Dragon Age Chronicles | The life of five adventurers in Thedas

From Morvan’s diary
Day 16

I can’t say the past few days have been boring, since all sort of weird and dangerous things happened after my last entry in this diary.

Two days ago, we were camping after a long day in the snow, when suddenly a hooded figure approached. Jan was cooking, the mage was complaining about something and the Sigmund was tending our campsite, so it was just me and Tharn who noticed it.
Tharn hid himself in the snow, bow at the ready (I guess) and started making signals that everybody responded to without really understanding, while Cara and I approached.
The man didn’t look aggressive – all his weapons were sheathed, but I questioned him, since he came out of nowhere. He said he was looking for Jan and Tharn. There. In the middle of nowhere, half buried in the snow, we meet someone who knows the group I am travelling with and is looking for them. What are the chances?
And it got even stranger once I realized he was a Qunari. He said he has no name, but he can be called “the grey one”.

Anyway, I lead him to our camp and he said he has been paid by two ladies to bring Jan and Tharn back to Denerim. The guys believed him immediately, since he mentioned the names of the two ladies, as well as some past events at Cumberland that I don’t know anything about, but that involved the group.
Turns out Jan has an official, rich fiancée in Denerim.

We had a pleasant dinner, in spite of Jan’s cooking and went to sleep, only to be awakened by a huge pack of hungry wolves.
It was terrifying! We didn’t have our armors on and the wolves, being desperate for food, were extremely aggressive!
Luckily, someone had the good idea to look for the pack leaders, and the wolves fled as soon as they realized we were way too much risk and effort for a prey.

The next morning, the Qunari (he refers to himself to Tal-Vashoth, though, but I have no idea what that means) did some scouting and said he could see a humanoid figure in the distance.
I thought his eyes have been tricked by the light reflecting on the snow, as there was no way he could see a man that far away… Boy, was I wrong!
We did set foot towards the figure, since it was right on the way for Denerim, and we did meet “him” in the end… and there is no way that my friends will believe this!
There is no way I am going to write what it… whay “he” was, you’ll think I am crazy. I am still not sure if I was dreaming or if he was really there! Maybe we were all just hallucinating, but I swear “he” did look real.
We all hid in the snow, except for the mage and the Avvar, who stood there, tried a peaceful approach and actually succeeded.

The conversation was bizarre: “he” asked us if we have seen the Arch Demon, then mentioned something about an architect (?), then… wait for it… asked the mage to say hi to her mother and then headed South.
I swear I am not making this up!

Anyway, I am going to sleep now, we are camping again and I think I had enough strange things happening to last me a lifetime.

Morvan

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From Morvan's Diary
Day 10

Another day spent walking in the snow. I am freezing and my limbs ache for the effort of walking with my legs buried in the snow up to my knees.
Cara is taking it very well, she never complained once, and she lays near me when I sleep, to keep me warm.

The oil I got from that Grey Warden in the forest truly is a blessing, as I would have never been able to start a fire most of the times without it. However, I must not relax and use it too much: it’s running low already and Denerim is still far away. I do hope that we make it on time before the city closes the doors!
I don’t think I can survive long outside of the city in this horrible weather; it’s so cold even my eyelids are frozen, and hunting is difficult and dangerous: all small animals are gone and I am more of a prey than a predator.

Anyway, something new happened today.
I was sitting by the fire of my camp when I saw four people approaching. I thought they were bandits at first, but with a good look it was easy to determine that they were just as desperate as I am, if not more.
They do look dangerous, but they’ve not been aggressive towards me and it seems that the only thing they care about now is getting to Denerim, so it seems unlikely that they will rob me and leave me here in the snow.

They are all sleeping now, they must have been really exhausted and I am afraid that, hadn’t I found them, the snow would have killed them all. Even the tall Avvarian warrior, who is used to cold weather.
They don’t look just dangerous, they are also… interesting: a dwarven warrior (from the surface, based on the accent), a fereldan man with a very nice bow and a rather impressive beard, the Avvar, and a lady mage – the only woman of the group. She looks like a Circle mage, but, quite honestly, considering the circumstances, I wouldn’t care much either way right now.

I think that travelling together will be a good decision. They seem to be capable of hunting and of protecting the camp, so hopefully it will be easier and safer for us to reach Denerim, unless the weather becomes even worse – if that is possible.

I would kill to sleep in a warm bed right now.

Morvan

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Fort Nildud
Finally, civilisation!

The underground passage proved to be the right choice: only half a day of march and the group of adventurers was finally outside of the uncharted territory and into a drier area of the Korkari wilds.

As the dim light of a winter afternoon shined in their eyes, Namary looked around and recognized the ruins at the center of the lake, the ruins of Yregh: she knew where to go.

Namary led the group through an hidden path on higher and drier grounds and they marched until the light was too low to be able to see around.
The march was tiring and grueling, always having to be careful to hide their traces behind them, as well as making sure that no surprise laid ahead.

When they finally found a place dry enough and safe enough to set camp, Tharn offered to go find some food and the group settled.

Tharn’s hunting trip wasn’t very successful, but the group didn’t complain to much as they sat around camp: Sigmund was happy to finally rest his tired legs – marching in the swap was especially tiring for the dwarf – and Namary took the opportunity to finally start translating the mysterious book they had found among the ruins; she knew it was going to take long, but she was eager to learn the secrets it guarded.
Jan cooked a dinner based of frogs and herbs, all the while singing a song his grandmother used to sing him when he was a child.

The night was uneventful and quiet, except for Namary: sleep bought her in a place where she was chased by demons wanting her sould and her magic. The nightmare turned into a strange dream when a set of familiar hands appeared and she escaped the demons by turning into a mouse, then a salmon and then a bear.

NPC-Faryn.jpgAt dawn, during Tharn’s watch, the group heard someone screaming for help.
They ran towards the voice and found a man, standing on a cart, fighting off a small group of Dark Spawn.
It was clear that the man didn’t have a chance, so the group charged. After all they’ve been through, it was an easy fight for them and soon all the Dark Spawn were dead.

The man introduced himself as Faryn, a travelling merchant who was begrudgingly completing a task assigned to him by the soldiers at fort Nildud: he was salvaging some food from a nearby abandoned village and bringing it back to the fort, where a group of soldiers and refugees were resting during their march north.
He agreed to share some of his food with the famished group, then asked the group to escort him to the fort, where, as a sign of gratitude, he would sell them his wares for a special price.

With a whistle, Faryn called back his horse and the group was ready to move, Sigmund thankful that he could sit on the cart, and the group equally thankful that they could move at human pace, rather that dwarf pace.
The short trip to the fort was group wasn’t very surprised of the merchant’s raggedy clothes and unshaven face: after all, they were dirty and looked just as messy as he did.

camp.jpgThe four adventurers were surprised about the fort at first, since it wasn’t there when they came from the North looking for the Golden Eggs, but Faryn explained that this fort was built in a hurry with salvaged materials, as a way to protect fugitives from the Dark Spawn while they moved north.
Very soon, the sight of the fort: a group of tents surrounded by wooden walls, confirmed Faryn’s words.

After a quick bath, a dinner offered by Faryn and a good night of rest, the party was woken up by Faryn: he wanted to show them his wares before opening the stall for other people, to make sure they could access the best selection.
He also had prepared a surprise for them: he gave them four healing potions and one lyrium potion to thank them again for saving his life.

A quick look at Falyn’s wares was enough for Tharn to realise that he was selling stolen goods, or possibly items stripped from corpses: there was too much variety in the way the objects were made, some very outlandish, some very fine and some really crude, like the big Chasind warhammer that the merchant was keeping near a fine Qunari sword and a Silverite rune.

The group quickly came to the conclusion that in times of war it wouldn’t be wise to be picky about where the merchandise came from and their need of better equipment after losing most of their possession at the Dark Spawn camp was too big anyway, so they happily browsed Faryn’s wares and purchased some equipment.

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Escape from the Korkari Wilds
Players need to escape from the Korkari Wilds

After managing to escape from the Dark Spawn camp, Ser Tharn Padfoot, Sigmund Faccia di Pietra, Namary the Enchantress and Ian Orborg have made their way into the Korkari Wilds, doing their best to cover their traces while also moving as fast as possible towards the old cottage where they had left their horses.

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During the escape, they defeated a snake-like creature hidden in the swamps and ignored several ruined buildings: no time to explore!

They reached a point where the road was blocked by a Dark Spawn camp and faced a choice: go around the camp, losing some days, but using a known path; or venturing inside a cave that could potentially lead to the other side of the swamp, near their destination.

The group chose to explore the cave, but only for half a day, then to go back in case the cave is closed or it takes too long to reach the other side.

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Prisoners!
The characters have been captured by the Dark Spawn

The explosion of magic caused by the breach in the Veil has left the characters unconscious.
When they wake up, they quickly realise that they have been deprived of all their possessions and tied all together, beaten and tired, into a tent.
A quick look at the two shadows outside the tents confirms that they have been captured by the Dark Spawn!

But why are they still alive?

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Using all their stealth, the characters manage to capture the two guards and take a look outside: all their items are placed together in a big pile on a cart, together with other spoils of war. The three eggs lie in another cart, well guarded by the Dark Spawn.

The characters decide to send the rogue, Ser Tharn Padfoot , to the cart with their equipment, to salvage as much of their possessions as he can, then to cause a diversion – a fire in the kennels – take the eggs and flee.

Unfortunately, a group of the Dark Spawn sees them while they flee and start a chase, which ends well for the characters, though they need to be careful now as the Dark Spawn is on alert and they want the precious eggs back.

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