Caelyra and her companions stepped out into Denerim ready to eavesdrop on the nobles and glean information that could be of use for the upcoming Landsmeet.
She thought that they should start at the tavern. The last time they were in Denerim and were helping the city guard, they mentioned something about nobles liking a particular tavern in the marketplace, so that seemed as good a place as any to start.
It was a good choice. Several newly arrived nobles were in the tavern catching up with one another.
One of them was Arl Wulff, who had recently lost his lands and his children to the encroaching blight, another who recognised her as Caelyra Cousland, and a few others whom she did not know.
While it proved interesting to see these people in the tavern, no information was forthcoming. Mostly it seemed that the nobles were annoyed that Eamon had called for the Landsmeet at all. For now it seemed that their only real choice was to rescue the Queen.
On the way to Howe's estate, they got ambushed by assassins. Again. This was truly getting tiresome. When would they learn?
These assassins were after Zevran, however. They invited him back into their assassin sect, The Crows, and promised they would tell no one of Zevran's failures. In fact, they could kill the Grey Wardens now and no one would be any wiser.
Zevran refused. Caelyra was his friend and he would not betray her for the Crows — he wanted freedom from the Crows!
A battle was fought between the alleyways of Denerim as the assassins fought Caelyra and Zevran, but they weren't any match for them. Soon the assassins lay dead and Zevran breathed a sigh of relief... he was free.
He thought that now would be a good time to leave Caelyra and find his own way, but she persuaded him to stay on. After all, there was still a blight coming that she could use an extra fighter for. Zevran agreed to stay.
By the time they got to Howe's estate, a great crowd was looming outside the entry doors. Apparently the estate had undergone repairs recently, and Howe wasn't bothering to pay the craftsman who had done work on the place. Now they were rioting.
Now, while the distraction was occurring, would be the best time to sneak into the estate and rescue the Queen.
While the elven handmaiden to the queen distracted the guards guarding the servants entrance, Caelyra and her group got dressed in Howe's guards attire and walked into the estate as though they belonged there.
Caelyra felt sick to her stomach, but a part of her hoped that Howe was here. Perhaps she could deliver retribution upon him. Now. But no. The Queen was of the utmost importance; her vengeance could wait.
They walked through the estate and no one knew they didn't belong. Caelyra couldn't wait to get out of this horrible, ugly armour though. It was so heavy and unwieldy and nothing like the armour she wore as a second skin.
Soon the handmaiden delivered Caelyra to a door. The Queen was behind it. Unfortunately the door had been sealed by magic, and the only way to break the spell was to kill the mage that had sealed it. The mage who stood by Howe's side.
At last. Caelyra straightened her posture. Today was the day, after all; the day she would deliver vengeance upon the man who had murdered her family.
Hurrying into the dungeons where Howe was rumoured to be, Caelyra unintentionally distracted a guard standing watch in front of a cell.
Arms reached around the guard's neck and snapped it, then the body got pulled into the cell. Taking the body's armour and equipping it, a man stepped out of the cells and thanked them for the distraction. His eyes narrowed as they fell upon Alistair. They knew each other.
Apparently this man was a Grey Warden from Orlais who had come to investigate after correspondence with King Cailan came to a snapping halt. When he had arrived, Loghain took him prisoner and he's been languishing in these dungeons ever since.
Caelyra told him that he would be safe at Arl Eamon's estate. That's where they were staying and he was welcome to stay there too. They bid farewells and Caelyra and her group went further into the dungeon.
After avoiding fighting any of the guards in the house, the ones in the dungeon knew that no one else should be down there but them. Despite herself, these fights excited Caelyra. Surely Howe would hear the clash of steel and start to fear for his life.
Yes. He would fear.
They explored every room and side-chamber in the dungeon, determined to leave no stone unturned.
In one of the chambers, a group of torturers were performing their artistry upon a young man. Caelyra and her group set upon them until each one laid dead on the stone floor, then rescued the man.
The man was the son of one of the nobles — one of the nobles who had allied himself with Loghain. Once he found out about his son's torture, he'd speak loudly and publicly against Loghain for certain!
Caelyra asked why an ally of Loghain's was being tortured. Apparently he had been friends with a soldier from Ostagar, a soldier who admitted that Loghain had sounded the retreat and left their King to die. He knew too much and found himself here, in these dungeons.
Further into the dungeon, they freed an elf who had no idea what was going on in the city — he had been imprisoned for so long by the old Arl, and that had started the elf rebellions in the alienage.
Next to the elf was a man Caelyra had been looking for for some time. A reward for this man had been posted on the Chantry Board.. and here he was, in Howe's dungeon, tortured and bereft of thought. She freed him too.
Finally she found the man himself — Howe. She didn't offer him the chance to speak, she didn't want to hear any more of his filthy words from his filthy mouth. She leapt upon him with her dagger and sword and so did her companions.
She could scarcely believe a man of this... calibre... could have killed her entire family and guards. He was a pathetic fighter and a pathetic man overall.
But he lay dead, in a pool of his treacherous blood, and she had delivered vengeance upon him. At last. May her family's spirits be at peace now. Still, she didn't feel any better, only a small relief that he, at least, was gone. Maybe that's all there would be.
Past Howe's personal torture chamber was yet another room of cells. In this one though were a templar being deprived of Lyrium and who seemed a bit addled, and a man claiming to be the rightful Arl of Denerim.
The templar was definitely addled. He had been the one who had captured Jowan near Redcliffe, but before he could perform his duty Loghain's men had interfered. Now he was here in the cell. Alistair was angry. The Chantry would seethe at this political interference of one of it's templars.
The other man, the man who claimed to be the rightful Arl of Denerim, was indeed the old Arl's son. He had invited Howe into his home, and next minute he was caged. That story sounded familiar. The man seemed a bit of a prick, but that was no reason to allow him to languish in the cell.
Caelyra set them both free. The templar, in the depths of his addled mind, couldn't leave though. Instead, he gave her a ring to give to his sister. She would do that for him.
With Howe dead, his mage dead, and all the prisoners freed from their cells, Caelyra made it back to the surface floor and back to where the Queen was being held. The magic barrier was gone.
There was no time for pleasantries. She did indeed believe that she was going to be killed, whether by Howe's men or her own father's, and wanted to get to Eamon for safety immediately.
They swept into the main hall and prepared to exit the estate, but Loghain's guard barred the way. The Grey Wardens were to be arrested for the murder of Arl Howe and his men.
Caelyra smirked. Where was this guard when Howe had murdered her own family? She refused to surrender and the guard attacked. In the chaos, the queen and her maid ran through a side exit and escaped to Eamon's.
This fight was more difficult than any other fight they had undertaken — and they had fought darkspawn! It was truly disappointing that these fighters were on the wrong side.
They lured the head of the guard, Cauthrien, into the hallway while Morrigan swooshed infernos and blizzards through the doors at anyone else who dared come through. Soon the head had been cut off from the snake and they barged into the main entrance and killed everyone who hadn't yet been burnt to a crisp.
With the guards dead, Caelyra and her group left Howe's estate and went back to the Denerim markets and to Eamon's estate.
On the way, they stopped by the tavern. The nobles they were eavesdropping on earlier were more significant than Caelyra had first thought. One of them was the father of the young man who was being tortured, and the other the templar's sister. She informed these people of what had happened to their family members and secured their vote against Loghain in the upcoming Landsmeet.
The sister of the templar was so grateful she even offered her forces for when Caelyra wanted to take back Highever.
Returning to Eamon's, Caelyra formally met Queen Anora.
Anora admitted that she believed her father to have gone mad. He was paranoid, suffering delusions of grandeur, and even now would likely be telling everyone that Eamon had kidnapped her and was brainwashing her. That perhaps he even believed his own lies.
She mentioned that ever since Ostagar, there has been unrest in the elven alienage and that it was probably Howe and Loghain's doing and that they should check it out, then took her leave and asked Caelyra to speak with her soon, in private.
Eamon was uncertain of Anora. While she was here and cooperating with them, it was clear that she wanted to remain Queen and they were going to have to usurp her.
Alistair shrugged and said he'd prefer she kept her crown. He didn't want it and it looked better on her anyway. Eamon would've smacked Alistair around the ears if he could. As the last remaining blood of the Theirin bloodline, Alistair had no choice but to be seated on that throne.
While they were arguing, Caelyra slipped out to meet the Queen in private, as she had been asked. Perhaps she could ally herself with Anora. Alistair didn't want to be king and Caelyra didn't want him to be king either. Keeping Alistair off the throne was for her own selfish reasons, but in the end, everyone knew he would make a terrible king regardless of his blood.
Caelyra and Anora spoke for some time, and indeed, Anora angled for Caelyra's support in remaining Queen. Caelyra readily agreed to support Anora in the landsmeet, provided she did not baulk when it came to killing Loghain for his crimes.
Anora agreed.
With that sorted, there was still time before the Landsmeet begun and Caelyra needed to see what was going on in the alienage. This day was one of the longest days of her life.
Until next time! ⚔️🐲
