Chapter 1: Lothering
It was no surprise to anyone that Mattie was confused. He had woken up in a large open field, Vlad and Arthur beside him unconscious with no clue as to what had happened. He gripped his head as it began to pound and moved over to the two magic users, hoping they would have an idea as to where they were. He shook each of them awake while occasionally looking around for a sign or passerby, anything to tell him where they were really.
"Bloody hell…" The British man swore as he awoke, he too holding his head. "Where are we?" He asked once he realized that they were no longer where they were before they had passed out.
"I don't know, It looks like a field of sorts." The Canadian responded with a frown, he wished he had Kumajirou with him in this strange place, knowing the large bear had an odd way of calming him down when he was scared or nervous.
"Did we travel back in time?" Vlad asked as he awoke, looking slightly better than Arthur or Matthew were as sat there taking in their new surroundings. It certainly looked like they were in the past with the large medieval looking buildings everywhere.
"If we did then we will be standing out too much." Mattie told them, his eyes focused on their modern looking clothing. It was actually a wonder that no one had approached them yet. He stood up slowly, his head still slightly pounding and further examined their location. "We should talk to someone…" He said, hoping to get an idea of what had happened to them.
"Maybe after we get new clothes, I kind of don't want to get burned at the stake before I had a chance to explore the past." Vlad told them, excitement showing in his red eyes.
"Careful, if this is the past we can't do anything to meddle." Arthur told them, not wishing to be the cause of a catastrophic event of some sorts.
Though he looked reluctant, Vlad had agreed as had Mattie, both wishing to avoid altering time if they had in fact time traveled.
Unlike how they were hoping to find clothes, no one had any drying on a clothesline. Their plan of stealing clothes seemed like it would never work out, and that appeared to be their only plan at the moment. Vlad saw many people distraught and worried, and had overheard people claiming to have gotten robbed while on the road, which gave Vlad an idea. He knew his companions were not going to like this, but if they wanted to blend in better and not draw unwanted attention it was the only way. He dragged Arthur and Mattie to where a young family had come from, all looking terrified and heartbroken, talking about the horrible bandits on the road and grinned to his companions. "Strip and follow my lead." He told them, already discarding his modern clothing.
"W-what?!" Arthur stuttered in disbelief, his eyes large as he saw Vlad standing in nothing tossing his clothes in an old backpack they had found.
"Trust me." He told them.
Mattie frowned but discarded his clothes, placing them in the bag as well, his cheeks red with embarrassment as he did so.
"I… Oh fine!" The Brit was the last to follow his companions but soon he too was standing in the nude. "For your sake you better have a plan." He warned Vlad.
"I do! Now come on, oh, and look super sad." Vlad told them, putting his best saddened face on. The other two followed him, their heads bent down in shame, all three covering their private areas.
"Those bandits stole everything! Even the clothes off our backs!" Vlad cried dramatically.
An elderly woman saw them and gestured for them to come over to where she was standing, tents were all around her and she seemed to be in charge of the place. "Here, it's not much, but clothes are much harder to come by these days since more refugees such as yourselves came." She told them handing them each some neatly folded clothing.
"Thank you ma'am." Mattie smiled to her.
"Did something happen?" Arthur asked while the three of them put their clothing on.
"With the blight happening refugees from all over have come to seek aid. Unfortunately Lothering can only hold so many. We have run out of beds at this point and our food is scarce." The woman told them.
Mattie looked down in thought. 'Lothering? Why does that name sound so familiar?' He wondered, feeling he had heard that name somewhere before.
"Thanks again for the clothes ma'am." Arthur told her.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Vlad asked with a frown, ignoring the glares from his friends. In his opinion they had already meddled in the timeline, aiding one elderly woman shouldn't change things too much.
"Oh no it is alright. I suggest you seek refuge elsewhere however, Lothering can not take anyone else." The woman told them with a small smile. "If you do wish to stay however, I believe the tavern still has a bed or two."
'"Is there anything we can do to help' really Vlad? We can't meddle in this time! Who knows what will happen to our time if we mess around here too much!" Arthur scolded.
"Wait, hang on, I swear that woman and this town seem familiar." Mattie told them. "Let's just go to the tavern, we'll figure out a plan there."
"You know this place? Did you have a rural town named Lothering in your country?" Vlad asked with curiosity.
"No, it's not like that, I don't know how to explain it, but everything here somehow feels familiar. Anyway, I think the tavern is this way, let's go." Mattie told them leading them to where he had thought he saw a tavern sign hanging.
As they entered the rather small building they saw some large armored men drinking and talking loudly about their king, "Loghain". Many patrons and refugees were avoiding the men, some of them even were hiding from them. It was clear this king of theirs was one to be feared.
"Oh great, more refugees." One man said in a gruff voice, his body clearly towering over all three of the newcomers. "Bets they don't even know what our king did in Ostagar."
"He Murdered King Cailin!" Mattie blurted out subconsciously before he let out a yelp and covered his mouth.
"King Loghain is a hero! Those damned Grey Wardens murdered him!" The man told them before he walked over to Mattie, drawing his sword in the process. "Those that speak ill of the king shall perish. The King's rules!"
Before Mattie could react a young woman had gone over to where the quarrel was. "The Maker would not want to see you fight this person." The girl told the angry soldier.
"I didn't ask for you to involve yourself. But if you wish to join their fate then so be it!." The man told him before he started to attack.
The woman glared and began to attack, countering attacks ever so often and swinging her sword at the armored man. Mattie stared in awe as the woman fought bravely against the man.
After a few minutes of them going toe to toe against each other the barkeep had gone over to them. "No more fighting in the tavern. This is a place for refugees to seek shelter, not for the kingsmen to attack!" The man told them, breaking the fight up before anyone got seriously hurt.
The soldier scoffed but walked out of the tavern, slamming the doors with all his might as he did so. Once the soldier was gone the woman walked over to Mattie, Vlad and Arthur. "I apologize for escalating things." She said, her accent sounding almost french.
"Ah, don't be, we know you were trying to help." Mattie told her with a small smile.
"My name is Leliana, I am- I was a sister of the cloister. I… I had a vision from the maker himself, he sent me here, and I think it was to help you!" She said with almost excitement.
"Help us? How?" Arthur questioned, slightly wondering if they should talk to her to begin with.
"You are leaving Lothering soon, right? Please allow me to go with you!" She pleaded, seeming eager to join them, even if they had no idea on where to go from here.
"Have you by chance heard any odd rumors?" Vlad asked, wondering if there were more than just the three of them out here in this strange land.
"I heard tales that some Grey Wardens survived the battle of Ostagar. They say three of these wardens were seen in clothing that had never been seen before!" Leliana told them, confirming what Vlad was hoping for, that there were others like them somewhere.
"Well then! Let's go find these wardens!" Vlad said with a grin.
"Oh, before we do that, I wish to help the Qunari caged up. The poor creature, has been without food and water for some time now." Leliana told them, hoping the revered mother would agree to let the qunari out.
"The elder woman we spoke to before said they were running low on food, so wouldn't getting him some be impossible?" Mattie asked with a frown, wondering how they were to feed him when the village had no food for its people.
"I was thinking we could talk to the Revered Mother in releasing him." Leliana told them.
This caused the three to look from one and another in confusion wondering who or what the Revered Mother was.
"What's a Revered Mother?" Vlad finally asked, the only one brave enough to boldly ask Leliana who or what she was referring to.
"The revered mother is the leader of the chantry, she looks over everything happening in Lothering." Leliana explained.
"And she caged someone and refused to feed him?" Vlad asked with a frown.
"Yes, he… killed many people before, but he is a powerful warrior and, a man in need of help!" Leliana told them.
"Besides the obvious, why should we help him?" Vlad asked, questioning why they would release a known killer.
"He can be a good ally to have and it would be wrong to keep him caged up!" Leliana replied, sounding almost like she was scolding them.
"We'll free him, we just need to talk to this Revered Mother right? Where would she be?" Mattie asked the young woman.
"In the Chantry, it is not too far from here either, once we leave the Tavern we just head east, some templars should be out there, they guard the chantry so be cautious." She said, her eyes moving to Arthur and Vlad as if they would cause trouble somehow.
Arthur frowned, he couldn't help but wonder what a templar was, he looked over at Mattie, figuring he was the one that seemed to know the most about this location than any of them. Sure enough the younger male looked concerned as she mentioned the templars. "We should be careful when we go there then." The Canadian told them before he turned back to Leliana. "Is there a way we can ensure she helps us?"
"The Chantry could always use some funds? Perhaps if we gather some coin we can give it to the Revered Mother and she will be more inclined to listen to us and let us free the Qunari." Leliana responded after a few moments of her thinking of a way to help. It sounded simple enough for the most part.
They all knew scrounging up coin would not be easy, but if it would help win points with the chantry leader and be able to free the caged Qunari, they were willing to gather what coin they could gain. Every odd deed they could think of they did, every chest in the area they opened until finally they had the money they needed, well and some for themselves.
As they grew closer to the Chantry they saw that Leliana was right, that Templars were everywhere around it. "I'll take you to the Revered Mother now, if you so wish!" Leliana told them. They nodded, following the woman as they had no clue as to where to go. Inside they saw refugees of all ages kneeling and praying, small children crying and asking where their parents were, and women and men dressed similarly to Leliana walking around offering prayers. "This way." Leliana whispered as they neared an older man giving a sermon.
In the back where Leliana had led them to was an older woman with gray braids pulled into a bun was seated in a chair. She smiled softly at the group as they neared. "Sister Leliana, who might our guests be?" She asked.
"Revered Mother, these men have come to consult with you. They come bringing a generous donation and hope for you to listen." Leliana explained, bowing gently before the older woman. Her words caused the woman to arch a brow as the men walked forward, bowing like Leliana had.
"You're… holy one. We come with 30 silver and hope you may here us out!" Vlad said awkwardly.
"30 silver? That is highly generous indeed. And to what means is this generosity for?" The woman asked standing up.
"We wish to have you release the Qunari caged in the fields into our care." Mattie told her, adding a quiet "please" afterwards.
"He is highly dangerous and unpredictable. How do you plan on keeping him under control?" The Revered Mother asked.
"We… uh…." Arthur looked around for some clue as to what to say now.
"It will be perfectly fine to have him released into their care. I have seen them in action and know that should the qunari try anything they will be more than capable of putting an end to the qunari's mischief. Added to that it seems wrong to keep a man caged up like an animal with no food or water and wait for him to die or be food for the darkspawn. The maker would be giving him a second chance." Leliana smoothly told the revered mother.
"I did not know you felt so strongly of this sister Leliana. Though it is dangerous you are correct about the maker." The revered mother said before she sighed, handing the key to the group. "I trust you Leliana, I just pray you know what you are doing."
"Thank you." Leliana told her with a smile and turned around to leave, her new companions following closely behind.
"So… just how dangerous is this qunari thing?" Vlad asked nervously.
"As I mentioned before, he had murdered countless people in the passed. But all deserves a second chance! And plus as I mentioned earlier he is without food or water in a small cage. I will not stand by while he suffers further. " The young woman told them, clutching the key tightly as if they would take it from her.
"It would be wrong of us to leave him there like that, and plus we need all the help we can get." Mattie told them.
"Thank you. His cage is across the bridge." Leliana told them, getting a running start to where this qunari was.
Once she was gone however Arthur turned to Mattie. "Okay, what is going on here? You seemed like knew a thing or two about this place and you knew where all of those chests were."
"And you said that this place felt familiar somehow." Vlad added.
Mattie nodded. "There's a game Al would play all the time. In it there was a town named Lothering. He spent a lot of time in this town making sure he had grabbed everything and done all he could. Now I could be wrong but I believe that this is that town." He told them, his hands gesturing to the building and dirt that surrounded them.
"That's ridiculous though, how could we be in a game? And why us?" Vlad asked quizzically.
"I don't know, but based on what Leliana said there are others like us. Maybe Al is here too. We should try to find them and see if there is a way home." Mattie told them, making a plan now. If this was their new reality then he could only hope that his brother and whoever else is here with was doing alright like they all were.
"Well for now let's go back over to Leliana and see this man she wanted us to save." Vlad stated, for once sounding like the only sensible one of them. The only thing they could do really was travel with Leliana and try to find their friends.
They walked over the small stone bridge Leliana had ran over and spotted her opening a metal cage with a large man inside.
"I am free." The man stated, looking from the group of men to Leliana.
"We ask that you fight with us." Mattie told the man.
"What do you fight for?" The man asked.
"What?" Vlad questioned.
"What do you fight for?" The man repeated.
"We fight for good." Mattie answered with confidence
The man stared at all of them, his expression unchanging. "Very well, I will join you if it means I maybe able to repent for my deeds by fighting for good."
"Really? Just like that?" Vlad asked, his gaze moving from the odd qunari to Leliana.
"Do you not wish for me to join you?" the man questioned Vlad.
"No no, I was just curious! By the way, what do we call you?" Vlad asked the man, his red eyes focused on the much larger male.
"I am known as Sten."
The strawberry blond nodded slowly. "Well I'm Vlad, these are my friends, Arthur and Mattie." He introduced, gesturing from Arthur to Mattie and earning a grunt in reply from Sten. "Great, we'll get along wonderfully…"
With everything handled in Lothering the team felt it was time to move on and head to where Leliana heard an odd group of Grey Wardens was located.
So this is just the first chapter set during Dragon Age: Origins! I apologize if this is OOC at all, I was trying hard to remain in character and all that! Thanks Snowflower for the wonderful help with the Hetalia characters, and thanks my friend Sun for the help with reading it over and making sure the Dragon Age characters were good! I hope you enjoy this and please leave a review, I love hearing from you and seeing your thoughts on this! I'll try to get Chapter 2 posted soon!
