Dragon Age: Inquisition — Story Playthrough — Part Three

Iselia had spoken to Mother Giselle in the Hinterlands and then proceeded to help the refugees who were fleeing the war between mages and templars.

She was now back in Haven, hoping her new acquaintances/colleagues had worked out what their next move should be as the Inquisition begun to find its footing.

The most important thing during these early stages was to try and get the Chantry on-side. Those who remained of the Chantry were calling the Inquisition a heretical outfit and declared that its leaders deserved to be imprisoned or worse, especially Iselia, the one calling herself the Herald of Andraste.

Josephine suggested that Iselia simply walk into Val Royeaux and speak to the clerics there. Iselia was astounded. She may as well just throw herself into a pit of vipers.

It ended up being the only real choice though. And Cassandra said that she would come too, and protect her.

Iselia was reluctant, but would do as she must. She and Cassandra gathered Varric and Solas and all together they approached Val Royeaux.

When they arrived, people looked over at them and gasped — they definitely knew who they were.

One of Leliana's scouts ran over to them and told them that the Chantry clerics were waiting for them, along with a lot of templars. That was exactly what Iselia didn't want to hear. This was going to end badly, she just knew it.

Bravely, they headed into the city square where a group of Chantry clerics were addressing the city-folk. They were mourning the Divine, and now the Divine's murderer had just stepped into the city. They had wondered would would become of this murderer; now they would wonder no more. It was time for Iselia to pay.

Iselia tried to broker peace, but no one was interested in listening to what the real threat was — the breach in the sky and the mass of demons that fell from it.

The Chantry mother who seemed to lead this rabble closed her ears. The Inquisition was heretical and the templars had returned to the Chantry. The templars were going to put them in their place.

The Chantry mother was wrong.

A group of templars led by the Lord Seeker stomped up to the Mother and then knocked her to the ground. They were not bound to the Chantry any longer and never would be again, the Lord Seeker claimed.

He then turned on Cassandra. He accused her of creating a heretical movement and raising a puppet to stand in for Andraste. They, the templars, were called to a higher purpose. They were leaving Val Royeaux. The city was unworthy of them.

The way he spoke... if he were a mage, Iselia would have thought he was possessed by a demon. Normal people couldn't be possessed, could they?

Iselia asked Cassandra what she knew of the Lord Seeker. She said that the man they witnessed now was nothing like the man she had once known... it was all very bizarre.

Either way, the templars weren't interested in them. Apart from coming across rogue bands of them out in the wild, they could probably discount any threat they might've been. The Chantry was powerless too. While this had been a learning experience, it seemed a waste of time even bothering trying to talk to these people.

Suddenly an arrow flew through the air and landed an inch from Iselia's feet. It had a note tied to it. It was from the Friends of Red Jenny and suggested that Iselia look around the city for red items that would give her more information in regards to someone who wanted to hurt her.

It was certainly an interesting method of getting her attention and she quickly began her search for red things. Within a few minutes she had enough information to investigate a back alley in the city that night. She would do just that.

As they prepared to leave, a messenger stopped them and requested Iselia attend a salon later that night and represent the Inquisition. She accepted the invitation and would attend after she had dealt with whatever this business was in the city's back alleys.

First Enchanter Fiona then waylaid them. Self-appointed leader of the mage rebellion, she said that she was located in Redcliffe and invited them to come speak with her. That perhaps she and her mages could help with the breach and assist the Inquisition.

Iselia was just glad that at least someone out there wanted to help them. She accepted Fiona's offer to speak further in Redcliffe.

That night, Iselia and her group combed the back alleys of Val Royeaux and found the area the secret notes had spoken of. There was a man there with a small handful of followers and he was surprised that she had found him — surely she had expended most of the Inquisitions resources to discover him and his plot!

She didn't even know who he was, and never would... as a strange elf appeared out of no where and shot him in the face.

The girl's name was Sera and she was a Friend of Red Jenny — a part of a group that covered the entirety of Thedas and was made up mostly of maids, servants and other assorted "little people." Little people who were of no consequence to big people until they learned all of their secrets and took them down a peg or two.

Iselia decided that having little people on her side could only be a good thing and accepted Sera's request to join the Inquisition.

With that out of the way, Iselia finally attended the fancy salon... despite being a noble, she had never actually attended a salon before. She was of the Circle since a young age and had never had the opportunity to partake in the revelry and politics of these things.

She felt very out of place, moreso when another guest started to question the Inquisition.

Finally the host of the salon — Court Enchanter Vivienne, mage advisor to the Empress of Orlais herself — showed herself and near killed the guest who had dared question the Inquisition.

Vivienne believed in what the Inquisition stood for: restoring sanity and order to a world gone mad. She wanted to help the Inquisition however she could.

Iselia was taken aback by such a powerful mage seemingly allowed such clout and political power. It was unheard of. Any mage of this power and standing was more than welcome to join her and the Inquisition.

Back in Haven, Iselia found the time to chat with her people before going to the Chantry for their next meeting.

This time around people seemed happier to speak with her. Maybe everyone was having a bad day earlier. Cullen told her of his past as a templar in the Ferelden circle before being transferred to Kirkwall, though he wouldn't tell her what had happened in Ferelden... he gave the vibe that it had been unpleasant. While speaking of his time as a templar, she couldn't help herself and asked him about his vows as a templar. Did he make a vow of celibacy? He said he had not, then very quickly and awkwardly changed the subject.

Varric spoke more of his time in Kirkwall too, and how he met Cassandra because it was one of his friends who had the audacity to blow up the Chantry there and start all of this madness.

Solas asked to investigate a place in the Hinterlands next time they went there. He had found something interesting in the Fade and wanted to investigate.

After welcoming Sera and Vivienne to Haven, she begun to get the sense that maybe neither of them were a good fit. Sera seemed to want to do her helping bit so that the world got back to normal and she could earn a lot of coin again, and Vivienne wanted the Circles restored just how they were before.

Iselia didn't want that. She hadn't had an awful time at the Circle, but she agreed with her fellow mages... there had to be a better way to do things.

Despite not really agreeing with either of them, she would keep them on and hope they were able to help somehow.

Back in the Chantry, Iselia and her advisors got together for a meeting after their eventful time in Val Royeaux. Everyone was quite surprised at the templars and how they had acted, it was very odd.

Josephine suggested that they should ignore the templars and go and see what Fiona and the mages wanted. Iselia was inclined to agree. She wasn't sure she wanted anything to do with those strange templars.

No one else seemed to agree that speaking with the mages was a good course of action, but ultimately the decision was Iselia's and she decided that next on their itinerary was to go to Redcliffe and see what Fiona had to say.

 

Until next time! 🐲⚔️

 

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_{All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, @kaelci and are from the game: Dragon Age: Inquisition.}