[Most] dialogue taken from the Dragon Age: Witch Hunt DLC. Elvhen from fan conlanger fenxshiral on tumblr. A lot of dialogue in this chapter. I've started on Middle Earth and I'm excited to be finished with Thedas! Disclaimer: I have no idea if fish and/or deep stalkers get Tainted, or if the deep stalkers are even safe to eat when not Tainted.
The excavations are going well. I think Shaper Warrek secretly hopes that the artifacts will lead him to the lost city of Arlathan, despite Tevinter records that insist on its complete obliteration. Even if he found the site of the city, there would be little remaining of any worth. As for the artifacts, they must have come to this area by trade. Cadash Thaig is old, built upon an ancient settlement called Cad'halash. Lots of junk can accumulate over that much time, even elven junk.
-From Shaper Assistant Shalla's journal
15 August, 9:32 Dragon: Circle Repository, Kinloch Hold, Lake Calenhad
"That was the last of them. The sentinels should stop trying to kill us now. Let's get back to the statue." Finn lowered his staff as the last of the corrupted sentinels straightened and went back its post. The ice on their weapons melted, and the arcane shield around Ariane, who had taken the brunt of the sentinels' attention, dissipated.
"That took far too long," muttered Ariane as they walked back through the repository, her wolf a shadow on her heels. "I did not want to spend the night here."
"Look at it this way: we'll have more time to gather equipment and supplies. Tranquil-made things are not to be taken lightly," said Nat. "I'm rather looking forward to a warm meal for once."
"The food here is quite good," agreed Finn. He raised his staff and concentrated; a slew of broken crates, their contents scattered around the room, repaired themselves and filled back up. "And I'll need time to pack everything I need, anyways! We couldn't possibly leave before noon tomorrow."
The dwarf and the Dalish exchanged looks and shook their heads. The young mage would have a rude awakening the next day when he found out he would have to carry all his own things.
They took their time finding the statue, as their battles had caused quite a bit of damage and Finn felt the need to repair as much as he could. Shattered pottery fused back together, torn paintings on canvas sewed themselves up, fallen lanterns levitated back to the walls and re-lit. Finally, they cleaned up the mess in the room that housed the statue. Finn set his staff leaning against the wall and approached with the two women close behind.
"I am the spirit of Eleni Zinovia, once consort and—"
"Advisor to Archon Valerius, blah, blah, fall of the house. Yes, we've been through that," Finn cut across the statue's ethereal voice with impatience. He twirled his hands in a hurry-up gesture.
"Wow...it really does talk," said Ariane.
"Finn...greetings." If a statue could be amused or exasperated, or both, this one was.
"We've conversed before, on the Imperium. It's hard to get answers out of it-requires parsing all the grandiose mumbo-jumbo," Finn said in an aside to Natia and Ariane. "We know where a broken Eluvian lies. Can it still be used to find the others?"
"Scry. The broken glass, dagger-sharp, will be your key."
"Broken glass? From the mirror, must be." The dwarf paused and looked at Finn in enquiry. "Finn, do you know how scrying works?"
"Er...In theory," he prevaricated. "I haven't done much of it."
"Oh, wonderful," grumbled Ariane.
"The Lights of Arlathan will illuminate the scryer's path," said the spirit of Eleni Zinovia. "The archons possessed them, but they were misused, befouled, and lost, like so much the Imperium touched. Some were saved, carried by fugitives from the elven city. Their sorrow awoke the Stone, and her children sheltered them. They found a sanctuary in the deep halls of Cad'halash, now known as Cadash. There the Lights of Arlathan lie, shielded from unworthy eyes."
"The deep halls of Cadash." Nat nodded slowly. "I've been there before, it could quite possibly be old enough to have witnessed the fall of Arlathan. My people have long Memories. We have to get there. Probably should stop by the Shaperate, too, see what they have about it."
"She mentioned the children of the Stone," said Ariane. "I had not realized the durgen'len[1] once aided my people when they fled."
"Neither did I." The dwarf shrugged. "Funny how things work, eh? Orzammar's a refuge for apostates of elves and humans alike, now."
"So you know of it. Convenient." Finn picked up his staff.
"I'm not a Surfacer, you know, for all I'm a Warden. And I searched the Deep Roads for nigh on three months, looking for the Living Paragon. We stopped in Cadash thaig on the way back from Bownammar. Lucky for you, we don't have to go that far in the Deep."
"Goodbye Finn. We will not speak again." The statue went quiet, and both Ariane and Finn flinched as if they'd felt something brush by them.
"What? What's that supposed to mean? Am I going to die?" Finn's voice went up a pitch and he backed away.
"Don't worry, shem'len[2], I'll protect you," Ariane grinned wickedly. He scowled at her and they made their way out of the basement.
"Now, mage. Tell us what's going on."
"The Eluvians are linked. All of them. If you have one, you can find the others, if they still exist." Finn scratched his head. "But the one you know of is broken, corrupted. So we need something else to...amplify the magic."
"I should've asked Daylen to come by," Nat muttered. "Obscure magic is his specialty."
"Daylen—Daylen Amell? Yeah, he'd be a great help! Why didn't you?" he asked, distracted.
"The Lights of Arlathan," Ariane reminded them.
"Yes, exactly!" Finn smiled brightly.
"How will this help us find Morrigan?" Nat asked. "Can you not find her by scrying?"
"Unfortunately, no," said the mage. "I'd have to have something of her, like her hair or blood, and that would be blood magic—strictly forbidden, and anyways I wouldn't do it," he added, noticing a templar close enough to hear.
"Morrigan is interested in the Eluvians," the Dalish warrior pointed out. "We find them, we find her."
"Let me come with you; I can help. Please!" Finn begged. "I thought the mirrors were all destroyed. I can't pass up this chance at actually finding one."
"Your knowledge would be helpful, I guess." Nat glanced at the templar who passed them on his way towards the apprentice dormitories. "Do you have permission?"
"Yes, yes, I had permission to leave the tower to continue my research some time ago... but I never had the opportunity till now. I guess there's always a first time, huh? Ready to go when you are." Finn hesitated. "Er, wait, I need to get a few things."
"Come on—no time to waste. I have a good feeling about this," urged Ariane.
"We do need supplies, and I could do with a proper bed. I'd gotten used to those as a Warden," said Nat, remembering her quarters in Orzammar fondly. The most comfortable bed she'd ever slept in had been in Redcliffe, with Duran, the night before they realized the darkspawn horde had emerged near Denerim. That had been a most excellent night. The beds in the Orzammar Warden compound were not great, but they were much better than the stone she'd slept on for all of her childhood.
Hadley caught them before they left the following morning. "Thank you for dealing with the situation in the repository. The Circle owes you. Oh, and make sure Finn behaves himself out there."
Finn groaned. "You're like my mother. Stop it."
"Don't worry, Ser Hadley," Nat chuckled. "I'll keep him in line. I spent enough time with Wynne that I know how to treat unruly apprentices."
Finn grumbled. They ignored him.
21 August, Orzammar Thaig, Frostback Mountains
"So you've never... been outdoors? Till now?" Ariane asked, incredulous.
"I have been, I just don't care much for it. We had to do stretching exercises. I got sweaty. There was...dirt." Finn made a face at the mud-stained robes he currently wore. "During my apprenticeship, they thought getting fresh air and exercise at least once a week would do us good."
"Fresh air and sunlight is good for you," the Dalish elf pointed out.
"You know what fills fresh air in the summer? Mosquitoes. Hungry for sweet, untested mage flesh." He shuddered and slapped at the insects buzzing around his head.
"Well... when you put it that way-"
"Luckily, it didn't last long," Finn continued, not seeming to hear her. :One day, an apprentice made a break for it. Jumped off the dock and started swimming for the shore. The templars couldn't jump in after him, not with the armour on. Finally found him a week later. We stopped having to go out after that. That mage, Anders, never stopped trying to escape, though. Haven't heard anything from him since his last attempt."
"He's a Warden now," Nat said. "Haven't seen him in Orzammar, but I did meet him in Vigil's Keep when I went by a few weeks ago. He's very full of himself."
While they travelled, in order to stay out of trouble Natia wore regular leather armour, not her custom Warden leathers. Once Finn got used to taking a turn on watch and sleeping on the ground, they traveled quite quickly, reaching the Frostback Mountains in three days and Orzammar a few days after that. Summer was well under way by this point, and even in the Frostbacks it was warm enough they felt comfortable. At this point, Nat switched to her Warden leathers.
When they arrived in Orzammar, Natia told them to stay quiet. Harrowmont had closed Orzammar off from trade with the surface weeks ago, and outsiders were still viewed with suspicion—when they were allowed in at all. As Warden-Constable, Nat was allowed to go where she wished, and people with her were thought to be Wardens also: as long as Ariane and Finn didn't say anything, they wouldn't have any problems.
They stayed the night with Rica and Endrin, who had just started crawling. He was a plump little fellow, happy with everything, with his father's face, his mother's rich hair, and eyes just like Natia's; he had probably inherited them from Kalah's side of their family. He laughed a lot more than Natia remembered Rica doing as a small child.
In the morning they stocked up from the Warden compound. And then they entered the Deep Roads.
28 August, Cadash Thaig, Deep Roads
"It's hard to breathe with all this stone around me," said Finn. "I... I hope this is all in my head. Wait, why did we stop? Is this Cadash thaig?"
"Yes, I've been here before," said Natia. She looked around. They were in an area well-lit from above, a solidly intact bridge that linked the Deep Roads with Cadash Thaig. She sensed a large presence of darkspawn, but that didn't mean much considering how far from Orzammar they were. "This is a good place to set up camp tonight, once we've found what we're looking for, although we will have to stand watch again."
"Right," said the human. "So, I've, er, been going through my old notes."
"And?" Nat hunkered down with her pack and went through it for some food. The last of the salted meat from the surface she tossed to Banal'ras, who caught it easily. There wasn't much else left, besides hardtack, which was never palatable. They'd have to hope to find some mushrooms, or some untainted animals to hunt. The wolf would be a help there.
"And I came across this footnote. Apparently, the elves would magically conceal relics of great significance, thus shielding them from unworthy eyes. And given what the Tevinters did, I'd say they count as unworthy," he added.
"You don't say," Ariane said, casting the Warden a wry look.
"You're a helpful person to have around," Nat said, standing again and handing out shriveled little apples to her companions. "Make those last, there's no more."
"Yes, I know. But I have little else going for me." He chuckled modestly. "If the elves concealed the relics with magic, only the blood of their kin will reveal them. Ariane...we need your blood."
"Excuse me?" The elf whirled on him, half drawing her sword, eyes flashing.
"Just a few drops, that's it!" He winced and backed up a step.
"Is this blood magic?" Nat didn't have much against blood magic, as she was immune to its worse effects, but they weren't battling a Blight: not everything was acceptable.
"Um..." The mage rubbed the back of his head. "Blood doesn't power the spell, per se— it's just a component. It's... certainly a grey area, so let's just keep it between the three of us. Shall we?"
Banal'ras, finished with the meat, growled.
"Fine, four of us, then." He rolled his eyes, then focused on Ariane intently. "You share the same blood as the Arlathan elves, so you're the only one this enchantment might recognize."
"Fine," Ariane snapped through gritted teeth. "Just because hearing that gets me all tingly. Just a few drops."
"I'll be gentle," Finn assured her. He drew a small dagger which looked like it had no other purpose than drawing blood for rituals and flicked the tip across the back of her offered hand. She cried out sharply.
"That wasn't gentle," Nat observed.
"My spell will reveal vortices of magic," Finn said, waving off the elf's complaints. He muttered a few arcane words and the bloody blade shimmered. "Standing in them should allow us to see the energy being drawn to the relics, which will lead us to them. Once we reach the influence of the Lights of Arlathan, Ariane's blood will unveil them. But we have to be close."
They finished their apples, Finn managed a small healing spell to close the wound on Ariane's hand, and then crossed the bridge to a small island before another bridge. Nat drew her axes and cried a warning seconds before they were attacked by a group of shrieks: tall, lean darkspawn which leapt from stealth to attack them with ear-splitting cries and long, jagged blades attached to their forearms.
Forewarned by her ability to sense darkspawn, Natia blocked the first blows and struck back quickly, but Ariane was hit from behind and Finn barely escaped a decapitating blow. His cone of ice magic froze Natia in place as well as three of the shrieks, but the magic didn't affect her for very long and she efficiently killed two of the frozen shrieks while Banal'ras took down the third. Ariane recovered from the surprise attack slowly, but managed to turn and cut her attacker in half before it got in another slice, and then killed the final one when it attempted to stab down into her wolf.
"That's odd," said Nat. "You don't often find groups of sharlocks—shrieks—like this. Mainly hurlocks or genlocks in the Deep. Must be a last vestige from the Blight."
"Why? What's the difference?" Finn wanted to know. "There isn't much written about the darkspawn. Er, at least not in the Tower library."
"It's common knowledge among the Wardens." The dwarf shrugged. "Hurlocks are the equivalent of men, genlocks of dwarves, sharlocks of elves, and ogres of the Qunari people. Kossith, I think they're called. I won't tell you how they come to be." She saw the ghouls Branka had left of her House in her mind's eye, remembered the swollen mass of Broodmother that had almost killed them all, and shuddered. "That's something you do not want to know."
Ariane wiped the Tainted blood from her sword on one of the shriek's ragged tunic and sheathed it. "I certainly don't want to know. Let's go, I ache for the open air."
"Ariane...does your name mean anything in elven?" Finn asked as they walked across the next bridge.
"Blessed Creators! Why does everyone ask that of people from other cultures?" The Dalish scowled at him and fingered her sword.
Backtracking, Finn said quickly, "Er...I didn't mean—"
"What about you? Are you named for an honorable fish's appendage?" Nat interjected, not wanting to listen to yet another argument between them.
"Well, um, 'Florian Phineas Horatio Aldebrant Esquire' was a bit of a mouthful. And I...was tired of the other apprentices calling me 'Flora.' " He glanced at them uncomfortably as if he expected them to make fun of his name, too.
Banal'ras suddenly leapt in a whirl of dark fur and scrabbled madly for a moment before returning with a freshly killed deep stalker. He dropped it at Ariane's feet with a canine grin.
"Thank you so much, da'banal'ras," the elf said wryly.
"Dinner!" Nat cheered. "Thank goodness; I was hoping to have some fresh meat for once. Be careful, where there's one there's more, and they're nasty little buggers before you kill them."
"You... eat these things?" The mage poked the corpse with the butt of his staff, a queasy expression on his face.
"They're only tezpadam[3]," the dwarf said reasonably, squatting to clean the corpse. Its guts spilled out in a smelly heap and she added its feet and head to the pile. It would serve as nice bait for the rest of the deep stalkers, who often cannibalized their own when they couldn't get any other food. "They don't get Tainted easily, just like fish. And they taste like chicken."
She speared the gutted carcass on her cooking-fork and held it out in front of her. "Some fire before it goes bad, please, mage."
Used to this from cooking their kills on the surface, Finn controlled his flame blast with two fingers with only a show of complaint, sending a jet of flames right beneath the deep stalker. Nat dipped it briefly in the fire to sear its scaly skin, then twirled it around until she felt it was cooked thoroughly.
"Let me just get this again," Ariane said as they waited for the Deep-creature to cook. "Your name is Florian... Phineas...?"
"Horatio Aldebrant. Esquire. Can't forget the 'Esquire.' Father insisted." The human sighed. "They adore me. I'm sure my name is a result of overwhelming love replacing good sense."
The wolf leapt up as more deep stalkers poured out of the shadows, drawn by the smell of guts and cooking tezpadam. Nat planted the cooking-fork in the ground so that the meat doesn't touch the Tainted earth and went to work with a will, a tempest of whirling ax-blades. Ariane, unused to being attacked by creatures so much smaller than herself, stabbed down with her sword but didn't kill more than three; Finn, not wanting to ruin the meat, aimed careful bolts of electricity.
It didn't take long to kill them all, and then Banal'ras gorged himself on the guts as Natia cleaned the corpses. Ariane held up the cleaned meat, Finn cooked it, and then they cut the cooked meat into strips and used an obscure spell to smoke the already cooked meat so it would last. Finally they packed it all away and crossed the bridge into the main thaig.
At the base of the bridge they saw a swirling silver-and-blue ball of light. Finn hastened towards it and circled it with staff raised, mumbling arcane words. "A magical vortex!" he exclaimed, lowering his staff. "We can use it to reveal the energy flowing towards the Lights of Arlathan!"
Ariane stepped into the light and seemed to freeze in place, as though time had slowed for her and not them.
"Do you see it? Can you follow the path?" the mage asked eagerly.
"Yes! This way," she said, voice distorted until she emerged, and they followed her deeper into the ruins of Cadash Thaig. A few corners later, they found another vortex, near which a group of darkspawn had camped out.
This group was more typical, with two hurlocks and five genlocks. Nat used her throwing daggers to take two of them out before they realized a Warden was close enough to kill them. Finn hurled a stone-fist at the alpha hurlock, knocking him down and out, and Ariane's Dalish bow made short work of the rest. Banal'ras leapt in and tore out the fallen alpha's throat before it could get back up.
"That's more like it," said Nat, quite satisfied, jerking her throwing knives free of the genlocks' throats with a burst of black blood. "Back to normal."
"We're seeing the magical energy being drawn to the Lights of Arlathan," Finn said, pointing at the vortex with his staff. Ariane stood inside for a moment, then led them to an empty niche.
"Over here," she called. "Finn, can you..?"
"Something's here," he muttered, and made a complicated gesture. A floating lantern appeared in a brilliant flash of magic. The Dalish woman approached it carefully and picked it up as if it were made of paper instead of magically reinforced glass and metal.
A ghostly elf in ancient armor yelled and ran in wielding a two-handed sword, silvery hair swirling around his head as he twisted and parried Natia's instinctive attack.
"Ena'sal'in'abelas, din'dira![4,5]" Ariane cried out in elvish, a phrase Natia had not heard before. "Ir falon'en![5]" The ancient guardian hesitated but shook his head and attacked again, responding with a fierce battle cry. Ariane fell back, not wanting to put the lantern down.
"Oh, guardians! That's what that word on the scroll meant!" Finn's staff passed through the ghostly guardian when he tried to physically attack him, though Natia's axes connected solidly. An Arcane Bolt made the guardian stumble, and another two in quick succession drove him to his knees, where Nat's Aodh finished him off. The guardian burst with a wail into a million shards of light, which dissipated before they hit the ground.
"You knew there were guardians?" Ariane held the lantern close to her chest protectively when the mage went to look at it.
"The Lights of Arlathan are old lanterns! I didn't realize the statue was capable of being literal." He offered his pack to hold it. "Don't worry, it survived centuries, even millenia down here with darkspawn, it will survive my dirty clothes. Oh, yeah, the guardians, no I knew there was something but I couldn't translate that word. Now I have it! We'll probably encounter more of them."
There was a locked chest half-hidden under some rubble nearby. Nat went over and heaved it out as he spoke. She jimmied it open to find some crumbling relics, some ancient dwarven coinage which would be worth a pretty penny, and a faded note:
Commander Regnar of House Cadash:
You were wise to send the relic you uncovered. The Shaperate has compared the carvings on it to various records, and believe them to be of elven origin, possibly thousands of years old. I would advise that you cease repair work on the warrior training ground immediately and continue investigation. A team will be dispatched from Kal Sharok as soon as possible.
-Shaper Warrek
They all examined it after Ariane placed the Lantern inside Finn's pack, nestled between his dirty clothes and the wrapped package of smoked tezpadam.
"The Cadash dwarves didn't even know they once had elves living here." Finn shook his head. "Wouldn't this be remarkable enough to record in the Memories?"
"I wouldn't know," said Nat. "The Shaperate usually record everything except the births of us dusters."
"I should study dwarven history when I return," he said absently, flipping over the note to study the back intently. The mark of Shaper Warrek, in the top middle, was visible when he lifted it to the light.
"We can stop in at the Shaperate in Orzammar if you like," she offered. "I'm sure they can recommend some books."
"Oh, could we? Excellent!" He folded the note carefully. "Only... Don't they record things in stone? That might be hard to read. I know how to read many old languages, but I haven't studied dwarven runes."
"No. The Shaperate spends a lot of their time transcribing old documents onto new paper so nothing is lost, although of course a lot is every year. Only the House records are in Stone." Nat shrugged. "I don't know if anything's written in runes, nowadays. Never been in the Shaperate myself."
"This way," called Ariane, already walking away through the thaig, her wolf on her heels as always. They followed her to a crossroads of sorts, with a massive dwarven sculpture in the middle, made of interlocking links. "Ooh, what's that?"
"Fascinating. A monument of some kind, possibly. Where's my notebook?" Finn patted himself down.
The dwarf drew her axes, spinning, as her senses alerted her to darkspawn. "Look out!"
The genlock rogues who had intended to surprise them instead got a faceful of Finn's powerful flame blast, Ariane's arrows, and Natia's axes. Within seconds the battle, such as it was, was over. When Natia had been in the Deep Roads with Duran, Morrigan, Oghren, and Shale, they had taken the time to go through all the darkspawn they killed looking for loot. Now, she didn't bother, knowing that contact with the darkspawn increased the risk of Taint for Ariane and Finn and not wanting to do it all herself.
Ariane let out a pleased cry when they walked between two buildings and emerged near another vortex. "Here we are!"
"Pay attention to where they're going," Finn urged.
"I know what to do by now, Finn," the elf said dryly, walking away again.
They followed her further into the thaig, through a darker area. "I have a good feeling about—" Finn cut himself off with a shriek of fright when a deep stalker launched itself at him from a nearby building. He froze it in mid-leap and it shattered when it hit the ground. More poured out of the squalid buildings, hissing madly at the death of their own; Banal'ras leapt in with an eager noise, Ariane slashing indiscriminately and Natia hacking at them. This was a larger pack of deep stalkers than had attacked them before, but it still took them only a couple of minutes to kill the last of them.
"I don't think we need this much meat," said Ariane, wiping her sword clean before sheathing it. "Da'banal'ras, ava durdaurun mar diane."[6]
The wolf went to work with a will and had soon gorged himself. Belly distended, he flopped down with a contented sigh.
"We've still got a few battles left to fight today, wolf," Nat said. "Don't get too comfortable."
"I'm fair hungry, myself," remarked Ariane. "Do we have any fruit left to go with the meat?"
"Don't know how you can be hungry after watching that bloody spectacle," muttered Finn, but looked through his pack obligingly. He came up with a withered apple core that he tossed aside and a wrapped package of deep stalker meat, which he shared out between the three of them. They sat on pieces of rubble as they ate. Finn took the time to fill their little cooking-pot with summoned ice, then melted it and used the water to rinse the worst of the blood and dirt out of his robes. After finishing her own portion, Natia wiped down her axes and carefully rubbed down the blades, getting rid of the blood before it started to rust. Dwarven metal did not rust easily, but it never paid to be careless. Ariane, waiting for her companions to finish, brushed out her long dark hair, her one vanity.
After a while, they walked on. They came across some torches burning on the side of a building.
"Torches... still burning after thousands of years. Magic? Special fuel? Perhaps the design of the sconces?" Finn walked closer to the subject of his scrutiny, squinting at the flames, which looked no different than the regular torch sconces used on the surface.
"'Fraid that's a dwarva secret, human, and you won't get it out of me." Nat and Ariane continued on.
It took a moment for Finn to realize he was being left behind. "Hey! Wait up!"
Around the corner from the ever-burning torches, Ariane stopped before a blank wall.
"Let's see..." Finn did something magical, and another Lantern appeared.
Ariane took it to place in her pack. "You know, these fit surprisingly easily. I was worried there wouldn't be room."
"In hindsight, we should have expected resistance like this," said Finn as another ancient guardian appeared. Again Ariane pleaded with the apparition in Elvish, and again they defeated him when he attacked them anyways. "That's two lanterns. We just need a couple more."
More darkspawn appeared. This time Brosca, paying attention to her Taint-sense, was able to set a trap for them using Finn's magic, Ariane's Dalish bow and Brosca's throwing knives. Most of them died quickly, but a Hurlock mage gave them a little trouble and injured Banal'ras, slowed because of his earlier gorging. One of their elfroot poultices stopped the bleeding, though the patch of new skin did not regrow his fur. With the wolf stopping every few steps to lick at his shiny new scar, they followed Ariane to the next magical vortex.
"It's like standing in a field of stars. And they're showing us the way!" the elf marveled. They started going again, Finn slower, looking around at the more intact dwarven carvings.
"Those carvings! The masonry! Look at the craftsmanship on—"
Ariane, annoyed, turned and looked back. "Finn!"
Finn had been meandering in a different direction; he turned hastily and ran to catch up. "Sorry...Oh! I bet there's one here!"
Another Light of Arlathan appeared, this one going in Natia's pack.
"Oh, what we could do if we hadn't lost this magic!" Ariane said, just as another ancient guardian appeared. "I wish we could question these ancients instead of killing them."
"Why is everything so complicated?" Finn whined as he paralyzed the apparition with electricity.
"Just to make your life difficult, Finn," quipped Natia.
They crossed another bridge after the guardian dissipated.
"Over here, perhaps?" The human pointed to a raised platform which looked like a stage with nothing on it. Ariane stepped closer and Finn made his complicated gesture again: nothing appeared.
"That was disappointing." Ariane sighed and turned away.
They continued on and come across a Shaper's notes stuck on a post.
We thought the Imperium found the elves hidden in Cad'halash, and destroyed them, but it doesn't add up. The thaig was destroyed with conventional dwarven weaponry, not magical forces. No supernatural means melted the stone and no immense forces pulverized the pillars.
We uncovered shields (among other things) bearing the heraldry of old Kal Sharok houses. We destroyed Cad'halash-our own people. The only remaining conclusion is that Kal Sharok learned that they were sheltering elves and, knowing it would jeopardize their alliance with the Tevinter Imperium, took steps to cover it up.
Thus far, there has been no evidence to contradict this theory, but it has split the Shaperate. Some wish to enter it into the Memories, while others demand that it lies forgotten in the dark halls of the Roads.
-From the notes of Shaper Warrek
"Kal Sharok destroyed Cad'halash. The dwarves slaughtered their own because they feared the Tevinter Imperium." Ariane shook her head wearily.
Natia grimaced. "Those were Kal Sharok dwarves: they are petty-dwarves, and of no consequence, for they are sly and prefer no contact with us in Orzammar, nor any on the surface. The Cadash dwarves of the day, indeed any still found in Orzammar, would gladly help. We have helped many mages avoid capture by templars, after all. Although," she paused, considering, "I can't really blame the Kal Sharok dwarves for becoming petty; we did cut them off during the First Blight, after all, leaving them for dead."
"Strange to think of dwarves giving shelter in this darkness to the elves who fled Arlathan," the Dalish warrior said.
"It's not that bad down here," said the dwarf, feeling as though she had to defend her people's homeland.
"I'm starting to get sick of the lack of sun," said Finn. "That's something I never thought I'd say, but it's true."
"See? Not that bad."
[1]durgen'len: the elvhen term for dwarves, lit. "Children of the Stone"
[2]shem'len: the elvhen term for humans, usually derogatory, lit. "quickling"
[3]tezpadam: dwarven for deep stalker[4]Ena'sal'in'abelas: Ancient arcane warriors that would protect the tombs where ancient elves slumbered in Uth'then'era. Dalish will often incorrectly shorten this to 'Enasalin.' Ariane, from a clan with more knowledge of Arlathan, would know the correct term.
[5]din'dira, ele falon: do not attack, we are friends in elvhen
[6]Da'banal'ras, ava durdaurun mar diane: loosely translated as "my little shadow, eat your fill." Bad grammar is mine, vocabulary comes from the wonderful fenxshiral.