Chapter Text
They hadn’t meant to stumble upon the Hakkonites. They’d just fought the Nox Morta, and the battle had proven to be just as difficult as fighting a dragon. They didn’t even stop at camp before meeting up with the Baron. Evelyn had just wanted to get the quest done as quickly as possible and then go to camp.
Of course that would’ve been too simple. So of course not long after meeting with the Baron they were ambushed by the Hakkonites. A rather large group, too. Three warriors, two archers, and one spellbinding mage. Evelyn could feel how depleted her mana was but she mustered enough energy to generate a Spirit Blade to engage them.
Cassandra, despite being tired, rushed right into battle. Both Dorian and Sera hung back, keeping a long-ranged distance from their enemies. But the Hakkonites were relentless, and soon they were all surrounded.
But they persevered. Just a little over five minutes later most of the Hakkonites were dead, and the only one left standing was the seriously injured mage. Evelyn drank a lyrium potion, and she a surge in her mana. She quickly debated using her Resurgence spell or her Mark of the Rift spell, but then the mage got her attention. He was chanting rapidly, and dark energy formed in front of him. Evelyn hadn’t seen any of the Hakkonite mages perform such a spell before, but a surge of panic rose in her and she snapped her left arm up, firing up her Mark of the Rift spell to counter it.
Behind her though, she heard Dorian shout and she felt a whoosh of a spell fly right past her. Her eyes widened as the Hakkonite unleashed his spell. At the same time both her spell and Dorian’s spell hit the ball of energy and the three spells seemed to melt together. A violent explosion filled the air, causing Evelyn’s eardrums to pop. The Hakkonite was the closest to the explosion and was reduced to ash from the power.
The energy then imploded on itself, spreading shockwaves everyone. Evelyn backed up, but a sizzle of energy struck her square in the chest and she cried out in pain. As she collapsed she heard her companions scream, indicating that they were also struck by the spell. She tried to conjure up her Resurgence spell, but dark patches filled her vision and her world abruptly went dark.
Evelyn didn’t know how long she was unconscious, but she was startled awake by Cassandra shaking her shoulders. “Are you all right?” Cassandra asked her. The warrior was sweating profusely and her complexion was pale.
Evelyn tried to respond, but bile rose in her quickly and she pulled away from Cassandra before vomiting all over the ground. Her whole body was on fire—the pain so intense that it was literally making her sick.
“We were all struck by that spell, whatever it was,” Cassandra said shakily, helping Evelyn to stand. “We’re all injured. We need to get back to camp.”
“T-The spell transmutated,” Dorian stammered. The other mage was also pale and was shaking rather violently. “It changed into something else, something different. I-I don’t know what the Hakkonite was trying to cast, but the combination of our three spells hit all of us and we’re feeling the effects.”
“I f-fucking hate magic!” Sera hollered, leaning on her bow to steady herself. “Damn it all, why did you both try to counter it?! The whole lot of us may have been c-cursed!”
Evelyn knew this was very likely, and knowing she was a catalyst for it filled her with dread. “L-Let’s get back to camp,” she said, trying to steady her voice. “We’ll sleep it off and then go back to Skyhold. With any luck the effects of the spell will wear off by morning.”
The effects, however, did not wear off and all four of them were still violently ill the following morning. None of them even had the energy to stand because the pain was so intense. The scouts were in a panic and quickly packed up camp. Since none of the four could move they were laid out in a wagon and the scouts quickly guided the horses back to Skyhold. They barely stopped along the way so their travel time was fairly quickly.
Within three days thankfully, the pain slowly ebbed away. Evelyn was relieved, because it seemed to indicate that the worst of the spell was over. However, even with the pain gone her body started to fill stifling hot. And the closer they got to Skyhold, a strange discomfort began to grow in her body.
By the time they reached Skyhold the four of them were well enough to walk, but Evelyn noticed that while all of them were still sweating profusely, they were all flushed now instead of pale. Evelyn also noticed as she walked to her room that walking was starting to feel uncomfortable. With each step and each shift of her thighs she felt slight static in her lower body. It was mortifying and she quickly hurried to her room. Her maid was kind enough to have a bath ready for her, and she hoped that it would help clear her symptoms.
Unfortunately, after getting out of the bath her symptoms only felt worse. Her body was hotter and her skin was sensitive. As she buttoned up her shirt with trembling fingers she could see and feel that her nipples were fully erect. She was glad that her dark blue shirt covered them up considerably, but she was horrified by the heat she was feeling in her groin. When she pulled her pants on she felt an unexpected but delicious jolt made her involuntarily gasp. Evelyn shook her head furiously and collapsed onto her bed. She dug her fingers into the covers and tried to even out her breathing, but the sound was heated and ragged. She squeezed her eyes shut. What is wrong with me?
There was sharp knock on her bedroom open, and she heard it open. “Evie?” Dorian called out. She could hear a tremor in his voice.
“Y-Yes, I’m here!” she called back to him.
She heard his footfalls on the stairs and he rounded the banister. Evelyn saw that he had to lean against it slightly as though to steady himself. “So…you’re still feeling these effects too?”
“W-What on earth happened?” Evelyn said, sitting up. “I threw my Mark of the Rift spell at him. What spell did you throw?”
“Walking Bomb,” Dorian responded. He was breathing heavily. “So that’s two out of three spells we know, but we don’t know what spell the Hakkonite conjured up for us. I tried to do some research on the matter, but…” He shifted his weight onto either feet. “I’m having difficulty concentrating in my current state.”
“Solas might know,” Evelyn said. She rose from the bed but grabbed the bedpost to steady herself. “W-We should go see him immediately!”
“I already did,” Dorian said. He walked over to help steady her. “Sera and Cass are already there. I’m here to retrieve you.”
“M-My condition is worsening! I can’t let anyone see me like this!”
“My apologies, but the other two refused to come out of the tower for the exact same reason. We have no choice but to transverse the great hall to see Solas.”
Evelyn sighed heavily, but leaned on Dorian for support. “I wish I knew how to teleport.”
Dorian laughed shortly. “If I knew how to teleport, I could’ve saved myself so much trouble long ago…”
Traversing the main hall was a chore. Everyone wanted to talk to Evelyn and were practically pressing themselves towards her. She saw Varric, who looked highly amused by the situation. She wondered if he knew what was going on with their group, but she also knew that most things amused Varric greatly.
Maybe he saw Cassandra in the same shape Dorian and I are in?
Cassandra and Sera were indeed in no better shape than Evelyn or Dorian. None of them really had the energy to stand, so they simply sat in a row on the floor in front of Solas’s desk, while the apostate mage listened carefully to what happened to them.
“This is very intriguing,” Solas said. “With the amount of power from the spells you both conjured up—” he gestured to both Evelyn and Dorian. “That should’ve simply cancelled out the Hakkonite mage’s spell. Instead, all three spells transmutated into something else. The symptoms the four of you had indicated to me have all the markings of a curse, so this indicates to me that the Hakkonite was trying to invoke a rather powerful curse on all of you.”
“L-Like a death curse?” Evelyn asked softly.
“That I don’t know. I have very little knowledge about Hakkonite magic, but it looks like the combination of that curse—in conjunction with your rift spell and your necromancy spell—caused the four of you to be cursed.” He paused before continuing. “And it looks like your curse is for all of you to be stuck in a constant state of sexual arousal.”
Evelyn turned crimson at his blunt words and Cassandra shouted in outrage. “This is unbelievable! How does necromancy, rift magic, and a Hakkonite spell mutate into such a deplorable curse?!”
Solas shrugged. “Like I said, I know nothing of Hakkonite magic so there could be any number of reasons.”
“B-But we weren’t always like this!” Sera shrieked, punching the floor for emphasis. “Before we were in so much pain that we thought we were going to die!”
“Like I said Sera, I can’t explain why the effects of your spell switched from constant pain to sexual arousal,” Solas said. He showed absolutely no embarrassment over this topic. “In order to figure out what caused this, and to find a possible counter curse, I will need to do some research.”
Evelyn swallowed thickly and forced her voice steady. “H…How long will it take you to find a counter curse?”
Solas shrugged. “Because I’m unfamiliar with this topic, my research could take anywhere from five to six hours—”
“Five to six HOURS?!” Dorian hollered. He wobbled as he stood up. “And what are we supposed to do until then?!”
“Endure, I suppose,” Solas responded. “Or you could relieve the effects of the spell yourselves.”
“R-Relieve the effects of the spell?!” Cassandra sputtered.
“I can’t say for certain, but I imagine you’ll break your curses much faster if you…take care of the spell yourself,” Solas said. “Or find a suitable partner to relieve the spell for you. In any event it will help keep the four of you preoccupied while I research.”
Evelyn gaped at him in shock. So…Solas was telling all of them to go and have sex in order to break the spell faster?! But even that might not work?!
“I…refuse to accept this!” Cassandra thundered, struggling to her feet. “I’m going to get a second opinion! I will have a word with Vivienne about this!” she angrily limped off towards the stairs.
Solas didn’t look insulted by her statement. “Well if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do.” He settled himself in his chair, getting nice and comfortable, and closed his eyes.
“Wait, you’re going to sleep?!” Sera shouted. She used his desk as leverage to stand up. “I thought you were going to research!”
“I am going to research,” Solas said, his eyes still closed. “I’m going into the Fade to speak with spirits about this matter. With any luck I will find some Hakkonite spirits who can tell me what sort of spell the Hakkonite conjured up so I can find a counter curse for you all.”
“Stupid fucking piss-balls magic!” Sera snapped, punching his desk. “I’m not going to sit around here for six hours looking at your ugly mug! I’m leaving!” she continued to grumble about mages as she slammed out of the door leading towards Cullen’s tower.
“Well, I’m not going back to my library and I’m not going back through the main hall,” Dorian said, slowly standing up. He looked like he was in pain. “I’m going back to my room to try and sleep this off.”
“I…think I’ll go back to my room to sleep it off too,” Evelyn said, also standing up.
“Really?” Dorian asked her. He gestured to the door. “Your handsome Templar is just this way. Why don’t you pay him a visit?”
Evelyn turned even darker at this question and furiously shook his head. “N-No, I can’t let him see me like this!”
Dorian snorted at her statement. “Don’t tell me you two haven’t—”
“Dorian,” Evelyn hissed, glaring at him.
“All right, all right.” He raised his hands slightly and backed up towards the same door Sera went through. “Well, I’m going to try and sneak off to my room. I’ll see you both later.”
Now left alone in the tower with Solas, Evelyn sighed heavily and looked upwards. That was a mistake as she saw multiple faces all the way up the tower leaning over the rails staring down at her. She even saw Leliana staring down at her!
Oh Maker, they heard everything!
“I-I’m going to go,” she said, looking towards Solas. She paused before adding. “Thank you for helping us with this.”
Solas opened his eyes briefly and smiled slightly. “You’re welcome, my friend.”
Evelyn nodded and limped towards the door leading into the main hall. She just had to survive passing by all the people who loitered in there before she could go and hide in her room.
Please let the next few hours pass by quickly!