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Maker was Duncan ever busy. As Warden Commander of Ferelden, he had the arduous task of being the last line of defense against the Blight should one arise. A blight was arising. He managed to convince King Cailain to muster an army to help fight it, but when he was near Ostagar, he felt it. The Archdemon. He had only a handful of Wardens, and a fresh recruit named Alistair that had more importance than most realized as he was a Bastard Prince of Ferelden. Duncan needed to be through, not only finding quantity, but quality.
He started close to home in Highever, earned an audience with the Noble house of Cousland. The King was already amassing his army in the South and the Couslands were sending forces. The Heir to the Teryn took his forces south while the youngest stayed to watch the castle. At least, that's what he had planned. On the night before Duncan was to depart, Intrigue struck and the Howe's struck at the Couslands, assaulting their home. This gave Duncan the chance to recruit his ideal candidate for the area, Bhima Cousland. The pair escaped Castle Cousland with the recruit vowing to avenge his family one day. It was foruitous that Duncan had been there, or the Couslands may have been wiped out entirely. Duncan still needed more and who better to protect a wanted man than a Grey Warden?
Together they traveled to the Circle of Magi where Duncan hoped to find some knowledge on magicks the Darkspawn would employ now that they had the leadership of an Archdemon, and to recruit a mage personally into the ranks of the Wardens. The Circles modest 7 mages weren't going to be enough and to have a mage that could sense and fight Darkspawn was of dire need. Little did Duncan realize he would stumble into more intrigue. A newly harrowed Mage had come into a plot to spare her friend the fate of becoming tranquil. She was First Enchanter Irving's prized pupil and showed this by aiding the suspected mage in destroying his phylactery, a blood magic tracking method, with the help of an initiate of the Templars, on Irving's orders no less. This meant that while the mages lost a candidate to join their ranks, the Templars lost as much. Such cunning would do her well and Duncan saw fit to recruit her when Knight Commander Greagor wanted her punished after the blood mage in question escaped after his phylactery was destroyed.
Duncan then moved to one of the Grey Warden's most storied and long term Allies, the Dwarves of Orzammar. In his due diligence, he wanted to make a small trip into the deep roads to assess the Darkspawn numbers, and it would keep Recruit Cousland and Recruit Amell away from any one possibly hunting them on the surface. Duncan didn't know if he believed in the Maker beyond pleasantries, but the Stone seemed to be favoring him in his efforts to recruit more Wardens. A casteless Dwarf impersonated a member of the Warrior Caste and won the Provings held in Duncan's honor. Before he could recruit them however they had been taken by the criminal organization, The Carta. When he thought that swarf was gone, he reappeared after slaughtering his way out of the Carta's hideout and Duncan recruited him on the Spot. By the grace of the noble Aeducan family they were allowed to stay in Orzammar for the feast in Duncan's honor, provided his newest recruit was kept out of sight in the Diamond Quarter. This allowed Duncan the chance to meet the middle child of Endrin, Nola Aeducan, when she received her commission to lead the mission the dwarves were running that the Wardens were piggy backing on. To say Duncan was surprised to find her in less than regal clothing with nothing but a Dagger on the way back to the surface was an understatement. Dwarven politics had gotten him not one, but two promising recruits from Orzammar.
With more recruits, Duncan needed to make a stop in Denerim for the Grey Warden's most closely guarded secret. He need vials of Archdemon blood from the last blight. Thanks to a similar technique that the circle used to make Phylacteries, the blood of the last Archdemon was well preserved. Something told Duncan he needed more than one for who he already had. He'd gotten 4 new recruits in the last two weeks, on top of Ser Jory and Daveth who had been sent down to Ostagar with the other Wardens to wait for their joining.
Duncan's luck seemed to be continuing. After paying a visit to his old friend Valendrian at Denerim's Alienage, he saw a chance to help when the Arl's son decided to throw around his power to torment the Elves and crash a double wedding. He met possibly the most brave Elf he'd ever seen when she not only told him to leave but threatened to disarm and defeat him in combat. She had been taken by the Arl's son and his friends, along with several other women. Soris saw that the grooms wanted to mount a rescue so he loaned them some arms he had from the Warden's stash in the city. He was vindicated when one of the grooms returned with most of the women and the woman he had his eye on was fully armored, armed, and covered in enough blood to fill a tub. If he had any reservations, they were gone when she stepped forward to take credit for the murder of everyone in the Arl of Denerim's estate. It was the fastest Duncan had ever invoked the rite of conscription. Maybe he should do his next round of recruiting where those without power had finally had enough and fought back.
With the Vials and 5 recruits secured, Duncan heard word of a Dalish clan on the way and he wondered if he might try his luck once more with 5 recruits in tow. His luck rang true. One of the members of the clan had contracted the taint from an artifact and Duncan was the only one who could save him. he examined the artifact and it was infected with the darkspawn taint and had to be destroyed. Unfortunately the other tainted elf could not be located, but the clan agreed to part with their loved one so that he could be saved by the joining.
Six recruits.
Bhima Cousland. Kallen Amell. Nola Aeducan. Faren Brosca. Dor Tabris. Darrian Mahariel.
Six Wardens survived the Joining. Seven Wardens guarding the Tower of Ishal. Seven Wardens rescued by Flemeth and Morrigan. Seven Wardens and a Witch tasked with ending the Blight. Seven Wardens out for Vengeance against Loghain.
The Blight would be ended. Ferelden would be saved. It had to be done.
For the Wardens.