The Waiting Stone
Back to Harding Directory
Dwarven Contact
Rook: Any luck tracking down your mystery friend?
| Default DAI Worldstate | Custom DAI Worldstate |
|---|---|
| Harding: Orzammar has requested I stop harassing their citizens with my talk of “dwarven magic.” | Harding: The Shaperate didn’t like me asking about Shaper Valta. Or harassing people with talk of “dwarven magic.” |
Dialogue options:
- Affable: That’s disappointing. [1]
- Sarcastic: Should’ve done more than talk. [2]
- Stoic: Screw them. [3]
+ Harding Approves
1 - Affable: That’s disappointing.
Rook: Damn. That’s a disappointment.
Harding: Well, I’m not going to find my answers in Orzammar!
2 - Sarcastic: Should’ve done more than talk.
Rook: Wish we had time to head down there and show them what you can do.
Harding: I don’t think that would’ve helped.
Rook: But think how satisfying it would be.
Harding: Yeah? What’s satisfying about being thrown in a Deep Roads prison? Orzammar takes its heritage very seriously.
3 - Stoic: Screw them.
Rook: Who cares what they say? That shouldn’t stop you.
Harding: I don’t have a choice. At least I know I’m not going to find answers in Orzammar.
4 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Custom DAI Worldstate:
Harding: My contacts had no idea what I was talking about.
Rook: So what now?
Harding: I was thinking… the voice said “look to those closest to the Stone.” What if she never meant Orzammar?
| Dwarf Rook | Non-Dwarf Rook |
|---|---|
| Rook: Are you suggesting… Kal-Sharok?Harding: Yes.Rook: The lost capital of the dwarves? That Kal-Sharok?Harding: Exactly. Its people survived in isolation, apart from the rest of us. | Rook: Eh?Harding: There is another great thaig. The original capital of the dwarves. Kal-Sharok. It was lost during the First Blight, and its people survived in isolation for hundreds of years. |
Harding: They re-emerged, oh, some twenty years ago?
Rook: And you think they’re closer to the Stone.
Harding: Orzammar can’t help. What have I got to lose?
Dialogue options:
- Investigate: What if Orzammar is lying? [5]
- Investigate: Let’s talk about Kal-Sharok. [6]
- What do we do? [7]
5 - Investigate: What if Orzammar is lying?
Rook: Are you sure Orzammar isn’t hiding something?
Harding: Pressing them for information would be tricky. I could anger someone important. If Kal-Sharok doesn’t turn out, I can go back to poking at Orzammar. But not before then.
6 - Investigate: Let’s talk about Kal-Sharok.
Race dependent dialogue:
Rook: You think it’s wise to contact the Kal-Sharok dwarves?
Harding: What do you mean?
Rook: I’ve heard that they’re… different. Tainted, somehow. That when the thaig was abandoned to the darkspawn, its people did things… to survive.
Harding: I’ve heard the same. I hope you don’t think we should avoid them because they’re not like us?
Dialogue options:
- They’re dangerous. [8]
- They’re still our kin. [9]
+ Harding Approves
8 - They’re dangerous.
Rook: I’m just saying they might be dangerous.
Harding: Most of the things we deal with are, Rook. We’ll be careful, I promise.
9 - They’re still our kin.
Rook: Of course not. They’re our kin. And it’s been thousands of years.
Harding: Exactly.
Rook: I’m curious about Kal-Sharok’s isolation.
Harding: The dwarves took heavy losses during the First Blight. To stop the darkspawn from overrunning them, they closed off passages in the Deep Roads. Those that could retreated to Orzammar. Kal-Sharok was lost. They abandoned the city and its people. Sealed them away. With the darkspawn.
Dialogue options:
10 - How awful.
Rook: There must’ve been another way. What they did was monstrous.
Harding: Can you imagine being trapped? Knowing death was coming?
Rook: But they didn’t die. The rumors…
Harding: That the dwarves of Kal-Sharok had to change to survive?
11 - They had no choice.
Rook: They had to. Lose a thaig, or lose everyone?
Harding: Children. Families. It’s unforgivable.
Rook: Sometimes people have to do unforgivable things.
Harding: You’ve heard, haven’t you? That the Kal-Sharok dwarves were forced to change in order to survive?
12 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Harding: No one’s really sure what that means, exactly.
Rook: When we find them, you can ask.
7 - What do we do?
Return to previous tree.Rook: How do we get in touch with these Kal-Sharok dwarves?
Harding: Already working on it! You don’t spend ten years in the Inquisition without making contacts. I should have a meeting set up by the time we’re ready to leave.
The Gates of Kal-Sharok
The party travels to a deep roads entrance.
Harding: Thanks for coming, Rook. I hope the Kal-Sharok dwarves have some answers.
Harding: I’m supposed to meet someone named Stalgard. He told me to come here. He seemed nice, in his message.
Rook: So you don’t actually know who, or what, this Stalgard is.
Harding: A new friend? I hope?
They approach the open courtyard before the doors.
Harding: We’re supposed to meet Stalgard here.
Deepstalkers rise out of the ground, and the party defeats them. The nearby doors open and a dwarf emerges.
Harding: That has to be Stalgard.
They speak to him.
Harding: Stalgard?
Stalgard: Yes.
Harding: I—
Stalgard: Lace Harding. Of the Inquisition.
Harding: Wait, how do you know about—
Stalgard: And this is the one they call Rook.
He turns to the other party member.
-
Bellara in party:
Stalgard: A Dalish elf.
Bellara: Bellara! Nice to meet you! -
Davrin in party:
Stalgard: And Davrin. Grey Warden. An tunsha valt partha, vedur.
Davrin: Anas tu, salroka. -
Emmrich in party:
Stalgard: Emmrich. The Mortalitasi flesh-crafter.
Emmrich: Imprecise, but it does have a ring to it. -
Lucanis in party:
Stalgard: Dellamorte. The Crow. -
Neve in party:
Stalgard: A Tevinter mage. -
Taash in party:
Stalgard: A Qunari gold-hunter from Rivain.
Taash: (Grunts)
Rook: So you’ve heard of us.
Stalgard: You have brought a strange assortment to our gates, Lace Harding.
Dialogue options:
1 - Affable: Thank you for your help.
Rook: Thanks for meeting with us. I really hope you can help Harding.
Stalgard: You are gracious in your address. It is not necessary. Tell me what you wish.
2 - Sarcastic: You studied hard.
Rook: Someone did their reading.
Stalgard: We are not as blind as Orzammar wishes. We know enough.
3 - Stoic: We’re in a hurry.
Rook: We won’t waste anyone’s time. Can you help Harding?
Stalgard: Restless, this one.
4 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Harding: I… I’m looking for someone touched by the ancients. Does that mean anything to you?
Stalgard: Yes. She has been waiting for you. Follow, and keep your weapons ready. The roads are dark. The creatures there, even more so.
They follow Stalgard into Kal-Sharok.
Stalgard: You are staring.
Harding: What? No!
Stalgard: You want to know if you can see the corruption you hear we carry.
Harding: Sorry. I shouldn’t have.
Rook walks around, overhearing some conversations.
Kal-Sharok Scholar: Ilya, have you seen my chisel?
Kal-Sharok Warrior: The one that’s pointed, the one that looks like a wedge, or the tiny one?
Kal-Sharok Scholar: Uh, the tiny one that’s pointed.
Kal-Sharok Warrior: Check your pockets.
Kal-Sharok Scholar: Oh! Here it is.
Another pair chats nearby.
Kal-Sharok Scholar: Have you ever spoken to the Oracle?
Kal-Sharok Warrior: In the sanctum? No. I feel like I’m being watched in that place.
Kal-Sharok Scholar: Oh, that’s probably because you are. You know she can be everywhere in that place, right?
Kal-Sharok Warrior: That doesn’t reassure me.
Rook rejoins Stalgard.
Stalgard: A person will do almost anything to survive. That is what my people did. Become like the darkspawn, or be destroyed by them.
Harding: Not much of a choice.
Rook overhears more dwarves chatting.
Kal-Sharok Sentry: How many times have you been to the surface?
Kal-Sharok Dwarf: I spent a year in Hossberg.
Kal-Sharok Sentry: (Gasps) I didn’t know you were an observer. What was that like?
Kal-Sharok Dwarf: It gave me an appreciation for home. The food up here’s much better than what we get though.
Rook walks by them.
Kal-Sharok Sentry: I always found it strange how much Orzammar’s people fear the surface. Why would they strip your caste just for being up here?
Kal-Sharok Dwarf: It keeps their people loyal. It allows them to easily dismiss those looking for another way to exist.
Rook passes by them again.
Kal-Sharok Sentry: I’d like to see Minrathous one day. I’ve read about it. You ever been?
Kal-Sharok Dwarf: Once. Their palace floats. And it rains a lot.
Kal-Sharok Sentry: Rain. That’s when there’s water from the sky.
Kal-Sharok Dwarf: I once stood in the rain in summer. The water was warm. It was… rather pleasant, actually.
Kal-Sharok Sentry: I’d like to stand in the rain one day.
Stalgard leads them further into Kal-Sharok.
Rook: What do you mean you’re “like the darkspawn?”
| Grey Warden Rook | Non-Grey Warden Rook |
|---|---|
| Stalgard: You, a Grey Warden, are like them so you can defeat them. We are like them so we can survive them. | Scene continues. |
Stalgard: Kal-Sharok was abandoned to its fate many generations ago. When the darkspawn first came. We lost many. Some to the corruption. Some by their own hand. And some found another way. Atuva gelta sa tot. The Stone is colder than death, as they say.
A dwarf and a Warden stand nearby.
Kal-Sharok Dwarf: The Wardens will be welcome here, once the outpost is re-established.
Grey Warden: Wasn’t this a trading outpost before? Do you intend to use it for trade again?
Kal-Sharok Dwarf: Oh, no. That sort of lyrium trade was done generations ago. The Kal-Sharok do not require trade to survive in these times.
They continue to chat.
Kal-Sharok Dwarf: The blight isn’t turned away by mere cold.
Grey Warden: Though perhaps the nodes on the new blight growths might solidify.
Kal-Sharok Dwarf: Well, now I’m curious.
Grey Warden: So am I.
They continue to follow Stalgard through the gates from the outpost.
Harding: The Stone is colder than death? I don’t really understand.
Stalgard: What is death to the Stone? That is what we mean.
They head into the Deep Roads proper.
Stalgard: Darkspawn!
They party fights, and then heads deeper after they defeat the darkspawn.
- Bellara: Brrrr. It’s cold down here.
- Davrin: The shadows down here will play tricks on your mind.
- Emmrich: Reminds me of the Necropolis. Lacking the charm, of course.
- Lucanis: At least it smells better than the Ossuary.
- Neve: This goes on forever, doesn’t it? And people get lost in the catacombs…
- Taash: Dark down here.
Stalgard: Not far now.
Into the Deep Roads
Further in, they come across a door covered in blight.
Stalgard: Blight. It grows too quickly these days. And it feels… different.
Harding: You can feel the blight?
Stalgard: Many from Kal-Sharok can, somewhat. Long story. The corruption here has its root elsewhere. Destroy it, and this growth will become vulnerable.
Rook: Destroy the source of the blight growths? We can do that.
Stalgard: I will stay on guard here.
Rook looks around and finds a lift.
Rook: Lift’s stuck. Looks like a rock wedged in the mechanism.
Harding: I might be able to help with that!
Harding moves a rock out of the way, and the lift starts functioning. Rook looks around before heading into some narrow tunnels full of dwarven architecture.
Harding: I bet it’s this way.
The squeeze through a narrow passage and turn to find more blight and darkspawn.
- Bellara: It feels like someone’s watching us. Is it just me? It’s probably just me.
- Davrin: Why does it feel like there’s someone watching us?
- Emmrich: For a moment there… it was as though a malevolent gaze fell upon us.
- Neve: Hate to say it—but it feels like we’re being watched.
- Lucanis: Spite says there are eyes on us.
- Taash: Something’s watching us. Something not-friendly.
Rook heads into another area full of darkspawn and blight.
Harding: I hate fighting darkspawn, and they’re everywhere down here. What are the chances we won’t see any more of them?
Rook loops around, and when they squeeze through the opening, a figure runs past.
Harding: Wait, did you… did anyone else see that? I thought I saw someone.
Rook: Someone? Down here?
Harding: Maybe it was just a shadow.
They keep clearing the blight.
Harding: Let’s destroy this blight and get out of here.
They clear the last of the blight.
Harding: Blight’s cleared out. Think we can get through the door now? Let’s go check with Stalgard.
Rook wanders around.
Harding: I think we’re done here. Let’s get back to Stalgard.
The party heads back to where Stalgard is waiting and clears out the last of the blight before opening the door.
Stalgard: You did good work. The blight growths have weakened.
Harding: So… we can keep going?
Stalgard: Yes. Come.
Stalgard leads them into the next room, which is full of untainted lyrium.
Stalgard: Mind yourself, and show respect when you enter the sanctum.
Harding: Yes, of course. But who are we meeting?
Stalgard: I will let her speak for herself. But we of Kal-Sharok revere her deeply for being one with the Stone. They say she was once from Orzammar, but she speaks very little of her past.
Stalgard leads them ahead, but Rook takes a moment to walk around.
Harding: There was blight everywhere outside of those doors. But here? It’s clean.
- Davrin: There’s some kind of protective magic around this place. Strong enough to keep the darkspawn away.
- Lucanis: This space is completely free of blight.
- Neve: The blight didn’t make it past the doors. Or couldn’t. Interesting.
- Taash: No blight. No darkspawn.
- Grey Warden Rook: Some protective force is repelling them.
Harding: This person I’m going to see… I think she’s keeping the blight away, somehow.
They follow Stalgard.
Harding: The song… do you hear it? Coming from all around us.
- Bellara: It must be the lyrium, but I’ve never heard it sound so… full.
- Emmrich: They say lyrium sings, but I have never heard it quite so distinctly.
- Lucanis: There’s something about it. I’ve never felt Spite so… quiet.
- Neve: Is it the lyrium? I’ve never heard it this clearly.
Harding: It feels like it’s echoing through my entire being.
| Dwarf Rook | Non-Dwarf Rook |
|---|---|
| Rook: Like I’m part of the song.Harding: Exactly. And it’s calling us home. | Harding: Like I’m part of the melody, and it’s calling me home. |
Harding: (Breathes) I would love to look around more. Do you think Stalgard would mind?
Rook: I think he’d be fine with it.
Rook and the party look around before returning to Stalgard and heading up a steep staircase.
Stalgard: We have arrived.
Harding: But I don’t see anyone.
Stalgard: There. She is waiting.
The Oracle
Rook and Harding walk up to large stone statue.
The Oracle: Thank you for leading her here, Stalgard. They call me the Oracle.
Dialogue options:
- Affable: Wow. [1]
- Sarcastic: Is that a person? [2]
- Stoic: Be careful. [3]
- Afraid: I don’t think I like this. [4]
1 - Affable: Wow.
Rook: That’s… incredible.
Stalgard: Yes. She is.
2 - Sarcastic: Is that a person?
Rook: Is that a rock that just looks like a person? Or a person that looks like a rock?
Stalgard: Yes.
Rook: Oh, good. Thanks.
3 - Stoic: Be careful.
Rook: Careful, Harding.
Stalgard: She has nothing to fear.
4 - Afraid: I don’t think I like this.
Rook: This is how scary stories start, Harding.
Harding: It’s all right, I think.
5 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Harding: I… I know you, don’t I?
The Oracle: Once, I was Valta. As you were Lace, then Scout, and now… something else.
Harding: All this… Is this what I am? Am I like you?
The Oracle: I cannot tell you what you are. Look within, and remember. Remember when the earth was alive, and the Titans walked the land. In one voice they sang. A chorus of creation, and of connection.
Harding: Isatunoll. The song.
The Oracle: When the Titans fell, we awoke, but the melody was already lost.
Harding: The dwarves.
The Oracle: We were always just shattered fragments of a greater whole.
Harding: The Stone sense… my magic. It’s Titan magic. But why? Why did this happen? Why do I remember isatunoll? What happened to the Titans?
A construct rises below them.
The Oracle: There is something else here. It’s found you.
They head back down the stairs to fight.
The Oracle: What have you done?
Harding: I didn’t do anything!
Stalgard: Protect the Oracle!
- Bellara: What is this thing?
- Davrin: Never seen that in any monster manuals!
- Emmrich: Fascinating!
- Lucanis: Is that an angry rock?
- Neve: What is that?
- Taash: What the crap is that?
Deepstalkers join the fight.
Harding: Deepstalkers! That construct probably riled up the wildlife!
Rook: Watch the teeth!
They continue fighting.
- Bellara: I don’t think it likes you, Harding!
- Davrin: Harding, it doesn’t seem too fond of you.
- Emmrich: You seem to have invoked its ire, Harding!
- Lucanis: Harding! What did you do to piss off a rock?
- Neve: Well. It doesn’t like you.
- Taash: It’s going after Harding!
Harding: Why does everyone think this is my fault?
They defeat the construct and head back to the Oracle.
Harding: Everyone alive?
The Oracle: Did you feel it? Fury. Such fury. And with you as its mark.
Harding: M-me? But why?
Dialogue options:
-
Affable: We can take them.
Rook: Hey, we can handle anything that comes our way. -
Sarcastic: Yes, why?
Rook: Good question. Harding hasn’t done anything bad, right? -
Stoic: Because you’re powerful.
Rook: Your new magic. It could be seen as a threat.
The Oracle: There are horrors in the depths. They have awakened to you now. Look within for your answers… and beware.
The Oracle goes silent.
Harding: No! Wait! I have more questions!
Rook: Huh.
Stalgard: She does that. Riddles, riddles, riddles, oh, I am a rock.
Harding: But those weren’t answers! She gave me nothing! Come back!
Harding’s eyes begin to glow.
Harding: Make her come back!
Rook: Harding…
Harding: (Frustrated groan) It’s all right. I’m all right. Sorry. (Sighs) We’re done. Let’s just get out of here.
She walks away.
Return to the Lighthouse
They reconvene back at the Lighthouse n Harding’s room.
Harding: Oh. Hey.
Dialogue options:
- Flirt: You’re brooding. [1]
- Affable: Want company? [2]
- Sarcastic: That oracle was intense. [3]
- Stoic: Buck up. [4]
1 - Flirt: You’re brooding.
Rook: Are you brooding?
Harding: Brooding makes you attractive and mysterious. I read that in the Randy Dowager.
Rook: And how’s that working out for you?
Harding: I don’t know. Do I seem more attractive and mysterious?
Rook: I think you’re always attractive and mysterious. So why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?
Harding: It’s just that whole visit to the Oracle… (Sighs) I barely got to speak with her, and then being attacked by that creature…
2 - Affable: Want company?
Rook: You look like you could use someone to talk to.
Harding: I’m that obvious?
Rook: You’re being uncharacteristically quiet.
Harding: I try to be cheerful. It helps me, and I think it makes other people feel better. But since we saw the Oracle, I don’t know…
Rook: You’re allowed to feel off-balance. That experience with the Oracle was intense.
Harding: But I got nothing out of her except vague hints and even more vague warnings.
3 - Sarcastic: That oracle was intense.
Rook: You’ve had a lot to deal with lately. Rock magic, the oracle…
Harding: We barely learned anything! And why was I attacked?
4 - Stoic: Buck up.
Rook: I know the Oracle didn’t go the way you hoped, but you gotta keep your chin up.
Harding: I’m disappointed. That’s really all there is to it. Maybe it was silly of me to hope all my questions would be answered. Maybe if we hadn’t been interrupted by that attack.
5 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Harding: This was supposed to be a good thing.
Rook: One small hurdle doesn’t erase what’s good about this.
Harding: Maybe you were right to feel uneasy about all this.
Harding: When you said this was weird, I bet you didn’t realize how weird it would get.
Harding: I just wish I knew what to do.
Dialogue options:
6 - Flirt: I don’t know, but I’m here.
Rook: Whatever you decide to do, you aren’t alone.
Harding: I know. It’s nice to know I have friends. And you, of course.
Rook: I’m not a friend?
Harding: Oh! I didn’t mean that. I just meant that you’re… special. Er, special-er. Having you by my side has made all this easier to bear. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here.
Rook: I know. And I’ll be here as long as you need me. That’s a promise.
Scene ends. Return to previous tree.
7 - Keep safe.
Rook: No matter what, we’ll make sure you’re safe.
Harding: How?
Rook: We watch out for you. And prepare for a fight.
Harding: You think it’ll be a fight?
Rook: When is it not?
Harding: Maybe there’s nothing to do now but wait and see.
8 - Focus on the job.
Rook: We can’t let this distract us from the elven gods.
Harding: I’m not distracted. I’m confused. And concerned. But I suppose we do have other problems.
9 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Harding: I’m grateful for all your encouragement. This would be so much harder without your support.
Rook: Anytime, Harding. Anytime.
Harding: And thanks, by the way, for tolerating my change, despite your feelings on it. I just hope I get more answers soon.
Harding: And thanks for being on this bizarre journey with me. It really makes me feel less alone.
Rook: We’re in this together, right?
Harding: Absolutely.
The scene fades, and one of Varric’s narratives cuts in.
Varric: Harding left the Oracle’s sanctum disappointed. Maybe she’d expected too much. Maybe there were no answers to be had. Seething with questions, she forgot the Oracle’s dire warning. But far below the surface, something was moving, determined to be seen, and fighting to be remembered.
Deleted Dialogue