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A/N: Please, remember to review with any comments, question, concerns, or constructive criticism that you might have.
Chapter 5:
A Wild Prom Date Appears!
After Wayne and his companions reached the crossroads once more, they headed out the east gate and quickly ran into the so-called bandits that Leliana had sent them a message about.
"I can see what Spook meant about these guys being weird," Wayne said, "These guys are pretty well stocked with armor and weapons."
As they pushed their way through the defending bandits and reaching a lull in their numbers, Wayne spotted an opening in the nearby hills with a female elf outside it fighting demons.
Wayne immediately led his teammates to her aid. Once more, the team easily wiped out their opponents and approached the elf. Though she was suspicious of them at first, the elf allowed them to help her collect an item from the nearby ruin. Once she grudgingly thanked them for their aid, Wayne and his group continued on their way to the bandits' next camp, which was at the mouth of a tunnel between large rock formations.
"Hey, Elrond, what's a shemlen?" Wayne asked, referring to the term the elf woman had used to describe him.
"It is a…rather derogatory term used to describe humans. Many of the Dalish, the elves living in the wilderness away from the cities, have a very low opinion of humans. At best, they distrust them and at worst, they outright hate them," Solas said.
"Which means I'll need to be careful in the future when dealing with them," Wayne said, grumbling.
Any further talking was interrupted by the bandits appearing and the squad leapt into the fray. These bandits fared no better than their companions did and quickly fell before the squad's superior abilities. Once the last of them fell, Wayne noticed a couple of papers on one of bodies of the bandits. He was shocked to find out two pieces of very interesting information.
"Huh, well, it turns out that these bandits were actually hired to block off this road," Wayne said.
"For what purpose?" Cassandra asked, shocked.
"No idea," Wayne said, "The note just says that they're hired to do so, letting people live so that they can warn others away. They also apparently have a fort to the south that they use as their main camp."
"Must be where we heard there were more of these bandits," Varric said, "Should we head back there to finish 'em off?"
"Not yet," Wayne said, before gesturing to the nearby passage going through the rock formations, "We should make sure there aren't any more bandits hiding out in there."
His companions nodded and they headed out into the passageway. Sure enough, there were more bandits waiting for them, but with their few numbers, they were not able to cause any trouble for the squad.
"Should we continue through the passageway?" Solas asked, gesturing to the passage past the bandit camp.
"Might as well," Wayne said, leading the way through passage.
After a few feet, the passage opened to a new area and Wayne, seeing what awaited them, froze in mid-step before walking backwards to push his companions back.
"What are you doing, Wayne?" Cassandra asked.
"Uh, quick question, are there dragons in this world?" Wayne asked.
"Yes, of course. I believe I mentioned that," Cassandra said, getting a cold feeling in her stomach.
"Oh, right. Just to be clear: we're talking about big, flying, fire-breathing lizards, right?" Wayne asked.
"They don't all breathe fire, but yes," the seeker said simply.
"Oh, good, I was worried that was my prom date right around the corner," Wayne said, pointing at the corner he just backed away from.
"Excuse me?" Solas asked.
"My prom date wasn't really a looker," Wayne said, shrugging, "Not to mention, she tended to have a bad temper."
"Then, why would you go out with her?" Varric asked with amusement.
"I was a teenage boy going through puberty and she was well-known for being a sure thing. Why do you think?" Wayne joked.
Cassandra sighed and said, "You said something about a dragon?"
"Yeah, any chance it's a herbivore?" Wayne asked.
"No," Cassandra said.
"Great," Wayne sighed, "Well, we can't leave it to cause the people around here trouble. Let's go slay a dragon."
The group moved slowly back towards the corner and Wayne peeked around it to get a clear view of the situation.
"Okay, the big dragon is perched on a platform to the right," Wayne said quietly, "There are also a bunch of smaller ones walking around. Looks like they attacked a caravan or something. I can see a bunch of what look like dwarf corpses and burning carts all over the place. This first area looks like it's pretty confined, really not a good place to fight that thing, but it looks like there's a more open area past it. We've gotta get past the lizards as quickly as possible and get there, so we can have some room to maneuver."
The rest of the squad nodded their agreement and they quickly moved around the corner. The large dragon took to the air and the smaller dragons charged at the group. With Cassandra using her shield to block their small fire balls and Solas using his magic to keep them at a distance, Varric and Wayne used their weapons to take them down while the group pushed through the clearing to reach the more open one. The larger dragon breathed streams of fire down at them as they moved quickly to avoid the flames.
Once they reached the second clearing, the larger dragon landed onto the ground with a thundering slam. It roared so loudly it felt like Wayne's ears were about to start bleeding before it started galloping towards them the group dove out of its way, with Cassandra and Wayne moving to its left and Solas and Varric dodged to its right.
"Elrond, since it likes things hot, I think ice might help to keep things cool!" Wayne said.
"I was thinking the same!" Solas said, as he sent streams of ice at the dragon.
"Pinocchio, aim for its vulnerable spots!" Wayne shouted, "Xena, move in under it and attack there! It'll likely be weaker under there!"
"What will you be doing?" Cassandra asked as she rolled beneath one of the dragon's stomping tree-trunk-like legs.
"You mean besides not getting eaten!?" Wayne shouted as he dodged out of the way of the dragon's snapping jaws, "I'm going to do the same as Varric!"
With that, the fight began in earnest. Cassandra managed to cut into the massive reptile at its leg joints, making its hot blood flow out from its legs. Varric managed to hit the dragon in one of its eyes, making the massive reptile roar with obvious pain. Solas kept the lizard off balance by using ice spells which, from the way it seemed to back away from them, Wayne and his companions could tell it didn't particularly enjoy. Wayne managed to hit the dragon in some of its cuts, but he noticed the attacks weren't penetrating deep enough to cause the dragon major damage.
'Gotta figure out a way to end this,' Wayne thought as he dodged behind a boulder to avoid another stream of fire from the dragon, 'We're wasting time and ammo trying to kill this thing with bug bites. I'd use one of my grenades, but who knows if they will do anything to a freaking dragon. Ignoring the fact that I'm fighting a freaking dragon, damn this world is weird, I need to come up with something!'
Just then, Cassandra wasn't able to dodge quickly enough and was hit hard by the dragon's tail.
"No!" Wayne shouted as he ran to her side. Judging from the dent in her shield and armor, the soldier realized the metal took the brunt of the attack, "You alright, Xena?"
"Yes," she grunted as he helped the woman to her feet.
The dragon noticed the two fighters were distracted and charged at them, its maw gaping wide. Wayne, on pure instinct, raised his assault rifle and fired a trio of shots straight into the dragon's mouth. The dragon galloped at them for three seconds before its legs seemed to give out from under it and it collapsed to the ground, sliding to their feet.
"Huh," Wayne said, "That was…fun. Sure hope we don't have to deal with more of those."
"No arguments there," Varric said, returning Bianca to her holster on his back.
"We should collect some blood, scales, and teeth from the beast," Cassandra said, "They're very useful crafting resources."
"Scales and teeth I get, but blood? Seriously?" Wayne asked shocked.
Cassandra nodded, "Some people with enough skill can create runes from it."
"Runes?" Wayne asked as he got to work using his knife to scrape some scales off of the massive carcass and pull some of its massive teeth out.
"Yes, they can be attached to weapons and armor by a craftsman," Cassandra said before whistling. One of the ravens that was used to communicate with scouts and those back in Haven flew down to land on Cassandra's outstretched arm. She pulled out paper attached to the bird's leg and wrote something on it before replacing it. "That should reach our scouts nearby and they'll secure the corpse and start harvesting the harder to reach materials like the bones and webbings, not to mention the rest of the teeth and scales."
"Well, I guess we should get going after the rest of those bandits to the south," Wayne said as he checked his magazine, "Damn, this one's empty." He replaced it with one of the other four. "I really need to find a way to replenish my rounds or else I'll be stuck using my Barrett, sidearm, and knife," he muttered, "And even those won't last forever."
"Is something wrong, Wayne?" Solas asked, curious as to why the man was muttering to himself.
"Nah, nothing. Nothing at all, Elrond," Wayne said, smiling and waving off his worries, "Let's get going after the rest of those bandits. They'll keep attacking the people that pass by unless we stop them."
The elf nodded and the group headed towards to where the bandits were reported. It wasn't hard to find them as they didn't exactly hide their presence from the group. The fighters pushed their way through the bandit defenders with Cassandra taking on the large ones with hammers while Solas, Varric, and Wayne kept the others from flanking her. Wayne, worried about his ammo reserves, used his knife when he could. After they made their way through the first group of defenders, cleared a few groups of demons, and sealed a Fade rift, Wayne and his companions found the headquarters of the so-called bandits.
"They have a castle!?" Wayne said as they reached the top of a small hill that gave them a good view of the bandits' base.
"A fort actually. Little more than an outpost, really," Cassandra said.
"If you say so," Wayne said, as he pulled out his Barrett and looked through the scope, "Looks like there's a skeleton crew. I count at least four big guys and a couple guys with bows and swords, but it looks like there's a table at the top of the outpost. We want to find anything, it'll probably be there."
The group moved in and headed through the main gate. The bandit defenders launched an attack almost the instant Wayne's group was inside, but with Cassandra drawing the attention of the hammer-wielding bandits and the other three giving her covering fire with their various weapons, they made quick work of the defending bandits making their way to the top of the outpost. They found a table where various papers were weighed down by various weights and rocks. Wayne started going through the papers.
"Huh, this explains a bit," Wayne said, reading through the papers.
"What did you find?" Solas asked looking over his shoulder.
"I was right earlier about the so-called bandits being hired to do the things they've done. Looks like there is a way to something called the Deep Roads nearby. Looks like there's a group that's moving something from there and they hired these mercenaries to make sure no one found out and asked questions about their activities," Wayne explained.
"Huh, sounds like lyrium smugglers," Varric said, "Though it seems like a lot for them to do for even a rich vein of the stuff. Might be something more than that."
"Is this lyrium stuff valuable?" Wayne asked the dwarf.
"Absolutely. Both templars and mages use it to power their abilities," Cassandra explained.
"So, definitely something people would kill to protect," Wayne said, "Well, I think we should go ruin their day, don't you?"
"Sounds like a plan to me," Varric joked.
With that, the group headed in the direction the dead mercenaries' map told them where to find the entrance to the Deep Roads. They got through the first group of mercenaries without a concern, but the they were surprised to find that the mercenaries were being attacked by another group. To Wayne, they looked like this new group were people that were skinned alive and had needle-like teeth. They attacked the mercenaries with animalistic savagery.
"What the hell are those things?" Wayne asked as they watched from an upper level as the mercenaries fought the creatures.
"Maker's breath, those are darkspawn!" Cassandra cursed.
"What?" Wayne asked, "How bad are we talking here?"
"They are blighted creatures that live in the Deep Roads. Their blood is poison and they attack indiscriminately. They will continue to swarm out of the Deep Roads until we close the hole they are using to get out," Cassandra explained.
"Okay," Wayne said, as he pulled out his Barrett and used the scope to scout out where the Darkspawn were coming from, "I see the hole they seem to be coming out of. I also see there's a big ass guy in heavy armor guarding it, but I can't get a clear shot."
"Oh, that's just great," Varric groaned, "You know, this is why I hate the Deep Roads."
"Looks like there's a way we can just go underneath where the mercenaries and the Darkspawn are fighting," Cassandra said, pointing to a path that split off from the one that led directly to where the mercenaries were guarding.
"Alright, we'll take the route underneath and make our way back to the mercenaries," Wayne said with his comrades nodding.
They made their way along the path, hearing the battle between the darkspawn and mercenaries. Once they got in sight of the large darkspawn, the group launched their attack on the creature.
Cassandra charged the creature while dodging and parrying the alpha hurlock's swinging hammer. Varric's attacks bounced off the large darkspawn's armor and it seemed to just shrug off Solas and Wayne's attacks. Roaring in frustration, the alpha batted Cassandra away before charging Wayne. The soldier ducked under the alpha's attack and he pulled out his knife to stab the darkspawn in the joints, only proving to enrage the darkspawn further. The alpha managed to grab Wayne and lift him up, managing to use him as a shield against his allies' attacks. The knife slipped from Wayne's hand as he was lifted off of his feet. The hurlock growled in Wayne's face as it opened its mouth to bite his face off.
"Two words, ugly: breath mint," Wayne said pulled out his side arm and shoving it in the hurlock's mouth before pulling the trigger three times.
The alpha dropped onto its back dead while letting Wayne go to drop as well.
"Are you alright?" Cassandra asked, moving to him while Solas used his magic to lift a large boulder and shove it in the hole the darkspawn were using to escape the lower Deep Roads, blocking it off completely.
"Yeah, though that guy's breath was probably the most rancid thing I ever smelled," Wayne groaned as he picked up his fallen knife and swung it a couple times to get the darkspawn blood off of it, "Now let's get going. We need to still take out those mercenaries."
The group headed back towards the mercenaries' location, easily taking out the remaining darkspawn and the mercenaries. They were shocked to find what it was that the mercenaries had in fact been smuggling.
"These idiots were smuggling red lyrium!?" Varric shouted in horror.
"Is that bad?" Wayne asked, a confused expression on his face.
"Yeah, regular lyrium's dangerous enough, but red lyrium is worse. It's mere presence can warp people's minds," Varric explained, "Not to mention, it's dangerous to even touch!"
"We should have some of our allies come and clear it out now that we've cleared the area," Cassandra suggested.
"Sounds good," Wayne said before the group used a pair of wheels to open the massive nearby vault door. After wiping out the darkspawn that had been trapped inside and taking everything of value from the vault, the group found opened the set of doors opposite the ones they'd used to enter and found themselves back at the entrance of the cavern. "Well, that's convenient."
The group made their way out of the cavern and almost the instant they were out of the cavern, another of Leliana's birds came and landed on Cassandra's outstretched arm.
Cassandra pulled a paper off of its leg and read it before pulling out a pen and a small vial of ink from her pack to write something on it.
"Well, what does Spook say?" Wayne said.
"Looks like she thinks we've done enough to earn enough clout in order to get into Val Royeaux to talk to the Chantry leaders without getting arrested," she explained, "I sent her a message about the red lyrium."
"Sounds good," Wayne said, pulling out the map that he got back at Haven, "Okay, looks like we haven't gone through this area here, so we'll go and check out that area first. Then, we'll head back to Haven to get supplies before heading to Val Royeaux."
"Yeah, let's just go to the center of the Chantry who think we're all heretics. What's the worst that could happen?" Varric laughed.
A/N: And there's chapter 5! Please, favorite, follow, and/or review!