TEST DRIVE MEME!

[faderifting]

WHAT A GLOOORIOUS FEELING

WE'RE STILL IN THE HINTERLANDS

How’s the weather, Inquisition? Terrible. Heavy rainfall pelts the plains and the mountains, four straight days of it! Dark clouds block out the sun. It may begin to feel like there’s no end to the storms in sight. When darkness falls, cold evening temperatures turn that rain frigid. Your boots, your socks, they’re soaked through. Everyone smells like wet wool.

And as if all that weren’t enough: the increased rainfall loosens patches of mud and shale, causing mudslides.

---

1. We’re not in Orzammar anymore…

A recent group of dwarven traders bearing fine crafts and goods were inbound for Skyhold, ready to flood the markets with their wares. Instead, they got flooded out.

Yes, word has reached the Inquisition that the traders have been unfortunately detained by the weather and they are now in need of a rescue. Dare you venture out into the lashing rain and sliding mud to rescue the traders?

If you do so dare, you’ll find some of the traders to be exceedingly grateful for your efforts, ready to bestow handsome rewards on you, O Brave Soul -- just as soon as you’ve escorted them safely back to Skyhold. Or you might find a cluster of more disagreeable traders, grumpy at the water in their boots and the loss of their goods. Some of those goods might still be rescuable, if you want to wade out into a mud field to retrieve a fallen chest, or tug an errant terrified donkey back onto what’s passing for dry road these days.

As you carry these treasures back to their masters, or back to Skyhold, you might consider helping yourself to a sampling of the wares on your way back. After all, your reward might not be adequate, and you are risking your life for these ungrateful sons of mothers. Just don’t get caught. These traders don’t look kindly on thieves, and frayed tempers snap easily.

Feel free to get stuck on your way to the rescue, too. Weather out the storm with a fellow do-gooder. These days, the rescuers might need rescuing just as much.

2. Are you mad? That’s twelve year old scotch!

In Skyhold and the surrounding tent towns, what with the confusion and the panic and the scramble for high ground, market stalls are left unattended and wares are ripe for the taking. For some, temptation proves to be too much. Where there’s disaster, there’s often looting! A few vendors defend their own wares, and those that can’t make desperate entreaties for assistance. Bandits! Thieves!

Are you a brave and hale friend to the Inquisition and to good honest trade, ready to defend the wares of the waterlogged merchants? Or maybe your sticky fingers spot a tempting treasure too great to ignore. If they didn’t want it stolen, they should have taken it with them! Watch out for that Qunari metalsmith with the mean right hook. He’s not to be trifled with, and his blow will leave you toothless in the mud.

3. I gotta go, Julia, we got bears.

The rainfall has disturbed more than the mud. Bears, resting in their caves, have found their caves to be too damp for their liking, and they’ve taken to the open air to vent their spleens. Some people say that the bears are as frightened as you are, but when you’re faced with a six hundred pound beast with huge pointy teeth, their innocence is a little harder to keep in perspective.

The tents surrounding greater Skyhold are especially worried by rogue bears. Make a stand against them, or else help evacuate a threatened campsite. Mudwrestling a bear is a great way to impress the ladies, or the gentlemen… but no one will blame you for beating a hasty retreat.

4. We got 12 skins of water, 56 ales, two vodkas, four whiskeys, six bottles of wine, tequila, hazelnut paste, cheese, bread, eggs, bananas, apples, bacon, steaks, pancakes, dry grain, milk, sweet tomato sauce, half a pudding, half-ounce Sour Wine, 3 1/2 grams Grand Inquisitor Kush, one ounce of 'shrooms, 15 ecstasy potions, a smutty woodcut, a bat…

TIME TO HUNKER DOWN. In the tavern, the barkeep is handing out free spiced wine to anyone who takes refuge behind her door. The din of conversation and lutesong makes a fine lullabye for the careworn traveler, and you might find yourself inadvertently dropping off to sleep. Or maybe someone’s fallen asleep on you.

Who can blame the slumberers, finally safe and warm and dry? In the tavern, the fires have been built up to ward off the chill and the damp, but relaxation is a little more difficult these days. You really have to elbow your way in there to get close to that warmth. Once you get close enough, you’ll find that the hearths are taken up with dozens and dozens of wet socks and wetter boots, steaming gently as they dry. Be disgusted if you want, or else peel off your own and go barefoot while you wait.

Hey! What’s going on over there? Someone’s taking one of your socks! Stop, thief!

If you can’t make it to the tavern, you might find yourself holed up somewhere a little more unlikely. The limited space within Skyhold means there aren’t a lot of free rooms. That door you shoulder open in desperation might have an owner already. Intrusions aren’t always unwelcome, but beware of what -- or who! -- you might find.

5. Lots of fish… and lots of weather.

WILDCARD. Whatever you do, just remember: there’s a lot of rain, you’re very wet, and if you’re feeling amorous, keep in mind that everyone smells like wet wool. We cannot stress this enough.

Comments

Andra Riveris | dashing city elf rogue

[faithstarved]

[ brackets or prose are a-ok, feel free to assume CR, mostly finished app here ]

1;

"Bloody fucking dwarves," Andra growls under her breath as she sits just inside the mouth of a cave, attempting to coax a fire to life from some damp kindling and debris found in the back of the cave after giving it a sweep to make sure it was devoid of bears. She is generally not someone sent on a rescue mission. She infiltrates, and gathers information. For some foolish reason, she volunteered for this. Maybe it has something to do with one of her companions.

Either way, she's regretting it, now.

"Have you found anything drier than this? I can't catch a light."

3;

It's not often that a rogue will face off against a bear, but Andra found herself in a position where she had no choice. It was too far to run for someone with more weapons, and there were unarmed refugees in the tents she stands with her back to.

"Maker guide my arrows," she breathes as she hastily dips her arrowheads into poison she'd prepared for much different reasons. She's hoping it'll be enough to stop the bear.

The first arrow loosed goes wide, as she doesn't take time to line it up. Swearing she grabs another and takes a moment to get the charging bear in her sights. That one hits, but it doesn't seem to do much beyond make the bear angrier.

4;

Taverns are more Andra's natural habitat, regardless of how crowded they are. She can slip between and under outstretched limbs and thick bodies easily, and find a comfortable perch just about anywhere- even someone's lap. She'll smile and flirt with just about anyone who speaks with her, especially if they keep the drinks coming so she doesn't have to go and get them herself.

The smell doesn't even bother her, although she might make fun of particularly odorous individuals. Any who reject her friendliness for being a knife-ear may find a pint cheerfully smashed over their head.

5;

[Wildcard! Soaking wet, cold elf lady, looking for warmth in whatever shape or form. take pity on her she looks so sad.]

3.

[gatheringstorm]

Fucking bears. No matter what the situation is in the Hinterlands, Korrin can always trust them to be as needlessly aggressive as they were when the Breach first opened. There's nothing to do but fight back, though, not unless she wants them to multiply and turn her into bear food.

Spotting the elf woman with her bow, Korrin wastes no time in providing some assistance. When she's close enough, the Vashoth woman casts Barrier over them both. "Keep it distracted, I'll trap it!" Moving away again, though without the magic blur this time, Korrin waits for the right moment and then casts Static Cage. Once the bear attempts to leave the electricity field, it's paralysis-time.

[faithstarved]

The magic springing up around her makes Andra panic for a moment, her next arrow going wide of the bear as a result. All she could think was that a maleficar was taking her distraction with the bear to take her out and then seize control of the entire refugee camp. When the moment passes and she can still move she does so, away from the qunari mage, as well as the bear still advancing.

She forces herself to relax, telling herself the woman is helping, when she sees the bear paralyzed. Letting out a breath she looses another arrow, this one more carefully aimed despite the slight fraying of her nerves and she hits the bear in its neck.

"It must be near dead, I've put enough poison in it to drop a dragonling!"

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin doesn't have the time or focus to be offended at the woman keeping her distance, which probably wouldn't happen anyway. The apostate mages in the area, those that refuse to join the Inquisition, have made it a habit to attack anyone, just as the rogue Templars do. It does nothing for the reputation of mages overall.

Anyway, back to the bear. That resulting roar from the arrow strike nearly deafens her, and only provides more incentive to see the thing dead. "Then I'll finish it off. I swear the fucking things live off spite...." Once the static cage fades, the bear begins to move again, but the uninjured Korrin is faster. Blurring forward on waves of magic, she takes out her hilt and brings her glowing spirit blade into existence, swiping at the beast.

[faithstarved]

The sheer speed of someone so large, and then the magical blade are enough to make anyone gape. All Andra can do is stand and watch, somewhere between awestruck and mildly terrified. Her experiences with mages have been profoundly negative, although for the moment this one didn't seem too bad. Just as long as the magic was focused on the bear.

She stays rooted to her spot, watching with an arrow half-fletched, in the event the bear somehow keeps coming.

[gatheringstorm]

The bear's stubborn enough to try, even as it's slowed by injury and poison. Korrin's having none of this, though, and her expression is as firm as her swig, slicing deep into the bear once more. Between that and the poison, the bear can't last. It roars, stubbles...and collapses. Korrin has to step back quickly to avoid being crushed as it rolls over onto its side, shaking her head as she nudges it with a boot to make absolutely certain.

"Maker's breath, it's a huge one. You alright?"

[faithstarved]

"Fine, yes," she replies a little haltingly, slowly withdrawing her arrow and placing it back in her quiver. With a little effort she steps cautiously towards the fallen bear and the qunari woman.

"And you? I couldn't see if it managed to attack."

[gatheringstorm]

"It did, but my barrier held." Finally looking up from the bear, Korrin places her staff atop her back once more, the glowing spirit blade winking out and leaving just the hilt, which she places at her waist.

"Fucking bears. I swear the Breach drove them all mad, even the cubs. It's almost sad, but better them than us." She'll let the elf or someone else take the hide, as they please. There's enough to do on her end that she's not going to waste her time on it.

[faithstarved]

She watches the blade wink out and the motion of putting it away with alert eyes, silently filing that information away and trying to adjust herself accordingly. Letting out a slow breath she nods her head to the woman's statement about the bears.

"They have been more aggressive lately than ever, although the Hinterlands has always had a bear... problem." At least that was what she heard whenever passing through, innkeepers and the like always warning people to keep away from caves and stay on the roads.

1

[arsebiscuit]

It's a shitshow all around. Water, nature...more nature. She's not much up on the many words for describing all the shite things outside of cities are made out of. But the company's good enough- more than good, just looking, even if they haven't talked much. While she's been messing with fire, Sera's been pulling off soaked boots and tunic, hoping they can dry a bit in the cave before they wander back out in the storm.

She tosses over a wineskin (never hurts to have one on hand) with a laugh.

"Whiskey? Drink it, burn it. Can't hurt. But don't know shite about all this outdoorsy load."

[faithstarved]

She glances down at the wineskin, letting out a laugh too and leaning away from the sadly smouldering pile of debris she's been messing with. She picks up the skin and unscrews the cap, taking a swig from it.

"Waste of whiskey to burn it. Wouldn't last long, anyway." It'd burn hot, sure, but she's looking for a fire that'll make the evening slightly less miserable.

[arsebiscuit]

"Don't got much else to offer. Even my underthings are soaked through."

She sits next to the not-fire, trying to pretend it was offering some nice warmth.

Nope. Not working.

"Think mushrooms burn?"

[faithstarved]

"Mmm, yes. Though if it's deep mushrooms the smoke would kill us," Andra muses, a smirk touching her lips. She hands the wineskin back to Sera, taking a moment to pull her hair free of the clip holding it up, shaking it out in an attempt to facilitate some attempt of letting it dry.

Then she sets to pawing through her satchel in the vain hope that she'd packed something that could be burned.

"I'm never listening when they say it'll be a quick trek down the mountain ever again. Next time I bring a bloody packhorse."