What did you do today in DA? [Spoilers]

Iona completed operations in the Hissing Wastes, entering Farel's tomb and killing the Sandy Howler dragon guarding the tomb. Also completed the last of the mosaics, "Sacrifice." (The Gatsy write-up was lame as always...)

Also completed some smaller missions. Went with Iron Bull to Storm Coast to assist Qunari naval operation against smuggling ship carrying red lyrium. Qunari ship was lost after Chargers were withdrawn to avoid being overrun by Venatori mages who then attacked Qunari dreadnaught. (Gamer's Note: This scenario always leaves me with mixed emotions. It seems wrong to agree on the joint operation with the Qunari dreadnaught and then withdraw the forces that are supposed to cover the ship the moment the Venatori mages show up. OTOH, it was the Qunari who insisted that Inquisition support the dreadnaught with minimal forces that might not be able to withstand the kind of Venatori force that would be able to sink a dreadnaught. Some believe this was the Qunari testing IB, but losing a ship and its crew seems like a steep price to pay to test one man. Oh well...they end fighting the Qunari regardless.)

Also rescued Sutherland and company on the Storm Coast. And finally, chose to have Cole become more human.

Tomorrow, Iona heads for the Arbor Wilds to see what Cory is up to there. Thereafter, kill all remaining dragons before deciding whether to do both Descent and JOH before doing Trespasser.

The whole mission is utter stupidity; I also blame the devs for the lame brain mission, they could do better. The qunari indeed wanted to test IB, that's the way I look at it. They got fedup of him feeding their spy reports to the Inquisition. Gatt also said they didn't like the way IB operate with the Inquisition.

Red flags :

* requesting a tiny force from the Inquisition

* did not request for additional back up. Most notably to support the ship they're sending

* sent a FU dreadnaught to flatten a itty bitty smuggler ship. The type of ships smugglers would choose to make cargo runs would be small and easy to maneuver. The donkey qunari chose to send an ungainly dreadnaught that's more for power than for speed and maneuverability. What, after 800 years of fighting Tewinter that surely would have land and sea battles, they didn't have better ships to handle smugglers? I'm sure they do, they just want to make it impossible for the dreadnaught to escape easily. I'm sure they knew how big the venatori forces were, hence, their tiny force stipulation to the inquisition.

* the smugglers must be very blind not to see that huge ship lumbering after them. Their lookouts were sleeping on the job.

* if the smuggler lookouts did not see that dreadnaught, then the qunari were using magic to cloak themselves and farts to propel the dreadnaught so fast into the bay to bomb the smugglers. If their farts can propel the dreadnaught so fast, why not get out of danger as quickly?

Naturally, I gave the finger to Gatt. Sorry, IB's not for the qunari. Go home...oh wait, why are you following us to Skyhold??? 





 

I don't know about the Solasmance, but I think I'll try the Sera romance with Lia.

I finished reading The Calling. To be honest, I liked Last Flight better than this, but at least I got to learn more about Maric, Duncan and Fiona's backstories. I like it when characters from the games get fleshed out more in the novels.

As for the Architect, I feel like most antagonists have their eye on the same goal. Commit mass genocide and start the world brand new with their own twisted version of peace. Those who follow them meet an ugly end, because they realize too late that what they're doing is wrong.

Next up, I'm going to play Trespasser and finish Alex's DLC run. I delayed it long enough, because at first, I hated the idea of Alex losing her left hand and not being able to use both a sword and shield. But after reading a DA post-Trespasser fanfic that involved a sword/shield Inquisitor overcoming her trials and learning to fight again with Bull's help, I got inspired with a bunch of ideas on how to pan out Alex's story. Both Trespasser and beyond that. So, I think it's not bad at all.

Some people mentioned Encore is their favourite staff to use, because of the offence slots and buffs. I never found this schematic in Trespasser, so that'll be something to find. Then there's another thing I'll look for as well concerning the Dread Wolf.

The Dalish are about preserving elven culture and discovering what can be discovered about the ancient elves.  The one companion who could help you toward that end is Solas.  All other romance options pull your Dalish Inquisitor away from her culture and her people.  After doing the Solasmance, my current Dalish mage is romancing Cullen.  It's a nice romance, but a Trevelyan would be a better fit for Cullen.

Only a rogue could unlock his armor?

Anywhoos. Yesterday, Karaas did some grinding in the Hinterlands/Storm Coast/Oasis. Solas was his usually chatty self, this time turning his eyes to the Iron Bull. No chess, but the secret of how shirts are put on under the Qun was revealed. And a image of Karaas unbuttoning a shirt, putting arms in each sleeve and buttoning it up, while staring unblinkingly in Bull's eyes was born. Also the idea of two burly Qunari playing chess by the fireside. I really need some help. Also the Oasis temple is so much nicer when it isn't trying to murder my computer.

Today Shira enjoyed the aroma of the Fallow Mire, recruited a very tall person and assigned a friend to Abernache. She also managed to triggers Blackwall's invitation to the rainy beach, but the latter had been refusing to use his ability in combat, so that visit will have to be postponed to a later date. Also created one more version of Aurora Hawke. It was off by a long shot, but still looked kind of good. Sadly I can't make her armor green to fit her current face color scheme. Also learned that Sabrae looks ridiculously good wearing the nut cracker armor, especially when her hair gets all curly.
So while today was a bit off combat wise, it was fantastic appearance wise.

Today, Iona went to the Arbor Wilds in pursuit of Corypheus' forces. For the first time ever, I beat Samson on Nightmare without using Dagna's special rune to destroy his Red Lyrium armor. I, of course, had Iona, a Dalish elven mage, drink from the Well of Sorrows. I can't imagine a Dalish Inquisitor passing on something tied directly to ancient elves and their gods. Back at Skyhold, I had Samson thrown into prison.

With the power of the well, Iona summoned Mythal, who turned out to be Flemeth, the Witch of the Wilds. Morrigan was not pleased! Mythal's guardian dragon was summoned. Iona will now have something to counter Corypheus' blighted dragon when the final battle begins.

Am saving the DLC for after the final Cory fight. May skip Descent, but want to do JOH to pick some more Tier 4 material and any schematics not available through Golden Nug.

Did the Emerald Knights tomb, killed a bunch of giants in the Emerald Graves to get their phat l00t to sell.

Yesterday.

So Isa came back to the Hinterlands, as she had to finish her business there - the Inquisition needs horses. Vivi helped her to persuade master Dennet to come to Haven, they needed someone with his abilites. Then she, Cass, Sera and Vivi headed to Valammar and saw some really interesting ruins - the Calenhad's Foothold, as she discovered from a scetch found nearby. It must be very old - Calenhad the Great was the first King of Ferelden! Also found some Grey Warden's documents (always wonder how no one is interested in these).

The Isa had to destroy the Cartel, as they were involved to the Red Lyrium smuggling. Couldn't let that pass. She was really astonished by the dwarven architecture - it was the first time she visited one. But felt uncomfortable, she loves sun, she doesn't like darkness and cold. Then, she and her team destroyed the Cartel's underground forces - she's also seen the Darkspawn for the really first time (well, the first time she can remember). Disgusting creatures. Glad the last Blight didn't reach this far to the north. After closing the hole they used to reach the Thaig (or whatever it was), she hasn't opened the vault. It wasn't her job to rob this place, she only wanted to clear it out. She's taken a cog with her, ready to return it to the rightful owner (if there is one).

And then there was Haven. The Templars were ready, she was ready to close The Breach and that's what she's done. With the help of the templars, with their unwavering faith they've fixed the sky. It was time to celebrate, even if she knew there was still a threat with this mysterious guy. Speaking of the devil... She knew she couldn't trust the mages from Redcliffe. Who could think an "alliance" with Tevinter would be a good idea? She had the proof for that when Dorian arrived, saying that they're all Venatori now. This cannot be forgiven. She saved everyone she could, killed every Venatori on her way before entering the chantry. There was a dragon! An Archdemon? One more time she's seen a creature she hasn't met before. And certainly wouldn't want to. The same dragon forced her to leave and try to save the day. Go to the trebuchet and shoot it. Good she had Cass with her, as she isn't that strong at all.

As for her meeting with Cory - she didn't believe him. Well, not entirely. She'll never believe the "throne was empty", as she'll always believe she's received the Anker with the help of Andraste herself. Even if it was his fault, it couldn't be just a coincidence. He was so arrogant, so proud. This pride made him too careless and that's what she used to her advantage. She's done her job, she escaped him, jumped into an undeground tunnel.

I would really want to finish this part of the story, but don't have enough time. In the end, she remained faithful and agreed to lead the Inquisition. Not for Andraste (even if she's faithful), but because Corypheus must be stopped.

I've never used them. Have no reason to

Last night I continued with a playthrough in DAI. After about 30 minutes I had to stop. Maybe I meed to give it more time to get back to finishing that playthrough.

In my DA2 playthrough, Hawke and Isabela had a wrestling match. Talk with Emeric. Fought a bunch of demons and killed the dupoius guy. 

For now, I will hold off playing more of DA2 to do a playthrough of ME3. I said I can have the playthrough completed by mid-afternoon. I will continue DA2 tonight

Truly, the sigils only hamstring the chars from fighting properly. I'm rather wary of introducing another mod just when I got the present lot to behave.    

I can only attribute the late realisation to the fact that there's a glitch with the sigils I did use. Giant / bear. There was no negative flaw because both read as imbuing positive buffs but I realised lately that something was not right when skills were slow to cool down. Could that positive be actually a negative? I tested it and it turned out that it is a glitch.