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

[circleprodigy]

[Garahel's wuff clearly means 'you're welcome' and he nuzzles Kain gently, not enough to knock him over. Once Kain's settled by the fire, Inessa seats herself on a nearby boulder, grateful to be off her feet for a little while. Food can wait.

Well, at least according to her. Garahel seems to have other ideas, and plops down by his mistress' pack, looking at her expectantly.]

Oh, you're shameless. But I suppose you've earned a small treat. Here.

[Fishing out a mabari crunch from its wrappings, Inessa tosses it. Garahel goes streaking after, pouncing on it with all due enthusiasm.]

You'd think he didn't enjoy fresh rabbit earlier. No, he's clearly starving.

[dragoon_pride]

[Kain can’t resist the mabari charm, petting him as he nuzzles him. It does feel good to settle in, he’d used his dumb logic to say he was just fine upon his dracolisk since he himself wasn’t walking, but it still took a lot more exertion than simply sitting down and relaxing.]

[He gives a dry sort-of laugh at the sight of the hungry mabari.]

I have a bird who’s the same way about food. Or, more aptly, the bird has me. It never ends. [He watches Garahel for a moment.] He must make for a highly valuable companion.

[circleprodigy]

He is. I don't think I would have managed the last couple of years without him.

[At mention of a bird, Inessa glances around. She had been focused on the soldier atop the dracolisk, not looking for anything accompanying him.]

Did your bird follow you?

[dragoon_pride]

Non-human companions are the best kind.

[Dragons especially, but he knows better than to bring that up right away with people around here. He shakes his head.]

He doesn't have much of a head for adventure, the lazy Bastard. He follows me most everywhere I go around Skyhold, though.