Dragon Age Inquisition Playthrough - More Followers, More Problems

Torquemada has three appointments with mysterious strangers, but two of them require us to leave Val Royeaux. So, we decide to follow up on the bad guy we learned about in the note delivered by arrow. It points us to three locations in the city where we find clues about this person, wrapped in red handkerchiefs, that suggest he's an Orlesian noble trying to undermine the Inquisition. We also find out where he's meeting his supporters tonight. This seems like a strange way to pass along information and Cassandra is thinking that the meeting is a trap, but she and Torquemada agree they should try to confront this person anyway.

Apparently, in Orlais, fancy opera costumes are quite intimidating. Not so much in Ferelden.

The information turns out to be valuable, as we arrive at the meeting place to find only a few guards. Unimpressed even after Torquemada swiftly defeats his men, the noble shows himself and says he's going to find a way to beat us. He's cut short, however, by the appearance of an elf woman pointing a drawn bow at him. She promptly shoots him when he starts yelling at her, then she turns to us and says we should get ready because he has reinforcements coming. She adds that she found where they stashed their equipment, however, and has a little surprise planned for them. Seconds later, a group of guards charges at us, fully armed... but not wearing any pants.

After the fight, we ask her why she didn't simply steal their weapons. She says she stole their breeches instead because that way, they had to fight naked from the waist down. We could argue with that logic, but I'm not sure why we'd want to. Anyway, she introduces herself as Sera and says she's coming with us. Torquemada wants to know more about her first though, which seems to annoy Sera, but she says she's with the Friends of Red Jenny. They're a supposedly leaderless group that we've heard of in passing in the previous games, and they exist to take revenge on nobles when they mess with the common folk too much. Revenge could mean anything from a prank to assassination depending on how angry someone is with them. In other words, Sera is a skilled archer with access to a wide network of commoners with eyes & ears throughout Thedas. Torquemada welcomes her to the Inquisition.

She also believes that the nobles' petty infighting is due to unresolved sexual tension.

Just one reason why I think she's way smarter than she lets people think she is.

We decide to leave the shady Orlesian back alley and head somewhere more comfortable: the estate north of Val Royeaux where Madame du Fer has requested the pleasure of our company. Torquemada's blood-stained leather armor doesn't exactly fit in with the fancy outfits of the Orlesian nobles in attendance, but the first lady we talk to is delighted to meet the famous Herald of Andraste regardless. It's not long before a gentleman with an unfavorable opinion of the Inquisition appears, though. He starts to deliver a scathing lecture about how evil we are, but is suddenly frozen by a woman making her way down a grand staircase. This turns out to be First Enchanter Vivienne, and she doesn't take kindly to people insulting her honored guests. After politely greeting us, she casually asks us whether or not the rude party guest should be killed and Torquemada says that won't be necessary, since executions are usually frowned upon at Dalish parties.

"My dear, if you're going to wear an intimidating opera costume, you simply must back it up with real power. Otherwise you just look a fool!"

Vivienne then asks to speak with us privately and after walking to a more secluded part of the estate, she tells us that she too would like to join the Inquisition. Torquemada is a bit skeptical, since this Madame du Fer seems to have a pretty good thing going here in Orlais. We ask her what her motivation is, and how a mage like herself has remained in such good standing in the middle of a mage rebellion. Vivienne says that the breach is a threat to everyone and her comfortable lifestyle won't last for much longer if she doesn't help to do something about it. As for the mage rebellion, she doesn't back the apostates because she believes the Circles of Magi are still the best option and wants to see them reinstated. It sounds like her views won't alienate anyone we're trying to work with, so we welcome another new follower to the group.

Before we head to Redcliffe to meet with Fiona, we stop in Haven to discuss the situation with our advisors. Cullen, a former Templar, is in disbelief over Lucius' actions in Val Royeaux and says the order is bound to see reason eventually. While Josephine and Leliana believe it's worth hearing what Fiona has to say, Cullen advises against it and says the mages are only coming to us out of desperation. Torquemada's already made up her mind about that, though. We proceed to the war room and we're told that all the operations went well, including the construction of the watchtowers in the Hinterlands. There are new missions to undertake now, including a suggestion from Sera: her friends know a beekeeper who can provide us with angry bees that we can throw at people. We tell Leliana to get on that right away. We also have Josephine send an envoy to our Dalish clan since the Keeper has expressed concern about our well-being, and we have Cullen's soldiers start looking for hidden tunnels near the Temple of Sacred Ashes that those pesky dragon cultists used to use.

There's a hole in the sky with demons pouring out, we've openly rebelled against the Chantry...
...and what Cullen finds odd is that the Templars are more belligerent and zealous than usual?

As Torquemada gets ready to leave for the Hinterlands with Cassandra, Sera and Vivienne, Leliana says there's one more thing we may want to look into. She's been trying to track down the Grey Wardens to determine whether or not they might help the Inquisition, but they appear to have gone into hiding around the same time that the breach opened up. Leliana doesn't believe the Wardens are involved with the breach, but the timing is suspicious and she thinks we should follow up on some leads she's discovered. One group of Wardens was spotted on the Storm Coast, north of the Hinterlands, but we'll have to approve a large scouting mission before we can set up a forward camp there. In the meantime, a solitary Warden has been spotted in the Hinterlands and we can try to find out where he went instead. Since we're headed there anyway, we add it to our to-do list.

Our first stop in the Hinterlands is the farmhouse belonging to Redcliffe's old horsemaster, Dennet. He tells us that wolf attacks aren't a problem anymore, and he's seen that the watchtowers have been constructed like he suggested. We honored our end of the bargain, so he honors his and provides the Inquisition with all the good horses he has. He also expresses some regret about not being able to take care of them himself, so we ask Cassandra to appeal to his sense of morality as a good Chantry-goer. Dennet accepts Cassandra's argument that it's his duty to help, and says he'll see us in Haven. Glad that these efforts have turned out well, Torquemada turns her attention to the last known location of the Grey Warden who is supposed to be in the area.

BioWare said that they took some inspiration from the Elder Scrolls series for this game.

You know what that means: horse armor DLC.

We find a well-armed man outside of a remote shack in the Hinterlands, who is training a couple of young, inexperienced villagers how to fight. As we approach, so does another group that appear to be bandits. The Warden tells the youths it's time to fight for real, and they prepare to defend themselves. Naturally, Torquemada and her companions join in and the bandits are completely overwhelmed. The Warden says the youths have earned their freedom and lets them go. We ask him what that was all about, and he says those two tried to steal from him so he had temporarily invoked the Grey Warden rite of conscription as a way of making them pay for their crimes with service. Torquemada tries to casually ask about the other Grey Wardens, but he realizes he's being interrogated and we admit we're with the Inquisition. That doesn't seem to bother him, though.

The Warden introduces himself as Blackwall and says he's been working on his own, trying to find new recruits in the Hinterlands. Between the lack of darkspawn activity in the ten years since Amastacia's disorganized victory and total paranoia over the breach, he hasn't had much luck. He also has no idea where the other Grey Wardens are and suggests they may have returned to their headquarters in Weisshaupt, which is a long ways away from here. Being a loner, he hasn't had much contact but realizes that his mission here isn't doing anyone much good. Grey Wardens are allowed, however, to uphold their oath to protect in any way they see fit when there's no blight to deal with and Blackwall says that if we want to close the breach, he'd be happy to help with that. Torquemada accepts, and we now have three new companions to choose from.

"If you need me, Inquisition, I'll be by this scenic lake, practicing my doleful brooding."

Since the one Grey Warden we've met has agreed that their order should be trying to close the breach, we decide to head to Haven with him to tell Leliana that scouting the Storm Coast is good idea. As we get outside the Chantry, however, we notice an unfamiliar-looking mercenary lurking about and decide to ask what he's doing here. He introduces himself as a member of a group called "The Bull's Chargers" and says he's been trying to get an audience. We tell him he's got one now, so he informs us that his leader, the Iron Bull, would like to discuss the possibility of working together. Conveniently enough, he and his company are located on the Storm Coast. We proceed to the war room and spend four power points to set up the appropriate scouting missions and forward camps that will give us access to the Storm Coast, then head to this new area of Ferelden.

Our forward camp isn't too far from the location of the Bull's Chargers, so we decide to get that meeting out of the way before tracking down clues about Wardens. The Iron Bull, a massive, shirtless Qunari, is in the middle of taking out bandits with his men as we approach. We decide to help with that, and the Bull asks if we'd like to join him for drinks while we talk business. He gets straight to the point once the casks are broken open, saying he knows the Inquisition needs soldiers and he'd like us to hire him. Torquemada is skeptical, so he lowers his voice and says he's also a Ben-Hasserath, a Qunari spy sent here to determine whether or not his people should invade due to the breach. Hiring him gets us his men, plus access to his spy network. Sure enough, we welcome yet another new companion.

"Excuse me, my eyes are up here. ...Well, one of them is."

Apart from getting his support, however, the trip to the Storm Coast isn't very fruitful. We find traces of Grey Warden campsites and journal entries that indicate they were looking for one of their own in the area, but neither the Wardens or the person they were looking for are here anymore. The Storm Coast is living up to its name by being rainy and generally unpleasant too, so we all head back to the Hinterlands once again. Next on the agenda is our meeting with the leader of the mage rebellion, Grand Enchanter Fiona, but getting into Redcliffe is easier said than done, it turns out. The main gate is blocked by a rift that's even more unusual than what we've encountered before because time keeps speeding up and slowing down as we fight the demons around it. Eventually, they're all defeated, but this is just the start of the unusual happenings.

Redcliffe guards tell us that a nearby tavern has been vacated so the Inquisition and the mages can meet, so we head inside and see Fiona again. She asks what brings us here and we reply that her invitation in Val Royeaux did, obviously. Fiona says she's never met us before, which is odd... but not as odd as the fact that she's indentured to a Tevinter magister now, and all the mages in the rebellion have agreed to join the Imperium. She then introduces us to her master, Gereon Alexius, who will negotiate with us for the use of "his" mages in the Inquisition.

Here's a hint: if you're pretending you're not pure evil, maybe DON'T wear the red cowl with horns on it.

Magister Alexius is a sleazy fellow, to say the least. He claims that his timely arrival in Redcliffe after the disaster at the conclave was a stroke of divine luck and Tevinter will be happy to accept Ferelden's mages as full members of the Imperium after they complete their mandatory one year of servitude. Until then, they do as he says and we must go through him if we want them to help us close the breach. Torquemada is unsure of how to proceed, but then the magister's son Felix arrives to serve us refreshments and nearly faints into her arms while doing so. The magister is concerned and says we'll have to continue later. At first, we assume this will give us time to think, but then we realize that Felix passed us a note when he nearly fainted on us, and we have another clandestine meeting to attend.

The note simply says we're in danger and should come to the Chantry. The situation is so bizarre at this point that Torquemada doesn't even care if it is a trap, she heads into the Chantry and hopes there's at least one answer waiting inside. What we find instead is another rift, along with another Tevinter mage who kindly asks us to help him close it. He doesn't need to ask twice, and after the fight he takes a moment to admire our glowy hand. We are then joined by Felix, who says that this mage is who actually wanted the meeting. His name is Dorian and he used to be Alexius' apprentice, but is working against him now because he manipulated time itself in order to reach the mage rebellion before the Inquisition did. That explains why we saw Fiona in Val Royeaux but she claims she was never there. Kind of. It just goes to show that the magic being used is unstable and threatens to tear another hole in reality.

"I realize you just met me and what I'm saying is hard to believe; but if you'd stop laughing at my mustache for a minute, I'll explain."

Dorian says we need to cut the meeting short before Alexius notices Felix is missing and gets suspicious. However, he claims that he developed the magic Alexius used and can reverse it if we work with him. He hopes we'll consider his offer and meet with him in Redcliffe again if we agree. We return to Haven and the war table with this information, and are faced with two options. Either we can throw our lot in with Dorian, hoping we can free the mages, stop a hole in time from being created and kick the Tevinters out of Ferelden... or we can take Cullen's advice, forget the mages, arrange a meeting with the Templars and hope Lucius is more reasonable than he was in Val Royeaux. The game is clear on one point, though: once we pick one side, we can't work with the other. Yet again, a Dragon Age game is making us choose between Templars and mages and we'll make that choice in the next update.