TEST DRIVE MEME!

[faderifting]

Guess.

go on, guess.

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, early fall finds 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 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.

1. BEARIED ALIVE

You have turned the wrong corner, forded the wrong stream, crested the wrong hill, entered the wrong cave. Maybe you are far from camp. Maybe you are in camp. Whatever has happened, wherever you are: you are being chased by bears. Did you provoke the bears? Are they huge? Babies? Fade-touched? Mage-controlled? What are they chasing you away from? What are they chasing you into? What do you plan to make out of their hide if you kill them? What do you think they'll craft out of your hide if they kill you?

2. NICE PLACE FOR A SPOT OF CAMPING

If there were an inn, which there's not, there wouldn't be room for you in it. Traveling with the Inquisition means carrying your own bedrolls, putting up your own tents, and sleeping alongside whoever you've been told to share with--no matter how much you hate them or how loud they snore. If you really can't stand it, the alternative is sleeping outside. On the ground. With the bears.

3. A BIG CRAZY LIGHT IN THE SKY

Not everyone thinks the Breach was a bad thing. In the southeastern mountains, a burgeoning cult has taken up residence in Winterwatch Tower to wait patiently for the Maker to reach through the tears in the veil and gather the faithful to his bosom. They're a little kooky, maybe, but harmless, and they're happy enough to share their wine and lager with travelers in the area. The demon-spewing rift behind the Tower, on the other hand... Too bad the Herald didn't close that thing before she bit it. Watch your step.

4. TROUBLE IN THE DEEP

The Carta is everywhere, but it's here in force, occupying dwarven ruins in a chasm behind a waterfall. Inquisition forces have already cleared most of the smugglers out of the hold, but there's still a vault to break into, bodies to loot, and old texts to search through for anything worth adding to the Inquisition's growing archives. Also: darkspawn. Sorry.

5. CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

Hunt game, kill demons, gather herbs, track bandits, haggle over the price of armor, fall off a deceptively tall rock, 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, rummage around in empty homes, run from a dragon, cry over how cute that fennec fox you just shot was, set up camp and chat around the fire, knock yourself out (figuratively, or even literally if that's more your speed)-- the Hinterlands are your Frostback Mountain oyster.

Comments

[truestheart]

He looks back to the pot and offers for seconds is tempting but he resists. It wouldn't be right to gobble up all this man's food.

"Maybe, but the Inquisition is proving something because of it. Showing that Mages and Templars don't need to hate each other." A hope he holds onto with all his heart.

"At the very least they can work together for a common good."

[fadefractured]

"Hn," Karl sort of makes a soft noise, acknowledging that he heard it but not really agreeing or disagreeing with the statement. He holds out his hand to take Henry's dish, acting as if he's going to clean up, but if the boy hands it over he just dishes out the rest of the food and hands it back.

"That's an interesting idea and I believe you'll be hard pressed to find people to agree with it."

[truestheart]

The noise is enough to for henry to assume the meaning. On the bright side it's possibly the most positive.

He did not expect another refill though. A small nod and a "thanks," Henry gives.

He takes another sip of the stew looking at it's contents as he hears Karl's words. "I know. Not many people believe it can happen. But, I think it still can."

[fadefractured]

Karl is quiet for a moment, as he thinks that over. His face is very blank as he forgets, yet again, to put emotion into it. It might be mistaken for being thoughtful though.

"When I was a boy, likely a little older than you, I fell in love with someone. We became inseparable, even passed our Harrowings around the same time as one another. I thought I could spend the rest of my life with him." There's a pause, as he lets those memories knit themselves in his mind, lets the ache there settle in his chest. "Love was something the templars forbade, however, even when there was little risk of offspring. So they sent me to another Circle that claimed it needed more senior mages."

Another pause as he busied his hands by picking up a bit. "Kirkwall."

He doesn't expand further, expects the boy will understand enough what his opinion on the subject might be. He doesn't sound bitter or accusatory though. His voice is not completely emotionless, but it's more a quiet, personal pain.

[truestheart]

Henry listens to the man's story attentively. He's not about to shrug it off, saying it wasn't needed or he didn't need is mind changed. But, it would allow for some perspective in on the situation.

The ending does get something of a reaction. Wide eyed and somewhat horrified. He heard of the abuses the Kirkwall circle faced, what happened, everything that led up to it.

"I can see what you mean." Someone from there would have a very hard time believing things. But, it was just one place, right? Surely things could be fixed...

Then again...

"I was from the White Spire."

[fadefractured]

"Then both of us are from places where important events took place," he says. He looks up at Henry then, curious about him. "Yours is much more secretive, I'm afraid. Likely because there isn't a book written about yours. Are you able to share anything about what happened?"

[truestheart]

Henry takes a moment at the question. It's true that things went down at the spire but none he's very clear on. "I'm not sure I can tell you much. But, I know there were unexplained deaths happening. People said they were murders." What else was there...what else...

"I know some of the first enchanters came to talk about how to run the circle of magi. But, that's about it. I was taken out of the spire just before all the fighting started."

[fadefractured]

"That's probably a good thing. You seem too young to fight in a war." That was part of the tragedy here, that so many were just children trying to survive. But then, it felt like that was the way things were in Thedas. He couldn't imagine that the Orlesian Civil War as only displaced adults.

[truestheart]

"Not sure we get a choice on that anymore." Everyday was a fight. Everyday to stay alive, to flee from mages and templar alike. But, Henry has tried nothing but non violence so far. He's fled, he's avoiding fighting when he could and when he had to? He aimed to stun or knock others out. He wasn't going to join in on the bloodshed. He wouldn't be used as an example as to how "rotten" mages were or some other crazed madman.

Still, he's only ever heard of the passing stories of how horrid Kirkwall was. Here...he has someone who actually encountered it.

"Was...was it really bad as everyone said it was?"

[fadefractured]

"Which part?" Karl asks, because there was a lot of talk about Kirkwall that tended to focus on many different things, even who was doing the asking. "Before or after the night that Meredith turned into a red lyrium statue?"

[truestheart]

"While Meredith was in charge. They say she made anyone tranquil for the most minor or imagined offences."

[fadefractured]

"That's right, they were," he explains. "Some might be sundered for speaking out of turn or for trying to reach out to family or loved ones." He frowns a bit as he thinks about it.

"There were worse reasons as well. Mages would be threatened with the Rite if they turned down a templars advances." He doesn't exactly want to explain that in detail, especially not to a boy. "Some would find themselves branded if they tried to speak out against the abuses."

"They'd even be made Tranquil if they had already passed their Harrowing. Nothing protected you."

[truestheart]

"Templar advanc-?" And he stops. Oh. He meant...it made him sick to his stomach to even think of the idea. He doesn't even know how to respond to that. He just looks at the ground for a moment before he looks back to Karl.

It's reactionary but Henry moves out a hand, to place it on Karl's. An act of sympathy and compassion all too ingrained and second nature to the boy. "I'm sorry that that happened to you. I can't imagine..." but what words could even be said?

[fadefractured]

Karl is a little startled by the touch, but he doesn't jerk away. "It's not your fault," he says carefully. He turns his head a bit and offers him a small smile. "I was hoping to track down some of the Tranquil. No one knows what really happened to the ones who survived the uprising. Some of them ended up with the rebels, but there are still so many unaccounted for. Have you seen any one like that around?"

[truestheart]

"I know, but, it's not something anyone should go through." Why did this whole war have to be so complicated? Why did people have to practice blood magic? Why did templars abuse their power? All these things Henry can't even imagine why. What good did it do to make others suffer? Nothing. Nothing at all.

However, the question surprises him. "No, I haven't." Henry was so preoccupied with finding mages he completely forgot about the Tranquil. Though severed and unfeeling...they were still people. People who needed help. Right, only one way to fix that. "I'll help you look for them."

[fadefractured]

Karl is a little surprised by that response. Most mages try to avoid Tranquil because they make them uncomfortable. "It's not that simple. I'm not sure I have any leads. I was thinking of going to the Inquisition for help."

[truestheart]

"Well, your'e in luck. I'm heading for the Inquisition too." There's just a small smile on his face. "You won't be able to get rid of me so easily I guess."

[fadefractured]

He chuckles softly. "Who said I would want to? The world needs more bright and optimistic young mages. Your generation is the one who will have to carry on after this war, after all."