077 | In which I am lovingly frustrated with my companions in Dragon Age II

[straightforwardly]

I’ve picked up Dragon Age 2 again! I’m currently still in Act 02.

Time for more bullet points! ♥

• So, when I last posted, I’d just started Act 02. I… clearly had gotten further than that before I stopped playing for a while, but I don’t really remember anything that I did.
  
  Except for one thing: My Hawke slept with Isabela. That was memorable enough, it seems. =P Their post-coital talk was super awkward, though I appreciated learning more about Isabela.
  
  Otherwise, I’m going to have to skip over whatever I did since my last entry / before yesterday-ish, because I have no idea what that stuff was. ONWARDS.


• So, I worked on the continuation of that quest with the women being killed (presumably for blood magic purposes). Right when I entered Hightown, Varric and Fenris started up a banter that basically revolved on Varric thinking that Fenris needed to get out more— “You’ve been here three years, but you’re pretty much a ghost” was the jist of it— and Fenris adamantly disagreeing.
  
  Two seconds later, I looked at the map, and saw that Fenris lives pretty much right next door to the suspected woman-killer. GOOD JOB.


• Speaking of which, I… let Gascard go? I don’t really buy his story about his sister, but he managed to sprinkle enough doubt about him being the killer for my Hawke to not feel comfortable with killing him on the spot. Plus, I think that all the stuff about a lost sister might have been hitting too close to home for her.
  
  She didn’t completely cover for him— she did express her doubts when the templar asked about him, but neither did she straight up tell her where he was. So… hopefully that’s not going to come back and bite her anytime soon. (Insert hollow laughter here.)


• Then I got ambushed by slavers! Fenris started to like Hawke a little bit for being wholeheartedly against letting them have him, but that went away very soon when Hawke put off going against Hadriana for a little bit and they got ambushed by slavers again.
  
  TO BE FAIR, I just wanted to finish up the quest I was working on when the ambush happened— I didn’t expect something bad to happen that fast. But I suppose it was a good thing, since I do want to bring Fenris’ rivalry up.


• In other news, I’ve warmed up to Fenris much more now. Prickly!Fenris is HILARIOUS. Basically, this is what happened:
  
  Hawke: *offers to let rescued slave girl work for her”
  Fenris: (aggressively) “I didn't realize you were in the market for slaves now.”
  Hawke: “...I gave her a job.”
  Fenris. “.....Oh. That’s good.”
  
  (Pretty much all of that was paraphrased, for the record.)


• I wasn’t surprised that he killed Hadriana, though I don’t know if I believe her about the sister. Fenris made me pretty nervous in this scene with how angry he was, but… I don’t think I can blame him for reacting that way to someone who participated in his enslavement, so.
  
  (I will saw that, wow, I really can’t make him happy. Whatever Hawke said when he met her in her house, it was impossible to tell if he’d be nice or snap at her in response.


• Next, I did Varric’s personal quest! It… turns out that Bartrand is also pretty much next door to Fenris, haha. Good job on keeping an eye on your neighbours!


• Isabela somehow got stuck in one of the knocked-over tables in Bartrand’s place. It was pretty amusing. When she wasn’t running in place, she was floating a bit in the air, with one leg higher than the other, like it was resting on a box or something. When I was trying to get her out of there, she made a comment about how amazing it was to be on a ship on the high seas in a storm, and I was all, “Do you think you’re on a ship now?”
  
  She finally popped out after I fought some more enemies, so that was good.


• That scene with Bartrand and Varric? AAALLLLL the DDDDDDDDD= faces.
  
  There was a humorous moment in there, though. At one point, I got the option to turn things over to Anders, so I decided to do that. When I clicked it, basically everyone (“everyone” meaning Hawke and Varric) just turned to look at him without a word.
  
  But then it got sad again. When Varric said that it might have been easier when he just wanted to kill him… Just, sad faces everywhere.


• The post-quest conversation, though, was GREAT. Though, when Varric said to Hawke the bit that went somewhere along the lines of, “You’re beautiful, deadly, and hang out with a fantastic dwarf”, I was hit by another wave of WHY IS HE NOT ROMANCEABLE?????


• Next, I did the Blackwater BLACKPOWDER Courtesy. I don’t have a whole lot to say about it, though I was strangely touched when the Arishok said, “I do not hope you die.”
  
  Oh, and the bit where he was yelling at the end? INTENSE. Really loved that scene. ♥


• Oh, but I did like this one thing that happened when I was asking about the missing qunari that the viscount mentioned!
  
  That One Guy Whose Name I Don’t Remember: “But where one would find a swordsman who would sell his honor, I’m sure I don’t know.”
  Anders: “The Hanged Man.”
  Merrill: “Hanged Man.”
  Random Guard By The Door: “The Hanged Man, obviously.”
  
  I loved that random guard. ♥


• Instead of investigating the missing qunari right away, I decided to do personal quests! Aveline was first, since I was already in the area. Overall, I found her quest to be really adorable, despite some of the awfully awkward moments. This is mostly because the friendship between her and Hawke is the BEST*, and I could watch it all day.
  
  (*Okay, that’s a lie. But only because Varric exists, and no one can beat him.)


• Aveline mentioned Hawke’s romance with Isabela in this conversation, which took me off guard— I hadn’t realized that the companions knew about that? Especially since Hawke and Isabela hadn’t even talked since then…


• Merrill was pretty much amazing in this one too— she was the cause of one of my favorite moments.
  
  Merrill: “Oh, don’t be silly— you only need to worry about a dowry if you’re courting him.”
  Aveline: “Merrill….”
  Merrill: “OMG! You’re courting him!”
  
  Oh, Merrill. ♥ Never change.


• Hawke’s line in the Wounded Coast was almost as good, though. “Maker, she’s bad at this.” Hee.


• Once I got Aveline’s romantic concerns out of the way, I decided to do Anders’ companion quest next! Mainly because when I talked to him and Merrill, Merrill made a comment about sparrows, while he directly asked me if I could go speak to him somewhere private, i.e., the clinic.


• When Anders got possessed by Justice, something about the graphics didn’t align, and so instead of CREEPY GLOWY EYES it was more like he had the SPECTACLES OF DOOOMMM. It kind of made it hard to fully appreciate the gravity of the moment. =P


• So, after Hawke talked him down from killing the girl, he ran off. She followed him back to the clinic, where they… proceeded to have actual romantic tension between them for the first time?


• Oh, and this happened:
  
  Anders: “blah blah blah MY REVOLUTION.”
  Me: “WAIT WHAT WHAT REVOLUTION.”
  
  Haha. Okay, more seriously though, I did get chills when I heard that. We’d LITERALLY JUST FINISHED talking about the problems inherent with the whole “spirit of Vengeance possessing you” thing, Anders, do you really think this is a good idea???
  
  (Well, okay, Hawke was super supportive of his ability to control it, BUT STILL. Wait until you have control first!)


• Merrill and Anders had a really great banter after this. A bit earlier, they’d had a conversation where Anders was frustrated by her not understanding/accepting the divide between good and evil spirits, and was talking about how they clearly map into the categories of sins. Merrill’s response was pretty much, “haha, no, all spirits are different from one another, just like all people are different! those categories aren’t really a thing!”
  
  But then, after Anders’ quest, they talk again, and she said something that really struck me. Basically, she said something along the lines of, “There are no good spirits. I thought you understood that. I’m sorry.” Not only is that a great line, but really put that earlier conversation in a different context, and tl;dr I really enjoyed that.


• HOWEVER, Merrill lost that respect that she’d just earned when I started her companion quest AND LEARNED THAT SHE WAS COMPLETELY INSANE.
  
  Seriously, I think my heart stopped when I saw that stupid mirror. THAT THING ALMOST KILLED MY WARDEN NOPE NOPE NOPE RED ALERT STAY AWAY. I already thought it was a bad idea when Tamlen wanted to go all, Ooo, let’s touch the mirror!” AND MY OPINION HAS NOT CHANGED


• I did like hearing more about my warden, though. ♥ And, okay, it was super cute that Merrill originally started this project because she wanted to help. And the bit where she was all, “Though I suppose the Great Hero of Ferelden doesn’t need my help anymore” made me sadface so hard and basically, what I’m saying is that I think I’m really shipping Merrill/f!Mahariel now.

And that’s where I stopped for now. I might go back to it later today, though, if only to finish up Merrill’s companion quest.