Disguised as rat-catchers, our heroes managed to conduct their investigation of the Grand Cathedral while the choir sang the Chant of Light not thirty feet away. Armed with only a vague clue and a mabari's sense of smell, they found a hidden hatch that led into a damp and dirty crawlspace...
Although the entrance was low enough that even Ariane had to duck to go through it, there was plenty of space beyond Andraste's cloak. Moving carefully away from the entrance, Finn summoned up a spell wisp to cast some light in the pitch black gloom.
Ariane startled when Vashti suddenly materialized out of the retreating darkness. "Creators! How did you get in here ahead of us?"
"Had to slip in while they were all watching that human lecture you," Vashti shrugged.
They were in a very long but narrow chamber that seemed to run across the front of the cathedral. The wall opposite was so close, Ariane could almost reach out and touch it - yet the empty space above her head stretched up beyond the light of the wisp. "What is this?" she asked quietly.
"Of course... the new facade..." Finn murmured. "At the start of the Blessed Age, to celebrate the birth of his twins, the Emperor of Orlais paid for a lavish new stonework facade to be put on the Grand Cathedral. The workers must have left this space for access of some kind and closed it over with the statue... but leaving a way to get back in, perhaps for future work. Ingenious!"
Very narrow stairs descended into the gloom. Ariane looked down dubiously and knelt next to the dog. "Can you even get down those?" The mabari padded to the edge of the landing they were on, snuffled at the stairs and whined. The steps were only slightly wider than the dog's shoulders, and it was a long way down to the next set of stairs if he fell... and then he'd possibly bounce right off those steps, too, and keep falling.
"Not a place for a dog," Vashti agreed. She looked the hound in the face. "Wait for us at the inn. We'll get you. If we can't, go home."
The dog's head dipped as it usually did before an affirmative bark, but he stopped mid-bob and looked guiltily back at the pale square of candlelight that marked their entrance. He whuffled instead.
"Good dog." Vashti knelt as well, embracing the beast briefly. "Dareth shiral. Now go." Obediently, he turned and paced back to the door, nails clacking on the stones. The Chant continued on without so much as a ripple, not to be disturbed even by the sight of a masterless dog wandering the Grand Cathedral.
"I hate it when we split up," Finn said nervously, watching him go. "And just after we all got back together, too."
"Nothing for it," Vashti said quietly as she and Ariane got to their feet. "Let us see what may be seen."
"Right," Finn reluctantly agreed. "Well, this makes some kind of sense, so far. The Black Fox and his men retreated into this chamber, where their opponents' superior numbers could not be brought to bear. In fact, just one or two men could hold this door while others escaped - that would fit quite well with Remi's modus operandi, yes..." He looked up questioningly as both Dalish lightly cleared their throats. "What? Oh. Modus operandi, method of operations. His style, tactics - "
"Got it."
"The ballad claims that all eventually made it out of the cathedral, so I suppose it doesn't matter who fought the Lord du Chevin's men to the end. Let's follow the path out and look for clues as we go."
Ariane moved to start down the stairs, but felt a hand on her shoulder. "Me first," Vashti said.
"You're the archer; you're always in the rear," Ariane protested.
The hunter plucked at Ariane's cheap woolen shirt. "Usually you've got better armor than this."
"True, I suppose..."
They went slowly and carefully, staying as close to the wall as they could as they descended into the fetid darkness. The steps were stone and slick with moisture, but fairly well-cut. They reached the first landing, and then a second, criss-crossing the front of the cathedral as the sound of the Chant faded above them. At last, the steps ended and the familiar cobblestones of the plaza were under their feet.
Which was a little odd. Ariane had expected trash or other filth, from the odor.
Ariane looked back up at where they'd come from, the two black stone walls towering high on either side, but so close to each other... "Worse than the Deep Roads," she muttered, tearing her gaze away. You couldn't seehow much rock was waiting to fall on your head down there...
"Now let's see..." Finn began to pace the length of the narrow space. "There must be some alternate exit from down here."
"Why?" Ariane asked sensibly. "You said the workers left the one up there as an entrance, and they disguised it. Wouldn't a door down here just invite passerby to pop in and hide out?"
"Well... that is... there's always a secret escape in a Black Fox ballad. It would be boring if they just fell back into that small doorway, held off the Lord du Chevin's men, and then came down the stairs."
"And yet..." Ariane rolled her eyes, "that's exactly the most likely thing that would have happened."
Finn ran his hands carefully over the outer wall, checking for some line or crack that might indicate an exit. "Well, it's rather implied that there were more of the Lord's men waiting outside..."
"So what good would a secret door that opens right into the plaza be?" Ariane pressed.
"And what is making the stink?" Vashti asked.
"What do you mean?" Finn replied, looking over at the Warden as he sidled along, continuing his search.
- And abruptly vanished from sight with a startled shout, leaving the two Dalish alone in the dark.
Neither was so raw as to stumble forward; Ariane reached towards where Vashti had been, and quickly encountered the Warden's searching arm. They clasped hands as they started calling for the mage. "Finn! Finn, can you hear us?"
"Uhnnnnnn!" The keening, whining sound came from below them, high and just a touch hysterical. As their eyes adjusted to the sudden loss of the spell wisp, they could see a square of light in the floor, a hole through which Finn had fallen.
"Finn, are you all right?" Ariane demanded, trying to command some information out of the obviously shaken man.
"I'm... I'm in... in... oh Maker, I think it's... it's..." The elves moved as quickly as they dared to the hole and, kneeling, looked at the scene below.
The chamber below looked to be of cut white stone, and vile-looking piles of glistening sludge oozed darkly in the wisp's light. Finn was half-risen from a crouch, arms held out wide to either side and staring down at what was now a very dirty shirt and trousers in absolute horror; he was still more than ankle-deep in filth. The normally immaculate mage looked up at them, face blank with shock. "I think it's a sewer," he said, panic edging his voice, just before he fainted.
The spell wisp was extinguished along with his consciousness.
Ariane sighed. "Great." She rubbed her face with her free hand. "So we wait for him to wake up, I go back up the stairs, in the dark, steal a candle and carry it down here, or we try to make a light in total darkness." She had a tinderbox in her belt pouch, but trying to get sparks to land on tinder when you couldn't see the tinder was tricky at best.
"On it," the Grey Warden said. "Stay put," she cautioned Ariane, reclaiming her hand. Ariane listened to the rustling sound of Vashti finding various items stowed about her person by feel, and then there was the harder clink of something set down on the cobblestones. That would probably be the palm-sized lantern Vashti kept for when she needed extra light for fiddling with locks or traps; it was little more than a very thick-walled glass bottle holding a bit of oil. The wick was stored tied around the neck - just pull the stopper, drop in the oily wick and light it.
Lighting it was still the problem, Ariane thought, as she heard what sounded like steel on flint. But instead of a spark or two leaping out in the darkness, a dull reddish point of light was developing, growing stronger with each strike. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Fire crystal," Vashti grunted, giving it another good bang against the cobblestones. "Dwarves use them. Just got to hit it til a bit chips off..." A few more strikes and the dull red suddenly turned orange-yellow, bright enough that the Warden's hands and face were suddenly visible in the dark. "And then it gets real hot." She touched the glowing crystal to the lantern wick, which caught almost instantly. She looked at the crystal, still glowing with heat, and at the open drain. "Nothing for it to burn here," the Warden decided, setting the stone aside. "Let's go get him."
They dangled the lantern down on a bit of string first, and then dropped down into the ordure themselves. "Ugh," Ariane grimaced, trying not to retch. "This is... this is foul. Oh Creators, he's covered in it. There's a clean...ish spot over there, let's - "
"Oh..." Finn groaned, coming to. "What... ohno." He stared rigidly up at the ceiling. "I'm... laying in something quite unpleasant, aren't I?"
"At least you're not wearing your good robes?" Ariane suggested.
"Get up," Vashti said, although not entirely ungently. "I've got a canteen of water. You can wash. A little."
"I suppose... it was good that at least one of us came with... standard gear," Finn said haltingly, as he picked himself up. "Oh. Oh. My clothes are..." He closed his eyes and swallowed. "S-s-s-sticky?"
"So take them off," the Warden suggested.
Finn's eyes flew open. "What? Are you joking?"
"Not really," the hunter said, crossing her arms. "You'll be cleaner without them. It's not too cold down here."
"Cleaner. Cleaner, yes." The mage jumped on the idea. "Give me a knife, I don't even want to touchit if I don't... have... there we go, yes. Off, off, off!" The sodden woolen shirt was sliced and shrugged off, and the trousers soon followed. Ariane and Vashti turned to give Finn some privacy as he cleaned the worst of the muck off his skin with the water from Vashti's canteen.
"Novel solution," Ariane murmured.
Vashti shrugged. "Didn't want him fainting again."
The dim light of the lantern was suddenly overwhelmed by the cool white glow of a spell wisp. "There. Much better. If somewhat drafty," he added self-consciously, standing there in just his boots, smallclothes and silver pendant.
"I'm not lending you my shirt," Ariane said.
"I didn't ask for it!"
Vashti blew out the lantern. "Wouldn't fit anyway. ...Is that a pointed arch?" she asked, with some dismay. The spell wisp's light illuminated the chamber more fully. It was much longer than it was wide, with the floor slightly concave to channel the effluvia. At either end, two thick columns rose to support the ceiling, flared out at the top to create the impression of an archway.
"Yes, indeed," Finn said. With a bit of history to impart, he was suddenly as assured as ever. "When Val Royeaux was a Tevinter settlement, they would have built these sewers to handle the city's waste. They must empty into the sea, which is... south." He glanced back at the opening in the ceiling. "Given the cathedral's orientation... the drain was in the eastern corner... that way," he pointed. "That's the way the Black Fox would go to make his escape."
"So... do we think Karolis... dropped Dumat's Claw down here?" Ariane asked, looking at the ooze.
"Sweet Andraste's mercy," Finn muttered. "I truly hope not. Let's look for other clues first before we go wallowing in filth."
"Wallowing again, you mean."
"Please do not mention it? Thanks."
They went on, heading in the most southerly direction every time there was a branch in their route. Vashti still took the lead, bow at the ready, but the rats that were down here just scampered away from the approaching light. It was disgustingly slippery going but uneventful enough, and after some time, they began to hear the distant sound of the sea. "We must be nearly to the exit," Finn said. "It seems like exactly the right sort of place for the Black Fox to establish his secret camp in Val Royeaux... perhaps there will be relics, records - " He broke off when Vashti stopped suddenly, one hand raised for silence. The Grey Warden pointed off to one side of the tunnel. There, half buried in rotting muck, were four huge eggs, each bigger than Ariane's head.
They'd seen these at Drake's Fall - dragon eggs. In an Orlesian sewer? Ariane looked all around her. A high dragon wouldn't even fit in these tunnels. The eggs had to have been brought here.
Vashti pointed to herself, then down the corridor. Ariane gave her a hangdog look and pointed up at the spell wisp. It was one thing to hide in shadows, but another entirely to stumble about in pitch darkness. They weren't yet so near the end that any moonlight could help her find her way. The Warden's shoulders sagged, but she nodded reluctantly. As quietly as they could, the trio proceeded down the tunnel.
More eggs, incubating in piles of filth, soon littered their path, and awkward sconces holding guttering torches began to appear at odd intervals on the walls. Finn let the wisp wink out, and Ariane finally agreed to let Vashti scout ahead. The Warden disappeared past the next set of twin columns - and promptly returned, beckoning.
They hurried forward to find this section of tunnel had been widened, the old Tevinter stonework pulled down and earth dug out to create a small niche for a dais and pedestal. The floor was mostly cleaned, with the filth all carefully washed down into the lowest part of the channel. Ornate lanterns and a few enormous bones served for decoration of the unholy chapel.
Finn went straight to the pedestal to investigate. "There's a plaque," he said breathlessly. "The cult chose this spot because... yes! They found a dragonbone blade on this very spot and took it as a sign!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Dumat's Claw was here!"
"Ssssh!" the Dalish hissed.
"Right, sorry," Finn apologized quietly, reading and rereading the plaque. "Caught up in the moment, you - "
"Ssssss!"
"I said- "
"Finn, that wasn't us!" Ariane clarified.
The mage looked up, blinking. "Oh, dear."
Whatever might go "Ssssss" in a dragon cultists' lair? Tune in next time to see how our underequipped trio handles the problem!