"So if the Darkspawn were created through Tevinter magic, does that mean they deteriorate in time?"
Next to her, Garrett was frowning, as he usually did when she asked a question. It had taken time, but Merrill had by now realised that that frown wasn't one of disapproval, but of thought. He had many frowns, but she'd started to recognize most of them, just like she was starting to understand when Isabela was joking or being serious...it was just a matter of trial and error. Merrill smiled at him though, trying to encourage him to reply. He's been awfully quiet since we stopped those darkspawn...is he mad with me?
Merrill still couldn't feel bad about her choice to use blood-magic. Yes, however discreet she'd been, and however little she'd used, there had been the risk of her being found out or the spirit answering her call being stronger than her, that much Garrett had been right about. But she was always careful about when she used magic in general, and blood magic was just another form, one where knowledge and judgement was the best shield against magic mastering you, rather than the other way around. Plus, if I hadn't used it, he'd have died...surely when lives are in the balance, even he can admit that blood magic can do good?
Yet he had looked so...shaken when he'd realised what she'd done...like she'd somehow upset him by using such magic, despite the fact that it had been to save his life.
Merrill hated to be mean, but she found that annoying. He's so smart otherwise, why be close minded about this?
And now he was barely talking to her anymore, seemingly deep in thought. "I mean...if they come from the Fade, then the Darkspawn are technically possessed...and possessed people usually...burn out?" Merrill frowned, she didn't like having one-sided conversations, she'd been stuck talking to herself back in the clan far too long already. I hate being alone when others nearby aren't...maybe I should try talking to someone else?
The thought brought a grimace to her face. Fenris and Bethany didn't like her, that much was plain, and Varric had last time she'd tried talking to him nicely but firmly told her to stay away while he dealt with his fretting brother. And Anders...if Merrill had to endure another attempt of his to recruit her into his 'freedom fight', she'd go insane. He might not try that right now, but that's just because he keeps looking so sad... She shot a glance back, finding the Grey Warden looking at his hand, a hand freed from the usual glove as he traced the black cracks along its surface with his fingers, grief in his eyes. I...don't think I want to ask what he's remembering...
Of course, there were more people than those in the expedition...but while they'd seemed more respectful than frightened of her magic, as well as appreciative of her efforts in repelling the Darkspawn, people still viewed her somewhat...oddly. Especially the men...and Merrill wasn't so innocent that she hadn't noticed what the only other female elf, did for them... I hate to be rude, but I don't trust those smiles they give me...
There weren't many choices in people to talk to, when it came down to it. Except, perhaps... "What do you think, Maric? Do you think Darkspawn are permanently possessed?"
The dog, partly hidden behind Garrett's bulk looked up at her with a cocked head, then gave voice to a huff and looked away.
"No?" Merrill shrugged. "Maybe not, maybe they're just...sick?"
Garrett's voice was somewhat more tense than she remembered, but at least he finally answered her. "According to the Chant of Light, it was the Tevinters' own depravity that corrupted them, as they corrupted the Black City...I find that interpretation curious. Surely, if they were depraved, touching something pure would perhaps corrupt it, but not make their own state worse...perhaps it is a curse of the Maker?"
Again, Maric huffed, apparently agreeing with neither of them. Shame you can't speak. Looking up at Garrett, Merrill found the man having something odd in his eyes, his lips a bit too tightly drawn, his eyes impossible to read...though that was partly because Merrill found human eyes small and alien. Humans still look odd to me after all this time, I'll get used to it though, I'm sure. "Maybe, but that sounds rather mean of him..."
"Could just be demons making the Tevinters more possessed than ever before when these mages opened the Veil so thinly with their..." Garrett hesitated, grimacing. "...blood magic." He shot his feet a glance, looking annoyed.
So...safer topic, maybe? "I don't believe in demons." Garrett instantly looked up, one eyebrow arched and looking suspiciously like he was about to give her a lecture that would put Marethari to shame. Or maybe not safer... Hurriedly, Merrill continued. "I mean, I know they exist...but demon is a human term...everything in the fade is a reflection of us, yet alien to us. Each creature living within is a concept, an idea or a feeling, they can't help what they've been made as, and to call one a demon and another a spirit is like calling a wolf evil and a deer good...in the end, they simply are."
Garrett, eyebrow slowly going back down – making Merrill breath a sigh of relief – offered a curt nod. "Admittedly, yes, but a spirit en-capsules a good feeling or idea, a demon one that will cause destruction or suffering."
"I don't think I agree..." Merrill winced, for a moment thinking Garrett – like most humans – would get angry with her for disagreeing, or worse yet, dismiss her out of hand like so many liked to do. Then she remembered who she was talking to – he might be a bit harsh, but he was fair – and evenly met Garrett's attentive look. "I heard of Anders and you in the Chantry from Varric..." The man grimaced at the mention, no doubt having little good to think of the memory. "...was Justice any different than rage there? Would it have made a difference?" Merrill shook her head. "Spirits exist in their own world, in ours, they are out of their element. Any concept they en-capsule won't fit into the world as it is...it is we who are too complex to understand for them, not the other way around."
Garrett stared at her, silent.
Under his gaze, Merrill found herself squirming, still not quite comfortable around the large and somewhat intimidating presence of the human with the intelligence of a Keeper and the ruthless calculus of a starving wolf.
Finally, he relented, looking away as his shoulders slumped. "That is...a valid observation, I suppose." Merrill smiled. Ohhh...my Keeper just told me to stop being silly! Knowledge isn't just knowledge though, one must interpret and understand it too... "However, while you are right in that spirits and demons is a human distinction that might be unimportant when both decide to attack you, the fact of the matter is that the distinction is made for a reason." He shot her a glance. "A wolf might be a wolf, as you say, but that makes it feared for being a wolf, while the deer is less feared, because it's less likely to do you harm...a spirit of rage will always be enraged and cause destruction, one of justice less so."
"I suppose that's true..." Merrill agreed, finding her lips forming a little pout, despite knowing how childish it made her look. Quickly, she shook it off, offering a polite smile. "I still think calling some spirits demons is unfair though."
"And you're free to think so." Garrett replied, making her smile a little more genuine...before he looked ahead and continued. "I disagree though, it's a useful description, a warning."
At least he's not outright calling me wrong and refusing to budge... Merrill grimaced, remembering all too well the many arguments with Marethari that had turned into long lectures into the dangers of magic that she'd heard a thousand times before. "I...okay then."
An awkward silence followed, or at least awkward for Merrill, as she found something in Garrett's brooding quietness...disturbing.
That's when a shout ahead echoed down the corridor. "I've found something!"
Everyone in the column ground to a halt, heads poking up to see, bodies tensing with eagerness at the thought of having reached their destination.
"Come quick!"
Before Merrill had a moment to think about it, she was running alongside a horde of others, all with eyes glowing with excitement for finally being at their destination. Even Garrett, usually so reserved, was pushing the pace, grim satisfaction in his eyes.
What they found was a door.
A big door.
A very big door.
Merrill, only noticing she'd come to a stop when someone – she guessed Bethany by the sound of the gasp behind her – bumped into her back, busy as she was, staring slack-jawed at the sight. The door was as wide as the tunnel, meaning six wagons could pass through it abreast, with room to spare...and round as it was, the height was equally impressive, making the thing tower over the people staring at it. Of dull black, its surface was marked with a few dents, rusted weapons that seemed of darkspawn origin littering the ground in front of it...attempts to enter that had been abandoned after gods knew how long.
It was also decidedly closed.
At first, the amazement at the sight lingered, then worry entered Merrill's mind as the group around her shifted where she stood...and then everyone looked at the scout standing close to the door, grinning at them like a madman as he pointed at the massive door, like they couldn't see it themselves.
Bartrand was the one who finally broke the silence, his harsh tone sounding even scarier as he spoke in a low voice. "I'm just going to ask this once...is that door...open?"
"Errr..." The scout, his arm slowly moving down, paled. "...I...I don't know...it doesn't look-"
"You idiot!" Bartrand's shout echoed down the tunnel. "I swear, I'm going to-!"
"Try opening it." Garrett grunted, making Bartrand shoot him a withering look tinged by the smallest light of hope. Looking to the human, Merrill found him with his arms crossed over his chest, his body looking tense, lips tightly pressed together. Oh...is he as excited as I am!? Who knows what'll be behind that door if it's still closed!? She gave him another look, noticing the way his jaw tensed as he was gritting his teeth. Errr...excited is probably not the right word.
Ahead, the dwarf scout hurried to close the distance to the door, grunting as he pushed his hands against it...only to jump back in fright as a rumble resounded through it, a glowing rune appearing in its centre. Oh...is that...wow...
"Dammit, what does that mean?! It's some kind old rune! I can't..." Bartrand sounded worried and excited in equal parts. "Varric! Help me!"
"You're the dwarf-dwarf here, brother." Varric replied with a shrug. "What do you want me to do? Tell it a knock-knock joke?" The man chuckled. "I think that's the only kind doors like."
Bethany exploded into a nervous giggle, a giggle turning into a cough as Bartrand shot her a withering look. Before the man could growl something more though, Merrill found her lips moving. "It says...welcome, fellow dwarf."
Everyone turned and looked at her, some in bewilderment, others dully...and not a few of the dwarves with disdain. Merrill flushed...but Garrett was quick from distracting her from the stares as he hesitantly asked. "How...do you know that?"
"It's a Keeper's job to remember." Merrill shrugged, remembering her hours upon hours of studying with a mixture of weariness and pride. "Even the very old things, like trade language between the dwarves of old and the Dalish before humans even existed in Thedas..." She turned her gaze to the scout before she lost her nerves under all the inquisitorial gazes, her voice cracking a little. "Try touching it again."
The scout, turning his gaze back to the door, nervously licked his lips before brushing the door with his fingertips.
A groan of metal and stone shifting...and the door slowly began to open to the left, the hidden hinge protesting under the weight even as the wide door made the dwarf and some of those closest to it scramble backwards. Merrill, finding her stomach in a nervous knot as dust rained down from the ceiling as the door shifted for what might be the first time in centuries, licked her lips. "Oh this is exciting, isn't it!? The door was closed! We might find...I don't know...an ancient dwarven society, survivors of the first blight! Or Dalish refuges from a time long ago!" The last idea was far-fetched, but made her bubble with even more curiosity.
"Yes, possibly..." Garrett replied, tension in his voice. Oh, right, if everyone down there are alive...things will get complicated.
As the dust slowly settled though, such worries and thoughts were laid to rest. Just inside the door, a skeletal arm was poking up from a small pile of rubble, a lone ring of gold glittering atop a withered finger. As more dust fell, more bones were revealed, piles of them, scattered as if some great wind had swept through, making the remains of the dead dwarves a chaotic mess.
Bartrand was the first to advance, growling something under his beard as he swiftly strode over brittle bones, grinding his ancestors to white powder even as a knife flicked out from his hand, quickly cutting the ring off the finger of the dead dwarf as he passed it before pocketing the little bit of jewellery. Ewwww...
The dwarf became just a hazy silhouette as he stepped deeper into the falling dust...and then came to a stop, a choked sound escaping him.
As one, the rest of the expedition began to inch forward, unwilling to walk over the brittle bones ahead, yet all too curious to just stay back.
Fortunately, the dust was dispersing...and with it everyone stared in wonder at what was ahead of them.
Ahead, a myriad of round gates, these ones built in red steel, sealed the entrances to various black structures that looked more like human houses in a human city than something Merrill had expected from dwarves. Tevinter inspired? Before Andraste at least, from when the empire traded much with the dwarves...it must be. It must be...old. Great pillars of black obsidian rose upwards, towards a ceiling Merrill couldn't even see...since only the lower parts of the city before them were illuminated by glowing runes chiselled into every pillar and wall.
That is, those walls and pillars not covered in gold.
Merrill, eyes like saucers, watched as the city before her, largely shrouded in darkness, glinted and glittered as every doorway, every corner, every window...revealed gold used in their very architecture. Some structures seemed to be built in almost only gold, others were mostly black but covered in fantastic weaves of golden decorations. "It's...like the Golden City." Bethany murmured, coughing as dust continued to trickle down on them, making Merrill remind herself to hold her breath as she stepped over the fine powder the dead dwarves were turning into.
"I...don't see any statues of Paragons..." Merrill's observation was lost in the chamber, nothing but noise even to herself as she found herself staring at a single dried out fountain ahead of them, the white pool at the centre of a gold-covered square she only now realised they were walking on. So much gold... The fountain was nearly lost from sight from all the treasure though. Chalices, plates, utensils, candle-sticks, coins, and piles upon piles of lumps of untreated gold lay around it, a pile large enough to fill Merrill's home to the ceiling and then some.
Bartrand, staring at it all, had dropped upon his knees. For once speechless.
As a great cheer rose from the expedition, many apparently forgetting they were getting a fixed pay, not a cut, Merrill couldn't help but hear Garrett mutter. "Interesting..." His tone spoke of relief, yet also curiosity
Following his gaze, Merrill looked to the right...and stared in shock at the large wall there, unpolished and shining with gold...a solid wall of glimmering wealth that still had the heads of since long rusted pickaxes stuck into it. Garrett was not looking at the gold though, but at more dwarven corpses.
These were not, like the others, crowded around the doorway, nor were they a chaos of brittle bones thrown together. Instead they were lying by the wall of gold in droves, a few still clenching rusted pickaxes, their legs and arms still held by rusty shackles. Not only that...and Merrill shuddered as she noticed it...but these dead still had skin, dried and crusted, moulded to their bones, but skin none the less. Skin glowing faintly blue where someone had carved runes...directly into their skin...? Merrill turned to stare at Fenris, confused, but the other elf didn't notice her gaze, his eyes busy looking over the wealth on display with an annoyed frown.
Then, knees trembling, Bartrand rose to his feet, making all look to him as he slowly turned to face them.
His grin, wide to the point that it was scary, made his voice almost cheerful. "Set up camp! Seek through the houses and get all the gold here!" Holding up a clenched fist, his grin got so wide Merrill took a step back in fright. "Get it all here! NOW!"
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"So much..." Bartrand's voice was but a whisper. "...so much gold." Once more on his knees, the man was sifting his hands through the ever growing pile of gold at the centre of the square they'd entered.
Varric, standing behind the man, was shooting Garrett an amused look, but Garrett himself was too pleased to find Bartrand's actions funny. This'll secure us for life...for life! The gold itself, the idea of wealth, was nice in of itself, but what it represented...it made Garrett's head spin. We're going to be safe, at last, we're going to be safe. "Yes, we won't even be able to load it all onto the carts, even if we leave unneeded equipment behind." Garrett found his lips curl into a smile. "Even split between us, we're going to be rich."
Bartrand flinched, grumbling like he'd been doing every time the subject of having to share came up, but then nodded, never taking his eyes off the gold, eyes and mouth wide in a grin as the reflection from many lamps around the gold cast his face in a yellow light. "Yes...rich..."
"This is a fascinating place." Garrett replied, finding the dwarf's grin somewhat unnerving, he chose to look around himself instead, viewing the many buildings around them in awe. "It's like a human city, yet deep underground...Merrill believes it might be Tevinter inspired, and I'm inclined to agree, no statues of paragons in sight...this is a different dwarf culture than the normal one."
"Yet this Thaig fell anyway..." Fenris, further back, watching the growing pile of gold with grim envy, shook his head. "...but without the door ever being breached, odd."
"Yes, odd..." Garrett noted, shooting the dead dwarven miners over at the far end of the market a glance. There is something off about them, did they die later than the others? Who killed them? "If there was a civil war...where are the survivors?"
"Who cares!?" Bartrand snapped, then shook his head, hands picking up a chalice as big as his head, reverently holding it up to study the intricate markings covering it while his voice turned into a whisper again. "All that matters is the gold..."
"Okay, okay, brother, we get it." Varric moved forth and put a hand on his brother's shoulder...only to flinch as Bartrand shrugged it off...his smile was kind though. "We'll get all the gold, okay?"
"All of it..." Was Bartrand's hushed reply, the man lost in his own world.
"Well...that was creepy." Varric turned to Garrett, shrugging. "Still, we've hit the jackpot...only with no water or food to find here, we have to move quickly, get what we can pack up and then head back." Garrett nodded in agreement even as Varric turned his head, looking to the mess of white powder that had been the dead dwarves by the – now closed for security reasons – main gate to the Thaig. "What do you think happened to them? Maybe the darkspawn found another entrance?"
"Maybe." Garrett grimaced, looking around himself. His eyes unable to penetrate the dimly lit city they were in, but he still got the impression that it went on for miles. "Doubt we'll find such an entrance though, it's too dark and too many tunnels...this place is massive." His fingers itched a little at the thought. "You don't think we could find some sort of...library or archive here? Something that could give us answers?"
"That's my brother, always wanting to know more." With a polite cough, Bethany approached them, making Garrett offer her a wide smile. Sister, you're safe now...all this wealth...you're safe. She shot his grin a surprised look, then her own features softened into a smile, probably reading his mind. "This is amazing to see though, I'd love to know more too...maybe another time though?" Her smile turned somewhat uncomfortable as she shifted where she stood, hugging her chest. "Erm...listen...it's hard to explain...but it feels like the veil between us and the Fade...it's like it's slowly thinning as we stay here..."
Damn, that is worrying, especially considering this city full of corpses... "Magic, figures." Fenris growled, shaking his head. "Even among dwarves, you're not safe from it."
Garrett shot the elf a glare, though the heat was lacking from it since Merrill had rescued him. I...I dislike you, but I can't say this is because you're an elf anymore...how can I say you're an annoying elf and Merrill...though less so...is also bothersome at times...when you two are so different? Being an elf has nothing to do with what makes you annoying, and it's...it's not right to view you being that as a negative, or to assume it automatically makes you something you're not. Normally, Garrett would have taken such a realisation of him being wrong with a shrug, he usually just accepted it when he was wrong...but this time he'd been disproved by being saved by someone he loathed mostly due to an accident at birth...and that made it far too personal to his tastes. I hate feeling guilt. Garrett shook the thought aside, his irritation with Fenris was, after all, genuine. "Magic saved our hides against the darkspawn, please take care of how you speak of it near my sister." That isn't a suggestion... He glared at the elf.
Fenris only shrugged though, unapologetic. "I'll try."
Garrett couldn't help but sigh. Fair enough...Maker, where did Merrill go off to? At least she's less of a headache and has some insightful ideas... "Serah, serah!" What now? Turning after giving Bethany an apologetic look, Garrett found Bodahn, who'd worked as the expedition's equipment master, shuffle over to them, wringing his hands as he stared at Bartrand, vainly trying to make the man lift his gaze from the gold. "I...I can't find Sandal..." Oh Maker, knew bringing that boy along was a bad idea... Not that Garrett didn't understand why Bodahn had brought the lad along, he couldn't well make him wait in Kirkwall in his state.
"So? Who cares? He's your son." Bartrand grunted, never taking his eyes off his prize. "Go bother someone else about it, if you can't find him yourself."
Garrett shot the man a disapproving glare. Fine way to speak of someone's son... A glance told him Varric was also grimacing in disapproval, shaking his head at his brother's back, a low mutter escaping him. "Brother, you're...Maker, I tire at times..." Looking up, Varric offered a gentle smile at Bodahn. "I apologise upon my brother's behalf, he's...well he's got a lot on his mind..." He shot the pile of gold Bartrand was still sifting through a glance, tone awkward. "...in a way..." A shake of his head, and Varric was looking back to Bodahn. "Where did you last see him?"
"Yes." Garrett agreed, always one to know the value of family, as he took a step forward and put a hand on Varric's shoulder, making the dwarf shoot him a smile as he eyed Bodahn. "Tell us and we'll help." He glanced back, finding Bethany smiling and nodding. "Sister, go find the others, we'll go on a little rescue mission."
Bethany shot Bartrand a disgusted look, then nodded. "Gladly, brother."
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"What the...?"
They hadn't been walking for long, maybe half an hour, before they'd spotted their quarry. It had been a curious chase, with Bethany and Varric doing their best to calm a fretting Bodahn as Garrett – used to hunting back when his family had been on the run – and Merrill – who was a Dalish at heart, when it came down to it – did the tracking of the odd little dwarf now standing before them, practically leaning on a wall of solid gold. They'd taken it slow, marking their way at every turn, making sure they'd get back...for the city was indeed dizzying in size and complexity, built in multiple levels as it was...and the darkness did them no favours in trying to find their way.
Yet now, when they finally was before the lost boy...Garrett was unsure if there had been a need for a rescue operation. How..? When...? I...huh!?
Bodahn certainly seemed to think so, the dwarf suddenly rushing forth with a speed Garrett didn't know him capable of as he hurtled into the bald dwarf boy and lifted him off his feet in a great hug, lips splitting into a grin. "My boy! My boy! There you are!" He shook the boy, still in the air, while his grin turned upset. "What have I told you!? No wandering off alone!"
Sandal, smiling back, looking a little bashful, offered as much a shrug as his trapped arms were capable of. "I like Bodahn..."
"Like driving me mad, more like it!" Bodahn put down the boy, shaking his head as his relieved look turned angry, he shook a finger into his boy's face, gaze stern. "You don't do this again, you hear!?"
"Okay." Was the slow reply, the boy cocking his head to the side, not really looking like he'd understood the seriousness of the situation.
Meanwhile, Garrett was unsure if Bodahn's worry was justified. "Err...Bodahn...what's with all the destruction?" The ground around where Sandal had stood was covered in craters from some great explosions...and here and there Garrett couldn't help but spot a bony limb. Undead? Exchanging a worried glance with Bethany, he looked back to Bodahn and Sandal. Veil's weakening, huh? That is...concerning...and why is it doing that? "What's happened here?"
"Well...my boy knows to take care of himself...he's just not good at...judgement." Bodahn shrugged, looking somewhat embarrassed as he gave his boy some room. "But I suppose this is a bit...odd...Sandal, tell us what happened?"
The boy looked around himself, then shrugged, eyes blank. "Boom."
At the back, Garrett heard Varric snicker. Garrett was less amused though, and frowned. "Boom...how?"
"Enchantment?" Sandal grinned, holding up a pebble the size of a nut, the surface covered in glowing runes. You got to be kidding... Garrett shot Bodahn a glance.
And the dwarf beamed with pride. "He does that at times, you can never know how many he's got on him...never managed to make him make them for selling though." An apologetic smile. "Sorry."
Shrugging, Garrett turned his attention back to the son. "Okay, Sandal. Sandal over here, look at me..." Slowly, the boy stopped looking at the wall of gold behind him to focus on Garrett with those eerily empty eyes of his. "Now, this is very important...why, boom?"
The dwarf frowned, as if finding the question difficult...then smiled, looked down and poked a bony limb with his foot, revealing blue runes glowing along the skin still stuck to the bone. "Dead things...walking..." A deeper frown, the boy visibly struggling as he turned his head, looking to the golden wall...and pointing at a single pickaxe still stuck in it. "...digging." Garrett felt a chill creep down his spine. Oh no. "W-want...want..." Sandal struggled with the words, then looked back to Garrett, lips curved downwards. "...they want it..." Maker, no...
Behind him Garrett felt the others shift and exchange curious and confused glances...only Merrill – far more knowledgeable in the nature of demons than she should – seemed to have reached the same conclusion, or so her panicked whisper in Dalish suggested.
Turning, running, Garrett drew his sword. "Follow me! We must go back! NOW!"
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Thanks to Abydos Jackson for sticking around, no matter my efforts. ;-)