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

[sheriffing]

[ It's a problem in the sense that she'd prefer to sleep alone, outside of the tent. Sharing with strangers takes her back to being a kid in a foster home, something she thought she was past now that she's pushing thirty. She shrugs it off, arms crossed over her chest almost defensively. This or the bears means it can't be a problem, while being stuck here for the foreseeable future makes it difficult to play nice.] I'll take that as a yes.

[ Which she's gonna make herself alright with, since it could be worse.] I'm Emma.

[thecookery]

Avery.

[She continues her approach, though more slowly now. Apparently the problem isn't so big that she's about to get kicked out of the tent, which is nice, I guess. And speaking of the tent, Avery gives it a cursory inspection and starts putting some of her own things inside, before she remembers that she maybe should say something to the person she's about to share it with.]

...did you get enough to eat?

[Okay, look, nobody ever said she was good at this people thing. Food is a safe topic.]

[sheriffing]

Yeah.

[ The food isn't the problem. It's where she is and how she ended up here, nevermind how difficult it's going to be to find a way back. No matter how many times she's reminded herself that she can't be here, she is. There's no escaping this place tonight. Her only option is to go with it.

Diving the tent into their own small areas makes sense, right? It's what Emma intends to do as she's getting settled in.]

Did you do the cooking?

[That makes two people not very good at the people thing. Kinda explains why they're sharing a tent, doesn't it?]

[thecookery]

That's why they keep me around.

[Without much thought to it, Avery takes off her wet shirt and drapes it over top of the tent, before grabbing a replacement from her bag and throwing that on. Both look like they've seen better days, and her boots and trousers are just as worn and plain, especially compared to some of the Inquisition members in their nice uniforms and armor.

She gives Emma a look up and down then. Other than a word or two during mealtimes, Avery really hasn't interacted much with these "rifters." Who and how trustworthy they are is still a big question mark to her. So sharing a tent with one now is going to be... something.]

What about you?

[sheriffing]

I'm still trying to figure out why they keep me around.

[ Emma has magic, even if she doesn't offer that up. And that magic prompted someone to create a title for her back home that she never asked for or wanted, something that stretches that out far enough until it rolls into a full-on destiny, but here? None of that applies here. She's new and she pissed, and until she learns their way of doing things, she's not much more than a liability.

She stretches out within the space she considers hers, an answer that isn't much more than a quirk of her lips and a glance back the way she came in. They know she's not one of them, and she knows she sticks out.]

I just want to get home to my son.

[There's no motive and no ill-intent. She just misses her kid.]

[thecookery]

[Well, at least she doesn't have some inflated ego or anything. That's a point in her favor. As for the family thing...

Avery takes a seat and removes her boots in silence, taking her time with both the task and her response.]

So you're here.