Two figures stood in a gloomy hallway.
In the light of the magical smokeless braziers, one punched the other on the shoulder. Repeatedly.
?Ow! Lily! Stop! She'll be here any minute! Ow! My shoulder! Stop!?
The door to the basement opened. Suzianna stood in the opening, waving a crooked little stick. ?Tarraam! A rod of fire!?
Jowain beamed. ?See! I told you she'd succeed!?, then pain struck him. ?Ow! You can STOP hitting me now...?
Lily sniffled. ?The door is this way.?
The trio rounded a corner and walked a short bit along a wide hallway. At the end of it they found a wide wooden door.
?They call it the Victim's Door.?, Lily eagerly explained, ?It's made of two hundred and seventy seven planks, one for each original templar. It is a reminder of the dangers that all those cursed with magic pose.?
Suzianna raised an eyebrow. The planks of the door did not remind her of much anything at all, but calling magic a curse made her clearly recall her desire to punch in the gut and singe the eyebrows of anyone who let such drivel pass from their mouth.
?Magic isn't a curse! Stupidity is!?
She glared disdainfully at the initiate, who glared right back.
?The chantry says it is!?
?The chantry worships a damn mage!?
Lily puzzled a moment with the reference. Heresies weren't part of her general reading curriculum. But she had heard talk...
?Andraste wasn't a mage!?
?Sure was! How else do you explain all the magic she kept flashing about??
?Andraste did not do magic! Her power came from the maker!?
?As does mine no doubdt, at least once a few hundred years of arguing fanatics are done embellishing the details.?
Lily seemed shocked. ?You're a heretic! A blasphemer!?
Suzianna smiled smugly. The ad-hominem, factual as it was, completed her victory. She was about to invite Lily to call her a 'bad person' as well, but Jowan interrupted her.
?Girls!? -unfriendly frowns turned to Jowan- ?Ladies.?, he corrected himself.
?My phylactery? Remember? Behind that door there? Can we go smash it? Please??
The women turned towards the door.
Glancing angrily at Suzianna, Lily spoke the password; ?Sword of the maker, tears of the fade.?
Suzianna shhok her head with distaste. ?Lamest password. Ever.?
She found both of the others staring at her expectantly. ?So... What do I do??
?Cast a spell at it.?, Jowan instructed.
?Which spell??
?I don't know. I don't know if it even matters...?
Suzianna shrugged, a blast of fire it was then, and the door opened to reveal a short corridor with two doors, in addition to the one they'd opened.
Lily walked up to one of the doors. ?This is it. Melt the locks off.?
Suzianna held up the rod of fire, and willed it to release a blast of roaring flame. And nothing came of it.
She tried again. ?Eh. Owain must have given me a faulty stick. That prick hates me, I swear...?
?No, wait.?, Jowan attempted to cast a spell. It failed. ?I think something is eating all magic here.?
?These wards.?, Lily gestured at subtle carvings running around the door frame, ?They must be the templars' work. Oh! I should have known! Why would they use an ordinary lock for a door like this? Because magic locks would not work! Oh! We are finished!?, she threw herself sobbing on Jowan's beaten shoulder.
Jowan buckled somewhat under the weight.
?Yes. Brilliant. Such reasoning and deduction...?
Suzianna turned to look away. Incidentally, 'away' was also the direction of the second door. ?Say... Anyone have any idea what's behind that door over there??
Lily and Jowan turned to look.
?Didn't someone sometime say they also stored dangerous artifacts in here??, Jowan wondered.
Suzianna shrugged. ?Let's find out.?
She walked up to the door, and attempted to use the rod again. A roaring blue jet of fire instantly licked the ceiling. Suzianna smiled.
?This makes me happy.?, she absentmidedly muttered as she focused the flame into a sharp, controlled tip, and blasted the lock with it until only so much molten iron remained.
The rusty old hinges creaked loudly as they pushed the heavy door open.
The room was full of artifacts of all kinds. Small ones were packed in locked boxes, while larger ones stood bare, arranged in rows; they were fenced off with ropes and chains, and probably someone's sincerest prayers than no one would be rude enough to disregard the restrictions.
?This place needs sparkles.?, Suzianna commented on the thickly dust-covered sight.
?I'd rather just have some light.?, said Jowan, eyeing the corners where the light from the hallway did not reach.
With a Meh, Suzianna fired up the rod again. ?There's light enough for everybody and then some.?
A silent moment.
?So where do we start??, Jowan asked.
?Uh, I don't know. Just, anything with a lot of oomph? Or maybe just a big hammer to vandalize those wards with... anything.?
?Right.?
Lily remained silent, she was clearly uncomfortable with so many things labeled both dangerous and magical all around.
They began browsing through the items disorganizedly.
Suzianna melted the locks on a pair of strongboxes, but Excepting an angry treebranch that tried to bite her, she found nothing particularly interesting.
Jowan focused on a row of statues, while Lily mostly stood around, trying not to touch anything. She eyed everything warily, clearly expecting some artifact or another to pounce upon her with murderous fury.
Suzianna moved on to inspecting a set of cast iron figurines on a table. They all seemed very evil. Some of the men represented even had sharp moustaches.
A bizarre spiked bowl with inscriptions drawn over it in seemingly random spots caught her attention. She leant in closer.
The bowl was of cast iron - or looked like it anyhow - but with it's rough spiked surface, it seemed somehow almost organic.
As she leant even closer to take a better look at the inscriptions, a tongue of flame leapt from the blazing rod of fire into the bowl.
First there was just a little smoke, then a little glowing spot appeared in the bottom of the bowl.
The spot grew, and the glow intensified, until the bowl was beaming up an bizarre pillar of pulsing, solid... light, that lit the whole room with it's red glow.
Jowan raised his head, ?What's that? What did you do??
Suzianna shrugged. ?I found us some light.?
Jowain walked over, and began studying the bizarre artifact.
?Have fun with that. Don't think it's going to be much help for us though.?, Suzianna casually commented.
?Probably not...?, Jowan said dryly, ?If I'm guessing right, it's a demon calling beacon.?
Suzianna seemed a little flustered, ?Oh... Mm.?, she started. ?You remember how I pretty much slept through those lectures about old languages and everything...?, she finished apologetically.
Jowan did not take his eyes off the bowl. ?Well, yeah, you snored.?
Suzianna grunted. ?The demons are staying in the fade, so we might as well use it as a lantern. C'mon! It's shiny! It's bright! The best lantern ever!?
Suddenly a heavy, metallic, chained-shut, trunk on the opposite side of the room shook violently. Something writhed about inside.
Lily screamed.
Suzianna and Jowan shared a look and a thought; ?Then again, maybe not.?
Suzianna quickly grabbed a staff from a nearby stand, and while Jowan tried every fitting turn-the-fuck-off-already-you-infernal-piece-of-junk phrase he could think of, she snuck closer to the large crate.
?What did you do?! What did you do?! What is it?!?, Lily screamed in full panic.
Suzianna gripped the staff tight with trembling fingers.
She called up a faint trace of magic, and poured it into the staff. It sent a fiery orb smashing into the wall. It was the right kind of staff.
Suzianna inched closer to the back and forth swinging container. She could now hear it clearly, punding and scratching, something hammering and clawing violently on the inside of the lid.
Behind her Jowan yelled; ?Kotnik adarab utaal!?, and everything went dark.
There was a loud crash, Lily began screaming, and Suzianna felt an aircurrent as something rushed close past her.
Suzianna blindly fumbled for the rod of fire. It took long, too long.
Stupid! stupid! stupid! She didn't need the rod for anything!
She conjured a flame into her hand, and there was light.
Lily was still screaming, but seemed to be unharmed. Jowan just looked around wildly, eyes wide with fright, ?What is it?! Where is it?!?, he screamed, scouring the room with his eyes.
Lily calmed down, she did not seem to be in immediate danger of getting ripped to shreds.
The crate lied on the floor, smashed open, but otherwise little seemed out of place in the large storeroom.
A few small shelves and stands had been knocked over though, and broken glass and pottery littered the floor. Something had rushed through, fast, powerful, and careless.
?Whoa...?, Suzianna took a deep breath, and tried to get some stability to her voice. ?I... think it, whatever it was, ran out.?
Jowan scowled at her, shocked, ?You're not touching shit in here anymore!?, he yelled, uncharacteristically rough and commanding.
Suzianna shrugged meekly. She could hardly object. Hell, if there were more surprises lurking about, she did not even WANT to object, not even for the principle of it.
?Uh, Lily, could you watch the door??, Jowan shakily asked, ?Yell if anything comes back this way.?
Lily at first opened her mouth to object. She did not like the idea of letting spooks run rampant in the tower.
But she did not quite feel up to running rampant AFTER spooks in the tower either, so she quickly convinced herself they could not interrupt their project of breaking and entering, and quietly took a place by the door.
While Jowan resumed inspecting a row of statues, Suzianna walked over to the broken monster-container, warily, just in case there still would be something inside. There wasn't, nor was there much to be made of what remained.
The lid was in pieces, shattered with great force.
Lettering in some foreign tongue was carved on pieces of it, but Suzianna could not comprehend it.
The insides revealed nothing peculiar either; something large, but still within human limits, had been held inside. And now it was out somewhere.
Suzianna shivered. ?Well...?, she quietly uttered to herself, ?Can't go hunting for it right now...?, unknowingly in silent agreement with Lily.
Meanwhile, Jowan had found an large, angry looking statue of a dog.
As far as he could translate the inscriptions running over it's base, they implied that it was some sort of an magic amplifier.
It was probably Tevinter in origin, as most of the dangerous artifacts found in the room were.
?Find anything??
Suzianna popped up behind him.
?This just might be what we need...?, Jowan pondered, ?I think it amplifies magic. If we can work the rod of fire with it, we might just be able to blast down the wall between these rooms here.?
?Seriously??, Suzianna asked incredulously, ?That's going to be one hell of a blast and noise.?
?Can you think of anything better??
?Hm...?, Suzianna glanced at Lily, and continued in a conspiratorial whisper, ?Well, we COULD use your girlfriend's head as a battering ram.?
?Uhh...?, Jowan sighed frustratedly, and answered in an equally quiet voice to avoid being overheard, ?You don't really hate her all that much, do you? You don't even know her.?
?But she's stupid! And she's joined the templars!?
?She didn't exactly have a choice, Suz, she was handed over for the chantry to raise when she was little.?
?C'mon Jowan! Did they really FORCE her to become a mage killer? I don't think so. She could be peacefully trying to convert the heathens in the wilds or something. But noo, here she is, looking to learn the best ways to stick a sword in any who get out of line... Oh, oh! Or maybe they just thought she seemed the best for the job.?
?You're just being a terrible ass. If you weren't paying attention, she's right here, helping me.?, Jowan inhaled deeply, ?Look... Whatever's brought her here, I don't care. I love her, Suz. And I'd very much appreciate it if you'd show some solidarity here, at least until we're clear and done here.?
Suzianna glanced over at Lily and wrinkled her mouth. ?Well, I guess love overcomes all...? - ?Thanks.?, Jowan was a little too quick to say - ?...even the LARGEST obstacles...?, Suzianna completed the thought, and smiled warmly at Jowan.
Jowan gave her a pained look. Then an anvil droppepd on his head. Well, it wasn't really quite an anvil, nor did it really drop from anywhere. It was a thought, and it occurred to him, ?You're being jealous! Maker! That's what this is all about, isn't it??
?W-what??, Suzianna was at first caught off-guard. ?Jealous? Me? No. Way!?
Then she fully regained her footing; ?Just look at her! What would I want with someone like her??
Jowan stared at Suzianna blankly, who smiled back, more honest looking than humanly possible. ?Yup, that's me. Straight as an arrow.?
Jowan's blank stare was relentless.
?You know, if I ever stray on that side of things, it'll be with someone prettier and less brainwashed... At the very least.?
Jowan surrendered, ?Ugh... Let's just move this thing in place.?, he said with a sigh.
They started pushing and pulling the heavy statue, moving it inch by inch closer to the target wall.
Lily was startled up by the noise. ?What are you doing??
?We're thinking to make a hole in the wall there.?, Jowan grunted as he pushed the angry hound a little further.
?Can I help??
?Noooo.?, Suzianna drawled, ?Feel free to let us do all the hard work.?
?Har-de-har, Suz, you're just killing me today...?, Jowan rolled his eyes. ?Please, Lily, help would be appreciated...?- Jowan glanced over Suzianna - ?This feeble elven wench I have prodding about here is made of chickenbones and vellum.?
?Hey, you're not supposed to be mean...?, Suzianna whined with mock offense as the three of them set to work.
After a while of sweat and labor they had set the dog-statue to stare angrily at the wall they had decided to demolish, and moved most of what they could lift away from the.
Much to their dismay, they found that the statue seemed to have no reaction whatsoever to whatever magics and common startup phrases they could work.
They tried, and they tried again, but to no effect.
Jowan stood up nervously. ?Ah, Lily, why don't you go watch the door while we puzzle this out.?
Lily shrugged, and went her way, and Suzianna gave Jowan an inquiring look.
Jowan answered with a whisper. ?I, ah, should have guessed... I think it's probably from ancient Tevinter. And it's in the dangerous artifacts locker room...?
Suzianna raised an eyebrow. ?Are you saying it uses blood magic??
?I... Think it might, yes...?, Jowan said, and noting the disapproving frown on Suzianna's face he continued, before she could start an argument, ?Look, I don't like it. But we don't exactly have many options right now.?
Suzianna looked over the statue and grimaced. It suddenly seemed that much more bloodthirsty.
?It shouldn't require very much of it, anyway. Just a cut across the palm should do, giving it a taste of it. Not really magic at all, actually, just... blood.?
?I don't like this.?, Suzianna shook her head, eyes fixed on the dog.
?Yeah, me neither. But do you see an alternative??
?I guess not.?, Suzianna sighed, ?Well. If it really won't be magic, well, I guess it won't be so terrible.?
?So if you'll go distract Lily, so she won't notice and get all kinds of shocked??
Suzianna snickered mischievously. ?You want me to prod her further, do you??
?Would you really have to??, Jowan despaired.
?You know I would.?, Suzianna assured with a grin. ?Just you go and talk to her and I'll do the bleeding.?
?Look, I really think I should do it. It's my phylactery we're after.?
?Mm... Look, if I go talk to her, she'll soon enough be running wailing up the stairs. You know she will. And then we'll both be screwed, no matter what we find inside.?
?I REALLY should be the one to do it.?
?Meh! Just go and talk her head off already, silly. Shoo! I'm the mage here, do as I command.?
Jowan yielded with a hopeless shrug, and went to distract Lily, while Suzianna grabbed a small utility knife from her belt.
There, Lily was distracted. ?Now... Who's a bloodthirsty little puppy, who??, Suzianna quietly cooed as she put her hand in the snarling mouth of the angry dog-statue.
She closed her eyes, and with a grimace, she quickly slashed her palm.
A little flow of blood gushed from the wound and splattered on the tongue of the thirsting stone-hound.
A faint pulse passed through the storeroom, the lights seemed to fade, though not much, and the air turned cooler.
The statue's eyes seemed to, not quite light up, but turn more reflective, somehow deeper, though if you focused, you would still see that they were just the same.
?Hey! Jowwy! I think I got it working!?, Suzianna shouted cheerfully and quickly wrapped one of her socks around her bleeding hand.
It hurt. Quite a bit, but she hid her grimace.
They gathered behind the statue.
Holding the rod of fire with her right hand, Suzianna placed her left on the head of the statue. This was it, finally.
She aimed at the wall. Her hand shook a little, she had not done any spells of the magnitude they were expecting here.
?Well? What are you waiting for.?, Jowan prodded.
Suzianna breathed deeply. She focused. ?Simon says, go BOOM!?
She summoned up all the magic she could muster, and blew it all into the rod.
The room went pitchblack as shadows ate all the light, while the dog's eyes flared blood red, and there was a loud roar, followed by a blast of searing heat and pressure that knocked them all over.
Slowly the light returned.
Through the billowing cloud of dust they saw it. A massive, gaping hole in the wall.
A few tiles fell down from the ceiling.
Jowan coughed. Suzianna coughed. Lily wasn't staring quite as slackjawed, she was merely staring with her eyes wide; she did not cough, but she had to wipe her eyes.
?It worked.?, Suzianna remarked blankly, simultaneously suffering assaults of guilt and insecurity for punching holes in the tower's walls, and pure GLEE and BLISS, for punching BIG-fucking-HOLES in the tower's walls.
?It worked.?, Jowan agreed, and began striding towards the repository chamber. ?Come on! Let's find my phylactery!?
The chamber was smaller than the artifact room, housing only a few shelves of phylacteries up on a raised platform.
The trio made their way inside and up to the shelves.
They started sorting through the tiny bottles, and soon enough Lily gleefully called out; ?Here! I found it!?.
Lily handed the tiny vial to Jowan who held it up, almost entranced. ?Such an little thing. And so fragile.?
Jowan dropped the vial, and it shattered, spilling a blot of blood on the stone floor.
?It's... Kind of unbelievable we're kept in check with such tiny little breakable thingies...?, Suzianna stared at the glass-shard littered pool of blood, ?It sucks.?, she concluded with a scowl.
Jowan just shook his head mirthfully. They'd actually done it! He turned to look at Suzianna. ?Thank you. Seriously, Suz, thank you. Wow. I mean, wow! We did it!?
Suzianna squirmed. ?Aw, you know I hate it when you suddenly get all sincere and all like that...?
Lily turned to look at her, all ice and anger somehow wiped from her expression. ?Yes, thank you! We couldn't have made it here without you!?
Suzianna squirmed even more. She even had to fight an urge to shuffle her feet, as well as an urge to strangulate Lily, for stepping up from the level of interaction she was comfortable with.
?It's... nothing, really.?, Suzianna finally mumbled. ?And anyway, there's still the matter of getting out from the tower.?
Jowan seemed to sink into thought, prompting Suzianna to ask; ?You do have a plan? You weren't just thinking of knocking out the guards and making a run for it? ... Oh, maker. Please, don't tell me you were...?
?I, er... You don't think it would work??
Suzianna sighed. ?It'll work if it has to... We don't exactly have the time for anything brilliant anyway... But let's try talking first. Maybe Bran will let us for a stroll outside.?
It was agreed then, and they began making their way out from the basement.
They weren't counting on running into the templars of the tower, all waiting in formation for them, just up the basement stairs. In fact, they had been counting on rather the opposite being the case.
Greagoir and Irving at the head of the group cemented the disappointment.
The trio tried to look as not-guilty as possible. It did not work.
?An initiate conspiring with a blood mage.?, Greagoir preached, ?I am disappointed in you, Lily.? Greagoir stepped closer, and gave Lily a hard scrutinizing look. ?She seems shocked, and fully in control of her mind. Not a thrall of the blood mage then.?
?And this one... Newly a mage...?, Greagoir turned to scowl at Suzianna, ?Irving, I WISH I could say I am disappointed... Well, alright, I am a little, but just the tiniest bit. Seriously, Irving, you need to get your mages in check...?
Irving shook his head, ignoring the personal rebuke. ?I'll just... be disappointed for the both of us then...?
?You don't care what happens to us! Or any of the mages.?, Jowan yelled. ?You just bow to the chantry's every whim!?
This outburst earned Jowan a kick in the shin and an quiet, angry hiss from Suzianna; ?Idiot! Totally the wrong time for that...?
?Enough!?, Greagoir broke the quarrel, ?Witnessed by the templars gathered here, with the power bestowed upon me, I sentence this blood mage, Jowan, to death.?
The templars began moving towards Jowan.
?And you, initiate.?, Greagoir turned towards Lily, ?By allying yourself with this blood mage, you have scorned your wovs and made a mockery of everything we stand for.?, he angrily shook his head, ?take her to Aeonar.?
?W-what??, Lily stuttered, taking a frightened step back, ?The mages' prison??
Jowan snapped.
He pulled a large curved dagger from a hiddenfold in his robes, and punched it right through his palm, yelling; ?I won't let you touch her!?, as he did.
He had everyone's attention.
He swung his arm in a wide arc, sending a shower of blood on the whole templar detail, and on cue, deep red shadows rose from the blood and assaulted the templars, until everyone but the three accused lied smothered unconscious.
Lily stared on with bewilderment and horror.
Suzianna stared on, put utterly speechless by bewilderment, shock, and crushing sensations of gullibility and stupidity. She fancied herself neither of the latter, which did not make it any better.
?Blood magic! Jowan, how could you!?, Lily gasped.
?I just... dabbled!?, Jowan pleaded. ?Please Lily! I'll give it up! I'll give up all magic! Come with me!?
?Your 'dabbling' has 'just' knocked down a 'few' templars, Jowan. And Irving. And Greagoir.?, Suzianna muttered quietly.
?Damn!?, she shout out in shocked amazement, ?That would have knocked down their mothers too if they were present!?.
She was ignored. Everyone present was either knocked out, or engaged in the final stages of a lover's quarrel.
?I do not know you!?, Lily wailed dramatically, and raised her hand commandingly in a dismissive gesture, ?Get away from me, blood mage!?
Jowan's mouth stretched to it's limit in grief, and he rushed from the scene. He did close his mouth before he left though.
Recovering from the surprise, Suzianna knelt down to help the slowly stirring Irving up on his feet.
Greagoir stood up on his own, as did most of the templars.
?Get after him!?, Greagoir barked furiously, and began pacing about angrily.
?If you had let me act sooner, none of this would have happened!?, he frustratedly growled at Irving.
Greagoir turned back to face Lily. ?What is she still doing here? Get her out of my sight!?
Suzianna could not quite keep her mouth shut. As much as she did not like Lily, she did not think she deserved Aeonar either. ?Lily didn't know he was a blood mage!?
?It is alright.?, Lily spoke with the distant calmth of a martyr, ?I was wrong... I have conspired with a blood mage, and will accept whatever sentence is set for me... even... even Aeonar.?
Greagoir angrily waved the templars to action, and they promptly began escorting Lily to lockup until she could be taken away.
?And you, what are we to do with you...?, Greagoir growled, finally addressing Suzianna, ?You have made a mockery of the Circle with your antics!?
Irving joined in; ?You knew he was a blood mage, and still you chose to help him. Why??
?I.. Um...?, Suzianna tried to come up with an answer that would ease the pressure, ?
Mmm...?, she tried hard, ?
Mmm??, but she failed.
Suzianna ventured; ?I... did not BELIEVE he was a blood mage??
Greagoir muttered under his breath; ?Idiots... Worse than abominations...?, then he addressed Irving with a biting tone of sarcasm in his voice, ?So, what should we do with her, Irving, should we assign her to library duties to teach her a lesson, maybe we should have her clean the toilets as well this time??
?No need to be snide, Greagoir, none of us saw this coming.?, Irving said defensively, ?At any rate, she has broken the circle's rules, but most of all, the chantry's. It is your judgment to make what she deserves for this.?
Suzianna was stunned. Irving would not bail her out this time? But that was what Irving did! What he was supposed to do!
A shocked and hopeless ?Irving!? was all she managed, as she realized that it was a lot she had been taking for granted.
?Very well then.?, Greagoir started, ?Suzianna, for the crimes of aiding and abetting a blood mage, possibly conjuring non-permitted entities, as well as probably a slew of other violations as well, you will be confined in one of the guest rooms with only bare necessities until this incident is fully investigated, furthermore...?, something caught Greagoir's attention. ?What's that? A SOCK in your hand??
Greagoir closed the distance in a single stride, and forcibly grabbed Suzianna's wrist and twisted her hand up. He looked at the blood-stained bandage, and turned his -now fully iced-up- gaze up to meet her's. ?How did you get this??
?I, um...?, Suzianna could not lie fast enough.
Greagoir swiftly yanked the sock off. ?A clean cut??, Greagoir's eye's narrowed and his voice turned even colder, ?Not an accident then.?
Suzianna stood petrified. She had seen the knight commander in many moods, from roaringly furious to jovial.
But she had never seen him stare back at her with such coldness, with a hand on the hilt of his sword, emotionlessly calculating if he maybe should brandish it and hack her to pieces then and there.
?I'm not a blood mage!?, she desperately whimpered.
?Greagoir.?, Irving urgently joined in, ?We shouldn't be hasty. It still might be just a cut... She did not run out with Jowan, after all.?
Greagoir relaxed himself somewhat and sighed.
He turned to give orders to the templars; ?Lock her up in an empty closet somewhere. Keep a three-man guard detail until further notice.?
?I'm not a blood mage!?, Suzianna yelled, but the templars that not so gently proceeded to drag her into confinement did not listen.