The heavy doors to Viscount's Keep closed behind them. The Gray Warden glanced up at its imposing facade, the symbol of Kirkwall's might. "Cale… Hawke, I need to speak with you." When they stepped into a corner formed by a tower and the frontispiece, he continued; "Please don't take this the wrong way. I can't go with you."
Hawke watched Aveline and Varric standing in the square, looking at the walls, looking at each other, anything but them. "That would put us in a bind. With Merrill home-bound and my sister with the wardens, we don't have a healer, much less a spell-caster. Can I ask you why?"
"How do I explain?" He had to think. "Remember our talk about the spirit of Justice becoming Vengeance?" It was becoming hard for him to speak. "It seems the Qunari are as bad as the Chantry in the way they treat their mages. They may even be worse from what I hear of your last… encounter." His gaze found the dwarf who was in an animated conversation with Aveline now . "Cale, if you really need me, I will be there, but… I must warn you. The spirit of Vengeance may come forward, as he often does in a fight. And my control of him is tenuous, at best. He knows how I feel about helping either the Chantry or the Qunari." Anders held up his hands in a helpless gesture.
"Understood. Thanks for being honest about it. We'll make-do, somehow. You won't hold helping them against us, will you?" he asked with a wry smile.
"Oh no!" the warden said a little too quickly. "So, no hard feelings?"
Hawke shook his head. "Standing up for your convictions is no vice, my friend." A thought occurred to him as he watched Anders turn and walk away. "Hey, as soon as we find Bartrand, we'll go look for those reagents, right?"
He turned–a smile lit his face. "Sure thing, I'll be at the clinic. See you then." His steps seemed a little lighter.
Varric watched the retreating figure. "Hmmpf! So Blondie's crapped out? What's going on in his life that's so important?" he grumbled.
"It seems he lumps the Qunari with the Chantry when it comes to how they treat their magic users. He has doubts about helping either of them."
The dwarf was upbeat. "We can scrape by. I've still got three combustion grenades left. Even I could play mage with them. A few healing potions and we're set."
Hawke had four left. "I could give two to Aveline. That should be enough. Let's stop at uncle's and pick up Faust. He'll fill the hole in our group."
"An even trade, in my book." Varric grinned. "Sorry Hawke, couldn't resist." He adjusted Bianca's harness and took off. "Let's get a move on, Don't Call Me Red, daylight's wastin'."
"Serah Hawke." The Qunari leader in Kirkwall settled himself into a seat that would've accommodated two humans. As it was, it fit him with little room to spare. He uncrossed his arms and patiently waited.
Cale Hawke stood at the foot of the stairs leading up to the terrace reserved for the Arishok's quarters. "Messere, you wish to speak to me?" According to Qunari custom, he kept his hands in plain sight.
Every warrior's eye was on the human brought into their presence. No one moved, except their leader, who leaned forward and spoke; "I do." He took a moment to scan his troops. "Last we met, I did not know your name. Did not care to."
"Here it comes. Wait for it." Varric mumbled under his breath.
"You have changed your fortune over the years." He frowned. "The Qunari have not." He sat still, hands on his knees. His eyes did not. They scanned the courtyard, almost daring anyone to move. "I offer a courtesy, Hawke." After seeing the human nod, he continued; "Someone has stolen what he thinks is the formula for gaatlok… you will want to hunt him."
Hawke held up his hands. "Forgive my ignorance, but what does this have to do with me?"
"Because you know this man." The finger the Arishok pointed was almost an accusation. "Because of his ignorance and greed, thousands will die."
"Someone I know." It was a statement, not a question.
It is. The stolen formula was a decoy. It was saar-qamek–poison gas, not the explosive we know as gaatlok."
"Poison gas?" Hawke mused aloud. "How deadly is this stuff?"
Was that humor on the Qunari leader's face? "A small amount is dangerous enough to your kind. But if made in any quantity… perhaps by someone intending to sell it…" He let his statement hang.
"Brother tin-shit Tintop?" Varric ventured a guess.
"That merchant… Javaris?" Hawke couldn't believe it.
The Qunari wouldn't affirm or deny. "Would he be cautious, or would he assume success and make enough to threaten a district?" he wondered aloud. Seeing their confusion, he concluded; "A courtesy, Hawke. You will want to hunt him." He sat back to watch them.
Hawke turned to Varric and Aveline. "Any idea where we can find Javaris?"
"I hear about the sell-off of merchant territories and such all the time. They don't do that unless someone leaves in a tearing hurry, though," Varric supplied. "In Tintop's case, I just thought he rooked some noble and had to leave until things cooled down."
Hawke was watching Aveline-She had something on her mind. "So, no idea where he is?"
"I haven't kept up on the squirt. Ask the Coterie." The dwarf dismissed it with a shrug.
Aveline finally spoke up; "I can help there. The Coterie has a contact that they call The Barker. She's usually set up somewhere in Darktown. Lately it's been near Tomwise's stall. Let's start looking there." She turned to leave.
The Arishok was standing on his terrace overlooking their exit. "Panahedan, Hawke. I do not hope you die."
"When we get to the bottom of this mess, we'll be back," Hawke assured him.
When they stepped off the lift at the lower level known as Darktown, Aveline noticed Tomwise's stall right away. It was deserted. All the shelves were bare and the floor was swept clean. "I'll give you three guesses where our elven Lothario is and the first two don't count," she wisecracked, following the passage to the left and down the steps to the main gallery.
She looked both ways before turning left and paused at the next intersection. "Right here," she said, pointing right. "Just past that mine cart. That was where she did her business every day. It's a lot easier to slip away–Four different directions to choose from, including an air shaft next to that cart."
They continued on, then down another flight of steps. "And so our observant guardswoman leads us farther away?" Varric couldn't help himself. "Now she'll tell us it's part of her plan."
"Right, we're dealing with Coterie here. Hawke will get a better reception if he's alone. Am I right?" She was sure of his answer.
He winked at the dwarf. "Right, now why didn't I think of that?" He thought for a moment. "Still, it makes me wonder why she's been here this long."
"Probably the Guard's reluctance to come down here, unless there's a whole squad of them…" Varric continued their teasing.
"We'll wait for you on the harbor side," she said, ignoring the dwarf's gibe. "You'll find us in the gallery that leads to Anders' Clinic. Be careful. It's quiet now, but that can be misleading. I tell my troops that these walls have eyes as well as ears." Her, the dwarf, and the dog moved on, while Hawke retraced his steps.
He heard her well modulated voice before turning the corner; "Turn up your purses, Kirkwall. The leases of Javaris Tintop are up for grabs."
She'd repeated it once again before he came into sight. She was dressed in unadorned light leather without hat or hood and didn't look like she lived here in Darktown. No weapons were in sight, but he was sure they were there. She'd be a fool otherwise.
He wondered if she remembered him, probably not. It was a long time ago, when he'd first come to the city and joined the smugglers who competed with the Coterie. He and Bethany worked for a year to get enough to pay his family's way in. "You're selling the assets of Javaris Tintop?" He smiled at the though of how lame his question sounded.
"Well Cale Hawke," she smiled in return, "good to see you. That we are. I don't need to tell you… with limited districts and limited contracts, it helps to keep our territories clear and separate from the start." Her eyes left him to scan the passageway. "He had a meager lot, but he's skipped with dues outstanding, so up it goes."
Her reserved look told him that she did indeed remember. He sighed. "There's a lot riding on finding him. I know we didn't see eye-to-eye… but can you help me out here?"
She looked away. "The members of our little fellowship expect a little privacy. It's what we are selling, in a way. But he skipped on paying me too." She didn't look too happy about the admission.
"Maybe if I made… restitution. You'll never see anything from him now," he sympathized.
The two sovereigns he gave her raised an eyebrow. "Well, well… Somebody wants him more than we do… no, don't tell me." She took another quick look around and said, "Javaris left in a hurry. I'd put him at Smuggler's Cut, if he's aiming to avoid patrols. It empties at a cave just outside of town. You know it?"
"Oh, do I," he replied, his smile returned. "Like the back of my hand." He winked at her and made his way to the Harbor Approach Overlook.
Before he got to the corner, she called to him, "Hey Hawke… Thanks for covering my losses. I won't forget. When you find that deadbeat, tell him for me; 'Don't come back. Good will only goes so far. It takes coin to get anywhere in this selfish world.'"
Varric was waiting with Aveline around the corner in the next gallery. "Hmmph! Not the trail I'd expect from a master thief… just saying," he remarked after Hawke filled them in on where they were going. The dwarf shrugged and led the way to the trap door that would take them to their destination.
"What is it boy?" Aveline turned back toward the cave's mouth. Faust was standing quietly, watching. He wasn't growling, just alert. "I can't figure it out. He's been restless since we entered the tunnels." She pulled Fadeshear half-way out and re-seated it in its scabbard. A nervous habit she wasn't even aware of.
"If I know our canine friend, he's telling us we're being followed," Varric replied, scanning the trail ahead. It ran down-slope and curved to the right before ending in a clearing surrounded by rocky hills. "I'm more concerned with what's ahead here. I smell ambush. What do you think, Hawke?"
"Good chance, look." He pointed across the clearing to the opposite hill. The thin wisp of smoke from a poorly made fire marked a camp-site. "I wouldn't bet against you. It's too quiet here. Aveline, on point?"
"Right," she sighed. "Let me try out this new armor. See if it's worth the small fortune spent. C'mon Muttso, you wanna live forever?" Both guardswoman and Mabari trotted down the path to the clearing.
"Heads up, Hawke," Varric murmured. "She's drawn them out. I'll hit left. You see them on the right?"
"Got it." He unlimbered his bow and stepped a few paces down the trail to cut his angle. "Wait for Aveline." He set an arrow and pulled a few times to get the feel.
She was kneeling beside the hound with her hand on his shoulder, scanning the clearing and the camp-site beyond. She stood, released the dog, and followed closely behind, drawing sword and shield as she ran.
At Aveline's call Varric loosed off three steel-tipped bolts and moved to the left of the trail, leaving Hawke to cover the right. Two archers fell and a third ran for cover while the dwarf reloaded Bianca.
Hawke's duel with the archers on the right kept their heads down, but he was needed for the fight on the path. Aveline was surrounded by four mercenaries and was holding her own, just barely. As soon as she knocked one down, another got back up.
The dwarf's angle to the clearing was off, so he targeted with Hawke on the right. Faust was still in the fight, his snarls could be heard all the way up the path. The guardswoman wasn't alone. With some help from his friend, Hawke eliminated the threat from the right and they turned to help her.
When they followed the path to the clearing, they got a shock. Surrounding Faust and Aveline was a band of ten mercenaries. The only open path was back the way she'd come. With a sinking feeling, they fired and reloaded, not really seeing any effect.
Aveline and the dog had retreated to the end of the path when the unmistakeable roar of a fireball made them look up to the left. There was a mage on the hill, but who was it?
The hill on the left offered a good view of the entire clearing below. From this vantage point, their new ally, hidden from view by the heat-shimmer, hurled a devastating meteor followed by a chilling blast of cold. After two pair of his arcane one-two punches, the tide of the battle turned. Taking advantage of the break in the line, Aveline and Faust advanced into the clearing forcing their attackers to retreat, helped by arrows and bolts from her friends on the hill.
The mercenaries' disorderly retreat turned into a full rout. With a curse, their leader left the field, taking his remaining fighters with him.
A lone dwarf stood at the end of the far path with his back to his attackers. "Come back here, you sodding cowards…" He was interrupted by Faust knocking him flat. The dog threatened him, but refused to attack. "Call him off! Call him off!" He held his hands up to ward off the menace.
Hawke stood over the dwarf and offered a hand up. "Calm yourself, Javaris. We've called him off. You're not dead, yet."
After he'd regained his feet, the dwarf dusted himself off, still not taking his eyes from the Mabari, who watched him with some interest. "You? Granny's garters, she would hire you. I can't buy a break, even without a discount."
"Looks like your granny was the smart one who did hire us, right?" Varric smirked. "And what's her garters got to do with us?" he challenged.
Varric, he ignored. "You know what?" he asked Hawke. "Go ahead! Take my head and pike it back to that sodding elf! I need the rest." He threw up his hands and tried to glare at them all.
"Come on Javaris, come clean. Elf, what elf?" Aveline had some trouble following the dwarf's story.
"You brought this on yourself," Hawke reminded him. "Who else do we know that would steal the secret for black-powder?"
Javaris Tintop closed his eyes. Pinching his nose, he shook his head, then looked up. "Wait, you're tracking for the Qunari?" He slapped his forehead with a palm. "Then she did it, She really did it! That elf got them after me to cover her stealing the powder! Bitch-born!"
"Umm hmm, I knew he was no burglar. Who ever said us dwarfs were climbers?" Varric wanted to know.
Encouraged, Javaris continued; "Look… I'm minding my business, same-old-same-old, and, out of the blue, some elf I don't even know tries to kill me." He held his empty hands out. "So, I brace her about it. Says she's got the Qunari powder and I'm her cover. Her cover, the stone's sake. So I slipped her, hired some body guards, and ran for it." He looked at the dog balefully. "And now you're here. Great!"
Hawke had a way out; "If you're innocent, you could plead your case to the Arishok."
He shook his head and snorted. "Let's break this down. An elf who took the explosives wants me dead, part one." He looked around at his dead bodyguards. "Part two, the ox-men think I'm the thief and they also want me dead." His hang-dog expression got an evil smile from both Varric and Aveline. "Either option seem promising… didn't think so either. Look, whatever you want, I'll give. Just let me go. What do you say?"
Aveline had been looking at Hawke, who nodded at her. "You want a deal? Tell us where this enterprising elven con-artist can be found, then you can go," she proposed. Faust chuffed in agreement, or was he disappointed?
"Fine. You want to drag dark into light? Why am I not surprised. I had one of my hired men follow her. Never know when you'll need to follow up on a deal. That double-dealing elf-bitch is in Lowtown. The street leads down to the harbor. Now, if you don't mind, I just want to get the Stone out of here… with my dead bodyguards. A thousand thanks for that."
Hawke watched the dwarf loot bodies. "Better luck wherever you're bound Javaris. The farther, the better."
"Right. Got me a rosy future to plan out, sodding bunch of… take a long breath on a short shaft you… blasted dog-lord in-roaders," he mumbled. "Think I'll start by selling some boots…"
"All of you. I can't fight the damned air. You want to live? Stay out!" Aveline in the lead, after hearing the voice of a guard, pushed her way through the crowd standing outside an alley leading to the square in Kirkwall's Lowtown.
She recognized the guardsman who'd spoken. "What's going on, Maecon?"
The crowd quieted at her tone. "Guard-Captain! There's… I can't even describe…" He looked back over his shoulder, then back at her.
Her stern face softened. "Take a deep breath. On your time, son."
He collected himself and squared his shoulders. "I got reports of some haze with the stench of rust and… throw-up." He took a long breath. "When I got here, there was a cloud, then a… lingering mist." He looked at the crowd, who'd pulled back when they recognized the Guard-Captain. "Anyone caught in that cloud just went mad. Then the others just retched themselves to death."
"It'll be alright. Return to your post. We'll take it from here." She joined Hawke, Varric, and the dog standing at the stairs leading down.
"One thing is in our favor." Varric was pointing at something below in the square. "That lift shaft seems to be pulling most of it down to a lower level. The mist is right at knee-level. We'll have time to find the source."
Aveline surveyed the mess. "That's the crux of the matter. Where's it coming from?"
"See those three barrels set up against that far stairway?" Hawke asked. "There's a cover off of one. Varric, stay here. Your nose is too close to the ground, my friend. Faust will watch your back, right boy?" The dog agreed heartily.
"No argument there, Hawke." The dwarf grinned. "Don't worry, Bianca will be watching." He scratched the dog behind the ears and readied his weapon.
"That's the last one," Hawke said as he tamped the cover in place on the fourth and last barrel and seated the latch in its slots to hold it.
"All that bloody work to have ya' just take all them lids off agin'." The gang leader's sarcasm got their attention. He eyed them with disdain. "Get to it, then. Unless you all wants to die…" A bolt through his back finished his statement. Bianca had spoken.
There were more thugs than Hawke expected. They seemed to just keep coming. Him and the Guard-Captain didn't seem to be making any headway. As he was considering a hasty retreat, a volley of arcane-bolts and powerful mind-blasts joined Bianca's steel. The ranged help from his allies made the difference and the fight ended when no more mercenaries appeared. A quick check of the other three poison barrels confirmed they were still sealed.
"Let me get Maecon to round up a crew to get this mess cleaned up," Aveline wiped Fadeshear and sheathed it. "I'll be right back."
"Mystery solved, Hawke." Varric stepped up and pointed to a balcony overlooking the square. "It was Blondie. I'll have to take back every nasty thing I've said about him."
Anders had joined them on a street overlooking the square and pitched in with the healing that the fight made necessary. "You guys are pretty lame without some sparkles, as Varric calls it." He stood from tending the dog to face some-one he didn't know. She was an elf, but that was about all he did know about her.
She was dressed in the light armor of a warrior. There was a wild look about her that was not of the elven, was it the gas? Not saying a word, she drew her greatsword and took a few steps toward them.
Hawke held up empty hands. "Easy. I'm just trying to find out what happened here."
She lowered her guard. "Is that? …Serah Hawke!" She looked around, counting her followers, then counted those with Hawke. She considered the odds. "You have enemies."
He was at a loss. "Doesn't everybody?" he asked. His friends, including the warden, drew closer to him.
The elf stepped up. "I'm glad it's you, really. These poor people. You are a much better target!"
Hawke stood his ground. "You stole the gaatlok, what, to sell? Justify yourself!"
Her face twisted with suppressed rage. "Qunari take my people! My siblings forget their culture. Then go to the Qun for purpose. We are losing them twice!" Anger was replaced with petulance. "So, I get help from your people. We take the Qunari thunder, make some… accidents, and make them hated!"
She looked at the ground. Sorrow seemed to be all that was left. "But this… this is all wrong."
He was watching Aveline, who shook her head. "Which of my people put you up to the theft?" he asked gently.
Had she heard him? Her head came up-the wild look was back in her eyes. "It can still work. They are hidden in your city. They will enrage the faithful, and make sure the Qunari are blamed!" She took a look around once more.
Hawke heard Aveline's voice behind him saying no! over and over. He could imagine her right hand on the pommel of her blade. Steady on, he thought at her, not taking his eyes from the elf in front of them.
"Me?" the elf asked. "I am finished! I just need a few more bodies. A few more!" With that, she raised her sword and charged.