Tales of the Blight II: Morrigan

[Part of my Dragon Age: Inquisition play through. Spoilers ahead!]

'Tis strange how small the world is sometimes. Having convinced the Inquisitor that it would take the power of a god to match that of Corypheus, we have come to this ancient shrine to seek the aid of the elven god Mythal: the Great Protector. Who appears instead? She whom I have tried to hide from all these years. Mother. She is Mythal? She has deceived me even more than I thought.

Didn't you get killed, Mother?
Yes, but I got better.

With her guidance I learn her ability to shapeshift into a dragon and am more than a match for the winged beast serving the Elder One, just as the last of his Red Templars are no match against the combined army of the Inquisition and Orlais. It is said the Inquisitor grabbed his magic ball again and this time crushed it in his hand, killing the poor creature. Let that be a lesson to all would-be evil doers I suppose: don't let them grab your balls.

In the end a great victory against chaos was won, but left the world forever changed.

While Empress Celene remains on her golden throne, blood drips from her hands. All her court know it however none are in a position to move against her.

Meanwhile the Chantry shocks the world by naming First Enchanter Vivienne as successor to the Sunburst Throne. Given the name Divine Victoria, she is the first mage to hold the position and the surprise of many, she reinstates the Circle of Magi and creates a Templar Order firmly leashed to her hand.

She is not the only one to reach high office. The dwarf Varric becomes the new Viscount of Kirkwall and Dorian Pavus is instated as magister upon his return to the Tevinter Imperium. Meanwhile the Grey Warden known as Blackwall is discovered to be a fraud and a war criminal, executed by the Inquisitor himself for his crimes, while the elven apostate Solas simply vanished after the final battle. And what of the Inquisition itself? Its military might has grown, now rivaling that of kingdoms. Fear of the Inquisition's army has become the true source of its power.

I leave Skyhold now, knowing that power will continue to grow.

Insight: If you do all the content prior to this fight, Corypheus won't really be much of a challenge.

Tales of the Blight II: Hawke

[Part of my Dragon Age: Inquisition play through. Spoilers ahead!]

It has been years since the CHAMPION AND LEADER OF KIRKWALL went into hiding (Hawke gets a lot of time skips huh?) in an attempt to protect the city from any repercussions from his actions, but even he could not ignore the threat Corypheus posed, nor the letter requesting his aid from his good friend Varric.

He went to meet Inquisitor Trevelyan and his colorful troupe with useful information in hand, and was surprised to learn that Seeker Cassandra had thought of naming Hawke the Inquisitor from the outset but continued to be protected by Varric with whom the Seeker was now furious with. Hawke laughed as he had enough titles already anyway.

Is he talking about the quality drop in Dragon Age 2?

More importantly, he had located the missing Grey Wardens. Somehow all of them began experiencing "the Calling", thanks to Corypheus, and while most headed to the Deep Roads for their final journeys the more cowardly ones had turned to the Venatori to become unwillingly enslaved to the enemy, either through mind control or being turned into demons. An army of them, all gathering at Adamant Fortress.

With a clear target in their sights, Hawke went with the Inquisition army to face these worthless Grey Wardens who had the support of Corypheus' dragon. With high casualties on both sides, the remaining Grey Wardens eventually found their courage and joined the Inquisition as the dragon fled. Alas, Hawke would not survive to see the end of this battle.

Insight: For a rogue I recommend learning stealth quickly and if you graduate to tempest like Sera, those lightning jars make you OP.

Tales of the Blight II: The Herald

[Part of my Dragon Age: Inquisition play through. Spoilers ahead!]

The Herald of Andraste's second attempt at closing the breach is a success, now that he is backed by the Redcliffe mages conscripted to the Inquisition - but the victory party is short lived as a massive enemy force descends upon the hamlet that night: An army of templars, dubbed "Red Templars" by Varric, as they are all clearly under the effect of red lyrium like the templar leader in Kirkwall slain years ago.

A young boy named Cole manages to alert the town in time to get their trebuchets and other defenses ready which eliminates much of the enemy force, but not enough to stop a red lyrium dragon and the Elder One. The Herald confronts him alone to buy time for the others to escape, and this Elder One who calls himself Corypheus accuses the Herald of stealing the "anchor" from him - using his big magic ball to try reclaim the rift power in the Herald's hand... but fails.

I love fondling my magic ball.

Accepting he'll have to find another way to achieve his goal of god hood, Corypheus tries next to simply kill the Herald, but an avalanche that destroys Haven forces him to flee and buries the Herald in a cave. Somehow touching Corypheus' ball has made the anchor grow more powerful - and the Herald uses it to blast his way out of the mountain and regroup with the survivors.

With the village lost, it falls to Solas to lead the Inquisition to Skyhold, a forgotten fortress high in the mountains to begin anew - and it is here where Cassandra proclaims the official leader of this Inquisition to be the Herald, now officially "the Inquisitor", to the cheers of many.

Insight: If you are a kleptomaniac like I am, you'll want to get the perks which increase inventory space. You'll also want the fine tools perk to open the "harder" locked doors.

Tales of the Blight II: Varric

[Part of my Dragon Age: Inquisition play through. Spoilers ahead!]

The Herald of Andraste, that's what they're calling him now - and because of that some muscle brained Avvar barbarian down in the mire decided to challenge him to a duel to the death. The chosen of their gods against the chosen of ours, with only the lives of some hostages at stake. I could not make this shit up if I tried, and believe me - I've made up a lot of shit in my time.

So while the Herald deals with that, I now find myself in the ass-end of nowhere recruiting people and horses and mercenaries for this new Inquisition. At least I'm no longer a prisoner said the Seeker, yet here I am doing what she asked. Did I just get downgraded to a slave? That's a funny thought.

He still has some of the best lines.

Not many are willing or able to join though, not with Blondies' war still going on. Mages and templars, and innocent people caught in the middle. At least the rebel mages in Redcliffe are willing to meet, but it turns out they've basically sold themselves to some Tevinter magister who wants to personally negotiate with the Herald.

If your money's on this being a trap, you were right. Dorian, an apprentice of this magister with the most sparkly Tevinter mustache you'll ever see, confirmed his master is part of the "Venatori" - some radical group serving "the Elder One". With a few well placed bolts and some magical protection from Sparkles, the magister was convinced to hand over both the mages and the Elder One's plans which involve the assassination of the Empress or Orlais and a demon army. Like I said, I could not make this shit up if I tried.

Insight: In the mire map, walking into the water spawns undead. Contrary to what is suggested, do not avoid it. Spawn as many undead as you can to level up. There's also a fire dragon in the Hinterlands whose fight is almost exactly like the high dragon in Dragon Age 2, where is summons adds and flies to unreachable places to snipe. Have potions ready for it!

Tales of the Blight II: Trevelyan

[Part of my Dragon Age: Inquisition play through. Spoilers ahead!]

Trevelyan awoke as a prisoner of Seeker Cassandra (who has changed much from the last time we saw her). With some missing memories, he had no answers to the charge of killing the Divine (the "pope" of the Chantry) by exploding her entire temple and leaving a huge breach to the fade in its place, nor to how he walked out of it alive with a strange green glow his left hand now possessed.

At least we know where to go!

As evil spirits and demons were now entering the world, Cassandra had no choice but to trust the elven apostate Solas, self proclaimed scholar of the fade, who suggested this power might be able to close the breach if Trevelyan got close enough. With a few chantry soldiers and her personally led expendable forward team of Solas, Trevelyan and dwarven prisoner Varric, they pushed through the numerous demons, closing the smaller door-sized rifts on the way before reaching the main breach. With much strain, Trevelyan uses his new power on it and... passes out.

He awakes in the small, snowy village of Haven - where survivors salute and kneel before him, coining him "the Herald of Andraste" since he was able to make the breach dormant (but not closed entirely). With this momentum, Cassandra declares the Inquisition reborn - to uncover who created the breach and killed the Divine to bring them to justice.

Insight: Interrupting rifts can stun and debuff the demons around it, but this was only most useful against the armored pride ones or the annoying despair ones that hop around. For all other types it was often fastest to just fight and kill them directly (unless they got too far).

Tales of the Blight II: Blood Politics

[Part of my Dragon Age 2 play through. Spoilers ahead!]

With the viscount dead, there is continued squabbling among the leadership of the anti-magic templars and safe-magic Circle of who to take charge. Only the leader of the religious chantry provides the balance to prevent a war between these two, and while Hawke is away slaying a high dragon who destroyed the mines and helping Merrill rebuild a demonic mirror which EVERYONE says is bad a idea, paranoid Anders goes the terrorist route and blows up the entire chantry proving once and for all that ALL MAGES ARE BAD AND MUST DIE.

It was me! I was the bad guy the whole time!

This notion is built upon even more when Merrill kills her entire ex-clan when they confront her about her own illegal magic. As usual it is up to THE CHAMPION OF KIRKWALL to sort this mess out, by killing Merrill and executing Anders. Luckily, the templars share Hawke's views and assist him and his remaining allies Aveline and Varric (whom they first have to rescue from said mages) in storming their local headquarters to massacre them all. As they say, the only good mage is a dead mage!

Once the dust settles it is revealed the leader of the templars is also a bit crazy thanks to her sword being infused with the cursed idol she had bought from Varric's brother years ago. Knowing Hawke would be the next one to challenge her authority someday, she orders him executed immediately but is easily slain by her quarry.

Fearing for their lives, the remaining soldiers and citizens kneel down to worship their new, rightful leader: Hawke, who orders Aveline and her guards to do horrible things to anyone breaks any of his laws and sends Varric to start hunting down and executing mages in the surrounding areas. Not bad for someone who arrived as a penniless refugee.

Insight: The two hardest fights of the game for me were the initial assault on the circle mages HQ as they had barricaded themselves well and the high dragon, who cheats a lot / is a very smart dragon. As a rogue, stealth and lots of stam and HP pots were the key to winning.

Tales of the Blight II: The Peacekeepers

[Part of my Dragon Age 2 play through. Spoilers ahead!]

The Qunari are a strange, horned race and their leader Arishok insists that despite having been in Kirkwall for years now, they are unable to go home. Almost daily, anti-Qunari sentiment grows as Hawke tries to keep everyone calm. Aveline is too busy trying to get into the pants of one of her subordinates to help so he relies instead on the magical talents of Merrill and Anders, and the "other" talents of Isabella who he has a fling with.

Since Isabella is also seeing Fenris, Hawke gets roped into defending him against cronies of his old masters who tell Fenris about his long lost sister. Despite promising to spare them for the information, Fenris kills them, solidifying to Hawke that the white haired elf shouldn't be trusted.

That's a lot of bad guys! Glad I have stealth... :)

When assisting a dreamer from magical nightmares (by going into his dream), Hawke also learns he can't really trust Merrill who puts her clan above her loyalty to him (despite them exiling her), and Isabella who "likes big boats" and all things materialistic. Indeed, only paranoid Anders seems to be the only reliable companion. Him and Varric that is.

While Hawke's team is running around, beating up people to convince them violence isn't the answer, Varric finally finds and kills his brother who left them in the Deep Roads. Surprisingly, there is proof he had sold the cursed idol to some unfortunate buyer. Varric hopes whoever that was is long gone from Kirkwall.

There's no time to look though as Hawke's mom is abducted by the resident Kirkwall serial killer, a mage who is using pieces of his victims to Frankenstein his own mother back to life. They are too late to save anyone, but the experience certainly instills in Hawke a huge distrust in all mages. Sorry Anders. It seems only Varric can be trusted!

Varric has the best lines.

Insight: For the casters, learn the spell Rock Armor. It's super effective! Also after each time skip expect to be exploring the same areas you've already explored to fight things you've fought before in other areas. Nice game design... not!

Tales of the Blight II: Band of the Hawke

[Part of my Dragon Age 2 play through. Spoilers ahead!]

One of the tasks Hawke's team undertakes is to be the unsuspecting assassination target in place of elven ex-slave and mage hater Fenris. This results in Hawke and company killing their smuggler employer and moving onto the more lucrative task of clearing out some baby dragons nesting in the local mine. Soon after, Hawke finds Fenris' counterpart, ex-Grey Warden mage Anders who hates all the things that oppress mages and is willing to donate some maps for the Deep Roads expedition.

Finally ready with a heavy coin purse, Hawke and Beth join the dwarves on their expedition - spelunking with Varric, Bianca (his crossbow) and Isabella, an ex-pirate captain and tavern regular with low morals who is on the lookout for some special relic. During this time Varric's brother finds a cursed idol and abandons the team in a bad spot, resulting in Beth's demise but the rest of the party return richer than before... so much so that Hawke buys a mansion in the posh high town over the next three years (another time skip!?) for his mother.

Isabella is a klepto.

During this time, Aveline is promoted to guard-captain, Merrill now fully exiled from her clan moves into Kirkwall's elven alienage in the low town slums, Anders continues being paranoid in the dark town sewers, and Isabella and Varric waste all their earnings at the tavern. Before he can get too out of shape, Hawke is summoned by the viscount of Kirkwall for a most important task: to keep the peace between the populace and the Qunari who have been given an encampment down at the docks district.

Insight: If you play a thief, get stealth ASAP. Without it you get smashed easily. With it you are OP as you can just wait for your potion cool downs or even run off to abuse enemy leash mechanics, meaning you can come back to pick off piece meal what was once a big group.

Tales of the Blight II: Kirkwall Refugees

[Part of my Dragon Age 2 play through. Spoilers ahead!]

With darkspawn coming from all sides, Hawke flees with a handful of other refugees into the wilds and is saved in the nick of time by a huge red dragon, who turns out to be the witch Flemeth. In exchange for delivering an amulet of hers, she helps them reach the harbour where Hawke and the remaining survivors sail to Kirkwall (and not to Dunwall, too many Dishonoreds there) to meet his uncle at the gates. Alas said uncle has squandered the family fortune, so he sells Hawke, his sister Beth, and traveling companion Aveline into a year of indentured service to some smugglers while taking Hawke's mother through the city gates.

One handy time skip later and a year has passed, during which time the Hero of Ferelden stopped the blight. Knowing this is the prime time to enter the Deep Roads (home of the darkspawn) in search of treasure, a dwarf named Varric and his brother begin setting up an expedition to delve below. Hawke is welcome to join if he can front the gold as a partner, and knows this is the opportunity to change his family's fortunes now that he's no longer a slave. With zero coin to his name it's time to look for work, starting with his old friend Aveline - now part of the Kirkwall guard who is so good at her job, she finds proof the current guard-captain a corrupt scum and gets him fired.

Guess who is back to eat more of her daughters?

With Beth, the trio can finally also deliver Flemeth's amulet to the Dalish gypsy camp up the mountain where apprentice in exile Merrill performs some blood magic at a mountain top altar, revealing the necklace was a phylactery. Her spell revives a thankful Flemeth, who transforms again into a dragon and flies off. Since none of this really helps his financial situation, the trio soon head back to the smugglers to look for work - at least this time they'll get paid!

Insight: Inventory space is limited so always sell the junk treasure and buy the bag that increases the holding capacity. Also, geez - what a decrease in quality from Dragon Age: Origins!