Ever since she could remember, Crea had been a resident of the Brecilian forest, born among a tight-knit clan of the Dalish Elves that inhabited the southern depths of the massive forest that stretched across most of the eastern side of Ferelden. The Dalish were a proud group of Elves that wandered among the trees, free to roam were they would. Despite that, however, they were looked upon with fear and hate by the humans that had conquered their lands long before. Managing to break loose, the Dalish clung to the old, half-forgotten traditions of their ancestors, holding the story of their people dear to their hearts.

Crea had been raised on the tales of old, and it had always fascinated her. Ever since her birth, the elven child had been a constant source of mischief and pride. After she had lived only but seven years, the girl had half the clan wrapped around her finger. The adults adored her for her vicious passion for the old ways, and the children loved her for her constant daring acts and her wall of power that had them fascinated with her. Of all of her followers, the one the clung to her heels the most was a young boy by the name of Tamlen. He was but only a year older than her, and tried his best to always be by her side.

Crea grew quickly, her personality only growing more daring by every year she lived. She studied hard to learn the culture and stories of her people, and quickly mastered the ways of the bow and duel weapons. At the age of fourteen, Crea completed her trials of passing and became a hunter, and adult, of the clan. Tamlen followed her footsteps two years after. By the time her best friend had joined her, Crea had begun to blossom into a beautiful young woman.

Years passed again, and finally Crea's eighteenth year passed, the flower she was had completely bloomed, making many of the young men of the clan finally take notice.

Crea was slender and graceful, much like a cat, her limbs delicate and her figure beautifully curved. Her skin was a sun-kissed brown and her face was smooth, sculpted with soft curves and an attractively stubborn chin, and framed with blazing red hair, a trait very rare among the Dalish. Her nose was curved lightly with a regal appearance and she had delicately curved brows that made men melt when she arched one in disbelief or curiosity, as well as a pair of soft lips that were full and seductive. And beneath a veil of thick, dark eyelashes, she had eyes that were said to reflect the ways the Dalish had once been, a luscious green that was like the forest itself, with flecks of gold that gave them the appearance of light shining through the leaves.

This had come to make Tamlen's life very miserable as he did his best to keep the suitors at bay, doing his best to be a good brother to his friend, acting his best as her only remaining family. And with the way the men followed Crea around like a group of lovesick puppies, he could've sworn she did it on purpose.

Yet, despite all these antics she did to tease him as her greatest friend, she still spent much of her days with him, hunting among the trees. But as was sometimes the case, the subject of their hunt was not always the local wildlife.

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A human man burst through the bushes, panting heavily, his eyes wide and terrified as he sprinted through the trees. Often, he stumbled, always catching himself just before he fell, and always looking back, as if running from something. He rounded a corner and came face to face with an elven bow, a wicked arrow and a slender Elven man with dirty blonde hair and cold blue eyes, dark tattoos tracing his jaw line and across his brow. The man tried to back track, but only ended up falling on his backside and trying to scramble away. Before he could shout a warning, his two companions came sprinting up behind him, only to have the elf raise his bow to them as well.

"It's a Dalish!" The man on the ground gasped, pointing at the elf.

"And you three are somewhere you shouldn't be." The elf said, eyes narrowing and the draw on his bow tightening.

"Let us pass, elf," One of the other men said, trying to sound authoritive, "You have no right to stop us."

"No?" The elf inquired, eyebrow raised, "We will see about that, won't we?"

Just as he said it, another elf emerged silently from between the trees, her hair blazing like fire, a bow drawn as well.

"You're just in time," The blonde elf told his companion, "I found these humans lurking in the bushes. Bandits, no doubt." The redhead raised one sultry eyebrow, her eyes narrowing as well as she inspected them

"We aren't bandits, I swear!" The man protested, "Please don't hurt us!"

"You shemlen are pathetic," The blonde elf growled as he and his companion advanced, training on their targets, "It's hard to believe you ever drove us from our home."

"W-w-we've never done nothing to you, Dalish," Another man said, voice high with fear, "We didn't even know this forest was yours!"

"This forest isn't ours, fool!" The blonde elf snarled, grip on his bow tightening, "You stumbled too close to our camp. You shems are like vermin, we can't trust you not to make mischief. What do you say, lethalan, what should we do with them?"

The female elf gave the humans a feral smile as she thought about it, green eyes pensive.

"Let's find out what they're doing here." The woman said, voice as smooth and sultry as silk.

"Does it matter?" The blonde one asked with disdain, "Hunting or bandits, we will need to move camp if we let them live!"

"L-look, we didn't come here to be trouble," Another said, shaking, "We just found a cave."

"Yes, a cave!" The first said, "With ruins like I've never seen! We thought there might be … uh-"

"Treasure?" The blonde elf asked, voice as flat and dry as a piece of paper, "So, you are more like thieves than actual bandits."

"Ha!" The woman scoffed, "I'd like to see these ruins."

"So would I," The man said, blue eyes hard, "I've never heard of ruins in these parts."

"But ah-ah-I have proof! Here! We found this, just inside the entrance." The leader said, holding out a small trinket to the woman, who jerked her bow towards the ground to indicate he should place it there. The blonde male picked it up and inspected it.

"This stone… has carvings," He hesitated, "Is this Elvish? Written Elvish?"

"There-there's more in the ruins!" The human said desperately, then shaking his head and staring at the ground, "We didn't get very far in though."

"Why not?" The woman asked, gold-green eyes narrowing more.

"There was a demon!" The man explained, "It was huge, with black eyes. Thank the Maker we were able to outrun it!"

Both elves bristled at the mention of the shemlen god, but then brushed it off. The male made a disbelieving sound.

"A demon?" His voice flattened again, "Where is this cave?"

"Just off the west, I think," The man said, his companions nodding, "There's a cave in the rock face, and a huge hole just inside."

"Well?" The man asked his companion, "Do you trust them? Should we let them go?"

"You've frightened them enough, Tamlen," The woman said with a forlorn sigh, "They won't bother us."

"Run along then, shems," The elf named Tamlen said, a sigh mirroring his companion's, "And don't come back until we Dalish have moved on!" As he said it, both he and the woman lowered their bows, replacing the arrows in their quivers.

"Of course!" The leader agreed, following his companions as they took off through the trees, "Thank you! Thank you!"

With a satisfied sigh, Tamlen turned to Crea and shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, do you want to see if there's any truth to their story? These carving make me curious." Tamlen admitted, making Crea give him a thoughtful frown.

"Shouldn't we inform the Keeper?" She asked, gold-green eyes worried.

"She might be interested in these carvings. But I think we should see if there's anything more, before we get excited," He exhaled, "Besides, we're already here. So, they said it was to the West."

With a sigh, Crea gave in. Tamlen really did have a way of being persuasive. She still felt that they should speak to the Keeper, regardless of how small the discovery was. She had an uneasy feeling about this 'demon'." But if Tamlen got excited, she wouldn't be able to curb him aside. And he was telling her not to get excited….

Crea shrugged, then turned her head to the sky, watching the sun to find the Western sky. Once she got their bearings, Crea began work her way through the forest, Tamlen right behind her.

"Do you think they were lying?" Tamlen asked, blue eyes pensive, "I hope not. Think of it, written Elvish!"

"Tamlen," Crea sighed, "You were telling me not to get excited. Look at you…. I have a bad feeling about this. I might just be paranoid, but can you please just work with me if I feel like something's wrong?"

"I will," Tamlen promised, dropping into step beside her, "I understand if you get worried. And that isn't often."

"Exactly."

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After what must have been about half an hour, Crea and Tamlen heard a low snarl and looked up the path. Three white wolves were crouched over the body of a dead halla, its many antlers covered in its own blood. Crea's eyes fell and she unsheathed her daggers, twirling the wicked blades experimentally.

"Normally I don't have problems with you beasts, but this is a step too far." She growled, Tamlen pulling his bow.

The wolves snarled again, challenging Crea and Tamlen, who obliged. Tamlen's arrow hit home, burying itself to the feathers in one wolf's chest, while Crea engaged the other two, daggers slicing them apart. By the time she was done slicing the wolves to ribbons, they were bleeding from the arteries and Crea's daggers were dripping with it.

"It shouldn't have been the halla…" Crea whispered, closing the wolves' eyes and smoothing their raised hackles back across their fangs, praying to the god of Wolves to take their souls and return their bodies to the forest.

Then she stood and nodded to Tamlen, starting to jog down the slightly over grown path before them.

"It's like we never knew this was here, and yet there's a trail…" She murmured, gold-green eyes pensive.

Finally, they came to a halt outside a massive cave, just like the humans had said. On either side of the opening were pillars, sculpted from the rock. The two elves stared, eyes wide.

"The cave," Tamlen said, glancing at Crea, "I don't recall seeing this before, do you?"

Crea shook her head, looking into the depths of the darkness before them.

"No, and that worries me. We should be wary." Crea said, a spark in her eyes. It was slightly different from the daring look she normally had in these situations, but she wasn't about to back down from a challenge.

"Always the careful one," Tamlen teased, knowing very well what was going through Crea's mind, "Fine. But I'm not running back until I know there's something worth making a fuss over. Come on, let's at least see what's there. How dangerous could it be?" His tone was prodding at Crea, challenging her to be the same daring youth she normally was. Crea shot him a filthy glare, but gave in. She knew she was afraid, but she had no reason to be. She'd done things so much more daring than walking into a cave, but the uneasy feeling wouldn't leave.

"All right, let's go."

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The inside of the cave was massive, and there was a little light, some of it seeming to come from the rock walls itself. There were more pillars, supporting the ceiling, despite some places where it seemed to have caved in anyways. To the surprise of the two, there was a doorway after the cave opened to the first chamber, carved from the rock itself. Now Crea's endless curiosity kicked in; there was much to explore here. And what if they did find something of the Old People? Before the humans had taken their lands away?

"Hm, looks like them shems was telling the truth…," Tamlen said, "These ruins look more human than elven."

Crea shrugged and jogged through the door, looking around to see what was there. Looking up, she saw a large sack hanging from the ceiling, a rounded metal object hanging out a bit. She convinced Tamlen to give her a boost and managed to pull out a shield. Then she inspected the sack. It was roughly the size of a human; it even looked like one, if he was hung upside down. Then she took a closer look at the sack. It didn't look like cloth, so she poked it experimentally. Her finger stuck to it and she jerked back with a small yelp, throwing Tamlen off balance and they both fell to the ground.

"What is wrong with you?" Tamlen asked, a little grouchy, "You never act like this!"

"Tamlen, we're not alone," Crea whispered, "Keep your eyes and ears open….."

"I know, I know… But you need-"

"For spiders," Crea's eyes were hard, "Big spiders."

"Like the tree crawlers?"

"No, the big ones."

"Gods….," Tamlen sighed, "Then I guess we will have to be careful." To enforce that he took her seriously, he prepared his bow and had an arrow ready.

Crea nodded and continued into the room before them, her ears trained on the ceiling. Just as she expected, there was a loud hissing noise and two massive spiders dropped from the ceiling, each larger than her. This was the part she hoped they didn't manage to tackle her and rip her apart while she was stuck beneath them. Crea drew her daggers and didn't even flinch as Tamlen's first arrow came whistling past her ear, hitting the spider in front of her. Crea turned her attention to the one to her left and ripped it apart as she cut limbs apart to slow the spider down, then plunged both blades deep into its head. Just before the other creature could make its way to Tamlen, Crea pounced onto its back and began slashing at the monster's head and middle, keeping it distracted as Tamlen trained an arrow on it, preparing for a one-shot kill.

"Crea!" Tamlen bellowed, and the female elf dove off the spider, just missing the arrow Tamlen had loosed. The spider curled up, shivered and died.

Looking up, Crea and Tamlen glanced at each other, then the dead spiders.

"Gods, we need to listen for these, don't we?" Tamlen asked, Crea nodding as she got up and brushed herself off,

"It looks like we're just in an entry hall sort of room," She said, looking around, "There isn't much to be found here."

"What about that door over there?" Tamlen asked, pointing to the wooden door across the room.

"If it even opens." Crea said, but shrugged and gave the wood a light push. To her surprise, the door creaked open, leaving more of the ruins to be explored. Nodding to each other, the two elves stepped inside to explore the next room.

It opened up onto a hallway, going in two directions, while they were faced with a wall if the continued on. There were large amounts of dirt and stone littering the floors and in large stacks against the wall, and to her left, Crea saw a small wheelbarrow, as if someone had been working to clean the place out, then was called away, never to return. The sight of such a thing made her wonder just how long the place had been forgotten.

Turning to her left, Crea ventured down the hall ducking under roots that had pushed their way through the wall, and well as beginning to come up through the floor, pushing tiles aside and bringing even more dirt into the dusty hallway.

There were carvings everywhere, and Crea couldn't even really describe them. They were so strange, alien to her, and it was hard to even think of what they had been made to look like.

As she continued, the hall veered to the right and Crea continued on, only to come face to face with another door. She froze when she heard more hissing, warning her that there were spiders overhead. Looking up, Crea saw nothing, so she decided to venture to the next room, blades drawn.

The second the door opened, four spiders came rushing at them. Crea looked down and noticed a pressure plate a few inches away from her foot.

"Tamlen, trap!" She warned, trying to step around it. With the spiders bearing down on them, she wouldn't have time to disarm it. Unfortunately, one of the spiders made a lunge, and to keep from being knocked into Tamlen, Crea had to dodge to the right, her foot connecting with the raised plate. Immediately, fire erupted around her. The spider that had charged got the brunt of it and gave a horrible scream as it slowly burned to death. Crea got away with some singed skin. But now that she had gotten around the plate, Crea threw herself into the mass, trying to keep them from getting to Tamlen, who was a ranged fighter and needed space to be able to help her.

Soon, it was over, two more spiders falling victim to the jet of flames near the door. Tamlen waited for the fire to die down, then joined Crea in the massive room.

It was covered in the webs of the massive creatures, and there were sections of the floor missing, showing where there were large wooden beams that held these stone tablets in place. Crea and Tamlen found more cocoons here and Crea cut them open, finding small trinkets and sometimes money inside.

"I wonder how recent these are," Tamlen said, "And how do they get here so often. Do the spiders go out at night and bring them back here."

"I hope I never find out." Crea mumbled, seriously not wanting to know.

After she had scoured the room, Crea led Tamlen back into the hall and went back the way they came. However, instead of returning to the surface, Crea continued down the hall, coming to a halt near a door at the end.

"Psh, another one." Crea growled, pointing out another pressure plate. She pushed small rocks underneath the plate, making it impossible to let the plate sink under weight and trigger the trap. Crea didn't want to know what surprise it would have this time. After she had cared for the pressure plate, Crea tried her luck at the door, but it was jammed shut. She couldn't even pick the lock. She shrugged and stood, about to let Tamlen know that they could go back to the surface when he pointed to his right at another door she hadn't noticed. Mentally, Crea swore. Her bad feeling was getting worse, and she wanted to be rid of this place. And it kept finding ways to keep her here.

"Yeah, that one might work." Crea said, pushing the door open.

"I wonder what else could be here," Tamlen said thoughtfully, "I've never seen anything quite like this. It has a shem feel to it, but- Gods."

Crea looked up from scanning the floor for more traps and stared at the statue against the wall. Cast in bronze, it was a figure of a woman in armor and sweeping robes, and spear in one hand and strangely constructed wings emerging from her shoulder blades.

"Tamlen?" Crea asked, gold green eyes flicking to her friend and back.

"It's one of the gods," Tamlen whispered, "Don't you recognize her?"

"Why would one of our gods be in a shemlen ruin?" Crea whispered back, chills dancing up and down her spine.

"I can't answer that and you know it. But it reminds me of the artifacts we've seen from the time of Arlathan, before the shems enslaved us."

"It's interesting," Crea admitted, "So much of our lore is lost to us."

"But I never would have guessed ancient elves would have lived here. With humans…." Tamlen said, the last of his words sounding more like a curse. Crea couldn't imagine it either, but, though she understood, she was a little surprised at the disdain in Tamlen's voice. But before she could ask him about what had put him in this mood, he glanced behind him.

"Hey, a door."

"Hm?" Crea turned, then sighed, "Ah, yes. Another door. Tamlen, aren't you getting uncomfortable? This place is giving me the creeps."

"What?" Tamlen stared at Crea like she'd grown a third eye, "Who are you, and what have you done with my friend? The Crea I know wouldn't turn tail and retreat."

Crea knew his needling was to try to bully her into relaxing a little, but his words still stung and her pride was now tender.

"Fine!" She hissed, shouldering him, "Let's go look behind this door of yours!"

"Crea….," Tamlen grabbed her arm and held on until she would face him, "You don't need to get cranky."

"I'm not," Crea grumbled, "You're just so fascinated and I want to leave. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"But what if we find something?" Tamlen said, blue eyes shining, "Like… like… written Elvish! Don't you think the keeper would be the least bit interested? We could unlock the secrets that we forgot! We could rebuild Arlathan!"

"Some secrets are never meant to leave the grave," Crea mumbled, just low enough that Tamlen couldn't hear, "Very well, let's open your door."

"Excellent!" Tamlen exclaimed, bounding towards it. Crea hissed and grabbed his arm, pulling him back.

"Idiot! Do you not see those holes in the wall?"

"What of them?" Tamlen asked.

"See that plate on the floor? They're connected to it, I'll wager my blades on it. Poison gas is my best bet."

"What makes you still think it's working?"

"The ones that threw flame seemed to be working just fine." Crea said matter-of-factly, raising one delicately curved eyebrow. Tamlen swore and glanced away.

"Do it your way, then. Better safe than sorry."

"Indeed." Crea nodded and crouched next to the plate, studying its construction. It was more complicated; a couple of pebbles to hold it up wouldn't do.

"What's the hold up?" Tamlen asked, making Crea growl in annoyance.

"Give me your boot knife," She said, holding a hand out, "Now."

"Why mine?" Tamlen protested.

"You hardly use it anyways," Crea retorted, "I doubt I'll break it, so stop whining."

"I'm not whining." Her friend grumbled, passing his blade over.

"Your are now." She responded in a sickeningly cute voice. Tamlen wrinkled his nose and glared at her. When he figured she wasn't paying attention anyways, he looked away.

Meanwhile, Crea tucked the blade under the plate and pried up, popping the heavy stone from its setting.

"See here?" She traced the inner workings of the trap in the air above it, "If any of these five pads had even the slightest pressure, they would have opened these valves and we'd be dying."

"Well, aren't we clever? Can you disarm it?"

"I think so," Crea said, "It might take me a minute though, I've never done this before."

"I'll be backing away slowly," Tamlen teased, making Crea stick her tongue out at him.

"Thanks for your faith in me. You're a true friend."

"Well, you at least know I'm an honest one."

"So be it. This shouldn't take too long. Don't get into any trouble."

"I'll be right here," Tamlen sighed, "Just hurry up."

"All done." Crea admitted, tossing Tamlen's boot knife so that she could catch it by the blade and hand it to him hilt first.

"That was…. fast."

"Told you it wouldn't take long." Crea said with a shrug, tossing her hair for effect. Tamlen rolled his eyes and elbowed her.

"Very modest….."

"As always!"

"I'm sure."

"Well," Crea sighed, "Shall we go look behind this mystery door?"

"Yes. So we can look around and be sure, then leave."

"Then leave." Crea confirmed.

"Ladies first." Tamlen offered her the door and Crea stepped forward. When her hand touched the wood, she took a deep breath and pushed.

A moment later, she screamed.

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Alright, quickly, to start things off. I DO NOT own Dragon Age: Origins, but I'm sure most of us readers have played at least a little by now. Or watched friends play, etc.

Due to this, what I DO own is the character design of my OC. Now, I'm doing my best to hold true to all the details, so don't jump on me too much, it's hard to keep up. Essentially, this is the story of my character as close to the original storyline as I can manage. So any deliverings of bad news, "witty one-liners" and major story arcs, credit immediately goes to the writers of Bioware. Any embellishments, additions, etc. are mine and I hope you enjoy reading them. Also, a warning: I am going through the whole game and what happens afterwards. If you haven't completed the game, or anything related, be prepared for a "Spoiler Alert", or do your best to catch up so you can keep track of the major parts of the story. I'm not saying that you're a failure as a gamer; you're just farther behind. No worries, this game is amazing and should be played at your leisure. Enjoy the game, and hopefully you'll enjoy this story too. Don't worry, I can't do light speed updates (Some characters talk too fast), so you all have plenty of time to settle in. So, sit back, enjoy, laugh, grumble, growl, agree, disagree and anything else. As I request on my profile page, I would love it if you leave comments or critiques, but if something I wrote, or did, makes you upset, or inclined to flame, take it to my inbox. We can work out any grievances in private without getting out of hand. I hope you all enjoy, and KEEP GAMING!