Valmy's ADHD Dragon Age playthrough

[Valmy]

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

I did not go interact with either of them I just decided to leave them alone

I regretted not getting a screenshot and them putting it in the playthrough.

[Valmy]

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

Ok this is what I remember. The evil wizard who allied with the Architect gave the Grey Wardens this thing that accelerated the Calling so to make them more controllable by the Architect...I think. Fiona was the only one 100% opposed to the Architect the whole time and she dumped the thing and recovered from the accelerated Calling and somehow that cured her. It may have been a side effect of the thing. But she was banging Maric before this happened

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.

I presume this is the gay Byzantine Spellus was talking about

I am not sure what to make of all these gay and straight people challenging the binormativity of the Dragon Age universe. Clearly the alternative lifestyles of Alistair and Morrigan have spread.

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.

Solas is Barrier+Ice

Vivienne is electricity but she is going to be respecced. Everybody gets barrier from now on. Lothar is squishy and needs it, as I found out in the Templar mission.

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?

Yeah they are sold at the crafting station for cheap. I am going to get a bunch so when I find out I really regret not have that skill I can take care of it next time.

too late

Wait so they just...went away? Well that can't be good.

[viper37]

Wait so they just...went away? Well that can't be good.

The first time you walk into Redcliffe, after the Orlais meeting, you get to see Fiona and two Tevinter magisters.  Well, technically, one is a magister representing the Empire, sort of.  You talk with Fiona and others who are, basically, like, fuck you evil scum for courting the Templars I don't want to talk to you monstrous piece of shit ever.  Except some friendly dude who happens to be a tranquil and you can recruit him as an agent since the regular mages don't much like the tranquils.

Then you go back to your base and you have the table mission to either side with Templars or Mages.

Once you have made your choice, the other disapears.  Siding with mages = more red templars fooling around, less Venatori (Tevinter cult).  Siding with Templars = less red templars and more venatori fooling around.  Except in one place, where it will be nearly 100% red templars, with horrors, demons, not so friendly giants & such. And a tie in with their latest book (wich was dull to read, but nonetheless, it is kinda fun that everything is connected).

Siding with the mages means you will have an encounter with an old pally from DA2.  Siding with the Templars means you fight some new mage leader you've never heard of before.

Having done both, I think the Templar side is the easiest one.  I think the story following this is more fleshed out than with the mages.  However, I miss Fiona.  Apparently, the Templar leader is supposed to survive for most people (no idea how they do this, fuck that demon is hard to kill!) so he hangs around your base later, when alive.  I did not have so much luck.

[Valmy]

Well considering how much those Templar Horrors kicked my ass it sounds like I chose wisely.

But seriously be careful with the spoilers here

[viper37]

Well considering how much those Templar Horrors kicked my ass it sounds like I chose wisely.

But seriously be careful with the spoilers here

Well, duh, you didn't play that part 
Not much spoilers there, but I'll be more careful in the future

[Valmy]

Well true. And I already knew about the Tevinter stuff, somebody mentioned it in Haven. Just I had no idea I would be facing the other team as enemies the rest of the game. Geez mages and Templars can't you guys just bury the hatchet a little bit.

Yeah sucks about Ser Barris. I could have saved him if I had known how long I was going to have to go between potion use. I did a great job earlier when I didn't know I was ever going to be refilled. I walked over to the potion box on my first return to the chapel and found I couldn't click on it. Probably should have just reloaded then 

[viper37]

Yeah, I should have used the spoiler tags.  Sorry, I won't repeat the same mistake, I got carried away
But it's not the clear-cut either, re: the ennemies you face.

[Valmy]

FIRST FALLOW MIRE CAMPAIGN

Ok the Fallow Mire. Remember those marshes from Lord of the Rings? It is kind of like that. If you disturb the water, even a little bit, then loads of demon possessed corpses rise up and try to murder you. Now I gather this was the result of a plague of some sort and not a battle but I didn't get the story straight. Actually I don't think they ever explain what is special about the mire. Some Fereldans tried to carve out a little village here and it did not go well.

Our story is simple, a unit of Inquisition forces was captured by the Avvar in order to draw out His Worship, Lord Lothar Bernard Anthony Ferdinand Aurelian Tythas Trevelyan Herald of Andraste and Protector of the Templar Order. And in order to foil this barbarians little plan he shall...do exactly what the barbarian wants him to do. Man it seems like we do this in Dragon Age a lot.

The Mire is haunted by numerous demons even though there are only two fade rifts here. We find these veil fire beacons and Solas suggests lighting them to draw a few of these bastards out.



'Here demon demon'

There were four of those things and each time a certain number of terror demons jump out of the mire with a bunch of demon haunted corpses. We took them down each time and I thought maybe it would stop the corpses from spawning when we stepped in the water but no such luck. Not really sure what good that did but Solas seemed to think it made the Mire safer. Man he sure knows a lot about a lot of very random things. I guess all those demons and spirits he chats with teaches him lots of things. Blackwall said he and Sera were wondering if he had intimate relations with any demons and Solas was predictably outraged...but he didn't say no. Just saying. At the back of the beacons is a rune that can only be seen with veilfire. Well that is convenient. We had no idea what they were until the last one.



'Oh a poison recipe learned from demons by an evil wizard. Should have known.'

Yeah so Widris is this mage who left the circle to come learn evil from the local demons. He wrote those things down so he would remember the evil secrets they were teaching him, including this poison that now we know. Mages, got to love them. They will meet this fine gentleman later.



'Along with almost everything here...good question Blackwall.'

Fade mumbo jumbo is the answer. They eventually come across one of the fade rifts and a large Avvar is there staring at it puzzlingly.



'It was all the doing of this evil wizard named Anders'

They close the rift and the Avvar is suitably impressed. He is not concerned with the petty political squabbles of his people and only cares about spiritual affairs like rifts that poop out demons. Spiritual matters are a lot more concrete in this world. After a lot more trudging through the mire they finally reach the fortress the Avvar are camped out in.



'Man it would be cool if a vampire lived in that castle.'

There is a huge horde of corpses trying to get into the open front door. What is up with Dragon Age and people being besieged leaving the door open? They rush the corpses and charge through the gates and massacre the Avvar holding the other side behind a barricade. Then charge up to the gatehouse and lower the gates. Marking the first time anybody ever tried to defend a fortress by closing the gates in the history of this series. Beside the gate lowering device is a locked door...one Lothar cannot open.



'Perk required...what the hell is that perk? DAMN YOU BIOWARE.'

There are these doors Lothar cannot pick without this perk that is in Leliana's perk tree. But we need FOUR perks in that tree to get it and right now Lothar has zero. So it looks like Lothar needs five influence levels. Fast. Sucks because there are lots of others that would be nice to have. So we need to get influence level 9 before we can even think of something else. Blah.

So they storm up to the leader of the Avvars who declares himself the Hand of Korth...hmmmm...Korth. Didn't we hear about that God in DA:O? Ah yes it was in Vigil's Keep in Awakenings. He was the God that was being worshipped in the ruins beneath. I think he was like the chief God in their pantheon or something. Anyway this dude is his hand. Blackwall stands like a erm...firm thing that stands firm. Lothar takes out all the archers like a boss. The Iron Bull goes down like a sack of squishy potatoes.



'There is probably a jacking off joke in there someplace.'

Victory! Oh so satisfying. The Avvars have a little class since the Inquisition's soldiers were still alive and in pretty good shape.



'Might want to watch those random wraith spawns on the islands.'

On the way out the Avvar from the fade rift approaches Lothar and notes his God must be strong indeed to have accomplished all he has and expresses contempt for his former chief.



'Join me and we shall bring order to the galaxy'

So sweet now the Inquisition also has a massive Avvar agent to work with. So there is just two little things left to do in the Mire, and that is to find and close the other fade rift and find that wizard and take care of him. Well this is too much for Blackwall and The Iron Bull so Lothar brings in the big guns and gets Cassandra and Varric. The fade rift summons a freaking revenant, the first of DAI, and he was knocking the hell out of the previous party group. But Cassandra and Varric have the right stuff.



'Burn baby burn!'

After that they find and dispatch the evil mage, Widris. And that almost wraps up the Fallow Mire. They found all the landmarks and regions and all that but that stupid locked door still remains. So sometime in the future there will be another Fallow Mire campaign. Back to Haven in triumph.

Once back in Haven Lothar approaches Crem, at Viper37's advice, and he notes that the Redcliffe Castle seems abandoned now that the rebel mages left to do whatever. He suggests Bull's Chargers be used to investigate.



'You will have to fix that for me won't you Crem?'

So that is interesting. Once Lothar goes to Redcliffe I will try the secret passage in the windmill first before I send Leliana's people to break Crem and the Chargers in there. Of course he doesn't know about the secret passage but Leliana does...maybe she told him.

Speaking of the advisors a few interesting developments before Lothar goes off on his next expedition.



Loyalist mages were brought into the fold by the Templars. More followers for Vivienne I guess.



128 gold? Damn it Sebastian you cheap bastard. Oh man I will get Varric to write a very sternly phrased letter.



Breaking the Avvar lines, taking out the apostate mage, and weakening the demon presence has born fruit. Now we have a passage south around the Frostbacks to Orlais. That will be useful in the long trek to the forbidden oasis to investigate that elven temple that is linked to the strange shards Lothar found in the Hinterlands and the Storm Coast.

[viper37]

FIRST FALLOW MIRE CAMPAIGN

Ok the Fallow Mire. Remember those marshes from Lord of the Rings? It is kind of like that. If you disturb the water, even a little bit, then loads of demon possessed corpses rise up and try to murder you. Now I gather this was the result of a plague of some sort and not a battle but I didn't get the story straight. Actually I don't think they ever explain what is special about the mire. Some Fereldans tried to carve out a little village here and it did not go well.

Well, there was a plague. Then people died.  For some reason, they did not all stay dead

Just saying. At the back of the beacons is a rune that can only be seen with veilfire. Well that is convenient. We had no idea what they were until the last one.

There's a bunch of these in the Hinterlands too

There are these doors Lothar cannot pick without this perk that is in Leliana's perk tree. But we need FOUR perks in that tree to get it and right now Lothar has zero. So it looks like Lothar needs five influence levels. Fast. Sucks because there are lots of others that would be nice to have. So we need to get influence level 9 before we can even think of something else. Blah.

Any agent you recruit in a specific tree will count as one perk. So if you have 2 agents in Secrets, you only need two more perks to get it.

The Iron Bull goes down like a sack of squishy potatoes.

Until you get the reaver spec unlocked and manage to get a few points and some very decent armor, yeah, he goes down easily.

So sometime in the future there will be another Fallow Mire campaign. Back to Haven in triumph.

So long as you don't put a foot in the water, the next campaign will be short

Once back in Haven Lothar approaches Crem, at Viper37's advice, and he notes that the Redcliffe Castle seems abandoned now that the rebel mages left to do whatever. He suggests Bull's Chargers be used to investigate.

Later, you will get someone else, that you should talk to.

So that is interesting. Once Lothar goes to Redcliffe I will try the secret passage in the windmill first before I send Leliana's people to break Crem and the Chargers in there. Of course he doesn't know about the secret passage but Leliana does...maybe she told him.

You can't visit the Castle, only a village.

That will be useful in the long trek to the forbidden oasis to investigate that elven temple that is linked to the strange shards Lothar found in the Hinterlands and the Storm Coast.

Nice place to visit.  Some tough fights, even some very tough fights, but nice stuff to get.

[Valmy]

THE FIRST FORBIDDEN OASIS CAMPAIGN

Scout Harding greets us. This time there is no disaster to manage.



'It was ranked three stars in Rick Steves' Orlais'

So well this zone is a maze. A huge sprawling maze with few monsters outside of a few hyenas. There was one person to talk to. A miner who was only there because she got mad at her husband and tossed her wedding ring in a spider infested cave. Well they later kissed and made up and now she is back.



'I know how it is. You get mad and pawn it or put in a dangerous dungeon.'

After many twists and turns they find said dungeon. And wow so many spiders.



'Why are we risking our lives for this woman's ring again?'

Most of the time we are searching for shards. There are 15 and making your way too them all was a serious pain in the ass. But after an embarrassingly long period of time, it is done.



'The...last...shard...so...delirious...'

With that they go to the Temple which gives everybody a feeling of doom and dread.



'The door to DOOOOM'

But once they get inside well all that goes away. Solas, who knows something about everything, explains it.



'Sera will soon respond by making raspberries.'

Seriously through the entire adventure Solas would start to expound on something deeply elfy and mystical and Sera would make raspberries in response. The great rivalry between City Elf and Solas Elf continues. I am so baffled by an elf who knows things.

There was a magical elf device in there and activating it strengthened the veil and made Solas happy. The front door took six shards to open and there are fire, ice, and spirit doors inside each one also costing six shards to open. They do the ice door first and beat up some demons and open what looks like a coffin for some loot. Instead some kind of magical stuff flies out and gets all over Lothar.



'Solas: ancient ruined temple expert'

I have never heard somebody so confident about what are surely wild ass guesses. Anyway they increased Lothar's cold resistance. There is another door in the back of the first cold room that takes twelve shards to open. So they open it and fight slightly tougher demons and open another coffin thing with more creepy magic that increases Lothar's cold resistance. Also a box...



'Damn that almost looks like Kirkwall or the Amell family sigil'

It is not either of them but eerily close. I wonder what it means? So they have twelve shards left so they open both the first doors to the fire and spirit sections. More shards are needed to go further into the temple so time to return to Haven. There was not even that much loot from the Oasis until we got to the Temple. So it was not a huge matter to sell off and craft some before heading off to the Hinterlands to explore Redcliffe and get that Mercenary leader.

THIRD HINTERLANDS CAMPAIGN

Yes back to the Hinterlands once again. I thought we would explore Redcliffe and just wrap a few things up but oh no. This was another long ordeal. And the Hinterlands are not done with us. This region could have been its own game. First there are a few Grey Warden relics and a Circle Mage book here that Blackwall and Vivienne want so they go get those real fast. Then on to Redcliffe.



'The gates are as open as they were when the Darkspawn attacked all those years ago!'

I have to say the layout looks nothing like it did in DA:O. I guess they redesigned their village in the interim. They have a nice statue to Lorcan but it looks nothing like him, it is a griffon. Hey I have had a hard time getting his mouth to look right but it was not even a little bit beak-like. They rush to windmill but the secret passage is caved in. I guess Arl Eamon decided it was a security risk.



'After that everybody was like 'do we really need flour anymore?''

So in the town they find a house that was being used by the mages to discover they butchered tranquil to make scrying scull things like the Ocularums Lothar finds that show him the shard locations. Vivienne and Cassandra lose their shit when they find that.



'RIP tranquils. I wonder if one of you is Owain.'

Mages amiright? Well way back during the first campaign Lothar discovered somebody named tanner was smuggling Lyrium to the Templars terrorizing the Hinterlands and he goes and confronts her and she is a phony Chantry priestess. Cassandra threatens her with doom unless she joins Leliana's people as an Inquisition spy.



'Agent acquired! I mean sure she is a despicable criminal but we did recruit Sera so...'

Redcliffe was kind of a disappointment. They find the bar but no Bella in it. There is nobody else from the original game there. Meh. Everything looks completely different except for the inside of the Chantry which is kind of standard anyway. Man why did they even re-use Redcliffe if they were going to do that?



'A Ferelden who has a weird obsession over his sheep. Better not let any Orlesians know about this.'

Yeah so this family has a weird ram that they think talks to them and stuff. When Lothar finds the ram, I was a little worried he had already slaughtered the ram since he has been killing them by the bushel but this ram is a weird red color, he just tells him to go home and the ram goes. Weird. They recruit the town healer to help the refugees despite her insistence our mighty Inquisition only spits on knife ear scum.



'Solas is all 'he mentioned elves but included dwarves with otherwise' *slightly approves*'

So she comes and this is the end of a long quest chain to get stuff for the refugees. They are all taken care of now. More on this later. After a thorough exploration of Redcliffe there is no way to get into the castle. Guess it will be Bull's Chargers and Leliana after all.



'Do I even want to know what is in this?'

Well despite my concern it was filled with angry bees and underwear it didn't have anything in it. It just gave us some influence and experience and Sera was impressed we found it. Weird.

There was one other quest to put blood lotus in this offering basket at the lake they found Blackwall at. The results were...unexpected.



'A sword emerged from the lake? Does this mean I am King of the Britons?'

Actually it was not even that great of a sword. So back to the western wood section. This place drove me nuts last time with all its mabari packs, its bears, its lyrium smuggling backstabbing rogues, and its groups of mercenaries. Getting into any fight will usually draw the attention of more groups and things can get crazy fast. If I thought leveling my guys up would make this less unpleasant well was I mistaken as all the monsters leveled up with them. Yeah! The most amazing part of this area this time was a fade rift in a cave to the west of the Inquisition camp. This thing was fascinatingly difficult and I am still not sure why it was so. It had despair demons, which are freaking annoying, and rage demons and wraiths. Nothing too unusual but this group was really hard to take down and dish out a ton of damage. And the second wave is far harder. Amazingly hard. I tried for hours but no combination of tactics or characters was able to dish out enough and take enough to get through the second wave. I will be back later. It was crazy since the other similarly leveled fade rifts were easy. Even the one where the Despair demon led us so far from it in stage 1 that the stupid thing reset. Despair demons are aptly named.

Lothar got the original crew together for the revenge run at the mercenary leader. He also leveled with us but this time we take him down easily.



'Revenge is best served at level 12'

Then they have free reign of the castle and fine some nice loot and two more shards for the Forbidden Oasis temple and...



'The key to the Red Lyrium mine in Valammar! What is up with Dwarves and their unnecessary double ms.'

I had a feeling that was what they would find there. Just to the east is another fade rift. This one was a lot easier but then the lovely denizens of the woods come pouring in. A pack of dogs, two bears, lyrium smugglers, and some Red Templars?!



'Didn't I take care of you guys?'

Maybe the dwarves have a few rogue Templar allies they have been feeding their lyrium to. Weird. Well Lothar will have to put an end to this. But first they are a little too weighed down by loot so they go to the Crossroads to sell. The refugees are in a great place now so they are wondering what to do next. Well Lothar has an idea.



'More recruits for my ever-growing army of minions!'

Yeah so they form a unit called 'Vale's irregulars' under Corporal Vale who was in charge of the Crossroads. Nice. Next they make their way back to the little non-descript door of Valammar. It looks more impressive on the inside.



'Yep dwarves live here.'

Varric is a little confused why there is a Thaig so close to the surface but he postulates it was a trade post way back in the day. Naturally the carta are here but, as is traditional, there are some other members of the welcome committee.



'Wow my first darkspawn! So far into the game to.'

He looks like a combination of DAO Hurlocks with DA2 Hurlocks. No Genlocks or Shrieks or anything of course, just Hurlocks. Varric is delighted to see them.



'I cannot imagine why Varric.'

On that note Lothar found a scathing note in Valammar hammering the corrupt and hypocritical ways of the dwarves and thought 'wow Varric might enjoy this' only to see Varric was, in fact, the author. I guess the Carta enjoys his writing. They eventually find the Carta leader.



'In a few seconds you will never have to worry about Inquisition meddling again.'

It seems Lothar is becoming famous.



'Rich and dashingly handsome you mean!'

After that they broke into the dwarf treasure vault and found the point where the darkspawn were breaking through and sealed it (though not impressively, I don't know if wooden planks is really going to stop a rampaging Hurlock). All in a days work. That pretty much wraps up another long venture in the Hinterlands...well except I just had to try that Dragon again. It did not go well.



'It sure looks awfully big doesn't it?'

Probably need some fire resist gear just for that purpose. Maybe later. They get back to Haven. Nothing really big happens just more messing around with loot and gear. Though The Iron Bull has some interesting stories about the four way war on Seheron to share.



'I have a feeling he says something different about the Tal-Vashoth if the Herald is one...at least I presume.'

Speaking of The Iron Bull Leliana has a report about she and the Bull's Chargers' investigation of Redcliffe Castle.



Ok I am getting kind of annoyed. This is the second pretty significant guy they have captured, the other being Knight-Captain Denam from the Templars, and yet there is nobody in the dungeon and no questioning actually happens. Meh. Well time for the big show. Lothar and his people are ready.



'Excellent. Make it so number one.'

So I am expecting a huge struggle through demons to get back to the breach combined with some disastrous calamity but no...



'Weird I had to take off my gloves this time.'

Instead they just walk into the Temple of Sacred Ashes without incident. Solas, an expert at closing breaches somehow, directs the Templars.



'Yes sir, mysterious elven apostate, sir!'

So the Templars focus on strengthening the veil and Lothar lets the breach have it. It blows up throwing everybody back and...



'We did it! We won Dragon Age: Inquisition!'

I was shocked. Everything went according to plan? The breach is sealed! The word is saved! Hurrah for His Worship, Lord Lothar Bernard Anthony Ferdinand Aurelian Tythas Trevelyan Herald of Andraste and Protector of the Templar Order! May his name never be forgotten! (Note: from this game onwards he will only be referred to as 'The Herald')

Lothar: Damn it!

Urien and Lorcan: Sorry man that is just how it goes.

Anyway a big victory party breaks out as they all await the credits rolling.



'Hurrah! Now to live happily ever after!'

Lothar watches, a bit melancholy. Cassandra comes and tells him news of his glorious victory is spreading. Lothar reminds her this was a victory by everybody. She agrees but notes their alliance is fragile.



'You're right. Without some new crisis to unite us the Inquisition will probably splinter. If only there was a solution to this problem.'



Sometimes problems solve themselves.

[Valmy]

Well, there was a plague. Then people died.  For some reason, they did not all stay dead

Yeah I got that impression someplace. But there was no big story about it. I mean this is in the Kolcari Wilds so it must have been Chasind of some kind I guess. Or some ancient elf or Tevinter people.

There's a bunch of these in the Hinterlands too

Yes indeed. They also gave us recipes I think...or at least one of them did.

Any agent you recruit in a specific tree will count as one perk. So if you have 2 agents in Secrets, you only need two more perks to get it.

Sweet! Well I have one now. So just need to get to Influence level 8

Until you get the reaver spec unlocked and manage to get a few points and some very decent armor, yeah, he goes down easily.

Yep kind of funny given his huge size and bombastic reputation.

So long as you don't put a foot in the water, the next campaign will be short

Yep. Just have to run down to the castle and back

Later, you will get someone else, that you should talk to.

How very cryptic. I will just talk to everybody new I get

You can't visit the Castle, only a village.

Yeah that whole thing was a letdown

Nice place to visit.  Some tough fights, even some very tough fights, but nice stuff to get.

Well there was a whole bunch of nothing but a giant maze until I actually got inside the temple. Things do indeed look to get more interesting once I get further in.

[viper37]

Btw, in the Hinterlands, did you recruit some scout agent?  I don't think I've seen it...

[spoiler]Opposite the crossroads from your first camp, you meet one of Leliana's agent searching for a friend?  It's close by the Cult members, wich I think you recruited[/spoiler]

More spoilerish than before in case you don't see it:
[spoiler]
Sort of a damsel in distress, attacked by 2 or more templars; she will die if you don't act quickly upon seeing her[/spoiler]

About those despair demons, they are very easy to take down.  I've given you generic tips before on how to close fade rifts, but specific to this demon:
[spoiler]
You need a mage that can cast fire spell, like ignite them on fire.  Or a mage that can dispell a barrier.  And a rogue archer that shoots explosive arrows[/spoiler]

About the dragons, again, don't take them until you are at least, at the *very least*, one level above.  Hinterlands is level 12, the lowest of the bunch.  Also:
[spoiler]
It helps to have 2 potion slots (one of the perks), the 1st one is always health.  Use the 2nd one for regenerative potions, the 3rd one for whatever the dragon is using (not always fire, strange as it seems).  Bring Blackwall or Cassandra + Iron Bull (trust me please, I know he's squishy, but trust me, it's worth it) + Vivienne.
Build Vivienne as Knight Enchanter.  Use her power that destroys guard.  Micro-manage your party.  Dragon down in a few minutes.
[/spoiler]

Even more spoilerish, specific to the battle, don't read if you want to find by yourself:
[spoiler]
At some point, the dragon flaps its wings to create a vortex.  Your instincts tells you to run, but you need to get closer, inside the eye of the vortex (i.e. close to the dragon).  Took me a while to figure that out[/spoiler]

[Valmy]

Btw, in the Hinterlands, did you recruit some scout agent?  I don't think I've seen it...

[spoiler]Opposite the crossroads from your first camp, you meet one of Leliana's agent searching for a friend?  It's close by the Cult members, wich I think you recruited[/spoiler]

Ritts? Met her and saved her but didn't recruit her. By accident of course, I did not know I could recruit agents at the time. I didn't recruit the Cult members either I had them help the Refugees. Though I did recruit the refugees

About those despair demons, they are very easy to take down.  I've given you generic tips before on how to close fade rifts, but specific to this demon:
[spoiler]
You need a mage that can cast fire spell, like ignite them on fire.  Or a mage that can dispell a barrier.  And a rogue archer that shoots explosive arrows[/spoiler]

Normally they are not difficult, they are an annoyance. In that fight though it was different.

About the dragons, again, don't take them until you are at least, at the *very least*, one level above.  Hinterlands is level 12, the lowest of the bunch.  Also:
[spoiler]
It helps to have 2 potion slots (one of the perks), the 1st one is always health.  Use the 2nd one for regenerative potions, the 3rd one for whatever the dragon is using (not always fire, strange as it seems).  Bring Blackwall or Cassandra + Iron Bull (trust me please, I know he's squishy, but trust me, it's worth it) + Vivienne.
Build Vivienne as Knight Enchanter.  Use her power that destroys guard.  Micro-manage your party.  Dragon down in a few minutes.
[/spoiler]

Even more spoilerish, specific to the battle, don't read if you want to find by yourself:
[spoiler]
At some point, the dragon flaps its wings to create a vortex.  Your instincts tells you to run, but you need to get closer, inside the eye of the vortex (i.e. close to the dragon).  Took me a while to figure that out[/spoiler]

Good advice. Only it will be awhile before I get that stupid other potion slot and I do not have access to specializations yet.

[viper37]

Good advice. Only it will be awhile before I get that stupid other potion slot and I do not have access to specializations yet.

Fetch quests are your friend
You know, the ones asking you for mineral samples, among other things?  These will give you influence, wich will give you more perks, eventually.  You'll need quite a few to compensate the loss of 2 agents

[Valmy]

Yes I have been doing those as much as I can.