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Dragon Age™: The Veilguard | Release Date Trailer

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DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD (2024)

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🌿 companions 🌿

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Professor!!

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Dawn of the dead (lol)

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WHOA!!!!! i love my friends' ocs

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mournwatch if they slayed 💜💚

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Several Misunderstandings - RRAU

A little background story feat. Kalais and Delaney Morlyn (another of @wickedadaar's rooks in the RRAU)

A sunny day in the forest was always a good sign. The light filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows across two companions who made their way through. 

It had been quite some time since they had last headed out together. Before the explosion. Delaney was kept out of commission in camp while the burns healed. Kalais checked on them as often as they could. But the bandages were removed not long ago and Delaney itched to get back out into the field. When Kalais asked them to join on their expedition, Delaney jumped at the chance, eager to spend more time with their friend. Though, they supposed, ‘friend’ felt like the wrong word, with the tender looks they shared, and the small touches when Kalais helped change the bandages. Other veil jumpers looked away from Delaney now, clearly uncomfortable seeing the bandages, and now the scarring. Even their partner, Keegan, took time to get used to the scars. But not Kalais. Never once did they flinch or glance away. It made Delaney’s heart stutter. Yes, ‘friend’ couldn’t be the right word. Delaney just didn’t know what the correct word was yet. Keegan had been okay with the addition. They hoped Kalais would be open to a discussion about it.

Kalais led them through the trees, and up along ledges. Delaney couldn’t be sure where exactly they were headed, but Kalais had promised they would enjoy it. Some place they had found recently. A nice little quiet spot with a wonderful view! Their eyes shined as they described the location. The path they took passed near a temple, Delaney could see it through the trees, jutting up over the forest. Kalais led them around and up, climbing up ledges and reaching their hand down to help Delaney as well. They must be near the spot, because Kalais started talking, explaining in depth how they found this place.

“It’s a temple to Sylaise. Giant hearth in the center, right underneath that tower. We weren’t even really looking for it. Just stumbled upon it while leading a team to a smaller temple further on. I don’t know how it was missed before.” Kalais clambered up another ledge, once again reaching down to help pull Delaney up. “We’re almost there now.” Delaney smiled, grasping their hand and following them up. Kalais kept chattering, explaining the condition the stained glass was in, how the temple still seemed to be kept clean with very little dust laying about. Delaney was content to listen, nodding their head and smiling. Eventually, Kalais paused, turning to face them. “It’s just beyond here. I really think you’re going to like this.”

They pulled back some tree limbs, allowing for Delaney to step through, and they followed behind. The ledge they found themselves on overlooked the temple. It was framed by the autumn leaves of trees on the surrounding ridges, and a fountain of water twisting around the tower before falling back to a nearby lake. Delaney found themself taking in the view with wide eyes. Kalais stepped up beside them, taking in the scenery as well.

“It’s a pretty sight, isn’t it?” Kalais said. “For Sylaise, this seems like a pretty small temple actually. But I think the area was beautiful and that’s why it was chosen. And the water. One day I’m going to figure out why it does that. Besides just ‘magic’. Everyone always says that. What about the magic specifically causes it to do that? Though I did wonder if that’s how it’s been since the temple was built, with the way it spirals around the tower.” They continue, rambling out any and all information about the area and the building they could.

Delaney smiled at them, watching the way their eyes shined as they shared their knowledge. When Kalais caught them staring, Delaney didn’t even bother looking away or hiding it. “Why are you looking at me like that?” They asked, smiling but with a slightly furrowed brow.

Delaney shrugged. “I like listening to you. You know so much about all this and get so excited. It’s enchanting. You’re enchanting.” Bold of them, yes, but their instincts told them to be bold. 

“Enchanting?” Kalais repeated, thoroughly confused. They step toward her, reaching up to place the back of their hand to her forehead. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright, Del?”

Her eyes fluttered shut for a moment and her heart stuttered at the touch of their hand. “Yes I am,” Delaney said quietly, her hand reaching out to settle at Kalais’ waist. “More than alright.” Kalais barely registered what was happening, as Delaney pulled them close, lips pressing firmly to theirs. They froze, wide eyed and staring as Delaney kissed them. It didn’t last long, a second maybe before Delaney pulled away suddenly and quickly, brow furrowed and eyes searching their face. Kalais saw the confusion in their eyes, followed by realization, then disappointment. “You don’t-...?” The rest of the question went unstated. Though the answer was obvious. 

Kalais shook their head, still staring with wide eyes. “No….I’m sorry, Del…..” They didn’t know what else to say. If they had known, they would have said something before. But they didn’t; they had not realized Delaney’s growing feelings. And now they had hurt her. Beyond that, Del had a partner already. 

Delaney let go of them and stepped back. “No, I’m sorry…I thought…You’ve been so kind.”

“Because I’m your friend?” Kalais looked at them confused, trying to figure out what was happening. “I don’t understand. You have a partner already, Del. I never considered…That’s not something I would involve myself in.” 

So that was it. Delaney clenched their jaw slightly. “I see,” they responded quietly, looking down at their feet. “You could have led with that at least. But I understand, it’s not for everyone.”

“Not for everyone?” Kalais was very concerned now. Was this something Delaney did regularly? Did Keegan know? “Del, I don’t think it’s okay to do. Everyone ends up hurt.”

Delaney clenched their hands into fists at their sides. “No one ends up hurt if everyone communicates!” Her voice raised in volume, her tone shaky with barely held back hurt and anger. That someone she thought was her friend would judge her so harshly for how she loved stung something terrible. “If you had such a problem with polyamory, you should have just said so. I’d have left you alone.” They turned and walked away. Kalais watched them go, stunned into silence by the information they had just been told. After a moment, they chased after her. 

“That’s not-Delaney, wait!” Kalais grabbed her hand. Delaney tore it away. “I didn’t know! You never said anything!” They tried to stop her again, grabbing her shoulder. 

Delaney spun around, glaring. “What did you think was happening?!” 

“I thought you were going behind Keegan’s back!” Kalais nearly shouted incredulously. “You didn’t say anything! You just kissed me!” They sighed exasperatedly. “You didn’t communicate, Del.”

The glare doesn’t end, but a great majority of Delaney’s anger seems to dissipate from her eyes. “You didn’t know?” They could have sworn Kalais had seen them before with multiple partners. And though they only have one currently, Delaney knows they’ve told Kalais about previous partners they’ve had. 

Kalais shook their head. “No, I had no idea.” Though it does put many past conversations into a new light. Delaney seemingly had a string of short term lovers in the past. Kalais now realized some of those may have been concurrent partners. “I didn’t know,” they repeated quietly. 

The fight went out of Delaney. “Oh…I thought you had figured it out by now.” Her gaze fell to the ground. “I did talk with Keegan about it. They were okay with it, if you wanted.” She glanced up at Kalais, cautious of their reaction. “You wouldn’t have to be with Keegan either. It could be just me, as long as you’re alright with knowing I’m with Keegan still.” 

Kalais looked over her for a moment, taking a moment to formulate their response. Now that the misunderstanding was out of the way, they didn’t want to accidentally hurt Delaney even more with something badly phrased. They take a step toward her, close enough to take her hands in theirs. They gave her a small smile, and Delaney could already sense the answer. “Del, you’re my friend. A very good friend. And I will admit, there was a time when I thought there could be something between us, but it was a very short lived time.” It hadn’t been a crush exactly, but a thought more along the line of ‘if neither found anyone’. Seeing Del with so many partners, Kalais had long ago accepted that would not be the case. It wouldn’t have been fair to Delaney anyway. “I appreciate the invitation, but I can’t accept it. I don’t return those feelings for you, and I’m sorry but I don’t think I could do that kind of relationship myself. This doesn’t change how I think of you though. You’re still my friend. I hope you will continue to think of me as one as well.” 

Delaney nodded. That was what she expected. It was a gentle rejection, but rejection nonetheless. “Right. Yeah. Like I said, it’s not for everyone.” She appreciated that Kalais wanted to remain friends, there was that at least. She wouldn’t be losing them completely. “We’re still friends. I might need some time, but yeah, we’re still friends.” 

Kalais’ smile widened and they hugged Delaney. “Good. I would have hated to lose your companionship over this. Take the time you need.” They released Delaney and looked over her. “Do you- Would you prefer time alone now then? I can leave if you want to stay here for a bit. Or I can hang back if you want to return to camp.” The route back to camp wasn’t dangerous, and they trusted Delaney to handle herself. 

“I think it’s best if I head back to camp,” Delaney replied. She didn’t exactly want to stay here, in this place Kalais brought her to. “You can stay or come with me. I’ll leave that decision to you.” She said it non-chalantly, or tried to. She turned and left, passing through the trees. Kalais didn’t follow. They let her leave, wringing their hands together as they watched her disappear.

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My beautiful bog wife. Also prints here.

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dragon age 2 | dragon age the veilguard

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Dragon Age: Origins

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I Draw Your Rooks Volume 2

Kalais Aldwir - @elfmaid

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Rook Wednesday: Kalais Aldwir's Tattoos

Oh boy, I feel like I talk about this a lot when doing character posts.

Does your Rook have Vallaslin? What Kind? Why?

Kalais only has their vallaslin, which they received when their Keeper deemed them ready (at a younger age than was typical in their clan). This was also around the time that they started figuring out they were non-binary as well. They choose to receive vallaslin dedicated to Ghilan’nain, less to honor the goddess, and more to honor the halla and the idea that just as one cannot force a halla to do she doesn’t want to, no one could force or tell Kalais who or what they had to be. The only opinion that should matter to them about that is their own. A reminder both in regards that their gender is their journey and business, but also knowing how their clan felt about them and their magic, a reminder that they should embrace who they are in all aspects and the opinions of their clanmates shouldn’t hold such weight over them, even as they still tried to prove themself and the control they had over their magic. Unfortunately, they still need the reminder sometimes. 

Does your Rook know about the history of the Vallaslin? How do they feel about it and those who choose to keep theirs?

They didn’t when they received it. That was still many years before the Breach when they received theirs. They have a lot of complicated feelings about it. They probably wouldn’t have as complicated feelings if they had literally almost any other vallaslin, given that most of the other Evanuris are gone. It’s mostly that it's Ghilan’nain’s and she's one of the ones being fought. They still want to keep theirs, as they feel its something the Dalish have basically reclaimed and made their own. Though they think that rather than honoring or representing the Evanuris, the practice should be more focused on the concepts and values represented. So rather than seeing someone’s vallaslin and recognizing it as a specific god’s, it would be recognized for the virtues and teachings separate from the gods. Ie rather than June’s vallaslin, the emphasis is on creativity and craft. 

Also adding to the complicated feelings, as they help Bellara deal with the Anaris and Cyrian, Kalais begins to fear (irrationally, they know) that like the mask Cyrian wears, the vallaslin might either work similarly or even give Ghilan’nain some measure of control over them. It’s thoughts like that that pop into their mind late at night, that they know are irrational and not logical and it wouldn’t work anyway (but what if it does?). They don’t tell anyone about this though.

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I. THE MAGICIAN

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The DA Transcripts Website is Live!!!!

It's alive!

But it's rough.

You'll likely notice that most of the site is full of links that go nowhere or lead to dead-ends. I haven't had the chance to reformat much to fit the site yet, but wanted to get it live and running!

Please be patient as I continue to work out the kinks in my webdev and html skills. In the meanwhile, I've made a very small, basically read-only discord where I will continue to post updates on the site's progress and you can contact me via submission form. Please use these to send QA feedback (asks are always fine as well)! These early stages are the most critical for me to fix problems such as accessibility or ease-of-use.

What does this mean for the future of the blogs?

They'll still be here, and I'll still update them! I'll still respond to asks and keep an eye on comments/replies, but the formatting will no longer be optimized for tumblr's layout, as it would be a lot of work to make both (and formatting is what has always taken the longest). I'll keep tumblr in the loop on site updates as well, and if you don't like discord, you can follow the DA Transcript bluesky for more frequent news!

Thank you all for your support!!!

website | discord | bluesky | kofi

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Thank you! This is so good!

Hiro Guides Kalais

[ Original Compliments Post ]

@rookerychannel's Kalais is brought to Rivain and provided Hiro as a Guide. Juan's whole bit is unnecessarily fighting the Mourn Watch. Hiro's is horrifying visitors with animals that are just around.

“Big tapir. It’s not a tapir, but it kind of looks like one.”  “Well. Next time, you might want to clue in the people you’re guiding. Not everyone is as familiar with this kind of environment.” “Oh,” he said softly. “You really know what you’re talking about.” “Thank you.” “And, you give great advice!”

The two had been trekking through the jungle for hours. Kalais had been called to consult on an artifact, suspected to be Ancient Elven. It was too large to be shipped to the Veil Jumpers itself, so the Lords of Fortune thought to call in an expert instead. Being Dalish themself, the hiking didn’t bother them, and the Lords provided a guide who they assured them would know the land as well as local lore and Spirits.

To be fair, Kalais’ guide was knowledgeable. They knew the jungle and its associated dangers well. So well that they knew – and more importantly shared – every detail of every plant they passed. 

Kalais didn’t care much for most of it, letting it pass through them like white noise. Sometimes their monologue would stray either into local legends or encounters he had with the local Spirits. By the time it registered enough to form a follow up question, the guide was already back to talking about the jungle.  

There was an awkward silence. It didn’t take much for Kalais to know that if left alone, Hiro would go into another deep dive into the local flora. “You were talking about spirits,” they said, hoping to guide the conversation a little.

“Was I? Huh. Oh! There was one I found around here once while I had been chased up a tree.”

A pertinent question would have been to find out what chased this man up a tree, but they weren’t sure they were ready for another animal survey quite yet. “What sort?”

“Companionship. They’re attracted to the more social animals here. She wasn’t the most helpful in getting me down, but she was a good conversationalist! Oh, I wonder if I can find her again…”

“The cave, Hiro,” they said, nudging a bit. 

“Right, the cave,” he said with a nod.  

Hiro fished a small contraption out of their pack and blew into it. The sound it made sounded like a deflating goat with a bunch of clicks and clacks. He cast a glance over his shoulder at Kalais. “Oh, you might want to step back behind those trees.”

Kalais considered arguing for a moment but took a step back. Whatever Hiro thought was worth caution was likely beyond that of an average hiker. 

There was a rapid, heavy gallop through the trees before a furry beast burst through. Its claws were long with a dangling snout. It reared back, standing on its hind legs. Hiro barely came to half his height. It let out a piercing shriek.

Hiro let out a roar of his own, followed by a series of rapid clicks and raising his hand which, at some point, had been covered in a pulpy mixture. 

The animal dropped down to all fours and sniffed at Hiro’s hand, quickly lapping up the sticky, wet paste smeared over his hand. 

“That tickles!” Hiro giggled. He laid out the rest of the mixture of pungent fruits and seeds on the ground, letting the large animal’s snout snuffle around it. He gave the animal a comforting pat on the shoulder before stepping aside. He looked over to the elf who was slowly coming out of their initial shock and gave a happy wave.

Kalais nodded slowly and approached. “What is this?” they asked quietly in a mix of caution and curiosity. 

“I don’t know if it has a name. Some animals are rare enough that only the jungle scouts know about them, like me. So we call them whatever we want. Since there aren’t enough of them to study, a lot of people think they’re mythological. I’ve seen a bunch. Some often enough that I can lure them into the open if needed.” Hiro gave a small shrug, pulling a rag from his pack to wipe off his hands.

“That was your plan?!”

Hiro nodded then tilted his head in curiosity. “That particular beast doesn’t have predators in this area of the jungle. So if you lure one here, the smaller animals scatter to avoid being trampled. It’s harmless, and they make good company.”

Kalais nodded slowly, calming a bit now that there was some kind of logic to it. “I see. What do you call it?” 

“Big tapir. It’s not a tapir, but it kind of looks like one.” 

“Well. Next time, you might want to clue in the people you’re guiding. Not everyone is as familiar with this kind of environment.”

“Oh,” he said softly. “You really know what you’re talking about.”

“Thank you.”

“And, you give great advice!”

Kalais chuckled softly, “I appreciate that. It is getting late. Will we be reaching the cave soon?” 

“Oh, it’s right there,” Hiro said, pointing off to the rock base they were starting to approach.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“I needed to clear the area! That’s why I lured the beast. And, now I did.” 

“I see,” they sighed. “Well. Again, just let me know the next time.”

“Of course,” Hiro agreed before immediately returning to his pace of speech. “Once we go in, you’ll want to be careful of the bats.” 

They nodded. “Noted. Anything else I should know?”

“Oh! You like legends. There’s one of a demon that looks and cries like a human baby, but it has bat wings and claws and fangs. Flies away like a bird.” 

“And that’s in the cave?!”

Hiro laughed, “Oh, no! It’s not real. It’s just an old story.”

It was too late, the color had already drained a bit from Kalais’ face. “I see. That is fascinating. I would love to hear more after we find the artifact.” 

“Of course. Do you want me to go with you or are you okay in that cave on your own?”

Kalais took one lingering look in. “I think I could stand the company.”

“You’re in charge.”