Copyright: You're on a fanfiction site, do I really need to say anything? Why would I want to be sued?
Revan was just barely keeping himself on his feet. He didn't have a choice, Shatele and Rabbit were up the stairs with the others. He cursed himself for going down alone in the event that something like this happened. The darkspawn had sent reinforcements and were now attempting to take back the tower and possibly put out the signal.
Cousland slashed with his sword, relieving a hurlock of it's head before another arrow flew into his chest. He'd been struck more times than he could count, but he refused to fall, he swore to his father that he would protect her...protect Ferelden. There was no room to quit, with that thought burning through his mind, he charged towards the hurlock archer and ran his already damaged dagger through the creature's chest, not caring when the blade snapped inside the tainted flesh.
That was when he came...the wall of darkspawn around Cousland parted when he came. A newcomer arrayed in Grey Runic Armor with golden runic details across the massive armor set. The newcomer was armed with two swords but had one of them sheathed, Cousland felt the eyes of the newcomer bore into his very soul. It wasn't like the cruel, soulless stares of the darkspawn around them...it was the dim glow from one who had seen what lies within a great abyss, as though this being had seen the Black City itself and was warped by what he saw.
Either way, it changed nothing for Revan...he would not pass, not while he still drew breath...
Revan slashed out with his sword, somehow unsurprised when the Runic Warrior blocked the blow with his own and the Cousland Scion felt unimaginable pain as a fiery sword now unsheathed slashed across his stomach.
Struggling against the warrior's strength, Revan spun and bashed the Warrior's chest before going in for a stab, but the Cousland Shield was sent flying across the room, leaving him vulnerable for when the warrior stabbed through his shoulder and his chest.
Hearing screams from above, Revan desperately tried to pry himself from the Warrior's blades as the Warrior just released his grip and allowed Revan to fall backwards onto the floor.
It was just like before...
He turned over his head and saw Bryce Cousland lying beside him.
"Why did you fail me?" His father whimpered as Revan struggled to pull himself towards his bleeding father, unable to move because of the great sword impaled into his chest and shoulder, "Why did you fail them? Fail our family?"
As his vision began to fade, Revan Cousland could already hear the dragon of death call forth from the sky as a fiery blast became the last thing that he ever saw...
It roared in the shadows of the deep...
Every step made within the darkness, every breath, every motion of it's tail was a horrific echo to those who could see it...
Worshiped of old as a god, this dragon now lurked free within the chasms of the unknown world. Below it, it's armies of tainted shadows marshaled in reverence and fear of their tainted lord...
It unfurled it's wings and flew forth into the air. Roaring as it glided across to the other side of the great underground lair once mastered by the now weakened dwarves...
Recently, his army had managed a great victory against the kingdoms of the surface. Now that their king was dead, the humans would war with one another while It sent forth his legions...
It knew that it was not the first of his kind to launch this campaign against the surface, but with each generation...the fallen gods of tevinter had passed on the knowledge of the fallen to the next and so it was with him...the 5th of his kind...
Flanking him were his warriors of virtue armored in ancient runic armor mocking their past life. They would serve him well in this coming war and two already had...
It was thanks to them and their ability to manipulate the faith and hearts of men that it's greatest enemy, the Wardens of Grey, were now no more...or so it seemed...
Camp in the Wilderness
He saw it again.
It was nothing that he hadn't expected, but Alistair could never get used to the idea of a severe lack of restful sleep.
Granted, joining before or during a blight was supposed to be the worst time for grey warden recruits, but now, sleeping out in the wild seemed more of a chore for him.
Even when surrounded by his new fellow grey wardens and companions. A Dalish outcast who he had met first with a reasonable prejudice towards human culture, but was still open for a conversation. Two Dwarves from Orzammar, both exiled for different reasons and were really fun to just watch. A young elven girl from the Denerem Alienage with enough attitude to give the average zealous Chantry sister a run for their money. A son of nobility with determination to protect Ferelden and his very beautiful...if socially odd sister.
Then there were the mages.
Perhaps it was a remnant of his time as a templar, but Alistair couldn't shake the bad feeling that he had for either of them. He didn't feel bad about mistrusting Morrigan, the witch of the wilds. But he did feel as though he was unfairly judging Mairon. Sure, the mage warden was...eccentric about his newfound freedom, but he was a strong asset to the group and had yet to turn his powerful magic against them.
Yet.
But he still missed the others...the Senior Grey Wardens who welcomed him as their brother regardless of his...background. What happened at Ostagar, shouldn't have happened...it just wasn't right.
Deciding that now wasn't the time, he noticed Revan Cousland shift restlessly in his sleep. Maybe he was starting to have "Nightmares."
"Trouble sleeping?" Alistair asked as Revan sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"It's nothing new, I haven't slept much since I left home."
"Then it's only going to get worse from here." Failing to see Revan motion unbelievably, Alistair understood why, "You've noticed..."
"Everyone has," Cousland answered while rubbing his eyes, "It's the Joining...isn't it?"
"Yes." Alistair exhaled, remembering back to everything that Duncan and the other wardens had told him about this, "You see...part of being a Grey Warden means being able to hear the darkspawn. Our dreams...that's what they are. Hearing them."
"The Archdemon...it..." The notion Alistair was about to describe disturbed him to say the least, "Talks to the horde. And we feel it just as they do...That's how we know that this is a Blight."
"Archdemon...The others..."
"It gets all of us sooner or later." Alistair stated when Revan looked around at the other wardens sleeping scattered throughout the camp, "It takes a bit, but eventually you can learn to block the dreams out. Some of the older Grey Wardens say that they can understand the archdemon a bit, but I sure can't..."
"We'll have to work on it then." Revan stated, taking out a bottle filled with Flemeth's medicine and drained it.
"Somehow, I'm not surprised that you said that," Alistair admitted, "Anyhow when I saw you thrashing around I that should tell you. It was...scary for me...when I first joined..."
"I appreciate it Alistair." Revan replied as he stood up, "Dawn's coming, we should break camp and get moving."
"You sure?" Alistair really wouldn't have minded resting for a little longer, but he knew that the darkspawn were gaining ground, "Then again, we have lingered here for a while."
"It wouldn't be as bad except..." Revan stopped for a moment as if a thought had hit him and turned back to Alistair, "I knew it...they can sense us as well?"
"Not as well...but yes." Alistair was really starting to see why Duncan went through all this trouble for at least one of the new wardens, "Sensing them is a double-edged sword...some of the smarter darkspawn can...sense us if they really wanted to."
"Then we'd best get away from the main horde." Revan yawned as he stood on his feet and Alistair noticed the noble place two fingers at the tip of mouth and then whistled...
The most shrill, loud and annoying sound that Alistair had ever heard.
"That noise!"
"What in Andraste's knickers is that!"
"By the Dread Wolf!"
"Caridin's beard!"
"So refreshing...not..."
"Time to wake up!" Shatele excitedly said as she danced to her feet and the rest of the camp grumbled once Revan ceased his "wake-up" call.
"And I thought the mating calls of the Chasind was the worst thing I'd ever hear!"
"It's time to move out." Revan called out to his fellow wardens, "We can't linger here."
"What ever happened to...just ringing a bell or clanging your sword against that shield of yours?"
"This was quicker."
"Fine!" Lily held her ear with building fury as she started gathering her things, "My ear's gonna feel this for the whole week!"
"Oh shut up..." Mairon said to himself before a staff punched in his stomach, "It was only for a few more seconds..."
"And then it becomes a few more hours..." Morrigan said before she started walking off, "But if you would prefer us to leave you at the darkspawn's mercy, then I shall oblige you."
"As much as killing more darkspawn is appealing." Mairon jumped to his feet and picked up his robe, "This Lothering town is far more interesting...Lealion told me that it was a real slag-hole. Perfect place for...research..."
"Advice for you friend," Durin offered Revan as he rubbed his hands over his ears, "Next time you wanna wake us up...just shake us really hard or find a bell!"
"I think I feel blood in my ears..." Gimli said as he dug a finger into his ear and pulled it out, "Oh...just wax."
"Disgusting..." Durin muttered as he watched Gimli eat the wax on his finger.
"How so?"
"Of course, typical for a casteless." Durin said while Gimli resisted the urge to pull out his crossbow, Kalah.
"What odd company I travel with..." Morrigan breathed as the company began to clear up the camp and prepared to move out.
"Coming from you that's actually funny..." Alistair said to himself after getting his armor and weaponry on. It would take a little while longer to get to Lothering from here and one could not be too careful during a blight...
Off of the Imperial Highway
"Lothering should only be a few days from here..." Shatele heard her brother report to the others. She skipped at his side, counting how many butterflies that she could spot in this wilderness and how many times Rabbit got a treat from Morrigan.
"You said that yesterday...and the day before!" Lily shouted in annoyance, "Damn Shemlan..."
"He's likely using the old "shepard's trick."
"Shepard's trick? What's that supposed to be?"
"The apparent notion that people will follow anyone for any reason if there's even the slightest hint at a reward at the end of the long road."
"Oh..." Gimli replied to Gilead's explanation, "Make's sense...kind of explains most humans out here."
"Here we go..." Alistair muttered, "So what if humans are stupid bastards? Does that mean elves, dwarves and mages can't be either?"
"Dwarves are very capable of being bastards." Durin corrected, "But we are at least smart about it."
"Wait if I recall..." Mairon sat on a ruined fence as he pondered a thought, "How long did you think you would fall into the sky?"
"You're never gonna let that down?" Gimli asked as Durin cringed as he looked up at the sky and kept walking forward in slight fright, "We've lived our whole lives underground, what do you expect?"
"It sounds amusing, why should he?" Morrigan asked from behind Alistair, who looked like he really wanted to bash in the woman's head with a rock with every word that she said. True, she was a mean woman, but Shatele didn't really see the need to kill her or to be hostile.
"Besides, I was raised most of my life in tall cities." Mairon stated, "Does that mean I fear that I'll float on these lowlands? No."
"Hold." Revan held up his hand and used the other to grip his chest. Shatele reached for her flatblade, ready to defend her strong but still wounded brother.
"You sense it as well?"
"Yeah." Revan answered Gilead as the elf warrior readied his bow, "Get ready."
"Form up!" Alistair called out to the others. The warriors formed the front while Mairon and Morrigan stayed in the rear and Gimli and Lily stayed just behind the warriors. "Oh..."
"It's just a mabari..." Shatele said as a hound with grey fur ran towards the group at top speed, "Followed by darkspawn." Close behind it was a pack of hurlocks and genlocks that were probably hungry and thought the hound would be a good meal.
But one, how would they share that dog amongst all of them. Two, it was a hound! The very idea of killing a hound for food was horrible to the young lady.
"Get behind us boy!" Shatele called out as the hound ran past her and huddled behind Lily.
"Not behind me..." Lily grumbled before ducked under an arrow and looked over at the nearby ridge, "They're on the ridge!"
"Called em!" Gimli cried out as he pulled Kalah's trigger and went to work on the darkspawn archers that stood on the nearby ridge just under the highway. Meanwhile, the warrior line met the darkspawn group and already several hurlocks and genlocks fell to the ground slain.
"Break in!" Revan called out as the darkspawn surged upon the group. Durin swiped through a genlock as he stepped in to tighten the warden formation as an accurate and swift Gilead did the same. Alistair blocked a thrown axe at the same time that he stabbed through a hurlock and pushed the corpse aside before he twirled into a violent assault dance that slew a line of darkspawn that attacked him.
Unmoving, Revan slashed through any enemy he could spot, the family shield on his back to protect him as he went to work. But after killing a genlock, he grunted and nearly lost balance as two hurlocks charged at him. One was pulled off balance by Rabbit before Shatele stabbed through it's chest as she shoved the other and grabbed it's neck.
"Don't push yourself..." Shatele worriedly said to Revan as the darkspawn snapped at her face, "Not now! I'm talking to my brother sir!" The Cousland lady tightened her grip to instantly snap the hurlock's neck and used the corpse as a shield against a hurlock with a hammer before running her flatblade through it's torso and lifting it off of it's feet.
"Blessed are the righteous, the lights in the shadow." Lily chanted as she drew out her knives, "In their blood the Maker's will is written." She sprinted, jumped onto Revan's back as he thrust into a hurlock and flipped over Shatele and threw a sealed vase of red liquid into the incoming darkspawn before landing and slashing her blades through a hurlock's neck. As the hurlock fell, the vase splashed it's content onto the creature's and they wreathed in pain as the fire on their bodies melted away their skin.
"Should I?" Mairon asked referring to the darkspawn around them. Morrigan chuckled after running her staff through a genlock and unleashed a wave of frost from her free hand that encased the creatures to where they appeared as icicle statues, "Confident...let's see what you can do then, Witch of the Wilds..."
"Observe." Morrigan threw down her staff and somersaulted into the air before a mist of magic surrounded her and formed into a large spider that barrel-rolled over a hurlock stabbed another one with two of it's legs.
"Is that..."
"Yep..." A frightened Alistair answered an equally intrigued Durin, "She can turn into a giant spider."
"Odd."
"You find this odd?"
"Yes!" Durin yelled at Brosca, "I didn't know magic-folk could turn into...spiders!" The spider fired a spray of webbing from it's mouth that trapped four darkspawn and left them helpless to when it stalked over to them and tore out their chests.
"Fascinating." Mairon complemented as he thoughtlessly tripped a genlock and fired an arcane bolt through it's face, "Now I really want to know how to turn into a dragon..."
"What is it with you and dragons?" Gilead asked as he picked off several darkspawn archers on a nearby hill.
"Because they're mystical and powerful, why not?" Mairon answered as he fired a blast of mana into the fray that blew out and rather than physically hitting the darkspawn, seemed to mentally blast them and leave them standing, dazed and vulnerable.
"Well aimed Master Mage!" Gilead complemented as he picked off the dazed darkspawn and looked around to see that the battle was won. "That's all of them."
"These darkspawn are advancing pretty quickly..." Gimli noted casually as he reloaded Kalah and looked at the aftermath of the engagement, "Maybe we should just skip Lothering altogether."
"This is was a scouting party." Alistair commented while pushing a large hurlock off of his shield and wincing from the wound on his thigh, "We should pick up pace before we see more of them."
"The dull one is right." Alistair screamed when a giant blood covered spider spoke and vanished in a mist of dispelled magic to reveal Morrigan, "Once the horde discovers that this band is slain, they will send a greater one to find us.
"...Go...Go away..." The party readied themselves and ran over to where Lily was pinned down and helpless before the happy licks of a mighty foe, "Help!"
"Relax Lady Tabris..." Revan said with a light chuckle as Lily managed to get out from under the mabari that the wardens had just rescued, "The hound just likes you."
"Why? I don't even-" As the hound whined, Lily brushed off it's head and looked at it knowingly, "You? You're that hound from the pen..."
"What is it?"
"This hound was at Ostagar..." Lily answered as she stood on her feet and the dog happily barked as if to say yes, "I...saw him before the battle..."
"So that's why you were looking for a Wild's Flower..."
"Since when was it your business?" Lily barked at Revan and was startled when the hound licked her face, "Stop it..."
"I think he might've been out here looking for you." Alistair noted as the hound happily pranced around a frightened and annoyed Lily, "Looks like the mabari has imprinted itself on you..."
"Imprinted?"
"That means that the mabari has chosen you as it's master for life." Alistair explained to Lily just as the hound rolled it's back into the dirt, "See? He's already at home with you."
"So what will you name him?" Revan smirked and sat down in front of the hound, "I say you call you-"
"Who asked you!" Lily yelled as the dog happily waited for her to speak, "Since I'm stuck with you...how about...Barkspawn?" The dog almost nodded it's head and jumped up and down excitedly.
"Oh great. The dog has a name." Mairon boredly said as he started rummaging through the darkspawn corpses alongside Gimli and Durin.
"You know...I like that one." Shatele knelt down and watched Rabbit walk up to the newly named warhound and the two of them started to play with each other. "Nice to meet you Barkspawn."
"In any case..." Morrigan sickenly watched the hounds play while their owners looked on in mild confusion, "We now have another mangy beast in our little group...what is next? A singing bard that sings in a manner befitting a loud wail? Or maybe an elf who would lay with a fallen tree if there was a hole where he could stick his-"
"Don't tempt the surface gods, Morrigan." Gimli flicked a bolt into his jacket and slid it in next to a crude axe he had found, "Now we'll run into at least one of those two in our next destination. Maybe even a giant."
"He's not mangy..."
"And Alistair is still the dumbest one amongst us."
"Hey!" Alistair shouted in protest as the group began to move on.
"I second that thought."
"What?" Shatele noted funny face that Alistair made after hearing Mairon put him down. It was kind of humorous and it made her giggle.
"Don't worry Alistair, I believe in your competence."
"Really?"
"No." Durin stated as he walked past the ex-templar and he chuckled again. This time he noticed the Cousland young lady giggling at his faces.
"Is it that funny?" Alistair asked her while wearing a smile, "Why am I the one everyone picks on?"
"You might have grass stains on your butt." Shatele answered after wiping off her shield, "Rabbit always nibbles at me whenever I do."
"I can imagine..." Alistair replied like he was fantasizing about something. Shatele thought that he looked rather silly until a thought occurred to her.
"Alistair?"
"It's...It's nothing Shatele..." It was just as she had thought. He was still sad over the deaths of the other wardens and Duncan. No wonder he was usually quiet around the others.
"You know..." Shatele placed a hand on his shoulder as he looked on questionably yet knowingly, "If you need someone to talk to about...Duncan and the other wardens..."
"I...I appreciate that..." Alistair smiled to Shatele's suggestion, he looked as though he was afraid to ask someone to talk with, "Maybe later, I would...like that..."
"Is there a problem?" Revan called from the front of the group, "We need to get moving!"
"Right, so let's get moving my lady."
"You don't have to call me that all of the time, Alistair."
"It's a bad habit. Like instantly being suspicious of mages."
"Suspicious of who?" Shatele jumped along with Alistair when they noticed Mairon walking past dragging a hurlock corpse, "Maker's breath, I'm getting the hang of spells quicker as a warden!"
"I don't regret the habit with him though..."
"I can see why." Shatele watched the mage drag the darkspawn corpse towards the group that now had runes carved into it's muscles, "Even Rabbit is scared of him."
"Cute..."
"The human-hating elf woman pets a mabari hound known as a mark of status for nobles..." Varric said to himself, "Is this a foreshadowing of something?"
"Hell if I know, I didn't write the story. I just witnessed it." The Orator admitted, "To this day, I still don't know how it happened."
"Now then," Cassandra butt in, wanting the orator to go to the next part of this tale, "What happened at Lothering?"
"Why? The Wardens went in, passed through and then never went back before-"
"Don't worry, it's got something to do with a problem she's got with my story." Varric apologized while Cassandra sneered at the dwarf, "Keep going and you might make her happy."
"Then don't mind if I do."
Imperial Highway
"Oh great..." Alistair lamented as the group came close to the exit point of the Imperial Highway. At the exit was a group of armed bandits in leather and studded armor who had already spotted them.
"Highway men..." Lily rolled her eyes while Barkspawn growled, "Yeah...I know boy..."
"They are fools to challenge us."
"Let's try to resolve this rationally." Revan suggested as the group came closer to the bandits.
"Well...well...what have we here..."
"Look, I can see that you're running a pretty nifty operation here." Gimli complemented while interrupting the bandit ringleader, "But when nine fairly armored people show up with at least two mages then it's smart to cut your losses and let them through."
"Who do you think-"
"Perhaps we should take everything that they have stolen." Durin suggested thoughtfully as the bandit leader fumed, "Whatever we cannot return, we keep for ourselves."
"Wait a-"
"Then what? Turn them into the authorities?" Gilead asked as Mairon started checking his fingers for dirt or whatever else he might have caught in them.
"There are no auth-"
"Sounds like a good idea." Revan agreed as he turned to the now infuriated and insulted ringleader, "What say you?"
"You had to go and make things difficult..." The Ringleader growled before he drew out a pair of handaxes, "I wanna live!"
"Then why are you drawing your weapon?" Durin asked as his fellow wardens drew their weapons as well while the bandits prepared to defend.
"Yeah boss," A larger dim-witted bandit with a large sword agreed, "Shouldn't we just let em through-"
"Shut up!" The Ringleader screamed in anger, "We ain't so helpless you know!"
"Oh I beg to differ." Mairon shot out his arm and fired a light blue blast that impacted the ringleader's chest. It caused no damage, but he did notice flashes of light blink through his fingernails as he walked back into the middle of his group.
As the Wardens slowly realized what Mairon had done, Morrigan took out her staff and emitted a white-blue blast that surged out and encased the ringleader in a form fitting frozen prison.
While half of the group scrambled to free their leader, the rest attacked the wardens and were soundly and messily slain by Alistair, Shatele, Revan, Lily and Durin without any trouble. Meanwhile, Gimli wrapped a blindfold around his eyes before firing a bolt from Kalah that broke through the prison and embedded itself in the ringleader's skull.
Setting off the mana bomb that had been building within him and sending chunks of flesh, bone and ice into the group in a powerful explosion. Seizing the initiative, Gilead's bow sang as he picked off any survivors as Rabbit and Barkspawn played tug-o-war with one of the bandits and ended up ripping the poor man in half.
"Do you have a thing for overkill?"
"Is anyone else going to object?" Mairon held out his arms while the blood-stained wardens took in the unnecessarily brutal mess that Mairon's attack had made. "Didn't think so."
"Why...why did you have to..." Lily was in the middle of slitting a man's throat when the explosion sent a myriad of water and blood onto her back and now the hound was licking it off and...touching a few areas... "Stop it...why are you licking me?"
"He finds you tasty." Revan laughed as he wiped the blood from his family shield.
"What? You want a taste shemlen?"
"Since you're offering-"
"ON TO LOTHERING!" Gimli and Alistair rushed past taking Revan with him as Gimli asked, "Don't you see bait when you see it?"
"Bait for what?"
"Snip snip." Alistair did not need to say more, Revan cringed and turned back to the dangerously smirking elf who was grinding her knives together.
"So...we're not gonna bother with a clean-up?" An oddly clean Morrigan asked while tip toeing through the mess and using her staff to push aside a bandit who had gotten cleaved through by Durin.
"Of course." Gimli rubbed his hands together as he started searching through a nearby corpse and picking out a bag of coins before he started on a cart, "Clean up all of their loot for our limited funds."
"Hey Durin!" Mairon called out from the other side of the carnage, "I found a templar corpse with usable armor!"
"I appreciate the gesture, but I like my current attire." Durin stated to the mage holding up an armored corpse, "Though, he might have fellows who would likely give us a reward."
"How would you know that?" Alistair asked as he recognized something about the knight's armor and ran over to a bored Mairon who decided to drop it. "Besides...it's a knight...of Redcliffe."
"Redcliffe?" Shatele asked as she came over, ignoring that Rabbit was licking blood from her flatblade, "What was he doing here?"
"Does that mean we can't loot it?"
"Gimli!"
"What? He's not gonna need it." Gimli placed a silver medallion in his pack while Revan scowled at his suggestion.
"And neither do we." Gilead stated as he grabbed the body and dragged it down the ramp after handing a journal and a few possessions to Alistair.
"Actually, that armor looks like it would be worth a sovereign." Durin thought aloud, "Or two."
"With all of the blood that has leaked inside, I highly doubt anyone would want it." Morrigan countered dully.
"We could always have the dogs clean it out-"
"Are you all done!" Gilead shouted in visible anxiety and holding his head as though a vein was about to blow, "Or should we start rolling in the puddle until our skin is scarlet red?"
"Sounds fun! Who's first?" Mairon kept looking face to face, seemingly unaware of how repulsive his idea truly was. Even the dog's whined when he turned to them.
"Anyway..." Alistair turned away and started down the exit ramp and took in the view of the nearby serene village, "Lothering. Pretty as a picture? Isn't it?"
"So after all of this, you finally decide to rejoin us?" Morrigan mused, "Falling on your blade in grief seemed like too much trouble I take it?"
"Is my being upset so hard to understand? Just how would you feel if your mother died?"
"Before or after her funeral?" Morrigan chuckled before Shatele walked up to her with a disapproving face, "You object as well?"
"Alright ladies, cool down." Gimli came between the two women and smiled nervously as they eyed each other before Morrigan smirked and walked off, "We need to know where we'll go from here."
"Has anyone even gone over the treaties?"
"Yes." "There are a lot of documents and such...I don't think some of these groups even exist anymore."
"Let me see them." Alistair "Here we are."
"Circle of Magi...Dwarves of Orzammar...Dalish Elves...I believe that these are the three most prominent groups so we should focus on them the most and I still think appealing to Arl Eamon is our best option."
"Then maybe we should head to Redcliffe next." Revan agreed, "It's only a few days north and west and has a sturdy stronghold."
"Nonsense, this Arl Eamon is, but a single man." Durin pointed out while counting the coinage that he had found, "My own deeds aside, father will not hesitate to marshal the dwarves if we come."
"How about no."
"You have objections Brosca?"
"Apart from going back to that hell hole filled with up-stuck nobles too stupid and full of themselves to-" Gimli jumped when he saw something fall to the ground. A bird scorched by a deliberate over usage of fire magic.
"Oh I'm sorry...did I interrupt you?" Mairon asked as Gimli gulped, "Please, continue...Finished? Then I say we go to the circle of magi."
"Actually, Amell's suggestion is favorable to me." Morrigan said, "We can even throw a bone at the poor caged souls."
"Right...and this is the part where we hear that you've never had a friend in your life?"
"I can be friendly when I wish...just not with those lacking in common intellect..."
"As much as I hate agreeing with Mairon, we all saw what a few mages did at Ostagar."
"Indeed." Durin said in agreement with Lily, "And perhaps we can learn of this "magic".
"Perhaps the Circle is our best option." Gilead said as if disgusted with agreeing with Mairon, "My clan has already gone north and the only other clan in Ferelden moves too frequently to determine where they would be."
"Then we're agreed." Revan leaned on a nearby bench and looked over the town, "Where are the bann's men? Any suggestions Morrigan?"
"At the moment, it seems that Loghain is the greatest of your problems." Morrigan reasoned, "Go to his stronghold and kill him. Then deal with the darkspawn later."
"You know...why don't we just do that?" Mairon chimed in, "Just...murder him and be done with it?"
"Oh! That's a great plan!" Alistair agreed with obviously fake enthusiasm, "And he'll just be standing there waiting for us with a glass of wine when we kick down the front doors!"
"No it's not." Shatele said to Alistair, "Wouldn't Loghain have guards? Walls? And most likely be sitting in a room eating ham?"
"You know...that is a good point."
"You wished for my opinion and I gave it."
"Wouldn't it be simpler to just kill Loghain?" Mairon asked again, tightening the cap of a bottle now filled with blood as Gilead and Lily scowled at him.
"Loghain may be a traitor, but our main focus is the darkspawn. What good is it to exact revenge when the enemy is on our doorstep?"
"Again, why don't we just kill him?"
"Because revenge will do us no good at this point." Revan stated to Mairon and pointed to the village as a sign to drop the subject, "In any case, we'll stay here for the day and get supplies and information about what has happened in the past week or so."
"Did I say something wrong?" Shatele asked Alistair as the group pressed on as various refugees nearby marveled at the newcomers to their village.
"Shatele, do you know what sarcasm is?"
"Yes, sarcasm is saying one thing while thinking something..." The young girl's mouth opened when she realized her mistake, "Oh no..."
"She...wasn't too bright..." The orator admitted as Cassandra stood in front of him.
"Wonder what gave that away?" Varric asked sarcastically, still getting a kick out of this whole situation, "It's really a lack of social skills, but she caught on eventually-"
"Not soon enough according to many," Cassandra pointed out, "At least fast enough to prevent-"
"As impatient as you are, skipping all the way to the 3rd Act will be simply impossible," The Orator interrupted, "So sit down and let me continue."
"Fine." Cassandra stated as she sat down on a stool that she had brought out earlier, "Indulge us then."
"Gladly."
Author's Notes:
Welcome to the Lothering Arc, what the Wardens will find shouldn't surprise you for the most part, but I've a got few tricks that you might enjoy before they move on.
If anyone gets disturbed by the dog's licking blood off of stuff, this is a direct carry over from the game so...yeah...blame Bioware.