As we cautiously left the landing and headed across the room we were in, we were suddenly surprised by a man's voice. Leliana nocked her bow with a speed that put a seasoned Dalish archer to shame. And yes, I put myself in that category.

"Please refrain from going into the stockroom. It is a mess and I have not been able to get it in a state fit to be seen."

We all spun around only to see a Mage standing by what I assumed was the stockroom. His voice was very calm considering.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised he wasn't hiding, or dead.

"I was trying to tidy up but there was little I could do."

"Aren't you afraid of the Abominations?"

"Of course. I am defenseless and if I ran into one, I would surely perish. I tried to leave when things got quiet. That was when I encountered the barrier. Finding no other way out, I returned to work." The emotionless way he spoke was a bit unnerving.

"Owain, you should have said something! I would have opened the door for you," Wynne said, sounding very motherly.

"The stockroom is familiar. I prefer to be here."

"How can you be so calm?" I asked.

"He is one of the Tranquil," Wynne explained. "The Tranquil do not have emotions." Lucky him.

 "I would prefer not to die. I would prefer it if the Tower returned to the way it was. Perhaps Niall will succeed and save us all."

"What's this Niall trying to do?"

"I do not know but he came here with several others and took the Litany of Adralla."

"But that protects from mind domination," Wynne's voice sounded surprised. "Is blood magic at work here?"

"I do not know,"

"Niall was in the meeting. He would know. Blood magic... I was afraid of this."

"We'll be able to handle it, I'm sure."

At least I hoped we would.

"We should find Niall. The Litany will give us a fighting chance against any Blood Mages we encounter."

"I wish you luck," Owain said. "Perhaps this will be over soon and things will return to the way they were. Goodbye."

We left the area where the stockroom was and I heard voices. I held my hand up and listened.

"What are we doing?" a female voice asked. "Have you thought about it?"

"We're making sure no one disrupts Uldred's plan," a male voice answered. "I thought that was quite clear."

"But he's not Uldred anymore. I never wanted it to go this far."

"Neither did I but this is what we're faced with and--" We had edged closer to the voices as the conversation had gone on.

"Quite! Both of you!" a second male voice said. "I think I heard something. Keep your eyes open."

Somehow they'd heard us. A male Mage came racing out of a room firing blasts at energy at us. I dived to the side and ran forward. I cut him down and turned on the other two, with Morrigan right behind me. The man fell and the woman dropped her staff and fell to her knees.

"Please. Please, don't kill me!" she begged.

"The people you killed didn't want to die either," I said.

"I know I have no right to ask for mercy but I didn't mean for this death and destruction. We were just trying to free ourselves. Uldred told us that the Circle would support Loghain and Loghain would help us be free of the Chantry. You don't know what it was like. The Templars were watching, always watching..." Of course, Loghain had to stir things up at the Circle as well.

"But why turn to forbidden magic?"

"The magic was a means to an end. It gave us... it gave me the power to fight for what I believed."

"Fighting for what you believe is commendable but the ends do not always justify the means," Wynne said.

"You don't really believe that, do you, Wynne? Change rarely comes peacefully. Andraste raged war on the Imperium; she didn't write them a strongly worded letter. She reshaped civilization, freed the slaves, and gave us the Chantry. But people died for it... We thought... someone always has to take the first step... force a change, no matter the cost."

"Nothing is worth what you've done to this place," Wynne seemed a bit angry at the Blood Mage.

The Mage hung her head. "Now Uldred has gone mad and we are scattered, doomed to die at the hands of those who seek to right our wrongs."

"And all you do is wallow in self-pity? Pathetic," I said, pulling no punches.

"What else can I do? I'm trapped here."

"You can die with dignity."

"No... No please!" She stood. I knew Alistair had been itching to kill a Blood Mage and I allowed this kill to be his. He hadn't been happy that I had allowed Jowan to live, but I hoped this would make it up for him. He ran his blade through her heart. She didn't even attempt to fight back.

"Perhaps better than what the Circle would have done to her," Wynne said. We left her body there and went out into the hall. Where we were set upon by three Abominations. We killed them quickly. Then we found some walking corpses.

"Not these guys again," Alistair said, beheading one and bashing another with his shield. There were only a few and we dispatched them quickly and went into the room they had come out of, easily killing the two Abominations that were waiting for us. After the second one fell, I retreated backward out of range of its explosion. I bumped into a closet and heard a slight whimper. I spun around and tore the doors open. A Mage tumbled out on top of me. I pushed him off and we both stood. He looked terrified.

"Please. Don't hurt me," he begged. "I'm no one important. I just... don't want to die. Oh, Maker!"

"Why does everyone assume we're going to hurt them?" I asked.

"Because we're armed?" Alistair said. "And I think you being Dalish might add to that."

"Remind me to hurt you later." I turned back to the Mage. "You're not going to die. Pull yourself together."

He took a ragged breath. "Th-thank you... I-I suppose I can breathe easy now. Godwin, Mage of the Circle of Ferelden, at your service."

"How did you end up in that closet?"

"There were demons everywhere, blocking my exit. I decided the best thing to do in that situation was to hide and be very, very quiet. I just really want to be somewhere safe. I think I'll just stay here for now. Maybe go back into my closet for a little while."

"You could come with us." I could use another Mage.

"Go with you? While you... hunt down demons and Abominations? I'd rather... not. But don't take this the wrong way. I'm sure you're excellent company and a very nice Elf... uh... person but it's just too... dangerous."

I rolled my eyes. "Very well. Stay safe in your... closet."

"Thank you again for saving me. May we meet again in happier, less life-threatening times." Godwin climbed back into the closet and shut the door.

I shook my head, wondering if I could go a week without meeting a halfway insane person,  and we left the room. We went into the Chantry and the moment I walked in I felt as if my feet were pulled out from under me and I was dragged halfway across the room. Towards a Revenant. I twisted to where I was able to stop myself on a bench. This angered the Revenant and he charged towards me. I launched myself off the bench just as its sword splintered the wood where I'd been seconds earlier. I ran towards the wall and jumped towards it. I pushed off the wall with my foot and jumped higher up to where a now shattered statue of Andraste once stood. From there I jumped on top of the Revenant, stabbing both swords through the back of its neck. I pulled them away from each other, beheading the creature. Its headless corpse fell with me on its back, although this time I maintained my balance.

"Show off," Alistair said as he sheathed his sword. I saw approval on Sten's face.

"This is Irving's office," Wynne said as we checked yet another room. We looked around the room, hoping maybe the First Enchanter was hiding in here. I found a dusty, black-bound book and picked it up. I blew the dust off. I could barely make out the title, but I was able to make out Flemeth. Morrigan was checking the wall for a secret door.

"Morrigan," I called.

"What?" I handed her the book. "You found Flemeth's grimoire?" She sounded amazed. "Ever since we discovered the condition of the Mages' Tower, I had wondered if it might be recoverable... but I had yet to speak of it to you. How fortunate that you found it on your own. You have my thanks. I will begin study of the tome as soon as we finish here."

"What do you hope to find within it?"

"Secrets. My mother has many of them and this tome represents the one time that they were able to get away from her. I do not intend to squander this opportunity to learn more than Flemeth wished me to know. This should be... interesting." She put it in her pack and we left the First Enchanter's office.

Our hopes at finding any more survivors were becoming dimmer with each room we searched. So far the only survivors were the ones we'd found with Wynne, Godwin, and a couple of Tranquils. We found yet another room littered with bodies. We walked halfway through when a Fade spirit came through the door we were walking towards. It was hideous and looked like someone that had been dead a while.

"Wonderful. An Arcane Horror," Wynne muttered. The Arcane Horror reached its hand out at the corpses rose.

"And I was hoping to avoid this," I said with a sigh. I swung my swords into two separate arcs, felling the two corpses on either side of me. Morrigan and Wynne went after the spirit while the rest of us concentrated on the corpses. After they had all fallen, Alistair and I went and made sure they would stay dead. I disengaged a few traps along the way, Alistair and Leliana watching my back as I did so.

~~~

"Has anyone noticed the higher up we go, the worst it gets?" Alistair stated.

I nodded. "It does seem that way."

A door opened and several Templars ran out. "Arise, my pets!" a female voice called. "Your mistress demands it!"

And that was the first time I'd ever seen a demon. She was a purplish pink and so scantily clad that she might as well have been naked. Her eyes were red and she had horns curling around her head. I was told later that this was a Desire Demon in the flesh. I slipped past the Templars and behind the demon. I slipped in a backstab and I was thrown against the wall with the breath knocked out of me.

"Nice try, mortal." She walked towards me, her hips swaying in a sultry manner.

I rolled my eyes. "Give me a break," I muttered as I climbed to my feet, catching my breath.

"Come, let me give you all that you desire."

"Does that include you dead?"

"For shame. I can give you the life you should have had in the forests of Thedas, not this life of death and violence. Everything your heart desires." She reached out to touch me. "What do you say?"

I shoved a sword into her breast. "Tempting but not interested."

Alistair grabbed my arm. "I thought she had you for sure," I gave him a puzzled look. "You lowered your guard. I should have known you were tricking her into lowering hers."

I smiled. "You think I'd fall for something that easily?" I may have known next to nothing about demons, but the tale of the Abomination Keeper and Conner told me that making deals with demons didn't turn out very well. After fighting a few more Abominations, we headed to the fourth floor.