"We really are going the long way around, aren't we?" Anders asked, indicating a doorway as they passed by. Fenris recalled from the maps that the door led to a vestibule leading directly back into the main ballroom.

"We had to go this way so I can get both you and Merrill in. It's our only chance at making plan A work."

"Oh, cute. Ninety percent of this is preparation for plan B, you really think we'll get away with plan A?"

"It hinges on you, mage, so don't screw it up," Fenris said, then added, "Wouldn't it be nice to just walk right back the way we came? I'm holding out for plan A."

"Are you being… optimistic?" Anders asked incredulously.

"This is it," Fenris announced as they turned a corner.

"I don't know how you keep track of where you are in here, it's just a labyrinth of stone walls," Anders said, "Although - whoa, ok, yes this is right."

The trio looked very disturbed suddenly as they approached the wall they all now knew to be correct. Fenris was feeling it strongly, so he knew the two mages must be able to sense it as well. It was an unsettling feeling, similar to when the veil was thin around a particular area, but more like something was pulling at the veil, trying to thin it. Disturbing.

Fenris pressed his hands against the wall. Passing through the dozen or so barred doors since the kitchens, he'd been able to summon some long held anger reserves in order to access his ability. Calling on the same incidents over and over again seemed to dilute them, however. He wasn't sure if it was emotional drain or if it had been a therapeutic process, allowing him to let go of some of the negative emotions surrounding the events.

"Can I help again?" Merrill asked, "Although, I can't really seem to keep track of the things that make you angry. It's like, sometimes things that irritate me to no end don't seem to bother you at all, and other times, the smallest of things will send you into a rage."

"If you're trying to make me mad by being useless, then it's starting to work."

"Useless!" Merrill squeaked indignantly, "I'm putting my life on the line for this- "

"If we go with plan B," Anders clarified softly, but was ignored.

"And I'm not? What do you think happens if I don't make it through the bloody wall fast enough?" Fenris growled.

"Well, would it make you mad enough to phase?" she retorted childishly. Anders did a poor job of stifling a laugh, which annoyed Fenris more than angered him, and he glared at the mage before looking back toward the wall to try and focus.

He was going to have to start digging deeper to incite additional rage. His first thought was Anders, of course. Though they'd… somewhat… come to terms, he still felt like the man was a threat. Hawke seemed more enamored with Fenris than ever, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that part of her belonged to another. A year ago, something like that would have thrown him into an uncontrollable rage, but now it just broke his heart. Which made him a little proud, but was currently regrettable. He set his forehead on the cool stone of the wall dolefully.

"Can I help?" Anders asked, "I mean… I feel like I can help, if you promise not to hold it against me."

Fenris did nothing for a few long moments. Eventually he turned and leveled a look at the man who was standing expectantly, holding his fingers together lightly as if about to drum them manically.

"Give it your best shot," Fenris sighed.

Anders took a breath in, as if having prepared for this very moment, "Ok. So… Hawke looks ravishing tonight, don't you think? I wonder what she and Sebastian are up to right now - "

"You had me at ravishing," Fenris growled, then punched the wall, his hand and arm cleaving straight through. The way Hawke had looked in that gown had beyond taken him off guard. He had never thought of extravagant dresses and fancy hair as appealing until he'd seen it presented so convincingly by the woman he loved. He had already thought she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen the moment he first saw her in the alienage so many years ago, bruised and bleeding, sweat matting her hair to her forehead, an annoyed, angry scowl on her face. So it had been a challenge to see her this way now, to allow her to be in Sebastian's arms all evening, while he stood by and attempted to not kill him. Even the consideration of Anders having thought about it in a similar manner made him want to strangle the man. He was pleased to know he hadn't changed too much.

"See you on the other side," he announced, then leapt though the wall and into the artifact room. At first, his glowing blue lyrium tattoos were the only source of light in the room. He found a lantern, and as he approached it a cold green magical flame burst to life within it, setting off a series of lanterns all around the room. The swaths of resulting light revealed shelves lining every inch of open wall space, stuffed with books, trinkets, orbs, statues and oddities of all kinds. Most Fenris could recognize as Elven, ancient or otherwise, some Tevinter in origin. Some items were clearly magical, some ornate and decorative, and some defied description entirely. In the empty space in the middle of the room, four pedestals stood, each holding a single artifact. He saw the one they'd come for, a large tome as long as his entire arm and half as wide.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Fenris froze. It came again, light and fast. He wondered why in the name of the Void someone would be knocking. After a few moments of contemplation, and a few more impatient knocks, he stepped up to the door, unlatching it slowly and quietly. He pushed the door open a hair and saw Merrill's big eye peering in from the other side.

"We have a problem," she said quietly, her voice muffled through the door, which Fenris then pushed open the rest of the way. Anders was standing a few feet behind her looking pleased.

"No guard," the man said pleasantly.

"No guard…" Fenris repeated, stepping out into the room to have a look around, "Son of a…"

"I really could have just walked right in through these doors," Anders said cheerily, motioning to the set of doors behind him as if displaying wares for sale. He then added, "Not that I don't enjoy spending quality time with you guys."

"Remind me to kill Varric later," Fenris grumbled. Now he was certainly angry enough to walk through walls.

"What are we going to do?" Merrill asked.

"Let's talk inside," Fenris suggested, allowing the other two to pass by him and into the artifact room, closing the door quietly behind him.

"Justice hates the shit out of this place, in case you guys were curious," Anders announced.

"Yes, please keep us up to date on how angry your abomination is, thank you," Fenris replied.

"Aw, you called him the abomination instead of me. We really are friends aren't we?" Anders quipped sweetly.

"Guys!" Merrill begged, worry creasing her brow.

Fenris leveled a glare at Anders, but got back on topic, "Do you think we can still trust the guard change timing or locations?"

"Not in particular," Anders agreed, "This would be the third offense on that front."

"If we went slowly and carefully back through, we might be able to make it unnoticed," Merrill said optimistically.

"Might," Anders said as if not liking the odds, "We were lucky to make it through once unnoticed."

"I don't suppose we'd be able to walk right out through the ballroom with it?" Merrill asked, less optimistic this time. Fenris shook his head, eyeing the relative enormity of the tome. He knew Anders was right, but they had no plan for this, no third scenario under which they could escape unnoticed without knowing where the guards would be and when. He sighed, contemplating their options.

Plan A had been sound, and safe. Anders acts like a drunk fool, which shouldn't have been difficult for him, who accidentally stumbled into the room where the guard was standing watch, as if he'd wandered in from the ballroom. He dispels the wards from the doorway to the artifact room while Fenris opens the physical door from the inside for Merrill, who sneaks around while the guard is distracted by Anders. Merrill dispels the wards around the book, grabs it, and sneaks back out. Fenris locks the door behind her, then exits out the back wall, leaving no evidence of a break-in. Anders gets escorted back into the ballroom, and the two elves escape back out the way they came, safe in knowing the locations and timing of the rotating guard.

But that'd clearly all went to the Void. He should have known something was wrong the first two times they'd encountered guards where they shouldn't have been, and now no guard where one certainly should have been. Plan B was dangerous, but more of a guarantee that they'd get out with the book. Plan B didn't exactly cover the current situation, but it would have to work.

Anders spoke aloud what Fenris was thinking, "Plan B and a half?"