#inquisitor lady

[straightouttabraincells]

Part Three!

The Inquisitor and the Monk have far different intentions...

I completely redrew panel 3 since I couldn't focus on doing lineart for it, and chose to do so with a new brush. I hope this isn't too jarring!

[brancadoodles]

They like big boats and thet cannot lie

[slavonicrhapsody]

jori face reveal

[nurabelmax]

Day 3 - Broken Tool

[deimcs]

MAY I ASK WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO WORK FOR THE INQUISITION?

[hamartia-grander]

"I love her despite her crimes" well I love her crimes. Keep it up queen.

[aveny-art]

i was thinking how my Inquisitor would have looked in Circle times

[fromcommorragh]

Ordo Malleus inquisitor by Guronart on twitter

[felassan]

Notes and thoughts on the companion Abilities we learned today -

just for reference a quick note again of what they are:

Harding - Seismic Shot; Heavy Draw; Shred; Adrenaline Rush; Soothing Potion Davrin - Battle Cry; Death from Above; Heroic Strike; Assan Strike; In War, Victory Bellara - Fade Bolts; Enfeebling Shot; Replenish; Time Slow; Galvanized Tear Taash - Fire Breath; Dragon's Roar; Dragonfire Strike; Spitfire; Fortune's Favor Lucanis - Eviscerate; Abominate; Soothing Potion; Debilitate; Adrenaline Rush Emmrich - Final Rites; Replenish; Entangling Spirits; The Bell Tolls; Time Slow Neve - Icebreaker; Blizzard; Glacial Pace; Time Slow; Replenish

Some Abilities are shared between companions. For example, both Lucanis and Harding have Adrenaline Rush and Soothing Potion, and Emmrich and Neve and Bellara all have Time Slow and Replenish. I think this is to do with the "core kits" that were mentioned before. like "Time Slow" for example as a part of the core kit for mage characters.

some of these Abilities we've seen demonstrated in gameplay videos so far or had shown/described in screenshots/articles before, like Death From Above. :>

Seismic Shot: since "seismic" can relate to earthquakes and other vibrations in the earth and its crust, this is a really cool name for one of Harding's moves (dwarf, Deep Roads, the Stone, Titans, her new earthbending skills etc) and I'm curious about both its gameplay effects and if it's tied to her new magical powers

Shred: arrowfire that shreds armor presumably

Soothing Potion and Replenish: both sound like heals

Heavy Draw: a heavy attack of Harding's? (Rook at least has access to both light attacks and heavy attacks)

Battle Cry: similar in name to previous abilities like War Cry and Battle Roar. Applies Taunted to enemies in the area

On Death From Above and Assan Strike. Death From Above deals high Stagger and can be used to deal damage from afar, presumably Assan Strike can also be used to deal damage from distance

In War, Victory: the Grey Warden motto will never not slap and evoke a great sense of heavy emotion.. 🥺 it was this part of the Grey Warden motto that was featured as a dialogue line in the release date reveal trailer. A+ name for a Grey Warden's move, no notes

Galvanized Tear: this ability is like a gravity well, it pulls enemies together. you can use it to draw enemies into one place

Adrenaline Rush: a buff that grants enhanced damage/enhances Rook's damage stats

Heroic Strike: applies the overwhelmed debuff. This causes the target to take additional Stagger ("deals high Stagger")

Eviscerate: At half health of less, this deals bonus damage, increasing in effectiveness the closer the target is to death. can be used to detonate a combo and strike a whole group of enemies

Abominate: Deals high Barrier damage and applies Knocked down to enemies in the area. can be used to knock enemies down. also, implications

Final Rites: it's giving finishing move vibes. I love the allusion to cultural practises like Last rights. very appropriate for a thoughtful, caring necromancer whose character is about exploring death and necromancy in a thoughtful nuanced way

The Bell Tolls: For Whom The Bell Tolls (two) reference? :) it's giving a 'your time alive is ending' or a 'your time as a spirit inhabiting this dead body is ending', clock strikes midnight, Cinderella-kinda vibe. bells toll in some places of worship when someone has died (funeral bells), or during other important life rites. also very appropriate for a necromancer

^ No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.

Fortune's Favor: Lords of Fortune allusion, 'fortune favors the bold' :)

Taash has three abilities involving her fire-breathing and two with "dragon" in the name. 👀 they are really emphasizing the dragon connection/dragon symbolism and she is really living up to the "Ataashi" ('dragon, glorious one, great thing') in her name. in Trespasser Dragon's Breath was a Qunari conspiracy to kill most of the leadership of southern Thedas, involving explosives. I'm really curious about the specific mechanism or origin of her fire-breathing; like is she doing it the way fire-breathing performers do it irl (sounds kind of DA Artificer-y), or has she literally gained or developed some kind of literal innate fire-breathing draconic ability?

throwback to this post:

Maybe it was Taash who wrote this Codex, and the title is alliterative, “Taash Talks”? The writer comes across like a dragon enthusiast and it references being near the shore/sea. Iron Bull once said “So, when you face a dragon, does it get your heart pumping? Do you breathe a little faster, feel the blood racing?” (in the DA:TV trailer, Varric says that they will need someone “with fire in their blood” to face dragons).

Varric was being literal in that line huh. :D

the Qunari are known to hold dragons sacred. they have a physical similarity and some believe that the Tamassrans cultivate dragon blood within the Qunari, allowing some to tap into combat abilities similar to Reavers. is that practise the source of Taash's fire-breathing power? Kieran comments that Adaar's blood doesn't belong to their people. Cory also has weird comments about qunari blood. or maybe she just drank dragonblood? Reavers unlock powerful abilities by drinking it and a dragon-hunter would have access to dragonblood in abundance. Cassandra has dialogue where she tells the Inquisitor that her family used to be known for their Reavers. she says that too much dragonblood caused them to grow deformed, they grew scales and became more draconic than human. if there are legends of Reavers growing scales and draconic appearances after overindulging, why couldn't someone also breathe fire dragon-style? :D "igniting everything with draconic fury" makes me think of Reavery stuff too. Taash is out here living my Inquisitor's (who was a Reaver) dreams.

[sammakesart]

Ten Years Later: Alistair Edition

[mmothmanners]

doodlin' little Mouse Lavellan today because I can

[jollmaster]

you, dirty bastard, hands off these women in our sanctuary

[dc-said-bi-robin-rights]

“I wish to see the Inquisitor,” Celestine announced.

The Scions at the entrance glanced at each other, expressions unreadable behind their all-encompassing Omnishield Helms. After a moment, one pressed a hand to the side of his helmet and repeated the request, receiving something inaudible in return.

He looked back at her. “Your presence is not expected.”

“I am aware. I wish to see her anyway.”

Another pause, another garbled vox-communique. “She is working. You can return in a standard cycle.”

There was a murmur from his comm-bead.

Two,” he corrected.

Celestine smiled placidly. “I have been turned away in a similar manner six times already.”

“The Inquisitor is a busy woman.”

“That I do not doubt,” she muttered. She could not help but feel Katarinya was toying with her, a spiteful and grievously petty action she would have hoped beneath one of her grim and solemn mantle. “Are you sure an exception could not be made? I bear word she’ll want to hear.”

“This is the Fortress of the Inquisition,” the other trooper said, as if that was all the answer she needed. “You are requesting access to an Inquisitor’s personal sanctum.”

Celestine tried not feel frustrated. “I am aware of that, but-”

“That you’ve been allowed to be here at all is a courtesy not extended to many, Sister Celestine,” he warned stiffly. “Lady Greyfax’s insistence is the only reason the Inquisitorial Representative did not send you away. I would not extend his patience beyond your means.”

His cooly politeness shocked her, though perhaps it shouldn’t have. After all, Greyfax’s Scions, like Greyfax herself, were men and women from a time before Living Saints. No doubt they too saw her as some deluded, sorcerous heretic.

Celestine shook her head and walked away. “Of course. You have my apologies.”

The Scions said nothing in reply. Celestine thought of the time she granted one of Katarinya’s victims the Emperor’s Mercy despite her protests. She hadn’t bowed to her authority then, she told herself, so why should she now?

Her armored fists clenched. In her heart of hearts she knew it was very different, but she allowed herself to entertain the idea anyway. Yes, Katarinya would take it as a slight, as would the Lord Inquisitor, but, truthfully, it was not like that last one mattered. For all its power, the Inquisition had no true hold on her. They would not kill someone like her, and even if they did, the Emperor’s gifts would see her returned to the moral world unscathed.

As for Katarinya… well, things could hardly be worse than they were now.

She could see it, in her mind’s eye. How she lingered carefully, so very Katarinya-like, waiting until the exact time the guards were due to switch watches to surge past them and into the corridor. They barely had time to turn before she brought her fist down on the activation rune, closing the door behind her and locking it shut.

The vision faded as Celestine winced, the last dregs of wretched whimsy showing her pulling her armored fist out of the shattered panel. She shouldn’t have thought of doing that, even in some fool girlish fantasy. Machines were sacred, if the Mechanicus were meant to be believed, and even if not. To harm one for—she had to face it—for such personal and childish motives was beneath her.

Muttering a quick prayer for forgiveness to the mechanism’s holy machine spirit for her sinning-by-thought, Celestine leant against the wall, crossed her arms, and waited. The two solar cicles the Scion had promised came and went, as did three additional rotations, before Katarinya presumably realized Celestine wasn’t going to go away.

“All clear,” the Scion from earlier barked succinctly in her direction. “You can go in, Sister Celestine.”

Celestine reacted, as always, with nothing but the utmost benevolence as she walked forward, shooting him a smile. “The Emperor smiles on your adherence to your duty.”

He said nothing. Celestine didn’t expect him to.

Crossing the threshold to her Inquisitor’s lair carved no stumbles in her bold gait, but she hesitated at the door to Katarinya’s quarters, armored fist halfway raised to knock.

What if she made things worse? Doubt was an unfamiliar feeling to a creature like her, and she found she didn’t much like it’s sting. What if she finally pushed Katarinya beyond what she was able to compartmentalize and justify?

She shook her head. She was being ridiculous.

Celestine knocked, twice.

The voice that answered her didn’t belong to her inquisitor, but to the witty little man she kept around for his knowledge of the Ecclesiarchy and other subjects. A savant, he was called. Celestine knew his face and title but not his name. “Enter!”

She thumbed the activation rune and the door slid open, revealing a dimly-lit laboratorium. Strange esoteric instruments lined the walls, while unlabeled substances boiled and hissed in glass tubes. An elevated plinth bore a duralloy desk that was half occupied by a heavy-looking bronze cogitator, which took up more than half its surface and sank into the floor beneath.

Greyfax was sitting at the cogitator, her sharp, angular face shadowed under the overhead lumens. She was leaning on her fist with an expression of deliberate concentration. It took Celestine a moment to realize why something about her seemed so unguarded: she was missing her hat, which sat on the desk besides her gauntlets, discarded. As she worked, her savant moved back and forth around her, pulling data-slates and old tomes from the bookshelves scattered around the room for her inspection. It was a scene of such almost-domesticity that Celestine almost regretted interrupting it as she walked inside.

“Katarinya. We must speak, you and I.”

Greyfax said nothing. The savant looked between her and his mistress.

“I will leave the two of you alone,” he said, quickly trying to beat a hasty retreat. He’d not made it two steps before he suddenly froze in place, an invisible grip of pure psychic might yanking him back to his place. Celestine thought of the time a similar attack had saved her from the Despoiler and frowned in sympathy, even though she doubted even Greyfax would exert enough pressure to cause the man any real damage over such a meager offense. “I do not recalling dismissing you, Kyrillos.”

Kyrillos. So that was his name. Celestine stored the information somewhere in the back of her mind. If she meant to walk in closer circles to Katarinya than she had previously, it would not go amiss to know the people who served her within those circles.

“O-Of course, Inquisitor.” The savant bowed his head, droplets of sweat sliding visibly down the crown of his bald head beneath the harsh lumens. “A thousand apologies, truly.”

Greyfax turned back to her work without comment. “What is it, sister? Unlike you, when I am called to Terra, it is not to indulge riotous masses with golden light.”

“You have been avoiding me, Katarinya.”

“I have not. You are merely not entitled to my time.” As if to prove the point, there was a drawn-out bout of tapping at the key runes before she deigned to continue speaking. “Perhaps in your chapels you are accustomed to being waited on for every whim, but I am an inquisitor. It is the height of foolishness to assume I am able to indulge you at all hours of the day, particularly during an active investigation.”

An uncomfortable air settled over the room.

“Though then again,” Greyfax muttered snidely in the quiet, “that is exactly up your alley, isn’t it? Foolishness.”

Celestine took a deep breath. “Katarinya, about last night….”

She hesitated for a moment, ignoring the savant desperately gesturing for her to drop the subject, and pressed on. “I hope you know that if my actions have led you to any discomfort, that that was not the intention behind them.”

“Intention and reaction are curious things, sister,” Greyfax said, typing at her cogitator, the dueling scar on her cheek stretching as her lips curled. “For instance, are you aware that breaking into an inquisitor’s chambers is an offense that carries immediate execution regardless of station in at least seventy thousand registered sectors? I can have Kyrillos name them all if you like.”

“It would be an honor and a pleasure.” The savant quivered when his mistress’ gaze flickered to him. “Er, if the inquisitor deems it necessary, of course,” he added, visibly relaxing when Greyfax’s gaze went back to its earlier position.

So she knew, then. Of course. She’d been foolish to assume her onset of darkness had gone unnoticed. There were probably at least three hidden pict-recorders outside the door, nestled in with all manner of psychic detectors, audio transcribers, vox-interceptors, and probably several other things Celestine couldn’t name, much less pronounce. It was simply how the Inquisition worked.

None in the room, though. She knew that for certain. The knowledge was as much a part of her as her erstwhile guardian halves, after what they had done.

We might have another target for him. When I detected the demonic surge, it did not come from Ophelia VII. One of the other planets or ship, perhaps. I could try to locate the source more closely but my focus… the theo-tangent aurary is spattered across my armor.

She remembered the pause most of all.

Would you be able to use me as a focus?

Celestine smiled. “I do not recall an actual crime being committed.”

“An irrelevant detail to most in my order. Merely thinking about it is reason enough for death.”

Celestine laughed then, deep and bold. “As are most things when it comes to your organization, it seems.”

“Of course.” Greyfax did not deny it. “Our remit is vast as it is merciless.”

“I wonder how much of that is by intent,” she mused. “The Emperor is not a vindictive god.”

Greyfax lifted a brow. “Are you claiming yourself to be above the standing of the Inquisition?”

“I am the God-Emperor’s sword, Katarinya,” Celestine reminded her. “He acts through me. I cannot say the same for many of your compatriots.”

Greyfax’s mouth curled at the mention of what she doubtlessly perceived as some holy delusion, but she nodded curtly. “Nor would I.”

Celestine was surprised. “Truly?”

“Yes. Inquisitors walk the edge of a precipice, staring down sights that would break lesser foes. Many jump in, some willingly. I have killed more than one such deluded soul myself. To claim we’re in some way closer to His guidance than most others is delusion.”

“I have heard you express similar sentiments before, but I am surprised you’d condemn your fellow Inquisitors in such a blanket manner,” Celestine admitted. “Do you truly believe none of your compatriots are led by his light?”

“I do, but not because of some failing within our ranks. I have killed hundreds of zealots who claimed to hear the Emperor’s words in their ears or to be illuminated by him in dreams and visions. In the end they were all charlatans.” She shook her head. “There are only so many frothing madmen you can watch read a grand will from the entrails of disemboweled waterfowl before you realize it is all a lie, sister. We are not guided by the Emperor. No one is. Not even you.”

Celestine sighed. “I’d hoped that, after so long fighting alongside each other, you’d be less eager to doubt my holy purpose.”

“I believe you are an instrument of His will, which I would not have done even a year ago,” Greyfax allowed. “I believe, too, that perhaps there is a force that waters the inmaterial font of your abilities, though whether that force is truly benign remains to be seen. But if I were even to indulge the idea that the Emperor remains cogent of any mortal thought… and that he possesses the means to communicate them in any fashion… it is still a stretch that he would do so in any way that possesses a semblance of coherent direction. If there is a will beyond your ascension, there is little doubt in my mind that it is a one with darker origins.”

“Like the Great Enemy?” Celestine chuckled. “I know you do not share my faith but if you really believed I was tainted you would execute me on the spot. I have not seen you show any compunction about doing so with others you perceive to be a threat-”

“You are tempting me at the moment…” Greyfax muttered.

Celestine laughed. “-So I must assume that you accept me in some fashion.” Her voice grew serious. “I truly wish you would have more faith, Katarinya. If not in me, then in the Emperor.”

“And I wish you would have more prudence. In this and in other things,” Greyfax spat. “Angel or not, you are not above my wishes. Or for that matter, inmune to a bolter.”

Mirth pulled at her lips. “Are you saying you would have slain me if I’d acted upon my impulses?”

“I or my guards.” She looked down at the cogitator, the scar pulling at her cheek. “It would be far from the first time I suffered an attempt on my life from a supposed ally.”

Her smile faded. “I would never wish to slay you, Katarinya. If you were in danger in front of me, I’d endeavor to shield you, never to harm you.”

“An easy claim to make,” she sneered. “I have heard it more than once.”

“From others, perhaps,” she dismissed. “Not from my lips.”

She saw Greyfax’s gaze linger on said lips. “And that makes a difference how?”

“I do not lie when I say it.”

“So you claim.”

“I am serious, Katarinya.”

“They seemed so too. I have not made it as far as I have through naivety.”

“You do not trust me.”

“I do not trust anyone. In the Inquisition, it is how you survive.”

Celestine frowned. “I am not one of your order. You cannot truly believe everyone you meet wishes to see you dead.”

“Spare me another of your lectures, Celestine. I had enough holy ambushes between you and the Ecclesiarch.”

Celestine scowled. “Do not compare me to that vile man. He was a false shepherd, leading the faithful astray for greed and power.”

“I fail to see the difference.”

“Between me and the Ecclesiarch?”

“Between a false shepherd and a true one,” Greyfax snapped. “I have seen the most devout of the Ecclesiarchy’s priests commit atrocities against their own so-called flock, atrocities that dwarf the incident at Ophelia VII. Were these shepherds false or true?”

“If you witnessed them commit these foul acts, and if you found them guilty on the stand as is your right and duty, then they were false.” Celestine’s voice had all the presence of a stormcloud and the directness of a whip. “I do not see where your confusion lies, Katarinya. Such a simple answer surely does not evade one such as you.”

Katarinya shook her head. “If you truly cannot grasp my implication, you’re a bigger fool than I realized.”

Celestine frowned. “I do not hear you enlightening me.”

“Nor will you.”

“Why?” Celestine demanded, climbing one step, then two. “Is it because you have no answer?”

“No. It is because I have too many.”

Celestine took another step, crossing the threshold where she stood at equal height with the seated inquisitor. “I do not hold your faithless ways against you, Katarinya, but you cannot expect me to stay silent when you insult mine.”

“You are a Sororitas.” Greyfax’s irises seemed to be swimming very suddenly. In the corner of the room, her savant took a careful step back. “Not a priest.”

“Yet sworn to the Ecclesiarchy all the same.”

“Was that what you told the Holy Synod after you took the Ecclesiarch’s head?”

“He was false.”

“How do you know?”

“I simply do.”

“Such faith.” From her lips, it sounded like an insult.

Celestine did not rise to her bait. “Indeed.”

A moment passed. Greyfax looked down and took a deep breath. Her eyes cleared, a psychic storm draining from them like so much tension.

“If you had even the most remote grasp of the perils of my station, or even understood my mind a tenth of how you claim, you would never have considered forcing your way into my quarters.”

Celestine set her lips into a thin line. “It has never been my intention to overstep the lines you set for others, Katarinya.”

“And yet you find yourself doing so anyway.”

Celestine took a step forward. “Katarinya, I-” She swallowed. “I have prayed you weren’t hurt by my actions. Long and often.”

“And what did you achieve through these prayers?” Her voice was mocking. “What insights into my psyche did the Emperor grant you after wasting away a day in supplication?”

“None,” she admitted. “And I did not ask Him to. I would not know you beyond what you deign to reveal to me.”

“After my focus, we both know that’s a lie.”

“Those glimpses were given to me incidentally, through actions born of necessity. Actions you agreed to.”

Greyfax called her savant to her with a snap of her fingers and took the data-slate he presented to her without comment. “I am well aware.”

“Then why do you hold them in such contempt?”

“I do not, though they were hardly pleasant. I used them as an example of a simple truth: you already know more about me than you should.”

“Katarinya-”

She was interrupted by a hydraulic hiss from behind her. She turned to see another of Greyfax’s acolytes, an old and heavily augmented man in hooded robes, enter the room. She knew the name of this one, too—Antonius, Greyfax had called him, when she was torturing that cultist—but not his title. A part of her hoped it was Interrogator. She knew little of the Inquisition’s workings, but she knew that title conveyed apprenticeship… a companion, perhaps. If Katarinya did end up refusing her own companionship, she hoped sincerely that she wouldn’t be alone.

“Inquisitor, we have received a vox-communique from Lord Trevaine,” the man said, shooting Celestine a curious look but failing to comment.

Greyfax saw his glance and frowned. “Of passing interest, but not something that merits your interruption.”

“Apologies. He said it was related to the investigation. Would you like me to-”

“No,” Greyfax interrupted, standing and descending the dais. “If it is related to the investigation, then I only hope it’s important. Come, Kyrillos.”

“As you command, Inquisitor,” came the hasty reply, the old savant hurrying after her. Celestine had the feeling he was glad to be beyond the consequences of their conversation.

“Katarinya, wait.” Celestine reached for her shoulder as she passed her, halting her in her tracks. “Allow me to say my piece. I will not burden you beyond that.”

Greyfax was silent for a moment. “Antonius…”

“I will handle it, Inquisitor,” Antonius promised, shooting Celestine another curious look as he turned and left the room.

Greyfax shot her savant a glance out the corner of her eye. “Kyrillos, go with him and transcribe all that is discussed.”

“With pleasure, Inquisitor.” Kyrillos hurried out.

Celestine watched him go. “I am surprised you’d entrust him with such a task.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. He is any ally only from convenience,” Greyfax scoffed. “If I could buy him so easily anyone could, and did. I lifted him up from the scum of his people and planted him in the very bosom of the church on Terra and he repaid me with betrayal once already.”

Celestine frowned. “Then why…?”

“Because he knows that his life still hangs by a slender thread only due to his past service,” Greyfax said. “And that I can read his thoughts at a whim. If treachery can be revealed at any time, it is safer not to try. A servant in as delicate a position as him is not a tool easily discarded.”

“That is a very cynical approach.”

“I would call it realistic,” she countered. “I can hardly afford self-deception.”

“Is that what you think faith is? Self-deception?”

Greyfax did not answer. She turned to face her. “You have your wish, Celestine,” she murmured. “We are alone.”

“We are.”

The dim lumens made harsh angles of Greyfax’s face as she strode behind her desk and served them water. The room was silent while she poured. “You tried to kiss me.”

Celestine sat and took her drink with another throaty chuckle. Somehow, everything always felt like the beginning of an interrogation with Katarinya. “So you did notice.”

“I do possess eyes,” Greyfax said flatly. “I would not be an inquisitor if I lacked basic observatory skills.”

“Judging by your tone, I surmise this revelation displeased you.”

“If it did?”

“Then I would leave you be, and never infringe upon your wishes again,” Celestine promised. “It was never my intention to discomfort you. I merely wanted to know.”

“Know what?”

“I admire you, Katarinya,” Celestine admitted. “I have since the moment you challenged the Despoiler to save me, a heretic in your eyes.”

“I have told you already. I struck at another. It is not the same.”

“Or perhaps the Emperor’s hand guided you, as it has guided me.”

“You may believe that if you wish,” she said dismissively. “Regardless, I do not think this was why you took me away from my work.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Celestine took a deep breath. “I do admire you, Katarinya, but part of me also desires you. I desire to hold you close, to embolden you with my faith, to shield you with my body. I have dreamed of you. I have prayed on your behalf. I believe the Emperor has crossed our paths, not just as a test of my faith, but because he loves both you and I and wants us to be happy.”

Greyfax didn’t seem surprised. It was long overdue, she supposed. “You seem very certain we would make each other content.”

“I am.” She tried to smile. “Judging by your tone, I assume you differ.”

Greyfax looked down at the glass in her hand. “I am an Inquisitor. How soon you forget that…”

“I do not see what your profession has to do…”

“It is more than a profession.”

“Still, I hardly…”

“It means,” Greyfax clarified, very primly, “that you are a distraction I can ill afford.”

Celestine chuckled at the sudden realization. “This is not the first time you have had this to do this, is it?”

“…No. It is not.”

“You are very dedicated to your duty. It is commendable,” she said carefully. “If unnecessary.”

“Unnecessary?”

“The God-Emperor made us to love and laugh, Katarinya. In the Warp, it is what fuels me.”

She snorted. “What? Love?”

“Hope,” she replied simply. “Hope that one day, things will be better. That there is a future beyond the Xenos and the endless war.”

She scoffed. “You are a naive fool.”

“And you are a cynical and faithless woman,” she smirked, “who I care for very deeply.”

Greyfax shook her head and stood. Celestine tried not to feel disappointed as she turned to follow her out. So that it, then. So be it.

“Come. We should see what Antonius has to show us.”

“Us?” Celestine asked, amused. “I did not know I ranked so highly in your esteem as to be included in your confidential briefings, Katarinya.”

Greyfax made an irritated noise in the back of her threat which made Celestine smile. This was simple, comfortable, and she could at least find some succor falling back into their regular dynamic. “Do not be so damnably smug. While you are here, I may as well make use of you.”

“I am always pleased to be of service.”

[kalihoffs]

Inquisitor Tarot Card - Two of Pentacles

[nurabelmax]

Intertwined Two of Swords

[thetevinterspy]

Okay- so, I’m hoping that I can find some more DA friends here, especially those older than 30, those that have children, and those that are super into the lore. 😍

My name is Jessica.

I’m 42, I live in the Midwest and I am married with three children. I have been active in the Dragon Age community for a long time, even on the original forums. I started playing Origins shortly after it came out, when I’d just come home from California and I was miserable and very lonely, so it was a hugely important thing in my life at the time. It was the only game that had ever made me laugh and cry- and I was instantly in -love-.

Anyway I love talking about the lore and the history and breaking down codex entries. My favorite game in Inquisition. My favorite character is f!Hawke, but only in purple. I’m a Solas romancer and game completionist, and l can’t explain how good it feels to be excited about Dragon Age again.

Also, Veilguard could be trash and I’d still love everything about it, because it’s been a real long time and I miss Thedas. Please say hi so I can follow good people!!

Ps: I need Emmrich. NEED.