It was only days after we left the Qunari compound that Varric was able to confirm a rumor about a Chantry sister looking for help around Lowtown. The four of us patrolled the streets one evening, keeping an eye out for her as she did not seem to disguise the fact that she was with the Chantry. We happened to catch sight of her just as she was being led into a dark alley by someone who heard the same rumors as us, though it was unlikely they intended to take her up on her offer. We gave her a rather endearing impression of our skills when dispatched of the thugs that were waiting to take her for all that she was worth, though it turned out that she had a Templar not far away. Carver was a bit miffed considering how easy it would have been for the Templar to arrest us just then, but it seemed that he was under the sister’s supervision.
She introduced herself as Sister Petrice and the Templar as Varnell. She wanted to help escort someone discretely out of the city but was not skilled enough to protect the person let alone knew the tunnels beneath the city well enough to help anyone escape unseen. Taking us to a hovel she had rented not far from where Carver’s uncle lived, Sister Petrice then introduced us to a Saarebas she named Ketojan. Fenris immediately recognized what he was and explained to me the significance of his bindings. Mages were about as mistrusted by the Qun as any other culture save for the Tevinter Imperium. Not only were they bound and shackled in chains, but their mouths were sewn shut to keep them from speaking. It was to reduce the amount of spiritual or demonic influence that gave the Saarebas their powers.
Sister Petrice explained that she believed that Ketojan and others like him were wrongfully abused and tortured by the Qunari, and that she wished to set him free by leading him out of the city. The fact that she set herself up to be mugged in the hopes of finding someone of goodwill to help her with this job put me on edge. Something did not feel right about her expressed intentions, especially with the way she answered our inquiries about how she came to find Ketojan. She sounded too certain that she knew exactly what he wanted, basing it on how she specifically felt if she were in his situation. The fact that he could not openly explain himself or that she did not want to be tied to the Saarebas’s escape honestly did nothing to help her case.
I agreed to help if only to make sure anyone else who was unaware of the ways of the Qun did not find themselves in over their heads. We led Ketojan through the underbelly of Darktown, battling spiders and thugs as we made our way towards the smuggler tunnels out of the Kirkwall and to the Vimmark Mountain Pass. Our brief encounter with the thugs proved how powerful the Saaberas was as he protected us after the thugs’ leader threatened me. As we stepped out onto the Wounded Coast, we were greeted by a Qunari titled as Arvaarad, whose sole purpose was to find any Saaberas who were no longer in the company of their originally designated Arvaarad or handler. Without his handler to confirm that he had not been corrupted by any demons tied to the source of his power, it was Ketojan’s duty to die by order of the Qun. Even in the Qun, mages were considered dangerous; more so than by the Templar Order.
The Arvaarad suspected that we were the ones that had attacked the convoy that Ketojan had originally been traveling with, due to the fact that the trail they were following led them directly to the cave we so happened to exit out of. We explained that we only just arrived, that a sister of the Chantry had asked us to lead him out of the city. However, it did nothing to change Ketojan’s fate within the Qun. As the Arvaarad explained further how he and all mages were dangerous to everyone, and thus needed to be bound and muted, I suggested that was not the case for every mage. Yes, some were truly dangerous but I felt he needed to consider how civilly we had been talking the whole time; revealing that I was a mage. The Qunari then believed that they were at risk of being corrupted by whatever demon was potentially possessing me. The Arvaarad then used a rod to cast a binding spell on Ketojan, keeping him from casting any spells while the rest of his hunting party attacked us.
They forced our hand and we slew them out of self-defense. Ketojan seemed to understand that and did not condemn us for our actions. When we unbound him, he tore the threads from his lips and spoke with me. He understood that I was simply following my own sense of duty, releasing him just as we had been instructed. Yet he so wished to return to the Qun, to follow orders and be led by the Arvaarad. He knew that even if I spoke with the Arishok in his defense, he would still be put to death. He felt that I understood the Qun better than most and gave me a talisman. He then immolated himself with fire.
When we returned to Sister Patrice’s hovel, we found her and Ser Varnell disposing of any evidence that they had been there. While she did not entirely confirm that she set us up to be ambushed and slain, for she has a way with words to imply without declaring her true intentions. However, it was clear that she meant to manipulate the Chantry into declaring a holy war against the ‘barbaric’ Qunari. They are hardly barbaric but perhaps better structured than most civilizations. I made it clear that she was not going to win anyone over with her lies and deceit.
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Character Storage of Adventures
This journal comprises of the trials and tribulations of my characters as I played them through a number of different video games.
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