Chapter 42: The Paragon's Maze
They found themselves entering an older part of the fortress.
At least that is what it seemed like to Alim. The stone showed evidence of a lot of movement here, the ground marked with the passage of many feet. The darkspawn taint lessened considerably here. In fact, it was clear that someone had done their best to remove it in the recent past. Someone had tried burning the filth away from the entrances, it had reasserted itself somewhat, but it was clear that someone other than the darkspawn had passed this way.
Did that mean they were getting closer to finding the paragon? The warden mage could not say.
He glanced over at Leliana; the poor girl still seemed a bit rattled after their battle with the broodmother. He did not blame her for that.
He suspected that he would be having nightmares about the creature for months to come.
IOI
Oghren touched one of the walls, it was clear to him that someone had been taking chips out of them. That someone had been checking their composition and the rate of the taint's regrowth here.
He nodded to himself.
This…this sounded like Branka.
He found himself eager to see her again, after everything that they had faced down here, he needed answers.
Hespith's talk of betrayal was bothering him.
Had Branka somehow allowed the darkspawn to seize the members of their house? It sounded crazy!
No…he would let Branka tell him what had happened. She was his wife. She deserved the chance to defend herself.
"If Branka is anywhere," he said, "This has to be it…she will not be unprepared."
"What does that mean?" Alim asked.
Oghren shrugged.
He wasn't quite sure; all he knew was that Branka always had a plan.
It is what had made her such a great smith, and helped elevate her to the rank of paragon. That strength, that tenacity…it is what made him fall in love with her in the first place.
He had always preferred strong women.
They entered another large chamber; they could make out the tops of tents protected by a small plateau. The only way up seemed to be a tunnel in front of them.
Oghren called out, expecting a sentry or two to respond.
Strangely, no one called back.
He saw the elf tighten his grip on his sword. Oghren wanted to tell him it was unnecessary, but he did not completely trust that feeling.
Branka…what have you done?
IOI
Leliana glanced around nervously; the nightmares of this place just seemed to be getting darker and darker by the minute.
There…there was something about this place, it was familiar, and yet, it was not.
She never let her guard down as they all entered the chamber.
A large steel plate slid down over the entrance with a loud boom.
Leliana spun an arrow at the ready.
The plate was massive, too heavy for even Shale to try and lift.
They were now trapped in here.
"Let me be blunt with you."
The voice came from the plateau camp. It was cold and arrogant. A dwarven woman in heavy plate stepped into the light. Her brown hair was styled in three small ponytails that fell about mid-neck. She looked down upon the warden and his companions like they were something disgusting that she had stepped in.
"After all this time," the woman continued, "my tolerance for social graces is extremely limited."
Oghren's eyes lit up.
"Why shave my back and call me an elf! Branka!" he cried happily, "By the stone, I would never have recognized you!"
The Paragon sneered.
"Oghren, I should have known you would find your way here," she snorted with distaste, "Hopefully you can find your way out just as easily."
The comment seemed to deflate Oghren slightly.
"Greetings Paragon," Alim stepped forward, taking off his hat and bowing, "We have searched long for you."
"And who might you be?" she smirked, "Hired sword of the latest lordling come looking for me, or simply the first who could stand Oghren's ale breath?"
"Be respectful woman," Oghren growled, "You're addressing a Grey Warden."
"So you are a special errand boy then," Branka smirked, she began to pace as she considered what was happening.
"I take it something big has happened? Is Endrin dead? He was on the old and wheezy side."
Sereda stepped forward.
"Do not speak so about my Father!" the former noble growled.
Branka sneered at the girl.
"The Assembly is deadlocked paragon," Alim explained, "A Blight has begun. The grey wardens need the aid of Orzammar. We need a king. We need you. Only a paragon's vote can decide the new king."
Branka considered this…then…
She laughed.
"A king cannot defeat a Blight," she snorted, "We've had forty generations of kings, and have lost almost everything," she shook her hand dismissively. "I could care less if the Assembly put a drunken monkey on the throne, and all because our protector, our great invention, that once made are armies the envy of the world is now lost to the darkspawn it should be fighting. The Anvil of the Void, the means by which the ancients forged their army of golems and held off the first Archdemon ever to rise, it is here, I can sense it. I can almost taste it."
The look on the dwarven woman's face was pure avarice, tinged with something else…
Madness?
Then there was her laugh…that laugh.
Leliana shivered.
She…she had heard that laugh before. The nightmares that had plagued her for months returned.
They were finally here.
The time of her vision, the very thought made her shudder.
She prayed to the Maker that they would survive.
IOI
Alim watched the woman pace above them. There was something not quite right how she moved, the strange glint in her eyes.
Alim decided to test a theory.
"Then why haven't you claimed it yet? Why have you not returned to Orzammar in victory?"
Branka scowled.
"The Anvil is protected by a gauntlet of traps designed by Caradin himself," she complained. "We have sacrificed much, my people have given everything…body and soul to attempt and open the way for me."
"And yet you are still here?" Sereda said.
Branka sneered at the girl.
"Mind your manners child," she said, "If you wish my endorsement for your crown, for me to get involved in this imbecilic election. Then I must have the Anvil."
Sereda did not inform the paragon of her exiled status.
It did not matter in the long run.
"Where are the rest of your house Branka,' Alim asked, he thought he knew, but did not want to speak it.
"They have served their purpose," she replied.
The warden mage shuddered.
"Perhaps there is a reason that the ancient dwarves sealed the thing away," he said.
"Enough talk," Branka snarled, "There is no way back for you now warden. Only forward…through Caradin's maze and out to where the Anvil waits."
Oghren pushed his way past Alim; his eyes were wide with horror.
"What has this place done to you?" he shouted, "I remember marrying a girl you could talk to for only a few minutes and see her brilliance."
Branka smiled wistfully.
"I…am your paragon," she purred wickedly.
She walked away then. Leaving them to face the darkness…
Leaving them to face Caradin's maze, there was no choice.
As Branka had said…there was only one way to go.
Forward.
IOI
The camp was set up right in front of the entrance to Caradin's maze. The maze itself swarmed with newborn darkspawn.
Alim and his allies waded into them.
The elf shuddered. The camp was long abandoned, no cook fires burned, the tents stood ragged and forgotten, but the camp was not entirely abandoned.
Bodies were strewn everywhere.
Alim threw lightning at the creatures. Behind them Branka watched from ledge. Alim was tempted to send lightning arcing at the woman, but the spawn were too many to risk the distraction.
Branka smiled down at them.
"I needed people to test Caradin's traps," she began, "There was no way through except by trial and error. I sent them in. They were all mine you see, ALL MINE. Pledged to be my house, but then…then they tried to leave me."
Branka sniffled.
"Even…even my Hespith," she whimpered, "She…they did not understand. Sometimes…sometimes if you wish to achieve greatness then sacrifices become necessary. As many sacrifices as are needed."
Alim tried to ignore the woman's ranting, but it was hard. Two hundred dwarves had accompanied her, TWO HUNDRED! Had they all died to feed this woman's vanity, her mad dream?
He suspected that they had.
Sereda attacked the spawn savagely. The horror around her clearly was affecting the former noble. So much death…so much pointless death, Sereda glared daggers at the paragon.
If looks could kill then Branka would have fallen dead right there.
Again the paragon ignored them.
She just kept talking.
"She should not have gone. She…she was pledged to me," Branka said remorsefully, "She promised to do whatever it took to find the Anvil. You…you should have seen them. Reaching for me, grabbing for me…begging to die!" she snorted in distaste.
"There was no point in fleeing. There was no other choice. Most were dying from the taint already," Branka shrugged, as if she expected them to understand her reasons. "There was no other way, but the women…some of them anyway…they were transforming. I…I knew what they would become. I would finally have what I needed. An endless supply of fresh darkspawn to test the traps, they could still serve me. They could still help me find the Anvil. IT WAS THE ONLY WAY!"
The confession sickened Leliana. These people had been Branka's house, her family, and she had…had…
There were no such words for such savagery, such insanity.
"Monster," the bard cried, "Animal!"
"May I crush the mad wife now?" Shale asked snapping the neck of a hurlock.
Had she been among them, Alim would have allowed it. He would have welcomed it.
The warden had heard enough.
HE flung lightning at Branka, intent on avenging the murdered members of her house, but the paragon was no longer there.
The elf cursed angrily.
Still Branka spoke, taunting them from the shadows.
"You can feel it can't you?" she purred, "There is something about this place. It…it has a certain energy about it. It makes people despair. They say that your order is known for its wits as well as its brawn. Perhaps you will fare better than my kinsmen did."
The last of the darkspawn fell.
Alim was panting. Magical exhaustion had set in, but it was more than that.
Fury burned in his breast.
Branka…that bitch…after everything they had done to find her!
He looked at his companions, all seemed to share the same look of horror and fury.
All but Oghren…
"Good ole' Branka," he chuckled, "She is a bit…brisk isn't she? Guess I forgot about that with her not screaming at me every day. Oh well, we will help her find the Anvil. Then she can come home and everything will be all right again."
Alim shook his head.
Oghren was not that naïve.
He did not know what to say to the dwarf. He had no intention of the paragon getting away with this.
He did not need her alive after all.
Bhelen's suggestion had more and more merit. The woman deserved to pay for her barbarism. The deaths of so many innocent, not to mention all the poor women who had…had become…
He could not even put it into words.
That was the level of her crimes.
"We mush press on warden," Sten reminded him. "The way is now clear."
Alim grunted. He did not like the idea of sending his allies into that gauntlet of traps, but he had no choice.
Branka had made sure of that.
He cursed under his breath, another crime that the woman would have to answer for.
IOI
The traps were as cunning as they were lethal.
Poison gas, rogue golems, and trip wires filled the next two chambers. The bodies of Branka's fallen kin covered the floor, slowly rotting, abandoned by their mistress.
More dead…more innocents slain because of Branka's mad dream, it was hard not to give into despair.
But they all tried to remain strong.
The third chamber was even worse. It used lyrium to focus the spirits of the dead. Shades of Branka's fallen clansmen attacked their group. The only way to deal with them was to strike them down and directed their energies back at the lyrium powered statue that was holding them in this world.
The statue fought back, directing fel-energies at the warden and his allies.
Leliana and Bandit both had been injured by those spirits. Sereda's armor was broken in several places.
Still the same grim look never left any of their faces.
They had a reason to succeed here.
To see Branka punished for what she had done.
The last door opened into a massive chamber. A tall ledge overlooking a massive river of lava, the entire chamber was bathed in butter colored light. Long abandoned forges dotted the room, shards of lyrium rose from the floor.
There on the farthest ledge, overlooking the river, sat a massive golden anvil.
Alim shivered; even from here he could feel the magic of the mighty object. He could feel the lyrium woven into its frame. He could sense it, even from here.
This…this had to be the Anvil of the Void.
Leliana fell to her knees. Despair overwhelmed her.
They would all fall down here. They would be lost in a river of blood!
The bard sobbed.
Alim approached her.
"Leliana?" he whispered.
"It is all coming true," she sobbed, "The golden object; the laughing…it…my vision is coming true!"
Alim touched her face; his finger gently raised her chin. He stared into those tortured blue eyes.
"We make our own future Leliana," he murmured, "We do, you and I, we can change that vision, but I need you to be strong. Stand with me, please."
His words calmed her soul. She felt fear, but knew that she could overcome it.
The strength of his eyes drew her in. She felt the despair fade, the power in those soulful brown eyes revitalized her.
She wiped her eyes and stood. She steadied herself with a single deep breath.
She was ready.
"I'm sorry," she murmured.
"You have no reason to be," he replied. He looked at the Anvil.
His ears lowered slightly.
"Let us finish this," he said sternly.
The others who had stayed silent during their conversation followed in the elf's wake.
It was indeed time.
IOI
Nine golems stood at attention before the anvil. Their glowing eyes followed the approaching warden and his companions.
The largest stepped away from the group. Unlike the others, this one was made of steel, not stone. It stood patiently awaiting their approach.
When they drew close enough, the massive figure bowed.
"I bid you welcome stranger, my name is Caradin," it said, "long ago, longer than I care to admit. I was a paragon for the dwarves of Orzammar."
Alim paused. Caradin…Caradin was a golem?
How could that be?
Shale stepped forward, its glowing eyes wide.
"Caradin? The paragon smith? Alive?"
Caradin turned to face it.
"Ah," he murmured, "There is a voice I never expected to hear again. Shayle, of the House of Kadash, step forward."
Shale seemed to be thrown by that.
"You know my name?" it gasped, "Were you the one who forged my then? Did you give me my name?"
"Have you forgotten?" the golem smith said, "It has been a long time. I made you into the golem you are now Shale, but once you were a dwarf, just as I was, a warrior in the service of King Valtor, and the only woman to volunteer."
Shale gasped, it…she…she could not believe it.
"The…the only woman! A dwarf," Shale sounded like she was ready to faint.
Her shock amused Alim.
Some of their past conversations made more sense now.
The amusement was needed after everything they had faced.
Their grim work was not yet done…
Branka still remained.
They needed to deal with her, one way…or the other.