What did you do today in DA? [Spoilers]
Aug 25, 2020 9:47:09 GMT
vertigomez, Liadan, and 3 more like this
Post by riverdaleswhiteflash on Aug 25, 2020 9:47:09 GMT
(Tagging vertigomez again because she's the one who requested I go into detail about my first DA2 playthrough, so I want her to be able to find all of these. Explaining this again because given the way notifications work on this site, she's probably going to read the last one of these first.)
So, Thomas Hawke couldn't find a horn to swap out party members in the Dalish camp at Sundermount, and he didn't want to collect the arulin'holm for Merrill with Anders and Aveline in the party.
So he decided to turn back to Kirkwall... and was almost to the exit of the ledge the Dalish camp was located in when he realized there might be something worth taking back near the altar where Merrill had resurrected Flemeth.
So he turned back around and slaughtered a bunch of spiders (including one the same size as the one in the Deep Roads that had knocked him and Anders out) a bunch of undead (including a revenant and an arcane horror) and a mature dragon and her brood. For his pains, he found... some crafting materials, and some stuff to sell later.
He headed back to the Kirkwall, and found that it was night by the time he arrived. His first stop was the Black Emporium, to sell a whole lot of stuff he didn't need. (His pockets really were getting heavy.) Then he headed to Merrill's to give her the Carved Halla. (She seemed confused by the gesture, until she realized she really was getting this just because Hawke was feeling generous.) Then Hawke headed to the Hanged Man. His first order of business was to find the guard who'd sold out the Qunari, drinking away the money he'd gotten with his "new friends." Aveline picked him up by the collar and intimidated him into selling out the person who he'd sold out the Qunari to... to the best of his ability. All he knew was that he'd sold the Qunari out to a templar with the Grand Cleric's seal...
Although that's enough of a lead: it's pretty obvious Hightown's Chantry is the next stop. (Even if there's another one in Kirkwall, which is quite possible, that's the only one where a templar could get that seal.) Aveline told her sellout guard that his next ten shifts would be on punishment detail, and he didn't bother arguing; he was probably feeling lucky he still had a job.
Next order of business: helping Aveline get what she wants in life.
Hawke approached Donnic for a drink, and Donnic figured out that he was the only guard who'd been told the guards were gathering for drinks... although he'd somehow missed that there were two other guards there, including his boss. (Wouldn't you think that'd be the sort of thing to draw some attention? Especially since she'd manhandled the guy getting him to talk.) Eventually, realizing that Aveline wasn't going to get up the courage to join them naturally, Thomas decided to turn the conversation to her, hoping Donnic would say something to get her courage up.
What he said was that he was pretty sure Hawke was trying to use Donnic to get close to Aveline, and that Hawke should have a little backbone instead of trying to use a go-between.
One more time for the Guard-Captains in the back!
Donnic left, and Hawke passed on the message. Aveline said that she simply didn't have it in her: she only feels competent on a patrol, and Anders suggested that maybe it'd be wisest if Donnic and Aveline shared a patrol. Hawke said that someone as stable as Anders could only possibly give good advice, and Aveline left to follow it.
Thomas stepped in to converse with Varric... and learned that Varric's spies had confirmed Bartrand was back in the city shaking down some people who owed him money. Varric, Thomas, and Bianca all agreed that they missed Varric's former brother, and that they should all catch up soon.
Then Hawke stepped in to finally pick up the money he'd earned taking down the Invisible Sisters, and went for the horn to pick up Fenris. (He elected not to swap out Anders, partially because his healing abilities are useful and partially because he thought he might be able to keep Anders happy by making a show of distrusting Merrill with the arulin'holm.)
So then the group headed back to Sundermount... and were interrupted by slavers demanding that Thomas step away from "the slave" if he valued his life. Hawke noted that that wasn't a very generous opening offer. Fenris noted that he wasn't a slave. The slavers noted that being torn apart by a lyrium warrior and his companions rather hurt.
When the fight was over, Fenris grabbed a mage Thomas thought they'd already killed (whose enemy label was "Tevinter Magister" even though this guy probably doesn't even dare dream of becoming that powerful) and insisted on being told where Danarius was. The mage replied that he didn't know that, but that a woman named "Hadriana" was waiting at a set of caves. Fenris said he knew the ones, and told the mage that he "served the wrong master," before killing him.
With the unpleasant task done, Fenris explained that Hadriana was his former master's apprentice, and that if she was here, it meant Danarius hadn't given up. He demanded to go to the old slaver caves right away, and Hawke replied that they had more important things to do. Fenris demanded to know who these things were more important to, and marked the caves on his map anyway.
Hawke continued to the Dalish camp, handed over the three amulets of the dead hunters they'd found in the varterall's cave, and reported to Marethari that the varterall was dead... and that Pol had run right into it to get away from Merrill. Marethari said that some of the hunters fear that Merrill's going to bring the Blight back, and with some prodding, admitted they feared that because she'd told them Merrill might do that. And then Marethari said that Merrill should give up on the mirror, which had killed one of their hunters and (somehow) driven her to blood magic. Marethari said it wasn't too late for Merrill to come back to the clan, instead of living alone.
What?
At this point, I think she's better off alone than with her clan. If Merrill absolutely cannot live on her own (and she's done an okay job of that over the last three years) then maybe she should move in with Hawke instead of a clan whose hunters have demonstrated that they'd literally rather die than spend time with her. (And that's not just his attraction to her talking.)
For some reason, Merrill refused this "generous" offer, and asked for the arulin'holm. Marethari gave it to Hawke, as a way of pretending to follow her ritual obligations rather than refusing, and Merrill expressed relief that Marethari had handed it over instead of going back on her word.
Girl.
Did you somehow not notice that Marethari is trying to do exactly that?
Hawke asked what Marethari had meant when she'd blamed the mirror for Merrill turning to blood magic. And it turned out that she'd learned it in order to purify the mirror of the Blight, since Marethari wasn't going to lend her own power and Merrill couldn't find the lyrium she needed.
Okay, important takeaway: the mirror was blighted and isn't. Marethari is exaggerating the danger when she says Merril's going to bring the Blight back to the clan. Good to know. This really would be a bad plan if it could end that way.
Hawke suggested that maybe Merrill should listen to Marethari when she said the mirror was dangerous, even though Marethari offered no evidence that it was, because he was hoping that making that suggestion would make Anders more inclined to think Hawke wasn't just mindlessly going along with this. Merrill shot that down, and asked for the arulin'holm. Thomas agreed.
Anders seemed okay with this, probably because it looked like Thomas wasn't taking for granted that this was safe. Fenris didn't, but Hawke's kind of deliberately screwing with him at this point.
Anyway, Thomas decided that the next stop should be the slaver caves where Hadriana was waiting for Fenris: they were comfortably along the way to anywhere Hawke could want to go next, and anyway he figured really ought to do something about the slavers chasing his frenemy. The group handled the guards outside, and started towards the entrance... where Fenris decided to give a bit of the backstory. Apparently, these caves were used as slaver pens so that the slavers could hide their stocks from each other, since slavers weren't above stealing from their rivals.
If even thieves don't have honor among them, why should slavers?
So, Thomas Hawke couldn't find a horn to swap out party members in the Dalish camp at Sundermount, and he didn't want to collect the arulin'holm for Merrill with Anders and Aveline in the party.
So he decided to turn back to Kirkwall... and was almost to the exit of the ledge the Dalish camp was located in when he realized there might be something worth taking back near the altar where Merrill had resurrected Flemeth.
So he turned back around and slaughtered a bunch of spiders (including one the same size as the one in the Deep Roads that had knocked him and Anders out) a bunch of undead (including a revenant and an arcane horror) and a mature dragon and her brood. For his pains, he found... some crafting materials, and some stuff to sell later.
He headed back to the Kirkwall, and found that it was night by the time he arrived. His first stop was the Black Emporium, to sell a whole lot of stuff he didn't need. (His pockets really were getting heavy.) Then he headed to Merrill's to give her the Carved Halla. (She seemed confused by the gesture, until she realized she really was getting this just because Hawke was feeling generous.) Then Hawke headed to the Hanged Man. His first order of business was to find the guard who'd sold out the Qunari, drinking away the money he'd gotten with his "new friends." Aveline picked him up by the collar and intimidated him into selling out the person who he'd sold out the Qunari to... to the best of his ability. All he knew was that he'd sold the Qunari out to a templar with the Grand Cleric's seal...
Although that's enough of a lead: it's pretty obvious Hightown's Chantry is the next stop. (Even if there's another one in Kirkwall, which is quite possible, that's the only one where a templar could get that seal.) Aveline told her sellout guard that his next ten shifts would be on punishment detail, and he didn't bother arguing; he was probably feeling lucky he still had a job.
Next order of business: helping Aveline get what she wants in life.
Hawke approached Donnic for a drink, and Donnic figured out that he was the only guard who'd been told the guards were gathering for drinks... although he'd somehow missed that there were two other guards there, including his boss. (Wouldn't you think that'd be the sort of thing to draw some attention? Especially since she'd manhandled the guy getting him to talk.) Eventually, realizing that Aveline wasn't going to get up the courage to join them naturally, Thomas decided to turn the conversation to her, hoping Donnic would say something to get her courage up.
What he said was that he was pretty sure Hawke was trying to use Donnic to get close to Aveline, and that Hawke should have a little backbone instead of trying to use a go-between.
One more time for the Guard-Captains in the back!
Donnic left, and Hawke passed on the message. Aveline said that she simply didn't have it in her: she only feels competent on a patrol, and Anders suggested that maybe it'd be wisest if Donnic and Aveline shared a patrol. Hawke said that someone as stable as Anders could only possibly give good advice, and Aveline left to follow it.
Thomas stepped in to converse with Varric... and learned that Varric's spies had confirmed Bartrand was back in the city shaking down some people who owed him money. Varric, Thomas, and Bianca all agreed that they missed Varric's former brother, and that they should all catch up soon.
Then Hawke stepped in to finally pick up the money he'd earned taking down the Invisible Sisters, and went for the horn to pick up Fenris. (He elected not to swap out Anders, partially because his healing abilities are useful and partially because he thought he might be able to keep Anders happy by making a show of distrusting Merrill with the arulin'holm.)
So then the group headed back to Sundermount... and were interrupted by slavers demanding that Thomas step away from "the slave" if he valued his life. Hawke noted that that wasn't a very generous opening offer. Fenris noted that he wasn't a slave. The slavers noted that being torn apart by a lyrium warrior and his companions rather hurt.
When the fight was over, Fenris grabbed a mage Thomas thought they'd already killed (whose enemy label was "Tevinter Magister" even though this guy probably doesn't even dare dream of becoming that powerful) and insisted on being told where Danarius was. The mage replied that he didn't know that, but that a woman named "Hadriana" was waiting at a set of caves. Fenris said he knew the ones, and told the mage that he "served the wrong master," before killing him.
With the unpleasant task done, Fenris explained that Hadriana was his former master's apprentice, and that if she was here, it meant Danarius hadn't given up. He demanded to go to the old slaver caves right away, and Hawke replied that they had more important things to do. Fenris demanded to know who these things were more important to, and marked the caves on his map anyway.
Hawke continued to the Dalish camp, handed over the three amulets of the dead hunters they'd found in the varterall's cave, and reported to Marethari that the varterall was dead... and that Pol had run right into it to get away from Merrill. Marethari said that some of the hunters fear that Merrill's going to bring the Blight back, and with some prodding, admitted they feared that because she'd told them Merrill might do that. And then Marethari said that Merrill should give up on the mirror, which had killed one of their hunters and (somehow) driven her to blood magic. Marethari said it wasn't too late for Merrill to come back to the clan, instead of living alone.
What?
At this point, I think she's better off alone than with her clan. If Merrill absolutely cannot live on her own (and she's done an okay job of that over the last three years) then maybe she should move in with Hawke instead of a clan whose hunters have demonstrated that they'd literally rather die than spend time with her. (And that's not just his attraction to her talking.)
For some reason, Merrill refused this "generous" offer, and asked for the arulin'holm. Marethari gave it to Hawke, as a way of pretending to follow her ritual obligations rather than refusing, and Merrill expressed relief that Marethari had handed it over instead of going back on her word.
Girl.
Did you somehow not notice that Marethari is trying to do exactly that?
Hawke asked what Marethari had meant when she'd blamed the mirror for Merrill turning to blood magic. And it turned out that she'd learned it in order to purify the mirror of the Blight, since Marethari wasn't going to lend her own power and Merrill couldn't find the lyrium she needed.
Okay, important takeaway: the mirror was blighted and isn't. Marethari is exaggerating the danger when she says Merril's going to bring the Blight back to the clan. Good to know. This really would be a bad plan if it could end that way.
Hawke suggested that maybe Merrill should listen to Marethari when she said the mirror was dangerous, even though Marethari offered no evidence that it was, because he was hoping that making that suggestion would make Anders more inclined to think Hawke wasn't just mindlessly going along with this. Merrill shot that down, and asked for the arulin'holm. Thomas agreed.
Anders seemed okay with this, probably because it looked like Thomas wasn't taking for granted that this was safe. Fenris didn't, but Hawke's kind of deliberately screwing with him at this point.
Anyway, Thomas decided that the next stop should be the slaver caves where Hadriana was waiting for Fenris: they were comfortably along the way to anywhere Hawke could want to go next, and anyway he figured really ought to do something about the slavers chasing his frenemy. The group handled the guards outside, and started towards the entrance... where Fenris decided to give a bit of the backstory. Apparently, these caves were used as slaver pens so that the slavers could hide their stocks from each other, since slavers weren't above stealing from their rivals.
If even thieves don't have honor among them, why should slavers?