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Rincewind had always been wary of heroes. He had met far too many over the years to have any trust in them. Most hade tendencies to recklessness with little common sense or forward thinking mixed with a black and white morality. The fact that it worked so often in his own world convinced him only that Gods had a bad sense of humour.

Now, thanks to the damn Luggage, he had been conscripted into a whole group of them. As they set up camp for the night Rincewind decided to test the water and approached the designated leader. That had been the first surprise; instead of the tall, blond human warrior (who reminded Rincewind of a certain Ankh-Morpork city watchman) it was instead a rather unkempt looking red-headed Dwarf. Albeit one that wore some fine looking armour and carried a couple of magic swords.

"So where are we going from here?" Rincewind began. A nice simple question to start testing the sanity of the leader he was forced to follow.

"To Redcliffe," replied the Dwarf. "It's where our allies are gathering and we have some business with the nobility there."

Well that certainly sounded sensible, and logical. Rincewind didn't know what to make of that.

"You're not like most heroes I've met," Rincewind eventually said, "or dwarves for that matter."

"I'm hardly a hero, just some Duster who escaped execution and ended up a Warden," said Odin sounding appropriately modest. "As for the Dwarf thing, let me guess you expected me to either be a merchant or a mercenary?"

"Or a miner, though you don't seem obsessed with collecting precious metals."

"Oh I wouldn't say that," Odin patted his stuffed coin purse. "Although I am no miner nor was I, all of them tend to stay underground."

"Of course"

"Any other expectations?" asked Odin.

Rincewind turned to look at the other Dwarf in the camp, what he was drinking no one could say, but everyone could smell it.

Odin looked that way as well. "I think Oghren drinks enough for two dwarfs, or twenty for that matter. Still that axe has slain hundreds of Darkspawn. I suppose that's another characteristic of all Dwarfs isn't it?"

Rincewind nodded "Oh yes, every Dwarf has a battleaxe and a massive beard."

An eyebrow was raised, "Every Dwarf, even the women?"

"Naturally, every Dwarf wears chainmail and beard."

Odin stared "Does that mean you think I could be woman wearing a fake beard?"

Rincewind avoided eye contact, "Well, I wouldn't want to say anything…"

"Humans," muttered Odin. "You lot have some very strange ideas. Only a couple of days ago I heard some travellers claim the world was flat!"

Rincewind looked sheepish and decided to continue the talk another night.

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Bann Teagan sat behind the desk in the study of Redcliffe castle poring over the latest requisition reports. The last few months had been hard on the Arling and himself. The sickness of his brother had set off a chain of events that nearly ended in catastrophe; only the near miraculous timing of the Grey Wardens had prevented Redcliffe village from being overrun by walking corpses. The subsequent discovery of his nephew's magic and demonic possession as the cause of the undead attack could've also been horrific on a far more personnel level. This was again averted by the actions of the Grey Wardens and their mage allies. As grateful as Teagan was for their assistance he couldn't help but feel that the difficult and time consuming task of rebuilding had been left entirely up to him. His brother the rightful Arl remained comatose and the Arlessa dedicated herself to nursing her husband and looking after her son. Privately Teagan was somewhat thankful that Isolde had avoided rulership, her involvement could have caused all sorts of problems given her demeanour.

For all the challenges of rebuilding and preparing for war Teagan could at least be thankful that the harvest was good and the loss of skilled and able bodied people from the village had be quickly replaced by refugees coming from the south and east. The majority were happy to work in exchange for food, shelter and relative safety. One particular group, which had come from the Brecilian Forest and claimed to have met the Grey Wardens, proved to be exceptionally hard working, skilled at hunting game and tracking. Although why they all had amber eyes and all had the surname 'Wolf' was a mystery.

The war preparations were also progressing, though not without complications. The Knights of Redcliffe had largely returned and under their tutelage a militia had formed that had held off both bandits and raiding Darkspawn with some success. A strong contingent of Circle Mages had also arrived, partly due to the Grey Warden treaty but also to keep an eye on Connor. They had been considerable fear and hostility to these guests. For recent events had heightened the already strong prejudices toward magic. But the frequent use of battle magic and healing had persuaded many to cautiously respect the mages, or at the very least to keep their opposition silent. These problems however paled in comparison to the arrival of several Dalish clans into the area. After a tense standoff Teagan had met with a Keeper, a young woman by the name of Lanaya (who in Teagan's opinion was quite beautiful) who assured him that they were here to fight Darkspawn. The Dalish kept a clear distance but their presence, and the disappearance of a number of elves (even among the Castle servants) to join them had caused no shortage of anger. Still a number of more enterprising people had begun trading with the clans, exchanging human wares for exotic Dalish craft. They had also aided in other ways. More than once scouts had spotted Darkspawn war bands only for soldiers to arrive and find the creatures already slaughtered and burning on pyres.

In between managing the reconstruction and the uneasy alliances Teagan had also writing letters to every noble in the kingdom, asking for news and appealing for calm and unity. So far the results had been patchy at best. A few had listened but the civil war still raged and Loghain was crushing all in his path. If only he put that much effort into Ostagar and the Blight thought Teagan glumly. Without a clear alternative however Ferelden may have to bow to Loghain or face annihilation. Eamon had always been the politician of the family and Teagan was counting on his brother to think of something. Assuming he recovered…

"Excuse my lord," said a servant standing tentatively in the doorway. "The Grey Wardens have arrived."

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Rincewind looked around Redcliffe Castle, very fancy. The Wardens had friends in high places. As a rule the Wizzard had always tried to avoid politics, though politics hadn't always avoided him, it usually made a hideous mess. Well even more than usual.

Bann Teagan himself looked tired but happy to see them.

"You've returned might you have news?" asked the anxious noble.

"Greetings my lord," said Odin, taking the lead as normal. "We have rallied Orzammar to the war effort. Their troops should be here in a week or so."

Teagan tried to look pleased but was privately dreading the logistical issues. "So you have used all your treaties? Excellent news, but my brother is still in a coma. What of the Urn?"

"We found Brother Genitivi's home. He had been researching the Urn, according to what we found he went to a village called Heaven, which is due west of here in the mountains." Odin shot Teagan a grim look. "It's the only led we've got. The village is a few days away, if the Urn isn't there then there is no more we can do."

"But my brother," protested Teagan, "without him…"

"The Archdaemon and the Darkspawn horde are marching through the Deep Roads towards Ostagar. Our time is limited." Odin pointed out. "I'm sorry for your brother but the Blight must take priority."

Teagan looked crestfallen and Alistair didn't look much better.

"We will still investigate the village," said Odin. But everyone saw through what that could mean if there was nothing there.

At that moment a servant entered the room and approached Bann Teagan.

"Excuse me my lord but a Brother Genitivi is at the gate. He says he has the Scared Ashes."

As Teagan and Alistair raced out the room elated at this sudden turn of events Morrigan looked at Odin.

"It would appear that for once someone else has gone on a dangerous quest instead of us."

Odin looked surprised, "and I thought we would have to do everything ourselves."

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