Duration: 10:49

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Darkspawn originated from the corruption of natural races, and as a result there are a variety of darkspawn sub-races that correspond to the various races in Thedas. Some of these sub-races are definitely more common than others, though, and when we fight darkspawn our opponents are almost always going to be genlocks (who originated from corrupted dwarves) and hurlocks (who originated from corrupted humans). Genlocks are short and stocky, and due to their dwarven origins have some magic resistance. Because darkspawn and dwarves both live underground and routinely come in contact with each other even when a Blight isn’t active, genlocks are the most common darkspawn breed and form the bulk of their infantry forces. Hurlocks are also quite common due to humans being the most common race in Thedas overall; they’re taller and stronger than genlocks and are typically used as shock troops. Both sub-races have numerous iterations like warrior, archer, etc., so we’ll have to be ready for a lot of different enemy types. On Nightmare they’re strong enough to cause serious damage to the party, so careful tactics are going to be needed.

The first party of darkspawn on the map consists of two hurlocks and three genlocks. The hurlocks typically rush forward to engage us while the genlocks stay behind on a hill and provide ranged support, so it’s best to play defense and allow them to come to us. I plant a Glyph of Paralysis and allow the enemy to charge us; sure enough, one of the hurlocks hits it and gets paralyzed. The full party is able to quickly dispatch the lone active hurlock and then knock out the other one, but we do take arrow fire from the genlocks and Daveth is too close to death for comfort. I give him both a poultice and Heal spell, then have everybody move forward to engage the genlocks. We successfully wipe them out and gain two vials of darkspawn blood for our trouble, but are going to need one more. We move forward and sure enough, there’s another party of darkspawn up ahead. This one has one hurlock swordsmen and four genlock archers, so we have to dispatch the hurlock quickly. I paralyze him with a Glyph, and the whole party easily dispatches him and then rushes the genlock position. We win this skirmish as well and collect our third vial of darkspawn blood. Now we need to look for those treaties.

During the clash our character levels up to Level 4, entitling us to three new Attribute points and a new spell. I put the Attribute points into Magic and continue up the Lightning spell tree with Tempest. It’s creates a powerful lightning storm that devastates any unit in the area of effect with electricity damage. It’s an excellent spell against groups of enemies, although it can harm friends as well as foes. With that done, we resume our advance and trigger a surprise ambush. There are a series of locations on the map where genlock rogues are “hidden” and will appear out of nowhere if we trigger the location. We have to fight four genlocks with the element of surprise, but we get by without much trouble. Moving forward, I explore a little bit and we encounter a second group of genlock rogues, but they’re also defeated. We soon encounter a key bridge in the distance; we’ll have to cross that bridge to reach the treaties. It’s very heavily guarded and we’ll have to engage the enemy with great care.