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Dragon Age: Deception is a three-part comic by BioWare and Dark Horse Comics. It is written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir and illustrated by Fernando Heinz Furukawa.[1]

It tells the tale of Olivia Pryde, a failed actress turned con artist, as she targets the heir of a wealthy house, Calix Qintara.

The comic series is also included in the hardcover book Dragon Age: Wraiths of Tevinter, released on August 23, 2022.

Plot[]

“Dragon Age: Deception will weave a twisted tale about a con artist in Tevinter. The main character will be Olivia Pryde, a failed actress turned successful con artist who journeys to the city of Ventus. There she targets the heir of a wealthy house, Calix Qintara. But as Olivia gets closer to Calix, she realizes that he is not exactly who he says he is; Olivia soon recognizes that she may be in too deep, and that they may no longer be playing her game.[1]


This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Deception.


BioWare canon
The plot follows BioWare's own canon, meaning it may not follow some of the player's choices in the games.

Olivia Pryde is a failed actress turned con artist. With her mabari, Autumn, she heads to the Tevinter city of Ventus, under imminent threat of invasion by the Qunari, to target Calix Qintara, the son of a reclusive magister, newly emerged from his family’s estate. She passes herself off as Magister Aramis, investigating rumors of Qintara’s collaboration with the Venatori. She tracks Calix down to a tavern but before she approaches him, she notices the presence of Ser Aaron Hawthorne, a former mark as well as a former lover, in conversation with Dorian Pavus. When she makes contact with Calix, she quickly realizes that Calix is a con artist as well. After a few attempts at sabotaging each other’s work, they agree to hold a contest: whoever can first con anything out of a predetermined target will be the winner; the loser will leave town.

OliviaCalix

Olivia and Calix make a bet with each other

They settle on Francesca and Florian Invidus. While Olivia resumes her role as Magister Aramis and tells Florian that she's investigating his family, Calix attempts to flirts with Francesca. Before Olivia can seal the deal with Florian, Calix obtains a focusing gem from Francesca. Olivia exposes him as a con artist in front of the siblings, prompting Calix to do the same. They run off together when Florian and his house guards attack them, and run straight into Ser Aaron, who offers them his help in exchange for their own.

In exchange for having Dorian use his authority as a magister to get rid of Florian, Ser Aaron demands that Olivia and Calix help his associate, Vaea, obtain the floor plans to the Qintara estate, which she plans to break into to retrieve the red lyrium that was stolen from Kirkwall. They accept, and return to the tavern to formulate a plan. They quickly realize that, as a landmark of Ventus, the Qintara estate plans are kept in the official city records. They resolve to talk their way into the records rather than break in. Calix is accosted by two Antivan Crows, who offer to help by creating a distraction if Calix retrieves a ledger for them. Olivia is initially reluctant to accept their help, but ultimately agrees if their distraction is not violent. Ser Aaron overhears this exchange, and takes it as proof that she has morals. He brings up their time together in Ferelden as further proof, pointing out that she knew Slim Couldry would give him back the pendant that she'd stolen once he realized whom it belonged to.

Calix-vault

Olivia and Calix talk their way into the city records

The next day, Olivia and Calix successfully get into the official records thanks to the Antivan Crows' distraction. They retrieve the floor plans as well as the ledger. Olivia has her mabari deliver the ledger to the Crows. Florian, who has vowed to make the thieves pay with their lives, recognizes the mabari and confronts the Crows as the thieves' associates. Back at the tavern, Olivia, Calix, Ser Aaron and Vaea celebrate their successful heist. Calix reveals to Olivia that he's a runaway slave, who escaped after his Venatori master was killed. Olivia decides to take him to bed, which prompts Ser Aaron to break his sobriety and order an ale. The next day, Francesca finds her brother's body and vows to make Olivia and Calix pay.

Olivia and Calix's tryst creates tension within the group. Before they can resolve their differences, Dorian's news that Qunari ships have been spotted force them to speed up their timetable for the Qintara mission. As they infiltrate the estate, Francesca presents herself at its gates, warning of intruders. She pushes past the elven servant, insisting to speak to Magister Qintara himself. When she reaches his study, she discovers that he has been replaced by an elven impostor, his former valet Gaius. Gaius reveals that he took Qintara's place for access to important information, which his true master needs.[2]

Olivia-sacrifice

Olivia's last stand

Before Gaius can kill Francesca to keep his secret safe, Ser Aaron, Calix, Olivia, and Autumn burst into the room and save her. Vaea rejoins the group just in time to prevent Gaius from escaping, and questions him on the red lyrium's whereabouts. He tells her that what was stolen from Kirkwall was a powerful weapon imbued with red lyrium, and that it was traded away for information to Castellum Tenebris, the fortress of House Danarius. The interrogation is cut short by the arrival of the qunari, who have orders to kill Magister Qintara and anyone else in the estate. Gaius escapes in the commotion, only to be slain by the qunari.

As the group attempts to flee, Olivia volunteers to act as a distraction for the rest to escape by pretending to be Magister Qintara. Aaron tells her that he always knew she was a good woman, to which Olivia says she's not, but can pretend to be. Olivia then shares one last hug with her mabari, before instructing Autumn to protect Calix. She is killed while the others successfully escape. As Ventus burns, Dorian meets them outside the estate. He tells them that there are horses in the clearing, and that Tessa Forsythia and Marius have cleared a path for them. Outside the city, Vaea reaffirms her commitment to stay with Ser Aaron and help him change, while Calix invites Francesca to join their group. When she quips that she doesn't even know his real name, he replies that his name is Calix Pryde.


Characters[]

Locations[]

Trivia[]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Dark Horse blog
  2. Unofficial BSN. http://bsn.boards.net/post/1179973/thread.
  3. Unofficial BSN. http://bsn.boards.net/post/1170071/thread Based on the fact that Vaea, born in 9:23, is 21 during the events of Deception.
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