Dragon Age: In The Footsteps of The Dreadwolf

[Sole Survivor]

With Solas' betrayal -- the Inquisition marches on Tevinter. Lead by Lady Inquisitor Lavellan they follow in his footsteps in an effort to stop his plans of destroying the world that they know. A new group of heroes rally together to take on the challenge laid before them. Only time will tell if they catch the scent of the wolf before he is gone forever.


Maker preserve them all.




This is a private role-play between @Ephemeral Epiphany). Please do not write within these posts. Feel free to read.
​

 

[HoodedMage]

Athera was silent as she looked at her advisers. Two humans and an elf blood walk into a war room, it sounds like some bad joke Varric would say to make Cassandra angry. It almost made her hope it was some sort of set up, almost. But, everyone here was more than qualified to help guide this branch of the Inquisition. At least, that's what her personal advisers had told her when they brought the three into the Inquisition. The first person to talk was the commander of the troops.


"We needed to build the Inquisition's power." Elijah Lebas, former guard of Earl Azer of Hercinia. Cullen didn't give her all of the details on him, just his name and what prompted the man to be the best candidate for the job. His voice was rough with wear and tear from yelling orders at his subordinates in the Free Marches. "If the Dreadwolf ever decided to attack us, there would be no way to strike back or even survive." Hard, hazel eyes stared across the room at the three of the people within. His lips in a thin line as he looked down at the war table. It didn't help the fact that no one had any idea where this Dreadwolf was or even his followers. It wouldn't even matter if they did, without troops or even Tevinter support, they couldn't launch for an attack or retaliate to an attack. Athera was calm as she gently placed her hand on the Elf blood's lithe shoulder. Her voice soft, but commanding as she spoke to Elijah.


"I've already sent word for a group of soldiers, they'll be here within the day." It was the most Inquisitor Lavellan was going to do. She wanted this group to grow and assert itself without help from the Herald of Andraste at every step. Dark red lips pursed themselves as they looked at the map. Letting go Elijah's shoulder, Athera pointed to the Hundred Pillars. Golden eyes looked up at the three as she tipped them off. "A group of elves were reportedly spotted travelling in the area," A frown formed on her lips as she continued. "Dalish elves to be exact. I suggest sending people to investigate to see if it's true." The commander was first to interject as he looked the map. A deeper look of forbearance as he explained the situation to the Inquisitor.


"I already sent what few men we had here, they returned a few days ago reporting that there were a few elven bodies with wounds seemingly from a blade." One of his hand ran through his red locks as he continued on. "Either the group made it out of an attack and continued, or slavers got a hold of them." A low growl left Elijah's throat as he stared down. The lack of possible knowledge or whereabouts on their enemy taunted him. "Whatever they might have known, or where they were going is lost." Athera matched his frown as she looked over the entirety of the map. Her eyes were closed in concentration as she tried to think of a place to help this order grow and find Solas. The remnants of her arm throbbed with pain as she held it. Athera's eyes opened slowly as she simply spoke to the three people she had entrusted this order to.


"Then, if we can't get information on him or his followers, find a way to build this Inquisition from the ground up. Get us soldiers, spies, and connections."

 

[Sole Survivor]

Listening intently on the information exchanged between the Inquisitor and the man, Yvonne Cabache did not move her head. Instead her dark eyes trained like a hawk moved between the pair. It was not difficult for her to keep her attention on the pair whilst out of the corner of her eye watching the elder of the group. Truth be told when Leliana reached out to her she has nearly turned down the fiery haired woman. This situation was not profitable to her or her people she did business with in Rivain. Hunting down some damn old elven mage was beyond her expertise. It took some gentle persuading to convince her, but in the long run she knew she would end up in this room. The Dreadwolf needed to be stopped. Yvonne would answer the call with information for blades and secrets as the poison.


"Lady Inquisitor if I may speak," Yvonne rose her voice. The sound that emitted from her lips sounded feminine with a natural deepness and accent that blended together. A sound she had practiced over the years that now came second nature to her. "We may never know what information they kept behind closed lips; however, we stand here ready to face the darkest nights to fetch it by what ever means we must."


Her fingers curled into a fist -- all but her index finger. Pointing said digit to the map, she ran along the trade routes. "I have sent for a number of my contacts to accompany us here. No more than three days till the last drops boot on our soil. One is here currently, arriving shortly after myself. They come with a small grouping on those who work underneath her. A small group, true, but comrades who know what danger we face and have the nerve to aid us. Determined as they are, I have already sent them out to a few locations to listen to rumors. Large cities with slaves as well as free men."


Next to the Rivaini woman, the ex-magister lingered their attention on the map. They had taken careful note of the locations marked and unnecessarily stabbed by a knife. Each one of them a missing person or group that led to no answer. The Inquisition so far had not proven that resourceful in Tevinter. A challenge lay before them that they knew would bring greater problems than results.


"A start." Marius said from underneath the high style Tevinter mask. Being an ex-magister they still have quite the appearance to keep up. Contacts upon contacts throughout the country in both the higher ranks and the lower only deepened the status they had to keep.


"Spies will benefit us, yes." They said against this time crossing their arms across their chest rather tightly. "Soldiers as well. Yet a somniari alone would take great power to over come. The one we seek is beyond the few we have experience in dealing along side. Shaping the fade and jumping into dreams? If we were wise we could consider the less likely assistance of dwarven people. Those whom cannot dream."


Yvonne turned her head to look Marius, quirking up a single brow. "That would be one way to look at it. We still need more than just bodies."


"A way we need. Any way is better than none, no?" Marius corrected the dark skinned woman. "Letters can be dispatched." Twisting at the waist, they gazed towards the Inquisitor. They noticed the Inquisitor grab for her arm, assuming pain was radiating from it. "Have faith Herald. What little we may know -- he doesn't know."

 

[HoodedMage]

Athera nodded solemnly, her eyes meeting Yvonne and Marius's. Black hair fell over one of her eyes as she looked down at the map. The knife glistened in the candlelight of the war room. Red lips twitched as she looked at her reflection in the metal. Tan skin laced with golden markings of Mythal was shown to her before she looked away. "It's not doubt that makes me worry." Athera's voice was sturdy as she looked at the three of them. "It's what's at stake." Moving away from the map she looked at Marius with strong eyes and conviction in her voice as she gave an order. "Send word and see to it we get their support." Elijah was quick to interject.


"The dwarves aren't going to be enough." His voice was a bit louder than when they had started this council. "We'll need to get support from the Magistrium, possibly even the Archon himself." Elijah could feel a headache coming on just thinking about it. "Information and allies are all well Inquisitor, but we need swords and staves to actually fight this creature." The cold glare he received the moment the word 'creature' left his lips would have been enough to kill a lesser man. "I-It's just without the proper resources we can't exactly get a good foothold in Tevinter." Elijah blushed in embarrassment at the stutter in his voice as Athera's glare softened.


The Inquisitor knew the challenges of going after Solas. This was one of them. "I know, I've sent word to a friend of mine. He's a magister now, he'll send reliable gossip." Athera brushed a loose strand of hair behind her sharp ear as she spoke. "He'll know a way to get an audience with the Magistrium, it'll just take getting us enough influence and power for them to listen."


Elijah sighed silently as he looked down at the map. His eyes looking at the numerous regions and settlements before tapping Marothius. A small upturn of his lips as he got an idea. "We can start here." The elf stared curiously at the location her commander was pointing to.


"Why Marothius? As far as I know it's one of the Imperium's smaller settlements." Athera looked at Elijah for some sort of explination. One that he was happy to give.


"Exactly, if the Magistrium didn't favor us from the beginning it would be dangerous to try and go into a larger settlement." The commander soon placed a marker where the Dalish bodies where found. The two markers weren't far away from each other. "If anyone saw or had anything the Dalish left behind that could give us anything, they're likely in Marothius."

 

[Sole Survivor]

Marius nodded their head ever so slightly to where one would have to be watching them in fact to see the motion and not think it just trick of their imagination. The voice of Marius came again, "A wise man. It would be dangerous to anger them." They folded their arms across their chest against the black material of their robes, a rustling following shortly after. "I will send word to my contacts within the dwarves nonetheless. It will give us a start while we wait. For your friend, Inquisitor. And the swords."


Their eyes moved to the door that lead into the room in which they were currently situated. "I would not be so bold as to ask permission to leave, Your Grace. If we are making for Marothius than my help would be here. I cannot offer support in that field." They admitted with a small hint of disapproval in their voice. Not to the action but to the fact they could not offer anything really in the way of that. The small settlement would not be that populated with those that Marius would know. "I can however reach out a hand to the people. If you so desire. I do not think many will respond since they do not know what the Inquisition's goals are being a smaller subsection."


Shifting her weight to the side, Yvonne knew that Elijah was right. Secrets and allies were all very well and good, but without proper swords and staves they were nothing. A battle could be won a number of ways. Yet coming at it without sticks and only words wouldn't offer promising results in the means that the Inquisition desires. "We need to make a move and quickly. Even after they found the bodies with nothing on them -- it wasn't that long ago. We could by all means still find something if we get feet on the ground and in that direction. The sooner the better. If we wait we risk losing this lead."


Sharp chocolate eyes drifted towards the Inquisitor, lingering on her face. "My scouts can be sent ahead to make sure the path is cleared," She paused with a rough exhale of breath. Placing both of her hands on her hips she turned her attention onto Elijah. "Are we moving soldiers into the area if the Lady Inquisitor deeds this the proper way to go, Commander? You know your men better than I. Or shall we go under cover?"

 

[HoodedMage]

All the voices were too hushed for the elf to get a good idea of what was going on. Something about Marothius and cleaning? A glass to the door didn't do shit for eavesdropping. Just like the harsh stone she was kneeling on didn't do shit for her knees. Shiva tried to simply keep her ear pressed to the bottom. Though, it really didn't do much besides let her get her first clear snippet from someone.


"Send your spies, Yvonne. They can clean us a path and hopefully gather a small bit of information on the way." Whoever was talking, Shiva was certain it was at least a woman. So spies and a small, unimportant town in the middle of nowhere. None of the sounded appealing. At all.


"What are you doing?"


"Andraste's flaming tits!" Shiva nearly dropped her pitched voice as she stared up at the large oxman. Blue eyes glared at the man as she stayed on the ground. "Don't fucking sneak up on me like that!" The confused ,and rather unamused, stare the elf received was enough to tell her it was appropriate to sigh as she stood up. She barely went to Maras's neck as she grabbed him by his long hair. Dropping her voice to a mere whisper as she explained eavesdropping one more time. "I'm trying to hear what those big wigs in there are planning in there, get a sense of what we got ourselves into here. Without them knowing"


Maras didn't say much to the hair pulling as he listened to Shiva whisper furiously. His ram like horns brushed uncomfortably close to the elf's blonde hair as he pulled back. "And you thought this was a good idea how?" The tal vasoth stared at her as the elf went back to kneeling at the door with a glass held tightly against one of her pointed ears.


"Yup. If we're going to be sent to some desolate place, I'm gonna at least know what desolate place." Shiva couldn't make much else out from the meeting. It just sounded like repeated circular dialect that would bore anyone to death. "And thanks to you, I have no clue what's even going on in there." Her glare was enough to tell Maras that that was all his fault as she went to glaring at the wood paneling of the door.

 

[Sole Survivor]

Hours of banter over tea and little cakes left Rina in a rather jovial mood. The young dwarven woman was used to such a state coming from a wealthy Orlesian family. The company here was rather choice for what the options were available to the Inquisition at this moment in time. Many of them that she had gotten to speak with were soldiers from down south, having never stepped foot across the boarder or really owned the desire to go north into Tevinter. It was a pleasant situation. For she had never been north and she could relate with them. Yet those who were from Tevinter she listened to them speak of many tales as well as trivial gossip on some of the figure heads within the Magisterium. Surprising the least likely to speak to her over the matter was the Tevinter mage within their little party. He was kind enough but not really interested in discussing matters regarding her questions on Tevinter culture. Being that he is a man who found his interest more in the southern portion of Thedas along with Par Vollen.


Heading down the hall, the blonde haired dwarf admired all the large paintings on the walls. Places and things she knew little about but found herself ever more interested with each passing. Such culture existed here. A marvel really. A blackened gem that shew as more than interested in cracking open and taking a look at all it had to offer (and hide). Shaking her head she felt a small smile cross her lips, nothing toothy or largely out of place on her baby face. Rina set her mind back on what she had originally been coming to do which was to talk to Yvonne. About three days ago the dwarf had asked about if she could go out with some of the scouts to explore. Yvonne, justified in her words, told her that it would be unwise considering that Rina was not exactly a stealthy fighter. She promised that they would figure something out so Rina didn't go stir crazy.


She came to a stop when she approached the chamber that lead to the room the advisers would go speak in. Knowing that Yvonne had not been in her usual stop, Rina assumed she would be here. Yet to her surprise she noticed both the elf and qunari standing outside of the door in a rather odd position. Her neatly groomed brows rose widening her eyes a little at the sight.


"Good morning!" Her soft voice called to the two pair. Truthfully she wasn't sure why they'd be standing out there like that just waiting, but she doubted it was anything malicious. "Are they still speaking? I've been looking for Cabache all morning. One of the scouts said she'd be this way."