GRAH, WHY DOES NOBODY EVER WRITE OUTSIDE THE BOX ON THE ANVIL QUEST?! all three options are so short sighted selfish and plain retarded it drives up my blood pressure every time i see it.

Soo...are you going to change..._anything?_

You COULD have saved Davith. To save the Dog you named Dane of all things you get a flower that can CURE BLIGHT SICKNESS...at least in dogs. I mean seriously, did nobody notice this except me and TsuDoNym? The dogs dying because he bit a darkspawn and got some blood down his throat, and the ash warrior tells you to just go get a flower and the mutt will be all right...*facepalm*

I wonder if your Jory is going to actually take the potion? That could really change the story some...if he survives anyways. Though I guess his death made a pretty decent point about the organizations sense of operational security. STILL. Sooooooomany of the major problems in Dragon age are from people keeping secrets when they should really be sharing the info.

Yeah...she's gonna have a terrible reputation. A pity too, because if she were a guy people'd celebrate her for it.

I do wonder now though If you'll take the opportunity offered by the marsh flower that saves the Mabari follower.

Actually something the circle could do with fire spells that they'd likely be allowed would be processing ores. Melt the suckers and and use telekinesis or primal earth to separate out the elements, and sell the pure metals. Also, forging armor. Despite what you see in video games, armor typically takes weeks, months or even years to create depending on the quality and bonus detail work that goes into it. half that for weapons. Only way a single smith could make a suit of plate in a couple of days would be if it was metal plates bolted on to an existing leather harness. Even then he'd have to either measure you for fit or make multiple sets to approximate a series of sizes for his customers. Before industrial tools and line manufacture things took even longer. Not all swords can be made just by pouring hot metal into a sword blank and then sharpening it, those tend to shatter in combat.

Magic otoh could melt the ores, separate out the pure materials, mix precise quantities for an alloy, heat it to the right temperature, get it well mixed, shape it, slow cool, fold and reshape and fit it to a body in a period of hours, so long as the mage has the proper base materials and education. And that's all assuming you don't just use the Dragon Age Creation School to conjure the armor out of thin air. Or rather, out of the fade. Remember the lecture from the Spirit of Valor in the mage origin? "Do you believe it's a sword? That it will cut?" You can manifest complicated things like telepathically controlled insect swarms, healing herbs, animal fat grease and forge simple spirits, doubtless you can make other things when not limited by mechanics.

I wouldn't really call him awesome myself. Out of seven playable recruits he only ever seems to get 1 of them, when most are in dire need of conscription when he gets there. Dalish elf is dying of blight disease, City elf is about to be executed for petty treason, human noble just suffered a coup detate, dwarf commoner is imprisoned by her guild, dwarf noble is exiled to the deep roads with no armor or weapons and the mage is due to be executed or made tranquil for releasing a maleficar. Bioware cannon says that the other six Die. Period. You can't recruit them later because either duncan was a fuckup and they died while he was there or because he wasn't there, instead of being conscripted. And he hit all origin places.
If course the trailers and defaults also say the HoF is male Cousland who specializes Templar/Champion, but meh.

You make a very pretty good point on the Jowan thing too, though I was certain that he and Logain had met at redcliff. Jowan got captured there by the templars and some of logains men interfered. They brought him before Logain and the guy said Poison Eamon or I'll turn you over and then headed back down to fight the darkspawn. It' doesn't go into a lot of emphasis, but the armies noted to have been fighting growing numbers of spawn there for months before the battle where the king dies. Their successes against the spawn are why the king felt he could stand in an idiotic 'Hot Gates' fail and be glorious rather than dead. The spawn surprised them with an army rather than the previous battalions.

I always did wonder about this little adventure. Why when Duncan tells us that he's allowed to (and indeed here to) recruit mages, can we not request that Duncan recruits Jowan right off the bat, allowing us to skip the whole "bound in blood magic" debacle? Or even just the last part of it?

I do have to say, I love Maggie as a character, but she is a total brat in this chapter. A complete brat, and if she'd talked to anyone sensible like she had Alistair, or used magic to threaten Joey, she should've been punched in the face.

I disliked her in this chapter, and I think Alistair was characterized as childish and whiny. He has sense, not mindless fear in this. Idk.

A thrall, that's what I'd become reading your ff. Cannot put it down

UHG OH MY GOSH HOW IS THERE NOT MORE OF THIS WHAT HAPPENED WHY DID YOU STOP IT'S SOOO GOOOOOOD

*cries a lot*

Damn, no Tabris. It's a pity, I actually hoped they'd pick him up at Denerim.

I just have to say I love love LOVE this story. I played a human mage as well and can't really get behind reading any fic with Zevran paired with anyone else either. I'm so glad I found a fic that's actual quality when dealing with him. You make their excursions so, well, realistic and natural as if they're real people and not just characters. I have to admit I was rather pleased that a lot of Maggies decisions coincided with my playthrough but the one thing I love the most is the little world building tid bits you add here and there. They just simply make so much sense. There's a lot of things I never really considered given the confines of the game but you've given me a more solid way of looking at events. I also really wished I had read the first few chapters dealing with Jowans friendship before I ever picked up the game because doing so, I really gained a new appreciation for him. I always felt weird that they thrust this person at you claiming to be your friend and expect you to make decisions based on something that could possibly be feigned concern given your initial exposure to him is him asking you to spill the beans about the one thing you're not supposed to spill anything about. Ah, so good. If you ever get back around to working on this, I will be a very happy fan.

My, this is a fun little read! I love Maggie, she's quite a fun protagonist. A shame this fic hasn't updated in a year, though. Still, great work here! Keep it up! :)

love this and I can't wait to read the next chapters!