Dragon Age: Origins Part #91 - The Darkspawn Of The Night, What Music They Make!

Part 91: The Darkspawn Of The Night, What Music They Make!

PART 91: THE DARKSPAWN OF THE NIGHT, WHAT MUSIC THEY MAKE!

Previously posted:

Bianca heads to the lost fortress of Ortan Thaig in pursuit of Paragon Branka, who disappeared two years ago in search of the Anvil of the Void, the lost golem forge. Helping/hindering Bianca is Branka's ex-husband, the drunken scofflaw Oghren, who is proving quite adept at decapitating darkspawn...

By the tits of my ancestors, Ortan Thaig. I never thought I'd see this place in the flesh.

It looks like everywhere else in the Deep Roads, except for the relaxing blue filter.

I can see Branka all over this place. She always took chips from the walls at regular intervals when she was in a new tunnel--check their composition.

If she was still here, though, she'd have sentries out by now.

What if Branka and everyone died?

Well, aren't you a sodding bright spot today? If everyone's dead, there'd be evidence of a major battle, wouldn't there?

Three hundred or so dwarves don't just fade away.

Everything I kill fades away. I think it's something to do with RAM.

Yeah, well, there's no sheep down here.

What can you tell me about these ruins?

This was Caridin's home thaig. He was an Ortan before he got raised to Paragon. Even stayed here when he could have had his own house.

I guess he didn't want to move his people to Bownammar.

What's Bownammar?

The City of the Dead. Caridin built it to honor the Legion of the Dead, but it was more like a sodding mausoleum than anything.

How disappointing. I was expecting the City of the Dead to be a lively carnival.

Of course, that was all before he built the Anvil. After that, he was the city's pet genius until he angered the king and fell into disfavor.

So there was a city here?

No, no, there was a thaig here, the Ortan Thaig. Bownammar's north and west of here, but that's not important. Or at least I hope it isn't.

I'm sure it'll never come up again.

The City of the Dead is known as the Dead Trenches since the darkspawn conquered it. Much of the Legion was destroyed when the fortress fell.

[The Legion of the Dead have come up in a few codices but have barely been mentioned in dialogue before. They're the dwarven equivalent of the French Foreign Legion, an army for people with nowhere else to go.]

And you have no idea where the Anvil is?

No one does. At the time, Ortan Thaig was almost part of the main city. No-one bothered to mark where the Anvil was stored.

Stars forbid you know where your army is being made.

Now, it's impossible to know if it's been moved or even destroyed.

But trust me. If we find it, we find Branka.

Let's get going.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Welcome to Ortan Thaig. Mmm, blue.]

They had some dwarves just like me, huh?

No. None of the dwarves were similar. They were quiet and respected, more or less.

No, the one I remember was a human. He vomited in the street constantly. Then he wandered into a snowstorm and froze to death.

Huh? And how is that like me?

Did I say similar? I meant I hoped he was similar.

I think I had a wife like you, once.

If you kids don't calm down, I'm turning this suicide mission around and we're going back to Orzammar.

More dead darkspawn. Perhaps Branka has laid out a welcome mat for us.

Dead ogres make bad mats. Too toothy.

More corpses? Maybe it is--

Bleh!

Oh, marvellous. The darkspawn are all dead because giant spiders ate their soft parts. What next?

Gianter spiders?

Gianter spiders on fire?

[The next few areas have groups of darkspawn fighting gangs of spiders. The Jets and the Sharks have nothing on this rivalry.]

[Cool dwarves don't look at blood explosions.]

[Near the fightin' spiders is a Warrior's Grave, linked to the sword assembly sidequest we started last time. We'll need to return here later, but for now there's nothing to be done.]

Ghosts? Indignant ghosts?

Get off my rock, you darn kids!

[The spooky ghosts are generic fighters with a few bard-like party buffs as well. They also have a golem pal, who fights like Shale but... worse.]

Hey! Hey, you!

There's nothing for you here! It's mine! I've claimed it!

Who are you? What are you doing down here?

You've come to take my claim! You city-folk are all alike: stone-blinded blunder-foots! Well, I found it first!

Bah! He's a bloody scavenger, good as sodding gone.

Begone, you! You'll bring the dark ones back, you will! They'll crunch your bones!

Word has it you can only survive down here by eating the darkspawn dead.

Darkspawn blood is poison. Men have died from drinking it.

It burns when it goes down. And when it comes out again. It burns!

It's my claim, not yours! Crunch your bones!

Action poses! ...Other way, Oghren.

I'm warming up!

*whump*

Well then, let's find our mad friend.

Oh. That was easy.

[Throughout the conversation Ruck repeatedly contorts himself so he hardly ever looks directly at Bianca. The effect is offputting.]

Go away! This is mine! Only I gets to plunder its riches!

Is this Branka's campsite?

It's mine! I'm the one who found it. I drove out the crawlers. Now it's mine!

(Persuade) I'm not here to steal anything, I promise.

Pretty lady... pretty eyes, pretty hair... smells like the steam of burning water, blue as the deepest rock...

Romance. How disgusting.

Poor Zevran will be heartbroken.

[Fail to persuade Ruck and the conversation ends here, although we do also have the option to murder the crazy out of him.]

So... the pretty lady won't take anything from Ruck? You won't take Ruck‘s shiny worms and pretty rocks?

I just want to talk. I won't take anything.

Oh. Ruck not mind that, maybe...

I have a few questions for you, Ruck.

I will answer your questions, pretty lady. Anything you wish.

When did you arrive here?

Too long ago. I must think... five years? Six? Ruck no longer remembers the smells and sights of the city.

How did you survive here?

When the dark ones were here, I kept to the shadows. They don't look in the shadows, not if you're quiet. Not if you eat their ﬂesh.

Then the dark ones think you're one of them. They leave you alone. But now they're gone.

Do you know where the "dark ones" went?

I thinks they went south, pretty lady. Far, far to the south. That is where the dark master calls them with his beautiful voice. So much joy when he awoke!

Mmmm... He's talking about the archdemon, huh?

After the dark master awoke, he called his children and they all went. I wanted to go, too, and gaze upon his beauty...

[We're about 3/4 of the way through the game and finally getting some insight into the darkspawn. Better late than never, right?]

Where is the dark master now? Do you know?

He stopped calling. I wish I could go see him, but Ruck, no, no, Ruck-Ruck is a coward.

That's ominous.

Maybe the archdemon's dead. Maybe he got someone stuck in his throat or something.

This is the worst Blight ever... Hey, Ruck. Did you find anything unusual at this camp?

Bits of things, but only bits. The crawlers took almost everything.

They takes things of steel and things of paper: they takes the shinies and the words.

Paper and words? That sounds like someone was taking notes. Do you think Branka camped here?

We just said that, Oghren.

I haven't been listening.

They bring to the great nest, the nest they makes for the eggs. They puts the shinies inside, they do.

[HINT HINT. We're going on a bug hunt.

There's one other piece of useful information we can get from dear Ruck. Readers with long memories will have already figured it out.]

...I think I met your mother. Is her name Filda?

N-n-n-no. No Filda. No mother. No warm blanket and stew and pillow and soft words! Ruck doesn't deserve good memories. No-no-no-no-no--

Your mother misses you. She asked me to find you.

Sh-she did not know, not what I did. I was very, very, very, very angry and then someone was dead. They wanted to send Ruck to the mines.

If I went to the mines, sh-she would know. Everyone would know. So I came here, instead.

Once you eat... once you takes in the darkness... you not miss the light so much.

You know, do you not? Ruck sees, yes. He sees the darkness inside you.

No. I am a Grey Warden. It's not the same.

Grey like the stone. Guardian against the darkness. Beautiful like waterfalls under the lichen.

That's me. You have to tell your mother you're alive.

No, no, no! She cannot... She remembers a boy, a little boy, with bright eyes and a hammer and she cannot see this! Swear- promise-vow you won't tell!

Would you rather she think you're dead?

Yes! Yes.

T-tell the mother Ruck is dead. He's dead and his bones are rotting in the crawlers' webs and she should never look again.

All right. I'll tell her you died bravely.

Pretty lady is like Mother, yes. Too good, too pretty for the darkness.

[Poor old Ruck. This isn't going to be a proper vote, but I'm curious whether the thread thinks I should tell Ruck's mother the truth about her lost son.

We can't drag him back to Orzammar by force btw, he's too big to fit in our inventory.

Ruck also runs a shop we can access if he likes us. Lord knows what he does with the money we trade him though. Maybe he eats it.]

[It's mostly generic goods, except for this fancy armor. I don't want to know where he found it.]

[Picking through Ruck's camp and we find another component of that lost sword.]

[Shiny. We collected the hilt last time, so we just need to find the blade to have a whole sword.]

The mimics are getting desperate for attention.

[The chest contains these records, key to solving another sidequest we picked up ages ago. We're really knocking off the quests now.]

Is that an altar back there?

[This little altar is the final part of the 'Asunder' sidequest. That's the one that's had us collecting demonic bodyparts for the last few updates. We place the parts on the altar then maybe a demon happens or something. It's great.

There is also a simple and satisfying exploit for this quest that was never patched out. I will now demonstrate it for you.]

[Step 1: Surround the altar with as many party members as you can summon.

Step 2: Set them to act independently.

Step 3: Pause the game and have each party member click on the altar.

Step 4: Unpause.]