K.C's notes: Hello guys, I hope I didn't keep you warting too long. I'm really inspired atm so Im trying too get as much of the story done whilst the inspiration spree lasts. Everyone is in shock after the events of the last chapter, let's talk to them now...

Chapter 4: Connotations

Everyone was understandably shaken up by the events of last night. Cassandra had been kidnapped by an ARCHDEMON! Now the Inisition had lost two of its key leaders and founding members. Josephine was elected the defacto leader of the Inquisition given that Basic was also kidnapped. The Arrivan's first order was to formulate a plan to rescue all of their kidnapped friends. Everyone was working V hard.

In the infirmary, which had had to be moved to the herb garden because the rest of the Jeep was still being drained of black liquid mess, Cole and Mother Giselle were tending to the injured.

Cullen was under a canopy and was still raving mead that people hadn't been that concerned about his injuries when he had leapt off of the balcony. His leg was broken badly and he had suffered internal breeding in his chest. Mother Gazelle had needed to put up an impromptu gazebo around him because he was raging so much at everyone and it was beginning to get scary for passers-by and the resident merchants. The gazebo was also soundproofed so the archon wouldn't hear his furious yelling and come back for Jim.

Dorian had lost the use of both of his legs when the piece of wood from the rafters had fallen on him in the lavatory. This was because his knees were now non functional. His legs had been annotated and he was really, really upset about this because he felt like he was now useless and unskilled labour. Gatsi and the other keep engineers had designed Ann old fashioned wheelchair which Dorian could pride around in though. It was a wooden rocking chair with a chariot front attached to it; a nogalope and a a dracolisk were chained prematurely to the chariot so that they could pull Dorian around wherever he wanted to go. Dorian was given to the reigns.

Solas was lying limp and silent in a bedroll to the right of Dorian. He was unconscious for most of the time but occasionally awoke simply to scream for exactly thirty minutes and then leper back into unconsciousness. This was probably for the best. A local Feralden Bann has found Solas floating around his lands in the earthly hours of the morning and had ordered some of his soldiers to scoop the knife-ear out with an acidicproofed net. Upon reporting to Leliana, the Bann has said that Dolad appeared to be floating in some kind of "dark and corrupted congealed Mass of musky reptile emission" and that his men had needed to carry Solas back to Skyhold in the net, strapped to a wooden litter used for carrying wounded troops, to avoid touching the elf and possibly becoming defective. Cole and Mother Giselle had tried to ease his suffering but his skin was beginning to blacken and his veins were beginning to pop like sea-cucumbers so they both knew he would die soon or suck the darkspawn taint.

Mother Giselle had been giving Solas a combination of felandaris and elfroot to act as a healing poultry in the hope that Solas's last days would be peaceful and pain free...Knowing she would then have to knife him once he reanimated as a darkspawn to prevent him becoming a mindless zombie and murdering lots of Bowie. However, what she did not know was that Cole -secretly evil as he was - was spiking all Solas's medicine with putrefying deepmushroom and shin flakes from arcane horrors. Corypheus had told Cole to do these terrible things to Solas so that his archon's arch-meninges would never recover and would die in great agony. Cole also hated Mother Giselle and so thought he would 'help her' by replacing all the healing liquids with poisons from dungpiles. Cole was a danger from within.

In the tavern Vivienne was eating a sassy cheeseboard whilst Leliana and Josephine tried to calm an engaged Sera down. She was furious because Cole had stolen her bow and then the archdemon had somehow found it and used it to bugger Solas with. Now the bow was useless and poor Sera had no weapon to fight wig because the bowstring had snapped in the vigorous plugging and it was assumed by the doctors that it was still lodgged in Solas's rectal walls. She was also really pissed because she had no way of shooting arrows at nobles she hated until her bow was repaired. She had thought about coating the arrows in Dolad's excrement and blood, which Cullen has ordered to be cleansed off of the Jeep, and firing this at the nobbers instead...but SERA was not that irresponsible and did not want to spread any further darkspawn paint. Besides, Blackwall had said he would repair Sera's bow for her because he was good at the Woodruff craft...but when Leliana had taken the now brownish coloured bow to him to be fixed she had found the Grey Warden passed out in his collapsed shed. Nobody knew if this was because of good broken shoulder or because he'd been on the stong cognac again. Josephine had resolved to put Blackwall in rehab with the Chang sisters in the cloister in Val Royeaux when this whole Corypheus thing was resolved, but she was scared he'd get mad and go off the rails again or mess himself on the road when the fear of what he had witnessed in his drunken stupidity last night finally hit him. For now they were continent to leave him in his collapsed shed until he sobered up, then he could help rescue Svetlana, Varric and Cassandra from Corypheus's fortress. Maybe he could help Solas too, but this would take a miracle from the Maker.

Iron Bull was in depression and had printed his face with the traditional Qunari mourning vitaar. He felt that it was unfair that Solas had suffered so heinously for wounding the archdemon and yet he had received to reprisal. He had also attacked the archdemon when it had come to steal Basic; he had plunged a naily plank of wood into the creature's fantastical tail. Iron Bill had already been to give his apologies to Solas, but the elf was on no condition to Kirsten and only tried to grab him around the throat and throttle him whilst screaming incoherently. The Qunari went to him best friend Krem to help him feel better.

"Krem, my man! I want you to make me feel sorry for what happened to Solas. He felt extreme pain in his ear end - now to atone I must experience the same according to the Qun." Ken looked ashamed as well for he had been to afraid to help Solas when the archdemon had been accosting him in the courtyard. Although he had a dagger...it was not enough.

"Okay, chef. What do you have in mind for atonement?" He enquired eggrly. Ironbull have him a large round pole that Master Dennet used as a hitching-post for the horses.

"You must make me feel the pain that Dolad felt so that I can feel better about myself. I want you to fill my rear up with this wooden thing and repeatedly plug and unplug me. As vigorously as you are Abel!" Krem got a look of utter astonishment all over his face and dropped the pole on his own foot in fright - breaking his two little toes. The shock overrode his pain however and he questioningly said,

"That is a horrible idea! Why would I help you do this to yourself? You've gone mad!" But then a terrible look of crazy shame came over Iron Bull's face and he grabbed Krem by the shoulders, shaking him like it is bad to shake a baby.

"Krem! You must do this for me! You're a mercenary are you not? If I pay you to do this thing to me then you CANNOT refuse! It would go against your mercenary nature." And Ken knew he was right and reluctantly picked up the wooden post. They went outside into the disinfected courtyard together and Bull got underdressed. He proceeded to make Krem bugger him with the pole for ten minutes whilst he howled in pain and yelled various melodic things in Qunari. When this spiritual debauchery was over, Bull crawled over to the infirmary to have his fractured pelvis dealt with by Mother Giselle and the doctors. They would later spend an hour prying the bollard out of his rectal well with a vice grip. Krem washed his hands and got paid for his actions; he went to buy the piece of armour he had been wanting for so long from the merchant.

Vivienne had told Josephine about a plan she had to rescue everyone from Corypheus's keep and Josephine thought that the plan was excellent. The Antivan ordered that Cole was to accompany Vivienne to the stronghold of the Venatori - which Solas had hallucinated was in Enavuris. Vivienne made preparations, got dressed into her battle-droids and departed with Cole; after she had used her ice magic to chill Cassandra's kidney again (it was being kept on ice alongside Blackwall's remaining collection of Avvar wines).

It was to be a long walk to Enavuris. The only remaining horses had been lashed to Dorian's makeshift wheelchair to act as methods of propulsion. So much to Vivienne's disgust, they would have to walk all the way to the Exhausted Plains.

But Cole had a dark plan. Vivienne was soon to find herself being betrayed... And in Skyhold, Solas was awakening...

K.C's notes:. Oh no! Vivienne is one of my favourite characters! What will happen to her in Enavuris?! Will solas recover okay? How is the Inquisitor faring in jail? Find out soon!