TEST DRIVE MEME!

[faderifting]

What if there is no tomorrow?

Only more 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, the first days of the new year find 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.

STILL WITH ADDED SNOW AND NOW ALSO ADDED KINDNESS TO ANIMALS (MOSTLY).

1. IF I GET SCARED, YOU'RE ALWAYS AROUND

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 still snowy.

2. THEY SAY WE'RE YOUNG AND WE DON'T KNOW

The Inquisition has, possibly, been a little too good at dealing with the Hinterlands' bear problem, and a group of concerned citizens--including young burgeoning naturalists, farmers concerned about the effect an unchecked population of rams may have on their crops come spring, and at least one woman who claims to be directly descended from bears--has taken issue. Maybe they're blocking your character's attempt to enter a bear-infested area. Maybe they've doused your character in bear blood. Maybe the bears they have been working so hard to save have cornered them in the wilderness and they're changing their tunes.

3. WITH YOU I CAN'T GO WRONG

The Inquisition's (cough Leliana's) habit of communicating by raven works out fine, usually, but this particular raven has gone a little rogue. It's not the raven's fault! She's young, she's trying. But she has very important information tied to her leg, and instead of delivering it, she's joined a flock of identical wild ravens to hunt for food in the snow. Recover her, somehow, without hurting her and making any spymistresses angry.

4. BEFORE IT'S EARNED, OUR MONEY'S ALL BEEN SPENT

The tavern at Redcliffe remains as busy as ever, filled with locals, travelers, and Inquisition members. But this month in addition to the usual free-flowing ale and rowdy conversation there is also a contest going on. Bakers have come from across the Hinterlands bearing their very best in an effort to win a coveted ribbon and the title of Best Cake. They pack the tavern and spill out into the surrounding courtyard when the weather allows, cakes sold off tables, out of packs, small chunks given away to whoever is passing and not paying enough attention to refuse. The votes are carefully guarded by several serious looking fellows in the back corner of the tavern. In addition to traffic issues, the cake madness has also caused an infestation of large local rodents, who have appeared out of their holes to devour the many crumbs. Legend has it that if they can be humanely eradicated from the tavern before the final vote is cast, spring will come early. No one in living memory has succeeded, but you are strongly encouraged to try anyway.

5. AIN'T NO HILL OR MOUNTAIN WE CAN'T CLIMB

Hunt game so you can rescue it before other hunters get there, kill demons or maybe just try to hug it out?, dig under the snow for herbs or plant some of your own to replace what others have taken, track bandits through the snow and see if they need a hand, deal with someone charging extortionist coat prices now that it's snowing and convince them to do the right thing, fall off a deceptively tall rock into the snow and admit it was your own fault, 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 so that you can give it a decent burial, climb trees or abandoned towers covered in snow and be careful not to knock them down, rummage around in empty homes to get out of the snow but leave a nice apology note, run from a dragon in the snow and promise not to trespass on its territory again, definitely don't kill any fennec foxes, set up camp and chat around the fire about your feelings because it's snowy and cold, give yourself a pat on the back (figuratively, or even literally if that's more your speed)-- the Hinterlands are your playground.

Comments

wildcard!

[blightedson]

Felix hadn't really been avoiding Fiona in the time they had both been in Haven and Skyhold so much as his illness had made it difficult for him to interact with her much. He still had this lingering sense of guilt that he should have been able to do more sooner to help her and her people. His work writing letters to Tevinter to encourage his allies to aid the Inquisition whenever possible had been part of making up for his long period of inactivity but he still hadn't made it up fully to Fiona and her people. After all, they had been the ones his father had planned to force into slavery in order to entice the Herald to Redcliffe. Fiona had even personally been manipulated in that ploy.

Now, though, he was well - at least in a manner of speaking. He had partaken in a Joining and was the newest Gray Warden in Skyhold. He had the False Calling to contend with, of course, but he could walk around and act without feeling like he was going to collapse. It was enough to make him deal with the sense of dread as the Calling's presence made him feel like he was meant to die anyway.

He didn't want to focus on that now, though. He wanted to talk to Fiona, to see what he could do for her and her people now that he had the ability. Redcliffe seemed as good a place as any to speak with her. He still wasn't sure how a vast majority of the mages felt about him and he didn't Fiona to deal with people judging her if they saw the two of them talking. Skyhold might be big, but it was still an enclosed space that made it easy to spy on conversations.

He wasn't sure exactly what to call her. 'Grand Enchanter' didn't seem to apply anymore and 'Fiona' seemed too impersonal. Still and old title was still better than a first name so when he approached and said, in a very calm but curious voice. "Grand Enchanter?"

[rebelenchanter]

Fiona was well aware of Felix and his illness, she had seen such things before and she was sympathetic to his need for rest. Perhaps she too should have been more proactive in reaching out to him, paying him visits...what did one do to show regret for another's well-being? Offer gifts of beautiful plants? Bring warm food?

She had no idea how to approach the boy or talk to him and she placed none of the blame on his shoulders if she was to be honest with her self, she singularly blamed Gereon Alexius for his own actions, his sins were not sins that she expected his son to carry. If she had been younger then perhaps she would have made that attribution error, expecting the son to be the same as the father, allow herself to be completely colored by her experiences. She learned that not everyone was the same and that Gereon Alexius was a father desperate to preserve his son...

...If she had been in his shoes, well, Fiona had no idea what she would do. She supposed it was only possible for love to drive one to feats of madness and make one completely irrational and she could not fully blame the once Magister for loving his son that much! And if she were to be true to her own heart, Fiona shared a piece of that responsibility, her desperation had driven her to such drastic measures and her people had suffered for it. What she wouldn't do for them, to her they were the only family she had known for quite some time.

So when he called to meet with her in Redcliffe, while surprised that he would wish to travel such a distance merely to speak with her, she did not reject the invitation out of curiosity and perhaps in wonder that he would go to such lengths just to have this conversation.

"Fiona," she offered, hearing the question in his voice as he struggled for what he should call her, "I...understand you are a Grey Warden now? You owe no fealty and you are not obligated to refer to me by any title. Though I understand that to be a personal preference."

She looked weary, but she wore a warm expression, "are you feeling well...? I should have found the opportunity to ask sooner."

[blightedson]

It was probably because he was so used to Tevinter culture that the idea of calling a powerful and respected mage by their given name made him a little uncomfortable, but he would respect her request to be called by it. He offered her a smile in return of her warm expression. He seemed nervous.

"I feel much better," he admitted. There were many issues, starting with the False Calling, but he wasn't dying immediately any more. That was something.

"And you had your own concerns. How have you been settling in? Has the Inquisition been treating you well?"