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allthisshitisweird2019-01-22 11:09 pm
faderifting) wrote in allthisshitisweird2019-01-22 11:09 pm
Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE MEME
TEST DRIVE MEME
While in some alternate, tidier timeline, the War against the Elder One ended years ago, you're not in that timeline. It's 9:45 and there's a war raging in northern Orlais between the Inquisition and its allies and the army of demon-bound Wardens, Red Templars, Venatori loyalists, and darkspawn Corypheus has amassed over the last four years. Rifts are still scattered across the continent, periodically spitting out strangers from strange worlds with green-glowing anchors embedded in their hands. There's no Herald of Andraste to save Thedas. Someone else is going to have to do it.
Under the leadership of the Herald's advisory council and Seeker Pentaghast, the Inquisition remains in Skyhold and manages an army of thousands. But you're not going to Skyhold. You've been assigned to the Inquisition's outpost in Kirkwall, one occupying an island fortress called the Gallows—formerly a Circle of Magi, more formerly a prison for slaves, but the Inquisition has done a good job removing the more grotesque reminders of that past and making the place livable.
Maybe it's an honor; they're doing important work. Maybe it's an insult; they're rumored to be a lot of weirdos and troublemakers. Or maybe you're a rifter and just going where the nice people with swords tell you that you need to go.
I. THE GALLOWS: Welcome to the Inquisition. Here's a broom, and there's a mess: a shattered window, a splintered pile of wood where a wardrobe was thrown out that window into the frost-encrusted courtyard, a whole shelf of jars containing rat hearts and deathroot and other miscellanea that exploded like firecrackers. The Gallows doesn't house much in the way of a cleaning staff, so it's up to whoever doesn't have anything better to do, and whether you like it or not, at the moment that person is you.
The source of the mess—an apparent invasion of ghostly spirits—has already been dealt with, but a door might still slam, and the shards of glass might still rattle. It's harmless, though. Probably.
II. KIRKWALL: The Marquis d'Lussard is very heavy, as you discover when it becomes your job to fetch him from the Hanged Man, where his sightseeing tour has ended in a drinking contest that he decidedly lost. Now he's swinging between unconsciousness and mumbled drinking songs, apparently a hugger when he has control of his arms, and heavy. He's also, diplomatically speaking, worth his weight in gold, so getting him back to the Gallows' guest quarters in one piece is worth the effort.
That means making your way through the streets of Lowtown and down to the Gallows at night, on ice-patched streets, with a masked Orlesian nobleman whose entire slumping, singing presence screams please rob me blind. Try to resist any and all urges to drop him into things, including ditches, uncovered drops into Darktown, and the harbor.
III. THE WAKING SEA: The island is too small to have a name, a dot of land off of Kirkwall's Wounded Coast that's traditionally only seen use by fishermen who wanted a guarantee they wouldn't be hassled for a few days. But in more recent years, it's been a permanent home to someone, people say, until the last few months, when the nightly fires stopped appearing. Nervous whispers from the coastal bandits and explorers who ventured out to see if its resident left anything worth stealing have reached the ears of Provisional Viscount Bran Cavin, and as a personal favor to him, the Inquisition is sending a couple of people to have a look.
And here's what you're looking at: a rocky, sandy stretch of land with a few dozen scraggly trees, each of them decorated with dolls in various styles, in various states of decay. All of them give off energy—some friendly, some malevolent, some despairing—and if you're very quiet, it's possible they whisper. Or maybe that's the wind through the masts of a nearby shipwreck. Either way, they're definitely home to bound spirits, and probably more than one spider.
There are more in the wooden hut at the island's center, which is also where the bones and tattered robes of the island's former occupant can be found. (There's no sign of blood magic or ill intent. Just a lot of dolls. Everyone needs a hobby.) Box them, burn them, have a funeral or don't. As long as someone can tell the Viscount that he doesn't have to add an island of possessed dolls to Kirkwall's list of tourist attractions/nightmare fuel, the mission will be a success.
IV. SEND A MESSAGE: Each member of the Inquisition (or rifter, or ally) is assigned a blue crystal, small enough to wear around the neck, that can transmit voice messages, as well as an enchanted book tied to that crystal that can be used to exchange written messages. They're secure enough to discuss the war, if you'd like to get down to business, but loosely controlled enough to ask a question or play a game with only a few rolled eyes from people who hate fun.
V. WILDCARD: From the Gallows' library to the pirate islands off the coast, from Hightown's high-priced market stalls to the frostbitten frontlines of the war, Thedas is yours to explore.
While in some alternate, tidier timeline, the War against the Elder One ended years ago, you're not in that timeline. It's 9:45 and there's a war raging in northern Orlais between the Inquisition and its allies and the army of demon-bound Wardens, Red Templars, Venatori loyalists, and darkspawn Corypheus has amassed over the last four years. Rifts are still scattered across the continent, periodically spitting out strangers from strange worlds with green-glowing anchors embedded in their hands. There's no Herald of Andraste to save Thedas. Someone else is going to have to do it.
Under the leadership of the Herald's advisory council and Seeker Pentaghast, the Inquisition remains in Skyhold and manages an army of thousands. But you're not going to Skyhold. You've been assigned to the Inquisition's outpost in Kirkwall, one occupying an island fortress called the Gallows—formerly a Circle of Magi, more formerly a prison for slaves, but the Inquisition has done a good job removing the more grotesque reminders of that past and making the place livable.
Maybe it's an honor; they're doing important work. Maybe it's an insult; they're rumored to be a lot of weirdos and troublemakers. Or maybe you're a rifter and just going where the nice people with swords tell you that you need to go.
I. THE GALLOWS: Welcome to the Inquisition. Here's a broom, and there's a mess: a shattered window, a splintered pile of wood where a wardrobe was thrown out that window into the frost-encrusted courtyard, a whole shelf of jars containing rat hearts and deathroot and other miscellanea that exploded like firecrackers. The Gallows doesn't house much in the way of a cleaning staff, so it's up to whoever doesn't have anything better to do, and whether you like it or not, at the moment that person is you.
The source of the mess—an apparent invasion of ghostly spirits—has already been dealt with, but a door might still slam, and the shards of glass might still rattle. It's harmless, though. Probably.
II. KIRKWALL: The Marquis d'Lussard is very heavy, as you discover when it becomes your job to fetch him from the Hanged Man, where his sightseeing tour has ended in a drinking contest that he decidedly lost. Now he's swinging between unconsciousness and mumbled drinking songs, apparently a hugger when he has control of his arms, and heavy. He's also, diplomatically speaking, worth his weight in gold, so getting him back to the Gallows' guest quarters in one piece is worth the effort.
That means making your way through the streets of Lowtown and down to the Gallows at night, on ice-patched streets, with a masked Orlesian nobleman whose entire slumping, singing presence screams please rob me blind. Try to resist any and all urges to drop him into things, including ditches, uncovered drops into Darktown, and the harbor.
III. THE WAKING SEA: The island is too small to have a name, a dot of land off of Kirkwall's Wounded Coast that's traditionally only seen use by fishermen who wanted a guarantee they wouldn't be hassled for a few days. But in more recent years, it's been a permanent home to someone, people say, until the last few months, when the nightly fires stopped appearing. Nervous whispers from the coastal bandits and explorers who ventured out to see if its resident left anything worth stealing have reached the ears of Provisional Viscount Bran Cavin, and as a personal favor to him, the Inquisition is sending a couple of people to have a look.
And here's what you're looking at: a rocky, sandy stretch of land with a few dozen scraggly trees, each of them decorated with dolls in various styles, in various states of decay. All of them give off energy—some friendly, some malevolent, some despairing—and if you're very quiet, it's possible they whisper. Or maybe that's the wind through the masts of a nearby shipwreck. Either way, they're definitely home to bound spirits, and probably more than one spider.
There are more in the wooden hut at the island's center, which is also where the bones and tattered robes of the island's former occupant can be found. (There's no sign of blood magic or ill intent. Just a lot of dolls. Everyone needs a hobby.) Box them, burn them, have a funeral or don't. As long as someone can tell the Viscount that he doesn't have to add an island of possessed dolls to Kirkwall's list of tourist attractions/nightmare fuel, the mission will be a success.
IV. SEND A MESSAGE: Each member of the Inquisition (or rifter, or ally) is assigned a blue crystal, small enough to wear around the neck, that can transmit voice messages, as well as an enchanted book tied to that crystal that can be used to exchange written messages. They're secure enough to discuss the war, if you'd like to get down to business, but loosely controlled enough to ask a question or play a game with only a few rolled eyes from people who hate fun.
V. WILDCARD: From the Gallows' library to the pirate islands off the coast, from Hightown's high-priced market stalls to the frostbitten frontlines of the war, Thedas is yours to explore.
no subject
And it's not like he wasn't a soldier, so he doesn't correct her or anything. Certainly those years of imperial training are why he tends to do the negotiating for the Chargers. He is, by far, the least rude of them (or at least the quickest to flip that particular switch on and off), and therefore the most palatable to your average client in Thedas.
Well, Dalish is actually perfectly friendly, but that usually doesn't work out for obvious reasons.
"They're just hanging out, you think?" His tone carries little of the dismissiveness that the words might have implied, asked any other way: Krem is just trying to figure things out. He gets back to the matter of wood, cracking the dusty chair he'd picked up at its seams with minimal effort. Age and environment have clearly weakened it.
"So would it be a bad idea to set the whole place on fire?" Since she seems to have more of an idea of what is going on here, or is at least comfortable taking guesses.
no subject
But his attention like that, makes her fluster a moment. Does she know - ? Here, here she would check with her ministers. Wants for that subtle squeak on the floorboards that would tell her if it was wrong. But.....
.... But there was no one.
So pink in the face, Gilia tries to make a choice just off the bat. "... Well. Possibly. If someone burned down my home... then they could be quite cross with us."
no subject
The Chargers can certainly deal with it right now, but it'd be stupid to go in with a hammer when a scalpel would more effective.
And less likely to do even more damage to the already woefully thin veil in these parts.
He gathers all the scrap wood and shoulders open the door, setting them into some semblance of a pyre so she can put the bones in. "I suppose we'll be ready to go after this, then. Unless there was anything you needed to do?"
no subject
But the worst of it is when she hums, not just to fill the space, but to fill her up. With it, her hand moves, to the glass phial at her hip, and to the timber of the note, the water begins to vibrate. Then, all of itself, it moves. Weaving about her fingers as they curl to beckon it forward, out of the container, then directing it onwards. Hovering and floating in the air like a ribbon, but constantly moving.
The rest in its way is simple, she swirls the water around the bundle of bones in her apron. Odd, perhaps, her clothes do not become wet, the water never becomes more or less than it started with. But the effect is clear, the dirt lifts off as she washes the bones away.
And at least one spider is swept out of it's hiding spot inside the skull. But it stays trapped in the water. Probably terrified at being abducted out of it's hiding place.
no subject
This... is new.
"How are you doing that?" The humming seems connected, which is also odd. He leans in a little closer, wary but terribly curious, watching the little spider's legs twitching about in its confusion. Honestly, relatable. "...Is that magic?"
no subject
But his treatment is kind, at least, with the water, she lowers him onto the ground and lets him go away before she answers Krem. Straightening it up and - the work isn't the greatest cleaning in the world, but the bones are free from dust and dirt, the cobwebs gone, the bones left white. With another hum, she weaves the water around her fingers and - there is a little pink in her cheeks, when he steps to look. But pleased, more than anything, that he was curious. It circles about in the air, dancing around in her fingers.
"It is the gift of my family, it is the holy sea water we are blessed with from childhood."
no subject
Or maybe Krem is a little bit of a sucker for a sweet smile. Whoops.
"Never seen anything like it," he finishes, only missing the shortest of beats. Still, though: "Holy?" he asks, wondering now like he hadn't before. She fits in an awful lot better than some of the Rifters he's met, so he hadn't assumed she was one at all. "Your whole family's mages?"
So rare, down here. Even Dalish clans make a point to split their mages up.
no subject
That words make her look up, confused at him. That little pinch between her brows, trying to muddle out what he means, because - well. "No, anyone might have this, should they form the correct bonds. All the children in my family are given at birth to the Father-Sea, and he bestows to us, gifts and abilities. Like this. Or..."
A little unsure, on being so bold, she hesitates a moment, trying her best not to squirm about... then, she waves him in, to stand closer to her, "... listen. You will hear it. The sea. It is bound deep within me. Just like all my siblings."
And if he does so ( at least she is not short, so he does not have bend over to do it ) - it is there, like it's trapped inside of her hair, her skin. Waves, beating against a shoreline, crashing about. But as her from far away. It gets more defined, the nearer he leans, but it also comes no closer. Like hearing it from a hillside over. At least, she's overall soft to lean into, all that hair when it spirals out is impossible to avoid, no matter the battle she's fought to pin it under her wimple and veils.
no subject
Surely if there had been some way to learn this... not-magic magic as just anyone, every single Soporati in Tevinter would have been desperate for tutelage. Or, the right bonds, which sounds a touch shady. You know, like, demon-adjacent—not that that would actually stop people.
Clearly.