Bro decided to recruit golem Shale in the party.
In the meantime, at Redcliffe
ITZ COMING!
Easy random encounter
Sulcher's Pass.A lonely merchant stands here.
Felix: Er... you'll have to forgive me if I seem a bit nervous. Not many people traveling in this part of Ferelden.
Felix: Of course that's part of my problem, isn't it? Mule got spooked by a wisp and ran off into the woods. Now what do I do?
Bro: "Part" of your problem?
Felix: Well, yes. It's been quite the month...
Felix: Allow me to introduce myself. Felix de Grosbois, merchant and entrepreneur, at your service.
Bro: A merchant? Out here?
Felix: I don't normally take this route, but with the war I was hoping for a bit of luck and good weather in the mountains.
Felix: Sadly, I've had neighter. This trip has been one miserable disaster after another. I don't suppose you'd... consider helping a fellow out?
Bro: Do I look I'm here to help?
Felix: No, but... maybe you could make and exception? This once?
Felix: Of all the other things that went wrong, the worst is this artifact I bought in Jader.
Felix: It's a "control rod", I'm told. For a golem. No point in me keeping it, however, as I'll never get to use it... but maybe you could?
Bro: How do I know this will even work?
Felix: The fellow I bought it from is a longstanding contact. He didn't want to come to Ferelden, however, with all our... troubles.
Felix: He said he got it from the man who owned this golem. But to be honest, I have no idea if it will work.
Felix: Hence the low, low price. (Chuckles) What do you say?
Bro: What's the catch?
Felix: The catch? Yes, I... suppose it is a catch, isn't it?
Felix: The catch is that the golem didn't come with the rod. It's supposed to be down in a village down south, waiting to be activated.
Felix: Even if I could get down there, which I can't, I understand the place has been overrun by darkspawn.
Felix: That's not much an issue for adventurous types like yourself, surely. Or I'm hoping that's so, at least.
Bro: Yes, I think I could use it.
Felix: Just as well.
Felix: As I mentioned before, you'll find the golem down south, in a town called in Honnleath. I'll mark it here on your map.
Felix: Just hold up the rod ans say "dulef gar". That will wake the golem up, so I'm told. I hope it works.
Bro: If not, I'll be back.
Felix: I... well... oh. Then I really hope it works.
Felix: Best luck to you, then! Now, I guess it's up to me to find that mule myself...
To the village he mentioned
Another random encounter with dwarven merchant
Old Tegrin: You have coin, stranger? With Orzammar closed off, old Tegrin can give you a discount.
Old Tegrin: Fine weapon and arms, dwarven-made.
Bro: Let's see this discount of yours.
Bro buys several girls for girls
Back to the world map
Honnleath. As the dude mentioned the darkspawn are new masters of the village.
They attack from multiple directions
Here's the golem, surrounded by the darkspawn.
Now with village square cleared Bro tries to activate the golem.
Shale: (This statue appears to be inert.)
Leliana: It looks like... like a golem, doesn't it? An actual golem, and not a statue at all. I wonder how it ended up here, of all places?
Shale: (On closer inspection, it appears to be a golem like those few that remain in Orzammar, but obviously damaged and corroded by inactivity.)
Bro: "Dulef gar". (Activate the golem.)
Shale: (Nothing happens. Apparently either the rod is not working or the code word is incorrect.)
The only door here that can be opened.
Strange crystals grow in the basement. They can give Shale attack and defense bonuses.
And darkspawn lurks here.
Good gift for one of the future companions
And here we have a bunch of villagers sheltered by a force field and a darkspawn butthurt about this.
No more darkspawn. Time to talk.
Villager: By the Maker! We're saved!
Matthias: You... weren't sent by the bann, were you? To save us?
Bro: I'm looking for whoever owned that statue outside.
Matthias: The statue outside? Why would--oh, I think I see.
Matthias: You bought the control rod, didn't you? You came here looking for Shale.
Bro touches the barrier.
Matthias: That damnable golem brought us nothing but trouble. My mother sold the rod years ago, after it killed my father, and good riddance.
Bro: So you're saying the golem is defective?
Matthias: How should I know? It must be. My father was its master and it still killed him. Surely that's not normal behavior?
Matthias: My father's name was Wilhelm, mage to the arks of Redcliffe and a hero in the war against Orlais. And what did he get?
Matthias: One day my mother found him outside the tower, with so many broken bones she could barely recognize him, and Shale standing over him just like it now.
Matthias: My father deserved better than that. But if you really want to wake Shale up... well, it's yours now.
Bro: Except the rod doesn't work. Nothing happens.
Matthias: My mother might have passed along the wrong command phrase when she sold the rod. She said she never wanted to see Shale active again.
Matthias: Look, I'll tell you the command phrase... but I need your help, first!
Matthias: I know you already saved my life, and I'm grateful, but my daughter is inside the laboratory! She was afraid, and ran too far in before I could stop her.
Matthias: I don't know how she made it past my father's defences. One of the men tried to go after her. He was killed. But... you could find her, couldn't you?
Bro: (Intimidate) How about you tell me the phrase now?
Failure
Matthias: And... and then what will happen to Amalia? No, I won't tell you! I don't care what you do!
Matthias: If you want that bloody golem, then find my little girl!
Bro: How do you know she's still alive?
Matthias: I... don't, it's true. I'm terrified that something's happened to her, and she's lying in there injured!
Matthias: I can't leave here until I know for certain. Surely you understand that?
Bro: I'll see if I can find her.
Matthias: You will? Thank the Maker!
Matthias: My father's laboratory is just past the next area, I think. She has to be there!
Bro descends deeper in the cellars.
Shades attack him on his way.
Another magic barrier
Look who we have here:
Amalia: Oh, look! Someone's come to play!
Bro: I'm not here to play games.
Amalia: Oh well. I suppose Kitty and I will just have fun on our own till someone more interesting comes along.
Amalia: Anyway, you should go if you're not going to play. Kitty finds you distracting.
Bro: Sure. Let's leave. You can bring the cat.
Amalia: I can't go! Kitty says she can't come and I'm not leaving her. She'd be lonely.
Kitty: You are so kind, Amalia. I would miss you dearly if you left.
Bro: Step way from that creature, Amalia! Hurry!
Amalia: No! Leave me alone! Kitty!
Kitty: Nothing you say will convince Amalia to go with you. She loves only me now. I am her friend, while you are just a stranger.
Bro: I don't really care what you do with the girl.
Kitty: Is that so? Did you hear that, Amalia? It seems you are not missed.
Amalia: That's okay, Kitty. I have you!
Kitty: And I have you. After decades of isolation, bound to this chamber with not a single soul to speak to, finally freedom is at hand.
Kitty: Release me, mortal, and let me have the girl. Let us return to her father and leave this place forever.
Bro: I don't make deals with your kind.
Amalia: No! Kitty!
Kitty: You will not take the child from me! She shall be mine! Forever!
She possessed girl's body
Demon kitties have nice titties.
She summons several "friends" but still goes down fast.
And drops rather overpowered loot.
I guess it counts as a child killing.
?
Several spirit ambushes on a way back to Matthias.
Matthias: What happened to her? I she in there? Why hasn't she come back?
Bro: (Lie) I didn't find her.
Matthias: You didn't? But... what could have happened to her? I don't understand.
Matthias: Thank you for looking for her. I suppose I'm on my own, now, aren't I?
Matthias: The phrase to activate Shale is "dulen harn", if you still want that bloody thing. I wouldn't, if I were you.
Matthias: Now I guess I'll... go.
He didn't even bother to check the cellar himself. Fucking coward.
Exit from the cellar:
Activation process started.
Bro: "Dulen harn." (Activate the golem.)
Shale: (Sigh) I knew that the day would come when someone would find the control rod.
Shale: And not even a mage, this time. Probably stumbled across the rod by accident, I suppose. Typical.
Bro: You could be more thankful, you know.
Shale: It thinks I should be trankful? Well, of course it does. Why would it not?
Shale: I stood here in this spot and watched the wretched little villagers scurry around me for, oh, I have no idea how long. Many, many years.
Leliana: Oh, you poor dear! That would be... really, really boring.
Alistair: And the villagers had no idea they were being watched? Creepy.
Morrigan: Then one wonders that you wouldn't be grateful to the one who allowed you to stretch your legs, golem.
Shale: Hmm. Another mage, I see. Charming.
Shale: I was just beginning to get used to the quiet, too. Tell me, are all the villagers dead?
Bro: I take it that wouldn't concern you?
Shale: Familiarity breeds contempt, as they say, and after thirty years as a captive audience, I was as familiar with those villagers as one could possibly be.
Shale: Not that I wished their fate on them, no, but it did make for a delightful change of pace.
Bro: I'll bet.
Shale: Well, go on, then. Out with it. What is its command?
Bro: You'll follow my commands, will you?
Shale: Shouldn't I? My last master certainly enjoyed waving that rod about.
Shale: "Golem, fetch me that chair." "Do be a good golem and squash that insipid bandit." And let's not forget "Golem, pick me up. I tire of walking."
Shale: It... does have the control rod, doesn't it? I am wake, so it... must...
Bro: Don't get any funny ideas, golem.
Shale: (Snorts) So long as it holds the control rod, I could not crush its skull even if I wished to. Not that I do. Yet.
Shale: Yet, there is something odd here...
Shale: Go on. Order me to do something.
Bro: Fine. Attack Alistair.
Alistair: He-ey!
Shale: And... nothing? I feel nothing.
Shale: I feel no compulsion to carry out its command. I suppose this means the rod is... broken?
Bro: Well you're not just walking away.
Shale: Hmph. Aren't I? Without a control rod, I can do whatever I wish.
Shale: It is simply... what should I do? I have no memories, beyond watching this village for so long. I have no purpose... I find myself at a bit of loss.
Shale: What about it? It must have awoken me for some reason, no? What did it intend to do with me?
Bro: I can think of many uses for a personal golem.
Shale: May I ask what sorts of things it gets up to, for which I could be so potentially useful?
Bro: Killing darkspawn, primarily.
Shale: The darkspawn are an evil that must be destroyed, it's true. Though not as evil as the birds... damnable feathered fiends!
Shale: I suppose I have two options, do I not? Go with it or... go elsewhere? I... do not even know what lies beyond this village.
Bro: Are you going to keep calling me "it"?
Shale: Yes. Very likely.
Bro: And how do I know you can be trusted?
Shale: I have no idea. How does it trust anything else without a control rod?
Bro: It doesn't.
Shale: Fair enough. Then I promise not to sit on it accidentally or without sufficient provocation. Good enough?
Bro: You are welcome to come with me.
Alistair: Are... you certain you want to bring that thing with us? It could be dangerous. And large.
Bro: (Persuade) Think of it as a portable battering ram.
Alistair: Good point. Better it than me, anyhow.
Shale: I will follow it about then... for now. I am called Shale, by the way.
Bro: Shale? Is that supposed to be a joke?
No, it's supposed to be BioWare writing, meatbag.
Shale: Not like standing frozen for thirty years while pelted with bird feces. Now that is a joke.
Shale disapproves -13
Alistair disapproves -1
Key from one of the villagers bodies fits this chest:
Cool cheese knife:
Near the exit.
Uh-oh. Shale sees a cock.
Apparently she's lesbian. Poor bird.
This area is finished.
Camp.
Gifting time:
Morrigan gets moar jewellery.
Sten gets Rebel Queen Painting (yeah, he's just an emo posing as a cool dude).
Leliana gets Blue Satin Shoes and A Silver Sword of Mercy.
Shale gets Remarkable Greenstone.
Now the approval stats:
Morrigan +32
Leliana +37
Alistair -32
Sten +10
Shale -6
Return to Castle Redcliffe.