Redcliffe Castle Continued.
"Are you sure that was the best thing to do?" Alistair asked.
"You did say that I was the one who knew him best. Jowan is a good guy at heart if a bit foolhardy but I wasn't kidding when I said I'll kill him. If you want Sten, you can do it in my place but only if he tries something."
"That would be wise." We continued. We saw the piles of filth in mounds and corpses on the floor.
"Well that would explain the smell at least." Eren said. I took out my daggers. As we reached the stairs to go up, the corpses growled. 5 came to life which was hardly a challenge. Eren and Alistair bumped two of them with their shields and they fell on the floor. I came up and smashed one, the other was set on fire by Talen. Leliana struck one to the floor and Sten came and took off its head.
I kicked one on the chest and the other jumped on my back. Sten quickly took it off and threw it at the one I kicked. Eren and Alistair stabbed through their skulls and the battle was one.
"Don't let your guard down and down get bitten. They can tear off your flesh as soon as they sink them in." Eren said, patting my shoulder.
"I know, I know."
"Let's go up the stairs and see what's waiting for us then." Alistair said. We went up the stairs and reached the first floor. The door was closed and we all looked at each other.
"So who wants to open the door to hell?" I said.
"I'll sacrifice myself." Eren said sarcastically. We went into the hallway and there was nothing until a corpse came walking towards us around the corner. There was only one but then two more followed soon after. Eren dealt with the first one and Alistair was not far behind with Sten. I kept back to make sure that nothing came out of the door next to us. With all this noise something was bound to happen.
But apparently nothing came out to greet us even though we were being extremely noisy. After we cut down the corpses, I opened the door to our right. 4 shades resided in there. Talen went ahead and did a cone of fire and I punched one into oblivion. Leliana was making sure her hits were not missing and Alistair came over to deal the last two.
With the combined fire and his steel, they all went down for the count. I breathed a little bit easier but I knew that there was going to be a lot more.
"Yeah the veil has been torn since demons are in plain sight." Talen said.
"Are there going to be more demons then?" Leliana asked.
"The possibility is high. Let's keep going." Talen said. We passed by the armory and Leliana unlocked it to see if there were any people in there. Unfortunately there were none. We kept going and an open door made us known to 3 corpses. Sten, Alistair, and Eren went in there to take care of them easily. We went through and I found it odd that the fire was going in that room.
We opened the door after dealing with the corpses and found a big group of them. 5 of them again. Talen went up ahead and did a cone of cold, freezing all into place. That gave us an advantage and we were able to shatter 4 until the last one broke free of the spell. Then Leliana did an awesome thing and made one of her arrows do a head shot, knocking it out.
"That was awesome." I said.
"Thank you." Leliana giggled.
Then more corpses started to come down one by one. It made it all the easier to trip them and knock off or smash their heads. It was a total of 7 that came running down the hallway and all we did was waited at the entrance for them to come toward us. Talen froze a few and Sten shattered them. Alistair and Eren made use of their shields and I lopped a head off. It was fun in my opinion. After the last one was finished, Eren made the group stop.
"Don't you hear barking?" He asked.
"It's coming through that door." Alistair said. We went through a small passage and there were four mabari feasting on a body. Foam was coming out of their mouths and they were snarling at us. We had to put the poor things down. Sten cut the most of them while Alistair did it to one. Eren was off at the wall. He didn't want to stain his hands with their blood.
"Does the veil tear also affect mabari's?" Alistair asked.
"I'm not sure. They are intelligent so maybe demons can cause them to lose their minds as well." Talen said.
"Let us keep going." Sten said. The hallway we entered was probably the servant quarters. We found many bedrooms and a resting room. The door to the main hall was locked and Leliana couldn't open it. I made my way down to the last room where I knew Valena was going to be. I opened the door and I quickly dodged the pot that was thrown at me.
"Get away from me! I won't let you take me! I won't!" Valena shouted, grabbing the nearest thing and throwing it at me.
"Whoa, hey calm down!" I said as she kept flinging me bags of flour, spoons and other miscellaneous items. "I'm not a walking corpse!" Valena was sitting on the ground while everyone else started to come to see what was going on.
"I'm so sorry! I was just so frightened. I didn't hurt you did I?" Valena asked.
"You almost did with that pot."
"My, my name's Valena. I'm the arlessa's maid. I…I was so scared about what was happening! I came into this room and just kept quiet! What, what happened? Is everyone alright?"
"You're Valena the smith's daughter?" Eren asked.
"Yes! You know my father? Is there a way out of here? Oh please, I just want to get out!" Valena said.
"There's a passage that leads out in the windmill through the dungeons. If you don't wish to travel alone, I could go with you." Leliana said.
"Yes! Thank you!" Valena said.
"You sure about that?" Talen asked.
"Yes. I will escort her out. I'll be fine Talen. Let's go." Leliana said. Valena and her started to jog out of the hallway.
"Alright we did what Owen asked at least. Let's keep going." I said.
"You know you are covered with flour?" Eren said. I shoved him along. We skipped over the main hall door and went to the other door. Of course it had more corpses! There were six and they all came rushing. The good thing was that they all gathered in one spot at the door and Talen did his cone of cold again to freeze them all. One by one we all took turns to shatter them. Only two were left alive and they were both decapitated by Alistair and Eren.
"I think we're getting pretty good at chopping heads off." I said, kicking a head across the room.
We left the room and went down a hallway that led into the cellar. Luckily there was nothing there just a couple things of supplies. We didn't stay there that long and went up the stairs to the courtyard. It was eerily quiet. Until we took our first steps toward the center. There were two corpses and a Revenant and a couple of skeleton archers up the steps.
I saw Ser Perth beyond the gates and was about to go open the gate when I felt a pull. It was as if something grabbed me by the waist and strung me along like a doll. I fell to the ground hard and just barely managed to roll out of the downward stab of the Revenant. It didn't much matter since both of the corpses managed to jump me. They bit at my chainmail and I struggled to get free while the Revenant came closer and closer with its sword.
"Kadan!" I heard Sten yell as he came running down the courtyard but I knew he wouldn't get here in time. I didn't panic. Instead I tried to calm myself down and focus on the power that I haven't conjured since the Deep Roads. I tried tapping into the power lying in my center. I felt it for an instance, that swirl of power. The corpses were set on fire by my glowing light and when the Revenant tried to cut me, its sword split in half.
Sten came barreling in and forced the Revenant back with Asala. I cut off my power as soon as it has done its job but it wasn't fast enough. I felt two powerful nosebleeds and my hearing was cut off as well. It was extremely scary hearing the sounds of fighting and then hearing absolutely nothing. I looked up as blood rushed down my face. The gate was open and Ser Perth and his knights were coming to kill the skeletons archers. Talen came rushing toward me and I felt the coolness of a healing spell. I was finally able to hear again.
"…almost there! Nia!" Talen shouted over the fighting. After the last skeleton archer was cut down, the others started to talk with each other. Talen looked me over and I tried to wipe off as much as the blood as I could off my face.
"God, I hate this."
"You still need more practice with that technique. I haven't found anything unusual and the bleeding in your ears and nose stopped." Talen said.
"So are we all going to barrel in the main hall now?"
"No, only our group will suffice. Are you healed enough to fight?" Sten asked.
"Yeah, I'm just going to look like a bloody mess for a bit." I said, standing up, wiping away as much as I could off. I was going to sport a bloody smear on my face for a while. I felt slightly dizzy but I pushed it away. Talen gave me a concerned glance as did Alistair and Eren but I shook my head.
"Let's keep going." I said. Ser Perth and his knights stayed in the courtyard while we went up to the door that would lead into the main hall. We opened the double doors and I felt my stomach sink at what we were about to see. As soon as we entered the main hall poor Teagan was dancing like a lunatic in front of Connor. Isolde was right next to him slumped in defeat. Connor made Teagan stop and he sat next to him.
"So these are the foolish travelers that you have told me about, Mother." Connor said in a deep guttural voice that shouldn't have belonged to a child.
"Y-Yes Connor." Isolde said with tears and fear in her eyes.
"What is going on?" Alistair whispered.
"And these are the ones that stopped by plan on reclaiming my village? The ones who killed my soldiers?" Connor said.
"Yes Connor."
"This doesn't look good." Eren mumbled.
"And now it's looking at me Mother! I can't see it well, you must tell me what it is!" Connor demanded. Talen came up to the front of the group and glared at Isolde.
"This is an elf Connor…like the servants we have here in the castle."
"Oh I remember now! I cut off their ears and fed them to the dogs! They were chewing for hours! Should I send it to the kennels Mother? So it could have its ears ripped from its head and to watch how the dogs rip them apart?!"
"Connor…please…please I beg you…Don't hurt anyone!" Isolde begged on her knees. Connor started to groan and hold its head. He whimpered a bit and the possessed eyes gave way to innocent ones.
"Mo-Mother?"
"Co-Connor? Connor can you hear me? Listen to me and-"
"Get away from me you stupid woman!" Connor shouted and used his power to push her into the wall with force. Isolde groaned as she stood up. "You are beginning to bore me."
"Please, you must help my son. I beg you Grey Wardens. Connor is not responsible for what has happened, please don't hurt him." Isolde said, her tears coming down her face.
"You're stupid to think that he isn't the one responsible here. He is the evil that we know." Talen said.
"No! Don't say that! It was that mage Jowan! He poisoned my husband, he summoned this demon! Connor just wanted to help his father!"
"You made a deal with a demon didn't you abomination?" Talen said, ignoring Isolde's frantic lies.
"It was a fair deal! This boy wanted to keep his father alive and I gave him the means to do so! Now in repayment, I will use his body as I want! My armies will conquer the world and no one will stop me at getting what I want!" The possessed Connor screamed.
"No one will stop him! No one!" Bann Teagan laughed.
"You will obey me and stay quiet, or do you want to know what happened to the other one?" Connor threatened. "Still there is no reason why we cannot stay civil. This elf will have the audience he wanted. Tell me elf, why have you come here to my domain?"
"We're here to stop you." Eren said coming forward.
"I did not ask you, you pitiful human!"
"It's like he said. We came here to stop you." Talen said.
"You came here to stop me?" Connor laughed. "You will not stop me! You cannot make me stop! I'm not finished playing with your small, insignificant lives! I will not have you spoiling my fun! Isn't that right, Mother?"
"I…I don't think…"
"Of course you don't, silly woman! After you took away my knights, all you do is deprave me of my sport! You cannot tell me what do to, woman! I want excitement and action! I want to see your lives hanging by the balance of blood and death! You took that away from me elf, and now you will pay the price!" Connor shouted, running off into the next hall. Bann Teagan and the other guardsmen started to come toward us, possessed by Connor.
"Don't kill any of them! Knock them out!" Talen shouted. The 4 guards and Bann Teagan came out us, swinging their weapons wildly. I kicked one in the groin and he fell to the floor. I did a hard hit on his helmet causing it to ring and he fell unconscious. I managed to evade a swipe and Talen froze him on the spot.
Alistair and Eren knocked the other two guards but Sten was having a hard problem trying to not kill Teagan since he wasn't wearing any armor. I jumped on Teagan's back and put my arm around his neck to make him stop breathing. He swung around and we both fell to the floor. The minute I felt him become limp I let go of him and stood up.
"Check everyone to make sure they're still alive!" Eren shouted. I put my finger on Teagan's neck and I found a pulse.
"Teagan is alright!" I said.
"Same for these two!" Eren said to the guard.
"The frozen one has thawed and is well." Sten said.
"Also the one you knocked out Nia." Alistair said. Isolde came from the corner she was crying at to our group.
"Teagan? Is he alright?" Isolde said. We heard a groan and he sat up. "Teagan!"
"I'm fine Isolde. The domination of my mind is gone. I am myself again."
"I'm so sorry Teagan I was a fool to have brought you here. I would never have forgiven myself if I had caused your death. Please Grey Wardens, my son is not responsible for all this! You all saw how there is still my son inside of that demon. We must find a way to save him!"
"Connor is no longer your son I'm afraid, Lady Isolde. He is an abomination." Jowan said coming in the main hall.
"You!" Isolde launched herself at him but I held her back. "This is all your fault! You brought this terror onto my family!"
"I didn't summon a demon honest! Please let me explain! Let me help you!"
"Help!? You want to help me after you tore my family apart with your demon magic!? After I gave you my trust to teach my son, you go and poisoned my husband!"
"Is this the mage you spoke to me about? Wasn't he in the dungeons?"
"He was. I had hoped those creatures already have killed you by now. He must have been set free."
"I let him free Isolde. He had some part of this so I thought that he could help." Talen said.
"I know I have to right to come to you like this, after I took advantage of you, your trust, and your family. I didn't think what I could do could lead…could lead to this."
"We can't turn away his help, not yet. If what he says is true and that Connor is an abomination…"
"But Connor is still inside, fighting whatever had taken ahold of him! He breaks through the possession, there must be a way to save him!"
"You wanted to protect him by hiring an apostate to teach him in secret and it led to all of this. I know you're a mother and you want to protect your children but sometimes we can't stop what has happened. You should have done the right thing and sent Connor to the Circle." I said.
"I just wanted him to stay here! I didn't want him to be taken away. If…if he learned how to control his powers, to hide them then…then he could stay." Isolde said.
"So what can we do now?" Eren said.
"I don't want to kill a child but Connor is an abomination." Alistair said.
"It would be best if we slayed it now rather than later. If he is still possessed there is still a chance he will attack us again." Sten said.
"He ran upstairs into his room. The violence scares him."
"No we are not killing him." Eren said.
"That is-"
"I'm not killing him!" Eren said. "That is final Sten."
"So if we're not killing him then what are we going to do?" Teagan asked.
"There is…a solution if you will listen." Jowan said.
"Go on." Isolde said.
"I can send someone into the fade where they can battle the demon and kill it releasing its hold over your son..."
"Isn't the demon inside Connor?" Teagan said.
"No. The demon met with Connor as he dreamt and is possessing him from the fade. It controls him there and we can use that same connection to battle with it and with no harm to Connor."
"Then you can enter the fade? You can kill the demon and save my son without hurting him?"
"I can't. I have to be here to control the spell on the other side. Another mage can then enter using the path I can make but this requires an enormous amount of lyrium."
"But we don't have lyrium so you need something else in order to make it work right?" Talen said.
"Yes, it takes life energy, a lot of it. All of it in fact."
"A life for a life." I said.
"Someone needs to sacrifice themselves." Talen said.
"M-Maybe I shouldn't have said anything…it's a stupid idea and not an option-"
"Then take my life. I will sacrifice myself to save my son." Isolde said.
"What? Isolde, have you considered the consequences? Eamon would never allow you to this."
"We have few choices Teagan. We either kill my son and the demon with him or I let myself be sacrifice to save my son within. The choice is clear to me."
"Blood magic? Are we seriously going to go through with this? Two wrongs don't make a right."
"And how can we even trust this bas seerabas to even uphold his word? What if he turns on us and forces the demon to the other mage?" Sten said.
"There is another alternative. We can also go to the Circle of Magi and ask them for the lyrium required for this and some mages." Talen said.
"But the Circle of Magi is two days away by boat. You will risk the lives of the villagers for 4 days." Eren said.
"They might all die if we are to keep fighting those corpses." Teagan said.
"Then the answer is clear no?" Isolde said. There was slight tension in the room as the GWs considered their options.
"Jowan…how long do you think it will take you to do the ritual?" Talen asked.
"Are you serious?" Alistair said. I bit my lip. I really had hope for the Circle. "We can defend the village and make sure no one dies!"
"Do you really think we can stay up for 4 days straight while more and more undead pour out every single night? The village is already at the brink of destruction Alistair. They won't handle another attack and we know this." Talen said. Alistair sputtered and then looked to the floor in defeat.
"Then it is settled." Isolde said.
"I'm leaving then. I…I can't watch this." I said. I already knew what would happen and I couldn't bear to see it.
"I shall go with you Kadan." Alistair followed us silently. We went out the double doors toward the courtyard and I sat down on the steps. It was quiet with the few chirping of birds and a small cold breeze. I felt the lump in my throat at what was about to happen.
"You know…the greatest thing a mother could do is save their children…but the worst thing that they can do…is to leave them behind…We are such hypocrites." I said, wiping the tears coming down my eyes. "At least I'm trying my best to see my kids again…but at the same time…I've gotten myself killed trying to protect Eren…so…I guess that makes me the same as Isolde."
"You are still actively searching a way to find them. The woman did not consider the best for her child and allowed all of this to happen. You are more thoughtful in your choices Kadan and it makes you more of a Mother than she is." Sten said.
"I still think that we could have staved off the undead long enough to go to the Circle and back." Alistair said quietly.
"Yeah I did too." I watched as the clouds overhead. I saw small snowflakes drop down. My breath was coming out in wisps and I was crying silently. All I wanted to do was to go back home but I'm stuck here trying to find a way out. What kind of mother did that make me?
I didn't feel the cold as the snow settled on top of me. I just cried silently until it was over. I heard the doors opened behind me.
"It's over…" Eren said. He came over and put his hand on top of my head. "They're going to start to gather the bodies to burn them. What do you want to do Nia?"
"I want a bath." I said. Eren chuckled and he sat next to me. He was also crying.
"She reminded me of my mother." He sobbed.
Teagan came out carrying Isolde's body. Talen and Alistair followed him back to the village. I cleaned my face of blood with snow and went with Sten. They got the boats and put the bodies there after Mother Hannah said their final rites. With arrows of fire they burned the bodies after being pulled away by the currents. After their funeral it was getting dark. Teagan invited all of us to stay at the castle. I got my bath and went to sleep. It was early morning when I wrote everything. Eren should be coming by anytime now to knock on my door. I might as well stop here.
So did anyone think that I was going to take that route? Not everything is going to be sunshine and happiness in this story. Actually it's going to get worse but no spoilers for anyone :3
Shout out to MEfan159 for following/favoriting this story!
KrystylSky: The producers of the game actually meant for you to conscript jowan and there's a mod that lets you do it too using some of the dialogue that was in the original game. I forget why they took it out though. Jowan also had a companion quest as well.
PetalsofSin: Yep, Talen is the youngest of the group. Derek is the oldest at 32 and Eren is a year older than Nia.
EG: It would be pretty cool if my kids were gamers but my step-daughter who is the oldest only likes tablet games. My other kids are only 2 and 1 so it's going to be a while until they get into gaming, if they want to.
emilian65: Esta bien. Ya se que todos tienen escuela o trabajo en la vida. Talen se fue en el fade a peliar the desire demon. Nia no quizo ver por que la Isolde murio. :3
I love your feedback guys! Please review!