Personal Quest

Well, Shit

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Bianca Davri

The PC sees Varric to a female dwarf in the main hall.

Varric: I appreciate the warning, but you shouldn’t have come yourself. What if the guild found out? Or Whatshisname?

Bianca: Are you worrying for me or for yourself?

Varric: A little of column A, a little of column B. I am the expendable one, after all.

Bianca: Awwww. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. We’ll just have to—

The PC appraoches.

Bianca: Well, this is a surprise. You’re the Inquisitor, right? Bianca Davri, at your service.

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Bianca? Like the crossbow? [2]
Investigate: You’re a friend of Varric? [3]
General: It’s a pleasure. [4]
General: You two look nervous. [5]
General: What’s going on? [6]

2 - Investigate: Bianca? Like the crossbow? PC: Your name is Bianca? Bianca: It’s a common name. Half the girls in the Merchants Guild are named Bianca. The other half are named “Helga.” I lucked out. [back to 1]

3 - Investigate: You’re a friend of Varric? PC: I take it you’re a friend of Varric’s? Bianca: Who isn’t a friend of Varric’s? You have met him before, right? [back to 1]

4 - General: It’s a pleasure. PC: Any friend of Varric’s is welcome here. Bianca: Be careful saying things like that. Some of his friends you don’t want to meet.

Bianca (dwarf PC): But not much scares off the Carta, does it? You probably don’t bat an eye. [7] Bianca (Qunari PC): Ancestors, you’re tall! If this Inquisitor gig doesn’t work out, you could make a killing getting things off high shelves. [7] Bianca (Dalish/human PC): Well, maybe you do. Who am I to judge? [7]

5 - General: You two look nervous. PC: Why do you both look like cats that got into the cream? Varric: She’s taken a huge risk coming here herself. Maybe for both of us. Bianca: You’re such a worrier! There’s a giant hole in the sky. I think the Merchants Guild has bigger things to think about. [7]

6 - General: What’s going on? PC: What were you talking about? [7]

7 - Scene continues.

Varric: Bianca’s got a lead on where Corypheus got his red lyrium.

Bianca: The site of Bartrand’s Folly, the thaig Varric found, has been leaked. There’s a Deep Roads entrance crawling with strange humans carting out red lyrium by the handful.

8 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Is that their only way in? [9]
Investigate: Who leaked the location? [10]
Investigate: Wasn’t the thaig in Kirkwall? [11]
General: We should shut this down. [12]
General: We have other priorities. [13]

9 - Investigate: Is that their only way in? PC: How do we know they’re not using multiple entrances to get to the thaig? Bianca: Navigating the Deep Roads isn’t like the surface. There are no accurate maps of the whole systems, and there are cave-ins, darkspawn, lava floods… If you find a route that gets you where you’re going, you don’t deviate. Trying to find another way could be deadly. [back to 8]

10 - Investigate: Who leaked the location? PC: Who could have given away the thaig’s location? Varric: There were a few people who knew. Hirelings from the expedition. A couple close friends. Bianca: How they found out isn’t important. What matters is we know where they are now.

Dialogue options:

Investigate: And Bianca knows where it is? [14]
[Back to 8]

14 - Investigate: And Bianca knows where it is? PC: If it’s such a secret, how do you know about it, Bianca? Varric: I told her. Right after the expedition, I wrote and told Bianca what we found. I had artifacts that needed buyers, and she had more contacts that would pay for them. Plus, I owed her. [back to 8]

11 - Investigate: Wasn’t the thaig in Kirkwall? PC: You can get there from Orlais? It’s a long way to the Free Marches. Varric: The Deep Roads are all connected. Or they used to be. Collapses and such. Some of them on purpose. Bianca: They really are roads. They spanned the dwarven empire. Went to every corner of the continent, maybe further. In theory, you can get to any thaig using the Deep Roads, but in practice… well, there’s a reason nobody uses them anymore. [back to 8]

12 - General: We should shut this down. PC: We need to deal with this. As long as he has this source, Corypheus is that much more powerful. Varric: I couldn’t agree more. [14]

13 - General: We have other priorities. PC: We have more pressing concerns than red lyrium. Varric: I know we have a lot on our plate right now, but we shouldn’t let this slide. [14]

14 - Scene continues.

Bianca: I’ll keep an eye on their operation. If you’re interested in shutting it down, you’ve got my help. Try not to leave me waiting too long, Varric. I’ve got my own work to do, you know.

She leaves.

Varric: Right. That’s not going to be trouble at all. Let me know when you want to head to the entrance.

Valammar

General: Let’s Talk About That Lead

PC: About that lead of yours, Varric…

Varric: Sure. The sooner we take care of it, the better.

Investigate: Do you trust the information?

PC: Do you think this lead of hers is real?

Varric: Bianca’s too much of a researcher to pass me information without verifying it first. But if you’re asking whether she’d lie to us, maybe set us up, it’s possible. Not likely, though. She risked the wrath of the guild coming in person. A message would have sufficed. Whatever she found in that entrance shook her up. That worries me.

—

The party heads to Valammar, where Bianca joins them.

Bianca: Finally! I started to think you weren’t coming!

They turn suddenly and spot Bianca off to the side.

Varric: Nobody said you had to hang out in the creepy cave while you waited.

Bianca walks closer to them.

Bianca: Well, I did wait, so let’s make this quick. These idiots are carrying the red lyrium out in unprotected containers. We don’t want to stick around long enough for it to start “talking” to us.

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Why should they be protected? [2]
Investigate: You know what red lyrium does? [3]
Investigate: How did you find this place? [4]
General: Hope you know how to fight. [5]
General: Let’s get started. [6]

5 - Investigate: Why should they be protected? PC: Why would the containers need to be protected? Bianca: Lyrium is incredibly dangerous in its raw form. It can poison or kill dwarves, and we’re resistant to it. Sometimes it just explodes! No warning. Varric: Basically, only crazy people mine lyrium. Bianca: The Mining Caste doesn’t just sling it into a bucket. It’s carried in special containers that keep it under control. And that’s normal lyrium. The red stuff is worse. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of their miners die just digging it up.

6 - Investigate: You know what red lyrium does? PC: You seem to know more about the effects of red lyrium than most.

Bianca (Varric kept red lyrium shard): Varric needed a safe for his shard. I’m the one who built it for him. Bianca (Varric did not keep red lyrium shard): Varric told me plenty about what it did to him… and his brother.

7 - Investigate: How did you find this place? PC: How did you find this operation in the first place? There must be hundreds of Deep Roads entrances. Bianca: I’ve used this entrance in the past. Varric’s not the only surface dwarf to explore the Deep Roads. Though I’ve got to admit, I was pretty surprised when I came here and found it full of humans.

8 - General: Hope you know how to fight. PC: If you’re coming with us, I hope you can handle a fight. Bianca: No, I thought I’d cower helplessly while you do all the work. Varric: She’s a decent shot. Bianca: “Decent”? Varric: You want me to admit you’re better than me in front of the Inquisitor? Bianca: Let’s not waste any more time, shall we?

9 - General: Let’s get started. PC: We’d better get to work. Bianca: Sounds good to me.

10 - Scene continues.

The party heads into the Deep Roads.

Bianca: So is this what you do now?

Varric: Beg pardon?

Bianca: Skulking around in caves. Shooting guys. Is this your day-to-day?

Varric: I usually try to avoid the caves.

They continue.

Bianca: You had me worried, you know.

Varric: What did I do now?

Bianca: That letter you sent me about the red lyrium was the first I’d heard from you since the chantry explosion.

Varric: Had it been that long?

Bianca: Seriously, if you died in that mess, I’d have come back to Kirkwall and dug you up just to kick your ass.

Varric: What would do if I’d been cremated?

Bianca: Kick your ashes, of course.

They fight through some Carta.

Varric: How’s Whatshisname?

Bianca: Bogdan? He’s in Nevarra right now, selling my machine to wealthy landowners.

Varric: I heard some of the guild were trying to get you named a Paragon for that contraption.

Bianca: That’s not going to happen, even if I am ten times the smith Branka ever was. A surfacer Paragon? Never.

Cave Renovation

The party approaches a locked door.

Bianca: I built these doors. They probably shut this one from the other side when they heard the ruckus we were making.

She unlocks the door.

Bianca: Ta-da!

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: You built doors here? [2]
Special (Artificer PC): Are you an artificer? [3]
General: That was handy. [4]
General: You were waiting to do that. [5] +Varric slightly approves
General: There’s no time to waste. [6]

2 - Investigate: You built doors here? PC: You’ve been here often enough to renovate the cave? Bianca: You already know I’ve used this entrance in the past. I don’t know if Varric’s told you, but the Merchants Guild is cutthroat. Literally. I built the doors to keep rivals from following me down here and arranging “accidents.” [back to 1]

3 - Special: Are you an artificer? PC: This is your work? Are you an artificer? Bianca: I’ve been known to build the occasional trap, weapon, or otherwise lethal device now and then. I take it you’re a builder, too? You’ve got the telltale “how do I take that apart and put it back together?” look in your eye.

Dialogue options:

General: I’m new to it. [7]
General: You read my mind. [8]
General: Yes, I build. [9]

7 - General: I’m new to it. I’ve only recently started building things. Bianca: Great, let’s find something you can lure into a gauntlet of steel jaws! I love it when that happens. [10] ㅤㅤ ㅤ 8 - General: You read my mind. PC: That… might have been word-for-word what I was thinking, yes. Bianca: If you’re going to replicate these, start with the lock and build outward. Trust me. It’ll save a lot of time. [10] ㅤㅤ ㅤ 9 - General: Yes, I build. PC: Of course. Did you want a trap or something? Bianca: No, I’m just glad to see another smith around. Keeps Varric on his toes. [10]

4 - General: That was handy. PC: I guess it’s a good thing you came along, then. Bianca: I get that a lot. [10]

5 - General: You were waiting to do that. PC: Admit it, you’ve been waiting to do that since we arrived. Bianca: Of course I was. [10]

6 - General: There’s no time to waste. PC: We’d better keep moving. [10]

10 - Scene continues.

Bianca: After you.

They continue on.

Bianca: You know, this is almost fun. Kind of like old times.

Varric: I don’t recall us ever shooting people together.

Bianca: Remember crashing Bartrand’s Guild dinner? We might as well have shot him.

Varric: This isn’t nearly as dangerous as pissing off my brother.

They fight off more Carta.

Bianca: How long are you going to be in Orlais?

Varric (low approval): I don’t know. Not too much longer. Why? Varric (neutral/high approval): As long as this weird shit is going on, at least. Maybe longer. Why?

Bianca: You’ll have to stop by before Bogdan gets back. You should see my new workshop.

Varric: I’ll see what I can do. You know your family will kill me if I stop by, right?

Bianca: They’re not going to kill you.

Varric: You always say that, and they always send assassins.

The Leak

The PC finds a key.

Bianca: There you are!

She fiddles with the door.

Bianca: They won’t be able to use this entrance again.

Varric: Bianca…

Dialogue options:

General: They had your key. [11]
General: You were the leak. [12]
General: Varric? [13]

11 - General: They had your key. PC: That’s exactly like your key. How did they get a copy? Bianca: Well… funny story! [14]

12 - General: You were the leak. PC: You were the one who leaked the thaig’s location. Bianca: It’s not like that! Not… entirely. Shit. [14]

13 - General: Varric? PC: You want to say something, Varric? Varric: Andraste’s ass, Bianca! You’re the leak? [14]

14 - Scene continues.

Bianca: When I got the location, I went and had a look for myself. And I found the red lyrium, and I… studied it.

Varric: You know what it does to people!

Bianca: I was doing you a favor!

Bianca (Varric kept red lyrium shard): You’ve had people studying it for years now, and they’ve come up with nothing! Bianca (Bartrand alive): You want to help your brother, don’t you? Bianca (Varric did not keep red lyrium shard/Bartrand died): You want to know how this stuff works just as much as I do!

Bianca: I just… wanted to figure it out.

Dialogue options:

General: Did you? [15]
General: You’re not saying everything. [16]
General: That was stupid. [17] +Varric slightly approves

15 - General: Did you? PC: Did you figure it out? Bianca: Actually… yes. [18]

16 - General: You’re not saying everything. PC: How did you go from studying red lyrium to giving the location to Corypheus? [18]

17 - General: That was stupid. PC: You could have been killed. Or worse. And for what? Bianca: Knowledge! You’re not going to beat Corypheus with ignorance! [18]

18 - Scene continues.

Bianca: I found out that red lyrium… It has the Blight, Varric! Do you know what that means?

Varric: What? That two deadly things combine to form something super-awful?

Bianca: Lyrium is alive! Or… something like it. Blight doesn’t infect minerals. Only animals. I couldn’t get any further on my own, so I looked for a Grey Warden mage. Blight and magical expertise in one, right?

Hawke sided with Larius Bianca: And I found this guy, Larius. He seemed really interested in helping my research. So I gave him a key. Varric: Larius? He was the Grey Warden we met in Corypheus’s… Oh, shit.

Hawke sided with Janeka Bianca: And I found this woman, Janeka. She seemed really eager to help with my research. So I gave her a key. Varric: Janeka? The Warden who was trying to control Corypheus? Maker’s breath…

Varric (pre-WPHW): I knew something seemed off! Varric (post-WPHW): That’s how he survived.

Bianca: I didn’t realize until you said you found red lyrium at Haven. I came here and… well… Then I went to you.

19 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Varric, you know this person? [20]
Investigate: Why did you come with us? [21]
General: It isn’t really your fault. [22] +Varric slightly approves
General: You put this on us. [23] +Varric slightly approves
General: You’ve done a lot of damage. [24] -Varric disapproves

20 - Investigate: Varric, you know this person? PC: That name means something to you, Varric?

Varric (Hawke sided with Larius): He was at the Grey Warden prison where we found Corypheus. And he definitely wasn’t a mage before. [back to 19] Varric (Hawke sided with Janeka): She was at the Grey Warden prison where we found Corypheus. She was more than a little obsessed with him. [back to 19]

21 - Investigate: Why did you come with us? PC: You had to know we’d figure out what happened, Bianca. Why did you insist on coming with us? Bianca: Varric told me what people were doing with the red lyrium. I… had to help make this right. [back to 19]

22 - General: It isn’t really your fault. PC: You couldn’t have known what would happen. Varric: Maferath’s balls, she couldn’t! I told her exactly how bad this shit was! I told her to keep away from it! [25]

23 - General: You put this on us. PC: You told Varric you had a “lead” so we’d straighten out your mistake. [25]

24 - General: You’ve done a lot of damage. PC: You’ll have to answer for all the damage you’ve done. [25]

25 - Scene continues.

Bianca: I know I screwed up, but we did fix it! It’s as right as I can make it!

Varric: This isn’t one of your machines! You can’t just replace a part and make everything right!

Bianca: No, but I can try, can’t I? Or am I supposed to wallow in my mistakes forever, kicking myself, telling stories of what I should have done?

Varric: As if I would tell stories about my own mistakes!

Dialogue options:

General: She’s right. [26] +Varric slightly approves
General: Varric is right. [27] +Varric slightly approves
General: Just let it go. [28]
General: Get a room, you two. [29]

26 - General: She’s right. PC: She did at least try to set things right, Varric. Varric: (Sighs.) [30]

27 - General: Varric is right. PC: The red lyrium is out. Closing this entrance won’t undo that. Varric: (Sighs.) [30]

28 - General: Just let it go. PC: What’s done is done. There’s no point arguing about it. Varric: (Sighs.) [30]

29 - General: Get a room, you two. PC: Oh, for pity’s sake, would you two just get a room? Varric: Sorry, Inquisitor. [30]

30 - Scene continues.

Varric: We’ve done all we can here. Bianca, you’d better get home before someone misses you.

Bianca: Varric…

Varric: Don’t worry about it.

Bianca: Get him killed, and I’ll feed you your own eyeballs, Inquisitor.

Back at Skyhold

Varric: I’m glad to have answers, but… shit. The second she showed up here, I knew. I just… I let this mess happen. I gave her the thaig. And I am not good at dealing with shit like this.

Dialogue options:

General: Nobody is. [1]
General: Talk your way out of it. [2] -Varric slightly disapproves
General: Just confront it. [3]

1 - General: Nobody is. PC: I don’t think anyone is equipped any better than you are. Varric: No, no! The point is… I don’t. I don’t deal with things. [4]

2 - General: Talk your way out of it. PC: You managed to talk your way out of most things. Varric: That’s what I do, isn’t it? [4]

3 - General: Just confront it. PC: Quit being evasive. Tackle it head-on. Varric: Sure. You know it took me three years to work up the nerve to confront my brother for trying to kill me? And even then, I couldn’t make myself do it without somebody to stand there and hold my hand. [4]

4 - Scene continues.

Varric: If Cassandra hadn’t dragged me here, I’d be in Kirkwall right now, pretending none of this was happening.

Dialogue options:

General: No, you wouldn’t. [5] +Varric approves
General: Nothing’s stopping you. [6] +Varric slightly approves
General: She did you a favor. [7] -Varric slightly disapproves

5 - General: No, you wouldn’t. PC: You know that’s not true. You’ve worked as hard as any of us to stop Corypheus. Varric: Is that true? I don’t even know anymore. [8]

6 - General: Nothing’s stopping you. PC: You realize that nothing has actually been stopping you from doing that. Varric: I suppose you’re right. [8]

7 - General: She did you a favor. PC: Sounds like Cassandra did you a favor, then. Varric: Maybe she did. [8]

8 - Scene continues.

Varric: Thank you. For your help back there.

PC: After all this, do you think you’ll see Bianca again?

Varric: I always do.

Special: Tell Me About Bianca

PC: Tell me more about Bianca.

Varric: (Sighs.) I’m not making any promises here. Ask.

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Why is the guild after her? [2]
Investigate: How do you know Bianca? [3]
Investigate: Did Bianca make your crossbow? [4]
Investigate: You’ve been together how long? [5]
General: That’s all for now. [6]

2 - Investigate: Why is the guild after her? PC: What makes the Merchants Guild such a danger to her? Varric: To be fair, it’s more of a danger to me. Technically, we’re not supposed to be within three hundred leagues of one another. If it got back to the guild that we were seen together, they’d freeze my assets. And then have me killed. Maybe not in that order.

Dialogue options:

Special: What did you do? [7]
[Back to 1]

7 - Special: What did you do? PC: What in the world did you do to cause that? Varric: We almost started a clan war. Does it matter? I can’t change it now. [back to 1]

3 - Investigate: How do you know Bianca? PC: How do you know Bianca? The lady, I mean. Not the crossbow. Varric: I met her years ago, when she still lived in Kirkwall and I was looking for someone with… mechanical skills. Bianca is, beyond a doubt, the most brilliant smith you’ll ever meet. I haven’t seen her since she got married and moved to Orlais.

Dialogue options:

Special: She’s married? [8]
[Back to 1]

8 - Special: She’s married? PC: Bianca is married? Somehow I thought that the two of you had a history. Varric: Bianca’s family are kalnas—surface dwarves so conservative, they don’t take a piss without asking the Ancestors first. They picked out a Smith Caste boy for her. Wealthy, respected, has a great anvil collection. The perfect husband. I heard the wedding was lovely. The one Bianca actually showed up for, anyway. [back to 1]

4 - Investigate: Did Bianca make your crossbow? PC: All right, tell me the truth. Bianca made your crossbow, didn’t she? I mean, it has her name. Varric: It’s not that simple. The Carta thinks my Bianca was a freak success by a Carta inventor who could never duplicate it. If they thought anyone else was involved… someone who could make one work… things would be bad. So I really can’t tell the story. I don’t want any more blood on my hands. [back to 1]

5 - Investigate: You’ve been together how long? PC: So how long have the two of you been together? Varric: Well, if you want to split hairs, we’re not. Usually, there’s a continent between us at all times. We write letters. Now and then, we manage to meet up. I don’t know if that’s “together.” Shit, it’s been, what? Fifteen years? Great, now I feel old. Thanks. [back to 1]

6 - General: That’s all for now. PC: I guess that’s it for now. Varric: Sure. I’ll be here.