A/N: This chapter is more of a setup for the next chapter. Liethe Lavallen hates undead. Like really, really, REALLY hates the undead. Have a chapter where I play with it.

It was raining. It never really stopped in Crestwood. The entire region had seen enough rainfall to last the next several years and it still kept going. The ground was more mud than dirt, and the rain landed hard enough to spray back, shrouding the entire area in a thick, permeating fog.

That wasn't what bothered the small four man party that huddled around the campfire, however.

'...Infected. All infected. Hurts to breathe. Hurts to drink - maker please end me before-'

Liethe's eye twitched and she glanced at Cole to check the boy was alright. Creators if she had known how bad this was going to be, she'd have never brought him along. He seemed overwhelmed by the suffering that had happened here.

Solas, too, was watching Cole, evaluating his condition. Cassandra, however was warily watching what little they could see around them. 'Solas, the wards are properly set up, aren't they?'

There was a sudden bright flash and a keening noise of pain as a walking corpse blundered into one of the fire runes they had carefully set around the small camp. 'Yes, Seeker. They are.' The elf replied absently.

It was creepy, undoubtedly. The entire place felt wrong just from a mage's perspective. The veil was thin here - not helped by the giant tear in the sky that, with some careful scouting, appeared to originate from the caves further through this…. Graveyard.

Corpses from the last blight lay where they'd been washed. Some still walked. As if that weren't enough to satisfy, spirits and demons drifted or slunk by in the fog, ignoring them for the time being.

Fehendis. She found herself saying that word a lot these days, but even more-so here. Leliana had briefed her - but Liethe would never have believed the extent of the troubles.

A roar, unseen in the rain bounced around the deserted village and caused three of the four to sit up rigidly in alarm. 'That dragon is still calling.' Cassandra growled.

Oh yes, there were dragons here, too. As if Crestwood didn't have enough problems. And they expected her to fix them all.

Another sizzle, another scream. Cole stopped for a second and then picked up again. 'The water, it keeps rising. Oh maker I can't breathe. I can't breathe I can't - I cant-!'

"Oh maker" Indeed. It was going to be a long night.

'Liethe, you dislike undead, do you not?' Cassandra asked conversationally.

'Yes.' She'd made no secret of it. Especially when Leliana had asked her to investigate Crestwood and the possibility that the corpses were linked to the tear in the lake. Solas had switched from watching Cole to listening in to the conversation.

'And yet, you still chose to take this mission.' The seeker pointed out.

'Of course I did.' She frowned. 'Without The Inquisition, what hope does the inhabitants of Crestwood have? I'm the only one able to close these breaches and if the corpses are a symptom of the breach in the lake, then I have to do something about the breach.'

'That is a very compassionate response.' Cassandra replied. 'Why do you not like the undead?'

'I - I just do, Cassandra..' Liethe replied evasively.

Another corpse burst into flames, close enough now for the flames to be a visible yellow hue in the fog around the campfire.

'The corpses - they smell horrible. Creators, she hates it. Hates that they've ran out of embrium to throw on the fire. Mask the smell of seaweed and dank and Fehendis she should have outright said no to doing this, but she can't, because she's The Herald. Rot makes her feel icky and she'd give all the power in Thedas for a bath right now -'

'Ha!' Cassandra burst out. 'I knew it! You don't like the smell of them!'

Fehendis Cole.