The Age of the Dragon

[Alaylyne]

Alaila fixed the hood on her head, getting a hold of herself. He knew she was going to the Alienage? Well, one would only assume an elf would live in the Alienage. Nothing strange there. She looked at the mage, much calmer now.

 

"No...no, that won't be necessary. I'm fine. Just....haven't seen those for a while." gripping her staff a bit tighter, she looked at the direction she was heading to. It seemed peaceful enough for her to feel secure.

 

"But, I, uh...thanks for the offer, I guess."

[Flipout6]

Jadaco, having watched everyone except the Dalish elf leave for the night, walked up to the counter and spoke to the innkeeper.

 

"I need a room for the night, please." He stated.

 

"That'll be five silvers." the inkeeper sighed impatiently as Jadaco fished them out of his pocket and dropped them into the innkeeper's outstretched hand. He walked back to the table and finished his stew. Before h got up to leave for the night, he figured he'd speak with the Dalish warden for a little bit.

 

"What will we be doing down in the deep roads?" He asked. He wasn't expecting her to treat him very nicely, but if she did, well then, pleasant surprises were always good.

[Brutii]

Morokei was watching the moon. It felt good to be out in the open air once more. He had entered Kirkwall, he moved his eyes from the moon and walked through the streets, he passed two templars dragging a man off and he shook with rage as they passed. He stopped, turned and watched them leave "Bastards." he said once they were out of an ear shot. There was a group of templars who had camped near his cavern home for a few days, while it was defensive, he had decided it would be best not to draw their attention, so had came to kirk wall. He proceeded to an inn and sat down. Morokei looked at a note on the wall. He laughed. So a grey warden was heading to the deep roads. He wondered how long one would last against the hordes of Darkspawn that now infested the dwarven paths. Prehapes he would follow them, see how long they would last. Morokei began to wait, he did not want to sleep. Dreams were dangerous. Edited September 8, 2012 by Brutii

[Naktis]

"Okay then. Suit yourself." Thomas mumbled and was ready to leave. He had decided to follow the elf just in case. The templars are more 'vigilant' at night than they are during the day.

 

Illadriel stared at the painting on the wall when Jadaco walked up to her. She glanced at the man. "We're going to investigate, Wardens go to the Deep Roads to... spy on the darkspawn" she paused for a moment thinking on her next words "the past few years were... strange." She took a sip of her refilled drink. "Our group is too small to go directly after them and I won't risk any of you.

[Alaylyne]

The red-haired elf looked at Thomas once more before continuing her way, puzzled by the way he said it. There was no fighting, on insisting, no...nothing, really. Like he was hiding something. Unconcerned by that at the moment, Alaila continued down the stairs, towards the Alienage just to freeze the moment she heard voices. Men voices, few of them. They had not seen her yet because she was sticking to shadows and her step was light. The woman leaned against the wall, trying to make out what they were saying.

 

"I told ya she lives 'ere, Zack. One of da elven dirt told me she's back." a group of Templars was gathered not far from the vhendahl, in front of Alaila's old house. Oh great. So one of her own sold her to the Templars. She knew she should had left right after not finding her mother.

 

"And you're sure that's the same mage?" the older templar - possibly the one called Zack - asked, looking at the old house like he could see through its walls.

 

"Yeah. I payed 'im good muney. 'er mother ain't 'ere, though. Da old witch ran away when she 'ad a chance."

 

Alaila's fists tightened, her face gaining an angry frown. Ignorant fools. Her mother wasn't even a mage. But that sounded just like the templars; calling innocent people mages just so they'd have an excuse to kill a mage's family and push him into blood magic if he hadn't dabbled in it yet.

 

The elf decided it was past her time to leave - the chance of detection was greater than she'd ever want it to be - and tried quietly stepping back. She'll most likely find a room at the Hanged Man or simply sleep somewhere in the open.

 

"Don't worry, Richard, we'll catch her. We have out man on lookout for a red-haired elf and-" the man stopped, silencing the other Templars.

 

"Did you hear that?" he asked, drawing out his sword while the others followed his example.

 

"It came from the direction of the stairs."

[Flipout6]

"What are we looking for when we're down there? I think we'd know it if they found another Archdemon, now would be the perfect time to strike. So I'll assume we're looking to find out more about them as a species, like how they make the Broodmothers. Taking one out in the process never hurt anyone, either. I personally can't wait, but I'm scared for Orum. If he bites a darkspawn, and then blood squirts out....It won't be pretty." Jadaco replied.

[SteffiSyndrom]

"Haha! Oh and then he said "My dagger is bigger than yours, babe!" can you believe that?! So I just said -"

"Wait, what is that?" the woman at her side hissed, pulling Isabela back before she'd slip past the wall and be seen.

The both peeked around the corner, the woman clinging to Isabela as she asked what was going on.

Isabela narrowed her brown eyes. She saw a group of Templars gathered in the Alienage, a red haired elf was heading the opposite direction, speeding up with each step but obviously she was still trying to remain unnoticed, as if she was just heading home. That didn't fool the Rivain woman however, as she could tell that the girl was troubled and not skilled in getting away quietly - she was a mage.

Isabela's eyes widened as she noticed the wooden staff on the girl's sleek back.

"You stay here," she advised the woman that had been with her. In her mind she cursed herself for being witness to this and not being able to have a nice, hot night just as she had planned.

The Templars were already heading after the girl, shouting quietly to each other to go and get her and not lose her in the many twists and turns of the city.

The elf began to run.

And that was when Isabela struck.

She was on the back of one of the Templars in no time, thrusting her dagger deep into his chest, through his thick armor. A lucky strike.

But that luck didn't last very long. Another one managed to grab some of her hair and pull her off his college, that now dropped to the ground with a loud thump.

"Who is that *censored*?!" another one shouted.

"It doesn't matter, get the girl!" the woman under the order commanded.

Three chased after the elf girl while two remained to handle the annoying intruder.

Isabela managed to punch her foot into the man's face - the fact that he wasn't wearing a helmet was her advantage.

He dropped her and held his bleeding nose while whining loudly and complaining about not getting paid enough for this. The other one didn't waste any time, however, and was charging towards her. Isabela managed to drop down and slide right between his legs, causing him to trip and fall on his face. She took the chance to dig her dagger into his calf. He roared in agony, Isabela was already back on her feet and made sure she would not be followed by those by knocking them out with another punch and kick into their faces. Then she chased right after the other three that were going after the girl.

She was breathing heavy and her heart was beating fast. A smile spread over her face - That's almost as good as having had some time with that fine lady., she thought amused.

The tracks they had left were more than obvious to her, so she managed to catch up with them - they had stopped at a dead end.

The mage was trapped and had taken a firm grip of her staff but was hesitant to use it. The Templars on the other hand closed in on her, smiling, smirking and laughing dirtily over their catch.

Isabela knocked the first one out with an aimed hit on the back of his head. He fell to the ground, soon followed by the other one - the one she thought was called Richard, or something like that.

The woman managed to spin around however and face the exotic woman. She swung her sword and was ready to chop her head off just like that ... but Isabela again, dropped to the ground and spun her leg, causing the woman to trip like a Templar before her had. "Aw, come on. You guys are so easy to fool!" Isabela mocked and used the pommel of her dagger to knock the woman out as well. "But I guess that's unfair for me to say, since I haven't had any good ale yet myself," she added and rummaged through the bag the Templar woman carried on her belt. "Ah! There you are," she smiled big as she pulled out a small bottle of ale.

Isabela emptied it in one sip, wiped her mouth with her arm and then looked at the elf girl, that was still standing pressed against a wall.

"It's okay, you are safe now," Isabela reassured and stepped closer. But before she could place a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, her hand got knocked aside by her staff.

"What do you want from me?" the girl hissed, looking scared but not so helpless anymore.

"Hey, I am one of the good guys here, I was helping you, or did I not just safe you from Tranquility or worse?"

The girl hesitated and slowly lowered her staff. "Why did you help me then?" she asked after a moment's hesitation.

Isabela just shrugged and offered her hand. "Just felt like doing some good, I guess. Isabela is the name. Nice to meet you."

The elf slowly and carefully took her hand, looking at it as if she was about to squeeze a snake. "My name is ... of no importance right now. Thanks for helping me."

"I could use a drink, what about you?"

"I ... I just ..." but before the elf could to anything, Isabela had already wrapped her arm around her small shoulders and lead her to The Hanged Man - again, as for the elf's case.

[Naktis]

Illadriel looked around the tavern for a moment. "There won't be another Archdemon, not yet." The Dalish spoke and glanced at her empty tankard. She gestured the bartender to refill their drinks. "You are right about the Broodmother, if we'll find one it would be for the best to kill her" she paused for a moment "we already have the knowledge how the Broodmothers comes to be and I'm not sure if there's more to that." Illadriel took a sip of her drink and for a few minutes said nothing. She was quite surprised that this man even knew about the Broodmothers, they are not exactly common like Genlocks or Hurlocks.

 

She took another sip of her drink and glanced at Jadaco's Mabari hound. "There is a way to cure a poisoned Mabari." She said, still looking at Orum. Back at Weisshaupt Fortress there was an old woman who knew how to cure the hounds that were poisoned by the darkspawn blood. A few wardens had their own dogs, thus such knowledge proved very useful.

[Alaylyne]

Alaila cursed on the inside as she kicked some rock with her leg accidentally, alarming the Templars. Starting to run, the elf could clearly hear them chasing her, but the number fell to three instead of five pursuers, causing the mage to rapidly throw a glance behing her. They were fighting someone else....and that woman was no mage.

 

Speeding up, Alaila feared two things - that she was going to get lost in all these streets and that she will be dragged off like that man from before. Hopefully Thomas had a chance to disappear before they noticed him.

 

Due to templars' heavy armor, Alaila had gain some distance, but her first fear came true - a dead end. Breathing heavily and holding her wooden staff that looked no more than a walking stick, she turned her back to the wall and looked at her pursuers that had caught up with her.

 

"Well, wouldn't you look at that..." one of the Templars spoke to the others, his sword drawn out and breathing as heavy as Alaila's. And they wonder why mages get away - it's why one wears robes.

 

The elf swallowed, looking at the man who said that. She did not like that tone of his...

 

"Once this dangerous maleficar is disabled, we ought to have a bit fun with her...after all, you do not find such a long-wanted criminal every day. " the one to Alaila' right said, making hairs on the elf's body stand up. Now would be a good time to fly away...literally.

 

As Alaila was silently preparing to cast a shape-shifting spell, that woman from before appeared and killed the templars as easily as if she was slicing bread. One would think it's her job to do so.

 

When they were all lying on the ground, Alaila just knew they were going to blame her for those murders. Just great.

 

The foreign woman said something to the elf, but the mage wasn't listening at first. When she raised her head to look at the stranger, she was already standing close to her. Too close for the mage's tastes.

 

"Who are you?" the red-haired woman demanded to know, holding jer staff in her eye height, successfully slapping woman's hand away when she tried to touch her. The mage didn't know why would she want to do that, but touching was definitely something she wasn't fond of.

 

Isabela was the name, that's what the woman said. Alaila did not know her nor she liked people who just jump out of shadows, watching to keep her distance from the sneaky woman.

 

When asked for her name, the elf was simply quiet for a while, not offering any answer.

 

"My name is of no importance to you nor should you know it." she said quietly, one point of her staff resting on the ground.

 

"You might have helped me back there, but that does not automatically earns you my trust. She did not accept the woman's hand when offered, simplx standing there in awkward silence.

 

So the woman claimed to be one of the "good guys". Huh. The elf had trouble believing that. Even though she was much more relaxed than before, the mage's body was still stiff, as if waiting to be attacked.

 

She simply smacked the woman's hand away again when she tried to hug her, but followed her to the Hanged Man. It was too dark and she had no ideas where she was, so the mage assumed it would be better to retire for the night at the inn and try her luck with entering her old house at the dawn.

 

The sooner she is out of this blasted town, the better. Thank the Creators the warden and that white-haired mage - and the rest of the unusual group - were heading out tomorrow morning. She wouldn't have been able to stay unnoticed for long here.

[SteffiSyndrom]

(Sorry for my mistake of writing a few things that Alaila did. I just tried to get Isabela going and right into the story. Didn't mean to be mean or anything :( )

 

"You are not from here, are you?" Isabela asked the red haired elf.

It wasn't really a question, more like a statement for it was obvious that the elf's origins were something totally different than Kirkwall. Isabela wondered if she was Dalish. Could someone be Dalish without the tattoos?

She shrugged in her thoughts and opened the door for the elf. Music, talking, laughing, some shouting and the smell of beer, ale and other alcoholic beverages along with sweat and tobacco hit them as soon as they stepped in.