A sample quest for Dragon Age: Origins, featuring four of my favourite companions. For a better, more traditional, reading experience, find the PDF here.
This quest may be begun as soon as the player enters the Brecilian Forest.
EXT. BRECILIAN FOREST – DAY
There is a ghostly-looking NPC standing in an otherwise uninhabited area of the forest, a small clearing lush with overgrowth. This is THE SPIRIT. It looks entirely other: not male or female, not young or old. The player may approach it to begin the quest.
DIALOGUE BEGINS
THE SPIRIT
…
PLAYER CHARACTER
OPTION 1: Hello there.
OPTION 2: Well, it’s not every day you run into a spirit.
OPTION 3: State your business. What are you doing here?
The Spirit’s response to all options is the same:
THE SPIRIT
…
PLAYER CHARACTER
OPTION 1: Can you hear me?
OPTION 2: You’re awfully quiet, aren’t you?
OPTION 3: Do not waste my time. Speak. Immediately.
The Spirit continues to give the same response to all options:
THE SPIRIT
…
The player character’s companions will now speak. All lines will be said if the necessary companion is present, in the following order:
If ALISTAIR is present:
ALISTAIR
Maybe they’re just shy. Should we try something to break the ice? A dance? A friendly arm-wrestle?
If MORRIGAN is present:
MORRIGAN
Be cautious. This spirit is powerful, if not talkative.
If LELIANA is present:
LELIANA
How sad… I wonder if it can say anything at all?
If WYNNE is present:
WYNNE
I believe it may be possible to make a connection. If we find the right to spark to light the fire, so to speak.
Now the player may speak again to the Spirit:
PLAYER CHARACTER
OPTION 1: I’m going to take a look around. Don’t go anywhere.
OPTION 2: We’ll get you to open up in no time!
OPTION 3: I’ll make you talk. Then you’ll regret this insolence.
THE SPIRIT
…
DIALOGUE ENDS
The player can now explore the surrounding area. Inside the clearing there are three items which may be examined in any order.
1. The first is a body. When players examine it, the following text appears:
(This body is long decayed, now little more than bones. Scraps of clothing remain. You cannot tell if they were elven or human, male or female.)
2. The second is a tree. When players examine it, the following text appears:
(What at first appeared to be just a normal tree has, on further examination, something carved into its bark. You make out “M ♥ F”.)
3. The third is a small notebook browned and curled with age. Players may examine it to reveal the following written inside:
If you’re reading this, please be kind to my friend. When I summoned them here I was lonely, and they answered my call because they were lonely too.
I had never been so happy. We spoke for days and days on every topic we could think of, barely pausing to eat or sleep. But therein was the problem. My friend does not understand what it means to be human, to need sustenance and rest. I grow weak and still all my friend wishes is to do is talk. It is not malice but eagerness. They do not see… I cannot make them see.
I do not regret my choices, nor where I know they must lead me. I hope one day my friend will understand. They were truly a friend… perhaps the best I ever had.
Please, be kind to them.
If the necessary companions are present, they will say the following “banter” dialogue randomly as the player explores:
ALISTAIR
LINE 1: I found something! Oh, actually, it’s just my own feet. Never mind.
LINE 2: What are we looking for, again? A convenient something-or-other to neatly explain this spirit’s life story?
MORRIGAN
LINE 1: Is all this mucking around in the dirt really necessary?
LINE 2: Keep an eye on that spirit. I don’t like the way it’s watching us.
LELIANA
LINE 1: These flowers are beautiful! Ah, and not what we’re searching for right now…
LINE 2: Have you found anything yet? At least, anything that isn’t tree roots?
WYNNE
LINE 1: I’ve never encountered a spirit quite like this. It’s a wonderful discovery.
LINE 2: If I find anything, you’ll have to pick it up for me. My back isn’t what it used to be.
Once the player has examined all three items in the clearing, they may speak again to the Spirit.
DIALOGUE BEGINS
THE SPIRIT
…
PLAYER CHARACTER
OPTION 1: I’m so sorry for your loss.
OPTION 2: You never asked to be summoned. I understand why you did what you did.
OPTION 3: You killed this person who called you friend.
The following text appears:
(You are suddenly overwhelmed by immense feelings of pain and regret. For a moment, it is all you can do not to break down in tears.)
Still, the Spirit only gives one response:
THE SPIRIT
…
PLAYER CHARACTER
OPTION 1: I see. It was a mistake. You never meant to hurt them.
OPTION 2: You truly were friends, weren’t you?
OPTION 3: Regret changes nothing. What’s done is done… and you are guilty. (Attack)
If the player chooses OPTIONS 1 or 2:
(The feelings lessen slowly to a deep melancholy, tinged with something that might be the memory of happiness – distant but pure.)
THE SPIRIT
…
PLAYER CHARACTER
OPTION 1: You don’t want to hurt anyone else. That’s why you won’t speak.
OPTION 2: What you did is all the worse because you were friends.
OPTION 3: You can’t be trusted. You’re a danger to everyone. It’s time to put an end to this. (Attack)
If the player chooses OPTIONS 1 or 2:
(Discomfort comes over you. You find it difficult to tell if it is your own, or the Spirit’s.)
THE SPIRIT
…
PLAYER CHARACTER
OPTION 1: So you’re trapped here, in a prison of your own making. Do you want us to put your suffering to an end?
OPTION 2: All a creature like you deserves is death.
OPTION 3: I will return you to the Fade, where you belong. (Attack)
If the player chooses OPTIONS 1 or 2:
(Conviction pierces you like an arrow. You are as sure of this as you have ever been sure of anything.)
PLAYER CHARACTER
OPTION 1: I hope you find peace. (Attack)
OPTION 2: As you please. (Attack)
DIALOGUE ENDS
All versions pick up here:
The player must now fight the Spirit. Once it has been defeated in battle, a final conversation is struck up.
DIALOGUE BEGINS
THE SPIRIT
… Thank you.
The Spirit fades away into the air – into nothingness.
The player character’s companions will now speak. All lines will be said if the necessary companion is present, in the following order:
If ALISTAIR is present:
ALISTAIR
That was the right thing to do. Wasn’t it?
If MORRIGAN is present:
MORRIGAN
After all those years, and all that guilt, it never became a demon… how curious.
If LELIANA is present:
LELIANA
Let us return to camp. I can’t bear to be in this place any longer.
If WYNNE is present:
WYNNE
And we believe spirits cannot learn, cannot grow… who do these lies benefit, I wonder?
DIALOGUE ENDS
The quest is now over.
