Entry 15 of Neiko Hawke. Family, Friends, and Business.

 After the little verbal fight in front of the Chantry, I went towards my house to check my mail. On the way, I saw a Qunari still lingering around. He said that he has come to collect Qunari blades, and would like me to return any I found. He asked if I needed payment for finding them, but I refused a payment. I already put enough anguish on the Qunari for now.

While browsing the Hightown market, I was stopped by someone from Antiva. He said he was looking for an assassin that left "The Crows" who fled to the Dalish. Apparently "The Crows" are a reputable assassination group from Antiva, and leaving the group is grounds to be killed. He asked if I could find him and return him to their camp outside so they could punish him, but I didn't make any promises. I just said I'd keep a lookout for him.

 I found some new armor at the merchants in Hightown as well! =o

Continuing my sweep of merchants in Hightown, I found my old business partner who told me something terrible has happened at the mine in the Bone Pit. He said that his last shipment came in on a half destroyed wagon with mangled bodies and charred remains. I needed to check this out soon, to see if I could find any survivors and fix the problem.

I finally went home after visiting all the Merchants in Hightown, only to find my Mabari  barking at my armoire. There was apparently a thief in my house trying to steal from me. He just wanted to leave now, but I wasn't going to let him just leave after breaking and entering my house. I told my Mabari to go find the guards, and bring them back to arrest the robber. (Which he did)

I also found Merrill staring out of the window. She was talking about how everything seems so far away now that she's in Hightown. She then says that she needs to go to her house, and that she'd be home before dark. I asked her why she doesn't just bring her stuff to my house, but she said that some things are better off far from here. I'm guessing she was talking about her mirror.

 I was about to leave my house to go find Merrill since it was getting dark and she wasn't back yet, but Bodahn said he needed to talk to me. He was telling me about how he was starting to get old, and he needed to make sure Sandal was somewhere good, and that Sandal could move on with his life without Bodahn having to be there. I said that Sandal will always have a place here for me to make enchantments, and Bodahn thanked me for that, but he said that the Empress from the Imperial court had offered Sandal a job at enchanting there. Good for Sandal.

I went to go check on Merrill, since it was already dark and she wasn't back yet, and I found her at still at her old house. She was telling me how the Mirror still wasn't working, and she doesn't know what else to do now and that she's all alone in this. I reassured her that no matter what, she isn't alone, and I'll always be here for her.

Since I was in Lowtown, I decided to check on Gamlen. He had a note on his desk about a rare gem waiting for him. I'd have to check that out later. Gamlen goes on talking to me about how even though he doesn't agree with me, he's still glad that I'm his family. He was afraid that our family in Kirkwall would end with him, and he's glad that I'm here to bring our name out of the ground back to what it used to be.

I decided to check on Isabela in The Hanged Man after that, and she was moping around when I came up to her. She was saying that we have nothing in common anymore, and that there is no reason for her to stay around anymore. I told her that no matter what, she still came back for us in the end, and I could still use her skills.

Lol Varric.

Entry 12 of Neiko Hawke. Friendly back stabbing.

 Upon entering my house, I found Isabela and Aveline at each other throat's over I have no clue what. Apparently Isabela found her relic that she needed to stop someone from trying to kill her, and needed my help to retrieve it. She was really dodgy on clues, and was saying that it was probably important to someone. I had to choose between instantly going to go see the Qunari, or help Isabella recover the artifact. I figured why not help Isabela right quick, we'll be done in a few minutes and I can be on my way to the Qunari compound.

 When we arrived at a foundry that Isabela said the relic was at, we found Qunari who asked if we had the relic. I was confused by this, but Isabela said right off the bat, "We don't have your stupid relic." and we were fighting a group of Qunari. After the fight I stopped Isabela before we continued, and she broke down telling me that she knew all of this, but didn't think it was important enough to tell me. She then said that she needed it to prevent someone following her from killing her, but the fact it's the Qunari artifact that they are looking for, I needed it to give back to the Arishok. She gave a very unbelievable response stating she would give it over, but I really didn't believe her. I would just have to grab it first.

We walked into the foundry and found a couple fanatics looking for the relic as well, they instantly started fighting with the Qunari here to recover it, and the person who had the relic darted off outside. Isabela gave chase as soon as he started running, but the rest of us were pinned inside to fight.

As soon as we finished the fight, I ran outside to see if Isabela had the relic. Of course she was gone. She left a note saying she was actually sorry though. I'm not sure how to feel about her, since the relic is what the Qunari were here for in the first place. Trying to talk to the Arishok about this wasn't going to be easy in the first place, now Isabela made it even worse.

Entry 08 of Neiko Hawke. Merrill finds a friend (in me).

Merrill has been bugging me about something recently, so I went to her house to see what's up. She starts to talk about how she almost has the eluvian mirror finished, but it still needs another piece. An object their clan is currently holding on to, and she needs to talk to the keeper to use it. She says she is too afraid to go by herself, and would like it if I went with her. Of course I agree with her, and off we went.

As soon as we arrive it's straight to business and Merrill asks the keeper for the "arulin'holm" and the keeper instantly knows what we're up to. Merrill speaks some elvish and the jist of it is that any Dalish elf can ask for a relic, but have to do a favor. The keeper doesn't like this, but she has to abide by it since it is their law. She tells us we need to kill a Varterral, an ancient Dalish guardian, except this one has been corrupted and is harming Dalish instead of protecting them.

We enter the cave, and through our travels, we mostly just find some spiders. Until we came upon another Dalish elf "Pol", who was horrified to see Merrill. He instantly ran away from us and ran right into the Varterral, who then proceeded to maul Pol. We rush into the fight, and it wasn't too bad, except for when spiders would come in randomly every now and then to help the Varterral. He was pretty tough, and he would throw this goo on the floor that would slow down any movement we had, and hurt constantly like an acid. This wasn't too big of a problem for our group, as long as he kept shooting it at me. He eventually was slain, and I picked up his Heart for the Apothecary in the gallows. We headed back to the keeper to let her know it was dead, but she gave the arulin'holm to me and gave me the decision to give it to Merrill or not. Of course I gave it to her, fully aware of the consequences I may have just put on myself.

Merrill wanted to talk after I gave her the arulin'holm, so I went to her house to see what was up. She talked to me about how I am the only one who seems to understand her and believe in her. I reassured her that I really do believe in what she is doing, and threw in a little comment how, "I'm sensitive, handsome, and supportive. What more could you want?" She then went on her awkward ramblings that are just cute. She then told me that she wanted me to come back when she's worked on the mirror. So I went off to my estate for a bit before going back.

When I came back she was sitting at her table, staring into the distance. I sat down with her, and asked her what was wrong. She told me that she figured the mirror would be fixed by the arulin'holm, and all of her clan would accept her again for fixing their history. She made a sad face, and then told me that nothing has changed so far. The mirror was still broken, and her clan still hated her. I reassured her that things will eventually work out, and that I don't hate her. She then said back to me that she doesn't hate me either, with a cute little smile.

Entry 07 of Neiko Hawke. Anders Finds Himself.

We went to go track down the Templar who was using the, "Tranquil Solution". He was last seen chasing a mage in what was the mage's secret tunnel that led them out of the city. On our way through, there were lyrium smugglers. They keep a steady flow through here for the addiction that is given to Templars, but they weren't too good at combat to stop me from reaching the Templar. There wasn't anything too hard on the way through, other than a large pack of spiders that dropped from the sky, they were a little tough. They surrounded us, and I was webbed a few times, unable to help my friends in combat at least half the fight. There were also spiders that shot poison from a distance, those buggers hurt a lot more than they seem to at first.

We eventually found the templar, he was currently harassing a mage, and seemed like he was about to turn her into a Tranquil! I approached this calmly, wanting to assess the situation and area, but vengeance came out of Anders, and ran in screaming, "YOU WILL NOT HARM ANOTHER MAGE!"

The fight here was brutal, the Templar had numbers, and strength (gamer note, I died and had to restart this fight at least 5 times). There were plenty of normal templars, with a "Templar Hunter" who was pretty much an assassin in plate. It was terrible, Anders or Varric were constantly back stabbed by the hunter who would jump in and out of stealth, and the only way to kill him easily was the stun him and burst him down. After a few minutes into the fight though, reinforcements for the Templars came in! There was another Templar Assassin, with a bunch of archers and normal templars as well! We eventually pulled back a room, and I stood firm at the doorway preventing any stealthers from passing through, or anything else for that matter. Eventually the Templar commander is taken out with a headshot from Varric.

After the fight though, Vengeance was still in control of Anders, and was saying the mage was under the control of the Templars and was one of them. I tried to explain how she was the one we were saving, and now she is safe, but Vengeance didn't seem to understand. Right as he was about to strike down on the poor mage, Anders takes back control, and at first he is confused. Within seconds though, he realizes what just happened, and runs off talking about how afraid he is of himself.

I met up with the mage outside, and tell her to go see her family *that's why she was trying to leave in the first place*, but not stay there too long. I wasn't sure if the Templars would leave her alone after this. After that I went to the opposite side of Darktown to talk with Anders. He goes on telling me that he's becoming an abomination, and it doesn't feel like Justice is any better than most demons. I try to reason with him, and tell him that he can overcome this and control it. He goes on saying that it's hard and he doesn't know how. I bring up an example that he could be an example of a mage. Magic is powerful and dangerous, but if he is able to control it, maybe others will see it is actually controllable by those with enough willpower. He starts to cry a bit and excuses himself from our conversation. It is a lot to take in though, so I go shopping for a bit.

I go back into Darktown after a little potion shopping, and wanted to see if Anders had recuperated yet. When I arrive at his clinic, he's outside putting milk out. He tells me how he misses Ser-Pounce-Alot, and says there used to be cats around here, but it seems they all left or disappeared. We have a little talk about the uprising again, and I tell him that the Grand Cleric wasn't a part of this "Tranquil Solution". In fact, in the note I read, she was completely against it! Anders told me how much of a relief that was, and that since the Templar was working outside the law, that we should bring it to the Chantry's attention. 

I will go pay them a visit soon and get this all straightened out.

Entry 06 of Neiko Hawke. Everyone wants help.

 I had a lot of letters come to my estate asking for help with random tasks, including some of my old personal business. So I figured before I went out to solve all these problems, I'd go pick up some new armor and a new shield. I found myself a new full plate, and a darkspawn shield. Both which look pretty cool.

I had found a figurine out in my flower picking journey while up in the Dalish mountain, and it looked really elvish. I decided to try to and give it Merrill to see if she'd like it. She was ecstatic to receive a gift like this, she said she has never received just a "gift" before, they were usually always actual things she needed, not just a want.

So I went to go see my business partner who said that our shipments have been constantly ambushed for a while. He ended up finding the person responsible for the ambushes, and it was just a normal miner who was trying to find some extra cash. He told me a sob story about his family and how he just wanted a better life for his son. I believed the story, and he caved in telling me who was ambushing and when the next ambush was. He also told me he left a stash of gold hidden for himself in the cave, and that he felt sorry for ever stealing from someone like me. I couldn't let him be killed for this, besides, his wife and son would be without money or a father.

We went to the ambush site, but they already ransacked the caravan. We found out the people who were ambushing us were actually people who were working for us to protect the caravans. We went to find the traitor in darktown, but Lilly (who was my escort) was killed before I could get there. We went down into their lair, and instantly found some traps. Large spiky traps of doom to be exact. Lucky for me the smugglers were stupid enough to trigger their own traps as well.

We came up upon their leader, and a fight broke out, we pushed up the stairs and slayed all who opposed us, we were eventually ambushed by reinforcements from behind us, which gave a little trouble, but nothing too bad.

 I was strolling through Hightown market when a dwarf was yelling at me because his three sons ran into the deep roads looking for loot because they heard of the stories of me finding my fortune in the Deep Roads. We came upon the first brother who was hiding in fear near the entrance, he told me that one of the brothers was mad with greed and locked his other brother in with darkspawn while he ran for a "poisoned sword". I quickly ran to the other brother trapped with darkspawn to find just a few genlocks, but then a few darkspawn mages came up from behind. Holy crap did these guys hurt. They weren't too bad until they spawned these exploding fireballs of death. They would instantly kill Varric and Anders when they exploded, and left me nearly dead across the room. We took them out as fast as possible with a few revives from Anders and his constant heals, and then we headed on to find the last brother.

Upon entrance to the next room the third brother was laying on the floor dead. We searched the surrounding area and found a golem control rod near his corpse. I wondered if it still worked. Sure enough, in the next room we found some golems and I was able to control one of them. There were plenty of other fearsome golems that I could not control though, and they went on a rampage killing everything around them, darkspawn or not. They were some tough enemies, but we eventually crumbled them down to size.

In the last room we found a group of genlocks and a darkspawn mage. I instantly went for the mage when all of a sudden an ogre comes barreling out the treasure room. I instantly change targets while Varric pins the mage to the floor while Merrill threw some lightning at him. I kept the ogre's attention the whole time while we slowly brought him down. He was pretty tough, but after fighting that dragon, this seemed easy.

I came back to see if the brothers had made it out, and the father was sad to see that the third wasn't with me. He was expecting that he was with me, but I came empty handed. Even though the third brother was blinded by greed, he was still sad. He was his son after all.

I was going to talk to the Qunari leader when a guard stopped me asking if I was killing patrols along the beach. I asked if I was really on the top of his list, and he apparently knows I'm quite capable, since he stated that no mere local assassin could kill a Qunari patrol. I went up the beach and found the dead patrol, but there was a transformed mage who was now an abomination with shades. They weren't that tough, but I guess we are bosses.

I was then told by the Qunari leader when I returned that someone stole a recipe that the stealer though was explosives, instead it was a recipe for a poisonous gas. I went to find the merchant that supposedly sold the gas, but he was gone through the smuggler's cove. I chased through tons of mercenaries, but found the merchant. He said he was just a face, and the person who was doing all the stealing and creating was in lowtown. So I went to lowtown, and found an area sealed off by guards. The guards tried to stop me from going down, but no one was willing to fight to stop me. I went down and started sealing containers, and as I was doing so, some smugglers came out, including a female elf who hated the Qunari. I eventually killed all the smugglers and sealed all the containers and went back to the Qunari leader to report my findings.

An hour or so of talking with the Qunari about his customs and how every Qunari is pretty much a slave, he states that he isn't waiting for a boat to come bring him home, but he is instead waiting to take back an item we have stolen from him years ago... Hmm. Some officials need to know about this.

Upon my entrance to the main keep, I was stopped by Aveline asking for me to do some random errands for her. She asked me to give a package to a guard I had saved earlier, Donnic. She was apparently trying to get his attention, but he seemed oblivious to it. It eventually came to me asking Donnic to have some drinks with me at The Hanged Man and Aveline would then make her move. I waited there with Donnic for hours, but he eventually got tired and had to leave. Aveline then came up after he left saying she couldn't do it. I then forced her into another meeting, this time on a patrol, since she dragged me into this, and now Donnic thinks I'm trying to get with Aveline.

I found them on their patrol, and made sure I was ahead of them so they would not be interrupted on the patrol. I found a large group of Mabaris, Some Slavers, and some smugglers. Not much, but they still had to be dealt with.

Upon the finish of their patrol, they met up with us and Donnic was wondering what we were doing here. Aveline was being the awkward one, and all of a sudden Merrill just blurts it out saying they look cute together and should kiss. Donnic was confused by all of this and ran off. Aveline was so mad at us, she thought he was going to file a complaint and ask for a transfer. She dragged me along with her even more to wait for Donnic.

He eventually came up, and asked to speak with Aveline alone. An hour or so later some giggling came from her room. Things were obviously going fine, so I decided to go check the shops in hightown again. I came back to talk with Aveline over it, and she was overjoyed that Donnic felt the same and was glad I pushed her to it.

I then went to talk to Anders, since he said he needed help with something. Apparently there is a Templar who is turning every mage who speaks against him into a Tranquil! Even mages who have passed their Harrowing and are not apostates! I agreed to help Anders with this, this templar has gone too far! I'll be doing this right away, so I'll be posting my results in my next journal entry.

Entry 04 of Neiko Hawke. Friends Family.

I was told by Varric that his brother Bartrand has come back to Kirkwall, for what we don't know. We ended up going to a mansions that seemed deserted for a long time, but upon entrance we found fanatic guards who seemed to have lost their minds. The first few waves were quite easy, I'd just bop them back with a shield slam, and then a fireball or an arrow lance would take them out once they were clumped.

We eventually came to a room that had a bunch of decaying corpses laying around. Something really wrong has been going on here.

We eventually went into the main entrance room, the only room we haven't been to yet, and holy crap was there a fight here. As soon as we entered the room a bunch of fanatics came charging down the stairs screaming. I charged up the stairs and slammed my shield into the group while The leader was stuck floating in agony in a rune prison made by Anders. I then taunted everyone while Merrill used tempest and chain lightning to bring swift electric death to everyone but the leader.

If only it was that easy though. After we killed all the lower fanatics, more came barreling out of the other rooms upstairs. This fight started to get grim. Anders became separated from us in another room, and there were just too many for us to handle in the main room. I kept taunting whenever possible to keep Merrill and Varric safe while Anders slowly fought his way back to us. I was about to fall from the constant pummeling I was receiving from all of the fanatics, when Anders rejoined into the fight and put an immunity shield around me. After that he healed me a bit and we slowly fought through all the fanatics till every last one was dead in a bloody mess.

We thought the worst was already done with when we fought the horde of fanatics, but once we found Bartrand, it only became harder. Once we found him he slipped into the shadows and we were left clueless while another horde of fanatics came charging up the staircase to us. Merrill was caught outside, so I charged to the door and taunted all of the fanatics outside. Merrill quickly ran inside the door behind me to start fighting in a safer spot, but we still didn't know where Bartrand was. Unfortunately he came out of the shadows and instantly slayed Varric. I was unaware of this while I was still dealing with the fanatics with Merrill, and by the time I realized it, he was already on me. Anders was about to attempt to ressurect Varric, but Bartrand came out of the shadows again and instantly dropped Anders.

I started to panic, but at least we killed all the fanatics, so all we have left is Bartrand to deal with. I called my hound to aid me, and I taunted him with shield wall up. He hurt so much from the constant stabbing, I had to run around and drink health potions from time to time while Merrill was constantly chugging lyrium potions. I was eventually slain when I became overconfident, and Merrill sent him on a chase around the mansion until she finally brought him back to his senses.

We all woke up, but Bartrand was confused and hardly in control of himself, I thought about just killing him there, but I asked Anders if there was anything he could do to help. He said he could help, but it would only be temporary. We are unsure of what is causing Bartrand to act like this, but he's a dwarf so he cannot be taken control of by a normal demon. Varric asked me to let him live, and we would try to find him another healer who could fix this permanently, I agreed to this, seeing that if there is some chance of saving him, that we should take it.

Entry 02 of Neiko Hawke. Companions and "Friendship"

After we were in the fade I decided to go to my new house and drop off some items I've been holding into my stash, upon entering Isabela was already here and was telling me how her last duel left her, "Unsatisfied". Within minutes we were having "fun" and we agreed to not let feelings into this.

After doing this though, I was thinking of Merrill, and how she betrayed me in the fade. So I went to her house in the Alienage to talk. She was sitting on her bed when I came in, and asked her about why she would betray me. She talked of how her teaching told her to not trust anything in the fade, and the only one you can trust on is yourself. We came to the conclusion that the pride demon was controlling her, and that she needs to be even more careful since she is also a blood mage. After that I had a quick chat with Isabela about her betrayal in the fade, not much happened her other than a sorry and not knowing how to deal with demons. Eh.

After all this happened we decided to go help Sebastian. He said he felt empty now that he knew his family friend was the one who wanted his family dead. Merrill made some statements about how the music in the Chantry was quite nice, but she didn't understand the lyrics, and it sounded quite repetitive. I had a little chuckle at that. I agreed to help Sebastian fight his family friend so he can reclaim the land properly his. Once there, everything was different. There were no guards, all the doors were opened, and it seemed all the people couldn't see or hear us there. Until we were in the basement. The three from earlier were there, telling us we couldn't pass. I tried to talk to them but they just fell down and a desire demon came out. The fight wasn't too hard, so we went down the stairs that led into some sort of ruins.

Once in the ruins it wasn't long until we found a revenant and other fade creatures. We had a bit of a hard fight, but we won in the end. Not too far from that fight we found a group of demons with two Rage demons. These demons were tough, I was knocked out from the constant barrage of flame from them, but not a second or two after I fell, the fight was over and I was helped back onto my feet.

We kept walking deeper into the ruins until we found his family friend, who was dealing with a Desire demon. Should of figured. A few exchanges of words with attempts to make us feel like we're doing wrong and want her help and we're fighting her and the friend who was a mage. Boy was this fight hard, I taunted all the demons including the desire demon to fight, I pulled up my shield all the way to block as much damage as possible, but slightly preventing more damage. Even this wans't enough, so I set my feet down and activated a skill I learned called Stonewall. I was able to block most of the damage until the mage threw me off my feet to a wall where I was then pummeled unconscious. I was told Sebastian was the next to fall, and Merrill and Varric worked together to take down the desire demon and the few undead left.

After I was awaken by Merrill after the fight, we looked around for any spoils to find, which I indeed did find some nice items. I found myself a new full plate armor set, and found Sebastian his grandfather's bow. He was very happy to receive this, and instantly started to use it once I gave it to him. He did tell me that if he could break it in half, all the memories from that bow, just to bring back even the lowest servant in his family, he would do it. That's quite the statement. I might hold him to that if we figure something out. Haha.

I plan to re-read my journal tomorrow and see what else I can do before going to see the Qunari.