The towers floor is littered with the bodies of soldiers, and the distinct smell of darkspawn assails us. I move forward, ignoring the faces which will smile no more, stepping over some.
The dark splash in my mind points towards a room, the whispering stronger than with the blood. Its presence reminding me of an absence.
Ritta?
Silence.
I question out with my mind, trying to find her familiar presence and find nothing except the evil of the taint.
I tuck this information away for later inspection and move towards the darkspawn room. I signal for Alistair and the guard to flank the door, the mage positioned further away.
I try to quietly open the door, but as I push it open, it creaks loudly, alerting the darkspawn to our presence. They turn, inquisitive, then snarl at me. The closest rushes out swinging its sword at me. Alistair and the guard throw out their swords just in time, catching the darkspawn in the stomach and neck. Its head falls to the ground and the other darkspawn stumble to a stop.
Alistair and the guard pull back, hiding from view. The darkspawn growl and rush forward as one. Three spill out, one being taken care of in much the same way as the first.
Alistair and the guard move to distract the darkspawns attention, leaving one, that charges at me. Suddenly it freezes, halfway through running, and topples to the ground. I jump into the air, holding my longsword in both hands, I bring it crashing down onto the darkspawns torso.
Through it doesn't shatter as the games claim, the darkspawn is still in no shape to get up. I look up to see Alistair stab his darkspawn in the head. He glances up, his head swivelling from side to side. When it becomes apparent that the immediate danger is gone, he visibly relaxes, though still weary.
I nod to him and start looking over the bodies, noticing that some of them have purses attached to their belts.
I dig around in one, feeling round metal against my fingertips. I pull out a few silver coins and one bronze.
"Where do they get money?" I stare up at Alistair. "It's not as if there's actually a darkspawn economy. Or maybe they just like the shininess." He stares at me, confused.
I jump up, quickly searching the other bodies. Finding nothing but a small leather boot, I move forward and up a set of stairs.
Alistair glares at the ground beside me as I open up the doors at the top if the stairs.
"This doesn't make any sense. The darkspawn shouldn't be here." He says angrily.
"You could try telling them they're in the wrong place."
" Oh, like that would work. Anyway, we need to get to the beacon and light it ourselves. I doubt anyone's alive up there."
"No wonder they kicked you out of the templar order, with that attitude."
" They didn't kick me out!" He protests, waggling a finger at me. "I was conscripted!"
"Indeed. Don't worry, I'll keep your secret." I pet his outstretched hand, smiling happily at him, and begin walking through the tower.
The darkspawn presence reappears and, once again, we dispatch a band of darkspawn. Occasionally diving out of the way of bolts hurled at us via an oversized crossbow.
Stepping over the bodies, I jog forward and up some more steps. Stepping up to the door, I brace my arms against them.
They fly open with a flash of light, throwing me back into Alistair. He catches me before I start the painful trip down the steps, and stands me back up.
I groan as I feel pain rip up my arms, neck and one side of my face. I avoid looking down and turn to face my adversary. An emissary sneers down at me, flanked by three hurlocks. I pull my daggers out, spinning them in my hands.
"Dibs the ugly one." I say running towards the emissary. He shoots a ball of ice at me, hitting my chestplate and shattering. The ice flings into my face and down the front of my leather, cooling what is probably minor burns. It slows me slightly, but I still collide with the monster at a high speed, my momentum bringing us both down.
I hold tight to my weapons and, when we land, smack it in the face with a pommel. It sags for a moment, and I bring the end of my dagger down on its head. It shudders beneath me and I twist.
I stand, looking up to see Alistair standing over a dazed mage, protecting him from an angry hurlock. The guard stands next to the mage, trying to pull him up.
" Oh for," I sigh and walk up behind the darkspawn. I stab my longsword through the back of its neck, swiftly pulling it out. With a gurgle, it falls to the ground, leaving a slightly surprised Alistair staring at me, his sword raised in the air.
"Oh." He lowers his weapons and turns to the two men. The guard finally hauls the mage up, who has blood trickling down his face. He stumbles forward, waving Alistair off.
"I'm fine." He says, showing no sign of slurring his words.
That's good at least.
"We should continue, the beacon should be on the next level." Alistair says, gesturing to the set of stairs accross the room.
I shuffle over to the dead emissary and pull my dagger from its head. I wipe away the gunk and replace it on my back. I crouch, reaching onto its purse. I pull out more coin and a health poultice.
I stuff the money into my own purse and turn to the mage. He looks at me, suspiciously as I walk towards him . I flip the wooden lid of the poultices container. I pull his head down, ignoring his complaints. I dip my hand in the ointment and slather a small amount over the long cut. I watch as weeks of healing condense into a few seconds, his skin creeping back together.
"Ew." I flip the lid back, and put it in my satchel.
"Uh. My thanks." He mumbles as I adjust my bag back into a comfortable position.
I walk towards the stairs, stopping just before opening the doors.
"There's an ogre in there." I say turning to the small party behind me.
"How do you know?" The guard asks, despair evident in his voice.
"I can... Sense it? Though there probably aren't any others."
"And how are we supposed to best something four times our size?"
"Well. There's four of us. And we're not chunky. We're more fluid than he could ever be. Anyway, this ogres barely level three. It'll be easy." I turn to face the door.
"Level three?" Someone asks as I push open the doors. The floor is carpeted with fresh blood and bodies. Standing on top of the bloody mess, a giant beast stares down at us with little pig eyes.
I step forward cautiously and it roars. Charging forward with its head lowered, the ogre almost skewers Alistair. He jumps out of the way just in time, as well as the guard and mage. Leaving me directly in front of the ogre whoes horns are stuck in the wall. This only infuriates it more. I move back into the stair chamber, then sprint at the monster. Leaping into its head, I scramble down, barely avoiding its grabbing hands.
It roars unhappily and finally pulls its horns out. In its haste however, it leaves half of one in the wall.
The now lopsided ogre shrieks its dismay, staggering backwards. The mage throws a fireball at the unbalanced beast and I see my chance. I leap through the fire and land on its chest, staying in place only because my weapons sit deep in its chest. The guard and Alistair slice it's knees, forcing it to fall backwards. I crawl up its chest and stab both blades into the things eyes. It jerks under me as I pull out my blades. I hop off and blanch at my blood covered knives. I wipe them clean on the ogres 'pants' and move towards the beacon, grabbing a fire bracket ad I go. I thrown it onto the wood and watch carefully as the fire catches. I turn around to adress Alistair.
"I guess we're done then." Suddenly a great darkness covers my mind, and I flinch. " Oh, and darkspawn."
From the look on his face I know he feels it too. We turn to the door, as darkspawn file out. They shoot arrows at us, killing the mage and guard immediately. I tell out as their bodies fall to the floor. I deflect an arrow with my blade, overly proud, and turn to Alistair. He sits, crouched behind his shield, the arrowd glancing off the metal.
"Well, that's just not fair!" I uell to him as I bang another arrow away.
He glances at me, throwing a cocky smile, then his eyes widen in fear. I feel the arrow enter my stomach and gasp. He jumps up to help me, and is lucky enough to just be knocked out by a spinning arrow.
"Idiot." I gasp as he falls to the ground. I stumble forwards, towards him, another arrow piercing my side. I fall down beside him, watching as the monsters move closer.
Where is she? I gasp as I feel blood pour out of my wounds. Light spills into my vision, swiftly taken over by the dark.
ooOoo
And that was how Nessa Mìrìal died.
Or did she?
Ok, yeah. She isn't dead.
Surprise!
-FMI