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[faderifting]

'Tis The Season...

...To Still Be In The Hinterlands

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.

NOW WITH ADDED SNOW.

1. I CAN'T BEAR THE COLD

You have turned the wrong corner in the snow, forded the wrong stream in the snow, crested the wrong hill in the snow, entered the wrong cave in the snow. Maybe you are far from camp, in the snow. Maybe you are in camp, which is also snowy. Whatever has happened, wherever you are: you are being chased through the snow by bears. Did you throw a snowball at the bears? Are they huge and snow-dusted? Babies burrowing through the snow drifts and coming for your ankles? Fade-touched in addition to snow-touched? Controlled by cold mages who are hiding in the snow? Popping up out of the snow like a game of whack-a-mole? What are they chasing you away from in all of this snow? What are they chasing you into, other than more snow? What warm things do you plan to make out of their hide if you kill them in the snow? What do you think they'll craft out of your hide if they kill you in the snow? P.S. It's snowy.

2. GIVE ALL THE TOYS TO THE LITTLE RICH BOYS

Winter came. The villagers are freezing. Recruit Whittle totally saw this coming. Now he might have sent you haring (get it) across the countryside in search of supplies that apostates or bandits may have hidden in caves and crannies. He might have handed you some sticks and told you to build a fire. He might have eyed your nice coat with a contemptful gleam that suggested you'd better find some blankets if you didn't want to have your own clothing requisitioned. Nobody's freezing to death on his watch--except maybe you, if you're really bad at finding hidden caches. In the snow.

3. DON'T SHOOT ME SANTA

The sky is beginning to darken and white snow continues to fall, but you and the supply wagon you're protecting should make it to the little Hinterlands village before sunset. The wagon is laden with food, blankets, and other sundry supplies, and so it's important to stay sharp and alert as you make the trecherous journey. And for good reason: an arrow is fired from the tree line and topples an Inquisition soldier from his horse. Beset by bandits, will you manage to fight them back? Or do they overwhelm your troupe and you are forced to flee? Or, perhaps, you could attempt a negotiation, knowing they could be as hungry as the people you protect.

4. DOES THEDAS HAVE FIGGY PUDDING?

It is not only snowing, it's blizzarding, and the tavern in Redcliffe is the closest and warmest place to duck into to wait it out. Unfortunately, half of the Hinterlands had the same idea. The Gull & Lantern is so packed with thawing visitors that it's hard to walk from one side to the other, the owner has given up on telling these Fereldens they can't bring their dogs inside, and that lady in the corner is almost definitely someone you've tried to kill before, or vice versa. But there's a fire going, and the bartender seems to think that giving everyone half-price drinks might prevent a brawl instead of causing one, and there aren't any demons indoors, so it could be a lot worse.

5. WILDCARD

Hunt game in the snow, kill demons in the snow, dig under the snow for herbs, track bandits through the snow, deal with someone charging extortionist coat prices now that it's snowing, fall off a deceptively tall rock into the snow, 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 in the snow, climb trees or abandoned towers covered in snow, rummage around in empty homes to get out of the snow, run from a dragon in the snow, cry over how cute that fennec fox you just shot in the snow was, set up camp and chat around the fire because it's snowy and cold, knock yourself out (figuratively, or even literally if that's more your speed)-- the Hinterlands are your Frostback Mountain oyster, topped with snow.

Comments

[ferrushomimus]

"Oh good, so you do know something about it." He should have figured Addy of all people would ahve figured it out. Then he sighed, "... Yeah, okay, honestly, none of this was supposed to be embedded in me. I had been escaping in that -- " and he jerked his thumb back to the armor. "And the generator? Was attached to that, not to me."

His expression was grim, "I had just passed over the border to Orlais from Tevinter when the rift opened, and then there was just this sharp ... stabbing pain in my chest - ah!" He winced slightly when she started to heal him, but after that was a sigh of relief. The undertone of pain was gone - for now. "... thanks."

He sighed, as he tapped the generator, "Lyrium. It's alive, as far as I can tell ... because it's knitting my flesh closed around the generator."

[ferrushomimus]

I find that hard to believe, with as many storm mages as we got hanging around ... but hey. Even the best make mistakes. Maker knows, I've made enough to fill a book.

[Tony rolled over on his back, trying to will away sleep as long as he could. Colliding with the Fade these days just ended up being way too weird. He was used to the demons trying to tempt him, and him just laughing in their faces. They had nothing to offer him that he couldn't get for himself if he wanted it.

But now ... they ran from him. What kind of monster was he now, anyways?]

After all, they don't know you're a mage yet.

[aintwejust]

"Been down there once for a job ages ago- gett'n some goods to and from Avaar territory. You didn't run into any of them, did ya? Crazy buggers, all talk'n to spirits and shit." Mages are mages, and spirit mages are spirit mages, but this wasn't a mage thing. This was a 'wake up and shave and say hi to that intangible fellow hover'n about your nekkid backside' thing.

Not his idea of a good time.

[aintwejust]

"Good, we're just about in the clear then." And none of his goods lost. How's that for a fun little interlude? He keeps up with the gallop, Jayne slowing gradually till he's hanging back. Seems like the bear isn't gonna follow.

[fleurdesel]

"That explains how it can be tainted- and why it sings." Tony had long since had Adelaide's peculiar way of speaking of spirits and Magic and the fade explained to him- honestly he had a large part in helping her learn how to articulate it. "Attempting to extract the shard, currently, is impossible. The Lyrium is not only knitting your flesh closed constantly but beginning to fuse with the bone it rests on. Attempting to remove the generator and the shard would likely kill you."

Let it never be said Tony couldn't find creative ways to hurt himself. To think that she'd missed him and the trouble he brought.

"We do not know what the long term effects of having that shard are- let alone in conjunction with this thing you've decided to make." That it is meant to work with- no, to power if his ramblings were remembered properly- the suit wasn't in question. If he wore it, it worked.

[arcaneadvisor]

Pragmatic isn't always a comforting word to here, even when Ferelden is the only home you've ever known. Flemeth could defend herself with that word and too many people would nod and say yes, in such times, being such a person as she is, with a daughter such as Morrigan then yes, by all means be pragmatic and ruthless. Kieran never suffered that, by the time she had come to love him, still dependent and fragile on her for everything in the world she already knew he couldn't just be part of a plan the way she was.

It's why he's a normal boy. Why he laughs and sleeps soundly in a crowded tavern without any fear. Why this whole journey has been a great adventure and she knows he'll be delighted to see a new stranger, an elf that doesn't shy away and duck their head whenever they hear a voice calling out 'rabbit'.

"If you knew how long it took to get him to sleep such as this...Many a tale is told of this place, the history, the savagery, that we are barbarians ready to descend into tribal bands once again when peace shatters." She laughs quietly, shaking her head, glad that she can without Orlesians feeling the need to teach her about her own home. "He had a busy day what wolves so bold one might mistake them for being tainted and mad." Country air is good for him though, camping out under the stars as she whispers the stories in his ear the way she did when he was still small enough to nestle in her arms.

[amygdalae]

[Bruce listens to Tony's words silently, his own thoughts brewing at the back of his mind. He knows, vaguely, the problems that Tony is suffering through now - it was impossible to not know, given all the time they had to spend in each other's company back in that prison. Back then all they really had was one another and things were--well. It's strange how freedom could make things so entirely different.

He exhaled once more and curled up tighter in his blankets at the next part of Tony's words, unconsciously trying to make himself smaller.]

They're going to find out eventually. [He says, voice soft and quiet and almost inaudible if it wasn't for the fact that Tony was so close to him.] There's no way I can hide it from them forever.

[liberalum]

"Such pests."

--says the ranged fighter of the other class, but whatever. Dorian covers Bull's back as he turns his attention to the trees, raising his hands, staff clutched between both. Behind Iron Bull, there's the sound of electrical charge, and the air is rich with the stink of ozone as white light queasily flickers. A stray tendril of static energy catches on the metal in his harness, but likely doesn't bother tough qunari skin very much beyond a dim itch.

No, the real measure of power is sent into the trees in an even greater charge than before. Lightning snakes between trees and up into its high place, snow exploding where it's heaped thick on branches and sending an archer crashing from his perch, unconscious before he hits the ground. Another is on the move, but clumsily from injury, easily seen in the rustle of branches and snow. A following zap earns Dorian a yelp for his efforts.

Grinning wide, he spins on a heel to see if Bull saw any of that.

[gatheringstorm]

Hey, Korrin doesn't take offense. She doesn't get their connection to spirits either, having a healthy distrust for them herself. But they live without submitting to a Circle, so she can respect that much.

"Yeah, we did. They kidnapped some of our people, because clearly just scouting the mire itself isn't enough of a hell. Between that, rifts spewing out people from other worlds, stirring up undead to convince stupid locals to evacuate, it was all sorts of fun and excitement."

[serannas]

Ellana takes another look back to see the bear slowly turn around and return the way it came, as if it wasn't just trying to rip them to shreds. Blowing out a breath of relief, she now looks forward and pokes her head over his shoulder.

"Your horse needs a reward now."

[normandys]

"Nice to meet you, Garris." There's a smirk, but there's a smile underneath it - if it were only better circumstances, and all that.

"Using the weather is an old but reliable tactic, but you're right about us not getting anywhere else. Or anywhere else that is safe." There could be a few barns out there, but finding them wouldn't be so easy. She hums, thoughtfully, at his suggestion. "Less people, more danger. But it'd be over faster. And there's that advantage of having the higher ground."

[qunari]

It's still magic something he doesn't quite trust. Too intertwined with the Fade and spirits and demons and all that crap. It doesn't hurt, but it's definitely enough to pull his attention over his shoulder, watching Dorian's flashy display knock another bandit loose of his perch.

If he's got thoughts on Dorian's technique, or the way that lightning slithers out of him as easy as breathing, he doesn't say. He simply twists about to knock another bandit aside, before quickly burying his axe in the man's armor. One charges in from his blindside, and for a moment it looks as though he doesn't see him coming.

Only a moment, though. Then the muscles in his back coil, rock hard, hoisting the axe overhead and jamming the pommel down on the crown of the man's head, dropping him like a sack of potatoes.

A smirk gets thrown at Dorian. Better keep up, pretty boy.

[ferrushomimus]

[Tony twisted his head, as Bruce burrowed himself further into the blankets. He'd seen the other man do this more than once - trying to make himself smaller. Make himself less of a target, don't look at me, don't pay attention to me.

Bruce's lips thinned more, in fear, and Tony couldn't not say something. Not when he could see the other man literally closing in on himself.]

You know I'm not going to let them hurt you. And I'm not going to let you hurt yourself, again.

[ferrushomimus]

"Yeah ... it explains a lot of things. It also gives me a whole new host of questions that I am going to love digging into for the next hopefully fifty years." He sighed as he looked down at the generator again. "Glad to know that I'm likely to die by the thing I built to save my life. I couldn't get past that kind of delicious irony."

He covered the generator back up, before he nodded soberly at her words.

"I decided to make it so I could get us the Maker out of that Maker be cursed place." He snapped, before he sighed as he rubbed his forehead briefly. "Sorry - I didn't just - I never asked for this, Addy ... I just had to survive. I had to make it out to - well, to make up for all the things I've done."

[waitingmyturn]

She takes the hand because she needs it, but it's clear she's wary and a bit on edge. He looks familiar but in that sense that it's like something she saw in a book from her childhood, faded and vague.

"Story of my life," she mutters as she stands with his help. Then nods towards the supplies. "Taking that back to people who need it?" Her free hand is careful to stay close to her dagger.

[waitingmyturn]

She managed to get herself up and then noticed him. She wasn't sure what to make of him at first, uncertain if he was friendly or not. He could be bait and he might have friends hidden around.

"Hullo?" she asked after a moment, mostly to make sure that she wasn't just seeing things.

[waitingmyturn]

Ellie takes the direction quickly and spins to face the one that Belle had pointed out. It was lucky too, as the bandit was just getting ready to take her down but Belle's warning gives Ellie the ability to dodge to safety and then return fire, striking down the man before he can do the same to her.

"Thanks!" Ellie calls out before focusing on finishing off the others.

[fleurdesel]

"Unless we can find a way around it." She would. It might take her years- but she had already been researching the shards, and with what Tony already knew of the generator they could find a solution.

They must. There wasn't any other option available to them.

They've yelled at each other before. Shouted. Thrown things, even, books and bottles and whatever they had on hand- him snapping, raising his voice should not be so strange a thing. But with all that had happened- before where she might have snapped back, pushed back, she flinched. Put distance between them, set her shoulders straight and tense- less bracing for an argument and more bracing for a fight. It's there and gone, but there was still a slight waver to her voice that would not have been there in the past. "None of us did."

Not the war. Not the rift. Not any of this. "...there is nothing to make up for."

[ferrushomimus]

"Well, to do that we would have to regenerate the flesh as fast as it was being torn apart. Which you could do, with the lyrium generator, but we would have to work on how precisely you could draw on it the exact amount without killing me...."

He stopped, looking at her with open surprise at that flinch, that pulling back from her. As if he was ... he closed his eyes, and rubbed his face. "Yeah? Then what about all those templars I armed, that I made armor for? How about never checking to see if the Chantry or the Order was giving my weapons and my armors out to responsible human beings and not ... not sadistic assholes who would kill my friends - my family."

He looked at her then, his expression stone cold sober, a frightening look for anyone but especially on him, "I had zero accountability - and those bastards turned around and invoked whole scale slaughter of the mages. I can't ... I survived for a reason, Addy. It's got to be for more than just being lucky. I was meant to do something, in this struggle. I was meant to protect the people I let down. To find those who have the honor to serve as protectors, and not as bullies .... that's on me. It's always been on me."

[fleurdesel]

She motioned to herself, brow quirked. "Spirit Healer."

The Generator would supply additional power and to work so intricate a mend so quickly would take settling closer to Compassion than she had ever been before- risking taking the spirit on in their entirety- it was a risk she would be willing to take.

A reminder that it was only Tony. That it was her friend, her brother- that helped her settle. A little. The battle of the Spire warped them all in some way. "You believed that we were doing the right thing. That...we were following the rules, more or less, and were doing well. That it would be enough."

The human element, as ever, threw everything for a loop. The human element in here certainly was throwing Adelaide- she'd never seen him so deadly serious. "...Is it not enough that you've survived?"

[amygdalae]

[Deep inside, Bruce does feel a sense of warmth from Tony's words, no matter how he knows he shouldn't feel that way. Everything about himself was terrible and cruel and Tony shouldn't believe him or trust him at all. He didn't deserve any of it.]

I'll be fine. [He forces the words out no matter how he felt, not wanting Tony to get involved in his mess.] Don't concern yourself with me.

[middle_of_calibrating]

"Old and reliable if you know the area," he offers. He would not be against venturing into the blizzard if he knew the town a bit better, but seeing as he did not... he would rather take his chances again a bunch of mercs then freezing to death.

"We still have time. They won't do anything with this many people. If it starts clearing out and the weather eases up... could give them a run for their money."

[cachaemicgage]

He can't help a small laugh at that. "True, I can't argue with you there. But I also feel that there is a great deal of good to be done here when your forces are to move on. Rather than simply joining the Inquisition as a hanger-on, I could possibly stay where you might decide I would be an asset and assist the population. Or act as a go-between, set up contacts..." It'd be fairly simple. He might have left his life as a citizen under the Qun, but he hadn't forgotten the skills he'd picked up before going. He was good at information and the trafficking thereof. Might as well put that to use.

[cachaemicgage]

"So you stand back and let me fight, I'm fine doing so in tight spaces. I'll keep the spoils for myself." He grins at that, though he really doubts that Sam would just stand back and let a bear do what it wished with him.

[ferrushomimus]

Who says you get to decide whether or I can be concerned about you? Pretty sure I can feel however I like, Bruce.

[Is Tony's firm reply.] And if I want to worry about you, I am going to worry about you. You're my friend ... probably one of my best friends now. You don't like yourself, fine. I like you plenty and I am not going to let some templar hurt you.