Author Note:
Hypnosis Writer
I disagree Lorghain was tyrant, he betrayed his king, left a lot of soldiers to die, he employed assassin, he allowed his own citizens to be enslaved he consorted with Blood Mages and he even had his own daughter imprisoned. He was a monster. His only redeeming quality was that he was at end able to understand that he was wrong but by then it was to late to do anything about it. He accepted his death which means at least he wasn't a coward.
dragon matt blue & DeusImperator92
I'm glad your both enjoying the story
The True Overlord
If by action you mean sex, then no not yet.
Warden Gothic – The Circle
When my group entered the dark and spooky looking tower that was home to Circle Mages of Felderan, we found it in a state of turmoil. There were Templars running about in full armour and everyone was armed. Clearly events were still following the plot of the game and while that did ensure that I had good idea of what was going on I still found it rather depressing. There seemed to be no end to this kingdoms problems and once more I was slap bang in the middle of one of them.
"and I want two men stationed by the doors at all times. Do not open the doors without my express consent. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Ser".
"The doors are bared" observed Alistair "but are they keeping people out or in?"
I would assume in even I didn't know all that I did since we'd had no trouble entering the place. Of course I knew that getting out would be the tricky part.
"Now we wait and pray" muttered Greagoir who was the senior Templar in these parts.
"What's going on here?" I asked so that I could keep up my act of not knowing nearly everything that was going on in the world of current events.
"I don't have time to entertain visitors" stated the Templar "were dealing with a situation that doesn't involve you Grey Warden".
Okay I really must have the words 'I am a Grey Warden' floating above me because everyone seemed to know who I was and I want I did for a job. Granted there were no doubt wanted posters of me put up in places but the picture on them wasn't a very good likeness and they didn't tell people my name so there had to be something else keeping people informed.
"And as a Grey Warden I surely have the right to know" was my reply.
"Then I seek plainly; The Tower is no longer under our control" informed the Templar who seemed to understand that I did have some authority even if I didn't have any idea how far that extended "Abominations and demons stalk the tower halls".
Greagoir started to pace and I could tell by the tone of his voice that he felt that he held part of the blame for what had happened.
"We were too complacent. First Jowan and now this".
Assuming I survived the rest of this day I would tell him where to find that Blood Mage as it wouldn't be a bad idea to earn a little good will with this group.
In fact I could start doing that now
"Is there anything I can do to help".
I didn't much like the Templars. The Assassin Creed games aside I never thought it was a good thing for a religious body to have its own army and the history of this world would likely support my disliking.
"I have sent word to Denerim, calling for reinforcements and the Right of Annulment".
That was not as extreme as it sounded given what was going on but if things here were progressing as they did in the game then there was a chance that we could save a few of the Circle.
"The Mages are likely already dead" said Alistair "the remaining Abominations must be dealt with no matter what".
"This situation is dire" added Greagoir "There is no alternative – everything in that tower must be destroyed so it can be made safe again".
Yes. Cleanse, kill, burn that will make things better... then again when it came to demons that was actually was a good idea.
"Mages are hardly helpless" I pointed out "a few might still be alive".
"If any are still alive then the Maker must of shielded them" said Greagoir.
Well I seemed to have some of sort divine power behind me and I knew one Mage who also did. She was in the tower and therefore could be alive.
"No one could of survived those monsters and its too painful to hope that any did".
I wondered if he really meant that.
"Okay then I'll look" I offered.
Greagoir seemed shocked by my offer.
"I assure you that an Abomination is a force to be reckoned with, and you will no doubt face more than one".
Perhaps making the demon possessing Conner run away had made me overconfident but I felt sure that I could handle this, as long as I had my team to back me up.
"Someone has to try" I argued "there are children living here, we can't abandoned them".
Kids always tug on the heartstrings. There was no way he would deny me now. Not that I really wanted to go inside but someone had to save the Mages as I needed them to help me fight the Archdemon.
"Then a word of caution... once you cross that threshold, there is no turning back. The doors must remain barred. I will open them for no one until I have proof that it is safe".
As expected.
"I will only believe that it is over if the First Enchanter stands before me and tells me it is so. If Irving has fallen then the Circle has indeed been lost, and what is left must be destroyed".
Greagoir then looked me right in the eye.
"My Andraste lend you her courage".
Courage wasn't the problem but I appreciated the sentiment none the less.
The moment the doors slammed behind us I knew that is was more than possible that I might never see them open.
We didn't start fighting at once. We only found dead bodies and broken junk until we ran into Wynn who was fighting a Rage Demon while also maintaining a magical barrier. Pretty impressive for an old lady.
"Why did the templars let you through?" asked Wynn upon seeing Alistair, Leliana my dog and I "did they send you here to warn us?".
"I'm here to investigate the tower" I explained
"The templars have barred the doors. They only intend to open them when they will attack us. Is that what is happening?".
What did I look like a Templar?
"No there not attacking" I answered "There gonna wait for the reinforcements and for the Right of Annulment".
"So Greagoir thinks that we are beyond hope" stated the elderly Mage "He has abandoned us to our fate, yet we have survived. But if he invokes the Right then we will all die".
Time to give them some hope.
"There is a chance. If we can get to the First Enchanter and bring him to the doors then the templars will let us out" I explained.
"If anyone could survive this then it would be Irving" reasoned the red robed Mage "In fact it was he who told me to look after the children".
Wynn walked over to the barrier and then explained that she had created it.
For something that was meant to stop demons from hurting children I had to admit it was rather pretty. She also explained that we could not enter the tower proper without her aid.
I agreed to her coming along because it would be foolish if I didn't.
"Here we are" Wynn announced when were ready to get to work "I'm rather amazed that I was able to sustain for this long".
If the Spirit within her was anything like the one within me then it would be enhancing her powers as my Spirit enhanced my skills. I knew that the Spirits enhanced skills because I hadn't become a great fighter as soon as I'd arrived on this world. I'd only really started to kick ass once Duncan had shown me a few tricks as we travelled to Ostagar. Also I was pretty sure that while I wasn't getting any faster I was getting stronger every day due to my increasing muscles so that more evidence that the Spirit wasn't doing all of the work.
"It must of tired you out" I commented "which only makes your efforts more impressive".
My efforts to praise the woman had no noticeable effect.
"Yes, it did make me weary at times" she admitted "but I had to stay strong. To protect the children".
I knew that Wynn could be a bit preachy a times but anyone who held the safety of children above their own well being was a good person and there weren't enough such people in this world.
"Be prepared for anything" warned the Mage "I do not know what kind of horrors we will face".
Sadly I did and if weren't for the fact that the Archdemon was haunting my dreams I'd feel certain that the horrors here would have been filling my head with nightmares for weeks to come.
"Desire Abominations in the library using Elderich Powers" I muttered to myself while forgetting that no one in this entire world knew what cluedo was.
Thankfully no one heard and that was doubly good because not only would be bad for my hero image if I was heard making light of the damage the now dead creatures had done but it would also be bad because it wasn't a good idea to start acting all crazy when people around you were worried about demonic possession.
I started to take a look around and before long I was almost drooling at the sight. So many books and they were all about magic that worked. Granted I couldn't use magic but still there had to be history books, geography, philosophy and so on. Pretty much everything I needed to know about this world was right at my finger tips, but I would never get away with stealing any of them.
Ah well if I did get round to being the Arl of what ever that place was called, then I'd buy myself a nice library or something.
The next group of Desire Abominations were backed up by a Rage Demon but Wynn froze the demon in ice while Alistair and I hacked the rest apart with our sharp steel. It was a simply matter to shatter the demon as the spell held rather well.
So far this was proving easier than I would of thought. I knew that Wardens were rather effective at fighting Darkspawn but I'd no idea that we also so potent when facing demons.
The next battle proved that the universe had a nasty sense of humour as the Hunger Abominations, also backed by a Rage Demon were not so easy to take down. The bard of my group was able to slay the demonic life form but it exploded and sent us all flying into the walls.
Thankfully Wynn proved to be skilled at the healing arts and we were soon back on our feet.
When we were ready we moved onto the second floor.
"Please refrain from entering the stockroom. It is a mess and I have not been able to get it into a state fit to be seen".
Given what was going on here I didn't think that this was really important.
"Shouldn't you be hiding or something, or maybe escaping" I pointed out.
"The stockroom is familiar" stated the Tranquil Mage " I prefer to be here".
Odd that. You'd think someone totally lacking in feeling would be logically about everything and therefore attempt an escape or at least try to hide. It seemed that the Tranquil weren't as emotionless as people thought they were. They could get attached to places and that required being emotional.
"I'm surprised the Abominations didn't kill you".
"As am I" replied the dull sounding man.
Weren't the Tranquil cut off from the Fade? If so perhaps they didn't register to the creatures from that realm. It would explain why they seemed to have ignored the guy. This was something worth researching, but not by me. Perhaps I could mention it to the First Enchanter if he was alive.
"I would prefer not to die. I would prefer it if the tower returned to the way it was. Perhaps Niall will succeed and save us all".
"Who the hell is Niall?" I asked, this time because I couldn't actually remember.
"Niall is a Mage" explained the Vulcan like man "he came here with some other Mages and took the Litnery
"But that protects against mind control" stated Wynn "is Blood Magic at work here?"
"I do not know" replied the boring dude.
"Niall was at the meeting. He would know if Blood Magic played a part in all of this".
I really didn't like Blood Magic.
"Blood Magic could control us" warned Wynn "we should find Niall as the Litany will give us a fighting chance against mind domination".
Even more evil people with their plots for power. I should think about conquering this world for its own good.
"I wish you luck" said the Tranquil "perhaps this will be over soon. Perhaps things will return to the way they were before".
Hopefully they would, but even they didn't I was still going to kill the bastard behind all of this.
"Live long and prosper" I told the Tranquil Mage as made to move on.
Next we came across a group of Blood Mages. Normally they were dangerous foes but they had been to busy arguing so we were able to ambush them with ease. We never gave them to chance to avoid a fight once we heard them 'debating' the best way to use their magic in order to mind control people.
Sadly one of them tried to surrender.
"Please, please don't kill me".
"I have no reason to spar you life" I pointed out.
And no desire to either.
"I know that I have no right to ask for mercy, but I didn't want all this death and destruction. I just wanted to be free. Uldred told us that if the Circle supported Loghain then he would help us break away from the Chantry".
Ends don't always justify the means.
"Didn't you ever think that using Blood Magic would just make things worse" I berated "all you've done is given everyone a big reminder of why they should fear Mages. The Circle Mages will be restrained even further after this".
This had been a foolish way to try and gain freedom. I would used more peaceful methods. Just going on strike would of gotten the Circle the attention it needed and without restoring to violence. Refusing to make magical items would have been a good first step. Granted that would require stopping the Tranquil from working but they would of seen the logic of the strike as long as it presented in the right fashion.
"We thought... well someone always has to take the first step... to force a change".
"Nothing is worth what you have done to this place" said Wynn.
No arguments here sister.
"And now Ulderd has gone mad and we are doomed to die at the hands..."
To my surprise the woman died before she could finish her sentence, she must have been wounded in the fight. A good thing really since it saved me from either having to kill her or let her escape.
After that minor deviation from the script my group moved on. We found more rooms filled with Abominations and once more I had to try and hide the fact that I was starting to glow a bit.
Lucky for me wearing full body armour tends to hide stuff like that.
Abominations are hard to kill and some of them had a habit of exploding when they died so it was a good thing that we had a talented magical healer with us. Still even with Wynn I was glad that we started to face the undead again. Compared to demons the zombies of this world were pushovers. Plus they didn't bleed or explode so it was a lot less messy all round even with the hacking and slashing.
Soon we got a break from the fight and found a very odd sight. A closet that was shaking and even whimpering. If I hadn't known that there was a man inside I would of wondered if the thing had been possessed by some sort of fear demon.
Was there such a thing as a Fear Demon or a Fear Abomination?
"You can come out now" I said to the closet.
"Are the demons gone?" the hiding man asked "Is it safe?"
"I'm sure" I replied while ignoring Alistair's sniggering
"If your sure then I could take a peek"
"Are you okay?" I asked of the Mage once he had made an apperence.
After some complaining about unimportant things the Mage introduced himself so I did likewise.
The Mage seemed rather calm all things considered but I didn't think he was possessed or anything as people can deal with stressful situations in different ways.
"I just really want to be somewhere safe. I think I might stay here for now. Maybe even go back in my closest for a little while".
A sound plan. If I lacked my awesome ability to kick ass I would likely do the same. He'd just get in the way if he moved about anyway.
"Yeah perhaps you should stay here until the tower is completely secured" I agreed.
The magic user took the time to thank for me saving his life and then hide once more.
Oddly I found myself wondering if the guy was gay.
Revenants
I really hated Revenants so much so that I took the time kick the body of the now dead one at me feet.
Once I'd assumed that they were some sort of lich. The result of some Mages attempt to obtain immortality by becoming something was mostly already dead, but I'd been wrong.
Surprisingly it had been Alistair who had explained the truth to me.
Revenants were in fact corpses possessed by demons of pride or desire. Which actually made sense as few Mages were much good with a sword. But at least in meant that they were not much different than the zombies who were also possessed corpses rather than the work of Necromancy. Which was a relief truth be told as I had been worried that the demon inside Conner would just make the dead bodies in Redcliff rise up again but that wouldn't happen as it would take time for the Desire Demon within the boy to gather enough allies within the Fade to rebuild its armies.
Perhaps not a lot of time but it was my hope that the demons were focused on this place right now.
And on the subject of focus I had to get back to work
"Do you get the feeling that things are just getting worse as we go up".
"Indeed I do" I told my friend.
That was when we met something that really did remind me of lich.
An Arcane Horror.
The creature threw a spell which blasted the red haired spy off her feet while Wynn sent a spell at the monster in return. It raised a shield in time to stop that attack but that didn't do anything to prevent me from hitting it with an axe.
Then a wave of power sent me flying and I could see that it had also knocked Alistair out.
Wynn's next spell was also blocked and from then on she was forced to use her magic to protect herself.
"You have no hope..."
That was all the creature got to say as my bard ally hadn't been disabled and the Horror soon discovered that getting not one but two daggers in the back was a very unpleasant way to die. More so if it was followed up by more stabbing.
After that fighting the mind controlled Templars seemed like an easy task.
"Rise my pets, your mistress commands it".
"Oh shut up" I told the Desire Demon as I started to hit her with my flame axe of plus four burning pain.
I hated these things as well as even their screams of pain sounded sexy or maybe I was just a demented pervert.
After yet another healing session and a short rest we entered the main room of this floor.
We thought our way through a small army of skeletons, shades and Abominations. The whole thing was so tiring that we all had to stop and rest again.
Which was good because I'd started glowing a bit again. Something that was easy to miss in the heat of battle when spells were flying and things were on fire but it would be a lot harder to explain afterwards.
"Thank you. That was an uncomfortable experience".
You know its a sucky world when the people without emotions seem more grateful for a rescue than everybody else.
By the time we got to the fourth floor it was hard to miss the fact that the demons were redecorating what they no doubt thought to be their new home. Hopefully I would be able to evict these unwanted tenets but they would certainly leave their mark. I did spend a few moments wondering where the demonic invaders had gotten their materials but the smell quickly clued me in and I felt it best to move on before anyone started dwelling on the fact.
"Everything is just as you wanted my knight. Our love and our family is more than you ever hoped for".
"Everything is just as you wanted my knight. Our love and our family is more than you ever hoped for".
Damn it not that creepy echo voice thing again. Even when not possessing people you could hear the true voice of the demon. In my view the more human sounding speech was a lie and the horrible echo was the true voice of the creature.
Still I had to admit that the monster before was kinda hot once you got past the horns, but I wasn't foolish enough to think that this somewhat sexy appearance was any less of a lie than the sweet sounding voice that preceded the creepy echo.
I decided that I simply wasn't going to put up with another of these demons doing the voice thing, it was just to nasty.
"Kill the demon!" I shouted.
Before the demon could trick the Templar into fighting for it I had my axe buried in the things had. Sadly that didn't end whatever spell the creature had cast over the Chantry's warriors.
Had I more time I would of mentioned to the others that I found it odd that the Templars, who always accused Mages of being weak when faced with temptation actually seemed to no better at resisting it. But there would no point in telling any of the Templars about this because they would never accept the truth.
"Oh look visitors" said the Sloth Abomination "I would entertain you but that would be too much effort".
"Don't worry" I replied "I'll entertain myself by playing my favourite game 'bash the monster's head in' look I even brought my own mace".
Sadly that line was wasted as I never got the chance to hit anything.
"Why do that" reasoned the demon "aren't you tired of all this violence"
Now that he mentioned it I was pretty fed up of fighting. Why did I have to sort out all these problems. It wasn't even my world.
"Wait, no" I protested as I realised something was wrong with me.
"Wouldn't you like to forget your troubles for a while" said the very ugly creature "why not lie down and rest for a while".
"Can't stay... awake" Alistair muttered.
"Resit" urged Wynn "you must resist"
"Why do you fight?" asked the Abomination "You desverse a rest. The world will go on without you".
No it wouldn't the Blight would consume the kingdom if I didn't fight. But then again was it really worth it? This wasn't my battle, was it? Were the people here even worth saving?
Before I could think of an answer to any of that I blacked out.
Author Note:
I stopped here because I am unsure of how to deal with Gothic being in the Fade.
He's not connected to the Fade like people from Dragon Age are but he also has a Spirit possessing him so I'm kinda stuck between having the Spirit be in charge when in the Fade. Like how Justice seemed to be in
charge if Anders goes into the dream realm to save that elf kid in Dragon Age Two. Or I could have the Spirit take charge while Warden Gothic is black out but it would be in the real world. It would shorten the story a bit but it might be worth it.
Another idea I had was the Spirit would be separate and they would work as a team when in the Fade.
My favourite idea is that Gothic talks to the Spirit but it isn't physical like Valour and Justice its more like Wynn's Spirit. In the Fade the Spirit talks to Warden Gothic and explains my origin idea for the Darkspawn. For now I'll just say that's a bit lovecraftian.
Gothic also learns that he can have any weapon he wants while in the Fade because they are manifestations of his thoughts and so he gives himself some tactical dreadnought armour from Warhammer 40K and just goes Rambo on the whole thing.
Maybe with some cool tunes to go along with it? Add some speakers so he can blast a few fighting songs.
What do you guys think?