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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.
no subject
[ Okay, telekinesis. That was.. something. And again, something he could look deeper into when they were not in danger of being eaten. One thing at a time, Kirk. Staying alive first. He strained and huffed, getting a second stone into place, and he hoped it would be enough as he turned and scrambled up behind the woman, kicking the crate away as he did so. No sense in giving the bears an easy way up, right? ]
Hopefully that'll hold. Or at the least if they get in here they won't smell us "up".
[ He motioned for her to move further back from the edge, not wanting to risk being in line of sight of the bears if they got it. ]
So, this seems like a good time for introductions. Jim Kirk.
no subject
They're probably hungry, and when they find the blocked doorway to be too much a challenge, they'll leave.
[ At least that's her optimistic side talking. ]
Ellana Ashara.
[ She skips the greeting in her own tongue because she hears the bears approach. She waits, tense and nervous. If they get in, she can't use fire spells or the whole place will go up. And those are her specialty too. She only knows one cold spell and it won't work from where she is. Lightning spells it is, then.
If they get in of course. ]
no subject
[ He notices the way she cradles her wrist, his fears confirmed from that short fall earlier. He doubted the bone was broken, but a sprain was just as bad at the moment. He opened his mouth to say something about it when he sees her tense, catching the sound of the bears next. He sucks in a breath and holds it, as if somehow that will make a difference. The bears snuffle loudly at the door, pressing against it and making the old wood creak dangerously. Once. Twice. A growl, snuffle, claw... then nothing. He waited a bit longer before letting out his breath in relief and glancing at Ellana. ]
Here, let me check out that wrist. Don't think it'll hurt us to stay up here a bit longer, just to be safe, right?
[ He didn't have anything in the way of medical supplies, but he could improvise long enough for them to get to the Redcliffe she had mentioned earlier. He owed her that and more for helping save his butt. ]
no subject
It's bearable.
[ And then she smirks because bear pun. Anyway! ]
I can take a potion in Redcliffe. There are shops there that sell them.
no subject
He cocks his head slightly as he looks around and found some broken bits of wood not far off and some old sacks he can rip up for bindings. It was crude, but it would hold until they got better medical supplies. ]
A potion? Sure you don't want to go see a doctor?
[ He came back with supplies in hand and motions to have her hand back as he tears up the cloth into strips. ]
no subject
[ She offers her wrist, though she doesn't think he should go to all the trouble. The only reason she doesn't protest is because he's already made the effort to gather supplies. ]
no subject
[ He raised a brow, but now that he got a better look at her garb and the place they had taken refuge, he thought it might not be a bad idea to downgrade the level of technological advancement this world had. ]
They're similar, yeah. Just, you know, someone who knows more about fixing up the human body than I do.
[ It doesn't stop him from setting the field splint, which he hopes will stabilize the wrist enough to keep her from causing it more damage when they climb down and make their way out. ]
Right, I'll go down and check the coast is clear.
[ He shifted and dangled his legs over the edge of the boards, licking his lips before pushing himself off and rolling with the impact, though he felt it through his knees and gritted his teeth. ]
I'm okay!
no subject
And other races too, I'd hope. Since I'm not human.
[ Her face scrunches up in discomfort as he places the splint, but she says nothing until he's done and has jumped down. ]
If I'd known you were about to jump, I would have brought the box back over.
[ Which she does now, lifting her hand and using magic to levitate it until she can set it down in a good place to drop down onto, and from there to the ground. ]
Let's go.
no subject
[ He looked back up at her at that, cocking his head, and finally noticing the ears. He had missed them at first, but he did realize his misstep. This new world - they might not be human, though she had responded to the word which made him curious in its own right. Well, it was a small misstep, and he filed the information away. ]
Haha, to be honest, I forgot you had done that before. I'm not used to having someone who can do that around.
[ He smiled at her and went to remove the stones he had pushed in front of the door and poked his head out. He did not see the bears around, and a moment of listening let him hear birds, which he took as a good sign. ]
I think they're gone - or at least lost interest. So, which way to this Redcliffe?
no subject
[ Because until recently, all mages were locked in their Circle Towers, unless they were an apostate, like her. ]
It's just down this path. There; you can see the gate in the distance.
[ A tall stone wall runs along up ahead, with a metal gate lifted to allow the day-to-day business to occur. ]