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

[sunshinethroughgrey]

Bethany flashes them all a gentle smile, before flashing it back to the man to Blackwall. "Yes. Warden Blackwell is absolutely correct. Plenty of rams, right up that hill."

She smiled again, and waved them off as they started to slowly disperse, looking a little confused, a little angry, but also very embarrassed. Then she reached into her sleeve, and pulled out a handkerchief to start wiping up the other Warden.

"Well, not how I like meeting new Wardens, but here we are." She beamed up at him.

[lonewarden]

Thank the Maker. Blackwall is about ready to just turn around and run off. No thank you. He's had it with everything. Except then the woman has to go and play nice. He's a sucker for the nice ones in some ways.

"Think I'll need to wash the entire thing to get the blood out of the leather," he tells her, though his face softens a little at her efforts. She's sweet. Thedas is sorely lacking in that these days.

"Nor I, but you did well." Better than he had by far. "Maybe now they'll think twice about doing something like that to some other sorry bastard." Ugh. Maker's ear, this stinks. Literally.

He shifts uncomfortably on his feet. "I don't wish to take up more of your time than I already have."

[sunshinethroughgrey]

"Oh no doubt of that. At least they won't be sticking to that fine beard of yours." She gave him a smile, before she tutted softly. "Oh - no one does well when surrounded. You did well for someone with his back to the wall."

A shake of her head, "It is no trouble to be kind, Ser. Besides my time is my own, so if I want to spend it cleaning out blood? So be it."

Her dimples flashed. "If you are truly feeling guilty? You may buy me a drink."

[lonewarden]

Maker's balls, this would be easier if she weren't so nice. Blackwall shifts on his feet, bringing his hands up to twine his fingers together in a slightly nervous habit. It isn't too noticeable, but it's become more pronounced the longer he's been alone in the Hinterlands.

His expression softens, as does his voice. "You're a good woman. It takes courage to show kindness to a stranger."

She is far, far too sweet. He admires that about her already. That and she complimented his beard. He has priorities, clearly.

But the idea of a drink? That he can get behind. "If you can spare me the time to change out of this before it begins to smell worse than it does, I will. Meet you in Redcliffe?"

[sunshinethroughgrey]

She watches that nervous gesture with a quick smile, before she tucked her hands together in front of her, the picture of calm serenity.

"Kindness is as simple as breathing, if you think about it. Pick one person up is like picking up one leaf. There are thousands of leaves, though, so ... it'll take awhile." She grinned then, flashing his dimples.

"I most certainly can, mostly because I don't want to be kicked out before we even have the drink." A bright smile. "Redcliffe. In a few hours time?"

[lonewarden]

"The rest of Thedas could stand to hear you say that," he responds, his voice soft and warm, as though her own words were a balm upon his soul. Perhaps they were. Perhaps she has helped him in ways she will never know.

He can't afford to let anyone know.

So instead, he just nods to her question. "I'll be there. It would be rude to make a lady wait." That's about as cheeky as he can get right now, so with the smallest of smiles he will just... make sure she can get to where she needs to go before making his way to the little cabin he's taken to. What a day this has been. Now he really has to clean up and make sure he doesn't smell. Redcliffe is one thing. Meeting a lady in Redcliffe is something else entirely.

[sunshinethroughgrey]

"Well, if the rest of Thedas is in the tavern, I'll be happy to share." She says with a smile, pleased that her words seem to have had a quieting effect on her Fellow Warden.

She gives him a firm nod, and another dimpled smile, "Absolutely. I'll hold it against your manners if I'm left at a table with no one to drink with." She dips into an curtsy, her eyes bright, before she heads back up the Redcliffe way. Well that certainly had a rather ... positive outcome! Especially when it started with blood being thrown in one's face.