Author Note
This chapter is shorter than I had hoped but perhaps that's for the best as it's not very interesting truth be told.
Also I did try to right the fight with the dragon but I just couldn't come up with the words needed to make it seem like an awesome battle, so I decided not to write it.
Warden Gothic
Part 17
Temple
After failing to sneak by the snoozing dragon we finally managed to make inside the temple.
"Sodding hell" I muttered as I collapsed "We just killed a dragon".
It had been an intense fight involving bows, magic spells and a lot of sword play. The dragon should have won, but fortune had smiled upon us. We'd managed to cripple the beast's wings early on and the pain had distracted the creature enough for us to get in close.
Which had also been lucky as the High Dragon had been able to breathe fire, had the beast not suffered such misfortune so early on then we would have been incinerated. Morrigan almost had been, but thanks to a magical shield she had raised so she was okay. Not that it would have been a great loss if she had died.
"Let's all just rest for a while" I said.
Getting some time to just think would give me the chance to wonder if I would suffer any side effects for getting so much dragon's blood in mouth. It hadn't tasted that bad, which was also very worrying.
"That's a good idea" Wynn agreed.
Once we had all rest for a while and after we had eaten some of our rations our group's leader had been able to cast some healing spells on us.
Then we proceeded up the entrance staircase which led into a small hallway that had statues of armoured ladies holding shields within.
For a moment I'd had a horrible feeling that they might come to life and try to kills us as we had been way too lucky when fighting that dragon, but thankfully nothing bad happened to us.
I could that see Leliana and Wynne were rather upset about the poor state of this place, even Alistair looked like he wanted to cry.
Morrigan was completely unaffected by what she saw, but thankfully she held her tongue. As for me I could feel the holy vibe, but since I was not part of the local human faith I felt as if I really should not be here.
"Welcome pilgrims" a voice then said.
The words had an otherwordly nature, but unlike those of demons this time there was no sense of wrongness here.
"We've come for some of the ashes from the urn" I said as if there was another valid reason for us to be here.
The guardian nodded before speaking again.
"You have come to honour the prophet Andraste, and you shall. If you prove yourself worthy"
"What if we are not worthy?" Lee inquired
The spirit, as I knew it was a being from the Fade, didn't say anything on that subject, not that he had to.
"Okay" I then said to the group "Now we need to decide who is going. No offence meant but not all of us are faithful followers of the Maker".
Which was putting it mildly.
"If this guardian looks for someone that extolls the virtues of Andraste then I know I am not wanted here" Morrigan stated.
That had never been in question. I'd only brought her this far because I figured we'd need her help fighting the cultists.
Truthfully I was more concerned about myself. I wasn't evil like the witch, but I wasn't exactly a saint either. I wasn't suitable for this quest as I'd never been a worshipper of Andraste. I wasn't even dedicated the messiah of my own people for that matter.
"We can't go on without you" Lee insisted "You're the only one of us that knows what we will find ahead".
I couldn't argue that point, at least not successfully, so I no choice but to go and hope that my desire to use the ashes to heal the Arl was a righteous enough act for the guardian.
"Before you go, I must speak to you all"
What he said to the others I had no idea and it was private, so I would never ask any of them about it just as I would never talk about what he was going to say to me.
"You are not of this world and your soul is not mine to see. Yet I know you have a purpose here, it is not the Maker's doing. You must not be the one to take the ashes".
Well I'd hoped for more, but the part about purpose seemed like permission to enter the temple to me.
The doorway headed of us opened into another massive hallway and now I was starting to wonder who had built this place because while it had clearly seen better days it was very old. It had endured the centuries and I knew it would last for many more years, and given the local level of tech they shouldn't have been able to build this place.
I could only come up with two explanations: one was magic and the other was that they hired dwarves to create this place for them.
The pathway to the next room was blocked by the ghosts of the original followers of Andraste, and to me it seemed like a crappy afterlife for people who had helped their messiah. However it didn't take me long to realise that there could be some clever piece of magic, and not the souls of people who should be in some sort of heaven.
As for the first spirit to block our path it was a woman, or maybe just the memory of one.
"Echoes from a shadow realm, whispers of things yet to come. Thoughts strange sister dwells in night, and is swept away by dawning light. Of what do I speak?"
Her voice seemed wrong, almost like an old recording, and I concluded that this was in fact some sort of magically made hologram that just spoke a riddle and accepted an answer.
"Dreams" I answered
"Yes a dream came upon me as my daughter slumbered beneath my heart. It told of her triumph and her betrayal. I am sorrow and a mother's regret for the daughter that she could not save".
Then the ghost or whatever vanished
"Did you get the answers from your vision too?" asked Alistair.
Actually I couldn't remember any of the riddles from the game, but the answer had been obvious. These riddles were meant to test a person's knowledge of dogma not their intelligence.
"No they don't come with sound" I said with a smirk on my face "Its just where I am from people have way to much free time on their hands so we answer riddles for fun, or at least I used to".
The bastard prince mulled things over before saying anything else.
"I think we'll let you do the talking" he decided for everyone.
The next ghost riddle giver was a woman named Ealisay. I had no idea who she was.
"The smallest lark could carry it, but a strong man might not. Of what do I speak".
I didn't need long to figure out the answer.
"A tune" I said.
That was accepted.
"I was Andraste's greatest friend in childhood, and always we would sing. She celebrated the beauty of life. And all who heard her were filled with joy. The Maker himself was moved by Andraste's song. Then she sang no more of simple things"
These riddles were rather easy.
"An eye for an eye…"
"Revenge" I said.
This was all too easy.
"Yes. My husband would have chosen a quick death for Andraste. But I forced him to promise she would die publicly with her warleaders. So all might know the Imperium's strength. I am justice, I am vengeance. Blood can only be paid in blood."
Now everyone was giving me looks so I tried to explain why I was finding this all so easy.
"In my world we have stories about adventers like this, and they always have some riddle the hero has to solve in order to get the treasure or the magic weapon that he needs to defeat the bad guy" I said to the group "It's just a shame that nobody ever asks me for a riddle I've got some good ones".
After that I went over to the next ghost.
"I am neither a guest nor trespasser be; in this place I belong, that belongs also to me. Of what do I speak."
I actually to think about that one.
"The answer is home" I said.
Thankfully my guess was right answer.
"It was my dream to give my people a home where we would have no masters. So I led my people against the Imperium, but she was betrayed and so were we".
Whiny elves annoyed me. Dead ones even more so than the living.
"A poison of the soul, passion's cruel counterpart From love she grows, till love lies slain"
I stood there for a moment so I could think.
"Jealousy" was the answer I gave.
By now I was getting by on a mixture of poor memory and clever guess work, so far it was all rather going well.
"I loved her too, but what man can compete with a god".
Since I knew that Lee would end up working for the church even if I didn't die I kinda knew what he meant.
"Amen to that brother" I whispered.
Then I moved onto the next ghost riddle giver.
"The bones of the world stretch toward the skies embrace. Veiled in white, like a bride greeting her groom. Of what do I speak."
"Mountains" I said right away.
Yes, I carried Andraste's ashes out of the Tevinter into the mountains to the East where she could gaze ever into her Maker's sky. No more fitting a tomb than this could we find".
It was a shame these spirits couldn't at least sweep up a little. The amount sheer amount of cobwebs around here was remarkable.
"No man has seen it, yet all men have felt it. Lighter than air, yet sharper than any sword. Comes from nothing, but it can fell the strongest armies. Of what do I speak."
Now this was a hard one.
"Famine"
"Yes. The Maker scorched the fields of the Imperium and let us starve their armies. They were easily defeated without food in their bellies"
Then came the next one.
"She wields the broken sword and seperates true kings from tyrants. Of what do I speak?"
This one was thankfully easy.
"Mercy" I said.
My answer was correct.
"Yes. I slew Andraste so her suffering would end. I am the penitent sinner. I show compassion that it might be shown to me."
The next room held nothing at first, but as we entered there were disturbances in the air that moved forward. There were five invisible somethings and they were moving towards us. I could see the ripples in the air.
One moved toward Alistair and as he drew his sword. My fellow Warden and his invisible twin brought swords together in identical movements and there was the sound of metal on metal as the two met. Near him Leliana was matching daggers with a similar invisible opponent. Farther away Wynne was locked in a duel with another. Finally there was a disturbance in front of me, and for some reason I could see the faint outline of my foe. I beat up whatever it was pretty easily and the other also defeated their counterparts.
"What sort of test was that?" I asked of no one.
Moving on we entered the next room and across from us was the room's exit, but there was a chasm in between.
"How do you think we can get across?" Lee asked me.
I was wondering that too as there were no platforms to stand on in order to make the bridge appear. Which was troubling.
"What does that say?" I wondered while pointing at some writing that was above the exit.
I had no idea because it was like no writing I had seen on this world, and to make it worse some of the words had worn away.
"Something about a leap of faith" Wynn told me "That's all I can make out I'm sorry to say".
Now I knew what I needed to do.
"If I die then don't tell people I jumped to my death" I said to everyone "Make up a cool story about me taking on a hundred darkspawn singly handedly to save some helpless children, and then dying of my wounds after killing them all".
While I'd been saying all of that I stepped closer to the edge and I actually prayed to the Maker before I did my leap of faith.
As I'd hoped there was in fact a bridge and when I opened my eyes again there was a very real and very visible way across.
"It's just invisible until someone tries to cross" I explained "Must be some sort of spell".
A clever bit of magic in my view.
Finally we entered a room with a small altar, a wall of flames, and saw the Urn at the top of a stairway. Alistair walked up to the altar and red the words carved into it.
"Cast off the trappings of wordly life and cloak yourself in the goodness of spirit. King and slave, lord and beggar; be born anew in the Maker's sight."
In other words you had to strip down to your birthday suit in order to make it thought the flames. Which could be fun.
"I really hope that doesn't mean what I think it means" Alistair said.
That made me laugh.
"What is so funny?" she asked me.
This needed to explained carefully.
"Everyone is born the same way" I said to Lee "and to be born anew in the eyes of the Maker you have be in naked like a baby is when...".
That was as far as I got.
"I will not!" she protested "People can see me".
For a woman who had causal lesbian sex with noble ladies in the bath in order to ferret out state secrets she wasn't half shy sometimes.
"Well it's not my religion" I pointed out "Besides only one person actually has to actually go and get the ashes".
By now Alistair had figured out that he was going to have to do it.
"There's no way around this is there?" the Warden asked me.
If there had been I'd be doing it already, but the spirit had told me that I shouldn't take the ashes and so I wouldn't even try.
"Right then," Alistair said while sounding very brave "Everyone look away, keep your eyes closed and wish me luck".
Soon we heard the voice of the guardian again.
"You have passed the challenge of the Gauntlet. Your faith is strong, approach the Ashes. You may take only a pinch from this place. No more".
I didn't know if anyone else peeked, but I kept my eyes firmly closed until my fellow Warden told us we could look
"Okay, let's not let me do that again" the hopefully future king said "It's cold in here".
Rather than laugh at him or make bad jokes we headed back the entrance so we could regroup with Oggy and the witch.
"So? Did you manage to get the Ashes?" Morrigan asked us.
Our smiles should have given her answer.
"Indeed we did" I confirmed.
She looked impressed and for once had nothing disparaging to say about anyone. Even Alistair, which was just as much of incredible experience as getting the ashes, at least in my view.
"Right so we stake the same route back to the entrance" I told everyone "Then we wait until morning before we head down the mountain".
At least now we didn't have to worry about encountering anything scary on the way back. After defeating a High Dragon I was sure that my team I could handle anything out there.