Once in the wilds, the group fanned out; Theron took scout, as he was most familiar with the wilds. Kallian and Alice were on the edge of the group, keeping an eye out for any surprises that Theron may have missed; leaving Duran, Natia and Alistair at the core, ready to join battle if – when they encountered darkspawn. The first time they encountered darkspawn it was only a small group; three hurlocks. Alice and Kallian snuck up behind them while and stabbed one apiece while Theron shot the third, they saw no reason to alert the others. From these corpses they collected the darkspawn blood that Duncan had requested and continued on their way.
The second group they encountered was far worse. A group of darkspawn lead by a mage had littered a bridge with traps and sat on the other side, armed with bows and magic. Unfortunately they were blocking the path to the old warden fortress and there was no way to get behind them; forcing the group to attack head on.
Theron took the high ground with his bow and began to shoot the darkspawn from across the river, luckily his first victim was the emissary; without him the darkspawn were merely dangerous, not overwhelming. Alistair and Duran lead the charge, using their shields to block the darkspawn's barrage while Natia, Kallian and Alice moved behind them, marking traps so that the two warriors would be able to evade them.
Once across the five split in two groups; Duran and Natia moved to attack the darkspawn on their left flank while Alistair, Kallian and Alice struck the group on their right. Theron had abandoned his hill and was advancing across the bridge, shooting any darkspawn that looked to attack his friends from behind through the middle that they had cleaved through darkspawn.
The darkspawn were still formidable despite the skill of the group; the battle lasted for a good five minutes and was made harder by the fact that the sounds of battle soon attracted a second group that had been farther up the hill, led by a hurlock alpha. Upon seeing the second group Alistair broke off and went to engage while Theron kept most of the other darkspawn off him. Around this point Kallian and Alice finished off the last of their group and went to reinforce Alistair; however they were intercepted by a group of five genlocks that had been in a pass off to the side. Alice broke off to deal with them and sent Kallian off to help Alistair. Alice quickly stepped out of the way of the blades the first genlock attempted to impale her on before plunging a dagger into his eye; she parried an attack from the second genlock and drew a dagger that she flicked into the throat of the third. Dodging away from the fourth's attempt to plunge a dagger into her back she reversed her sword and shoved it into the gut of third genlock; she dropped her sword and drew her last two daggers, throwing them into the throats of the last two genlocks.
Meanwhile Natia and Duran were finishing the last of their darkspawn and moved to help Alistair and Kallian. Working in the tandem that had become second nature to the two dwarves since their exile from Orzammar they moved to engage the second group of darkspawn; as a number of darkspawn broke off to engage them Duran let loose a mighty war cry that drew the attention of the darkspawn while Natia slid into the shadows, waiting for the opportune moment to attack. At the same time Alistair was having difficulty fighting the Alpha; normally he would have had no trouble but he was not only dealing with the alpha but the other darkspawn as well, even with Theron and Kallian's aid he was still forced to fight several of the creatures at once and was slowly faltering. The tide of the battle was turned when Kallian snuck up behind the alpha, slitting his throat; her maneuver was successful but one of the other hurlocks turned and plunged his sword into her leg. Alistair decapitated the darkspawn and Theron shot a hurlock that turned to finish the job, allowing Kallian to fall back with Alice's aid; leaving Alistair to face the remaining four darkspawn.
Two came toward him at once; Alistair avoided the swing of the first, giving Theron a clear shot – which he quickly took – and blocking the swing of the second with his shield and plunging his blade into the creature's gut. The third came towards him with a wild swing, making the fatal mistake of making a good target for Theron and allowing Alistair to kill the last darkspawn with a simple parry and stab sequence.
Alistair turned to the two dwarves to see Duran drive his blade into the stomach of one of the last two darkspawn and watch Natia cut the hamstring, then throat of the other. Nodding he relaxed and turned to where Alice was bandaging Kallian's leg. "How is she?" he asked, worried for the elven girl.
"She's ok for now" Alice replied, not looking up from Kallian's wound "But the blade had some blood other than hers on it, she may have contracted the taint"
"Well it's a good thing that she'll become a grey warden tonight" Alistair said "Come on, the records are just at the top of that hill."
"Let's get going then" Kallian said, standing and snarling at Alice when her friend slipped her arm around Kallian's back; taking the weight of her wounded leg "I can walk on my own you know"
"And now you can walk faster" Alice quipped and Kallian sighed, knowing this was an argument that she could not win and despite her protests she was not sure she wanted to, this was… Nice.
They ascended to the old fortress. As they entered the crumbling building Alice notice Theron looked at something with a weird expression on his face before shaking his head and turning away. Following his line of sight she noticed a strangely large crow with piercing, almost intelligent eyes.
She turned to Alistair as he went to an old chest in the far corner of the room and lifted the lid of the chest to find the contents… gone.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" A scantily clad woman stepped into the fortress through a hole that time and weather had left in it. "A group of scavengers perhaps? Picking over what others have left behind in their attempt to avoid the blight? Or merely intruders?" the woman continued "I have followed you through my wilds for some time now. Where do they go? I wondered, why are they here? And now you disturb ashes that now have touched for so long." The woman's voice turned sharp "What say you? Scavenger or intruder?"
Alice raised her eyebrows "Your wilds?" she asked "does turning into a crow make somehow make these your wilds?" smiling to herself as the woman took a step back in surprise. Theron muttered "Asha'bellanar" under his breath
She was taken aback but quickly recovered herself "you are sharp indeed, how did you spot me?"
Alice simply smiled, growing up with an apostate who could only practice magic on her had made her very good at spotting the edge of abnormality that all magic left. But this women did not need to know that, until they knew she would not attack it was better that she thought it was some sort of spell or Templar ability; it might make her more cautious.
Pretending that her request had never been rebuffed the woman strode to the front of the group "what you seek is here no longer" she called out dramatically, probably looking to regain herself after being shot down by Alice.
"Here no longer? You stole them." Accused Alistair "You're some sort of sneaky witch thief"
"How does one steal from dead men?"
"Quite easily it seems. Those documents are grey warden property and I demand you return them"
"I will not, for t'was not I who removed them. Invoke a name that means nothing here but it will not get you any further"
"Who did take them?" Theron interjected.
"T'was my mother, in fact"
"Can you take us to her?" Theron asked
"Now there is a sensible request" the witch ran her eyes over the Dalish elf, smiling slightly "I like you" she declared
"Careful" Alistair cautioned "first it's 'I like you' and then zap! Frog time"
Ignoring him, Theron turned to the witch and said "I am Theron; it is a pleasure to meet you"
"Now there is a proper sensible greeting, you may call me Morrigan."
"Come" Morrigan said as she turned down a small path "I will take you to my mother."
oOo
The group followed Morrigan to where she claimed her mother was, originally Alice had wanted to take Kallian back to Ostagar to get her some medical treatment but Alistair vetoed the idea, arguing that if they ran into trouble Alice would be hard-pressed to defend herself and Kallian. Alice had argued briefly but Morrigan settled the argument by adding a poultice that she said would help heal the wound and slow the taint.
Upon reaching the hut where Morrigan and her mother lived the group was greeted by an old woman with shoulder-length grey hair and old robes. Theron bowed to her said "Asha'bellanar, greetings"
The women looked him over "One of the people" she said she turned to see Kallian and Alice "A city elf, supported by a human, what a nice change of scenery" she laughed before turning to Duran and Natia "A male dwarf noble and a female casteless; common, yet not" last she looked at Alistair "And the one who knows what is to come. Tell me young warden" she inquired "Do you fear what happens next? Do you feel guilty that you have not warned these young heroes what they face?"
Alistair visibly paled "I accepted that I would not like everything I was told to do when I joined the wardens but I stand by my choices."
"You avoided the question, with cunning I might add." The woman laughed "And here I feared you might not be ready for what will be expected of you, but you are no simple warrior. You are almost there I might add, your wife''s sister will finish the job"
Alistair frowned "I am not married, old woman"
"Not yet." The woman waved him off "But enough of this! Here are your treaties, your precious enchantment wore of long ago, I have protected them."
"You protected them?" Alistair seemed taken aback "Oh, thank you"
"And why not?" the woman asked "here take them" she handed them to Theron "tell your wardens that this blight's threat is greater than they realize"
"Thank you for returning them Asha'bellanar" Theron replied, bowing again.
"Such manners, always in the last place you look, like stockings" the old woman laughed "oh, don't mind me" she waved a hand, still laughing "go on"
"Time for you to go" Morrigan said, stepping in
"Oh don't be so rude" her mother admonished "these are your guests, see them out of the wilds"
"Very well" Morrigan sighed "follow me."
oOo
Once back at the camp they were greeted by Duncan, Elisa and the two mages. Upon seeing Kallian's wound Neira placed her hand on it, healing magic leaving behind only the smallest of scars. "Unfortunately I can do nothing for the taint I can sense in your blood" she said "If you weren't about to become a warden I'd offer you a quick death"
Theron frowned "My keeper managed to push back the taint when I contracted it" he said "Do you not have a spell for that?"
Neira shook her head "I don't know anything of the sort." She said before looking up at Duncan "do the grey wardens have any such magic?"
"We have a potion that will make a person more resistant to taint" he said "as well as a spell that will slow or even push back the taints progress, unfortunately there is no cure."
Elisa shrugged "still useful, can you teach us?"
Duran nodded "The potion would allow us to take a non-warden with us, the spell would allow us to get a recruit to the joining or prolong a valuable ally's life; even set them up to make a last stand as the rest of us escape"
"We could even sabotage the potion to make a recruit more willing to join, or make a soldier willing to sacrifice his life" Natia added, making Duran and Elisa nod. Alistair and Alice looked unnerved by the suggestion and Kallian and the mages showed no reaction at all.
Duncan nodded as well "be warned" he added "that should such a ruse be discovered it would hurt our reputation"
"Are you advising against it?" Elisa asked
"Merely suggesting you exercise caution and do not use that trick too often. I actually had intended to give you three the formula and spell today and got called off by the king; as such I have them on me." Duncan handed a copy of the spell and formula to Solona and Neira and a copy of the spell to Elisa. "Back to the matter at hand" he continued "I have had the mages preparing for the joining"
"Now will you tell us what this is all about?" asked Natia, Alice agreed and glared at her sister, who had refused to tell them what they faced.
"I will not lie" Duncan seemed weary "we grey wardens pay a heavy price for what we become, fate may decree that you pay the price now rather than later"
"You're saying the joining can kill us?" Alice asked, frowning
Duran shrugged "Makes sense that they would keep it a secret then." Making Natia nod
Alice sighed "I wish I could say I would do different but seeing those monsters makes me agree with that"
Duncan raised his hand to indicate where they were to go "If you are all ready then let us proceed"
The Joining was awful, terrifying and ravaging. It drove each one of them into the darkness where they found the Archdemon waiting at the heart of their darkest nightmares. When asked later Elisa and Neira would both admit to the new wardens that they had felt the Archdemon trying to end the lives of those who took the Joining. It feared them, they said. Why, they did not know as they had had no time to ask the other wardens but both mages, unusually sensitive to the flow and intent of magic knew without a doubt that during a blight the Archdemon would seek to kill any who took the taint into their blood.
Which made it an even greater miracle that all had survived. Every last one of them had managed to survive the taint's effects on their body and the Archdemon's attempt on their lives. Duncan and Alistair were both surprised, even though they had attempted to hide it.
As they recovered, Duncan bade Duran, Elisa, Alice and Neira to accompany him to a final meeting with the king before the battle. Cailan was as blindly optimistic as ever and offered his congratulations to the new grey wardens before returning to the battle strategy with Loghain. "So the army with me is to provoke the darkspawn and draw them into a charge…" he trailed off
"And then the signal will be lit" Loghain offered
"Now I remember" Cailan said "And then you will lead a flanking charge and hit them from the rear. But who will light the beacon?" he asked
"It is a small but important task; I have a few men stationed there"
"If it is so important" Cailan said "then we should send out best; let the wardens Alice and Alistair be the ones to light the beacon"
Loghain protested "My lord, you rely on these grey wardens too much, that you persist in this foo notion-"
"It is not a fool notion, and you will remember who is king" Cailan cut him off "Alice and Alistair will light the beacon and that is final"
"Very well your majesty" Loghain said, a look on his face made Duran, Elisa and Alice all shiver; accustomed to politics they all knew what happened when a man had that look on his face.
Back at Duncan's fire they met with the other new wardens; all the senior wardens save Alistair had already gone to join the army. Alistair had been on his way there to join them when a messenger had redirected him here. He did not take the news well.
"You mean I won't be in the battle?" he asked "I'm sorry but having two grey wardens holding the torch is a bit ridiculous"
Duncan's voice was one of tired patience "Alistair, wardens do what they must. If having two wardens light a beacon ensures the king's continued support than two wardens will be up on that tower, holding the torch"
"Fine" Alistair growled "But it the king wants me to put on a pink dress and shimmy across the battle line, that's where I draw the line."
"I don't know" Alice grinned "It might be a good distraction"
"Me shimmying across the darkspawn line? Sure we can kill them all while they roll on the floor laughing"
Duncan's sigh as he realized he had not one but two wise-ass wardens was one of resignation.
"The rest of you, I want in the battle. Neira and Solona, instead of having you with the mages as you were last time, I want you with the rest of us; as you saw in the last battle, once battle is joined wardens often work as death squads, seeding chaos deep in the darkspawn ranks. Such tactics are dangerous and it would be beneficial to have you with us, healing us and keeping the darkspawn from overwhelming us."
Both nodded but Duran pointed at an issue with this plan "But aren't mages vulnerable to direct attacks?" he asked "isn't having them up on the front lines a little too risky?"
"You have a fair point" Duncan acknowledged "which is why I am assigning you and Natia to protect Neira and Kallian and Theron to protect Solona, keep them safe and unreachable by the darkspawn. Elisa" he said, turning to her "you have proven just how dangerous you are at the front of an attack and I would like you to stay there, try to take out the more dangerous darkspawn if you can and hold nothing back. Your status as an apostate makes me unsure as to what sort of spells you have but the other wardens have told me you use your magic very effectively in the midst of combat and have abilities that they have never seen before; I remind you that as a grey warden there is no limitation on what spells you can do so if you know any forbidden magic, feel free to use it."
Elisa raised an eyebrow "Are you encouraging me to use blood magic?"
"Only if you know it" he turned to address the whole group again "In the interest of safety I would advise that all of you stick together when possible, keep together and with the other wardens; I would not like to lose so many skilled recruits in their first battle." With that he led them to where the other wardens were preparing alongside king Cailan and his guards, who would be fighting alongside them
An hour later they were standing at the front of an army across from a darkspawn army as Alice and Alistair prepared to cross the bridge with George following faithfully at Alice's heels. On the battlefield King Cailan faced the now charging darkspawn and let out a powerful cry "For Ferelden!" he called as the army charged to meet the darkspawn horde.
The battle had begun.
A/N And here I was thinking this would be a nice short chapter. Anyways, now that we've introduced all the characters I thought I'd give a quick rundown on their basic personalities and skills in case I wasn't too clear on that (description is not one of my strong suits).
Theron is an archer, through and through however, I'm not so sure what class he his yet; his skill as a hunter makes him good at stealth and moving silently but he's more of a warrior who just happens to be sneaky than a true rogue, he doesn't use poisons or any other form of tricky combat, if anyone gets too close to him he'll hit them with his bow or stab them with a knife or arrow but he won't fight dirty, the exception would be the after mentioned stealth. He's a strong forceful character who strongly believes in honesty and preserving his culture, at the same time however he is not against deception if it will further his cause (When I wrote his part in chapter 2 I was hearing Javik from ME3 if that helps). I put his age at about 24, making him the oldest person in the group.
Duran is a skilled warrior that is exceptional in the use of both sword and shield and two-handed weapon play and will most often carry both, strapping his greatsword and shield to his back and keeping his sword on his belt. While he does not use deception in battle he appreciates its use and will readily act as a target in order to distract his opponents from someone behind them. He is skilled in politics and deception from spending his youth in Orzammar and is good at reading people. He is ruthless and cunning and will not hesitate to bribe and dishonor his opponents if he can safely do so; however he places strong value on family and kinship, which is why Bhelen managed to trap him in Orzammar. He is about 19 years old.
Natia is a clever rogue who prefers the use of daggers but appreciates the use of a good sword. She often places poison on her daggers and will use an assortment of acids and explosives that she keeps on her person. As she has proven already she is extremely skilled at stealth and will disappear into the shadows the second you take your eyes off her. She holds no stock in honour and will do whatever is necessary to accomplish her goal. Her life on the street has given her a good idea on when someone is about to attack however she cannot determine intentions beyond that and has little skill in politics. She is about 17 years old
Kallian is a dangerous thief who can move about undetected almost anywhere; she can pick almost any lock and is a master at avoiding notice. Once discovered however, she is an exceptionally dangerous knife wielder that will use her speed to prevent her attackers from ever touching her and will use attacks that designed to weaken and bleed her enemies out. She has, on occasion use torture to get information out of people or punish those that she feels need to suffer more than a quick death; however since she always kills those she harms she only uses torture to protect those close to her and never for personal gain. She is skilled with poisons and will not only use them on her blade but also will put them in a targets food or drink if she has the opportunity. She is about 18 years of age
Alice is a very talented rogue who uses a combination of sword and dagger, she dislikes the use of poisons on her blades but has no qualms about slipping them into someone's food or drink if she thinks it will give her an edge. While she as some skill at stealth her true mastery is disguise; she can alter her posture to make her appear as anything from a high-born lady to the lowest servant, a skill that encouraged the upper servants at Highever to be kinder to their subordinates, as she practiced often there. She is extremely skilled at reading people and analyzing politics as well as being very persuasive, able to talk someone into almost anything that they would be willing to do. While she has no true magic she can spot its use very easily, it is possible that this may be magical in itself but is not enough for even the strictest Templar to call her a mage. She is 22 years old.
Neira is a powerful and forceful mage that wields her power with extreme skill and precision. As a dreamer she has a unique connection to the fade that makes her an unmatched spirit healer, however, this same skill makes her unmatched in the schools of spirit and entropy as well as making her able to find anyone that she has ever healed if they are in the fade. Her spells are devastating and capable of exterminating her opponents in large groups, but drain her mana quickly; making her dependant of lyrium potions for longer battles. She has a strong sense of justice and will torment the dreams of those she feels deserving. She has a low opinion of honour as she feels it allows dishonourable people to kill them. She is also a free spirit for whom growing up in the tower where she was seen as evil by those who were sent to guard her has made her rather dismissive of social norms and will act as such. She is 18 years old
Solona, while still a powerful mage, is much weaker than her friend and sometimes finds herself overshadowed by her. However she is still peerless against anyone besides Neira and as a result the two often stick together. She has an unmatched endurance and can cast spells for hours without draining herself, making her able to outlast anyone but Neira who can break through any defenses she has and defeat her quickly. She values offensive magic but also focuses of defensive spells, keeping her opponents away from her and her allies as well as healing small injuries in the middle of battle. This attitude is reflected by how she presents herself as a soft spoken and kind person who will aid those in need, however at her core she is quite ruthless and is capable of acting quickly and brutally if the need arises and her only issue with immoral behaviour is getting caught. She is 17 years old
While none of the group is by any means easy to kill Elisa is easily the most dangerous of the group. An expert on almost any weapon ever used, she has travelled all over Thedas, learning new and better weapon tactics and strategy. Her widespread master means that while she prefers to use her weapon Blood or the swords she took from the darkspawn general, Silence and Loss, she has no problem with turning her enemies weapons on them and has the mentality that if her attackers are armed then she might as well be. Her design of Blood has attracted the attention of a number of smiths and weapon masters, who were curious about its design and uses. Her travel has also given her a wide range of cultural experience and she is able to speak a number of different languages. On top of her weapon skills she is also a powerful mage who can use spells in the middle of combat without so much as slowing her fighting. While she has never had any training from a mage she shows skill and discipline that would make the most studious of circle mages envious, her sister has suggested that this may be a result of the discipline and inventiveness that her mastery of traditional combat demanded. Her most surprising ability is that years of combat training has caused her to develop the skills of an arcane warrior without ever even reading of such a thing. She is ruthless and cunning and is virtually unstoppable once she has fixated on a goal. Her extensive training allows her to understand where each person would be most formidable, in battle and without. She also carries an aura of power that all but the least observant of people notice, making it impossible for her to blend in like her sister can. Despite her revelation that she is a mage Duncan suspects that she still harbors secrets but is content to let the situation lie provided that she continues to use the extent of her abilities to serve the wardens. Like her twin she is 22 years old
Another thing that took longer than expected, anyways please R&R