THREE

It had been a flourish of words and hustling and ushering after the meeting with the king. It was apparent that the hordes were coming closer, and fast. They needed to get everyone outfitted, most importantly me. They had forcefully buckled and strapped me into the leathers and locked a helmet onto my head. Everything was ill-fitting and quite uncomfortable and I could only hope that it would hold up well. As I had hoped, I was assigned the tower with Aedan and Alistair, a bow and quiver of arrows shoved into my hands. I was pushed out to my group and ushered in the direction of the tower by the boys, who were begrudgingly ready to get to their duty. If only they knew what we were walking into.

I grabbed onto Cousland for support as soldiers rushed in waves past us. Stumbling a bit as I was knocked, he placed a steadying hand on my shoulder, holding me strong against the tide.

"We must proceed onward, to the tower of Ishall," Alistair called to us above the crowds. He held an arm out to the bridge, under an onslaught of arrows and some sort of fireballs. I could feel the dread pulling, but I followed no matter.

With the guiding pulls and pushing of my two companions, we managed to cross safely, only to be greeted in the courtyard by a mage and templar, informing us that the tower was overrun. As expected. I readied an arrow, notching it to my bow, preparing for my first strike on a living creature. A monster, sure, but still the first alive thing I would harm. Nothing like the targets they had set up in my lessons. It wasn't long before my party was greeted with the first group of darkspawn, the smell of filth and rot assaulting my senses, along with something else. A tug, a call, pulling my insides towards them. Was this the taint of the wardens? Silently, I loosed an arrow, aim striking true into the throat of a genlock.

Pulling from my in-game tactics, I tried to focus on the archers first, to give my teammates a better chance, to focus on only the opponents in front of their face. With the guards still alive outside, we managed to clear the courtyard without casualty, pushing into the tower itself. The tug in my gut told me that more were inside, as I already knew. Knowledge of the ogre towards the top had my stomach churning. We pushed onward. My first injury occurred on the second floor. An arrow submerged itself into my shoulder, causing me to yell out at the searing, burning pain.

"Arissa!" Aedan called, tossing something towards me. I caught the bottle, barely. Some sort of red liquid. A healing potion, I realized. I silently prayed that fiction had led me true and broke the stick of the arrow, leaving the point in my shoulder to staunch the bleeding and pulled the cork from the neck of the bottle with my teeth, spitting it uselessly to the floor. In a swift chug, I downed the potion.

The warmth that spread from my throat to my stomach, and onward to the rest of my body was not at all similar to the burning, searing power of the blood. I could feel newfound invigoration pushing me forward, allowing me to continue my onslaught of arrows into the horde that had found its way into the tower. When we finally reached the stairs to the third level, I hesitated, and my party noticed.

"Why are you stopping?" Alistair demanded, swinging an arm towards the staircase. "We need to light the signal immediately! No doubt we've missed the signal by now!"

"I just think we need to think this through," I began, taking a moment to catch my breath. "We have no idea what we're walking into. We need a gameplan."

"I agree," Aedan seconded me, taking a moment to think. "Alistair, we aren't waiting for a signal only you and I can recognize now. I say you and I focus on defending Arissa and she lights the signal. Mage, you try to focus on hanging by Arissa and healing where we need it."

With a small nod and impatient acknowledgement, we ushered onwards, my heart racing and adrenaline pumping as we took on more and more darkspawn. All too soon, we reached the fourth floor. While we rushed to ascend the stairs my stomach curdled more. As we approached the final door between us and our goal, I could hear distinct crunching and squelching from the other side. I grimaced at the noise, bile rising in my throat.

"What in the seven hells-" Alistair flung open the door.

The giant form in front of me was nothing that my imagination could have prepared me for. The giant, horned head whipped towards us, blood and entrails falling from its mouth. The stench of death was something I had never thought I was inhale, but as the ogre let out a roar, flinging spit and phlegm at us, it was heavy on its rotten, hot breath. My stomach lurched, but I rushedly notched an arrowed and loosed it. It stuck itself into the muscled chest of the great beast, causing it to glare at me and let out another, angered roar. Aedan positioned himself in front of me, holding out his shield and lowering himself into a braced stance.

I notched another arrow, loosing it once more into the chest of the beast. It didn't slow as it began to rush towards us, head low, horns aimed for a strike. It struck true, barrelling headlong into Aedan, who took the blow in his shield and body, being thrown backwards, past me and against the wall. It was the blow of his head to the wall that knocked him out, I believe. My eyes turned to saucers as I threw a frantic glance to Alistair. He charged for the beast, sliding low and cutting at the back of its knees. It fell, roaring in anger and swatting with an arm to grab at Alistair. Its grasp held the man strong. I searched to room for the mage, only to find him vomiting and heaving in a corner. Stupid, useless, coward. I grabbed for another arrow- but my quiver was emptied.

Terror grabbed at me as I whipped around, looking for anything. My eyes locked onto Aedan's sword. I had no clue how to properly wield one, but you stab with the pointy end, right? I lunged for it, swiping it up from the hilt and swinging it, thrown off a bit by its weight. Alistair was being affronted by a terrible, spit filled roar as I ran forward. I leapt from a bent leg, grabbing onto the arm that held Alistair, and propelling myself up. With both feet, I braced myself against its massive chest and used both hands to plunge the heavy sword deep into its throat. A gurgle was all that it could muster, blood pooling from where the sword had been plunged into it. The thing fell backwards, hand opening its grasp, allowing Alistair free.

"Light your signal!" I cried out, trying to dislodge the sword before the swarm that I knew was coming fell upon us. I tugged and tugged but to no avail. It was deep within the ogre's throat. The roar of fire coming to life sounded before hands clasped around mine and together we tugged the sword free. "Aedan!"

Alistair understood my meaning, dragging Aedan further from the door and behind us, creating a defensive wall in front of him. "Mage, prepare yourself!"

The mage at last straightened, readying his staff. Just in time, as darkspawn barrelled through the doors.


A glinting maw of teeth. Black, endless eyes.

"I come for you."

With a start, I wake, sitting upright and sucking in sharp breaths. Morrigan places a hand against my shoulder, steadying me. I look up to her, feeling quite frantic. I didn't ask her any questions, and she responded with her own silence. She only showed me to wear my clothes were and told me that everyone was waiting for me outside. After gathering myself and getting dressed, I pushed myself through the door, and out of the hut.

"There you are!" Aedan exclaimed, rushing towards me and gathering me into a hug that surprised me.

"Thank the Maker you're alright!" Alistair exclaimed, rushing to my side as well.

"I'm quite fine," I responded, pushing away from Aedan. "Thank you for your concern. Flemeth is quite a proficient healer."

"Do not speak of me as if I am not here, girl."

"I would never."

And so, with a long, drawn out debate between the men and Flemeth, a very reluctant Morrigan was added to our party and we set out for Lothering.


Through much arguing and convincing, I managed to drag Aedan into freeing Sten and bringing him with us. Alistair was still not quite on board with it, but alas, a giant ox-man wielding a giant sword would definitely prove useful, if not his charming grunting. Lelianna had seemed to easily charmed her way through Aedan and into our group, feeding into the ego I had noticed he was growing as our ragtag leader. Once we had garnered our group together and refreshed in supplies, I insisted we move on.

"The Circle of Magi," I urged. "We need to get to them first."

"And I believe we should go to Redcliffe first," Alistair debated, shooting an annoyed look at me. We stood at our current camp, having left Lothering days ago and heading the wrong way- towards Redcliffe rather than Kinloch Hold. "I know the Arl, I can-"

"Enough!" Aedan called over us, rubbing at his brow. "This bickering is getting us nowhere. Alistair, why Redcliffe first?"

"I lived there as a child, I know the Arl," he began in a rush, waving in motions with his hands as he spoke. He was so expressive, so active and bright. It was almost pestering. "I could possibly convince him to join us in arms against Loghain, warn him against the treachery. He could sway the odds in our favor."

"Good points," Aedan confirmed, nodding. He levelled his gaze at me. "Arissa, why the Circle first?"

"Look at our group, Aedan," I urged him, motioning at our camp. "Two warriors, a Qunari, two war hounds, two archers, and one offensive mage. We haven't a single healer. Will we find one of those in Redcliffe? Besides, Alistair admitted that he was unsure if he had enough sway with the Arl to convince him to help. We have the warden treaties. The Circle has to help us, and with the added power of the Circle supporting us, I believe we'll have better sway over the Arl."

Of course, my motivations were fueled by prior knowledge as well- knowledge that we needed mages to help Connor in Redcliffe. To my delight, Aedan relented that he agreed with me. We needed the mages support- and more than that, we needed healers. In the morning, we would set off towards Kinloch Hold to invoke the treaties and demand the aid of the Circle of Magi.


I admit, this was pure filler and shoving my way through the most boring, repetitive parts of the story. I am well ready to get on to my own plots and aims. Sorry for the evil necessity and half assed breaks and skips. We'll get to better parts soon- and actually character development and building relationships.

Speaking of- as far as pairings go, I plan on going for the one's that I feel further the plot the most, both mine and the game's. That means eventual Cousland/Morrigan in my opinion. I'm open for debate on that front, though.