Kintsugi Plays Dragon Age: Inquisition (There Are No Therapists)

@wixbloom Thank you for this sage advice! I think I'm up for another few rounds now...

>I'm not certain

What, only a mystic prophet could possibly repair the fabric of reality?

>What does your cult believe?

Oddly, she doesn't seem to take offense at being called a cult.

This actually sounds a lot less ominous than I was expecting. When they talked about a cult, I figured on a dark and sinister secret bad-guy-worship thing, but this doomsday stuff just sounds like a natural reaction to the fact that the world appears to be ending.

Anyway, goodbye to cult lady!

...I'm not leaving you yet, I'm just going in to talk to other people!

The portcullis lifts and we get another quest to close a rift. Onward!

 

Be more condescending, egghead.

New game mechanic time! I get a glowy minimap and a rather annoying game of Hot/Cold. I do find some loot while I'm hunting, though, and some NPC chatter.

Also I claim a landmark! The codex isn't terribly interesting.

We've been around like five minutes! I realize we're the title of the whole damn game, but still I feel like you're putting a lot of expectations on us!

 

Still not finding whatever that hidden thing is.

Maybe I just need some elevation...

 

Finally, some onyx! And I get to keep it, since @wixbloom has exempted me from my geology homework!
...but aw, Varric. :(

This is one of those "hugely spoilery for DA2" things, probably. Also, "hardass tries to be comforting for once, fucks it all up" is weirdly endearing, I must say.

 

I love every interaction with Cass and Varric, but especially that one - he's usually so easygoing, even with her, but this is, uh. Definitely a sore spot.

 

STILL no success on the scavenger hunt, but I've found my original goal!

>Your mother needs help.

WELL THAT WAS QUICK. I expected to have to talk him into it- admittedly that was when I thought this was an evil cult- or at the very least go pick him some flowers or something!

...and why did he bring it with him? Are there asthmatic doomsday cultists here or was he expecting some or...?

Ah, whatever. I'll see what else this place has to offer and then bring back the potion.

 

FUCKING SWEET. Prompts another round of equipment housekeeping. Up another ladder and...

No day of saving the world and repairing reality would be complete without collecting a fucking mosaic.

"The Fall". Not gonna be a cheerful mosaic, then. Anyway, this part of the culty house has now been thoroughly investigated and there is still no sign of whatever was pinging my search! Back to ground level...

...Anais, when you said I should prove it about the rifts, you could have mentioned there was one literally in your backyard.

They don't even have a closed door, why aren't they swimming in demons? Is it an evil cult after all?

Or do the demons only spawn when I show up anymore?

 

Zappy zappy, stabby stabby.

Is it just me, or do these "terror" demons look kinda like xenomorphs? I mean, if they're literally demons of fear, that's not a bad choice of design...

Hey. Hey Cass. Hey. I like ya, so I'm gonna put a ring on ya. ;P

Heading back in, and this worshipfulness is going to take some getting used to.

Even my sticky fingers don't deter them.

 

What did I fucking tell you about expectations. This is going to lead to so much trouble...

Anyway, the searchy thing tells me it's in this room, but nothing's in the spot, so I assume it's up these stairs.

It's a fucking wine bottle.

Never underestimate Wren's boozehound senses, I guess?

On the balcony outside that room, a "Lord Berand" wants to talk to us.

 

The worldbuilding gets so shaky around gender roles. They say there's equality, and for the purposes of player-characters that's more or less true- wouldn't want to impose limits likely to make the game less fun for a substantial portion of the player base. It's also close to true for most major NPCs. But then for just random shit in the world, you get lines like this.

Worldbuilding critique aside... dude, your girlfriend's dead. I may not technically know that for a fact, hence the "Love Waits" quest I just got, but yeah, she's totally dead.

 

Okay, I knew all this religious reverence for Wren was going to cause problems.

I did not anticipate one of those problems to be "actually physically obstructed by praying believers". But once Varric moved, there was at least a path, and Speaker Anais was very pleased to see me on my way out!

I think the bottom two options have gameplay benefits and that #4 probably doesn't actually affect anything, but who knows?

>_?

 

>3?

 

I'm personally all for 6. more glory for us.

 

4

 

Well, it's all tied up but I saw 3 first so

>Listen and gather information.

Congratulations, Wren, you've turned the doomsday cult into your very own personal spy ring!

We now have an agent, as well as enough power to go to Val Royeaux. I'll go turn in the quest first, but start thinking about whether we want to do that now or later.

Found this on the way. Probably would have found it on the way up if I'd taken a different route. Questmap says I'm about as close to being back at the Crossroads as I am to my new spy ring, so I might as well just keep going for now.

Minimaps are so helpful, showing you the imminent ambush around that rock.

It's two sellswords and one of those asshole mages, who must clearly die first.

I stealth up, get behind him...

...and find that, no matter how subtle the mage, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style.

Then back to where everyone else is busy with the swordsmen. Varric, buddy, you gotta watch your aggro.

 

Back in the Crossroads, I notice a landmark I missed before.

1: Check out these not!Vikings.
2: I'm sure this "Morrighan'nan" thing has nothing at all to do with aaaaaanyone we know. Nope. Nothing.

Mr Refugee is still asking about the potion, but this time we've got it!

I didn't realize the kid gave us the recipe, too! This is a really generous quest!

I doubt he's in a position to do much, but I guess this Influence stuff represents the positive word-of-mouth we get from helping people out?

Guess Cass had to think it over a moment, for some reason. Anyway, gonna go turn in the meat, since it's literally right next door.

 

y u acting so altruistic, Solas? *peers suspiciously* Are you just happy not to have to be the elfrigerator anymore?

Such great PR. :D

Okay, so. Rather than list specific quests, I'm gonna lay out general courses of action at this point.

1: Go to Val Royeaux and try to talk some sense into the Chantry, with or without doing a couple of those Haven quests first. I'm pretty sure the Hinterlands won't do a Lothering and disappear on us once we advance the plot, and we probably need to advance the plot to get more companions to choose from.
2: Get Horsemaster Dennet, then goto 1.
3: Turn in a couple existing quests, then do either 1 or 2.
4: Do all the Hinterlands quests we possibly can. Then, of course, 1 or 2.

 

2

 

I'm in favor of 1 - advancing that aspect doesn't cut us off from anything else.

 

2.