Personal Quest

Subject to His Will

Back to Cole Directory

Binding

Solas and Cole walk down the steps into the courtyard.

Solas: No.

Cole: But you like demons!

Solas: I enjoy the company of spirits, yes, which is part of why I do not abuse them with bindings.

Cole: It isn’t abuse if I ask!

Solas: Not always true. Also, I do not practice blood magic, which renders this entire conversation academic.

The PC is standing nearby, and Cole runs up to them.

Cole: He won’t bind me. He’s a mage, and he likes demons, but he won’t help.

Dialogue options:

General: What’s wrong? [1] +Cole slightly approves
General: Seriously? [2]
General: No. [3] +Solas slightly approves

1 - General: What’s wrong? PC: Why would you want Solas to bind you? Cole: So I’m safe! [4]

2 - General: Seriously? PC: We just saw the Grey Wardens try to raise an army of demons. You want Solas to bind you? Cole: He has to! [4]

3 - General: No. PC: Cole, do not ask the mages to bind you in a blood magic rite. That’s an order. Cole: You don’t understand! [4]

4 - Scene continues.

Cole: If Solas won’t do the ritual to bind me, someone else could. Will! Like the Warden mages! And then… I’m not me anymore. Walls around what I want, blocking, bleeding, making me a monster.

5 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: That’s true for everyone. [6]
Investigate: What if binding changes you? [7]
General: We’ll protect you. [8] -Cole slightly disapproves
General: We’ll figure something out. [9] +Solas slightly approves
General: You may need to leave. [10] -Cole slightly disapproves -Solas slightly disapproves

6 - Investigate: That’s true for everyone. PC: A mage using blood magic could conceivably do that to any one of us, human or demon. Cole: You should ask Solas to bind you, too. And then someone can bind him. [back to 5]

7 - Investigate: What if binding changes you? PC: Isn’t it extreme for Solas to bind you? What if that takes away the part of you that makes you… you? Cole: Helping makes me who I am. I help the hurting. That is what I do, all I do, am, me! Solas: And if binding you erases your mind? Your consciousness? Cole: You wouldn’t make me hurt innocent people. I don’t want to hurt innocent people again. [back to 5]

8 - General: We’ll protect you. PC: We’ll find a way to keep you safe without binding you, Cole. Solas: I have a suggestion, if Cole is ready to listen. [11]

9 - General: We’ll figure something out. PC: There has to be some middle ground between “do nothing” and “bind Cole with blood magic.” Solas: Indeed. [11]

10 - General: You may need to leave. PC: If the Venatori used that ritual to bind you, you could turn on us. We’d be safer if you left. Solas: It may not come to that. [11]

11 - Scene continues.

Solas: I recall stories of amulets used by Rivaini seers to protect spirits they summoned from rival mages. A spirit wearing an Amulet of the Unbound was immune to blood magic and binding. It should protect Cole as well. The resources of the Inquisition could be used to find such a talisman.

Cole: Good. They will not take me.

The Amulet

If the PC speaks to Cole again Cole: Without the amulet, they can bind me like the other demons. Do you have it? Why don’t you have it yet? I can’t face Corypheus until we have it. I won’t. He’ll bind me, and then I’ll hurt people. They’ll die because of me, because I couldn’t stop myself, because I wasn’t me!

Dialogue options:

General: We’ll keep you safe. [1]
General: I can’t promise anything. [2]
-Cole slightly disapproves
Special: [Give Cole amulet] [3]

1 - General: We’ll keep you safe. PC: We’ll make sure nothing happens to you, Cole. Cole: I won’t go until I know he can’t make me a monster. Scene ends.

2 - General: I can’t promise anything. PC: I don’t know if we’ll have time to deal with that, Cole. Cole: I won’t go until I know he can’t make me a monster. Scene ends.

3 - Special: [Give Cole amulet] PC: I found the amulet that Solas told us about. Would you like to try it on? Cole: Yes! But not here. I like it here. We need someplace that can go away if it becomes sharp.

4 - Scene continues.

The PC and Cole enter the library rotunda.

Cole: What do I do with it?

Solas stands and approaches them.

Solas: You found one of the amulets. Excellent. May I?

Solas: It is simple enough. You put it on, I charge it with magic, and you should be protected.

Dialogue options:

General: All right, if Cole is sure. [5] +Cole slightly approves +Solas slightly approves
General: You think this will work? [6]
General: Do it. [7] -Cole slightly disapproves -Solas slightly disapproves

5 - General: All right, if Cole is sure. PC: Are you ready, Cole? Cole: They can’t make a monster. [8]

6 - General: You think this will work? PC: We know it’s not just going to work, right? It never just works. Solas: Have faith, Inquisitor. [8]

7 - General: Do it. PC: This amulet wasn’t easy to come by. It had better work. [8]

8 - Scene continues.

Cole puts the amulet on, and Solas begins to activate it. There’s an explosive sound, and Cole is knocked back.

Cole: (Cries out.)

Varric enters.

Varric: What was that?

Varric: Oh, for… what are you doing to the kid?

Cole: Stopping blood mages from binding me like the demons at Adamant. But it didn’t work.

Solas: Something is interfering with the enchantment.

Varric: Something like Cole not being a demon?

Dialogue options:

General: Cole is a demon. [9] -Varric slightly disapproves +Solas slightly approves
General: I don’t know what Cole is. [10]
General: Maybe Varric is right. [11] -Solas slightly disapproves +Varric slightly approves

9 - General: Cole is a demon. PC: Cole might look like us, Varric, but he’s not human. Varric (human PC): Neither am I. Neither is Chuckles here. [12] Varric (non-human PC): Neither am I. Neither are you, for that matter. [12]

10 - General: I don’t know what Cole is. PC: I’m not certainly exactly what Cole is. [12]

11 - General: Maybe Varric is right. PC: Solas, is it possible that the amulet doesn’t work on Cole because he’s too… human? [12]

12 - Scene continues.

Solas: Regardless of Cole’s special circumstances, he remains a spirit.

Varric: Yes, a spirit who is strangely like a person!

Cole: I don’t matter. Just lock away the parts of me that someone else could knot together to make me follow.

Solas: Focus on the amulet. Tell me what you feel.

Cole: Warm, soft blanket covering, but it catches, tears, I’m the wrong shape, there’s something…

Cole points towards the door.

Cole: There. That way.

Dialogue options:

General: We’ll investigate. PC: We’ll find whatever is preventing the amulet from working, and we’ll make it right. ㅤㅤ ㅤ
General: So we’re off hunting. PC: It appears we have something to find. Again. PC (chose “you think this will work”): It appears we have something to find. I told you it never just works. ㅤㅤ ㅤ
General: This is a distraction. PC: We don’t have time to chase after mystical clues.

Varric: All right, kid. Get Cullen and work with him on the map to figure out where you’re sensing something wrong.

Cole: Will you come with me? All of you?

Varric: Sure.

Varric: All right. I get it. You like spirits. But he came into this world to be a person. Let him be one.

Dialogue options:

General: I care about results. [13] -Solas slightly disapproves
General: I agree, Varric. [14] +Varric slightly approves
General: No, Solas is right. [15] +Solas slightly approves

13 - General: I care about results. PC: All I care about is making certain that the Venatori can’t bind Cole. Varric: Fair enough. But that ritual of theirs only works on demons, right? [16]

14 - General: I agree, Varric. PC: If I see a way to protect Cole without taking away… whatever he is, I’ll use it. But Cole clearly needs our help. Varric: I’m not saying we do nothing. But that ritual of theirs only works on demons, right? [16]

15 - General: No, Solas is right. PC: Cole is a demon… or a spirit. He has magical abilities and magical vulnerabilities. We cannot ignore that. Varric: Fair enough. But that ritual of theirs only works on demons, right? [16]

16 - Scene continues.

Solas: This is not some fanciful story, child of the Stone. We cannot change our nature by wishing.

Varric: You don’t think?

Solas: However we deal with this problem, our next step is to track down whatever is interfering with the enchantment.

Closure

A man is speaking with a dwarf in Redcliffe.

Man: Yeah, this should get me through the month.

The PC, Cole, Solas and Varric walk up.

Man: Give me a moment.

Man: Greetings. Can I help you?

Cole: You.

Cole appears in front of the man, grabbing him.

Cole: You killed me!

Man: What, I don’t… I don’t even know you!

Cole: You forgot. You locked me in the dungeon in the Spire, and you forgot, and I died in the dark!

Man: The Spire?

Solas: Cole, stop.

The man runs away.

Varric: Just take it easy, kid.

Cole: He killed me. He killed me. That’s why it doesn’t work. He killed me, and I have to kill him back!

Dialogue options:

General: Cole, wait. PC: Before anyone gets killed, I need to know what’s going on. ㅤㅤ ㅤ
General: I don’t understand. PC: If he killed you, wouldn’t you be dead? ㅤㅤ ㅤ
General: We’ll take care of it. PC: If he hurt you, you’ll have your revenge.

Solas: Cole, this man cannot have killed you. You are a spirit. You have not even possessed a body.

Cole: A broken body, bloody, banged on the stone cell, guts gripping in the dark dank, a captured apostate. They threw him into the dungeon in the Spire at Val Royeaux. They forgot about him. He starved to death. I came through to help… and I couldn’t. So I became him. Cole.

Varric: If Cole was an apostate, that’d make the guy we just saw a templar. Must’ve been buying lyrium.

Cole: Let me kill him. I need to… I need to.

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Solas, what do you think? [2]
Investigate: Varric, what do you think? [3]
Investigate: I still don’t understand. [4]
Cole must forgive this. (Cole will become more like a spirit. The amulet should function properly.) [5]
Cole needs to grow. (Cole will become more human. The amulet may not be necessary.) [6]

2 - Investigate: Solas, what do you think? PC: Solas? Solas: We cannot let Cole kill the man. Varric: I don’t think anyone was going to suggest that, Chuckles. Solas: Cole is a spirit. The death of the real Cole wounded him, perverted him from his purpose. To regain that part of himself, he must forgive. Varric: Come on! You don’t just forgive someone killing you. Solas: You don’t. A spirit can. [back to 1]

3 - Investigate: Varric, what do you think? PC: Varric? Varric: The kid’s angry. He needs to work through it. Solas: A spirit does not work through emotions. It embodies them. Varric: But he isn’t a spirit, is he? He made himself human, and humans change. They get hurt, and they heal. He needs to work it out like a person. Solas: You would alter the essence of what he is. Varric: He did that to himself when he left the Fade. I’m just helping him survive it. [back to 1]

4 - Investigate: I still don’t understand. PC: Before I decide anything, I need a clearer picture of what happened. Solas: It seems the real Cole was an apostate, captured and taken to the Circle by templars. Varric: Who aren’t known for their gentle nature. Solas: As the young man starved to death in a dungeon, his pain caught the attention of a spirit… likely one of compassion. Varric: Compassion? Solas: An uncommon spirit, certainly… and all too fragile, when its efforts to help proved to be in vain. [back to 1]

5 - Cole must forgive this. PC: Cole needs to let this go. Solas: I believe I can help. Solas: Cole, come with me. [7]

6 - Cole needs to grow. PC: Cole will never grow into a real person until he comes to terms with what happened. Varric: Leave it to me. Varric: All right, kid. You want revenge? Come with me. [7]

7 - Scene continues.

Make Cole more human
Make Cole more spirit

The man finds himself at the cliffside. Cole and Varric approach.

Man: I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!

Varric: Sorry isn’t going to help him now, is it, kid?

Cole: No.

*Varric loads Bianca and hands it to Cole. *

Varric: Then pull the trigger and put him down like a mad dog. Do it!

Man: No!

Cole: (Yells.)

Cole pulls the trigger, but it doesn’t fire.

Varric: How’re you doing, kid? Feel any better?

Varric takes Bianca back.

Cole: No.

Varric: You can’t make it all just go away. I learned that the hard way.

Cole: Forget—

Varric: No. He needs to remember. You, too. We’re done here.

They leave.

—

The PC, Solas, and Varric return to the library rotunda.

Solas: For all we know, the amulet will now never function. Cole remains vulnerable to binding.

Varric: No, he isn’t. The amulet didn’t work because he’s too human, right? Maybe now the kid’s also too human for that binding magic to work on him.

Solas: I hope you’re right.

Cole enters, clutching his side.

Cole: It still hurts. When do I stop hurting?

Dialogue options:

General: We’ll help. PC: Being with your friends can make you feel better. +Varric approves ㅤㅤ ㅤ
General: I have no idea. PC: If you ever find the answer to that question, do let me know. ㅤㅤ ㅤ
General: You don’t. PC: Hurting is part of being a person. +Varric slightly approves

Varric: Come on, kid. Let’s go for a walk. It’ll clear your head.

Cole: The left hand misses a friend with two different names. She’s hurting, sad, alone, but… Everyone can see me now. They remember. How do I put honey in Leliana’s wine without her noticing?

Varric: I can help with that.

Varric and Cole leave.

Solas: It is good that he is not entirely changed, however human he becomes.

Investigate: You’re More Human Now

PC: May I ask how things are, now that you’re more human?

Cole: It hurts. Everything hurts. Everyone remembers me now. I can only make them miss me for a few heartbeats. But… I’m real. More real, anyway. And I understand more than I did.

If asked before Cole: I’ll try.

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: You still read minds, right? [2] Investigate: How are spirits different? [3] Investigate: What about your body? [4] Investigate: Why no forgetting? [5] Investigate: Is it harder to help people? [6] General: Goodbye. [7]

2 - Investigate: You still read minds, right? PC: You’re still able to sense the feelings of others, aren’t you? Cole: Yes. I still feel things, flashes of their minds. Pain, hurt, all of it. It’s not so loud anymore. I make more noise myself, so I don’t hear as much unless I want to. I remember more things, though. It lets me learn. I sometimes see why something I said would bother Cullen. Maybe I’ll do it less. [back to 1]

3 - Investigate: How are spirits different? PC: What’s the difference between you and a spirit now? Cole: Spirits are… they just are. Most of them sense something that interests them and stick to it. They don’t remember much. It keeps them pure, but it also keeps them from learning, from growing. I wanted to help people, but I only knew enough to do it in the simplest way. Now I can see more. I also want to hit people a lot. Varric is helping with that. [back to 1]

4 - Investigate: What about your body? PC: Are you still physically the same, or are you fully human? Cole: I was always fully human. I can do everything I could before, except make people forget. The way I move comes from my mind, not my body. As long as I remember some of the Fade, it remains. My body is just like the real Cole’s, except that he was a mage. I’m not.

Dialogue options:

Special: Why not? [8]
[Back to 1]

8 - Special: Why not? PC: Why aren’t you a mage? Cole: I can’t know for sure, but… the real Cole… His father beat him, killed his mother. His sister might have died, too. I don’t know if that was real or what the demon made me think. Then the templars threw Cole in darkness and starved him… all because he had magic. He thought that if he didn’t have magic… I’m what he wanted to be. Him, but normal. So no one would hurt him. [back to 1]

5 - Investigate: Why no forgetting? PC: Why can’t you make people forget you anymore? Cole: Because I’m real. The forgetting was for both sides. They weren’t frightened by me, and I wasn’t hurt by them. Making people forget was a defense against people attacking me… and having what they saw in me stick. Because I’m real, everything sticks. Whatever people think or feel about me stays. [back to 1]

6 - Investigate: Is it harder to help people? PC: Can you still help people, if you can’t make them forget? Cole: It’s harder. I can’t start over if I do it wrong. But seeing me changes them. They know a person wants them to hurt less. That helps. [back to 1]

7 - General: Goodbye. PC: I’ll talk to you later.

Investigate: You’re More of a Spirit Now

PC: May I ask how things are, now that you’re more of a spirit?

Cole: Questions can be shackles, but you kept me in kindness. I will answer.

If asked before Cole: Yes.

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Tell me about the Spire. [2]
Investigate: You can still kill? [3]
Investigate: How do you feel now? [4]
Investigate: Tell me about the Fade. [5]
General: Goodbye. [6]

2 - Investigate: Tell me about the Spire. PC: Can you tell me more about what happened at the Spire? You and the real Cole? Cole: I don’t remember. I let that go. It isn’t part of me anymore.

3 - Investigate: You can still kill? PC: You don’t mind killing people, even being more of a spirit? Cole: Monsters are easy. Mindless, menacing. It’s harder when it’s people. Venatori, bandits, people who could change. But they chose. They hurt people. We need to stop them. My blades are yours to command. I forget later, so it washes clean.

4 - Investigate: How do you feel now? PC: What is it like to be this way? Cole: I’m me, more me than I was. I can care and comfort but keep clean, no shackles. They feel, forgive, forget, and I am free. Finally. Thank you.

5 - Investigate: Tell me about the Fade. PC: Can you tell me more about the Fade, now that you’re more connected to it? Cole: It is here but held, constrained by a construct, Veiled. Feelings, memories, minds, mortality: all shape it, a glass to hold water, we flow to the deep. Without you, we have nothing, not even us. That’s why we want so much.

6 - General: Goodbye. PC: I’ll talk to you later.