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Chapter 61

A Tear for Imshael

9:30 Dragon, 4th day of Bloomingtide - Summer 9:30 Dragon, 5th day of Bloomingtide - Summer The Condemnation of Iveani Our Return to Edgehall Future Plans

9:30 Dragon, 4th day of Bloomingtide - Summer

 

     Deep in the Orlesian forests, a fine summer day had passed at Chateau Fantome. Present were:

 

• Bran, a strapping young warrior
  

• Eornan, an elven scout and guide
  

• Alpheus, a Warden and Circle mage
  

• Landon, a Warden and apostate mage
  

• Leliana, an Orlesian bard and skilled fighter
  

• Aine, a Dalish elf, Bran's mother
  

• Adeline, a young, untrained apostate mage from Orlais
  

• Rogasha, a young laidir, rescued from public display in Orlais
  

• Grey, an elven Shepherd, son of Iveani. Very skilled and well-equipped. 

• Monkey, Bran's dog.
  

 

     We had discussed and planned the rescue of Grey's mother Iveani and the destruction of Foras Mendax, Imshael (a demon, one of the Forbidden Ones). Eornan was looking forward to rescuing Iveani, although he was less keen on the awkward conversations that would no doubt follow.

     Grey led Eornan out from the chateau, off three-quarters of a mile into the forest, to a hidden Shepherd equipment cache (presumably underground). They were gone for about an hour, and came back with some bows, armor, and other items -- the ancient cache still contained about a third of its original contents.

     There were a couple of "cold iron" bows, a "spirit damage" bow, another bow with two rune slots (one master spirit rune, one empty slot), and some armor.  Notably, a set of the elvish armor was provided for Aine.

     A few more arts-and-crafts tasks occupied Our Heroes this day. Landon read over his Orlesian primer, and asked Leliana a few questions about pronunciation.

     Further discussion of our plans for the next day included finding out how Grey was able to control and open the eluvians. He eventually disclosed that at least one part of his control was a small rock with a glowing rune -- a sort of key.

     The plan to rescue Iveani presumed that Foras Mendax would appear soon after we took the Maker's Tear of Andoral out of its sealed compartment in the Australi Botanico.

     Landon proposed NOT sending any Dreams to our more perceptive allies for a week or three -- Sextus, at least, knew enough arithmetic and geography to be suspicious if we arrived in Redcliffe (for example) three or four days after leaving Montsimmard. How long should our "communications blackout" be:  we would have to wait until at least 14 Bloomingtide if we claim to have ridden back from Montsimmard to the Ferelden side of the Frostbacks. Or, 21 Bloomingtide if we claim to have walked. Our web of lies was getting complicated.

 

9:30 Dragon, 5th day of Bloomingtide - Summer

 

     At breakfast, Our Heroes each told of the same dream the night before.

 

In that hazy sort of way that semi-raw Fade can get (similar to the Broken Circle you find yourselves (Landon, Alpheus, Eornan and Bran) walking down a corridor of black rock under a under a murky green sky. Great spires jab up into the sky, punctuated by tiny windows looking as arrow slits with the glow of candlelight.      A disembodied voice echoes in your head, you recognize it as Flemeth's.      "This thing you would do is profoundly dangerous, so much so that one or more of you are likely to perish in the attempt. As I am far too distant to intervene directly, I warn you to proceed with great caution and I bestow my blessings upon you, that luck may favor you when the need is greatest."

 

     We swapped some equipment, prepared our gear for travel through the eluvians. With some sad glances over our shoulders at the comfortable chateau, we set off to the eluvians. Passing through the magical portal, we traversed the strange terrain of the Crossroads ...

 

 

     ... and after an hour or three we arrived at the deep wine cellars under Edgehall.

 

Landon asked, "Grey, what do you call that?"

 

     Knocking on the locked doors, we alerted the surprised guards to our presence. After convincing them we weren't Fade demons or darkspawn, they allowed us to go upstairs and meet Bann Endon (formerly Captain Endon of the Black Hounds mercenary group).

     He was surprised to see us, well-groomed and apparently unharmed -- we had departed through the portal in the castle cellar eleven days ago. We introduced Grey, Aine, Adeline and Rogasha; Bran gave a mostly-true-but-deliberately-misleading account of our travels through the eluvian. A long trip, very far, leads to Orlais; he wanted to discourage the residents of Edgehall from messing with the eluvian. We borrowed a half-helm for Bran, stored a lot of our "camping and long-term travel" gear at the castle, left Adeline with Rogasha and Monkey, and returned to the wine cellar.

     Thus, the group that went to confront Imshael was Bran, Alpheus, Landon, Eornan, Grey, Leliana, and Aine.

     Beyond the eluvian, we chose the long, narrow canyon "Owl's Rest" for our confrontation with the demon. It was only about 25 yards wide, with steep walls 5 yards high on either side; some fallen trees and a few stumps littered the gravel of the valley floor. Two eluvians stood facing each other, about 100 yards apart. Grey later told us that this valley was in the Exalted Plains, within the Dales.

     Leliana and Aine took up positions atop one side of the valley, midway between the eluvians; the rest of us gathered on the valley floor. We shared potions, applied balms and unguents, cast some "longer-lasting" defensive spells, and opened the sealed Australi Botanico. Taking the Tear out presumably gave Imshael knowledge of our location; we were deliberately near an eluvian, so that his journey would be brief. Landon handed it to Bran.

     And in fact we only waited five or ten minutes! The eluvian leading to the Crossroads shimmered, and out stepped two figures.

     One was Iveani, armed with a sword and wearing heavy armor; her hair was pale blonde, and she had a faint, partial tattoo on her face.  The other was a man of ordinary appearance, with dark brown hair, not particularly tall or muscular, neither armed nor carrying a staff -- the desire demon Imshael. Bran called out for them to halt twenty yards away from him.

     We noticed that Iveani seemed to be more of an ally or companion to Imshael, rather than a hostage. The demon claimed to not have a great deal of time, demanding the Tear. Bran (as per our plan) was deliberately insulting and confrontational to the demon.

 

Bran's names for Imshael
choose one from here ...	.... and one from here.
Chorus	Man Wax
Forest	Hand Axe
Doris	Hand Slaps
Florist	Hen Shacks
Morris	Man Sacks
Four	Percentax
Foreign	Syntax

along with "Wish Wail" and "Fish Meal"

 

     Grey asked his mother, "Are you free to go?" -- she answered, "Yes." We asked her, "Are you sure there's no whammy on you?" Alpheus tried to use Sense Emotion and his other magical talents to sense any coercion ... none found.

     The demon claimed that Iveani's presence was here own decision:  "It's a choice, and I respect choices."

     Our "negotiations" quickly came to an end. Iveani told Imshael, "Kill Carney and the rest -- protect Ardan." Our two archers loosed arrows into the demon, a couple of shorter-duration spells were cast, and the battle was on!

     A defensive line of horror demons were soon summoned by Imshael, between him and our warriors. Our archers and mages mostly concentrated attacks on whatever creature Eornan was engaged with; Alpheus had to dispell some spells which froze Bran in place. Iveana was a skilled warrior and magician, including knowledge of some blood magics, and used all of her skills and powers in support of Imshael.

     Besides smashing the Forgotten One with his axe, Bran taunted it endlessly, and to some effect -- it was clearly enraged by the insults, and certainly focused almost all of its attacks on the Helwyr.

 

Bran confronts Imshael, while enveloped in a Death Cloud;

Eornan had just destroyed a horror; Grey had just pulled back out of melee range;

Alpheus, Landon and Grey are further back, while Iveani has her back to the camera.

 

     After a minute or so, Bran smashed his shield down onto Imshael ... poof! The demon was gone, and the two or three remaining horror demons vanished. We huffed and puffed for a few seconds, quaffing potions and rebuilding our defenses -- so did Iveani.

     Thus, after a half-minute, more demons appeared before us:  Imshael, in the form of a rage demon, and two ash wraiths. Bran roared a triumphant battle cry and instantly smashed the rage demon to a jelly! Again the two ash wraiths vanished as soon as Imshael was destroyed.

     Bran exulted a bit, and glared at Iveani; she turned to escape towards an eluvian -- a skilled arrow-shot by Leliana pinned her foot briefly to the ground. Eornan and Grey rushed forward to block her escape.

      Confronted by the two elvish men, she cried, "You don't understand what he's offered us ... the eluvians, all of them!" Bran yelled, "No he doesn't -- Fen'Harel does!" Some of this was in the Elvish language, slightly baffling Alpheus and Leliana. 

     At that moment, Imshael appeared again, in his final and most powerful form -- as a pride demon! Two despair demons appeared with him, and flew rapidly about the canyon (avoiding melee).

    

Grey is between his mother and her escape;

she's moving towards the big melee (you can just see her hand past the tall narrow rock);

Bran and Eornan are engaged with the pride demon,

while one of the despair demons moves up behind Eornan.

The other despair demon is already up on the right-hand canyon wall,

menacing Leliana and Aine.

 

     In his pride demon guise, Imshael was incredibly difficult to destroy ... and Iveani was back in the battle, inflicting a Curse of Mortality spell on Bran. While Landon and Alpheus cast spells, and dispelled as needed, Bran and Eornan attacked the enemy relentlessly. Grey turned and darted to the eluvian that Iveani wanted to escape through, and turned it off with a muttered phrase. Leliana and Aine fired volley after volley into the demons -- alas, one of the despair demons flew up to the lip of the canyon to attack Leliana! Winter's Grasp and Hands of Winter caused some damage to our Orlesian bard.

 

Leliana being attacked by a despair demon; Landon is behind some bushes in the canyon,

while Bran and Eornan hack at Imshael.

 

     Leliana and Aine began peppering the despair demon on the clff-edge. Imshael managed to knock Bran's axe from his hand, and an envy demon appeared! Just after Bran shield-rushed a despair demon, the new envy demon cast a Crushing Prison spell on him! While Bran struggled against the restraining spell, Iveani tried to cast Blood Wound ... but some strange effect, seemingly from her belt, stopped her magic.

     Another envy demon appeared, and cast Spirit Mark on Bran; and one of the envy demons cast Chain Lighting, hitting Grey, Eornan and Bran.  Fortunately, Bran was entirely protected by a balm, but he wriggled and writhed within the Crushing Prison, yelling things like, "Ow, my weakness!" Alas, Imshael (at least) wasn't notably convinced. Bran grabbed his axe, and thrust and slashed at any enemies foolish enough to come close to his magical cell.

     While Imshael tried to grab Eornan, Bran broke out of the Crushing Prison (or, perhaps, heh, it came to the end of its duration). The archers destroyed one fear demon, and the mages and Eornan destroyed the one down below, then switched their attentions to the envy demons. Meanwhile, Bran chopped and swore at Imshael -- the demon became more and more angry and less skillful in its actions. 

     After the last envy demon was destroyed, Eornan and Grey and the mages turned their attention to Imshael -- and, with a final Arcane Bolt, Alpheus destroyed the Forgotten One!

     The demonic enemies were all destroyed! Iveani sat down heavily on a log and said, "The hell with you. I don't want to see any of you ever again." Bran strolled up to her -- he seemed only lightly injured -- and asked, "What was that with your belt?" She refused to provide any information about that. Leliana and Aine climbed down from the cliff and joined us.

     Bran turned to Eornan and Grey, and said, "I assume that this is a Shepherd issue at this point -- I leave it up to you." We asked Grey's mother, "What was he going to give you?"

      With a fierce expression, Iveani responded, "Access to all of the eluvians!" Bran, Eornan, Grey and Iveani began a long discussion of elvish history and religious matters, in a mix of King's Tongue and the Elvish language; Landon carefully gathered all of the demon essences in small bottles and jars.

 

The Condemnation of Iveani

 

     Iveani, speaking to Eornan:  "You will see a vast amount of death in your time." This was a prophecy about the Shepherd.

     Bran told Eornan, "You should quit [the Shepherds];" Eornan replied, "I don't harvest from the unwilling dead."

     There was discussion of Eornan's role in assisting spirits to "pass over". Bran stated, "Something in the Shepherds is wrong, that they would allow her to sacrifice Grey." Iveani replied, "We could have been saved!" With a glare, Bran said, "You will be doomed if the Maker so decides. You can't be safe -- there is no 'safe haven' from the Maker's will!"

     Eornan said, quietly, "If we killed all the humans, we'd be safe." This got a raised eyebrow from Landon.

     Bran made his views on the Shepherds, and the elvish renaissance, known at length. While this conversation was going on, Landon leaned over to Alpheus and whispered, "Warden recruit material? Probably not ... "

     At some point, a mention was made of Arksmonten's interest in the Tear; Bran said, "Her Perfection will be upset."

 

Elysia, the Praesul of Arksmonten, visibly upset.

    

     Iveani claimed to know where Maive was; Bran retorted coldly, "Are you bargaining for your pathetic life?" Bran thought that, at most, Iveani knew where Maive's "core" was. "You need to deliver something to him now!" he told Iveani; when she hesitated, Grey said, "Hand it over." She slowly removed an item on a thong from her gear and handed it to Eornan.

     Even as our elvish scout touched the item, Bran was saying, "No! Use the cord, don't touch it!" Too late.

 

Eornan's vision from the core

You are standing in Halamshiral. the trees, the sky, the grass, the flowers are just as beautiful as you remember.       You are preparing a cart filled with explosives to destroy the peace talks. You look over your shoulder at ... yourself.

 

     Eornan visibly blanched, and dangled the core from his fingers. It seemed to have a small crystal dome on one side ... he also looked at the ground where Imshael had been destroyed:  visible in the Fade was a divot or small crater.

     While Eornan sat quietly, Bran pulled a dagger from his belt, and walked over to where Iveani sat; she closed her eyes, and he cut her throat in one swift motion. Grey sat, dazed.

     While the two elves stared at Iveani's corpse, Bran made his case that the Shepherds were, and are, extremists, a sub-sect of Falon'din's cult -- and not a good one. "Most of the Shepherds never wanted peace. You are in a position to lead the Shepherds, but you must abandon the ways of Falon'din."

     In a flat tone, Eornan said, "I don't now that refusing the blessings of Falon'din will make me less of an acolyte." He made no move towards Iveani's body. 

      There was some discussion of the nature of the elvish gods; Bran said, "They may have been just mortals once. You should take Grey's offer to remove the marks." Eornan looked up and said, "I am certainly thinking of having the tattoos removed."

     Alpheus had meanwhile looked through his crystal orb at the core; he said there was some entity or soul within. There was also a sigil on the back.

 

Our Return to Edgehall

 

     A couple of us went back through the eluvian to Edgehall, and brought a few picks and shovels back to dig a grave for Iveani. She was buried according to ancient elvish rituals.

     As we gathered our equipment, Grey frowned. "I don't get to go back to the Shepherds. Somebody is holding her core, so they will know what has happened. They might even show up at the chateau very soon." We discussed the number of Shepherds ...

     Despite our victory over the demons, it was a subdued group that walked back through the eluvian to Edgehall. Landon reminded Grey that discussing the Maker's Tear, or even the word "Celatus", outside of our group could be disastrous.

      In the lowest level of Edgehall, as we washed the blood off of Bran, we discussed our next move.

 

Future Plans

 

     Bran, Aine and Leliana were going to visit Knavesmire (20 miles east of Orzammar), see if they could order an artificial dwarven leg for Kiera, and then travel to Amaranthine to see about springing Laney (and perhaps other Wardens) and thwarting Arl Howe.

 

Landon:  "I bet there will be taunting -- Bran does have a talent for that."

 

     The rest of us -- Landon, Alpheus, Eornan, Grey, Adeline, Rogash, and Monkey (now officially Rogash's ... pet) would head to the Brecilian, to contact our allies there, to scout the location for Port Celatus, and to prepare a crane, camp sites, etc.

     Bran suggested that perhaps emptying the "secret cache" near Chateau Fantome, and even carrying back the cache contents, and even the eluvians at Owl's Rest, back to Edgehall. Ambitious! And, if done, best done immediately.

     A thought occurred to Landon:  "If we want to continue deceiving Sextus and the other Wardens about our use of the Eluvians, and our access to the Crossroads, we should make ... uh ... deceptive or uniformative Dream Sendings until about the 14th of Summerstide. If we send a 'We're back in Ferelden!' message now, when he knows we were in Montsimmard a few days ago, he will be more suspicious. Well, more than he usually is." Grey replied, "You can tell him - your Warden Commander - but just him, about the eluvians if you think you must. Our easy access to useful eluvians just plummeted, so there is not too much to give away at this point."

     "Oh, speaking of which, we should probably destroy the eluvian at Celatus - ugh! I can't believe I just suggested that! - it is an easy one to use to get to us now. Maybe we take the Crossroads to go through to it? Your Mythalvhenan is not far from it, if I understand correctly." That would get the group scouting Port Celatus to the area more quickly, and bypassing the hordes of darkspawn.

 

 

On to Chapter 62:  Melee at Minehead