Part 77: Leliana After Dark

PART 77: LELIANA AFTER DARK


Do you want to know a secret?



This tale of foolish people long ago... I know what happened, and what is true... but I don't know how it should end.



Let me tell it one more time, and perhaps together, we will see.

[VIDEO: Hot Denerim Nights]









Raaaa!!!



*crunch*



He was already on fire you know. There was really no need for... that...

Ah, shut up and pose.



*flash forward*



*flash back*





*flash forward*



*flash back*



_{(uncanny valley fingers)}

*squish*

Well, he's really dead now. Because being set on fire and cut in half wasn't apparently enough for you people.

It pays to be careful. Remember Sescam?

Heh. Yeah. For a man with no arms, he sure was persistant.



(Laughter)

Very nice.



*flash forward*



*flash back*



Months of planning, favors. Everything is waiting for us.

We're here to show Ferelden how Orlais commands the game. Several jobs, and a personal score of my own, but the rest of the night is yours.

Think you're up to it, pretty thing?

You know I'm ready for anything.



Of course you are. You're mine.

I'll be watching. Don't let me down.



Love to watch her go. Returns me to the Stone.

Ugh. Focus!

A little fun with the wigs of Ferelden. They won't expect it, not like in Orlais.

The clients want a little stealing, a few insults, and some good old revenge.

Eyes open. We've got our targets--let's find them.



[Welcome to the Leliana's Song DLC! Here we are back in the far distant past of... uh... a few years ago? With an (almost) entirely new party of quote-unquote heroes!]



[Leliana: Sassy teen assassin edition. She starts with a fair spread of thievery, archery and two weapon wieldery skills. You also get a few bonus talent points to refine her build.

For a change, I'm scoping her towards being a dual weapon death whirlwind sort of rogue.]



[Tug: the walking masturbation joke. He's a tanky dwarf fighter fella.

His skill spread is totally focused on sword and board fighting. Axe and board. Whatever.]



[Sketch: the sketchy elf mage with the split shaft.

You get 5 free spells to choose for Sketch, so I went with the Walking Bomb line, because I like having an 'I win' button.]



[We have three 'contracts' we need to complete to progress; as Tug suggested- some burglary, a public humiliation and a spot of assassination. There are also two bonus quests we can do for fun and prizes.

Let our reign of terror begin!]









Really? From the poorbox?

If the Maker misses this, the Chantry has bigger problems.



[You'll occasionally hear Marjolaine's voice come out of nowhere. She wasn't lying when she said she'd be watching.]



Some people like their privacy.



[This is also where the Mage's Collective hangs out in present day Denerim. You'd think a terrorist organisation would vary which dingy alley they lurk in, even if only for a change of scenery.]



A mage collective. Sketch, did you know?

It's nothing. Usually.

Then no one will mind if we follow the clues and help ourselves.

[This is one of the bonus quests we can do. The rewards are well worth it.]



[There are two Mage Collective markers hidden around the market. Find them and the cache location shows up.]



[One marker is in the west.]



[And one is in the east.]



[The clues point to a pile of rocks near the entrance to the Elven slums.

That's Marjolaine laughing, by the way.]



I didn't even touch it!



['Severin Corwood' isn't that tough, but he brought a golem to a knife fight, which could cause you a few problems. I had Sketch fry the golem with magic while Tug and Leliana brought down Severin.

Let him live too long and he'll buff the golem to be a real pain in the neck. He'll also continually run away and heal himself, the annoying sod.]



It's just a group that I kind of understand.

Hmrn. Well, his trinket looks to be worth a nice amount, unless we find another use for it.



[The ring would be good equipment for Sketch, or we could sell it. There is also a secret third option, which we'll discover later.]





[We also get two useful accessories from the cache. The ring in particular is amazingly powerful.]



Now, where should we start?





Renwold's Relics. As if he found them.

(Steal back the fenced Tevinter antiquities.)

There's our northern trinkets.





[Stealing from the chests will make all the guards in the area hostile. Rumble!]



Well, the guard will be after us now.

Good. Bring them on.

You ever get enough?

Nope.



Finery? This Ser Wolly has clearly never been to Orlais.

(Steal back the fenced historical costumes.)

Let's put these to better use somewhere.

Do we need to infiltrate a RenFaire?



Swap the goods around. They'll jump to blame each other.

Ugh, so childish.



[So we could sell the items for money, or we could move them into the other chests for XP.

But there's also a secret, third option which we'll discover later.]



Imports of Import? The man thinks he's clever.

(Steal back the Ferelden jewelry.)

Eww, dead people jewelry.



[Was funeral jewelry ever a thing in the real world? It sounds like it could be a thing.

Still, as Leliana said: ewwwww.]



[Anyway, there are still plenty of guard patrols wandering around and they don't like us at all.

This must be the most well-policed slum in fantasy history.]



[Yes, that is red mist. Walking Bomb magic does bad things to people.

For the record- Walking Bomb is a spell that deals small damage over time and if an enemy dies while under its effect, they explode in a spectacular, very damaging fashion. With no friendly fire.

Virulent Walking Bomb is the same except it turns all enemies damaged by the explosion into Walking Bombs as well. This can lead to incredibly satisfying chain reactions.]



[Once all the patrols are dead, this guy shows up to hand you your ass on a plate.]



[You only start with 3 Lesser Health Poultices and Sketch's healing magic, so you can't just heal tank your way through this fight.]



[The Night Captain has a ton of health and can stun you, repeatedly, with his slick shield moves. He has a high physical resist, making it hard to stun him in response. In the end, I think I just got lucky with using Walking Bomb to take out his sidekicks and then slowly wearing him down.]



[And our reward is...]



[A boring shield. Oh well.

Back to the day job.]



There‘s our noble to disgrace!





Ah do you think you have a chance, little guardsman? I can--



...Sketch, you're paying to have this armor cleaned.

I think I got a little bit of guard in my mouth.

Sorry, sorry. Sometimes I don't know my own strength.



Bann Perrin. Orders are to keep him alive. Set longswords to stun.



Nobles only really hurt when you hit their reputation.

Let me see what secrets you're holding, Perrin.



Boring. Next.



Better.

We're supposed to strip him of dignity, not his... things.

It'll be both if we find an amusing place to leave them.



[We can just leave him there, or we can try nailing Bann Perrin's lacey unmentionables to the outside of the Chantry. But there's another, secret resolution we can discover later.

You may notice a theme emerging.]



(Distant laughter)

Sounds like Marjolaine found her mark, the poor bastard.





You get into her private business, you’d better make it count.

[This is the other bonus quest in the area. We'll come back to him later.]



Come on! Damn you lot, open up!

There's our tattletale.

Put him down, as a warning.





Who?

Jovi Merice?

Oh no. I was supposed to be safe!

You should have thought about that before talking out of turn.

I ain't going back! I'm not!

Good with me.

That was never an option.



Sketch!

Sorry!



Or we could signal Marjolaine down from the tavern and get out of here.



[Jovi is carrying the Bastard Thorn, which is a terrible dagger with a cool name, and a Masterwork Leather Piece. There are 6 leather pieces hidden throughout the DLC, and collecting them all unlocks a really powerful set of light armor in the main game.

However, Jovi's most interesting piece of loot is... himself. We could go dispose of his corpse in a convenient well, or we could think of something more imaginative to do with it. Or we could just leave him in the street to rot, along with everyone else we've killed this evening.]



Aww, nobody boils an innard like a Fereldan.



[If we return to the unconscious Guard Captain...]



Looks to the world that he's drunk on duty. A good start...

I wonder how much shame he can bear?

(Drape Jovi's body next to the guard captain.)

Waking with a dead man will not help his situation.



(Leave Bann Perrin's suspect undergarments on Eams.)

A non-regulation addition, I'm sure.

(Plant the Mages' Collective Signet to cause suspicion.)

Now it appears he's an apostate as well. Shocking.

(Plant all of the stolen items on Eams.)

A thief as well. The man is a disgrace.



The revelation that he's a drunken thieving murderous apostate with exotic tastes in underwear probably won't help, no.

I hope Marjolaine will be pleased.

We'll find out soon enough. We signal down from the tavern, right?

[So that's what we were saving all our quest rewards for. Every quest in this area has a basic solution- kill dude, steal stuff, whatever. There's also a more complex and rewarding solution for each quest- swap the stolen goods into other chests, nail the underwear to the Chantry etc.

And then there's the special bonus solution, where we dump absolutely everything onto this poor drunk bastard.]





Marjolaine! Marjolaine! Don't tease me today.

*glomp*



That's how we do it!

Ugh.

Ooh, pretty thing. Out of breath, hair in a state--you'd be a scandal on the streets of Orlais.

And you love it.



If I'm not mistaken, you want me this way.

You think you know what I like, hmm? Is that what inspired the fantastic destruction of the poor captain?

We are very much alike, you and I.

[Marjolaine only says this if you frame the Captain for everything in the district.]

I have a surprise. We did not come this far to slum in darkened streets.



Lem?

Aye, Marjolaine?

Make sure she has everything she needs.

[Bonny Lem the Fence is our shop. We'll talk to him afterwards.]



There will be no rest for us tonight.



Not like that.

Oh. Don't keep me in the dark. Who is the mark of distinction you have in mind?

In good time. Just know that we will have earned a special rest when all is done. Ready yourself and come back to me.

You won't have to wait long.



[An interesting thing about Leliana's Song is the conversation system: in the main game the Warden is mute, so the conversation options are supposedly what they are 'saying'.

But in this DLC, Leliana is voiced, and the conversation options are more like hints as to what she will actually say, similar to the Mass Effect system.]



Always where the money is, hmm?

And your hand in the Chantry box was an accident, I suppose.

[Consequences!]

What are they to me?

Marjolaine has you on the right path. Want something?

Let's see what you've found.



[Lem has some interesting bits and pieces for Tug and Sketch, but not much for Leliana. We start with quite a bit of money, so I can clear out most of his stock. It'll be a while before we can shop again.]



Are you ready now, Leliana? The night is moving on and our target is formidable.

I need only my skill, Marjolaine. I am always ready.

That, my pretty thing, is what I like to hear.



[The loading screens are narrated by Leliana too, which is a nice touch.]



Sodding stone.

You can't come to Denerim without visiting the arl's estate.

You're mad.

The arl is away and most of the King's Patrol has been drawn to some sort of trouble in the market.

Our employer just wants us to plant some embarrassing papers under the cover of a burglary. It will be assumed they were here all along.

Unless, you think you're not up to my challenge?



Kept anything else to yourself? Like what the papers are, or who hired us?

I think that they are payments suggesting mistresses, and you know as well as I that we do not need to know the players.

We let nobles decide who to blame. We are just the enablers of the game. The rich are all the same. Like moths to a flame. Fighting over their claim. To stay in the frame!

Boom chicka, boom chicka, boom chicka boom!

Break it down!

My barding gets acclaim. I hoard all the fame. I know no shame. Since an assassin I became. Everyone knows my name!

You one crazy dame!

I'm a maimer, a flamer, a proclaimer of the truth in the lies, I surprise all the guys forecasting my demise, dropping them like flies in my frightening disguise I keep my eyes on the prize!

Woo-hah!



That's it! Now we split to divide the guard, find a fun way in, and put the papers where they can be found but are not obvious.

In the bedroom. Nice and personal.

Don't keep me waiting.




NEXT TIME: The Unheist

NEW CODEX ENTRIES:
The Orlesian Game of Intrigue
The Arl's Estate