Chickene learned that there's an herbalist in Kirkwall who's looking for special ingredients and has offered to track some of those down in exchange for gold. One his way through the wilderness however, he happens upon a dwarf and his bodyguards being attacked by giant spiders. Since a spider's silk gland is actually on the list of things he needs to collect, Hawke and friends run forward and start squishing arachnids. They don't find the gland that they need, but the dwarf is grateful for our assistance since the bodyguards certainly didn't pull their weight. He introduces himself as Javaris Tintop and says he's been negotiating with the Arishok-- the leader of the Qunari-- about buying some of their explosives. The Arishok refused to sell but mentioned that the renegade Qunari called Tal-Vashoth were a thorn in his side and he'd really like to see them dead. Javaris read between the lines and was hoping his bodyguards would be up to the task, but given their poor performance against spiders, he'd rather hire us instead.
"I'll have you know I am no mere amateur, ser! I attended the Recluse Institute for Ambush Tactics and received a 4.0 GPA!"
Hoping this promise of coin will actually come to fruition, Chickene takes Fenris, Varric and Merrill to the location on the Wounded Coast where the Tal-Vashoth are said to be camped. We can tell we're getting close when we hear a stern voice telling us to go back. This one doesn't want to kill us, though. As we approach the camp, the Qunari shows himself and says the Tal-Vashoth ahead are dangerous. We kindly point out that this is the reason we're here. He says we're free to proceed; he only came to warn us.
Apparently he's a renegade Qunari too, which technically makes him a Tal-Vashoth, but he doesn't agree with these particular Tal-Vashoth. He wouldn't mind seeing them dead but seems to think killing them would still be like slaying his brothers. Annoyed, Chickene says they won't be able to question his morality if they're dead. Our new friends decides this is wisdom somehow, and says he'll help us kill them.
The ensuing fight goes faster with an extra sword on our side, and we head to the Kirkwall docks afterwards to meet up with Javaris. The Qunari have a compound here where they are supposedly waiting for a ship to take them home. That's been their story for the better part of a year, though. Anyway, Javaris tells the Qunari to get the Arishok and we see a giant man with massive horns walk in. Fenris greets him in his native language and the Arishok grumbles that an elf reciting the Qun is madness.
"If you make a 'this is Sparta' joke, you will not leave this encampment alive."
Javaris ignores this and says the Tal-Vashoth are dead, so he'd like to buy some explosives now. The Arishok says no. Our dwarf tells Fenris to try talking to him and we let him go right ahead. He politely asks the Arishok to clarify and he tells us the dwarf imagined the deal. Fenris apologizes and offers to kill the dwarf, which certainly takes Javaris by surprise. Luckily for him, the Arishok tells us that if we killed Tal-Vashoth, he's not worthy to be killed by us. We bluntly tell Javaris he should leave before the Qunari change their minds. He storms off without giving us any gold for our trouble.
That's another job we didn't get paid for, crossed off our list. Chickene decides to change tactics and try a quest with no promise of coin, since the so-called paying jobs aren't actually a sure thing. While visiting Merrill in the Alienage, we overhear an elf woman talking to a Templar about her runaway half-elf son. Apparently, he's been showing signs of magic affinity in the form of nightmares. She's concerned about him, but is also concerned by what the Templars might do if they find him. When we come over to see what's wrong, she asks us to try to find him. Chickene dismissively points out that she doesn't even know him and she says she's desperate. So, Chickene compassionately says he'll do everything he can.
"You seem mentally unstable. Then again, you're not a Templar. Good enough for me."
Mom thinks the kid may have tried to get in touch with his human father, who abandoned him as a youth. We think it's more likely that the Templars already have a good idea where he went. So, we head out to Templar HQ (delightfully called "The Gallows") with Varric and Fenris but ask Aveline to come instead of Merrill. There, we meet Ser Thrask, the Templar who was talking to Feynriel's mother earlier. He's hesitant to provide info when we ask nicely but when we sternly tell him that a missing kid should be the city guards' job, Aveline backs us up.
He provides us with the location of a Lowtown resident named Seamus who's been known to help mages escape Kirkwall. We find him and ask nicely again to start, but when he plays dumb we threaten him and the memory of Feynriel magically comes back. He tried to put him and a lady mage in touch with a captain he thought he could trust, but he turned out to be a slaver. We find ourselves being directed to yet another part of the city, as the captain has a warehouse on the docks.
Upon fighting our way through the warehouse, we find that-- sure enough-- Feynriel's not here either. We find the lady mage Seamus mentioned but she kind of turns into an abomination, so there'll be no reward for her rescue. There are two notes among the pile of dead bodies we created, though. The first is from the lady mage to her father: Ser Thrask of the Templars. That could be useful. The second note is from the slaver boss, detailing how Feynriel was moved to a cave on the Wounded Coast because OF COURSE HE WAS.
The cave is somewhere in this general area. Our plan is to just go there, find some bandits and ask them for directions.
With sore legs and plenty of frustration, we head to the Wounded Coast. We finally find Feynriel, alongside a slaver who is holding a knife to his throat and telling us we should leave. Chickene no longer has the patience for negotiation, so he lets Varric take the lead. The dwarf feeds the slavers a ridiculous story about how Feynriel is the viscount's secret love child. We ready ourselves for the attack but unbelievably, the slavers buy it. They not only let Feynriel go, they also toss us a coinpurse as a peace offering.
Finally rescued, Feynriel decides to try his luck living with the Dalish. We get a trinket from his mother as thanks, and we also get gold from Ser Thrask once we extort him with the letter from his apostate daughter. Not the nicest thing to do, but not enough jobs have been paying off lately and we still need the gold for the expedition. All things considered, finding that missing person was relatively profitable, so Chickene and his party head to Hightown next to talk to a man who reported his wife missing.
I'm not a not a violent man... 100% of the time... but this guy is asking for a knife in the throat.
Ghyslain de Carrac is a reprehensible man who doesn't really care if his wife Ninette is happy, as long as her family stops accusing him of killing her off. Chickene mocks his poor morals, then promises to bring her back safely. Our first stop is the Blooming Rose, where Ninette has been shamelessly spending time with the young men working there since Ghyslain is that bad as a husband. One of her favorites, an elf named Jethann, says a Templar named Ser Emeric took an interest in the disappearance and we should see if he's found anything. We track him to Darktown, where we see that all he's found is a group of thugs that are trying to beat him up and steal his shiny armor.
After getting rid of the thugs, we have a talk with Ser Emeric. He tells us that Ninette is just one woman who has disappeared recently and based on his investigation of a missing mage lady, he thinks they may be connected. The mage's trail ends at a foundry in Lowtown that he hasn't checked out yet, but after getting beat down by the thugs, he's in no shape to go there. He decides to hand over his notes and let us go in his stead before the trail goes cold. We seem to be doing the Templars' work for them pretty regularly all of a sudden. Hopefully, we'll find something that lets us extort this guy, too.
"I HEARD that. ...Maker, I'm getting too old for this crap."
Unfortunately, all we find at the foundry is a desire demon and a lot of human remains. We spot a human mage running away from the scene, but by the time we defeat the demon and root through the body parts for valuables, that mage is long gone. Ninette and the mage Ser Emeric was tracking are almost certainly dead and the only consolation we have to offer Ghyslain, spouse of the year, is Ninette's ring. He accepts this when we get back to Hightown as something that will satisfy her relatives, and we insult him one last time before taking his gold. Ser Emeric also pays us for our efforts, and we didn't even have to threaten him this time.
Things could have gone better, but Chickene is finally getting a decent amount of coin saved up to buy his way into the Tethras' brothers scheme. In the next update, we'll be going into the Deep Roads themselves, where nothing could possibly go wrong!
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