Durkon eyed the great gate with suspicion.
The lights of the runes within the great tunnel had dimmed, their power fading from the wear of time and the slouching remains of darkspawn corruption.
That was one reason for him suspecting danger.
The filthy flesh, black and purple, covering the walls, stunk of rotting meat and something acrid. Though for some reason it was fading here, as if slowly slouching off the walls, melting away... Still, that could mean deepstalkers, lots of them.
The duster was far too deep in darkspawn territory for his own liking. The chainmail he'd been assigned as a scout in the dwarf army still felt unfamiliar, as did the awkward sword strapped to his waist. He wanted his daggers...
Still, no duster with some sense in his or her head wouldn't take king Bhelen up on his offer to join the army in exchange for food, shelter, weapons, and more importantly...self respect. And while the scorn of the warrior caste soldiers still remained, as with every caste, the dusters were now a force to be reckoned with, allied with a king working with them as much as for them.
Not that Durkon cared all that much about those things, he'd seen an opportunity, that was all. With being in the army came the right, nay, demand, for him to venture into the deep roads. And in the deep roads there were treasures... Durkon might be a 'respectable' citizen by now, but that only meant he had an easier time looting things for the black market back with his old contacts...
It did bring risks however, and this was one of those times he seriously considered going back to rob the odd passer-by at dagger point. I ain't dying for some coins or ideals dammit..
The gate ahead looked dark and foreboding. Not only was the two large towers flanking it in surprisingly good condition, sporting several dark holes from whence darkspawn archers could be watching him at that moment, but the gate itself was actually standing, neither broken open or hanging from smashed hinges. Could darkspawn take care of such things? Durkon once more eyed the many dark holes in the towers but saw nothing.
The door was also hanging slightly ajar, almost inviting him to take a look.
Durkon didn't like it.
With a frown he shot a glance at his partner in crime.
Kando was as stupid as he looked, his large nose shooting out from a face otherwise dominated by a bushy tan beard, a nose he constantly picked, refusing to understand the childishness of such an act. Still, Kando had his uses. While stupid he had a good instinctual sense for when danger was afoot, something Durkon exploited at every opportunity, not only that but he was strong enough to help Durkon carry the heavier loot without ever thinking of asking for a bigger cut in their win.
"Well? What do you think?" Durkon hissed the words, shifting where he stood, a hand resting on his sword even as he tensed to run away.
Kando's finger came out of his nose, only to move up to rub the bridge. He didn't take his eyes of the movement, as if it required all his concentration: "Uh...about what boss?" Durkon couldn't help but wince. Why is he speaking so damn loud!
"Have you been drinking again?" Durkon snapped, glaring at Kando.
The bigger dwarf shied away, despite being far more proficient with the swords they had been assigned, but then again Durkon had long ago made sure the other man knew his place...as the white scar across the bulbous nose still showed.
Durkon sighed, his shoulders slumping in visual exasperation of Kando, when they actually did it out of relief. "Lets go." He waved his hand and advanced on the door, only to slow down so his hurrying partner ended up just ahead of him.
Then regretted his decision as Kando, without an ounce of forethought, pushed the door wide open and stepped through.
With a growl Durkon stepped after his partner as the larger dwarf stumbled to a halt. "Kando you stupid-"
By the stones...
Durkon found his jaw drop, looking around himself with awe as he slowly took a step forward, not having realised he'd slammed to a stop.
They had stepped into a massive hall. Below them a dark abyss lay, a hundred feet in length and at least twice as wide, how deep impossible to tell, a single bridge of stone large enough for two walk next to one another built across it. The arched roof was of simple stone, carved out into a great dome. The floor itself had been carved into three levels of six feet in heigh, rapidly going narrower the further up one got.
The darkspawn corruption covered much of the walls, but here too it was fading, tears having appeared in it, making it look as if it had seeped from the top and then run down in tendrils along the walls, then dried and begun to wither.
Durkon didn't pay that much heed though, corruption in the deep roads wasn't an odd sigh, nor massive chambers.
What he stared at was the carnage.
He only had to take a few furtive steps onto the bridge before he had to step over the first corpses, genlocks and hurlocks, ripped open and torn apart, as if a storm of blades had just sweapt right through them as they had tried to cross. Durkon winced as he bumped into one, it's limp arm hanging over the edge of the bridge swaying slightly at the impact, as dead as the creature.
Right at the end of the bridge two ogres lay. One was lying on its side, missing its left leg, stomach cut from crotch to chest. The other lay sprawled on its back, its skull practically cleaved in two.
Durkon winced, forcing himself to step up on the chest of the second one, his disgust with it quickly faded though as the awe continued to grasp him.
The chamber was filled with darkspawn corpses, they lay in piles, the ground black with their blood. No, one big pile. Durkon swallowed as he realised that the many dead atop the chamber actually formed a sick sort of pyramid, dead upon dead forming a peaked top of torn bodies and rent flesh.
"B-boss..." It was impossible not to follow Kando's shaky finger as it pointed up at the top of the pyramid, Durkon's own gaze already drawn towards it.
May the stone be praised...
Durkon and Kando begun to climb as one, quickly scaling the corpses, the blood clinging to their hands and feet forgotten, the scrapes they received on crude and torn armour not even felt.
Then they were at the top, panting, gasping for breath, staring.
The body was seated between two slain ogres, a rune-covered axe still buried deep in the skull of the one to its left. Behind it a shriek stood crouched, its taloned hands still resting upon the shoulders of the corpse, a still glowing blade held reversed in a silvery gauntlet still buried in its gut.
And the body itself...Durkon licked his lips as he saw the silvery suit of armour covering the surprisingly small and petite warrior before him. As with the corruption running down the walls of the chamber the blood that might once had covered the armour had crusted up and now only covered it in trails...as if the purity of the silver was slowly repelling the filth upon it. It was in surprisingly good shape, no tears, no holes, it was as if the warrior had only chosen to sit down and take a rest from all the slaying done so far.
The sword, the axe, the armour...it's a fortune! Durkon's awe turned to glee. We're rich!
"This is good boss...right?" Kando asked, hesitantly echoing Durkon's thoughts.
"Oh yes..." Durkon nodded even as he let his eyes move upwards. "...very..." He found himself hesitating. "...good?"
The body couldn't had been there long, nor could the horde she'd slain been, the stench wasn't yet overpowering after all, nor had any deepstalkers arrived. Yet the exposed head of the warrior was one of a corpse long dead.
Durkon found himself shivering, not the least surprised to find the corpse to be an elf, considering all the strangeness around him he wouldn't be surprised if she actually got to her feet...he inched backwards.
There was something eerie with it, the white hair hanging from a gaunt face, a face that seemed to have been eaten away long before the warrior's death, exposing a web of dark blue veins across the withered face. The eyes were large, open, and by now milky white, a hint of lustre somewhere deep within them...looking at him...following him...
Yet all that paled with the lips, those dark blue lips were slightly crooked at the corners, just enough to hint at a smile. A second look and Durkon realised that the corners of the eyes too were wrinkled as if the warrior was smiling in death, that the entire face was one big smile.
It wasn't a mad grin, not a relaxed one of someone relieved, not even a smirk of victory for whatever cause the strange warrior had fought for.
It was serene.
"I'm going to buy me a nug-steak to celebrate." Kando laughed softly, taking a step forth to grab a hold of the warrior's gauntlet, to wrench it off.
"No." Durkon didn't realise he had spoken until he had placed a hand on the wrist of his partner.
"Boss?" Kando's eyebrows arched high as he looked back at Durkon.
Durkon, always the practical.
Durkon, the ruthless.
Durkon, who had killed a fellow duster over a piece of copper once.
Who now found himself shaking his head, unable to understand what had gotten into him as he softly pulled Kando's hands away. "No buddy...not this one." Even his voice was muffled, low, reverent.
Kando's mouth moved, but no words came, then the bigger dwarf moved to follow Durkon back down the pile of dead.
They said nothing as they slowly walked back across the bridge, both glancing back at the still seated warrior in confusion.
Only once they had escaped the chamber did he manage to speak: "B-boss...I don't understand..."
Durkon shook his head, refusing to meet his partner's gaze as he looked back at the closing gate. Even now he found his voice muffled, himself...sombre. "Neither do I buddy, neither do I..."
With a click the gate closed behind them.