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“Okay,” you say. “The Shadow Dragons pay their debts.”

You unchain the darkspawn, letting Ashur and Mae deal with the actual locks while you and Tarquin do your best to untangle the mess of chains and shackles. The first time you actually get one free, you immediately stop moving and even breathing, waiting to see what it will do—but it just hurries away from you and back toward its leader.

Maybe today isn’t the day you die after all.

Once all of the darkspawn prisoners have been unchained, their leader rasps, “Come.”

You look at one another. “Come where?” Maevaris asks. It’s a fair question.

“Your mage,” the darkspawn says. “Thisss way.”

It hasn’t led you wrong yet, so it’s probably safe to follow again. You can’t deny a niggling feeling of concern, though, when you realize that it’s not leading you out of the catacombs—it’s leading you deeper into them.

That niggling feeling becomes full-blown panic when you exit a narrow tunnel and find yourself no longer in the catacombs.

The darkspawn have brought you to the Deep Roads.

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