#and then ameridan vanishes. and he's gone

[heniareth]

Help my Lavellan's found Inquisitor Ameridan and he's asking about his friends and the Dales and I don't know what to tell the poor man

[roguelioness]

Moving On

It has been two months after the final defeat of Corypheus - eight weeks after he left, twelve weeks since he broke her heart - when her friends begin to prod her to “move on”.

Strangely, it is Sera who tells her first. Strange Sera, with her new, slow-blooming affection for Dagna, who shows her sympathy. “He's an arse, yeah?” She is brutally blunt, and Lavellan welcomes it. “Got not guts, that one. Who walks away without a word?” Sympathetic Sera, who wraps her arm awkwardly around Lavellan's shoulders. “You're better than him, you know that right? Deserve better. Bet he's off falling arse first into the Fade.” and Lavellan knows she means well, but her heart clenches at the words as a new fear washes over her. Did he leave her because she did not understand the Fade like he did? But she wanted to learn, didn't that matter?

It is Dorian who gives her the final push. He arranges an evening in the tavern, and several drinks later he departs with Iron Bull, giving her a cheeky wink and a meaningful nod towards the dalish youth sitting opposite her.

Loranil.

She tries to make conversation, listens to him talk enthusiastically about what he's seen (he's just returned from Haven, he says, helped clear up the mess, assisted in finding anything that could help the Inquisition hunt down the Venatori that remained). She nods, and listens patiently - or attempts to - but it becomes painfully clear that he is far too young for her. Not in age, but experience. She has faced horrors that he could not even dream of. She had made decisions that have affected entire states, dabbled in the politics of nations.

He will never see her as anything but the Inquisitor. So she leaves him with a smile, and bids him to pass on her well wishes to his clan.

Josephine, sweet Josephine, gently points out that a change of scenery might do her good. So Lavellan leaves for Wycome both eager and fearful of seeing her clan - for her face is bare now, and there are so many harsh truths within her that she does not think she can spill. She does not want to ruin them the way she has been ruined; at least not this first time she is seeing them.

Clan Lavellan is well settled, she's pleased to see, but Deshanna is- not unhappy, but certainly discomfited to see her face bare.

“It was the mark, I think,” Lavellan lies at first. But Deshanna has known her since she came out of her mother’s womb, red-faced and screaming, and is not fooled. So late at night, she curls up in the Keeper's aravel and spills all the truths she has learned.

She wants sympathy and understanding, a shoulder to cry on. But Deshanna is very disturbed.

“It might be best if you leave,” she cautions carefully, unable to meet Lavellan's eyes. “If what you say is truth-”

“It is!”

“Strange truths from a strange man who is no longer with you, da'len. If it was indeed the truth, would he not have stayed by your side after his hand removed your marks? Perhaps he was sent by Fen’harel to test your devotion to the Creators. Why would any man who claimed to care for you leave you, especially after he-” the Keeper gestures to her face. “After he removed your vallaslin?” Deshanna shakes her head sorrowfully. “I remember the day you chose to receive your vallaslin, da’len. You were young, and so proud. And now-” You have changed, hangs in the air, and Lavellan does not dispute it, for it is the truth.

Her time with her clan is- different. No longer is she the careful, cautious First they knew. Once again, her experiences have molded her into someone that the rest of them cannot understand. They cannot even begin to understand her. She has seen too much, learned very many new things, and she can’t help but question the stories she’s been told since childhood.

The differences between her, and the rest of her clan, grow more painfully obvious by the day. The word cursed is never mentioned, but it becomes clear that the Keeper thinks she is not someone who will bring good to the clan.

And so she is rejected.

Again.

Just over a week into what was meant to be a month-long stay, she leaves her clan. This time, it feels final.

There is a hot, bilious bitterness in her belly.

Everyone is surprised to see her back so soon in Skyhold, but thankfully no one asks about it. In a drunken stupor several days later she lets the truth slip out to Dorian, who sympathizes with her in vino, and the two of them make loud, drunken curse-toasts to her Keeper and his father.

It makes her feel better. Marginally.

She tries, she really does. She is tired of the loneliness that awaits her each night in her bed. She wants love - or at the very least, someone who can help her repair her damaged heart. But this “moving on” feels very elusive.

She can’t seem to find anyone. Cullen is handsome, yes, and she knows her advances would be well-received by him. But there’s a niggling voice in the back of her head that reminds her that he was a templar, and though she knows he is no longer one of them, she also knows that he will never be able to accept the full range of her mage abilities. He deserves someone who is- someone like Cassandra. She thinks they would make a good pair.

Dorian is with Bull, Varric is still thinking of Bianca, and Cole- well, the lad is like her son, and she pushes that thought out of her mind with a grimace.

Which leaves her with - Blackwall.

He is familiar. Their conversations are never forced, and he has a gentle manner about him. He is courteous and kind, and always mindful of her feelings. For a time, she thinks he can understand her, perhaps more than most. He- he knows what it is like to be changed. They both now lead different lives than the ones they had in the past.

And one night, her mind silenced by wine, she takes him to bed.

It is- he is still kind. Still gentle. Reverential, but in the wrong way. He doesn’t touch her as though he’s afraid she might vanish. His fingers are thicker, his palms rougher. When he brings her to peak, her heart doesn’t sing.

When he hilts into her, it feels wrong.

He leaves her bed before the break of dawn, and she curls up and weeps. Though it is not his fault - he certainly did nothing wrong - she feels dirty, and she cannot scrub her skin hard enough.

It is when she stares at herself in the mirror, skin almost painfully red, her face scattered with a plethora of freckles that she had never quite noticed before- it is then that she understands.

She will never find anyone else.

It makes her want to break things, so she does. The crystal decanter - a gift from some noble or another - shatters in the fireplace. She sweeps the contents of her desk to the floor.

Sets the sheets on the bed aflame. Watches them burn to ashes.

It is her advisors who help clear up her mess. Leliana and Josephine quickly squash any rumors, but Blackwall has heard enough to form his own - not incorrect - suspicions. He is still graceful when she breaks off what they had, and she cannot help but feel more than a little bit of regret.

There is nothing for her to do but to drown herself in her work, so she does. She enters the Deep Roads, learns secrets both terrible and awesome. She travels to the Frostbacks, meets with the Avvar.

Meeting Ameridan disturbs her more than she’d care to admit.

She does not want to die alone.

She fights yet another would-be god, and slays him. When she returns to Skyhold, she has been given a new name - Godkiller.

It is a title even Leliana cannot dispel, and it seems to be what tips the scales against the Inquisition.

There is an Exalted Council. She recognizes the sycophants and the cowards for what they are. She doesn’t mince her words when she addresses them. 

Doesn’t care to.

She knows she’s dying. The mark will kill her.

But it seems a peaceful death is not meant for her.

There are qunari in the Winter Palace, and she must solve yet another crisis. But this one-

This one, has him.

A name she hasn’t heard in two years. A name she thought she would never hear again.

Whatever the qunari planned - that becomes secondary. She has a new quest - a very personal one.

She has to save him.

It is a long, twisted path. There are so many ruins, magnificent structures that show her what her people were in the past. Buildings so wonderful they defy belief. She wants to read every tome that remains in the Shattered Library, but she can’t. There’s no time.

There are so many qunari. There is a dragon. There is a particularly vicious saarebas.

At last, all that remains between her, and him, is a mirror. She walks through the eluvian.

Makes her way towards him.

Sees him - Solas, but not Solas, he is powerful, too powerful, he is like a god…

He tells her the truth, at long last. Two years she has waited for the answers to her questions, two years she has waited for him to tell her the truth, and now she is here, bloodied, bruised, broken, and she wishes she had never heard it.

But it strikes her. Solas. Fen’harel. The Dread Wolf. He Who Hunts Alone.

She laughs, hysterically, at the large eluvian in front of her that has gone silent after his departure.

The Dread Wolf has ruined her; if she cannot be with him, then she, she too-

Hunts alone.

[jawsofhakkontranscript]

Storvacker Caged

(Previous quest - Avvar Allies)

Main questline: Storvacker Caged

The Avvar hold-beast has vanished. Thane Svarah Sun-Hair cannot in good conscience fight the Jaws of Hakkon until the bear is returned.

Characters involved: Svarah Sun-Hair, Master of the Hunt, Augur, Arrken Feldsen

Part 1: Speak with the Avvar villagers to find out where the bear might be.

(Speak with the Augur.)

PC: Do you know where your hold-beast may have gone?

Augur: Storvacker? No. I've asked the gods, but they've seen no sign.

(Speak with Trainer Arrken.)

PC: I heard your hold-animal's missing. Do you know where she might be?

Arrken: I can't help you, Inquisitor. I always keep my distance from Storvacker.

PC: Why is that?

Arrken: She nipped me good as a cub! The scar still itches when it rains.

(Speak with the Master of the Hunt.)

PC: Do you have any idea where Storvacker has gone?

Master of the Hunt: Our hold-animal's a hungry one. She might be after the game in the valley to the west. As the weather's turning, I'd not think she'd roam further.

Part 2: Search the valley for the bear.

(Entering Swamp Kuldsdotten for the first time.)

Party comments:

Cassandra: Be prepared. There's no telling what trouble we'll find down here.

Varric: I finally found someplace I hate even more than caves! That's a first!

Blackwall: How can it be so dark?

Sera (in response to Blackwall): Because there’s no light, silly.

Blackwall: Ah... yes, that must be it.

Iron Bull: Good place to get ambushed. Watch your back. Least it's not too dry.

Inquisitor: You do know it's not physically possible to watch your own back.

Iron Bull: And now I'm thinking about it.

Inquisitor: Is there such a thing as a good place to get ambushed?

Iron Bull: "Pitch-black swampy wilderness," is at the bottom, next to armories and anyplace with hooks hanging from the ceiling. Everything else you rank in descending order from there. Expensive glassware shops, wine cellars, maybe an Orlesian ball. Those would be good places.

(A wagon with an empty cage can be found in the northern section of the swamp.)

Party comments:

Sera: Clearly a fight here. Something big. Like... bear-big. Maybe a bear. No bits, no blood, no way to cart something out. It has to be close.

Cole: Hunting, following a scent. Something good, fresh, a treat, then trapped, nets and clubs and pain. She's nearby. Caged, cramped, can't get free. We need to help her.

Cassandra: Look at the ground. Someone fought a beast here. It could be the Avvar bear. There's no corpse. The bear must be nearby.

Varric: Someone fought something big here. It could be that bear the Avvar are looking for. If the bear isn't dead, it has to be nearby.

Iron Bull: There was a fight here: men... and something big. This could be tied to that Avvar bear. No corpse, and no cart to carry a bear. Wherever it is, it isn't far.

Blackwall: Look at the ground. Men fought a beast here... perhaps the Avvar bear? If the bear's not dead, it must be nearby.

Part 3: Explore the Cave

(Kill the Hakkonites lurking in the cave.)

Part 4: Free the Bear

Party comments:

Vivienne: The "possibly tame" bear belonging to barbarians? This will be delightful.

Dorian: I understand bears normally eat fish and berries.

Blackwall: It seems we have found the Avvar's hold-beast. I hope it recognizes us as friendly.

Varric: Now's the part where apparently we free a bear while standing right next to it.

Cole: She won't hurt us. Hello! We're here to help!

Sera: So... does it know enough to know we're rescuing it?

Cassandra: There's the bear. I suppose we must free it.

Iron Bull: Well, there's the bear. Now what?

Solas: She lives peacefully near the Avvar of the hold. If we do not threaten her, I doubt she will attack.

(On the way back through the swamp, you encounter more Hakkonites. Storvacker helps in the fight.)

Male Hakkonite: The lowlanders have freed the sacrifice! Jaws of Hakkon, destroy them!

Part 5: Tell Svarah Sun-Hair that the bear is free.

Svarah: Goat-kissing blood-drinking Hakkonite chicken-craps! Thank you, Inquisitor. Storvacker has returned. My hunters saw what you and she did to the Hakkonites who held her. In trapping Storvacker, the Jaws of Hakkon broke their peace-oath with Stone-Bear Hold. Our blades are yours.

Dialogue options:

General: Thank you. [1]

General: She’s unhurt? [2]

General: Good. [3]

[1] General: Thank you.

PC: We welcome the help.

Svarah: More than you know, Inquisitor. [4]

[2] General: She’s unhurt?

PC: I assume your bear is all right after... whatever they were going to do to her?

Svarah: She is fine. As for what they were going to do… [4]

[3] General: Good

PC: We're going to need those blades to deal with the Hakkonites.

Svarah: More than you know, Inquisitor. [4]

[4] Svarah: My hunters brought items back from where they held Storvacker. I know what they intended. It is not something you will like—something few Avvar would tell lowlanders... but you must hear it. The Jaws of Hakkon sought to bind their god in mortal form and bring war to the lowlands. [5]

[5] Dialogue options:

Anxious: That sounds bad. [6]

Confused: What? [7]

Stoic: Have we stopped them? [8]

[6] Anxious: That sounds bad.

PC: They wanted to send a god to destroy us?

(If Corypheus hasn’t been defeated.) PC: Could they wait until I'm done with the current god who wants to destroy us?

(If Corypheus has been defeated.) PC: I just finished killing a god who wanted to destroy us!

Svarah: You are right to worry. This battle is not yet won. [9]

[7] Confused: What?

PC: A god-god?

Svarah: Yes. Hakkon Wintersbreath, bringer of the cold winds of war.

PC: How do you send a god to attack someone?

Svarah: With much blood and many foolish rituals. [9]

[8] Stoic: Have we stopped them?

PC: By saving your bear, have we put an end to their plans? [9]

[9] Svarah: Though you have given them pause, they will try again. Ages ago, the old Jaws of Hakkon did the same. They brought their god to life to destroy the lowlands. Their foolishness lost Hakkon to all Avvar. Now they would free him and begin again. [10]

[10] Dialogue options:

Investigate: How was Hakkon lost? [11]

Investigate: You don't want war? [12]

Investigate: What would that mean? [13]

Special: Hakkon connects to Ameridan. [14] (If both “Storvacker Caged” and “What Yet Lingers” have been completed.)

General: What is our next step? [15]

[11] Investigate: How was Hakkon lost?

PC: What do you mean when you said that their foolishness lost Hakkon to all Avvar?

Svarah: When they bound Hakkon to mortal form, he became blood of this world. He could hear no prayers, nor speak to the augurs. All he could do was kill. Then he vanished instead of dying. As though rendered mute, lost for ages. If they sought to free him from mortal form, I could understand. Making him attack the lowlands is a fool's work. [Back to 10]

[12] Investigate: You don't want war?

PC: The Avvar wouldn't like the idea of war with the lowlands?

Svarah: Is that what your skalds say? (Laughs.) It does us no harm to be feared. If our land is threatened, we will happily fight, and a raid here and there keeps both sides sharp. But we have no need of your lowlands, not when our goats are fat and our fish are plenty. And not when the sky is torn with demons. Only a fool fights in a burning boat. [Back to 10]

[13] Investigate: What would that mean?

PC: What would happen if the Jaws of Hakkon succeeded in their plan?

Svarah: Hakkon would come to the lowlands in the form of a great beast. The Hakkonites would join him, their numbers swelled by foolish young warriors dreaming of honor-names. Even if war were needed, it should not be like that, with gods wreaking havoc in blood-soaked fields. The gods should stay where they belong. [Back to 10]

[14] Special: Hakkon connects to Ameridan.

PC: You said that the Jaws of Hakkon first tried binding their god in mortal form hundreds of years ago?

Svarah: What of it?

PC: In our search for Inquisitor Ameridan, we learned that he came here to fight a great dragon 800 years ago… A dragon that came from the mountains with Avvar warriors to attack the lowlands.

Svarah: (Laughs.) Your last Inquisitor must have fought well to stop Hakkon himself! [16 or back to 10]

[16] Subsequent dialogue options:

Investigate: This is all right with you? [17]

Investigate: Does this happen often? [18]

[17] Investigate: This is all right with you?

PC: You're not bothered by the idea that our Inquisitor killed your god?

Svarah: He didn't kill him. That would have been easier. Whatever fight your Inquisitor finished, the Jaws of Hakkon started. I find no fault with a warrior defending his people. [Back to 16]

[18] Investigate: Does this happen often?

PC: Do the Avvar gods take mortal form on a regular basis?

Svarah: No. The gods belong in the land of dreams. Whether it is their wish—or some augur's—that brings them here, battle-tears will be shed. The skalds say the Lady of the Skies took mortal form when Tyrdda Bright-Ax first led the Avvar to the mountains. They say many things about Bright-Ax and the Lady. [Back to 16]

[15] General: What is our next step?

PC: Based on what we know, what must we do to stop the Jaws of Hakkon?

(If “On Ameridan’s Trail” was not completed.) Svarah: Their hold is an old lowlander fortress. It is shielded by a great wall of ice, magic even the Hakkonites do not know. Unravel its magic and we will scatter their bones so the Lady never finds them. [19]

(If “On Ameridan’s Trail” was completed.) Svarah: You have melted the wall of ice that protects their fortress. We must make a plan of attack. Bring your warriors when you are ready to begin the assault. [19]

[19] Dialogue options:

General: How can we enter the fortress? [20] (If “On Ameridan’s Trail” was not completed.)

General: Let us begin the assault. [21] (If “On Ameridan’s Trail” was completed.)

General: Goodbye. [22]

[20] General: How can we enter the fortress?

PC: We still need a way to melt the wall of ice around the Hakkonites' fortress. Do you have any ideas?

Svarah: No. It is lowlander magic and nothing to do with us. Our spirit-talkers are useless as battle-goats. The Hakkonites must have found the magic in the old fortress. Speak to your people. Perhaps they will know more. [Back to 16]

(If you reapproach Svarah after following this dialogue branch.)

Svarah: Have you found a way through that wall of ice around the Hakkonites' old fortress?

[21] General: Let us begin the assault.

PC: I'm ready to attack the Jaws of Hakkon.

Svarah: Good. They will pay the blood-price for what they have done.

(See the main quest “Ameridan’s End: Assault the Jaws of Hakkon”.)

[22] General: Goodbye.

PC: I will speak with you later.

Svarah. Fair hunting. [Exits the conversation]

(Next quest - What Yet Lingers: Look for information on Inquisitor Ameridan)