After clearing up Cassandra’s Seeker business, I was informed that the repairs to the bridge back in the Exalted Plains were complete. That meant that we could finish clearing the area and rescue the last of the Orlesian forces trapped in the area. These ones fought for Empress Celene, and as such were on the opposite side of the river as Grand Duke Gaspard’s men, the ones we had helped earlier. They were holed up in an impressive old castle named Citadelle du Corbeau. And by “holed up” I mean “trapped by their own defenses.” You see, the citadel was equipped with some ancient elven fortifications, including gates, traps, and a tower that magically focused sunlight into beams that set things on fire. Which is a thing I must acquire for myse-, uh, Skyhold. Yes, definitely for Skyhold and the good of the Inquisition, not for my own amusement.
The power of the sun in the palm of my hand.
When the undead had started showing up, the Orlesians retreated into the castle and activated its defenses. Which they couldn’t control. I don’t know if they knew that beforehand, but it’s pretty embarrassing either way. So, that meant that the now rote task of hacking through legions of walking corpses had been spiced up by the addition of dodging rays of flaming death while doing so. In other words, it was far more entertaining. Unfortunately, after a disappointingly short jaunt through the castle, I had to shut down the defenses and let the remaining soldiers out. Fortunately, there were some still alive. With that sorted, the area was as stable as it was going to get with two recently warring armies sitting in close proximity and staring at one another. I left some of my people there to help maintain that tenuous peace, checked the Exalted Plains off of my to-do list, and moved on.
As Inquisitor, I have many important things that demand my attention. Some of them literally fate of the world important. That kind of responsibility can weigh heavily on a person after a while, even someone as generally easy-going and fun as me. Fortunately, there is someone around who manages to be even more easy-going and fun than me. Sera had noticed that the general attitude around Skyhold had grown rather grim. So, she enlisted me to help liven things up. She thought that a few harmless pranks on the higher-ups would lift the spirits of their subordinates and lighten the mood for a while. Despite that coming out of Sera’s mouth, it actually made sense to me. So, we had a bit of fun with Cullen first, messing with his desk just enough to annoy him and make him seem more like a regular guy who was bothered by the little things, not just the grim commander of the Inquisition’s martial might. Josephine was simple, a bucket of water over the door. She gets soaked, everyone has a laugh, easy enough. Sera wanted to put something more pungent in the bucket, but I talked her down. Weirdly enough, we almost got caught messing with the woman whose job it is to know what’s going on everywhere, but we escaped Leliana’s tower without incident. The whole thing was just plain fun, something that had been hard to come by since the sky got torn open. It’s easy to forget that the world isn’t all demons and darkspawn. For all her faults, I’m glad Sera’s around to remind everyone of that. It’s good for people to laugh once in a while and remember that we’re fighting for a world where having a bucket of water dumped on you is the worst thing that can happen on any given day. And it was funny.
Josephine’s anger at being soaked did not prevent her from drying off and changing clothes before confronting us.
Remember when I drank with the Iron Bull and the Bull’s Chargers before heading back to… That Place? Well, incapacitating myself before the journey wasn’t the only purpose of that night. I’d met some of them, and talked with Krem, the second-in-command, before, but I’d never gotten to know the Chargers. So, Bull wanted to get us together and introduce me to his team. He also informed me that there was a possibility of brokering an unprecedented alliance between the Inquisition and the Qunari. And I don’t mean unprecedented for the Inquisition, I mean unprecedented for anyone, ever. The Venatori were attempting to smuggle red lyrium into Tevinter, who the Qunari were at war with, and that could mean very bad things for everyone. We had a shot to stop them, however, if we hit them when their ship was anchored near the shore. So, we headed to the Storm Coast to meet with the Qunari agent and shut the smuggling operation down. Still raining there, if you were wondering. Basically, my group would hit one band of Venatori on the shore, the Chargers would hit another, and a Qunari Dreadnought would hit the ship. That sounded good on paper. In reality, things went pear-shaped in a hurry. A mob of reinforcements were going to slaughter the Chargers. So, we had to make a choice: have the Chargers retreat and let the Dreadnought get blown to pieces, or let the Chargers die to buy time. I decided I didn’t want to ruin the centuries-long streak that the “unprecedented” status of a Qunari alliance had going. The Chargers retreated, the Qunari ship blew up spectacularly, no alliance, and Bull was excommunicated from his own people. And it was still raining. Not a great day. But our friends were alive. And later, after fending off a deliberately weak assassination attempt, Bull confirmed that while leaving the Qun stung, the Chargers and the Inquisition were the family he wanted.
It takes more than a double-team to really get Bull’s blood pumping.
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