Dragon Age: Inquisition — Story Playthrough — Part Eleven
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Iselia had found the Warden Alistair in Crestwood and discovered that the Wardens were suffering from a premature Calling that was demanding their deaths. The Warden-Commander Clarel was demanding all Wardens come to the Western Approach, to an old Tevinter ruin, where they would perform one last cleansing to rid the world of darkspawn before the entire Grey Warden order perished.
Iselia needed to get to the Western Approach and find a way to stop this madness, before it was too late.
Unfortunately, a flurry of items whooshed at Iselia and caught her attention. First some mages specialising in different magics had come to Skyhold to instruct her further. And then something they had been waiting for showed up — an invitation to the Empress of Orlais' peacekeeping banquet.
Iselia hadn't realised that was so soon and hadn't thought they had earned enough renown yet to get an invite, but there it was. They would need to attend that before heading off with Alistair to the Western Approach. What was one more night?
Dorian and Cassandra vied for her attention too. Cassandra was worried about her fellow Seekers; they had not been seen since Corypheus had gained control of the templars, and Dorian had lost his friend, Felix, to the blight-sickness... and now his father wanted him captured and brought back to the Tevinter city of Minathrous. It never rained, it poured; apparently.
First though, they had to attend this ball in Orlais, speak with the Empress, and stop a possible assassination attempt on the woman. If Orlais fell to chaos, Tevinter — and Corypheus — would move right in.
Apparently Iselia's people had tried to send word to the Empress, warning her, but all of the messages had been intercepted. All that was left now was to attend the ball, keep an eye out, and warn her themselves.
They arrived at the Winter Palace that night, just in time for all of the Empress' guests to witness their arrival. They were attending as guests of Duke Gaspard, rebellious cousin to the Empress... the Inquisition, a mage Inquisitor, and guest of a black sheep Duke; tongues were already wagging.
Duke Gaspard found them upon arrival and welcomed them to the palace. He also quietly warned her that there seemed to be an elven plot afoot... his people had discovered many elves around the palace acting strangely, he suspected an elf named Briala was the culprit and asked Iselia to keep an ear and an eye out for any information. If anyone wanted Empress Celene harmed, the elf had good reason, apparently.
That was welcome information. After their brief conversation, Iselia prepared herself to enter the ballroom with the Duke.
Leliana had warned her in advance of the so-called "Game" the Orlesians were known for. She would have to act a certain way, listen carefully, piece together information, and slyly gain small renown for herself while she was here if she wanted the Inquisition to be taken seriously. All eyes would be on her.
Then Josephine warned her of the same. It was like they didn't trust her to make a good impression.
Following the Duke's lead, Iselia walked into the ballroom and reveled in the small gasps of the Orlesians as they bore witness to their estranged Duke and mage Inquisitor. It was scandalous, indeed!
Empress Celene greeted them, alongside her sister who was, apparently, the one who had arranged for this ball. The Empress seemed polite enough and welcomed them warmly. Gaspard wanted to get straight to business with his cousin, but she bade them enjoy the festivities first.
Gaspard bowed his head to both the Empress and then to Iselia, and left. Iselia climbed the stairs to where her people were waiting, and Leliana quickly motioned for her. She had important news that must be spoken quickly.
Apparently the Empress had an "Occult Adviser"... a powerful mage that Leliana had once known named Morrigan. Leliana was suspicious of this mage and thought that if anyone would be assassinating the Empress that night, Morrigan would be the first person she would investigate.
Iselia tucked that knowledge away and began exploring the ball.
Whilst eavesdropping on various nobles and whispering elves, she also spoke with her people to see how they were handling the festivities. Dorian felt like he was back in Tevinter, that all this party was missing were the slaves and blood magic. Cassandra absolutely hated that she was there and was doing her best to ignore everyone. Josephine was looking after her little sister who had been invited also. And Cullen... her poor Cullen was surrounded by admirers. It was quite amusing, really.
Amusements aside, there was blood on the tiles and she followed the splotches to the upper areas of the palace. Despite how many eyes were on her, no one seemed to notice as she climbed the garden lattices and paraded above them, out of sight.
The bloodied tiles led her to a room she had to open with a statue of a halla that had been lying around... and in that room lay the corpse of a man plus some interesting correspondence. She quickly grabbed it, just as the bell tolled for all guests to return to the ballroom.
Just as she was about to enter the ballroom, a voice spoke behind her. It was the mage that Leliana had warned her about — Morrigan.
Apparently Morrigan had been watching her throughout the evening. She had seen Iselia investigate every nook and cranny, eavesdrop on every noble and elf, stalk the shadows. Perhaps she and Iselia were hunting the same prey.
Morrigan had found a man from Tevinter here, a threat, and had killed him. The body that Iselia had found. There had been a key on his body and she gave that to Iselia now. She needed to remain by the Empress' side in case any other threats were to occur, but surely since Iselia was already investigating, she could see what this key unlocked.
Gathering her people, she quickly found the door the key unlocked... and found many dead elves inside. There was also a dead man, not elf, who seemed rather out of place... and he had a knife with the seal of Duke Gaspard on the helm.
That seemed rather blatant...
Suddenly a harlequin appeared, chasing an elf, and threw a knife at the elf killing her instantly... the harlequin looked at Iselia, then vanished. That was the strangest murder she had ever seen.
This area of the palace though closed off to the revelers was filled with Tevinter Venatori agents. They must be in league with whoever that harlequin was... and working for the assassin who would be stalking the Empress.
While investigating the area and ridding it of the Tevinter Venatori, Iselia came across Ambassador Briala, one of the parties for the peace talks. She had come to either save her people or avenge their deaths, and it appeared Iselia had already done that for her. She said that Gaspard had gone mad. She was certain he was the one who had invited these Tevinters here and he had to be stopped. She then suggested that she could be a great ally to the Inquisition...
Iselia would make no decisions yet. Everyone at this party was so slippery. She didn't trust a single one of them.
Hurrying back to the ballroom before anyone noticed her absence, she was accosted by the Grand Duchess, the one who had arranged this ball and the peace negotiations that evening. She invited Iselia to dance so they could speak with no spies listening in.
She, too, was certain that Gaspard was going to attack the palace that night, instead of participate in the peace talks. In fact, she knew where a mercenary company was waiting, waiting for Gaspard's word. Iselia didn't know what to think. Everyone seemed certain that Gaspard was planning something. It all seemed suspicious.
After the dance, Iselia made her way back to her people. Josephine was excited that Iselia and the Grand Duchess had danced together, and all were eager to hear what the woman had said. Iselia told them everything.
Leliana then suggested that perhaps they should let Celene be assassinated. Corypheus wanted chaos, and the world could still be chaotic even with Celene on the throne. Gaspard or the elf Briala could be better choices to rule Orlais.
Iselia shut that idea down. They had come to save Celene and that's what they would do.
Leliana sighed. If that was what Iselia wanted... she would need to find some very good information to use against both Briala and Gaspard so they could be blackmailed and Celene's grasp on the empire remained strong.
Iselia decided to investigate the Duchess' claim that there were men in one area of the palace working for Gaspard and preparing to attack before the peace negotiations could be fruitful.
Instead, what she found was the Duchess herself, with a rift and several Tevinter soldiers.
She was working for Corypheus, the man who would be their new God, and she just needed Iselia distracted for a few moments so she could go into the ballroom and make her final strike.
The Duchess disappeared, leaving Iselia and her people to fight off the Tevinter soldiers and the demons that poured from the rift. When everything and everyone was dead, she quickly sealed it before more demons could come through.
The Duchess had not been lying about everything. There was a mercenary here who claimed to be working for Gaspard... the Duchess had asked to meet him here, since she, too, was apparently working with the Duke, but then had been ambushed by all of this.
He promised to speak out against Gaspard for the Inquisition, and join the Inquisition instead of following these pretentious Orlesians.
That was fantastic, but they had to hurry. The Duchess had headed back to the ballroom — Celene could be killed at any moment!
When they arrived back in the ballroom, Cullen had been looking for them. The Empress was about to begin her speech, what would they do?
They would do nothing, Iselia smiled. She was going to go and publicly talk with the Grand Duchess and finalise their little version of The Game in front of the entire court.
Waltzing over the the Duchess, Iselia snarkily revealed her to the Empress and every noble attending the ball that night.
Celene very quickly ordered the woman detained by the guard, then demanded to talk to Iselia, Briala and Gaspard out in the gardens, immediately, before anything else could happen.
While in the gardens, Iselia then proved Gaspard a traitor who was planning on attacking the palace that night. She had found his orders, found the man murdered with Gaspard's own knife, and even had a mercenary ready to testify against him.
Celene ordered the Duke executed immediately.
With that, the peace talks were concluded. The Orlesian civil war was without an opposing leader and all could return to normal.
They returned to the ballroom and Celene pronounced to all of her empire that the civil war was over, order was being restored, and Orlais officially supported the Inquisition as they worked for peace across all of Thedas.
The nobles cheered, the people drank and made merry, and Iselia left them to seek some quiet on the balcony.
Celene had been saved, just as they had planned, and there would be no chaos in Orlais for Corypheus to toy with.
On the balcony, Morrigan spoke with her once more. Apparently Celene had asked her to join the Inquisition and provide Iselia with her vast troves of magical knowledge. She had a lot of knowledge, more than any Circle mage, and was pleased to have a role in their future.
Iselia accepted her help and said she would meet her at Skyhold.
With business concluded for the night, Iselia stood upon the balcony and relished in the quiet; a quiet broken by Cullen's arrival, which of course she didn't mind.
Offering his hand, he asked her to dance. Which was the perfect ending to a very eventful and exhilarating night.
Until next time! 🐲⚔️
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