Dragon Age: Origins Playthrough - Brecilian Forest

Now that things have calmed down in Redcliffe, we find ourselves faced once again with an array of options. Bann Teagan seems to think that we should go to Denerim to chase down leads on Brother Genetivi, a scholar who apparently had promising news about the Urn, but we still have these treaties to exploit too. As a dwarf, Amy has never heard of the Dalish elves, and has no ideas whatsoever about where they can be found... so that's the group we're going after next. Thankfully, the "Brecilian Forest" is marked on our world map so finding these nomadic elves won't actually involve wandering aimlessly through the woods. A funny thing happens on the way to the forest, though....

Dragon Age: Origins includes a random encounter feature that provides you with one of several possible events that happen to your party on the way to their destination. In this case, Amy runs into a group of villagers crowded around an Axe in a Stump. This is no ordinary axe as far as the locals are concerned, though. This is a magical axe that can only be retrieved by the true ruler of Thedas. There are obvious references to both the Sword in the Stone and Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail here, and the encounter is incredibly rare. As a champion of improbability, however, Amy pulls the axe out to the amazement of the villagers and proudly puts it in his inventory.

After some more walking, Amy comes face to face with a Dalish patrol that is understandably suspicious of this ugly dwarf and his companions (Morrigan, Leliana and Shale, for the record). Amy chides them for not being hospitable and the Dalish scout sternly reminds him that the elves have been enslaved by humans, and they don't take kindly to that. He reassures them by saying he has business here, which the scout is also doubtful of, but eventually the "Grey Warden" title is dropped and we are reluctantly allowed to meet with the Keeper of this tribe.

I'm also voiced by the guy who played Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager. If you don't like me, that may be why.

 

The Keeper's name is Zathrian and apparently he's been the leader of this tribe for quite some time. He suspects we're here about the treaty his people signed with the Grey Wardens and calmly explains that they're in no position to honor this promise. He directs our attention to a number of elven warriors writhing in agony after running afoul of werewolves and being inflicted with lycanthropy. Amy fails to see the problem because in his mind, this means he'll have access to an army of werewolf elves. Zathrian reminds him that lycanthropy turns people into mindless, raging beasts that don't take order no matter how nicely you ask them. Amy understands, and decides he had better look for help elsewhere.

By "elsewhere", Amy means "elsewhere in this immediate vicinity". We take a walk around the Dalish camp to see if anyone is more helpful. The master craftsman is willing to barter with us and there's a Dalish woman who's nice enough, but she's hanging out with some really weird-looking deer called halla and doesn't want to talk about our ancient treaties. There's also a novice hunter who has never seen a dwarf before and is clearly nervous about the possibility that he might offend us. We politely shout at him to stop stammering, but this does us no good. So, with great exasperation, we tell Zathrian that we're willing to end the werewolf menace if that's what it takes to get Dalish help.

Zathrian tries to warn us that there are dangers in the forest beyond just werewolves, but we're too eager to use our new axe of destiny to heed these warnings. There's a nice variety of enemies to slaughter in the Brecilian Forest, ranging from wolves and werewolves, to bears, to angry trees and finally more darkspawn, just in case we forgot that they're the main threat in this game. After some aimless slaughter, we cross a bridge and encounter a werewolf named Swiftrunner who... talks to us. He's as confused as we are about why the Dalish would send a dwarf to retaliate for the recent attack. Taking the whole "talking werewolf" thing in stride, Amy reassures Swiftrunner that he means the werewolves no harm. He's just here to kill Witherfang, the werewolf leader, and take his heart back to Zathrian to end the curse. Surprisingly, the werewolves don't like this idea.

"Fear us, dwarf, for we are-- damn it, Razorclaw! Don't scratch your armpits while I'm trying to intimidate people!"

 

The werewolves attack, but between Morrigan's spells, Leliana's arrows and Shale's flaming golem punches, Swiftrunner decides that it would be prudent to let the forest's natural defenses whittle us down first. More werewolves attack us after Swiftrunner flees, but these enemies are a kind of obstacle sometimes referred to as a "glass cannon". They can dish out damage, but they can't take it... and when one of your companions is a living construct made of stone, they don't last long. The aforementioned angry trees are a bigger problem than the actual werewolf menace.

In fact, it's not long before we run into the leader of the angry trees: a hulking wooden monstrosity with reddish leaves who speaks only in rhyme. He asks what manner of beast we are so naturally, we pretend we're a werewolf. The Great Oak recognizes this as a lie immediately and tells us he just wants to know if we could retrieve his acorn for him. Amy demands to know what he'd get out of this deal and the Oak promises enchanted wood that will allow us to travel to the center of the forest, where the werewolves are hiding out. We tell him it'd be easier to kill him and take the wood. With great patience, the Oak points out that it'd be worthless if he didn't enchant it, and Amy responds by trying to intimidate him. At this point, the talking tree has officially had enough of our crap, and attacks. Unfortunately for the Great Oak, Amy has just acquired an axe that is perfect for cutting trees down to size, so our best chance to confront the werewolves gets destroyed.

My branches broken, woe am I / You chopped me down and don't know why

Amy also finds a Dalish hunter who is barely holding onto life after running afoul of werewolves. We try to strike up a conversation but he rudely passes out. So, we loot all his equipment while he's napping, then wake him up. He only talks for another minute before passing out again, and Amy decides that stabbing him is easier than trying to revive him. Leliana freaks out. Sorry, girl. Forgot you were there. Fine, we'll take him back to the camp, but YOU'RE carrying him.

We eventually walk deeper into the woods, where we find an elf who has already turned into a werewolf. Barely holding back her rage, she pleads with us to kill her and give her scarf to her mate back in the village. We insist that she can just rejoin her people as she is. They won't even notice all the new fur! This idea is so stupid that the rage overwhelms her and we kill her just like she wanted. Frustrated, Amy wonders to himself if anyone in these woods actually talks sensibly!

His prayers are answered when we run into a hermit who lives in a dirty stump. We say hello and he immediately lays down the ground rules: question for a question, answer for an answer. So we trade questions back and forth for a while. It's a good system. Amy likes it. Morrigan tries to point out he's a madman who knows old and powerful magic. That's a rude thing to say about the most sane individual we've met in this game. The hermit agrees, saying it's no fair bringing a wizard to a guessing game, then asks if we're the kind souls who slaughtered that annoying talking tree. Amy says that depends on whether or not there's a reward. The hermit says maybe... do we want to know the perfect spot for a picnic in these woods?

"Seriously, look at the online reviews for this tuffet! 'Try the mixed grubs with lice, it's Dalishious!'"

 

The hermit says he can use a werewolf pelt to trick the trees into thinking we're one of the lycanthropes, allowing us to pass into their lair. Our only question is, how many werewolf pelts does he want? He only needs one, and after musing about turning it into a pair of slippers instead, he enchants it as promised. That's kind of a shame. We could have used a nice pair of werewolf slippers.

So, purely by accident, we're right on track to enter the werewolves' lair. The misty barrier blocking the path leading deeper into the woods is no impediment to us and no one is more shocked than Swiftrunner, who is waiting on the other side. Seeing that we've outsmarted a bunch of trees, he attacks... briefly. Flaming golem punches ensue. Amy moves forward to finish him off but he's knocked down by Witherfang, who promptly flees into a large, ruined temple with its werewolf reinforcements.

"Ah-ha! I know your greatest weakness: CUTSCENE POWER!"

 

The werewolf lair is much nicer than expected: instead of a smelly cave network, they set themselves up in an ancient Elven ruin. Concerned about future resale value, most of the lycanthropes elect not to fight indoors. They retreat into a lower chamber instead, and bar the door behind them. You'd think a simple door bar would be no major obstacle to a witch and/or a golem, but the game insists we have to take the long way around.

For the most part, all we have to worry about in the ruins are the vengeful undead bodies of the former Elven residents. There are occasionally giant spiders too, and the dead Elves do nothing to help their race's bad image in Ferelden by being less threatening than the arachnids. The unimpressive enemies give way to a bigger challenge, however.

Leliana keeps complaining about having a bad feeling about a room up ahead, and before we can tell her to shut up, a dragon appears. Not a terribly impressive one... this little guy is only about 10 feet long from tail to snout. He doesn't take kindly to us thinking he's cute, though, and puts up an admirable fight. He's not strong enough to take out Amy and Shale though, and ranged support from Morrigan and Leliana finish him off.

What the-- what a ripoff! I've seen 'Desolation of Smaug'! This is a falsely advertised hoard!

 

We shamelessly loot the dragon's "hoard" and the chambers ahead before finding a precious gem that could be valuable if it wasn't filled with blood. Amy tries to break it open and get the icky stuff out, but it won't shatter. Leliana suspects it's a phylactery. Amy doesn't know what that word means, so he assumes it's unimportant.

At some point while handling it, however, Amy hears a voice in his head and not one of the usual ones that keep daring him to snort lyrium dust. It's some kind of elf wizard whose spirit has been trapped for hundreds of years and begs to be destroyed. The visions are confusing, but the elf seems to remember being a spellcaster who could wear armor, and the spirit offers to impart the knowledge of how to do so as thanks for destroying the phylactery. We accept... then casually toss the gem into a pile of rubble and move on.

The tunnels lead to a pool of water that is a secret passage to the werewolves's inner sanctum... somehow. The camera zooms in on what looks like a puddle and suddenly, we're face to face with werewolves again. We kill the half dozen or so that attack before one shows up that asks if we're willing to parley. Amy decides there's no way this could be an ambush and agrees right away.

The lycanthropes lead us to a green-skinned beauty called the Lady of the Forest. We're pretty sure we remember her from this one Star Trek episode, but she insists she's a spirit who calms the werewolves' bestial nature and taught them speech. It turns out she was also summoned by Zathrian quite a long time ago in order to impart the curse of lycanthropy on some humans who wronged him. The heart of Witherfang could treat the illness, but Zathrian has the power to end the curse.

"No, I'm not an Orion slave girl... or a Desire Demon... or a cat. Seriously, what gave you those ideas?"

 

Swiftrunner, the Lady's right-hand wolf, angrily says the Dalish will never bargain and this is pointless. Amy agrees, and tells the werewolves that he'd be happy to help them kill all the elves. He fails this persuade check so hard, it's kind of amazing. Swiftrunner, who was out for blood a minute ago, hears Amy say this and decides that if this moronic dwarf thinks killing the Dalish is a good idea, it can't possibly be a good plan.

So, Amy tells the Lady that he thinks killing Witherfang is the best backup plan. The Lady says she has it in her power to ensure that Witherfang remains hidden forever if we act against her. We immediately switch loyalties and agree to kill Zathrian. Or force him to talk to the werewolves. Whatever.

We leave the Lady of the Forest behind and take the werewolves' shortcut back to the entrance hall of the ruins. Unexpectedly, Zathrian is there, having followed our trail of destruction through the forest. He demands to know why we're leaving without having killed Witherfang and we tell him we're on the Lady of the Forest's side now. He informs us that the Lady is actually Witherfang. That leafy bitch! She lied to us! We immediately switch loyalties again and agree to help Zathrian kill the Lady.

"People like you are the reason I dabble in neverending curses. I'm just sayin'."

 

Five minutes after leaving the werewolves' lair, we're back to see them with Zathrian in tow. He proudly tells the Lady of the Forest that the Warden is going to help him kill her... at which point Amy bursts out laughing and says he only said that to get Zathrian down here. Leliana tells us she's relieved, because we changed sides so many times that she had no idea what our intent was anymore. Little does she know that Amy still hasn't figured it out yet. The Lady of the Forest, meanwhile, tells Zathrian that she knows that ending the curse comes with a price: both his death and hers. The curse is the only thing that's sustaining them after this many years, but the Lady is willing to die to see it end. Zathrian says his hatred is eternal, and demands that we pick a side. Shale summarizes our thoughts perfectly: "somebody please kill somebody."

Amy tells Zathrian to fight the Lady and her werewolves, and we'll watch from a safe distance. The Dalish Keeper decides that remark means we deserve to die too... and he kind of has a point. Unfortunately for him, Amy is very adept at living through stupid decisions and beats Zathrian handily. After that, the elf has finally had enough. His hatred has clearly gotten the better of him and he agrees to end the curse. Standing in a circle with the werewolves, he taps his staff once on the ground, falls dead and the Lady fades away as her pack gazes at her one last time. The werewolves then transform back into their human form.

It's finally over, the humans say. No it isn't, Amy says. These humans put him through a lot of trouble and he intends to make them pay for it. The man who was once Swiftrunner says he still has an old, beaten-up kite shield if Amy wants it. Luckily, Amy decides that one old shield is easily worth the lives of a couple dozen humans and lets them go.

So, after a long day of doing the right thing for the dumb reasons, Amy returns to the Dalish camp and reports to the new Keeper of the clan. She pledges her support to us in the coming war and thanks us for saving the lives of the hunters suffering from lycanthropy. Amy leaves the forest, confident that any future experience he has with an elf will be a completely pleasant one.

No, damn it! I said we'd never see you again!