Chapter 43: Depths of Depravity pt2
It is unknown who the Mother was before, but how she became the monster she is now is unfortunately very well known: the darkspawn gives her the taint by forcefully spewing their vomit into the poor woman's mouth. Soon she gains cannibalistic urges and greatly transform, eventually becoming fully-fledged broodmothers after devouring massive amounts of flesh, even including their kin. It truly is a fate worse than death. When the Architect awakened her, freeing her from the Call of the Old Gods, she remembered what she once was and what she had been forced to endure and that realization drove her into madness.
The Mother longs for the "sweet music" of the Archdemon because that song was the only thing that allowed her to remain unaware of what she had become. Enraged at the Architect, she convinced other awakened darkspawn to oppose the Architect's goals, while she struggles to re-connect herself and her 'children' to the Calling. The Mother hopes that if the Architect is destroyed, the "Song" will return to her. And if that is not possible, she will even welcome death if it means hearing that dark music again. Never have I seen a more pitiful creature…-Recollection of Jenra
Drake's Fall
"You…could have put an end to it all; you could have broken the cycle…" The Architect said. Underneath all that calmness, was a rage greater than the darkspawn had even felt before…more than the Mother's rebellion.
"There was too much risk involved with your plan; the fate of Thedas is not something I'm willing to gamble with" Jenra said.
"The blood spilled in the future shall be on your head" Jenra slammed his sword into the heart of the Architect silencing the darkspawn forever. Velanna quickly went up the stairs to see her sister, when she reached the top she found that Seranni was gone. Where could she have gone? Seranni couldn't have woken up that quickly. Velanna then heard Jenra call her, and with a heavy sigh the elf joined the rest of the party. The party continued on where they saw a legion of darkspawn ahead of them, were they remnants of the Architect's forces looking for revenge or was it the Mother's forces looking to destroy her only threat now? Either way it didn't matter, the party came too far to be stopped now.
"Crush their lines, we finish this today!" The party rushed the darkspawn, colliding with the horde. Jenra ducked under the armored ogre and climbed its back and impaled its head. Oghren tackled the Hurlock and broke its neck with his bare hands. A genlock lunged behind the dwarf with sword out, Oghren turned and knocked the darkspawn into the pit below. Velanna started a grease fire as the approaching darkspawn came while Nathaniel mowed them down with a rain of arrows. When the first wave was cut down, the party went forward to the third spiral staircase where they faced childer grubs.
Velanna rained lightning down on the grubs while Jenra and Oghren slaughtered every single one of them. The closer they approached the Mother's lair, the more and more the landscape looked like something out of a nightmare. The party reached the ground floor where a disciple and childer hatchlings were waiting for them. Nathaniel fired an explosive arrow at the horde and scattered them and then Velanna froze them solid so Jenra and Oghren could shatter them. When the party crushed the opposition, they found the ruin to be eerily quiet. There was only one way forward to go, a pit full of corruption leading down. They headed in to slay the Mother.
Drake's Fall-The Nest
The party made it under the ruins; the route they used was blocked black tendrils of corruption. There was no going back, the Mother made sure of that. Everywhere they looked there were egg sacs imbedded in the walls and floors of the ruins, some empty, others full and incubating waiting to hatch into childer and spread their terror. Just up ahead was the Mother herself, she looked different from other broodmothers but she was no less revolting. She stood all by her lonesome, no disciples, no ogres…nothing but her and her eggs. The party advanced on the Mother. The Mother just stood still until one of her tentacles moved and she rose up to face the party.
"If it isn't the hero of the hour" she said giving a low chilling chuckle. The Mother started to writhe and move with more energy as her voice became more manic. "The slayer of the mighty Father, come to claim a reward! Oh, what a delicious day!"
"What is that?" Nathaniel asked disturbed.
"Ugh, I knew broodmothers were ugly but this one takes the cake" Oghren said. "And that smell…by the ancestors, have they always smell this bad?"
"Creators preserve us; I have never seen such foulness!" Velanna said. The Mother saw their distress and chuckled as her multiple breasts jiggled as if the broodmother was doing a twisted version of seduction.
"Am I not beautiful?" The Mother asked as her demented laugh echoed in the air. "Has the Grey Warden come now to slay the Mother, too? Will she join the Father in oblivion?"
Jenra frowned. "By the Father, I suppose you mean the Architect"
"The Father, the Architect...whatever the name, it does not change what he was" The Mother said in great fury. "He said he wanted to free us, but all he brought us was silence. Oh, the dreadful, dreadful silence!"
Then the Mother gave the most joyous of laughter, which unnerved the party to no end. "But now the Father is gone. The Mother can take her children deep into the earth and care for them, safe and sound"
"Until the next time you send them to attack us again?"
"Oh, the Mother knows your ways. You will not let her be, no…not after what she's done"
"She's perceptive, I'll give her that" Oghren said dryly. All of the sudden, the party could feel the ground shake beneath them as spears of tentacles came shooting out of the ground. The party dodged and scattered.
"So it must end, it all must come crashing down!" She said manically gleeful. "Perhaps we'll hear the song again when we die! Oh, let it come! Let it come!" Flaps of skin opened up around her mouth, revealing a rows upon rows of sharp teeth as the Mother gave a loud, unholy scream. The eggs all around the nest started to hatch into childer grubs while the Mother's tentacles thrash all about.
"Watch for the tentacles" The party dodged the tentacles while the grubs advanced on them. Velanna casts a glyph of repulsion to push back the childer while Jenra and Oghren cut down. Nathaniel rapidly shot at the tentacles to bring down the Mother's defenses, Jenra and Oghren flanked the mother to slash her. The Mother screamed in pain as the warriors cut into her, the Broodmother started to glow and blew Jenra and Oghren back. A pulsating field of magic pushed the party back as more childer grubs hatched.
"A glyph? The Mother is a mage?!" Velanna asked shocked.
"A darkspawn of many surprises…" The party mowed down the grubs, newly hatched wasn't even close to being a threat they were simply thrown at them so the Mother could have time to recover. The Mother screamed again and another glyph appeared below the party, erasing the elf's spell. The grubs came at force this time while more of her tentacles shot from the ground, between the horde and the tentacles…the party were finding themselves quickly becoming tired. Velanna fell back to focus on casting large spell where the rest of the party were covering her. A large inferno soon erupted from the ground, Jenra and the others rolled away as the blaze burned the childer to cinders. They then focused on the tentacles and then on the Mother.
Streams of fire shot out of her hands and the party scattered, Jenra lunged at the Mother and plunge Night-fang into the broodmother's side. She thrashed about and threw Jenra off…Oghren came next hacking off tentacle after tentacle. The dwarf came close for the heard but was grabbed by another tentacle. The Mother laughed with mad glee as she was crushing the life out of Oghren, Nathaniel shot a rapid burst of arrows at the tentacles to make it drop the dwarf. Velanna cast a healing spell on the warriors and soon Jenra and Oghren were back on their feet.
Another tentacle came from the side, the elf struck the ground and a glaive of jagged rocks jutted out of the ground to impale and hold the tentacle in place. Oghren and Jenra headed for the Mother aiming for the broodmother's head…more tentacles shot from the ground but Nathaniel pinned them to the wall. One lone tentacle got free and struck Oghren but Jenra kept going, his sword glowing with spiritual energy. The Mother cast a fire spell; he dodges it and strikes her heart. The Mother thrashed about while Jenra held on. "Attack now!" Nathaniel fired arrow upon arrow at the broodmother's head while Oghren hacked off the tentacles. Velanna held the Mother down with roots and burned her limbs. Jenra took out his dagger and took a leap to the Mother's neck and plunged it deep. The Mother screams soon became silent as her body finally dropped…the insane broodmother was forever silenced.
Vigil's Keep-Three weeks later
After the deaths of both the Architect and the Mother, it was reported from the Keep's scouts that all of the remaining darkspawn fled back into the Deep Roads. The city guard captain also reported that raids on Amaranthine came to an end also. Many of the Architect's disciples survived and escaped into the Deep Roads with the rest of their brethren. Fearing retribution from the intelligent darkspawn both the Keep and Amaranthine bolstered their defenses but no attack came. Whether they were biding their time for the land to become complacent or they simply didn't wish to invite the wrath of the Grey Wardens that killed their savior was not known.
What was known however was that the Deep Roads would remain plagued by the darkspawn and that in time a new Blight will begin. The danger may have passed for now, but the cycle of the Old Gods continues. Word of the Grey Wardens' heroic salvation of Amaranthine spread like wildfire, gratitude and sympathy drove generous donations from all over Ferelden into the region's coffers. Soon Amaranthine would be restored to her former glory with estimates putting the recovery within a year, and Vigil's Keep in five. The valiant last stand at the Keep had drove recruitment numbers through the roof, with many coming from all over Ferelden to get the chance to fight alongside the Hero of Ferelden and his wardens. Recruits have been said to stand in awe of Vigil's Keep study dwarven walls that could stand up any boulders an ogre could throw and her soldiers all clad in armor and weapons made of the darkspawn bane, silverite. This reverence gave the Keep an almost mythic reputation and even started a few songs and stories.
Back at the Keep, while the rest of the party was enjoying some well-deserved rest Velanna was preparing her belongings for a long journey. Her younger sister was still out there, and Velanna would not rest until she found her. As she was heading out of the Keep, a voice called out.
"You don't know the meaning of rest, do you?" Nathaniel said.
"I cannot rest knowing my sister is still out there" Velanna said.
"Seranni has been heavily tainted from her time with the Architect; it may not be possible to save her"
"Then I will do what is needed, not as a warden but as her sister. I can't just leave it like this" Velanna said.
"I understand, just be careful out there…things would not be the same here without you" Nathaniel said. "Too much sunshine and smiles, can't have that can we?"
Velanna smiled a little as she walked out of the Keep. "The shem thinks he's funny"
"See you around, M'lady"
To catch a witch…Next Time! As always Review and Comment!