Warden Gothic – Camp Again

"Is something wrong?" asked a voice from beside me.

I rolled over on my sleeping mat to see Lelina who was standing over me with a concerned look upon her face.

"I'm having a bad day" I told the bard as she sat on the grass.

Indeed it had been a bad day. In fact it had been a bad week all round.

Seeing that demon possessing Conner was without a doubt that most horrible thing I'd ever since in real life. It had been beyond creepy at the time but now I walked from it, even if it was to get help, I felt even worse. Granted it was the best to do, as my only other options had been either using Blood Magic or to kill a child. Neither of those was a good idea. Yet the third choice was the one that could led to the most danger as it was possible that Morrigan would be unable to contain the demon even with Sten's help.

Since leaving Redcliff Castle I'd been having worrying thoughts. They were more than mere concerns I was starting to wonder if I should bother saving this world. It was just so fucked up.

Demons using kids so that they could unleash armies of the undead was one thing, you expect demons to be evil its what they do.

No it was the people that really upset me. Lorghain was the just the tip of the iceberg there was corruption and evil all around me. Bandits, highwaymen, deserters, solider thugs, corrupt leaders, poisoners. They were just some of the crooks that I'd met.

Anyone who I didn't think of as evil just seem to be a victim.

This was just the humans. There were things a lot worse out there than people.

Demons. Werewolves. Darkspawn. Dragons. Abominations. This world was full of monsters.

Then there was my own team.

Morrigan the Witch.

Well she was possible insane. Ruthless. Alienated. Unwilling to help others unless it benefited her directly. She manipulated people and openly admitted it. Also she had been raised by an insane and possible demoniacally possessed sorceress, and I knew where that was going to led.

Leliana the Rogue.

She was spying on me for someone at the very least. She had killed people as an assassin. Had betrayed her own people. Also she really believed in redemption a little too much actually, although that had more to do with her than anyone else. Lastly she thought she was on quest from God (assuming that she wasn't lying) and people who think that God is behind them can be very dangerous people.

Sten the Giant.

Well he was a warrior for an alien culture and shouldn't really be judged by human standards. But he had killed innocent people. Also he would likely turn on me soon as we weren't making much progress on the kill the Archdemon front.

Alistair the Warden.

Here was a man who avoided his responsibilities whenever possible. He was a follower and not a leader. Yet he was actually more qualified to not only led this team but also this entire nation. Worse than all that he was also a church raised solider which meant he would never accept that I was possessed by a spirit rather than a demon if he ever found out the truth.

The only one I could trust fully was the dog.

Well I could trust Morrigan to some extent because I knew that she would do what was best for her.

Also she never pretended to be anything other than what she was. She had openly admitted, more than once, that she didn't care for people and that she was a manipulative bitch.

I felt the spy prod me again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" the foreign girl inquired.

"Not really" I answered

I moved my arm so that I could pat Oggy. The animal had sensed my mood and was doing its best to comfort me. Which I supposed was the rogue's intent as well.

"I'm starting to have doubts" I confessed.

Leliana had been sort of priestess even if she hadn't been one for long, so if I was going to talk to anyone about this then she was the best choice but only because my options were so limited.

"Are you worried that you won't succeed in stopping the Blight?" was the woman's next question.

Actually I wasn't worried much about that. I had faith in myself and I knew that Arch-demon could be defeated because I had seen it happen. Well sort of.

"I just wonder if this world is worth saving".

"Is this about those bandits?" she inquired.

Earlier in the day we'd come across a group of bandits that had been praying on refugees. They hadn't just been robbing people like those idiots outside of Lothering had been. These bastards had been killing people and then had thrown the bodies in a ditch as if they were just rubbish. Naturally we'd killed the criminals but before we'd started the attack I'd heard them laughing and joking about how easy it was to rob and murder those who were fleeing in terror. The way they had laughed it almost made me think they were Darkspawn in disguise.

Of course they weren't. They were worse.

The Darkspawn are monsters. They are soulless thing incapable of being good so when a human acts as bad or even worse than the monsters you know they made a choice to be that bad.

"Yes" I replied.

Leliana moved to lay down next to me and we both spent a while simply looking up at the stars. She then lent over me and started talking to Oggy.

"I use to live with a lady who had a dog. He was called Bon Bon. He was a terror. He would hide when he saw you and then jump out you so that he could bite you in the ankle with his razor sharp teeth. Very painful".

Bon Bon. Wasn't that the French word for sweets or candy to use the American word?

That lady must have been one of those people who gave their pets sweet names so that they could pretend that their animal wasn't proof that they would make awful parents.

"He attacked me once. I thought he was a diseased rat so I kicked him. Bon Bon he went flying over the banister and out the window. He survived but he never came near me after that".

Was there a point to that story.

"But you are very different. You are kind, loyal and gentle but not when you fight. Then you are viscous. Like Bon Bon. Only without the ankle biting".

My ability to understand subtext told me that she was no longer talking about the dog or at least not just about the dog.

"Also you eat a lot a more".

In my defence that has a lot more to do with being a Grey Warden than anything else. Plus I imagined that playing host to some sort of warrior spirit required at lot of calories.

"Well he is a bloke" I pointed out.

Hopefully she wouldn't go on about the smell next. It was hard not to get all sweaty when you fight bad guys all the time and live on a world were they haven't invented deodorant.

Better change the subject.

Well I'd been about to but all of a sudden I found that the red headed bard was using my chest as a pillow and seemed to want to go to sleep so I decided to follow her led and to get some rest.

Poor girl had probably been trying to comfort me in a roundabout sort of way or at least she'd been trying to distract from my dark thoughts, but hadn't gotten to the point before tiredness have overwhelmed her.

"And you smell better too" Leliana mumbled as she drifted off to sleep.

"Enchantment!"

"Hey Sandal" I greeted as my group packed up the camp.

The two dwarves had gotten into the habit of picking out a good place to make camp as we all moved around the countryside. They always stayed out of the way and all of my group enjoyed the discount.

"Enchantment!" shouted the young dwarf very loudly.

I turned my head to see that the short dude was holding both my axe and my mace. At first I was ready to clip him around the ear or at least to give him a lecture on not stealing people's stuff, but it didn't take long for my still sleepy mind to notice that the dwarf had enchanted my weapons.

The axe almost seemed to be on fire only the flames weren't doing it any harm and the mace looked as even Jack Frost himself had come along and blessed it.

"Thanks Sandel" I said.

"You're welcome" replied the dwarf before we wandered off.

I swung both the weapons around and tried to imagine how effective they would be when it came time to slay some more monsters.

My mood had definitely improved.