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

[lonewarden]

It's a little unnerving to imagine joining such a large organization as the Inquisition, especially if there's a large number of Wardens around, mainly because his cover could get blown at any second. Perhaps if there weren't Wardens, he might... But if he is pretending to be a Warden, or if he were one in reality, wouldn't he be expected to follow his duty and join them? Maker's hairy toes, this is too difficult.

"I hadn't thought about it," he says instead. "I wasn't aware that so many were a part of the Inquisition."

Who's been a tiny little recluse? This guy has.

"Were you actually at the Conclave, then?"

[gatheringstorm]

A small bitter smile emerges that doesn't reach Korrin's eyes at that. She shakes her head, sighing.

"The only person who emerged from that clusterfuck was the Herald, and she was no Vashoth. No, I wasn't there, but some of my company were. I had a job nearby, when everything went to hell. Sticking around to help kick the ass of the darkspawn magister responsible seemed to be the only sane thing to do. It's better than just standing around waiting for the world to end, right?"

[lonewarden]

Blackwall has been so out of touch with everyone that he hasn't heard the details, just the bare bones. He knows that there was a Herald, that she closed the Breach and is now dead. The darkspawn magister? That is new.

"A darkspawn magister? Like in the legends? They're real?"

Wow, his sense of everything in Thedas is fucked just shot through the sky.

[gatheringstorm]

Wow, he has been out of touch if that news hasn't made it to him. Korrin knows not everyone who wasn't there believes it, but she'd have thought it to have spread regardless.

"Apparently. He had a fucking archdemon, too, or at least it looked like one. Well, so I'm told. I saw it in person, but it's not like I was anywhere in Ferelden during the Fifth Blight. That thing alone took so many lives. It's a miracle we got out, let alone found Skyhold."

Remembering that night in Haven is hardly her favorite past-time, but for someone who seems in desperate need of catching up, she'll reminisce for his sake.

[lonewarden]

In Blackwall's defense, he's been intentionally out of touch recently. So hearing about all of this? Yeah, it's big news but it's new news to him. But that makes him think. Maybe it's time he came out of hiding.

His expression softens, hard to do with someone like him. Part of him thinks that maybe, just maybe, now would be a good time to find Skyhold.

"You wouldn't be looking for recruits, would you? Got a limited number you're letting in?"

[gatheringstorm]

Those questions bring back a smile to her face. She's always fond of those who volunteer to help stop the overall threat. More people need to be like him, looking beyond their own immediate concerns. Those concerns will mean nothing if Corypheus succeeds, after all. "Limited? Hell, no. We need everyone we can get, to be honest. And considering what we're dealing with, I'm sure your expertise will needed."

[lonewarden]

Blackwall nods, attempting to look less nervous about the idea than he feels. "Then I think I'd like to try helping. This is something all of Thedas needs to fight against. Even the Wardens."

That's as much of a 'take me to your leader' request as he will get right now.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin nods in firm approval, pleased that he was willing to listen and join her cause. She hadn't been actively recruiting, but why not? The Inquisition needs more people like him, and not just because he's a Grey Warden.

"We're lucky to have you then, Warden...?" Pausing since just then, she realizes that she didn't catch his name.

[lonewarden]

"Blackwall," he answers without hesitation. It's getting easier to come up with that name, better for his cover and his... redemption, he supposes. "Warden Blackwall. If you'll take me with you, I'll be happy to lend you whatever aid I can."