straightforwardly | 083 | In which I continue playing Dragon Age Inquisition, & think too much about everything

Another update on Dragon Age Inquisition! I've been working on this in bits and pieces, but finally settled in to do a long update.

To recap: when I last left off, my Atheris just reached Skyhold, and was named Inquisitor. Let’s see what happened next! (In bullet-point form, of course.)

Ha, Leliana’s reaction to Varric’s announcement is the greatest. “If Varric’s brought who I think he has, Cassandra is going to kill him.”

MY HAWKE IS TOO PRETTY. >_> I tried very hard to give her that same not-quite-pretty, occasionally otherworldly look she had going on in Dragon Age 2, but… I completely failed. I’ll have to try and move past the disconnect as best as I can.

.............Fiona seems suspiciously interested in Alistair’s welfare. She also used to be a Grey Warden, and knew his father.

Any theories Atheris might have been concocting were immediately forgotten, because SOLAS. ROMANCE. MAKEOUTS IN THE FADE. ♥_♥

Okay, I think I love my Atheris just that much more for that “fade-tongue” comment.

And awww, she’s being sweetly understanding about his desire for some more time to think this whole thing over.

This whole scene with Cassandra losing her temper with Varric is a delight. And of course Varric lied about knowing where Hawke was!

I kind of really love that Varric’s first loyalty is still Hawke, even though he’s hanging around the Inquisition now. I mean, yes, I want him and Atheris to be buddies! But I’m much more attached to his and Hawke’s bond.

Atheris tried to strike a middle ground between the two of them, which… mostly worked. She didn’t get any disapprovals, at any rate.

Oh my lord, I just did my first Skyhold judgement AND IT WAS GLORIOUS. He attacked Skyhold with a goat. A GOAT.

He seemed… strangely happy about being banished.

Oh no, Varric’s really depressed about that fight. :( I kind of feel bad for my earlier glee now.

SOLAS DOESN’T LIKE TEA. BLASPHEMY. He’s lucky that the fade-tongue thing charmed me so much, or else friendship would be over.

Off to help the spirit friend!

Oh no. Oh no. :(

Damnit, game! It gave me some brief hope that it could all be fixed, but NOPE. And after all that trouble I went through to make sure my party attacked those pillar-things instead of the spirit/demon!

Letting Solas kill those mages…. probably wasn’t the morally correct choice, but. Atheris couldn’t quite bring herself to stop him, and, in this case, inaction was all that was needed.

......Shit, I think I’m emotionally invested in this romance now. The post-quest conversation had me wibbling. This… is not going to work out well for me, is it.

Running around, talking to more party members~

Pro-tip, Leliana: while Atheris is doing her best, she’s still not exactly in the best position to be a therapist right now.

Ah, so Felix does die, just not when I thought he was going to. Poor guy.

Mother Giselle wants to arrange a meeting with Dorian’s father without Dorian’s knowledge? SUSPICIOUS.

But first, elf [SPOILER] boyfriend!

Oh lord. *_* Considering the fact that their faces literally melded into each other’s, I should not be as into that kiss as I was. And yet.

“Ar lath, ma vhenan” and okay I had to look up what that meant but still. The way he said it. FEELINGS.

I love the look on Atheris’ face when she watches him go. She just looks so satisfied with herself. ♥

Okay, NOW she has time to deal with Dorian’s family issues!

Atheris decided to tell Dorian about the letter, mainly because she knows that she would Not Be Happy if someone gave her the runaround like that.

Holy SHIT what an asshole! He used blood magic to try to make Dorian straight????? Dorian, your family issues are ENTIRELY JUSTIFIED.

Awwww. I know that I’ve said this about twenty times already, but Dorian and Atheris’ friendship is so sweet.

At some point after this, I started running around the Exalted Plains doing all the Dalish-related side quests, and they were so good to me! Sylaise’s shrine! Lost elven temples! Giant wolf statues (Fen’harel?) EVERYWHERE.

.....I wrote “‘bridge b/t the two’ yessss” in my notes, and I KNOW it had something to do with something Solas said during the above quests, but I can’t remember for the life of me what it means, and google is not helping me.

I should probably start checking out those red lyrium smugglers Cullen was talking about. On to the Emerald Graves!

Eee, the Solas & Cole & Varric interactions are great. Also, I love how Varric and Solas end up essentially agreeing on the matter of Orzammar.

WHY ARE THESE BEARS ATTACKING ME

Smugglers down! Time to report to Cullen.

WHERE THE HELL IS CULLEN’S OFFICE

After spending a ridiculously long amount of time searching for it, I finally found his office again.... and then had to headdesk at how simple it was to find.

Okay, the next step in this quest is going to take too much power for my taste, so let’s do something else.

SOMEONE’S TRYING TO HURT JOSEPHINE. They’re going down. >:|

....Oh god, this entire situation is golden. A contract made over a hundred years ago, by a family that doesn’t even exist anymore, still being honored? I repeat: golden. (Also, I am incredibly amused by the exchange that occurs between Josephine and the Comte while she’s trying to break him out of his apparently Very Expensive cabinet.)

So, Atheris decided to go along with Josephine’s plan— not because she likes all that political roundabout, or because she wants to be merciful (her not killing that assassin that told them about the situation was a very near thing, because Josephine), but because she’s not sure if she trusts that destroying a single piece of paper would be enough to end the mess.

In other news, I can’t shake off the feeling that those two nobles standing in the hall of Skyhold are gossiping about Atheris and Solas. Their comments are a bit too… pointed, to be coincidental, I think.

Off to Crestwood, to talk to a shifty mayor!

Iron Bull likes to drink cocoa! This is amazing, and has made my fondness for him increase. (Varric is completely baffled by it, apparently.)

Ran into a couple hooking up in the dam controls building. Solas is so done with overly amorous teenagers.

Ahhh, Solas is being such an adorable dork. ♥ When we came across nugs in this cave-tunnel place, he started pondering on what they must think of the ‘strange giants’ that just appeared before them.

.......This news about the wardens and the Calling is worrying. I’m... kind of worried about Bethany / all the people my Lúthien conscripted in Awakenings. They’re not in Orlais, but...

SOLAS READ VARRIC’S BOOKS!

Okay, I have to laugh at Varric’s response basically being the same as mine. Also: “Are you asking if everyone I know is a secret agent?”

(Now I’m headcanoning that Solas is the type of fan who’ll analyze everything he reads super-deeply, even if there’s not much substance at all.)

what’s happened to the wardens????

When Leliana was being super suspicious of them in the beginning of the game, I… assumed there would be a reasonable explanation. I did not expect demon armies.

(That being said, I love how surprised that guy was when Atheris was all, ‘oh, yeah, that demon army. Wondered when it was going to show up.’)

On a side note, Hawke and Varric’s conversations are giving me feelings. So many feelings.

So… reciting the history of the Grey Wardens (to Claret, in Adamant Fortress) is how I get Solas’ disapproval???

(Seriously, though, I was pretty surprised to see that— I don’t think he’d disapproved of a single thing my Atheris had done up until this point in the game.)

Okay, Claret may have made some really stupid decisions, but that death was badass. “In victory, sacrifice.”

Hee, Solas fangirling over the Fade. ♥ So cute.

Taunting Varric about how he failed Hawke over and over— oh, that is NOT on, Nightmare. You're definitely going down now. >:|

And now he’s mocking Cassandra about her faith and how it’s been “disproved”.

Okay, I had to look up what he said to Solas, but I’m pretty delighted by it. Especially his reply.

HAWKE. DDDDD: “Isabela will die, just like the rest of your family” THIS GAME KNOWS HER SO WELL

Oooo, it’s neat that Cassandra sees the Fearlings as maggots, not spiders. (Speaking of which, I love that one was named “Ironically, Spiders”.)

Wow, Hawke and Stroud just tore into each other re: Grey Wardens. I’m surprised that Bethany didn’t come up, though.

Time to fight Nightmare! ...That battle was surprisingly difficult. I mean, okay, it wasn’t super hard, but it was harder than any of the other ones I’d done so far.

So, Atheris chose for Stroud to stay behind. I was tempted to chose Hawke for the tragic value, but I just couldn’t do that— and I’d like to think that Atheris feels a bit more of a connection to Hawke than she does to Shroud, if for nothing more than that one conversation they had about feeling the weight of a city / half the world on their shoulders.

Like I mentioned in my last entry, Atheris is bit more bitter than my Warden and Hawke were, and she was PISSED about the whole demon army situation, so she decided to banish the Wardens. (She might be tempted to rescind that later, but right now she’s, all, SCREW YOU JERKS.)

She did allow Blackwall to stay, though, which seemed to make Sera (and Varric?) happy?

Awww, Hawke asking her to look after Varric. ♥

That conversation with Leliana afterwards was so sweet and sad. I really like her.

Okay, so I decided that I couldn’t wait until my next playthrough to see what happens if you sacrifice Hawke, so I reloaded an earlier save to check it out.

oh god this is so sad. too sad. DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD: Varric.

Even having Atheris give him a hug isn’t helping.

This story he’s telling isn’t depressing! In fact, it has Leandra being a badass in it! So why is it depressing me. ._.

“Isabela should know” oh god.

BACK TO THE REAL REALITY, WHERE HAWKE DEFINITELY DID NOT DIE, NOPE, NOT HAPPENING. TOO. SAD.

MUCH BETTER. I mean, Varric’s still a bit sad about what happened with Stroud— saw him as a hero, and was grateful for how he saved Bethany— but it’s not “Hawke died” levels of sadness SO IT’S ALL GOOD.

Also: “Isabela’s going to be furious” heee. Now to talk to my other party members! .......I am not looking forward to this conversation with Blackwall.

Aww, Dorian’s concerned! I was a bit confused about how aggressive he was being at first, but then I melted.

I meant to kick Cullen’s butt in that board game, but then I accidentally hit the “let him win” option instead, whoops.

Hey, that conversation with Blackwall wasn’t a complete disaster! \o/ Time to… hit Iron Bull with a stick?

Okay, getting giddy about the Solas and Cole interactions again. ♥ (Even if they’re not precisely getting along at the moment. Though I do love that it’s Solas that Cole turns to for binding.)

”Lost a serious moustache there.” Okay, I’m definitely starting to warm up to Sera now. She’s kind of great, when she isn’t being all ELVES SUCK at everyone. ♥

..........Considering what Dorian said, Vivienne’s envy about the whole “physically in the Fade” thing is making me nervous.

TOO AMUSED. Solas didn’t even greet her— he just started yelling and ranting about the Wardens instead.

In honor of their new-albeit-shaky understanding, Atheris decided to help Sera out and have Cullen’s soldiers march through some random town!

Ha, I love how Josephine’s all ‘don’t ever tell her’ when she tells Atheris that it actually turned out to be useful for the Inquisition.

Well, Sera was not a fan of Atheris letting that sleazy noble guy go, BUT she seemed pretty okay with it when Atheris was all, yeah, I agree that it wasn’t the perfect situation / solution, but I did what I thought was best.

So this is Bianca! Interesting. And weird. She’s not a crossbow.

!!! Lyrium’s alive?????

I think I do like Bianca, but when it comes to Varric/Bianca… no. It doesn’t work for me.

Time to play ~~poker~~ Wicked Grace with various party members and advisors!

....Between the Dorian & Cullen board game, and their interactions during this game, I think I… might be starting to ship them. Um. Shit.

Heee, Josephine is a BEAST. A sneaky, sneaky beast, who did the world the great favor of getting Cullen naked.

Awww. This conversation between Varric and Atheris is pretty touching, though a bit bittersweet. But she and Varric are officially friends now! That always makes life better. ♥

Okay, I have to admit, the reveal that Sera was under that table might have been the best possible way to end that scene.

Dorian was quite… intense about Atheris choosing the Assassin specialization. I JUST WANTED THE STEALTH BENEFITS, OKAY?

!!!! LELIANA MENTIONED ZEVRAN. MY DAY IS MADE.

And Atheris finally gets to officially meet Bull’s Chargers! I’m not sure who I like more— Dalish, with her fantastically ridiculous “That would make me an apostate!” excuses, or Rocky, who’s “really, really not” close to unlocking the secret of qunari blackpowder.

Next up is the quest “Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts”. Atheris might not be looking forward to fancy Orlesian parties and politics, but I am!

(FYI: Remember in my last entry, when I mentioned a really long quest that wiped me out? This was that quest. I figured that I should mention it now, since I didn’t then.)

So, for my party I chose Solas (because if there isn’t going to be a romantic scene with him, I’ll eat my his hat), Vivienne (because of all the party members, she can probably handle the court the best), and Dorian, because he seemed one of the best options of the party members that were left, though Varric was also a strong possibility. Cassandra might be alright, but she’d hate it, Sera would be a disaster, Cole would… not get it, Iron Bull would be… interesting, and I completely forgot about Blackwall when I was making those deliberations.

Why hello there, racist courtiers! Making disparaging comments about elves is definitely the best way to make a good impression on this very much elven Inquisitor.

Ha, Josephine’s so obviously nervous, in a “these people are totally going to screw this up” sort of way. Don’t worry, Atheris won’t let you down! Or, at least, she’ll try not to.

Wtf is with Solas’ hat.

Apparently, he’s also Atheris’ “elven servant”. I really want to know who made that decision.

Cullen’s so adorably awkward here. I love how he’s surrounded by unwanted admirers— every time I walk past him, I can hear someone hitting on him. ♥

Josephine and her sister are super adorable! I love how Yvette is all, the dancing’s boring, but the paintings! They’re what it’s all about! And Josephine shooting down every embarrassing story she had on her… ♥

God, the Dowager and her twenty billion dead husbands is ridiculously amusing. I have no idea how many times I ran back and forth in front of her just to hear more about them.

Huh, I did not expect Solas to be quite so excited about this party. He refused Atheris’ offer to dance for rather reasonable reasons, but hinted that he’d be willing later, so Atheris waltzed off with a “see you later”. (I loved his parting words— “Hunt well.”)

...I feel like I do a good job at accidentally dragging people who don’t want to be somewhere to that place. (See: Anders and the Deep Roads.) Dorian’s being rather sweet about the whole thing, but still.

The servants decided to show Atheris some elf solidarity! Too bad their news wasn’t “everything’s fine and dandy, don’t worry!” Mysteriously vanishing (and probably dying) elves is never a good sign.

Oh god I hate timed sections so much.

MORRIGAN. ♥ When Leliana said that she was familiar with the occult advisor, I didn’t think that she meant it was a FORMER PARTY MEMBER. This is excellent.

Speaking of which: huh, her social skill must have improved a LOT over the years if she’s navigating the courts that well.

...I did not realize that I’d be fighting. this is a ball. why did I not take at least one warrior. Or Cole; he usually does a decent job of keeping enemies off of my back while I shoot them.

Dramatic dance with Florianne! In which Atheris declares that her loyalties are to the Inquisition.

oh no Celene and Briala are too adorable.

“I will rule Thedas for him!” I hate to break it to you, Florianne, but he’s made that promise to approximately twenty thousand other people already.

Atheris defeats Florianne with the power of DRAMATIC SPEECH.

oh no I don’t want to kill Gaspard BUT BRIALA/CELENE

I am a terrible person.

EEEEEEE, MORE MORRIGAN! ♥ This is going to be great. And potentially backstabby and/or manipulative, but mostly great!

SOLAS. I love how Atheris is just so… tired from everything that’s happened, and then they just share this sweet moment. And dancing, of course. ♥

THE CHANTRY CAN’T HAVE LELIANA AND CASSANDRA. MINE. MINE.

Shit, I ONLY WANTED TO START SOME WAR TABLE MISSIONS BEFORE BED. I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR EXTENDED CUTSCENES.

Okay, laughing forever at Cullen’s unwanted popularity.

Oh, hey, apparently Morrigan still has her old outfit after ten-ish years?

ELUVIAN. Apparently, she succeeded where Merrill failed. Poor Merrill :((((

Okay, I know that I was all GET AWAY YOU DAMN MIRROR during Dragon Age 2, but this place is actually pretty amazing. Atheris agrees.

SHRIEKING at the letter from my Warden. It’s basically everything I ever wanted! Acknowledging their shared heritage and the difficulties they face because of it? Mentions of ZEVRAN? ♥ MY HEART.

I may or may not be considering writing some drawer-fic where Atheris and Lúthien write letters back and forth to one another throughout the rest of the game, cough cough cough.

Vivienne’s personal quest, obtained! But first, I want to hear what the rest of my party have to say about the ball.

Hee, Dorian says that all the murder plots, fancy dresses, and general mayhem almost make him homesick.

Ahahahaha, Solas GOT SO UNCOMFORTABLE when I asked about when he’d ever been involved in court intrigue. It was so worth the slight drop in approval. ~~I’ll get it back in like two second anyways, so what does it matter?~~

....I kind of wish that I took Varric along with me, because I really want to know about what happened to make him realize that his publisher was a lying liar who lies.

So, when I talked to Leliana, it ended up being about Justinia again. She just… seems so broken by Justinia’s death. It hurts to watch.

After talking to Cassandra about the Divine thing, I… still don’t know who I’d prefer for it to be? Atheris isn’t super-concerned about it at the moment (because, um, STILL NOT ANDRASTIAN), but I have a feeling that it’s an issue that's not going to go away any time soon.

APPARENTLY SERA IS INTO QUNARI LADIES. I know what I’m playing as when I romance her.

GIGGLING SO HARD at Sera’s assessment of Solas. “Bet he calls out ‘elven glory’ when he does it.”

!!!! I just put Iron Bull and Vivienne in a party together for her personal quest and OH MY GOD their banter is too adorable. TOO ADORABLE. ~~I think I could ship it.~~

I… know that she’s supposed to be lovingly stroking his head, but it looks more like she’s sucking out his brain or something.

Apparently, watching her lover die is how I finally get Vivienne to like me.

Vivienne: “Bastien is dead.”
(at the same moment) Game: “Vivienne Greatly Approves”

I keep trying to do Cole’s personal quest with the amulet, but every time I try, the game keeps freezing. Asdfghjkl; I’ve been talking to him like crazy because the internet told me that it might work if I exhaust all his conversational options, but so far, no cigar. I guess I’ll have to put it off for a little while longer! Sorry, Cole.

Finally, I get to meet Morrigan and Alistair’s demon-god-baby! Apparently, Atheris has “old blood”.

”He will not be raised in a marsh.” SOMEONE’s holding a grudge.

!!!! Morrigan knows about the history of Skyhold! AND IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH ELVES! (No wonder Solas knew about it!)

Speaking of which, I love how the fresco on his walls expands after each main quest. It’s just so pretty to look at. ♥

Holy hell what is with the “Motherly Encouragement” quest.

Okay, so the above led me into Chateau d’Onterre, and while I was really intrigued by the story I was piecing together, the atmosphere FREAKED ME OUT SO BAD. It was worse than Bartrand’s old house. ._. I had to give up on it before my heart stopped. I think I pieced together most of what happened, but… yeah.

On a more cheerful topic: banter! I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but I really love Solas and Cassandra’s relationship. They get along really well, considering how different their world-views can be. His admiration of how easily Cassandra gave up her power when she made Atheris Inquisitor— and her dry response— was great.

So, I went to Emprise du Lion, finally, in order to continue Cullen’s quest.

Atheris decided to kill Ishamael, because one, the fact that he was offering powers, riches, etc. seemed incredibly suspicious, and two, because he was human-shaped, and she remembered that even Solas found it odd that Cole was human-shaped, and thought it unlikely that it was the same situation.

THE RULER OF TEVINTER HAS A SOFT SPOT FOR CATS. That, plus Josephine’s opinion and the fact that they asked for neutrality while Nevarra asked for an alliance (and Cassandra doesn’t care) made me choose them.

Oh lord Josephine and Leliana’s past is too cute. I might be starting to ship them, a little bit.

Atheris just had an ADORABLE conversation with Cassandra, in which Cassandra professed admiration for her, and Atheris offered friendship. Finally! ♥ That relationship was rather Fenris-y for a while, but she managed to to piece it together after a while. ~~Vivienne and, to a lesser extent, Sera, are still a work-in-progress.~~

CASSANDRA READS VARRIC’S BOOKS! ♥ (Between her and Solas, EVERYONE might as well be reading them! Haha.)

“Pretend you don’t know this about me” THIS IS GLORIOUS I love her even more now

VARRIC. ♥ I love how shocked he is, and this: “That’s a terrible idea. I’ll have to do it.”

THIS IS TOO ADORABLE.

WAIT. WAIT. IS THAT AVELINE ON THE COVER??!??!?!?!?

Awww! Cassandra grabbing the book out of Varric’s hands! Her super sincere thank you! ♥

Varric: “Completely worth it.” I agree.

Whelp, let’s see what Iron Bull wants.

Okay, I already don’t like Gatt’s stupid, smug face. Though Solas’ vicious disapproval of him is rather fun to listen to.

THE CHARGERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DIE. NOPE NOPE NOPE. Besides, Gatt’s attitude raised Atheris’ hackles.

Iron Bull’s… really casual about random assassination attempts.

....Apparently, Vivienne’s noticed some “lingering looks” between Atheris and Solas. Considering what their banters are like, Atheris decided it was more expedient to cut the conversation short, and escape via the balcony.

After that, she wandered over to Solas, and ended up essentially asking him about his opinion on Sera. Apparently, he… both pities her, and envies her, for her sense of purpose. That was not the answer I expected.

Leliana: “I count the Hero among my closest friends, & one of the only ones I trust.” Quite the feat, considering you technically never met her. =P

So I’m apparently not the only one to notice the changes in Morrigan! Leliana describes it as her losing her “sharp edges”. Though, I have to question Leliana’s observation skills, if she thinks of Kieran as a “normal child”.

I was about to leave to do the next stage of Cullen’s quest, but then I noticed that Blackwall was no longer on my character selection screen. THIS MUST BE INVESTIGATED.

HE LEFT ME?????!?!??!?!

”I’m not Blackwall! I never was Blackwall!” That… probably would have had more of an impact if I hadn’t already known that. DAMNIT, SPOILERS.

I didn’t know about the whole murdering people for money thing, though!

Which begs the question: if his men were dying for his crime... does that mean that the story he told Atheris about the dog was real, or was it just a metaphor?

Oh, hey, I also didn’t know that he was supposed to be a Grey Warden, before the real Blackwall went and died on him. So I wasn't spoiled for everything! Just... the most important bit, sigh.

I’m not really interested in romancing him, but I do have to wonder how this whole thing would go with a romanced!Blackwall.

Atheris decided to take his judgement in her own hands, and declared that once Corypheus was defeated, he’s to go to the Grey Wardens, like real!Blackwall originally intended him to. (He’s lucky that one, Atheris has been doing a lot of emotional/personal growth and that two, early game!Atheris didn’t find out about this, because she would not have been so forgiving then.)

NOW I can do the rest of Cullen’s quest. Poor Maddox— he died for essentially nothing.

Next up, Leliana’s quest!

Oh wow she’s such a badass.

........And now I’m kind of terrified of her.

Because I am That Person, who spends too much time thinking about her PC’s character arcs / emotional states, I’m thinking that Leliana’s dramatic dive into bitterness was a big wake-up call for Atheris. She’s been doing better on that whole “deep-seated core of bitterness” thing, mainly by directing all of those emotions towards Corypheus, but I’m not sure if it was entirely a conscious decision, you know? And then seeing Leliana transform like that— she looked at her, and thought, ‘that could have been me’. That's definitely going to affect her. That bitterness isn’t going to immediately vanish into thin air, but I think she’s going to be much more careful about how she handles it, now.

I did Cassandra’s quest next, where she seeks out the Seekers, and… wow. I thought Lucius was a jerk when I met him (though, I suppose that wasn’t really him), but I didn’t expect for him to be flat-out insane.

Cassandra’s incredibly shaken by what she found out about the Seekers, which, I don’t blame her! It’s rather shocking. But the whole time, I couldn’t help but think that this was a bad time to ask Atheris about faith / what she should do, considering that Atheris was rather shaken herself by what just happened with Leliana, and what that might mean about her.

I want to hear more banter, so I’m going to go wander around doing quests for a bit before moving on to the next main quest.

Vivienne and Solas’ banter is so SASSY. I normally hate listening to my companions snipe at each other, but they’re kind of a delight. And Vivienne’s comments about how she hopes he can “take care of himself” if they encounter anything outside of his “experience” amuses me far too much, considering what I know about him via spoilers.

OH NO. I accidentally killed a fox during a battle! THIS IS THE WORST.

I just went into the Still Ruins in the Western Approach for the first time, and MORE TIME SHENANIGANS. ♥ This game clearly loves me.