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Cole Conversations: Other

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You’ve Done Odd Things

The PC overhears strange conversations around Skyhold.

Bread Cook: When I find out who’s been throwing fresh bread up on the battlements, there’ll be consequences, mark my words. Strange, yesterday, I thought I saw someone taking a loaf, but I… I can’t quite recall.

Healer: That soldier I told you about? He’s still hanging on. It’s a miracle, after what he went through. Every morning, he looks at the battlements and says, “I’m not going to die until winter comes.”

Cheese Servant: First a full wheel of Antivan smoked cheese, and now three royals’ worth of crushed mint? They were right here. I remember seeing someone take them! I just… I can’t recall their face.

Cook: The funniest thing I’ve seen in years. (Laughs.) That cat dancing around, hoping an pouncing like a fool. Made my day bright, it did. Maker knows what got into the little rat-catcher.

Servant: It wasn’t so bad today. The cook was in a jolly mood. She didn’t shout at all, even when I dropped the ladle.

Daggers Soldier: Strangest thing. When I reached down, my dagger was gone. Just Gone. Know where I found it? In a barrel. The thing was filled to the brim with daggers. I’ve got the strangest feeling. I know someone took it right off my belt, but… I can’t recall who.

Servant: The soldiers make me nervous. Sitting around here, tempers get short. There’s even fighting. I saw one soldier reach for his belt, like he was going to draw a dagger on the man he was arguing with. It was lucky he’d lost his dagger, or there’d’ve been more than a bloody nose.

Plums Servant: Someone left sliced plums on the windowsill again. The juice is attracting flies. There are spiders everywhere. The plums were right in front of me, but… I can’t quite recall who took them.

Healer: The spiderwebs help stop the bleeding, and they prevent the wounds from getting infected. Gather as many as you can. Strangest thing though. I can’t remember where I head that. I think I remember… a young man?

Turnips Servant: Someone emptied a whole bag of turnips into the fire! Maker, the smell is everywhere! I was going to use them for dinner, and then… I can’t remember who took them.

Soldier: Stephen finally died. It was a blessing really. He’s been in so much pain since Haven. He went out of his mind at the end. He smiled, said he smelled his mother’s turnip stew, and slipped away.

The PC talks to Cole in the alcove above the tavern.

PC: I’ve heard about some oddities here in the keep. Was that you? Cole: Yes. Maybe. What was it?
PC: The servants are having trouble remembering some odd events.
PC: I hear you’ve been busy.
PC: So, Cole….

1 - Dialogue options:

General: You stole bread? [2]
General: You stole cheese and mint? [3]
General: You’re hoarding daggers? [4]
General: You left plums by the window? [5]
General: You burned turnips? [6]
General: [Ask something else.] [7]
General: Stop these activities. [8] -Cole disapproves [9]

2 - General: You stole bread? PC: Have you been stealing bread and throwing it onto the battlements? Cole: You couldn’t see the birds if I left it on the ground.

Dialogue options:

Special: And the soldier sees them. [10] +Cole slightly approves
[Back to 1]

10 - Special: And the soldier sees them. PC: I heard of a badly injured soldier who’s fighting to stay alive until winter. The healer said that every morning, the soldier watches the birds eating bread on the rooftop. Cole: It’s not winter until the birds leave. [back to 1]

3 - General: You stole cheese and mint? PC: Someone stole an entire cheese wheel. Cole: Mice like cheese. PC: Do mice also like bowls of crushed mint? Cole: That was for the cats.

Dialogue options:

Special: You’re making the cats play. [11]
[Back to 1]

11 - Special: You’re making the cats play. PC: o the cheese lures the mice, and the mice lure the cats, and then they smell the mint? Cole: Mint makes the cats dance and play. ㅤㅤ ㅤ Dialogue options:

Special: Which amuses the cook. [12] +Cole slightly approves
[Back to 1]

12 - Special: Which amuses the cook. PC: Then the cook laughs at the cats instead of yelling at the scullery maids. Cole: Kitchen fires are hot, like when Haven burned. The old cook lies under rocks. His head is in pieces. She needs to make it all work, so nothing will burn again. But if she laughs, she forgets for a while. [back to 1]

4 - General: You’re hoarding daggers? PC: Someone found a barrel full of misplaced daggers. Was that you? Cole: They were safer there.

Dialogue options:

Special: You’re stopping fights. [13] +Cole slightly approves
[Back to 1]

13 - Special: You’re stopping fights. PC: Safer than on someone’s belt, where they could draw them in the heat of an argument? Cole: They would have been sad later. [back to 1]

5 - General: You left plums by the window? PC: Someone is leaving peeled plums on the windowsill. It’s attracting flies. Cole: Spiders need to eat.

Dialogue options:

Special: And spiderwebs help healers. [14] +Cole slightly approves
[Back to 1]

14 - Special: And spiderwebs help healers. PC: And healers need something to treat infected wounds. Like spiderwebs. Cole: The plums are already dead. They don’t mind helping. [back to 1]

6 - General: You burned turnips? PC: Can I assume you’re responsible for the turnips that have shown up in the fireplaces? Cole: They don’t smell the same raw.

Dialogue options:

Special: They smell like turnip stew. [15] +Cole slightly approves
[Back to 1]

15 - Special: They smell like turnip stew. PC: You needed that soldier to smell them, so he could die thinking he’d gone home. Cole: He did go home. [back to 1]

7 - General: [Ask something else.] PC: Let’s talk about something else. Cole: All right.

8 - General: Stop these activities. PC: Stop causing trouble around Skyhold. You’re upsetting people. I don’t want to hear about it again. Cole: You won’t. Ends conversation.

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

After all other dialogue has been exhausted Cole: So many voices hurting, needs no one meets, tiny chances to make them better. You understand.

+Cole greatly approves

Dialogue options (only available is personal quest isn’t completed):

General: You should show yourself. [16]
General: Keep it up. [17]
General: Goodbye. [18]

16 - General: You should show yourself. PC: You’re doing good work, but you don’t need to hide. Knowing someone cares about them helps, too. Cole: Not everyone understands. Too different, who is that, what’s he doing, strange boy. But I’ll try. Scene ends.

17 - General: Keep it up. PC: I appreciate what you’re doing, Cole. Cole: Too many to ever be done, a sea of tears. But everyone gets a chance. Scene ends.

18 - General: Goodbye. PC: I’ll talk to you later. Scene ends.

Dialogue options:

Cassandra [1]
Blackwall [2]
Iron Bull [3]
Dorian [4]
Solas [5]
Vivienne [6]
Varric [7]
Sera [8]
Leliana [9]
Josephine [10]
Cullen [11]

1 - Cassandra

Romanced Cole: Petals fall open as lips shape words that rhyme. Candlelight softens the edges.

Cassandra’s personal quest incomplete Cole: Stomach full of mantras, she burns like a beacon, Faith a flame to bring succor for a Seeker.

Cassandra’s personal quest complete Cole: Faith seeks a friend in Compassion, cautious, careful, too much grey but growing.

2 - Blackwall

Romanced He feels naked without the name on the armor, but now he knows you want him naked.

Blackwall’s personal quest incomplete An old name burns inside armor that shouldn’t fit, lit by faces of the children he couldn’t save.

Blackwall’s personal quest complete The name breaks free, pulls the pain with it. A black wall to shield the self when the sky is rainier.

3 - Iron Bull

Romanced Tied, but tenderly, loving in the letters of a word that would stop it, knots in satin scarves.

Personal quest active “The,” a joke. He laughs to himself, imagining herds of cattle in fields of iron, but now he worries it fits.

Personal quest complete, made Tal-Vashoth Salt-spray smell of Seheron. Lost in smoke from a burning ship. Guilt at not feeling guiltier.

Personal quest complete, sacrificed the Chargers Copper on the lips. Dalish lies dead-eyed beside me. He’ll come, he’ll call, he won’t leave us. Horns pointing up.

4 - Dorian

Romanced Glittering to gloss a hidden hurt. Unlearning not to hope for more. Stumbling steps where the wall used to be.

Giselle gave letter, have not met Dorian’s father Bright, like the fish that kill you if you eat them. Can’t hate you for hiding if you burn so brilliantly.

After meeting Dorian’s father He tried to melt a snowflake because he liked waterfalls. Swallowing bile and pride as he sees his son defend himself.

5 - Solas

Cole’s personal quest complete Voice ringing with fullness from both worlds, guiding me to the shining places. He calls himself Pride.

High approval, other conditions unknown Old pain, shadows forgotten from dreams too real. This side is slow and heavy, but here is what can change.

Personal quest completed Wisdom knows enduring is pain. He hurts for her, another of many he couldn’t save. He carries necessary deaths.

6 - Vivienne

Personal quest not started A breath-caught smile from the Enchanter as the candle lights. The walls are safe; she will never be hungry again.

Personal quest completed A cold flame blazes in a robe worth more than children. Protect her, and she consumes you, burning because she can.

7 - Varric

Cole’s personal quest complete Kid, says the stone. Kid, kidding. It would keep me kept with a name, but the cairn can’t catch me.

Hawke lives, other conditions unknown He writes words that aren’t real, but they are for him, in a quiet place whose stone shape shakes the ground.

Hawke left in the Fade The stone is cracked, split, jagged. The hawk would have been safe if it had stayed, but that isn’t what hawks do.

8 - Sera

Romanced Fleet-footed and free, the arrow that caught the miller’s sack, but no longer shot alone, aquiver in a quiver.

Cole more human Shite. He’s wrong. Dead-eyed crazy, shite. I called him a ‘him’. Is he alive, is everything alive, shite. I hate raisins.

Cole more spirit She hurts, but helping hurts more. She sees the strings that pull me, eyes like raisins in a stale cookie.

9 - Leliana

Leliana’s personal quest not started The Left Hand remembers a knife slipped to her in the darkness, and wonders why the flower blooms.

Leliana hardened The Left Hand is harder, faith fallen in folly. It makes the dreams worse, but sends them away faster.

Leliana softened The Left Hand blooms on the bush, remembering the light that shone in her darkness. She knows how to sing again.

10 - Josephine

Romanced Steel flashes, like at the top of the stairs, but this time she knows her voice and it ends with a kiss.

Josephine’s personal quest started She spins, plucking strings, matching wits and words, an admiral who will never send ships of her own.

Josephine’s personal quest complete Ships launch on changing winds. Dizzy sometimes, like the top of the stairs, but sometimes like dancing.

11 - Cullen

Romanced Safe and solid, protecting and proud. He feels like quiet, stronger when you hold him.

Personal quest incomplete, talked about lyrium He is quiet, behind the noise. The little bottle makes him shake, but he tests the chains.

Continued lyrium He sounds right again with the chains in place, but the music makes him sad.

Quit lyrium He sounds new, echoes of laughter on an empty riverbed. Not for sailing, but safer.

Cryptic Comments

[These have no game-related triggers. All other prompted conversation cryptic comments have a game-related trigger.]

Cole: It wasn’t blood in the bath. Fingers on the scalp, intimate, and then the moment is gone.
Cole: They should have been born together, but instead they were bound by light.
Cole: She knows they’re going to kill her, can only save what’s important. Precious space to remember her smile.
Cole: He was dead the whole time. He didn’t know.
Cole: It wasn’t from a flower. He rode it in the snow.
Cole: He hunts the killer, but he’s the one who killed her. He can’t remember.
Cole: It’s made from people.
Cole: He didn’t kill his father. He was his father.
Cole: There is no other man. He becomes the other man to do the things he can’t.
Cole: He was the boy who was supposed to die. He named himself after the horse.
Cole: He teaches them to fight with a secret flaw, part of a glorious strategy.
Cole: He was their enemy the whole time, but she made him forget, so he could change.
Cole: Never trust half an elf.

Specialization: Necromancer

Cole: You’re different. You pull at pieces. They push into place, demons but different but wrong. I don’t like it.

-Cole disapproves

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Am I hurting spirits? [2]
General: I’m sorry. [3] +Cole slightly approves
General: Whoops? [4]
General: Accept it. [5] -Cole slightly disapproves

2 - Investigate: Am I hurting spirits? PC: Is the magic I use doing harm to spirits? Cole: No, not spirits, not demons. Pieces of them. Bits that could become. A fraction of a fragment of a figment, not enough to be, but the bits that could be, you break. [back to 1]

3 - General: I’m sorry. PC: I apologize, Cole. It wasn’t my intention to make you uncomfortable. [6]

4 - General: Whoops? PC: Cole, I didn’t realize that using this type of magic was like hurting your… relatives? [6]

5 - General: Accept it. PC: This new magic is a tool I have chosen to use. You need to accept that. [6]

6 - Scene continues.

Cole: Just don’t bind spirits. They are more. You shouldn’t hurt them. Did you want me for something else?

Specialization: Rift Mage

Cole: You’re different. It shines on you, shimmering, sharp. You made magic from the rifts.

+Cole approves

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: How do you see me? [2]
Investigate: How do other mages differ? [3]
General: I hope it pleases you. [4] +Cole slightly approves
General: This was unexpected. [5]
General: Deal with the changes. [6] -Cole slightly disapproves

2 - Investigate: How do you see me? PC: Do I seem that different to you? Cole: The Fade sticks to mages. Little figments, flitting, floating free, then forced into shapes. Fire, ice, lightning. You use the Fade itself. You make it charged but not changed, channeled enchantments. It’s strong and pure. And loud. You ripple like water when the stone is dropped. [back to 1]

3 - Investigate: How do other mages differ? PC: I take it not all mages feel the way I do? Cole: Solas is the same, but quieter. The Fade is his friend. He doesn’t need to look to know where it goes.

If Vivienne is recruited Cole: Vivienne is crisp and cool. The Fade dances, darts, lashed and leashed.

If Dorian is recruited Cole: Dorian pulls at pieces, pushing them to bodies. I like him more when it’s just fire.

Cole: And the Venatori are dark and hard and cracked and old. They pull the Fade with blood and pain and ancient lying whispers. [back to 1]

4 - General: I hope it pleases you. PC: I hope you like the way I feel now. Cole: Yes. It’s different, but familiar. It reminds me of me. [7]

5 - General: This was unexpected. PC: I thought I was learning a few tricks. I didn’t realize it would change my flavor. Cole: Everything changes you. [7]

6 - General: Deal with the changes. PC: I haven’t changed in any way that matters. This won’t interfere with my work… or yours. Cole: No. [7]

7 - Scene continues.

Cole: Did you need me?