#c: doern velazquez

[ascalonianlightbringer]

Last time, we began "An Apple a Day" with Tybalt, Gwen, and Demmi defeating Commander Landon of the Ministry Guard. Gwen, having warmed up to Tybalt despite her antipathy towards Charr culture, agreed to work with him again when he stumbled through an offer.

Upon reaching the entrance to the Chantry of Secrets, Gwen presumably sent Tybalt ahead, given the dialogue that follows. I personally imagine that they had a short, hushed conversation about this with "are you sure?" "yes, I'm sure. It's fine" going back and forth before he continued onwards.

Upon entering, Gwen suddenly got a letter from Logan (delivered by an agent, I guess?). It implied that at this point, the Ascalonian Catacombs dungeon has been completed, which I didn't work into my Gwen headcanons at all. I didn't really want her in Ascalon yet for character arc reasons, so I'm going to headcanon that it hasn't happened yet, and the catacombs/Caudecus's Manor are closer in time than the game mechanics would suggest.

The mechanical placement of the catacombs in the personal story, level-wise, already doesn't make sense (it's got to happen after the meeting of Destiny's Edge in Lion's Arch, but it's unlocked earlier). So changing the timeline up doesn't bother me that much.

A random agent near the entrance greeted Gwen as "Initiate" and said the Preceptors were expecting her. Not terrifying at all! The agent added, "Your friend Tybalt is waiting for you there" and bowed.

I think Gwen was thinking "friend??? we're professional associates and partners in the fight against the dragons" even though she actually did feel much friendlier towards him by then. She just nodded and continued on.

In the antechamber, she found Demmi, Tybalt, Riel, and the preceptors, who are a Charr, a human, and a sylvari. The scene broke into a cinematic in which the Charr, Halvora Snapdagger, welcomed Gwen to the Chantry and introduced the preceptors to her as Doern, Valenze, and herself. Concisely, she explained that they guide the Order. Additionally, Riel (who kickstarted the original "Welcome to the Order of Whispers" cinematic) is their attaché and Gwen already knew Lightbringer Tybalt. Halvora added, "He speaks very highly of you."

Gwen was just thinking "He does? ...huh." Also, I appreciate Tybalt being respectfully referred to by his rank! I think that Gwen vaguely did, too.

Gwen summarized the operation very concisely. The PC additionally remarks that soon they'll have enough information on Caudecus "to keep him under wraps for good." I seem to recall that he continues causing problems for a long time, as might be predicted, so this is really overconfident in a way that doesn't strike me as particularly likely for Gwen, who is a deeply pragmatic person. So I imagine that she just said, "Demmi is safe, and soon we'll have some very useful information on Caudecus."

Despite all her self-control, I think her voice hardened a bit as she said his name. He did get her sister enslaved! The Preceptors would know all about that, and I suspect Tybalt would have been briefed on something so pertinent to the Demmi operation, so everyone just pretended not to notice.

Halvora: "You've both done exceptionally well."

Gwen didn't quite let herself relax yet, but still felt a rush of gratification and relief.

As a result of their success, Halvora announced that Tybalt would remain in the field, to his distinct pleasure.

Oh, Tybalt.

Gwen, meanwhile, got promoted to Agent status (yes!!), permanently assigned as Tybalt's partner (HELL YEAH), and congratulated.

At this point, Halvora & Co went on to give Tybalt and Gwen their next assignment. However, the dialogue suggests the next assignment is urgent and will immediately follow this one in time, yet the story line for that one is level 50 while this story line was only level 40. While Gwen is 80, so she could do the stories back to back, I feel like it makes more sense of the mechanics if there was a pause between major missions.

And pragmatically, the Order would burn through its agents if they were constantly going from one operation to another. I think they would know that and require their people to ... you know, sleep when they can be spared.

So my headcanon is that this scene actually pulls together two different conversations. There's the first, in which Gwen passed her initiation and she and Tybalt were made permanent partners, and then a later one about the call for help from the quaggan/skritt/etc.

In my headcanon version, then, the first discussion ended at that point and Gwen was able to mill around with the other agents etc.

She was actually able to talk to Halvora, who wished her luck in her endeavors, and promised the Order would be watching her closely. No surprises there.

Gwen then turned to Tybalt and he burst out:

Gwen said, in her slightly reserved way with him, "Something to be proud of, Tybalt." (Her canon line!)

Naturally, she'd go over to Demmi and see how she was doing as well. I think Gwen is used to loose ends, but very much prefers not to leave them when it can be avoided. Demmi, at this point, had gone from "Some rescue!" earlier to "Look! We're finally here. Finally safe ... and all because of you." I take this to be a plural you, referring to both Gwen and Tybalt. (Justice for Tybalt!)

The PC's canon response is kind of agog at the Chantry, so I think Gwen just looked around and remarked, "So this is the heart of the Order of Whispers. I hadn't actually seen it before."

Demmi's canon response works fine there: "It's a little overwhelming, but between telling them about my father's plans and my own training, I feel like I'm part of a team."

Gwen, in a casually friendly way (both out of genuine, if unexpected, liking and digging for information), asked Demmi what she planned on focusing on within the Order.

Demmi: "Right now, I'm sharing my knowledge of Krytan politics. I love political intrigue. I think I'd make a good analyst."

Gwen definitely would agree that's a great plan, per her canon line. She paused, then dared to press a little further, asking what Demmi thought her father would do with Landon dead.

Demmi explained why she was safe in the Chantry (there were various good reasons) and said she should send a message to her father, like shipping Landon's dead body to him.

The PC canonically says "You are your father's daughter," but I don't think Gwen would say something that potentially insulting. And in fact, I think Gwen would wholeheartedly approve of that kind of message, after her history of sending enemies running on the streets of DR and given that she has plotted and carried out murderous vengeance before. Also, she thought of her sister's suffering via Caudecus's schemes and felt that sending him the dead body of a valuable and trusted commander was right and good, actually.

I suspect that Demmi would be a little wary of how Gwen might respond to this approach, but Gwen just gave a slight smile and said pleasantly, "You may be right."

Next up was Preceptor Doern, who asked what he could do for their newest agent and introduced himself by full name: Doern Velazquez. Given that Gwen is Gwen Velazquez, I think she was taken aback enough to begin with "Velazquez!" She thought of asking if they're related (they don't look altogether different tbh), but more carefully asked, "Are you from Kryta? Or Ascalon?"

(Canonically, the PC just asks about Kryta.)

He said no, then corrected to "yes, from Kryta" in the most suspicious way possible. The PC canonically presses him on this, but I don't think Gwen would do that with a preceptor at this point, so she just mentally noted that there's something odd about that. She then asked about the preceptors. He told her that they deliver orders to agents who take those orders to the field, and their orders come from the Master of Whispers, who leads the order—but she wasn't cleared to know more.

Curiously, she asked if he was ever a field agent, and he says he was until his wi—partner was killed in the line of duty and he became a trainer of other agents at that point. The PC pushes him on this, unwisely, but Gwen just made further mental notes and thanked him before moving on to Valenze, the sylvari preceptor.

Valenze turned out to be the primary research analyst, focusing on information as well as illusions and other mesmer magic. Upon being asked, she explained that Riel is actually a full Lightbringer and the primary agent in Lion's Arch as well as the Order's most accomplished sniper. (Impressive! Also, I imagine they have some very good snipers, so... a bit scary, too.)

Valenze additionally explained that Gwen's suspicious maybe-cousin, Doern, is the infiltration and assassination specialist, which was totally unsurprising to her. Halvora is the chief combat tactician, which made a certain sense, given Charr culture. Valenze said both were excellent at their work. Also unsurprising.

And apart from the set-up for the next mission, that is "An Apple a Day" and the full initiation completed! Next up will be some stuff about that ten-level gap between this mission and the next.