The second main quest of the Dragon Age: Origins video-game. The story follows along with Duncan and the player as they arrive at Ostagar where the forces led by Ferelden's King Cailan are gathering for what will be a massive battle against the darkspawn.
Arriving at Ostagar
The player from one of the six origin stories travels with Duncan to Ostagar, a fortress in southern Ferelden on the borders of a forest that the darkspawn are said to be massing an army at. At Ostagar, Ferelden's army is seen mustering to confront the darkspawn threat. It is here that several important characters in Fereldan society are introduced. The first is King Cailan Theirin, the young and idealistic King of Ferelden. When Duncan and the player arrive, King Cailan is the first to greet Duncan as he's hyped to fight a glorious battle alongside Duncan and his Grey Wardens. The King's also introduced to the player that Duncan recruited. King Cailan remains unconvinced that they're dealing with an actual Blight due to how easy the past three fights against the darkspawn have been, and that there's been no sign of the archdemon (supposedly, one of Tevinter's Old Gods incarnated in the form of a powerful and corrupted dragon with complete control over the darkspawn. The only way to permanently end a Blight invasion is to kill the archdemon). Despite his disappointment that the battles haven't been as legendary as he was hoping for, King Cailan departs to prepare for the next Ostagar battle.
As Duncan and the player make their way into Ostagar, Duncan goes over how off the current situation feels due to how the darkspawn south of Ostagar are continuing to grow with each passing day. Thus, even though no one believes him, Duncan remains convinced that there's an archdemon behind this, and is gathering darkspawn to begin the Fifth Blight. Unfortunately, although Cailan is willing to take Duncan at his word, the Grey Wardens do not enjoy a good reputation in Ferelden: it has been over 400 years since the last Blight, and few are taking the possibility that a new Blight has begun seriously. The Grey Wardens have relatively few numbers in Ferelden (200 years ago, they were exiled for participating in a revolt to overthrow a tyrant king of Ferelden, only being allowed to return twenty years earlier by King Maric, Cailan's father), and most of those are from the neighboring kingdom of Orlais, whose brutal, century-long occupation of Ferelden (ended thirty years earlier by the past King Maric and Loghain) is still a bitter subject for many. Thus, since the Grey Warden numbers are few, Duncan's hoping that Loghain's army that is currently with them in Ostagar will make up the difference when the Blight truly starts.
Next, Duncan brings up how its about time for the player to go through the Joining; the initiation ritual that inducts new recruits into the Grey Wardens. Duncan also mentions that there's two other recruits, but that some preparations are needed before they can perform the Joining. Thus, the player is ordered to stay within the Ostagar camp for the time being, and to meet up with Alistair, a junior member of the Grey Wardens. Exploring around Ostagar, the second important Ferelden figure that the player meets is the mentioned Loghain Mac Tir, who's Cailan's father-in-law, and the King's most trusted general and a veteran war hero beloved by Ferelden's people for ending Orlais' past occupation of Ferelden. Loghain takes note of the player being Duncan's new recruit, but also appears to be disinterested in Cailan's quest for glory. Further exploring around, there's also the Ostagar dog kennel where the player can befriend a Mabari Hound if they're not of Human Noble origin, who already has a dog. The Human Noble would leave their dog with Duncan during the stay at Ostagar. The player can also meet the two other Grey Warden recruits, Daveth and Jory, along with meeting Wynne, an elderly woman who's a powerful mage of Ferelden's Circle of Magi that's come to support the fight at Ostagar. In addition, amongst the side-quests is getting food for a caged deserter.
Meeting Alistair
Eventually the player meets up with Alistair, who's introduced having a rough chat with a mage that he was delivering a message to. The mage leaves obviously in a bad mood given that their presence at Ostagar at King Cailan's request isn't liked by the Chantry, who's templar soldiers keep watch over the magi. As it turns out, Alistair's a former templar, which is why the mage was at odds with him. Despite the odd introduction, the player and Alistair introduce themselves to one another, which Alistair catches on that the player is Duncan's newest Grey Warden recruit. Alistair mentions that he will be present for the recruits' Joining, and that unlike many people, he's faced the darkspawn before. The player could then ask Alistair about more background on the Grey Wardens or their current situation as the two of them head off to return to Duncan.
