#theyd wonder if roz is bugged because they never seem to get dialogue for them

[veilkeeper]

inspired by that tav as a companion ask game, i realized that roz would be a really interesting companion, so i wanted to get my thoughts out while they're on my brain

they'd probably be encountered shortly outside the nautiloid - or, as i discussed in my ask, on the risen road. as a githyanki, shadowheart isn't into them, but its whatever, theyre chill, and it becomes apparent very quickly that while they take the tadpole business very seriously, they have identified the PC as the Leader, and they are following.

they're not very outspoken. they dont have a lot of ambient dialogue, they're blunt (in a sort of funny way), they answer questions that you or other party members ask, but they don't really offer up anything freely, even when the PC talks to them in camp.

however, if the PC keeps them in the party, they will occasionally make comments about the environment. maybe they mention recognizing the area or they seem weirdly knowledgeable about faerun for a githyanki, so back at camp the PC can ask them questions about it. sort of like sten in DA:O. and they'll tell the PC about how they were forced to leave their creche as a child. if the player changes them out of their camp clothes (or once you reach a certain approval threshold) it triggers a cutscene where you see their (extensive) burn scars and the PC can ask about them, and they would explain that they were badly injured when their creche burned and they were taken in by a woman in elturel.

if the PC takes them to the creche (established after their own creche was destroyed), particularly if they're taken to the monastery above it, they would have a lot of commentary about lathander and seem really... sorrowful about the state of disrepair, and if asked about it later they would say that the woman who took them in was a healer dedicated to lathander, that they spent a lot of time in the temple in elturel, they would even ask about your gods if you have any.

none of this is offered. it would always be the PC approaching them and asking. the more time invested in them, the more they're willing to give.

after both roz and lae'zel are declared Hshar'lak (because they both would be), and if the PC has talked to them enough, they would ask for help tracking down the woman who took them in, mauna. they express a desire to right a wrong, that perhaps they had been hasty in leaving her behind to return to their people, and that they'd like to make amends with her. this properly starts their personal quest.

as their questline progresses, it starts to become clear that mauna's relationship with roz was... pretty bad, actually. mauna leveraged the fact that she saved their life to make them feel like they owed her, so that they would do a lot of dirty work to help her in her aspirations to climb the ladder and become a political powerhouse in the temple of lathander. and eventually, with or without the PC's help, they track down mauna in baldur's gate.

but theres never one moment where the PC can dissuade them from going back to her. saying "she used you and you deserve better" doesn't change their mind, they already know she was using them (and likely will again). that's the status quo for them: they are a soldier and spy, and have always just been a tool for others. instead, it's the culmination of the time the PC has spent with them, the way they've been treated, that might change their mind: if the PC failed to talk to them enough, disregarded their thoughts, or encouraged them to simply follow the PC's lead without question, they practically beg mauna to take them back and will leave the party then and there to retake their place as mauna's hand. however, if the PC took the time to get to know them (maybe even romance them), they were treated like a person worthy of time and respect, if the PC asked for their opinion and took it seriously, they would on their own decide to denounce mauna in a confrontation that is them, for the first time, sticking up for themself and demanding better.