"... Yeah, not this time, Addy." Tony said quietly, his dark eyes shifting to something serious. He took her by the shoulders, his voice quiet, "I'd been held for something over six months. Held against my will, tortured to build them something that would breach any keep in Orlais. I had the designs for it -- a long range projectile armament. I was going to present them to the Empress, with my compliments, when I returned from Kirkwall...after assuring there weren't any hitches."

He wouldn't go into how the weapon wasn't ready - she knew he never presented anything until it met his high level of mechanical standards. That he was going to Kirkwall to go over his plans with another expert should have been proof enough that he knew the design wasn't quite perfect yet.

"That didn't matter to Gaspard, and he ... made my life a living hell for the six months he had me under his 'kind hospitality'. I would have died, if not for another mage. He saved my life, kept me ... sane. He helped me build a suit of armor that I jerry-rigged with runes -- you know that idea I had with powering armor with augments, after hearing about that golem that used to tramp around with the Hero of Fereldan? Well ... I did it. Sort of. It worked. Kind of."