While visiting the exceedingly interesting hybrid shrine with Scout Harding and Professor Kenric, we discovered how we would be able to proceed with our mission. The main encampment of the Jaws of Hakkon was at the foot of an ancient Tevinter fortress. A fortress that was sealed behind a giant wall. Made of ice. I suggested we use a dragon to break it down, which I still maintain would have worked, but the wall’s destroyer actually took the form of a series of magic-powered statues that had been designed for just such an occasion. Conveniently. We activated a trail of them that led from the shrine directly to the fortress’ front gate, also conveniently, and the wall came tumbling down. Well, the ice part did. There was still a wall behind the ice, but this was just a normal stony one with a door in it. Unfortunately, there were too many Jaws for my group to deal with alone, so we paid Sunny and the Stone-Bears a visit and let her know that the path was mostly clear. They were eager to join the cause after the Jaws' repeated transgressions against them, and to show off their admittedly impressive set of skills. Under cover of darkness, some of their warriors sneaked over the walls and opened the gate, letting the rest of us, including Storvacker, rather amusingly, into Ameridan’s final resting place. We fought through the Jaws, making our way from the outskirts into the fortress itself. There, we battled more Jaws and a bitter, magical cold, all while the voice of Gurd Harofsen, the Jaws’ leader, echoed unnervingly around the caverns. The sight that greeted us when we reached the inner sanctum of the cave was quite spectacular, as it turned out that Hakkon Wintersbreath and Ameridan had been frozen in time for all those centuries, and now the Jaws were attempting to thaw at least one of them.
Oh, look, more time magic, this time with a malevolent god-spirit thrown in. Good, great, grand, wonderful!
Since we had freed Storvacker, the intended bindee, Gurd had no other choice but to attempt to attach Hakkon to himself. And we had no other choice but to kill him. Which, despite the fact that he had already been infused by a portion of Hakkon’s power that granted him formidable cold-based powers and the ability to summon undead, we did. Then, I met the Inquisitor.
Wait, sorry, wrong pale-haired, tattoo-faced, elf mage Inquisitor.
That’s the one.
It’s said that history has a way of repeating itself, which I have always believed to be true. But believing in a phrase and staring its most literal interpretation in the face are two very different things. The similarities between Ameridan and myself are as eerie as they are remarkable. Powerful elf mages who had an odd inner circle and fell in love with one of them, were open to belief in both the elven gods, the Maker, and whatever else might be out there, dragon-hunters, and leaders of the Inquisition who had never imagined themselves having the job. The world is funny sometimes. What wasn’t funny was the fact that the Hakkon-Dragon had been too powerful for Ameridan to overcome. Realizing this, he had cast a spell that froze the two of them in time. When Gurd and the Jaws had attempted to lure Hakkon’s spirit out of the dragon, it disrupted Dan’s spell. So, while Dan was free to briefly banter with us about what had actually happened all those centuries ago, he wasn’t long for this world. We brought him up to date on the events that had occurred while he was stuck in time, he revealed yet more forgotten truths about the history of our world, said goodbye, and then he exploded. Something to do with the power of his spell, I’m guessing, but whatever it was, he disappeared in a blast of magical energy, which also freed the Drakkon. It flew off, confused after its long sleep and with no friendly Avvar to guide it, and proceeded to create and then settle on a glacier on the edge of Cloudcap Lake.
I told you this would end in a dragon fight.
Spirit of a god or not, the Drakkon was just a dragon in the end. He knew every trick that the dragons we’d previously fought had known, the only real difference was that he could talk. Which isn’t all that useful in a fight, really. He kept bragging about being the essence of cold and winter and all that, which is nice most of the time, but problematic when one of my main talents is hurling fire around. I’ve got to say, if you’d have told me before the Conclave that I would end up killing two pseudo-gods in a short span of time, I would not have believed you. My life has taken me down a strange path. Fun, but very strange. Anyways, we did what we do best and killed the Drakkon, preventing him from raining icy doom upon Thedas. Afterwards, we reported in at Ken’s camp, telling him the newest bit of history-shattering news we had discovered. This time it was the fact that Ameridan was not only a mage, but an elf, something his supposed descendants, a noble human family in Orlais, would no doubt be surprised to hear. Oh, and Harding gave me a present she had taken from the guts of a beast she’d killed while scouting. I tell you, if Cassandra hadn’t been around, I really think Harding and I could have had a future together. {You know what Varric, just cut that part out. Seriously, I will be in physical danger if you forget to get rid of it. Or intentionally leave it in so you can watch the carnage.} After that, we headed to Stone-Bear Hold, where Sunny proclaimed me kin to the Avvar and gave me the legend-mark of First-Thaw. Then, she had me judge a bear. Apparently, Storvacker should have died instead of allowing herself to be captured by the Jaws. I was a bit reluctant to do some adjudicating, as I didn’t have my chair, but Sunny didn’t know what to do with her. I did, however. Since I was now kin to the Stone-Bear clan, Avvar tradition would not be broken if Storvacker came and worked with the Inquisition. There are many uses, in and out of combat, for a smart, loyal, bear. And it’s funny.
So, does Hakkon always look like a dragon? Or did his spirit look like one this time because it was in a dragon? Whatever, we killed the ice dragon and the spirit dragon exploded.
And with that, our time in Frostback Basin came to an end. But an Inqusitor’s work is never done. Shortly after, the Inquisition was approached by the dwarves of Orzammar, who were in need of help to save their city.
