Mage Gothic - Mark of the Assassin.
Part 1
Ramparts. Skyhold.
Once more I found myself somewhere up high while looking down at the busy courtyard below, which as ever was full of people. Most of the folks were just passing through, on their way to a different part of this old fortress for one reason or another. While others were training, a few people were just standing around talking.
I was sure that those which didn't have important tasks to do, an organisation like the Inquisition needed a lot of behind the scenes support, were out here for goods reasons. Perhaps like me they were visitors of importance, or maybe they had a little time off and were spending it with friends.
Not that it really mattered, the people down there were simply interesting to watch. I could amuse myself for a while by wondering who they were and what they were getting up to. Perhaps that woman carrying a basket of root vegetables was actually one of the Inquisitions agents. Actually from what I'd learned of this Inquisition's spymaster, that could very well be the case.
Of course there were many of people here that didn't require any imagination on behalf to make them seem interesting. The Inquisitor for one, he had my attention, that was for sure, as did the people he'd gathered around him.
Varric was one of them, this didn't really surprise me, and that the rest of them were a motley lot didn't shock me either. After all I'd somehow ended up with a very odd collection of friends. Some of which had started off as the kind of people this Inquisition spent its time hunting down.
Out of the corner of my eye I spotted someone heading my way. It was Seeker Cassandra Pendergast, she'd some to visit me a few times now, as she lived up to her title, she was seeking knowledge of the events I'd been involved in. The events that led up to Mage-Templar war, which had begun in Kirkwall.
"So what did we discuss last time?" I asked the Seeker as she stopped a few paces away from where I stood "Corypheus wasn't it?".
Of course I remembered exactly what I'd told her about. I'd never forget Corypheus, and one day I hoped to finish the job I'd thought I'd already finished, by killing him. Again.
"Yes" said the Seeker "And if you have the time, Champion, I'd like to discuss your encounter with the elf spy known as Tallis".
Ah Tallis, or Charlie as I called her due to her looking like Kathryn Felicia Day, only as an elf. Of course the actress had played more than just that one character from Supernatural, but when ever Tallis had spoken, I'd kept picturing her as Charlie from Supernatural.
"You mean that time I nearly started a war with Orlais" I said to the Lady Pendergast "that was not my proudest moment I admit".
My duty back then was to protect Kirkwall, and part of that involved not getting into massive trouble with a powerful foreign nation. Thankfully things had worked out for the best, although they very nearly hadn't.
"I've heard Varric's version of events" Pendergast informed me "And of course there's the fictionalised version in his book".
Somehow that dwarf had managed to make those events even more ridiculous and entertaining. Thankfully no one believed the book, if they had then Kirkwall would have gone to war with Orlay.
"Well I guess I can tell you about Charlie... I mean Tallis" I decided.
The Seeker raised a single eyebrow.
"Charlie?"
I had to smile.
"My nickname for her" I explained "I might as well keep calling her that, and I don't think Tallis is her real name".
I let my mind wander back to the day I'd met the crazy red head.
"When I met Tallis I'd been the Champion of Kirkwall for some time. I'd played a major role in driving out the Quarini, as well saving pretty much every noble in the city, so I was rewarded with a title, some fancy armour, and the ability to live openly as a mage due to the fact the certain mages can live outside of the Circle".
There were in fact some mages who could live outside of the Circle without worrying about Templars coming after them. This was a reward of sorts given by the Chantry for mages who performed some great service. Also mages who were Grey Wardens were more or less in the same boat as me.
"After the whole Quarni uprising thing. Bethany was still locked up in the Gallows, and despite my high rank, I still wasn't allow to see her. Carver began a knight-lieutenant and as such spent more time actually doing his job" I informed the Seeker "So he wasn't around as much. Aveliene was still Guard-Captain. Anders was slowly going crazy, while attempting to run his clinic as well as helping the mage underground. Varric had his books and business interests to keep him busy. Isabella got her ship, but didn't sail off, which turned out to be a good thing later on. Fenris just stayed in his mansion for the most part. As for Merrill, she'd become my mistress sometime ago".
I'd never planned that, it had just sort of happened. I'd never seen Merrill as a mistress, more of a girlfriend, but it wasn't uncommon for powerful men to have mistresses, and elven ones were quite popular. Of course other powerful men didn't have their mistresses move in with them.
"This story begins one night in Hightown" I began by saying "My friends and I had a meeting to attend".
(Line Break)
Hightown. Kirkwall.
Varric had asked me to meet him in the Hightown Market after dark, concerning something he'd heard from a contact. That had been pretty vague, however a lot of my adventures had started off with some contact of Varric's.
As usual, Anders and Fenris were tagging along, despite that neither of them could stand the other. Anders liked to help me out for a few reasons, one of which had to do with me greatly resembling his beloved Warden-Commander.
Fenris at least respected me. I was a mage, as such he'd never like me, but he respected me. Plus he seemed to think he owed me something for helping to kill his former master, and frankly he had nothing better to do with his time.
Isabella figured there might be some fun to be had, and that alone was motivation enough for her. Although I suspected that she did really care for me and Merrill at least. Not that she would ever admit this.
Merrill came along too, because she tended to follow me around. She was loyal, and much more trustworthy since I'd taken away her magic mirror. I'd found alternative and safer ways to help her perverse and recover her people's heritage, ways that didn't involve blood magic and trusting demons.
As for my other friends, well Carver was busy these days oppressing mages after his promotion, and Aveline was a married woman with an important job. Her days of meeting people in dark streets was over. Well outside of guard patrols.
My motley gang made it to the meeting place as planned, only when we got there, it was only our group here, no sign of our contact.
"Varric, there's no one here," I said.
Hightown wasn't the kind of place you found roving gangs of hoodlums, even during the city's more turbulent times, but that didn't mean that it was safe for us to stand around here in the middle of the night.
"I'm not sure what's going on. Edge is usually very reliable," the Dwarf replied.
"Edge? That's his name?" Anders asked.
Not a name that suggested reliability.
"Varric, are you sure about this? What if it's a trap?" Isabella wondered "This wouldn't be the first time one of your "contacts" set us up".
I'd long since lost count of how many times we'd been set up or double crossed. That any of us were still alive had to be a sign of the Maker's blessing, or maybe the universe just had a sense of humour that no one else understood,
"Hey now, it's not always an ambush!" the short guy protested.
"Except when it is," Fenris shot back.
The words were no sooner out of his mouth then an entire gang of what looked to be mercenaries burst out of hiding, weapons at the ready.
"You'll die here, Hawke!" a man shouted.
Oh so someone wanted me dead, and had hired some thugs to do it, which made this another typical night on the town, at least for my group.
The leader of this gang of bad guys was just about to do the whole monologue thing, which would explain why he was here, when a dagger embedded itself in his shoulder, and he dropped to the ground. Which wasn't so odd, only Isabella still both of her daggers in her hands.
This was when a redhead Elf leapt from the nearest rooftop, and proceeded to hand some of the mercenaries' asses to them quite easily. She paused for a moment, only to yell something at us.
"Hey, now would be a good time to fight back!"
We had been watching in slight shock and awe until now, but we quickly dove into the fray and made short work of our enemies. These killers were no match for three mages, a lyrium enhanced warrior, a pirate captain, and a guy who was way to attached to his crossbow.
The newcomer stood up after examining a body, which was part of yet another load of corpses that I'd helped make. I was now thinking that it was a good thing that I didn't collect the skulls of defeated foes, if I had my home would look as if the the blood god Khorne had done the decorating.
"Sloppy. The Crows are normally better than this," she commented.
"Only some of them," Isabella said with a smirk.
In my experience they were all very bad at their jobs. A least when it came to trying to kill me. Perhaps the smarter and more skilled ones just never tried.
"Normally I'd say thank you when someone saves my life, but your timing is rather convenient" I said.
While it might be paranoia, I was wondering if this elf had set all this up so she could get close to kill me, although if that had been the case, then she would have been way better off attacking with the other assassins, as with her skills she might have actually gotten close to stab me.
On the other hand she was an attractive elf, and she reminded me of the character called Charlie from Supernatural, and I found myself interested in finding out more about this strange person.
"But I suppose I can hear you out" I said next "What do you want?".
Of course she wanted something. Everyone wanted something from me. Usually my help. Or my money.
"Thank you. My name is Tallis," the redhead Elf introduced with a slight bow. "I had hoped our introduction would have a little less bloodshed, but..."
She looked around at the mess we'd made.
"Not to worry, we're used to this sort of thing," Varric explained.
"As odd as that sounds..." Anders said with a sigh.
Yeah there were days when I wished my life could be less corpsy.
"I'm here to ask your help in recovering a jewel from an Orlesian noble named Duke Prosper, who has no right in possessing it," Tallis was now saying.
That got Isbella's attention.
"A jewel? What kind of jewel? Is it expensive?" she asked.
Isabella was one of those people who liked getting her hands on money, but she was also the kind of person who could never hold onto it.
"It's called the Heart of the Many, and it is valuable, just not how the Duke thinks" the elf told us.
Varric smacked his hand into his palm so loudly that it got everyone's attention.
"That's what Edge was on about! Remember a few months ago, when the Viscount had that party?" he asked "Duke Prosper was talking about a hunt at his estate in the mountains".
Indeed I did. The party had been to celebrate me being awesome, and I'd met many important people, the duke had been one of more pleasant VIPS. Which really wasn't saying much given how most of them had been a waste of oxygen.
"I remember thinking that I'd never want to go do something like that" I said.
While I'd hunted animals in the wilderness, that had been for food back when I'd been a smuggler. I had no desire to hunt some poor animals for sport with a bunch of rich tossers. There was enough blood spilt in my life as it was.
"And you want to us to rob him?" I questioned Tallis. "What makes you think we go around stealing things just because people ask us to?"
Isabella held up her hand as she was a student trying to get the attention of her teacher.
"I would" she admitted.
Varric shifted on his feet.
"Um, I may have added a daring robbery or two to our tales of adventure" Varric admitted, sheepishly, while rubbing the back of his head "More than two..".
I sighed.
"Why am I not surprised?" I then said.
I wasn't surprised because I'd heard some of the stories that Varric told about our adventures. They nearly always centered around me, and some never made into the books, because they were too full of sex and violence.
"Look, it's not like I exaggerate... much" Varric said next.
He at least had the decency to look ashamed of himself.
"Besides, stealing from Orlesians is never wrong, or so I've been told," the storyteller said to me.
"No, and it's rather fun, too!" Isabella added
Well the Orlesians were sort of French. Which could justify it.
"So what's so special about this jewel?" I asked.
It couldn't just be a fancy diamond or whatever. I didn't need the money I could get from a simple heist, and this elf woman had to know that, so there had to be more to this.
"The Heart of the Many is an ancient elven treasure" the red headed elf told us "It belongs with the elves, not in some Orlesian nobles private collection".
If it was old and elf made then it was most likely magical, and therefore could be dangerous in the wrong hands. It wouldn't be the first time some ancient relic had threatened the present world. I was reminded of that red lyrium idol, which would have driven people mad had I not destroyed it.
Sadly me destroying the damn bit of evil crystal hadn't really changed that much. Things were still going to hell in a handbasket around here, and nothing I could do would stop it. Any attempt to alter what was to come could in fact make things worse.
"What's the catch?" Anders wondered, "No one ever wants our help unless there's a catch".
The Grey Warden had a point.
"There's always something else going on when people ask for our help" I stated, while looking at Fenris "Like we think we're retrieving things from a chest only to find out that we're supposed to be helping someone kill a Tevinter magister".
That was an example.
"Or the time we went after a fugitive but didn't find out until after we got there that it was really a magistrate's son" Merrill said.
I couldn't remember if she'd been there for that little adventure. But there had been so many, that it was hard to keep track.
"Or when we travel to the Deep Roads only to be almost sealed in by my bastard of a brother?" Varric added.
There was a pattern to my life, a depressing one. Thankfully I had money, magical powers, and a hot elf babe. This made me feel better.
"Well, the catch is that the Heart of the Many is in the most secure vault at Chateau Haine, which is supposed to be an impregnable fortress. Also, it's located in the middle of the mountains, which are crawling with monsters," Tallis explained
At least this time we knew what the catch was in advance. That was nice.
"Oh, is that all? Sounds like a challenge," the pirate quipped.
Well I'd gone into the Deep Roads, parts of which were booby trapped, filled with monsters and otherwise hard to get to. As such this job didn't seem so intimating.
"Sounds like another day in Kirkwall," Varric stated.
I was considering it. I didn't like the elves having their cultural heritage stolen by humans, and this duke was pretty much French we as I was British.
"So, does that mean you'll help me?" Tallis asked,
She was looking at me all hopefully. Like I was the only one in the whole world who could help her. I hated when women, elf or human, did that as it always worked, as I often ended up in some sort of danger.
"Are we really going to trust some random woman who leaps off buildings during an ambush set up by the Crows?" Anders demanded to know.
Again that was a good point.
"Hey, I had nothing to do with that!" she shot back.
Now I was wondering what exactly was in this for me. It was a lot of risk for something that wouldn't actually benefit me.
"We've trusted crazier people" Varric reminded.
He was one of those crazier people.
"Well, going to Orlais will get us out of Kirkwall for a bit. Maker knows we could use a break" I mused.
"That's the spirit!" Isabella said
I hadn't actually agreed to this just yet. I was weighing my options. On the one hand I had a elf woman who was moderately attractive who wanted my help, which might involve getting to shag her, and I'd thrown my wedding vows right out of the window,
Plus I'd be helping the elves. More importantly I'd be stealing from a sort of French noble, possibly foiling whatever plans he had for a magical item. The Brit in me so badly wanted to do that.
On the other hand this elf lady was a red headed woman, which meant she was totally mad, and I'd have to hang around with French people. Oh and there could be mortal danger.
"Chateau Haine is in the Free Marches" the elf told us "on the western slopes of the Vimmark Mountains".
Oh well that was close by, relatively speaking, so at least it wouldn't take us long to get there. Even better I wouldn't have to go to this world's version of France.
"How would this work?" I asked Tallis "I assume you need me because I was invited".
Tallis nodded.
"I did my homework" she said "You were invited, the Duke sent you a letter to confirm it, and unlike every other noble going you have an elven mistress, who you take everywhere with you".
It took me a moment to process all of that, and to worry since it meant someone was reading my mail, or at least keeping track of it.
"Oh you mean me" realised Merrill.
No one in the group saw Daisy, as she was sometimes known, as my mistress. What we had wasn't that formal.
"I'll need a reason to be there" said Tallis, who I was going to call Charlie regardless if it offended her or not "And to humans one elf looks pretty much like another".
Sadly this often was the case.
"Not always" I protested "I'm certain I'd notice if you replaced Merrill".
Tallis shrugged.
"Most human nobles don't care which elf cunt they get to plough" she said.
Saldy this was also often the case.
"Okay I'll help you steal this jewel, on one condition" I said "From now on I get to call you Charlie, and you're not allowed to ask why?".
The elf lady spent a moment making a few different facial expressions before agreeing to my demand.
(Line Break)
The Hanged Man. Lowtown.
While my home had a dining room with a big table in it which could have easily provided us all with somewhere to sit we always ended up having important meetings in the back room of this bar.
This was where Varric did his work, both legal and not so legal, and most of his contacts came to him while he was here. Plus between us we'd brought the place, the last owner had decided to retire after a rather nasty barfight, which I had played a part in. Despite the damage this place took some nights, it did make us a modest profit.
"So do you think this is all some kind of trap?" the dwarf wondered.
We all took a moment to consider this. Jobs sometimes turned into traps, but they were all bad ones, they had to be or we wouldn't have survived this long. However sometimes we did end up just going home after getting paid.
Not that I really needed the money, but the cash rewards hadn't been a prime motivator of mine for some time. Aside from being the Champion, a title which came with the responsibility to protect Kirkwall, and its people, I was mostly motivated out of my desire for adventure.
This world didn't have the Internet, television, DVD players, video games, or even a single movie theater, and since there was only so much reading even a geek like me could handle, I sometimes went in danger just to give myself something to do.
Sure I could have stayed at home most nights trying to design stuff like a working steam engine, or one of the other things I thought might improve this world, such as the printing press, but as it turned out introducing modern ideas into medieval societies is not as simple as some writers of fiction seem to think. The bicycle had never really caught on and the Viscount had banned skateboards for reasons of public safety.
Because of this I spent many of my evenings studying magic, and experimenting while in one of the rooms that made up part of the network of hidden passageways beneath the house. I'd even tried fixing Merrill's magic mirror, so that I could try to reach other words, which hadn't worked out either.
Uncovering magical secrets wasn't cheap, and I needed to spend gold that was off the books so that the templars couldn't trace who was buying so much magic stuff, as such I still took jobs like the one being offered by Charlie.
"Maybe it is a trap" I said to the group "But I'm kind of curious to find out what this elf woman isn't telling us".
There was always something quest givers forgot to mention.
"Anyway I'm going" I informed my companions "Who wants to come with me?".
The topic of conversation soon became one of who was going, and who was staying. This was a debate which could last some time.
(Line Break)
Amell Mansion. Hightown.
As soon as I got home my Mabari hound came running in from the sitting room, followed by Leandra, my mother-in-law, who moved at a much slower pace.
"Welcome back. Did everything go well tonight?" Leandra wondered.
I just nodded. There was no sense worrying her about the ambush. I wasn't even sure if I'd actually been in much danger, those assassins may have been nothing more than hired thugs that wouldn't have had a clue who they'd been dealing with.
"Mother I'll be setting out for the mountains in the morning" I told Leandra "I might be gone for some time".
This news unsurprisingly surprised her.
"The mountains? Whatever for?" she asked.
My policy with dealing with my mother-in-law didn't involve lying, I just rarely told her the whole truth.
"Well, we were invited a while ago by Duke Montfort to Chateau Haine in order participate in one of his famous hunts" I told her "I've decided to accept".
Part of my reasoning was that I didn't remember any of this from the game, and that meant I was very curious about the whole thing. Sure my lack of knowledge increased the danger, but what was life without a little risk.
"Prosper invited you?" Leandra asked, a grin now on her face. "Why, that's wonderful! My childhood friend Amy married him. It would be great to see her again".
I needed a moment as I'd not imagined for a moment that I'd be taking my mother-in-law along. That seemed like a very foolish idea, then again maybe it was a good idea, I never did find that blood mage who killed in the game, and I didn't want to come back to find that he'd grabbed Leandra while I was away.
Hopefully I'd never found any trace of the guy because he wasn't working on his mad scheme. Perhaps some action I'd taken years ago had resulted in him leaving the city. Heck it was possible that my group had killed the guy without ever realising just who he was.
"You want to come with us?" I asked "Because we're not really going up to the mountains for a holiday. It's more or less a job. Not that we need the money, but there might be danger, and a magical item that needs to be recovered".
This didn't seem to worry her.
"Well, while you work, I'll socialize," she said.
I didn't think I'd be able to talk her out of this. And it might make my sudden arrival seem less odd if I brought my mother-in-law with me.
"Go and pack if you want to come with us" I instructed "We're leaving pretty soon. Varric, Fenris, and Isabella are joining us as well".
Carver and Aveleine couldn't just drop what they were doing and come with us because they had jobs, as for Anders he was busy with the Clinic and the mage underground. Merrill also couldn't come since Charlie would be pretending to be her.
"What about Merrill" Leandra asked "Isn't she coming too?".
Merrill was actually here. Sometimes I'd turn around and find that she'd gone off somewhere, or that she'd joined the group without me noticing. Her small size and inoffensive demeanour was like an invisibility cloak at times.
Leandra couldn't support my relationship with Merrill, since I was still married to Bethany, so she acted as if the young elf and I were just friends. It was one of a few polite fictions in my life.
"No I'll be escorted by another elf women, she's called Charlie, but you're to pretend she's Merrill" I told my mother-in-law.
Leandra simply accepted this. She knew it was best not to enquire about why I sometimes did odd things.
"Just let me pack. I won't be long," she promised.
We wouldn't be leaving until tomorrow, would that be time enough?
"You will be staying here" I informed the dog.
Oggy was getting on in years. While once he had roamed Felderan, and had fought darkspawn along with the Warden-Commander, these days he spent his time by the fire while being fed choice cuts of meat. Oggy had been given into my care by a elf woman and a mage, who somehow had known to bring him here. While I was sure the hound was no ordinary canine, he still needed to take it easy.
(Line Break)
Amell Mansion. Hightown.
Since we were heading out in the morning I'd decided to head to bed early, and Merrill had joined me. And when ever she joined me in my bed I ended up fucking her. Which was kind of the point of having a mistress.
"Ma vhenan…please", she was saying, her voice filled with want and need
I obliged her by getting on with things, I began by running a couple of fingers along her opening, checking her wetness to find out if she was ready for me.
When I began fingering her, Merrill's back arched and her thighs clamped down on my hand as she started to buck against me. She clenched her fists around handfuls of bed covers, and moaned as I increased the pace of my moving fingers.
She was always this eager for my touch, and if she'd been anyone else I would have assumed she putting on an act, but this was Merrill, and I'd heard from sources that elven females were erotic and sensitive. Well really I'd been told that they were all knife-eared sluts, I would just never phrase it that way.
Whatever the reason for her behaviour, it made her easy to satisfy in bed, and I had fun making my little elf girl cry out with pleasure
"Oh Hawke! Ma vhenan!" her legs began to kick as I drove my fingers deeper inside her tight cunt "Ma vhenan…need you…please"
All too willing to comply with her plea I soon drove my manhood inside her eager little fuck hole. Merrill wrapped her arms around me digging her nails into my back as if she needed to hang on for dear life, her ankles hooked around my waist, holding me inside her.
At this point Merrill was grunting with each movement of my hips as she panted my name into ear, along something in her native tongue that I was sure should never be repeated in polite company.
I grunted in response as my manhood continued to be strangled by Merrill's tight pussy. Since she was so easy to please I used her body to pleasure myself. Soon I was panting with each thrust as I felt my climax starting to approach, which only motivated me to plough her hard and faster than before.
Merrill squeaked and cried out with each thrust before falling limp on the bed as I climaxed and filled her tight little cunt with my seed. Once I was doing that I rolled over and tried to calm my breathing.
"Are you going to have sex with Tallis?" Merrill rather unexpectedly asked me "I don't mind if you do".
This question had come out of the blue so I needed a moment to come up with an answer.
"Well she's somewhat attractive" I said "but she's only going to be pretending to be you for few days".
Merrill shifted her weight, such as it was, so that she could rest her head on my chest.
"I really don't mind" she insisted "Just don't replace me. I like being your mistress, even if the nobles do give me funny looks".
While Merrill had real affection for me I was sure that she also enjoyed having a rich man in her life as it meant she could buy rather expensive elvish relics, such as books that she meant days carefully copying. I didn't mind this too much as those texts often contain magical secrets that I could learn from. Plus it was me who had taken away her magic mirror.
"I won't let anyone take your place" I assured Merrill "Now go to sleep".
Which she did.