Warden Gothic – Lothering
"Does everyone from your world all fight like that?" asked the Grey Warden Alistair as I cleaned yet more blood off my claymore.
The thieves my group had just killed hadn't exactly been highly skilled with the sword, but they had outnumbered us and they hadn't spent several days slogging through the wilds, so really they should of beaten us even with Morrigan's magic. If it hadn't been for the fighting skills of the Spirit within me they would no doubt be looting our still warm corpses rather than the other way around.
"No" I replied "but then people from my world don't tend to end up in other realities, nor do they become Grey Wardens".
That statement didn't really answer the bastard prince's question, but the only sure answer I had to give would tell my companion that I was technically an abomination. At least in the sense that I was possessed by a creature of the Fade. It wasn't a demon within me, thank the Maker, so I wasn't actually a monster but it was doubtful that the Templars would really care to note the difference.
With this in mind I thought it a good idea to change the subject.
"So this is Lothering, then?" I asked of the sexy witch.
Morrigan looked up from her robbing of the dead (which like in the world of Elder Scrolls and D&D seemed to be a perfectly acceptable practice) so that she could address me.
"Tis, although there were far fewer about when last I was here".
Well there wasn't a Blight last time she had been here so it would logically of looked a lot less like a refugee camp.
"Hordes of Darkspawn do tend to make you want to move" commented my fellow Grey Warden.
My magic using comrade made another remark which set Alistair off into a rant about how it was stupid to put your family in danger by staying to fight when you could run and keep them alive. Personally I agreed with my fellow Warden, any farmer foolish enough to try and take on rampaging Darkspawn with nothing but farm implements was either too foolish to be allowed to live or to desperate to care about their own survival. Either way they were dead men walking and it was much sensible to go a place that played host to a group of heavily armed and armoured knights.
While my fellow adventurers discussed the finer points of how to handle an invasion of monsters I decided to check out some of the weapons that were now scattered across the road into Lothering.
So far I'd handled a number of weapons but as of yet I hadn't really found anything that suited me. I guessed the problem with that was the fact that I was two beings in one body.
I got the feeling that the Spirit within me was a warrior, but since I'd never seen the creature in its natural environment I had no idea what tool of death it tended to favour.
Plus there was also the problem that I kept finding weapons that were better quality that I already had. More than once I'd found a decent weapon only to pick up or buy a better once and since I'd had little time to think things over I'd not stopped to decide what weapon I would use in the long term.
Another problem was that I seemed to be able to handle any weapon I picked up. I had no training and while I wasn't exactly out of shape any more I didn't really have the muscle to handle a two handed sword. I had so many options that it was hard to chose.
At least I could carry most of the weapons I ended up collecteing. Magic might be understandable feared but that didn't stop people from using enchanted items whenever they could get their hands on one. The holsters and sheaths they used on this world to hold their weapons when in hand were amazing things. It was nearly impossible to steal a sword from a foe because they tended to stick in place when not in use.
Somehow they also prevented enchanted weapons from harming the wielder, which was why you could have burning sword strapped to your back without suffering from burns or having to worry about your clothes being damaged.
They even had bags of holding, which had been a happy discovery as there would have been no way the potential Grey Wardens and I could of carried around the supplies we needed to survive in the Wilds.
I could only assume that such items were made by the Tranquil as there was no way that anyone who could suffer from boredom could of enchanted all these items.
"So where did you learn to fight?" questioned the possibly future king once he had lost his 'debate' with Morrigan.
There was no way that I could avoid the question as he'd just caught swinging both an axe and mace with more style than a novice warrior such as myself should have.
"I sought of picked up as I went along" I explained "plus Duncan taught me a few moves when we were...".
The sadness in Alistair's eyes made me stop, but Morrigan just huffed and started walking into the small town ahead of us.
Lothering was bigger than I had expected. In real life it wouldn't even rate as a village if not for the fact that it contained this world's versions of a Church and a Pub. However the real thing, assuming this wasn't all a weird coma dream or something, was a proper sized town.
Which thinking about it made sense as the loss of Lothering wouldn't be a concern if was a mere village as the Darkspawn had already destroyed a lot of small settlements. However the loss of an important town would be noticed by people as it would impact trade and greatly increase the amount of displace persons.
Including if I recalled correctly, the future Champion of Kirkwall.
I found it hard to ignore the level of poverty and suffering as my group passed through the small tent city. I'd seen such sights on news reports before but it was very different to see it real life.
The part of myself which seemed to judge the rest of me in the worse way possible had to ask if my level of concern was so high because these people looked and sounded more British than the people I'd on the T.V. But I dismissed that idea and put it down to the fact that I was actually in a refugee camp. Its a lot harder to ignore cries for help when you have to look the person asking for aid in the eyes.
However I couldn't help them. I might have more coin than I needed but it wouldn't make a dent here. Besides if I got swamped helping these people then no one would kill the Arch-Demon. If that happened then this entire nation would be lost not just one town.
It was cold, heartless logic but also necessary.
My choice to not aid Lothering lasted until I came across the merchant who was overcharging for goods. A sister of the chantry was passionately arguing her case when I arrived and as expected I asked to help settle the argument. I had to spend a few seconds wondering why I'd be asked but then I realised that I was carrying an axe, a mace, and a massive sword while also wearing armour that had been gifted to me when I became a Grey Warden. I was far more physical imposing that a small nun.
"So we have come to settle every dispute in the town" Morrigan negatively commented "I'm sure the Darkspawn will be very impressed with your debating skills Grey Warden".
Feeling rather tired and sore, due to the travelling, I lost my self control for a second and said something I didn't wish to say.
"You know I'd really like to spank you".
I had no idea were that had come from.
"Perhaps you shall get the chance" teased the witch.
I got the sense that this wasn't really a joke, she might even enjoy it or at least enjoy the effect it would have on me. Which admittedly wouldn't make it a total waste of my time but I had to think that maybe it would be more far effective if I washed her mouth out with soap or simply found another woman to give her a slap.
"As much as it amazes me. I have to agree with Morrigan" said the illegitimate heir to throne "we have a lot to do and not much time to do it".
I got the sense that he was more eager to get to Redcliff than anything else but he did have a point.
"Its already getting dark" I pointed out "so we need to set up camp".
"I will attended to that" decided the daughter of Flemeth "I spied a field that was not too overrun with loud children. Met me there when your business here is done".
That was for the best. There were a lot of Templars around these parts and given the heightened emotions around town it wouldn't take much to get a lynch mob going. I felt it wise to try and avoid such a thing as I wouldn't be sure whose side I'd be on. I didn't really like Morrigan very much she was pretty much a bitch, but I did need her and I didn't like the Templars. As aside from the fact that they were heavily armed fanatics (which is rarely a good thing) I'd also spent a lot of time playing Assassins Creed which had left me with the impression that any group called the Templars were likely up to no good.
Besides Liana the Bard/Rogue/Spy/possible romancable character was in the local tavern and while like Morrigan she was somewhat shady at least she wasn't planning to use me as sperm donor so that she could be the mother of a god.
Not that I could object to harshly to such a plan as it would save my life, but on the other hand I had the feeling that fathering a reborn ancient god was something that could bite me the ass later on.
I decided to put that trail of thought aside for now as I was burning daylight and I did need to stock up on supplies.
Healing potions were in short supply but thankfully it turned out that the old lady who asked for the means to make said potions actually just needed money to buy them. In any case I had actually gone out of my way to gather the needed ingredients during my travels. I might lack the skill to create the potions but it wasn't hard to pick flowers and dig up plants. Knowing which plants was the tricky parts or at least it would have been had Duncan not pointed them out to me as journeyed to Ostagar.
As Alistair and I approached the lock inn the hound I had bonded with started to growl. I'd forgotten that the dog (who I had named Oggy in tribute to a long lost family pet) started to growl.
It took only a second for me to recall that the pub owner would be playing host to some of Lorgain's thugs.
Oggy had sensed the danger before we had even set eyes open the soldiers. Truly these war hounds were incredible beasts.
Still despite the warning I had to enter the bar, if only to met Lelina.
It didn't take long for the fight to start as expected the former Bard stepped into to try and defuse the situation. The effort was wasted as the four armoured thugs were too drunk to listen to reason, not that I was assuming that they the mental facility when sober.
The fight was over quickly, the pub was overcrowded so there was no room to swing weapons (which was good since the bully boys were so drunk they could of killed half the people in the place just by swinging their swords around) This meant hand to hand and their fighting style was at the school yard level were as I had a warrior spirit within me and had taken out Darkspawn with nothing but a rock.
I didn't kill any of them but I did smack them around a little, enough to make even their drink addled brains realise that they were hopelessly outmatched.
"Leave" I told the soldiers "go back to your master and tell him that we know the truth".
Perhaps it was foolish to say that as it might goad Loghain into striking back, but really what could he do? He was going to send assassins and bounty hunters after me and if they didn't get me then his bully boys didn't stand a chance.
"Well I'm glad that's over" said the Bard.
As in the game Lelina went on to explain about her vision and Alistair was too enthusiastic about adding her to the team.
The whole thing reminded of something I'd once read on Facebook. It went something like.
'If you talk to god then your religious, but if god talks to you then your psychotic'
Reading that had made me wonder if God ever gets lonely. After all if he talked to anyone on Earth they would be considered mad and end up taking drugs to try and block out the voice. Then again there must be people in heaven to talk to so that would be alright.
Although it also could be a problem when God chose his next prophet as if everyone thought anyone God had spoken to was crazy they would naturally ignore the important information the prophet had to tell people.
Here in the world of Dragon Age the Church went as far as to people that the Maker had turned his back on people and was ignoring them. Which in my view made it rather pointless to pray but I would never express this POV as I didn't want to get burned at the stake or stoned to death.
"Don't Grey Wardens get dreams about the Darkspawn?" I asked the possible future king.
"Well yes" he admitted
"And those dreams are visions" I pointed out "so if we can get visions why can't she?".
One of the more useful skills I seemed to have was the ability to convince people to see my point of view. Granted as Morrigan had pointed out it didn't really help with the Blight but at least it made it a lot easier to settle arguments.
"Err, well... I suppose its not impossible" Alistair admitted.
Anyway given that he had already accepted that I was from another planet the whole thing really wasn't that hard to deal with.
After that came more shopping. I didn't enjoy the experience but I didn't think it a good idea for Lelina to go into battle wearing what was pretty much a nun's outfit. If nothing else she would blend in better if she wasn't a sword wielding holy woman, as while that actually sounded rather cool, and even a bit sexy, it would draw a lot of attention.
Thankfully for me, she looked even hotter in leather armour.
Once we had our equipment and had reported the death of the 'toll collectors' to one of the knights it was time to find Morrigan. It wasn't a hard task given that Oggy seemed to be able to sniff her out but we didn't go there right away.
I'd forgotten about Sten.
And given that he didn't look as human as the game portrayed him it didn't really surprise me that I didn't recognise him. He looked alien, the horns were a little off putting it gave a demonic appearance and given that he was a murderer it was easy for me to see him as a monster. Yet I knew that while I didn't exactly need him to defeat the Darkspawn I also knew that it would be a lot easier if I did bring him along. He was powerful warrior and if I was going to build an army capable of defeating the Blight I couldn't afford not to
What convinced me was the actions of Oggy, rather than growl or whine the dog seemed to like the large being. It was odd but then canines were normally good judges of character.
"I will arrange your freedom" I told the horned creature "then you will come with me and help me fight the Darkspawn".
From what I knew of Sten, he would respond best to direct talk and actions.
"Very well" was all that the alien creature said in return.
Before my team mates could protest my actions I was making my way to the chantry. My quickness of pace had less to do with no wanting to discuss the issue and more do with the fact that the sun was now setting.
There simply wasn't time to dally. Lothering would soon fall and it was just the start. Yes it was going to take time for the Blight to spread far enough to reach any major cities but that wasn't the only issue.
I had a lot to do. All of those fancy pieces of paper that should secure me aid really meant nothing as the Mages, the Dwarves and the Elves all had their own problems. I would have to deal with each of those problems in order to secure the needed alliances and while the situations with the Elves and the Mages could be dealt with rather directly the political nightmare the Dwarves were dealing with could consume weeks of my time. Months even given the the Deep Roads were suppose to extend far beyond this kingdom.
Add in the fact that a civil war was about to start and it became clear that I would just have to take charge.
So take charge I did.
The lady in charge of the chantry was thankfully rather easy to deal with. I slipped her a few coins and asked for Sten to be freed. Leaving him to die in a cage wasn't really justice and since he was likely going to die fighting the Darkspawn then it was easy to present it as a death sentence. Which Sten did really deserve as he had murdered people.
Not that I could judge him to harshly as I had killed people as well. Granted that had been a fight with crooks and therefore not murder but still after thinking about it I could relate a little.
However personal I was rather hoping that Sten would live and perhaps earn some sort of redemption for his crimes. Helping to end a Blight had be worth a lot of good Karma.
By the time this was sort we just enough to get Sten equipped. We only had enough because I'd sold my rather fine Claymore and we still used up all the reward money for killing those highwaymen.
Ah well there would be other chances to make some gold.
With that done we all headed for the camp for what I hoped would be a good nights rest.