Dragon Age: Inquisition Short Story: “Paper & Steel”

To celebrate the release of the second volume of the World of Thedas compendium on the setting of Dragon Age, BioWare has published a short story set in the game’s universe on its official blog. It’s titled “Paper & Steel”, and focuses on Samson, one of the primary antagonists of Dragon Age: Inquisition, who originally had a bit part in Dragon Age II:

His blade hit the chevalier’s shield at just the wrong angle and snapped. Cursing, Samson ducked as the enemy’s sword whistled over his head, then turned his shoulder just so and charged the chevalier full-tilt.

The blow staggered Samson’s foe, but that Orlesian-built armor shiny as a fake smile, embossed with ornate steel roses took most of the impact. The chevalier kept his footing, letting Samson spend his strength. Locked face-to-face with his enemy, Samson found himself staring into well-fed, aristocratic features. The moustache was waxed and the skin powdered, so the sweat and stink of battle didn’t offend that sensitive nose.

The chevalier, younger and stronger, started levering him back. As his boot slid in the mud, Samson brought up the broken hilt of his greatsword and rammed it into the man’s side, where the seams of that fancy breastplate didn’t quite meet. The chevalier choked wetly, dropping his sword to clutch at Samson’s arm like he was drowning. Samson ripped the hilt free and buried it in the chevalier’s throat. Blood spilled down, turning the armor’s steel roses crimson.

As the chevalier collapsed, Samson was already turning with the bloody hilt in his hand, searching the battlefield with his general’s eye. These open farmlands near Montfort didn’t offer much cover the treeline was close, but they hadn’t made it in time. My templars. Are they all right?

From nowhere, a memory rose up from the weariness and confusion of battle; and he thought of a folded paper bird, wings spread, tossed into a muddy puddle and trampled underfoot.

Samson blinked to clear his head.