Good evening, Riftwatch.

Some of you have met me and many of you (presumably) have not. I am Warden Adrasteia, and I have the esteemed honor of becoming Riftwatch's newest Morale Officer.

I have some ideas I'm hoping will be well-received once they go into effect, including a focus on the holidays celebrated here and ways to get Rifters more well-acquainted with Thedas through these events, but I wish to open the floor to any other suggestions or comments that you think would be helpful in my facilitating a better sense of morale and togetherness amongst us all.

If you'd rather a more private audience or even an anonymous option, I have an inbox in the Seneschal's office that is available.

Things so often seem to go from bad to worse, don't they?

[ There's a hum, a soft sigh, and a turn of a page - as if she's reading along while she talks idly to her crystal. ]

I've heard that dying on a battlefield is the best way to go, but on the other hand assassination has it's charm, don't you think? Have you all heard of Perendale? It's quite the place. My brother is quite the fan.

[ And she is very, very swiftly moving on from that nonsense. Her voice does seem to get a little more serious, though, and there's the sound of her sitting up: anyone in the healer's rooms will see her resting on her elbows, expression tight. ]

Arcadius and his men were killed there, in Perendale. They're rather unhappy about it, as one might imagine being the case, and there has been a significant effort to put down any kind of resistance. Including hangings. [ A breath. ] Anyone who was suspected of assisting in the assassination were victims of these hangings, or have been imprisoned. I'm unsure if anyone has fellows in the area, but... I apologise if so.

I recommend that we listen for news of the new acting General-Mayor, Marcinus, who seems to be far less kind than Arcadius had been. I will continue to see if I can find means of communicating with the people there. They're far stricter - I doubt anyone will be coming in or out, not with the new punishments for 'crime' there. [ Said quite scathingly. ]

SUBJECT: Temple Ruins in Ghislain
PARTICIPANTS: Freddie, Gwen, Kostos, Tony, & Wysteria
CLASSIFICATION: Public
DATE FILED: Backdated to end of fantasy!August
STATUS: Complete
SUMMARY: A team investigated the lower levels of a ruined temple to Dumat to suss out what shenanigans the Venatori were up to there while Ghislain was under occupation. Though unable to do a thorough review before being attacked, the team was able to discover the presence of a blighted rift in the shrine's ritual chamber.


REPORT:

Ghislain, Orlais 9:46 - Investigation of the Temple Ruin and Review of Venatori Activity Therein

At the direction of the Exalted March and with the guidance of intelligence gathered by the Inquisition prior to the Battle of Ghislain (Firstfall, 9:44), a team (see attached roster) was tasked with investigating the lowermost regions of a strange temple known to have been the site of significant Venatori activity during the region's occupation.

Though a great deal of work had been done to the site by the Venatori, including but not limited to extensive excavation efforts, all of which has been well documented in other field reports, their work within the deepest regions of the temple had gone unexplored thanks to general sense of foreboding and so happily we had the benefit of seeing it untouched as presumably the Venatori left it. In addition to the uneasy presence which cloaked the ruin, upon traversing to its lower levels we found ourselves beset by a series of strong enchantments which served to muffle all sound and deepen shadows. It was determined by the mage in the company that the source of the enchantments was likely downward, and so we followed the gentleman and the suggestions of the incomparable Madamoiselle Durfort-Lacapalette (who had some education regarding the matter of ruins and their exploration) through the dark and silence until the layout of the temple resolved into a downward sloping hallway.

Rumors of the shrine's purpose--that it once had served as a place of worship to the Old God Dumat (see attached references which including quotation from Tales of the Destruction of Thedas by Brother Gentivi)--were all but confirmed by the features of the shrine itself. This hallway featured a number of carvings depicting the old god's power and worship. Tragically due to the formation of these shapes and the sharpness of their edges, no rubbings could be taken.

At the terminus of this bladed corridor, we passed through Dumat's mouth and there discovered a large ritual chamber. At the center of this chamber stood a great disturbation very like a rift, though its coloring was pure darkness. In addition to this, there was a suggestion of lyrium heavy in the air and a series of corpses in perfect alignment along one wall. Much to our dismay, our attempts to close the rift in the usual fashion only resulted in widening it further (see detailed account attached) and the interaction with the rift drew the attention of a (seemingly blighted or cursed in some fashion) Ventori mage, the apparent sole survivor of whatever dark deed occurred there.

Consequently, the team was bidden to make their escape back along the bladed corridor while pursued by the mage in question. Although Madame Baudin was ultimately able to rebuff the mage's advance with a blast from her anchor shard, thereby throwing him onto a series of the corridor's rather singularly keen features and so killing him, we were unable to conduct a more thorough investigation of either the body or the shrine's due to injuries sustained by the party.

NEXT STEPS: Return to the Temple of Dumat and conduct a thorough review of the area and everything to be found in the ritual chamber. Ideally, assess and close the blighted rift.

NOTES & LINKS: OOC Info; IC Log