"I've been told that I drank enough lyrium during my indoctrination that I won't have to consume any more for another year or more. I will be able to see this through to the end... whatever that might be." He watched her throw back the key and seal the door again, leaving them in the dim glow of the dwarven glowstones. He realized only too late that he had left his shield behind, though his sword and spear remained on his person, and his armor was as sturdy as ever. His helmet, too, had been left within the tower, but there was hardly time to go back for either item. All for the better anyway. He might have been half-addled from his reprogramming, but even he knew that if she were telling the truth then they would need to travel lightly.<br/><br/>At mention of Cullen Rutherford, Ellion couldn't help but frown. "I remember him," he said softly as the pair of them started through the tunnel, which slanted down more sharply than before. "Cullen was a good Templar. A good man. Last I heard he'd been sent to Kirkwall, to help handle the rebellion brewing there." He shouldered his spear as the passage began to level out and widen, the Deep Roads truly opening up before them. "I wonder what's happened since," he murmured faintly, peering into the gloom. Was it his imagination, or could he hear something whispering in the dark?<br/><br/>His eyes moved across the floor, closer to where they stood, and his jaw clenched when he saw a row of skeletons, all blackened and still bearing their rusted armor. Ell knelt next to the line, carefully turning over a loose skull still in its helmet. "Dwarves," he confirmed. "They must have held the line here while the door above was sealed. The last to have set foot in this part of the Deep Roads, I don't doubt." He cast up and down the gristly remains, and pulled loose a tower shield, half-rotten from time but serviceable. It was too short to cover him from head to foot, but the height made it perfect to work with his spear.<br/><br/>"But to go back to your offer, I... I don't want lyrium. Never again." He shook the cobwebs off his new shield and looked at her. "I don't want to forget anything else." His head turned sharply as something very definitely moved in the dark, and he stepped in front of her, weapon lifted and ready. "I will do my best not to hinder your spells," he murmured, "but do what you can to stay away from me and the darkspawn." He tightened his grip on the spear, prepared to fight, though he had no idea what was truly moving in the darkness beyond the glowstones.