The Age of the Dragon

[Naktis]

Since most of them were already here, Illadriel started walking towards the gates to Hightown. That's where all the supplies were at. She hated going back and forth but it was impossible to persuade the other members of the expedition to carry everything out of town and wait for them outside, thus they had to go to the merchants quarters and then leave the town with all the supplies and the rest of the people.

 

As they walked the Warden listened to the conversations the rest of them had. It was nice to see how everyone were getting along, or at least tried to. She glanced at Thomas who was walking not so far from her whistling some cheery tune and looking around. It was odd how happy he seemed. They were going to the Deep Roads not a fair.

[Flipout6]

"Yes, he's a Mabari. Smartest breed in the world,as far as I know. I was lucky to find him." Orum barked happily in response. As the old saying went, The Mabari is clever enough to speak, and smart enough to know not to.Jadaco was surprised she didn't know of mabari hounds, but then he considered that perhaps she came from a secluded Dalish clan. "I must admit, I'm surprised you aren't too familiar with them, they're pretty famous. Don't take that as an insult, though. That's all it is, is surprise." He added quickly. He followed Illadriel, she knew where it was they had to go, he barely knew where the Viscount's keep was, and what he did know he knew because he saw it from a distance.

 

When the pirate, Isabela, spoke, he started a little at being called 'sir'. Despite a distinguished history and the ability to rally a group, he hadn't been promoted that high.

"This?" He looked at his mottled, de-formed arm. The flesh was mostly orange and purple, and bumpy. "The Battle of Denerim. A Hurlock Emissary-the spellcasting type, in case you didn't know- Hit me with a fireball. That's the reason it's all discoloured and rough. As for it being misshapen, I went flying into a stone wall. Almost went through it, even. Good thing I was delirious most of the time, it hurt a lot. Then the Warden and his allies came charging in, and a mage that was with them, a Spirit Healer by the name of Wynne, healed it up with a powerful spell that affected everyone in the entire area. Healed it enough for me to keep fighting, and I respect her for that."

Edited October 1, 2012 by Flipout6

[Macman253]

Wind moved among the crowds of the Merchant District, his cloak covering him as the Templars and the Guards looked for him. He moved in the crowd like a wraith, the exits were guarded by two Templar Knights looking for apostate mages and the circle mages but he knew that if he got to close they would search him and then things would be bad.

 

"I may have no love for the Chantry but I know killing one of them brings a lot of heat..." He thought to himself as he remembered one of his first assassinations as a freelancer. A group of Apostate mages paid him a considerable sum to rid them of a particularly determined Chantry priest and his Templars, during the course of his investigations he found that the priest loved to torture mages and do many cruel things to them. In the end he didn't charge for killing the priest.

 

He ducked into a shadowed area and watched the checkpoint, a break of luck two guards came over and filled them in on the situation and one of the Templars was brought with them leaving the last one alone. He checked his crossbow and made sure the bolt contained a paralytic poison that wasn't lethal. He walked calmly towards the checkpoint, his heart pounding and just as he got in range the Templar gave him a glance but didn't make to stop him and with that he breathed a sigh of relief after he had turned the corner and gone to Low Town.

 

It wasn't long before he had gotten to the warehouse, He sat on a rooftop watching the guards, two at the door, four patrolling the grounds. He scanned the roof to see a hatch that was used for repairs and with a running leap he made it and was down inside the warehouse.

 

The sound of a busy crew filled the warehouse, men shouting to move crates and barking orders. Wind slipped in behind some crates on the second level and watched as a stocky dwarf managed everything that went on. His red leather jerkin bearing the symbol of the Crimson Oars. He looked around to see the Overseers Office empty and moved quietly along the metal gangplank that made up the walk way on the second level. He quickly picked the lock and slipped inside. He checked the desk and sure enough he found the letters from the Ambassador, detailing the seizures of property at the harbor but there was something else. He mentions the assests held at a special parlor open to rich clients late at night. Flesh Auctions was a word that popped up a lot. The continual mention of merchandise and imported flesh told him that they had brought in a huge shipment of slaves, as he went through the files he found they were all Elves. Wind seeded with hate and decided to shut down this operation.

 

He placed his hand on the floor and felt the thumping of footsteps, someone was coming and with that he slipped noiselessly behind some crates and waited. The dwarf from before entered and then sat down at the desk, his back turned to Wind. Quickly and quietly Wind approached, one of his Crow-Blades drawn. He slid the dagger to the dwarfs throat and the slaver froze.

 

"Tell me where the slaves are, or I take your life..." He threatened in a calm almost sadistic tone, like a cat toying with a mouse.

 

The dwarf gulped and began to sweat heavily. "I....I...I Don't know where they are only L knows fully..." He said, stuttering in fear. Wind thought for a moment, "This L person must be the boss of the whole operation." Wind watched as the burly dwarf shook with terror. "Tell me where the slaves go after they leave here." He said again in his calm tone, his antivan accent throwing in a much larger intimidation factor.

 

"Just so you know, if your after L he was once a Crow, I'll tell you if you won't tell him I told you where to find them AND him." He said, "L and the slaves are never far apart, its a big shipment a special order for a client. Rumors are its Tevinter but I think its got something to do with L and the Ambassador..." He explained, Wind had figured the connection but what with the vanishing elves and this operation he knew that this was a big connection. "Who is the contact, what is the connection between L and the Ambassador?" Wind asked, pressing the blade further against his throat so that a trickle of blood ran down his neck and vanished into his armor.

 

"Look all I know is that the slaves are being held at a secret place underground, there is a chamber in The Deep Roads, L goes there once a month with the slaves and we never see them again, My cousin Torlin is his guide only he and L knows where the chamber is." Wind, drew the blade back and cut the dwarf mercenaries throat, he died quickly and silently and with that Wind was gone, he knew Torlin he had dealt with him many times but he had thought Torlin was just a guide and treasure hunter not a slave smuggler.

 

An hour later Wind arrived at Torlins house, he knocked on the door and smiled, trying to hold back his rage as the door opened and inside were Torlins two girls, Kamila and Lusiva. His wife was cooking dwarven Svorc' a kind of mix all soup and Torlin sat at the door smoking a pipe. Wind held up the badge of his cousin and the letters.

 

"Tell me where the slaves are and I won't kill your family in front of you..." he said quietly but with every seed of malice he could muster. He hated slavers, his own history saw to the reason why.

 

Torlin took a stressful sigh and quickly drew a map to the chamber in the deep roads. Once Torlin handed him the paper Wind drew one of his Crow-Blades with astonishing speed and held it up to the dwarfs throat. "I killed your cousin for being a slaver, when I come back you had better not be in Kirkwall or by the maker I will find you, I will carve 'Elf Slaver' into your and your families skin and throw you into the alienage, where the locals might not like to find out that there friends and family have been vanishing because..of you.." He said slowly and cruelly, Torlin gulped and nodded, with that he closed the door and Wind left, he entered the Hanged Man trying to find those people that were heading for the deep roads.

 

The bartender handed him the advertisment and told them they would be in the Merchant quarter right about now. So without missing a beat Wind left and went to join them in the merchant quarter.

[Alaylyne]

Alaila lowered her head after Jadaco and Isabela answered, just to raise it back up only a few seconds later. Alright, talking isn't scary. You can do it.

 

"A...bird had a mabari?" she asked the pirate, thinking she didn't understand one of the shem's words.

 

"I've heard of them," the mage said to Jadaco, "but I have not seen one until now. I am, erm...not around here, to be honest."

[LeoXaladin]

While everyone is going to the merchant quarters, Cyhran says:

 

"Hopefully we must go through a forest to reach the entrance of the deep roads."

He takes one of his knives and throws it up.

"I'm in the mood to hunt."

He catch the knife and bring it back behind his belt.

 

The thought to roam the woods again let Cyhrans heart beats faster.

[SteffiSyndrom]

"You were at the battle of Denerim?" Isabela asked, surprise covering her face. "That's impressive. Have you actually seen the archdemon? I've encountered quite a few Darkspawn myself ... ugly things," she shuddered a little at the memory. She didn't know anybody who was not afraid of the Darkspawn, or at least respected them as powerful foes. If not, Isabela would think of them as fools. Even she knew not to mess with them. The only enemy more frightening to her than them, were the Qunaris. Thinking about them she wondered where the one that had been with them had gone. Maybe he was gonna catch up with them later. Well, or not ... hopefully.

The red haired woman's question made her chuckle. "Oh no, that was her last name. Hawke," she explained to her with a warm smile. "What about you. Have you ever fought Darkspawn before?" she then asked.

[Naktis]

"Yes, we will go through a forest." Illadriel replied to Cyhran's words. She chose the road that goes through the forest due to it being a shortcut but she also wanted to go there as well. It's been years since she spent at least some time in the forest and she missed the wilds greatly. The wilds and her clan...

 

It didn't take them long to reach the merchant's quarters in Hightown. The streets were bustling with merchants selling their wares as well as the curious people. By looking at all the people in the street it was impossible to tell that something awful ever happened in Kirkwall.

 

The elf brushed past the people towards the huge dwarven statue. A cart already loaded with crates and sacks stood near the statue. A few mercenaries walked back and forth waiting for the rest of expedition members to arrive.

 

"Here we are." Illadriel said and glanced at the others.

[Alaylyne]

"I'll second that." she added quietly to Cyhran's statement.

 

It's been too long since she ran throught the trees with other wolves or flown high in the sky, where you thought the sun could reach your feathers any moment. Cities full of people felt like cages to her, shackles that kept her imprisoned while her soul and her whole being desired to roam the wilds with no one following her. It was a beautiful feeling she wouldn't give up for anything in the world. Because if you leave something that is a part of you behind, a part of your very own soul...who are you actually?

 

"Oh...You humans sure have some odd surnames..." the elf muttered to the pirate, adjusting the hood on her face. "As for your second question, no, I have not. I've alway avoided areas they could be occupying, so I haven't had any encounters with them. But a monster's a monster and they can't be much more different than anything I've faced before. Well, except for the toxic blood."

 

The red-haired elf stared at the huge dwarven statue, her mouth slightly opened in awe. She's never been to this part of the town and it looked so different from anything she's ever seen. Perhaps places like this weren't as bad as the Alienage, but she could bet backstabbing deceit and runs most of the politics here.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Alaylyne

[Macman253]

Wind sat near the expedition, he had bribed a local merchant to give him the spot the Expedition is meeting, he also stole a bag of apples and munched them while he waited. He loved apples, sort of a childhood favorite. When he saw the first member approach the site, he could sense that she was a warden, they smelled of darkspawn. He took another bite out of his apple and began walking towards the expedition, pulling back his hood and smirking.

 

"That expedition job still open?" He asked as he approached.

[Flipout6]

Jadaco chuckled to himself. "Yes, we definitely do have some odd surnames. My last name, Phalanx, is also a military formation."

 

"As for the Battle of Denerim, yes, I was there. And I don't know a man who was there that DIDN'T see the Archdemon. It's a dragon, but deadlier than any High Dragon. It flew over the city, burned it, destroyed it. Even killed our longest-serving warden, Riordan. Took him in its jaws, right up into the sky and dropped him. It was quite a sight, it was bigger than most of the houses."

 

Cyhran mentioned his desire to leave, explore the wilds. So did Alaila, which didn't surprise him. "I can hunt, it's what I used to do for a living. In fact, I hate cities and have a very minor case of Claustrophobia because I'm so used to the wilderness. But I'm also worried. I was up on Sundermount a few days ago, an entire Dalish Clan had been destroyed, along with a Pride Demon in the caves. Whatever killed them was long gone, meaning it could be anywhere now. Anything strong enough to kill even one of those two parties is powerful enough to potentially do the same to us. We need to mind ourselves out there." Jadaco shuffled uneasily.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Flipout6