They were close to the spider nest now, though it was a bad sign when they were approaching the spiders were pulling back and retracing to the ceiling. Deesh's deepstalkers had retreated into her bag long before the spider webs covered almost everything they saw. The nest was so large they split into two groups after dealing with another group of spiders.

Theron was with Alistair, Neria, Oghren, Sten, Kallian, Jigsaw and Leliana and took the left where a genlock emissary was attempting to control two corrupted spiders.

After clearing those annoyances Neria didn't see any need for this, "Why did we spit up? After we dealt with those spiders on both sides we should have continued together."

Theron stopped her, "And make it easier for the spiders to trap us all in their webs? An animal can only react to so many directions. And if this thing is a queen like Deesh thinks, then we'll have to deal with any of the spiderlings that'll come to their mother's aid."

Leliana though mused, "As a hunter, Deesh will not attack unless she sees everything is in place. As elusive as she tries to be, there are still things about her that are fairly easy to read. Though I'm not certain if she does so knowingly or not."

Yet despite that Deesh's group had already lit the spider's lair on fire, forcing out a massive spider at least twice the size as the other spiders they had encountered. Just like many of the others, this queen was corrupted by the darkspawn taint they had consumed. Deesh and Morrigan were focused on using fire magic while Deesh occasionally used her shield to keep a spider or two at bay, leaving the actually up close fighting to Faren, Shale and Zevran with Wynne and Daylen on defense watch.

Another group of spiders were climbing down on their side, their attention focused on Deesh's group and unaware of their presence. They quickly took advantage of the situation, firing arrows and cleaving the spiders before they had their legs on the ground. Jigsaw rushed ahead, jumping onto the queen's abdomen and tearing into it.

Hot as the exoskeleton was, it definitely made it easier for the mabari to tear huge chucks out. Faren whistle, "Hey beasty, get off!" the branded dwarf was holding a flask that was glowing red, yellow and orange. He tossed it toward the spider queen when Jigsaw jumped away. The spider turned to attack the mabari as the flask entered its abdomen and erupted with flames. The spider ran around in pain, trying to run from the fire, unable to until it finally expired.

Deesh extinguished the fireball in her hand by quashing it, the smoke seeping out between her fingers, "Impressive work, artificer."

"As much as I'd like to take the credit, it ain't my work. I know a guy in Dust Town who makes the best grenades. Restocked myself before we went on this harebrained venture."

"If both things are quite finished, I believe I found what we were looking for." Shale was standing over a table with a tome on it. The cover was a bit wore, but the markings on it were definitely dwarven but too new to have been from the ancient dwellers of the thaig.

Oghren went through the book, mostly notes from Branka's search but the last page was what he wanted to read. "Branka was thinking about me! I knew she still cared! Old softy. Looks like the Dead Trenches is our next stop, then. They say the darkspawn nest there, whole heard of 'em. But if that's where Branka went, then that's where I'm going."

Daylen tried to stop him, "How big of a nest are we talking?"

"Bownammar was built during the first Blight. And the Legion has lost and recaptured Bownammar so many times the Shaperate gave up counting. Almost two decades ago the Legion lost the thaig again to the spawn."

Deesh followed the tunnel leading out, "Then we should press on and find a place to rest. Then if we are lucky, the spawn may not hold the thaig with the Blight on the march, but I'm certain we'll run into plenty of resistance."

As the group set up camp a few were sharing their adventures before meeting up, with Zeveran sharing a few of his more intimate encounters. Deesh continued to remain as lookout while the others relaxed and shared tales.

Theron approached her, "You should rest too. We'll be surrounded by the taint."

"And if I become a burden due to my uncontrollable instincts the rest of you will have to protect me until I can leave. And if I do end up leaving, you can keep the bow." Deesh finally turned to Theron, "I know you want me to interact with the others, but I find myself at ease alone. It makes things simpler and easier."

"Easier?"

Deesh looked to her deepstalkers, "Remember when I spoke of a name back in the Circle Tower? Sithis? Think of your pantheon and the Forgotten Ones as gods and demons. Sithis is the one to have created them. He is the darkness before the light, the void that consumes all. The Hist are followers of Sithis, and my people follow the Hist. It's already taboo enough that I speak of them so lightly, but since we…honor is the closest word I can think of without doing it a disservice. We accept Sithis as the creator of all though some tribes pay more tributes to him while others simply acknowledge and pay homage."

He sat beside her, "And this is why you don't get too close to others?"

Deesh slowly nodded her head, "I was…am a Shadowscale. Saxhleel hatched under the sign of The Shadow. Given to an order known as the Dark Brotherhood to train and serve my people and Sithis. The Daedra do complicate things, but in the end, when my final days come it will be in the services of another. I would rather die alone than know that my affiliations led to the death of any of my friends." She turned to Theron, "And my life has always been one of death, either of my enemies or simply those around me. In all likelihood, I'll probably be ripped from this world and sent back or sent to another once this business with the Blight comes to an end. I can't say my time with your clan wasn't enjoyable, but you understand why I cannot hold anything too closely. Especially in this world."

Theron sighed, "I do. Just know you'll always have a friend with me. But we do have Shale. It could stay as lookout."

"I thank you. But I'll be fine. And it has. I've asked the golem to watch the path ahead while I watch our back. You better get some rest before we reach the Dead Trenches. Even here I can smell the concentration of the Blight. It won't be pleasant, for any of us."

They pressed on, moving toward the Dead Trenches. As they approached a bridge looming over an impressive chasm, Deesh started shaking, stopping dead in her track as if paralyzed with fear. Even here, Alistair, Kallian and Theron could sense a massive horde of darkspawn deep down at the bottom of the chasm. Looking down one could only see a sea of torches and the grunts and roars of the darkspawn as they were waiting for something. Then flying from the pit below came an enormous diseased dragon, landing on the bridge as it bellowed to the legion below spouting purple flames. The horde started its march as the dragon flew off to take the lead.

What was strange through was once the dragon had left Deesh shock her head and was no longer frozen, breathing heavily. "Th…the arch…demon…"

Theron was at her side, "Are you alright?"

Deesh took a moment to catch herself, trying to calm her breathing, "I…I think so…" She turned to the chasm, shaking her head, "I can feel this horde moving northeast, but I believe I'm still able to fight."

"So then…"

"I will continue to fight at your side. Until the final confrontation against the archdemon itself." Beyond the horde below, Deesh could smell more darkspawn ahead in the thaig before them, "Though that won't mean I won't participate in the battle to get you to it."

At the foot of the bridge a group of dwarves were being assaulted by darkspawn, "Let them come. It saves us the walk to their lairs." The dwarves were all fighting in heavy thick black armor with massive mauls and axes while a few had shield and a blade. Unlike the humans Deesh watched do battle at Ostagar, these dwarves knew what they were doing against the vile spawn, "Let them believe they hold us here. When the throne is settled, we'll beat them to their vile birthing grounds."

The dwarves were letting the darkspawn cross the bridge, thinning their own numbers with the limited space on it as a pair of dwarves slaughtered a darkspawn that made it to them, rotating pairs as the darkspawn approached them.

The spawn however didn't seem to have an end as more continued to try and cross the bridge. Not wasting this opportunity, the archers and mages wreaked havoc upon their numbers, and they couldn't do a thing to stop the assault.

They moved toward the bridge, continuing to drop the oncoming darkspawn before they had a chance to get within sword range. While they held the spawn at bay for a moment Kallian spoke with the dwarves. The leader of the dwarves removed his helm, "Atrast vala, Grey Warden. I've never seen one of your kind in the Deep Roads."

"And yet you don't sound surprised."

"In the Legion of the Dead, we abandon our lives to be free of fear, free of hopeful blindness. The coming Blight is obvious to us. The surprise is not that you have come, but that you have come in so small a number. What do you want here, Warden?"

Kallian glanced back to the bridge where they were starting to push the darkspawn back, "We're looking for Paragon Branka."

"Who put this dull idea in your head? We've got other things to worry about in Orzamma…ah, now I see. The deep lords in the Assembly can't make up their minds, so the pretenders need added influence. I get that right?"

"That's about it. You have anything useful to add?"

One of the other dwarves within the Legion yelled out, "Besides never trusting a word that bastard, Bhelen says?"

Faren quickly confronted the Legionnaire, "Hey, who are you saying that about my future brother-in-law and house."

"Duran Aeducan. Your other brother-in-law, you hopeless casteless."

The leader of the dwarves stopped him, "Duran, I thought we already talked about this?"

"We did. Doesn't mean I still can't hate Bhelen for what he did to me and Trian. Framing me for the death of Trian and getting exiled. I was lucky a Legionnaire patrol crossed into the tunnel they threw me down. And worse, to hear of father's passing by a heavy heart for what he did to me and the loss of Trian, how else am I to respond to that backstabber?"

"All these emotions are getting to me." Sanguine floated around, leading a few deepstalkers around with kebabs, "So, mind tell me why you decided to mess around with our champ's mind, Hermy?"

A few of Hermaeus' tentacles were still squirming their way through a new portal, "Ensuring that our champion does not deviate from her path and continues her adventure with the Wardens. There are many secrets still hidden within these Deep Roads, among other places."

"Oh, good." Sheogorath appeared dressed like a pirate with an eye patch, with a deepstalker trying its best to balance itself on his shoulder, "I'm hoping she might be able to find a talking sword or a dancing pogo stick to go with my latest ensemble. Though a hat would really go a long way. Maybe a ship."

They had pushed through the spawn slowly across the bridge eventually ending up slaying quite a few of the nasty creatures, including more shrieks and an ogre. The archers were the first to fall as Deesh dealt the final blow to the ogre, throwing her Ghostblade into the beast's face. With all of the darkspawn felled the Legion moved across the bridge to secure it, "Well, Grey Warden, I'll give you credit for backbone. You've dug a line through the spawn. Still no sense in your head, but you've got skill."

Oghren shrugged it off, "No point in continuing a conversation. We've got places to be. Things to kill."

Duran yelled to Faren, "A bit of advice, I'd suggest you don't disappoint little Bhelen. His fury will find you one way or another."

They continued through a side passage the darkspawn had dug out. Far enough away from the legionnaire Deesh glanced down to Oghren, "We should prepare for the worse. If they're right…"

"But they aren't."

"If they are…what then?" Deesh turned back, "All of this will have been for naught if there is no way of pushing the Assembly into electing a new king. We need a king to get the dwarven armies to march to the surface and combat the darkspawn." Deesh stopped at a bend, turning to the Wardens, "Speaking of…"

Theron readied the bow, his senses on locating darkspawn has gotten sharper. He quickly jumped out and fired without much thought, the arrow flying true through the hurlock's skull before it even realized he was there.

A few genlocks with bows rushed to find out what the commotion was only to find Kallian and Alistair's blades waiting for them. Kallian turned back, "Well, we've really stepped into something. All the darkspawn up ahead…"

Morrigan purposefully ran her staff against Oghren, "The drunk one should be pleased to have more opportunities to show off and get himself killed."

"Bah, you might be pretty enough to flirt with, but I'm still a married man. I wouldn't want to break your heart when I have to keep myself to Branka. Well, unless she wants a few more…"

Zevran blatantly called out, "If she's interested, I know of a few merchants that can sell you some rather interesting toys to spice things up."

The roar of a bronto draw their attention toward the heart of the thiag. Inside they found the bronto surrounded by a few darkspawn, though it didn't seem to be in any danger from the wretched beasts.

Deesh's hand started glowing with a faint purple mist as she whispered, "Let the presence of living burn like fires." Deesh's eyes were now glowing the same color as she looked left and right. "There's several genlock archers, possibly an emissary too, and a pair of hurlocks with the bronto."

Neria was more interested in the spell Deesh had just used than her knowing the enemy's strengths. "That augment spell…what did it do to your eyes."

Deesh closed her hands and the swirling energy disappeared. "Detect Life spell. It allows me to see and distinguish friendly and hostile targets quite a few meters away and through walls. Though I'm more concerned with the archers." Deesh drew out a rough layout of the enemies she saw. "My invisibility spell breaks the moment I attack."

Faren was busy digging through his things. "How far are we talking? Around the corner? Up a rampart?"

Deesh looked to the wall, "They have elevated land, about head height. Roughly four meters to the first line."

"Bit of a ramp, but nothing special huh?" Faren pulled out about six flasks, "Smoke bombs. Gotta shake 'em a bit to get the most outta one. At least two of these should be enough to get two people close to the archers without them seeing ya."

Deesh looked around, "Who wants to risk being blasted by an emissary?"

Zev stepped forth, "Ah, for the good of this mission, I volunteer Faren."

"Wait what?"

"You are the one supplying the smokescreen, and assumedly have some experience using them."

"Yeah, but that's when I had to kill one guy in a room and get out. Besides," pointing to his legs, I'm not exactly the fastest one here."

Deesh snatched the bottles and handed some to Zevran, "Just take them and lets go. You go for the closest group, I'll take out the furthest." She tossed the first bottle out into the main tunnel as the plume of smoke rose and expanded out. Deesh rushed in with Zevran close behind her. They broke two more bottles and covered the area the genlocks were holding as the two assassins quickly and effortlessly dispatched the group.

While they dealt with them, the others attacked the hurlocks and bronto before the smoke dissipated. Deesh was crushing the neck of the emissary with her foot just to be certain. The bridge to the other side of the thaig was gone, and what little remained was too far to jump across. The darkspawn must have a means of reaching that door across the hall. Deesh saw the doors at the other ends of the walkway.

Oghren saw a pair of doors they could go through, "Dwarven architecture. Always a 'backdoor' somewhere." Partly making a cred joke of it. "One of them should have a side passage that might help get us across. And maybe straight to Branka."

A/N: Hate to say it, but aside from the human noble, the dwarven noble never really vibed well with me. I never really understood why the darkspawn even had brontos when they have ogres that could serve the same purpose for manual labor.