Dragon Age: Origins ~ navigating the Fade

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Lulled into a deep sleep by the Sloth Demon, Caelyra found herself in a waking dream. She was in an unfamiliar building hewn from solid rock; while she had been in a lot of structures hewn from solid rock in her life, this was no castle like what she was used to... this was a fortress.

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She peered up in awe at her surroundings. And was that Duncan and other Grey Wardens up the ramp? This was all so very strange.

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Duncan welcomed her to Weisshaupt Fortress, home of the Grey Wardens, but Caelyra was confused... she was just at the mage tower, killing abominations, seeking help for the blight, and now she was here?

When she questioned Duncan though, he became enraged and attacked her. The other Wardens attacked her. She had to defend herself!

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The corpses of the Grey Wardens vanished and a podium appeared where Duncan once stood. It looked like a strange rune. Curious, she touched it...

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...and found herself in the realm between realms. Niall was there, the mage who had sought the Litany to protect against mind domination. This was very strange indeed and not quite what Caelyra had imagined would happen when she dared to seek aid from the mages.

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Niall was surprised to see another face. He had lost any hope long ago of escaping the realm of the Sloth demon and he thought Caelyra was a maniac for even daring to hope to come across her companions again while trapped in the demon's lair.

Caelyra had no room for hopelessness; if she had, she would've fallen to despair long before now. She would've fallen the night her parents died.

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Taking leave of the depressing mage, Caelyra explored this little pocket of the Fade and came across a little mouse. He was under attack by demons and she got there too late to save him; but not too late to absorb his mousiness into herself.

With a deep breath, she willed herself to become a mouse so she could crawl through these little tunnels she had found, and LO, she became a mouse.

Switching from mouse form back to human form, she fought through several packs of demons and then found her way back to Niall and informed him of her new skill. He was amazed and seemed to allow a small hope to at least flourish within him. Maybe with her ability to transform, she could actually save everyone and get out of this horrid place.

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Activating the runes on the pedestal, she travelled to several "islands" of the Sloth Demon's realm. In these areas she fought demons, spirits, burning creatures, and all manner of things that didn't belong in the world.

Each time she defeated something that was tormenting a living soul, she gained that soul's gift, or ability. Soon she was able to transform into a mouse, spirit, flaming man, and great golem, all with their own abilities that enabled her to navigate these horrid halls and defeat the minor lord demons within.

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Finally all the minor demon lords had been killed and she was able to access previously inaccessible areas of the realm, as well as the the pocket in the centre where the great sloth demon resided.

She thought she'd better visit the other areas first. It was very likely that's where her companions were being held.

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Wynne was being tormented by demons that were pretending to be her long, lost students. She blamed herself for their deaths, and then blamed Caelyra too.

After much persuasion, Caelyra finally convinced Wynne to focus, to think about what was happening, and then the dead students transformed into demons and attacked them both. They did not take long to take care of and soon Wynne was rescued and it was time to visit the other realms.

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In the next pocket of this realm was Alistair, having dinner with his long-lost sister, Goldanna and her many children. Alistair seemed so happy. He didn't want to go with her, to come back to a life of fighting and death, and it took great willpower to convince him that these were demons and not his family.

Finally he remembered what had been happening with the mage tower and the circle and snapped out of it. And together they took on the horde of demons his "family" turned into.

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In the last pocket Caelyra found Morrigan. Morrigan was fully aware that this realm was the fade and the woman before her was not her mother but some demon pretending to be her mother.

Grateful that Caelyra had at last come for her, together they vanquished the false Flemeth and found freedom from this nightmare.

Despite the urgency of the situation, Caelyra had a small thought. If Wynne was surrounded by her lost students, Alistair his lost family, and Morrigan her mother... why was her "dream" merely Duncan and the Grey Wardens and not her own family? Perhaps she truly was meant to be a Grey Warden.

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Now that the group was all together once more, they went to the centre of the realms where the Sloth Demon lurked and demanded their freedom. He refused. Instead, he offered to give them happier dreams to spend the last moments of their lives in. Caelyra refused.

Annoyed, the sloth demon stopped being so slothy and attacked.

It was a great battle where the sloth demon transformed into every other type of demon, before finally succumbing to the void.

Caelyra and her companions were free at last.

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As the last vestiges of the fade faded away ( 😅 ), Niall appeared to Caelyra once more. He was doomed. He had been feeding the sloth demon for weeks now and there was now nothing left of him. He implored Caelyra to take the Litany scroll off of his body and at last free the mage tower from Uldred's evil clutches.

Caelyra nodded solemnly. That's exactly what she would do.

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Caelyra and her companions climbed up off the mage tower floor and dusted themselves off. The sloth demon was gone and lying in the middle of the floor was poor Niall's corpse.

Caelyra gingerly took the Litany scroll out of his pocket and stashed it in her own. That was going to be very useful, especially with all this blood magic and demons about.

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The last floor of the mage tower was the Harrowing Chamber, where mage-apprentices became full-fledged mages if they passed their trials. The door was covered in blood and gore, and in a stasis beam sat a frantic templar, certain that he was experiencing waking dreams.

At first he did not believe that they were real people, but finally realised they were. He tried to encourage Caelyra to kill everyone in the Harrowing Chamber; there was no way to know for sure who was a blood mage and it was better to be safe than sorry.

Caelyra would have none of that; she wanted to take down Uldred and save whichever mages had not yet succumbed.

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They ran into the Chamber, only to witness as a tormented mage was taken over by a demon and became an abomination.

Uldred was ready for them. Transforming into a demon himself, he and his abominations fought tooth and nail to remove Caelyra and her companions. Every now and then he would speak mysterious words and try to convince the mages to join with him and fight, but Caelyra repressed his spell with the Litany from Niall.

After the great battle, Uldred at last lay dead, and Caelyra met First Enchanter Irving.

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Irving was weakened by the weeks of torture he had endured up in the Harrowing Chamber, so Caelyra helped him down the many, many flights of stairs and back to where Gregoir waited with his templars.

Cullen, the templar who had been trapped in stasis, spoke against Irving and the mages and demanded them all to be killed. Gregoir would have none of it. He trusted Irving and believed him to be well enough to lead the Circle of Magi once more and get it all back to order.

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With the Circle settled, Caelyra spoke to the First Enchanter and asked for he and his mages to assist against the upcoming Blight. He readily agreed, not wanting his tower to be swallowed by darkness ever again.

Wynne asked for leave to accompany Caelyra also, believing she would be of better use out in the field than stuck in the tower. Irving didn't agree at first, but at last conceded. Caelyra was happy for Wynne to join them also, she seemed to be quite adept at using healing magic; a magic that was very, very welcome.

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With all the excitement of the mage tower over and done with, Caelyra guided her companions back to camp where they could rest and recuperate. Only, Morrigan didn't want to rest or recuperate. During her time stuck in the fade, she had been reading her mother's grimoire and had discovered terrible things.

Apparently Flemeth took over the bodies of her daughters and that's why she had lived so long. Morrigan did not want to be possessed and demanded Caelyra kill the great witch.

Caelyra said she needed time to think this over. They'd only just gotten back from dealing with horrid magic and abominations and she didn't want to deal with any more just yet.

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With Morrigan pushed aside for now, Caelyra had the chance to formally welcome Wynne to her growing group. She seemed tired and worried about abominations, and even questioned if one were possessed but retained their humanity, were they truly an abomination?

It seemed a weird train of thought. The old woman was clearly very tired and needed a rest. Caelyra bade her goodnight and to prepare her healing spells well for the morrow.

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Finally Caelyra checked in on Alistair after their ordeal in the tower.

He seemed emboldened by recent events and gave her a rose he had picked in Lothering, then admitted that even though it had been such a short time, he was beginning to care for her a great deal.

After her experience in the tower and the fear that lurked in the back of her mind that she would soon die, she admitted that she felt the same as he and quickly embraced him.

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With a flutter in her heart and a skip in her step, she smiled at Alistair, took her leave, then wandered over to the dwarven merchants. She had a fair chunk of coin now and she wanted to spend it.

Sitting in his pile of wares was some lovely rogue attire that fit her perfectly. It was expensive, but worth it; it had to be! She only had 2 gold coins remaining now. Shrugging into it, she felt more empowered than ever and ready to strike out with her daggers and fight to the last.

It was perfect. She couldn't wait to use it.

 

Until next time! ⚔️🐲

 


 

All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, @kaelci and are from the game: Dragon Age Origins.



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9 comments
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I love the complete dragon age saga, rogue forever xD

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😁 Yep! One of the best game series' out there!! Hopefully the next instalment is just as good. I'm personally hoping it to be more like Origins than Inquisition, but we'll see how it goes.

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The dragon age saga is honestly one of my favorite rpgs, origins undoubtedly made me make difficult decisions throughout its history, but when I finished it, it was one of the greatest satisfactions when completing a game, I don't know if you've already played Dragon Age Inquisition but I hope you make a post about your adventures there too 🍀

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It's one of my favourites too. 🙂

I've played Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition before too, but am planning on playing them through again before Dreadwolf arrives. I'm hoping to do a playthrough post series on those too, but we'll see if I run out of words before then, haha! Each of these posts is around 1500 words. I might as well be writing a novel. 😅

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This game really needs to be remastered with a better graphics.
Btw, some screenshots are a little shaky, I don't understand why.

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They're shaky because they're in "the fade". Not the real, physical world.

Yes, a remaster or remake of this game would be amazing.

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Despite the urgency of the situation, Caelyra had a small thought. If Wynne was surrounded by her lost students, Alistair his lost family, and Morrigan her mother... why was her "dream" merely Duncan and the Grey Wardens and not her own family? Perhaps she truly was meant to be a Grey Warden.

It is really interesting isn't it? Perhaps it was that the HoF ( if noble) wanted to make their parents proud, and that is why they get the dream where they slay the Archdemon.

I think it would have been a lot more interesting though if the dream changed based on our origins, for instance the Noble might see Fergus, the dalish elf might see one where the Dalish have reclaimed their lands, etc.

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Definitely! I mean, they did that in Haven during the Gauntlet: seeing someone from your Origin. It would've been really spiffy to see all the different ones for all the different origins during that section of the Fade.

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