The Inquisition
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Limited Conversation
Rook: Did I see you writing a message to the Inquisition? What’s that about?
Harding: You know Varric and I were part of the Inquisition, right? I’m trying to get news about the South. But Charter hasn’t replied to any of my messages. I’m trying not to worry about what’s happening there but… No, it’s probably fine. Charter’s just busy. She’s always busy.
Rook: Charter. Who’s that?
Harding: She’s the Inquisition’s spymaster.
| Inquisition disbanded | Inquisition turned into arm of the Chantry |
|---|---|
| Harding: Or she would be if there was still an Inquisition. I suppose she just works for the Inquisitor now. | Harding: Well, no. I guess now that the Inquisition answers to the Chantry, that makes her Divine Victoria’s spymaster. |
Dialogue options:
- Investigate: The Inquisition’s presence… [1]
- Affable: We could use her help. [2]
- Sarcastic: Should I be worried? [3]
- Stoic: What does she want? [4]
1 - Investigate: The Inquisition’s presence…
Rook: I haven’t heard much about the Inquisition in years.
Harding: Oh, that’s intentional. When the Breach was open, we needed a large group to stop southern Thedas from falling into chaos.
Harding: It’s changed in the years since. We’re a smaller force, working underground to keep an eye on things going on in the world.
2 - Affable: We could use her help.
Rook: Why isn’t she here? We could use a hand.
Harding: Charter entrusted the search for Solas to Varric. To us. The world’s large, and she’s got many things to deal with.
3 - Sarcastic: Should I be worried?
Rook: A spymaster? She… doesn’t know things about me, does she? Do I need to worry?
Harding: Charter probably knows everything about you. Oh, but she’s not going to use it against you! I mean, if you behave.
4 - Stoic: What does she want?
Rook: Does your spymaster expect something from us? I don’t work for the Inquisition.
Harding: I know that. And Charter knows that. But there are still people in the organization invested in knowing how things are going. With Solas. Especially.
5 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Rook: So, how long were you with the Inquisition? Ten years?
Harding: Something like that. Why?
Rook: You must know the Inquisitor.
Harding: Well, yeah. We worked together. I wasn’t part of the Inquisitor’s inner circle though. I spent more time with the ordinary people. The ones you didn’t hear about.
Dialogue options:
- Special: Ordinary people? [6]
+ Harding Approves - Special: And the inner circle? [7]
+ Harding Approves - Special: What about the advisors? [8]
+ Harding Approves - Do you miss the Inquisition? [9]
6 - Special: Ordinary people?
Rook: So tell me about these ordinary Inquisition members I haven’t heard about.
Harding: The Inquisition hired hundreds. And most of them weren’t magisters or Ben-Hassrath or the Left Hand of the Divine. There were scouts and stable hands. Carpenters and cooks and quartermasters. Even two dedicated pastry chefs. Most of them volunteered, like me. We wanted to help, in whatever small way we could.
Dialogue options:
10 - Affable: It wasn’t small.
Rook: You helped people. That’s not small.
Harding: It sure felt like it sometimes. I’d sit with Rector and Falkner, and we’d watch the important people with their important business rushing by.
11 - Sarcastic: Pastry chefs?
Rook: I’m sure those pastries were a great help.
Harding: My ma likes to say that sometimes the pie is for eating, and sometimes it’s for crying into. It doesn’t even need to be pie. Rector liked cake, and Falkner loved soup. But food was always a comfort.
12 - Stoic: I remember the chaos.
Grey Warden Veil Jumper Other Rook: I’ve heard stories about the rifts, and the Grey Wardens being misled by Corypheus. Rook: I’ve heard stories. Some of the older Veil Jumpers remember dealing with rifts. Rook: It wasn’t as bad where I was, but I remember the demon-spitting sky holes. Harding: Nothing like demon-spitting sky holes to bring people together, huh? I made friends—Rector, Falkner, others.
13 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Rook: Rector? Falkner?
Harding: Leliana gave all her agents pseudonyms.
Rook: Right. Like Charter.
Harding: Well, Charter’s Charter. But when the other two and I were together, we were just Lace, Wilbur, and Katja.
7 - Special: And the inner circle?
Rook: But you did know people from the Inquisitor’s inner circle, didn’t you?
Harding: I knew them, sure. But those early days, all I wanted was to prove myself and not get in anyone’s way. Some of them were more approachable than others.
Worldstate dependent dialogue:
Harding: Most of the time I just watched them from afar. Listened to their snippets of conversation as they walked by.
Harding: Sera was a puppy with a new toy. A hundred new toys. Fun, if you can handle the mess. She was really the only one who could make Rainier—well, Blackwall then—let down his guard. Otherwise he kept to himself and stuck to the stables. We’d talk when I visited the horses. And there was Cole, of course.
Rook: The spirit boy?
Harding: Yep. I was just sitting on the walls one day, and he asked if he could join my game.
Rook: Like, a card game?
Harding: Nah, just good old people-watching. Must’ve seemed like a game to him, somehow. We’d pick strangers out of the crowd and try to say something about them. Like: “She heard the joke yesterday, and she’s still trying not to laugh.” Or one of Cole’s: “His eyes remind her of the ones beneath her bed.”
Dialogue options:
14 - Affable: What?
Rook: I… I have so many questions.
Harding: Believe me, I did, too.
Rook: Cole didn’t elaborate?
Harding: I think I prefer the mystery, don’t you?
15 - Sarcastic: Eyes? Under the bed?
Rook: Who stores eyes under their bed? I’m partial to a nice wall display, myself.
Harding: Well, that’s one interpretation that never occurred to me. Thanks.
Rook: You’re welcome.
16 - Stoic: Creepy.
Rook: Okay, that’s just a creepy thing to say.
Harding: Cole was like that. Weird, wonderful, and occasionally a little bit creepy.
17 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Rook: Wasn’t Cole an empath? He must’ve been great at this game.
Harding: Ah, but the rule was, you couldn’t say anything you actually knew. He got it in the end. I… think.
Rook: So you didn’t ask him if you guessed right?
Harding: Being right wasn’t the point. Making a habit of seeing people was. I think he liked that. “It’s why you don’t miss.”
Return to worldstate choice.
Return to previous main tree.
8 - Special: What about the advisors?
Rook: And the Inquisitor’s advisors? What about them?
Worldstate dependent dialogue:
Harding: I wouldn’t say I was close to any of them. The spymaster, Leliana, was aloof. Commander Cullen and I were both from Ferelden, so we got along. Ambassador Montilyet is my favorite, though. She’s lovely.
Harding: Of all of them, I’d say Josephine is my favorite. She’s lovely. She still sends me a box of handmade sweets from Val Royeaux, every year on my nameday. Cullen and I got along, too, but he was always busy. He would have bad days from lyrium withdrawal sometimes, and I would share the tea that my ma sent. He’s from Ferelden, too. Maybe it reminded him of home.
Rook: What about Leliana? I heard she’s… intense.
Harding: I think she likes to cultivate that reputation. She’s not nearly as terrifying as she sounds. I passed her in the great hall one day, and she suddenly turned and asked me if I wanted a nug.
| Dwarf Rook | Non-Dwarf Rook |
|---|---|
| Rook: What, like, for lunch? If I had a copper for every time someone’s asked me if I eat nug…Harding: Leliana wouldn’t joke like that! No, she just bred them. As pets. | Rook: A nug? Those small pink rodent things? What for?Harding: She loved them and made a hobby of breeding them as pets. |
Rook: So, did you take the nug?
Harding: No! What am I going to do with a nug?
Dwarf Rook:
Harding: Do not say “Eat it.”
Return to worldstate choice.
Return to previous main tree.
9 - Do you miss the Inquisition?
Rook: Do you miss it? The Inquisition, I mean.
Harding: It’s hard to miss an organization. They’re only as good as their people, don’t you think? But I do miss my friends. We write to each other, but it’s not the same. And the Inquisition is different from what we’ve built here. Not better or worse, just different. It’s special when you’re among people working towards the same goal.
18 - Scene continues.
Rook: Not everyone. There was Solas. What did you really think of him? Back then?
Harding: Lonely. He always seemed lonely. It’s hard not to be when you hold yourself above everyone else.
Dialogue options:
19 - I feel sorry for him.
Rook: As smart as he’s supposed to be, there’s just some things he doesn’t get. At all.
Harding: Maybe one day he will. Maybe if you help him.
20 - He’s a jerk.
Rook: You mean it’s hard not to be lonely when you’re a pompous ass?
Harding: Something like that.
Rook: You can say it, you know. Try it out. “Solas is a pompous ass.”
Harding: Maybe he is, but I can still feel sorry for him, can’t I?
21 - He has a crusade.
Rook: He might be lonely, but I doubt he cares. He’s single-minded. Nothing else matters besides his crusade.
Harding: Because it’s the only thing he’s had. My ma used to say a caged dog forgets there’s grass outside.
22 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Harding: Anyway, I’m sure something out there’s on fire and here I am, rambling about the past. I should let you go. Talk later?
Deleted Dialogue