#i like the idea of datv characters...

[miyku]

[vampcaprisun]

what do y’all think illario’s hobbies are? what is he interested in? what does he do in his spare time? what does he know a lot about the nobody would expect? what did he love as a kid that he hasn’t thought about in years but could jump back into in a heartbeat if given the chance? what are his wyverns and cooking and knitting and romance novels?

who would he be if you took him away from his family and his job and the politics of it all? i don’t think he even knows the answer to that, but there still has to be an answer!

[scalpelsister]

Misc. Neve 🩵

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

Y'know I had a theory about Varric before the reveal.

Because even from the beginning, him getting stabbed with the dagger specifically... was weird. I kept thinking about the dagger still glowing while lodged in his chest, how that dagger was used for Solas' big ol' ritual so there had to be a lot of power in it when he stabbed him... but somehow Varric survived.

That should've killed him [and it did! but shhhh-] but I wake up, and there he is.

Alright. He's fine, he's recovering. He's older now, he can't just bounce back from a stab to the chest like that, and I guess his leg got messed up given he's wearing a brace. Okay, this is how we're setting up Rook as in charge. Fine.

At first I was really good about checking on him just to hear his bits of dialogue, whether it be about the companions or about how he wishes he could get moving.

Something about it felt very... off. Very weird. I kept trying to figure out how the hell he survived getting stabbed like that, with the dagger, and then falling the way he did... and I started to wonder if maybe the fade saved him... that maybe the fade and the lighthouse were the only things keeping him alive.

Once that thought hit me, I was like.... oh fuck, is that going to be the reveal? Is he going to have a little exclamation point on his icon at some point? Is he going to ask to go somewhere because he's feeling better and he could use some fresh air? Maybe go out for a drink? And when we leave the fade, is he going to collapse like he's been stabbed all over again?

Are we going to learn that Varric's trapped?

Is the big reveal going to be that Varric can never go home? That he can never go back to Kirkwall? That Solas fucking doomed him to this... this purgatory state where he can't go home but can't move forward, not really? Because he's trapped in the lighthouse forever unless he chooses to die?

Are my choices going to ultimately affect his fate?

But then I started to forget about Varric... because he didn't do much. More time went on. The plot thickened. I became preoccupied with my companions. Sometimes he'd jumpscare me by being at meetings. I checked on him less and less.

I started to dread that oh.... alright, well maybe they brought Varric back because he's a fan favorite and they didn't actually have much planned for him after he got hurt.... but something's still fucking weird.

And I was right, something was indeed weird because then I got the reveal in the regret prison and I was............ Unwell.

I'm still unwell.

But I guess the fact that he can't ever go back home remains true, so...

[asheface]

Time for my Mourn Watcher! This is Hypatia Ingellvar, I took some inspiration from the art for the Death Caller subclass for her design (mainly the hat lol). The claws on the gloves are actually retractable, but she uses them for more delicate work, especially when preparing corpses. She's kinda like if Snow White was a necromancer, extremely sweet and passionate about her work.

Some fun facts:

She is into alchemy, in particular for making her own perfumes

Since the other Watchers all have rich inner lives, with aspects of themselves outside of their duties, and she struggles to connect with people because the Mourn Watch is all she's ever known.

She's had crushes before, but has never had a relationship. Never the right place, right time, right person; she's been rejected a lot.

When she was found as a baby, she was completely covered in wisps. The Watchers theorize that is what made her hair unnaturally red. (also the wisps LOVE her. Very Disney princess in that way).

When she first joined the team, they were kinda unsure if she was even... alive?? She does have pretty much everything covered, they were honestly worried she'd take her mask and veil off and they'd see a corpse.

[pinayelf]

a warden's life is definitely lonely, and double for davrin who hasn't seen anyone close in years

i feel like he doesn't think he deserves to feel sad or lonely about it, because he left his clan to see the world outside it

but i can't help but think he is, and sometimes he wonders what it'd be like if he stayed

[blackjackkent]

OK, another stop on the latest Lighthouse tour - there's an exclamation point not directly attached to anyone in the Lighthouse atrium, which I'm a bit curious about, and then Taash also wants to talk. So let's check in on both of those.

Emmrich and Neve are chatting in there when we go in!

Emmrich> "You call Manfred 'Fred'?" Neve> "Sure. He walked into my office. I said, 'Fred. Can I call you Fred?' He nodded. Seemed happy about it. If he doesn't like it..." Emmrich> "Oh, Manfred doesn't mind. He quite likes you. Does the diminutive imply a certain level of comfort with the necromantic arts?" Neve> "It shows a 'certain level of comfort' with your friend. The rest of it - well, that depends." Emmrich> "On what?" Neve> "On what the mage using it is up to."

The exclamation mark itself is pointing at a random document in the atrium:

Hmm.

Interesting. This opens a new faction quest called "Cabin in the Blight," which we'll go check out later. The way this letter is phrased feels to me like this physician is meant to be someone I know and some fan service is in the offing, but I can't really think who it would be, so maybe not. We'll see.

Let's go talk to Taash.

Taash is in the storage room where she usually hangs out, sitting on her knees with a pile of rope next to her.

As Helena watches, she slowly untangles one of the coils, begins binding it around one arm and up to her shoulder.

"Hey," Helena says cautiously. "Am I interrupting?"

(A/N: You are so obviously interrupting, Rook. XD The game has you just blunder straight into the middle of the moment, but I like to think that Helena hung out by the door and waited for Taash to gesture her in before coming closer. She may be a bit foot-in-mouth at times but she's not THAT bad. XD )

"Done in a sec," Taash mutters. "Morning ritual. The dar-saam."

A pause, and then she jerks her head to indicate Helena can come in. Helena edges forward, her preoccupations for a moment forgotten in a brief burst of curiosity as she peers at the ropes. "Those are the ropes people who follow the Qun wear?" she asks.

Taash nods. Her expression is drawn tight with concentration as she manipulates the threads around her arm. "We bind ourselves to remember who we are," she says, and though her tone is flat as usual there's a hint of something else to it. Maybe reverence, maybe disdain, maybe simply nostalgia. "Tie down the stuff that's too dangerous to leave loose."

A pause. Helena doesn't push, gauging that this is a sensitive subject - and probably a complicated conversation. But to her surprise, Taash keeps talking, unprompted.

"My mother made me do it every morning before breakfast." She snorts. "I had big fingers. It used to take me forever." A pause. She ties off one of the knots with a jerk, and then speaks again, her voice a little higher this time, mimicking Shathann. "'Evataash. Shokra toh ebra. Only a beast is confounded by knots. A girl masters herself and the dar-saam.'"

She rolls her eyes. Helena grins. "You do a pretty good impression of your mother."

Taash blinks. "What? I don't sound anything like my mother!"

"Okay," Helena says, amused.

Whatever Taash might shoot back in answer, though, is lost as the door to the storage room crashes open again.

"Rook! Taash! Glad I caught you both." Harding strides in, her expression alive with the look that it gets when she has sniffed out a lead. "The Grey Wardens found a cave that one of the blighted dragons uses as its lair."

Taash's eyebrows shoot up. "Where?"

(A/N: I love how taaaaaall Taash looks standing next to Helena and Harding, rofl.)

"In the Hossberg Wetlands," Harding answers promptly. "There's no sign of the dragon itself, though."

Taash shoots Helena a look. "I should check it out," she says, suddenly all business, her eyes narrowed with determination. Helena gets the sudden impression that, although she didn't show it the way the others did, Taash too has been feeling the weight of their failure at Weisshaupt, and eager to find a way to keep it from happening again. "We need to know how different the blighted dragons are. They might turn into something like Ghilan'nain's archdemon did. If there's a clue..." She trails off, squares her shoulders. "I have to be ready."

[sun-marie]

I know I've said before that I don't think Lydia and Lucanis would have children but. the idea of dad!lucanis is extremely compelling to me I fear. unfortunately.

[emmriches]

emmrich’s personal choice quest holds a weight to it that i really feel like the others didn’t or tried and couldn’t

[angelonhelios]

only played to neve last night because my game was being laggy but hiii this is lavinia she's the twin sister of @abyssal-ilk's saar.

[sca3a]

He may or may not feel a little creeped out finding Solas's regrets in the Crossroads, because what is weirder than realizing you look like an ancient being? Wearing the same name, of course.

[anecdotist]

my plans for the rest of the week, probably

attempt to finish my dorian datv pt

try to get some of the discussed plotted starters out before i forget

continue reaching out to folks about plots

play oblivion

[rosykims]

do i make ashara more devoted to mythal post trespasser or do i alienate her from the evanuris entirely. is she immune to propaganda by virtue of how badly solas damaged her ability to believe in anything or is she especially vulnerable to it now bc she still WANTS to believe in anything. is she sporting subtle mythal details in her costume design or is she not

[earthenterran]

Won't be able to play veilgard for a long long while and got to watch my friend play through a bunch and it looks so much fun

[invinciblerodent]

Since I don't have time to play, I'm letting myself have some thinking time as a treat, and what do I use it for?

Gnawing on how, though I can't deny that I feel the urge to make all the same choices all over again, Mourn Watch Mage Marcus is probably going to approach Emmrich's desire for lichdom drastically differently from how Ver did.

(boy upon ye)

I'm not sure if he's going to support the decision itself (it's a weighty commitment that lasts quite literally forever, even from the most favorable angle I'm not sure if I can wholeheartedly approach any grab at immortality, not even one made with the best intentions)(I've gone on my "morality and immortality" rant before, Todd May's "Death" has an excellent section about it), but Marcus at least has a very good reason to be looking at it from a place of familiarity and understanding, rather than immediately seeing it as a horrible idea and a potential red flag.

I think Ver was curious about necromancy in the way that a kid might want to poke a dead toad- it's gross, but in an interesting way. Morbidly fascinating, not entirely unfamiliar (with her being Tevinter), and, with Emmrich's romanticism and enthusiasm of it to act as a backdrop, there was kind of an odd, eerie beauty to it- from far away.

She rolled with it, but at the end of the day, the idea of someone willingly becoming undead made it far too Real, and she couldn't possibly endorse that.

But Marcus on the other hand grew up around this, so there's no novelty to it, no gross fascination... so maybe he's going to think about it more philosophically, more rationally.

I'll have to play him and microwave him in my head more before I can decide what he'd do, but if even he ends up discouraging lichdom, I like how it'd be for completely different reasons.

[origamihoshi]

I think my new headcanon for my latest playthrough of veilguard is that it's just one big poly relationship, Curi is dating Davrin (the character I'm gonna romance in game) but she's also dating Spite, so that means she's also dating Lucanis becasue you can't have one without the other, but Lucanis is also dating Neve, and I'm also really liking the idea of Curi dating Bellara becasue those two are cute together.

and Harding doesn't die so her and Taash can be happy together. and of course Emmrich is happy with Strife.