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

5b

[harthad_uluithiad]

Sam was walking along in the grass below the trees when he heard it. A song, sung in a clear pure voice, the sound so beautiful that it stopped him in his tracks.

He stood there, listening for a while, and as the music filled his ears his brow furrowed in sudden thought. For though he could not have said what language he was hearing, the music gave him the same feeling of peace and wonder he had felt when hearing Elven songs in Rivendell and in Lórien. He felt almost as if he could understand what the voice sang of, whether he knew the meaning of the words themselves or no.

Suddenly it struck him - this was not the language of the elves of Thedas. It was the same music as that he had heard in Middle-earth, but the voice that sang it was not Galadriel's, and he nearly cried out in surprise and joy before stifling the sound, dashing forward in an attempt to find the singer.

[parkourprince]

Snow crunched beneath hurried steps beneath him, and it drew Legolas's attention, brought a stop to his song. He glanced down, briefly searching with his gaze for the source of the noise. It wasn't a difficult task at all, not with the hobbit heading right in his direction, and once Legolas caught the sight of him, he did have to laugh. The sound carried, joyful among the natural song of the forest: the winter birds and cracking of branches beneath the weight of snow, much like his previous song had.

This? A most delightful surprise! And a concerning one as well, for out of all, Sam should be allowed a peaceful life at home.

Legolas didn't care for stealth anymore, raising to his feet to then - in but a handful of leaps, branch by branch - land on the soft blanket of snow below, revealing himself in full. It had been a while, sure enough, but he would recognise the hobbit even in a hundred or thousand years.

"I do not believe it is bears that drew you out here, Master Hobbit," he grinned, cheeky, his greeting casual, as if they had not just ran into one another in a wholly different world.

[harthad_uluithiad]

Of all the Elves Sam might have thought to appear in Thedas, Legolas was among the last; but had he dared hope to see any Elf again, the one standing before him would have been the very first.

His eyes opened wide in disbelief and sudden joy, and he cried out, rushing forward in such haste that he tripped over a hidden tree-root and fell onto his face in the snow. Even this did not delay him long; he scrambled to his feet at once, wiping snow from his eyes.

"Legolas!" he cried, running full-tilt towards the Elf, hands held out towards him. "Legolas!"

[parkourprince]

Among the things he had experienced after he befriended hobbits, a full speed collision-embrace had not been among them quite yet. He saw it coming from miles away, yet he did not step out of the way or stop Sam in any way. Such physical affection and such obvious shows of it, were not particularly common among the elves - in fact, not common at all - but after having known hobbits for a while, an elf had to make certain allowances.

This was one of them.

Legolas chuckled, grasping Sam's shoulders and squeezing gently. He was sound and hale, very energetic as well, which was a comfort. Smiling, he inclined his head in a greeting, "Have these-," the name still stuck out in his mind, after he had learned it from some natives, and it still tasted foreign on his tongue, "-Hinterlands been treating you well? Or this world that spirited us away from home?"

[harthad_uluithiad]

Sam couldn't stop a broad, happy smile upon throwing his arms around Legolas, and didn't try. He pulled back just enough to look the Elf in the eye, his face shining.

"Oh yes; well enough," he answered eagerly. "At least as well as could be expected! Only I never thought to see you here. I never thought - well I wondered if I might never see anyone of the Fellowship again!" Here he grew quiet, his joyful expression sobering as quickly as it had appeared. "You will stay, won't you?" he asked anxiously, forgetting, for a moment, that Legolas was likely trapped just as thoroughly as Sam himself was.