lostinquisitor

[lostinquisitor]

everyone does focus on the fact that the jaws of hakkon dlc reveals they knew about the dangers of tranquility and how to cure it from before the chantry even existed but somewhat overlooked is that people were using lyrium templar-style before the templar order existed. AND they knew the damage that it likely did to those who used it; haron is in denial, but by his death he accepts that he is 'paying a price' for it (he simply considers that price to be fair enough). and he mentions that previous generations had already been using it in some form.

[lostinquisitor]

Inventory Check! for the atho crew if you wanna

inventory check !!

L'UNIVERSITE DE ORLAIS: 9:43 EXPIDITION DANS LE BASSIN COLLECTION DE PROFESSEUR BRAM KENRIC, "ARTEFACTS INTERESSANTS"

old temple inquisition retrieval, 1 signet two-headed bird engraving, elven design, paragon's luster.

lady's rest surface collect, 1 small wolf carving on leather fastener, elven design, sylvanwood, note: spirit-preservation.

nigel's point depth 3, individual beads from a chanter's string, orlesian pre-divine, ironbark.

nigel's point depth 3, engraved stone inlay for pommel, dwarven design, pyrophite.

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CIRI !!!!!!!!!

hey ciri get ready

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Inventory Check ! - for Ameridan and Elandhris bc i want to know what that little chaos agent has squirreled away

inventory check !!

on ameridan's person at the time of the ritual:

one inquisition badge, new. one heavily corroded belt buckle, ancient. one dalish smoking pipe and a small pouch of feladara. a larger pouch of ebalasou'vean to take as needed. a new field journal, written in an unknown cipher, with a charcoal stone rubbing tucked into the pages. an inscribed silverite dagger.

hidden within a ruined storage room floating near the lighthouse:

a great number of writing utensils, paintbrushes, and inkwells. colored powders for mixing paint. a series of cooking pots. a collection of books with no apparent theme. several onions. loose sheaves of paper, largely in solas' ciphered handwriting. more sheaves of sketch-paper. one ancient lyre. one cirianic prayer book, pre-divine. three nevarran ritual guides. a handful of griffon feathers. one shattered orb. multiple bags of coffee beans. multiple jars of honey. a basket full of attuning rods. a tangled coil of dar-saam. one small wolf carving, without enchantment.

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it does sting thee, ameridan thinks — not to himself. the beyond catches the thought, rolls it between them, and though nothing outward changes the scene is not the same. when ameridan laughs, the sound echoes against towering temple walls that are not there. they stand together in emptiness still.

O HAKKON WINTERSBREATH!

“yes, hakkon, LOVE! thou art more beloved than thou hast any right to be! beloved by fools, beloved by augurs, beloved by the warmongers and the peacekeepers both, beloved by the hot-blooded children at their mothers' tables!”

and he understands why. oh, he holds no love for this creature, this demon, this god-alleged, but he knows why they love him so terribly when he is so terrible. the maker's own voice led andraste to war. terrible, beautiful, irrefutable. when he blackened the sky with arrows, to whom did shartan pray?

“they love thee too well to watch thy nature sour, and we left them nearly weeping with gratitude upon thy deathbed! they lent us the aid to see it finished! thy jawed fanatics sickened thee as a wound gone to fester. what had to be done, had to be done. and now they celebrate thy defeat, for it leaves room for thy future and they love thee, and thou sulkest in my dreams for a scrap of easy victory!”

"Loyalty", Hakkon echoes, thoughtful. "You may call it that, perhaps. But neither do they malign you, frost-jailer, war-binder. Or your predecessor, who was my slayer where you failed. What do you make of that, Inquisitor?"

Some have certainly maligned them both. He has felt their hatred as he has felt others' prayers. They curse his name and they curse the one who took him from them. Others, true, have faltered, turned to other gods in his absence. The centuries have been peaceful without Hakkon there to stir them up. A small raid here, a greater one there. Nothing has left a lasting impression on the lowlands on either side of the mountains.

But most of his people have done none of that. They pray, the scry, they make offerings. They are still warriors at heart, still skilled and brave and fearsome. Their bloodthirst he could wake again. His Jaws have not forgiven nor forgotten, and though most have died or scattered, there are still those praying by their fires waiting for his word. Let us rise again, he might tell them. Let us slay First-thaw, and let the weeping skies herald our winter. They would come and let themselves be slain.

He laughs, once, and joylessly. "Whatever it may be, it is not love. Only a fool loves winter in the mountains, or war without reason, and I do not suffer fools." He looks at the other, his mouth a line. "They have survived without my guidance for many centuries. If they cannot do without it for an hour, or a night, or even a year, they are not worthy of it."

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he has to admire the uneasy truce the people here have carved out for themselves. in other fereldan towns, no one would permit elvhen shoppers to linger too close nor too long at their wares, as ameridan has discovered first-hand. the freedom of movement bann shianni's people enjoy here has been hard-won.

still, the guards make no disguise of their watchful displeasure, eyes on dirthamen's dedication marking him. ameridan does not lower his head, does not raise a hood to hide against it. let them stare. let them witness sanctification. still, the sooner they are back among their own, the better.

“it was typical to the fereldan countryside, as i have come to understand it,” he says casually. no need to complain here of all places, particularly not with an inquisition badge tucked into his belt. he keeps note of the way she is taking him, old habits, useful habits. denerim is a city that winds like a dragon's spine. “though i fear i may disappoint your desire for outside news. what i know is yours to have, the only problem being that i seem to know very little.”

Shianni meets him at the market square. The streets of Denerim are unwelcoming to a lone elf, especially one marked as Dalish, and they are at their worst just outside the Alienage. Troublemakers know that if they just wait, someone will pass through the gates alone and vulnerable to their hurled insults. Her guards are posted inside the gates; they have no jurisdiction outside, and she'd not risk them there even with permission.

At the market, the presence of guards and the Chantry keeps things peaceful, and elves pass through as unnoticeably as they would before.

"It's no trouble at all", she assures him, smiling warmly as she starts walking. The noise doesn't make for easy conversation. "We don't get many elven visitors from further away than the nearest villages, least of all Dalish. I'm always glad for outside news. You are most welcome here, ser."

Ser might be erring on the side of caution, but she would rather be too respectful than not respectful enough. Age alone earns him that. "How was your journey?"

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dramatic. flashing its energy in such a way as though to distract or warn, as though elandhris were harassing it. elandhris has barely touched it at all! if it does not stop doing this, it will cause a scene that someone will surely come to investigate, and then elandhris will have to flee with very little gained. what would solas do?

“an thou'rt not hiding, why dost thou remain'st encased? we can hardly know the value of thy words without seeing thee, or knowing thee. nadas dirthalen could'st be anything in anaris' hands — perhaps thy true name is duplicity, deception, fraudulence.”

it speaks to both rile and reason, but as it does so it realizes this is true. the new enemies of the dread wolf have stumbled upon an older enemy yet, one that solas shares with ameridan though unwittingly. elandhris is bound twice-over to neutralize this weapon. they would want it to spare the spirit, if it can; but elandhris does not think either man would mind if that were not possible.

what must be done will be done, it decides gravely. “we will ask thee now: show thyself, that we may know what thou art and know what thou saist to be truth, and we will not need to reach into thy shelter. an thou dost not fear us, there is no reason thou should'st not do this.”

At last it makes a clear request for information, and it does so in a way that is somewhat familiar, that pushes the Nadas Dirthalen's mind in the right direction without giving it leave to veer from the path. Yet at the same time it tries to reach inside the casing, to break into the shelter Anaris built, and the Nadas Dirthalen freezes again, torn between two sets of instructions. When someone asks for information, it's compelled to provide it; but when someone tampers with its body, tries to hurt it, it's compelled to withdraw. It flickers wildly; goes dark, then reaches out with a fiercer light as though in defiance.

"I am not hiding." The act of countering a statement is uncomfortable, even when it is necessary go provide the information it wants. The Nadas Dirthalen is not meant to counter anything. Anaris never needs them to do that. If Anaris says something, it is true. The other spirit should be more careful with what it says, because it clearly knows very little. This is not the first time it has stated something that is very much wrong. It is the one who is rude.

They are difficult requests, also. Why it does things isn't the sort of information the Nadas Dirthalen was made to provide; it contains knowledge, not explanation. It thinks for a long moment, searching for the answer in the wrongness of the statement and the awkwardness of how it was given, until it finds the correct path.

"You have not asked me to show myself. I do not fear you and I have no other name to give." It relaxes as it leans into its purpose, glowing now with satisfaction, and continues along the same pathway more easily than it begun. "I am an Archive spirit belonging to lord Anaris. I contain all of his knowledge. My purpose is to share it. You do not need to see me to receive it." The act of telling makes them brave. They find a different pathway and recklessly charges down it. "You are trying to reach through my shelter without permission. You have not even asked. That is rude."

[lostinquisitor]

a couple months ago i'd posted for new (non-iphone) phone recs and a couple ppl had said they were looking too! i think i will end up with either a oneplus 12/13 or a fairphone 5 if anyone has any experience with those to offer?

[lostinquisitor]

i fell asleep but now that i'm up. get ready

hey ciri get ready

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hey ciri get ready

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if i ever do create a blog for khima (i am sure that i will) i just. they are NOT stupid, i swear that they’re actually quite brilliant, but they run absolutely none of their brilliant little thoughts through any kind of filter first

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ohhh someday i should do ameridan's approval list for the games too bc the thing is while he pretends like he is minding his own business he is VERY MUCH NOT

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this is my version of waking up for an hour at 2am

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i sent ciri a thing the other night now and i’m still thinking abt it, out of context for yall but

i don’t think ameridan has… low self esteem exactly? he’s depressed, true, and feeling his age in a way he never did before, true, but mostly his issue even during and after veilguard is feeling like he’s “in place”. he feels like he popped out of a legend because to people in the dragon age… he did! and so it’s hard for him to grasp that people might want, well… people-things from him i guess. and hard for him to admit he still wants and needs people-things because he is in fact still a real person and still really living in the real world

[lostinquisitor]

gunna be a long night at work tonight but hit this for me to raid your meme tag! or maybe send you something proper on my breaks idk

[lostinquisitor]

gunna be a long night at work tonight but hit this for me to raid your meme tag! or maybe send you something proper on my breaks idk

[lostinquisitor]

"their relationship is strictly platonic" "they're so in love" well, more importantly, they are fucking weird and abnormal about each other in an undeniable way