Chapter 41: Sins of the Paragon
Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate.
The group continued on.
The strange voice in the darkness was chilling; it put them all on edge. Only Shale seemed oblivious…or perhaps…annoyed would be a better word.
"Must we hear this?" the golem asked, "I could run ahead…and squash the annoying poet."
Alim would be lying if he said he would not totally agree with that. After days down here…or maybe it was weeks, they were all in strung out shape.
This strange verse was not helping anyone.
Leliana seemed the most on edge, she kept her bow loaded and ready, as if she expected a horde of darkspawn to leap on her and drag her into the shadows.
Alim would have said something to comfort her, but they all needed to stay focused right now.
Fifth day they return and…it is another girl's turn.
Leliana's brow furrowed.
"What do you think that means?" she asked.
"I don't think either of us wants to find out human," Sereda growled.
"I won't let them near you," Alim promised, "Either of you."
The bard's face brightened slightly.
"Our elf in shining armor," Sereda said giving him an acidic smirk.
Oghren chuckled.
"Silence," Sten spat, "You all talk too much. There are darkspawn all around us, be mindful."
They all fell silent then, all eyes watching the many shadows of the place. For a while it seemed like the disturbing verse had stopped, then…
Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams.
Alim rolled his eyes.
Guess it wasn't done after all.
Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew.
"Never heard of spawn doing anything like that?" Oghren grumbled, "They kill and eat people sure…but…but this…"
The red-headed dwarf's eyes turned thoughtful.
Was he worrying about Branka? Leliana thought, she could not say.
Eighth day, we hated as she is violated.
"I told you," Sereda said with a shiver, "The darkspawn have the desires of men, and ideas as black as the darkest shaft."
"Must you say such things?" Leliana whispered; her blue eyes were full of fear, on the verge of panic.
Bandit whimpered, he came up beside Leliana, he rubbed against her leg.
She started, but calmed when she saw what it was.
She took a deep breath, trying to settle her nerves.
"Thank you, boy," she whispered.
Ninth day, she grins…and…and devours her kin.
That last verse seemed more troubled than the others. It sounded as if the speaker was almost in tears. The voice sounded so hopeless, so full of despair.
This person was likely lost, Alim though, much like the deep roads, from a land of power and profit, to a realm of despair.
Now…SHE does feast, because she has become the beast.
Silence reigned in the deep. The warden and his companions emerged from another cave system to find themselves in another part of the fortress. The darkspawn taint was so thick here, but what was worse was the blood. Finger prints of blood dotted the floor, the stench of rot, vomit and waste filled the air.
Alim's eyes turned grim.
The way this place had been disturbed, it suggested that many people had been kept here once, and not so long ago. Now it was empty. He thought he saw some bones covered in the tainted film, but he did not wish to get close enough to examine them.
First day, they come and catch everyone.
"Will we have to listen to the creepy poem again," Shale sighed, "Let us just find the poet and squash it!"
They emerged into a larger chamber, bloody bits of armor and clothes littered the floor, more hand and foot prints marked the wall. Whoever had been locked in here had struggled as they had been dragged away.
It was here that they finally found the speaker.
A small brown haired dwarven woman sat in fetal position, rocking back and forth. The strange poem continued to spew from her mouth as she rocked, oblivious to the world of pain around her.
Alim ordered the others to stay back, he could sense the woman through the taint…which meant she could likely infect others, but…it felt different, different from Ruck.
The taint in his blood was screaming that there was a darkspawn in front of him, but…this…this was no darkspawn.
Was it?
"Hello?" he whispered.
"Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat," the woman replied. She wiped at her chin, it was stained red and black.
Alim did not want to think about what the woman had been eating down here.
Oghren came closer, something about that voice.
His eyes widened.
"Hespith?" he said, "Hespith is that you?"
"You…you know her?" Leliana asked.
Oghren nodded.
"She was one of our house, a distant cousin of mine. Hespith, we have come to help. Damn it girl can you even hear me?"
Hearing her name brought the dwarf back to reality. She regarded Alim and Oghren with milky tainted eyes. The black sores of the blight were visible, but there was something more as well.
Hespith was sweating profusely, and strange gray lumps were forming on her skin, her leather armor was bulged out in some parts, almost like she was growing too wide for it to contain her form.
She looked at Alim, her eyes focused for the first time.
"What is this…an elf," she whispered, "Exotic and unlikely, feeding time brings only kin and clan. I…I am cruel to myself, you are dreams of strange faces and open doors."
"Damn it Hespith," Oghren growled. He advanced. He likely would have grabbed her if Alim had not stopped him. Fortunately the dwarf was too distracted by seeing the woman that he did not take offense.
"Hespith! It is me! It is Oghren! Where are the others Hespith? Where is Branka?!"
The tainted woman's eyes widened with fear.
"DO NOT SPEAK OF BRANKA!" she gasped, "Of what she did. Of what we…WE have become. We…we tried…but…" she looked up at the dwarf; a sad smile came to her lips.
"Hello Oghren," she whispered, "We abandoned you."
He growled with barely restrained fury.
Alim did not like the arrogance in the tainted woman's statement.
"What did Branka do woman?" he asked, "Why are you just sitting here spouting poetry? Why have you not tried to escape?"
"Escape," she laughed mirthlessly, "No escape, not from here, not from this. I…I prayed that Laryn would go first, but I had to watch, to listen…to….to eat. There is hope. There is body, and…and both are turning."
Hespith shook her head.
"NO," she whimpered, "No…this is not real! I force it into verse because if it is unreal it cannot be happening! La, la, la, la, I won't become what I have seen. Branka…I was one of her captains and I could not turn her…her lover and I could not turn her…forgive her…for what she has done…what WE have become."
"Is Brank still alive Hespith?" Oghren begged, "Tell us, or stay here!"
"I will not become what I have seen," she snarled, "Not Laryn! Not Branka!"
Hespith darted past them, the tainted dwarf moved with surprising speed. Even Shale could not have grabbed her.
The chamber fell silent again.
Alim snorted.
"What did you think she meant?" Leliana asked, "About what Branka did?"
"Don't know," Alim replied, "And I don't care. What happened here...it…it is beyond abomination."
"I have found another door warden," Sten said returning. Alim had not even realized the Qunari had even left.
"We have to stay together Sten," he reminded the massive warrior, "No more wandering off."
"As you say," the Qunari nodded.
"The Qunari likes following orders," Shale chuckled, "Perhaps it has a control rod for you too."
"Orders are the will of the Qun," Sten replied blandly, "I am a soldier, orders are my purpose."
"Are we really going to continue on?' Leliana asked.
Alim sighed.
He did not wish to, but they had come this far.
He wanted to find Branka, or at least what was left of her, and if she was still alive.
The elf's eyes narrowed dangerously.
He wanted answers. He wanted her to explain all this.
IOI
The group encountered two ogres as they left Hespith's chamber.
Alim growled he was no longer in the mood to play with the large darkspawn. He froze one with a cone of cold, and blasted the second with lightning. Shale shattered the first and the warriors dealt with the second.
Of course, Hespith's voice returned, the tainted dwarf was likely in some chamber above them now because they could hear her voice echo all around them.
She became obsessed, that is the word but it is not strong enough. Blessed stone there was nothing left in her but the Anvil.
Alim growled. If…if he was hearing this right. Had Branka led her people into some kind of darkspawn trap, on purpose?
The men, they kill, they are merciful. But the women…they want. They want to touch, to mold, to change until you are filled with them.
Sereda tightened her grip on her sword and shield. Leliana grasped her arrow firmly, ready to send it flying at a seconds notice.
The group continued to advance. Alim's darkspawn senses were still screaming at him. He sensed a darkspawn before them, but…it felt different, stranger.
And still Hespith taunted them with her tortured memories.
They…they took Laryn. They made her…they made her eat the others, our friends. She tore off her husband's face and drank his blood.
"I wonder what that tasted like." Shale chuckled.
Alim glared at the snarky golem. Now was not the time. The elf's temper was starting to flare.
And still Hespith continued to talk from hiding.
And while she ate, she grew. She swelled and turned gray and she smelled like them. They remained her in their image. Then…then she made more of them.
The chamber before them was near totally dark, they could hear the phlegmy sound of a darkspawn, all around them the chamber was covered with that foul tainted film.
Alim summoned a small ball of light to show them what was ahead.
When he did…he found that he wished that he had not. Not that facing the creature in near total darkness would be better.
The darkspawn was massive.
Its gray sweat covered skin gave it an unnatural shine, it had no hair with short pudgy arms and a small bucket shaped head, folds of fat waddled its neck. It was the only thing small about the creature. Its body was huge and covered with many teats. Several long tentacles wavered around its body.
Alim felt bile rise in the back of his throat. What…what in Andraste's name was that?!
Hespith provided the answer.
Broodmother.
The group stared at the massive horror, the broodmother.
Leliana whimpered; it seemed that they had found Laryn, or what was left of her.
The broodmother turned, it squinted in the light. It regarded them with pale dead eyes.
Eyes that filled with fury!
The broodmother wailed loudly.
Leliana had seen enough. She fired an arrow into that mottled gray throat; it stuck in the folds of blubber.
Tentacles exploded all around them.
Alim cursed, he cut two away with spellbinder.
More emerged from the tainted walls, and that was not all. Darkspawn began to flood the chamber.
"Leliana with me," he ordered, "Target that monster. Sten and Oghren the tentacles, Shale and Seri crowd control. Bandit protect."
The group fell into a familiar rhythm; days down here had made them a lethal machine.
Battle filled the chamber.
Alim called on the air, it had long been stagnant down here in these dark tunnels, it longed to blow. He asked to give aid to Leliana's arrows, to drive them straight and true. He then called on the power of his own magic to make it blow, to make it spin.
A small twister formed around the broodmother, it picked up speed quickly bits of bone and armor spun in the air, driven by the winds the elf had summoned they began lethal projectiles. They bit deep into the monster's fat flesh.
The broodmother howled.
Alim planted his staff in the ground, flame licked around his free hand. He held it to his lips. He blew gently on the flame, they leapt into the twister.
The wind fed the small flame.
The space around the broodmother became a great whirling inferno!
Alim grinned evilly.
If the flames don't get you, the lack of air will, he thought.
"Alim!" Leliana cried.
The elf spun with spellbinder, decapitating a shriek trying to sneak up behind him.
The stench of burning broodmother filled the chamber, smoke made it hard to see. Alim did his best to direct it towards the genlock archers that responded to the Broodmother's cry for aid.
Leliana fired again and again. Genlocks fell, their right eye pierced by her arrows.
"I'm running out of arrows!" she cried.
Bandit tackled a hurlock that had managed to get past Seri; the Mabari tore its throat out.
Severed tentacles littered the massive chamber, but still more emerged.
The flaming twister finally stopped. The monster was badly burned but it still clung to life. It spat acidic bile at the warden and his allies.
The last of the darkspawn defenders fell. The tentacles became less and less active.
Alim looked at the broodmother, its blacked flesh, its breathing had become more labored, its cries reduced to weak whines.
He grinned hungrily.
"Warriors attack!" he ordered, "Kill the beast!"
Sten, Sereda, Oghren, and Shale surged forward. Only the smallest tentacles remained at the massive body's base to defend it.
They were not enough.
It tried to spit more bile, but Leliana put her last arrow down the creature's throat. The broodmother gagged.
Sereda scampered up the monster's body; she was very nimble for a dwarf in armor.
She reached the broodmother's shoulders.
She brought her blade down on its neck.
The head came away, black ichor geysered from the wound.
The body thrashed, but it soon grew weak, finally it fell still.
The smoke filled chamber fell silent, only the sound of warden and his companions breathing, and the occasional cough from the smoke.
That is where they come from.
Everyone looked up, Hespith stood on a ledge above them. She smiled sadly.
"That is why they hate us. That is why they need us. That is why they take us. That…THAT is why they feed us."
The women in the group shuddered. Either one of them could have shared the fate of the dwarven woman who had become the broodmother.
Either of them could have been Laryn.
"But the true abomination is not that it occurred, but that it was allowed," Hespith continued, she coughed weakly black blood spat from her mouth.
"Branka," she murmured fondly, "My love…the stone has punished me dream friends. I'm dying from something worse than death…betrayal."
She turned to leave, but staggered. Her body gasped for breath…fighting for a live she no longer wanted.
She collapsed in the shadows.
Alim shifted, he felt the presence of the darkspawn fade. He knew that it was over.
Hespith was now dead.
He sighed heavily, wiping sweat from his brow.
The dwarven woman's words played on his conscience.
What had she meant? What had Branka done to cause all of this?
There was another tunnel behind the broodmother; it was the only way out of this chamber.
Alim cursed, it seemed their journey through this foul place was not yet done.
He gathered up as many of Leliana's arrows as he could salvage. He used his magic to clean the darkspawn ichor off of them. He ordered the others to dose themselves with the anti-taint draught, two full doses this time. He did not want to take the chance of any of them getting sick.
He gave Leliana a weak smile as he handed her the potion.
He did not want to take the chance of her getting sick.
Now that he had seen what happened to women who had been tainted…
No…he…he did not want to think of it! That way lay madness.
And he was mad enough as it was.
Both in the mind and in the heart, the elf glared at the darkness before them.
If Branka still lived…the paragon had much to explain…
And much to answer for.