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allthisshitisweird2016-03-02 10:14 pm
faderifting) wrote in allthisshitisweird2016-03-02 10:14 pm
Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE MEME
A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like
it's the 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. WILL IT EVER BE WARM AGAIN WE JUST DON'T KNOW
1. AND THE BEARS THAT ONCE CONTROLLED ME CAN'T GET TO ME AT ALL
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. In case you hadn't guessed, it's still snowy.
2. LET IT GO
At first it sounds like a folktale, passed around tavern hearths and campfires after a few too many tankards. An evil witch with a heart of ice atop a frigid mountain fortress, casting endless winter upon the land, turning those who oppose her into snowmen. But it turns out it's true-- or at least partly. Maybe. Sort of. If you can weed through the stories, the common threads are these: several locals and travelers claim to have been accosted on the back roads through the hills by a female mage who used ice magic to trap them and steal their belongings, sometimes freezing solid those who tried to fight back. Some said she claimed to own the land, others that she was collecting a toll, and several that she cackled wildly about ranted about endless winter. Whichever version you choose to believe, there seems to be an apostate who needs dealing with. Perhaps you'd like to wander the roads in the guise of a wealthy traveler and lure her into an ambush? Scout the caves in the hills and try to track her to her lair? Make a friendly visit and recruit her to the Inquisition?
3. LET IT GO
The Hinterlands are dotted with lakes and ponds and streams, nearly all of which are frozen solid. The locals sometimes travel this way, pushing goods across on sledges, or strapping blades to the bottoms of their boots to skate, carrying messages and supplies or just racing when the weather is clear. Some enterprising souls have even attached sails to their sleds or runners to their rowboats and skitter across the ice hoping not to tip over or stray off-course into rocks. There are other hazards, too: in some places the ice is deceptively thin, and you may come across a stranger unlucky enough to have lost a boot or gotten a leg stuck or fallen through altogether. Maybe you're the unlucky one, treading icy water and calling for help.
4. I AM ONE WITH THE BLAH BLAH BLAAAAAH
The tavern at Redcliffe is rid of both cakes and rats, but is still filled to the brim with rowdy drunks. Tonight they are both rowdier and drunker than usual, and something sets someone off. Maybe it's you, maybe it's the guy next to you, maybe it's someone all the way across the room and you don't even see it happen, but suddenly the entire place is engulfed in a knock-down drag-out glass-smashing chair-swinging bar fight. Dive right in, pick a side, pick no side, get caught off-guard, hide under a table, try to sneak out, it's up to you but you'd better decide quickly.
5. THE COLD NEVER BOTHERED ME ANYWAY
Hunt game, or kill demons, dig under the snow for herbs, track bandits, open a streetside scarf stand in Redcliffe, fall off a deceptively tall rock into the snow, 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, climb trees or abandoned towers covered in snow, rummage around in empty homes to get out of the snow, run from a dragon, definitely don't kill any fennec foxes, set up camp and chat around the fire, sing a rousing solo about your love of the weather, do whatever the hell you want-- the Hinterlands are your endless frozen playground.
elizabeth ; bioshock: infinite ; native au
[ She's never seen so much grass in her life. A beautiful brunette, a young woman in her early twenties, is standing amidst the green and wildflowers with eyes wide, expression awed. The Hinterlands are so much beautiful; words could never do them justice to explain the way that every inch of its grounds hums with life and energy. Everything is so alive, vivid in color and detail, and she utters a little, enthralled laugh, spinning once in place, boots tracking circles in the dirt.
The differences between the Hinterlands' space and vibrancy as compared with her limited views of Starkhaven are enormous. True, she'd been able to see similarly-beautiful gardens from her tower, but that had been a play at the reality of the world. Being out and free now only solidifies her suspicions, back in isolation that Thedas had so much more to offer than she could ever imagine.
Elizabeth, the bright-eyed young woman, takes a very long and very deep breath of the air. It seems to cut through her with its sharpness, shockingly fresh. There isn't a single aspect of her current environment that she could attest as being worse than Starkhaven, not that she'd admit it allowed, considering the dire necessity of her hiding her identity from... well, everyone. If she is to meet any of the refugees or farmers who she knows live in the grassy wilds, she'll have to produce a story innocuous and common enough to avoid attention. After Serah DeWitt's disastrous appearance in her home, it had been inevitable that the escape would be noticed in a very real and dangerous way. They've been extraordinarily lucky that no one has gotten to them, yet, with how far south they've managed to travel.
South. It's colder than she'd imagined, too; that may be one of the only real disadvantages. Luckily, it could be quickly remedied if she's able to find a warmer cloak.
Elizabeth smiles again, humming a sweet-sounding, low tune to herself, before wandering around one of the closest rivers. There are a few different kinds of herbs and flowers that she'd like to gather and take back to camp so that she can determine whether or not they'd be useful for potion-making. Serah DeWitt seems to always get himself hurt, throwing himself into battle at any given moment, and they'd only gotten this far by the grace of Andraste... and with the help of poultices she'd managed to make. Or, that he'd managed to steal. ]
constants and variables - closed to booker dewitt
[ In her arms is a bundle of elfroot, blood lotus, and embrium. Elizabeth is still singing (a bit of the Chant of Light) as she approaches camp, slipping between the trees to where they'd settled to rest. ]
It's only me. [ She says, sweeping some of the hair from her face. He seems easily startled, as if he expects an ambush at any given moment. From what she's heard about the quarreling between the mages and templars, it's a fair bet, but she can't bring herself to be as worried as she should be. Not when she's finally free, let loose into the whole of Thedas for the first time in her life. There are too many things to be excited about for her to be wringing her hands over the less-pleasant possibilities. ]
Does your bandage need to be changed? [ Elizabeth asks, turning to him with the quirk of an eyebrow. A lone wolf had wandered into their camp earlier and the slash had torn into Booker's arm after he'd taken the blow to keep her from a potential mauling. ] Does everyone from Kirkwall get into such awful trouble?
no subject
He'd object to the term easily startled, but even he can't argue with "expecting an ambush." They'd had to fight for every step on their way out of Starkhaven, and he's not planning on letting anyone catch him off guard again. ]
It's fine.
[ He shifts his arm out of her reach before she can catch it and force him to let her change the bandage; it's only a day old, she doesn't need to bother with it. But his lips twitch at her question, and he huffs in amusement, shrugging his shoulders. ]
You should see us when we've been drinking.
no subject
[ It isn't as if they have much time to spend in taverns, anyway, with all the traveling... or the hiding. People talk in taverns, particularly when their lips have been loosened by drink. This, she knows, at least in fact, though not in experience.
Suddenly, she freezes. Then, with a hand half-outstretched to him, she sneezes. ]
Something out here is just... mm. [ The young woman sighs, pressing the back of her hand to her nose. ] I've never sneezed so much in my life.
no subject
[ Well...he used to. At one point.
He tenses up when she freezes, preparing for an attack - but there's nothing, no one crashing through the trees to their camp, and after a moment he relaxes, raising an eyebrow. ]
Must be somethin' in the air.