Merchant: "Hey, can you escort me to the nearest encampment?"

Meanwhile:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/527d6ab5.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/76fb7c0f.jpg

The last encampment was five minutes from your hometown!

Nope, find your own way.

Their kind fear ice and fire both!

I thought about doing a mage playthrough and just having a bunch of fighters do the legwork -- kinda similar to how I enjoy playing DA:O -- but thought it might mess up the first playthrough. The random (???) pawn I was given can do fire and healing stuff, so I just kept him around. Not sure if he actually goes up levels or anything, though, so maybe I'll upgrade to some others. I found and enlisted a ninja-looking archer, but missed out on a Mother Teresa healer, lol.

I did a quest like this in Starfield, loved running across an empty planet for twenty minutes with some dude for like 50 xp...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e840818e.jpg

Shotgunnova posted...

Not sure if he actually goes up levels or anything, though, so maybe I'll upgrade to some others.

The Pawn you specifically created levels with you, the rest are always exactly how you found them.

So you're gonna be dumping Pawns left and right.

I've already started down the mountain, but otherwise I'd go back and dump this starter pawn for someone who isn't hot garbage. The ninja archer seems to have DLC equipment, though, to the point she's one-shotting white wolves, so she can stay around longer.