Aveline had a problem that was a bit odd and under the table, and one that she needed Abigail's help for.
She was beginning to get the feeling that the Guard-Captain, Jeven, was up to something. It was nothing specific that made her think this, but a collection of small things. A badly timed raid on a patrol, several Guards being injured on patrols that should have been safe, and weapons going missing.
What Aveline needed Abigail for was to help her follow a Guard along a nighttime route through Darktown.
“It doesn't make sense that he was assigned that route,” Aveline explained.
Abigail raised her eyebrows. “Why not? Don't people get reassigned all the time?”
“It would be an unfamiliar patrol,” Aveline said with a shrug. “And by himself? We generally don't let officers patrol by themselves in Lowtown, at night.”
Abigail hissed through her teeth. “That makes sense,” she conceded.
“Exactly. So I think Jevan wants something to happen to Donnic—I don't know if he's waiting for a happy accident or...”
“Or he's already arranged something.”
“Exactly.”
Abigail got Carver and Varric to assist her and Aveline in tracking down Donnic. When it got dark, they searched Lowtown for him, eventually finding him cornered by several Coterie. They managed to dispatch the Coterie, and save Donnic.
Donnic was shaken, but alright—if Aveline and the others hadn't come across him, he'd be hurt or dead. He was not prepared to take on a Coterie gang.
“I knew something was off,” Donnic hissed, punching a fist into his palm. “I knew it—Jeven's been wrong for months.”
“Coterie,” Varric grimaced. “Not a great sign.”
“Do you think he’s in debt?” Abigail asked.
“If he is, that’d explain all the weird things going on,” Varric said. “If he’s in debt, there’s a pretty good chance he’s giving them weapons and money, and getting Guards who might be suspicious killed.”
Donnic nodded. “That definitely explains it.”
“We need to find the local Coterie, then,” Abigail said. “They’ll probably be able to confirm it one way or the other.”
Varric got a wicked look in his eye. “Let me try,” he said. “Give me a day or two, and I can figure out if your Captain is in with them, Aveline.”
Aveline nodded. “Be quick about it,” she said. “I don’t want this to go on any longer than it has to.”
Varric did indeed find the evidence that Jeven was in debt to the Coterie. It took some doing, but he did manage to get the evidence that Aveline needed. She brought it to the Viscount, who had Jeven arrested, and Aveline was promoted for bringing the knowledge to light. Varric, as proving instrumental in the investigation, was given a fairly substantial reward as well, which would help the funds for the expedition along quite a lot.
Despite how well that particular adventure went, the next job that Varric came up with was not exactly what one would call the best fit for Abigail and her friends.
“A Templar's gone missing?” Abigail said, folding her arms and tapping one foot on the ground. “This does not exactly seem like the most ideal job for us, Varric.”
“Carver could help out,” Varric suggested. “Nathaniel or Isabela or Sigrun might be up for it too. Shouldn't be an issue as long as we don't have too many mages with us.”
“You say that like I'd even take the job to begin with.” Abigail’s pose did not unbend.
Varric ran a hand through his auburn hair. “Look,” he said. “His sister couldn't even get the Templars themselves to investigate it,” he leaned forward. “This, and the thing with Karl, and now you have Aveline as Guard-captain?” he spread his hands. “If you're looking for evidence against the Templars, this might be it.”
Abigail caught his meaning and frowned, lowering her arms. “They don't want to investigate it themselves?”
“The sister said she was always turned away any time she asked about him.”
“That...doesn't make sense,” Abigail furrowed her brow and began to pace. “Why wouldn't they...?”
“I don't know,” Varric said, watching her walk back and forth. “And that's why I think it's important.”
“And I'm guessing she offered to pay us a quite a bit?”
“She sure did, and that helps too,” Varric said with a shrug.
“We should tell Anders,” Abigail said. “He'd want to hear about this.”
“All the Wardens will, probably,” Varric said. “And Aveline.”
“Alright,” Abigail got to her feet. “Alright. If you think it's a good idea—we can go get them.”
They went to see Anders and the other Wardens first. It took some convincing to get him to listen to anything about Templars, but when they explained the situation, he became more interested.
“That's odd,” Anders said with a frown between his brows. “Templars are usually pretty well tracked—they leave on rotation to different Circles, but I've never heard any that just...vanish for no reason.” he began to pace. “If anything, you'd think they'd use those kind of stories to scare mages out of blood magic—see how terrible this apostate was, he didn't just kill a Templar, he made him disappear! That sort of thing.”
“So this really doesn't make any sense,” Abigail said.
“Not really.”
“Maybe the Kirkwall Circle works differently than Calenhad,” Sigrun suggested.
“It can't be that different,” Nathaniel said.
Anders nodded. “A lot of Circles are supposed to be somewhat uniform,” he explained. “It keeps people from practicing 'illicit magic,'” he rolled his eyes. “If something happened to this Templar, and the Templars are covering it up, that might be enough evidence for the Grand Cleric to do something,” he said.
“I thought so too,” Varric said. “So we're going to bring Aveline in. Evidence can't sound better than when it's coming from the Captain of the Guard.”
Anders frowned. “Are you sure that’s the best idea?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? The Grand Cleric would listen to her, right?”
Anders still seemed leery. “I don’t know…”
“We can at least ask her about it,” Abigail said. “It makes sense.”
They explained the situation to Aveline, but she didn't have any better an idea than they did.
“I haven’t heard anything about missing Templars,” Aveline muttered, rubbing her chin. “Which doesn't make sense—this woman who hired you, you said she'd gone to the Templars repeatedly and they never helped? Why didn't she go to the Guard?'
“She thought that the Guard wouldn't do anything,” Varric explained. “She said she was worried that they'd hand the case off to the Templars again,”
Aveline shook her head. “If the Templars were having trouble, it would make sense for them to come to us for help,” she said. “Maker only knows they like to order us to do enough things already...why would they keep this from us?” she frowned, shaking her head. “Is it possible this man just ran off? Abandoned the Order?”
“The woman and her brother are close,” Varric said. “The reason she got worried is because he stopped sending letters to her.”
“And most Templars never 'run off' from the Order,” Anders said. “You have one or two strays, but most of the time they're too addicted to lyrium to even think of leaving.”
Aveline grimaced. “Wesley always said something similar,” she said. “Well—recruits don't take lyrium until they're full Templars. Is it possible he got cold feet?”
“If that's the case, why would the Templars hide it from his sister?” Abigail asked. “This entire thing feels wrong.”
“Then we should go to the Templars, and ask them about this man,” Aveline said.
“Ah—well, Anders and I can't really do that,” Abigail said.
“This is your job,” Aveline said. “If you come with me and leave your staff, you should be fine.”
“Are you quite sure about that?” Anders scoffed. “Is it really a good idea for the Templars to know her face?”
“It will look better if I have an independent party investigating with me,” Aveline explained. “If it’s just me, they’ll think the Guard are poking into their business, and clam up. This way, if they think there’s more people on their backs, maybe it will get them to tell us more.”
“I don’t know...” Anders still looked dubious, but Abigail couldn’t fault Aveline’s reasoning.
Abigail, Aveline and Varric went to the Templar Barracks in the Gallows to speak with anyone who might know something about Keran. The Templars were all very close-mouthed, but after much searching, they managed to find three Templar recruits who would talk to them about Keran.
The three told them about other Templars who had gone missing, besides Keran.
“Wait—there are Templars—as in plural—going missing?” Abigail hissed, shocked. “And you haven't talked to the Grand Cleric or the Guard about it?”
The three recruits glanced at each other.
“We talked to the Knight-Captain,” one of them, Hugh, said. He shuffled from foot to foot and avoided Aveline's eyes. “But he said not to worry.”
Aveline frowned. “He told you not to worry about missing recruits?”
The three nodded.
“I've heard that the Knight-Commander has some new initiation,” one of the others, Paxley, said. “That if you don't pass it, you'll be killed.”
“That's illegal,” Aveline said flatly. “By Kirkwall and Chantry law. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Templar doing it, murder is still illegal.”
“Why didn't you go to the Guard about this?” Varric asked. “If the Knight-Captain wasn't any help--”
“He said not to worry!” said the third Templar, Ruvena. “He's the Captain—he should know what's going on.”
“But you're right here, talking about how you think your Commander has been killing people,” Abigail said.
“That's just a rumor,” Ruvena said, with a nasty look at Paxley. “It doesn't mean anything.”
“If there was a rumor going around the Guard that I was killing new recruits, I'd get hauled up in front of the Viscount,” Aveline said. “Especially if there were missing guards.”
“They aren't all missing!” Ruvena insisted. “Wilmod came back.”
“What?” Paxley and Hugh looked at her, surprised.
Ruvena nodded. “He came back this morning.”
“And where is he now?” Hugh asked, folding his arms. “I haven't seen him all day.”
“Well, I think he checked in with the Captain, then went outside the city to clear his head,” she explained. “Something really shook him up—I thought maybe he was slated to watch a Tranquil ritual, so maybe--”
“Since when do Templars leave the city unless they have an apostate to chase?” Aveline asked. “That doesn't make sense.”
“It's not like we don't get days off,” Ruvena said. “He's allowed.”
Aveline, Abigail and Varric all looked at each other.
“Can we speak with your Captain?” Aveline asked. “This is important.”
It turned out, Knight-Captain Cullen was not at the Gallows, and the Knight-Commander would take no visitors without an appointment, even if that visitor was the Captain of the Guard.
Aveline shook her head. “I swear they're hiding something,” she muttered. “They make an effort to stick their noses in Guard business often enough—and then they close up when the Guard comes to them? It doesn't make sense. It’s never made any bloody sense.”
Eventually they did find a Knight-Lieutenant willing to speak. Apparently the Knight-Captain was out on the Coast, with the recruit Wilmod.
“Why would he go there?” Aveline asked.
The Lieutenant shrugged. “The Captain thought Wilmod'd been acting oddly,” he said. “He wanted to talk with him.”
“On the Wounded Coast.”
“I suppose,” the Lieutenant said.
“That doesn't make sense.” Aveline ran a hand over her hair. “Can you tell me anything about a recruit named Keran? And I heard there were concerns about other recruits as well?”
“Oh—Guard Captain, please,” the Lieutenant chuckled. “This is an internal matter. If the recruits are talking amongst themselves, I'm sure it's nothing—if it's important, we'll let you know.”
“A woman came to us claiming that her brother, a Templar recruit, had vanished,” Aveline said, folding her arms. “If you could tell me where Keran is, I would be happy to be on my way.”
“I can hardly keep track of every recruit that passes through the Gallows,” the Lieutenant said, rolling his eyes.
“Is that so?” Aveline leaned forward. “Because I know every recruit serving under me.”
The Lieutenant pinched the bridge of his nose. “Go speak to the Captain,” he said. “He'll tell you just as I have.”
“I am speaking to you.”
The Lieutenant spread his hands. “I can't tell you,” he insisted. “Maybe the Captain will know more.”
Aveline pulled back, a scowl on her face. “Alright,” she said. “I'll go speak to your Captain. And then your Commander, and possibly the Grand Cleric, because it's clear your people are woefully inadequate.”
“Guard-Captain--”
Aveline turned on her heel and left.
Varric shook his head. “I didn't realize what a problem this was,” he said.
“Templars love sticking their great beaks in our business, but the minute we think they have a problem, they stonewall us,” Aveline hissed. “Abigail—we're going to the Coast.”
“Just what I was thinking,” Abigail said. “Let me grab Anders, and maybe some of the others—they'll want to hear about this.”
“Only Anders,” Aveline said. “Not Velanna or Merrill or Bethany.” she frowned. “You might want to keep Fenris out of it too.”
“I wasn't counting on bringing him or Merrill,” Abigail said. “But good idea.”
Anders by himself would be risky enough, but a lifelong apostate like Velanna or Merrill would be even more dangerous. Fenris had mentioned trouble with Templars before, and he was arguably more visually conspicuous than any apostate, so he was out as well.
Abigail got Anders, Nathaniel, and Sigrun to come with them to the Coast. The Lieutenant had actually pinpointed a spot on a map of the Coast to try and get Aveline to leave, so they knew precisely where to head.
“I didn't think that even the Knight-Commander could refuse to see the Captain of the Guard,” Anders said.
“I probably could have forced my way in, but I'd've needed more cause,” Aveline said. “The nobility tend to fall on the Templars' side more often than not.”
They approached the spot marked on the map, and Abigail and Anders both flinched at the same time.
“There's something wrong here,” Anders said. “Come on—we should hurry.”
“No magic,” Abigail said. “Remember—absolutely no magic.”
“You hardly need to tell me how to hide from Templars,” Anders hissed.
“Just don’t start glowing.”
They came around the bend, to see two men in Templar garb arguing with each other. One was taller and blond, the smaller one dark-haired. The tall one struck the short one, sending him sprawling, and Aveline made an outraged noise and moved forward.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, grabbing the blond Templar's shoulder.
He shook her off. “This is no business of yours, Mistress--”
The Veil shook.
The dark-haired man got to his feet, the Veil around him warping and wavering like a heat haze. “You would do well not to strike me again, human,” he growled, his voice deepening unnaturally. He wiped away a stream of blood from his mouth, and his eyes began to gleam.
“Get back,” Aveline grabbed the blond man and hauled him backwards. “Everyone—back!”
Again, the blond man shook her off. “All of you, away!” he waved the group back and unsheathed his sword. “You cannot deal with demons--”
Nathaniel took aim with his bow and landed an arrow right in one of the demons' eye sockets. The demon snarled in rage, yanking the arrow out and breaking it in two.
The blond Templar smote the area around him, making Abigail and Anders flinch and their ears ring.
“Varric, Nathaniel—hit the bloody thing!” Aveline snapped. “Everyone else, out of the way of the Templar!” she gave Abigail and Anders significant looks.
The Templar raised his sword and hacked away at the demon, smiting it once or twice more. Varric and Nathaniel both landed arrows in its chest, and after only a moment or two, the demon fell. The body faded into ashes, leaving only the Templar armor behind.
The Templar sighed heavily and sheathed his sword, pushing his hair out of his face. He turned to them.
“You should not be here,” he said. His eyes landed on Aveline, and his face lit up in recognition. “Vallen...?”
“That,” Abigail said, cutting him off. “Was an abomination. A Templar abomination.”
“This is none of your affair,” the Templar snarled.
“Are you Knight-Captain Cullen?” Aveline demanded.
“I am. Why?”
“I have been looking for you in the case of one of your recruits—a man named Keran.” Aveline folded her arms. “Apparently he's missing.”
“What?” Cullen exclaimed. “No! This is an internal matter—you should never have gotten involved.”
“Y'see, we probably should have,” Varric said. “Turns out, about half the Templar recruits are scared out of their minds, thinking your Commander is doing something to them, because it's not just Keran who's missing.”
“What?” Cullen looked confused. “No—no, of course not!”
“Then where are all the missing recruits?” Aveline growled, stepping forward. “This is bad enough that I became concerned, Knight-Captain. What is going on?”
“Ah—Guard Vallen...” Cullen moved back a bit.
“Guard-Captain,” Aveline corrected.
“Guard-Captain, this is strictly a Templar matter,” Cullen insisted. “There is no need for the Guard to--”
“Then perhaps I should take my concerns to the Viscount,” Aveline hissed. “The Grand Cleric? Maybe if your Order isn't doing its job I should send word to the Seekers.”
Cullen went pale. “Alright, enough!” he held up his hands. “Yes, that Templar—Wilmod—turned abomination,” he sighed. “Yes, there are several missing recruits, Keran included.”
“How does a Templar even turn abomination?” Anders demanded, apparently unable to keep quiet any longer. “I always heard that they couldn't.” he folded his arms.
Cullen avoided everyone's eyes. “Normally, they can't,” he said. “But we think there is blood magic, among the mages.”
“Blood magic?” Aveline raised her eyebrows. “And you didn't think that was in the least bit important to mention?”
“It is an internal matter, Guard-Captain,” Cullen snapped. “Though I can see it has clearly become an external one.”
“I should say so,” Aveline snapped. “How exactly are we supposed to trust your people if this is the kind of thing that's happening?”
“Because we are dealing with it,” Cullen said.
“Not very well, apparently,” Aveline tilted her head to one side “The other missing recruits—where were they last seen?”
“Several of them—including your Keran, and Wilmod here—had last been seen at the Blooming Rose,” Cullen's ears went pink. “It is...unseemly...for Templars to visit that particular establishment, but they did so anyway.”
“And what did the workers there have to say?”
“I didn't feel it necessary to question them,” Cullen said, now going entirely red.
“You didn't even think to question the people there, the place they were last seen at?” Aveline snapped. “One of your own people is missing and you, the Knight-Captain, could not bring yourself to question the workers at the Rose?”
Cullen backed up. “As I said before, this is none of your concern,” he snapped. “I would have done so if I thought it was important.”
“It's my concern when Templars are vanishing and apparently your organization refuses to do anything about it!” she jabbed him in the chest. “How would that look if I told the Grand Cleric that you can't even keep an eye on your own Templars? How are you possibly supposed to be adequate protectors of mages if you let Templars become abominations?”
Anders bristled at the mention of 'protecting mages,' but forced himself to relax when Nathaniel put a hand on his shoulder.
“Should I tell Meredith of your utter incompetence, or should I go straight to a higher authority?” Aveline demanded.
“Argue my competence all you like, but the fact is, there is still at least one blood mage on the loose,” Cullen said. “Probably more. So, Guard-Captain, before you make any rash action, I suggest you let us handle it first.”
“I'm loathe to let you handle a sandwich, let alone anything else,” Aveline said. “Here—I will investigate your missing recruits. If I find any blood mages before you do, I'm taking this to the Grand Cleric.”
“Guard-Captain--”
“Enough,” Aveline cut him off. “Try and do your job, and I will do mine.”
The group left Cullen standing on the Coast.
“I thought Merrill said blood mages can't summon demons?” Abigail asked the moment they were out of earshot.
“And you seriously believe her?” Anders said.
“Velanna does,” Abigail said. “And I have not seen anything that would make me think otherwise. When we were helping Fenris, she even managed to get rid of some demons. That’s the opposite thing, really.”
“We should ask her about it,” Nathaniel said. “Maybe it'll help us find what we're looking for.”
They all looked to Aveline, who was fuming.
“This is unbelievable,” she shook her head. “Absolutely inexcusable--”
“Yes, yes, but we have other things to worry about right this moment,” Abigail waved a hand. “Anders? Have you heard about any rogue mages running around?”
Anders shook his head with a frown. “Nothing,” he said. “But that might not mean much.”
“We should ask Merrill about the blood magic thing,” Varric said again. “If nothing else, we don't wanna run into a blood mage without being prepared, right?”
“Good point,” Aveline said.
They went to Merrill's house, where Merrill was just as baffled as Abigail was by the description of the abomination Templar.
“Blood mages can make abominations, but it’s—well, it’s not practical,” Merrill explained. “You have to punch a hole in the Veil, essentially, and it takes a great deal of power, enough to kill a person. I think that’s what they do in Tevinter.”
“Is it possible that that’s what happened to this man?” Aveline asked.
Merrill shrugged. “Maybe,” she worried her hands together. “But it—like I said, it’s just not very practical. It’s essentially using blood magic to do something a spirit healer could do without sacrificing anyone. It'd make more sense if a blood mage was, oh, dominating their mind—that's something blood magic can do easily.”
Aveline shuddered. “But this wasn't mind domination,” she said. “There was definitely a demon possessing that man.”
Merrill frowned. “That doesn't make sense,” she insisted, shaking her head. “I mean...” she worried at a hangnail. “Maybe—have there been a lot of murders, Aveline?”
“Not more than usual,” Aveline said, then scowled. “Then again, it’s possible there’s mage and Templar deaths that the Guard hasn’t been told about.”
“Why don't we go and question the workers in the Rose?” Abigail suggested. “Maybe then we can get a better handle on the situation.”
Aveline groaned and leaned back in her seat. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Maker, I can't stand questioning them,” she muttered.
“Why?”
“It's bloody impossible, is why,” Aveline exclaimed. “You can't get a single straight answer out of them that doesn't involve them propositioning you.”
“Isabela could help,” Varric said. “She knows the Rose pretty well.”
Aveline raised her eyebrows. “And why exactly is that?”
Varric chuckled. “Take a guess.”
Aveline sighed.