Tag Archives: Anders

DA2: Please Stay Part 6

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Climax and then schmoopy epilogue stuff! If you like metal, I was listening to Unstoppable by Ad Infinitum when I wrote the final fight with Meredith. It doesn’t perfectly fit either Reid’s character or the situation, but it’s a badass, inspiring song, and I love it. : )

I actually at first did not kill Anders… and then halfway through Lowtown decided that was OoC for Reid. He is descended from my Sith Inquisitor character Murlesson, he does have a ruthless streak, even if virtually everything about his character has been softened and warmed by being in completely different circumstances. So I reloaded.

I actually still like Isabela, and next time I’ll get her approval up higher (with the console if I have to) so she’ll stick around for the ending. : ) Just giving Reid a little wish-fulfillment here.

 

Part 5

 

Kidnapped

“I suppose it was too much to hope that you wouldn’t have come here,” said a voice, and Reid looked around from Carver’s still body to see the friendly-ish Templar Thrask approaching him. “Though I can’t understand why you side with Meredith now. You showed me we can stand up to her. When I realized you had risked your life lying to protect these mages…” He gestured towards some vaguely familiar figures Reid dimly recalled from years ago. “Please, Champion. I have nothing but respect for you. It’s Meredith we must see gone.”

“Who the hell said I side with Meredith?” Reid demanded. “Isn’t it fairly common knowledge I’m an apostate? The only reason I’m here in any sort of hostile capacity is that you kidnapped my brother. Let him go, and we’ll talk.” Continue reading →

DA2: Please Stay Part 5

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Middle Ground has some ridiculously unrealistic dialogue, but this is my dumb fic so it says things that I want to hear. Also I had to keep toning down the fight, because Reid really could go off in dangerously intense ways.

When I played the game, I didn’t import a DAO save (for one thing I’m not sure where my Elizabeth save files are) and so I picked the Mahariel Warden pre-set to just jump in and get started, in which Alistair is king. And that was going to be useful, because as Reid gets into in this set of scenes, he’s starting to feel the pressure intensely enough to think about giving up. So Alistair was going to be very helpful in making Reid feel like he ought to stay to the end of the game. However, in Elizabeth’s game, Alistair is still a Warden. So I wrote two alternate scenes – one where Queen Anora asks Reid basically the same stuff as Alistair (which is my headcanon), but I also wrote one where Warden Alistair asks – and that one’s kind of more fun? So both of them are here for your entertainment.

I feel Merrill’s story arc really fumbles the landing. Hard to fix without going in a completely different direction.

Part 4

 

Anders

The sewer was as horrific as ever, and Reid was getting suspicious. “Anders, you’re really going to drink a shit potion? Really?”

“Would you balk at this if it were you?” Anders asked.

“I don’t know,” Reid said. “You sure owe me, though.”

“I do,” Anders said. “Though I think I’m going to ruin it: I know it isn’t my place to criticize, but… Are you sure about Fenris?” Continue reading →

The Woman With a Dragon’s Heart screenshots

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Again, screenshots using for inspiration in writing this story! Just like last time, except with a dearth of Zevran… but even more Liz. And a little bit of Nate, because Nate is good-lookin’ too.

Approaching Vigil's Keep with Mhairi.

Approaching Vigil’s Keep with Mhairi. [Starfang doesn’t transfer over without a certain mod that I hadn’t installed at the time so using something else in this picture (also where is Cousland shield?)]

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The Woman With a Dragon’s Heart: Chapter 9

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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh I’m done all the Dragon Age fanficccccc and now I don’t have to write anymorrrrrrre- Since I don’t have any urge to write DA2 fic, and I may not even play Inquisition, I’m all good : )

But omg how did this last chapter take so long

The last third of this chapter brought to you by Super Eurobeat!

Chapter 8

 

Chapter 9

 

Dawn broke on a discouraging sight. Under a grey, overcast sky, Vigil’s Keep was encircled by darkspawn, though they couldn’t climb the cliffs of the mountain behind. Still, there was no way we were getting in to reinforce the defenders. Continue reading →

The Woman With a Dragon’s Heart: Chapter 8

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Oh man, I’ve been looking forward to attacking Amaranthine for so long you don’t even know. Soundtracks include Doa and E.M.A., but not Counterattack Mankind because that’s for the next chapter. I went and watched more bits of walkthrough for dialogue and found that the logistics of this section of the game don’t make a whole lot of sense (I saved the Keep on my (so-far-only) playthrough so I hadn’t even seen what happens when you save the city, but I decided it made more sense for her to do this for this story). And a lot of things are made dramatic that I wonder would have been quite so dire to actual medieval people (LIKE SIEGES. Worrisome certainly but safer than open ground combat). >.>

I didn’t finish the entire story by midnight, but I will certainly be done tomorrow. It’s been a productive NaNoWriMo, even if I’d like to collapse for two or three days now. Final approximate wordcount of absolute fiction: 76,055

Chapter 7, Chapter 9

 

Chapter 8

 

She stood in the gateway, waiting impatiently for the tiny figures down the road to come closer. It seemed to take a very long time, and meanwhile, the chill late winter wind was nibbling at her fingers, her nose, her ears, even through the woolen gloves and hat she was wearing. Not fashionable for an acting-arlessa to be wearing a peasant’s hat and gloves, but she actually didn’t care, though she would have cared even less if they’d actually worked completely against the cold. She did not pace, though she was tempted to, instead maintaining a poise of motionless dignity. Continue reading →

The Woman With a Dragon’s Heart: Chapter 7

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Taking advantage of my last exhausted writing momentum to plow through the rest of this story this month. Then I will be done all the Dragon Age fanfic and I won’t have to write any more! I hope! This chapter is not the greatest in particular but I just need to move on. I watched a walkthrough for some of the Kal’Hirol dialogue, but I cut down on The Lost’s monologue.

Chapter 6, Chapter 8

 

Chapter 7

 

As the year drew on towards midwinter, construction on the castle slowed. The walls were nearly finished, but there were still some towers that were definitely not. We were vulnerable while they remained so, but fortunately the darkspawn seemed less inclined to move about in the bitter cold, and then only attacking outlying farms and skirmishing with the army. Continue reading →

The Woman With a Dragon’s Heart: Chapter 6

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Starting working towards finishing up this thing. Got stuck on Sigrun because she was the last recruited for me, so I didn’t get any time to spend with her the first (and only) time that I played. I’ll probably take a while with the next chapter as well, as I’ve scheduled Kal’Hirol for it and it’s not a super catchy quest, although discovering the past through ghosts is really fascinating to play.

I also beat Dark Forces 2 and its horribly annoying final boss, although I appreciated the Star Wars take on the trope where you rush at each other, slash at each other, and wait like 10 seconds to see who actually struck and who dies. XD

Chapter 5, Chapter 7

 

Chapter 6

 

I wandered into the dining hall after the first night watch in late fall to find it not empty; Elizabeth and Oghren and Anders were sitting at the table closest to the wine cellar, mugs of beer in front of them. From the way they behaved, they’d been at it for a while.

“Hey, Nate!” Oghren called. “Come join us!”

“What’s going on?” I asked, taking a seat on the other side of Elizabeth from him and accepting a mug of beer from Anders, who was sitting across from us.

“Reminiscing, mostly,” Anders said. “She was just telling us how she met Zevran.” Continue reading →

The Woman With a Dragon’s Heart: Chapter 5

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Moved some exposition up from THE LAST CHAPTER to this chapter. I was really certain that there was more talking with the Architect in this part of the game? Oh well.

Lizrage! Once again you can thank Attack on Titan from the SnK OST (the same one that I used for the Rendon Howe fight). Yes, I’m reusing it for inspiration. I can’t help it; I associate it almost entirely with Liz these days. I would wish to have the Aldnoah OST as well so I don’t get tired of the SnK OST, but I don’t, so I’m trying to use it sparingly…

With the letters at the end, I wanted to make it clear that they’d been sending more than a few letters back and forth through the summer, but it doesn’t really sound clear to me. Any advice?

Clocked in NaNo at just under 75,000 words; not too shabby for a month when I was so tired and distracted by other things that I almost thought I wouldn’t finish at all. And thank goodness for Liz, eh? I would love to finish this story while my inspiration is fresh and my momentum is good, but maybe I’ll work on other things when it’s not Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday evening. 😛

Chapter 4, Chapter 6

 

Chapter 5

 

A day later, Elizabeth had finally managed things such that she could leave affairs to Varel and Garevel for several days. She found Velanna, sent for the rest of the Wardens, and departed again for the forest.

“Finally!” was Velanna’s only comment. “I thought I was going to go crazy waiting for you slow humans.” After that, she stubbornly said nothing, even when Anders attempted to flirt with her. Continue reading →

The Woman With a Dragon’s Heart: Chapter 4

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The Oaths of Fealty scene at the beginning of this chapter was very interesting to write! It came together in bits and pieces as I figured out how many threads I had going and what points would be made where and the PACING of it all. Also you can thank Jiyuu no Tsubasa for Liz’s speech there.

And I’m going back to rewrite bits of the earlier chapters already! Nate’s not conflicted enough! I need to check the subtext of everything! I might be able to remove some extraneous expositions!

I’m so looking forward to Chapter 5. I might write most of it tonight.

My best friend is finished Part 1 of the rewrite of his story… it’s magnificent. It’s got so much tone, and character, and maintains a ‘legend’ quality even when it goes into snarky dialogue and action scenes, and yet it doesn’t feel pretentious like it might be easy to fall into for an inexperienced writer. Cullean and Asrath are vying with Varel for ‘favourite badass old man’, and Dann is adorbs.

Chapter 3, Chapter 5

 

Chapter 4

 

The Wardens from Orlais had brought the white and blue uniforms of their order with them, and one of Elizabeth’s servants, Firiel, brought me one to wear. I went down to the Great Hall a little late to the gathering. I had no particular desire to stand out, either from my smart blue and white uniform, or from anyone recognizing me as Rendon’s son.

Unfortunately my wish was to go unfulfilled, as only a minute after I entered the Great Hall – the room now looking fresh with autumn flowers – Bann Esmerelle, who governed Amaranthine City, spotted me and came to speak to me. “Nathaniel Howe!”

I bowed to her rather stiffly. “Bann Esmerelle, I believe. It’s been a while.” Continue reading →

The Woman With a Dragon’s Heart: Chapter 3

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Lots of repetitive exposition in these chapters, especially if you’ve already read My Dark-Haired Fereldan Beauty. I apologize. It’s easy to write about things I already know. On the other hand, I don’t understand all the darkspawn politics, so the exposition you get on that is suuuuper vague. I apologize for that too. Although in my defence I’ve gone back and looked at game videos and it’s super vague in the game, too. Those darkspawn aren’t too bright.

As of this chapter, I officially passed NaNoWriMo for this year. I’m going to try to keep going while I have inspiration on this story, why not? Get lots of it done now and if I run out of steam, at least I made a good start on it. (But the chapters are getting longer, help, I don’t want them to be super long)

Of course, the situation in my apartment is really starting to get dire, and I have three concerts of varying stress levels coming up, and I had Japanese take-out yesterday evening that was highly disappointing. BUT FOR SOME REASON I’M HAPPY. Guild Wars 1 and 2, maybe?

Chapter 2, Chapter 4

 

Chapter 3

 

“Your husband?” I asked Delilah, when Elizabeth was out of earshot.

She nodded. “His name is Albert. He’s a good man, much nicer than that stuck-up noble that Father was trying to set me up with a couple years ago.”

I raised an eyebrow. “This wouldn’t be Albert the Grocer, would it?”

“There’s nothing wrong with being a grocer, Nathaniel,” Delilah said. “And… after how Father changed…”

“He changed?” I asked, a sinking feeling in my stomach, although I already suspected.

Delilah looked at me sadly. “You really don’t know, do you? Come in. I’ll put the kettle on and tell you everything.” Continue reading →