Author's Note: Am I the only one who just loves Shale?
My companions and I arrived at Honeleath just in time to save some of the locals from roving Darkspawn.
We fought through the town to reach the golem. Zevran fought valiantly, so valliently that if it hadn't been for Morrigan's Cone of cold freezing some nearby Darkspawn he would have been hacked to shreds. Does he have a death wish or something?
The Golem was frozen upright with it's arms raised as if shouting in rage. We laughed about that. Morrigan invoked the dead villagers we found hanging at the entrance to the town and asked how we could be so callous. She suggested it was hypocritical to call her the callous one. Dark times make for Dark humor I guess. Before I joined the Wardens I could never have imagined joking after seeing such slaughter.
Leliana asked if we could name it Fulffles. I told her a golem wasn't a pet. She complained that I never got her anything. I asked what she would like, one thing led to another and now I'm obligated to buy Leliana the first pair of good shoes I can find. I now understand what my mother had to put up with.
To make matters even more frustrating we couldn't activate the Golem. After rebuffing Zeveron's request to attempt to seduce the contraption I decided we'd try to search the town. We recovered some good equipment but nothing that would activate the Golem. Morrigan found these strange crystals. She said she'd seen Sten collecting something very similar. I resolved to converse with him about this.
We lost sight of Zevran for a bit, you can imagine my reaction to that. He came back claiming to have found a door to a cellar. That cellar turned out ot be a laboratory, a laboratory overrun with Darkspawn..
They had already killed many villagers but the survivors had taken refuge behind a magic barrier, but it was under attack when we found them.
Leliana and I fought the Darkspawn infantry, Morrigan went for the archers and Zeveron slew their mage. Morrigan was injured but she used an injury kit and brushed it off.
The Mage who put up the barrier was called Mathias. He was the son of Wilhelm, the war hero. My father told me about him. Wilhelm was a mage and a hero in the war against Orlais. He brought a gollum to assist King Maric and after the war he was made the court mage of Redcliffe. Eventually he given leave to settle and start a family. Wilhelm lived happily ever after until he was found dead beneath his golem by his wife. Needless to say Mathias did not remember the golem, called Shale, fondly.
He himself required our aid. His daughter Amalia was frightened during the attack and ran into her grandfather's trapped laboratory. The traps had killed the man sent after her but Mathias insisted she was still alive. I thought her chances were slim but we'd cleared out far worse than a few traps and I was not going to abandon a child without being absolutely sure of her fate. Morrigan as always snarked about my "turning the Grey Wardens into Thedas's bleakest charity", but followed along after us, as always.
As it turned out these "traps" were in fact demons. Also darkspawn had gotten through somehow because my day couldn't get any more taxing.
Morrigan later found notes that explained that Wilhelm had been using his newfound freedom to conduct forbidden research on demons. In fairness he believed studying demons was the only way to cure possession. This is probably what killed him. I expected Morrigan to be laughing at his idiocy but instead she seemed genuinely sympathetic. She even called him brave and said we'd all be blind without the sacrifices of men like him. It would have been easier to deal with the demons, and my comrades, if I had a certain handsome ex Templar by my side.
We found Amalia talking with her cat. It talked back. This eloquent feline was in fact not a cat at all, but rather a desire demon. In fact the demon was the same desire demon Wilhelm had written about. He had weakened it and sealed it behind a barrier, before his untimely demise. Amalia wasn't possessed, but the cat held her under some sort of charm, and she refused to leave it's side.
I couldn't leave without her and the cat offered a compromise. She would possess Amalia and leave with us. I told her we would release the demon and in exchange it would let Amalai go. None of my companions objected, not even Leliana, though she had a concerned look on her face.
The demon accepted and explained we had to solve a puzzle to undo the wards and free "kitty." I had no idea how the hell the various pieces stone pieces were supposed to fit so Leliana, who had solved puzzles like that in Orlais took charge. What kind of venues did she play at?
Morrigan whispered to me that my "plan" was brilliant. Weakening the wards would increase the Demon's power enough that it wouldn't have to possess Amalia to defend itself, the Desire demon wouldn't want to risk losing it's host, especially one so young and fragile. Furthermore a demon released from captivity for so long would "stretch" itself out to search for power. and loose the tight focus necessary to charm a single person. I didn't bother to tell her that I had done all this just to buy time. So I guess now both my mages think they can go to me for magical advice, lovely.
So as the barriers fell I told Leliana get the girl out of there. The Demon, ether out of greed or sensing we were about to betray it, decided to posses Amalia. Morrigan was able to block her and I informed this false cat that unfortunately she was dealing with a dog person. The Demon brought some friends but we took care of them as well.
Mathias was greatful and told us the correct phrase to activate the Golem, his mother had sold the rod and given the buyer an incorrect phrase. Before we took our leave I made sure to tell Amalia to stay away from any talking animals, or any men as sketchy looking as Zeveron. She told me he looked cute. I despair for the young.
Shale is small for a Gollum, and very snarky. She'd been,understandably, quite bored with her lot in life. In particular she'd been tormented by the birds, what with being a statue out in the open. She has literally been living the shittiest life possible. Shale insisted on referring to me as "it", so I refer to it as her. The control rod was broken somehow so she feels no compulsion to obey me. Far from being a mere contraption Shale was now a living thinking being, and I shall treat her as such. She still agreed to follow me, as she viewed fighting the Darkspawn as a worthy cause. The desire demon was most likely the reason for Shale's violent behavior towards her master, though she did not lament his passing. With it gone she should be reliable. Still I will keep an eye on her and the other on Zevran. He could be deep undercover for some unknowable purpose. And it wouldn't surprise me if he switched sides to some other faction he believed could protect him.
On the way to the Rendezvous point we went to a merchant and bought Leliana some Blue Satin shoes. Zevran took a surprising interest in the fashion, gushing with Leiana about some boots. Even Morrigan wanted to buy some boots, she claimed it would help her with spells. I doubt that very much. I didn't buy anything I just surveyed the rows of adorable shoes. Shopping for cute shoes, dancing with friends, all that "girly stuff", it feels like a lifetime ago. Some part of me hopes I can have that life again, or at least something like that. Their were no shoes in Shale's size and she probably wouldn't fancy them anyways.