• Hello Guest, the Post-Trespasser timeline is open to all characters now. If you want to play your DA:O/DA2 timeline characters in the Post-Trespasser timeline, please check out the thread below. It will give you all the information you need to get up and running in no time:

    Getting your DA:O/DA2 Character ready for Post-Trespasser!

An elf, a dwarf, and two humans walk into a bar...[Open]

Rika Blaise

Smart Mouth Mercenary
DAO/DA2 Timeline
Posts
10
#1
(12 Firstfall, 9:35)
Varric Tethras (and anybody else that wants to pop in)
The boat ride to Kirkwall had been anything but eventful, unless you counted the two storms and never ending gray skies that Rika was sure prophesied her future now that she had taken this job in the Free Marches. She'd been hired by some Nobleman, his name slipping her mind as she sat on the damp wooden planks that made up the ship's floor. His daughter had apparently become involved in some blood mage cult of some sort, and Blaise had been hired with a few others to come investigate the situation and get the man's daughter back. Apparently, keeping her out of the circle was a huge concern for the nobleman.

Rika sighed to herself as the boat rocked slightly amongst the waves. She had never ventured out of Ferelden, and her first time wasn't faring super optimistic. But they would arrive in Kirkwall soon, and Rika was sure that everything would play itself out. She was traveling with three people, Ella and two men that she usually traveled with if she took a job that was too much work for one person. Hallanel and Kal both were not very talkative men, which made for a quiet journey. But being that Rika didn't trust people often or easily, working with the same three people over the years had made things easier for her. They accepted that she was crass and closed-off most of the time, and that she too didn't have much to say. It all worked out rather well, if she had to say so herself.

~~~~~

Hours later they all exited the ship and looked around at the tall, solid stone walls that made up the city. It was cold and foreboding as they walked through the docks and slowly made their way into the city. Rika's eyes swiveled this way and that as she tried to take as much in as she could all at one time. She kept her guard up while they walked, the bustle of the city around them loud and distracting. There were so many people just in this small area, flooding into the city in droves. Rika thought it felt sort of like Orzammar had, no escape route noticeable as the ship behind her teased her return to a placew without so many people. Large crowds made her nervous.

"Not very cheerful is it?" Ella said softly so only they would be able to hear her, the look on her face morose.

Hallanel sighed softly and shook his head,"Well, they don't call it the city of chains for no reason,"

Rika tucked a lock of fiery red hair behind her ear and placed her hands on her hips. " I need a drink,"

~~~~~

"The Hanged Man? That's a little morbid don't you think?" Hallanel said with a snort as he crossed his arms over his chest, walking behind Rika into the small tavern.

"I don't know, gives it a touch of character, I think," Rika said with a shrug as she looked around, "As long as they have good ale, I don't so much care,"

"What we need to do is start asking questions," Ella said as she looked around, her eyes curious.

"Oh yeah sure, let me just go start asking people about active blood magic in the area, I'm sure they'll be real talkative..." Rika replied with a roll of her eyes, walking up to the bar and knocking lightly on the wood to get the bartender's attention, "Hey bud, let me get a pint of whiskey,"
 
Last edited:

Varric Tethras

Bullshitter Emeritus
Canon Character
Post DAI Timeline
DAO/DA2 Timeline
Posts
118
#2
An elf, a dwarf, and two humans walk into a bar …

Sounded like the start of a bad joke, but there it was, walking in the door: an elf - a Dalish elf, from the facial tattoos - a dwarf and two humans. Not that Varric was a cynic or anything, but in his years of experience, he had found that racial harmony had one reliable cause, apart from one Joscelyn Hawke: money.

So, mercs or criminals?

Corff was clearly wondering the same thing, but since they very plainly weren’t law enforcement or tourists, they’d get the benefit of the doubt as long as they didn’t start trouble. Varric watched as they talked in low voices among themselves before the dwarf approached the bar. She looked young, with striking red hair and some eye-catching curves, and she moved with confidence, rapping on the bar. "Hey bud, let me get a pint of whiskey."

Her accent suggested that she wasn’t too many years out of Orzammar, but … a pint? Varric’s eyebrows rose. Hopefully that was intended for sharing. Living in a bar meant that drunks were part of the decor, but there was drunk and there was picking a fight with a wall, and a pint of whiskey would be a big step toward the latter.

Leaving Bianca propped beside his chair, Varric left the balcony outside his suite and made his way down the stairs to the bar. “Ale,” he told Corff as the bartender served the dwarf her requested pint. “New in town?” he asked her casually. Not really a question; their bearing made it pretty plain, but as a conversation starter, it was as good as anything and better than many.
 

Rika Blaise

Smart Mouth Mercenary
DAO/DA2 Timeline
Posts
10
#3
Rika's mind had been on the whiskey she was about to consume, and the job that was set out before them. So, she wasn't exactly totally aware that another dwarf had approached her, or that he was standing next to her ordering himself an ale. But when he turned and addressed her, Rika twisted her head to look at the man as she reached out a hand to grip her large pint of whiskey. She of course had not been intending to drink on the the entire thing herself, a pint was a little much for one person unless she wanted to end up on the floor out of her armor. "I guess you could say that, me and my crew are here for business," She said with a shrug of one shoulder.

Turning her head back to the bartender, she smiled softly and tilted her head to the side a little, "Let me get a couple more glasses for my light-weight friends," She said in a joking tone.

"Speak for yourself, Kal's always the one who's passed out first," Hallanel said with a roll of his eyes and a snort as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the taller human man that stood behind him.

"I still have more of an iron stomach than you do Dalish," Kal said with a roll of his eyes and a small smile. He reached up and ran a hand through his pepper colored beard. Kal was the oldest of them all, and by far the calmest one as well. He never really ventured from the soft monotone that was his norm.

"Thought I told you to stop calling me Dalish..." Hallanel said with a frown, "I haven't been a Dalish for many years,"

"Hey, once a Dalish always a Dalish, you think people will ever stop calling me a Stone lover because I wasn't born topside? No, so accept it," Rika said with a smirk and then turned to look at the dwarf standing next to her again, "Rika Blaise, that's Kal and Ella...and the Dalish is Hallanel,"
 

Varric Tethras

Bullshitter Emeritus
Canon Character
Post DAI Timeline
DAO/DA2 Timeline
Posts
118
#4
That they were in Kirkwall for business was no big surprise … the City of Chains wasn’t much of a tourist destination. The easy, half-teasing banter among the quartet suggested they’d been together for a while. Mercenaries, then. Or maybe bounty hunters.

“Varric Tethras,” he introduced himself in turn after Rika had done the honors for all of them. Corff set a mug of ale on the bar beside him; Varric took it, but did not return to his spot upstairs. When you were a writer, you took your inspiration where you found it, and these four were piquing his interest.

Moving to an unoccupied table, he took a chair, gesturing to the empty seats in invitation. “How was the trip from Ferelden?” Not quite a blind guess; their accents were definitely from the south, though mercs moved around. “Storms have been pretty bad this year.” More than a bit of an understatement, that; at last count, three ships due at the harbor were missing in the last two months, and two more had been confirmed sunk with all hands aboard.
 

Rika Blaise

Smart Mouth Mercenary
DAO/DA2 Timeline
Posts
10
#5
Rika watched Varric walk off to an empty table, saw him sit down, and wondered why he seemed so interested in casual conversation. He seemed harmless enough, and Rika found herself interested in the other dwarf. Taking a swig of her whiskey, Rika looked at the others and jerked her head toward Varric, signaling that she fully intended to join him, at his table. In response, Kal simply smiled softly at her. Hallanel shrugged his shoulders as if to say "whatever, do what you wish," and Ella got up and moved to the table as well, taking the seat to the left of Varric.

Walking over to the table, RIka sat down across from Varric and set her whiskey down on the table. "Well, I'll tell you one thing. That's the last time I travel by ship....anywhere," She said seriously, frowning at the memory of the waves causing the ship to tilt and crash amongst the sea. She had been lucky thus far to not have to take a ship for travel in terms of what work she chose to take on. But the job in Kirkwall wasn't exactly a brisk walk from her home in Ferelden, and Rika had quickly found out she was susceptible to seasickness.

"From what I hear, we should be lucky they even let us into the city. The Blight has the city all full up, they're even turning people away at the gates," Ella said conversationally, looking at Rika.

"Lucky I managed to talk our way into the city's walls then," Rika said with a smile as she took another drink.

"Lucky would be when we find this person we are supposed to be meeting, what's his name again?" Hallanel asked curiously as he came to stand next to Ella with a frown on his face.

"Gregory Telwyn," Kal said as he took the last vacant seat at the table, "He said he's be somewhere in Lowtown,"
 

Varric Tethras

Bullshitter Emeritus
Canon Character
Post DAI Timeline
DAO/DA2 Timeline
Posts
118
#6
Two of the four joined Varric at his table, Rika bringing the whiskey and extra glasses. "Well, I'll tell you one thing,” she began, plopping down into a chair and taking a healthy swig from her own glass. “That's the last time I travel by ship....anywhere."

“Never tried it myself,” Varric told her. He’d never been anywhere but Kirkwall - apart from the Deep Roads run, which had pretty much solidified his intention to never go anywhere but Kirkwall again.

"From what I hear, we should be lucky they even let us into the city,” Ella commented. “The Blight has the city all full up, they're even turning people away at the gates."

“Blight’s been over long enough that they’ve loosened up,” Varric replied, taking a drink from his mug. “Some of the refugees have even gone back … but the guards still don’t like Fereldans much.”

"Lucky I managed to talk our way into the city's walls then," Rika asserted.

"Lucky would be when we find this person we are supposed to be meeting,” Hallanel told her, moving to the table but remaining on his feet next to Ella, “what's his name again?"

"Gregory Telwyn," Kal answered the question as he pulled out a chair and took a seat. "He said he's be somewhere in Lowtown."

The name didn't ring any bells. “Is he a Fereldan?” Varric asked them. “If he is, you might check at Lirene’s Fereldan Imports in Lowtown. She knows most of the refugees who’ve come in.”
 
Top