23-Drake's Fall Doorway to the North

Fortunately, the Weisshaupt group's trek to Drake's Fall went without incident. While the others waited at the top of the long winding stairs to the chamber below, Solas flew down to scout the situation. Shortly, a small bird circled and landed, turning into Solas. "It's completely clear," he said with a frown on his face. "From what Riordan and the others said, there should be dead darkspawn, but there is nothing out of the ordinary."

"That's peculiar all right," Ardoc replied. "But, easier for us … until we've gotta go in the Fade."

That made Solas smile. "Let's be on our way, then."

He led them down to the bottom and Haska noticed, "Look here, in the water … there looks to be some darkspawn … parts." He looked around. "So, no swimming. We gotta walk around. Riordan wanted us to make one more check on the barrier door, anyway."

Solas looked into the water. "It looks like someone came down here and cleaned up signs of battle. Curious," he said as he looked across the murky pond. His masking spell had been dropped. "Or, someone came from the Eluvian and cleaned it up."

"Do you elves have cleanup squads for that Crossroads thing?" Ardoc asked.

"No," was all Solas said.

After walking around the pond and finding out the dwarven barrier door was still very secure, Solas said his incantation to open the Eluvian and they all entered … and exited in the Crossroads.

And, a surprise awaited them! The dwarf boy, Sandal, grinned at them and said, "Enchantment!" while clapping his hands. "Meeting Bodahn in Ferelden. Cleaned up."

"Well, that explains that." Then, Solas took a chance and asked, "Sandal, it is very nice to see you. I have a question, if you could help us out. Do you know if one of the Eluvians opens near to the Grey Warden fortress, Weisshaupt?"

Still grinning, he said, "Follow," and started off to the stairway down to the grasslands. They spent a bit of time walking past a number of towers.

Haska had a piece of parchment out and made a crude map of how many towers they had passed. Solas had it in his memory, but it was likely a good move for the humans.

Finally, they came to a tower by a bridge to a unique building — that wasn't a tower. Everything looked deserted. Sandal went inside the tower, up to the top, and pointed to an Eluvian that overlooked the bridge. "There. Been once. Cave. Has enchanted eggs in it. Good-bye!" Sandal said as he turned and left abruptly as Solas knew he would do at some point.

"Hey," Ardoc said. "Are you sure?" When Sandal left the tower without answering, Ardoc turned to Solas. "You know him well? Is this a trap? How would he know about the eggs?"

Solas looked in the direction Sandal had departed. "I've run across him before. He would just say, 'Later!' and leave." He smiled at Ardoc. "So, you've just heard much more than I ever did."

Varric shrugged. "It's like he's lyrium-addled or something … maybe from living in this weird place. Poor kid."

"Let's hope my key works on this Eluvian," Solas said. "It doesn't work on all of them." Solas took out his key … which was more like a bumpy rock … and made an incantation. A scene popped up on the mirror.

"The eggs are right there!" Varric said.

"Reverse to how we entered, I should go through last," Solas said. "Going through two at a time would be safest. Everyone else will be right behind." When Ardoc set the order, Varric and Haska started the parade of pairs of travelers.

Once in the cavern, Haska took out the journal and compared the description of the cave with the notations. He stepped outside the nearby entrance to the cave and smiled. "According to the journal, this is the cave … and those must be the eggs." He turned to the east. "And, that is Weisshaupt."

The edifice was more grand than described. However, something seemed off to Solas. "It looks abandoned."

Ardoc stepped up. "No one going in or out. No movement on the ramparts. No patrols around the perimeter. You're right."

"Maybe let Solas fly over it and see if there's anyone inside?" Varric suggested.

"Good idea," Solas agreed. "Other than Wardens, is there something I should look for?"

Everyone turned to Haska. "Yeah, since there aren't any Wardens outside, there should be guards inside the gate. There's a griffon roost to the north." He pointed to a large round tower. "Of course, there aren't any griffons there anymore. I wonder if anyone knows how to raise these creatures. There might be records there."

Ardoc shrugged. "There's an abandoned tower at Soldier's Peak that Arctavi thinks may have been a griffon roost sometime. They just found the walled-up stairs to it a couple weeks ago. It has several arched doorways to the outside. They're shuttered now, but the shutters open to a balcony outside each doorway. As for what's there, the First Warden's office is also near that north tower, top floor with a door right from the ramparts."

"If there's someone speaking Orlesian sitting at Del's desk, they've had trouble here," Haska said. "Del will want to know … and I doubt we'd be welcome."

"Who is in charge while Del's gone?" Varric asked. "And, what accent should Solas listen for?"

"Del left a trusted Antivan Warden Enri in charge. Like Henry without the 'H'," Haska said. He added with a smirk. "Enri was an Antivan Crow. If they went up against him, they've already lost."

At Solas' puzzled look, Varric waved his hand in the air. In a pretty good imitation of an Antivan accent, he said, "I told you to finish that report, Warden! Since you failed to do that, I shall have to turn you over my knee for a nasty spanking!" He changed back to his own voice. "Or something like that."

"Okay, let me fly over and have a look," Solas said. "I suggest you stay in the cave for now. If they have a good lookout with a spyglass, we might be visible here. I'll check in the roost for anything that might still be there."

The sky was full of birds, so Solas' hawk had no trouble flying over to the citadel. There were quite a few guards inside the gate. Others walked around in the courtyard. Solas flew to the griffon roost. As he was told, it was abandoned, but there were some records there. A mage had put a preservation spell on them. He thought to leave them there, but decided to take them along. He put as much as he could into his backpack and managed to become a hawk again just as two Wardens walked in … so he tucked up on a high rafter and listened.

"I can't believe we stage a coup to take back the First Warden's chair and that Antivan disappears into thin air! He's sure to run right to Kankut," the taller of the two men said. He sounded like Riordan. Orlesian accent.

"That imposter has fled to the Dog Lords. Let the Crow find him. May they both rot in obscurity. Leaving the First Warden's chair to an Antivan was folly," the other man said.

Before Solas's hawk could blink twice, a pair of twirling daggers found their new home deep in an eye socket of one the men and imbedded in the back of the skull of the other. The assassin spat on both of them, pulled out the daggers and cleaned them off. Then, he called out over his shoulder, "Put these two traitors on the pyre with the rest, Damone." Antivan accent.

Solas flew out and followed the Antivan, whom he assumed was Enri. He flew around until the Antivan went into an office off the ramparts, through an intermediary office

and sat in a chair behind a desk. Solas was able to perch behind some books on the top of a bookcase by the door and eavesdrop for a while. Someone ran into the office and said, "The last of them has barricaded themselves in the armory, Enri."

Enri let out a string of Antivan words that must have been the worst epithets possible. "Give me some time to think, Marco. Go find an inventory of the armory. I want to know if there are any magic items in there we can use from the outside. I think the walls are strong enough to keep any explosion contained."

Marco gave him a half smile and said, "And, that's why Del left you in charge."

Once he left, Enri walked toward his office door. He looked to see if he was alone and found the hawk that was really Solas. "Not a good day to visit me, mage, but come inside my office. Know that if you are not who I think you are, I will kill you."

Solas had to give a few minutes thought of what to do. One of those daggers would likely impale his hawk before gaining enough momentum to fly out a window. He shapechanged out of his hawk and put up a shield. "Am I?" he asked.

"Del told me about you, Solas," Enri said.

"How did you know the hawk was a mage?" Solas asked.

The Senior Warden pointed to a rune at floor level. Solas looked at it and then around the room. There was one on the bottom of the door and at various places around the room. They were all lit up.

"I have had cause to be cautious," Enri said. "One of our Dalish Wardens knew a dwarf who made unique runes. We have them all over now. The Dalish is training the mages here in shapeshifting."

"Then, I shall leave these notes for you to get to the Warden doing the training." Solas reached into his backpack. "Del wishes all the outposts and compounds to train their mages."

"He told me," Del replied as he took the notes and put them on his desk in a prominent place. "Why are you here and not helping Ferelden, Solas?"

"First, as for the runes …" Solas let out his own string of Elvhen epithets. He reached for his notes, borrowed Del's quill and added a few sentences. "I'm suggesting to work in some kind of signal that the shapeshifted mage is friend and not foe."

That made Enri smile. "I know a few of those words. A good Antivan Crow friend is Dalish. He's downstairs helping with finding and eliminating the threats to the Order."

"Perhaps I can help," Solas said. "I'm here with a few Wardens from Ferelden who need more information on some things. Haska is with us along with Ardoc."

"Ah, excelente," he said. "But, first, how can you help?"

"There is a spell to detect magic. Most mages cannot detect through thick walls, but I can with a boost that I learned from a friend. If there are any instabilities in any runes, they can be detonated." Solas paused as he recalled that he really learned the boost by reading through one of the tomes Sandal had left behind. Sandal caught him and kindly said, "No more." Solas didn't do that again.

"Follow me," Enri said and left, not looking back to see if Solas followed, which he did. The courtyard was beginning to fill up with acrid smoke from all the pyres.

"Wait," Solas said to Enri who turned.

"Is there an air vent in the armory that some of this smoke can be redirected to?" Solas asked. "Wouldn't you want to keep from blowing up the armory and everyone in it if you could?"

"I had not thought of that," Enri said out loud, but it sounded like he was really chastising himself. He looked around and spotted a blond elf heading his way. "Zev, do you still know how to make that sleeping gas?"

Zev looked puzzled and then laughed. "I'll be right back. Good idea, Enri! Find me a place to slip it in."

Solas shook his head. "I was thinking the smoke might cause them to feel guilty and you could talk them into surrendering … but sleeping mists should work as well. Sadly, sleep is a spell I cannot cast through stone walls."

"There is a formula that us poor non-mages can use that works the same," Enri replied. After a bit, Zev walked up with a large pot with a lid on it. "Solas, have you magic that can blow this into the armory air vent just up ahead?"

Solas said, "Put the pot on that ledge and I can open it from afar and send a stream of air to direct it through the vent."

"Excelente! I won't have to drag the smithy bellows over here," Enri said.

Everything happened as planned. The men inside the armory ran out. They were stumbling and crying out, "Murderers! Poisoners! You will …." that was about all they could get out before they fell to the ground. There were four of them, all male, all human, all wearing similar armor with no heraldry.

While putting them on a stretcher, one of the Wardens in the courtyard looked up with a questioning look. "Senior Warden, I don't sense these men are Wardens."

All the Wardens stopped what they were doing and concentrated. "Braska! Take off all their armor and clothes and throw them into the dungeons. Separated cells," Enri directed. He turned to his friend. "Zev, make certain they aren't hiding any lockpicks or anything else. I want them stripped to the skin."

"Got it, give us some time," Zev said as he helped carry the four men away.

Enri nodded to Zev and told the others getting ready to investigate the armory, "Take care. It may be trapped." He pointed out two Wardens who must be skilled in finding traps. "Be careful … and thorough." They nodded back to him. Then, he turned to Solas. "Come with me, please."

They returned to Enri's office and he closed the door. After activating another rune on the door, he sighed. "I am afraid now is not a good time for Haska and the Ferelden Wardens to come here. I am loath to turn away any Warden during a time of Blight, but I need to concentrate on all this."

Solas nodded. "I understand. I'll go back and alert them. Perhaps, we can return in a few weeks." At Enri's questioning look, he explained, "We came through an Elvhen portal. An Eluvian."

"Like that woman did?" he asked. "Del and I have sending stones and he told me about her. In any case, returning later would be preferable, my friend," Enri said. "I appreciate your help more than you'll ever know and I'm sure Ferelden will be ever stronger with you aiding her."

Solas smiled at the compliment. "Thank you, perhaps I'll see you again when they return." Then, he looked out the window that faced the griffon roost. "It's a shame there are no griffons."

Enri sighed. "We have just heard rumor of a pride of griffons in the Frostback Basin, but no one has had the time to verify it." He grinned. "Perhaps you can find out. One moment." He rifled through the desk and found a missive which he handed to Solas. "Here is the letter we received. There is a small map at the bottom. It shows a road from Redcliffe through the mountains into the Basin." Still grinning, he added, "However, someone of your talents may not need a road, eh?"

"It's worth checking if I can be given the time to do so," Solas replied. After Enri's name was hollered from down the hall, Solas added, "Farewell, then … and good luck."

Enri turned to his door to leave as Solas turned into a hawk … making sure no one was watching from below the window … and flew back to the others in the cave.

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Back at Soldier's Peak, imagine everyone's surprise when the Weisshaupt group returned to Soldier's Peak a little over a week after they had left. The group to go to Orzammar had been delayed for one reason or another and was still there.

Mari was in the makeshift sparring area in the courtyard with Makis. She had made a good show of improvement, but at the moment she was on her butt. "Fighting dwarf-sized opponents is quite the challenge," she grumbled as she got up.

"Heh, we get that a lot. Good practice for genlocks, though," Makis said. "I'll go tell Riordan that Ardoc is back."

Mari dusted off her armor and nodded at Makis as he made his way inside. She walked over to the gate just as it was lifted enough to allow the others to enter. "That was too fast. Is everyone okay?" She glanced up to the sky expecting Solas to fly down.

Haska went to sit on the front stairs while Ardoc and Varric walked up to Mari. Solas — as a mouse — crawled out of Varric's pocket, scurried down Varric's arm, jumped down and reformed into himself. "That was quite handy, Varric. I needed that rest."

"Yeah, that's me … storyteller and mouse house," Varric said. "Still creepy when you run down my arm, though." That made Mari laugh.

By then, Riordan and Arctavi came down the stairs to join them. Haska stood and faced Arctavi. "Is that stone charged?" he asked quietly.

Riordan overheard and picked up on the need for a discussion. "Why don't we go inside and discuss what you found? We can stop by the kitchen on the way and get some food from Callie."

Ardoc laughed. "Handy having the kitchen on the way to pretty much everywhere else in the place. Perfect Warden Keep."

Arctavi led everyone to what they thought may have been a griffon roost centuries ago. Several stables with shuttered exits to the outside surrounded the edge of the very large oval room. Riordan saw no need to leave such a large room … with the essence of the Grey Wardens all around it … empty and unused. So, they cleaned it up and put a large oval table in the middle. After Ardoc's squad along with the rest of the Wardens at Soldier's Peak were seated and fed, Riordan put a rune on the single door. "We've put these silence runes on all the shutters as well," he explained. "Varric, you've been invited to this meeting, but, please keep what you hear to yourself."

Varric sighed. "Okay."

Riordan smiled. "Although, at the moment, you probably know more than we do."

"This does look similar to the roost at Weisshaupt. Only this one looks like it was never used." Solas looked back toward the group. "They have runes that identify shapeshifted mages in the First Warden's office," Solas said. "Imagine my surprise when Enri told me that I had better be who he thought I might be or he would kill me."

Riordan frowned. "That doesn't sound like the Enri I know."

Ardoc motioned to Solas to continue with the report. Solas first asked, "Were there any documents left in this roost?"

Alistair shook his head. "There was nothing up here but rotted hay that appeared to be completely unused, just rotted by time. Did you find anything in the Weisshaupt roost?"

"I did," Solas began. "Haska's been reading what he could on our way back."

"It's in Anderish," Haska explained. "Ardoc's been working with me to translate it, but Warlon would have been the best, Maker rest his soul. We'll figure it out. Solas, tell them what you found when you arrived. Let Arctavi see if he can get the First Warden on his sending stone first so you don't have to tell it over again."

"Good idea," Arctavi said as he got out the stone and Solas sent a brief mana stream to recharge it to full. Then, Arctavi tried to contact Del. When he heard the click that Del had activated his stone, Arctavi said, "First Warden, Ardoc's group found an Eluvian that was near Weisshaupt. They have already returned. Solas is about to tell us what he found out when he flew over to investigate."

"How was Weisshaupt? Did you find the griffon eggs?" Del asked as he came on. No greeting. No preamble.

Solas responded, "First, we found the preserved eggs in the cave with the Eluvian. For the time being, since we haven't uncovered anyone who could raise them properly, we left them there." Solas took a deep breath. "First Warden, some of the Orlesian Wardens had instigated a coup and Enri was in the process of routing them. In fact, he managed to kill two of them just outside the griffon roost door before I was able to fly out with the roost documents I found. In any case, they had routed almost all of the traitors. Four men barricaded themselves in the armory. Enri's friend Zev knew a sleep potion that could be blown into the armory through the air vents. It was quite effective. The four traitors stumbled out and fell unconscious, thinking Enri had poisoned them."

"Why was Zev still there?" Del asked.

"I do not know," Solas replied. "However, it was a good thing he was. I would have been unable to cast a sleep spell without entering and endangering myself and others."

Del sighed. "Zev is currently an Antivan Crow who did us a very big favor just as we were leaving to come down here. He had been commissioned by a wealthy Tevinter lady to do a job for her: to sneak in and destroy a very dangerous Elven magic artifact that was powered by Great Dragon blood. He saw a set of sending stones and stole them for Enri, so now I have direct communication with Enri and Arctavi. I wish I had a dozen more."

Mari was sitting next to Varric and heard his quiet, "Heh." She gave him a questioning look. All he said was, "Sounds like this Zev is pretty valuable to have around."

"I wonder what Elven artifact he destroyed," Solas mumbled. "If Enri is amenable, send a scouting group to explore the Arlathan Forest. There may be more sets of sending stones at some of the abandoned outposts there. I would like to do that myself, but I shall be busy checking out a report Enri gave me about a rumor of a griffon pride in the Frostback Basin."

"Hopefully, this griffon pride has some caretakers and, hopefully, they will be able to help the Wardens with the unhatched eggs. I was wondering why Enri missed our scheduled call," Del replied. "He is busy likely clearing out the trash. Damn traitors."

"One other thing, First Warden," Solas said. "After the men stumbled out of the armory, one of the Wardens there said they did not sense as Wardens. They were afraid they were Orlesian soldiers."

Del let out a string of words in the language of the Anderfels. Even Ardoc blushed. "Don't ask me to translate that," he said.

"I apologize," Del finally said in a language everyone understood. "I shall be sending a harsh reprimand to Empress Celine to request she hold her cousin in check."

"That does sound like something Gaspard would try during a Blight," Riordan agreed. "Although, why he'd want Ferelden to be destroyed I have no idea. He knows it takes centuries for a land to recover. There are many such areas in Orlais."

"Well, let's hope that's the end of it," Mari said. She smiled at the incredulous looks around the table. "One can hope!"

The First Warden chuckled. "We could send Zev to take care of Gaspard for us, but I'm not sure our treasury could afford it. Anyway … one moment …" Everyone could hear Del rustle around and say, "What is it, Enri?"

Enri's response was unintelligible, but whatever he said caused Del to let out another string of curses, followed by, "Yes, they are back at Soldier's Peak and just told me about the encounter. Send a messenger to Lord Seeker Lambert and tell him to come get his Seekers. If you get a response, let me know. I would like to be there when he gets them if I can."

When they heard "Seekers", everyone looked around the table. Various comments were mumbled; however, Varric's "Shit," pretty much summed it up.

Del must have then returned to Arctavi's stone. "Did you hear that?"

"We heard your replies, but they seemed to cover what you were told," Riordan said. "Greagoir is still here. He's going to travel with us to Highever in a day or so. He alerted us to Lambert sending Seekers here to supervise the Warden usage of proscribed magic."

Del just sighed. "I've run out of creative expletives." Then, he said, "Duncan, how do you wish to handle this? Any other orders?"

"The same way I always handle the Chantry," Duncan replied. "Thank them for their support but warn them not to get in the way of Warden business … during the Blight and after … as decreed by Chantry edict." Del must have given Duncan his raised right eyebrow response because Duncan chuckled and added, "It has withstood centuries of Lord Seeker attempted interference. Riordan, I know you will be disappointed about not going to Orzammar, but I'm putting you in charge of Soldier's Peak for the time being, in case a problem comes up. Arctavi, please continue your study and treasure hunt of the Peak." He sighed. "Alistair, I'd like you to return to Denerim and watch over the compound there until Anton can return. Haska, please return with Alistair. I'm sure everything will be fine, but I think we may need a watchful eye. I'm sorry you won't get to see Orzammar this trip. That means you're leader of the Orzammar expedition, Anton."

"For what it's worth, Alistair," Del explained, "I reminded Duncan that you knew the nobility and Denerim well and would be better advised to return to Denerim."

Alistair looked at Mari and took a deep breath. "Yes, Commander, First Warden. we'll leave with the returning wagons tomorrow."

"Excellent," Duncan replied. "To update you a bit on Ostagar … those of you who traveled with us last time, you would no longer recognize the place. The Glavonaks sent out word for workers and we now have permanent buildings in the works along with siege equipment, a welcome gift that arrived with the Nevarran Wardens. They have hired a crew of stone masons and are planning out a wall to surround the outpost, based on a design that Mari recalled from her old world. The Dalish Sabrae Clan has arrived along with several other clans. Between Arisiel and Merrill, all of the Warden mages are learning shapeshifting. Keeper Marethari sent runners to other clans in the Brecilian. We'll have to see if they heed the call. Of course, any dwarven warriors we can get will be very well received."

"The stone is dimming, Duncan," Del said.

"Everyone stay as alert as you can," Duncan said. "We will be ready. We will ahlnac sonde mak."

Silence filled every space of the large room. Thoughts filled everyone's minds. Pride, confidence, acceptance, determination … filled everyone's hearts.

!¡!¡

AN: Thanks for your continued word of encouragement, Judy! :) Next time we jump around a bit: Ostagar, Soldier's Peak, Vigil's Keep and the Korcari Wilds. Have a terrific week everyone!