The Journey Begins - an interactive Dragon Age story

Sadly their search yielded very little. Duncan looked down on the sad assortments of findings in dismay: a scone, a rusty dagger with the tip broken off, a moth-eaten cloak Alistair gallantly had offered Solana, and the heavy wooden lid belonging to one of the clay pots that stood stacked in a corner. Sadly, all the pots had been empty, containing nothing but a couple of dead spiders and dust.

Handing Alistair the lid, and Hiram the rusty dagger, he kept the scone, swinging it to feel its balance. It was crude but would do the job if they needed to hit someone over the head.

"At least we still got our mage", Hiram muttered, testing the dagger's worn edge against his thumb. "You can still work spells, can't you?" He asked, looking up at the girl.

Solana nodded. "The staff works as a foci, but yes, I can cast spells." As if to prove her point she snapped her fingers, calling forth a glowing orb that dispelled some of the gloom. Then she focused, drawing in more mana, moving her fingers she quickly wove a spell of protection around herself and her companions. "It's not much", she said as the lavender--tinged glow seeped into them. "Mostly it protects against magic rather than arrows or blades, but it's the best I can do."

"Considering we're more likely to come up against malificars than soldiers, it's more than good enough." Duncan gave the girl an encouraging smile. "Now, let's get out of here and finish this. Hamish."

"Already on it." The dwarf worked the lock of the door to the holding area, cursing when the bolt refuse to give. But just as he was sure the lockpick would snap, it moved. The rusty hinges squeaked and protested when Hiram pushed the door open and peered out into a dark corridor.

It was lit with only a few flickering torches that spread a foul stench. Solana wrinkled her nose as they moved past one. "What do you think they are made of?" She whispered, taking in the fat and oils dripping onto the floor.

"Perhaps it's better not to know", Alistair said quietly. They were making up the rearguard, with Duncan and Hiram having taken the lead. Alistair felt a little foolish holding on to the wooden lid, a bit like a child playing at being a templar. He also couldn't help but to notice the glances Solana gave him. "What?" He finally snapped. "You've never seen a man dressed only in his smalls before?"

"Not a templar", Solana replied. "You look... nice."

Despite the situation, Alistair felt a grin tug at the corners of his mouth. "Perhaps I should walk around without my clothes on more often."

The look Solana gave him was decidedly teasing. "Perhaps you should."

The corridor was lined with doors, most of which were unlocked, and Duncan and Hiram had been searching them with very little result. But when they opened the last door, a cloying stench hit them, strong enough to drive them all back.

"What is that?" Solana asked, covering her nose and mouth with the corner of the cloak.

"Death." Duncan's voice was dark. The bluish light from the glowing sphere spilled over what could only be called an abattoir. The dismembered bodies of several people lay in a heap on the floor. "Look at how neatly the limbs have been parted", he said, kneeling to study the bodies closer. "Whatever is going on here, it is beyond mere blood magic."

"What is going on here?" Hiram demanded looking greyish behind his beard. "I've seen the things people do to each other, but this... this is something else.

On the stained and blood-soaked workbench that had been used to dismember the bodied, lay an assortment of instruments and a couple of sheets of paper. Loathed to touch any of it, Solana focused on the notes while Alistair picked up a large cleaver. What little she could decipher made cold dread spread through her like ice. "I think he is trying to create darkspawn..."

"Tell me about this Jowan," Duncan said as they returned to the corridor. "Do you know him well?"

"Not really." Solana sucked in some stale air to clear her throat and nostrils from the terrible stench. "We had some classes together, but..." She trailed off.

"What?" Duncan asked, watching as she chewed her bottom lip. "Anything you can tell us about him will help", he prompted when she seemed unwilling to speak. "No matter how small or insignificant it may be, it could give us an advantage against him."

"Duncan's right", Hiram added. "If you know anything, tell us. Now." He all but growled out the last word. Since the moment they had set out from the village of Whitewood, they had stumbled around, following leads that only lead to more leads, all the time while anything and everything tried to kill them. He'd had his fill and then some. Now was a time for some answers and he was adamant on getting them.

"Hey now." Alistair pushed in between Solana and the angry dwarf. "You shouldn't talk to her like that!"

"And you should think with your head and not your-"

"Enough!" Duncan barked, giving the two men a hard stare. "We need to work together if we're going to survive! But..." He said, after having taken a deep breath. "Hiram is right, we do need you to tell us anything you know, Solana."

"We didn't like him!" The girl finally blurted out. "He was forever wining about how unfair it was that he didn't advance quick enough. He wanted to become an Enchanter, but he wasn't even deemed ready to go through his Harrowing. And... and we teased him about it, telling him he was better of made Tranquil. Garreth even used a spell that gave Jowan the mark on his forehead. He tried to get rid of it but all he managed to do was to make his whole head invisible. It took Irving and several Senior Enchanters almost a week to reverse it."

"That doesn't sound like a very nice thing to do", Alistair said a little delicately while Hiram snorted out a chuckle.

"It wasn't", Solana admitted. "We where terrible... cruel. It was after that the rumors about Jowan being a blood mage started." She had wrapped her arms around herself and now she met their eyes, her own full of guilt. "What if he is doing all this because of what we did? If we had been kinder maybe he wouldn't have escaped the Tower? None of this would have happened, the children from the village would still be alive..."

Having pushed the ghoul back, Alistair turned back to the guard. But Solana's spell were already affecting him. Alistair could feel the life drain out of the man. The school of Entropy wasn't exactly forbidden but it wasn't exactly accepted either. At least not by the Templars.

He turned away from the lifeless body and back to the ghoul only to find that it had been dealt with. If you could call it that. He winced instinctively when Hiram stabbed the dagger into the creature's abdomen. The ghoul should have doubled over, screaming in pain but instead it just stood there.

"What's wrong with it?" Hiram asked, glaring at the thing.

"I think it's dead." Solana lowered her hand, releasing the spell. "There's no life force present in it, only mana and..." She frowned as if having tasted something disgusting.

"Corruption", Duncan finished her sentence. "Darkspawn blood."

Alistair paled. "Maker..."

Ignoring her disgust, Solana had started to examine the ghoul, pulling aside the rags it was dressed in. "Stitches", she mumbled, showing the others the thread of cat-gut piercing the grey skin. "It's a construct."

"What does that mean?" Hiram asked.

"It's been created with parts from different bodies", she explained.

Hiram turned greenish beneath his beard. "Well, that explains the room we found."

"We need to stop this. Now." Alistair's voice was filled with steel. He was aware of the fact that both he, and the others had stated this more than once. But it still needed to be said. This might have started out as a way to test two raw requites but the moment they had found signs of blood magic it had changed into something more serious. Now it changed again. This was an abomination, an affront, and it was time to put an end to it.

He picked up the sword the ghoul had dropped and took the lead. Hiram and Solana fell in behind him. Duncan watched the trio for a moment, an expression of pride on his face. Then he followed them down the corridor towards the heavy door at the end.