"Struggle is an illusion." "This will make you talk." "Stop the prisoners!" "Come back!" "He has escaped!" "The tide rises." "The tide falls." "Amateurs." "Saarebas?" "You escaped?" "Our cell was lonely without you, Yevven." "Did you divulge your secrets?" "No." "I told them nothing." "But you will tell me, old friend." "You will tell me everything." "There is nothing to struggle against." "Victory is in the Qun." "Victory... is in... the Qun!" "Athlok...?" "Hey, Athlok?" "Heh." "Two weeks, still don't respond." "She dim, yeah?" "You're one of us now, Athlok." "Like it or not." "Assassin of pigs now, ey, knife ears?" "Watch who you call knife ears." "Someone gotta be taught how it works down here." "Oh, I know how it works." "Looks like a pig." "Smells like a pig." "Squeals like a pig." "My job is to carve it up." "You've been called, elf." "Follow." "What now, privies need cleaning?" "You've been made Tallis again." "Really?" "Were my skills missed?" "There's a task, you've been given another chance." "Don't waste it." "There's been a breakout at the Chantry prison." "Our mage, the Saarebas, has escape with a group of prisoners." "Retrieve him, alive." "Do not stray from your mission." "You know the consequences for failing." "Again." "Uhm." "Where do you think you're going, Tinker, uh?" "Haha." "There's nowhere to run." "Can you not hear me?" " I hear you, I hear you..." " Can you hear me?" "I heard you!" "I heard you!" "Never mind, I'll carve it out of you." "Pardon me, plate mail, but I've been tracking this one." "He's mine." "My name is Cairn, and this criminal is being apprehended by the Chantry." "Well, I don't need him forever." "Be a good Templar and give us a moment." "Then he's all yours." "You were travelling with a mage after the breakout, a Qunari." "Where is he headed?" "How do you know that?" "Who are you?" "Athlok." "No..." "I'm Tallis, and I work for the Qunari!" "Your lover is the jealous type, uh?" "The mage Saarebas is our prisoner." "Leave by the authority of the Chantry!" "Alright." "I need to know where that mage went!" "Tell me, and I won't have that Templar haul you back to prison!" "Damn you, elf." "All I know is they're searching for some Dalish camp somewhere." "Now lemme up!" "I'll do better than that." "You're God here is called Andraste, right?" "Yeah." "She's brave and beautiful." "Sounds like we'd get along." "Say hello for me!" "Elf!" "Defend yourself, elf!" "You just murdered my prisoner!" "He was wearing a ear necklace." "Tacky." "Tell me what he said!" "I command you," " ...in the name of the Chantry!" " The Chantry?" "That church pulls your strings like a puppet, doesn't it, Templar?" "And you're Qunari, a half-step above darkspawn." "From the tracks there's at least a half dozen with the mage." "It's funny they only sent one of you after such a prize." "I'm enough." "Oh, confident too." "Tell me what he said!" "Almond?" "Go on, take one." "It's the only thing you'll get from me." "If I see you again, I will kill you!" "I don't consult with the enemy." "It's too bad, I'm a great consort." "Not safe in the forest anymore." "Brigands... ruffians, coming at you, from every direction" "I'm gonna open up a shop." "Open up a shop selling spoons, 'cause everybody needs a spoon..." "Hey!" "Remember me?" "I saved your noisy hide, so..." "You owe me." "OK!" "I'm looking for a Dalish camp..." "You are not welcome!" "Go, Templar!" "I'm tracking an apostate mage, what happened here?" "The Dalish solve their own problems." "Leave, or die!" "It's alright." "He's with me." "I was just waiting for him to catch up." "What do you mean waiting for me?" "How did you beat me here?" "You followed the mage, but I went where the mage was going." "Hoped to get here ahead of him." "Sadly, I didn't." "What happened here?" "Did the apostate do this?" "It was near dawn." "Our lookouts were the first to be murdered, so we didn't hear them until it was too late." "How many attackers were they?" "A dozen." "No, half that." "The mage was nothing I had ever seen before." "I have thought he was a demon." "Laughing as he torched us." "They were headed here for a reason, why?" "The Keeper's wagon was ransacked." "They were searching for something." "Fina is gone!" "They took her with them." "She's gone Maerwynn!" "Kidnapped!" "Josmael, there are many burned bodies, she may be among them." "No, no..." "She can't be dead, we're to be married next solstice!" "You are first to the Keeper!" "Act as such." "Show me the wagon they searched." "Where is your Keeper?" "I would speak with him." "He was taken, months ago..." "By Templars." "I found her hair ribbon outside the camp perimeter." "That means she's still alive, right?" "That's deductive thinking..." "We were 'trothed." "Soulmates, they said." "We were born on the same day, promised at birth." "What a beautiful coincidence!" "You have to help her!" "I don't have to do anything but accomplish my task." "Which is to retrieve the Saarebas." "I clean up messes, but yours is not mine to clean, little elf." "I made that mistake before, I can't do it again." "Got it?" "So what where they looking for here?" "Did they take anything?" "Yes." "A Dalish artifact." "The golden mask of Fen'Harel, the God of nightmares." "I know who Fen'Harel is." "I may be Qunari, but I was raised an elf." "The elves are all one people." "Adorable." "So, what magic does the mask contain?" "Only the keeper knew." "He was taken by the Chantry before he could teach me." "But I know it is very dangerous and I would give my life to protect it." "But it's gone and you're still living." "Fina was in danger!" "Isn't she gone too?" "I was torn..." "I..." "I just froze." "Not even a goodbye?" "After I saved your tin ass back there?" "Thank you for your help, but I have work to do." "Don't follow me." "Better idea!" "Let's work together." "Saarebas and his thugs took some kind of magic object from that camp back there." "Who knows what they're gonna do with it?" "Now..." "You could track the mage, that's what Templars do, right?" "And..." "I've already proven that I'm smarter than you, so..." "Oh, and I have this collar..." "That once snapped on the mage, it will render him powerless." "Docile." "We Qunari know how to treat our animals." "How did you become a Qunari?" "They forced you to convert, is that it?" "No intelligent being could..." "Before them I was nothing!" "I was a slave." "My parents sold me into it." "The Qunari gave me refuge, a purpose, and a name..." "Tallis." "What does it mean?" "To solve." "We'll capture the mage and we'll deal with his cohorts." "In the end, we duel for him." "To the death if we need to." "Deal?" "Deal." " But if you betray me..." " I'm not without honor, Templar." "Odds are we won't even get that far." "Two against that group is..." "Three will be better." "They have Fina, I know it!" "I can't live unless I find her." "Take me with you." "Sorry youngling, we have no nanny to nurse you while we do battle." "No need for coddling." "I'm useful." "How?" "I can do this." "Maker's blood!" " I have the gift!" " The curse, you mean!" "My uncle trained me, I know healing spells." " Apostate!" " No, wait." "You say you're a healer, little elf?" "Yes, lady." "A good one." "Prove it." "Go on, heal." "Anytime now." "Good boy." "You stabbed me!" "You wanted to prove a point, I proved it was my point." "You can come along, but the mage is our priority." "Let's go." "I am not working with an apostate!" "My job is to lock them up, or exterminate them!" "That boy is extremely dangerous!" "You'll have to come along to keep an eye on him then, won't you?" "You're going the wrong way." "My uncle would have protected our clan from the attack but he was taken months ago." "We hope that he escaped the Chantry." "Find his way back to us." "Few escape the Templars." "That's funny, the Saarebas did." "Maybe you met him!" "A Dalish mage imprisoned in Kirkwall, he's name is Yevven." "Dead." "The Chantry killed him?" "Of course not!" "He was being examined." "He was killed during the escape." "Saarebas did it." "To hide his trail to the Dalish camp." "The Keeper told Saarebas where to find the mask?" "Of course." "Try to keep up." "Josmael?" "You've been silent for leagues." "Doesn't seem your specialty." "With my uncle Yevven dead..." "That means besides Fina, everyone I love is gone." "Better to happen young." "It's less painful that way." "A follower of the Qun feels not love, for nothing should tyrannize their heart." "Religious?" "Just like to hear myself speak." "Love doesn't tyrannize!" "It's the only thing that matters in this world." "Without Fina, I'm nothing." "You two are old." " Thanks!" " Thanks." "So you probably don't remember when you first met, the feelings you get when you look in each other's eyes!" "Ohh!" " That's, uh..." " You..." " You have it wrong." " No..." "The Templar and I are not together." "But you love someone, right?" "I loved my family." "Loved?" "As Templars we're not allowed to marry." "We're wed to the Church." "Sometimes... that's lonely, but its the life I've chosen." "Our stations have that in common." "The Qunari assign us partners, if we are ever allowed one." "It's much easier that way." "Feelings just, uh..." "They lead to trouble." "I'll find Fina if I have to walk to the ends of the Earth, down the deep roads into the abyss of..." "Alright, well, I don't think we'll have to travel that far." "We're catching up." "The Phylactery is pointing to that cave." "Saarebas is in there." "And he's not alone." "Come on, let's go." "As a drowning man knows the sea, so does a mage know magic." "Wonderful magic." "Trapped." "Perfect!" "We go around the right, get the girl out of danger first." "Our only goal is the mage, you said that yourself." "Calm yourself, child." "This small sacrifice..." "Bards will tell tales of you." "What is a little blood..." "For a lot of power!" "Fina!" "Maybe I should have let you kill him!" "It's not too late." "Incapacitate who you can and stay in the back!" "I'll annul the mage's magic with the Phylactery, you punch him and get the collar on." "Good plan!" "Rouges?" "I'm here to save you, love!" "The Saarebas!" "I'll show you magic, elf." "You." "Reaver, earn your fee!" "The first step..." "The mask." "Josmael, leave it!" "It's my duty!" "Saarebas, remember this?" "Never again!" "I serve the Qunari no more!" "I serve myself!" "Blast you, mage!" "Rogues!" "No!" "No!" "Stop!" "Why am I the only one that has to clear rubble?" "Because you're the one responsible for us being trapped, infant!" "Keep digging!" "I'll make this simple:" "Help us, you live." "Live?" "In that pit of a prison?" "Unlikely." "How did you get caught up with Saarebas?" "You got coins, lovey?" "'Cause chopping or stabbing is the same to me." "A mercenary..." "I can respect that." "What the mage buy you with?" "Freedom." "Looks like it was just a loan..." "Lovey." "What's he doing with that mask?" "Where is he headed?" "I got hung out by him, sure, but my lips don't move for free." "Again!" "Put some arm into it next time." "Hold on!" "Can't you see she's a Reaver?" "Pain means nothing to her." "And if I'm in the right mood, then pain is alright." "You wanna go?" "Pass." "You're old news to a girl like me." "Leave her." "I'll send guards later." "Hey!" "Light!" "Hey, it's stinkin' dark in here!" "A little information would be nice, but we don't need her." "We can follow the mage with your tracking device." "No..." "The phylactery was broken during the fight." "There's no salvaging it." "You're kidding, right?" "Oh, I'm sorry..." "You wouldn't joke about anything." "So we don't know where he's going, what he's up to, even why he's got a hostage?" "I do!" "We need to shorten this process, Reaver?" "Stop!" "You're hired." "Half now, half after we capture the mage." "I assume that's about 20 times your regular rate...?" "Name is Nyree." "I'm yours, elf." "Command me." "Where did you get that?" "Oh!" "Your Keeper's wagon." "That's my clan's savings, you can't just steal it!" "Can't what?" "!" "Hire up a set of hands that helps us, rather than near kills us?" "She's right!" "If it wasn't for your incompetence," "I'd have that mage's corpse on my shoulder by now!" "I thought the Chantry wanted him alive..." "Of course!" "I remember your sorry face from the prison..." "I was there..." "What of it?" "Shoving those mages up and down the hall, back and forth." "Even had bets on what went on in that weird cell..." "Our task is to manage magic users!" "Alright, you two!" "We're gonna play nice together, got it?" "You!" "Tell me where the mage is going." "An elvish ruin." "The cinder mount?" "Sure..." "What's with the cinder mount?" "The mask..." "A sacrifice." "Ripping the Fade open." "He must be using blood magic, as he did here." "That's why he has Fina." "He'll..." "No." "No!" "Let's keep digging." "We should have never have left her, we should have ran!" "How far is this place, Nyree?" "We were on our way down Rowan Way, about a day into Wildervale." "My blade will sure smile slicing through that mage." "Tall and sinewy." "Will be hard for us to catch them." "I made a mistake back there." "We won't consider that elf girl again." "If you win our duel..." "Of course." "There's a shortcut through the Vimmark mountains." "We can be half a day ahead if we hurry." "How do you know about this shortcut?" "My people have no home but the road." "We know all the byways, just..." "Let's hurry!" "What do you know about these ruins?" "It's an ancient place of power from our people's time in Elvhenan." "Not our, yours." "Continue." "The veil between the Fade and our world is thin there." "Using that mask gonna create an army of demons, he said." "Heading to Kirkwall, destroy the Qunari..." "And then the Chantry." "And from there, who knows?" "Sounded like the side to be on though." "But why?" "He's pissed at the world!" "Raised as an animal..." "Collared..." "Used as a weapon..." "I'd destroy all that's in front of me too." "There!" "In the valley, that's the inn I spoke about." "Let's eat." "Gather our strength." "We shouldn't linger..." "The mage's party is smaller now, they'll move more quickly." "Like I said, this shortcut has us hours ahead of them, and no one wants to get to Fina more than me." "Alright, we're eating!" "Stop talking about it." "Meals, please." "And mead." "She's paying." "Fade that!" "Take it out of your tip." "But my mother would never serve slop like this." "An inn?" "Where?" "Up north." "Nevarra." "Home of the dragon hunters!" "Is it true you had to slay a dragon to become a Reaver, Nyree?" "Not a solo, but yeah." "That's amazing!" "Drank the beast's blood spurting from its sawed off neck!" "I fought beside mighty Templar Cassandra, in fact." "Head of the Seekers?" "You have powerful friends." "I didn't say we were friends." "So you went from an innkeeper's daughter to a Reaver?" "That leap is not a narrow one." "What?" "Parents abused you?" "Spurned by a lover?" "Avenging a child, perhaps?" "How about just getting to scare a man dead with a look?" "Or frenzy the more I bleed, uh?" "'Cause that's all the reason I needed." "Suppose that's as good a reason as any." "What about you, Tallis?" "Do you track people all the time for the Qunari?" "Hopefully." "If I complete this mission, I get to be Tallis again." "Permanent." "I thought your name was Tallis..." "It's only on loan." "The Qunari use titles." "Until a few days ago I was just a common laborer." "What they call an Athlok." "Your combat skills are slightly beyond a laborer's." "Of course they are." "I was demoted." "So what went wrong?" "A mission." "Several, actually." "The last one was was in Orlais." "An art collector there had an object the Qunari wanted, but he refused to part with it." "So I was tasked to break in." "Take it." "Leave no trace." "Turns out he was a collector of many rare things..." "Including little girls." "Maker!" "Yeah, four of them." "Chained in his bedroom..." "Slaves." "So I freed them." "They demoted you for that?" "I finished the mission, but uh..." "As far as leave no trace..." "They never found all the Nobleman's body parts." "The Qunari do not take kindly to renegade behavior, and it wasn't my first offense." "But you'd been a slave yourself, correct?" "You couldn't just leave those children there." "You're smarter than you look." "And you're less glib than you act." "Ooh, a compliment!" "Shall we rent a room then?" "Tell me, do you have to flirt all the time?" "I don't... have to." "I like to!" "Well, control it." "You blush it just encourages me." "Enemies, huh?" "Ah, blast!" "I wasn't finished with this crap tasting stew." "Hey now!" "Repay the blood!" "Now kiss me!" "Switch!" "Nervy!" "Nah!" "That will pay for my tables." " And the stew!" " And some information..." "You know, we didn't have to leave so quickly." "They are all dead." "The Innkeeper said those mercenaries have been hanging around the area for weeks, idle!" "It's not hard to figure out who hired them." "But how did Saarebas know where we'd be?" "Strange." "Like I said, the mage aimed to take Rowan Way." "That's easy too!" "Who told us about this shortcut?" "Oh, that's right!" "The little elf did." "You might be able to heal, but can you stick that empty head back on your bleeding body to do it, uh?" "When did you tell him?" "No!" "I didn't betray you, I promise!" "Outside the cave, Fina left this for me." "Wrote that she had escaped, and to meet her at the inn." "I didn't think you'd want to go after her, you just wanted the mage!" "Something must have happened." "I can't lose her!" "Deceitful little apostate!" "I knew nothing good could come of you!" "You are tainted!" "Back!" "I've had no cause to call you out before, but you're no more innocent than the boy, regards the mage." "Right, Templar?" "What are you talking about?" "That crazy mage got free because someone tried to butcher him on the sly." "Him!" "I saw you going into his cell." "Right before the escape." "Cairn's the man I have to thank for my freedom." "What are you keeping from us, Cairn?" "Out with it." "There will be no more secrets here." "I tried to kill the mage." "But he overpowered me." "The escape was my fault, but I wanted him dead." "And I wished to the Maker I'd succeeded." "Why?" "He killed my family." "That's the truth of it." "But how?" "Saarebas escaped our ship, but... he was captured by the Chantry right after." "Not right after." "Beached to the small town called Wrenwith, north of Kirkwall." "They took pity on him." "Removed his collar." "He destroyed the entire village." "My village." "And my family." "Templars arrived the next day and captured him, but it was too late." "My youngest sister Rhea died in my arms." "Why didn't you just kill him then?" "The Chantry forbade it." "Because they wanted to examine him." "They'd never had a Qunari mage on their hands before." "All they cared about was discovering your secrets." "Learning your magic." "So you tried to chop the mage, but screwed up and let him get free?" "I defied the Chantry, who I pledge my life to!" "Even now, I defy them!" "I stole the phylactery to find the mage for myself." "I tried to remain loyal." "But I couldn't." "I can't." "Not anymore." "You're a renegade too." "No matter how long we talk about it, the past stays the same and we end up here." "The mage needs to be dealt with, and it looks like we all have reason." "Well, I'm paid for and ready." "Where's the little elf?" "Josmael?" "Andraste's ass!" "Tallis and me wagered on who would get to you first, us or the mage." "What?" "I was just thinking about our deal..." "The Chantry wants Saarebas alive, but you intend to kill him." "That is, if you win our duel." "You were never intending on going back." "When I left Kirkwall, I knew there was no going back." "I have no regrets." "The mage deserves to die." "You know that as well as I do." "Doesn't matter what I know." "The Qunari want him back alive." "That's my mission." "I can't mess up again." "Sooner or later you will disobey another order." "You can't change who you are." "Then they'll do more than demote you." "Show me an alternative." "Free yourself." "As I have done." "Are you suggesting that we run off together?" "That I become Tal-Vashoth?" "What's Tal-Vashoth?" "One who abandons the Qun." "An exile, forever outcast." "From what I've seen, that's exactly what you are." "You said it yourself..." "We're both renegades." "I suppose..." "Although we see the pit, we cannot avoid it." "What are you doing?" "Falling into the pit." "Hey, boy, see that?" "I like to blow off a bit of steam too, just before battle." "You up for it?" "No!" "I'm betrothed to Fina." "Have you not been listening?" "You're going to get torn up by a demon army soon enough!" "You done it before, right?" "No." "Never!" "Then get here and practice, for Fina's sake!" "Hey, you two!" "Over here!" "At last!" "Fina!" "Josmael and I will sneak around the back, closest to the altar." "Get the girl out before attacking." "Really?" "But your mission..." "Will get done one way or another." "I can't be all Qunari after all..." "No use denying it." "Move!" "Let's go!" "For the first time in my life, I am not the weapon, I wield it." "Fina!" "Fina!" "Saarebas, they're here!" "What?" "What more appropriate audience for a night of death and destruction." "Go on Templar, I got this!" "I think not, Saarebas!" "Love, why did you warn them?" "All I've ever been was the girl you were to marry." "I wasn't special until Saarebas captured me!" "A little blood for a lot of power!" "Fina..." "My sister!" "No!" "Fen'Harel..." "Thank thee for thy wondrous tools!" "I owe you thanks, Templar." "Such freedom you've given me." "A gift for killing your family, perhaps." "You will bait me no longer, mage!" "You may take my family, but my future will be my own!" "Nice one!" "Tallis!" "Stop the blood!" "You..." "Tallis!" "Cairn..." "Cairn!" "Cairn!" "Cairn!" "Josmael, come quick, heal him!" "Heal him!" "There's no healing that, lovey." "But our duel." "Well, this has been an amusing respite." "You serve your title well, elf." "Tallis true." "Why?" "Why this?" "Why not just escape and live your life?" "I had the means to do harm, so I took it." "It was almost... involuntary." "How could I deny my function?" "The Qunari made me this way." "As they have made you." "You're right..." "No matter how hard we fight it, eventually we follow our true nature." "You can't be faulted for that." "And neither can I." "This is for Cairn!" "Here..." "Don't force it." "You got to dig down a bit." "Here..." "I'm going to walk the lad back to his people." "It's along my way." "I'm heading back to Nevarra myself." "Get myself clear of the blasted law." "The balance." "Doesn't feel much like a victory, huh?" "Not really." "I thought you might want this..." "To remember." "Thank you." "Goodbye Josmael." "One day you'll make a fine Keeper!" "Not one day..." "I am the Keeper." "I know my duty." "Thank you, Tallis." "Your Qunari gonna be right peeved with you not showing up with the mage." "There's a smart move, just lay it all on the Templar." "No!" "I'll finish my mission my way." "Right, renegade." "Who knows?" "Next time you see me I might not be Tallis anymore." "I could be Tal-Vashoth." "Past the idea of right and wrong, there is a field." "When a soul lies down in that grass, the world is in balance." "I will meet you there."