Dragon Age 2 — Story Playthrough — Part Seventeen.
Lyria and Carver were being hunted by the Carta for their blood. To stop them first, they had trailed the Carta to some strange ruins in the deserts north of Kirkwall and were now about to descend into the deep roads in search of answers.
They had only been at these ruins for an hour and everyone was already complaining. Varric was hoping that this adventure would be less "exciting" than their lost foray into the deep roads, and Anders questioned why he had even come considering he hated these places.
Varric nudged him. He knew exactly why. Because Lyria was cute, of course. Yes, of course.
As they investigated the hideout they found so many things wrong. Dwarves were talking about capturing the Hawke blood and being rewarded by drinking from the master. There were letters strewn about talking about capturing Carver, he was with the Grey Wardens. There were papers exalting a being named Corypheus. Was that some sort of demon?
None of them knew. They were finding more questions and no answers.
Suddenly, a dwarf came running at them, once again demanding Lyria and Carver's blood. But this time the attacker stopped, looked at Varric, and reacted in shock. What was Varric doing there? This was nothing to do with him. Only the Hawkes.
Varric demanded answers from the dwarf. What were they doing here, why were they attacking Lyria and Carver, were they worshipping demons? What was going on?
While the dwarf didn't give any straight answers, he did say that they were drinking darkspawn blood in order to hear the master and the music. That the master demanded the blood. He needed it. With that, he and another group of dwarves attacked... and Varric had no choice but to put down his old friend. The very dwarf who had crafted his crossbow.
In the next room over were more dwarves hellbent on acquiring their blood. The leader of this bunch, however, had a strange glow to him when he fell. Lyria investigated...
And found a strange mage's staff that vibrated with magic and filled her with its power as soon as she touched it. Was that why the dwarves needed her blood? So they could use this magic staff; a key? To get to the master, Corypheus?
There was only one thing to do. Explore these tunnels, find and question Corypheus himself, and possibly kill him.
They continued down into the deep roads... and found a tower built under the surface. Anders was amazed. He had never seen anything like it before.
Across the chasm and at the tower were darkspawn, and it looked as though they were chasing a Grey Warden. Lyria hurried onward to see if she and Carver could help.
To get around to the other side of the chasm, they needed to backtrack a little through side rooms. Side rooms that housed many more darkspawn. They fought through the creatures and found strange marks around the area that seemed to connect with a prison cell. Once the marks had been unsealed, a demon broke loose and... what sounded like Lyria's father's voice rang out through the chamber, speaking a litany.
They killed the demons and Carver wondered why the voice sounded so familiar. Evidently Lyria remembered more of their father than he did. What was his voice doing down here? Was it to do with why the dwarves were after their blood?
There were more old papers down in this area that spoke of strange darkspawn that spoke, that could actually think and command portions of the darkspawn army without any archdemon. Strange darkspawn that seemed to wield almost Tevinter-like magic.
Lyria had a very bad feeling about this "adventure."
Her bad feeling only worsened as they finally came across the Grey Warden they had seen across the chasm. It seemed that the darkspawn taint had overcome him but he was still somewhat sound of mind and able to communicate.
He said that the staff Lyria had found was a key, the key to unlocking the magical seals of this place and the key to killing Corypheus. He could show them the exit to this place, and they needed the key if they wanted to get out. They should follow him. Now.
Carver warned Lyria to be careful. Of course she was going to be careful, careful was her middle name.
Anders also warned Lyria... for other reasons. Seeing that Warden had made everything come back to him. Being a Grey Warden was as much a part of him as Justice now was. One day he would be just like that man, grovelling in the darkness as he heeded the call of the darkspawn. She should find someone else to love. She smacked him. She would not.
They followed the Warden to the next room where a sealed door awaited. Touching the "key" to it unleashed a great demon which they fought, and when it lay dead, the seal was broken and the door was opened for them.
Speaking with the Warden, they learned that his name was once Larius, and that he had been a Commander of the Grey so many years ago. He had been there when they had used the Hawke's blood to create these seals in this Warden prison.
Suddenly he scurried forward and declared that Corypheus was calling in the darkness.
Lyria felt as though she were walking into a trap by following this Warden, but he knew things and she wanted answers. They continued to follow him.
They unsealed a few more demons trapped in cells and killed them, each time they did so their father's voice crept out of the air and surrounded them. Carver thought it strange that it had taken all this time and a darkspawn-infested pit to feel closer to their father.
After banishing the demon of another sealed cell, their father's voice took on a different turn. It was a memory of him and their mother. He had done what the Wardens had asked of him and now they and their baby could leave Kirkwall, they could start a new life in Ferelden... and he hoped that the child would never bare the burden of his mage blood.
Carver smirked and said that he had failed that twice over, with both Lyria and their sister Bethany.
That comment irked Lyria and she demanded he shut up.
Lyria opened another sealed door that led further down. They hadn't realised just how far down they were until Varric stumbled across some dwarves wearing Legion of the Dead armour, who's journals stated they were looking for a Tethras...
Before his own house had been founded by a paragon so long ago, there had been a prince accused of murder and sent to fight darkspawn until he died. He had been wrongly accused and the Legion had gone to rescue him, only he had never been found. These journals were referring to his ancestor, from centuries ago. He didn't like being reminded of his family's past.
Darkspawn leapt out of the shadows and descended upon them, but they fought them off...
But then Anders fell to his knees. He could hear the calling. He could hear Corypheus's voice in his head. It was driving him crazy. He begged for Lyria to help him.
Before Lyria could do or say anything, Justice took control of Anders and summoned shades along with him. They needed to fight Anders to bring him back to himself.
Lyria hated this but she had no choice. Varric hated it too. Once Anders came to, Varric told him not to do that again, that he hated turning his Bianca onto his friends. Anders said that he was sorry; he didn't know what would happen when they actually found Corypheus.
They would work that out when they got there.
As they broke another seal to another door, Larius came running over. He could feel Wardens coming. But these Wardens, they weren't to be trusted he said. They wanted to free Corypheus! Corypheus had to die, not to be freed.
A group of Wardens rounded the corner — Larius had been right.
At first they were surprised to see Lyria and her group, but then recognised them. The Hawkes, children of Malcolm Hawke. Carver asked them why they were interested in their father.
It turned out that this prison had been built thousands of years ago to hold what had been considered the most dangerous of darkspawn. But magic waned over the years and they were constantly reinforcing the seals that bound the creatures in place. Their father had been the last to reinforce the seals, a powerful mage of untainted blood. He had performed his task well.
Then the Warden said something, just as Larius had said. That she wanted to free Corypheus from his prison, that a sentient darkspawn capable of speech could be their greatest ally. That she had been denied access to Carver, but now she had both the siblings — would they help her?
Anders quickly interjected. He told her not to allow the Wardens to do this. That his friend, Caelyra, Hero of Ferelden had already bargained with one of these sentient darkspawn and they still didn't know the consequences. They could not do it again.
Lyria was inclined to agree. Freeing a powerful darkspawn who had been contained by Wardens so many, many years ago, that her father had helped to keep contain? No. She would do no such thing.
The Warden unleashed a barrier of fire to keep them from crossing and yelled that they would free Corypheus with or without their help and raced into the tower.
Larius quickly bade Lyria to follow him. They could beat the Wardens to Corypheus and kill him before they could succeed at freeing him!
Grabbing Anders, Varric and Carver, they quickly followed Larius. He was right. They needed to kill this Corypheus, and quickly. Before these Wardens could do anything stupid.
Until next time! 🐲⚔️