Chapter 73

They soon found themselves in a room stacked high with books and notes. Aedan bent down and read an excerpt from Avernus' journal; it detailed his experiments and the lengths he'd gone to in order to understand the taint. Emma walked over to the desk and picked up the concoction that would give the Grey Wardens extra abilities. Although she'd always drank the liquid in the game, she didn't think it would be such a great idea in reality, considering the abilities required a loss of blood to activate or sustain them.

"What's that?" Alistair enquired, looking over Emma's shoulder. She put the flask back on the table. "It's the result of Avernus' experiments."
"What does it do?" Aedan asked, peering closely at the container.
"You would gain new abilities, but honestly, they're a little… erm… weird, so I wouldn't advise drinking it," she cautioned.
"Will it help us in our fight against the Blight?"
She looked over to Aedan and answered honestly. "Not in the least."
He lifted the lid and took a tentative sniff, then wrinkled his nose. "Whoa, that stuff smells like bronto shit. Okay, I'm convinced we don't need to drink this."
Alistair looked relieved and readily agreed to leave it alone.

They stepped through the door and at the end of a large oddly shaped room, stood an old mage with his back to them. He turned at the sound of their approach and his gaze lingered on Levi for a moment before moving to Aedan. He stepped forward, and his brow lifted in obvious interest as he drew closer to the group, or more specifically, towards Aedan, Emma and Alistair. His eyes darted between the three Grey Wardens and a gleam of excitement lit his old eyes. "This is incredible! How did you do it?"
Aedan glanced at Emma. "Do you know what he's talking about?" She shook her head, as perplexed as the other Wardens. When Avernus saw their puzzled expressions he grabbed Emma's hand and dragged her up the stairs to his workbench.
"Wait! What the hell are you doing?" she said pulling at his grip.
The mage pushed things aside on his crowded table as he searched for something, and finally grabbed a small sharp knife and an empty vial. Aedan's hand wrapped around the old man's wrist. "Answer her question!"
Avernus glowered and tutted. "I need a blood sample. Now stay where you are because I need one from you too, as well as your friend. I've never felt anything like this from another Grey Warden." He grabbed Emma's hand and quickly sliced across her palm, capturing the crimson liquid in the waiting vial. She let out a yelp, more from surprise than pain and tried to pull her hand away, only to find that the old mage held her in a vice-like grip. A silver blade glittered dangerously as it pressed against his aged skin, and Avernus lifted his eyes to find a very pissed-off Aedan glaring back at him. "Let her go. Now!"
"Oh, stop overreacting! It's just a few drops of blood. It's all for a good cause. Now give me your hand." Avernus released Emma and gestured towards Aedan. "Come on, boy! I don't have all night." Aedan was so stupefied by the old man's sharp tone that he let the mage slice his hand and collect his blood in another vial before he could gather his wits. "Now, the last Warden, if you please?"
Aedan shook his head. "No. Before you cut any more of us, you're going to explain why you find our blood so interesting."
Avernus frowned as he looked at each Grey Warden in turn, and then his expression lightened. "Of course! How silly of me. None of you can feel the difference because you're all the same now. But I can feel it," he finished triumphantly.
Alistair joined them by the workbench. "Feel what?"
"The taint in your blood, it's immensely different to the taint in my blood and fellow Grey Wardens. It's there, I can still sense it in the three of you, but it's also… muted. I suppose that would be the best description, at least until I've run some tests." He turned an excited eye to Alistair. "Your hand?"
"So what does this mean for us?" Emma raised the question foremost in the minds of the Grey Wardens.
"I won't know for certain until I've finished my tests, which could take some time. But… hmm… I wonder…"
"Yes?" Emma prompted the old mage. He waved a hand to quiet her while he took Alistair's blood. After corking the vial, he marked each one with a different symbol and placed them in a container. "I don't want to say anything until I've completed the tests; too many variables. Now, to other business. What was it that brought you here?" He swung around to face Levi. "Or, perhaps I should ask; who brought you here?"

Levi asked his questions, and then they set off to rid the place of demons once and for all. Back in the summoning room, they fought a hard battle, but eventually, the circles disappeared and the foreboding feeling that had permeated Warden's Keep had dispersed.
"So, what happens now?" Avernus asked, a cautious look in his eyes.
"You keep working," Aedan held up a hand before the mage could say anything. "But, without any further experiments. You have samples of our blood, use them. We'll supply more if you need it, just not all of it."
The old man tilted his head to one side and pursed his lips as he thought over the condition. "Agreed. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have much to do."

He left the room and attention turned to Levi. "What about you? We didn't find what you were seeking," Aedan said apologetically.
"I'm thinking of setting up a business here. Why don't you come back in a week or so, and I'll give you a good discount?"
Emma made sure to collect the sword, hidden by Asturian, and then they left the Keep. Once outside, they said their goodbyes to Levi and made their way back to camp. All three Grey Wardens were lost in thought as they contemplated the words of Avernus.

Emma was at a loss to understand the old mage's excitement over what he'd felt in them. She wracked her brain as she thought over what had been done differently, and then it hit her. "Oh, bloody hell! Of course!" The one main deviation from the normal gameplay had been when she'd taken a second pinch of ashes. Her mind flew back to the painful memory of waiting to see if Aedan would be cured by the ashes; at the time she'd been so excited by his recovery that she'd forgotten all about the soft glow that had encompassed Aedan, Alistair and herself. Had the ashes changed the taint in some way?
"Something you want to share, Angel?"
She glanced up to see Aedan and her companions staring at her after her brief outburst. "Yeah, but let's talk about it when we're back at the camp."

They were still an hour away when the attack occurred. An arrow whistled past Zevran's cheek, leaving a thin line of blood behind. Everyone grabbed their weapons as the assassin swore luridly in antivan. Men, women and mabari poured out from the nearby trees and engaged them in battle. Aedan ducked under a blow that would have torn his head from his shoulders if it had connected, then plunged both blades into the assailant's neck. "Who the fuck are these people?"
Wynne caused an earthquake on a ledge that overlooked the battle and took down two archers. "Bandits?" she hazarded a guess.
Zevran cloaked himself, and moments later appeared behind a two-handed warrior, bringing his dagger across the man's throat. "Too well dressed, my dear Wynne. Mercenaries would be my guess."
Emma didn't know what the hell was going on, so she focused on throwing out spell after spell to whittle down the number of enemies as much as possible. No one saw the slight movement on the ledge as a mage slowly inched closer to Emma. Suddenly pain wracked every inch of Emma's body as she levitated off the ground. It felt like trapping fingers in a door, but all over the body. She tried to focus on finding the git who had dropped crushing prison on her. Through straining eyes, she saw that her friends were too far away to do anything, and something needed to be done fairly soon or she would soon lose consciousness.

Her vision blurred but she managed to find the mage. Recalling the force magic she'd used to rescue Aedan, Emma decided to give it another try. Struggling past the pain, she drew on her mana and let loose a wave of telekinetic energy. It packed less of a punch than the last time she'd used it due to her current situation, but she managed to knock the mage over, thereby breaking his concentration. She fell to her feet, stumbled forward and landed heavily on her hands and knees, gasping for breath. She pulled a blue vial from her belt and quickly swallowed it before jumping back into the fight.

Eventually, only one man remained, and suddenly Emma knew what the fight had been about. Marjolaine!