A Letter Home
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Limited Conversation
Rook enters Emmrich’s room.
Emmrich: “With all my regards”… Oh, but I don’t want them to think me homesick…
Rook: Hi, Emmrich.
Emmrich: Rook! Hello. Just composing a few letters. The other Watchers have been most interested in our adventures.
Origin dependent dialogue:
Rook: You have more credibility than I do back home.
Emmrich: Perhaps. Speaking of home… Have we really never met around the Necropolis before? Even in passing?
Dialogue options:
- No. I’d remember. [1]
- No clue. Training was a blur. [2]
- Mage: Wait. I saw you lecture! [3]
- Non-Mage: Wait. That exhibition… [4]
- Dwarf: Well, no dwarven mages. [5]
- Qunari: You’d remember a Qunari. [6]
1 - No. I’d remember.
Rook: Well, all of the Watchers’ teachers are a little eccentric. But I’d remember you, Emmrich.
Emmrich: I must’ve been on an extended excursion into the Necropolis when you were trained. Now kindly define “eccentric.”
Rook: My hexcraft teacher taught half of her lessons from inside a burial urn.
Emmrich: Yes, Dr. Elgenbracht’s methods are… unusual. But her spellcraft!
Rook: And she always marked me down on punctuation.
2 - No clue. Training was a blur.
Rook: I don’t remember everything from my scholar days.
Emmrich: You seem to have done well.
Rook: Right. Only I never took advanced classes. Got too… busy.
Emmrich: You know, I’d heard we had a young Watcher getting into scrapes on the streets of Nevarra around then…
Rook: They weren’t scrapes! They were… Extracurricular learning opportunities. Also: only rumors.
Emmrich: (Chuckles) I see.
3 - Wait. I saw you lecture!
Rook: Hold on. There was a lecture two years ago. Self-abnegation techniques for sub-astral navigation?
Emmrich: Yes, that was me!
Rook: Right! A professor challenged you, then one of the higher dead broke in and argued with her…
Emmrich: And then the wraiths! What a conference that was.
4 - Wait. That exhibition…
Rook: I mean, I’m not a mage, so we probably never—wait a second! Didn’t you present astrological scrolls from the tomb of Mother Griselda two years ago?
Emmrich: Why, yes, indeed! It took forever to convince the departed Chantry mother to lend them out.
5 - Dwarf: Well, no dwarven mages.
Rook: I didn’t get necromancy lessons.
Emmrich: But surely you received an education from the Watchers.
Rook: The rare dwarf in the Mourn Watch gets to skip spell-casting classes. So I was assigned extra history to compensate. Thanks, Professor Pendelton.
Emmrich: Why, I had him as well!
Rook: Really? Wait. Is Pendelton…
Emmrich: Undead? Oh, no, no. Only pushing one hundred, the dear fellow.
6 - Qunari: You’d remember a Qunari.
Rook: Emmrich, I’m a Qunari Mourn Watcher. There’s, what, fifteen of us?
Emmrich: Fourteen now, I’m afraid. Tibelde passed away exploring the Jaws of Midnight.
Rook: May she rest among the graves.
Emmrich: Every new generation seems to think they’ll be the ones to finally exhume that part of the Necropolis.
7 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Dialogue options:
- Investigate: How are things back home? [8]
- Investigate: Any new occult dangers? [9]
- You mentioned homesickness. [10]
8 - Investigate: How are things back home?
Rook: I miss anything big around the Necropolis while I was gone?
Emmrich: Caspar the First led a stately procession around the wards of his tomb-palace.
Rook: That hasn’t happened in three hundred years!
Emmrich: No one knows what occasioned it. Oh, and necromancers outside the Mourn Watch attempted to claim the funerary dead. Again.
Dialogue options:
11 - Investigate: But we get the funerary dead.
Rook: It’s right in the royal charter. “Only Mortalitasi ascended to the Mourn Watch have final authority in the Necropolis.”
Emmrich: I’ve had to explain the distinction between Mortalitasi and Watchers a dozen times since leaving home.
Rook: But it’s simple! Every Nevarra necromancer is called a Mortalitasi, and some Mortalitasi join the Mourn Watch. Done.
Emmrich: Exactly. One would think!
9 - Investigate: Any new occult dangers?
Rook: I should fulfill my Watcher oaths and ask: any supernatural trouble in Nevarra?
Emmrich: A gathering of pride spirits down in Cumberland. Easily dispelled. And we finally stopped those wandering cenotaphs from appearing in the Weeping Vale. That took some effort. Nothing else, aside from the elven gods disrupting the Fade…
Dialogue options:
12 - Investigate: I sense an “and yet.”
Rook: And yet?
Emmrich: There’s so much more than spirits in the Fade. Entities and instrumentalities we know only by their shadows.
Rook: If you’ve spotted something in the Fade…
Emmrich: I’m not sure. It’s only… An occasional stillness, where movement and light should be. Let’s hope I’m imagining things.
10 - You mentioned homesickness.
Rook: I couldn’t help overhearing the word “homesick.”
Emmrich: Oh, I’m fine. Completely absorbed in our venture! But if I were home, I’d be preparing for new students. Or requests to speak to the dead.
13 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Dialogue options:
- Investigate: Corpse-whispering requests? [14]
- Investigate: Did you give up your classes? [15]
- I’ll see you around. [16]
14 - Investigate: Corpse-whispering requests?
Rook: Can people just ask you to show up for some corpse whispering?
Emmrich: Nothing official. There are very few of us. But we help, here and there. Questioning a victim of murder. Clearing up disputed wills. And sometimes, fetching back last words from a loved one.
Dialogue options:
17 - Mourn Watcher: Ever corpse-whisper the king?
Rook: Have you used corpse whispering on King Markus?
Emmrich: I… Whatever are you talking about?
Rook: Come on.
Emmrich: His majesty’s health is a delicate subject. Besides, the palace necromancers aren’t Watchers. They’ve their own corpse whisperer.
Rook: So King Markus is dead! Or undead.
Emmrich: (Sighs) Half the nobility must suspect by now. Can you imagine what the other kingdoms would think? I stay well clear of it.
15 - Investigate: Did you give up your classes?
Rook: You didn’t stop teaching just to be with us, did you?
Emmrich: I’m long overdue for a sabbatical. Besides, do you know how many students the faculty wanted in my class next season? Ten! How’s one meant to tailor separate lessons for ten pupils at a time? Honestly.
16 - I’ll see you around.
Rook: Good to chat. I’ll let you get back to your letter.
Emmrich: Before you go, I wanted to thank you for your company in the Memorial Gardens. There’s another ceremony I have to perform there, if you’d like to visit again. Not yet, but soon.
17 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Dialogue options:
- Flirt: I enjoy your company. [18]
- Love to. I miss the place. [19]
+ Emmrich Approves - Sure! What’re we up against? [20]
- I’ll think about it. [21]
18 - Flirt: I enjoy your company.
Rook: You know I can’t turn down spending more time with you.
| Flirted before | Have not flirted before: |
|---|---|
| Emmrich: How lovely to hear you say so. | Emmrich: Really? |
Emmrich: I’ll always be glad to show you around the tombs, my dear. At your pleasure.
Rook: I’ll take you up on that.
Emmrich: Wonderful! Until then.
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.19 - Love to. I miss the place.
Rook: I’d like that. I’ve seen a lot of interesting places outside the Necropolis, but…
Emmrich: I do miss the vastness of the tombs.
Rook: Exactly! And all the friendly dead!
Emmrich: A visit home will do us both good. I’ll let you know when it’s time.
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.20 - Sure! What’re we up against?
Rook: Are we invoking the Messenger of the Last Dawn? Sealing the astral tombs?
Emmrich: I’m surprised you’ve even heard of those incantations.
Rook: Hey, I learned some things in the Necropolis before I left.
Emmrich: This ceremony will be far more peaceful. I’ll let you know when it’s time.
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.21 - I’ll think about it.
Rook: Sounds like you’re trying to get me back into my Watcher duties.
Emmrich: Nothing taxing, I promise. I’ll let you know when it’s time.
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.Dialogue options:
- Investigate: Are Watchers also Mortalitasi? [1]
- Investigate: Tell me about the Necropolis. [2]
- You mentioned homesickness. [3]
1 - Investigate: Are Watchers also Mortalitasi?
Rook: So, I’ve heard people call necromancers “Mortalitasi.”
Rook: What’s the difference between them and the Mourn Watch?
Emmrich: Oh, all Nevarran necromancers are Mortalitasi. The Watchers are a special order within them.
Rook: Very fancy.
Emmrich: We’ve certain privileges. And attendant responsibilities.
Dialogue options:
4 - Investigate: What kind of responsibilities?
Rook: What’s the Mourn Watch do?
Emmrich: Our first duty is safekeeping the Grand Necropolis and preparing the funerary dead.
Emmrich: Another is stopping misuse of dark magic and necromancy.
Rook: Must keep you busy.
Emmrich: Not often, but… (Sighs) On occasion.
2 - Investigate: Tell me about the Necropolis.
Rook: What’s the Grand Necropolis like?
Emmrich: Its majesty has stilled the tongues of kings and queens.
Emmrich: It’s a haven for spirits and the dead, a vast well of history. The duty and shelter of every Watcher.
Emmrich: We who serve it are pledged to an eternal vigil.
Dialogue options:
5 - Investigate: Vigil? Against what?
Rook: What do Watchers… uh. Watch for?
Emmrich: There are stranger and more dangerous things than spirits in the Fade, Rook. The Watchers stand against them when their shadows rise.
Rook: Anything… lately?
Emmrich: A few portents I cannot put down solely to the chaos of the elven gods… But nothing definitive. Perhaps only shivers in the void.
3 - You mentioned homesickness.
Rook: I couldn’t help overhearing the word “homesick.”
Emmrich: Oh, I’m fine. Completely absorbed in our venture!
Emmrich: But if I were home, I’d be preparing for new students. Or requests to speak to the dead.
6 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Dialogue options:
- Investigate: Corpse-whispering requests? [7]
- Investigate: Did you give up your classes? [8]
- I’ll see you around. [9]
7 - Investigate: Corpse-whispering requests?
Rook: Can people just ask you to show up for some corpse whispering?
Emmrich: Nothing official. There are very few of us. But we help, here and there. Questioning a victim of murder. Clearing up disputed wills. And sometimes, fetching back last words from a loved one.
Dialogue options:
10 - Investigate: And that’s not your whole job?
Rook: You can get anything out of the dead, and they just let you leave Nevarra?
Emmrich: My gift has limitations. The dead only know what they did in life. What was clear under the sun is sometimes blurred when I revive them.
Rook: Makes sense.
Emmrich: Honestly, some conversations aren’t worth the trouble. Death encourages obstinacy.
8 - Investigate: Did you give up your classes?
Rook: You didn’t stop teaching just to be with us, did you?
Emmrich: I’m long overdue for a sabbatical. Besides, do you know how many students the faculty wanted in my class next season? Ten! How’s one meant to tailor separate lessons for ten pupils at a time? Honestly.
9 - I’ll see you around.
Rook: Good to chat. I’ll let you get back to your letter.
Emmrich: Before you go, I wanted to thank you for your company in the Memorial Gardens. There’s another ceremony I have to perform there, if you’d like to visit again. Not yet, but soon.
11 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Dialogue options:
- Flirt: I enjoy your company. [12]
- Affable: Sure. And I get missing home. [13]
+ Emmrich Approves - Sarcastic: Okay, but what kind of rite? [14]
- Stoic: Sure. [15]
- Afraid: With… the undead. [16]
12 - Flirt: I enjoy your company.
Rook: You know I can’t turn down spending more time with you.
| Flirted before | Have not flirted before: |
|---|---|
| Emmrich: How lovely to hear you say so. | Emmrich: Really? |
Emmrich: I’ll always be glad to show you around the tombs, my dear. At your pleasure.
| Accepting of necromancy | Afraid/Wary of necromancy |
|---|---|
| Rook: I’ll take you up on that. | Rook: Tombs aren’t… always my thing. But for you, Emmrich, I’ll try it out. |
Emmrich: Wonderful! Until then.
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.13 - Affable: Sure. And I get missing home.
Rook: Sounds good. Sometimes I miss home, too.
Emmrich: Rook, I’m not… well. Perhaps a little.
Rook: You’ll cheer up once we look at some graves. I bet?
Emmrich: The ceremony should be most centering. I’ll let you know when it’s time.
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.14 - Sarcastic: Okay, but what kind of rite?
Rook: Horrible demon ceremony or peaceful garden ceremony?
Emmrich: The latter! Ideally.
Rook: Can do.
Emmrich: I’ll let you know when it’s time.
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.15 - Stoic: Sure.
Rook: If you need me to keep an eye out, just ask.
Emmrich: It’s a perfectly safe ceremony by the graves.
Rook: Mm-hm.
Emmrich: You’ll see. Until later!
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.16 - Afraid: With… the undead.
Rook: In the Necropolis stuffed full of undead? Again?
Emmrich: Well, there’d be no need for rituals if it weren’t full of people.
Rook: Dead people.
Emmrich: I’ll let you know when it’s time.
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.