Unwanted Guests
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Trouble in Arlathan
Rook travels to Arlathan and meets with Strife and Irelin at the Veil Jumper Camp.
Rook: Strife. I got a tip there might be trouble here in Arlathan.
Strife: You’re just in time. We’ve got a problem.
Irelin: I was out with a scouting party, and we spotted Venatori moving into the area.
Rook: They’re being directed by Elgar’nan or Ghilan’nain. They have to be. The Grey Wardens warned us the gods were heading to Arlathan. But why bring the Venatori?
Strife: We don’t know. That’s where you come in.
Dialogue options:
- Affable: I’m happy to help. [1]
- Stoic: I’ll take them out. [2]
- Afraid: Venatori are always trouble. [3]
1 - Affable: I’m happy to help.
Rook: Well, that sounds like trouble. How can I help?
Strife: Nip it in the bud. Don’t let them stir up anything worse.
2 - Stoic: I’ll take them out.
Rook: A few less Venatori in the world is a good thing.
Strife: Or a lot less Venatori.
3 - Afraid: Venatori are always trouble.
Rook: Every time I bump into the Venatori there’s some kind of evil rune, ritual, or relic involved.
Strife: Or all three.
4 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Irelin: I’ll give you the rough location where we sighted them, but you might have to search beyond that.
Strife: They want something, and we need to know what they’re up to.
Rook: I’ll find out what it is.
Strife: Feel free to take out as many of them as you can. This is our forest.
Rook heads out with their party.
- Bellara: Venatori. As if things weren’t already bad enough around here.
- Davrin: Never a boring day in Arlathan. Now it’s Venatori?
- Harding: Never a boring day in Arlathan. Now it’s Venatori?
- Emmrich: So now the Venatori come to plague Arlathan.
- Lucanis: Did Arlathan not have enough trouble without adding Venatori?
- Neve: Arlathan’s never boring. And now it has Venatori.
- Taash: Arlathan’s always got weird crap going on. Now it’s got Venatori?
Rook: The gods sent them. I need to know what they’re plotting.
They head through the forest.
Rook: Right… so we need to find these Venatori. I’ve got the spot Irelin marked on the map. Let’s start there.
- Davrin: The forest doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Too much… evil in the air.
- Harding: Something just feels wrong here. I don’t like it.
- Lucanis: This place makes the back of my eyes hurt.
- Neve: This place… it gives me a sick feeling.
- Taash: The forest smells wrong. Dead stuff. Or burnt. I don’t know.
- Bellara: This was the center of a war between Tevinter magisters and ancient elves. Blood magic everywhere. The magisters destroyed Arlathan City. That kind of magic leaves an impression.
- Davrin: Arlathan was the center of a war between Tevinter magisters and ancient elves. The whole place was destroyed, then buried into the ground. Blood magic everywhere.
- Emmrich: Arlathan was the center of a war between Tevinter magisters and the ancient elves. Everything was buried or destroyed. The area’s still rife with old blood magic.
| Veil Jumper Rook | Non-Veil Jumper Rook |
|---|---|
| Rook: A lot of bad history in Arlathan. War. Blood magic. I’m sure some of that stuck around. | Rook: Arlathan was the center of a war between Tevinter and ancient elves. This whole place was destroyed by blood magic. |
Fighting Venatori
They head into a grove crawling with Venatori.
- Davrin: Irelin was right. There’s the Venatori.
- Emmrich: Just as Irelin said: Venatori, right over there.
- Harding: Irelin was right. Venatori over there.
- Lucanis: Venatori. Irelin was right.
- Neve: Irelin was right. There’s our Venatori.
- Taash: Venatori. Guess Irelin was right.
| Veil Jumper elf Rook | Non-Veil Jumper, non-elf Rook |
|---|---|
| Rook: Time to show them some Dalish hospitality. | Rook: Let’s kick ‘em out. |
The defeat the Venatori.
- Bellara: That’s the last of them.
- Davrin: That’s the last of them.
- Emmrich: It’s over.
- Harding: I think we got them all.
- Lucanis: That’s the last of them.
- Neve: We took care of them.
- Taash: They’re all down.
Rook: Good. Now, what were they doing out here?
- Bellara: Looks like they set up a camp.
- Davrin: Looks like they have a camp.
- Emmrich: They’ve made a camp.
- Harding: Looks like they have a camp.
- Lucanis: They set up camp here.
- Neve: Looks like they have a camp.
- Taash: Setting up a camp?
Rook: Let’s take a look.
Rook looks around the camp, checking out a note on a nearby table
Rook: This is Dalish. And there’s a Dalish camp nearby. If the Venatori hit them…
| Bellara in party |
|---|
| Bellara: Let’s go. Now. |
Rook: This looks Dalish. I think there’s a Dalish camp nearby.
| Bellara in party | Davrin in party | Bellara/Davrin not in party |
|---|---|---|
| Bellara: Let’s go. Now. | Davrin: It’s not far from here. We better check on them. | Rook: We better check. Let’s go. |
Rook: Not sure what this is. Bellara?
Bellara: It’s Dalish. There’s a Dalish camp nearby. If the Venatori hit them…
Rook: They could be in trouble.
Bellara: Let’s go. Now.
Rook: If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was Dalish.
- Davrin: It is. And there’s a Dalish camp nearby. If the Venatori hit them…
- Emmrich: They must’ve stolen it from somewhere. Perhaps a nearby Dalish camp?
- Harding: Is there a Dalish camp nearby? Maybe they got it there.
- Lucanis: There have to be Dalish nearby.
- Neve: They got it from somewhere. Maybe a Dalish camp nearby?
- Taash: So where’d they get it? Must be a Dalish camp nearby.
Rook: That can’t be good. We need to find the camp. Let’s go.
The party continues through the forest, across a ruined bridge.
- Bellara: We’ve seen Venatori out here before. They’re always looking for relics. I wonder if that’s what the gods have them hunting for.
- Davrin: I know the occasional Venatori will cross into Arlathan hunting for relics. Do you think that’s what the gods are after? Something ancient?
- Emmrich: I’ve heard of the odd Venatori straying into Arlathan on the hunt for artifacts. Perhaps an ancient relic is what the gods are after?
- Harding: Venatori have been known to raid Arlathan for old magic. Maybe that’s what the gods have them searching for: old magic.
- Neve: I’ve heard Venatori will sneak into Arlathan to steal relics, but this… Unless that’s exactly what the gods have them looking for. Something old and precious.
- Taash: I can see the Venatori sneaking into Arlathan to steal relics. Heard about ‘em doing that from the Lords. Maybe this time they’re stealing them for the gods.
The find more Venatori.
- Davrin: Watch it! More Venatori!
- Emmrich: Look out! More Venatori!
- Harding: More Venatori!
- Lucanis: More Venatori!
- Neve: Watch your back! More Venatori!
- Taash: We’ve got more Venatori!
The party defeats them.
| Bellara in party | Davrin in party |
|---|---|
| Bellara: Looks like we got ‘em all. But this many Venatori in Arlathan is just wrong. I’ve never seen it like this. | Davrin: That was the last one. There shouldn’t be any Venatori in Arlathan, not in these numbers. |
Rook: At least we’re headed the right way.
- Emmrich: That’s the last of them.
- Harding: That was the last!
- Lucanis: That was the last.
- Neve: We got the last of them here.
- Taash: That’s it for these assholes.
Rook: This must mean we’re headed the right way.
They head into the Jagged Ruins.
Rook: Arlathan Forest is as weird as ever. Come on, rocks seems stable enough. Let’s get through here.
Find the Dalish
The party meets with a Veil Jumper at the top of the Jagged Ruins.
| Bellara in party | Bellara not in party |
|---|---|
| Galadar: Bellara! There’s Venatori ahead!Bellara: Galadar–stay put. We’ll take care of them. | Galadar: Careful! There’s Venatori ahead.Rook: We’ll handle them. Sit tight. |
They head into the nearby room.
- Venatori 1: We don’t have time for this!
- Venatori 1: Get it open!
- Venatori 2: We don’t know how they locked it!
- Venatori 1: Hurry!
- Venatori 2: We need one of their Veil Jumpers to do it!
Rook’s party fights and defeats the Venatori and then speaks to the nearby Veil Jumper again.
Bellara: Galadar, what’s happening?
Galadar: The Venatori are rounding up Dalish. I locked that barrier, but some of them already got through.
Bellara: Hold on. Rounding up Dalish?
| Veil Jumper Rook | Non-Veil Jumper Rook |
|---|---|
| Rook: Good. Glad to see another Veil Jumper. What’s happening? | Rook: You look like a Veil Jumper. What’s happening? |
Galadar: The Venatori are rounding up Dalish. I locked that barrier, but some of them already got through.
| Davrin in party | Davrin not in party |
|---|---|
| Davrin: What do you mean they’re rounding up Dalish? | Rook: Wait, rounding up Dalish? |
Galadar: There are more Dalish inside the ruins. They were camped there.
Rook: All right, get back to Strife and Irelin and let them know.
Rook turns their attention back to the locked door.
Rook: Damn it. Still locked.
- Bellara: The symbols we need are above the door.
- Davrin: Above the door. Those must be the symbols.
- Emmrich: Those must be the symbols in question, above the door.
- Harding: There are symbols above the door.
- Lucanis: Rook. Over the door there. Symbols.
- Neve: Above the door. Those must be the symbols.
- Taash: Those symbols over the door. That’s what we were supposed to find?
Rook: Okay, let’s get it unlocked.
Rook sleects the wrong rune.
Rook: That didn’t do anything.
- Bellara: The symbols need to be matched in order.
- Davrin: I think you need to match the symbols in order.
- Emmrich: I believe those symbols need to be matched in the same order.
- Harding: Maybe you should match those symbols in order?
- Lucanis: I think you want to match those symbols, in order.
- Neve: I’d try matching the symbols in order.
- Taash: Maybe try doing the symbols in order. That crap matters in this kinda stuff.
Rook selects the correct rune.
- Bellara: That worked! Keep going.
- Davrin: That worked. Keep going.
- Emmrich: That worked. Keep going.
- Harding: It worked! Let’s keep going.
- Lucanis: It worked. Keep going.
- Neve: That worked out. Keep going.
- Taash: Seemed to work. Keep doing your thing.
Rook unlocks the barrier.
- Bellara: That did it!
- Davrin: That did it.
- Emmrich: Excellent! That did it.
- Harding: There! You got it.
- Lucanis: Well done.
- Neve: Nice work.
- Taash: Nice!
Rook: Time to get moving.
They head through the door.
- Davrin: I don’t like this. Venatori just show up and attack the Dalish for no reason?
- Emmrich: What would the Venatori gain by attacking the Dalish without reason?
- Harding: Why would Venatori hunt down the Dalish for no reason?
- Lucanis: Venatori plans are always twisted. They wouldn’t come here at random. They want something.
- Neve: Why would Venatori attack the Dalish? They wouldn’t come here without a reason.
- Taash: Why would Venatori attack the Dalish for no reason?
| Bellara in party | Davrin in party |
|---|---|
| Bellara: Who says they don’t have a reason? We have to get in there. | Davrin: They wouldn’t. There’s more going on here. We have to stop this. |
Rook: I don’t think this is random. They’ve got a plan, and we need to stop it.
They head out into the Venatori camp.
- Bellara: There they are!
- Davrin: There they are!
- Emmrich: There they are!
- Harding: Found them!
- Lucanis: There!
- Neve: There they are!
- Taash: There they are!
Bellara/Darvin: What do you want? Why are you attacking my people?
| Veil Jumper Elf Rook | Non-Veil Jumper, non-elf Rook |
|---|---|
| Rook: What do you want? Why’d you attack my people? | Rook: What do you want? Why’d you attack these people? |
The defeat the Venatori.
- Davrin: That’s the last of ‘em.
- Emmrich: It’s finished.
- Harding: Got them all!
- Lucanis: The job’s done.
- Neve: All right. It’s over.
- Taash: Got ‘em!
Bellara/Davrin/Rook: Not soon enough.
Rook: We still don’t know what they’re doing here. Let’s keep looking around.
They continue to look around the camp. until they find a downed bridge with a nearby power crystal slot.
Rook: The bridge is out.
- Bellara: The other Veil Jumpers must’ve shut it down to keep the Venatori out. Has to be a power crystal around here.
- Davrin: I’ll bet that’s the Veil Jumper’s doing. Slow the Venatori down. Has to be a power crystal around here.
- Emmrich: There must be a spare power crystal hiding somewhere.
- Harding: Time to look for a power crystal.
- Lucanis: The Veil Jumpers’ work. Take out the bridge, and cut off the Venatori. There has to be a power crystal nearby.
- Neve: Then let’s hope there’s a power crystal around. There’s not much time to find it.
- Taash: We need one of those big magic crystal things.
They find the crystal and cross the bridge.
Dalish Villager: (Distant scream)
- Davrin: You hear that?
- Emmrich: Did you hear that?
- Harding: Who was that?
- Lucanis: Listen. Hear that?
- Neve: You hear that?
- Taash: Hear that?
| Bellara in party | Davrin in party |
|---|---|
| Bellara: Someone’s in trouble. Come on! | Davrin: Someone’s in trouble. We have to find them! |
Rook: Sounds like someone’s in trouble. Come on!
Kidnapped
The party continues through a nearby barrier and into another Venatori camp.
- Venatori: Round everyone up!
- Venatori: If they fight, kill them!
- Venatori: Find any that are hiding!
- Venatori: Track them all down!
- Venatori: If they run, hunt them down!
Rook and their party approaches.
- Davrin: A lot more Venatori here!
- Emmrich: I see more Venatori!
- Harding: Found more Venatori!
- Lucanis: Trouble on the way!
- Neve: There’s a lot more Venatori here!
- Taash: There’s a lot more of these assholes!
| Veil Jumper Elf Rook | Non-Veil Jumper, non-elf Rook |
|---|---|
| Rook: Damn it, these are my people! | Rook: I see them! We have to end this! |
Rook: Leave this camp alone!
Venatori: Kill that one!
Rook: Come and try!
| Bellara or Davrin in party | Bellara or Davrin not in party |
|---|---|
|
|
Rook: If you leave now, we might let you stay alive!
- Davrin: Or maybe we won’t!
- Emmrich: I suggest you choose surrender!
- Harding: No! They’re not getting away easy!
- Lucanis: No, we won’t!
- Neve: Last chance to back down!
- Taash: I never agreed to that.
Venatori: I offer no mercy and expect none in return!
They kill the Venatori leader.
- Bellara: There. No more taunting from that one.
- Davrin: There! That shut him up.
- Emmrich: Their leader’s fallen!
- Harding: Good. Got what he deserved.
- Lucanis: He talked too much.
- Neve: Well. That shut him up.
- Taash: Finally stopped talking.
They finish off the rest of the Venatori.
Rook: Now, let’s see what they’ve done with the Dalish.
They find a nearby room with rune locks, a dead Veil Jumper, and dead Venatori scattered around. Someone is on the other side of the barrier.
- Dalish Villager: Over Here!
- Dalish Villager: Help! In here!
Rook: We’ll get you out of there. Hang on.
- Bellara: It’s another lock with those symbols, like before.
- Davrin: More symbols on the lock. Like the last one.
- Emmrich: Another lock with symbols, like before.
- Harding: Symbols again. Like the last lock.
- Lucanis: More symbols, like before.
- Neve: It’s the symbols again. Just like before.
- Taash: More of those symbols. Good luck.
Rook: Shouldn’t be hard.
Rook gets the barrier open.
Rook: All right, that did it. Let’s see what she has to say.
Bellara: It’s okay. You’re safe. I’m a Veil Jumper. What happened here?
Dalish Villager: That other Veil Jumper died making sure I was safe.
| Veil Jumper Rook | Non-Veil Jumper Rook |
|---|---|
| Rook: It’s okay, I’m a Veil Jumper. You’re safe. What happened?Dalish Villager: That other Veil Jumper died making sure I was safe. | Rook: It’s okay. You’re safe. What happened here?Dalish Villager: That Veil Jumper died making sure I was safe. |
Dalish Villager: She sealed the barrier before the Venatori could get me.
Rook: What about the rest of the Dalish?
Dalish Villager: They took everyone. Kidnapped them all.
- Bellara: Why? Where they’d go?
- Davrin: Why? Where’d they take them?
- Rook: Why? Where’d they go?
Dalish Villager: I… I don’t know. Their leader said they need Dalish blood. Some sort of sacrifice!
The party leaves.
- Bellara: “Sacrificed?” Why am I not surprised?
- Davrin: “Sacrificed?” With the Venatori, I should’ve known.
- Emmrich: Blood magic sacrifices. I should have known.
- Harding: Sacrificing people. Sounds like the Venatori.
- Lucanis: “Sacrificed?” I should have expected that.
- Neve: “Sacrificed?” Damn it.
- Taash: “Sacrificed?” What kind of vashedan is this?
Rook: This just got a whole lot worse. We need to figure out where the Venatori took them. Let’s look around.
- Bellara: If they lay one finger on those prisoners…
- Davrin: I swear, they so much as touch those prisoners…
They start to look around.
Rook: Dead Venatori here. Nothing unusual. Not much to go on.
They check some nearby papers.
Rook: Some papers here, but nothing useful. No mention of a location.
They find some supplies.
Rook: Well, doesn’t look like the Venatori brought many supplies with them.
- Davrin: They didn’t come from far. Might mean they have a larger camp nearby. The Dalish could be there.
- Emmrich: It suggests they didn’t travel far. Perhaps the Dalish prisoners have been taken to a larger camp nearby.
- Harding: Then they must be camped nearby. What if they brought the Dalish there?
- Lucanis: They must have a nest close by. We find it, maybe we find the Dalish.
- Neve: So they didn’t come from far. If they’ve got a larger camp nearby—the Dalish could be there.
- Taash: Then they might have a larger camp nearby. The Dalish could be there.
Rook: Yeah. But where exactly? Let’s keep looking around.
They keep looking.
Rook: Just some mud here. But… it looks like there’s some kind of glass, here, too.
- Davrin: That’s weird.
- Emmrich: Odd.
- Harding: Hm. Strange.
- Lucanis: Strange.
- Taash: Huh.
- Neve: Huh. That’s strange.
| Glass found last | Supplies found last |
|---|---|
| Bellara: Glass? Wait a second… there’s a crater nearby. | Bellara: Wait… the glass we found. There’s a crater here in Arlathan. |
Bellara: Thousands of years ago, blood magic destroyed that area. All that energy? Turned the sand to glass.
Rook: And we know the Venatori didn’t come very far…
Bellara: They must have taken the Dalish to the crater.
| Glass found last | Supplies found last |
|---|---|
| Davrin: Glass? Hold on a second… there’s a crater nearby, here in Arlathan. | Davrin: Hold on… the glass we found. There’s a crater here in Arlathan. |
Davrin: Back when blood magic was unleashed thousands of years ago, it was so powerful, the stories say it fused the sand to glass.
Rook: And we know the Venatori didn’t come very far…
Davrin: They must have taken the Dalish to the crater. We have to tell Strife and Irelin.
| Glass found last | Supplies found last |
|---|---|
| Rook: Weird. Maybe Strife and Irelin can make sense of this. | Rook: Well, maybe Strife and Irelin can make sense of this. |
*They find Strife and Irelin waiting for them on the way out.
Strife: Rook, over here.
Rook heads over to them.
Strife: We got here as fast as we could.
Rook: It’s bad. They’re kidnapping Dalish—to sacrifice them.
Irelin: What?
Strife: You’re serious?
Dialogue options:
- Stoic: It’s not over yet. [1]
- Sad: The Dalish had no chance. [2]
- Afraid: I’m afraid so. [3]
- Angry: They’re bastards. [4]
1 - Stoic: It’s not over yet.
Rook: This isn’t over yet. We’ll put a stop to it.
2 - Sad: The Dalish had no chance.
Rook: These Dalish were caught by surprise. One survived, but the rest…
Irelin: …will live just long enough to be sacrificed. Even for the Venatori, this is evil.
3 - Afraid: I’m afraid so.
Rook: I wish I wasn’t, but… the Venatori were brutal. Those Dalish are in trouble.
Irelin: I can’t believe this. Sacrificing our people?
4 - Angry: They’re bastards.
Rook: The bastards just swept in and raided this camp. The Dalish didn’t have a chance.
Irelin: The Venatori have always been cruel, but sacrificing our people?
5 - Scene continues.
Return to previous tree.Rook: The lake. The old crater.
- Bellara: We have to do something.
- Davrin: We have to strike back.
Rook: The Venatori didn’t come very far. We know that. And we found this weird glass they tracked in somehow.
Strife: Glass? That could be from the Arlathan crater. It’s said that Tevinter blood magic used to be powerful enough to fuse sand into glass.
Irelin: It’s not too far from here.
| Veil Jumper Rook | Non-Veil Jumper Rook |
|---|---|
| Rook: These are our people they took.Strife: I know. | Rook: If the Venatori took the prisoners there… |
Strife: We’ll find them. But it’ll take time to put together a rescue party.
Rook: Don’t take too much time. We need to stop this.
Strife: We will.
Deleted Dialogue