It was finally time to sew up the Breach once and for all. So, the Inquisition gathered the newly-recruited mages and headed to what was left of the Temple of Sacred Ashes. And it was disappointingly easy. Basically a normal rift-closing but with extra magic backup. Not at all the end-of-an-adventure ordeal I had been expecting. It didn’t even drop a GAHLLTIST on our heads like the last time. After that, it was time to return to Haven, break out the kegs and celebrate a job well done! Well, at least until a hostile army came knocking. As we were reveling, a strange young man named Cole, who was wearing an amazing hat, arrived at the gates to warn us that the Templars, who had gone quiet while we were rescuing the mages from Gerry and the Venatori, were coming straight for us. And remember that red lyrium I mentioned earlier? Well, it was back, and not in any alternate futures. It was still growing out of people, though.
At least, I think there was a person under all that.
Also back was the aforementioned Elder One, who was at the head of the army. After staving off the initial wave of the newly-minted Red Templars with a well-aimed trebuchet shot and the avalanche that resulted, we realized that we were going to be overwhelmed and were forced to retreat. Turns out, in addition to legions of crystalline men, they also had some kind of crystalline dragon that was destroying everything in sight with non-crystalline fire. So, while saving everybody we could find in the village along the way, we fell back to the Chantry, the most solid, defensible building in town. Inside, we found Cole supporting a very stabbed Roderick. As we prepared to make our last stand and die fighting, Rod was useful for the first time since I’d met him and said there was a hidden path, conveniently located behind the Chantry, that led out of Haven. The people would need a distraction to get away safely, however. A distraction that I could provide with another trebuchet-induced avalanche, this one aimed at burying Haven itself. So, a few of my companions and I headed back to the fortifications, cutting, shooting and burning our way through more Red Templars on the way, until we got the trebuchet into position and the dragon showed up again. At this point, my companions disappeared with no explanation and I found myself caught between a dragon and an Elder One.
Our not-hero, ladies and gentlemen.
At this particular moment, I was unable to take a dragon in a one-on-one fight.
My job at this point was simple: buy time. Distract the Elder One, who introduced himself as Corypheus, until my people had given the signal that they were safely away from Haven. I briefly considered initiating a dance-off, but Cory was in the mood to talk, so I let him. He kept throwing insults at me, saying vague things about his plan, how I’d unwittingly ruined it and stolen something from him, then he tried to use some engraved magic ball to pull the glow out of my hand. He couldn’t succeed, apparently the glow had literally grown quite attached to me, and so he chose violence instead.
When in doubt, get the bad guy monologuing.
Fortunately, rather than just killing me while I was completely at his mercy, he hurled me directly into the trebuchet. I saw the sign that the bulk of the Inquisition had made it to minimum safe distance, I assumed my companions had high-tailed it far enough to be safe (I’d have words with them about abandoning me later), so I kicked the avalanche-instigating shot into being. As it swept over Haven, Cory used his dragon to get out of the way and I dove for the nearest shelter I could see, some board-covered hole in the ground. Everything was dark for a while, and then I woke up alone in what was apparently a tunnel underneath Haven. It hadn’t filled up with snow behind me, somehow, so I began stumbling in the one direction I could go. Of course, since I was weak, I was attacked by a group of demons. Fortunately, the glowy hand had my back, now more than ever, as it suddenly had the ability to create some kind of temporary rift that instantly tore the demons right off this plane of existence and into oblivion. With them out of the way, I reached the entrance of the tunnel and did the only thing I could think of: try and find my friends.
What choice did I have? I ran.
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