Soldier's Peak
Elaine had brought the party here mostly as a concession to Alistair. He was interested in Grey Warden history and wanted to honor Duncan's memory by keeping the promise the late warden had made to Levi Dryden. It wasn't exactly on the way, but it was at least in the right direction, and she'd agreed to go as part of her newly hatched attempt to show Alistair that he was a valuable member of the party.
And now she was regretting it. This was a bad move. Blood magic practically seeped from the walls of this place, and the demon-possessed body of Sophia Dryden further proved that a great evil dwelled within this fortress.
They did what they had to do – killed Sophia and sealed the Veil. When it came time to decide Avernus' fate, however, Elaine hesitated. He scared her. He was a blood mage, after all, and an unapologetic one at that. He had experimented on people, mutilated them – his fellow wardens! – and he absolutely deserved to die both for that and for the blood magic.
But she had read his notes. He was trying to help the Wardens in his own twisted way. His attempts to reverse the effects of the darkspawn corruption, however unethical, had obviously succeeded to an astounding degree. How could he still be living? He had been trapped here for the last two Ages, and yet here he was. She studied his sallow face with its sunken eyes and hollow cheeks. He didn't look much better than Sophia Dryden's walking corpse, but he was alive.
And what if his knowledge could help the rest of the Wardens? What if he could cure the taint? What if she and Alistair weren't destined to die – corrupted, alone, and crazy – fighting darkspawn in the Deep Roads? What if they had a future? An actual future, with homes and families and long years ahead of them?
Elaine was almost giddy at the thought. If anyone could do it, this blood mage could. She could just convince herself it might be worth it. And so Elaine let him live.
And when she found the concoction that his horrific experiments had yielded – the one he claimed would draw on the power of the darkspawn blood that was slowly corrupting her from the inside and use that blood for something other than destroying herself or hunting darkspawn – she drank it.
It tasted foul – worse than whatever had been in the Joining Chalice. And she felt it coursing through her, burning its way through her veins until her entire body felt like it was flaming on the inside. She nearly collapsed with the pain and steadied herself on a table until the painful sensation subsided. She had only just managed to recover enough to put a normal expression on her face when Alistair walked in the room and saw her holding the empty vial. He looked at it, then at her.
"What is that?"
She realized she couldn't possibly tell him. He was a templar, and here she was experimenting with blood magic. She sniffed the vial as though she had just picked it up, then placed it back on the table.
"I don't know," she lied. "More experiments, I'd guess. We'd best leave it alone."
If he noticed that her walk was a bit unsteady as they walked out of the laboratory, or that she wiped her mouth when she thought he wasn't looking, he didn't say anything.