Readying for Vigil's Keep

Gareth wheeled about on his feet when he heard a familiar voice, and had to squint before recognizing Ser Maddox. The young Arl grinned. "Maddox! I haven't seen you in... oh, five years now?" He mused to himself, scratching his beard which he proudly wore on his chin. "Macha didn't tell me you were still alive. That's a good thing to see you still are." He said, then smiled down at Pendra. "No, he's a squire for Highever, at least he was when last we met. Maddox, this is Lady Pendra, sword master of Denerim. She teaches recruits. On to business; I'm afraid, Maddox, if you're looking to see if I've changed any since our last meeting, then I must say no. Only temporarily holding the position of Arl till my father recovers from his illness. Mother passed away when she got news of Highever." His tone, as he spoke, went from jovial to melancholic within the span of a breath. The loss of his mother still felt like a gaping wound in his heart, even over a year later.

~~~~~~~~

Marcus smiled seeing Tatsoo again. "Always a pleasure to see you again, Tatsoo. I expect your cooking to supplement us over Garoll's. As I said before, he's terrible at it." He said and the elder dwarf glowered at the massive elf.

"But then they'd remember that they're Orlesians, surrender and apologize....you gotta brighten up Mage, there is time to take things seriously, but its not amongst...colleagues. As for you being a Maleficarum, I don't simply not care, nor fear you because you are a Gray Warden, I wouldn't care nor fear even if you weren't. For the record, I've killed a lot more Templars than apostates, though I have killed both. I like things simple: you don't threaten me or my interests, I don't start applying violence to you, well...unless I get hung over some times and then I just attack things at random, but we can file that off as an occupational hazard."

"Ahhh, other Lothering natives eh? Has anyone been back? Is there anything left? I was captured by slavers during the darkspawn attack."

Ostef turned to face the new comer.

"No, nothing left. We just got back from inspecting the area. Its all tainted lands and ruins, all very depressing. I'm Ostef Ziker, I was lucky enough to escape with a bunch of other refugees, right before the Darkspawn came. If you're from Lothering you probably atleast heard of my father, Thomas Ziker, he was one of the few doctors in town aside from Chantry healers. Maybe you also heard of my uncle Rob's farm? He was quite prosperous."

Nygozy had been reading some of the papers she had received through Rakot and Ostef and she did not seem happy in the least. She looked to Sinjan who just shook his head then walked over to Rakot and looked up at him, "End it. Now." It was clear that the teasing each other was starting to get on her nerves as she had enough bad news up to now without anyone adding to it.

She looked at all the people there and took a deep breath before walking to the center of the group and used her commanding announcement voice, "We are all going to Vigil's Keep to deal with a Fade issue there. It had been intended that we go to Lothering after that and set up camp until the Keep is created with the help of magic. This will not be so. The land has been decimated by the Blight much more so than in other areas and is likely to not recuperate for some years to come. We cannot wait that long for a keep as we need to build the Grey Wardens in Fereldan now. Our alternate choice had been Vigil's Keep; therefore, we will also be checking that location out to see if it is suitable for our purposes or not."

The dwarf waited for that to sink in, "Any questions so far?"

"Ziker? Yes that does sound familiar. My name's Khael Khorief. My parents had a farm on the outskirts of Lothering. I'm sure they probably did buisness with your uncle. My older brothers took care of most of the farm stuff with my parents. My little sister and I just caused chaos." He grinned at the fond memories.

"My father and brothers fought in the militia against the darkspawn and my mother died helping my sister and I escape. Unfortunatly we were still just children and stumbled into slavers by bad luck. Sad to hear it's all gone. Hopefully something can be done to heal the land."

Khael stopped his conversation to listen to the warden commander speak. Tentatively he stepped forward. "Ser, ummm... There are a lot of people here and I'm just wondering, is there going to be a pack train following us or something? I've been on the road two years and I know how much a group on the march can eat."

The grin was gone from Rakot's face, returning it to its usual menacing appearance, as it was time to do business. He listened to the Warden Commander's speech and then given a chance stepped out to ask a question.

"Is there any details you can give us on this Fade problem?"

Kraven looked around at all the humans who have entered the confines of his camp. His face turned into a snarl, as he thought of all the filth that came with them.

Anger grew inside of him, boiling his blood, he knew he could not contain it much longer.

He grabbed his head in pain, falling to his knees, and cried out in agony; which echoed around them.
"To many humans, to much anger. They are all just to close." Kraven whispered, grinding his teeth, to resist the pain

His body began to crack and splinter, cascading energy all across across it.

He let out one final scream, his hand shot into the air and his body was torn apart, sending fragments of what seemed like sharp jagged crystals. Slicing through skin, to create cuts on all exposed flesh.

A dark mist was left where Kraven once stood. It swirled around and a humanoid shape could be seen from with in. The mist billowed out like a cloak, as two blue orbs pierced through the darkness. A vauge dark shape was finally formed and there stood a being made of shadow. His whole form, shadow and all were about as tall as an Ogre. Magical energies flowed around him, shooting out randomly in all directions.

He seemed to float to the center of the circle, "Knife ears? You dare call my children knife ears!!??" he roared. A powerful wind blew through the camp, whipping cloaks, and clothing alike around everbyones body, as ominous clouds formed from above.

Everyone in the camp could feel the crackling of magical energies, as their hair on their arms stood out.

The eyes flared up in anger, "There are too many of you dirty useless Shemlen here for my liking. I will travel with the elves to this Vigils keep. But they, they must stay from me if they value their souls, and their pitiful lives that they live."

One more figure approached the group, though from the shadows. Garbed in green and brown armor, wearing a white, featureless mask that only had eye holes revealing blood shot golden eyes beneath, The Shadow went to the Warden-Commander's side carefully, wary of those watching it. "It is being good that you be heading towards the Keep of Vigilance. That be near the place where The Father wished to be meeting you, Commander-Warden." It said in its halting, whispered speech. It had stayed away from the others for some time now, only hanging around Sophia due to it being assigned to her as the Warden-Commander's political prisoner (at least that was how it saw its situation, which it was quite comfortable with). "Be cautious, Commander-Warden. Tears in the Dreaming be ruining more than those caught into it." it said ominously.

As the one who described himself as the Keeper of All Elves exploded, Rakot and Ostef already stood in battle stance, weapons in hand. Ostef used his shield to cover both of them from the fragments. Rakot stared at the magical creature calmly, but through his eyes one could see the ocean of rage boiling in his veins.

"Warden Commander, I know I am bound to follow your orders, and not attack those who you consider allies...but this thing, whatever it is, is making it rather hard. Now, I do request that it calm down, because my swinging arm is getting awfully itchy, and that usually means that someone is about to loose a limb or two."

The blade of Rakot's weapon, the Qunari artifact named "Ataash" for "Glory" lit ablaze with fire as the berserker activated the enchantment.

Main thing with taking out magic users is speed, and ability to take on the force of that first spell. If I can close in, I can end it quickly, but it will be able to strike first, and I will need to push through the pain.

The berserker thought to himself as he was making an effort to keep his rage in check, focusing it.

Kai watched everyone gather in silence from his place in the shadows. He observed Kraven losing his temper and could only guess what was going to happen. Suddenly he dashed from the shadows to Nygozy's side, reaching her just seconds before Kraven's form exploded. As Kraven gave one last final scream Kai tackled Nygozy to the ground and covered her with his body. He grimmaced as he felt something slice his back.

"Are you alright hero?" He wispered into her ear, still laying on top of her.

Everything seemed to be chaotic with all the talking and people about and it made Jezarine curious as she heard many things she was good about and others she didn't care for at all. Leave it to Rakot to say something so mean about elves but that didn't matter. She did not have to be around him at all and intended not to be.

Nygozy spoke and there were a couple of questions but before they could be answered the strange man did something completely unusual and changed into some form of energy being. Some of the shards went past her and a few hit her arms, face and legs, leaving bloody gashes. She gasped from the quick pain but then turned her head to look at this man.

"Back off, Rakot." Jezarine said as she stepped forward before Ianto could stop her and stood in front of this new form of Kraven's, "Not all humans are bad. Some, just like any other race are ignorant but that is to be expected of people. Please, calm yourself before you do hurt your own children more than just mere scratches. I can heal all who are here if you became upset but I do not wish any suffering on anyone. These are our allies, even the grumblies."

The appearance of this new figure prompted a response from Wolfram. He sensed a lone darkspawn and it was rapidly approaching the commander. Unaware of the true situation regarding this creature, Wolfram yelled at it, with a hand drawn. "Don't dare get closer, vile creature. Commander, do you realize what this thing is?!"

When Rakot and Ostef seemed to turn on the other man, Wolfram grabbed his knife and brought it to his hand. "Don't do it, you two. I'd rather not start using blood magic right now, but if I have to stop you two, I will."

"Do it Wolfram, this will be just as good a battle to die in as any, I've been in worse situations, and so far my weapon always found its target. Like I said, I keep things simple, you threaten me, I take your head. So if you're confident in your chances, keep things simple as well and do it.....You ready for this Ostef?"

"Of course I am. Element of surprise?"

"Not yet, we're just talking still, but be ready."

Kassina was getting seriously freaked out as more and more people kept arriving. She noticed that something was not right with Kraven. "Dartmoor, this not good. Bad coming from stranger. Come."

Kassina grabbed Dartmoor's hand, then hesitated and grabbed Maghai too and pulled both men into the bushes behind them. Just before Kraven's form exploded she pushed them both to the ground and got down with them, taking cover behind a fallen log. As Kraven lost control Kassina wimpered and grabbed Dartmoor's arm tightly. She may not be trained, but she was a mage and something inside her reacted to the unleashed demon.

The shadow form floated closer to Jez and part of the shadow envoloped the small elven female. As soon as the shadows receded, Jex's wounds were fully healed, not even leaving a scar.

The shadowy form of Darkweaver swung about and looked and Wolfram. It's glowing blue eyes, flared in anger, as he sensed the presence of another Demon, seemingly flowing around the mage.

He crept closer, the dark shadowy mist threatening to envelope this creature.

"I'm alright, Kai." Nygozy said as she got out from under him, "Everyone stand down. NOW! Shadow, stay out of everyone's way."

She turned her head to stare at Kraven, "You and I must talk." The dwarf snarled then turned to the others, "Everyone move back and get into groups to be ready to move out." She looked at Kai's back and snarled, "Jez."

----

Jezarine nodded as Nygozy spoke to her and sent out a healing surge to heal everyone else in the vicinity. It was amazing what she could do with her skills and still be standing, ready to do more healing if required, "Thank you but I don't want to have to do that again. Please." She said calmly to Kraven.

At the sight of Nygozy, and the elven healer, the shadows began to lessen and recede into him. As the shadowing mist disappeared all that was left was Kraven kneeling onone knee, with his head resting on his leg.

He slowly rose from the ground, glaring at all the humans around. He looked over at the blood mage, and pointed, "Your taint must be removed. It is the only way to save yourself!"

With that, his shoulders slumped and he turned to face Nygozy again, "I am sorry, but I can not travel with these humans. Especially the ones that dare insult my people. If they do so again, I will not hesitate to end their lives."

"I have promised to protect you, and all the elves include the half breeds, as they are still of my blood. The shemlens are but expendable to me"

Fremelda was seething now, from the crazy elf's attack on everyone. She had Thorn drawn but she lowered it on Nygozy's order. Still, the steel blue eyes glared heatedly at Kraven. "Maybe we wouldn't insult your people so much if you didn't act like such a pompous ass all the time! You think you're so high and mighty! Humans have suffered under elves just as they have suffered under us! I've known people killed in riots caused by elves, and they were good people!

"I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you are a disruptive influence on this group. No one can kick their asses around but me, understand!?" the Queen of Thorns snarled at the elf. Her face was contorted into barely contained rage. This was why she didn't trust elves. They were quick to attack anyone not of elven kind at the drop of a hat.

"Interesting company you keep, Warden. Just the thought of sticking my blade into that thing got the adrenaline flowing, I like it. Almost felt as good as punching out an ogre and bashing its skull into bits."

Rakot said, lowering his weapon, but not putting it away. He looked at Kraven, and an evil grin appeared on his face, his controlled berserker rage still shined through his eyes.

"We'll have an opportunity to finish this at some point, I'm sure."

He gave the elf a wink and turned around, walking towards the others.

With the situation with the polar opposite of Ratok finished, he turned his attention back to the source of the darkspawn taint, fully snubbing his little advice. He looked back at Ratok with this to say. "Our conflict is done for now. I won't have to use blood magic to restrain you. But, Ratok, if you continue these views, you will become that elf's opposite in every way."

He stared down the masked creature, trying to fight every compulsion to kill it until he can spare some time with Nygozy. He decided to try opening a dialogue."What are you and why are you here? How are you able to speak?"

The Shadow had taken Nygozy's order to heart and stepped away from the group, but then one of the humans seemed to have recognized it through its disguise. How he was able to sense the freed darkspawn was beyond it's knowledge. Freed brothers were undetectable to Grey Wardens. It stared at Wolfran through the slits in its mask. "How come you the ability to be sensing me? Not even the Commander-Warden can. Freed brothers do not listen to the song. We be freed from it. We be individuals and not thralls. I be called The Shadow, the name I chose upon my freedom. It be difficult to speak in this way, but it can be done." It said, holding its hands behind his back. Surrounded by people intent on killing it, The Shadow was strangely calm.

Rakot rested his weapon on his shoulder, tilted his head and looked at the creature as it spoke.

"Heh...with so many Gray Wardens around it was hard for me to pick that thing's taint smell out of the crowd. So it speaks? Commander, can I kill it? You know, so your mage friends can dissect the corpse and find out how it ticks. Its all to further our understanding of the enemy and all that trash. I can even do the dissection on the spot."

"Maybe we wouldn't insult your people so much if you didn't act like such a pompous ass all the time! You think you're so high and mighty! Humans have suffered under elves just as they have suffered under us! I've known people killed in riots caused by elves, and they were good people!

"Humans have suffered?! Kraven's voice rose, "How DARE you say that you humans have suffered compared to my people."

"Riots? They would not riot if you would give them the food they need to feed their families, or pay them decent wages for their work."

"My people are murdered every day, and I feel each dead as if It had happened to me, over and over again. Are these murders solved!? Of course not, because to you humans you are second class citizens."

"We were in this land a long time before you or the Tevinter empire ever once. It was humans who brought upon the blight. And it was humans who ravaged this land until it is but a dust pile compared to the glorious forests that were here before. Trees that were so old, they pre-date even the Elvhen culture."

"How dare you seek to me of suffering" he spit at the ground in front of Fremelda's feet.

"Freed brothers? Who can't be sensed by the Wardens? No...That might explain the seemingly unlead darkspawn. I find it increasingly hard to tell. Perhaps it was just the demon's power."

Wolfram didn't know how to proceed on the matter. If Nygozy knows about these darkspawn, maybe she might come to the same conclusion about the 'unlead' darkspawn. But there would only be enough proof if they encounter more of them. "That would be the last of my questions for now. When we get to Vigil's Keep I want to know more."

Fremelda's heckles rose again. "You think I had it easy? I had to steal my food growing up. I had to make my living on my back! Did I enjoy this? No! That's why I got off my ass and made a name for myself. Your people should too. Look at the big elf guy there, he was at my Joining. He's a well known mercenary. He's an artist. He earned that, like I earned my own way up through poverty." she snarled at the mad elf.

~~~

Meanwhile, The Shadow shook its head at Rakot. "There be no need. I did my own Joining to be freed from the song." He said simply, nonchalantly. "Our Joining be much like yours. It be giving us the ability to speak, and to be thinking for ourselves."