I decided that everybody deserved a few days off after the ordeal at Adamant. It had been a while since we all just relaxed. Naturally, my companions were affected by what had happened with the Grey Wardens, and it was up to me to hear them out. Not that I minded, of course, I like my companions, that’s why I let them accompany me. Blackwall was having trouble processing all the stupid decisions that the Wardens had made, while Cassandra was trying to write those decisions down so they wouldn’t be repeated. Dorian and Vivienne were simultaneously fascinated as mages and concerned as rational people. Sera was, well, Sera. Just weirded out by it all. Cole, meanwhile, had been utterly terrified by the whole event. Being a spirit, he was understandably shaken by the other denizens of the Fade being bound into Corypheus’ service so easily. He had even gone so far as to ask Solas to bind him, so that he couldn’t be controlled by another, more sinister, force. Naturally, neither I nor my fellow elven mage thought this was a good idea, so we found a middle ground in the form of an amulet Cole could wear that would prevent binding altogether. Varric was obviously happy that Hawke had made it out of the Fade alive, but her abrupt departure meant he had to inform their old friends, particularly someone named Merrill, that she was okay. Also, he had a visitor that shared a name with his crossbow. The new Bianca was a dwarf, who had information about where Cory was pulling his red lyrium from. What made this more disturbing was that red lyrium was only supposed to be in one location, a location that only Varric, Hawke, their other companions, and Bianca (thanks to Varric) knew about. However Cory had found it, it was an operation that needed to be shut down, and quickly. The Iron Bull had probably the most entertaining reaction to the whole ordeal. It was definitely the most Bullish reaction. He had Cassandra hit him with a big stick. Over and over and over, until I came up, took over, and hit him with a big stick over and over and over. While he was being beaten, he cursed a lot, which, in conjunction with one another, apparently helped him overcome his fears and expel stress. The Qunari are a funny people. And this is coming from someone with a tree tattooed on his face.
If this is stress relief, I don’t think I want to know what Qunari punishment is like.
Of course, despite being on vacation, I still had some Inquisitorial duties to perform. Fortunately it was mostly just sitting on a chair. We’d found the former mayor of Crestwood a while ago, but I figured I’d let him sit in a cell for a while. And he had company by this point, as well. First up for Inquisitorial justice was Erimond, who we’d taken captive after the attack on Adamant. While it was tempting to just cut his smarmy, unrepentant head off, I always aimed for more creative solutions. So, I gave him to the Grey Wardens. He nearly destroyed their entire order, so they could do with him what they liked. Next up was an actual Warden. Ser Ruth had been one of the mages that had sacrificed an ally to summon a demon. She had turned herself in, admitted her crimes, and expressed a desire to die. I sent her down to the Deep Roads where she could at least strike a final blow against the darkspawn before she did. The former mayor was next in line. I gave him to the Wardens as well, in hopes that he could spend his remaining years fighting the darkspawn and hopefully make up for some of the lives he’d taken by flooding Old Crestwood. Last up was Servis, a magister in the employ of Corypheus who had been responsible for much of my trouble back in the Western Approach. He had also been smuggling items out of the area without Cory’s knowledge, which is kind of impressive, really. Even if he was a slippery worm, I knew Leliana’s people could keep him in line, so I kept him around to gather information, and maybe a few artifacts here and there, for the Inquisition. Considering the grim circumstances that most of these four had been imprisoned for, this wasn’t nearly as humorous as the last judgment session. I was able to achieve several funny outcomes, just more ironic or poetic funny rather than ha-ha funny, so I think I did well. Oh, and also, Leliana had found me a new chair. It really is the small victories that keep you going.
Definitely a step in the right direction, the overall flamyness of it is much more me.
During our break, Josephine had successfully acquired the magical amulet required to prevent Cole from being bound. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Varric, who had developed a soft spot for Cole, suggested that it was because Cole wasn’t really a demon or a spirit. Cole focused on the source of whatever was preventing the amulet from working, and we ended up back in Redcliffe of all places. There, Cole confronted a Templar who had “killed” him and remembered what had drawn him through the Veil in the first place. A young apostate mage named Cole had been locked in a tower by this Templar. Then, the Templars forgot about Cole and he starved. Before he died, a spirit of compassion was drawn to him, and, unable to help, somehow became him, a spirit in human form. So the mystery of what our Cole actually is had been solved. Not clearly, but solved. All that was left was to figure out what to do with the Templar. I decided that the spirit had come through the Fade and willingly assumed Cole’s form, so Varric helped him work through the very human emotions he was feeling towards the Templar. He didn’t kill him in the end, and Cole had taken a big step into becoming a permanent part of our reality.
Whatever he is, the hat is still magnificent.
Getting pulled aside by Sera traditionally results in me getting yelled at by Josephine, so I was understandably nervous when she did so again. But, pranks or games were not the order of the day for my fellow unelfish elf. She actually wanted to make terrible cookies and then share them with me on the roof of her above-tavern apartment. Being her friend, I played along and ended up learning about a past I had previously known nothing about. Sera was an orphan who had been caught stealing as a youth and should have been stuck in an alienage. Instead, she was adopted by a local noblewoman, Lady Emmald, who couldn’t have children of her own. Whatever her motivations were for taking Sera in, the lady inflicted some deep psychological wounds on the young elf, including one centered on cookies. I know, just stay with me. Lady Emmald made delicious cookies for Sera, except that she didn’t, she had no idea how to cook for herself and bought them from a local baker. That’s not so bad on its own, but she told a young, impressionable Sera that the baker hated elves so that Sera would stay away from him. So, to protect her pride, she made Sera hate, and knowing Sera, probably torment, a man who didn’t deserve it. Sera only found out about this deception much later in life when she wanted to learn how to make the cookies as a way to carry on a legacy of Lady Emmald, who was approaching death at that point. So, the rooftop cookies were Sera’s attempt to try and connect something negative from her past to her more pleasant present. She just did it in the most Sera way possible, which is to say, initially incomprehensible. But, as usual, we understood each other in the end and promised to do it again soon.
I do wonder what people walking down below thought was going on.
When our holiday came to a close, the first piece of inquisiting that we took care of was Varric’s lead on Corypheus’ red lyrium supply. The mission was a personal one for Varric, and not just because dwarf-Bianca was involved this time. As opposed to crossbow-Bianca, as she was constantly involved. Varric had always felt guilty about red lyrium and the harm it had inflicted because he had been instrumental in accidentally discovering it. He and Hawke, along with Varric’s brother Bartrand, had found the stuff on a Deep Roads expedition during Hawke’s early days in Kirkwall. They brought it back with them, whereupon it drove Bartrand mad and eventually corrupted Knight-Commander Meredith, the Templar leader in the city. Meredith’s insanity and subsequent cruelty led directly to the Mage-Templar war that only came to an end when the Inquisition rescued the mages and Corypheus used red lyrium to warp and take control of the Templars. Varric tried not to let it show, but he definitely considers himself at least somewhat responsible for all the tragedy that’s taken place since that seemingly innocent trip into the Deep Roads.
I ultimately failed in my personal side quest to see if Bianca had hair under that hood.
Bianca led us to Valammar, the Deep Roads entrance we’d found back in the Hinterlands. Apparently it connected all the way across the Waking Sea to the Roads under Kirkwall. There was a locked door we hadn’t been able to penetrate our first time down there, something that had always irritated me. I hate leaving a place only partially explored. Bianca was able to bypass it, however. Because, quite conveniently, she’d built it. After clearing the rest of the Carta, who had locked themselves in that room after hearing us coming, we figured out how Cory had learned of the location. Bianca had used Varric’s information to find it, learned that the red lyrium was red because it was somehow infected with the taint, and wanted to learn more about it. So, logically, she went to a Grey Warden mage for help and gave him a key. It turns out the Warden was also someone Varric had encountered before, in Cory’s old prison no less, a non-mage named Larius. Larius, or whoever or whatever it actually was, told Cory, and dwarf-Bianca was using the Inquisition to clean up her mess. Good intentions, annoying execution. I’d have been happy to help without the deception. But, in the end we cut off that red lyrium supply, hopefully diminishing Cory’s forces somewhat. Varric confided his complicated history with dwarf-Bianca to me, a trust I both appreciated and reciprocated. Then, we played some cards. Varric had organized a game with most of my companions. Stories were told, wagers were made, clothes were lost, and a good time was had by all. Afterwards, Varric was the second of my friends to remind me that I was still a person, not just the Inquisitor, and that remembering that would help me stay on the correct path. Of course, with friends like him, how could I not?
In my castle, I will splash the pot whenever I please.
If you’ve been paying attention as you’ve read this account of my adventures, you’ve probably noticed my affinity for Cassandra. To be honest, she had struck me right from the off. Not with a punch, or anything, though I’m pretty sure she wanted to at times. Probably still does. But, as I got to know her, the attraction became far more than physical. Her determination, intelligence, desire to help others, strength, all of those things and more were appealing to me. And no, the accent and the fact that she looks great even in a suit of armor didn’t hurt, either. But, that was all obvious to anyone who even casually knew her. As we started getting closer, I began to learn about what was under the surface. I adored that someone who could face down a dragon without blinking could also be capable of her level of vulnerability and cuteness.
Staring into the face of a literal embodiment of fear and being forced to look inward and reevaluate my self-worth had had an unexpected side effect: as I reconciled my past and what had led me to that point, I started thinking about the future. What it might hold, where it might take me, and who I might spend it with. What had started as just a bit of a crush, really, had blossomed over all the time Cassandra and I had spent together since the Conclave. Though I’m not really sure how much time had gone by, to tell the truth. A lot, months at least, based on how much ground we had to cover between inquisiting sites. But, anyways, apparently I wasn’t the only one who had been thinking about romance.
After our mini vacation, Cassandra pulled me aside, as awkwardly adorable as I’d ever seen her, to talk. Apparently she’d picked up on the not terribly subtle flirting I’d been doing with her since basically the beginning of all this and wanted to… clarify things. I told her the truth, I wasn’t just idly flirting. She told me that properly courting her was impossible, what with me being the Herald of Andraste, the Inquisitor, and all that. I told her I didn’t care. She told me that, despite her outward demeanor, she was a romantic at heart who wanted to be swept off her feet. I didn’t tell her that I’d already figured that out thanks to our previous interactions, especially the whole Varric romance novel episode. She left, maintaining that I had too many responsibilities to waste time on her. I immediately set those responsibilities aside and started scheming. I was entirely serious about starting a real relationship with her, and decided to demonstrate that in the method she preferred. So, I slipped off to pick up a few things. I’m still amazed they just let me wander around on my own, though I’m sure Leliana has at least half a dozen spies tailing me at all times. My first stop was Val Royeaux, to pick up some candles and flowers, no difficulty there. After that, I headed to a bookseller in Redcliffe for some poetry. Some difficulty there. His wagon had been ambushed en route and I needed to do some unaccompanied Inquisiting to recover the goods. With the unexpected aid of a local bear, I took out the bandits and got what I needed, then headed back to Skyhold. I asked Cassandra to meet me in a grove outside the castle, told Leliana to lay off the spies for a while, and commenced courtship. I successfully swept her off her feet and… and you don’t need to know the rest.
If you want to get a woman to fall in love with you, feed her poetry. Especially if she directly tells you that’s what she wants.
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