Dragon Age Revisited

Chapter 1 Ostagar

Duncan and Alyssa arrived at Ostagar. They spoke to the king and he promised to bring Howe to justice. Afterwards, Duncan and her mabari hound, Pawn, took off across the stone bridge. She looked at them until they were out of sight. Then she crossed the bridge herself and spoke to a guard on the other side.

Duncan had asked her to find Alistair, a junior Grey Warden, and two other recruits if possible so she asked the guard for directions.

As soon as she learned where everything was, she headed towards the quartermaster first of all. On the way she encountered a mage called Wynne. They exchanged pleasantries and chatted for a while. Alyssa liked Wynne. Her kind blue eyes gave her some comfort and calmed her nerves.

Once she spotted the quartermaster she trotted over to where he was. There was a dark-haired man standing next to the quartermaster, trying to get the attention of a blonde warrior, and failing miserably. Before she could ask the quartermaster for some supplies, he interrupted her and asked her if she had seen an elf running about.

"Can't say I have, no…"

"Oh, pardon my manners, anything you would like to see?" asked the quartermaster cheerfully.

"What have you got?"

She bought deathroots and fire arrows, and decided on buying a leather armor set to put on later. She felt uncomfortable wearing the Cousland silverite armor and was carrying another set in her pack.

She also got a bigger pack and stuffed all her supplies there. She took out her poison kit and brewed up deathroot poison in eight flasks she had bought. Satisfied, she turned and bumped into the dark-haired man, and looked up into a set of yellow eyes, much like those of a hawk.

"Well," the man drawled, and she instantly took a dislike to him, "You're not what I'd thought you would be."

"And what did you think I'd be?" she purred, hiding the growing dislike she felt from her voice.

"Not a woman!" the man exclaimed, "yet here you are! The name is Daveth and I was beginning to think that they had come up with this ritual preparation just for our benefit. I was sneaking around last night and over heard them saying that we would be going into the Wilds…" he trailed off as he stared into her violet eyes, his eyes widening as he took in the rest of her face. He evidently liked what he saw.

"The Wilds? So what?" she added coolly.

"It's full of monsters, barbarians and witches, that's what!" He exclaimed. His eyes roamed over her body and he wished she wasn't dressed in that armor.

Alyssa's eyes narrowed as she clearly understood what he was thinking. "That wouldn't frighten me," she said quietly.

The tone of her voice made him look up quickly.

"I'll watch your back, if you watch mine," she added with a smile.

"Oh, I'll watch your back alright," he chuckled.

"Or I could just kill you," she added still smiling pleasantly. There was a fire in her eyes when she said this and Daveth suddenly wished he was far away.

"That's extreme," he laughed nervously this time. And then he mumbled something about going off to Duncan's tent and ran, much like a dog that has just been whipped.

Alyssa smiled and laughed softly. She felt good about herself and turned to walk up the stairs to the north where she thought this Alistair was. She grinned wickedly to herself.

"Let's see what this Alistair is like," she thought. "He'd better not be another idiot like Daveth..."