Dragon Age: Inquisition — Story Playthrough — Part Six
Iselia had gone to confront the Tevinter Magister Alexius... all had seemed to be going well. Leliana and her men had snuck through the castle and taken care of Alexius' guards, and Felix was trying to convince him to return to Tevinter and leave the mages of this region alone to do their own thing.
Alexius refused, however. He needed the mark on Iselia's hand to give to the Elder One and he would do anything the Elder One asked in order to save Felix's life. He summoned a green magic into the room and both Iselia and Dorian were sucked into it.
Dorian and Iselia found themselves in the flooded depths of a castle's dungeons.
After some ruminating, Dorian determined that they were likely still in Redcliffe castle, but he didn't know when they were. It could be the past, it could be the future. Either way, they had to find a way back to their own time and stop Alexius from this madness.
The dungeon was filled with large growths of red lyrium... in Iselia's eyes, that meant they must be in the future. Red lyrium was not a "thing" in the past, as far as she was aware.
In the dungeons they found Fiona, seemingly being slowly devoured by the red lyrium. They asked her what year it was... and discovered that an entire year had passed. They were one year in the future. She begged them to find a way back so this horrible future never came to be.
In other cells were Varric and Blackwall. Neither of them were being eaten by the red lyrium, but they were clearly affected by it. Their voices were husky and a red glow emanated from the both of them.
When they heard of Iselia and Dorian's plans to get back to the past and fix what had happened, they didn't quite believe it, but they'd do what they could to help.
In another cell, Leliana was being tortured. She looked ghastly, as though she had been strung up and tormented for several years, not just one.
They killed the man torturing her and quickly unbound her. She didn't seem surprised to see them and didn't care why or how they had got there. All that mattered to her was that the Magister paid for this.
The castle was full of fade rifts that Iselia had to repair as they passed through the halls, then as they exited the dungeons and entered the outside world, Iselia saw what the breach had become. It encompassed the entire sky and it appeared as though the world itself was a part of the fade.
It was a glimpse of what would happen to the sky if they managed to return to their time and fail at closing the breach. They needed to get back and fix it.
They finally found Magister Alexius in the throne room. Felix was by his side: a blight ghoul.
Alexius was despondent. This was not what he had planned. He knew that they would return, he had failed the Elder One, his son was practically dead, it had all been for naught. Iselia told him that they could still fix it, if they could get back to their own time.
Leliana did not want to negotiate with him. She grabbed Felix and slit his throat, enraging the Magister.
They fought the Magister and all of his demons, cleansing fade rift after fade rift as more and more appeared throughout the battle, torn by both time and the thinning veil.
Finally the Magister lay dead, Dorian grabbed the amulet off of his body, and declared that it would take an hour or so, but he could work out the spell that would fix this situation, he was certain of it.
They didn't have an hour. The Elder One was coming with an army of Tevinters. Varric and Blackwall raced out into the next room to hold them off while Leliana stopped them from coming through the door. Dorian had mere moments to work out a spell to use that would activate the amulet.
Fueled by desperation, Dorian activated the amulet and hoped that they wouldn't be disintegrated upon entry through the time-warp.
They stepped through, just as Leliana fell...
And arrived back where they had started, during the correct time at the correct place and surprised Magister Alexius.
His plan had failed. The Inquisition soldiers rushed in and captured him.
Then, more soldiers marched into the throne room. These one's weren't Tevinter nor were they Inquisition... they were Ferelden. After the soldiers marched in, Queen Anora arrived and immediately started yelling at Grand Enchanter Fiona.
She had granted Fiona and her mages sanctuary in Redcliffe, and they had proceeded to invite the Tevinter Imperium onto Ferelden land and drove people away from their homes. Arl Teagan included.
Queen Anora demanded Fiona and her mages get out of Redcliffe and out of her kingdom. Forever.
Fiona didn't know what to do or where to go. Iselia stepped in: the Inquisition needed these mages to help fix the breach in the sky! Fiona was unsure. They would no longer be slaves to the Magisters but would instead be prisoners of this Inqusition?
Iselia stopped her short. She and her mages would not be prisoners, but allies.
Queen Anora allowed it, as long as Fiona and her people left Redcliffe, right now.
Back in Haven, Iselia's colleagues were mostly horrified with Iselia's decision. But they needed to act as one and support the decision that had been made in their absence: that the mages would be full allies of the Inquisition.
Cullen in particular was incensed and asked Iselia just what the hell she had been thinking. There were going to be abominations hidden within a few of these mages. They were going to have to be prepared to fight them if necessary.
Iselia snapped back that not all mages were monsters and that quite a few of them were perfectly capable of controlling themselves. Cullen's reaction was a typical templar reaction and she would have none of it. Not when they were trying to find friends and allies.
Finally Cassandra stepped in and told them all to stop arguing. The voice of reason, she declared that Iselia's purpose had been to get the help of the mages to close the breach, and now they had more than enough mages to help close the breach. Her mission had been accomplished.
Then Dorian stepped over, pleased to have heard a reasonable voice amidst all this yelling. He told them that he was going to stay and help them with all this Inquisition business, if they would have him despite him being from Tevinter.
Iselia had grown quite fond of him during their escapade in the future, and told him that he was more than welcome to stay and help them if that was what he wished.
With everyone calmer now, having accepted that a decision had been made, it was time to gather the mages and try to fix the sky.
While the mages were preparing, Iselia took the time to go and speak to the people who were slowly becoming her friends. Well, some of them anyway. She doubted she'd ever be friends with the likes of Vivienne who vehemently disapproved of Iselia's choice.
Varric was concerned with all the red lyrium Iselia had seen in that terrible future and was amazed that the rebel mages had joined the Inquisition. It was a twist even he, a renowned storyteller, didn't see coming.
She welcomed Dorian to the Inquisition in a private chat and discovered that whilst he was of Tevinter, he didn't much approve of the Tevinter ways. He wasn't what she expected in a Tevinter mage and that was refreshing.
Since there had been some tension with Cullen when she had announced that the mages would now be their allies, she reluctantly checked in with him too. They had a small argument which ended with Iselia demanding to know if he had a problem with her.
He didn't; he was just worried. For the Inquisition. For the people. For the mages, and for her too. He wasn't trying to be a templar, he was just trying to do what was best.
Iselia accepted that.
The mages were ready.
Heading down to the remains of the Temple of Sacred Ashes, the mages circled around the great rift that led directly to the breach in the sky and focused their wills on it, allowing Iselia to draw from their combined power.
After a few minutes of drawing from their power, Iselia unleashed her mark upon the rift...
And managed to close the breach.
A great green scar remained in the sky, but the breach that allowed the world of demons and spirits to drip consistently upon them had been closed.
The people of Haven partied and rejoiced, got drunk and were merry. Iselia watched as rebel mages danced with ex-templars and elves danced with humans. They were all as one, they had worked as one, and they were happy.
Cassandra came over to her and said that Solas had confirmed that the breach was indeed closed. The heavens were scarred, but all was calm. Now that that had been dealt with successfully, they would need to bring order to the world. There was still massive unrest and distrust, grievances and people in mourning. But that could wait til tomorrow. For now it was time to enjoy themselves.
Iselia was just about to close her and eyes and drink deep in her first cup of ale, when Cullen's voice boomed across the entire village. A great force was approaching Haven, every able-bodied man and woman to arms!
She grabbed her staff and raced over to Cullen to see what was going on.
Until next time! 🐲⚔️