Choose your own Dragon Age adventure

[Elfberserker]

B
I think Fern needs his full concentration at keeping the baby safe.

 

[TOME]

I think Fern needs this distraction to get away from the strange elf.

A

 

[Kipeci]

We've got one kid, we can do it again!

B.

 

[Crane]

Not risking a delay, you shove past Fern in pursuit of the thief. As you attempt to pass, the haft of your sword catches on the darkspawn's belt, tugging at his cloak. Before you can free yourself, Fern's hood has been pulled down. At that moment, in the middle of a bustling market square, Fern's true identity is revealed.

"You're a ... a ... darkspawn!" the elven slaver yells. It attracts the attention of those nearby, who also begin to scream. Before Fern is able to reassemble his disguise, panic has swept the bazaar. Terrified screams of "Darkspawn!" fill the whole of the courtyard.

Guards are quick to arrive and surround you and Fern in a tight circle, bowstrings drawn. "Let that child go, foul beast!" one shouts. "I am no Warden, but one of your kind cannot hope to stand against eight Antivan arrows pointed at its throat. Can you even understand me, creature? Let him go!"

Fern's shoulders droop, and he releases his grip on the boy. As the thief scurries away, he opens his hands to show he's unarmed.

"Let me slay him," one of the younger guards says, stepping forward.

You quickly look for Levina and Ataxias. Levina has disappeared--likely gone into hiding nearby. Ataxias stands plain right as you left him, laughing like a maniac at the unfolding scene as if at the theater. Considering Levina's concern for her own safety in this city, and Ataxias' cold insanity, neither is likely to be of help.

A) Draw your sword and attempt to fight off the guard long enough to make a group escape.
B) Explain to the men that Fern is special and clearly no threat.
C) "Fern, run!" It's the worst goodbye you can imagine for so close a friend, but he'll surely be killed if he stays.

 

[Kipeci]

B

I'm sure this will work!

 

[Azira]

Yeah! Diplomacy! Let's associate ourselves closely with the darkspawn, what could possibly go wrong?!

B

 

[Elfberserker]

A

 

[Kz3r0]

A

 

[Crane]

A stalemate... let's see what A leads us to, then.

You draw your weapon and stand fiercely in front of your friend, ready to defend him with your life.

"I don't know who you are," the ranking member of the guard says slowly, "or what spell this creature has cast over you, but I need you to step away." He reaches a hand toward you and you swipe at it with your sword. His cautious face turns angry. "Then so be it." He nods at his men, and the fight begins.

You're able to kill one man and disable another before a young member of the guard sticks his blade through your belly. You watch the same happen to Fern as you collapse where you stand.

The end.


================================================

Well B it is.

"Friendly?" the ranking member of the guard asks. "There are no friendly darkspawn. I do not know what spell this creature has placed you under, but--"

"Wait, I can prove it," you interrupt. "Fern can speak. You claim that no darkspawn is friendly, but I'd bet you also think that none of them can talk, correct?"

The guard pauses.

"Go on then, Fern," you say. "Tell them."

Fern looks at you with heavy eyes. You then grasp something you should have realized from the beginning. Fern cannot speak, at least not to others. You understand Fern through the tainted blood trickling into your body. The voice you hear is not the common tongue. You've been the only one able to comprehend him from the start.

"As I thought," the guard says.

"You can't just kill him in cold blood," you yell. "Even if he can't speak to you, do you see him attacking you?"

"No," the guard says, harshly spinning Fern around. "But I do see a small child that it's kidnapped, and I do see an opportunity to show that Antiva is able to stand up to the horde as much as any other nation. If you wish to see the creature into death, return here tomorrow for the execution."

"Execution?" you yell. "You can't execute him!" It's too late; Fern is already being led away through the crowd by the city guard. With the guards gone, Levina suddenly reappears beside you.

"We must head to the dungeon and sort this thing out. We cannot let Fern be executed," you say, unwilling to leave a close friend behind.

"We cannot risk going to the jail to bother with this," Levina says. "Look to your wound. You do not have the time. I do not have the time. Don't you understand that every moment spent in this country is a risk for me?"

"Every moment that I haven't found my revenge is a risk for me, too," you reply.

"May I interrupt?" Ataxias interjects. "You should know that we've beaten your quarry to the city by a day. Whether you help your darkspawn friend or otherwise, you won't be able to go after the elf tonight. Anyway, I imagine his talents may be of help to both of you, no?"

You look smugly to Levina. She sighs.

"Off to the prison, then," she says.

It takes a few hours to determine where Fern has been taken, but once you arrive at the dungeon, you have no trouble visiting him; the guards feel accomplished having taken the creature alive, and do not mind showing off such a bizarre trophy.

You find Fern alone in a small cell, naked and beaten. He has no fewer than eight open wounds across the course of his body. Many of the instruments of his torture lay bloodied on the ground of his cell, a reminder to him, perhaps, of what's to come at sunrise.

"Can you hear me I'm here to break you out," you whisper.

Fern lifts his head, and begins to cough. Blood spills from the side of his mouth to the ground. "None of that matters," he finally manages to say. "They took the child. Where is she?"

"I don't know," you say quietly.

"Leave me then," he says coldly. "Find the girl. She's all that matters."

"Fern, tell me how to help you."

"The child--"

"I don't care about the child!" you reply angrily. "What makes her so important? Is she a royal? A dreamer? The reincarnation of Andraste?" After a moment, you calm. "Just ... what is so important about that baby that I should abandon you? Help me to understand."

Fern nods. "You asked me who the child was, and I told you that I couldn't say. It was no secret, friend. I couldn't say because I do not know who this child is. Weeks before you met me in the Deep Roads, I left my kind for the surface, knowing it full well to be suicide.

"On my first day in the sun, I happened across a small hut near the opening where I'd entered the forest. There were bodies, a man and a woman, humankind. Both were slaughtered. How, I do not know. So close to the Roads, I can't help but believe it was the work of a few adventurous genlocks, or similar. They ... they just killed them without thought." Fern coughs again, adding to the growing pool of dark blood beneath him.

"And then I heard a cry, quiet, from the back room. Inside, there she was: just a discarded human child. You asked me if she was royalty, someone important. She is. But not because of some birthright or title. She is important because she is alive. Please--"

He coughs again, and loses consciousness.

You hear a small laugh coming from somewhere behind you. You turn, expecting to find Ataxias. Instead you find a young guard. "All that grunting wore him out, did it?" he says through a smile.

A) Draw your sword and attack him.
B) Still your anger and attempt to reason with him.

 

[GreyViper]

B

 

[Crane]

"Listen to me," you say to the guard, "this is not what it looks like."

"Really?" the guard replies. "Cause it looks like a stupid, vicious animal strung up by his elbows to me. Why do you care anyway?"

"If it's just a pointless animal to you," you say calmly, "then surely you don't care about what happens to him. Whether he's killed, or whether he ... just so happens to escape."

The man eyeballs you for a moment before understanding what you're asking. "Alright," he says. "If you care so much. There's a band of misfit adventuring types out causing trouble at the Deep Roads seal just outside the city proper. That door was sealed long ago by a mage who's no longer alive. If they open it, it's going to flood the city with these things, and your charity case over there will be the least of my worries. Fools think they're strong enough to beat whatever lies down there and find some long lost treasure, but the only thing they're strong enough to do is kill me and my men. We already tried to send a few guards earlier ... didn't end well. You care about this creature here, give us a hand with that. All off the record, if you take my meaning."

"I do this, and you help?" you ask.

The man nods.

"Where's the child? The one he had with him?"

The man rubs his chin for a moment. "I don't know, but I suppose I could look into--"

"Then do it," you say.

There's no time to spare. Fern's execution is at sunrise. As you leave the city center for the place the guard had mentioned, you see small bits of parchment advertizing the execution. "Be part of fight. Join us as we slay the leader of the darkspawn hordes!" Leader of the hordes, indeed, you think.

It's not difficult to find the large group of adventurers outside of the city. A mage of their number looks to be working on a large, magically-sealed stone, while the others sit around a fire pit eating their supper. You approach them easily. As your first foot enters their camp, you hear the sound of a dozen or more bowstrings being pulled in the surrounding forest.

Your dead arm begins to hurt. You sense a great mass of darkspawn on the other side of the stone their mage is attempting to remove.

"Stop!" a man from the group says, standing from the fire. He's a massive creature, more beard than man. "I am Harren, leader of this band. What business do you have here?"

A) "By order of the Guard, I command you to cease this immediately!"
B) "Opening that door would be a fatal error."

 

[Azira]

Durr, B

 

[Elfberserker]

B

Reload count for lulz: 2 (or is it 3?)

 

[Tigranes]

Fast turnaround.

B seems equally silly as A, but I really cannot imagine A going well at all. B.

 

[Kz3r0]

B

 

[Crane]

"Opening that door would be a fatal error."

"Is that so?" Harren asks. "And what would you know of it, cripple?"

A) Lie: "I am Grey Warden, and one with the darkspawn. I sense a great army on the other side of that stone. Great enough to topple all of Antiva.
B) Truth: "A few weeks ago, I was stabbed by a complex mixture of darkspawn blood and anticatalyst. Afterward, the assassin that stabbed me left me in the Deep Roads, where I fashioned a rudimentary tourniquet ... "

 

[Azira]

LIE!

A

 

[Kz3r0]

A

 

[Tigranes]

Again, I can't see how B would go well, although A is going to be equally difficult. Do we even look like a fiersome adventurer?

 

[Crane]

"I am a Grey Warden, and one with the darkspawn. I sense a great army on the other side of that stone. Great enough to topple Antiva," you lie.

"A Warden?" Harren says. "Here? Well, say there are a thousand-thousand darkspawn beyond this stone. Why do you think I've brought these men? Why do you think I've paid these men? What would you have me do, just pack up, lose my investment, and head back to my wife?"

Do we even look like a fiersome adventurer?

(Maybe not, but it seems to have worked. Here we have another obvious choice, so let me speed this up. A much more difficult choice lies ahead.)

"There is another way into the Roads near Ferelden, much farther from the city, and far less infested. I can show you on your map," you say.

"Ferelden, you say?" he replies. "Show me."

You carefully follow the man into his tent and mark the best path to reach the opening from which you and Fern left the Deep Roads. Harren seems upset by the loss of time and revenue, but agrees that it's better than losing the whole company to a forced entry at the site of what feels like a darkspawn barracks.

No sooner does he thank you for your assistance than you head back toward the city dungeon with haste. You find the guard near where you left him, sitting in a small chair across from Fern's cell, asleep and drooling on himself.

"It's done," you proclaim, waking him.

The man stands, and shakes himself awake. "Alright," he says happily. "That'll be a bonus for this one, here." He points to his chest with his thumbs. "Now what do you want in return?"

"You know what I want," you say suspiciously.

"You wanted to know about the kid, right? She was sent to the crows--they pay good money for the things. Who slipped it out and managed an early payday? No idea. Now, you did me a solid, and I'll do you one. That's one that I owe you. I can gather the men, and do a raid on where that child is being kept. It's not going to win me any favor with whoever sold it, and if it's one of my superiors, I'm boiled. I stick my neck out for you that way, or I can turn around and let this prize prisoner escape on my watch. I can do that instead, but I won't do both. Now what do you want from me? Be quick about it."

This wasn't the plan. You try to think clearly, but the pain in your arm is suddenly growing worse, and this new decision is an impossible one.

> Levina, what should I do?

"I know what will happen to that child. It is not a glamorous life of travel and debonair assassin work. It is a life of slavery--and she'll have it worse as a girl. Fern has been a loyal friend, but this was bound to be his fate. Even if you don't care about the baby, think about what Fern would want. You know he'd never forgive you if you chose him over that kid."​

> Ataxias, thoughts?

"Not that I'm one for caring, but there's to be a great show on the morrow, and if I have understood you correctly, vengeance is your sole directive, is it not? Facing down an Antivan crow--and one as strong as Ciro--will be a difficult task with only you and the elf woman. A chair works best with four legs, yes? Save that taint mage; I approve of him. A baby is simply an un-carved log. At any rate, the baby will live either way, even if as a forced crow, will she not?"​

You turn to the guard.

A) "Release my friend. Release Fern."
B) "Prepare the raid. We save the child from the crows."

 

[Kz3r0]

B

 

[Azira]

A

 

[Kipeci]

A

 

[TOME]

B

 

[UglyBastard]

A