DA FF: Blades (5h: Unfinished Business)

“We have to go after her,” I say, earning an approving nod from Sylas.

Caleb mutters a curse, but seems resigned.

It takes a couple days for the contact to send word, and for the Silent Blades to arrive. I lead a group of them and the contact’s men, along with Sylas and Caleb, to Karinn’s estate, late at night. We enter as quietly as possible, and split into two groups to search the place.

Reaching what looks like a study, I find the room destroyed. Torn books, papers, and broken things litter the floor. The desk is overturned, and a secret door behind one of the bookshelves is just laying open.

Shouts suddenly fill the air, from another part of the house, and I start hearing whispers from the shadows. We draw our weapons as several black portals crack open in the floor. Thick, oily smoke pours from them as they widen, and I see skeletal, misshapen arms reaching through. Hulking bodies follow, with glowing eyes.

Everyone’s shouting and running towards the portals. Fights erupt all around me as I go for the closest portal, where a demon is clawing its way through. I leap towards it, slicing my blades across its middle, then quickly dodge to the side and behind it as it swipes at me with long-fingered hands. Sylas takes its head off quickly, and we move on. Arrows whiz by as Caleb supports us from a distance.

Just when my group clears the room of demons, I hear a low, groaning kind of growl from the doorway behind the bookshelf. Looking over, I see an older woman who must be Karinn. Her elegant appearance is twisted now, an eerie red crystal seeming to grow from her own skin in some places, jagged and protruding from her body. Her blood red mage robes are tattered, and her white streaked, dark gray hair is tangled and messy. She stares at us for a moment, with crazed hazel eyes, and everyone pauses.

“What kind of abomination is she?” I whisper, and I feel Sylas tense beside me. Everyone is still for a moment, watching her.

Suddenly, she lets out an inhuman, blood-curdling scream and launches herself at us. Arrows thunk into her, making her jerk, but she keeps coming, sweeping her arms out to hurl deadly shards of red crystal at us. I hear screams as I rush towards her, and see a couple people impaled across the room.

My blades slice across her body, and it feels disturbingly like I’m cutting into wood and rock, rather than flesh and bone. The crystal growing from her body fractures from the attack, but she still keeps coming. She swings her arms wildly, fighting me with bare hands, and she lands several blows on me, making me stumble.

In her frenzy, she doesn’t seem to feel pain at all. It takes several people to finally bring her down, and by the end of it, I feel so bruised I can barely move.

“What kind of magic can turn a person into that?” Sylas wonders as we take a moment to catch our breath.

“It looks like she failed at whatever she was trying to do,” Caleb says, joining us. “The door behind the bookshelf leads to a room with a cell. The place is covered in blood, and…”

He hesitates, and I can tell he’s thinking I’m not going to like whatever he’s about to say. I raise an eyebrow, wondering how this can possibly get worse.

“I think we found what’s left of Briall’s grandson.”

Sylas curses beside me. “We should have listened,” he says.

Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes briefly. “Sorry, Briall.”

 

Lightside Ending 2

Time passes, and everything seems to calm for a brief time. Our innocence has been proven to the Silent Blades, Jeremiah’s treachery exposed. All that’s left is to re-build our organization.

The Blades follow me now, and Sylas and Caleb have stayed by my side. Everyone who remains has renewed their oath, and the few that would have wanted to be mercenaries have left. We’re back to seeking justice for those who wouldn’t otherwise get it.

Karinn’s relic was never found, and I think that’s probably for the best. I hope it disappears into oblivion. Whatever she had been trying to accomplish, it had already cost people their lives.

I still remember Briall’s desperation to help his grandson. I won’t let myself forget my mistake. I was too focused on Jeremiah to see that I was turning my back on my own beliefs.

I almost became what I’ve always hated.

My newfound resolve has led me to pledge my Blades in service to the Inquisition. We’ve all agreed that we can’t let the kind of blood magic we saw at Karinn’s estate spread. The Inquisition seems to be the only group concerned more with the Breach, and the spread of red lyrium, the poisonous crystal that had covered Karinn’s body, than with whether we’re with the mages or templars.

Since we’re with neither, it seems like our goals match well.

 

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For easy navigation, and do-overs. ~ DA FF: Blades (Chapter Master Post)

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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, lore, etc. are the property of BioWare, and their respective writers. The only things that are mine are the original characters and plot of this story – DA FF: Blades. I am in no way associated with BioWare. No copyright infringement is intended. This is for entertainment purposes only.

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