#anchoret lavellan

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 10.

Varric’s tarot card looks so sad now.

Where’s my “hug Josephine” option in the conversation where she opens up about her past?

And my “hug Dorian” option on his quest, for that matter? Speaking of which, let’s go do it.

O...K? I’m in the Gull and Lantern with Dorian in the party, now where's Halward?

Hey, fucko, you’re the one who went to all this trouble to arrange a clandestine meeting with your son, the least you can do is show up. Fuck it, let me go kill some Venatori and maybe try my hand at that dragon, since I’ve got Iron Bull in the party, and maybe come back and try again afterwards.

And the Hinterlands have now been cleaned out of shards, WHOOOOO.

Baby’s first dragon (the Fereldan Frostback) has been disposed of. And I’m pretty sure Iron Bull is in love now.

All right, there’s Halward. Thank you, game.

Anchoret wouldn’t have expected to become genuinely good friends with the son of a Tevinter magister, but then she wouldn’t have expected basically any of the shit that’s happened to her since the Conclave.

Ah, the “not like other Dalish” conversation. *sigh*

Anchoret, I don’t care how drunk you are, please don’t make bedroom eyes at Iron Bull. You already have a perfectly functional boyfriend.

Huh, the romanced version of the “yeet the lyrium” scene isn’t that far different from the platonic one. I’m not complaining, they’re both quite sweet.

There’s a speech I want to make about the writing for Cullen, but it’s not time yet. Not until the reasons for my feelings come up in-game. Which will likely be soon, as Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts is just sitting there waiting for me to play through it.

Hello, original-recipe Bianca. :/

Right, I should go hit up the Temple of Dumat at some point. Exciting! Bringing Cassandra, Cole, and Vivienne, because screw having equally balanced melee and ranged squads, why not have a party where every member is at least partially melee-capable?

Erasthenes, huh? This is, what, the second instance of one of our fantasy Byzantines having a Greek name rather than a Latin one?

...oh. Oh dear. Poor Clan Lavellan.

I mean, the reason you read these things is to watch me suffer, right? :D

Hm. Brand looks like an interesting sword, though it does less damage than the Axe of Green Edges. Maybe I’ll take it for a spin soon.

Griffon Wing Keep always confuses the shit out of me, but it’s done now. Which means I get to listen to Rylen. That’s the real reward for clearing it out, right?

And it’s late, I can run around the Western Approach in circles some more tomorrow.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 2.

A short one today, because running in circles around the Hinterlands is just really not that interesting.

Hello, Mother Giselle. You’re easier to deal with than Roderick, at least? You seem kindly enough that maybe not everyone in the Chantry is awful?

Combat is surprisingly doable considering that I don’t yet have any close-and-hit abilities and have to enter and remain in melee range manually. I guess I’m getting used to it?

Honestly, even once I picked up Grappling Chain, I find I’m not using it much.

OK, a level 4 party is not what I would call high dragon time. Run away!

...that one fucking rift. You know the one.

I’m faintly disturbed by Josephine’s pronunciation of “Lavellan” with the accent on the first syllable. It just feels so wrong!

And a thoroughly unproductive meeting has been had in Val Royeaux. Anchoret is starting to take to Cassandra somewhat, despite herself, so she does have some concern as to why Lucius and his lot are acting weird. Besides, a possessed or deranged Lord Seeker benefits no one.

More tomorrow, as she sorts through the consequences, as well as picking up Vivienne and Sera. And actually talking to her advisors who aren’t named Josephine. Kind of important, that.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 4.

Right, where were we? Getting creeped the absolute fuck out by the envy demon, that’s where.

You know, I also have a habit of hurting people and ruining everything because my brain was doing the thing again/I reacted poorly to something in the moment/it’s just who I am as a person and then looking on in horror at the consequences. So yeah, this quest has been a multi-hour parade of my deepest fears and insecurities.

You know, I regret allying with the Templars rather than conscripting them, especially in light of the wording of the Inquisitor’s speech. Enough that I’m considering a reload. (Also Leliana is mad at me, and it makes me sad.)

Yep, the “I don’t belong here, I’m not a war” line is great.

Yeah, I reloaded. I feel terribly mean, and now Cullen’s the one who’s mad (sorry, dear), but it feels like a better fit. Not a perfect one, and allying with the mages is always going to be my self-indulgence choice, but better than having a Lavellan who’s taking Cassandra and Cullen’s word for it that the Templars they know aren’t the soldiers who conducted the Exalted Marches on the Dales suddenly turn around and speechify about the honor of the Templar Order and the respect it commands. Anchoret isn’t enough of a diplomat to pull that out of her ass on demand.

A bit more mopping up in the Hinterlands, and Master Dennet’s aid has been secured and Blackwall cured of his disappointment in Anchoret for conscripting the Templars. Cassandra will have to wait her turn, unless she wants to give me her quest now.

Probably time I picked up Iron Bull, yes.

Welcome to the party, Bull. Yes, Anchoret is probably being optimistic about her own and her companions’ power when she threatens you, but it’s the principle of the thing.

And that’s all the babies except for Dorian, who’ll join us soon enough.

I’d missed Varric and Blackwall driving each other up the wall.

And more in the morning, running in circles around the Storm Coast has taken up a lot of time tonight.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 13.

Right, I was in the middle of some pain. Come on, Thom, let’s get this over with.

Anchoret certainly doesn’t want the man dead or else she would’ve just left him in Val Royeaux, and the option to order him to continue his impersonation of Blackwall is...faintly horrifying, but she’s also not about to just pardon someone who did that. (He doesn’t want to be pardoned. He’d fight her. They’ve been butting heads a lot lately, and it’s making her tired.) The Wardens it is. It’s a good solution.

...why am I having such a hard time clicking the option? I knew from the beginning that “pack him off to the Wardens” was going to be the plan in any playthrough where I’m not romancing him. I’m not romancing him this time. Well, brain? Come on now. We can pardon him another time, with an Inquisitor who loves him like we do.

The two of them are never exactly going to be besties, especially not after all this, but they’re not not friends, and Anchoret would rather not see the person he’s grown into in his time as a “Warden” go to waste. She’s given the “come work for me, I’ll use your asshole powers for good” treatment to worse people by this point.

“Blackwall gave you the chance to atone through action, not merely punishment. I find I can do no less.” What a line.

On a lighter note, since Florianne is dead, it’s time for the cadaver synod. Unlike her predecessor, Anchoret just wants this over with and the box out of her damn throne room, so no community service for it.

So, Solas, you have prior experience with court intrigue and don’t consider elves “your people” (or indeed consider yourself to have a “people” in common with Anchoret at all). Anything else you want to let slip and end up having to backtrack in a panic?

Oh! Didn’t realize it was time for a romance scene. Well, let’s see what we’ve got here.

It’s the desk scene! Gah, at least sweep up the broken glass before one of you steps on it barefoot. You can make a game of it. And then get naked once it’s safe. And Cullen, please for the love of the Maker take your armor off before climbing on top of anyone. My sternum is aching in sympathy.

For those following along at home: One of ourself is aroace. The other is aro and...sufficiently ace-spec that ourself’s day-to-day experience can be pretty well described as “ace”. The upshot of this is that “sexy” is utterly, utterly lost on me—at best it doesn’t register, at worst I find it horrifying. Similarly with “romantic”. So when I play through this romance, and in particular this scene, where being sexy and romantic is pretty much the entire point? This happens. Sorry for...being me, I guess.

Got all your clothes back on before he’s even woken up, Anchoret? When he’s clearly not sleeping well and would probably prefer to wake up and have you still there? Naughty. What happened to “lie in their bed naked while they get dressed and start their day trying not to let you distract them”? No? Just me?

Hey, the smutty literature scene! Cassandra’s writer is one I get mad at a lot—he has some habits that absolutely drive me up the goddamn wall—but he’s also given us some extremely sweet material. Like this bit.

Cassandra, if you ever thought Anchoret wasn’t going to run straight to Varric with this, you know her less well than you think.

Anyway, time to go get that wyvern for Vivienne. Bringing Cole and Sera along, because...reasons? Apparently I feel no need to make the experience a pleasant one for poor Vivienne, but then she seemed distressed enough that I’m not sure she’s going to notice.

OK, this is supposed to be snowy wyvern central, where is the fucker?

That is not a snowy wyvern. That is a high dragon. That is not what I am hunting.

There’s the bastard! Got it. And you know what, I’m feeling dragony, let’s take a swing at the Gamordan Stormrider since it’s right there.

Ooh, it’s not one of the ones that does the guard thing, either. Well, that cleaned me completely out of healing potions, and Cole and Vivienne needed manual revives, but the dragon went down reasonably quickly. And Cole got a very nice new dagger out of the whole business.

Sticking around to mop up Citadelle du Corbeau and the rest of the Exalted Plains really gave the three of them time to drive each other completely around the bend, I love it.

Poor Vivienne. Well, that’s done.

I love Cole’s quest. The high emotions, the little glimpses of how Cole can be a genuine terror, all of it. (Making him more human this time, because why not.)

Aww, the scene with Cassandra confessing her admiration and wondering what comes next is really very sweet.

I will once again be skipping the Trans 091 portion of the evening. I am not, as it happens, the target audience.

The Wicked Grace scene is still adorable. Though Cullen, sweetheart, it’s not like Anchoret hasn’t seen you naked before. Come on now.

I’ve completely neglected the Fallow Mire, now that I think about it. Let’s head out. Bringing Blackwall, Cole, and...hm, who should my mage be? There’s “point and laugh while they drive each other monkey crackers” potential with all three of them, frankly. I think I’ll go with Dorian for now, I can swap someone else in later if need be.

For all the bickering, for all the unpleasant business in Val Royeaux, Blackwall still gets defensive about Anchoret to the Avvar. It’s sweet. Even if it’s just a consequence of me doing stuff out of order.

And with Sky-Watcher recruited and the Fallow Mire nearly cleared out, that’s a good place to pack it in for the night. More tomorrow.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 21.

Right, back to the Oasis to spend some more hours running around in circles, hoping to randomly blunder into all the shards and landmarks.

At least there’s blood lotus here.

Vivienne is still being very mean to Cole. :/

Though on a funnier note, she has stealth active somehow, and all of her is transparent except her hat. Not sure a floating hat is going to escape detection, Viv.

Found the door to Solasan, and this time I even remember how I got here. Shame I still need five more shards.

GOT ‘EM. WHOOOOOO.

Now for the real reason anyone ever sets foot in this Maker-forsaken place: Solasan.

Once again, babies, please try to avoid being set on fire.

Or shocked, or frozen, or otherwise zotted by the floor glyphs when you don’t have to be, Cole.

Yes, Vivienne, I would say 20% intrinsic resistance to every element and so much loot I had to destroy a couple dozen of the less valuable pieces was “worth it”.

All right, I’ve cleaned out Solasan, closed all the rifts, and I don’t think the other side quests here are happening, so back to Skyhold to prepare for Doom Upon All the World.

This is going to be the first playthrough where I leave the story DLCs for after Corypheus—my habits were formed by games where that wasn’t possible, but this is Dragon Age and I can do that here. I’m very excited.

Shit, now I have to actually think about who I’m going to bring with me. Cassandra and Cole seem obvious, and they’d be a nice change from my usual use of Blackwall and Varric. So do I bring Solas for orb reasons, like normal? Yeah, I think I do.

May as well make guard-on-hit armor for Cassandra and Cole, since they’ll probably also see heavy use in the DLCs as well. Won’t bother for Mr. Just Going To Disappear Afterwards Anyway, he can rely on his barriers.

Let’s do this.

The only person getting destroyed here is you, stretchy man.

Oh, it’s lovely to see Cole with full guard. And not ready to fall over because someone looked at him funny.

Thanks for the assist, dragon friend!

Anchoret never got the vallaslin talk from Solas, so she has no duck-strangling idea what Corypheus is talking about when he says “slave markings”. She’s quietly assuming that it’s some bullshit she doesn’t need to worry about. Especially not now.

How dare you, stretchy man. You are not binding Cole.

Haha, yoink.

Sorry your ball got broken, Solas.

Babies. <3

Another hug! Still only counts for half, but I’m not complaining.

Solas is gone? Definitely not ominous or suspicious at all. Won’t come up in a DLC or anything, nope. :D

Weh, Cole. (And sitting on a table in a weird position swinging his legs is...yeah, that’s a thing I do often enough. I feel you, Cole.)

Hey, Bioware, could I prevail on you for another hug here? No? Dammit.

So...Solas slurping up what’s left of Mythal could potentially get interesting for whoever drank from the Well, right?

Cullen’s post-party scene is sweet, yes.

Cassandra is going to be Divine after all. Should be fun to see come Trespasser.

Loving all the others’ good-natured snark about it—this is the first time I’ve actually made the rounds post-Corypheus-party, normally I launch right into Trespasser.

For now, Anchoret figures putting a personal friend on the Sunburst Throne will lead to policies that are friendlier towards her and people like her than the Chantry has ever been. Is she in for a bit of disappointment? Yep. Still, this is lower down her “I fucked up” list than some things.

Huh, Dagna sure says some things about lyrium and dwarves.

I can’t even say hi to Cole anymore? That’s mean, game.

No sign of Blackwall, Cullen, or Josephine at their regular posts, either. Aw.

Oh, everyone’s back to normal now. That’s nice of them.

Ooh. I only went after the Sulevin Blade because there was a mosaic piece there, but goodness me, that’s a nice piece of kit. I’ll have to go after it earlier next time and let Iron Bull have some fun with it. (I’d say “keep it in mind for when I run a two-handed warrior Inquisitor”, but I’m not so sure that’ll be happening any time soon.)

And it can be DLC time in the morning, as it’s late and I’m tired.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 6.

Anora signing her letter to the Inquisitor “Queen Anora Theirin” threw me for a loop until I remembered just who her late husband was.

Dagna! <3

I can’t unknow that when Solas is in Full Solas Mode, his dialogue is singable to “Hallelujah”. So now I notice whenever it happens.

Anchoret is the first Inquisitor I’ve run who’s more invested in Cassandra than in Varric, but all the same, I couldn’t quite bring myself to have her fully take Cassandra’s side in their little fight there.

You know, this game tries hard to push the whole “new perspectives on elves and mages, they have flaws, gray morality, blah blah whatever” thing, but doing that three games in makes it look uncomfortably like it’s saying, “but have you considered that maybe these oppressed groups we’ve been portraying actually deserved it?” Even changing none of the actual lore but including it in DAO alongside the message of “these people are being victimized and it’s not OK” would’ve been a massive improvement; I’ve seen that done elsewhere, and it worked.

Anyway. Time to head to Crestwood. Blackwall will want to be there for Warden reasons, Varric for Hawke reasons, and Dorian because I literally haven’t had him in the party yet.

Oh look, baby’s first wyvern hunt.

...are they immune to lightning? Great, just when I’d decided to try out specializing my mage companions in different elements. And chosen lightning for Dorian. And brought him along to hunt wyverns.

Alistair. :D It’s good to see you, dearie. Even if you look weird.

I can’t call you “kid” anymore, can I? You’re nearly my age by this point.

That’s an extremely Alistair look of dubiousness on your face right at the beginning there. I’ve seen that one before.

Weh. Hug option plz.

Hey, free castle!

And it’s nearly midnight, so more running around Crestwood tomorrow.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 3.

I’m grasping at straws for reasons Anchoret wouldn’t side with the mages at this point. But talking to Minaeve showed Anchoret that just because a (former) Circle mage looks like her doesn’t mean they can be trusted any more than a shem, and Cassandra, who’s more up on Chantry happenings than Anchoret ever was, is convinced something’s up. That’ll have to be good enough for now.

Anchoret is vibrating halfway onto the Cringe Dimension as the Orlesians at Vivienne’s party go on about what outlandish things they’ve heard about her.

“No one can take them seriously”? No one can take you seriously in that ridiculous hat, Mr. Orlesian Man.

Anchoret is going to defer to Vivienne on what to do with him, because she recognizes when she’s in over her head, and this situation has “breathe wrong and you’ll fuck everything up for everyone” written all over it.

Cassandra’s question about whether Anchoret believes in the Maker is...interesting. On the one hand, clearly not; on the other, the question itself rests on assumptions that our Seeker friend clearly doesn’t realize are less universal than she thinks, and the huge deal she and her fellow Chantry folk make of “faith” kind of weirds Anchoret out.

“And there’s no room among your gods for one more?” Nice foreshadowing of that one bit in Jaws of Hakkon, game.

...so, take Cullen’s first flirt option? Yeah, may as well. If I’m going to do this to myself, I’m going to do it well and properly.

Josephine being the only one to check in and ask if anyone’s been getting on Anchoret for being an elf is so sweet. Makes me feel good about her being the next love interest in the queue. Makes me think I should’ve saved Cullen for a nice Chantry-girl Trevelyan and gone with Josie this time. Eh, well, now I know. She’s not going anywhere.

Hello, Sera. That was kind of a....mixed first impression you made there.

I’m never more excited to travel to the Hinterlands than when it’s time to pick up Blackwall.

Speaking of which, hello, Blackwall. Most of you are well aware of how I the player feel about him, but this time out, I’ve rolled up a character who has no earthly use for him in combat and...may or may not get particularly close to him as a friend. It’s weird. (Seriously considering going back to him on run #5, when The Plan would suggest a female rogue, and seeing what all the Blackwall/Cadash fuss is about. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.)

I’m sorry, where did a bear come from while I alt-tabbed away to type that? Serves me right for not pausing the game.

Which all means I can now run around with a party of Blackwall, Sera, and Vivienne for a bit, which I’m sure is going to throw up some good banter.

I’ve got to say, I enjoy Vivienne a hell of a lot more when she’s Vivienning at Sera rather than someone higher-priority.

Whew, I was able to revisit That One Fucking Rift with a level 7 party and close it, though the fight got clean-me-completely-out-of-healing-potions, run-around-reviving-people-and-hope-they-don’t-just-go-down-again hairy.

Bagged my first couple of bears while I was scouting out watchtower locations, too. Very nice.

“I can’t do this alone!” Then get out of melee range, Vivienne. Your name is not Anders or Velanna, you know better.

Babies, we don’t have to depopulate the entire Hinterlands before we set up camp. No, really.

Right, I can start in on Champions of the Just now, may as well.

This feels like a job for the Cassandra/Varric/Vivienne party.

Hello, Barris. You seem nice.

Ooh, creepy.

Fuck you, Envy.

Yep, creepy. Really creepy.

You know, one of my irrational fears going back a long, long time has been that my loved ones would be replaced with robots or something else that didn’t care about me, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. So I’m having a grand old time right now.

...so a Cullenmancer is the perfect Inquisitor for this bit with the vision of Envy!Leliana slitting Cullen’s throat, isn’t she? (Or does the game show you something else depending on your earlier choices?)

Hello, Cole. It’s very, very nice to see you. Well, hear you.

Wow, Red Templars are much creepier now.

And I’ll have to finish mopping this up tomorrow, it’s gotten late.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 28.

So. This business about the elven servants, specifically, being implicated in the Qunari plot. Anchoret is having some feelings about this. Hell, I’m having some feelings about this.

Another hug, excellent. Thank you, Cullen.

Right, let’s get to a workbench and use that Fade-touched honeycomb, yes?

One bees-on-hit axe, coming right up. Also, one very nice sleeveless duster with frankly silly armor value off the Skin That Shields schematic.

Hehehehehehehe bzzzzzzzzzz. 🐝

So the thing about romancing an advisor is you can’t have your love interest in the party to show concern when the anchor flares up. It’s been very sweet of Cassandra to pick up the slack. (Even if I don’t get to respond with a whole emotional speech about how much I love her.)

I love how happy Cole gets when you free the dragon.

Hey, Anchoret, you think you’re dismayed at the Viddasala’s declaration of Solas being an agent of Fen’Harel, just wait until you hear what his actual relation to the Dread Wolf is. :D

Oh, hello, Saarath. Would you like some bees?

So yes, Anchoret is having some serious feelings about how she was raised to be on guard against Fen’Harel, and then she met the whole entire real live Dread Wolf and...became work buddies with him? Let him into her inner circle and allowed him to use the Inquisition for who knows what the fuck? Well, isn’t that just the world’s best metaphor for everything she’s fucked up.

Retiring into obscurity with Cullen is looking better by the minute.

“But the return of my people means the end of yours.” Ahem. Welp.

So, does she resolve to stop him or change his mind? She’s disgusted with how things have turned out, and would rather not have to do either. And she’s mad as hell at being used, but she’s also had everything she thought she knew about the Creators and Fen’Harel overturned, so...what do?

...yes, OK, she’s got a human husband to think of now, but considering her established attitude towards that whole business, how hard is she willing to fight for him? Shit, that doesn’t help either.

And I’ve already got Linniva slated to stop him at all costs and Avasis swearing to redeem him, so I can’t say “do the one I haven’t done yet,” either. I’m this close to just flipping a damn coin.

You know what, I think she’s feeling pessimistic right now. “Stop him” it is.

The Inquisition is being disbanded, of course, with a rant about how they’ve become what they were supposed to fight against and need to be gone already.

Nice of you to re-up, Harding.

And that’s that for this run. I’ll see you all next time. Or when I have another game I want to perform with.

ETA: Oh, I forgot to include a baby picture, didn’t I? Here you go. No, you accidentally made your Inquisitor basically an elven Harding. Whoops.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 23.

“It sings softly under the silence. The Stone took him back. He’s home again.” Weh, Cole.

A whole entire acknowledgement that languages change over time! Yes!

It’s the little things.

The combination of black hair with DAI’s known lighting issues is...yeah.

The Nug King! Oh, I’ve never been here before!

*squeaks judgmentally*

A full guard bar is a joy forever. Especially in this place.

Well, until it gets wiped out by camping or worn down by a particularly nasty enemy.

I’m sorry, what? A crash? Really, game. Really. Well, let’s see where the last autosave was, because I haven’t manually saved since I started today’s session.

Answer: A few seconds before the thing crashed, whew!

Dear sweet something or other, how many Sha-Brytol are there? Where are they coming from? Where did they go? What am I swinging at? Who am I?

So the Arcane Horror with the creepy shrines seems to have...teleported inside a wall? I suppose that’s one way to get rid of the bastard.

The Sha-Brytol ranged fighters have what appear to be Thedosian machine guns. Hmmmm.

Oh shit, Guardian time.

You know, in previous encounters, I generally had to use the “switch control to a mage (if not playing one already) and attack from relative safety, periodically reviving one of the tougher melee characters if needed” method. But this time? “Let Her Inquisitorialness whittle it down while periodically topping up her guard with War Cry” worked well enough, especially once I figured out I needed to start attacking the lyrium clusters rather than trying to take out all the rock flails first. Whew.

And I’ll have to start in on Jaws of Hakkon tomorrow, as it’s late.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 17.

Back to the Emprise, then, with a party of Blackwall (at least until I’ve picked up his last two artifacts), Cole, and Dorian, because why not.

Ooh, dawnstone. Maybe I can make Iron Bull something nice when I get back.

Enjoy your last two Warden artifacts, Blackwall. They’ll make nice conversation pieces when you report for your Joining. Maybe we’ll make you something nice to show up in out of all this silverite.

Right, it’s not just the Forbidden Oasis that’s distressingly vertical.

Aww, Cole is so pleased to be freeing all those captives in the quarry.

And he and Dorian are...kinda-sorta friends now? Weird friends.

And while we’re having cute banter time, Dorian and Blackwall have called a truce. Now if I could get those heartwarming Cole/Blackwall banters before I swap Cassandra back in, that’d be great.

Hello there, Suledin Keep. Let’s do this.

That one fucking shard had better be in you, because if not I give up.

I should probably have stopped in at camp to fill up on healing potions before coming here. Did I, though? I did not.

No, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to wade into what I know is going to be a very nasty fight with one whole healing potion for the whole party. (Plus regen potions for Anchoret and Blackwall, but they were never the problem, since they’re both basically indestructible by now.) This is going to be a slog, isn’t it.

So. Imshael is supposedly a desire demon, but first he looks like a fear demon, then a pride demon. Shame, it’d be interesting to actually see a masculine desire demon in-game. Least they can do after that whole parade of titty demons in DAO and DA2.

Whew, that’s done. And yes, it got quite hairy, there were manual revives and everything. Now to claim my reward, by which I mean talk to Baron Desjardins.

And yep, there goes the shard.

Excellent, I had everything in place to assign Mistress Poulin to rebuild the town this time.

And it’s gotten rather late, so I’ll have to do the other half of the Emprise (the one with entirely too many dragons and some rather annoyingly placed shards) tomorrow.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 12.

Right, time I stopped putting off Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts; the game already says I’m overleveled.

So, who to bring? Hm, I think Cassandra, Cole, and Dorian make the most in-character sense. I’ve used all of them before except Cole, but, well, what can you do.

Anchoret blessedly doesn’t look bad in the red thing. I still don’t understand why they didn’t stick with black like in the concept art, because I’m still scarred by how godawful it looked on my Adaar.

Cool, cool, Anchoret took about 2.7 steps into the courtyard before getting called “rabbit”. Orlesian nobility sure are terrible!

This is one of those quests where I play with the wiki open and stick closely to what the walkthrough tells me, a) because it’s complex enough that I doubt my ability to successfully complete it if I do it cold and b) because the wiki’s method is a reliable way to end up with 100 Court Approval and in a position to do what the hell I want when it comes to resolving the quest, which is a delightfully satisfying way to stick it to those snooty Orlesians.

Huh, pretty sure Yvette has different outlandish stories depending on whether you went for the Templars or the mages, nice.

There’s a direct line to be drawn to some of the war table material, but it was the handling of Cullen in this quest specifically that got me thinking “oh, that poor thing, I’ll have to give him nice things on another run” the first time I saw it. And so, here I am.

*does the Sexual Harassment And Assault Don’t Suddenly Become Hilarious When The Victim Is A Man Who Can Defend Himself dance*

Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what might have been if Cullen had been left in the hands of his original writer throughout the series—if he’d have been brought back at all, if he’d have been taken in anything like this direction, and if so, what a writer with such a history of bringing incredible sensitivity and thoughtfulness to her portrayals of characters working to fix the terrible wrongs they committed in the past (hello, Wynne, Isabela, and Blackwall) would have made of a new and improving Cullen. Would I accept a worse Isabela and a worse Blackwall in exchange for a better Cullen? No, I don’t think I would. But I am curious.

Anyway, Anchoret is Not Happy with Cullen’s little crowd of admirers, more because he’s clearly not happy than for jealousy reasons, though there’s some of that too. Sadly for her, actually doing anything about them, particularly the way she’d like to do it (i.e., by waving a sword around and telling them to fuck off) would probably seriously damage the Inquisition’s work here and almost certainly lead to Josephine and Leliana arguing over who should get to murder her. So, do nothing it is, no matter how much it pains her. I’m not projecting, you’re projecting.

Oh, hey, I hadn’t been Morriganed at in some time.

“Elves have no place in politics,” said directly to the elf you brought here for political reasons, Gaspard? Really?

Well, that was long and complicated. Time to stab Florianne.

“You can’t hurt me!” Cole, baby, yes she fucking can. Use a damn healing potion.

Cullen’s balcony scene is very sweet, yes.

I know I just gave Leliana a big boost by elevating Briala, but it’d make at least as much in-character sense for Anchoret to support Cassandra for Divine. I won’t complain too loudly if I end up with Leliana again, though.

Let’s see, I think I’ve still got time for a little more pain tonight. Let’s go talk to Blackwall.

It was one thing to play through the dog conversation with a big ol’ himbo who 100% Did Not Get It and thought Blackwall was just down on himself. Anchoret, though, is a smart girl who’s gotten as far as “Blackwall is trying to expose some kind of wretchedness that goes far beyond the dog thing” but lacks the context to figure out what. She has a sneaking feeling she won’t like it, though. And trying to get him to speak plainly by showing disbelief that this was really about the dog...didn’t go well.

...yep, she doesn’t like it. At all. But he’s still her guy, he probably doesn’t even have the nastiest history of anyone in the Inquisition, and the Orlesian government owes her several massive favors right now, and also what the fuck even just happened.

Morrigan, please tread lightly when talking to Anchoret about elven stuff. Please.

And I’ll have to mop the rest of this up in the morning, as it’s very late.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 7.

*sigh* How many druffalo am I going to have to hunt before one hide drops?

One flooded cave, several demons, and a lot of trying to figure out how to get to the climbable side of various rock formations later, that’s Crestwood well and truly cleaned out. Feels nice.

Cassandra, the advisors all have shit to do right now, but I swear we’ll look for your brethren soon.

Oh hey, the chess game. You’ll get him next time, Dorian. Anchoret may be contractually obligated to root for Cullen, but that doesn’t bind me.

...oh, glad I clicked on Cullen again, apparently I now have the option to actually start the romance. Well, here goes.

*wince* I do poorly with both romance and secondhand embarrassment. Let’s combine them! :D

I look forward to getting to the meaty part of this romance. So far what I’ve seen is some rather generic flirting.

Specialization time! I’m glad the Champion trainer mentions chevaliers being pricks. They sure as hell sound like it, and in particular their, ah, policies around elves would rather put Anchoret off training with someone who didn’t think they were pricks.

...huh, guess I’m heading for the Exalted Plains soon.

OK, I see what people are saying about Calpernia. She seems quite something.

There ought to be a columnar basalt song that we can sing whenever we find some in a game.

Babies, this isn’t a bear hunt, stay on task.

...apparently the bear has decided it was a bear hunt after all. Fine.

We already knew it just wasn’t Antiva without assassins, but I see the same is true for Orlais.

It’s taken me this long to realize I don’t need another warrior in the party at all times and the free spot is in fact free; off I go to the Exalted Plains with a party of Cole, Solas, and Dorian. Ought to be fun.

Yes, this was a good idea. Solas dadding Cole and him and Dorian driving each other up the wall. Sometimes both at once.

Mugging champions for their heraldry is pretty fun, who knew?

Right, I’m tired, opening up Ghilan’nain’s Grove is a good point to pack it in for the night. More in the morning.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 24.

Ooh, Fade-touched silverite from the expedition table? *eyegleam*

This’d be much more abusable if I didn’t have to actually stop in at the Deep Roads every time I want to use said expedition table, mind.

This is the second time in two days that the game has crashed. Really, game. Good thing all I was doing was mucking about with inventory in the Undercroft.

Come to think of it, Vivienne being my fire girl and the tankiest of the mages means I may need her at the business end of Jaws of Hakkon, so sure, she gets guard-on-hit armor too.

Right, off to the Frostback Basin. Leaving the Cassandra/Cole/Dorian party in place for now.

Weh, Harding. Hug option plz?

Hello there, Professor Kenric. I wouldn’t say no to an option to hug you either.

Yaaaaaaaaay more shards *headdesk*

Anchoret has zero problem whittling down this bogfisher on her own, but, uh, where’s the rest of the party? Are they doing the thing already? I didn’t think it was time for that yet, I’m nowhere near the Hakkonite fortress.

...I could’ve done without that comment from Dorian about how Cassandra being Divine is halfway to having a man on the throne. Yeesh.

“Dorian, am I handsome?” Oh dear. (Your hats are lovely, Cole, don’t listen to him.)

Speaking of whom, the first thing out of Anchoret’s mouth in nearly every battle is “Hold on, Cole!” Priorities. Someone’s clearly got ‘em.

Be nice if I could get the quests first and then blunder into the places I’ll be doing them, but apparently that’d be too close to having nice things.

And more tomorrow, someone who is not me is insisting that it’s bedtime.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 22.

A short one today, since I was visiting my mom. Everyone sits down after dinner to watch a 3-hour concert video like a movie, right? Right. Good times.

DLC time? DLC time. Think I’ll start with The Descent first. Varric is normally a shoo-in because dwarf fuckery, though I also want to use Cole and Cassandra and there isn’t room for all three of them.

Cassandra and Cole it is, I’ve seen Varric’s dialogue but not theirs. Wiki says bring my lightning guy, so Dorian rounds out the party.

Hello, Valta and Renn. You’re sweet, I like you.

Hm. I’ve got a workbench, and I’m not entirely satisfied with the amount of guard Anchoret’s supposedly guard-on-hit shield is providing, so yeah, let’s make some armor.

Yay, darkspawn. *sigh*

Whew, another piece of Fade-touched silverite—I’d run out of guard-on-hit materials thanks to splurging on Blackwall despite not using him right now, and Dorian could really do with the extra protection.

Sha-Brytol time. Creepy.

Renn. :(

Where are all these purported gears in Heidrun Thaig, anyway?

And more creepy tomorrow, it’s late and I’m tired.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 1.

You all know by now that when it comes to RPGs, I’m a planner. In the case of DA, I’ve been building up a grand plan to make the rounds of every class in every game (plus a decent chunk of the love interests and quest choices) since I started my first playthrough back in December. Well, it’s now at the point where different parts of the Plan have started to clash with each other. You saw it in DA2 just now where my unwillingness to budge on the “it’s time for a male rogue Hawke” thing left me romancing Isabela with a dagger rogue, despite my usual policy of playing a different class from my love interest so I don’t have to drop them for party balance, and now...let me explain.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you might’ve noticed me getting protective over DAI!Cullen and deciding he needed nice things (i.e., romancing) the next time I play a woman. Cullen’s romance is race-locked. I’ve already played a Trevelyan, so the Plan says I have to run a Lavellan this time if I’m going to go for him. But the whole Chantry thing...yeah, putting Cullen with a Lavellan and having it be a happy thing sits poorly with me. I’m not saying it has to with you, I am not here to be judgy at people—look around at my favorites, I don’t get to tell anybody shit about fuck when it comes to their faves being problematic—but it does with me.

The Plan also says it’s time to go pro-Templar. With this Lavellan. I...seem to have gotten myself into a Situation™.

So where does that leave me? At some point in my planning, I got the Brilliant Idea™ to twist the Cullenmance around into a tragedy, to have the Inquisitor in question be someone who falls under Cullen’s influence early on, makes some major mistakes, and stays with him in the end out of a lack of good options as much as genuine love.

Do I have the chops to pull this off? Do I have any business doing this? Probably not! Maybe you’ll get to watch me fail and regret even more of my life choices than usual. Watch this space, I suppose.

Right, let’s do this. Everyone, meet Anchoret Lavellan. Warrior is the last class I haven’t played in this game, so here she is, a sword-and-board tank.

“Lightly mangled Welsh” has been a major part of the elven naming aesthetic since DAO, so I’ve chosen to run with that for my own elves. (You won’t convince me that “Lavellan” isn’t a modified “Llywelyn”, and for my part, “Anchoret” is a medieval mangling of “Angharad”.)

I joked when I first planned her that Cullen was going to win her heart by being the only one too serious to make “anchor” puns.

I think I’m going to go with the Sumalee Montano voice, since I’ve already used the Alix Wilton Regan one. We’ll call it a throwback to the accents the Dalish had in DAO.

Hm, it sounds weird coming from a character who looks like this. We’ll see if I get used to it in time or need to switch it.

Hello again, Cassandra and Leliana. It feels like I just saw you an hour ago.

And hello again, Varric, and hello, Solas. Good to see the gang’s all here.

Headcanon: Anchoret was never the most spiritual member of Clan Lavellan, but her voice and facility with public performance meant she was regularly tapped to help lead chanting and other devotional activities. She liked it well enough, especially the sense of continuity and connection it afforded her.

Hello again, Cullen. Meet your future girlfriend, I suppose.

And hello, Josephine. Very sweet of you to break out your entire knowledge of elven to be friendly to Anchoret.

Good old Hinterlands. I’d say I missed this, but I didn’t, not really.

And more Hinterlands-tastic fun tomorrow, it’s quite late.

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Inquisition, day 19.

Took a side trip to pick up Evanura, since I missed it last time out. It’d be a downgrade for any of my warriors at this point, but it’s the principle of the thing. Especially for a Lavellan.

...I ran out of blood lotus. How do you run out of blood lotus!? Looks like a flower-picking trip to the Hinterlands is in my future, since the war table wants to be rude and only give me elfroot (got plenty, thanks).

I remember there being a lot more climbing in the Wastes. Clearly there’s somewhere important I haven’t gotten to yet. A lot of somewheres.

You know, I really wanted to do things differently this playthrough, I had headcanons ready to go about Anchoret not exactly being best friends with these guys, but the Blackwall/Varric/Dorian party is like a comfortable pair of old slippers at this point. Their banter is fun, I like their friendship dynamics in the late game, and I’ve used them so much I have an instinctive feel for how my Inquisitor needs to work with them in combat.

Everyone remember when I could barely stand the sight of Dorian because I chafed at what I saw as pressure to fall in love with him and make him a party regular right away? Yeah. Good times.

I know there’s another ocularum around this place somewhere. Where? Who even knows at this point. Pretty sure the Wastes are a six-dimensional hyperspace like Central Park.

Oh, there it is. Convenient!

One last dragon, for old times’ sake. Sandy Howler, go.

If I’d planned properly, I’d have swapped in Solas for this, as he’s my cold guy, but whatever.

Blackwall, dearest, if you think your grappling chain is going to accomplish a blessed thing against a dragon the size of a very large house, I admire your optimism.

Well, Varric and Dorian hung on admirably, but in the end it once again fell to the indestructible warriors to cut the thing down. And that’s the lot.

And that’s the Wastes mopped up, or as close as makes no difference. Now I’ve just got...eurgh, the Forbidden Oasis, I loathe that place.

But I don’t have to worry about that (or The Final Piece) until tomorrow, because it’s gotten late.