The Architect. Damn. 

Celica knew exactly who Daeron was referring to. They had met several times in the past, and she had ultimately let him live, when given the opportunity to strike the beast down. If this really was orchestrated by him, one way or the other, that may have been a mistake. Pain rippled through her chest from the wound once more, drawing a grunt from her. Of course, admitting she had ties to The Architect probably wasn't wise, even if Duncan had at some point in the past as well. That had come as a true surprise, though. Duncan had quite a colourful life before he...

Memories from Ostagar still haunted her dreams, just as much as those of the Archdemon.

"No, I can't say I have. The name doesn't mean anything. There was another darkspawn behind an invasion here, once. Called herself The Mother. She, I know, is dead. T'was my blade that stopped her blighted heart." 

Taking a deep breath, as another stabbing pain cut into her lungs, she began to continue despite the mage's healing magic taking far longer to give relief that she had hoped. "It most certainly isn't a Blight, to be sure. Had an Archdemon joined the ranks, well let's just say i'm not confident I can kill a second one and leave it at that." Celica took in the rest of the conversation with an open mind, cross-referencing the suggestions against her own ideas. "Darkspawn civil war? Is such a thing even possible? Granted, it might explain a good few things regarding the appearance of that Maker forsaken hole, but you would have thought they'd be conserving energy and numbers for their own infighting, if that were the case."

Several Wardens ran past the tent, carrying a badly wounded but still living soldier, writhing in pain. "I plan to direct any surviving forces here to charge the hole, once they regroup. The darkspawn have been almost endless in their attacks, and with a break in the battle lines comes a much needed opportunity to find out how and where from. As for the hole itself, i'd appreciate if you didn't close it, or the dwarves are going to have a fit. The only reason there isn't an archaeologist team down there already is because I made it clear they'd all be dead in minutes."

“So, Daeron. I need a favour. Find Mila and bring her here. Afterwards, lead the Wardens into The Verge and find out where they keep surging from. Return once you find something of note, so I can pass along word to the dwarves before one places my head on a pike.”

[hr]

The routed darkspawn army sheltered within the murk inside the hole, cowering in fear as a Mabari war hound proceeded to single-handedly maul half of their retreating numbers, looking very proud of himself. Meanwhile, the female mage flitted around the battlefield from point to point, doing what she could to stabilise the small number of Wardens which she could with her only slight knowledge of the healing arts. Many more darkspawn lay gurgling out their last few breaths, either from dog puncture wounds, demon fire or steel.