"What awaits us? Should we fall against the darkness, our empire dead and forgotten in the annals of history? Or should we stand and fight against these fiends. I only ask that each man do his duty, not for house or caste, but for the very survival of our race!" - Paragon Aeducan, on the eve of the First Battle of Agirn.
Dragon Age: War of Shadows.
Chapter One: Grim Tales."You aren't considering allowing him into the wardens?" asked Natia incredulously "He is a kin slayer Duncan! He should be put to the blade, not allowed to join you!"
The other wardens gave her surprised look at her outburst. To have a dozen people starring at you was unnerving but Natia did not flinch.
"Matters of Dwarven honor our not our concern, Natia." said Duncan, quietly admonishing her. "Anyone with the skill and courage is welcome to join us, no matter their past."
"A castless accusing another of kinslaying? Why haven't I seen it all." interjected Duran with an amused tone as he leaned upon a column, fitting the image of the sly noble jackass, that he was, perfectly.
"I only did what I had to survive." she replied scowling. "You nobles on the other hand kill for your own bloody power games, and drag the rest of Orzammar along with you!"
"Oh, that so? I am certain a fine looking woman like yourself could fine another way of living." he mused glibly, pointedly ignoring her last words. "Your sister seems to be doing fine, for instance. I am sure she happily warms the beds of many for her coin."
"You bastard!" she screamed losing her composure, not that she had much of that in the first place, and charging the noble while brandishing her dagger and axe.
'Look at him.' she thought in her rage as she charged, ignoring Duncan as he tried to block her. 'Smug bastard who thinks he owns the place. I'll show him!'
Just as she was about to deliver a killing blow she suddenly felt deep pain, as the wind was knocked out of her. In a flash she found herself laying on the ground with her own dagger at her neck, and his boot on her stomach, pinning her to the ground.
In the span of two seconds the smug bastard had avoided her blow, knocked her off her feet and disarmed her.
"Not bad, for a duster." smiled Duran as he stood over her, keeping his grip on the dagger steady. There was a hint of grudging respect in his tone, but that was lost on Natia. "Could have used someone like you a few hours ago."
"Too bad I don't work for scum like you." she replied with acid in her voice, still trying to find a way to get up with getting herself skewered.
"As much as I would hate to interrupt. We still are in deep the roads, if you recall." Duncan chimed in, keeping his tone neutral though there was a hint of.... amusement? "Perhaps you two could settle this once we leave?" he suggested.
As if to accentuate his point a distant loud shrill pierced their ears. Removing the blade from her neck, he offered it to her to take with his left hand, while extending his right to help her up.
She picked her dagger, having a good mind to skewer him right there but deciding against it in the last moment. She spat on his extended hand and got herself up without aid.
'Blasted noble ass.'
'Feisty, that one.' Duran inwardly mused before he joined the others as they marched away from the distant sounds of darkspawn.
"Last we meet you told me you believed a Blight had begun, and you were looking into it." he said to Duncan, falling in line beside him as they moved at a rapid pace through the tunnels, trying to get as far away from the distant shrills as they could.
"Yes. sadly it is so. From what we have been able to ascertain, the darkspawn are massing to the south-east of here, in the Kocari Wilds of Fereldan." explained Duncan, keeping half his gaze on the road ahead as he talked so he would not trip on any loose stone. "My intention is to travel there through the deep and find their holes through which they dug themselves out of the ground."
"You surely know that traveling through the deep, so long a distance, is treacherous at best. Many would consider it suicide." he commented, jerking his head slightly to be able to look the taller human in the eyes. "So what is that you are really after?"
"We seek the archdemon." chimed in another warden, a mage by the name of William, if Duran could remember correctly from the feast. "Without any proof of it's existence then Fereldan would simply see this threat as a raid, until it is too late."
"Indeed." agreed Duncan. "The King has already done what he could. His forces are preparing to marshal even as we speak, but without any solid proof, many in his court have protested against such action. The Darkspawn have only attacked small isolated villages on the surface so far, and the nobles do not believe there is a greater threat."
Duran was surprised. Not so much on the nobles of Fereldan refusing to see the greater threat, humans had always tried to ignored the darkspawn while they squabbled among themselves, but that the King of Fereldan would acknowledge it. It must have shown on his face, for Duncan was quick to inform him of the circumstances.
"King Cailan's father fought with us wardens many years ago with us in the Deep Roads on a expedition." Duncan informed, then sighing he continued. "It is unfortunate that he died five years ago, for we surely could have used him in such a time."
'That explains it then.' Tales of King Maric had spread far and wide, even in Orzammar. The dashing young exile who had led the rebellion against all odds to free his country was something of a legend. The tales spoke of how he and Teryn Loghain, a commoner raised general, had stood victorious on the day that should have been their defeat as young boys.
It was also recorded in the Shaperate how King Maric had joined Commander Genevieve in a Deep Roads expedition. Details were scarce, but it was known that out of eight people only three had survived: Maric and two other wardens.
Ducan was one of those wardens who had survived. It was rumored he and Maric had formed a close friendship, which might explain why this King Cailan was so eager to march his forces into battle against the Spawn.
Duran still felt it was too dubious about why a Human King would so eagerly march his forces against the spawn without solid proof, but kept his mouth firmly shut. He was the last person to berate others over political actions. Instead he focused on moving ahead, but he couldn't shake a nagging feeling at the back of his skull as they passed through worn down tunnels, their glowstones still in working condition thankfully, but that would soon change as they progressed deeper.
"You plan on head through the Meino Thaig, do you not?" he asked Duncan.
"Yes." Duncan replied. "Your Shapers said it would be the quickest route through."
"Quickest, perhaps, but also the most dangerous. Meino Thaig is long overrun by a Deep Stalker nest. It would be foolhardy to march straight into that.." he commented, and Duncan nodded in agreement.
"I assume you have an alternate route, one which avoids unnecessary fighting." he added, and Duran dug through his pack to find a map. Finding it, he pinned it on the stone walls, just bellow a glowstone so they could see it clearly.
"We are here." he explained, pointing his finger at a small tunnel in the eastern side of it. "As you can see Meino Thaig is only ten miles south of here, but if we continue east." he added, moving his finger to a poin to the far east. "We could pass through Torral Thaig, and then just head south. It would lengthen our journey by a day or two but it would provide a safer route."
"Safer how?" asked William unconvinced. "For all we know it could just as easily overrun, perhaps even with Darkspawn."
"The tunnels just beyond Meino Thaig have been unexplored for decades, since the stalkers moved in." he pointed out dryly, showing the tunnels, or the lack of them on the map. "The ones beyond Torral have been mapped, as the thaig itself was cleared of the darkspawn almost one year ago."
"Then it is within our best interest to head through Torral Thaig." agreed Duncan, signaling his wardens to head into the eastern tunnel. "Though, from what I understood of what your father told me. you were part of that expedition."
"You could say that.."
Almost One Year Ago."Commander Trian, this is foolish." argued one of the commanders in vain. "Two weeks into the Deep Roads and we have found nothing. We should just head back to Orzammar before we run into a horde."
"My father has ordered us to search this Thaig, Lord Bemot." replied Trian angrily at the somewhat older, but lower ranking noble. "We will not fall back until I am satisfied we have been able to search as far as we can. I expect you to ready your men to march on ahead."
Taking his leave, Trian went to speak with their Scouts over the latest reports. So far only small bands of Darkspawn had attacked them, and it had put them all on edge as they expected a far larger force this close to Orzammar.
"Bastard." mouthed Glorgen Bemot in his beard as soon as Trian was out of earshot. "Why do we even bother searching for that woman? If she wanted to lead her house to their deaths then I say good riddance."
The woman in question was Branka. founder of House Branka and Paragon of Orzammar. She had disappeared almost three months ago into the Deep Roads, leading her entire House on a mad quest to find some ancient techonlogy.
Well, almost all her house. Duran corrected himself. She had left her mad drunken husband, Oghren behind and he had beseeched the Assembly to mount an expedition to find her after receiving no word back for almost one month. It was only after much debate that King Endrin finnaly decided to mount an expedition sponsored by Houses Aeducan, Helmi and Bemot.
"Paragon Branka is one of our best smiths." Lord Helmi reminded the younger Bemo. At over forty years old Anval, Head of House Helmi, was the most formidable and experienced warrior out of the three commanders that volunteered for this mad search, or had been volunterered as in Glogren's case. "King Endrin undoubtedly wishes to continue using her expertise in the domain of smithing."
"Or perhaps my father simply wishes to have the vote of a grateful Paragon, should we save her." Duran chimed in, making the point of why they were exactly here perfectly known. "Either way it does not matter, unless we wish to return to Orzammar and be branded as fools."
Lord Glorgler was about to compose a proper retort, when Gorim came approached them. "My lords. I apologize for intrerupting, but our scouting units have returned. Lord Trian wishes to speak with all of you at your earliest convience."
In other words Trian wanted to speak with them NOW. No sane person kept Trian waiting while he was in command, least he not survive the reprisal.
"Never a dull moment." he sighed, sending Gorim off to his other duties and picking himself up he headed towards the head of the force that Trian was in "command."
In truth however, it was Duran himself and Lord Helmi that made most of the tactical decisions. Trian knew how to fight, but asking him to lead a stealth mission through darkspawn infested territory was like asking an Ogre if it could not crush you. Trian being the thickheaded fool that he was, didn't even realize that Duran went behind his back and gave order towards his sergeants. Lord Bemot was also quick to understand that following Trian was a foolish notion, not that he had much a say, considering what forces he led.
While House Aeducan and Helmi had been fully commited in this expedition by sending forth a company each, made up of some of their best fighters, even two medium Dwarva Palace Guard Platoons, House Bemot had merely sent a token force made up of a Light Company of weak warriors from their vassal warrior house. At least they worked as excelent scouts or House Bemot would have suffered a 'tragic' loss of family members once he returned to Orzammar.
He passed by the patrols stationed around the camp, gaining brisk salutes as he went, ones he either returned in kind, with a nod or simply ignored entirely depending on the rank of those who saluted him. he wasn't too fond of the caste system, but he had long abandoned hope that anyone could change. Well that is if he wished to survive the assassination attempts.
The Deep Roads tunnel they were currently in was quite very large, and progressing through was a challenge all on it's own, tents and equipment were haphazardly thrown about. They could have made the progress they had so far in about three days, if not for the constant threat of Darkspawn, Stalkers and least of all wild Brontos. There was a horde a few thousand strong just a mile from Orzammar, and he had no doubt they were surrounded by tens of thousands of the beasts.
He was so immersed in his thoughts that he did not notice when another approached him until he was face to face with him.
"There you are, been lookin' for you." said Oghren in his rather unique abrasive manner, stopping Duran in from moving on, an action that would have ( and had already ) earned a severe tongue lashing from the likes of Trian, but Duran simply shrugged it off. It was refreshing to have someone speak with you bluntly after delving in dwarven politics on a daily basis, and only a fool would thrown away a warrior like Oghren in the Deep Roads.
For all his gruffness and improper speaking, Oghren was the best of the Warrior Caste. Time and time again he had charged headlong into hordes of hundreds of darkspawn along with the heavy berserker platoon he personally commanded, nicknamed the Ravishing Lions, and he had emerged victorious every time. Duran didn't care much for Branka himself, but he knew that gaining the support of Oghren would go a long way on his political career.
Assuming the sodding drunk gave two pennies about that, and assuming they would survive this mad search.
"Word has it the scouts found something interesting, care to share?" continued Oghren, unaware of Duran's thoughts.
"Was on my way to meet them, come with me if you like, but you know the rule around Trian." replied Duran midly, not even breaking stride as he moved towards the end of their camp, where he could see Trian and the eight mail clad scouts and the other lords already discussing.
Oghren suddenly quieted, understanding where Duran was leading with his words. The rule was that in Trian's presence you kept your mouth firmly shut unless spoken to, only noble caste dwarves could so and escape without a lecture about proper mannerisms.
"Glad to see you could join us, brother." was Trian's way of greeting, completely ignoring Oghren. "We were just about to plan our next move. The scouts here here-" he continued, pointing at young tired men. "-tell me that they have found Torral thaig."
"You are certain of this?" asked Lord Helmi of the lead scout as he stepped in from behind Duran. "Torral was one of the most ancient smithing houses, one that no longer exists today and even it's house banner was lost by the memories during the Third Battle of Agirn."
"There wasn't much to go, milord, but we did find an ancient sign." explained the scout quickly, uncomfortable under the gaze of the nobles. "Most of the words were ineligible we were able to determine that it mentioned House Torral. We were able to follow it and find the thaig doors."
"Any sign of Darkspawn or Branka?" queried Trian, somewhat uneasy even though he hid it well. An seemingless abandoned, unoccupied Thaig was more then usual a straight invitation into an ambush.
"None milord, but we did find an abandoned camp in a side tunnel next to Thaig entrance. We did not enter the Thaig itself, but the gates seems to be in working order, not broken or anything." replied the Scout.
"Then we shall investigate this Thaig and determined wheter Branka passed through there or not." said Trian with finality. "If she has indeed gone to the south from Torral, then she is beyond our hope."
Codex: Agirn - Rock amidst the sea.Today it is a common belief among the surface that Orzammar in the days of the Ancient Dwarven Empires was only as large as it is today, a mistaken belief. At it's height the Dwarven Empires stretched to the North as far as Par Vollen and to the south many hundreds of miles beyond the Arbor Wilds, in the south of the Dales.
Orzammar, as the prime trading city connecting the various empires, their thaigs and cities, stretched as far as the Frostback Mountains themselves do on the surface, with the many passage ways guarded by outposts or fortresses. During the first Blight all of them were collapsed by General Aeducan, save for one: Agirn, nicknamed the Rock amidst the sea by it's stout defenders.
First Battle of Agirn - 840 TE: Aeducan, an Agirn back them himself, understood fully well that to save Orzammar he had to cut access for the darkspawn. One by one the tunnels were sealed, leaving only one path towards Orzammar: Through the fortress of Agirn, so he could funnel the Blight into a narrow passage where they numbers would be for naught.
His decision was not met kindly by others, arguing that leaving the eastern pass towards Kal'Sharok and the other western cities would have been more beneficial for the dwarven people, but that was simply no choice for him. The fortress guarding the west, upon which Bownammar itself was built, had long been abandoned after the warrior house that dwelt there was destroyed in a earlier civil war. Thus he closed the passage and prepared his defenses along the help of his father and whatever volunteers he could muster.
When the darkspawn came months later, slowed down by the outlying outposts, the city was brimming with over two hundred thousand dwarven warriors, smiths and servants, all those who had answered Aeducan's call. In rare display of unity, the Magister Lords of Tevinter also answered the call to arms, having already suffered heavy raids on the surface.
Almost one thousand Blood Mages, along with thirty thousand Imperium Soldiers and fifty thousand Elven slaves answered the call, led by Novros the Black and determined to see this threat end before it could grow. Their bravery during the siege largely forgotten by the Chantry influenced countries on the surface.
Arrayed against them stood the might of the Blight, almost on million darkspawn led by the Archdemon itself. A warrior on the walls describing the the horde as a never ending sea, one that broke upon the walls.
For eight months the Darkspawn assaulted the walls, for months did the human, elven and dwarves troops drive them back, inflicting staggering casualties but suffering many themselves. Four times did the darkspawn took the walls, four times did Aeducan and the Mages drive them back, the terrible Blood Magic the only thing saving the fortress. Victory seemed in sight, as reinforcements had begun to arrive led by the noble houses finally understanding the grave threat that was posed to them.
Then the Archdemon played it's last card. While it's mindless troops were wasted upon the walls, it had sent others to dig a way through, coming right from beneath the ground in the lowest parts of the great fortress. At this point the whole siege would have ended in disaster for the defenders, if not for the castless.
No one had expected them to fight, but they did. Taking up whatever arms they could, they fought with near fanatical frenzy against the monsters which threatened their humble homes. Tales of the few survivors say of how they used worn out knives and mallets to take down darkspawn, and stealing their crude weapons and armor to fight on. For hours the entire horde was stalled, long enough for Aeducan to rally the remaining ten thousand defenders and lead them there, by the time he arrived there were no survivors, only the thousnands of darkspawn and castless corpses.
Novros and the remaining mages challenged the Archdemon, while a titanic battle raged around them. When beast struck the Magister down, he used his remaining strength to summon an Inferno of fire around them, burning everything in it's radius. The only remains to be found were the dragon's skeleton and the mages stave. The news brought joy both to the surface and Orzammar, one that was short lived however as the Archdemon's soul had not been destroyed. Taking a new body it reforged it's horde of fiends and attacked again, never daring another assault on Agirn again however.
The first Battle of Agirn is remembered as the first and only time a surface army marched in the Deep, and the greatest victory in Dwarven History, but it was a bitter one as the loss of almost one hundred forty thousand dwarven lives was a serious blow.
Second Battle of Agirn - 1155: Even though the Archdemon ignored the Deep and headed towards the surface, Agirn was continuasly attacked by the Darkspawn, until Caridin's golems drove them back. Eventually the fortress became the center of the Shaperate of Golems, from where the thousands of constructs were used to take back the fallen lands. The main passage towards Kal'Sharok was once again opened as the Legion settled in Bownammar.
It lasted until the Anvil was lost along with the entire Legion of Steel, a loss from which Orzammar never recovered. The golem numbers dwindled until the Darkspawn pushed them back to Agirn itself.
Hardal Threestone was king then, and he saw that the city was still maned by tens of thousands of warriors along with a few hundred golems. It's gates had even reforged from the bones of the Archdemon, capable of wistanding the mighties of blows, by the work of Houses Torral and Hirol.
However this time, there were no human mages on the defenders side, and not even enough men to man the walls entirely. After many weeks the darkspawn forced a push onto the walls and almost conquered it. Only the timely arrival of the Legion of Dead from Bownammar, which had also just endured a siege, saved the fortress. After the close battle however, the king ordered the way towards Kal'Sharok cut again, allowing the Legion to man Agirn.
Third Battle of Agirn - Fall of the Rock, 5:20 Exalted: Almost seven hundred years since the first battle of Agirn was the fate of the fortress to fall. House Agirn itself had been weakened by a recent civil war with House Helmi and Aeducan over the crowing of the new king, and it was in this time that a great horde of Darkspawn attacked, numbering in a mere one hundred forty thousand.
The defenders had the might of the Legion of the Dead behind them, but they could not count on any reinforcements or golems this time, as the current king refused to give them any out of spite. Even so they held for almost three years in the siege with some aid from Houses Aeducan, Helmi and that of Smithing House Torral, who provided the armor and weapons of the defenders, repelling any attack on the walls and the dragonbone gate holding them off.
It was not until the eight of September of 23 Exalted that the gate was broken. The darkspawn flooded into the city and killed the entire ruling house and much of the Legion. It was at this time that a lowly woman of the warrior caste, Astyth, took up her brother's sword in her hand to fight the beasts. With the men dead or dying she rallied the women: nobles, warriors, smiths and even servants under her. Taking their children and stealing the weapons of the dead, they fought their through the city and broke out to the north.
Leading her ten thousand followers towards Orzammar, Astyth was able to hold off the hordes advance at the very edge of the city. Holding the line while the beleaguered army regrouped, she was almost burned alive by a luck shot from an emissary, earning her name as the Grey and losing her tongue.
After the Legion and King's Division launched a counterattack, they were shocked to discover hundreds of women holding the outer outposts of the city. For her bravery she was made a Paragon, and her warriors formed the Silent Sisters, cutting their tongues in a gesture respect for their leader.
Agirn was not retaken. The King assembling almost four divisions in haste was only able to stem the tide and recover the outlying thaigs, but the fortress itself had already been turned into a broodmother nest. It's loss started the collapse of the thaigs around Orzammar, until even Bownammar itself fell in 9:13 Dragon.
- From A history of Aeducan: Paragon, King, and Peacemaker, Book One by Scholar Gertek.
A/N: I wanted to tell a bit of the history of the dwarves in this chapter. Some of this might not conform to what the game tells us, but what is fanfiction if you do not edit the story of the game? This won't be a simple retell of my characters journey. In fact there will major changes down the line.
Modifié par Costin_Razvan, 23 mai 2010 - 03:19 .
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I'm definitely sure Sarah would be glad Vartag is dead.
And i do make the US, unless Loghain happens to be around.
Makes it clear you've been making gameplay videos and other such things for a while.
