back to the Index, the Saga, or to Chapter 76:  The Cabin In The Frostbacks 

Chapter 77

The Electric Emissary

9:30 Dragon, 16th of Solace, Fireday - Summer

      Awaking early in the morning, we ate our breakfast, armed ourselves and set out into the higher valleys, along the ancient path used by the Disciples. Our group consisted of:

• Eornan

• Alpheus

• Bran

• Landon

• Alistair

• Ser Leofrick

• Ser Walter

• Brother Ferdinand Genitivi

      There were many footprints on the path -- the snow was beginning to turn to mud and slush in the summer heat. There were many echoes, including those of darkspawn and dragons. 

     There were several miles of this, and we took a few short rests "for Brother Genitivi". Tracks seen off the road were those of dragon kin, bears, darkspawn, and humans. Our mages kept their Spell Wisps active, and our warriors and rogues carried their bows at the ready.

      High up in the hills we could see the top of a wall, blocking a narrow canyon; there was an arched opening in it -- a gate, which Father Genitivi confirmed. He'd been brought up past this point to help the Disciples translate and interpret carvings and etchings. As we entered the canyon, the noise of creatures echoed off the stone sides -- there were creatures thumping, hissing, groaning and growling just up ahead.

     We entered a thick copse of trees, where the path turned sharply to enter the canyon just before the gate; those of us with bows exchanged them for melee weapons, while the mages prepared their magical defenses.  Coming around the corner, we saw a furious battle between eight dragonlings and more than a dozen darkspawn -- mostly hurlocks, but one emissary and some genlocks. The corpses of a drake and eight humans showed that the battle had been underway for a few minutes before we arrived.

Battle Before The Gate

     Eornan, Bran, and Alistair rushed forward to slaughter hurlocks, and the Helwyr threw his magical axe with terrible effect! The mages moved up to support the fighters, as the hurlock emissary began to shake his staff (making some small electrical effects). The dragonlings and darkspawn were mostly fighting each other through much of the battle.

     Brother Genitivi, who'd hung back, discovered that more darkspawn were approaching through the trees.

     Eornan darted to and fro, slicing up hurlocks as he went; Bran drove through the press of foes to the emissary, throwing his axe again at the evil mage -- and calling out a challenge and threat to the darkspawn leader. Alpheus also chose the emissary as a target for magics.

     Our mages, and Brother Genitivi, were being mauled by the hurlocks who'd come out of the woods. Two drakes came down the snow-covered hillside and breathed fire on various humanoids with a fine lack of discrimination! Alistair focused his Templar talents on the emissary.

      Eornan saw the trouble the mages were in, and rushed back to help them fight off the hurlocks; drakes continued to breathe fire on Our Heroes and the darkspawn.

     By now, the emissary was wrapped in a cocoon of lightning. Bran was able to hurt it with his flung axe, but when Alistair stabbed the evil mage, the shock ran up the blade of his weapon and made him drop it. A massive "power lance" from Alpheus probably did a lot of damage to the emissary, but it was hard to see within the electric cocoon.

     Most of the hurlocks were dead by now; drakes and dragonlings attacked with fire and claws. Growing pulses of esoteric power surged from the electric field around the emissary, and we moved away in alarm -- just in time, as a massive flash of light and an explosion did a fair amount of damage and ended the battle.

Not The Fade, But Not Thedas?

     After our eyes cleared and the ringing in our ears ended, we picked ourselves up from the ground. The wall with the gate had been blasted open, and only skeletons with burning flesh remained to show a battle had raged here. Trees were scorched and leaning away from the battleground.

     Beyond the blasted wall were more ruins; it wasn't clear if they'd been ruined long ago, or by the blast just a moment ago. Everything was blurred and dark -- not an after-effect of the explosion, we quickly realized. Clouds in the sky were rotating around a location a few miles away; a twisting column of green light or vapor rose up from that location, through the middle of the slowly rotating clouds. Rocks, up to the size of a man's head, came flying down from the sky, glowing green. The terrain in general seemed similar to where we'd been fighting the darkspawn; however, an avalanche blocked any return down the way we had come up the mountain.

     Alys was standing here with us -- "Are we in the Fade?" Leofrick and Walter were not present, but they had not been at the battle with the darkspawn, either. The Dark City was not visible in the sky. We asked Alpheus some questions about the Fade.

Bran whispered to Landon, "Don't blood mages open rifts into the Fade?"

     We all needed healing after the battle, and quickly discovered that magics were more powerful in this ... place. Looking through the debris, Eornan discovered a metal disc with a portrait of Andraste on one side, and a chain for suspending it around a person's neck. 

      Bran looked closely at Alys, squinting and raising his axe. Bran took a step towards her and said "It's a trap!" Alys drew back and raised her hands. "That's it? Nothing else to say?" the warrior said in an accusing tone. Bran turned to his friends and said "This isn't Alys.  It's a trick."    

back to the Saga or onward to The Crystal Anchor