- DB
Game Play | Dragon Age: Origins | Camp
First things first, a piece of crucial advice: if you haven't finished everything in Lothering by this point, make it your next stop. If you go to any other destination, the town will be wiped off the map by the Darkspawn and any quests you needed to do there will no longer be available.
On to the group first setting up camp and a declaration that I won't be writing about every occasion Elissa and co stop for a breather. It'll happen too often to be noteworthy on such a regular basis, and I'll try to keep it to when something plot-related happens.
This time though, there a number of new characters to meet who'll be tagging along with the Grey Wardens, including some permanent camp residents who don't accompany you into battle, and a set-up for some DLC too.
However, it all starts with Elissa waking from a dream in which she sees a dark, spiked dragon roaring in a hellish environment. On waking, Alistair informs here that her 'dream' was actually a vision of the Archdemon leading the Darkspawn horde - as the Grey Wardens can sense the Darkspawn, so can the monsters sense them.
They then talk about Duncan, with Alistair wanting to give him a proper funeral if they survive the Blight. And guess where? Highever - because there weren't already enough links between the human noble origin and the rest of the game...
Elissa then checks on Dog, who is protective of his food as he protects it from Alistair, who whines about being nipped. Elissa points out that Mabari are pretty much war dogs, and the other Grey Warden says that he should remind himself of that more often.
Sten and Leliana are up next, although the former is reluctant to talk and reveals very little about himself, wanting to get on with the business of killing Darkspawn. The Chantry sister repeats her dream, linking the darkness within it to the Darkspawn - intriguing, but inconsequential.
Last of those who can join you in battle is Morrigan, who talks a little about the magic shes uses to shape-shift into other creatures. She says it is fairly common for apostate mages, but the Circle of Magi forbids it and so it seems rare to those who do not live in the wild.
As for the new arrivals, the dwarves Bodahn Feddic and Sandal have joined the camp despite what they said last time, offering Elissa a discount in return for their protection from the Darkspawn, along with Sandal's ability to enchant equipment with all manner of effects.
Very last of all is Levi Dryden, who Elissa takes an instant disliking too thanks to his family name being disgraced as traitors after his great-great-grandmother Sophia - the last Warden-Commander of Ferelden - led a rebellion against the King of her time.
Levi says that he believes there is proof that will clear Sophia's - and his own - name at a place called Soldier's Peak. Duncan had agreed to help, but then the Darkspawn returned and he needed to recruit more Wardens. Elissa resolves to complete Duncan's mission and travel to Soldier's Peak.
