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Fade Rift Mods ([personal profile] faderifting) wrote in [community profile] allthisshitisweird2019-07-24 07:02 pm
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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, where the Chantry, aided by the Inquisition, marshalling Orlais and the faithful of Southern Thedas into a new Exalted March against 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.

You're part of (or allied with, recently hired by, imprisoned by, etc.) a new organization that's an offshoot of the Inquisition, dubbed Riftwatch, that consists mainly of the otherworldly new arrivals, rebels and Wardens, and other people who want to prevent the apocalypse without necessarily marching under the Chantry's banner to do it. Their headquarters is an island fortress called the Gallows—formerly a Circle of Magi, more formerly a prison for slaves, but its new occupants have done a good job removing the more grotesque reminders of that past and making the place livable.

Maybe you're here because you want to help. Maybe you need the money (though there isn't much of it). Maybe you acquired an anchor and sticking around is the only way to prevent your hand from falling off. Maybe you've been sent by the Chantry or some other entity to keep an eye on everyone—they're rumored to be a lot of weirdos and troublemakers. Or maybe you're a new rifter and just going where the nice people with swords tell you that you need to go.


I. KIRKWALL: Even when enormous evil darkspawn are trying to take over the known world and you and your colleagues might be the only ones who can truly stop him, you can't work all the time. And when you aren't working, Kirkwall is there for you with its dingy Lowtown taverns, its flashy Hightown establishments, its market stalls and street musicians and cellars hosting gamblers. (Or maybe you can work all the time, and you're in the city to do some official shopping, try to spy on a suspicious character, or show a potential financial backer a good time.)

II. THE PLANASCENE FOREST: West of Kirkwall lies the Planascene forest. As far as enormous, ancient forests go, it's fairly small, but still large enough to disappear in if you aren't careful. And someone hasn't been careful. A merchant en route to deliver raw materials to the Gallows has gone missing somewhere on the road, and you're one of the lucky short-straw-drawers sent to find them. Or whatever is left of them. There are Dalish in the woods—mean ones, rumor has it—as well as Thedas' typical unnaturally aggressive wolves and bears, steep drops and hidden traps left behind by hunters, and at least one group of vicious bandits.

III. THE DEEP ROADS: The ground beneath Thedas is threaded with cavernous ancient roads, once used by the dwarves to traverse the continent, now largely abandoned by anyone except roving bands of darkspawn. Unfortunately for everyone, this abandonment and inhospitality make them an excellent way to travel unnoticed beneath everyone else's feet, which is why you're currently engaged in a skirmish with a gang of snarling, corrupted genlocks, or trying to cross a narrow stone bridge without thinking about how bottomless the dark beneath it seems to be.

IV. SEND A MESSAGE: Each member of Riftwatch (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 bloody frontlines of the war, Thedas is yours to explore.

poleaxed: static; joke (i got a little)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2019-07-28 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
Well, that's not what she was expecting. That's what you get for hoping someone's just lost their pet dog. The world's always weirder than you think. Usually, sometimes, occasionally, the pay compensates.

Hopefully.

"I..." Jone's brow furrows. "I've not been in this bloody city long enough to count it, honest. Could look for you, but... it's sort of outta my way."

Pay me.
taxonomy: (Default)

[personal profile] taxonomy 2019-07-29 01:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh his dog is safely in Nevarra, family kennels because some dogs that people frequently mistake for long-coated small horses aren't well-suited to his line of work and he couldn't afford to replace them anyway. And well, dogs tend to scare off the wildlife. Or eat them. Or both.

It's why you don't hire the Fereldens who bring their dogs everywhere with them, they demand a lot of reimbursing and don't take your conclusions for the betterment of science in the spirit they're meant.

"How far out of your way? You look to be accustomed to travel," he indicates to her garb because why else would anyone wear that in the city absent attachment to the guard, gestures in a Sundermount direction. Sort of. Sundermount adjacent there's a lot of great heaving Kirkwall in the way. "I prefer not to talk terms in a city I don't know well, can we do both or is there somewhere we might go?"

Don't let me be mugged for this my brother will never let me get over it. And the horse will know. Somehow.
poleaxed: fight; angry; hand (now nothing gets in)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2019-07-29 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, fucking fantastic. This might be profitable. She nods, because his terms are hardly a burden. She grins, and nods toward a street that leads to a tavern she's fond of. "The Happy Basilisk's plenty good for a chat. As for my dress, well, shite, it's all I got. Only just ended up in the city; you'll 'scuse me for not having fancy digs to go along with."

I'm poor, pay me, pay me.
taxonomy: (pic#)

[personal profile] taxonomy 2019-07-31 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
"The Happy Basilisk! What a wonderful name and I meant absolutely no disrespect about what you're wearing, if that's how it came across I apologise it's that you look like the sort I'm of person I'd be looking for." Maker, Andraste, help him in his hour of need and not get punched in the throat by someone who reminds him not only of hirelings but the soldiering sort that tend to be around the family home, there to trip over when you come home.

Tavin falls into step easy enough, a long stride for long legs, spidery hands flapping about as he goes. Some unfortunate soul walking past him narrowly avoids one to the face. "Some of the armour I've seen - I'm assuming Riftwatch, I can't imagine a Kirkwall guard salary pays well and there are tales, some more salacious than others - is all flash, no substance. Doesn't fare well in the field. Have you seen what happens when an alpha wyvern spies his reflection in the breeding season in a polished silverite breastplate?"

Tavin why do you sound gleeful about wondering if someone else has?