#Laurel still belongs to delavairesslegacy

[captainderyn]

How were Baraneth and Runiel recruited by the wardens? Who was recruited first? Did they have the same joining?

This one got a little complicated as I tried to balance not only one, not two, but three wardens and how they ended up together, but I figured it out.@ofmistandrain  thank you for the ask!

Lil reminder that Laurel isn’t mine–she comes up a few times here. 

Right, so I think Baraneth, Ruinel, and Laurel are all recruited by the wardens through their in-game origins. Baraneth is still recruited in the aftermath of Howe’s attack on her family, Ruinel is saved from the Templars’ accusations that she’s in cahoots with a blood mage with Jowan (oh the irony.) Laurel still goes through the Dalish origin.

I wish I had some grand canon-divergent story for how their recruited but unfortunately I don’t have enough beef with the origins to replace it (and I love the Cousland one too much) haha. So it’s a little boring. 

A small little tidbit–Ruinel didn’t support Jowan’s excursions. She got pulled into the mess because Irving asked her to see what was going on since she and Jowan were known, friends. And Ruinel, being a small little mage who’s been sheltered in a Circle her whole life and trusts the people around her completely thinks that it’ll all be fine and its just concern. She was wrong. Instead, she got the blame alongside Jowan and it was Duncan that kept her from being made Tranquil or exiled. 

Maybe she was threatened to be made Tranquil instead of exiled–I’ve mentioned before she’s a powerful mage and probably makes the Templars nervous (…and the fact she’s a Dalish elf and I’ve gone through those issues and prejudice it brings when discussing Tucdela. Same mood.)

(A side note: Ruinel is the youngest of the three. She’s just turned 18 when the events of the game begin. I’m not sure how old Laurel is but she’s a year+ older and Baraneth is 19/almost 20)

That’s all pretty standard, except they aren’t all recruited at the same time. That doesn’t really change from in game except Ruinel’s history is Dalish instead of her coming from an alienage. 

Laurel is the one recruited into the Wardens first, mostly because the Brecilian Forest looks closest map-wise and makes the most sense to me. 

Then Ruinel is recruited very soon after–probably only the amount of time it takes to get to and from Ostagar to the Circle Tower, and the plan would have been to take whatever recruit he may have found there to Highever to pick up the recruit there… I don’t see that happening. I think Ruinel would have been ushered off to Ostagar instead of traveling further–she’s shaken, to say the least, quite scared and untrusting and I don’t think Duncan would have thought it was a good idea to drag along a terrified young mage whose just had her entire world turned upside down all the way to the coast and back.

Baraneth is recruited last, as Highever is the furthest journey north and the most out of the way. So now there are three new recruits–yay! Laurel’s had a few days+ to acclimate, she’s been reunited with her sister and Baraneth’s arrived thoroughly traumatized and spends the remainder of the day of her arrival and the night in a shocked numbness before she’s forcibly snapped out of it… because now they’ve got to go find some darkspawn blood and a cache of important things. It’s pretty chaotic and squished once all three are there, everything starts to happen in quick succession and especially for Baraneth she doesn’t get a moment to breath since what happened to her family. And it works that way. 

I think Laurel and Ruinel go through the Joining just before Baraneth if the journey to and from Highever would take more than a few days. Which is probably does. So I think they end up going through it prior to Baraneth. 

The sisters and Baraneth don’t actually end up interacting until the battle. Baraneth and Alistair are given the job of lighting the Beacon, Laurel and Ruinel are basically in place of the two random npcs you meet at the base of the Tower of Ishal, too new to be thrown into the thick of the fighting at the gates to instead their tasked with basically standing guard in case stuff goes wrong. And hoooooo boy does stuff go wrong. 

 The sisters get pushed back with Baraneth and Alistair and they end up joining together to get to the Beacon, wading through darkspawn just to be overwhelmed after lighting the beacon. They’re all saved by Flemeth, they’re given their task as the last three (four, counting Alistair) Grey Wardens, meant to defeat the Blight. 

And so the most kickass trio of future Heroes fo Fereldan you’ll ever see come into existence.

[captainderyn]

“We finish it the same way we started—together.”

**Spoilers for Ostagar in Dragon Age Origins**

Laurel belongs to @delavairesslegacy and is the sister to Ruinel

The night was dark, the stench of darkspawn and ash threatening to choke Ruinel. The stone walls around her were cast in deep shadow aside from the bright highlighter of the flames and the shadows of her sister and two soldiers with them were dark figures stalking their every move. Already they were bruised and bleeding, she and Laurel had been caught on the bridge when it had been hit and the groups of darkspawn they had faced since had not been kind to them. But still, they fought on. 

Two floors into the Tower of Ishal and they had already suffered a loss. The Tower Guard that had been with them had been caught by an unlucky darkpawn arrow to the chest. Ruinel’s hands still shook, even clamped around her staff. For nearly fifteen years she had lived in the shelter of the Circle, separated from the world at large. So much death in less than a day hit her like a ton of bricks, pulling at her mind in the rests between the mental barriers of spell casting. 

“You still alright?” She started, glancing over at Laurel. Fifteen years was a long time to have been separated, but already they were treating each other like sisters. The tentative concern was not something shared among soldiers just met. But, they had already gone through more than any just reunited sisters. Darkspawn, the Wilds, the Joining. None of it able to be endured alone. 

“Fine. You?” She managed between gasping breaths, catching against the wall as they paused at yet another door. The floor behind them was littered with corpses and she swallowed hard, closing her eyes to try and clear it from her mind. 

“I think this door leads to the top of the tower.” The guard– they didn’t even know the fallen guard’s name, nor the one of the man who spoke. “Let’s go.” 

“We’ve taken too long with the darkspawn here, we need to hurry.” Laurel took the lead, pushing open the door. She froze only steps in and Ruinel lost what little breath she had regained when she stepped up beside her. The massive grey beast, horned and rippling with coiled muscles, crouched in the middle of the tower room. With mounting horror Ruinel took in the bodies littering the floor, and the blood gathering at the feet of the creature. Laurel had her arm thrown out in front of Ruinel, keeping her from going any further and they shared a wide eyed glance. 

The beast noticed them seconds after they entered, turning slowly at first and then whipping around, its great maw opening in a bone-shaking roar. Spit flew from its mouth and the small group raised their weapons. 

“Ruinel, get to the side it’ll be easier for you to attack!” Laurel shouted over the beast’s roar, already scrambling to get behind it. Without question Ruinel dove to the side, putting her back to the wall and calling on all her remaining strength and concentration. At first her attacks seemed to do nothing, the arcane bolts she shot from her staff seeming to merely bouncing off the creature’s hide. The freezing ice she called on to halt it’s attacks only lasted seconds before it was broken, and the same cold sent flying at it had only served to anger it. But soon the soldier and Laurel’s attacks began to weaken it and her magic could more easily damage the creature. It was a final bolt of arcane energy along with the stab of a dagger that brought the creature to the ground, shaking the tower to its very roots.

“Light the beacon! Loghain needs the signal to aid the king.” 

The beacon exploded upwards in a pillar of flame and Ruinel stumbled back, lifting her arm to shield her eyes. She turned her back on the bright flame, moving to look over the edge of the Tower to the battle below. Trees and the stone ruins blocked some of it from view, but they could see the fighting that went on closest to the woods. Glowing embers sparked in the sky from flames burning all around the battle and the dark sillouetes of darkspawn could be seen rippling among the shadows. 

“They’re outnumbered! Where are Loghain’s men?” Ruinel looked over to Laurel, seeing her mouth set in a thin line. Her sister lifted her hand, pointing towards a dark mass moving away from the battle. 

“That coward.” Laurel spat. “That bastard is-” 

“What happened?” Ruinel followed her horror filled look, settling on the massive form that had just broken the lines of darkspawn and soldiers alike. Horned and bulky, just as the beast they had faced but much, much larger. “There has to be something we can do!”

“We’d never reach them fast enough. Oh Ruinel don’t look.” It was too late though, both elves saw the golden glint of the king’s armor seized up by the creature, heard it’s roar. They saw the golden glint get tossed aside like a rag doll and saw the dark spawn swarm and rally.

“There’re too many, what do we do now?” In the breath after her words they heard the thundering of many feet bearing towards them. Laurel’s mouth moved silently-darkspawn. 

“We finish it the same way we started this Ruinel–together.” Laurel’s voice was strong, her hand finding Ruinel’s and squeezing it quickly before she drew her weapons and squared up to the door. It flew open with a crack, the wood shattering against the stone of the tower’s walls. The soldier had already fallen when Ruinel threw out the most powerful spell she could muster. It only brought down a few of the tide that broke against the door. The next incantation she called on broke off in a scream, her staff falling to the ground with a clatter as an arrow embedded itself in her shoulder. Her back hit one of the pillars, her hand coming away from her shoulder slick with blood. 

“Ru!” Laurel dove in front of her, shield less and weaponless except for her two daggers. Two darkpawn fell by her blades, two more falling with terrible screeches when she threw her daggers. 

Then suddenly she went still, freezing in time for a moment before her knees buckled and she collapsed onto her back. “Laurel!” Ruinel cried, lunging for her staff again despite the pain flaring through her shoulder. Stumbling to her feet she took the few halting steps it took for her to stand beside her sister, staff leveled. She couldn’t tell if her sister was still alive, the three arrows she had seen hit her flashing in front of her eyes. 

With a shout she raised her weapon, pulling the last of her reserve to send out a wave of energy. It sent the hoard back several feet, some hitting the walls and not getting back up. But for every one that fell two more took it’s place and archers raised their bows again. Another, weaker energy burst was her last defense, a cyclone of frigid energy spiraling out from her. Her own cry was muted in her ears as pain hit her and in a daze she looked down, seeing three arrows. She hit the ground like a stone, inches away from her sister as darkness overtook Ostagar.