transport log » ❝ welcome to Exsilium ❞

[initiates]

Date & Time: Sept 23rd, 2012.
Location: The Initiative Hold & Courtyard.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports have all arrived and have been shuffled into the Courtyard after their initial briefings.
Warnings: None.

You've just been hustled and bustled through mazes of information and literal, wide corridors of the Initiative Hold and you've been equipped with your weapon—be it a gun, a sword, or even your existing powers. They've handed you this light netbook and a small pouch of coins (or a debit card, if you're more inclined), and there are several Transports before and after you going through the very same motions. You can hear the Greeter's voice as she walks alongside large groups, telling them all about the history of this place and sharing with you your purpose here in a hurried and urgent tone. "This isn't standard," she's saying, walking perhaps faster than most of the people she's dragging around. "We don't normally have so many Transports at once. Please, let me show you into the courtyard."

You pass what looks like huge gymnasiums, all with dummies and targets strewn and splayed around the room. Training areas. There are even classrooms, and a few small offices. You're rushed past a large library while the Greeter informs you that you can find almost all your information there, if you've got the time to look—and trust her, you'll have time. You don't spend a lot of time in the bank, and it's a bit of a blur of exchanges with more and more of these strangely-accented and oddly polite-seeming members of the Initiative.

Soon enough, you're in a massive courtyard bustling with all the other Transports. It's not exactly what you'd expect, and it looks more like barracks than anything—huge walls of concrete and stone, separating you from all of the hallways you'd just passed through. It's raining heavily, and dark clouds loom in the air. It's a chill cold, and there are shelters—long cloth hangings that extend from the walls of concrete to house you from the rain, but not enough. Most notably, the courtyard is filled with a marketplace. Even in the cold and the rain, there are several citizens seated at their covered booths and tables. They're selling all manner of their own handmade goods and foods, and citizens and Transports alike are traveling from one small covered shop to another in search of all manner of necessities.

The Greeter's voice has become so faint now, but you swear you can make it out in the back of the crowds as she tells you, "Good luck. Be safe!"

Her voice is drowned out by the busy marketplace, though even the transactions taking place are somewhat subdued. Nobody is overly happy, really, though most citizens can be found with smiles on their faces. It doesn't seem like they're that shocked to see you, either; even if you're not bound in tattered rags and wrapped in heavy shawls as they are. You're welcome to walk up to a shop, and find yourself something to eat—hey, maybe you'll even find something akin to a raincoat. Or, you can join the others under the coverings against the walls. Where am I? What war? She was talking so fast, and it didn't all make very much sense… did anyone else catch it all?

Welcome to the courtyard. Welcome to the Initiative Hold—and most importantly, welcome to Exsilium.

Comments

open!

[demonbloodblade]

[This one's got a hood covering her head, good solid clothes, walking-boots, a backpack and a huge sword over one shoulder, one who came in with the batch but doesn't look too inconvenienced by the rain. She's looking around, eyes mostly hidden by the hood unless you can see through the darkness, one hand firmly on the bag she was given. She knows one firm rule of gatherings like this: keep your hands on your money or someone will take it from you. The other thing they gave her had been slipped into one of the small pockets on the side of the backpack.]

[devils_shoestring]

[Well, it's hard not to notice someone like this. Bela has a very loose and seemingly casual hold of the money given to her. But she knows the consequence of stealing from her, so she doesn't stress over it.]

You seem...prepared.

[demonbloodblade]

[A small shrug. The voice is low, a bit rough.]

I was traveling through wilderness when I was ...brought here. Early spring can bring sudden rains.

It was sunnier then, though.

[devils_shoestring]

Yes, I'm hoping this rain isn't an every day thing.

[This place is already bleak enough without the rain adding to the rather depressed atmosphere.]

[demonbloodblade]

It can't rain every day. But apparently we have places to stay, so at least we can get out of it without having to set up our own tents.

My name is Meliantha.

[devils_shoestring]

Bela.

[She gives a polite nod of her head.]

I suppose we just have to worry about our roommates being dreadful.

[demonbloodblade]

[A somewhat dark chuckle.]

Depending on the dreadfulness, there's always the windows to solve that problem.

[devils_shoestring]

[Bela chortles.]

I'm almost afraid for your roommates now.

[demonbloodblade]

I've travelled alone for many years. I'm not always the best company.

[devils_shoestring]

Well then, it looks like you have the perfect opportunity to brush up on those social skills. [She smiles.] Though, if I may say, you don't seem unpleasant so far from first impressions.

[demonbloodblade]

[A moment of consideration.]

Most of the time, the first showing of my face causes screaming and fleeing. Not having that happen is... somewhat surprising. But to be honest, also very nice.

[devils_shoestring]

I'm sure some have seen stranger.

[Bela certainly has. Creatures with no mouths, but eyestalks, scorpion tails, and hooves come to mind almost immediately...]

[ofthegrey]

[In some ways he feels as though he has come full circle. Outwardly this place bears little resemblance to the streets of Val Royeaux. There's a similar feeling to the market, though, the way everyone is milling and assessing. The veneer of bustle over an underlying desperation.

He stands out in his silverite breastplate, complicated straps, skirted armor and the twin daggers strapped to his back, about as much as the one in the hood with the sword. The one holding her money pouch like she knows the score.

He hides his irritation and confusion at the situation well and falls into step with her as naturally as though they're taking a stroll. His black hair is clinging in plastered strands across his forehead and rain rolls down the patterns in the armor, dripping and soaking the skirting.]

If they hadn't given us money, I'd think we were being set up for an elaborate scam. Bring us here, drop us in a soggy market, and conveniently have rain gear and hot food for sale.

[It's dry and sardonic. He nods toward a couple of the stalls carrying such things.]

[demonbloodblade]

[a small nod of agreement.]

I was making my way back through forests, and alone. Right now I am the least likely to buy from anyone here by far. But yes, it is terribly convenient.

[ofthegrey]

I was light on gear at the time, obviously. [He spreads his arms, no sign of a pack. It doesn't mean there aren't a few useful things tucked here and there among the complicated strapping of the armor, none of them visible.]

You look more like someone from home than most. What forest? [He says this unable to see past the shadow of her hood, going by clothing and weapon alone.]

[demonbloodblade]

I tend to travel alone. If they'd pulled me out of bed I'd be in a much worse state.

The High Forest. I'd just finished scouting out near Hellgate Keep, going around Turlang's Wood - no one annoys a tree-tender if they have no reason - and heading for the pass to Silverymoon to report in.

[The hood turns, and he might be able to catch a glimpse of her chin and cheek - the skin a charcoal-grey color.]

Does any of that make sense to you?

[ofthegrey]

[He listens with a growing sense of disquiet. If this was the Fade, wouldn't any spirits or demons try to ease him with talk of familiar things and not use names that meant nothing to him?

Perhaps not if they are unfamiliar with the physical world, or perhaps this isn't the Fade at all. Any visions should have crumbled the moment he was willing to see the truth.

Her skin color gives him some pause. It's not completely off from what he could expect from Darkspawn, yet the civil words and conversational tone are.]

I'm afraid not. Rather, I understand well what you are saying but am not familiar with the place names or the term tree-tender. They don't sound like anywhere in Thedas that I know of.

You're a scout?

[demonbloodblade]

[She nods.]

Tree-tenders... treants, tree-men. Some say they're trees grown old and powerful and wise enough to walk on their own and take care of forests. Some of them are very protective, and you travel through their territory without permission at your peril.

I... do the jobs I am assigned. When going to a part of the world dominated by demons, it behooves those who need things looked at to send someone who knows their way around a fight. Hellgate Keep is not named lightly. And I come from Faerun, not Thedas.

[ofthegrey]

We call them wild sylvans. No one knows for certain how they came to be, only that they are quite dangerous. That sounds very like the same thing.

[He's not sure whether it' comforting to hear such similarities or if it makes it all stranger.]

Demons live in Faerun without hosts?

[He wonders if those are similar, too, if he can trust anything he's hearing at all. She doesn't seem deceptive. People skilled at it never do.]

I've only encountered a few in my time. They are not things to take lightly in any form.

[demonbloodblade]

They are caretakers of forests. They distrust many others, because usually they come to destroy the forests. I can understand that.

[She pauses for a moment, before responding to the next.]

They can be summoned from the pits they live in, outside the world. Some can choose to possess others... and some, brought over or slipped through cracks in the world can even breed. For pleasure, or at the behest of their masters, and make demon-blooded offspring.

[Another pause.]

Those offspring are not, I assure you, not universally as corrupt and evil as their parent.

[ofthegrey]

Ours- if anyone has managed to communicate with them, perhaps it's the Dalish. Some seem more discriminating than others in their patterns of attack.

[Perhaps the rumors are true that they are demons who have gotten confused and possessed a plant rather than an animal or sentient lifeform, or perhaps they are something else. That is lore he hasn't studied extensively.]

They sound somewhat different from those I've encountered in Thedas. It's not an area of expertise for me by any means.

[Her assurance is enough to pique his curiosity. It's an odd comment as an aside unless there's some sort of vested interest. He decides diplomacy is the best response.]

It would be short-sighted to judge another based on parentage alone, I would think.

[demonbloodblade]

[Said, with more than a tinge of bitterness.]

Many are short-sighted.

[Recovery.]

I am called Meliantha.

[fintastic]

[ Welcome to Exsilium! There is now a teenaged alien girl up in your space. She has her hair tied back in a braid and is otherwise wearing mostly 21st centurty Earth fashions, but that's saying nothing of the gray skin, yellow eyes, or fins. She seems happy, at least, and bouncy, and she's got a clipboard in one hand.

Looks like there's lots of interesting new arrivals this time around. At least this one is clothes, so much so that Feferi stops and looks at her for a while, before nodding her apparent approval. ]

You look like you're ready to go out on a mission right now!

[demonbloodblade]

[OOCly I am amusebox; ICly Meliantha is now officially confused. As in she's doing the 'wait what the' headtilt. then she recovers.]

I was just coming back from a mission when I was brought here, and walking a few hundred miles through wilderness means being prepared for danger. So... I suppose I would be prepared for it.

I will need to find another bow eventually.

[fintastic]

That means you'll be ready when we go on more missions! I bet the Initiative wouldn't mind letting you buy more weapons, they could probably help you find them.