As they continue to the tunnels, way past the nursery, if one can call that, where they faced the broodmother, the darkspawn's bodily substance that covers the environment becomes more and more scarce until they are on ordinary ground again. Elissa sees that the ground sees somehow battered, "Oghren isn't there anything off about the ground?"
He looks briefly at the ground and grunts, "It is heavily used."
"But why?" Elissa asks, not expecting any answer.
The silence that follows is broken by Morrigan, "They are being guided, herded."
"Then butchered?" Alistair says.
"There's something we are missing," Leliana says.
Once again, silence reigns absolute, Elissa frowns as her mind runs many scenarios of what could be the meaning of all this. She sighs as she acknowledges her own inability to see through it. Anyway lights ahead tell her that she is close to solve this conundrum.
They see themselves in a huge hall, almost as big as Orzammar itself. It is illuminated by torches and there's a hot sensation similar to the Dead Pass, there ought to have lave nearby. The air reeks of death. There are huge walls adorned by a symbol. It's a blue background over which there's a stylized anvil pouring a red substance. It's a dwarven house's coat of arms.
"Is it Caridin's?," Elissa asks to no one in specific, covering her lantern.
As soon as she says it, sounds of chains and pulleys are closely followed by a something heavy hitting the ground. As she turns back to see what has happened a huge metal block has fallen and blocked the entrance. Not only that but high above them, into the rocks she can discern an opening, like a window.
A dwarven voice, female and distorted by something thunders, "Onward!"
Elissa looks from one side to the other, looking for its source. For what she knows there could be magic at play here. "What was that?" Zevran asks.
"It was amplified," Sten says.
"Branka!" Oghren shouts as loud as he can, the others are taken by surprise.
After some instants, the voice says again, "Move on, Oghren!"
The dwarf's eyebrows rise, he looks pale. He shakes his head, "Oh no, you won't" he says as he runs towards the wall, grabbing it.
Elissa rushes to him, "No, wait!" she shouts as she holds him.
As she had lived all of her life inside castles she knows how risky is trying to climb it. Your bravado may be quelled by a nice cauldron of hot oil. She touches his back which is already at her eye level. "It's not a good idea," she says.
"Why not? Branka is in there," Oghren says.
She bits her lip, "We may find a trap here but she is going to go after us, in the end. You'll meet her, Oghren, on your terms."
He stops and climbs down, "You sure have your way with words, Warden."
She giggles, "It's part of the job, sir." Boys are boys, indeed.
They rejoin the group, "I can scout ahead," Morrigan says her finger pointing upwards.
Elissa tilts her head, "Oh, I see." She crosses her arms, sometimes she forgets that Morrigan is a shapeshifter, "It would certainly be useful if not risky." Morrigan frowns, Elissa sighs as she goes on, "Look, you are quite independent but this isn't your territory and should things go awry we may not reach you in time."
Morrigan stares at Elissa with such an intensity that the witch's hazel eyes could pierce Elissa's soul. The feeling of impotence and being proved wrong are the best fuels to ignite her wrath. Elissa hopes that Morrigan didn't take it as a provocation. She sighs, "I… What do you suggest… Warden?"
"Do as Branka asked," Elissa says.
"Breed for docileness, I see," Morrigan says, grinning.
Elissa nods, a lopsided smile on her face.
They proceed to next room, it reeks of death. Elissa puts her hand on her nose and studies the room. It is a large room, dwarfing Orzammar's entrance hall. The floor is made of runic tiles, the side walls have small holes about a human's waist height. Scattered on the ground a great number of darkspawn corpses, killed by arrows.
"Well, is anyone feeling like jogging?" Zevran asks.
"They may have a recharge mechanism," Sten says.
"Crouching and crawling is then. All in a day's work," Alistair says, sighing.
"Time to lead the troop boss," Zevran says, touching Elissa's shoulder and motioning her forward.
She feels another hand on her other shoulder, holding her still, "I suppose it is better if you boys go in first, we'll watch your backs."
Elissa stops and blinks a few times, "Oh, I see!" How can boys only have dirty thoughts, "I agree with Leliana."
At Leliana's request, the women go in last, Leliana and Wynne go ahead then Elissa. Bo calmly strides towards the other side. As Elissa walks her way, using her elbows and knees, her eyes widen and she gasps as she sees a hairy, long and thin leg to her right. Swiftly a huge spider, the biggest spider she has ever seen passes by her.
"Morrigan? Please tell me it's you." Elissa says, secretly praying for an 'yes.'
The monster stops, turns a bit then tips one of its legs on the ground. It then moves on. "Don't mind the spider, it's Morrigan!" Elissa shouts.
As Elissa gets past the trapped way, she notices the warriors trying not to look at Morrigan, probably seeing a metamorphosis can be a bit shocking. For her part, Elissa had her face next to the ground, just to be safe. She stands up and goes to the opened door.
While crossing a hall she detects a slight smell of something burned, she slows down for Maker knows what expects them. As they cross the door, they see themselves in a room whose floor is made of darkened metal plates with many small roles. On each of the plates there are red runes. All over the way there are piles of darkened remains. Into the wall there are lanterns providing light into the room. A closed metal door stands on the other side.
"Old runes. I'm not sure of their meaning," Oghren says.
"I'm open to ideas," Elissa says.
"Maybe we could see how much weight activates the trap," Leliana says.
"Or even test it," Wynne says.
Elissa looks at Alistair who shrugs at her. She massages her forehead as she waits for an idea to sprout.
"Hey, Master Dwarf, come here a second," Zevran says. Oghren does as asked, "This wall seems… off."
Oghren puts his ear into the wall, he knocks on it on many places. His hands start searching for something on it when suddenly a click can be heard, then the sound of something heavy can be heard as a small portion of the wall start to move revealing a passage.
"How did you know?" Elissa asks.
"Elves have keen senses, not to mention a knack for finding hidden things," Leliana says.
"I couldn't have said it better," Zevran says, chuckling.
Unlike the previous rooms, there is no light source in this room. Elissa uncovers her lantern and there are about a dozen pillars standing in this room. There are runes on each of them what seems like a small, darkened compartment on each of them.
"The runes are about as old as those ones," Oghren says. "Lend me your lantern, Warden."
Elissa does as asked, Oghren opens the fire's protection and approaches the fire to a hole. As it starts burning a click can be heard from the other room.
Leliana runs towards the other room, "A rune is shining. Do it again!" she shouts.
Oghren lights another pillars, and one more time the sound can be heard, "It's working!"
As soon as the bard confirms it, Morrigan and Wynne start conjuring small flames to help Oghren. In a few moments all of the pillars have a small blaze dancing inside it. As they go back to the other room there's a path of ignited runes.
Elissa draws her bow, she holds it by its tip and uses it as a staff to press on the plate while she stands as far as possible. Nothing. She puts more pressure on it, still dormant. She breaths then steps on it, nothing. She exhales and says "It's safe. Sten, would you mind carrying Bo?"
She hears a sigh, "Fine."
Slowly and carefully Elissa steps on each of the bright runes until she gets to the other side, she quickly steps away to give room to the others. One by one they leave the deadly trap behind, Bo, Alistair, Zevran, Oghren, Leliana, Morrigan and Wynne. Oghren hands the lantern back to Elissa, nodding to her.
"That was funny," Leliana says, chuckling.
"You are going to have another run on our way back," Elissa grins. "For now we better not tarry here," she says as she approaches the door. There's a handle, Elissa holds it and it resists for a moment, she rotates it and pushes the heavy door.
The next room is significantly smaller than the other ones, in each wall there seems to be a lantern in the wall, providing light to the room. On the wall opposed to them there's a metal door and on the center of the room there is a big stone jar with a narrow neck. It is decorated by drawings.
As she approaches it she can discern drawings on it, they are rudimentary depictions of dwarves in what she thinks is some kind of funerary rite. There are some dwarves standing, then they look down. After that one of them is drawn as lying down inside what seems like a coffin to her. Finally, the last image depicts the coffin in a vertical position inside a rock. Her fingers approach the drawing when they are intercepted by a hand.
"You have eyes on your fingertips?" Oghren asks, "Better not disturb the dead."
She feels her cheeks become hot, "Sorry. I meant no disrespect."
"Better leave the vase and look and press on," he says.
Wynne, approaches them, "Actually, it's an amphora and also— "
"Show yourselves!" Morrigan shouts as she quickly murmurs strange words and blue flames appear on the tip of her staff. The eerie blue light overwhelms the natural illumination and Elissa's lantern.
On the walls there is a blurry shape, it's not her own shadow, by the build it seems a dwarf. As she looks at her companions she notices that there are no shadows coming from them, or herself, for that matter.
As she looks back to the walls there are more shadows, "Maker! What's this?" she takes a step back. Her instincts tell her that she is in danger, mortal danger.
She looks at Oghren, his eyebrows are raised, his eyes are wildly staring at them, "They didn't go to the Stone," he mutters, "Bac—," he started to raise his voice.
"Hush, Oghren. Don't provoke them," Elissa says.
Elissa can understand Oghren, they are facing something that they don't how to fight against. Words or steel may not be enough.
Morrigan calmly approaches the amphora and starts looking at it. Alistair rummages through his backpack. "Demons," Wynne says.
Morrigan chuckles, "Is that what your Chantry has taught you?"
"Do you have any other explanation?" Wynne asks. Elissa looks from one to another, she bits her lips and prays to herself not to have a spiritual experience like the one she had at the Circle of Magi.
"They are not restless… they are bound," Morrigan says.
"Bound… but the Veil here is as thick as a rock," Wynne says.
"You, dwarf, where do you go when you die?" Morrigan asks.
"Eh… we go back to the Stone…" Oghren says, rubbing his fiery hair.
"Morrigan, please," Elissa says as she knows that the witch is enjoying her position of power over them. What else would she want? Alistair asking or all of them kneeling to her. The witch looks at Elissa, a wide grin on her face.
"They are held at the amphora," Wynne says.
"Let's break it and be done with it," Zevran says.
"No, let the drunkard deal with them," Morrigan says, looking at Oghren. Indifferent to the oppressive atmosphere that emanates from the ever growing number of shadows.
In the same way as a Sten, both have drawn their weapons, for them it's like instinct. Alistair is holding something small on his hand, his eyes dart from the amphora to it, perhaps it's his mother's amulet. Leliana seems to emanate a sheer sensation of tranquility as she prays, as if in a deep trance, Elissa doesn't know how but she is certain that her friend is praying. Bo is curled on Elissa's feet and Zevran looks from one side to the other, his cold facade has come down.
"Me? I don't know what to do," Oghren says.
"Be polite. Tell them who you are, which house you're from and that you'll help them meet their fate," Morrigan says.
He does as asked and starts speaking in their guttural language, Elissa don't pay attention to it as she feels the threat of the growing number of shadows. He finishes it and nothing happens, then all of sudden the shadows start to fade and the door opens to them. As soon as the blue light fades from Morrigan's staff, Elissa runs through the door, she's closely followed by Bo and Zevran. She walks away from the door, breathing heavily. She closes her eyes as she regain her focus.
When she opens them, she finds herself in a corridor, Caridin House is on a double metal door. All of her companions had already left the room. "Does anyone make any sense of what has happened?"
"It must be Caridin's last line of defense," Oghren says.
"That's what I would call enjoying your own privacy," Leliana says, chuckling.
"Let's see how things play out, then," Elissa says, waving for the others to follow her.
