Chapter 22: Enemies Among Us pt2
The Blooming Rose
Located in Hightown's Red Lantern District is the Blooming Rose. It is a brothel where the coin is good no matter which walk of life one comes from. For a mere fifty silvers, a man in poverty could have a selection of an elven woman, an eleven male or human male. For one sovereign the selection becomes exotic with an elven woman, a human man, and a dwarven man. Finally there is the premium price for two sovereigns one has the selection of an elven woman, an elven drag queen and one human man. Needless to say, the Rose caters to all sexual preferences and fetishes and the madam of the establishment is known for her discretion. The gang was in the Blooming Rose continuing their search for the Keran and the other missing Templars. The Rose was full of both returning customers and new customers looking to have their fun for the evening.
Recently, the Rose has branched out and was now selling ales to attract more customers…the brothel soon became a threatening rival to the Hanged Man. Ericks walked towards one of the waitresses, she looked the rogue up and down and gave a sultry smirk. "You looking for a good time, honey?"
"Hmm tempting but alas I'm looking for some missing Templar recruits" Ericks said. "They were last seen here"
"You'll have to be specific; a lot of Templars do business here"
"The Templars are the ones who want this information" The waitress was hesitant, while the establishment was popular with the run of the mill Templar the same could not be said about the leadership who expected more from members of the Order. Therefor the Rose has made a lot of coin off of nervous Templars that expect some privacy. "I'll be discreet" She walked to the log book.
"Let's see…Wilmod…Keran…" she said. "Ah! Wilmod came here a lot, you sure he had time to be a Templar?"
"The both of them last saw 'Idunna the Exotic Wonder from the East'"
Isabela raised a brow. "Exotic Wonder? Really?"
"Better than the 'Tramp from Darktown'" the waitress said. "You should hear her other names"
"So that's it?" Ericks asked.
"Unless you want Wilmod's favorite position, I think you have what you need" she said. "And you didn't hear this from me, you hear?" Luckily for the gang, Idunna was upstairs in one of the rooms waiting for her next client. The woman was fair skinned with dark red hair and light blue eyes; she wore a purple and pink dress. Idunna definitely played up her stage name; one would never know she was a local from Darktown.
"You must be the 'Exotic Wonder of the East'" Idunna turned around. "Do you remember 'entertaining' a Templar named Wilmod a few weeks ago? Or Keran?"
"Wilmod, Wilmod. That doesn't sound familiar"
"Do your clients like this charade? It must get dreadfully tiresome" Ericks said.
Idunna was taken aback. "Wh…Whatever do you mean?" The wench walked toward the other side of the bed and sat down. "Questions are boring. Why don't we have some real fun?"
"Hawke, go easy on this lovely…creature" Ericks and the others looked at Varric; the dwarf had a look of desire one his face.
"You should listen to your friend"
"We have to ask her about Keran. What's your problem?"
"Yes, yes but certainly there's no harm in having a little pleasure with business?" Varric said dreamily. A voice started whispering in the back of the gang's head, this voice told them to give in to her charms and beauty. And another voice was telling them to fight it, but that voice grew fainter and fainter.
"As charming and relentless as you are, I'm here to investigate"
"Answer one of my questions first" Idunna said. "Who told you about little old me?" Ericks was then enveloped in fog, the rogue couldn't hear anything except the wench's voice not even his own. He tried to resist but Idunna's allure was too great, now Ericks understood how Wilmod and Keran went missing. Idunna was a mage with the ability to take someone else's mind but there was no casting of a spell just her…so how was she enthralling them?
"It was….Viveka. She showed me….her books" Ericks strained. It felt like someone was squeezing his brain, the more the rogue wanted to resist the more his brain was squeezed like a fruit.
Idunna gave a smug smirk. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" she asked while getting off the bed. "So Viveka sold me out, did she? That drab, pathetic little sewer rat, she will be dealt with" The wench caresses Ericks face. "Such a shame to waste a handsome man like you, but alas I can't let you get in my way"
"Be a dear, draw your blade, and bring it gently across your throat" Ericks saw his arm move of its own volition for a knife on his belt. He saw as he placed his own blade across his neck. Ericks eye went to Bethany, she had managed to resist the wench's spell just barely.
"Betty…make her…stop!"
"Let go…of my friends!" Bethany with the remainder of her strength cast a erasing spell to break Idunna's spell. The wench's eyes went wide.
"How did you…? Oh, shit!" Once Ericks was released, he gripped the knife and pinned Idunna to the wall with his knife pointed at her neck. The wench looked into Erick's silver-blue eyes and they looked murderous.
"Spare me, messere!" She said fearfully.
"What did you do to us?" the rogue asked in cold rage.
"B…Blood and desire, in equal measure. An art I learned from…elsewhere"
"Blood magic, then?"
"Yes, messere. Please don't kill me"
"You're going to answer all my questions and so help me if there's even a hint of magic…" Idunna quickly answered Ericks' questions. A mage named Tarohne placed her here, to send compliant Templar recruits to someplace called Three Spear Alley, in the Undercity. Indunna enchanted Wilmod and Keran weeks ago, but after they left she had no idea what became of them.
"Please, let me live. It's not my fault; it was all Tarohne's idea"
"Who is this Tarohne?" Tarohne was a fanatical mage that hated Knight-Commander Meredith and Templars with a passion. She wanted to destroy the Templars from the inside and recreate the Tevinter Imperium of old where mage ruled not serve. "This base of yours…how many other mages are there? Any other defenses?"
People go in and out all the time. Sometimes a handful, sometimes more" Idunna said. "There are traps, magical traps. There's a hidden switch at the front…it turns them off"
"Th…That's all I know" She said fearfully. "Now will you let me go?"
"What do you think?" Idunna eyes went wide as she pleaded for her life; Ericks quickly slit the wench's throat and dropped her to ground. They quickly left to the Undercity; it was the Rose's problem now.
Sanctuary-Undercity
When people in Kirkwall get so impoverished that not even Darktown can keep them, they go to the final level in this city, the Undercity. If Darktown is the sewers for Lowtown and Hightown, the Undercity is the sewers for Darktown, people who live here are not just forgotten, they are erased and without hope forced to scavenge the city's waste to keep going for one more day. The poor souls here fall victim to other desperate scavengers, as well as slavers looking for an easy catch. Local legends state that when Kirkwall was under the control of the Tevinter Imperium, the magisters of old preformed a mass sacrifice of their slaves for the favor of the Old Gods…the river of blood fell to the Undercity to create monsters that dwell in this forsaken hell. Monsters that are said to be around to this day.
The gang arrived in the Undercity and already their hair stood on end but Bethany had it the worse. She looked physically ill, there was a tear in the Veil here…no, not a tear…a tear was too trivial for what she feeling. There was a immense gaping void here, and it was black and full of hopelessness…no mage no matter how powerful or numerous was going to seal something like this. Ericks place a hand on Bethany's shoulder. "You doing alright, Betty?"
"I'll…make do, but we need to hurry and take care of this quickly" Bethany said. "This is a breeding ground for demons…" The gang started their search for the maleficarum in the tunnels, Bethany was right to be worried as they were soon attacked by demons and abominations. Ericks tossed a frost grenade to slow down their approach while Varric and Bethany mowed them down with magic and arrows. Isabela flanked the abomination and vaulted over its back, she ducked down and cut the creature's tendons and then stabbed it in the head. As soon as one wave fell, another wave came for them soon the gang found themselves surrounded. Bethany rained down fire upon the monsters to clear the path.
The gang continued on their path facing more demons and the undead at every turn all the while disabling the traps set for intruders. They made it to the other end of the Undercity where they spotted a nude man suspended up in the air by some type of magic. The man was unresponsive to all outside forces and seemed to be in a deep sleep.
"How wonderful, more vessels for our experiments" The gang turned to see mages in dark grey robes come to them, they were led by a woman in light purple robes, she had dark circles under eyes and wore pale makeup that made her look ghoulish.
"Where is Keran?"
The woman gave deranged grin. "Perhaps the demons will find one of you suitable"
Isabela snorted. "This demon-worship thing is a real turn off"
"I am not some hopeless waif that ran crying to a demon…I sought them out and embraced them!"
"Most abominations aren't quite so open about being slaves to demons" Varric said.
Bethany frowned. "How could you let a demon trick you into this? Were you taught nothing?"
Tarohne grinned. "Oh I've learned much, the Chantry lies, demons can inhabit much more than mages and corpses" she said. "With assistance, they can control anyone I ask. Any Templar…any noble…any well-meaning meddler"
"You do know I cut a path through your abomination, right?" Ericks asked.
The mage just gave a mad giggle. "Good, good, the demons like spirit" she said. "Just a few more fallen Templars and there will be chaos"
"How many abominations can they discover amongst their own before it drives Meredith mad?"
"Where is Keran?"
"The experiments need so much fuel, you see…so many living vessels are found wanting" Tarohne said. "Useless vessels can still feed the compost heap, so it's not a complete waste"
"You're crazy…good to know, I can kill crazy" Ericks said getting out his daggers.
"In days of old, the Tevinter Imperium spanned the known world. Demons were there allies held in check by power and knowledge" she ranted. "With a wave of a hand I could do more than a Templar can achieve in a lifetime. Yet they command us? Absurd!"
"We should be ruling them, we should rule you all!" She said. "Kill the vessels only if you must" She took out her staff and summoned more abominations to attack the gang. Ericks and Isabela charged in cutting down the abominations in the way. Bethany enchanted Bianca with fire magic and Varric fired a flurry of arrows that fell to the ground like meteors. Despite all her talk, Tarohne proved to be not much of challenge and in the end joined the compost heap with her victims.
"The lights! Mother, the lights!" Behind them the man was released from his prison and was on the ground. He stirred and got off the ground, dazed and a bit confused. Isabela smirked as she looked down at the Templar, Bethany turned away with a blush while Varric and Ericks were unfazed. "Is it…is it over?"
"Yeah, it's over" Ericks said. He threw them man some long johns. "You may need this"
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