Duration: 26:00

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As I leave Duncan’s room after finishing our conversation, we’re greeted by Jowan. He’s clearly upset and has something important he wants to tell us. We go to the Chantry room (essentially the chapel) and he introduces us to his new girlfriend Lily. Unfortunately for him, Lily is a Chantry initiate, meaning she’s taken a vow of celibacy; her relationship with Jowan is therefore forbidden. That would be enough of an issue, but their problems don’t end there—Lily’s discovered that his concerns about not getting a Harrowing were well-founded. The Circle’s decided to give him the Rite of Tranquility, which terrifies Jowan. To avoid this, they’ve developed a desperate plan to raid the tower basement and destroy Jowan’s phylactery so they can escape without being hunted down. They ask us for our help in carrying out their plot.

The game gives us a choice here—we can agree to help them without reservation or report them to the authorities. I tend to prefer the latter, and I tell them I’ll “consider” their offer with every intention of going back to Irving and telling him what I know. First, though, I explore the Chantry area to pick up some new Codex entries on the religious beliefs of the setting, including its creation myth and a biography of Andraste, a female prophet revered as the greatest follower of the Maker. Once that’s done, I head over to Irving’s quarters and discuss what I’ve learned. He already knew about Jowan’s relationship with Lily—as our Circle’s First Enchanter, he’s aware of almost everything that goes on in the tower—but he’s surprised that they’re wanting to escape. He rejects simply reporting them, though, because of distrust between mages and templars. The templars would put full blame on Jowan for “corrupting” Lily and she’d get off scot-free, which he sees as unfair. With this in mind, Irving comes up with a plot of his own. He asks us to go back to Jowan and Lily and agree to help them with the plan, and he’ll report it once it’s in progress. If they can be caught red-handed, the Chantry will have no choice but to punish Lily as well as Jowan. We agree.

I head back to the Chantry and agree to help them, and we begin to discuss the specifics. The phylactery chamber is double-locked and only Irving and Greagoir have the keys, so the group decides the best thing to do is use magic on the door. Our character is a full mage and therefore authorized to lease magical items from the main storeroom, so they ask us to pick up a rod of fire to try and break through. I head over and ask Owain for one, but he won’t just give it to us. We’re given a form that has to be signed by a senior enchanter, but that’s not a problem—Irving’s in on our plan, so he’ll sign it for us. I take it to him and explain the situation, and he signs it. He also tells us an important piece of information: the rod won’t actually work. The door to the phylactery chamber is protected by an anti-magic ward, so no spells can be cast against it. However, there’s an alternate way in through an artifact room that shares a wall with the phylactery chamber. The wall has a weak point and the rod can be enhanced with an artifact to bust through. Of course, we can’t let Lily and Jowan suspect anything, so I’ll have to play dumb and “discover” all of this as we go. With the form signed, I take it to Owain and get the rod.