"Get that lyrium moving, you sods, or I'll flay you myself," a deep voice growled in the dimly lit cavern, motivating the dwarven workers to move as fast as they could, without compromising the precious cargo. All around one could see glimpses of architecture in the darkness, hewn out of the stone itself.
The people marching around in this ancient dwarven space were an odd mix; there were elves, dwarves, humans, and even the occasional qunari.
"I must thank you again for this kindness, ser Karon," a red-headed woman addressed the growling dwarf, whose face was covered with a full, red beard, and decorated so as to look like a geometric skull.
"Save your thanks, human. This alliance is one of convenience," the dwarf responded with a huff. "If it wasn't for the Inquisition's crackdown on smuggling, house Cadash would never have agreed to aiding you rebels."
"The dwarf speaks sense for once, Karina," a rugged elven woman interjected, her fully tattooed face no less intimidating than the dwarf's, although far more refined. "The Carta's cooperation is out of pure necessity. They'll be sure to stab us in the back the minute their need of us expires."
"Heh, a woman after my own heart." Karon answered Silrani's glare with a wicked grin.
"Look at me like that again, dwarf, and you'll be a head shorter than you already are."
Karon's grin only grew bigger as he unstrapped the massive warhammer from his back. Dropping unto the ground with a loud cracking of stone, the weapon was easily capable of breaking bone through the thickest armor, when swung with full force. The dwarf grasped the hammer and slung it over his shoulder with unnatural ease. "Ladies first."
As Silrani was about to draw her blade, a distraught dwarf came running through the tunnel from which the caravan had come.
"Rear guard reports a strong Inquisition force in pursuit!"
"How many?" Karon instantly stopped caring about the earlier squabble and became entirely focused on the developing threat.
"Numbers are unclear. Most of the scouts were obliterated."
Karon furrowed a brow but said nothing. It was highly unusual for one of his operations to lose more than one or two scouts. "Hilda, scout ahead, make sure we're safe moving forward," he turned to a hooded dwarven lass at his back. The woman saluted with a fist to her chest and vanished into the shadows. "The rest of you; protect the shipment with your lives! I want that lyrium in Rivain by morning, or heads will roll!"
"And what will you be doing, ser dwarf," Silrani asked with a judging gaze, convinced that the man was up to something.
"I'll be staying here, watching out for your sorry asses."
"You're going to take on an entire force by yourself?" Karina asked with genuine concern, while Silrani struggled to keep down a chuckle. "Surely, you must need some assistance."
"I've got all the assistance I need right here," Karon patted his hammer and glared. "You'd just be in my way."
"Suit yourself," Silrani shrugged and gestured for Karina to follow after the caravan, then waved to Karon dismissively. "Try not to get squished."
The dwarf ignored the mocking and headed in the opposite direction, but kept a constant watch on his back as he walked.
After a short while of waiting, the echo of frantic footsteps could be heard coming up the tunnel. As the noise got closer, Karon could make out the bulky outline of a qunari, one of the rebel soldiers stationed with the Carta's own men at the rear.
"She's here! She's-GYAAGH," the qunari called out as he spotted Karon, just before he was electrocuted by a sudden bolt of lightning, seeming to appear out of nowhere.
A moment longer and Karon could see a pair of eyes staring at him from the darkness a little further down the tunnel, like that of a predator stalking its prey.
"Impressive," he called out to the unseen figure. When it did not respond immediately, Karon continued. "I was certain this operation was as secret as it could possibly be. You've either got very good spies, or you're a lot closer to these rebels than the world might think."
"... I have very good spies," the figure eventually answered, realizing there was no further point in keeping to the shadows, and headed towards the dwarf standing out in the open.
"Good to know this was not the rebels' betrayal of my kind gestures, then. But this is as far as you go. This is one smuggling operation you will not be stopping."
"I destroyed your pathetic excuse for a rear guard and barely lifted a finger," the figure scoffed as it drew closer. Karon could now make out a very petite but imposing outline. "A lone dwarf will be no challenge."
"Ah, but I'm more than just some lone dwarf," he sneered, unimpressed by the intruder's grandstanding. "I am Karon of house Cadash. And, like everybody else, you'll learn not to cross me, Lady Inquisitor Mhila."
The individual was now standing just a few feet away from him, her armor composed of a dark leather coat. She wore a golden chest plate adorned with the Inquisition's sigil; gauntlets, jagged like a demon's hands; and sabatons of an equally menacing appearance. A beautiful staff rested in her right hand, and at her hip hung a sword's hilt, bereft of a blade.
"Your name is of no interest to me, dwarf. It'll be nothing more than a forgotten sound after today," Mhila raised her staff and prepared a spell, illuminating the cavern with a bright sphere of rainbow trimmed light.
"We'll just see about that," Karon gripped both hands around the shaft of his hammer and sprinted at the hostile mage. The pace was faster than Mhila anticipated but she nimbly avoided the hammer as it came crashing down, and in the blink of an eye was at Karon's back.
Unfazed, the dwarf used the hammer as a pole to quickly rotate himself by swinging around it, then used the momentum to pull his weapon into a wide swing. The impact's echo felt like it would never end, repeating itself infinitely throughout the vast underground ruin.
"It's a pity, Inquisitor," Karon glared into the eyes of the elf now standing right on top of his hammer, her face as void of interest as the stone itself, betrayed only by the eyes that could just as well be shooting actual lightning. "We could've been good friends. House Cadash would be more than happy to work with your Inquisition. For a good price, of course."
"I am not interested in the services of criminals and traitors," Mhila responded before summoning fire from her out-thrust hand, engulfing the dwarf entirely. Suddenly, she felt the hammer yanked from under her, and she jumped back to a safe distance just in time.
"Heh, that tickled a little harder than usual," Karon sneered through the pain as he emerged from the flames. Dwarves were known for their resistance to magic, and Karon knew himself to be tougher than most, but this was not an experience he thought wise to repeat. "It seems the stories about you are not quite the exaggeration I expected them to be."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, especially the mocking kind." Mhila drew the bare hilt from her belt, uttering a quick incantation. Now she was wielding a radiant sword of pure light in her left hand. "Those get you killed." She bolted forward, blade poised to strike. Karon just barely dodged the initial swing, and parried the second with merely a hair's width to spare. As the third came down, he dropped the hammer and rolled out of the way, evading the attack by inches, or so he thought.
Believing himself to have widened the gap between them by a few feet, at least, he was proven deadly wrong when his foe emerged right in front of him, as if out of a fog. He had no time to think as the blade swung at his throat, leaving him no alternative but to try and block it with his arm.
"NOW," he called out as he reeled from the blow, clutching his injured limb, and Mhila moved in for the kill. Just before it struck home, there was a rush of wind and before the Inquisitor stood a hooded dwarf woman, her knife blocking the luminous sword. Before she could react to the newcomer, the dwarf deployed a smokescreen and Mhila was forced back. The smoke covered a lot of ground but she was quick to exit, expecting an ambush from within. However, by the time it dissipated, there was no sign of either of them. The dropped warhammer was missing as well.
Before she could pursue them, the sub-terrain was rocked by a powerful explosion. Mhila stared on in anger as the path forward was sealed by the resulting cave-in.
"Enjoy your borrowed time while you can. You can't run from me forever." With a scowl she returned the hilt to its place at her side and headed back for the surface.