Walking the Graves
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Visiting the Gardens
Rook finds Emmrich in his room.
Origin dependent dialogue:
Emmrich: Ah, Rook! Care to join me on a visit home?
Rook: Time for the old grave rituals?
Emmrich: Yes, the Memorial Gardens need tending.
| Flirted before | Have not flirted before |
|---|---|
| Emmrich: It should be peaceful, and quite undisturbed. You’d be most welcome company. | Emmrich: I could use a fellow Watcher’s company. |
Emmrich: Rook! Interested in visiting the Memorial Gardens?
Rook: What’re you up to?
Emmrich: I must tend to some rites in the Necropolis.
| Flirted before | Have not flirted before |
|---|---|
| Emmrich: It should be peaceful, and quite undisturbed. You’d be most welcome company. | Emmrich: I’d like to show you its more peaceful side. |
Rook meets with Emmrich at the Memorial Garden.
| Mourn Watcher | Non-Mourn Watcher |
|---|---|
| Emmrich: Thank you again for coming. It’ll be good to perform the rites of remembrance with another Watcher. | Emmrich: Thank you again for coming. My duties include tending to these rites of remembrance. |
Manfred: (Friendly hiss)
Emmrich: Excellent, Manfred found his way down. Very good, Manfred!
Rook: He sounds excited.
Manfred looks into some bushes.
Emmrich: I thought we’d start the rites here. A tableau of the dead, commissioned one hundred and seventy-three years ago.
| Mourn Watcher |
|---|
| Rook: I remember this. A visiting Orlesian mage called it the most macabre thing he’d ever seen.Emmrich: Orlesians. Fabulous artists, but no eye for the long run. |
Emmrich: These lives were flickers against the ages: precious, fragile, and finite. Now they serve a warning. Don’t linger overlong in the gloom. Live with grace and fervor, while you may.
Origin dependent dialogue:
Dialogue options:
1 - This brings back memories.
Rook: Brings my childhood flooding back.
Emmrich: A little reminder of home?
Rook: Of growing up.
2 - Finally! I agree completely.
Rook: It’s good to hear another Watcher say that.
Emmrich: It’s a common lesson.
Rook: I like that you’re not so grim about it.
3 - Few people do.
Rook: Not a lot of people take that advice.
Emmrich: It’s still well worth the attempt.
Dialogue options:
- Solid lesson. [1]
- This is so neat. [2]
- Still getting a lot of gloom. [3]
- Afraid: This is so creepy. [4]
1 - Solid lesson.
Rook: No one’s going to seize the day for you.
Emmrich: Just so!
2 - This is so neat.
Rook: It’s like being in a very, very specialized museum.
Emmrich: Yes, but the purpose of the tableau—
Rook: Wait, did one just move?
3 - Still getting a lot of gloom.
Rook: Not sold on the healing power of skeletons.
Emmrich: It’s all in how you approach it.
4 - Afraid: This is so creepy.
Rook: That’s not what I’m getting.
Emmrich: You don’t care for it?
Rook: It’s a bunch of posing skeletons!
5 - Scene continues.
Return to origin choice.Emmrich: That one’s livelier. Here.
He starts a spell.
Emmrich: Who were you, when you breathed above?
One of the skeletons starts to move.
Undead Skeleton: This body was a tailor’s. A mother’s. She laughed and taught and wove the robes kings wore when they were crowned.
Emmrich: (Tsks) Someone must realign her thoracic vertebrae. I hope the novices are inspecting the displays.
Origin dependent dialogue:
Dialogue options:
- I should hope so. [6]
+ Emmrich Approves - There are more pressing lessons. [7]
- Emmrich Disapproves
6 - I should hope so.
Rook: Being a Watcher of the Grand Necropolis should come with standards.
Emmrich: I remember it being better kept in my day. Doubtlessly just the comforting murk of time.
Rook: You could ask someone down here if it’s true.
Emmrich: There’s a thought!
7 - There are more pressing lessons.
Rook: Watchers have more crucial jobs than light cleaning.
Emmrich: Small disciplines build to greater works.
Rook: Advice for your students, professor?
Emmrich: I live in hope a few listened.
8 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Emmrich begins to walk away.
Dialogue options:
- It’d only be right. [6]
+ Emmrich Approves - Why bother? [7]
- Emmrich Disapproves
6 - It’d only be right.
Rook: Seems disrespectful to abandon something you built.
Emmrich: Precisely! No wonder there’s been an uptick in hauntings.
Rook: Wait, what?
7 - Why bother?
Rook: Seems pointless. No one here’s expecting company. Are they?
8 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.There’s a pause.
Emmrich: Let’s continue.
Emmrich begins to walk away.
Candle Lighting
Rook follows Emmrich through the garden.
| Mourn Watcher | Non-Mourn Watcher |
|---|---|
| Rook: Time to light the candles?Emmrich: If you would.Rook: Been a while since I paid homage to our dead. | Rook: So, what now?Emmrich: We light candles in remembrance of the dead. |
Emmrich: Would you care to light the candle, Rook?
Rook lights the candle.
Emmrich: Look at this! The last tomb of the Tanhausens. A very influential family in the Storm Age.
Rook: “We broke the bones of dragons.”
Emmrich: A posthumous motto. Their last heir met his match against a Highland Ravager.
Rook: Death by dragon? I’m surprised there was enough to bury.
They move on.
| Tried to open the garden door on earlier visit to the Necropolis (?) | Did not try to open the garden door on earlier visit to the Necropolis (?) |
|---|---|
| Emmrich: Do you know, I never expected that the door we found back in the Vault of the Beloved would lead here. | Emmrich: How interesting, that the Necropolis moved these gardens so far below. |
| Mourn Watcher | Non-Mourn Watcher |
|---|---|
| Rook: Oh, right, they used to be higher. Did the Necropolis shuffle around its rooms again?Emmrich: It did. We’ll have some work ahead, leading people here on the days of public mourning. | Rook: So the Necropolis actually shuffles its rooms around?Emmrich: From time to time. Very unlikely to happen while we’re inside a chamber. |
Emmrich: Could you light the next candle?
Rook lights the next candle.
Emmrich: Ah-ha! One of my favorite flowers: a variegated Weeping Widower.
Rook: You know your plants.
Emmrich: Oh, alchemy is my hobby. It’s a break from teaching spirit calling and theoretical and applied metaphysics.
Rook: If you ever want a side job, the Crows are always looking for new potions.
Emmrich: Yes. As I recall, you’re… rather famous for it.
Rook: That’s some advanced necromancy.
Emmrich: Well, feel free to browse my books in the Lighthouse! I just found a wonderful work on chronological transection in the Fade.
Rook: Bet you’d love some of the books the Shadow Dragons… liberated from a few magisters.
Rook: Right. Just on the side.
Emmrich starts walking.
Emmrich: This way, Rook.
| Mourn Watcher | Non-Mourn Watcher |
|---|---|
| Rook: That bell did its job. Not a trace of despair demons. I mean spirits.Emmrich: It’s all right. You’ve been away from the Watchers a while.Rook: Thanks. Everyone outside the Necropolis uses “demons” instead of “spirits” all the time.Emmrich: I shan’t judge any slips. | Rook: You were right about the gardens being peaceful.Emmrich: The Necropolis has its dangers, but these places are a refuge for the dead.Rook: How many people are buried here anyway?Emmrich: Excellent question. We really should take a new census. |
Emmrich: You’ll need to light these candles as well.
Rook: Open your hearts to the final day, companion of all the ages.
| Thought Watchers should have standards | Thought the rites are a chore |
|---|---|
| Emmrich: You still have the old ritual memorized?Rook: Like I said, a Watcher should have some standards. | Emmrich: So you remember the garden rituals after all.Rook: I said I don’t think they’re crucial. They were still on my old chore list. |
Emmrich: Open your hearts to the final day, companion of all the ages.
| Thought the displays should be respected | Thought the displays were pointless |
|---|---|
| Emmrich: I was pleasantly surprised by your respect for our undead tableaux earlier, Rook. I’m beginning to think people outside Nevarra find the Necropolis a little unnerving. | Emmrich: You remarked earlier that keeping this place in order seems pointless, but there’s meaning in how we tend the Necropolis.Rook: Just seems like a lot of ceremony.Emmrich: The ceremony can be the point. |
Rook: Crows have plenty of ceremony, believe me.
Rook: The Grey Wardens have some… unusual traditions, too.
Rook: Lords of Fortune have an eye for craftsmanship.
Rook: Shadow Dragons are used to weird architecture. More skulls here, though.
Rook: Well, Veil Jumpers appreciate the importance of history.
(Distant eerie whispers, moving closer)
Emmrich: The spirits gather. Only a few more candles. Follow me.
Orphaned
They pass by another tomb.
Emmrich: Ah, look here.
A wisp approaches.
Origin dependent dialogue:
Dialogue options:
- Hello. [1]
- Adorable. [2]
+ Emmrich Approves - Move along. [3]
1 - Hello.
Rook: Greetings to the dead and undying.
Emmrich: I think it might be welcoming you home.
2 - Adorable.
Rook: Aw, you’re precious.
| Mage | Non-Mage |
|---|---|
| Emmrich: They’re always so drawn to necromancers, aren’t they? | Emmrich: They’re always so fascinated by Mourn Watchers, aren’t they? |
3 - Move along.
Rook: The Senior Watcher and I are busy.
Emmrich: Don’t be so harsh. It’s only curious. Aren’t you?
Dialogue options:
- Um. Hey? [1]
+ Emmrich Approves - Your department, Emmrich. [2]
- Move along now. [3]
1 - Um. Hey?
Rook: Hi. Should I say hi?
Emmrich: It’s curious about you.
2 - Your department, Emmrich.
Rook: This one’s all yours, Emmrich.
Emmrich: Certainly.
3 - Move along now.
Rook: The Senior Watcher and I are busy.
Emmrich: Don’t be so harsh. It’s only curious. Aren’t you?
4 - Scene continues.
Return to origin choice.Emmrich: We’re also enjoying the gardens, but we’ve one last ritual ahead. On your way, my friend.
The wisp leaves.
Rook: Spirits really are your specialty.
Emmrich: I’ve always had a rapport with them. Even as a child, they were my companions.
Rook: After you started training here?
Emmrich: After I was orphaned.
Rook: Oh.
Emmrich: A collapsed building. Swift deaths. After the funeral, the Watchers took me in.
Dialogue options:
- Sorry about your parents. [5]
- Lucky you turned out a mage. [6]
- Down here? [7]
- Mourn Watcher: They did the same with me. [8]
5 - Sorry about your parents.
Rook: Belated condolences, if that’s worth anything.
Emmrich: Always. We move on, as we must. But those long nights linger about the shadows.
Rook: How did you deal with it?
Emmrich: I didn’t. When I first arrived here, I was terrified.
6 - Lucky you turned out a mage.
Rook: Waking up one day with magic must’ve felt lucky.
Emmrich: It put me on a brighter path. (Sighs) I was such a morbid child.
Rook: No!
Emmrich: Everything terrified me when I first arrived.
7 - Down here?
Rook: They thought the Necropolis was the best place for an orphan?
Emmrich: Better to learn death dwells all about us than be deaf when it calls. Yet I was terrified of everything when I arrived.
8 - Mourn Watcher: They did the same with me.
Rook: We’re not so different. Watchers discovered me down here as a foundling.
| Mage | Non-Mage |
|---|---|
| Emmrich: I’d heard a mage was found as an infant in the Necropolis! | Emmrich: I’d heard a Watcher was found as an infant in the Necropolis! |
Rook: Well, I ran around Nevarra’s streets before my magic called. You settled in better.
Emmrich: I needed time. When I first arrived, I was terrified
9 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Rook: And you still joined the Watchers?
Emmrich: They’re what saved me.
The Listening Spirits
Emmrich: Come. The next set of graves lies ahead.
They move on.
Emmrich: Please light the next candles, if you would.
Rook lights the candles.
Emmrich: There’s much to recommend about the rhythm of a ceremony. It eases our worst hours. As a boy, the Watchers’ rituals were exactly what I needed to steady my days with purpose.
| Thought Watchers should have standards (?) | Thought the rites are a chore (?) |
|---|---|
| Rook: If our Necropolis teaches us anything, it’s to face life and death.Emmrich: I was grateful for it Rook. Immensely. | Rook: And we do provide the world’s finest education in necromancy.Emmrich: Studying was a great refuge for me. |
Rook: And some death magic?
Emmrich: Every young mage needs a specialty.
Rook lights the next candles.
Emmrich: All this pageantry, this magnificent gloom and its rites. I ask you, Rook: What is it for?
| Mourn Watcher | Non-Mourn Watcher |
|---|---|
| Rook: “Let no Watcher forget that our greatest treasury is our dead.” | Rook: It’s got to be the living, right? |
Emmrich: Yes! Exactly. Exactly! This place is an abundance—of history, of magic, of memories. The Watchers preserve it so the living may draw comfort from those who’ve gone before.
Rook speaks with Manfred.
| Mourn Watcher | Non-Mourn Watcher |
|---|---|
| Rook: I used to live in the Necropolis myself, Manfred.Manfred: (Curious hiss)Rook: It wasn’t even that long ago. | Rook: Having a good time?Manfred: (Excited hiss) |
They get to the next candles, where Manfred blocks the way.
Emmrich: We must get to the candle please, Manfred.
| Mourn Watcher | Non-Mourn Watcher |
|---|---|
| Rook: I’ve resurrected simple undead before, but I’ve never seen a wisp animate a corpse so smoothly.Emmrich: He’s taken remarkably well to having a body. Haven’t you Manfred? | Rook: You told Harding that Manfred used to be a wisp until you gave him a body?Emmrich: Yes. He’s taken so well to it, haven’t you Manfred? |
Manfred: (Pleased hiss)
Emmrich: Here are the last candles you’ll need to light.
Rook lights the candles.
Emmrich: Once you’re ready, we’ll need to ring the bell.
Emmrich rings the bell.
Emmrich: Let the rites be acknowledged, our bonds seen and sealed.
| Mourn Watcher | Non-Mourn Watcher |
|---|---|
| Rook: We honor the listening spirits. | Emmrich: We honor the listening spirits. |
Two spirits appear.
Emmrich: You must now present yourself to the spirits, Rook.
If Rook wanders away.
Emmrich: You’ll need to approach those spirits to finish the ceremony, Rook.
Rook speaks to them.
Keepsake: Hail from the abyss!
| Mourn Watcher | Non-Mourn Watcher |
|---|---|
| Curio: We witness, good Watchers, faith kept in all our pacts. | Curio: We witness, good Watcher, faith kept in all our pacts. |
The spirits fade.
| Mourn Watcher | Non-Mourn Watcher |
|---|---|
| Rook: It’s been a while since I saw greater spirits of the Necropolis.Emmrich: Those two in particular are amongst our oldest friends. | Rook: What was…Emmrich: The Necropolis hosts many spirits. We thank these guardians for their protection and friendship. |
Emmrich: We’ll need to ring the bell once more, to close out the departing ceremony.
Rook rings the bell once more.
Fear of Dying
They continue walking.
Rook: So you were really afraid of this place as a child?
Emmrich: It wasn’t the Necropolis itself, but what was draped around it. Have you ever been frightened by the thought of dying, Rook?
Origin dependent dialogue:
Dialogue options:
- I’d rather not say. [1]
- I avoid thinking about it. [2]
- Of course. Like most people. [3]
- It doesn’t bother me. [4]
1 - I’d rather not say.
Rook: “Every Watcher must make their peace with death on their own terms, in their own time.”
Emmrich: Are you quoting novice’s maxims at me?
Rook: Obviously.
Emmrich: I wish I’d taken them to heart when I was younger.
2 - I avoid thinking about it.
Rook: Watcher or not, I don’t dwell on it.
Emmrich: It wasn’t a choice for me when I was younger.
3 - Of course. Like most people.
Rook: Hasn’t everyone, from time to time?
Emmrich: When I was younger, it happened more often than that.
4 - It doesn’t bother me.
Rook: It’s part of life.
Emmrich: I wish I’d had your equanimity when I was younger.
Dialogue options:
- Of course. Like most people. [1]
- I don’t think about it. [2]
- It doesn’t bother me. [3]
- This is too heavy for me. [4]
1 - Of course. Like most people.
Rook: Hasn’t everyone, from time to time?
Emmrich: When I was younger, it happened more often than that.
2 - I don’t think about it.
Rook: I try not to think much about the big end.
Emmrich: It wasn’t a choice for me when I was younger.
3 - It doesn’t bother me.
Rook: It’s part of life.
Emmrich: I wish I’d had your equanimity when I was younger.
4 - This is too heavy for me.
Rook: I’m more a punch-first, debate-that-never person.
Emmrich: Oh, I wish I’d had your fortitude when I was younger.
5 - Scene continues.
Return to origin choice.Emmrich: That’s when I discovered I possess a great terror of dying. It goes beyond dread. It can’t be reasoned with or soothed over. It comes without warning, in the dead of night, in sunlit streets. A raw, strangling fear, struck somewhere deep past the heart.
Emmrich rings the bell again, and they start walking.
Rook: That’s an issue for a necromancer.
Emmrich: Oddly, I discovered I wasn’t alone. I debated this fear with friends, I argued with teachers…
Emmrich: Yet… it lingered.
Manfred interrupts them, standing near a table set for tea.
Manfred: (Friendly hiss)
Emmrich: Manfred’s right. That’s maudlin enough. There are struggles, but a Watcher should always find peace amongst the graves.
| Mourn Watcher | Non-Mourn Watcher |
|---|---|
| Emmrich: And what sort of homecoming would this be for you, if we didn’t end with some light refreshment? | Emmrich: And what sort of host would I be, if we didn’t end with some light refreshment? |
Dialogue options:
- Trying to impress? I like it. [6]
- That’s very thoughtful. [7]
- Anything for Manfred. [8]
+ Emmrich Approves - Afraid (Non-Mourn Watcher): In… a graveyard. [9]
- Mourn Watcher: I missed things like this. [10]
6 - Trying to impress? I like it.
Rook: Did you set all this up to make a good impression?
Emmrich: Of course not! I was only—
Rook: Because it’s working.
Emmrich: Then it’s my pleasure to share the tranquility of this place with you.
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.7 - That’s very thoughtful.
Rook: That sounds great, thanks.
Manfred: (Curious hiss)
Emmrich: Would you mind letting Manfred pour? He does so love seeing the steam rise from the cups.
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.8 - Anything for Manfred.
Rook: Well, if Manfred’s excited, how can I refuse?
Manfred: (Excited hiss)
Rook: Cheers, Manfred!
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.9 - Afraid: In… a graveyard.
Rook: We’re having tea. Here.
Manfred: (Happy hiss)
Rook: By the dead.
Emmrich: Tranquility itself. Oh, if you prefer your tea sweet, Manfred loves using the sugar tongs.
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.10 - Mourn Watcher: I missed things like this.
Rook: I’ve pined for some of the Necropolis’ comforts.
Manfred: (Curious hiss)
Emmrich: Would you mind letting Manfred pour? He does so love seeing the steam rise from the cups.
Scene ends.
Return to previous tree.