Lyria had at last repaid the witch's debt and was free to continue doing odd jobs to gain the funds to hopefully fund the upcoming expedition with Bartrand.
First, however, after dropping Merrill off to her new home, Lyria overheard an elf woman pleading with a templar. She didn't know where her son was, but she desperately wanted him found so he could go to the Circle and be safe, at last.
Her son was an apostate, and he had caught wind of his mother's plan to give him to the Circle, and so had fled.
Once the templar had left, Lyria questioned the woman. Her son, Feynriel, suffered from bad dreams, horrible nightmares, demons and ghosts whispering to him in his sleep. And each day it was harder and harder to wake him from his slumber. He needed help!
Lyria promised to help find him so he could be brought to safety. The woman suggested that Lyria either talk to the templar she was just speaking with, or to Fenyriel's father... a one night stand she'd had but once; a merchant here in Lowtown.
Not wanting to talk with a templar, Lyria chose to speak with the boy's father.
The boy's father tried to convince Lyria that he had no idea what she was talking about, but finally, after showing him that she, too, was a mage, the man trusted her.
He told her that Feynriel had gone into hiding. That an ex-templar, Samson, who could be found on the docks at night, promised to hide the boy.
They were coming this way later that night anyway; what was one more thing to do?
In the meantime, they took a quick jaunt around the outskirts of the city and found a dwarf merchant and his guards being set upon my a mass of giant spiders.
The dwarf thanked them for their assistance and then suggested, since they were so capable, that they might be interested in a business proposition of his.
The qunari were in the city and they happened to have a special powder that exploded! No magic or lyrium or anything. Just BOOM! And he was interested in buying it from them. Only they had no interest in selling it. Perhaps, if they were to get rid of the qunari mercenaries roaming the land — the Tal-Vashoth — this particular qunari would be happy and finally allow some trade.
He promised Lyria great riches if she helped. Fueled by the desire for more money, she agreed.
The dwarf marked Lyria's map with the location of some known Tal-Vashoth and they headed straight there... only to be interrupted by a group of elves yelling at a man.
Lyria was curious and wandered over to them. The elves were upset because this man had apparently been a werewolf, cursed by some Zathrian, and the Hero of Ferelden had allegedly broken the curse. He wasn't a werewolf anymore and he was sorry for what he had done while he was a beast but he was a beast no more.
This was none of her business. Lyria walked off, letting the elves sort out their grievances, and continued onward to the Tal-Vashoth.
As they approached the area the dwarf had marked on the map, a qunari came out of hiding and told them to flee or they would be attacked — then stopped as he saw how well armed and capable they looked. He told them that since they looked so capable, could they kill the other qunari here? They were murderers and thieves and were not what he signed up for when he left the Qun.
That's exactly why they were there. They proceeded up the winding hill to where the qunari were camped.
They were camped inside a cave system at the top of the hill, in what appeared to be an abandoned mine.
Soon they were camped there no longer, as they had all perished.
The dwarf had told them to meet him at the qunari encampment in the Docks at Kirkwall, so they made their way there now, only to find more dwarves under attack by other dwarves. Lyria jumped in and fought off the attackers.
The dwarf under attack, his name was Harrowmont and he was under constant attack by the Carta, sent after him by Bhelen the King of Orzammar. His Uncle Harrowmont had failed to become King and had died for it, as had the rest of the family. He was the last left and he was trying to escape.
As Lyria was clearly capable, he could pay her well if she saw to it that these thugs were cleared from the Docks so he could make a getaway. For coin? She agreed.
Rounding the corner she came across more of the thugs, only these ones offered to double the coin Harrowmont had offered if she killed him instead.
She would not renege on a deal. She was not that type of person. She declined the thug's offer and attacked.
Soon the Docks were covered in the corpses of dwarvish thugs and Harrowmont would be able to pay her and leave safely. About time someone actually gave her the gold she deserved.
She now had 27 gold to her name and was halfway to being able to afford to fund the expedition. Maybe they would be leaving after all! Wealth and riches awaited!
Before wealth and riches though, Lyria and her group wandered over to the qunari encampment and asked to see the Arishok and the dwarf that was waiting for them.
He seemed very pleased to see them — he had been waiting, uneasily, for hours!
The dwarf greeted the Arishok and exclaimed that the most hated Tal-Vashoth had been dealt with! Now surely they could trade for the explosive, as agreed.
The Arishok had not agreed to those terms. The dwarf had invented a task and was now hoping to be rewarded for something the qunari had not wanted done. They refused to trade. Lyria, annoyed, demanded her coin from the dwarf. She had fulfilled her role in his demented idea and wanted to be paid.
The dwarf refused, but after being yelled at by the Arishok to honour his bargains he agreed then stormed off, muttering beneath his breath about Ferelden dog lords and qunari horn-heads.
As the dwarf stomped away, the qunari told Lyria to go away too. There was no more coin for her here.
Tying up a few odds and ends in Darktown and Lowtown, Lyria took a few moments to talk to all of her group. They needn't be only acquaintances after all, and Aveline was already practically family. Surely they could all be firm friends.
First Anders told her about how he had a friend like her once — dragged him off on all sorts of trouble! He was such an interesting mage, a Grey Warden, a healer, a spirit-wielder... she couldn't help herself and flirted with him. He was very non-reciprocative and told her not to bother. In his state, he would only break her heart.
Of course that made her want to try to woo him even more, but she'd save that for another time.
Next Lyria thought she should talk to Varric some. He suggested they go to the Hanged Man if she wanted to chat, so they made their way there. Only, as soon as they walked in, a brawl erupted!
A well-armed woman took down a group of men then threatened to kill the last man standing. He yielded, and fled.
Intrigued, Lyria went over to the woman to find out what all the commotion was about. The woman's name was Isabela and apparently those men were supposed to be looking for something for her, but they hadn't found it. Yet they still wanted to be paid! The audacity.
Isabela then eyed Lyria up and down and determined her to also be a capable woman. Perhaps Lyria would like to help her with a little task later that night? She had arranged for a duel but didn't trust her opponent — she was certain he would try to cheat. So she would like to hire Lyria and her group as backup in case things went south.
Ever the one to say "yes", Lyria agreed to meet Isabela later that night in Hightown.
With the commotion over and done with and Isabela in place by the bar, knocking back ale after ale, Lyria grabbed Varric and they finally had a little chat.
He was of a noble house in Orzammar, House Tethras, but his father had been busted fixing the Provings... and so the family was exiled to the surface. Varric had been born a surface dwarf and rather liked it. He could not imagine living beneath the stone. They then talked about the ogre Lyria had killed back in Ferelden and how he was longing for some adventure in the deep roads on the expedition.
They were going to be grand adventurers! It was so exciting.
Next Lyria thought she would check in on that broody elf, Fenris, still lurking in his old master's manor hoping he would return so he could kill him.
When Lyria stopped by, Fenris was drinking rather heavily. He'd down a bottle of wine, then smash its remains against the wall. He hadn't even offered her any first! The audacity. He was quite drunk and openly flirted with her. Not willing to be the next thing thrown against the wall in neither a sexual or angry manner, she sideskirted his compliments and bid him farewell.
Stopping by Merrill's house, Lyria was greeted by a very excited Merrill. Apparently she had seen a mugging, right outside her door, it was fantastic!
It was so busy here in Kirkwall. Things were happening, people were coming and going, the city just never stopped... the elves here were not like the elves of her clan... she missed her people. She would not go back though. Kirkwall would be her home.
Lyria tried chatting with Aveline but she had no interest in chatting until after they had dealt with the ambush later that night. Which was fair enough.
Always on the hunt for more work to do, Lyria realised she hadn't been to Hightown yet today and Athenril had pointed some work her way. She spoke with the mining operator of the Bone Pits who was one of the only people in this city who bothered to hire Fereldens. Apparently there was something wrong at the Bone Pit though and the Fereldens had fled. Could she find out why? She supposed she could.
After chatting with the insufferable Bartrand and trying to convince him that she would be helping to fund his expedition very, very soon, she ran into another pair of dwarves.... one of whom proclaimed to have worked for the Hero of Ferelden, the lovely lady who had saved them from the Blight!
Lyria was certain they could tell her all sorts of tales, but they didn't want to waste her time... which, she supposed, was a good thing. She needed to find more work — ALL the work.
Athenril was at her usual spot in front of the whore house. Not that she traded in flesh, but she liked the look of the clientele that frequented this pathway. Good marks, she had once said.
Apparently some of her men had gone quiet, missing, and she wanted to know what had happened to them. Lyria had been one of her best and would give her a fair chunk of coin if she could retrieve her missing men, or the goods they were moving.
Lyria didn't particularly want to do anything for Athenril, but the lacking coin in her purse told her to accept the work.
As they were heading home for the afternoon, Lyria couldn't help but notice a woman crying outside the Chantry. She asked what was wrong. Apparently her brother, Keran, had become a templar... and they were so close! Always writing letters to one another. But she hadn't heard anything from him for weeks. And there were all these rumours about the Knight-Commander, and she was worried about her brother's safety.
Although Lyria didn't particularly wish to do anything concerning templars, she felt sorry for the girl and said that she would try to find out some information about this.
On the way to the Gallows to question Keran's recruit-mates, she got stopped by a magistrate. He had heard of Lyria's dealings over the past year and knew she could perform certain work... on the sly, so to speak.
Apparently a fugitive from justice had escaped and the magistrate would like him back, alive, quickly, and quietly. The ruins the man was hold up in was filled with creatures and had already decimated the guard force he had sent after the man. Could Lyria do it?
What was one more thing, as long as the man paid and paid well? Lyria agreed to be there on the morrow. By the Maker, she had wanted work and now it was coming in by the bucketload. There was so much to do!
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 
