After a rather eventful night where Lyria had determined the reclusive noble was no murderer and then convinced Anders to go against his better judgement and be with her, forevermore, the morning had sprung and Lyria needed to go see the Viscount as soon as she could.
She needed to warn him about the qunari's current attitude towards the city and that they weren't leaving. Something had been stolen from them and they refused to leave until it had been returned. Only, she had no idea what it was.
Before the Viscount's office opened for the day, Lyria headed down to the Gallows to speak with Emeric. His nobleman was no murderer, in her opinion.
Strangely though, Emeric wasn't at his post... a woman templar stood there instead and told Lyria that Emeric was waiting for her in Lowtown, that he had received her note. But Lyria hadn't sent him a note. That was very strange indeed, and very suspicious.
Lyria raced to Lowtown to find Emeric, but she was too late. His body lay in the middle of the street and it was surrounded by shades and demons. Emeric had been killed.
Just as Lyria felled the last demon, the templar Lyria had spoken to before raced around the corner and bristled as she saw Emeric's lifeless body. Emeric had been getting to close to finding the murderer, he had been right.
She asked about the nobleman Emeric had been pursuing but Lyria was certain he was innocent, and was just another piece of this strange puzzle. She would do her best to take over this investigation and find the murderer once and for all.
First though, she needed to go see the Viscount and finally speak to him about the qunari. However, as she approached the keep, Aveline waved to her from the barracks and requested to speak with her.
Aveline was acting quite strange. Nervous. She asked Lyria to hand a package over to Guardsman Donnic and tell her his reaction.
Lyria raised an eyebrow, but agreed to do this one thing for her friend.
The package Lyria handed to Donnic contained a wreath of copper shaped into flowers... he was perplexed at this, and Lyria was too.
Anders muttered something about how that wasn't incredibly awkward, not at all, and just what was Aveline thinking? Lyria wondered the same thing and quickly returned to Aveline to tell her that Donnic was most confused about this... gift.
Aveline seemed disappointed. But had another task for Lyria. Could she post the roster up in the guardsroom and tell her Donnic's reaction over that?
Lyria rolled her eyes, but took the roster and hung it in the guardsroom.
It was very quickly evident that Donnic was not impressed with the posts he had been given for this week. Hightown? Another guard asked him who's pet he was to get such a posting and he muttered beneath his breath, wondering what he had done to deserve this boring patrol.
Aveline was distraught. She was certain he would appreciate the posting! She had been wrong. So wrong. But that was okay. She could fix it. She just needed to offer a dowry to his mother and it would all be okay...
Varric's jaw dropped to the floor and Aveline near punched him in the face. Why were they mocking her? This was difficult. Anders asked her why it was so difficult, she had been married once before, hadn't she?
Yes, Aveline had been married before, but now she was scared, fearful. Surely Lyria understood this? After all, she was with Anders now... wasn't she scared and fearful?
Lyria paused... and said that perhaps her coupling wasn't the greatest example, but surely Aveline could just talk to the man. In fact, Lyria could drag him in right now and Aveline could get it over and done with.
Instead, Aveline insisted on Lyria asking Donnic to the Hanged Man later that night. She could talk to him there, off-duty. It would be better that way.
Lyria was wary of doing this, but approached Donnic and asked him to the Hanged Man later that night. Then left Aveline to wallow in her nervousness and fear while she went and found the Viscount.
The Viscount was of two minds about what had happened with the qunari. An entire street had gone thanks to the poison, there were fanatics around trying to goad everyone into war with the qunari, he was trying to appease everyone to no success, but, there had been a qunari delegation in, a very promising delegation that was to secure peace with the bullheaded men... only, now they had gone missing.
The Arishok did not yet know that his men were missing. They needed to be found.
Lyria promised to help find these men in order to secure the peace in the city. A war would not be welcomed. She spoke with the Viscount's Seneschal and found out some finer details. Apparently The Hanged Man was going to be a good place to start this search for answers and missing qunari... which was perfect, since Aveline would be there with Donnic later that evening.
Lyria headed back to her estate only to find some letters had been delivered. Apparently Merrill wished to speak with her, so she hurried down to Lowtown to the Alienage to find out what she wanted.
Turned out that Merrill had been tirelessly working on repairing a strange mirror — an eluvian — and needed a special tool to be able to work on the finishing touches. It was a part of ancient elven history and all she wanted was to complete the restoration of this artifact and research it, perhaps find an elf that had gone missing many years ago when they had first discovered this mirror.
Merrill was afraid of going back to the Dalish, to the Keeper, and asking for this tool though. She asked Lyria if she could accompany her to the Dalish and allow her the confidence to acquire this tool so she could complete her work.
Lyria was a bit iffy about this — Merrill seemed quite obsessed about this mirror, and she was a blood mage — but for now, she agreed she would assist. In fact, they could go now. It was still daylight after all.
They travelled to the Dalish camp beneath Sundermount and found the Keeper. At first the Keeper thought that Merrill might have returned to her senses and wanted to come back to them, but was quickly disappointed when Merrill said that she wanted their special tool so she could continue working on the eluvian.
The Keeper was very displeased but could not deny Merrill. She told her that if she performed a task for the clan — removing the threat of a beast nearby — she could borrow the tool.
Pointing out the beast's lair, the Keeper let them pass to do as bade.
Inside the lair, they found the bodies of several Dalish... Merrill was distraught at seeing their bodies, and took their amulets to return to their families.
Further into the cave there was one of the Dalish left alive, seemingly looking for an escape. Lyria called out to him and he quickly scurried over, thankful to have been found.
But then Merrill stepped into view and greeted him. The elf looked terrified at her appearance. He told her to get back, to stay away, and fled deeper into the caves to get away from them.
Lyria asked Merrill what the hell she had done to make him so scared of her, but then Anders interjected — she was a blood mage, that probably had something to do with it. Indeed it did.
They hurried after the elf to try and save him before the beast in these caves got him too.
But it was too late. The beast had claimed him.
After a great battle they managed to get the beast down, but unfortunately the elf couldn't be saved. Merrill begged Anders to save him, that he had great healing magic and surely he could save anyone! But Anders could not. The elf was dead.
Returning to the Keeper, they informed her that the beast had been slain, and they also had the amulets of the deceased so they could be returned to their families. The Keeper thanked them for their help and gave Lyria the tool... she also asked Lyria not to give the tool to Merrill, the foolish girl.
Once the Keeper walked away, Merrill was overjoyed. She could at last use the tool to fix the eluvian! Lyria questioned her. Was it really worth her own clan hating her? But Merrill would hear nothing else. That eluvian was part of their history and if she could restore just a tiny part of their lost history, anything was worth that.
Against her better judgement, Lyria handed over the tool.
They returned Merrill to her home, where she sat before the mirror lost in her own thoughts.
As they came back to the city night had fallen, which was the perfect time to drag Aveline to the Hanged Man for her date with Donnic, and to find someone who may have been involved with the qunari disappearance.
Guardsman Donnic was sitting at a table already, waiting for an imaginary dinner party with all the guard and unaware that Aveline was going to throw herself at him. A man was shouting beer to all the patrons for his newfound good fortune, evidently a man that Lyria would need to speak with... but then Varric pulled her aside.
He noticed that she and Anders were becoming quite close and thought, as her friend, that he should say something. After all, was it really wise to get involved with a possessed mage?
Lyria waggled her hand at him. Of course it was a wise idea, why ever would it not be? The crazier the better, right?
With that out of the way, Varric proceeded to tell her that he had found his brother. Bartrand had returned to Kirkwall! After years of hiding and keeping one step ahead of Varric's hunt for him. Apparently he had a house in Hightown now and they should pay him a visit, to give him a good talking-to after leaving them for dead in the deep roads.
Lyria heartily agreed, but they had other matters to deal with first... like that man behind Varric splashing beer about like it were currency.
Turned out that the man was one of Aveline's guards and when she showed up behind him he was terrified.
Aveline demanded answers from the man. Who had bought him? Why? Where were the qunari?
He didn't know, but a templar had been the one who paid him — he carried the Grand Cleric's seal and everything! He had been paid to turn a blind eye while the qunari were taken, but he didn't know where, he sweared.
Aveline released him and gave him ten days punishment for daring to abandon his post. It looked as though they were off to the Chantry next in their quest for answers.
They would have to wait til tomorrow for that though, for now it was time for drinks and merriment.
Aveline asked Lyria to go sit with Donnic while she readied herself. Lyria grudgingly obliged.
She sat there with a guardsman she barely knew for what felt like hours, waiting for Aveline to come back... but she never did. Finally Donnic left in a huff and told her that he wasn't interested in her, he'd prefer someone with more backbone.
Before Lyria could deny it was herself that was interested in him, that they truly were waiting for another, he had left.
Lyria stormed over to Aveline, hiding behind the bar, and asked why she hadn't come over! It turned out that Aveline had lost her nerve. She wasn't good at this type of thing. She was much better out in the field, on patrol, and perhaps she and Donnic should go on a patrol together. Then she could finally speak with him.
Only... a patrol wasn't really romantic, what with the constant thugs and bandits out there that would need a good beating..
Lyria threw her arms into the air and told Aveline that she would do the patrol while Aveline and Donnic wouldn't have anything to worry about. There would be no bandits in the way of their courtship.
If she could just let her know when this patrol would be so she could get her group together, that would be great, and this could be over and done with.
Until next time! 🐲⚔️