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

[dragoon_pride]

Are there any of those rifts around?

[Kain now looks at her very curiously. The last thing he remembered before coming here was that battle to close the portal to the Rift... a Rift from where the manikins had come.]

And... could they be responsible for our arrival here?

[gatheringstorm]

Not terribly close, no...but they're in the general area.

[She frowns in thought at his question, shrugging.]

And...I'm not sure. Technically, yes, I suppose they are responsible. But all of them came from the Breach. Even then, rifters didn't start appearing for a while, so there might be something else at work. I can't say what, though.

[dragoon_pride]

I would be interested in seeing one of these rifts sometime, in case... there is any similarity...

[If there is a connection to the world of the gods' war, it would be important to know. It might give him answers.]

"Something else"? Is there anything... or anyone you suspect as being responsible?

[gatheringstorm]

[Korrin frowns and crosses her arms, her gaze hardening though it's not directed at him.]

Oh, we know who's responsible. Corypheus. Darkspawn magister asshole extraordinaire. He wants to tear down the Veil and doesn't care who he hurts to do it. And the worst part is, there's nothing stopping him from attempting it again.

[dragoon_pride]

[Kain also frowns deeply, especially unsettled by the way this sounds. Yet another threat, as terrible as Chaos or Zemus. Great... just what he needed to get into the middle of. There's only one solution he can think of at the moment.]

Then why don't we stop him? He undoubtedly has some weaknesses we can exploit...

[gatheringstorm]

[She just shakes her head and paces.]

You think we haven't thought of that? The last time we moved against him, he completely destroyed our base of operations. We're still recovering from that and next time, we need to be smarter. It was a miracle we survived; we can't afford to get into a situation like that again.

[dragoon_pride]

[This... might be far more complicated than he'd have thought. Kain sighs. So he's gone from one war to another, in a sense.]

Then we must waste no time in strategizing a means to defeat him, if this enemy is as terrible and powerful as you're implying.

[gatheringstorm]

Oh, they're doing that. I'm not in charge or anything close to it, but we have a diplomat, spymaster and commander who are more or less running the show. Cullen won't say no to more soldiers, if that's what has your interest.

[dragoon_pride]

Of course... combat is what I'm best at. I cannot imagine doing otherwise.

[It'll give him some sort of purpose here, which is something Kain always needs, a goal to set his sights on. He's not so sure about joining in yet another war, yet another cause that's not his own, but... well... a lot seems to be at stake here. He was brought here for a reason. Just as he had been when Cosmos chose him.]