mickilennial
Alisdragon911
Rockette
Lemons
DocTachyon
Captain Uni
vietmyke
“Well how are we going to get in?”
“You think I know? Don’t you usually need some sort of specialist for this kind of stuff?”
The voices of the two templar recruits echoed through the empty desolate streets of the elven alienage. They stood in front of one of many ramshackle hovels that were stacked atop and around one another some maybe three or four stories high and teetering to one side as if one strong wind coming from the port could blow them down. The dirt paths that served as pathways through the maze like cluster of structures were well worn with the marks of many feet and the occasional cart. The smell of dung and urine clung to the air and one might choose to wonder if it was just dirt that made up the paths.
They stood out in their armor having come out of the stores just recently the polished steel shone brightly in the sun. They represented something that seemed so distant and so foreign to the inhabitants of the alienage. That of a religion that was not theirs and the kind of placement in society that they could not even imagine. Though the third member of their party seemed to fit in with the broken paths and worn down houses much better. Her armor had lost its shine and polish along time before she had ever set foot in the alienage covered in scratches, burns, blemishes that told the story of time and experience.
The Knight-Lieutenant stood in front of the bolted door of the hovel that blocked their path. Her helm was tucked underneath her left arm and she stood in utter silence as she lost herself in her thought. The recruits should not have come with her, she had told the Knight-Commander to pick anyone else beside her. But they had to survive at least one field operation to be able to finally graduate truly into the order, no matter how dangerous said operation may be. She would of prefered to go in alone, there was less room for human error and when one mistake stood between life and death fresh recruits no matter how hard they trained them were still just that fresh.
Arryn had little choice in the matter though and what was to occur, was to occur. And by the will of Andraste and the power of the Maker they would all make it out alive. She took her helm and put it upon her head letting the familiar darkness enclose upon her and block out the world around her. She raised one hand into the air, a simple gesture the recruits understood and silence was casted over them as they moved into position. The metallic trill of metal being pull from a scabbard arose behind her as the recruits drew their weapons and got into a ready stance. She looked at the door once and then twice making small calculations in her head before she raised her leg slightly and slammed the heel of her metal boot into it.
The door no matter how reinforced was still in an alienage and so the wood was cheap and made of whatever the elves could afford, and as a result you put enough force into it and it would come down no matter what. The door buckled from the first impact and splinters and flecks littered the ground. She repeated the action one more time and the door could not hold against the force another time. It buckled and went rigid for a moment before it fell to ground the small wooden hinges having been torn from the wall releasing it from the wall. No professional locksmith needed.
The hole where the door should of been revealed a long hallway where the light of the sun was swallowed by darkness. An unnaturally cold air drifted out from the bellows of the building and escaped into the outside world. It was once a large tenant house filled with at least twenty individual families all crowded together living in one hole in the ground. But almost ten days before in the middle of the night screams were heard and anyone that was sent in to go check had not come out. To protect themselves they had boarded up the windows and made two men armed with small pikes usually used to pick up dung from the roads outside to ward off whatever was inside. The Elder Sarethia suspected dark magic and something more foul than your average creature of the Brecilian that had managed to find its way into the Alienage.
The two recruits look towards one another trying to gauge if the other was just as nervous before they turned to look back towards the Lieutenant. She was silent as she drew out her own sword and shield from her back and without another word stepped outwards from the safety of a land of sun and the smile of the Maker into a world of darkness. The shadows looked as if they reached out and grabbed her as she stepped in and a moment later she was lost in sight. The recruits shared one last glance before following in after her.
The smell of death and decay was thick in the air and it seemed as if they had stepped into some sort of nightmare. The hallway was painted the thick and dark color of dried blood following a trail that seemed to originate somewhere deeper in the darkness as if someone had dried to escape the slaughter by crawling away only to be dragged back. The occasional limb and appendage was strewn across the floor and the smell of sulfur and ash loafted about. Arryn seemed unfazed and pressed inwards she had sensed something waiting in the darkness and whatever it was she was not to let it escape, the recruits stayed close and tried their best to remain calm even though within their armor they trembled slightly. Their teachers at the monastery had warn them of the things they would face but they never expected it to be so.. so horrific.
Up ahead they heard a sound and they all tensed as swords were raised into combat ready positions. Though as they listened it did not seem to be the sound of an abomination or demon coming to destroy them it was instead the quiet and hopeless sound of whimper lost and afraid in the darkness. She raised her hand again into the air this time with one finger upwards as she pointed it towards the direction of the sound. The two nodded and followed her towards the doorway where the sound was emanating from.
They entered swords raised and ready for the worst but inside they found nothing except for one elven woman who was in the corner. Her clothes seemed to be little more than tattered rags by that point having soaked up the blood greedily around her they were now a dark brown in color. She had clutched in her hand a small metal object which seemed to be some sort of knife used to cut and prepare meat the only means of defense that she could find in the chaos. Though more unsettling to the Templars was her right leg which was seemingly hanging attached to her body by a few fragments of sinew and muscle the rest of it was torn and burnt and twisted in directions that such a body part should not be able to move in.
Their arrival had drawn her attention and she raised her head slowly at them her eyes were hollow and distant as if when she looked at them she was looking somewhere else entirely. Her face was covered in blood and her hair stuck to her skin and when she spoke her voice was raspy and sluggish as if she had forgotten how to speak. “Fire everywhere, screams, nobody is safe. IT will find you, the fires will rain from the sky. The march of the creatures of the depths will come to the surface, they have found the sleeping giant and soon it will hear their call. Nobody is safe, nobody is saf-”
Her voice was cut off as the Lieutenant’s blade plunged itself into her chest and her body was wracked with spasms it jerked once and then twice before it laid still. The lieutenant withdraw her blade and gently brought a hand down to the eleven woman’s face closing her eyes. The two recruits look at each other in shock and then at Arryn who looked at them stone faced as usually her eyes showing no emotion through the slot of her helmet. She spoke in a matter of fact tone as she began to walk away back towards the hallway not waiting for them to follow.
“The creature that had invaded here had corrupted her with lunacy. We are charged with being the living will of the Maker. Sometimes that greatest mercy he can bestow upon us is death.”
They continued down the hallway progressing farther into the unending silence. They occasionally heard sounds but it all summed up to nothing besides the wind or a stray rat rummaging among the carcesses. They continued to follow the trail of blood towards the back of the building where the stench of death was the greatest. The reach to the door to the “commons” area where all the families would gather for meals and gathering and the children would play and frolic and their parents or their parents parents would tell stories of the past of heroes conquering villains.It was a place of warmth and happiness where the hearth was always burning and smiles even in the conditions that they lived in could be seen. It was also the place where all these horrors seemed to originate from.
They opened the door and entered the room the stench of death was prevalent its origin from the pile of corpses in one corner of the room. On the far wall an elven man was impaled and hung limp a sword sticking through his chest. Above him on the wall was a symbol of some unknown arcane origin made in blood. Arryn had seen this kind of work before it was primarily the reason she was in Gwarden in the first place. It was a summing sign of some sort something archaic and old used by the old Tenvintars of the imperium and used in ancient and powerful blood magic.
The sound of heavy footsteps drew their attention and out from the darkness came a revenant. It was covered in armor that seemed older than the city itself and a worn and used sword and shield. It was once a living creature but a demon of desire or pride that was let through with the use of the summoning had possessed and overtaken it. Its eyes faintly glowed red and it raised its sword as it spoke in a voice that seemed to have come from another plain of existence to speak to them.
”I’m the desire of strength and power that you pitiful mortals could never understand. I’m pride and I will slay you fools where you stand.”
“Abomination! We are the swords of Andraste and we shall bring forth the Makers wrath!” Arryn shouted as she raised her sword up into a combat stance and charged the recruits close behind her. The revenant’s laugh seemingly everywhere through the room echoing through the darkness as he raised his sword. Arryn felt the familiar rush of magic as she heard a shout next to her as one of the recruits was dragged off of his feet and flew through the air right towards the creature impaling himself upon the creatures blade blood came splattering across the room in pierrots splashing against Arryn and the other recruit. Before they had a chance to retaliate the creature threw the corpse of his blade with immense strength towards the Lieutenant. With quick reflexes she was able to bring up her shield to soften the blow as the body covered in heavy armor slammed into her sending the both of them into the opposite wall punching a hole through the weak wood.
Her head was ringing as she laid upon the ground the breath knocked out of her and her vision blurred and undecipherable. As things came back into focus her eyes were met starring into the dead ones of the recruit now on top of her. She shook her head and with a grunt pushed the dead body of her and got back up onto her feet. She let out a curse under her breath as she charged back through the hole and back into the common room.She arrived back in the fight just in time to see the abomination cut down the other recruit without mercy casting his broken and bloody body aside as the creature turned to face her. Sword raised and ready.
”One left....” the voice whispered through the darkness the smile being able to heard upon its lips. Arryn charged at the creature with a yell as she roared with challenge. The familiar spark of lyrium was felt charging through the air as she did and a radiating pulse of energy came forth from her and struck the creature. It roared in pain as it raised its sword and Arryn felt the familiar rush of magic come through the air and before it drag her to her demise she flicked her own sword as she drew in closer. And a spark lit through the room as it crackled with energy as a loud pop was heard as she shattered the creatures magic. And moments later their swords and shields crashed into one another.
A flurry of blows followed and metal crashed upon metal as each blow was met by another just as fierce. The demon pushed hard against her but she pushed just as hard back towards it and slowly she gained ground upon her assailant with each blow. Things finally came to a head as she pushed it against the wall where the arcane sign was drawn upon in blood. It came down with a heavy overhand swing which she countered by smashing her own shield up against the blade forcing it upwards and into the wall behind them. Now unarmed she bashed the shield against its helm before running her blade through its chest impaling the demon upon the wall. It roared as it tried to get off of the wall screaming curses of an unknown language. Arryn ripped the sword of out of the elven body impaled next to him that was used to start all this horror and drove it right through one of the creatures glowing red eyes finally slaying it as it called out.
”YOU CAN NOT KILL ME! I WILL RETURN CURSED HUMAN AND YOU SHALL PAY THE PRICE OF DENYING MY RETURN!” And with that the red faded from its eyes and the corpse was freed from the demons influence and just shattered bone and decayed flash clattering to the ground. Arryn was breathing heavily as her heart beat hard against her chest as she picked up her sword from the debris. Looking around at the carnage around her and her she was covered in blood and without a lead to chase down the perpetrators that had been summoning these creatures once again as the trail ran cold with the bodies strewn about, the only hint being the sign that was present in all the locations so far. Hanging her head it seemed like it was time for her to leave this place. “Damn, damn, damn.” she muttered under her breath.
The two elven guards stationed outside of the building with their small pikes were tense and waiting. They heard sounds coming from inside of the cursed place screams and shouts. They waited outside for the creature that was of sure to have killed the templar fools was to come and kill the both of them before it destroyed the rest of the Alienage. They heard footsteps coming from inside and they raised their pikes arms shaking as they did watching and waiting. What came out surprised them the Lieutenant covered in blood dragging behind her the two bodies of the recruits that had come with her both of them torn by what seemed to be wounds of a sword. As the Lieutenant turned and headed down the dirt path towards the entrance to the Alienage she spoke to the guards in a flat tone void of emotion.
“Your demon has been slain and you can go and collect your dead.” And without another word she was gone.
-Benedictions 4:11
