Valmy's ADHD Dragon Age playthrough

[Valmy]

Ok so they go into the marketplace of Val Royeaux for a nice meeting the Chantry. But the Clerics are all empowered by the arrival of the Templars and are not in the mood to hear Lothar give an inspiring speech.



'True but I am lovely once you get to know me.'

However the Clerics really should have cleared their plan with the Templars because they walk up and one of them punches the cleric out. In public. So that happened. Kind of takes the sting out of that denunciation. Lord Seeker Lucius, their commander, is present and denounces Cassandra, the Inquisition, and the Chantry all as heretical and traitors to the righteous.



'The void? Whatchu talkin about Lucius?'

So that was public and did not go well.



'Does Meredith glow red?'

Templars are just as crazy as ever.

A nice little discussion with the humiliated clerics was more conciliatory but didn't really go anywhere.



'I just cannot get over horses now being a thing.'

Anyway that breaks the Chantry and takes the sting out of their condemnation. People now want to deal with the Inquisition. First the 'Friends of Red Jenny'. You might remember them from Dragon Age:Origins where they had us deliver a box in Denerim and in Dragon Age II when that one woman paid Urien alot to exterminate street gangs. So now Lothar is being contacted by them.



'Fortunately I always have my swords floating eerily off my back a few inches.'

Looking for the Red Jenny clues they explore the marketplace at Val Royeaux and blow all their money on schematics. So many yummy schematics. There is also a shop that just sells one thing. A box. Nobody knows what the box is or why it is so expensive. It just seems like a funky marketing gimmick. But damn does it work I must buy this useless box!



'It will be mine...oh yes...it will be mine.'

They find out where to meet the baddie who is after the Inquisition. But also they get a gracious invitation from a woman of iron.



'de fer eh? I guess better than 'de pudding' though that would be yummy.'

But then they are approached by non other than Alistair's mom. The Grand Enchanter former Grey Warden Fiona. I always found it funny that Alistair was the one who told me that Grey Wardens couldn't have children...or at least it is very hard...when his own mother was one.

Anyway she wants the Inquisition to come to Redcliffe and talk with the mages. She says she thinks the Templars were behind the Conclave explosion.



'So since you suspect him 100% that means you only suspect me 99%? Nice.'

You can really see the resemblance. She isn't funny though, Alistair must have gotten that from Maric. Well as flattering as being suspected of blowing up the conclave to a lesser extent than she suspects the Templars Lothar is going to say no. Many of his family members are Templars and getting them would be better propaganda. The common people do not like the mages. Besides there is a rumor floating around they have allied with Tevinter so it could be a trap. Frankly I have no idea why they didn't just go to Tevinter in the first place instead of hiding out in Ferelden.

So once that is done Lothar and company go to meet this baddie. It turns out it is another Orlesian noble. He seems to think we have been obsessively tracking him down. Lothar tells him he does not even know who he is.



'The name of...erm...whomever will live on forever!'

Then he gets killed by a psycho city elf. An elf of such psychoness I am actually surprised. I mean at least Zevran and company were at least a little self aware. Sera is completely off her rocker. She claims to represent all the little people against the powerful which is quite a self appointed mission. Plus she is a bow savant of sorts, having achieved mastery with no training at all. She is the Friend of Red Jenny in Val Royeaux and it seems the Friends of Red Jenny are just a bunch of people who do...things...and try to protect the little people and mess with mean nobles. Weird how that one in Kirkwall was so rich given this revelation about their 'organization'.

Oh and she has a hilarious British accent. The kind of accent Americans make when they are trying to do a British accent. Like how British people always talk with southern drawls when they try to speak like Americans.



'I prefer His Excellency the Thingy if you must.'

Oh and she hates nobles. So she and Lothar should get on well. Oh and of course the first thing we do is fight a huge horde of guards...whose underpants she stole. I mean this woman is perpetually 12 years old.

Fortunately the party with the enchantress was more Lothar's speed.



'Man I just cannot get enough of people saying my name.'

So he engages in conversation with some refined people of breeding and culture and they discuss the finer elements in Orlesian politics, about the Inquisition and the Civil War between Gaspard and Empress Celene and the like. But then some boorish marquis insults him personally and the Inquisition in general.



'What? I demand satisfaction sir!'

But before we can have our honor satisfied he gets frozen solid by Vivienne de Fer, the First Enchanter of Montsimmard and mistress to a fancy pants Duke. She asks what Lothar wanted to do with the marquis and Lothar lets him go. Killing him while he is frozen will not satisfy any honor. She is the leader of the few remaining Circle Mages and wants to join the Inquisition. Plus she is an advisor to Empress Celene so that is good. Basically she wants mages to be powerful but within the old circle system or a variation thereof. Interesting she seems like she is an adult who knows how the world works. Probably is secretly insane but as far as mages go she seems to be the most stable since Wynne.



'Sanity and order shall be our inspiring battle cry!'

So they return to Haven with two new party members. But everybody is more interested in talking about the incident at the market place. Cassandra is saddened by the depths the Chantry has sunk.



'St. Cassandra of Assisi'

Well we will keep that in mind since the Chantry probably needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. Cullen assures Lothar the Templars are not as insane as they appear.



'Yeah remember that time you didn't believe Trask and gave Meredith the benefit of the doubt? That went well.'

Sera hopes Lothar can stop the war and close the breach and get things back to order. Further she claims she tried to close the breach with an arrow and was puzzled it didn't work. Isabella was more charming as the party dumbass. Anyway she also fills Lothar in about the Friends of Red Jenny'



'Man I am so let down by this reveal!'

The name does work at sounding impressive though because I thought the Friends of Red Jenny were actually interesting and slightly sinister before this 

Now we know they are just some random people including a crazy underpants stealing elf.

Lothar returns to the Haven Chantry and we are getting ready for our next move.



'Who knew being denounced by the Chantry and spat on by the Templars could be such a boon to our cause?'

And then an argument breaks out with Cullen insisting they go to the Templars on one side and Leliana and Josephine preferring the mages on the other. Some advisors this lot is.



'Cassandra loves a man who takes charge.'

Leliana has been trying to get in touch with the Grey Wardens for support but all of them in Ferelden and Orlais has vanished. Grey Wardens, always gone when you need them. Well except one.



'Maybe he discovered there can only be one Grey Warden and murdered the rest?'

So maybe this Blackwall guy knows what happened. It looks like they will be returning to the Hinterlands soon. Lothar gets the advisers working on some missions and then goes to craft some gear. On the way out he gets approached by some guy named Krem who offers the services of a mercenary company led by some Qunari. A Qunari and not a Tal Vashoth? Yes as it turned out. Huh. More on that later. They are on the Storm Coast.



'Do you do tricks?'

He crafts his stuff (man I am getting pretty obsessive about the crafting, not sure how I feel about basically ignoring drops and getting all excited when I see a Nug to kill) and heads back to the Chantry. He chats with Vivienne a bit about things. She explains how the Circle worked in her neck of the woods and it sounds pretty much how I thought it worked before Dragon Age II.



'Not to mention every mercenary and criminal gang in Ferelden'

I mean it didn't seem like that much of a prison when people actually followed the rules, but I guess the mages did rebel so...



'Good now we can finally get that horse master in to...do whatever it is they do with horses.

FIRST STORM COAST CAMPAIGN

But first to the Storm Coast. Scout Harding greets them and tells them a group of mercenaries is dominating the area, boxing the Inquisition in.



'We will get right on that!'

Lothar probably should have made it a higher priority because he quickly got distracted. This would not end well for that group. A short distance away from the camp The Bull's Chargers are fighting Tevinter mercenaries.



'Wait if we are helping them fight are they really showing us what they can do?'

After the battle the Qunari in charge, The Iron Bull, wants the Inquisition to hire his crew. He also promises to be Lothar's bodyguard. Damn sounds good. But then he tells him he is a Qunari spy.



'Some secret agent you are'

So he is a member of the Qunari secret police and sends reports back to the Qunari leaders on a regular basis. Well I guess that is ok for now, nothing we are doing has anything to do with the Qunari. He is weirdly not using the Qun to be disgusted and exasperated at humans all the time. He almost seems to like them. He even expressed a sexual interest in Leliana and redheads in general. This is disturbing since Sten made it clear sex with a Qunari would probably be fatal. So anyway he joins the Inquisition and they head back to Haven.

The agents of the Inquistion have been busy.



'Wait did we really get jars of bees as grenades? I cannot even bring myself to use that.'



'Yes we will just put our guys here to protect the Grand Cathedral from harm. Don't mind us grand clerics.'

So that should keep the Chantry in line. This is just a short stop to chat with The Iron Bull. Now it is on to The Hinterlands to find that Grey Warden.

SECOND HINTERLANDS CAMPAIGN

There is a new area near Calenhad's Foothold that has a big lake and fills in the area between the Crossroads and the Mercenary Fortress. I am not even sure what kept us from going there before. Maybe I just missed it for some reason. They go there and find Warden Blackwall training a bunch of farmers to fight off the mercenaries. Due to that amazing Ame...er...Trevelyan timing they get there just as the fight breaks out. Afterwards Lothar approaches Blackwall.



'We are the Gibberlings Three. As merry a band as you ever did see.'

So he has no idea why the other Wardens are gone. He suggests maybe they all went to Weisshaupt and that maybe he just failed to get the orders. Pretty sure Leliana would have sniffed that out so I don't think so. He is just going along recruiting even though there is no Blight.



'Ah so the recruiter becomes the recruitee. How ironic.'

He seems a dour and decent enough guy. It was just weird to see him 'conscripting' the farmers to fight the mercs and then releasing them again once he taught them how to fight. Seems very un-Grey Wardeny. More on this later.

Now they explore the new section of the map, or the old section of the map I missed for some reason. There are more bears here to stomp on Lothar and more mercenaries. In fact they tried to approach the mercenary fortress from the rear only to find a truly fearsome picket line of mercenaries waiting for them...yeah so probably still going to do this later. There are other items of interest though. First somebody buried their grandfather with the intention of raising him as a fearsome undead. Well you know what that is going to require Lothar to do.



'Die random person's undead grandpa!'

Yep. Raise the horror, kill it, and take its stuff. Later they find a door under a waterfall guarded by Dwarf Carta members. It appears to go underground to the Deep Roads to a Thaig called Valammar. Well color me crazy but this is probably where the Red Lyrium is being mined. However the door cannot be picked. I bet the Mercenary leader has the key. Just a theory. We will find out later.



'Abandon hope all who mine in here!'

They go back to the camp just north of the lake and switch parties. Out goes Cassandra and Solas and in comes Varric and Vivienne. Cassandra kind of hinted another mage would allow me to recruit the peacenik mage Ellandra earlier so going to try that. Or if not Vivienne some other mage I had not met yet

But first they head over to the farms and let the Horse master know the towers are in place. He hands over the horses but is reluctant to come with us. So Vivienne suggests we could get a nice horse master from Orlais. Well this stokes his Malthus-esque anti-Orlais feelings.



'Victory through chauvinism!'

And then they go back to Ellandra and she is dazzled by my illustrious company.



'You shall be known as codename Viper37'

So they spend some time doing some collection quests and gathering crafting stuff and then return to Haven. Still have that dragon and mercenary fortress sitting out there. Probably come back when they are level 10 or 11 and do everything but the dragon. Carefully avoided Redcliffe since Lothar is going to see the Templars.

A short stop in Haven to sell off and craft some. Lothar talks to Blackwall and discuss the Grey Wardens and our current situation. He wants Lothar to help him find Grey Warden artifacts that the Grey Wardens might have left behind as they vacated Ferelden and Orlais. Will do. Lothar asks him what he was doing in the Fifth Blight.



'Wait there was a Blight on, you were in Ferelden, and you didn't join Duncan and the others?'

I mean he sensed a Blight was on and just hung out killing a few stragglers and hanging around? He was a freaking recruiter. This makes no sense. He would have been at Ostagar with his recruits. Just...weird. Vivienne has another collecting quest where books have been lost during the Mage-Templar war. Thinking about it this war probably was a knowledge. Yet another atrocity courtesy of Anders. Speaking of which Vivienne is pretty outraged Fiona started this revolt in response to what Anders did, she thinks it makes mages look like they are all terrorists. The Andersists have won



'So neither the Templars nor mages thought those books would be worth taking? Typical.'

SECOND STORM COAST CAMPAIGN

So back to the Storm Coast to rescue that team of soldiers. Well they go there too late and all the soldiers are dead. The Mercenaries, who have been harassing us the whole way to the meeting place, left a note.



'We need a Mercy's Crest to challenge your leader to a fight to the death? Well that makes sense.'

So there are these caves in the cliffs that have deepstalkers and giant spiders so they are able to get the deepstalker hide they need to make the crest. I guess some entrance to the Deep Roads is down there someplace. While exploring the coast they see tons of wrecked ships that have Templar heraldry and...something else.



'Hey its the banner from The Hinterlands'

I think that is the flag either the mercenaries or the Carta in The Hinterlands is using. The black flag with the hand holding the snake. Wonder what the connection there is? They climb back into the mountains and fight to the mercenary fortress and confront their leader for killing their soldiers.



'See I am wearing a Mercy's Crest but I came here to punish you without mercy, pretty ironic huh?'

This company, a group of religious fanatics known as the Blades of Hessarian (the blade of Hessarian was the blade that killed Andraste), serve whomever kills their leader wearing that crest so they work for Lothar now.



'Their loyalty is assured until somebody kills Lothar, then they will immediately switch sides...presuming they are wearing the right crest.'

There are more of the usual weirdness that was found in the Hinterlands: star gazing dot connect puzzles that find treasure caves, skulls that light up weird shards, and fade rifts. I guess these are everywhere in the world now. Best keep an eye on your kids these days.



'It's show time!'

They set up another camp to the south and then switch The Iron Bull and Vivienne out for Varric and Solas. Nearby they find a random evil wizard just walking around being evil.



'Why hello Mr. Evil wizard fancy meeting you here'

They find a key to his house and yeah...he has a basement full of evil.



'Only one evil altar and one pile of bodies? Must be an apprentice mage.'

The whole time we are finding Grey Warden camps and various notes written by them. They were here looking for somebody and seemed to be hearing The Calling and starting to become a bit unhinged. They failed to find him and moved on. Blackwall has not commented in hearing The Calling so whatever was causing that must be gone. Weird.



'They just hang around and guilt people for ignoring them.'

They also find a few Grey Warden artifacts for Blackwall and man is he happy about that.

Near this last Grey Warden camp they set up the third and last Inquisition Camp and that is about that for the Storm Coast for the time being. There are still things to explore but the inventory is full. Back to Haven.



'See you soon Storm Coast'

He gets back to Haven and Blackwall heaps praise on him for helping find those Grey Warden things.



'Stop you are embarrassing me'

Man does Blackwall go nuts for Grey Warden baubles. We still have several more to find, he may want to marry Lothar by the time they are done. Speaking of which Blackwall has a little love advice for Lothar.



'Man is it that obvious?'

I mean sure I may worship the rendered ground that digital character walks but all Lothar has done is flirt with her a little bit and hardly overtly. The gossip in Haven is strong. Anyway he just tells Lothar to remind her there is more to life than fighting. I have a feeling that is a hard thing to remind people of in the middle of a RPG

So with the Storm Coast research and Blackwall recruited what is happening with the Wardens is still a mystery. Leliana is disappointed.



'Is this why Lorcan has also disappeared? '

Man I hadn't thought of that. I hope he is ok. Now it is time to seek out the Templars. Lothar and company are level 9 now and it maxes out at level 7. I was worried this would make it easier but LOL was that not true. Anyway Josephine and company have put together an alliance of prominent Orlesian families to petition the Templars to help the Inquisition close the Breach. The Templars have relocated to some ancient fortress in southeastern Ferelden for who knows what reason.



'Time to teach Lord Seeker Lucius a lesson'

Now for the team. Well we have to take Cassandra, since she was a Seeker and Templars are naturally deferential to them. Varric has lots of experience with crazy Templars so he should come. Vivienne is the highest ranking loyalist mage so she should have some cache with them as well. Besides she should help us work with the Orlesian Nobles.

[Queequeg]

I was't totally in to this game and then there was a caustic, vain, extremely handsome gay Byzantine sorcerer and then I was like *sold.*

[Valmy]

I was't totally in to this game and then there was a caustic, vain, extremely handsome gay Byzantine sorcerer and then I was like *sold.*

I have no idea what you are talking about

I will be on the lookout for gay Byzantines. There are lots of Tevinter links in this game so probably one of those.

[Valmy]

I again had a blast exploring the Storm Coast though the terrain was really aggravation. It reminded me of Skyrim always trying to find the way up the mountain.

The crafting is getting rather obsessive.

[Queequeg]

Shoulda sided with the Mages.

[Valmy]

Shoulda sided with the Mages.

Screw the mages. I sided with them last time and their leader turned into an eldritch horror and tried to eat me. Besides it is what my character would do he has lots of family members in the Templars supposedly.

[Valmy]

The Inquisition gathers its allies and heads to BFE Ferelden. Lothar arrives and is greeted by the leader of the Orlais delegation.



'You know I was just telling Varric how much it reminds me of the second dispersal of the reclaimed Dales, just Templars instead of elves.'

Lothar gives an inspiring speech to get the nobles prepared for a glorious and smooth alliance with the Templars.



'Not seen off-screen: nobles swooning.'

So they advance on towards Therinfal Redoubt to meet with the Templar liaison: Knight-Templar Delrin Barris who is the son of a Ferelden Bann. He seems oddly uninformed about what the Templars want for somebody who is supposed to represent them. Lord Seeker Lucius should brief his people better.



'I am encouraged that the representatives of the other party think their position makes no sense. Always a good basis for negotiations.'

This whole time my Orlesian colleagues are making veiled threats that if the Templars do not agree to close the breach the Empire will march on them. That has to help things. So before we can start negotiations Barris wants Lothar to do some stupid flag raising ceremony, he does it but I have no idea what purpose it served. Then they go off to meet with the Lord Seeker, but he sends some flunky instead. Lothar is not amused by this slight.



'Do you know who I am, punk?'

But then negotiations kind of break down. No the Templars did not demand 70 virgins to be sacrificed to them every Tuesday. Instead the Knight-Captain reveals they are all taking Red Lyrium and are serving somebody called the 'Elder One'. Now that sounds a bit like Legacy here. But hey not every 'Elder One' has to be a Tevinter Magister from two thousand years ago.



'Oh plenty of you will be stained red in just a bit'

They shoot Lord Abernache through the head and the battle is on. Red Templars everywhere, I guess they were so impressed with Meredith's magical statues they wanted to get in on that action. I wonder if they have just been eating Meredith or if they got some of that new Red Lyrium growing everywhere? At first they are just regular old Templars we can hack down with no problem but eventually they are these Red Templar horrors and these things are a nightmare for Lothar because they do that AoE crap that damages stealthed people directly behind them. Of course I had to be the backstabbing rogue in a game so very unfriendly to backstabbing rogues. Also I neglected to get Vivienne barrier spells so she gets tossed around a lot as well. This whole thing becomes the Varric/Cassandra show and is pretty challenging even though they out-level everything.



'Fortunately Varric is skilled at taking out insane Templars'

Eventually we break into Knight-Captain Denam's office to find he murdered the knight returning from the Conclave with news of what occured. There is a note instructing the knight to sneak back into the castle and talk to him before meeting the other Templars.



'Such language ser knight! But yes...yes they did.'

Once they get to the top of the fortress they are confronted by Lord Seeker Lucius screaming insults to Lothar in that weird double voice that indicates demonic possession. Oh good a demon possession story we have not had our required two dozen per game yet. Once they reach him Lucius grabs Lothar and pulls him through the door into the chapel...and into the fade.



'My love has come along. My lonely days are over. And life is like a song.'

Yes! Love being exiled to the Fade! Bring on the weirdness and free ability score bonuses!



'Oh look fade red lyrium.'

The demon is an envy demon, so that is new I don't recall an envy demon before. He is trying to take Lothar's face so he tries to get into his head by showing his companions acting all evil.



'Leliana is murdering Cullen? Pretty sure just regular non-evil Leliana would do that.'

The demon reveals this 'Elder One' wants to become a God. Again sort of sounds like the Tevinter Magisters.



'He was there eh? Did he maybe: turn the Golden City black?'

Yeah probably another one of those Darkspawn making guys. Should be fun. I guess Legacy was a bridge to the new theme. Well maybe I am not totally giving up on it being Anders.

A little further in Envy starts torturing Lothar by muttering complete gibberish.



'Get out of my head you crazy demon!'

Is this an insanity demon? But no it is some weird spirit trying to get through to Lothar. A spirit who wears a very strange hat and says incomprehensible things. The spirit's name is Cole. Wait 'Cole'? Don't these things normally name themselves after whatever virtue they personify?



'I am talking to a guy in a silly hat sitting on the ceiling, yet the weirdest thing is what he is saying'

It seems Envy gets tired out by creating these images so Lothar just needs to keep going and eventually it will all break down. Huh. I thought having chairs on the walls was kind of there already.



'Yes. The rules of the fade just kind of change every time you go there.'

But wait are we inside the fade or inside Lothar's head? Well he is getting free ability bonuses so...

The demon then shows him how evil the demon will make the Inquisition once he takes over. You know if you are an evil character you are probably just like 'hey that is a good idea thanks demon!'



'In re-education camps if you will.'

So they press on through all the atrocities demon Lothar will commit. Slaughtering peasants and imprisoning all who dissent until eventually they get to an assault by Orlais on to the Therinfall Redoubt for some reason. Weird.



'Oh and I got sweet sweet ability score bonuses'

The demon finally gives up, all mad at Cole for ruining its fun.



'What are you going to do about it eh Demon? Eh?'

So then they all get ejected into the real world and Lucius is revealed to be the Envy Demon taking his shape and not possessed at all. Wow that is new. And it appears the demon does have quite a bit of power in the real world so things are still getting interesting.



'Well we can see where Lucius got his dashing good looks'

Envy had locked himself behind the altar of the chapel with a green force field. Barris says he can get through with Lyrium, some veteran Templar Knight, some duct tape, and bailing wire. He has the duct tape and bailing wire so Lothar and company have to fetch the other stuff.



'You will eh? Are these particularly fabulous Templar Lieutenants and Lyrium?'

So here is the start of my doom on this mission. There is a box in the chapel that refills your health potions so I thought that every time I went back to the chapel I could do that. Well it wasn't, it was just that one time (well one other time when you are leaving the chapel to face Envy) so I way over-used them on our first foray to get Templars. Vivienne was getting shot up by the archers (must...get...barrier) and Lothar was getting blown to hell by the Templar Horror's AoE. The second time out I ration better. They also find Lucius' office and it is all messed up as demons are bad housekeepers. Writing in blood all over the walls (trying to draw the Seeker eye symbol for some reason) and a piece of paper stuck to a bust of the Empress Celene for some reason. Then Cole appears in the real world to inform Lothar that the demon and the Elder One are desperate to kill Empress Celene for some reason.



'Wait so...you can just poof like that in the real world? Or am I still in the fade? Inside my own insanity? STOP MESSING WITH MY MIND.'

So we get back to the chapel having gathered the Templar Lieutenants and the lyrium having just used up all the potions when...uh oh more fighting.



'Wait hold who off you? I thought we were done...'

Uh oh.



'So...any fresh potions? No?'

So it is up to Varric and Cassandra since Vivienne and Lothar do not last long, though I do have Varric running around getting them back up when he can. They manage to win and get the barrier down but Barris and the Templar Lieutenants are dead. So I bet that is going to make the final battle harder. They get to refill on potions and then back to fight Envy. Envy is not happy.



'Please show on the doll where the demon touched you.'

And this guy is basically untouchable to Lothar. Envy's weapon is an AoE that not only damages Lothar but activates fear so Lothar cannot even attack Envy once. During the first phase of the fight Lothar just kind of runs around while Varric, Vivienne, and Cassandra fight the demon. Though Vivienne takes a lot of punishment. Man I specced her badly. Lesson learned. Once he is down to 70% he hides and summons Red Templars but fortunately no Templar Horrors. Lothar can pretty much one shot these guys. It is weird he is either ridiculously devastating or completely useless depending on the circumstances. Then Envy comes rushing out as a huge pitch black version of Lothar. Cole also poofs out to help, but he is a squishy stabby rogue type like Lothar and is constantly getting knocked out.



'Sometimes you want to go where every demon knows you name.'

Finally the demon goes back to his regular shape at about 30% health. And he just stands there. So maybe I thought Lothar had a chance to backstab him so I snuck him back there and BOOM the demon used his AoE knocking him out right then. So no Lothar for the end of this fight. Fortuantely Varric had the right stuff.



'BOOM headshot!'

They win! But damn so much for this being levels 4-7 because my level 9s had a hell of a time. Weird because I had not found the game that hard unless I was underleveled so far. Probably a lot had to do with Vivienne not having barrier that makes a big difference. Pity about Barris though. Fortunately the Templar's 78th in command is still there to take charge. Lothar meets the remaining Templars and delivers a rousing speech.



'And gentlemen in Ferelden now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.'

Then caught up in the glory of the moment he calls them in as friends and allies.



'Sera and Solas are all 'WTF'? Elves hate Templars what can I say?'

Well that might have been a little hasty but Lothar has alot of relatives serving in the Templars. Still he is having a hard time being sufficiently ruthless. The Templars help him out in this area by giving him a fascist-esque salute.



'Hail to our great leader!'

Leliana is not impressed. The advisors point out all the Templar leadership was dead or corrupted so they could have conscripted them into the Inquisition instead of letting them join freely.



'If I had consulted you there would not have been any Templars left to ally with.'

But right in the middle of this discussion that Cole spirit poofs on the War Table. Everybody loses their shit, but Lothar calms them down.



'He is a good trustworthy fade spirit who specializes in backstabbing...ok that came out wrong.'

The common people trust the Templars so this alliance gives them confidence.



'Might want to make sure they don't know about the Red Lyrium stuff'

I selected the underworld connections perk earlier that is helping the Inquisition get supplies of non-red lyrium to keep the Templars supplied and in line. Got to keep our drug addicts as functional as possible. This is making the Chantry nervous as they used to have a monopoly on the stuff. Josephine asks Lothar what our official position is on the 'saved by Andraste' stuff. He still, as a genuinely religious guy, has a hard time with this especially since everybody saw Justinia V save him in that vision. I have no idea why being chosen by Justinia V is not sufficient. But anyway...



'The truth...it hurts.'

Josephine is not sure such a humble reply will work but I am sure she will come up with something.

On the way out of the chantry he stops and chats with Vivienne who asks him what he thinks the future for mages will be once order is restored. Lothar thinks they should be more of a partner in how the Chantry works and how magic and possession is controlled in the future. Even to the point of mage priests.



'Vivienne creams herself.'

Needless to say she is delighted to hear that. Angling for a clerical position my dear? Leliana is a bit softer on the whole Templar thing when he meets up with her outside in her tent.



'Cue evil laughter'

Varric is, as one might expect, flabbergasted the Templars indulged in their new hard drug addiction.



'That might not have been a bug but a feature to them'

Once he is done with that he suggests they hold a party to celebrate the victory. Lothar concurs and they think Josephine should work something out. Varric always has his priorities straight. Pity this will probably never happen because it might be cool. Varric probably should get a medal for his excellent demon shooting.

Cassandra is telling annoying Templars that no they cannot beat up the mages who are part of the Inquisition and they need to fuck off and deal with it. Then she expresses exasperation to Lothar at having to put up with them and almost sounds like she is blaming him for it.



'Not that I am being defensive or anything'

Then Cassandra stumbles over herself complimenting him to make up for it. Then he giggles at her discomfort and she gets all flustered. Cuteness.

Then Lothar talks to Cole. He says weird things. And has this to say about Templar's ability to block magic.



'I knew it was all because of the other thing!'

He notes Varric does this to, which makes me wonder why there are not dwarf Templars as they would be naturals. Lothar suggests Cole try to speak like a regular person if he is going to walk around looking like one. Cole promises to try.

A quick trip to Val Royeaux to buy some schematics and then make a few things. They got a nice shield schematic in the Knight-Captain's room so Lothar makes one for Blackwall and Cassandra. Wait speaking of the Knight-Captain they captured him after the fighting...shouldn't he be in prison or being questioned or something? Maybe later. Or maybe they forgot him back at the redoubt. Anyway back to the War Table. A familiar face, well familiar to me, is offering help.



'Sebastian finally freaking got back his throne!'

Well huzzah for Sebastian! It only took him like eight years. And soon to be a new ally to boot. I wonder if we get a meeting where Varric can constantly insult him about how boring he is. Just like old times.

The mission to close the breach is levels 8-11 so it looks like we will want to be about level 12 going by how the last mission went. So time for some campaigning. This time to the Fallow Mire in the Kolcari Wilds. The Fallow Mire is right up there with the Wounded Coast and Blackmarsh for awesome names to market real estate. Lothar arrives there and local tribesmen, Avvars (not Chasind? And for some reason I thought the Avvar were long since extinct, ah well maybe they have descendents), are attacking Inquisition forces trying to set up a fight between Lothar and their chieftain.



'Most people just want an autograph but anything for a fan!'

Oh and it is in the middle of an undead infested swamp. Tune in next time for all the fun!

Stuff Lothar did:



They did not go see the mages. The fate of Alistair's mom TBD.

They allies with the Templars.

Sorry Ser Barris

[viper37]

But then they are approached by non other than Alistair's mom. The Grand Enchanter former Grey Warden Fiona. I always found it funny that Alistair was the one who told me that Grey Wardens couldn't have children...or at least it is very hard...when his own mother was one.

I haven't read the book, but did it happen somewhere around the time the taint disappeared from her?

Well as flattering as being suspected of blowing up the conclave to a lesser extent than she suspects the Templars Lothar is going to say no. Many of his family members are Templars and getting them would be better propaganda. The common people do not like the mages. Besides there is a rumor floating around they have allied with Tevinter so it could be a trap. Frankly I have no idea why they didn't just go to Tevinter in the first place instead of hiding out in Ferelden.

They went to Redcliff because Allistair offered them sanctuary.  Tevinter is a long travel, it is a war zone, even if for mages it is more equalitarian than Ferelden, there is still this thing about blood magic for wich many mages have reservations.  Until they have their back to the wall in a dungeon, pressed hard by a glowing red woman

In any case, I would humbly suggest you at least listen to their side of the story.  Go see them at Redcliff, you have nothing to lose the first time.  The table mission will tell you wich missions will affect the other.

Then he gets killed by a psycho city elf. An elf of such psychoness I am actually surprised. I mean at least Zevran and company were at least a little self aware. Sera is completely off her rocker.

On a scale from 1 to 10 on the level of nuttyness, she is a certified 12
And you haven't seen anything yet

After some mission, all your characters will develop specific combat abilities.  Hers is awesome

Oh and she has a hilarious British accent. The kind of accent Americans make when they are trying to do a British accent. Like how British people always talk with southern drawls when they try to speak like Americans.

Well, um: Robyn Addison was born in 1984 in Derby, Derbyshire, England.

He crafts his stuff (man I am getting pretty obsessive about the crafting, not sure how I feel about basically ignoring drops and getting all excited when I see a Nug to kill)

Welcome to the club!
Also, there'll be something nice with the nugs later one

So he is a member of the Qunari secret police and sends reports back to the Qunari leaders on a regular basis. Well I guess that is ok for now, nothing we are doing has anything to do with the Qunari. He is weirdly not using the Qun to be disgusted and exasperated at humans all the time. He almost seems to like them. He even expressed a sexual interest in Leliana and redheads in general. This is disturbing since Sten made it clear sex with a Qunari would probably be fatal. So anyway he joins the Inquisition and they head back to Haven.

If you talk to Krem on a regular basis, you'll get missions for the war table
I'd say talk to him everytime you get back to your base.

'Wait did we really get jars of bees as grenades? I cannot even bring myself to use that.'

It's actually one of the most useful grenade in the game, seeing it makes ennemies panick.

There is a new area near Calenhad's Foothold that has a big lake and fills in the area between the Crossroads and the Mercenary Fortress. I am not even sure what kept us from going there before. Maybe I just missed it for some reason.

yes

The Hinterlands is a huge area.

Yep. Raise the horror, kill it, and take its stuff.

Solas would probably object to your choice of pronouns

They go back to the camp just north of the lake and switch parties. Out goes Cassandra and Solas and in comes Varric and Vivienne. Cassandra kind of hinted another mage would allow me to recruit the peacenik mage Ellandra earlier so going to try that. Or if not Vivienne some other mage I had not met yet

Total: 3 mages, 3 warriors, 3 rogues + you.
Spymaster, templar and diplomat don't count

Nearby they find a random evil wizard just walking around being evil.
'Why hello Mr. Evil wizard fancy meeting you here'
They find a key to his house and yeah...he has a basement full of evil.
'Only one evil altar and one pile of bodies? Must be an apprentice mage.'


Hey!  I never got that dude and that quest!  How did you find it??

Anyway he just tells Lothar to remind her there is more to life than fighting. I have a feeling that is a hard thing to remind people of in the middle of a RPG

I really wonder how a RPG where your absolute goal is to avoid combat and live a peaceful live would work

Now for the team. Well we have to take Cassandra, since she was a Seeker and Templars are naturally deferential to them. Varric has lots of experience with crazy Templars so he should come. Vivienne is the highest ranking loyalist mage so she should have some cache with them as well. Besides she should help us work with the Orlesian Nobles.

Good choice.   However, go see the mages first, please.  You're missing on something

[Valmy]

I haven't read the book, but did it happen somewhere around the time the taint disappeared from her?

Oh yeah that did happen didn't it? That did happen and was inexplicable in the book.

Good choice.   However, go see the mages first, please.  You're missing on something

Too  late I did not go see the mages for fear I might be unable to then visit the Templars

I will be visiting them soon anyway. I mean presuming they did not poof in a puff of smoke.

Hey!  I never got that dude and that quest!  How did you find it??

Random boss wandering around the Storm Coast. It was only slightly less scary a thing to stumble upon as the Giant fighting the High Dragon I saw in another location in that zone 

Total: 3 mages, 3 warriors, 3 rogues + you.

Ah I am still missing a mage then.

Well, um: Robyn Addison was born in 1984 in Derby, Derbyshire, England.

I didn't say it wasn't authentic just that it was hilarious. We have real Americans with outrageous southern drawls as well.

[viper37]

I think I have one possibility for the evil wizard.  Looking at your playthrough, you did not go see the mages of Redcliff before pushing further into the Storm Coast.  that might be it.

Oh, and that dragon, you'll get acquainted later
Did you fight the giant?  Did you enjoy it?

[viper37]

Now, you need to go to Redcliff.  Too late to meet new friends, err, I mean, too late to meet people that will never become your friends (going there would not have prevented you from joining the Templars later, only the green board mission can do that and it's clearly indicated), but there are a few stores with some schematics.  And maybe a quest or two.  And an agent.  And an old acquaintance, had you went there before.

[viper37]

Oh yeah that did happen didn't it? That did happen and was inexplicable in the book.

Don't worry.  It's not explained in the game either.  Maybe a future DLC.

Too  late I did not go see the mages for fear I might be unable to then visit the Templars

You would have met your missing mage.  Figure Garbon with mage powers and x100 the ego
But don't worry, he'll show up later.

If you spec him for electricity, Vivienne for Fire + Barrier + Knight Enchanter, you'll get a really good team later in the game.  Then you See, Vivienne (or any mage) using fire will make ennemies pannick so they run around not attacking you.
Cold freeze them in place, but you really need a strong warrior to hit them and shatter them.  Then there's the matter of reaching them in time...
So, fire all the way for me.
With electricity, there are a few nice spells that do a lot of damage, so I keep the unfounded mage for that.  Solas is a barrier&rift mage.

Maker's sigh is still available and you get one for free, should you need one in the bazar at Haven or maybe at the crafting station?

I will be visiting them soon anyway. I mean presuming they did not poof in a puff of smoke.

Too late

[viper37]

Btw, here is a nice mod to have:
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonageinquisition/mods/408/?

Now that you've played a little... this one disables the gather animation so it's instant.  you can also get instant loot, if you wish.

[viper37]

Eventually, there will be a quest called Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts.

Talk to me again when it appears, I'll give you some general pointers.

[Valmy]

Yeah maybe I should run down my plans for you first just in case you have any advice

I am wading through the Fallow Mire right now. It is like the marsh from Lord of the Rings where dead people kill you if you step in the water.

Next I am going to the Forbidden Oasis. Once I am done there then back to the Hinterlands to explore Redcliffe, the Mercenary Fortress, Valammar, and then take a shot at that dragon.

At that point then 'In Your Heart Shall Burn' quest where we take our stab at closing the rift.

Spoiler alert and all that but I have not done most of that yet

Let me know if there is anything I should know. I wish I had known I could meet the mages without committing to the mages. Ah well always next time.