[OOC] The Sky is Falling!

[eolasemah]

Recently a rift opened in Skyhold itself. Although nobody saw it happen, it was rumored to have been opened by a mage native to Thedas and not one of the rifters.

There are damages to the courtyard from where buildings and vegetation have been singed and frozen and dented from the resulting demon battle. It looks a mess. This is a mess.

The purpose of this post is for general opinion gathering, rumormongering, and plotting for the fallout from this fiasco. If people can just open rifts wherever they want, what does this mean for the Inquisition? Can rifters do it, can regular mages do it? Why would someone within Skyhold and ostensibly part of the Inquisition do this in the first place? Why weren't snacks provided?

If you feel so inclined, reply with your character's reaction to the news (or the sight, or the battle) and what action they might want to take, if any. Plot, make CR, do the thing!

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

While Korrin is briefly around, she'll energize rubble and help restore what she can, move aside what she can. She will also be checking in/guarding Sina and Nari from anyone trying to do something to them out of panic.

[judgemewhole]

Norrington is really starting to wonder if they need to have a Templar contingent around to help with all these demons and abominations that keep appearing inside THE WALLS.

Not to mention KIDNAPPING PEOPLE WITH BLOOD MAGIC.

[wickedchase]

While Twisted Fate isn't terribly interested in helping with constructions (yikes, think of the effort!), he'll be tending to some of the vegetation. He claims it's out of habit, darn it.

The rumors are unimpressive, and Fate starts a rumor that maybe it was a golden nug wearing little socks that started the rift. The rumor he creates comes in varying degrees of success.

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss is going to be horrified, and then she's going to go looking for volunteers to help fix the Courtyard because people live there.

[madame_de_fer]

Vivienne has very firm opinions on this. Of the "what are we going to do to prevent this from happening again?" variety. Anyone who suggests a pick up the mess and move on and thassit response will find her exceptionally irate.

Since the demon fighting was well in hand with many of the others at the time, people might have noted that she was busy scuttling young mages, untrained apprentices and initiates well away from the danger. There were far too many vulnerable young people present to have been left to their own devices.

[judgemewhole]

Norrington Greatly Approves and will back her up to the Hilt.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin will definitely agree with Vivienne that they need a plan in place to prevent this from happening again. When they have that mage meeting, she'll place emphasis on protection for the mages with shards, since they seem to be at the most risk.

[stabsbooks]

Cassandra's with Vivienne. This is absolutely unacceptable, and she will be heavily interrogating everyone involved to figure out exactly what happened and how to ensure that it never happens again. Once she finds out that it's not a rifter whose hand had acted up, but a mage attempting magic while in possession of a shard, she's going to swing heavily in favor of increased mage supervision (or at least Sina supervision). This has the potential to be A Big Deal and Cassandra can certainly make it into such.

[judgemewhole]

You have Norrington's full suppor, Seeker. He'll back your play.

[wontforgetyou]

Jamie will be exhausted after closing the rift (naturally) but after being questioned, he goes to Emprise du Lion almost right away - so any rebuilding of the courtyard he does will be minimal at best. He'll check on Sina very briefly before he goes but mostly in a 'stick his head in the door and see she's still unconscious sort of way', and since oocly I have completely lost track of where the rifter meeting falls into this he'll state that if someone wants him to come back to deal with the fallout more he will and to let him know if he needs to come back to Skyhold any time soon.

[quietblade]

Taas missed the action and isn't happy about this =(
He's even less happy about the fact that rifts are popping up inside the fortress and want some deets on how it went down and why it took so long to close.

Kas is just happy it's gone and may sideeye mages for a few days.

Shale left their own commentary and would have liked snacks if they could eat. They don't really care that much about the why and how, but would have liked to punch a demon.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin will personally inform Kas that she's still shard-free and has no way whatsover to open rifts. (Pray Araceli can't, plz.)

[laurenande]

Galadriel, in direct opposition to everyone else (it appears), is going to be completely fascinated by how one might use the mark to open a rift and will start careful (as in detailed, not so much "safe") study into the mark on her hand and the veil. This will probably result in some fairly ill-conceived/dangerous tests and magical experiments but she's not particularly concerned about possession or demons, so she won't see the potential harm in them.

If any other mages/rifters/persons of interest wish to assist or actively hinder this questionable line of thinking, please feel free.

[lennethvalkyrie]

Assist! Lenneth is very curious to know if they can get back through the rifts and go home, and she believes that Galadriel possesses the necessary ability and creativity to figure this out.

[lennethvalkyrie]

Lenneth was in Skyhold at the time of the rift opening, but did not take part, as she was

1) far enough away that her hand did not connect to the rift as the others did.

2) overwhelmed by the sudden discovery that she could--in fact--still hear the spirits of the heroic dying. She doesn't know the limit of the ability, but states that her meditation yielded nothing before this.

As a result of said connection, she is adamant about Sina's integrity despite barely having met her.

[fleurdesel]

Adelaide was present for the event and is tending to Sina's recovery- she's put forward a motion for an emergency (they really need to quit having these, guys) mage council meeting addressing concerns.

First and foremost she wants to make certain Sina doesn't die- afterward she'll be putting a call out to all rifters for some manner of research and suggest that any of them with magical aptitude have a mage skilled in dispelling at their side while practicing in the future.

[laurenande]

Galadriel will totally show up for the research meeting, if only to be kept up on their information. She will probably not invite any local mages to her tests nor extend the same courtesy re:intel.

[perseverances]

Cullen in certainly Not. Happy. At. All. in regards to these developments. Must he remind everyone that one of the main purposes of the Inquisition is to close rifts, not open them?

He puts a lot of trust in all of you [especially mages, when he is still wary of them himself, for lots of reasons], and this kind of event throws that trust in question. If it is brought up, he is going to side with Cassandra's motion for more mage supervision until there is something in place to prevent this from never happening again.

Dad is disappointed, guys.

[fightingale]

Leliana isn't eager to let this become a reason for mages to be subject to further discrimination and suspicion. Everyone with a shard, however e___e they might need to observed more carefully. There is risk from those without magic but marked with a shard.

And mages should maybe be careful with what they're doing.

Cullen be nice to the children B| (she says, while being a literal hissy cat)

[arlathvhen]

i am so behind for all of this but just so everyone knows beleth will be HOVERING around sina and puffing up like a tiny angry blowfish if anyone starts talking about inhibiting sina's freedom with TEMPLARS or anything else bad

[gatheringstorm]

Beleth and Korrin team-up time? Because yes, Sina must be protected dammit.

[easternseaqueen]

OK, among those wondering where the snacks were is Isabela. Also trying to figure out if there's any way she can profit from this. Tourist attraction, maybe? Or just pickpocketing, but that's juvenile.

Otherwise, she'll be keeping her opinions on it to herself. And... maybe checking on a certain Ferelden friend with a knack for electricity. You know. Just in case.

[fightingale]

Isabela put those cookies back right now

[kallian_endris]

Kallian was probably in Skyhold at the time, if she hadn't already left for the Emprise.

She's worried, and while in Skyhold, probably helping any who might have been injured, checking on her rifter friends, trying to salvage the herb garden, and generally doing her best to be helpful to the recovery effort.

She keeps quiet about her own thoughts, but is listening to others' responses and watching their reactions. She's probably more skittish than usual around any templars that come her way.

[wontforgetyou]

If they happen to bump into each other before heading to Emprise, Jamie will reassure her that he's fine. Tired, but fine - although he wouldn't say no to a refill on that salve that helps aches if she has any extra.

[justice_is_blond]

Anders was likely around, healing in the aftermath, before heading to Emprise.

He'll be loudly talking to anyone who will listen about how the actions of one mage should not put the others' freedom at risk or force more supervision over them. If it did, then they should also pay more attention to Sina's people, and the next time some human warrior messed up every warrior should be watched more closely as well as every human, and so on and so forth. Mages are people, individuals, and you lot who want to slowly erode the freedoms of a small group all over again need to open your eyes.

[stabsbooks]

#notallmages

[fightingale]

ASSASSINATE EVERYONE

[fightingale]

Leliana's response to this will be complex and I'm kind of still figuring it out tbh so do bear with me deadcat.gif

On the one hand, she has met with Sina rcently, and she seems a peaceful, gentle sort of person. A single error should not be the basis for utter condemnation... but considering how little they understand rifts, the shards, the ties to Corypheus, and the danger that all lives in Skyhold were placed in by such an action, she isn't going to be at her most charitable.
Yes they had people able to respond, and yes the matter was resolved with no loss of life, but they cannot be sure that if the same should happen again in the future, it would end so smoothly. Not to mention time, resources, energy being put towards this when they have enough existing issues to face, and so on. She's got 99 problems AND THIS IS ONE MORE.

However: Leliana is also one of the advisors who is most supportive of complete freedom for mages and a complete reconstruction of everything in the world ever to make it work better, and be a better place, so the thought of imposing more templar supervision and/or greater restrictions on mages will be a galling thing to her, and... yet. All this. Demons in the garden. Worst garden feature ever. Even worse than gnomes.

So basically... Leliana is going to be against monitoring/supervising all mages more closely. She does think it is important to keep a close eye on those with shards, however, regardless of whether they are a native, rifter, mage or non-mage, and they do need to come up with a way to ensure this doesn't happen again. She will absolutely back Cassandra's plans for interrogation (she might call it interviewing), especially of those involved. The shards are dangerous, etc etc.

I wish i could actually suggest an assassination here BUT OF WHO there is no one it is distressing

[sunshinethroughgrey]

Bethany, who was there when most of this went down, will calmly explain that in this situation getting upset is not going to help anyone. She'll pass around the cookies she made for snacks and then further point out that from an accident they've learned more about shards than they have been able to in the last few months, from what she can tell.

You need five rifters to close a rift. More importantly, they do not have to be conscious for that to work. That will be important if someone on the field has to hold up someone's hand to make the rift close. Also, they have now learned that the shards can also open rifts - that will be useful for those particular fissures that seems to be somewhere inbetween open and closed.

As a Grey Warden observer -- Sabriel is their official representative on the council, she would suggest a more pragmatic approach. More guidelines about what sort of magic should be allowed to be practiced within Skyhold's walls, period. Perhaps experimentation should be moved to a location not in the middle of heavy populated areas.

Also, tea?

[wontforgetyou]

Jamie will point out they only had three rifters the first time they closed a rift so maybe that part of it varies. And thank her for the cookie.

[slaveking]

Marcel will be helping clear rubble and help transport people to safety, using his superstrength and other vampire powers. He won't use his blood to heal anyone though, that's still on the down-low. Just trying to help rehabilitate the Rifter image, basically. PR stunt, with some genuine good intentions.

If there are any healers or victims who want to handwave or eventually backthread Marcel bringing them over, I'd be happy for that!

[foodsofmypeople]

Oh lord. Kaidan will be 'wtf is going on here, and what are those rifts (and how are they linked to Corypheus?). Then he'll set about clearing up rubble, because hey, it's something to do to stop him from worrying. And he'll steal a cookie from Bethany.

Fenris will be muttering something about mages and how they need to be controlled, and stalked off to the tavern at this point.

Both of them will not be all that much help other than observing? Kaidan could at a push at least.

[tactical_alert]

Seeker #2 mmmmostly shares the same opinions as Cassandra and Leliana. While he'd prefer Cass's interrogations to go a little more like diplomatic inquiries, information gathering is critical.

Once it's determined that Sina's incident was an accident, he'd like for the Mage Council to discuss appropriate action/reaction to a sharded mage practicing unknown magic in a public place. They must work with the Council and not against it if this whole tentative peace thing is supposed to happen, OKAY? (Thank the Maker that Cassandra's going to sit in the meeting. It's easy to forget sometimes that she's actually a reasonable person willing to work things out.)

As for anyone with a shard, he will suggest that there be some form of information exchange and training. Those who don't know what shards can do get informed. They should be occasionally free to those researching shards to be, well, researched. (Like a checkup, not like an experiment, thank you for the compassion, Adelaide.)

...Of course there's also now going to be the somewhat paranoid part of him thinking what if one of them decides to do this deliberately, what if someone goes out there somewhere and is actually their enemy and starts opening rifts aaaaaa-- but nobody on war table missions ever goes anywhere alone, so the only thing more he could do for that is say hey y'all ain't going out anymore, and not only is that not his call to make, but it's very unfair and...kind of silly. He knows it.

[theproperglove]

why WEREN'T there snacks provided, this was surely an oversight

Josephine is, of course, interested in finding out the causes of how this even happened and how to stop it from happening again, but she wants to do it nicely. She'll probably try and get the other advisors to pull their heads in if she thinks their methods are causing more trouble than good, but yes. If only every problem in the world could be solved through DIPLOMACY /waves hands

[sunshinethroughgrey]

Bethany brought cookies and tea, Ambassador. Here you go.

[arcaneadvisor]

Of course Morrigan has an opinion though she was rather more concerned with Kieran at the time.

She will be vocally against increased mage supervision seeing as this was not actually a normal mage related incident so it cannot be blamed on the mages. Bad enough this whole mage training thing in her opinion.

Though she has less of a personal stake in the rifters, she wouldn't be up for any increased supervision of them. Remember that time Loghain wanted to kill the only two Wardens left in Ferelden? Remember how well that would have gone? How do you expect your only actual hopes of wanting to help you if you supervise them and place heavier restrictions on them when, she would guess, plenty of them would much rather not be here in the first place?

Actual research into the shards she'd be fine with (since she has some theories she might like to float anyway) but yes, let's just increase the paranoia with supervision because it always works out so well for people.

[fightingale]

after a billion hours of agonising about it, I realised Leliana would be as pro-shardholders and rifters as she is pro-mages so she is going to be yelling about things!!! emotionally!!! in that controlled and contained Leliana way.

lol Leliana and Morrigan agreeing on things, what has happened