Caelyra and her companions had chased the werewolves into some ruins. The werewolves had spoken of treachery, of curses, and of protecting their Lady.
Caelyra was curious and wanted to know who this lady was. She had originally been searching for the werewolf named Witherfang so she could take its heart and cure the elves of the curse, but now there were other matters she was interested in.
The ruins these werewolves called home were elvish, and ancient; both served Caelyra's growing curiosity. Why the werewolves in ancient elven ruins? Just how long had this curse been around for? Was it the elves who had lived here who had cursed these werewolves and that was why they called the elves treacherous?
There were more questions than answers. Caelyra and her group continued further.
Large grunts and wheezes lured them into a great hall... and they were soon beset upon by a dragon. What on earth was a dragon doing in here?
They fought it, defeated it, then discovered it had hoards of treasure nearby, but as in the fabled dragon stories. They looted the piles and with heavy pockets continued into the ancient ruins.
In the ruins they came across giant spiders, evil spirits and demons, the walking dead and ghosts from the past. Also the remains of a Tevinter magister. That seemed odd. These ruins had evidently seen much.
Soon they could go no further by foot. The only way to reach the deep insides of these ruins to where the werewolves presumably were was to swim. In full armour it was not easy but they made it through to the other side and, as expected, got attacked by a pack of werewolves.
They were getting closer to the werewolf lair, the lady, and the answers Caelyra sought.
Finally, fed up with so many of their kind falling, the talking werewolves came back and asked if Caelyra would stop fighting and just speak with them. Caelyra said that all of this bloodshed could've been avoided if they allowed them to speak the first time.
None of that mattered now. The werewolves said that they would take Caelyra and her group to the lady as long as they promised no bloodshed. The lady just wanted to talk with them.
The Lady was exactly who Caelyra wanted to speak with to get answers; she agreed.
The werewolves led Caelyra to the inner sanctum where even more werewolves resided. They lined the walls and snuffled and growled and grunted as Caelyra and her group passed them by.
At the front of the room was a large stage-like structure and upon it stood the likeness of a woman. She called herself the Lady of the Forest and she told Caelyra of the untold history between the werewolves and the elves, the history that Zathrian had neglected to mention.
Centuries ago Zathrian, the Keeper, had lost his son and daughter to the humans and had cursed them. He bound a spirit to the form of a wolf — Witherfang — and set the wolf upon the humans who had killed his family.
Those humans became cursed beasts... and centuries later they were still cursed beasts, bound to the curse forever. They didn't want to be cursed any longer. Zathrian had ignored decades worth of attempted communication and was only responding now, as his own people fell to the curse too. Zathrian needed Witherfang's heart to cure the curse for his people, the elves, but the only way to remove the curse entirely was Zathrian's death, for he was bound to it too.
If they could convince Zathrian to finally come and speak with them instead of indulging in his centuries-old vengeance, perhaps they could eradicate this curse once and for all.
Caelyra agreed to try and get Zathrian to speak with the Lady and the werewolves. This curse had gone on for far too long.
Coincidentally, as they were leaving the ruined temple to get back to the Dalish camp they discovered they didn't have to go very far to find Zathrian, for he was already here, in the ruins, asking if they had killed Witherfang yet.
No, they had not. In fact, would he come and speak with the werewolves? They were no longer mindless beasts.
It took a lot of convincing, but he finally agreed to talk but could promise nothing more.
While Zathrian returned to the Lady and the werewolves with them, it was clear that he had no desire to even discuss anything. His anger from all those centuries ago still lingered. He demanded Caelyra kill the Lady — she who was Witherfang — and get her heart!
Caelyra refused. It wasn't right.
And so they were forced to fight Zathrian and force him to submit.
Defeated, Zathrian felt remorse for what he had done and agreed to end the curse. With a stamp of his staff upon the ancient temple's floor, his life-force dissipated and he died.
The Lady looked upon her werewolves and bowed her head, then she, too, vanished.
As she vanished, a bright glow fell upon all of the werewolves. They fell to the floor and writhed around, then transformed back into humans.
The curse was broken.
Climbing to the feet, the ex-werewolves stood before Caelyra. They were confused, surprised, and uncertain. After being wolves for so long, it was hard to return to the gestures and language of humanity, but they were going to try. They would find other human settlements, reintegrate, and live their lives once more.
They thanked Caelyra, and left the ancient temple.
Caelyra and her companions returned to the Dalish camp to inform the elves of what had happened. They didn't need to. They had all felt Zathrian's death and the elves were all cured and normal once more. And ready to fight.
The new Keeper bowed her head to Caelyra and promised to uphold the old Grey Warden treaties with the elven people, to fight the darkspawn and the blight when called upon.
Caelyra had done it. All of the peoples were to be united against the darkspawn, at last. Well, most of them. After gathering assistance from both the dwarves and the elves and saving Arl Eamon's life, all that was left was to convince the nobles of Loghain's treachery and the dire threats that were looming upon the horizon. And possibly losing Alistair as he became king.
She swallowed and shoved that thought away. This was a time for celebrating.
Before taking one last trek to Redcliffe Castle to inform Arl Eamon that they were ready for the Landsmeet, Caelyra returned to camp and spoke with all of her companions.
Wynne thanked her for finding her lost student for her. Oghren spoke of wanting to get into contact with a long-lost lover of his now that Branka was gone. And Leliana, she sang for the elves and the whole camp listened. She had a beautiful voice.
After listening to Leliana's song, Caelyra thought that she would take Oghren to Lake Calenhad where he had said his lover now lived. And days ago she had promised to take Shale to Cadash Thaig in the deep roads.
She could do these last things for her friends, even her brand new ones, before going back to Redcliffe.
Until next time! ⚔️🐲
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 