TEST DRIVE MEME!

[faderifting]

I ROLL TO SEDUCE THE BEAR

Tucked between the massive Lake Calenhad and the icy Frostback Mountains in Ferelden’s chilly, hilly south, the Hinterlands are a region covered in patchy forests, small farms, and a bustling fishing village called Redcliffe. The region was recently the frontline of a war between mages and Templars, but the Inquisition’s military presence has restored order and is now focused on helping the locals and influx of refugees rebuild their lives. Whether you’re a recent recruit or a hardened veteran, a Fereldan local or someone who recently fell out of a rift from another world, you may be asked to go lend a hand.

I. FLOODS

A burst of unseasonably warm weather (in no way inspired by real life events) is initially greeted with relief, gloves discarded and scarves unwrapped—but followed within the week by severe flooding across the region. Maybe you’re sent out to help debris from a road or collect the bodies of those swept away. Or maybe you’re less lucky and instead there when the waters come, shepherding refugees to higher ground, or caught riding in the flow on a dislodged roof or log. Maybe there’s a bear on the roof with you.

II. TREASURE HUNTS

Given the lack of banks and lockboxes, when the people here have something they value, they often hide it—under the ground, in a tree, behind a waterfall. So here you are, with a sketch of some landmarks found on a body, trying to find… something. If you find it, it might be useful: weapons, runes, a stash of supplies. Or it might be someone’s box of racy letters and a request to deliver them to a now-married woman who will slap you on delivery.

III. BEARS

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?

IV. CRYSTALS

Members and trusted agents of the Inquisition are given access to one of the Inquisition's stores of ancient, mysterious sending crystals, allowing them to communicate instantaneously by voice. It's magic. And a magical excuse to ask everyone what their favorite constellation is in the middle of the night.

Or to call for help because you've been treed by bears.

Either way.

V. MISCELLANEOUS

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

[needsmust]

[Fortunately, Brax doesn't need to be told twice: as soon as the Doctor calls out, he's off and running. And perhaps thanking his lucky stars that he does get more exercise than is often customary among those who have shared his position. As well as the fact that the Doctor's plan actually worked, but he figures there's no need to mention that just at the moment.

(There is a brief flicker of annoyance at having his hand grabbed, but he figures it's probably better to not register that at the moment.)]

I presume that's something like a base of operations?

[Be that in the form of a town or something else, he's not about to complain particularly hard, especially if it means that there aren't any more bears in the immediate future.]

[not_the_question]

[There was something the Doctor sensed when he grabbed the other man's hand, but he couldn't really acknowledge it until they stopped. And by then, of course, he had released the other man's hand.]

Something like that, yes.

[But the Doctor didn't care about that, because he realised what he had sensed. He turns and looks over the other man very carefully.]

You're a Time Lord. [He frowned.] But that's weird. Not Good and weird. I can't tell which one you are.

[It's not himself. Although he didn't know how many new regenerations he had been granted, he'd never be sure if he'd be able to encounter any of them. It wasn't the Master. This one felt older than Missy somehow. And familiar, but... he couldn't for the life of him place the other man.]

[needsmust]

[Older than the Master is definitely right. Plus or minus a few variations in the timeline, but older nonetheless. Even if he hasn't much thought about the Master of late. (For good reason, mind.)

Still, it's the comment about being a Time Lord that stirs him into action and he's just about to offer a half-sarcastic comment about how of course he is, when the Doctor gets around to the part about not recognizing him.]

You can't tell.

[It's offered in just about the flattest and least impressed deadpan, as if his identity is something that he thinks should be obvious. Enough so that he doesn't immediately offer any hints as to who he is, though he might yet if it proves to be absolutely necessary.]

[not_the_question]

[The Doctor shrugs.]

A lot has happened to me... [To Gallifrey, he can't give away secrets until he knows who this is] ...in this body alone. Things get a little muddled up.

[So, no he can't tell. And even if he COULD, well he'd never believe it.]

[needsmust]

[There's a raised eyebrow at the explanation. Not that he has any sort of reason to even so much as suspect the nature of the secrets the Doctor might be holding on to (and perhaps just as well, all things considered).]

Not that much so, I should hope?

[For the time being, he's still hoping that there's some glimmer of memory lurking in the back of the Doctor's mind. That he hasn't changed so much over the years as to be unrecognizable, even if it's fairly clear that their own personal timelines don't match up.]

[not_the_question]

[He purses his lips. There's one thing he can offer. And it would say everything and nothing at the same time.]

Let's just say that Rassilon finally found a way to exact his revenge upon me.

[Never mind that the Doctor then exiled him. It was an exquisite punishment that not even the Master would have dreamt.]