Chapter 54: A Paragon of Her Kind pt 4
"First day, they come and catch everyone."
"Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat."
"Third day, the men are all gnawed on again."
"Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate."
"Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn."
"Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams."
"Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew."
"Eighth day, we hated as she is violated."
"Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin."
"Now she does feast, as she's become the beast."
"Now you lay and wait, for their screams will haunt you in your dreams."
"The men, they kill…they're merciful. But the women, they want. They want to touch, to mold, to change until you are filled with them…"
"They took Laryn. They made her eat the others, our friends. She tore off her husband's face and drank his blood"
"And while she ate, she grew. She swelled and turned grey and she smelled like them. They remade her in their image. Then she made more of them"
"Broodmother…"-Recounts of Hespith's horrors
The Dead Trenches
The party went deeper into the Dead Trenches, the corruption was everywhere so was the smell of death. Engagements with the darkspawn were more frequent as if the party was fighting a rushing river. Hespith's voice grew louder as they continued on, almost as if she was leading them…but to what was unknown. The woman was so far gone due to her experience in the Deep Roads but something told them that despite her corruption…Hespith wanted the horror to end, for her sake and her house's sake. They went down a narrow tunnel, no darkspawn attack but they heard inhuman, feral screams, the party turned the corner and saw a sight so grotesque that it turned their stomachs. The center of the room was filled floor to wall with corruption; in the middle was a large deformed ghoul, hairless with multiple breasts and tentacle sprouting everywhere. Behind her was the exit but it was blocked by the ghoul.
"Maker's Breath…." Leliana said in horror.
"What is that?!" Jenra asked sickened.
Alistair growled in pure disgust. "Broodmother, Duncan told be about this…but with Andraste as my witness, I hoped to never see such a sight"
Broodmothers give birth to a large litter at once, between twenty and fifty children. They emerge from her womb as toddlers, often already able to walk, and grow rapidly in their first few weeks of life. The race of the broodmother determines which kind of darkspawn she will give birth to. An elven broodmother will spawn shrieks, a dwarven broodmother genlocks, a human broodmother hurlocks, and a Qunari or kossith broodmother ogres. Each broodmother is capable of spawning thousands of darkspawn in her lifetime. A tentacle spouted behind the party, they dodged but the entrance was blocked by fallen rocks. The party took out their weapons, there was only on way forward…the broodmother's tentacles opened wide and a bulge was pushed through the opening. Dark writhing masses fell to the floor and got up; multiple genlocks were birthed and surrounded the broodmother. With a scream, the broodmother ordered the genlocks to attack. Wynne placed a grease trap on the floor and Morriagan set it aflame burning the genlocks. A tentacle shot up from the ground scattering the party, the broodmother shook and spit out green corrosive bile that melted rocks and steel.
While the genlock was keeping the party busy, the broodmother kept birthing more and more darkspawn…soon they would be overwhelmed if they didn't do something. If they could kill the broodmother then they could manage the genlock. Jenra looked up and saw a large stalagmite perched above the broodmother; if it drops she would die.
"Morrigan, Wynne…the stalagmite!" Jenra said. "Aim for it!"
"Get the genlock away from us!" Morrigan said.
"Understood!" He said. "Everyone create a line, no darkspawn is to pass it!" The party gathered together as the mages prepared their spell. Every time the genlock came close, they were struck down by blade or arrow. Shale drew the broodmother's attention by tearing off her tentacles one by one however it found that they grew back very fast. Leliana summoned any creature nearby with her whistle and swarms of spiders went to attack the genlocks. With enough magic gathered, Morrigan and Wynne fired upon the stalagmite and it fell on the broodmother, impaling her through the head. The broodmother continued on, despite being close to death…Jenra and Oghren ran up and with great leap hammered the stalagmite deeper into the broodmother's head. In a gush of blood, the broodmother was silenced...the party killed off the rest of the genlock and the path was opened to the next area. As the party regrouped, Jenra stepped on something hard. He lifted his feet and saw a locket…inside was a picture of a dwaven woman and man in a loving embrace.
"Laryn's locket…." Oghren said. "Her husband got it for her on the anniversary of their marrage…heh a real softie that one was" The dwarf then went silent, he didn't show it but Oghren was troubled by what has happened with his house. The party heard footsteps and they were on their guard only to find that it was Hespith on a ledge looking upon them.
"That's where they come from. That's why they hate us…that's why they need us. That's why they take us…that's why they feed us" Hespith said. "But the true abomination…is not that it occurred, but that it was allowed. Branka…my love…"
"The Stone has punished me, dream-friend. I am dying of something worse than death…betrayal…" Hespith turned and to the shock of the party jumped to her death, there were no screams…no crying; only the distant sound of soft flesh hitting the ground.
Alistair sighed. "This was the only way this could have ended…at least she's free from her torment" He then frowned. "Branka has a lot to answer for…"
Paragon Caridin vanished in the eleventh year of the reign of King Valtor, and with the Paragon the entire process for golem manufacture was lost. Expeditions were sent into the Deep Roads to track him, but the darkspawn drove them all back.
Finally, in the second year of the reign of Queen Getha, one hundred and twenty six golems, the entire Legion of Steel, were sent to recover the Paragon. None returned.
The Shaper of Golems refused to support any further attempts to find Caridin, and the Paragon was officially declared dead. The Shaperate never recovered from the loss of an entire legion of golems, and never again allowed an all-golem regiment into the Deep Roads. - From Stone Halls of the Dwarves, by Brother Genitivi, Chantry scholar.
Anvil of the Void
The Anvil of the Void was a device used by the dwarves to create golems during the First Blight. It was forged by a dwarf of House Ortan named Caridin around -255 Ancient (940 TE). Caridin was made Paragon for his achievement. In -248 Ancient (947 TE), at the height of the battle against the darkspawn, Caridin vanished, and the Anvil of the Void's location was lost, seemingly forever…until now. The party made it to the chamber of the Anvil of the Void…golems littered the chamber in a line unmoving but they couldn't help but if they were anything like Shale…they were watching their every move.
"If Branka is anywhere, this has to be it. She prepares for everything" Oghren said.
"Including sacrificing her own people it seems" Leliana said. She then heard a crash. "What was that?!" The party looked back and saw rubble blocking their path.
"Another blocked entrance…fate does not seem to like us today" Zevran said. Footsteps approached in front of them and a light brown haired dwarven woman in heavy armor appeared before them….she did not like company.
"Let me blunt with you. After all this time, my tolerance for social graces is fairly limited" she said. "That doesn't bother you, I hope"
Oghren came forward. "Shave my back and call me an elf! Branka? By the Stone, I barely recognized you!"
Branka scoffed. "Oghren. It figures you'd eventually find your way here" She begins to turn. "Hopefully, you can find your way back more easily" Branka then looked at Jenra. "And how shall I address you? Hired sword of the latest lordling to come looking for me? Or just the only one who didn't mind Oghren's ale-breath?"
"Be respectful, woman! You're talking to a Grey Warden!" Oghren said.
Branka raised a brow. "Ah, so an important errand boy, then. I suppose something serious has happened. Is Endrin dead? That seems most likely, he was on the old and wheezy side" Jenra frown, her eyes were cold and empty…there was no remorse for what she did to her own people. She was a monster who let her ambitions come before the people she was supposed to protect, it made Jenra sick to his stomach that they needed help from someone so vile but they had no choice.
"He is dead, yes and the Assembly is deadlocked" Jenra said. "I need a king who will send troops to assist us against the Blight"
"I could care less about the Assembly or what drunken monkey they put on the throne"
"But if there's no one on the throne, Orzammar will tear itself apart in civil war" Wynne said.
"They are small compared to my goal, because our protector, our great invention, the thing that once made our armies the envy of the world, is lost to the very darkspawn it should be fighting" Branka said. "The Anvil of the Void, the means by which the ancients forged their army of golems and held off the first archdemon ever to rise…it's here, so close I can taste it"
"This is what's important. This has lasting meaning, if I succeed the dwarven people benefit. Kings, politics…all this is transitory" she said. "I've given up everything and would sacrifice anything to get the Anvil of the Void"
Alistair frowned. "Yeah, we know this…all too well…"
"What has this place done to you?! I remember marrying a girl you could talk for one minute and see her brilliance" Oghren said disturbed.
"I am your Paragon" she said coldly. She walked away and went deeper into the chamber…Oghren looked on dejected. Jenra placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Oghren…but Branka…Branka is too far gone"
Oghren sighed. "I know, well let's go…only way to go is forward, right?" The party followed Branka into the chamber where they saw dwarven corpses littering the ground. No darkspawn or any creature did this; they then heard Branka's voice.
"Caridin littered the Anvil's chamber with traps, no way to break through them except by trial and error. So I sent them in to test the traps" she said. "They didn't want to help me realize our people's glory; they tried to leave me, even my Hespith…but what they didn't understand is that they pledged themselves to me to be in my house. They were mine!" As the party came in deeper, they also saw darkspawn corpses…the darkspawn must have come in and attacked her party while they were forced to test the traps for Branka. It seemed some were even caught in the traps along with them.
"When you reach for greatness, there are sacrifices…as many sacrifices as needed" Branka said. "They swore that they would do whatever it took to find the Anvil, if they couldn't do that they shouldn't have pledged themselves to me"
Leliana frowned. "Damn that monster…people aren't tools for her to use!" she said. "She's no better than Marjolaine…" The party heard growls in front of them, darkspawn came and attacked them…not all of them were killed by Caridin's traps.
"Look alive, people!"
Branka shows her madness as the race of the Anvil intensify! Next Time! Review and Comment!
