Mage Gothic - Legacy

Part 2

Carta Base. Vimmark Mountains.

After making our way through some lovely traps and more people trying to capture us, we eventually made our way into what appeared to be a base of operations for the Carta. Which was by the looks of things a series of old mines that been expanded in order to provide room for smuggled goods and to house members of the Carta.

I knew that the ranks of the Carta are composed of casteless dwarves who are forced to resort to crime so as to survive. Given no other alternatives in the grim world of Dust Town, and restricted from performing legitimate work, few casteless dwarves could resist joining with the Carta for their livelihood.

In more recent years the Carta and its dealings become a threat to even Orzammar itself as the "dusters" boldly walked the streets of Orzammar during the Fifth Blight, enacting an extortion and intimidation racket upon merchants in the Commons. Those Carta dwarves specialized in smuggling lyrium, weapons, and slaves, and they command a formidable racket in Dust Town, patronizing prostitutes, beggars, and businesses.

In the years following the end of the Blight, the Carta expanded its influence into the human city of Kirkwall. Although they do not operate as openly as in Orzammar they are still one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the city.

"Did anyone else hear that?" Anders asked

For sure I hadn't, and judging by the looks on their faces no one else in the group had either.

"I'm sensing something" he went on say "But I don't know what it is, and I can hear the music".

We all gave Anders very worried looks.

"Well, what do we have here?" I then heard Varric say.

I leaned over his shoulder to study the note. Which wasn't hard to do since he was short.

'Carver Hawke is with the Templars in Kirkwall we will need to find a way to draw out of the of the city' I read aloud. 'Bethany Hawke is in the Gallows, we must find a way to bring her here. Gothic Hawke lives in Hightown, he should be easy to take, and can be used to lure the children of Malcolm Hawke to us'

So that explained my part in this. They'd hoped to use me to lure Carver and perhaps Bethany out here.

"Kill whoever gets in your way, but do it quietly," I said, reading out the last part "and make sure the two Hawks remain unharmed. The Great One demands this of you and will reward you richly for your service'

"How is this connected to my Father?" Carver wondered.

I had no answers for him.

"Carta is all about gold, not blood," Varric said with a sigh. "This is aggravating."

Then the dwarf pulled out another piece of paper from the pile he'd found, and read it out.

"Like many of you, I was once a thieving wretch. I was a servant to coin and my base desires" Varric readout "Then I heard his call. Corypheus opened my eyes, just as he has opened yours, and he showed me what was true. What is the Carta when compared to him? Nothing but dust and ashes. Only he is eternal. We are his hands and eyes on the surface. We are the ones he honoured with his trust, to dig him from his prison. When he returns, we will be rewarded. Praise him! Praise him".

That sounded all cultish to me. My thing was that some fool of a mage had gotten themselves possessed and that a pride demon fancied itself as some of a god.

"Call?" Anders whispered, "Was there a message spread or…?"

He trailed off and said nothing more.

"That was some speech" Carver mused.

Varric nodded in agreement.

"Reads like a Chantry sermon" the dwarf muttered.

Having never attended one I wouldn't know.

"I found what seems to be a journal" Isabela informed us before handing it over to me "Maybe it will explain what in the Fade is going around here".

Slowly I flipped through some pages until I found a recent entry, then I read it out.

"The Wardens did not guard the key with care," I said "It was left in a repository, with objects of little worth. Trinkets. Dusty trophies. There wasn't even a guard posted. Fools. If only they knew what they had, and lost. However, it will not wake at my touch. It sleeps and the power remains within. The Great One says it requires Malcolm Hawke's blood to awaken it. Only then can its powers set him free. So, I will find the heir to the blood and the Great One will reward me".

So demons and blood magic, this could get messy.

"Keys and blood?" Carver whispered, "What did my Father get mixed up in?"

He wasn't the only one to speak.

"Are we just ignoring the fact that whatever is going on is mixed up with the Wardens?" Anders asked "Bloody typical",

The rest of us weren't Wardens, so we had no idea what their part in this was, and given that he was acting more on edge than normal I knew that I needed to keep an eye on him.

"Let's just look around some more," I said.

Surprisingly, the place was remarkably empty for a crime group's hideout, which meant there wasn't much to loot. It wasn't until we went further down beneath the ground that we even found another living person. He was a dwarf with knives sheathed on his back, and he didn't look well.

"The Hawke's blood!" he declared "The Master will rise! He will be free!".

I was starting to wonder if this Corypheus guy was just a powerful blood mage or perhaps something else. I was pondering this because from what I knew of blood magic it shouldn't be possible for one mage to twist so many minds. So perhaps my pride demon theory was correct.

"Gerav?" Varric said while slowly approaching the dwarf "Gerav, is that you?".

I was a little surprised at first to find out that my friend knew a Carta dwarf, but after thinking about I figured that really I shouldn't have been. It wasn't as everything he'd done with us was legal.

"V-Varric?" the other dwarf stammered out, "N-no one said you'd be part of this. We were just going after the Hawkes".

The dwarf in our group was not a happy bunny right now.

"What in the name of the Ancestors, the Stone, and Andraste's tits is going on here?" Varric demanded to know.

A question we all had on our minds I didn't doubt.

"The Master.. must be set free…" Gerav managed to say.

There was something really wrong with this dwarf, he seemed sick.

"Really, Gerav?" Varric replied "I thought better of you than this. I mean having the occasional competitor gutted for fun and profit is one thing, but this is insanity".

That I agreed with.

"We drink the darkspawn blood. He calls us!" the dwarf cried "The only way to hear the music".

Varric was becoming even more unhappy, and who could blame him given that this Gerav had been drinking darkspawn blood. He had turned himself into a kind of ghoul.

"There's no gold in hallucinations!" the dwarf in my group said.

Varric then took a few deep breathes and turned to face the rest of us.

"This is Gerav" he told us "He's a greedy, bastard son of a nug from the Carta".

Varric then turned to his fellow dwarf.

"The big guy in the Templar armour is Carver Hawke," Varric said "the one whose blood you want to drink, or bath in or something ridiculous like that".

Hearing that seemed to put some fire into the eyes of the Carta dwarf

"The Master is calling!" Gerav declared "He needs the blood!"

Again Varric tried to reach the dwarf he had know, but that person was long gone now.

"I've still got her, you know? Bianca. All modified just like we worked out together" my friend said "Never misfired a day in her life, not since you figured out the problem. You don't want her to see her papa like this, do you?"

Not for the first time, I found Varric's feelings towards his crossbow to be a little creepy.

"The blood," Gerav said as he reached out for Carver.

Before any of us could do anything. Varric had loosed a single bolt straight into the guy's chest.

"The poor stupid bastard" Varric cursed "I used to do business with the Carta, back in the day. Gerav was a nutcase then, too, but… well, in a good way. We worked together to make a repeating crossbow. Bianca's the only one that worked. I can't…"

His voice cracked as he looked away from the corpse.

"I can't believe he ended up like this" the dwarf was finally able to say.

The rest of us walked away to give him space, and so we could discuss what we thought was going on here.

"So, this Corypheus is some sort of darkspawn" Anders murmured softly "But that doesn't quite make sense. The 'music' is normally associated with Arch-demons, and there is no Tevinter god known as Corypheus".

Now I felt a little scared. Arch-demons were way worse than a demon-possessed mage.

"What if Coryphenus is an old name for one of the Tevinter gods" I wondered "Or what if he was a Tevinter god that people forgot about because not many people ever worshipped it".

Anders went pale.

"Listen to me all of you. If there is an Arch-demon around here and it wakes up that will cause another Blight," my fellow mage said "We can't let that happen, and if the Arch-demon is awake then I have to kill it now before the Blight can start. You can help, but I have to land the killing blow".

I understood why he would have to do it, but no one else did, and by now he had everyone's attention, so Anders went on to explain.

"Shouldn't we fetch some Wardens?" Merril asked once Anders had explained what he could about the Blight "and maybe an army or two".

If only we could.

"There's no time," I said "We have to stop whatever it is these dwarves are up to. If the Arch-demon is still sleeping then we can call for some Wardens, but if it's awake then we have to stop it now or the whole world will be in danger".

Carver spoke next.

"What would an Arch-demon need my blood for?" he wondered.

That was a good question.

(Line Break)

Carta Base. Vimmark Mountains.

"I swore to Corypheus I'd bring him Malcolm Hawke's blood," a dwarf said when we entered a large room "One way or the other".

Carver stepped forward upon hearing that, looking like a tough guy due to his heavy armour and his big sword.

"My father is dead" the Templar stated.

That didn't seem to matter at al to the Carta thugs all around us.

"But his blood lives in you," the dwarf said, "And what Corypheus wants, he gets".

When the fight started I threw a fireball and I fought the urge to groan when the dwarf I'd fired at just shrugged it off. Dwarven resistance to magic was a pain sometimes. The dwarf I'd just tried to burn came at me I dodged his swing of an axe, then I used my sword to block the next blow. With my free hand, I called forth lightning to my hands, discharged the magic at very close range. This time not even dwarven resistance to magic protected the crook.

Once this battle was over we looked around, there was some looting of bodies and looking about in nearby rooms.

"SISTER!" I heard Carver yell.

We all ran into a side room and once in there, I saw Bethany. She was waking up, no doubt due to Carver's shouting, as she stood I noticed a staff in her hands. It was very odd-looking, and my magical sense was telling me that the staff was very powerful.

"Carver, Gothic," she said in surprise.

He brother moved to give her a hug, but I stayed back.

"Hello, dear," I said when she turned to face me "Its been a while".

(Line Break)

Corypheus's Prison. The Deep Roads

"We're in the Deep Roads," Varric said in a rather irate tone of voice "Andrastes's flaming… something or other. We're in the Deep Roads, again!".

The gates behind us then slammed shut, cutting us off from the mines. Which meant we couldn't get out, at least not the way we'd come in.

"If someone had told me that we'd get trapped in the Deep Roads, I think I would've just stayed in bed today" Fenris muttered.

Had he known, he would have come anyway. I was sure of that.

"Wish I had a map for this section," Anders said as he came up to stand next to me "There is something strange about the area".

To me, it looked just like the Deep Roads I'd seen before.

"I thought I heard that song again" the possessed mage then said.

Now I was worrying again about Anders, more so than normal, that is, so I tried to cheer him up.

"Well, there's one good thing about being trapped in the Deep Roads," I said to the mage.

He was too distracted to reply, so someone else did.

"Yeah?" Varric asked, "What's that".

I smirked.

"For once we don't have to worry about the templars!" I cheered.

Anders and I chuckled. Carver just smirked.

"There's another bright side, Goth," Varric said "A chance to find more treasure".

I'd settle for just living through this. Although that was doubtful we would if we did end up fighting an Arch-demon. Yet we had to try because a Blight could end the world as we knew it and none of us could be selfish enough to run away from something like that. Going for help, assuming that anyone would believe us, would take too long.

"No place to go other than onwards," I then said to the whole group "Come on"

When we got to the next room, something strange happened.

"Be bound here for eternity. Hunger stilled. Rage smothered. Desire dampened. Pride crushed. In the name of the Maker, so let it be".

"That was was father's voice," Bethany said.

We listened and soon heard some more.

"I could do nothing about the Wardens' use of demons in this horrid place. But I will have no one say any magic of mine ever released one into the world".

"It's lingering magic," Anders explained.

The Grey Warden was now studying the walls. He ran his fingertips over the carvings on them, like he was trying to read them.

"I recognise a few glyphs here" my fellow mage went on to say "We're dealing with old magic, very old magic".

Which wasn't very helpful to hear.

"So, is Father's past trying to kill us?" Carver wondered.

Before anyone else could speak, Anders got our attention.

"There's a Warden over there," he told us "I can sense him".

We all moved as we followed the possessed mage.

"Father had business with Wardens?" I heard Carver say to his sister "Why didn't he ever tell us".

There was no time for the twins to discuss that as we had now found the Grey Warden that Anders had sensed. When I saw the man I almost thought he was a ghoul, but from what I'd heard they couldn't talk so it was a shock when he did.

"The key!" the old warden shouted "Did they find it? The dwarves?"

I felt sure that someone would have answered him if given the chance.

"Yes, I heard them… looking… digging…" the Warden said, "Did... they.. find it?"

The man moved in a strange way, he seemed almost disabled, but he wore the armour of a warrior, that was not something a cripple would wear.

"Are you talking about this?" Bethany asked the Warden as she held out her new staff "Because I'm not sure how it's a key. I was just made to hold it".

By the Carta dwarves who wanted Hawke blood, so there had to be a connection there.

"Magic...old magic... Magic from the blood" the Warden said "It made the seals... It can destroy them."

By now I'd had enough of the old man's ramblings.

"Look, we came in here to try and find this Corypheus," I told the crazy person "Do you know where or even what he is?".

I still held hope that this wasn't the start of another Blight.

"Don't say his name!" the man warned "He will hear you!... You must not wake him...the key".

I actually liked hearing that.

"So he's not awake yet," I said "that's good news. Maybe we can kill him before he wakes up".

A sleeping untainted dragon was not the threat an Arch-demon was.

"Yes, I can show you… yes…Follow me. Down and in. Down... and in" crazy guy was now saying "I know the prison's secrets...Seals lock you in. All come in, none may leave. Not without the key. No way back. No way up. The only way out is down and through the heart".

The man's voice had become firmer, it was if having a purpose was giving him the strength he required to think more clearly.

"We don't want to leave yet," I said to the old Warden "We need to kill the thing whose name you told us not to say".

Although how we would kill a sleeping dragon was something I hadn't figured out yet, but we had to find the thing first. Then we could worry about slaying the beast.

"This way… this way!" the broken man urged.

Lacking any other ideas we started to follow.

"So, that's what happens to Wardens who don't die fighting the Darkspawn" Anders whispered tot he group "We're supposed to get ourselves killed before it happens".

I spent a moment wondering if the Warden-Commander would end up like that one day. Anders wouldn't, as he would die a long time before he felt the Calling, and I might be the one to kill him. Those were dark thoughts.

(Line Break)

Corypheus's Prison. The Deep Roads

We didn't really have to go far to find the next obstacle. A magic seal made of wavering gold light blocked the only door. My attention was drawn to the pedestal in the centre. Magic bubbled out of it, escaping into the air.

"The two are connected," Anders told us "If we're going forward, we've got to shut it off".

Bethany then stepped forward.

"Well, that Warden called this staff a key," she said, "I'll try to unlock the door".

Hopefully, it would that simple.

"So, anyone else thinking that we should prepare for… I don't know, the end of the world?" Varric deadpanned as Bethany stepped up to the pedestal. "Just in case?"

Luckily we did prepare for something bad to happen, so when the demon appeared it was blasted by the mages of the group, and then finished off by the warriors in short order. After that, I turned around and found the mad Warden sulking in the shadows.

"So, do all the seals have that kind of defence?" I asked him dryly, pointing to the defeated pride demon "Because that would've been a good thing to know before Bethany unlocked it".

It seemed that even crazy Wardens didn't like to share information. It was annoying.

"Two thousand years and the magic holds," he responded.

The wacky Warden wasn't looking at any of us, but the dulled pedestal that Bethany was no longer standing on.

"But give it the key, and the magic will return to it" the mad man went on to say "The blood works".

This guy really wasn't being helpful. I had no idea if what we were doing would awaken an Arch-demon, or allow us to kill it before it woke up, or if there was even an Arch-demon involved. I still had no idea what this Corypheus was. It was all so confusing.

"What's your name?" I heard Anders ask "Do you even remember?".

The whacky Warden stopped rambling and looked at my fellow mage.

"Name?" the Warden said.

He blinked a few times in confusion before speaking again.

"It's been… so long since I've used my name" he then said "La… Lay…?"

He needed a few moments to focus before he could finally give Anders the information he had requested.

"Larius! I was Larius!" the crazy Warden declared "and there was… a title. Commander... Commander of the Grey!".

Bethany then stepped forward, and for a moment I wondered if the Templars had designed the robes that mages wore in the Circle of Magi because they were really unattractive, but then I focused on the here and now.

"That magic…" my wife started to say.

She never actually asked the question, however she got an answer of sorts.

"Yes, inside your blood," Larius said "You heard it. The magic calls to it. Reads the thoughts of those who hold it. The last… ah, I was there, before… before I became like this".

We all waited to see if the former Warden-Commander would say anything else.

"Corypheus calls!" Larius shouted suddenly "In the darkness!

With that, the crazy Warden vanished back into the shadows and I watched him leave before turning to the others.

"So, what do we do?" I asked all of my companions "Any ideas".

Since I was still very confused about what was going I wanted everyone's opinions.

"I vote we keep going," Carver said.

Anders nodded in agreement.

"The longer we're here, the higher the chance someone will get infected with the Taint," the mage said, "and if there is Arch-demon then we have to try to kill it for the sake of the whole world".

Having been infected once I knew how horrible it was, and I had no desire to see anyone of my friends turned into ghouls. Plus no one wanted an Arch-demon to wake up, it could lead to the end of the world as we knew it.

"Okay so we go forward," I said.

That seemed to be the only thing we could do, and while Fenris, Isabela, Merril, Varric and Bethany didn't express their opinions they didn't protest either.

"So Varric" I heard Isabela say as we got moving again "How is this going to fit in your grand tales? The Hawke family and friends walked for a really long time in dark, nasty tunnels?".

The dwarf avoided answering the question

"Nothing interesting in this room," Varric stated.

On the surface, it did just seem to be another empty room, but there was something here, it just wasn't physical.

'I may have left the Circle, but I made a vow. My magic will serve that which is best in me, not that which is most base'

"You know, I can remember Father saying that to you" Carver whispered to his sister.

Since there was nothing else here we got moving again.

"What's wrong, Goth?" Varric asked me "Tired?"

That wasn't what only was wrong with me.

"A bit," I admitted "I'm also depressed by the fact that every time we all get together it leads to fighting monsters. Just once couldn't we go for a nice peaceful walk in the countryside or take a trip to the beach".

Varric found that amusing.

"Gothic, the day you go to the beach is the day an armada of angry zombie pirates show up" the dwarf joked "Trouble just seems to focus on you, for some reason".

At this point being attack by undead pirates would not surprise me in the least.

"Yar, brains," I said in a bad pirate accent.

That made more people chuckle.

"Well, at least you get a lot of stories out of stuff like this" Merril said to Varric "I just get bad memories".

She clearly wasn't enjoying this trip, and neither was Anders by the sounds of things.

"I'm not listening," I barely heard Anders whisper "I'm not listening!".

This place was a magnet for crazy Wardens it seemed.

'I've bought our freedom, Leandra. We can go home now, us and the baby. I hope it takes after you, love. I would wish this magic on no one. May our children never learn what I've done here'.

"Sunshine, are you crying?" Varric asked.

I turned to see that Beth did have tears in her eyes, but rather than comfort her I moved away and pretended to be looking around. I wanted to act as if she wasn't here because I didn't want to open up to her. It would hurt more later on when she returned to the Gallows if I allowed myself to feel anything for her now. However, I got the feeling that I'd get hurt despite my efforts.

"Just got a bit overwhelmed" I heard her say.

I then went over to Anders, and even while asking him how he was I realised that I should be doing my best kept emotional distance from his as well as I might have to kill him one day. That day might be soon if he lost control.

"I'm fine," Anders reassured weakly "It's fine. I'll be fine".

I wasn't convinced but I didn't press the issue. If he lost control I'd have put him down, and I really didn't want to have to deal with that.

"If you're sure," I said.

Next, I diverted my attention to what else was being talked about.

"I never knew that Father didn't want a child with magic," Carver was saying "Well, he got that one wrong".

We all ignored him and headed for the next seal. This time, Bethany walked up to the pedestal without a word. I watched as she held out the staff and did whatever it was she needed to do. Then a giant swirling vortex of magic erupted nearby, and this signalled the appearance of another Pride Demon, and unlike before this one brought some lessor demons with it. I brought my hands up and launched multiple fireballs at one of the pride demons, aiming for its legs and arms in an attempt to keep it occupied.

As it stumbled, I channelled a bolt of lightning and aimed right at the creature's head. This didn't kill the monster and I had to ignore the yells and shouts from my companions so that I could end this demon. I had to trust them to take care of themselves as I made sure to do my own part. It was hard, though. I kept wanting to check on them. But if I got distracted from throwing fire and lightning at the pride demon that refused to die, then we'd all suffer. When it finally died, I looked around and saw that the battle was over

"Everyone okay?" I asked.

They were alive but we would all need some time to rest.

"The magic grows lax," the crazy warden said as he randomly appeared "He feels you walk where no steps go".

I hated cryptic bullshit.

"What is this Corypheus?" I demanded to know

We needed answers so I risked saying the name.

"He calls like an old god, mimics their cry" Larius told us "He calls for them to free them. The dark children and grey. All with the Taint in their blood."

I glanced at Anders and wondered if that was what he was hearing.

"He is more than darkspawn. More than human. He thinks, talks. He pierces the Veil" the crazy warden went on to say.

I was still totally confused but thankfully the less insane Grey Warden wasn't as lost.

"So, Corypheus is an Awakened darkspawn" Anders realised "The Wardens have encountered them before".

I gave him a questioning look.

"When I was with the Wardens I met an Awakened darkspawn called The Architect" he explained.

Now I had an understanding of what this Corypheus was and what he could do if he woke up, or at least enough to know that we didn't want him to leave this prison.

"Not quite that," Larius said "But… perhaps close. He wants what was once his. He calls. Dreams. But does not know".

This was less helpful than what he'd told us before.

"When the seals are gone, he will wake" the former Warden-Commander went on to say "And he must die".

I for one had no problem with waking Corypheus up so that we could kill him.

"No, I cannot stay" Larius went on to say "The song is too strong for me here."

With that, the crazy Warden raced away again and soon disappeared from sight.

"Okay," I said "Voting time. Who wants to go kill this Awakened darkspawn guy and then get the hell out of here".

Everyone else was on board with this plan so we got moving again.