, make it easier for the refugees who have nowhere else to go. They need food and warmth, so it's ram and cache hunting, to begin with. If we can track down the assholes who keep putting them in danger, that's a bonus as well."

[fortheloveoffalondin]

"I think we can at least help with the hunt," Salem offers with half a smile, glancing around when a man looked up from what he was doing at the fireside to give them a look. He gives a shallow nod in return to the one he's offered, then looks up at Korrin. He's ready to set out whenever she is. "I could also show you back in the direction I'd come from when I first found the camp, if you like. Sure to be more of the same mages back there, from the size of the area they'd occupied."

Really, it was rather hard to miss, with the spires of enchanted ice poking out of the ground.

[gatheringstorm]

Indeed, and Korrin's thoughts are alone the same lines. She'd wanted to return to that area anyway, but that Salem is volunteering to go with makes her smile. Offering to help the Inquisition is always the best way to get on her good side, not that he's having difficulty in that.

"Help with both would be welcome. We can search for those mages and take down any ram that we cross on the way. Not a bad day's work, if we reach both goals. And I'd enjoy having the company."