A trip to the Hanged Man resulted in them doing Isabela a favour. The favour ended up involving a former raider, smugglers, dock officials soliciting bribes, an imaginary fire, a lot of very stupid guards, and a deadly poison. It was a good thing that Aveline was busy that day.

It was well past midnight when they were making their way home. They started to make their way through the market when they saw a woman in chantry garb walking around.

A man then approached her. "Here, miss. Word is you're looking for help and paying well."

"I need someone native to the dark places beneath Lowtown," said the sister. "If you claim as much, yes, I will pay."

"I am, I am. Let's just slip into this alley, and me and my fellows can have a look at the money on offer."

The woman stupidly followed the man down the alley.

"She has chosen poorly," said Fenris.

Dak nodded. "It does appear she could use some help. Especially now."

They exchanged a glance and headed in to save the woman from herself.

They quickly ran round the corner just in time to see the chantry sister. The bandits immediately attacked them upon seeing them, but they were clearly outmatched. Once they were dealt with, they approached the chantry sister.

"Well, thank you for your timely intervention," she said gratefully. "I am… out of my element."

"Really? I wouldn't have noticed," said Dak.

"A foolish risk in Lowtown," said Leyla.

She gave them a somewhat predatory look. "I had to come here to get the type of person I need. Someone of bloody skill but also integrity. Perhaps the kind who might leap to someone's defence." She took a step towards them. "I have a charge who needs passage from the city. If you are willing and capable, meet me at my safehouse nearby."

"We just saved you in an alley, and suddenly we're in business?" said Dak suspiciously.

"You're in Lowtown. What grand scheme could I be interrupting?"

They looked at one another uncertainly because, once again, it looked as if they had just jumped out of the frying pan and landed in the fire.

She walked past them. "Varnell?"

A templar emerged from the shadows.

"A bloody templar. Just what we need," Dak muttered.

The woman nodded to them. "I hope you will come. This matter only grows more urgent with time." She walked away.

"She's hiding something," said Leyla.

"Clearly," said Fenris.

"Still, we could use the money," Dak admitted.

Leyla sighed. "Let's proceed with caution."

They made their way to this safe house, and as he bumped into Merrill along the way, she got lost and joined them.

Varnell stood with his blade drawn. His stance was wide, ready to move on them. Dak had the sneaking suspicion the man might be hostile.

"We're expected," said Dak.

"I thank you for coming," the chantry sister said. "This matter is delicate, and I need someone of… limited notoriety who will not link this to me." She adjusted her robes. "It is an escort, but I think you will agree; the nature of the party makes this… unique."

"If this is criminal, we already have enough trouble," said Leyla.

"I should think you're about to have more. I am Sister Petrice. I have assumed a burden of charity. This is my charge."

She gestured as Varnell led out a Qunari, but this one was different from the ones they had encountered previously. He was wearing some sort of collar around his neck and looked as if his mouth had been sewn up. Plus, the way he walked around resembled a dog rather than a person.

"A saarebas? Here?" Fenris shook his head.

"Would even a templar bind a mage like this? A survivor of the infighting with their Tal-Vashoth outcasts. I call him 'Ketojan', a bridge between worlds. The viscount and others feel that peace begins with appeasement. This mage would likely be returned to his brutal kin. He can serve a purpose. I want him free. He must be guided from the city without alerting his people or being seen in my care."

Leyla listened intently, but she got the feeling that everything that came out of her mouth rang hollow.

"We've had dealings with the Qunari leader," Dak blurted out. "He'd want to know about this."

Petrice was taken aback by this. "You… have dealt with their leader? If you have interacted with Qunari, you know how they treat those who leave their heathen order. The Arishok would doom this poor creature. But knowing this is useful. If they challenge you, attacking an ally would only confirm their barbarism. You are still right for the task."

Leyla found the entire thing suspicious. "We could get him out of Httsgalor. He's a bit conspicuous for the streets, though."

"Better out there than here with the templar," Dak pointed out.

"This mage will be a fine example of how cruel Qunari are, even to their own. But only if you play out just so. The passage here leads to the warrens of the Undercity. It is dangerous, but that is why you were hired. Good luck."

Ketojan followed them indifferently; it certainly felt as if they were taking their Dire Wolves out for a walk, except he was far bigger and possibly more dangerous. They continued to make their way through the tunnels when they encountered a group of thugs who tried to accost them.

"What the blazes is this? Looks like a walking armoury." The leader of the thugs stepped forward. It appeared that despite that astute observation, these idiots were still going to attempt a shakedown. The thug walked towards him. "Look at this. Undercity's feared by all, but there's no shortage of fools with coin who want to test it." The thug looked over at Ketojan and narrowed his eyes. "What is this thing, collared like a dog lord's bitch? You some sort of Qunari lover? Maybe I should get rid of you and see who'll pay the most for your pet."

Ketojan made a growling noise. One of the other thugs shook his head. "Uh, I don't think it likes you threatening its master. Maybe we let this one pass."

"Do everyone a favour and listen to your friend," said Dak.

The thugs' leader took another step forward, clearly trying to look menacing. "And let you lot make a holiday of the last free place in Huttsgalorl? Tax it up like even Lowtown?" He then drew his knife. "I'll cut up and save the biggest piece for your pet."

Then suddenly, coming completely out of nowhere, before any of them could even act, Ketojan unleashed a burst of magic that set the bugs flying backwards and set the room on fire. The thugs started screaming. "By the Void! Kill it! Kill them all!"

Believe it or not, it didn't take them long to dispatch the thugs, and Dak quickly approached Ketojan, hoping to calm him down.

"The danger has passed, Ketojan. Calm yourself!" he yelled. Ketojan growled, but the fire around his hands died. Dak blinked. "You did what I said. Did I hit the right phrase or something?"

Ketojan merely growled again.

"He may not know himself," said Fenris.

"You can't gesture or 'stomp your feet for yes' or something?"

Ketojan growled once again.

"For we know, he's asking for a chamber pot?" said Varric.

Leyla strongly suspected that he was not asking for a chamber pot. Though it was clear that Petrice had assumed much, considering the one they're trying to rescue doesn't talk.

Dak just shook his head. "Keep control, and remember who is on your side."

Ketojan growled in response.

"Of course, I expected no different."

Regardless, they followed the tunnel until they reached the coast, where they suddenly ran into a heavily armoured group of qunari. The leader of the group saw them and then suddenly began to approach.

"You will hold, basra vashedan," he demanded. "I am Arvaarad, and I claim possession of Saarebas at your heel. The members of his karataam were killed by Tal-Vashoth, but their disposal leads only here, to Saarebas and you."

Dak was completely confused. "We just got here, coming from the other way. If there was a trail, we did not leave it."

However, he had a strong suspicion he knew who had left the trail, and it was certainly a coincidence that at the tunnel exit, they ran into a heavily armed group of qunari, who apparently were searching for Ketojan.

"Yet you are here with Saarebas," said Arvaard, not sounding convinced. "This is a crime of freedom, his leash held by unknown basra. We will not allow that danger to continue. Let your own mages doom you—Saarebas will be properly confined."

"And if he doesn't want to go back?" Leyla questioned.

"Saarebas! Show that your will remains bound to the Qun." Immediately, Ketojan knelt and growled. Arvaarad gave thema smug look. "He has only followed you because he wants to be led. He is allowed no other purpose."

Dak was still trying to understand what was happening and looked at Ketojan. "The sister called him 'Ketojan.' You are Saarebas?"

"Saarebas is his role and his name, as you understand it. It is the accusation and acknowledgement of being a mage."

"And you are Arvaarad?"

"My role is to hold the leash and hunt the grey ones who leave the Qun." Arvaarad narrowed his eyes and tried to look intimidating. Dak had to admit it was far more effective for the Qunari than the thugs earlier. "Or bas who have not yet been enlightened."

"You don't care that someone abused your dead to get you here?"

"No doubt they were cast from your shoulders as you or your partner thieves grew weak. It is a crime whose victims are beyond caring. It will be dealt with, but the greater threat is clear. It is my role to secure Saarebas. It is the role of another to purge the perversions of your kind."

Leyla looked at him, appalled. "He is bound and abused, and you want him caged. Why?"

"The power that he has, that all Saarebas have, draws from chaos and demons. They can never be in control."

"So you fear them."

"Just like everyone," said Merrill, shaking her head.

Arvaarad turned and glared at her. "We leash Saarebas because they are dangerous and contagious. Not even your templars fully grasp that threat."

Dak just believed they were being overly paranoid.

"I wield the same power, and I am no danger to you unless I choose to be," said Leyla.

"I as well," said Merrill.

Dak winced; he really wished that they had been set at.

Arvaarad instantly backed away. "You… are Saarebas? Bas Saarebas?" He then turned to his men. "Vashedan! Nethraa sataa karasaam!" He then turned to Hawke with fury in his eyes. "You spew your words at me like a demon trying to poison my control!" He then jested to Saarebas. "Like this mage, the Qun requires your death!"

Dak quickly moved in, hoping to avoid bloodshed. "But they're no threat to each other."

"Bas Saarebas! They will be no threat to know one!"

He then held out some sort of rot and pointed it at Saarebas, but he fell to his hands and knees in pain.

The next second, they were attacked by Arvaarad and his men. Fortunately, none of them had any templar training, meaning they had no abilities to negate Leyla and Merrill's magic powers. Varric, still on top of the hill, shoots bolts right into any of the Qunari that got anywhere close, and Dak and Fenris engage them.

The battle was ended when Leyla blasted a fireball directly at Arvaarad. She quickly ran up to Saarebas, who was groaning in pain.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

Saarebas only groaned, gesturing to the rod near Arvaarad. Dak got the idea, instantly grabbed it, and broke it in half.

At once, Saarebas got to his feet, rubbed his head, and spoke, "I am… unbound. Odd… wrong… but you deserve honour. You are Basvaarad, worthy of following. I thank your intent, even if it was… wrong."

He then walked up towards the hill. "I know the will of Arvaarad. I must return as demanded. It is the will… of the Qun."

"So after all that, now you want to die?" said Leyla, following him up the hill.

"I do not want to die; I want to live by the Qun."

"Which means dying."

"Yes. Is that hard to grasp?"

"Could you have returned if we let these others live?" Leyla asked hopefully.

"No."

"You were doomed from the start?"

"I was outside my karataam," he explained. "I may be corrupted. I cannot know. How I return is my choice. It must be, but that does not mean there was no meaning."

Dak could make heads or tails of this, and one look from the others told him that they were just as bewildered as even Fenris. He, however, knew that there was no point in arguing with Saarebas, and his job was to get him outside the city.

"Our job ended when we exited the city," he said. "The rest is up to you."

"You know certainty and borders," said Saarebas, looking at him. "You are closer to the Qunari than you admit. Your role will change little if you accept the Qun." He then handed Dak a strange talisman. "Take this thing, Basvaarad. Remember this day."

Then Saarebas used magic to set himself ablaze, and he fell to the ground, and the fires consumed his body.

"I just don't understand them," said Merrill. "Why would he throw his life away."

"We are talking with a culture that is completely completely different from ours," Dak sighed.

"The one thing that is clear is that we have been played," said Leyla, folding her arms. "I think we need to speak with the sister again."

There was no argument from anyone, and they began making their way back through the tunnels, heading for the safe house. Once there, they weren't entirely surprised to see that both Petrice and Varnell were in the process of stripping it.

"Leave nothing," said Petrice. "It must be clean with no ties. It…" Petrice then suddenly spotted them. "Well. My helpful associate from the streets. You… took the Qunari from the city? Without incident?"

"Don't be like that," said Merrill, crossing her arms. "You know that we know."

"Mind your tongue, elf," Varnell snarled.

"Please. Speak your mind," said Petrice.

Dak narrowed his eyes. "The bodies of the mage's karataam led right to us. Why?"

Petrice narrowed her eyes at him. "You come back speaking their language and thing to lecture me? If such a plot exists, if the Qunari had murdered you trying to help their slave mage, then yes, somebody might have found that useful. It would have cast doubt on appeasement. Perhaps your death would have been a tragic necessity. Perhaps finding the mage was a rushed."

Became abundantly clear that Petrice was a dangerous zealot. Regrettably, there wasn't much they could do as she was still a chantry sister, and they were just simple refugees. Additionally, he had a suspicion that she had quite the following and that her death would only just make her a martyr.

Dak practically marched up to her. "I want no part of your little war. Pay me what I'm due."

She threw a pouch at him. "Take your coin. Disappear back into Lowtown. Rest assured, I will not make the mistake of looking for help outside the faithful again. The stakes—eternity—are just too high."

They began to make their way outside, but no one was completely satisfied with the results.

"We'll be hearing from that one again," said Fenris.

Dak nodded in agreement and couldn't help but have a hunch the next time they met, which would be to prevent another incident from happening.

Though it was probably considered a very stupid idea, Dak decided to stop at the Qunari compound to talk to Arishok.

"Why do you bother me, human?" he asked irritably. "The dwarf paid you. There is no more." He gestured. "Your kind think selfishness and want are normal. This city, all of it, leaves a bad taste."

Dak frowned. "If you despise this place, why haven't you left?"

The huge man was looking at him contemplatively. "Since we arrived, I have seen nothing but greed and weakness. Dwarves, humans, elves—just… festering. No order, no goal. You are one of the few I have met with any ability. And yet this too was random, a result of selfishness." He spread his hands. "I cannot fathom how a mire like this can be justified." He shook his head. "You turned from me. Do you turn as easily from all this… chaos?"

Dak couldn't help but agree on some levels of his observations, though he suspected that what he considered utopia was far different from that of the Arishok.

"My welcome to the city was not so different from yours," he said.

"And yet you suffer it."

"It's an opportunity to make a real difference."

"Karasten are soldiers. The Qun made it so. They can never vary from that assigned path, never be other than they are meant to be." The Arishok rose and paced the area in front of his bench, gesturing at the other Qunari as he spoke. "But, they are free to choose within that role. To accept and succeed, or deny and die. Glory is clear and defined." He gestured as he paced. "Could you—could not this entire city—benefit from that certainty? How else will you know when you have made 'a real difference'?"

Dak frowned. "He is free to choose to obey? This isn't contradicting to you?"

"He chooses to be. As do we all, long before any of your meaningless freedoms are presented. I am not the one to educate you. I did not intend to land here. But the city may demand certainly. I suspect we are done human." The Arishok sat back down on his bench.

They continued to talk more about the Qun; the more they talked, the more contradictory it sounded. He said the Qun was not military but a standard for order and discipline. He also found out that he only remained because of some demand from the Qun and wouldn't leave until that demand was met, which did not bode well. He then decided it was best to talk about the reason he came.

"I've had confrontations with others in your command."

"There have been a number of incidents, but you must mean Arvaarad, found dead after tracking Saarebas." The Arishok was clearly no fool. "I thought nothing could threaten Arvaarad."

"You are not angry?"

"A mage is dead. That is what matters. The rest is… impressive." The Arishok nodded to him. "But do not repeat it."

Dak wanted as few confrontations with the Qunari as possible. That said, considering Qunari's attitude towards mages, he thought the odds of it not being repeated were slim. "I believe a member of the Chantry intended it to happen."

"Friend and enemy blend together in this sea of filth. I can barely discern one group from another." The Arishok gave him a considering look and then, oddly enough, a respectful nod. "But as this clearly means something to you, I acknowledge the risk taken."

"Saarebas chose death over leaving the Qun."

"That is good to hear," the Arishok nodded.

"That is all you have to say?"

The Arishok narrowed his eyes at him. "I will not insult Saarebas with the suggestion that making the right choice was difficult. I expect as much from every Qunari. I doubt Saarebas earned a greater honour in his life than my reaction now."

"Farewell."

"Panahedan, human."

"So the Champions dealings with the Qunari were the actions of a chantry sister," said Cassandra in disbelief.

"You sound surprised, Seeker," said Varric with a smug smile. "Is it really so hard to believe that Dak and Leyla wished to prevent a war? Or perhaps it's hard to believe that a chantry sister would send others to their deaths just to antagonise people against the Qunari."

"If what you're telling us is true, then clearly, the champions were innocent in starting a diplomatic incident. However, I know for a fact that this was not the last time the champions came in contact with the Qunari. Until I hear more, I cannot render judgment."

"Very well, Seeker, you want to hear more? I'm more than happy to oblige; just remember to keep an open mind."