Deesh had finished creating the molds for Wade to work with and was waiting for the modifications to be complete. Deesh caught wind of a new scent heading her way, mixed with a familiar one. "So how many more vagabonds will we be picking up this time?"
Shadow was holding up an orange kitten, "Would you say no to this face?"
Deesh looked to the cat, not really showing any opinion, "So long as you're willing to take on the burden of caring for it and its stays out of our way in battle."
"You know he won't be much trouble as long as he stays in the pack. So where are we going next?"
Theron soon joined them along with the newest Warden among their ranks, "We still need to go down into the basement to check the damage from the siege."
"Darkspawn tunnels?"
"No. One of the dwarves the Wardens hired, Dworkin. His explosives shock up the place. We need to assess how bad it is down there."
"Sounds like fun." Though from Shadow's pack a tiny noise started scratching at the inside. "Oh, sorry little guy," she pulled out the kitten, "you must be hungry."
Anders moved closer, "Ah, who's a cute little kitten. He looks just like Mr. Wiggums, an old mouser back in the tower."
Shadow seemed reluctant, but she held out the kitten, "Do you want to carry him?"
"Are you giving him to me?"
"Well, I tend to occasional get into the thick of the battle. You're a mage, and tend to be in back… He'd probably be safer with you."
Anders took the kitten, "He'll be safe. So, did you name him?"
Shadow shock her head, "I hadn't thought of one yet."
Anders raised the little cat in his hands, "Them I'll call you Ser Pounce-a-lot! Why don't we see how you like my pack?"
While they moved the kitten, Deesh had snuck off already. Shadow looked around, "I swear, if she pops up behind me when she does that, I'm gonna hitting her."
She might have cleared out the basement, were it not for one of the soldiers stopping her, "Let me through, human."
"And I told you I don't know you! You can't just go wherever you please. Especially down there." She soon spotted Theron and the others arriving, "Ah, Commander. Could you please tell this…person that we can't let anyone down there?"
"At ease, she's with us." Deesh didn't seem like the type to be smug about that, though she was waiting for the soldier to move aside. "We're ready to proceed."
She nodded, "Please follow me." The Vigil goes deep. Real deep. The hallways down here have been crumbling for years and decades. And that blasted Dwarkin's explosives didn't do the structure any favors."
Theron looked past the sergeant to the stairs and debris, "How far down do they go?"
She shook her head, "No one knows. The Vigil's always been here. Since the barbarians, they say. Who knows what's at the bottom?"
Deesh didn't like this, "It sounds like this was one of their points of entry…"
The sergeant seemed to agree, "No one saw the darkspawn approach on the surface."
Deesh nodded to Theron, turning to the sergeant, "Have the men clear the rubble."
"You heard the commander. Put your back into it." The workers got to work, dragging away the debris. As the last of the cleaning crew pulled away, she turned to Theron, "This is where you come in. Who knows what's up ahead? We'll be back here."
Deesh took the first steps down the stairs, finding a room with stone statues along the wall and serpentine sculptures wrapped around half the support pillars. Around them were dead darkspawn and a pained mabari laying near a door. Deesh examined the darkspawn, judging that the lone mabari was responsible for these darkspawn.
The mabari was in obvious distress, though Deesh managed to calm it down, gently petting it as the mabari eased up. While calming the war dog, Deesh found a scroll tied to the collar. After applying a healing poultice to the dog, she pulled the parchment off to see what was written on it.
The note was written hastily, probably in the hopes that the mabari would have been able to fight its way back to the surface to find help. There was a name at least, Adria, along with a few other servants tried to avoid the battles by going further down. That got someone's attention, "Adria!" Nathaniel grabbed the scroll, "She was…she was like a mother to me. We must save her."
Theron grabbed Nathaniel's shoulder, "We'll do everything we can."
Deesh obviously had her doubts that this servant could have survived so long in potentially infested tunnels, though she wasn't going to ruin the delusion the Howe boy was telling himself.
They followed the hall down, though Shadow stopped them, "We've got movement up ahead."
Deesh pulling out her swords, "Not the friendly kind…"
Everyone got their weapons ready, Theron and Nathaniel both notched an arrow together as they searched for a target. "Emissary, far right."
"I've got it."
"On three… Three!" The two arrows flew true, striking the emissary in the head with both arrows as Oghren, Shadow and Deesh rushed into the room. The darkspawn were completely caught off-guard, though they rushed to meet their opponents.
Theron fired a second arrow into one of the hurlocks carrying a battle axe, knocking him off balance as Shadow grabbed the things horned helmet and threw it to the ground. While holding it down she blasted its face with the strange dark energy from the palm of her hand. That of course had Nathaniel and Anders surprised by her unusual abilities, but the others had become fairly accustom to them.
Deesh easily sidestepped her opponent, diving under a lunging sword to drive a dagger into the spine. Oghren being Oghren, simply overpowered his opponent in a great axe fight, slicing into the darkspawn and slaying it in a single swing.
"What in Andraste's knicker weasels was that?"
Shadow kicked the darkspawn, making sure it was dead. "If you're talking about the darkspawn, I figured you'd have seen enough of them to know. If you're talking about what I did, that was me tapping into the Void. It's not exactly magic, but it's definitely not lyrium. I'd be more than willing to talk shop with you later Anders, but we are in the middle of an extermination job."
"Agreed. Once we're back on the surface things should be safer for you two to talk." Theron moved to a nearby door, opening it to check inside. It was an old wine cellar, most of it collapsed in though there were a few things that was salvable.
Among the salvage was a bottle that was full and still corked. He tossed it back to Oghren, "Oh, West Hill Brandy. You do remember."
Deesh had moved to a door to the opposite of the collapsed wine cellar, finding a small collection of books and a Andrastian statue. Deesh and her deepstalkers could smell something was hiding in the confined room, waiting to spring a trap.
Deesh was slightly hesitant to use her magic in the confined space, though it was only because of the books that filled the shelves. Though with how long they have been down there, the contents of the books were probably ruined regardless.
Her fingers started to spark with energy, carefully looking around to find her target. "Sunder and torn. The violent roar of nature unfurled." She started to fire the bolts of lightning into the room, burning books that were struck. Though eventually one of the bolts struck a shriek as it branched out to two more hidden shrieks in the room.
Deesh was worried that her mana might run out before the shrieks were killed, though as Lady Luck would have it they all soon died. She soon entered the room, examining the place. Most of the books were gone, and those that were still legible weren't worth pulling. Given the religious importance of Andraste, the statue was the more interesting aspect to the room.
To these humans, Andraste was like one of the Divine, or Talos to some of the Nords. They wouldn't house such a revered figure in such a private place unless they were trying to avert eyes. There was a plaque on the statue that read: 'Andraste was bathed in fire before the Maker's eyes.'
The fact that a torch sat next to the statue and another bookcase. Deesh pulled on the sconce as the bookcase moved to reveal a hidden chest. Inside were some expensive salves and a ring. She pocketed the item and returned to the main path and follow the others.
She found them in a dungeon with seven ghoulified corpses along with a dead soldier, most likely unfortunate prisoners who caught the Blight when the guard was passing them food.
The remaining prisoners survived thanks to their iron bars keeping them in. "Oh, thank the Maker! Please let us out!"
Theron had already picked up the keys from the dead guard and was unlocking their cage, "You're free. When you get to a guard near the surface, tell her I freed you."
The moment the gate opened the prisoners ran toward the surface, "Quick, before more of those things come!"
Deesh didn't bother with the fleeing humans, more interested in another door leading down. "Howe, where does this one lead?"
Nathaniel walked over to where Deesh was looking, "That? It's supposed to be an old avvar tomb. I might be able finagle the lock."
"Have you snuck your way in here before?"
Nathaniel worked on the lock, "Once or twice…"
Shadow watched as the door opened, "Adding tomb raiding to your list of talents?"
"Not the first, and certainly won't be the last." Deesh boldly delved into the tomb, looking around at the sarcophagi and two statues. There was definitely a strange magic in the air, probably going to cause the corpses to rise and attack, just like draugr. However whatever trinkets might be left in those sarcophagi were as mysterious as a sack that was in the lower part of the chamber, sitting next to a support column. The bag was relatively new compared to the tomb, meaning it was lost or left there on purpose.
It was only going to be a matter of time when someone summoned forth the undead, so Deesh took the initiative of awakening them herself. She moved to one of the closest sarcophagus and knocked the cover off. Deesh appeared to turn away from the open casket but she moved aside, avoiding a sword that was thrusted at her.
She ripped the sword away, along with the bony arm attached to it, crushing the skull before the skeleton could climb out. The other lids were soon thrown off as skeletal warriors clambered out.
Theron and Nathaniel quickly drew an arrow, targeting the archers that were trying to aim at them. Oghren rushed downstairs, swinging his axe at the two crawling out of their tombs, cutting down both skeletons in two.
Anders was about to blast one of the walking undead, though he had to stop himself when Shadow warped above it and kicked it down and crushed the skull. "Alright, that was a thing." Shadow turned to Deesh, "And was it all worth it?"
Deesh was already downstairs, looking at the content of the sack. Her reaction didn't seem to change though she tightened the bag again before tossing it to Theron. He took a glance inside to see what was inside. With a smile, he turned to Nathaniel and prepared to pull a large object from it.
Nathaniel was taken back by the bow now before him. "Is this what I think it is?" Nathaniel took the bow handed to him, "It is! That's the Howe crest burned into the wood right there. This is my grandfather's bow. Or, rather, my grandfather was the last to use it. It was originally made for an ancestor during the Exalted Marches."
"It's yours now."
Nathaniel smiled to Theron, "Thank you. it's good to have a part of my family's legacy again, something to be proud of."
Shadow pat his back, "Something that may help to redeem your family's name in the eyes of Ferelden." That seemed to give some hope to Nathaniel, though they still had a task to complete.
Continuing through the prison they entered a store room that had opened up to a cavern where a group of humans were digging. Nathaniel saw the woman, trying to rush to her. Deesh and Theron had to stop him as he cried out, "No. No, Adria… We have to help her. There must be some way…" His yelling unfortunately had garnered their attention as the woman turned to them, "Adria?"
The ghoulification of Adria had gone far. Her screeching showed how degraded she had become, with no means of helping her beyond the sword. Nathaniel couldn't raise his bow against her, turning to one of the others and firing his arrows.
Theron followed suit, keeping from hitting Adria, though Deesh had no such reservation. She rushed toward the woman, knocking one of her weapons away and locked with her second. Anders blasted a ghoul that was trying to flank Deesh, not that she needed his help. With a swift drift, she ran her dagger up Adria's jaw and into threw her to the ground. Deesh ran to another ghoul, though stopped when Oghren slammed his axe into his back.
Shadow had little trouble knocking around the last ghoul, looking around to the dead. "That was unfortunate…"
Theron reassuringly put a hand on Nathaniel's shoulder, "Are you alright?"
Nathaniel looked to Adria's corpse, "I never thought…"
Deesh pulled her dagger from Adria, "Think of this as a kindness. If she had found a nest, they would have feed the men to her and turned her into a broodmother to birth more of those monsters."
Despite his joking nature, Anders also tried to be reassuring, "Well we can only hope that her passing was a painless one."
"It was," Deesh hissed.
Though not long after that Sergeant Maverlies found them down in the tunnel, "You murdered a slew of darkspawn there. I…well, you hear the stories about you and the Wardens. But to see it firsthand…"
Theron joked with her, "The other Wardens didn't inspire you?"
She nodded, "Oh, they did too. Even though the attack was a surprise, they killed droves of darkspawn. Just ask the poor maids who have to clean it up. But you…you're something else." She looked up to the rubble they found, "Anyway, it looks like the explosives caved this section in. I brought along Master Voldrik—"
The dwarf stonemason looked around, "So this is how you humans ply your stonecraft? Disgraceful, that is. What, this would barely last a few centuries. I wager these passages may go far enough to connect to the Deep Roads."
Theron could only imagine the danger that could come from this, "We need to seal this section off."
Voldrik was checking around the rock, "We've my brother's bombs—but no, there's too many passages to block. This is a grave matter. If we don't shut these tunnels, the darkspawn can attack from below again."
Maverlies shuttered at the thought, "Andraste's blood, there are basement entrances throughout the keep. There's no way to defend against that."
Voldrik pulled at one of the smaller rocks, "Then we follow the tunnels and hope to find a single point to block off. Never you fear, lass. With the Warden's muscle and my stonecraft, we'll find a way."
Theron nodded, "Let me know as soon as you clear the passage."
Maverlies was confident in their skills, "We'll need some time. But as soon as we clear it, we'll let you know."
Deesh had finished her scavenging of a dead knight and some rubble. "Then let's head back to the keep."
Maverlies didn't seem to hold much thought of Deesh, though she also seemed to assume that she's nothing more than a scavenger hanging around the Wardens. "Of course."
The trip back was obviously uneventful, though the moment they got to the surface Deesh made her way over to the forge. She placed an ore onto the table, "Here, a sample found underneath our very feet."
Herren took the sample, "This will help a great deal." After a short examination, he was happy to find what it was, "Veridium."
Wade wasn't as thrilled by the ore, "Armor and weapons could be made with this."
Herren smiled, "Of course, we'll need the Commander's permission to have some soldiers to guard the miners."
Deesh waved Theron over. "We need to allocate some soldiers to mine ore to improve their equipment. It shouldn't be that many," turning to Harren for an answer.
"Not at all. The miners know what they're doing. They'll all be back in one piece."
Theron nodded, "Alright, you'll have the men you'll need."
Wade was being pouty about the whole deal, "So I'm to make armor for all Amaranthine's rabble? Herren, you abuse me so. It's unconscionable."
Herren nonchalantly pointed, "Commander's orders."
Wade conceded, "Fine, fine. I'll work. But I want a challenge one day. Something to sink my teeth into."
Deesh almost hissed, "What about my boots? Were they not an exhilarating project?"
Wade shrugged, "I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I want to work with something that no one has ever crafted with. Speaking of…" He then pulled out the one he finished working with. "I wanted to see what you thought about some of these changes."
Herren poked at Wade, "Master Wade, seeking advice from the customer?"
"This is a unique project. I want to know how she feels about the changes."
Deesh had already begun her examination, moving her hand inside while also looking over the physical changes. "Just as I was hoping for."
"And," Wade put out the former heel and toe covering, "put these together you could hide a small weapon or something."
"Very inventive. It could have been something I thought of." Deesh continued to test the feel of the boot with her hand, "This feels like what I want. I'll be waiting for the second when it's ready."
