apostategarbage:

Most mages are easy to track, not just through their phylacteries, but from the trail of destruction they leave behind them. Nothing major, but you’ll find a bear frozen solid in the wood, and not to far away from that the thoroughly charred corpse of a wolf. A group of petty bandits who knew when to run are tending the electricity burns of their slowest comrade – “the mage? She went east, I think. Good luck catching her.”

A couple more woodland creatures dead in rather curious ways, the phylactery does as it does and there she is, struggling to make camp in the woods, holding her hands behind her back and dropping to the floor as she hears the Templars come.

What makes Anders so hard to catch, is that the only trail he seems to leave is one of unusually healthy peasants and new friends. He heads for the villages, not the woods, and the barmaid (who definitely had a large, painful boil on the end of her nose yesterday morning) at the spoiled princess “ain’t seen nothin’, all right?”
The phylactery leads to Redcliffe, where a woman with a baby whispers to her friend, eyes brimming, “we thought he was done for, we did! Now look at him!”
They coo at the child – pink cheeked and bright eyed – but neither of them have seen anything remotely suspicious.
The owner of a series of carriages who does runs back and forth to Lothering hasn’t seen a tall, blond boy any where, never mind given him a lift to Lothering. A stablehand asks how the man’s back is – cheerfully, he replies its never been better.

The phylactery says Lothering, then a series of rat spit villages in the bannorn, where no one has seen anything, but even the sickliest children are playing in the streets, the ailment riddled elderly walk with springs in their steps and the bonniest girls and boys grin like the cats that got the cream.

The phylactery leads to Denerim, then the Pearl where a gorgeous rivaini pirate captain might have seen something. She might have seen something book passage to wycome. Or maybe Tevinter? She might have bundled something into the cargo of her cabin but she can’t for the life of her remember. Perhaps all three leads should be pursued – perhaps none.

The phylactery says she’s lying – the sneeze and “oh shit” from beneath her table say the same.