Main Dialogue
A Change on the Wind
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First Warden’s Orders
Rook returns to the Lighthouse and finds Davrin in the main room.
Davrin: Rook. Just got word. First Warden’s calling everyone back to Weisshaupt.
| Grey Warden Rook | Non-Grey Warden Rook |
|---|---|
| Davrin: Everyone except us, seems like. Guess the First Warden holds a grudge. | Davrin: Everyone except me, seems like. Guess the First Warden didn’t like me joining your team. |
Rook: Calling Wardens back from all over Thedas is a big step. Did he give any reason why?
Davrin: Not exactly. But I’ve heard rumors of a massive darkspawn horde on the move. Even hearing there’s an Archdemon with them.
Dialogue options:
- We need to warn them. [1]
- How far out? [2]
- Has to be the gods. [3]
- Grey Warden: Razikale or Lusacan? [4]
1 - We need to warn them.
Rook: We need to warn the Wardens. Let them know what’s coming.
Davrin: Agreed.
2 - How far out?
Rook: How long do we have?
Davrin: A day? A week? Darkspawn are charging through the Deep Roads. Makes it hard to get an accurate idea of where they are.
3 - Has to be the gods.
Rook: The timing can’t be a coincidence. The gods must be behind this.
Davrin: I bet they are.
4 - Grey Warden: Razikale or Lusacan?
Rook: The other Archdemons are dead. Only Razikale and Lusacan live. So which one is it?
Davrin: No one has a good look yet. Makes it hard to tell.
5 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Davrin: Rook, if the gods have an Archdemon… Warden lore says Archdemons only show up during a Blight. Doesn’t say anything about elven gods. Seems like the rules have changed, and we’re going in blind. We need to know what we’re up against.
Rook: I’ll talk to Solas. See if he knows anything about any of this. Make sure the others are ready to move.
About the Archdemons
Rook goes to the meditation room to speak with Solas.
Solas: How fares your battle?
Rook: The gods are moving against Weisshaupt and the Grey Wardens. We’ve heard rumors the darkspawn are being led by an Archdemon.
Solas: And you have questions.
Rook: I need to know how Archdemons relate to the gods. Are they just like the blighted dragons, or are they something else? I also need to know how to deal with the gods if they show up at Weisshaupt.
Solas: I propose a bargain. I will answer your question, if you answer mine.
Rook: What?
Solas: How are the Grey Wardens? Do they understand the truth of the danger yet?
Dialogue options:
- Investigate: I proved myself already. [1]
- Affable: Some of them do. [2]
- Sarcastic: What if I answer with a lie? [3]
- Stoic: Their leader is an idiot. [4]
1 - Investigate: I proved myself already.
Rook: We’ve been through this already. You agreed to help me.
Solas: What did you think my help would look like, Rook? I need to know that you are prepared.
2 - Affable: Some of them do.
Rook: I’ve gotten a few of them to come around.
Solas: “A few of them”?
| Grey Warden Rook | Non-Grey Warden Rook: |
|---|---|
| Solas: You are a Grey Warden, yourself. Surely you have friends within the Order you might call upon.Rook: I do, and I have. We’ve recruited another Warden named Davrin. | Rook: We’ve even got a Grey Warden on the team now. Davrin. |
Solas: But the Grey Wardens as a whole still do not trust you yet, as I feared.
Rook: We’re making progress.
3 - Sarcastic: What if I answer with a lie?
Rook: You know I could just lie to you, right?
Solas: Indeed. But the truth is merely recalled, while a lie must be constructed. Knowing you would expend the effort to construct that lie rather than answer truthfully would tell me a great deal.
Rook: (Sighs) The First Warden refuses to listen.
Solas: As I feared.
Rook: I tried diplomacy. I tried being firm. Nothing worked.
4 - Stoic: Their leader is an idiot.
Rook: No. The First Warden still refuses to listen.
Solas: As I feared.
Rook: I tried diplomacy. I tried being firm. Nothing worked.
5 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.(Dialogue varies based on choices in a previous conversation with Solas)
Solas: When I asked why you should be trusted to lead the fight, you said that nobody else was doing it. That sufficed for me, but you will need more to convince the Grey Wardens. They see themselves as destined to lead this battle.
Solas: When I asked why you should be trusted to lead the fight, you denied that you were even the leader. That sufficed for me, but the Grey Wardens believe in dedication and authority. They already see themselves as the perfect choice to fight the darkspawn.
Solas: When I asked why you should be trusted to lead the fight, you said you were no stranger to fighting stronger opponents. That sufficed for me, but the Grey Wardens fight darkspawn and Archdemons, foes no one else can stand against. They see themselves as the best prepared for this battle.
Solas: You cannot defeat Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain without the Wardens. What will you do to bring them to your side?
Dialogue options:
- Keep talking to the Wardens. [6]
- Let the Wardens try. [7]
- It’s about the First Warden. [8]
- (After making a different choice) Whatever is necessary. [9]
6 - Keep talking to the Wardens.
Rook: All I can really do is keep trying to get through to them.
Solas: Have you ever ridden home in a wagon and felt the streets go from paved to dirt beneath the wheels? The horses slow, and everything grows quiet as you near home. What do you call that feeling?
Rook: I don’t really have a word for it.
Solas: No, you do not. Elgar’nan destroyed that emotion. He burned it from the mind of every living being. There were spirits of that feeling, just as there are spirits of joy, or fear, or despair. I begged them to fight.
Rook: What happened to them?
Solas: They waited too long. Without the emotion in this world to focus on, they faded until nothing remained. When you grow quiet, it is a part of your soul reaching for a feeling and finding emptiness, because I failed.
Rook: I understand. I’m not going to fail.
Solas: How? What will you do?
7 - Let the Wardens try.
Rook: I can’t force the First Warden to listen. I have to let the Wardens try it their way.
Solas: And how many Wardens will die before the First Warden realizes his mistake?
Rook: I’ve done everything I can to reason with him.
Solas: I once warned an elven village that Ghilan’nain was coming and they were in danger. They would not listen. I had to watch as their bodies twisted, as their shrieks turned into the grunting of animals. Their eyes were the worst part. They were still aware. They knew what had been done to them. I gained little peace from knowing that I had tried to warn them. Is that what you hope for?
Rook: No. I have to find a way to get through to them.
Solas: Then what will you do?
8 - It’s about the First Warden.
Rook: I don’t have to convince all of them. I just have to convince the First Warden.
Solas: Or remove him.
Rook: Enjoyable as that is to imagine, I doubt the rest of the Wardens would approve.
Solas: Did you know the Evanuris once numbered many more than those whose names survived in the elven pantheon? One warlord was particularly cruel. I sought to free his slaves, but so fearsome was his reputation that none would join me.
Rook: What did you do?
Solas: I made people laugh at him.
Rook: How did that help?
Solas: For twelve years. Every sound near him, from whispered pleas to shouted oaths to crackling fire, all became mocking laughter. His mind broke under the ridicule, and when he fell, his slaves rose up and joined me.
Rook: I doubt laughter is going to work on the First Warden.
Solas: If not that, then what?
9 - Whatever is necessary.
10 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Rook: Whatever it takes.
Solas: Easily said. But it will have to be enough for now.
Solas: You have answered my question, and I owe you an answer in return.
Rook: Yes. The Old Gods of Tevinter. The Archdemons.
Solas: There never were Tevinter gods. The Archdemons, as you call them, were always merely the weapons of the Evanuris.
Rook: All right. Let’s hope we can find the gods before they find their “weapons.”
Solas: Unfortunately, the dragon thralls’ life force is bound to the Evanuris as both power and protection. You will not be able to kill, or likely even harm, one of the Evanuris until their dragon thrall is slain.
Dialogue options:
- Investigate: How did Tevinter gods talk? [11]
- Investigate: Tell me of their dragons. [12]
- Affable: What am I missing? [13]
- Sarcastic: Oh, is that all? [14]
- Stoic: Simple enough. [15]
11 - Investigate: How did Tevinter gods talk?
Rook: The old stories of the Tevinter gods have them whispering in the dreams of ancient magisters. How did they do that, if they were just tools of the elven gods?
Solas: The Archdemons were once high dragons. The Evanuris bound them as a source of power. When I imprisoned the gods, their dragons remained free. That was my mistake.
Rook: How so?
Solas: I never bound a dragon to myself, for I believed that to enslave another creature was immoral. As such, I did not understand the power that connection gave. I thought the prison I had made was perfect.
12 - Investigate: Tell me of their dragons.
Rook: What can you tell me about the Archdemons themselves?
Solas: Each is different, shaped by the whims and ego of its master. Elgar’nan is the lord of tyranny. He would have ruled alone had Mythal not forced him to share power. Those who are strong, he molds into dictators themselves with visions of godhood. Those who are weak, he crushes. His Archdemon reflects him. It is huge, to feed his ego—the epitome of dragonkind, bent to his will. But their dragons were the conduit through which they spoke to dreaming minds.
Dialogue options:
- Affable: He sounds awful. [16]
- Sarcastic: Wow. You hate him. [17]
- Stoic: That will be his downfall. [18]
16 - Affable: He sounds awful.
Rook: Elgar’nan sounds legitimately terrible.
Solas: He is cruelty and arrogance personified. All of the Evanuris were flawed, but he made all of them worse.
17 - Sarcastic: Wow. You hate him.
Rook: Damn. Tell me what you really think of the guy.
Solas: He is cruelty and arrogance personified. All of the Evanuris were flawed, but he made all of them worse.
18 - Stoic: That will be his downfall.
Rook: What about Ghilan’nain and her dragon? Pride and ego can blind someone. We can exploit that.
19 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Solas: By contrast, Ghilan’nain was a servant of Andruil whose skill at making monsters earned her promotion to the Evanuris. She is brilliant, ambitious, and unconstrained by anything you would understand as morality. In a kinder world, you would never need to see what she has done to her Archdemon. In this world, I only hope you kill it quickly. In any event, the Evanuris will not be vulnerable until their Archdemons are dead.
13 - Affable: What am I missing?
Rook: Any other surprises we should know about?
14 - Sarcastic: Oh, is that all?
Rook: It says a lot about these talks that “kill an Archdemon” is the easy part.
Solas: It will not be easy, but you are this world’s only hope. I would not suggest this path if I did not believe you could succeed.
Rook: Aw, the god of lies believes in me.
15 - Stoic: Simple enough.
Rook: Kill the Archdemon, then kill the elven god it was attached to. Got it.
20 - Scene continues.
Return to previous main tree.Solas: Even with their dragons dead, the Evanuris are powerful and well protected. You will need to use my dagger, the one you recovered. It can pierce their enchantments and strike them down.
Rook: All right: Kill the Archdemons, then use the dagger to take down the gods.
Solas: Even a single opportunity to strike the Evanuris down will be rare, fleeting, and costly. You will not have another chance to catch them unawares. When you strike, you must be fully prepared.
Deleted Dialogue