What did you do today in DA? [Spoilers]

It's amazing when you go out of your way to take companions who seem appropriate for a particular mission and none of the NPCs seem to notice.  None of the Wardens seem to notice Blackwall even when I speak to him regarding the Wardens via dialogue.  I take Varric to Adamant because of his connection to Hawke, but if I choose to leave Hawke in the Fade, he's totally taken by surprise when Hawke's gone upon the return to Adamant.  Oh well...   I suppose we should be grateful that the game is as good as it is despite such oversights.

The journey of Warden Commander Drako Amell, The Hero of Ferelden: (DA:O, DA:A, and Witch hunt)



The Chronicles of Tyros Hawke, Champion of Kirkwall:



The Path of Inquisitor Mason Trevelyan, Herald of Andraste:



The Journey continues,

Spent the last couple of days securing the area and getting the refugees some basic supplies. The open plains of Ferelden are not a place you want to spend the night with no blanket and an empty belly. We've met several people who have agreed to operate in the field for the Inquisition. Closing rifts in the air and fighting off the horrors that fall from them seems to inspire. Reaching Horse Master Dennet is proving difficult though. I'll have to deal with the Mages and Templars first. Assuming I can get him to help us, he's not going to be able to herd his horses through a war zone. There are also stories of bandits on the roads making pests of themselves... I don't know what it is exactly, but every so often I hear a faint roar off in the distance. Whatever it is... it's big... Very big...

...We tried tracking the mages, only to find that there were three different groups of Mages out here. The bulk of them are hold up in Redcliff. A smaller group has a place in an outpost off to the west. Neither of which is doing any of the fighting. They are trying to stay out of it from what I could tell. We eventually find the hideout of the Mages that are openly fighting. There aren't many of them left, but one mage can take out an entire army with the right spell and enough Lyrium... or Blood. I try to approach peacefully, but they attack us on sight. They all swarmed... we had to kill them. There were still several out in the plains fighting the Templars, but without reinforcements, they wouldn't last long. They would either die or run to one of the other groups of Mages in the area. Groups that these former Templars would turn their sights on next, So I will turn my sights to them before they have time to regroup. I have a pretty good idea of where their base is already...

...Templars are horrible at hide and go seek. Their secret base is just off a main road. Their fortifications were less than impressive. Most of them were Lyrium deprived. Just enough dust to fight off the shakes, but they were hardly at their best. A few more days like this and they would be little more than wandering madmen. Some claim they already are... I attempt to talk to them as I did with the mages, but again we are attacked on sight. Considering the state they were in, I was amazed they weren't attacking each other. They didn't offer us much choice. We killed those in the camp. The men out in the field would eventually scatter. I've asked some scouts to keep an eye out for the remains of the Mages and Templars. Keeping them out of the Cross Roads and away from the refugees takes priority though...

...I've been tracking down rifts in the area and closing as many as I can. There's only one left, but it's proving... difficult. It has some powerful defenders. We were about to mount our fourth attempt when a woman came running to our camp. Her clothes were in rags. She complained of bandits on the road that attacked her and her husband's wagon as they were trying to get out of the valley. Her husband was killed and she barely escaped. I decided to put the rift off for the time being and go speak to the scouts about these highwaymen. We pick up one story after another. Whoever these men are, they are not acting like bandits. The few we have faced are well trained and organized. Simple thugs, they are not. Something else is going on here...

...We eventually track them back to their hideout. A fortress tucked away in the hills. The place is guarded by some of the strongest warriors I've run into yet. Luckily most of them are scattered out. They could be dealt with one at a time. Had they all been together, I doubt I would be here to talk about it. We find notes and letters revealing that these bandits were a Mercenary company hired to scare off refugees from a local Deep Roads entrance. We find the entrance and it's crawling with Carta. If we just left them, they would simply hire another band of Mercs. We head into the Deeps to flush them out of the area, but find that they are under assault from Darkspawn. These Dwarves were transporting Lyrium up to the Mages and Templars fighting above them. A good little scheme as long as a bunch of monsters don't crawl out of the depths to eat you. No telling how long the Carta has been fighting off the Darkspawn. No wonder the Templars were rationing their Lyrium supply. We fight our way through the Carta and Darkspawn till we find where the beasts are coming from and seal off their tunnels. The remaining Carta flee the area, but I have no doubt that they will be back eventually...

...With the Mages, Templars, bandits, and most of the Rifts closed, we make the run to Master Dennets farms. Seems his farm hands have told him about the Inquisition and all that we have been doing in the area. He didn't fight me on joining the Inquisition, but insisted on fortifying the area so the war doesn't spread back to threaten his people. A reasonable request all things considered. We tend to some problems with the local wildlife and map out some good locations for watch towers. That, along with the Inquisitions forces patrolling the area, was enough to convince the old man. Once the towers are complete he'll move his mounts to Haven. While he prepares to do that, I am giving that last Rift another shot. Once I get that closed I'm going back to Haven and sleeping for a week...

Thanks.  I always kill Anders so that's one I've never run into.  First he deceives you, then he commits an act of terrorism.  Your primary mission as Hawke is trying to keep the peace between contentious factions.  Anders betrays you.  Had he blown up the Templar barracks, that I could understand though not condone.  The Chantry not so much, even if my Hawke is not particularly religious.

Regarding Anders:

Still didn't get why Anders didn't just wait 5 minutes and blow Elthina, Meredith, and Orsino up altogether. 5 minutes, man. That's all we needed, and then the Templars would have been toothless while they scrambled for leadership and we could have led an assault on the Gallows to free the mages nice and proper and left the loyalists behind for the Templars to tend to.

But nuuuuu.

deadlydwarf

I just played it, and you can see the rift open wide hanging out behind the big spider.

I got the feeling the rift was already open which is why they went there in the first place and we never saw the Inquisitor open the rift in the first place, just use it. 

Two rifts are involved.

The Rift that was open to bring the PRide Demon through for Clarel to bind was still open when the dragon attacked and still open when we left that scene to follow Clarel. We are never given the option to close it. And when it opens initially, you can actually see the shadow of th enightmare in the green. I noticed that for the first time tonight.

Then, when the bridge breaks, The Quiz opens a Rift so we all don't plummet to our deaths. We all fall through alive and unharmed. That Rift may also still be open, but it's in the middle of the air and plot dictates we don't care anymore. But we can't reach THAT one. And even if we could, it's midair and useless to us, unless we want to finish plummeting to our deaths.

So, that leaves our focus on the only other rift we know is nearby to the place we just were. The Clarel Binding Demon one. I think they even mention it specifically. How they know where it is? the whole point of following the Divine Spirit was to make sure we didn't get lost. Also, the nightmare demon is right next to it and he keeps goading us as well. So off we go.

But I don't think Quiz is required to exit safely, just to enter safely.

deadlydwarf

I hadn't thought it was to save ALL of them. I thought it was to save the Quiz, specifically, and only one sacrifice was needed to save the Quiz. Can't imagine any of the Companions just standing on the other side of the big monster going, "Man, I hope they make That decision soon."

Not the rift the Quiz opened. The Rift that Erimund and Clarel opened way earlier. The rift Quiz opened is in the middle of the air and useless.

The Spirit Divine blasts the big monster out of the way. So, it's knocked out.

You deal with the skinny Cory sized demon and kill it.

Three companions have a head start and make a run for the rift. We wanna be out of there.

Just then, Mr. Big Spider Monster wakes up and makes an appearance. A Flesh wall between you and the other companions. Who I assume didn't notice and jumped right on through that rift.

So the problem is this flesh wall blocking your way. Someone needs to beat on it and distract it's tentacles while you run around it to the other side where the rift is.

Pick one and do so.

Holy snowballs guys. Just...wow.

Okay, so I decided to get the Hinterlands started. This time, rather than putting Crossroads off, I went there straight away. I really wanted to slow down and do things like read the codex for each landmark. The first one you can grab if you go straight from the camp to the Crossroads is a codex for Tyradda Bright Axe. In it, they make a reference to a child known as Morigahann'Nan as a descent to her.

Once you complete all of the related codex to Tyradda, you get a (pretty long) wartable mission to retrieve her weapon. Turns out that "Bright Axe" actually means mage staff.

Wait, it gets more interesting.

In this first codex, there is a reference to Tyradda laying with "a leaf-eared lover" and having a child from that chance encounter. According to this a child named "Morrighan'Nan" that is supposed to be much later descendant from this encounter was foretold.  She was seen as having an important destiny.

Now, consider Morrigan. She mentions in DA:O that Flemeth might have choosen her for her magical skills when she was very young. She suspects she was abducted by Flemeth from a local Chasnid tribe. Now, we haven't seen any Chasnid in southern Ferelden since Origins. We have seen the Avvar. My guess is that the Chasnid and Avvar is supposed to be one in the same.

In short, Morrigan was prophesied by the Avvar. She's quite gifted in magic and what's more, comes from elven blood. Flemeth might have been waiting in the shadows to see Morrigan born, then snatched her when the time was right.

Something I've never been really clear on in that scene, is the demon that controls that area the mini Cory or the big beasty? One is a master and the other is just another guardian.  My initial impression was that the mutated Arcane Horror was the lordling of the island that's what was talking to you, but considering the Spirit goes after the spider.... maybe that is the real boss of nightmare land? Hard to say...

And for record, I send the Warden to distract the Spider. Only sent in Hawke once just to see what happened and immediately reloaded. Love my champion too much to be left to rot in a demonic hell when there is another option.