CLOSED: It's Like Spitting on a Fish

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WHO: Malcolm, Iskandar, Inessa, Anders, and Nathaniel
WHAT: A hunt for the Hero of Ferelden
WHEN: Present
WHERE: The Deep Roads
NOTES: Will update with any warnings.

First, it's a ship taken to Amaranthine. Then, it's a hike to the Deep Roads entrance, and the journey through Kal-sharok. It takes a day or so for Nathaniel to find Jonas' trail leaving Kal-sharok, and they are later able to confirm that it is definitely Jonas upon encountering a doused fire with some evidence about--things the queen's men would have found, had they been able to make it this far. The truth is that few besides a Warden could have made it this far.

With time, the team is able to track Jonas to a long-abandoned thaig. Nathaniel squints at the gates that are closed before them, and yet their hinges are eroded. They are off-kilter a little, and look moveable.

"Iskandar, Malcolm--help me force this open. Inessa, Anders, can you use your magic to help us?"

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[circleprodigy]

"Of course." Inessa gestures for Garahel to keep a lookout while she waits for Anders to get in position. Between the both of them, they ought to make a difference. When he's ready, she'll begin. Green energy surrounds her forearms as she raises them, following Anders' lead in bending the gate to their will.

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A short way into the tunnel, fresh blood can be seen. Nathaniel touches a finger to his lips for silence, but he can sense no darkspawn close enough to worry about. The tunnel opens into a proper dwarven thaig, long abandoned but still sturdy. The trail of blood leads to a small hut. Nathaniel carefully opens the door.

Inside is Jonas Cousland, Prince-Consort of Ferelden, barely alive, lying in a puddle of his own blood. He is so far gone that it will be any moment now.

Nathaniel is immediately at his side, cradling him, scarcely believing his eyes. It's the baby. The baby when he and his family visited Highever and he wasn't allowed to hold the baby.

"Jonas?" he gasps. A faint gleam comes to Jonas' eye, and he looks up in Nathaniel's general direction, choking on blood, his last breaths rattling in his lungs.

Several Hours' Travel from the Thaig

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The next morning, or what passes for morning in these parts, the thaig is left behind. The journey is typical Deep Roads at first, a long hike in vast underground halls as they go deeper and deeper into the earth. Nathaniel knows they have gone very deep indeed when the corridors begin to shrink and shrink. Halls become tunnels, and patches of black growth begin to show on the walls. Nathaniel peers at them with concern and gestures for the party to stop. The black patches appear to grow more numerous up ahead.

"See this?" Nathaniel holds his torch close to one of the black patches. "This is Blight. Do not touch it or brush against it, not even if you're immune to it, or you might carry it back to the surface with you. There's going to be more and more of it up ahead. We're very close to our destination, so anyone who wants to stay behind won't have long to wait for the rest of us. If you don't want to risk it, no one will judge you."