The Blood Crow

by NecromanticSoul

Summary:

Something is haunting Thedas. Over the past few years there's been a string of assassinations and murders committed by an entity rumors call the Blood Crow. Whether specter or real person, no one knows. The Blood Crow is said to take only the worst of the worst across Thedas. Is this entity something to be feared or venerated?

When rumors begin to spread that the Blood Crow may be a member of the Antivan Crows, Lucanis Dellamorte is determined to track down the truth. In the midst of this he and the rest of the Veilguard worry over the missing Rook who vanished without warning.

When Rook reappears two years later, offering Taash a way to get Lace Harding, the Veilguard must determine if it really is Rook, or if the person claiming to be Rook is something far more dangerous.

Chapter 1: Prologue

She would never forget Viago's anger or Lucanis's disappointment.

Rook had gone to Minrathous when the blighted dragons attacked, sending Davrin to Treviso under the mistaken assumption that a Warden would do more good than she could. She hadn't realized that call would cost her the home, family, and life she'd known.

The Crows had still asked her for her help, but none but Teia ever looked at her the same way.

She'd rebuilt her relationships with Viago and Lucanis brick by brick, deed by deed.

And when it was all over, when Elgar'nan was dead? She looked Viago in the eye and realized he didn't feel like family anymore. Even if she returned to the Crows it would never be the same.

She withdrew to the Lighthouse. No one asked when she was coming home. Maybe they just assumed she'd come back, or maybe they didn't see her as one of them anymore.

All of her friends returned home within a few months, all having some calling elsewhere. Everyone promised to get together, to visit, but something told her it wouldn't be often.

Rook watched the rest of her friends leave. She walked the empty halls of the Lighthouse with no one but the caretaker for company.

She remembered her friends' relief at freeing her from the Fade Prison. She remembered Emmrick asking if she was okay, and telling him she could collapse after it was all over.

As the weeks passed, she realized they'd all picked up the threads of their lives and didn't need her anymore. There were still occasional requests from the Veulguard's allies, and she would see her friends in passing. Everyone seemed to be content to let her slip away after it was all over.

It might be they were just giving her space.

She withdrew further into herself.

The loneliness crept in. The thought that she'd been nothing more than a tool or a weapon lingered. The memory of being trapped in the Fade prison lingered. The fractures grew, widened, until she simply shattered.

Lying on the floor of the music room, body contoured, eyes widened open and unseen, she shattered.

How much time passed before she came back to herself she knew not. She moved mechanically as she realized she was alone. She looked at the fractured pieces of herself and slowly, deliberately began to piece them back together. Perhaps she didn't get everything back in the right order, or put pieces where they didn't really belong, but she stitched herself back together.

She remembered the accusations that she'd been responsible for the gods' release, the Blight, the damage to Treviso. She remembered that those truly responsible had been the gods and their followers. Solas was now tied to the Fade, atoning. Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nan were dead, but not all of their followers were.

She moved through the halls of the empty Lighthouse until she reached her quarters. Her eyes fell on her weapons stand.

She smiled, eyes eerily calm.

****

Neve and Tarquin found the body of the Venatori mage they'd been hunting pinned to the wall of the warehouse like one might pin an insect in a collection. A look of horror was transfixed on the dead Venatori's face. They could find not sign of who had killed him.

The Mourn Watch found the body of the visiting Tevinter mage lying on the floor of a crypt, face forever holding a terrified expression. They found no sign of who killed him or how they got past the Necropolis's wards. When they searched his rooms they found proof he'd been Venatori.

An assassin of House de Riva found their target, a minor noble who'd conspired with Ivenci, already dead, slumped over the dining table, fright etched on the face of the dead woman. No sign of other another's entrance into or exist from the room.

And so on, and so on.

And Rook? When her friends realized it had been months since anyone had seen her, they rushed to the Lighthouse.

They found no signs of life in the Lighthouse, no trace of Rook at all.

Not even her broken pieces remained.

Chapter 2: Title Page and Codex Entry

Summary:

There's something haunting Thedas

                                                                                                                                                 

 

 

 

 

 

Dragon Age Codex Entry:

 

 

Artist Rendition of the Blood Crow

Text of Codex Entry:

The Blood Crow

Whispers of an entity known as the Blood Crow have been heard in  many corners of Thedas since the end of the Sixth Blight. None are quite sure who or what the Blood Crow is. Some claim they are a living person, moving through the shadows of society to remove the worst of those among us. Some claim the Blood Crow is a ghost, a wraith or memory of some forgotten assassin, haunting the Thedas  night. Others still claim it is a living Crow, sent on the worst of contracts  as punishment for their transgressions.

The original source of the tales of the Blood Crow have been traced to Minrathous, where they are said to have been responsible for the death of a fallen Magister known to have supported the Tevinter supremacy cult known as the Venatori. Within months of the first rumors, more began to surface in Antiva, Nevarra, to Val Royale and as far south as villages on the edge of the Korcari Wilds.

The first deaths attributed to the Blood Crow are said to have left their victims physically untouched, but still in death with expressions of terror afixed on their faces. Later killings bore signs of assassination, either by blade or poison.

It is said the Blood Crow has never taken a victim that did not earn their death. Even in a manor house full of people, the Blood Crow would take only one victim, and leave behind evidence of that victim's crimes. The Blood Crow is said to target only the worst of Thedas.

The few servants or wanderers who have caught a glimpse of the entity claim they are dressed in the dark leathers of an Antivan Crow, covered in a red scarf or cloak. The features of the entity are said to be obscured by a mask done in the style of the Antivan Crows, yet made entirely out of bone. Witnesses claim they have seen the Blood Crow emerge from a room or an building, only to vanish moments later in a blur.

- Excerpt from "A Collection of Thedas Mysteries" by Félicité Gosse

Chapter 3: Stolen Contract

Summary:

The Blood Crow takes out the target of a Crow's contract before they can.

Notes:

Information on the Thedas Calendar and names of the months found here https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Calendar

Night settled over the Orlesian countryside. Lord Régis Lécuyer staggered towards his quarters, his arms looped around the shoulders of a doe eyed serving woman. She looked at him with her large brown eyes and a sweet smile as he guided her into his bedchamber and shut the door.

“Do be a dear girl and unrobe, my pretty,” Lord Lécuyer murmured to her as he placed his hand on a nearby chair to stabilize himself. He’d had quite a bit of wine that night, a fine Antivan vintage that had been gifted to him earlier that week. He stumbled through removing his own clothing as he watched the pretty serving woman remove her layers of gown and petticoats before she shifted her head to stare up at him through her lashes.

He found himself not quite laughing, more giggling in his drunkenness as he got the last stitch of clothing off and hobbled to his bed, tugging on her arm to pull her in with him.

The candle in the room burned low, casting shadows on the wall.

The serving woman awoke some hours later to a soft hissing noise. She pulled the sheet up over herself as she peered out from the sheer curtain that surrounded the bed. She saw a shadow moving through the room, appearing to emerge from the wall. The figure stalked slowly, deliberately towards the bed. Frightened, the woman dove back under the blankets, attempting to hide herself.

The figure shot their hand through the curtain and roughly pulled the sleeping Lord Lécuyer from his bed. The Lord awoke with a start, trying to grasp at the figures that had fastened themselves around his neck.

“You know why I am here, Lord Lécuyer,” came a raspy hiss from the figure. “You thought you could continue to get away with it, didn’t you?” The figure chuckled, a sound that chilled the serving woman’s blood.

Lord Lécuyer, still somewhat drunk, struggled against the figure’s grasp as they suddenly held something over his mouth. The serving woman heard a soft, muffled scream as the Lord struggled for several moments, until his body finally went limp in the figure’s grasp.

The figure dropped Lécuyer’s body the way one might discard a piece of refuse and then moved to the edge of the bed. In the flicker of candlelight, the serving girl could see the dark leathers and cloak the figure wore. Their face was obscured by a crow mask made entirely of bone. “I am not here to hurt you,” the figure rasped at her. “Take your clothing and this,” something flew through the air and landed on the bed next to the woman, it jingled as it did, “And leave this place. It was not your destiny to join any more of Lord Lécuyer’s victims tonight.”

The woman’s eyes went wide. There had been rumors of past lovers of Lord Lécuyer vanishing. “Did he…?” her voice was shrill with fear.

The masked figure inclined its head. “He did. Their bodies lie beneath the plants in his garden. But he shall take no more victims. Quickly now, go. There is a small hall off this room, it will lead to a secret door that you can take and escape from this estate. The coin should get you some ways away from this place.”

“Who…who are you?” she asked in a soft voice.

The woman heard a smile in the answer of the raspy voice. “I think you can guess. Good luck.”

As suddenly as the Blood Crow had appeared, they were gone, leaving the serving woman to gather her clothing and make her escape.

******
Molioris, 9:54 Dragon, Treviso

Lucanis rubbed his temples as he set a stack of letters he’d just read through to one side. Each one of his friends from the Veilguard, as well as the leaders of some factions they’d allied with during the war against the Evanuris had sent answers in response to his inquiries, and yet even with so many responses, he remained unsatisfied.

It had been six months since Rook had vanished; six months since the Veilguard had rushed to the Lighthouse, only to find the place completely devoid of life save for the Caretaker and the wisps that inhabited the place. A search of the place revealed that no one had lived here for weeks. The weapons and armor that Rook would have used regularly were gone. The wardrobe in her room was completely empty of clothing.

It was as if Rook and everything she’d kept at the Lighthouse had simply disappeared. She left no letter behind for anyone, no sign of where she might have gone.

Lucanis admitted to himself he’d been bad about checking in with Rook. Serving as First Talon while maneuvering around his grandmother and trying to assist where he could with Treviso’s recovery left him little time to visit any of his friends. For the first year after the defeat of the gods, he and Neve had tried to keep their relationship up, but Neve had her own responsibilities with the Shadows and helping Minrathous recover. They’d had little private time together.

It had been Taash who had first raised the alarm on Rook. They mentioned they hadn’t heard from her in a few months, and they wondered if she was alright. Despite everyone having their own responsibilities, Emmrich as professor and Mourn Watcher, Bellara in Arlathan, Davrin and the Wardens helping people recover from the Blight, that had been enough for all of them to meet at the Lighthouse to check on Rook.

Only eerie silence had greeted them as they stepped through the Eluvian.

In the months since Rook’s disappearance, Lucanis had given orders for any Crows who found any sign or rumor of Rook anywhere in Thedas to report back. He knew that Neve was doing the same with her own contacts. Davrin, Evka, and Antoine had their own feelers out in search. Even the new Archon of Tevinter, Dorian, had reached out to the Inquisition, asking them to keep an eye out for Rook.

Somehow, if Rook was out there, she managed to evade them all.

Davrin, Taash, and Bellara had taken to regularly checking the Lighthouse for any sign that Rook might have returned, but they had yet to find anything. Notes that everyone had left for her remained unopened and unanswered.

Lucanis had begun to worry if she was even still alive.

The First Talon had never seen Viago so devastated as the day that he’d told the head of House de Riva that Rook was missing. It was even worse than when Rook had been trapped in the Fade Prison. Despite the dragon and their initial anger at her, Rook was Viago’s family, and Lucanis and Teia’s friend. That she had left no word for any of them, had sent them no letter, hurt.

The door to his office flew open and Fifth and Seventh Talons entered, their expressions disquieted.

“Lucanis we must talk,” Teia informed him as Viago shut the door behind them. She carried a contract in her hand and tossed it on the desk.

“What is it, Teia?” Lucanis asked with a frown.

“That is a contract one of my House took for Lord Régis Lécuyer in Orlais,” she replied. “My Crow intended to poison him at a party. But the Lord was discovered dead in his bedroom the day after Tomas arrived in the village near the estate.”

Lucanis’s brow creased. “Did your Crow decide on a different method of execution?”

Teia shook her head. “No, Lucanis, it was not one of our people that killed Lord Lécuyer.”

“Meirda,” Lucanis swore. “Who did, then?”

“That is the question we would all like an answer to,” Viago replied. “The client paid the contract as if we had completed it, however.”

“”There is more,” Teia advised Lucanis. “A journal was discovered near Lord Lécuyer, his own, evidently, that confessed his crimes.” She grimaced. “It appears his body count was much higher than even our client suspected, and that he had been luring his victims to his estate for years.”

“If our Crow did not complete the contract, why was the client still willing to pay?” Lucanis felt he must be missing something.

“Lucanis, have you heard of the Blood Crow?” Viago asked.

Lucanis frowned. “Neve has heard rumors of the Blood Crow,” he answered. “Supposedly they are some avenging entity taking out murders, Venatori, and the like. Something about them wearing black and red, which is where I assume the name came from.”

“It is more than just that,” Viago advised him. “Supposedly this entity wears a mask like some of our assassins do, except that the mask is made out of bone, rather than leather or metal.”

Lucanis rose slowly from his chair. “Are you telling me that the client paid the contract on the assumption that this Blood Crow is one of ours?”

“Yes,” Teia replied.

Lucanis began to pace in his office. He’d only heard stories of the Blood Crow in passing from Neve. They, supposedly, were responsible for killings all over Thedas. Each of their victims was later found to have either once been a follower of the Risen gods, or more recently, to have committed some sort of horrible crime. “Meirda,” he swore again. “Alright, I need reports from every House, we must see if there have been any other cases like this, any other contracts that this Blood Crow completed before we could.”

Viago and Teia nodded their agreement. “And in the meantime?”

“In the meantime, we say nothing until we know if this is just one incident or not,” Lucanis told them.

*****
Parvulis, 9:54 Dragon, Minrathous

Neve passed a cup of coffee to a weary Davrin as he sat across from Rana in their apartment. The Warden nodded his thanks and took a long sip of the hot liquid. Assan lounged at their feet, chewing on a tough leather plush of a nug.

“So there was no sign of her there?” Neve asked as resumed her seat next to Rana.

Davrin shook his head. “A few of the townsfolk said they’d seen her pass through, but she spent no more than an hour or two there, said something about going to the Free Marches.”

“And they’re certain it was Rook?” Rana asked.

“She never gave them a name, but they’re certain she fit the description we’d given of her,” Davrin sighed.

“Damn,” Neve murmured. It had been ten months since Rook had vanished, and this had been the first sighting they’d received word of. Davrin had gone tearing off to a small village in the Western Anderfels as soon as Evka and Antoine had gotten word of the sighting of Rook, but it had still been too late by the time he arrived.

“At least now we know she might be alive,” Davrin murmured. He slumped back in his chair. “It’s the closest thing we’ve gotten to good news about Rook in months.”

“We still don’t know why she left, though,” Neve pointed out.

Davrin frowned at her. “Are we really sure about that, Neve?”

“What do you mean?” Neve frowned.

“Do remember how little we saw of Rook, even before she disappeared?” Davrin asked. “She visited Lavendale once or twice, and I know she came to Minrathous to check on how the city was doing. I think Emmrich mentioned her coming to visit the Memorial Gardens once or twice, but in the time after the gods fell, how often did we really see her before she left?”

Davrin had been certain from the beginning that Rook was still alive, but he worried as much as everyone else about how she was. He worried most for her state of mind. He’d noticed her withdrawal not long after they’d all returned to the Lighthouse and people had begun moving out.

“Not very,” Neve admitted. “We were so busy with trying to clear Blight and help the Shadows and Dorian. I didn’t see much of her beyond that one visit. I don’t think she visited Lucanis at all.”

“She didn’t,” Davrin confirmed. “I talked to Viago the last time I was in Treviso checking on the cleanup progress. She stopped by the Diamond once and spoke to Teia, but that’s it. Teia said she noticed that Rook seemed distant from both Lucanis and Viago.”

“Do you think she was still feeling guilty?” Neve asked. “I know how horrible she felt after what happened to Treviso.”

“Guilty, or unwelcome?” Davrin asked.

“Kaffas,” Neve swore.

Davrin nodded soberly. “We were all busy with something, and Rook was there, all alone in the Lighthouse. All that silence and being alone wasn’t great for her.”

“You think she left without a word because she felt unwanted,” Rana mused.

“And we all realized too late,” Neve sighed. “Kaffas.”

Rana squeezed Neve’s shoulder. “You’re looking for her now. Eventually, you’re bound to find her.”

“I hope you’re right,” Davrin murmured. “I’d really like to get my friend back.

“So would I,” Neve sighed.