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It’s Tarquin who goes for the huge ogre first, flinging himself around the side of another darkspawn he’s been using as an inhuman shield and going straight for the kneecaps. There’s no way he’s taking it down on his own, though, so you add your blade to his, aiming for the beast’s neck and the soft, unprotected spots under its arms while Tarquin goes on trying to fell it from below.

By the time Ashur reaches you, the ogre’s swipes are coming slower, its roars filled with less anger and more pain, but you’re still glad when he starts throwing spells to help finish it off. It’s almost comedic the way it falls, like you’ve chopped down a tree, and if the darkspawn it lands on weren’t already dead, they certainly would be after its collapse.

Once you’re surrounded by nothing other than darkspawn corpses and Ashur’s hat is safely on his head again—still, unfortunately, smelling faintly of ogre—it occurs to you all to wonder how exactly you plan to get back out of the pit.

Suddenly, you hear a rumbling, clanking noise and the ground shakes slightly.