The Korcari Wilds are easily one of the worst places I've ever been. The marshy ground collapses beneath my feet while the thick forest around us is hard to navigate. The only mercy of this place is there are somewhat beaten trails that twist and turn through the woods. I instantly draw my tremendous sword and begin walking. My boots suck out of the mud with each step and my entire body is beginning to shake because of the frigid temperature. I scan the dark foliage as I lead my group through the wilds; I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a white flower with red dots. Thankfully, as we near a busted stone archway I find it. It's clinging to a log and drooping downwards in submission.
I pluck the flower, tuck it away, and go through the stone archway. Now there's a lake to our left and a hill to our right. Alistair reaches out and grabs my shoulder. I almost scream at him never to touch me again, then Duncan's words run through my mind and I bite my tongue. I don't need to like Alistair, but I need to be civil. So, I turn my head and throw him a somewhat aggressive/questioning look. The Grey Warden motions up the hill and offers one word as an explanation.
"Darkspawn.". I look up the hill and see a small amount of movement in the trees. I begin slowly walking forward without offering any thanks or explanation to anyone. I'm halfway up the hill when a loud scream goes up and the Darkspawn charge us. Two dwarf-sized Genlocks carrying swords and heavily armored come charging down the hill towards me; an armored Hurlock is shooting at us with a bow from the top of the hill; and a lightly armored and unarmed Ogre begins thundering through the trees in my general direction. Alistair and the new recruits are beside me in a heartbeat and all of us hunker down. When the Genlocks reach us they attempt to flank us. The two newest recruits use their shields to crack the across the heads and stun them. Alistair and the recruit closest to him rain down blows on one of the Genlocks while the other recruit and I attack the remaining one.
My recruit drives his blade into the Darkspawn's shoulder and I swing my sword for his head. My blade sinks in between the monster's helmet and breastplate. His blood begins to flow and a rattling breath shakes his helm. I rip my sword from his armor and his blood spurts from his wound. The recruit rips his own blade out. The Genlock falls to the ground and begins twitching. I spin around to see Alistair ripping his sword out of a Genlock and the other recruit scrabbling with the Hurlock up the hill. Now all we need to kill is the gigantic Ogre tearing through the trees towards us. He's only a few feet from us and is pulling a tree out of his way. Alistair slams himself shoulder to shoulder with me and awkwardly puts his shield in front of both of us.
"I'll distract him. Go behind and hit the back of his knee. Don't stop hitting until you've cut the tendon allowing him to stand.". I nod and the remaining recruit shakily stands behind Alistair and me. I don't hear the orders Alistair gives the recruit because the Ogre finally rips the tree from the ground and tosses it above his head. The tree snaps branches on its way up, lodges itself into the thicker branches higher up, and begins dangling above our head. Then, the Ogre lowers his horned head and charges. I leap out of the way while Alistair takes the brunt of the charge and finds himself on his back.
I can't watch the rest of the fight as I rush behind the beast. The Ogre is wearing makeshift armor, but the back of his knee is completely bare. I do a tremendous swing with my two-handed blade and smile as it sticks in the beast's leg. The Ogre roars and stands up straight, but I use my entire weight to dig the sword in deeper. Finally, I must cut the tendon because the Ogre falls onto one knee and begins swinging his arms like wild. I instantly remove my blade and drive it into the Darkspawn's lower back. The Ogre screams a far too humanly scream before I yank my sword upwards and cut through his guts. I'm admiring my work when a groaning from above causes me to look up.
"OUT OF THE WAY!". Someone slams into my front while they scream their warning and the tree begins to fall, but I'm too heavy or too strong to move. I end up running backwards with whoever attempted to 'save' me has to grab onto my front and run with me. Thankfully, we clear the tree as it comes crashing down upon the still twitching Ogre. Once the battle's over I'm allowed to finally to stop watching the falling tree and look at who tried to push my out of the way.
Alistair offers me a sheepish smile as he pushes himself off of my breastplate. Now I'm not sure how I feel about him. He proved himself in battle, but he's still a little goofy. I suppose trying to save my life (even if he failed) makes up for being an idiot. Besides, he even stutters an apology.
"Sorry, I thought I'd help you. Didn't think you'd be that hard to move.". His face is becoming redder and redder as he tries to laugh the situation off. I'm not going to laugh, but I nod and begin walking over to the smashed Ogre. I think I hear a breath being releases by Alistair as I don't press the issue or embarrass him. I kick the arm of the Ogre that's sticking out. The Darkspawn doesn't move and I decide to loot him. The creature has a few coppers on him, but the main attraction is a vial of Darkspawn blood.
I whistle to Alistair and wave the blood in the air. Alistair whistles back and waves a matching vial in the air. I jog over to the Warden and snatch the blood from him. I place both vials in my bag, then begin stomping through the forest again. Alistair and the recruits follow me through the marsh once again. Now all we need is to find a final vial and the treaties. The vial comes easily enough as we slide down the hill and into a small clearing. Two Hurlocks and a Genlock come streaming out of the woods towards us. I charge with Alistair and the recruits by my side. Alistair and a recruit take a Hurlock, the other recruit takes on the last Hurlock, and I settle for the Genlock.
Mostly because of my plan. My 'plan' is to kick the bastard as hard as I can in the gut. The tiny Darkspawn screams as he takes a small flight in the air and rolls to a stop a few feet away from me. I drop my sword down until I'm gripping the handle of the downward facing blade. I strut over to the monster until my weapon is dangling above his back. Then, I drive it into him as hard as I can. The creature twitches once before going still. Nice! I always love killing something in less than three hits. I hear a battle raging behind me, but I ignore it and loot the Genlock. More coppers and a final vial of blood. I turn around and see Alistair finishing off a Hurlock as his recruits cower. Cowards. I keep my sword out and go over to Alistair as he wipes his blade clean.
"Found the last vial.". He smiles at me and motions to a somewhat well-worn path on the opposite side of the clearing.
"Wonderful! Now we can get the treaties and start to ritual!". I nod for a second time and begin walking over to the path. It's dirt and not mud, so now we're able to make a little more progress. However, our journey is stopped by a bleeding man lying in the middle of a slaughtered caravan. I groan and watch the man struggling to try to crawl as he screams for help. Alistair doesn't seem to hear him and the recruits don't either. They show no signs of hearing him or seeing him.
That's... That's really weird. I decide not to say anything about it as I look at the man. I don't want to save him, but I can't kill him without pissing everyone off. Thankfully, nature takes care of it for me. The man falls to the ground and stops screaming for help. I walk through the slaughtered men, cattle, and unidentifiable corpses. Alistair makes a 'tsk' noise and a comment that implies he didn't hear or see the man.
"Sad. Shame they didn't make it to Ostagar.". I decide not to say anything as we keep going. Our path leads underneath a log resting atop tow hills with hanging men dangling from the log. Alistair makes a comment as we pass under them.
"They didn't deserve that.". I once again don't say anything as I keep following the trail. As we walk through the woods I keep expecting to be attack by Darkspawn at every turn, but surprisingly we don't run into anymore until we come across a small stream with a bridge spanning across it. A Hurlock Emissary with a magic staff is guarding the path. Alistair and I charge, but the Darkspawn screams and rushes across the bridge. We follow and that's when the trap is spring. Six Darkspawn (a mix of Hurlocks and Genlocks) come pouring out of the woods around us. Alistair freezes and calls for the recruits, but I keep charging. I stay right on top of the Emissary and when he turns around I'm still there.
I slam my shoulder into his stomach to stun him, then begin swinging. He's heavily armored, so he recovers before he dies. I keep swinging as he begins firing balls of magic off in his attempt to kill me. His spells cause a few dull pains to spring up, but they disappear the second the Emissary falls. I'm not sure what blow killed him, but it must have taken me a while because Alistair and the recruits were able to kill all of the other Darkspawn while I focused on the Emissary. None of us speak or loot the corpses because we have the vials we need. Our lack of interest in the corpses pay off because we arrive at our destination in a few short seconds.
The stone tower is almost completely destroyed, but at least the floor inside is dirt and not mud. I go into the ruins and see multiple piles of rock littering the floor and a small pile of wood in a corner. I begin walking over towards the wood and kneel down beside it. I shift through the chest and come up empty. I stand just as Alistair and the recruits reach me. I'm about to speak when someone interrupts me.
"Who is brave enough to trod across my wilds?". Well, shit. This isn't going to be good. I move past Alistair and the recruits while reaching for my sword. What I see causes my hand to fall to my side and not for my weapon. A beautiful woman is standing stop one of the piles of rubble. Her pale skin is offset by her dark eyes and black hair that's put up in a messy bun. A wooden staff is strapped to her back and her clothes are rags that barely cover her body. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.