Chapter. 4
It's a Long Way to Ostagar
Traveling south from Denerim through the hinterlands to the ruins of Ostagar takes around a little over a weeks time, assuming you traveled thirty miles a day, and landed the road weary travelers at the edge of the Korcari Wilds.
In response to the lengthy travel time, the group had a long time to get to know each other – which Jaune and Kali made good use of, as neither one of them had much experience of the world – with Duncan regaling them with the history of Ostagar.
And so, on the eve of the first day traveling, Kali decides to learn more about her new traveling buddy, well, one of them at least.
"So, Jaune…" Kali started. "How did you come to end up in that cell back at the Arl's estate?"
"Truthfully?" Jaune replied. "I have no idea."
"What do you mean you have no idea?"
"I mean I have no idea, one minute I'm fighting a witch and her pet dragon on a tower, and the next thing I know I'm waking up to those guards trying to take you away somewhere."
"And you don't remember anything before waking up in that cell?"
Jaune thinks for a moment. "I… I remember dying."
"Dying?!"
"Y-Yeah, I remember her sword… sticking out from my chest." Jaune stared at something a thousand yards away. "I'll never forget that sword, made from black glass, like obsidian."
"We, uh, don't have to talk about this anymore, if you don't want to!" Kali panicked.
"O-Okay." Jaune agrees absentmindedly.
For the rest of the time traveling, that subject was thoroughly avoided like rats with the plague. And soon enough, a week had passed, and on the dawning of their ninth day of travel, the trio arrived at Ostagar.
Imagine the two natives when the King himself met them, and after a short conversation where Kali revealed the awful things that happen under his noes, they trio walked to the beginning of the bridge where Duncan gave them yet another conversation.
Jaune looked to Kali as Duncan left. "That's the most he's talked since we left Denerim."
"Huh." Kali replied. "You're right, it was…" She rocked on her heels. "So… what now?"
"First things first, we both are in desperate need of a hot meal."
"Preach!"
"Then… I guess we explore a little before finding this Alistair that Duncan mentioned."
"Lead the way." Kali gave an exaggerated bow.
Finding hot food wasn't much of a herculean task – granted hot was all said food had going for it, mainly do to the lack of any local herbs or seasonings. After a hearty, if somewhat over salted, bowl or two of gruel, the pair explored the camp and met all sorts of interesting people and learned all sorts of things.
"I can't believe people would inject themselves with something that could kill them, just for a little boost of power." Jaune exclaimed, shell shocked.
"Yup." Kali agreed, popping the P.
"And those "Tranquil"!" Jaune shivered. "Makes me glad I'm not a mage!"
Kali shivered in agreement.
"At least the story about Luthias Dwarfson was nice."
"If a bit tragic."
"True, true." Jaune agreed. "Shame the feeling didn't last after we managed to talk with Loghain."
"How do you mean?"
"Don't know, just got a weird feeling from him, s'all." Jaune shrugged. "It was nice meeting Sir Jory and Daveth."
"It was." Kali agreed. "Oh! I got something for you!"
Kali handed Jaune a sword that reminded him of Crocea Mors, only with a gray wrapped grip and a copperish blade.
"Where'd you get this?" Jaune asked as he inspected the blade.
"Oh you now, someone just… "left" it lying around." Kali shrugged, pointedly not mentioning how she took everything not nailed down in the camp.
Jaune gave his new blade a few experimental swings, before nodding and placing his old sword on a nearby weapon rack and sheathing his new sword.
"Whelp, I suppose it's time to go and meet this Alistair."
Kali nodded and the pair made their way to the northern most part of the camp, finding Alistair arguing sardonically with a mage.
After the mage very rudely brushed past them, the pair turned to greet Alistair, only for both him and Jaune to do a double take once they saw each other.
For Alistair stood only a hair or two shorter than Jaune with a very similar build, along with hair, though cut much shorter, and eye color, even their faces were of a similar shape.
All in all, the two could pass for brothers.
Alistair wore black trousers that were tucked into a pair of armored brown leather boots, which were covered by steel greaves that came up to and covered his knees, with a blue segmented scale maille monastic scapula, that was held closed by a brown leather belt – and was covered my a bolero style blue quilted padded jacket with steel studs reinforcements in the center of each quilt – with a steel breastplate bearing a Griffon with it's wings spread alongside full arm and hand protection.
He had a sword and shield upon his back.
"Huh, it's almost like looking in a mirror!" Alistair exclaimed.
"I know what you mean." agreed Jaune.
"So… what was that about?" Kali asked the sudden twins, though she certainly didn't mind the view.
"Ah, yes… that." Alistair sighed. "The Revered Mother likes to use my… former statues as a Templar to rile up the mages, you know, "put them in their place"."
"Ah, it's nice to see the Blight bringing everyone together." Jaune snarked.
"My thoughts exactly." Agreed Alistair. "So, you two are the new recruits Duncan found, right?"
"That's right." Kali answered.
"Well, if either of you don't have any questions, we can get this whole shebang started."
"Let's." Replied Jaune.
The now trio made their way to the Grey Wardens camp where Duncan told them to go off into the Korcari Wilds and bring back four vials of darkspawn blood and some old treaties the Gray Wardens had lost in some tower. Kali and Jaune also got a task from the Kennel Master to find some medical herbs for an injured Mabari War Hound.
Stepping out into the Wilds, the five were met with an almost breath taking sight, for all of about five seconds before immediately getting attacked by starving wolves, and then some darkspawn known as Genlocks and Hurlocks.
Needless to say, it was quite easy getting the requested four vials of blood, plus all he extra that splashed upon their forms.
Eventually they came across a scout that had survived his units ambush.
"H-Help… m-me…"
"Makers Breath!" Jory exclaimed.
"Darkspawn." Alistair growled under his breath.
"What should we do?" Asked Daveth.
"Help him, obviously!" Replied Kali.
While the rest of the group discussed how to help the injured scout, Jaune approached and knelt by him and laid his hand upon his crumpled form.
Unconsciously, Jaune Aura seeped from his hand and into the form of the scout, causing him to glow a bright white before he jumped up with wide, thankful, eyes.
"I… you healed me!" The scout exclaimed. "Thank you! Maker bless your kind soul!"
The scout ran off, not only healed but apparently hit by one hell of a second wind.
Alistair looked at Jaune with an unreadable expression. "Why didn't you say you were a Spirit Healer?"
Thinking fast, Jaune replied. "Slipped my mind, I prefer to rely on my sword and armor more than my magic, that and how we tend to be treated by the more… closed minded, you know how it is."
"Yeah." Kali quickly agreed. "If I could I'd hide my ears as well, at least around certain people."
Alistair nodded. "That's… fair, still, I would have liked to be told when we first met."
"And for that I apologize, it won't happen again."
With Alistair nullified, the rest of the group continued on, while Kali drifted behind while pulling Jaune with her.
"What was that?" Kali demanded. "I thought you weren't a mage?"
"I'm not!" Answered Jaune. "Magic doesn't exist where I'm from…" He pauses for a moment. "It must have been my Aura!"
"Your what?"
"It's… this thing certain people can use where I'm from, it protects us as if we were wearing armor and let's people have certain powers, like some people can run as fast as lightning or summon clones to take a hit for them."
"I don't know, that sounds like magic to me…"
"I guess it kind of is, at least that's about as well as I can explain it, my friend Ren could probably explain it better."
With her curiosity sated, the pair rejoin the group and continue on with their quest.
Eventually – after slaughtering even more darkspawn and starving wolves, along with fighting off a phantom and discovering a heart wrenching tale of a wayward father and his son – the group of Gray Warden initiates make it to the crumbling remains of the Old Watchtower.
Jaune approached the ruined chest and starts looking through it's remains, in the middle of this a husky voice calls out from above.
"Well, well, what have we here?."
The group spin upon their heels in time to see a raven haired woman with amber eyes descend a nearby ramp.
Jaune's eyes widen at the sight of the woman and his hand goes for his blade, until he notices that this woman is not his murderer. Jaune's form relaxes, alongside Kali and Jory, but Alistair and Daveth are round up like metal wire around a victims throat.
The woman was tall with a slim, sylphlike, build and a heart shaped face, who's raven hair and amber eyes contrast nicely with her pale skin.
She wore a strange, bra-like, piece of clothing that was attached to one of her two necklaces with a maroon hooded shawl, that barley passed as a shirt and left precious little to the imagination, with a pair of black trousers with a worn and torn vestige of a cape, that bore strips of leather, around her waist. Upon both her wrist were various golden bracelets with a black strip of cloth tied around her right bicep with a fingerless black glove upon her hand and a detached black sleeve covered her left arm, and was held up by a black leather pauldron that was covered in ravens feathers.
Resting upon her back was a burnt, narly looking, staff.
The woman's eyes lock upon Jaune's form. "Are you a vulture, I wonder? A scavenger poking amidst a corpse whose bones were long since cleaned?"
Jaune and the group meet the woman at the base of the ramp. "Or merely an intruder, come into these darkspawn-filled Wilds of mine in search of easy prey?"
The woman sashayed up to Jaune. "What say you, hmm? Scavenger or intruder?"
"Neither." Answered Jaune, standing tall. "The Grey Wardens once owned this tower."
"'Tis a tower no longer." The woman replied. "The Wilds have obviously claimed this desiccated corpse."
The woman starts to walk past the group. "I have watched your progress for some time. "Where to they go" I wondered, "why are they here?" And now you disturb ashes none have touched for so long." She stops, overlooking the nearby cliff, before turning to face them once more. "Why is that?"
"Don't answer her." Alistair warned. "She looks Chasind, and that means others may be nearby."
The woman makes a sound of mock fear. "You fear barbarians will swoop down upon you?"
"Yes, swooping is bad." Alistair snarked.
"She's a Witch of the Wilds, she is!" Daveth cried. "She'll turn us into toads!"
"Witch of the Wilds?" The woman asked, unamused. "Such idle fancies, those legends. Have you no minds of your own?"
The woman looks to Jaune. "You there, handsome lad, tell me your name and I shall tell you mine. Let us be civilized."
Jaune blushed despite himself, before answering. "I-I am J-Jaune Arc. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Now that is a proper civil greeting, even here in the Wilds, you may call me Morrigan." Morrigan introduced. "Shall I guess your purpose? You sought something in that chest, something that is here no longer?"
""Here no longer"?" Alistair mocked. "You stole them, didn't you? You're… some kind of… sneaky… witch-thief!"
"How very eloquent." Morrigan mocked. "How does one steal from dead men?"
"Quite easily, it seems." Alistair quipped. "Those documents are Grey Warden property, and I suggest you return them."
"I will not, for 'twas not I who removed them." Morrigan replied. "Invoke a name that means nothing here any longer if you wish, I am not threatened."
"If you didn't take them, who did?" Jaune asked.
"'Twas my mother, in fact." Answered Morrigan.
"Could you please take us to her?" Jaune replied.
"There is a sensible request, I like you." Morrigan purred.
"I'd be careful." Alistair warned. "First it's "I like you…" but then "Zap!" Frog time."
"She'll put us all in the pot, she will." Daveth shivered. "Just you watch."
"If the pot's warmer than this forest, it'd be a nice change." Sir Jory added.
"Follow me, then, if it pleases you." Morrigan said as she turned and walked away.
The group followed Morrigan, with Alistair and Daveth doing do reluctantly, until they arrived at her cabin. Where an old woman, presumably her mother, waited for them.
The woman was a few inches shorter than Morrigan with a slim build and a heart shaped face, much like Morrigan. Her gray hair fell to just above her shoulders and framed her face, and her amber eyes held knowledge far beyond even her advanced years.
Unlike her daughter, she wore a simple, plain, outfit consisting of a brown skirt with a white long-sleeved blouse and a brown corset with a pair of simple brown leather shoes.
"Greetings, Mother." Morrigan greeted. "I bring before you five Grey Wardens who-"
"I see them, girl." Her Mother spat. "Mmm. Much as I expected."
"Are we suppose to believe you were expecting us?" Alistair asked.
"You are required to do nothing, least of all believe." The Mother shot back. "Shut one's eyes tight or open one's arms wide… either way, one's a fool!"
"She's a witch, I tell you!" Daveth cried. "We shouldn't be talking to her!"
"Quiet, Daveth!" Chastised Sir Jory. "If she really is a witch, do you want to make her mad?"
"There is a smart lad." Praised the Mother. "Sadly irrelevant to the larger scheme of things, but it is not I who decide, believe what you will."
The Mother approached Jaune and Kali. "And what of you two? Do you possess a different viewpoint? Or do you believe as the others do?"
"I believe you have something we need." Jaune replied, with Kali nodding in agreement.
"They did not come to listen to your wild tales, Mother." Morrigan sighed.
"True, they came for their treaties, yes?" The Mother looks to Alistair. "And before you begin barking, your precious seal wore off long ago, I have protected these."
"You… oh." Alistair started. "You protected them?"
"And why not?" Asked the Mother. "Take them to your Grey Wardens and tell them this Blight's threat is greater than they realize!"
"What do you mean, "Greater than they realize"?" Kali asked.
"Either the threat is more or they realize less." The Mother shrugged. "Or perhaps the threat is nothing!" She laughed. "Or perhaps they realize nothing!"
The Mother laughed. "Oh, do not mind me. You have what you came for!"
"Time for you to go, then." Morrigan bid farewell.
"Do not be ridiculous, girl." Chastised the Mother. "These are your guests."
"Oh, very well." Morrigan sighed. "I will show you out of the woods. Follow me."
Morrigan then lead them through the Wilds ans back towards the King's Camp, where they dropped of the medicinal herbs for the injured hound and delivered the requested items to Duncan.
"I am glad you are back, and unharmed, but it is time for the Joining."
With precious little left to be said, the Joining began, and costed Daveth and Sir Jory their lives.
Kali survived, with little more than a nightmare off a dragon to show for her experience, all in all, a rather good outcome for a perspective Warden.
The same could not be said for Jaune's experience…
The moment he was done gulping down the concoction, his Aura reacted violently, flashing like a strobe light. At times his Aura was as bright as the noon sun, others, it was as dim as a candle. When all was said and done, Jaune's Aura burst outward from his body in a violent corona, before he collapsed from the sheer physical and mental exhaustion.
-{O}-
Jaune found himself in a pitch black void.
Looking around, Jaune saw precious little in the way of anything, and so he did the only thing he thought of.
He called out. "Hello! Is anyone there?!"
"Who are you?"
Whipping around, Jaune came face to face with a woman.
The woman was tall, only a few inches shorter than he was, with a statuesque hourglass frame and a heart shaped face that are marred by dark purple veins that line her face and arms, with a black diamond blank residing in the center of her forehead. Her skin was a deathly pallor, with glowing scarlet eyes surrounding jet black sclera. Her pale white hair is done up in a half-bun style with six offshoots wrapped together that also suspends several obsidian ornaments. With a diamond shaped obsidian bindi on her forehead.
She wears a very long, short-sleeved black robe that hugs her frame and obscures her feet and partially drags along the floor, with a distinctive curved high collar with dark red trim bordering the outer edge of a narrow window that exposes her breast in a vertical ellipsis that resembles an eye, and completed with a long shawl emblazoned with three interconnected, maroon vertical elliptic sigils resembling a trio of overseeing eyes above a series of maroon diamond emblems.
She also wears a ring resembling a beetle on her right hand, drawing the eye to her long, jet black nail polished, fingernails.
"And why are you here?" The Grimmified woman continued her questions.
After a moment, Jaune answered the woman, after all, it's rude not to answer a question. "J-Jaune, Jaune Arc, and… I… don't know?"
Before any more questions could be asked, Jaune was shunted from the strange endless realm.
Sorry for the wait, I had to rewrite this and the next chapter, so look forward to a double feature.