Mark Plays ‘Dragon Age: Origins’: Witch Hunt DLC – Part 1

In the first part of Witch Hunt, I go on a quest to find out where Morrigan disappeared to. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to play Dragon Age: Origins.

Witch Hunt – Part 1

Okay, first things first: I am now aware that I probably should have played this after some other DLC and possibly after Awakenings. I didn’t find out until I’d already played this for an hour, went back to Mark Plays (this was a week ago), and discovered that there was a suggested order for playing the post-game DLC. No one told me! It’s not the end of the world, but I just wanted to state this before I got comments claiming that I did everything wrong. Granted, I did, but I’m aware of it. So far, though, this story fits remarkably well after the end of Dragon Age: Origins. I wanted to do this first because MORRIGAN I WANT TO KNOW WHERE YOU WENT. Where is your creepy archdemon baby thing?

I puttered about around camp for a few minutes, talking to people and organizing my weapons and selling shit to Bodahn. And then I tried to find how to start this DLC. And I couldn’t. FOR TEN MINUTES. I even quit the game, made sure everything I downloaded was installed, and I still couldn’t find it. I had to Google that shit. Do you know how terrified I am of Googling anything related to a Mark Does Stuff project? I just don’t do it! EVER. That is the land of ENDLESS SPOILERS. This is how desperate I got.

Turns out that you have to start a whole new game to play the next batch of DLC. What. Thankfully, I got to import my character from the game since Roslin survived, but good god, couldn’t this game communicate that better? Plus, I was initially a bit disappointed that this was so separate from the game I just played. My previous companions all disappeared as far as the story’s continuity went, though the more I thought about this (and the more I played Witch Hunt), the more I was completely fine with this.

Set years after the end of Origins, it makes sense that this DLC is sort of like starting over. Your old companions are elsewhere living their own lives, so you’ve got to find Morrigan on your own. (Plus, in terms of this game, it also seems sensical that this would be a mission you’d go on solo. For Roslin, Morrigan was a close friend.) So off I went, heading straight to Flemeth’s hut in the hopes of finding some trace of Morrigan, and instead I found… Ariane. Who is definitely not Morrigan. BUT WHO I AM GROWING TO LIKE A WHOLE LOT. Apparently she is also looking for Morrigan! And Morrigan stole a really important book! Why am I not surprised by this at all?

I was pleasantly surprised that upon agreeing to travel with Ariane, SHE BECAME MY COMPANION. Holy shit, her strength is 52. 52!!!! And the other companions I gained (Adama and, later, Finn) both were leveled up to 23 like Roslin; I got to choose their specialization, skills, and talents, too. Um, that is spectacular. As I said earlier, the more I played this, the more pleased I was with the execution.

We both traveled to the Circle of Magi, where I wasn’t exactly the most welcome guest. Dudes, I tried to help out. It wasn’t my fault some bigot ruined everything and left the mess for me to clean up! Have some sympathy! Anyway, we met Finn there, who ended up helping us track down information on the Eluvian. But before that happened, we need to talk about two things:

1) SANDAL IS IN THE TOWER. Oh my god, I flipped the fuck out once I saw him. Where was Bodahn??? Did he die during the Battle of Denerim? Thankfully, he didn’t, and he was off in Redcliffe being wonderful. So I thought WHAT THE HECK and decided to see what Sandal had and HOLY SHIT THOSE RUNES WHAT THE FUCK.

It was the first time I realized that this DLC was introducing new shit to me. I mean, seriously, look at that Paragon Hale Rune. IT’S INCREDIBLE.

2) It took me forever to figure out the whole library index thing. The good news, though, was that my totally aimless research technique got me a couple Tomes, a Harry Potter reference, a story about Ser Pounce-a-Lot, and many other funny moments. I spent around 25 minutes poking about until I figured out you can only activate one index at a time. Whoops! That’s when I was able to translate the elven runes and get the word “Eluvian” defined.. by Finn.

Oh, Finn. He’s just so excited for adventures and learning! Of course I had to let him come along. Then I was just as excited when we got the key to GO DOWN INTO THE BASEMENT. Finally, that door is unlocked! Oh shit, this is going to be aweso–

WHAT. WHAT IS THAT THING. WHY IS INFECTED. No, what is it infected by? WHAT THE HELL IS A VEIL TEAR. There are tears in the Veil, and now I have to go find them and fix them to even continue on? GREAT. What other monsters are going to come creeping through?

I’ll have to find out in the next hour. DRAT.

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