'May you find what your heart desires most in this new life I've gifted you.'
Everything was dark, my head feeling heavy. Who was it that was talking to me? What new life? Did I die? I couldn't move my body, let alone feel it. I was, however able to hear. I couldn't hear only the faintest foot steps, but they weren't coming closer they were walking away.
'When you wake up, you'll be exactly where you want to be.'
What did they mean I'd be where I want to be? Before I could contemplate any more my consciousness was starting to fade and finally my mind went blank slipping into nothingness.
One year later
Location: Kirkwall
Year: 9:31 Dragon
Date: 17th day of Solace
Time: late morning
"No! ... Andraste's tits human, do you know how many people want to join this expedition?" A blonde dwarf leads Hawke and Carver into the dwarven area of Kirkwall. "But we heard you were goin into the deep roads. You'll need to hire the best and we're.." Carver didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before the dwarf interrupted him. "No! Your to late." "The money from this trip could fix everything! You need us! We've fought against Darkspawn!" Carver blurted at the dwarf.
"Look precious, I don't care if you tore the horns off an ogre with your bare hands." "Ugh, you make him understand! After all we're running from your bloody Templars!" Carver said turning Hawke with his finger pointed at him. "My brother has a point. Though his head is screwed on backwards, it's still valid." "Oh great, thanks for that." Carver seeming more pissed than before. "So what about it, Bartrand? We're just what you need." Bartrand took a deep breath. "Your looking for a quick way out of the slums, right? You and every other Fereldan in this dump...find another meal ticket." He said before walking away from the brothers. "Well, back to waiting for someone to turn us in." Carver said like a sarcastic ass. "You can relax. After all, the templars dogging us are MINE." Hawke said returning Carver's attitude back to him. "Do I sound like that much of an ass? Maker, I'm turning into Gamlen." Walking away from the dwarven part of Kirkwall Carver says "Gamlen, he's got the head for this shit. Maybe he can talk to Bartrand? He knows people. After last week, we need all the coin and influence we can get." Hawke stopped to look at Carver.
"You can catch more flies with honey, but Gamlen's bullshit could work too." "Well, he did get us into the city. What else can we do? We're losing ground, and I don't fancy the possibility of waking up in the gallows." Carver added. Walking towards the market place of Hightown, a pickpocket bumps into Hawke, taking his coin pouch. Just as quickly as the pickpocket took off, a arrow came flying, pinning the shirt of pickpocket's shoulder to the wall behind him. A dwarf holsters his crossbow onto his back and walked up to the pickpocket. "I knew a guy once who could take every coin out of your pockets just by smiling at you. But you? You don't even have the skill to work Hightown, let alone the Merchant's Guild." He said taking the pouch from him. "Might want to find yourself a new line of work." The dwarf then punched the man before removing the arrow, letting the man scurry off. The dwarf made his way over to Hawke, throwing him the pouch. "How do you do? Varric Tethras, at your service." He said introducing himself. "I apologize on behalf of Bartrand. He wouldn't know an opportunity if it hit him square in the jaw." "But you would?" Hawke replied. "I would as a matter of speaking. What my brother doesn't is that we need someone like you. He would never admit though—he's too proud. I, however, am quite practical." "You're going awfully far out of your way just to hire another guard." Hawke now stood with his arms crossed and shifted his weight from one leg to the other. He was suspicious of Varric's intent. "We don't need another hireling—what we need is a partner. The truth is, Bartrand's been tearing his beard out trying to fund this own his own, but he can't do it. Invest in the expedition. Fifty sovereigns, and he can't refuse. At least not with me there to vouch for you." Of course it was money. Hawke should of known, after all that's what it always comes down to. "Sounds tempting—but if I had any gold, I wouldn't need this job." Hawke knew this expedition was going to be big, but fifty sovereigns for a partnership? Sounded more like a bribe to him."You need to think big! There's only a brief window after a blight where the Deep Roads won't be crawling with darkspawn. The treasure you find down there could set you and your family up for life!" Carver insisted that they take up the dwarf's offer. It's not like they had any other choice. With that Hawke agreed to his offer, but first they were going to have to work some odd jobs before they could get that much coin. It's not like they had anything better to do. With Varric as their new companion, the three made there way to the Viscount's Keep. Before hitting the Viscount's they decided to go take a look at the Chantry board in hopes of work. Walking into the courtyard they spot a man dawning white armor with a matching bow strapped to his back, putting up a flyer. An older women in Chantry robes came storming up to him, appearing to be in an argument with him. The man walked away from her and past Hawke, Carver, and Varric. Reaching the board they see a bounty on the Flint mercenary company.
So this man in the white armor is the prince of Starkhaven, Sebastian Vael. Hawke thought it might be worth checking out especially considering it might pay well. Taking the paper, they headed back in the direction of the keep. Entering the keep, they make their way to the guard barracks. Aveline was standing in front of a wooden beam with papers posted all over it. "Aveline!" Hawke said overly enthusiastic. Still looking at the post of papers she replied "Hello Hawke." She seemed lost in thought. "It's been awhile. Hasn't it?" Breaking her concentration and turning around. "What? ... oh,uh right. Sorry, it feels like we just talked. I've been keeping a close eye on you." She and Hawke started walking towards the stairs. Propping herself against the wall she continued "Recieving information is one of the few perks of this job. Watch out for Bartrand...he's a son of a bitch." "You sent people to spy on me again?" "Saved me the trouble of camping on your doorstep." She joked. She was worried about him. She reminded him about how they got here and how she takes care of her friends. But Hawke was a grown man who could take care of himself, she knew that. Hawke proceeded to ask if she had eavesdropped any profitable information. Irritated by the question and reminding him he should know not to ask that she still complied. She told Hawke about a possible ambush near the base of Sundermount. The catch was she was going to tag along. Agreeing, the four of them headed out of Kirkwall towards Sundermount. The trip to Sundermount would be a five day trip.
Packing a sleeping roll and enough food and water for the trip, they set out just before dawn. The day was long, evading conflict when necessary. Night had fallen, the mountain ranch just in reach, they group set up camp for the night. Hawke grabbed a few fallen tree branches nearby, setting them in a pile in the middle of the camp. With the flick of a finger a small shot of fire flew into the pile of wood. Varric, who seemed impressed by the action, proceeded to ask what else he could set fire like that. Carver let out a laugh and told Varric about how when they were younger, Hawke set the seat of a Chanter's pants on fire. Now it was Varric's turn to laugh "I'm sure that got him to say something other than that chant they preach!" "How were you able to hide from the templars all this time" Aveline added doubtful of the story. Night turned into day and the group continued towards the mountain. The days went by quickly and finally were near the ambush site.
"Be careful Hawke, there's bond to be stragglers before the main horde." Aveline warned as they started towards the clearing. Sure enough five bandits were camped out just ahead. Hawke took this opportunity before they were spotted, to cast a fire ball upon the bandits. The entire area lit up in flames. What bandits were still alive ran out of the flames screaming bloody murder as they tried desperately to put themselves out.
Before they got any further, Varric whipped out his crossbow. A arrow hit each bandit on mark right between the eyes. Sure that the men were dead and the fire was out, the group walked over to find anything useful on the men. The smell of charred skin and hair made even the strongest stomach to churn. Biting back the urge to vomit Aveline pointed to a path to their right. Hawke finished up patting down the corpses, managing to find a few potions and coppers unharmed by the fire.
Taking the path that Aveline pointed in, Varric's stops them. "Watch out this area is heavily booby trapped." Varric stepping in front of Hawke, disarmed several bear traps and trip wires. "We must be close to the main group." Aveline stated. Sure enough right around the corner were the very highwaymen.
The group stopped just out of sight, planning their attack. Hawke glances over a rock spotting four barrels arranged in a way that seemed odd. "Those barrels are more then likely explosives linked to trip wires." Varric pointed out. "I think I have an idea." Hawke turned to the group, going over his idea.
Carver was to be the decoy and lure the men close enough to the barrels so that Hawke could cast a wall of ice, preventing them from pursuing Carver and setting the barrels a flame. Of course it went without a hitch, unfortunately not all the men pursued. Only three highwaymen were left standing several feet away, weapons in hand. Close combat wasn't Hawke's strong point, but it's not like he didn't know how. In fear of hurting his friends he whipped his staff around, blade facing up. Hawke swung at one of them men while Aveline and Carver charged the other two. The sounds of metal clashing with metal attracted a few bandits behind them. Varric unloaded a barrage of arrows down onto the oncoming men, killing two and slowing down the others. Aveline thrusted her shield into a bandit sending him to the ground and shoved her sword through his chest, twisting till he stopped moving. Another highwayman tried to sneak up on her when Carver came in bringing down his broad sword into the man's head, splitting it in two. Hawke and Varric finished off the remaining bandits, pulling his staff blade out of the face of one. Aveline has walked over to one of the dead men, searching his corpse. "These bandits were well equipped. The captain needs to know of this. Let's head back." Hawke searched the men for coin and any valuables before heading out.
Two days before they were to be back in Kirkwall, the group spited something unusual in the mountains. Hawke pointed to a cliff on the nearest mountain. It looked to be a platform with something thin and tall standing in the center. "Could be something valuable." Varric suggested. Making their way over they noticed stone stairs leading up the mountain. The stairs appeared old as they have long since started to fall apart. Walking up the stairs they noticed a crumbling stone statue covered in moss. "This statue is elven." Hawke said brushing some moss off of it. Turning behind them stood the object they spotted from below. It was a mirror, a abnormally large one, but that wasn't what caught Hawke's eye. In front of the mirror lay the body of a women. Aveline darted over to the girl, checking if she was alive. "She's breathing, just passed out." Aveline said looking up at Hawke. Hawke looked down at the girl, something was strange about her.
"Her clothes are unusual and what's that around her neck?" Hawke knelt down trying to get a closer look. "We should bring her back to the city." Aveline motioning Carver to carry the girl. Carver lifted her onto his back, Hawke taking one last look at the strange mirror before heading down the mountain. Back in Kirkwall they take the girl to Varric's room at the Hanged Man. Aveline made her way back to the barracks and Carver headed back to Gamlen's. Hawke and Varric looked at each other in wonder about the objects that were on the girl. The girl had been out for two days, they wondered if she would even wake up.
Walking over to the fire place, Varric began talking about the Deep Roads. He told Hawke that they needed to find a safe way in, once in Bartrand could lead the way after that. "I've received information that a Grey Warden made his way into the city among the refugees. If anyone knows how to get into the down there it would be him." "Sounds like you've got this all planned out Varric." "And that Hawke is why I'm here...There's a women in Lowtown named Lirene who has been helping Fereldans. She may know where to find the Grey Warden."
I could here voices nearby, my consciousness coming back. I could feel my limbs and my head no longer feeling heavy. Again I tried to open my eyes and to my surprise light nearly blinded me, though it was a dull light. Blinking a few times, the ceiling now in sight. I slowly sat up, looking at my surroundings. 'Where am I' I thought. The floor and walls were made of wood and the bed I was lying on seemed very odd as well. But that's when I heard it "Look our sleeping beauty is awake." My eyes grew wide as I turned in the direction of the voice. "No way..."