crystal || open

[degenere]

FORM: sending crystal
SENDER: the Baroness Freddie Durfort-Lacapalette & Val de Foncé
RECIPIENT: everyone with a sending crystal
WHAT: some Orlesians meet talking darkspawn in a Temple of Dumat
WHEN: backdated to a few days before the invasion of Minrathous
WHERE: the Silent Plains. underground. literally.
NOTES: we still love threadjacking should the opportunity arise and we’ll be threadjacking YOU. merci beaucoup. Val is this color and Freddie is this color


Inquisition. [Val: Orlesian accent, very serious. As always, this is of dire importance.] Darkspawn. They can talk.

Now, they say nothing of consequence. Indeed, they barely say at all. And yet, they speak. They wear clothing.

Nothing of consequence! Don't mislead them, Valentine, it--he?--the darkspawn, it was repeating a verse about Silence, and this must be a temple to Dumat! Darkspawn worshipping the Old Gods makes quite a bit of sense, one must admit, but reciting prayers! Extraordinary!

Well--yes. [A little annoyed at being corrected, but not very, as it is Freddie who did the correcting.] When it is put that way, of course it all becomes consequential. Perhaps that is the wrong word to use, to discuss such a-- do we call such a thing a feat?

I could hardly guess without more information. We can't eliminate the possibility that they have always been able to speak and have simply never bothered. Or perhaps this is something Corypheus has somehow done to them. It might also--oh look, Val! These scrolls look ancient!

Oh, shit. [But a wondering shit] Tevene, yes? Ancient Tevene, for ancient scrolls. We must take care, to preserve these, carry them back to Kirkwall, for-- Oh, but the research team. We were sent to join them, but alas: to a man, they are dead. Sacrificed, by our best guess, unless they chose to cut their own throats. I hope they were not beloved by anyone of the Inquisition, as they are quite past loving now. Yet in their death, they have led us--de Foncé and Durfort-Lacapalette--to such discovery. Ancient scrolls! A temple! Darkspawn that talk. The sacrifice of these lives has not been in vain. [Well.] Though veins were cut, in the sacrificing.

Sweet Maker, do not start punning. They were fellow seekers of knowledge even if they were Tevinters, we ought to show at least a pinch of respect. [ That to Val, this to their audience: ] Alas, they are quite gone, as Val has said, but this place is marvelous--in a dreadful macabre way, of course, but what a discovery! We may even find something here of interest in combating Corypheus. It's unlikely to be coincidence after all, all this darkspawn and Dumat just now.

Of course, without evidence, we cannot say for certain. Will there be evidence? Only careful excavation and exhaustive research of this ruin will tell.

[Oh, wait--]

And before anyone should be so pedantic as to make the claim that Corypheus is a talking darkspawn, I will disprove this easily and say on the record: that does not count. A corrupted magister may talk. A true darkspawn may not. Until now. Apparently.

Just so. A talking hurlock is an entirely different proposition.

Comments

[mousquetaire]

The ones I've dealt with in Tevinter haven't seemed intelligent, and there's plenty of them. Did you hear this only from one?

[ Is this really Corypheus? He doesn't think it's wise to jump to that conclusion. ]

[aventuriere]

Thankfully I can't claim many encounters with darkspawn, but I've certainly never heard of them speaking. It was just one, though there is some evidence here that there may have been others among the cultists using this temple. Signs of their influence, perhaps. It's difficult to say with certainty at present.

[mousquetaire]

Is it usual for them to be alone in the first place? I'm used to finding them in groups.

Assuming this isn't just a special case, we need to know more. If they can talk at all, they could talk to us.

[aventuriere]

It sounds as if you have a great deal of experience with darkspawn. Are you a Warden, monsieur? If so, I must bow to your expertise in these matters, but no, I don't recall ever hearing of them as lone wanderers. It may certainly be that there are more, but we shall also have to challenge every notion we have about darkspawn behavior in light of this revelation.

[mousquetaire]

Hardly. I've had a lot of recent misfortune, more like.

[ He never expected to gain expertise at fighting magically corrupted demonic zombie things, but there you have it. He's seen enough of them at this point to be dryly sardonic about it. What, more Darkspawn? Surely not. ]

I helped to hunt down a group of them last month. That was my first encounter, but I can tell you with authority that the Deep Roads of Tevinter are full of them. Any encounters have gone straight to fighting, there's been no chatter. And certainly no prayers.

[ He pauses. ]

It's true we haven't met. I'm d'Artagnan, a Rifter and not a Warden. It's a pleasure, Mademoiselle.

[aventuriere]

A Rifter and not a Warden? I confess myself surprised, you sound quite Orlesian. Is there another Orlais beyond the rifts? That would be a delightful discovery; any world worth speaking of ought to have one, after all.

[aventuriere]

I apologize, I've quite forgotten to introduce myself in turn, haven't I? My governess would quite despair of me. Lady Frédérique Durfort-Lacapalette, but of course you may call me Freddie, Monsieur d'Artagnan, everyone does.

[mousquetaire]

My Lady, a gentleman would not dare.

[ If he could see her in person, he'd be bowing. ]

You're Orlesian, I take it. My country is France. The way you speak sounds enough like home as to make me glad of it, even despite news of more Darkspawn. I'm glad to make your acquaintance.

[aventuriere]

France. [ She is clearly testing out the sound of it. ] Fascinating! I can only assume I would quite like it, if its people bear such resemblance to my own, and so I am glad to make your acquaintance as well. How long have you been here, and have you yet seen much of Thedas beyond the Deep Roads?

[mousquetaire]

I've been here these last theee months, give or take. Beyond Tevinter and Kirkwall I've seen the snowy wastelands in the south, since that is where I arrived. I've yet to see Orlais, though I planned to visit before the Tourney. Now...

[ Well of course all of that is more difficult now. She would know that better than anyone. ]

...it's still my hope to do so. I should like to see how closely it resembles my home.

[aventuriere]

I should be very interested to know myself! It is a shame you've come at such a trying time in my nation's glorious history, but even if it is not at its best and merriest, Val Royeaux would still put all other cities of the world to shame. I cannot recommend a visit highly enough.

[ The war is obviously a concern, but one about which she is determined to remain positive. ]

Tevinter and Kirkwall! A miserable slice of Thedas, not at all representative.

[mousquetaire]

I have no doubt of it, my Lady. I hope that circumstances will allow it soon. I should be glad to take your recommendation.

[degenere]

The conversation was hardly an intelligent one.

[mousquetaire]

The saying of prayers is more intelligent than anything I've heard from their kin in the Deep Roads. It requires thought and feeling. That's more than I ever have them credit for, I don't know about you.

[degenere]

[He snorts.]

A prayer to Dumat is not to be admired. And the thought and feeling that it would require does not bear consideration.

[mousquetaire]

Plenty in my land would say the same of Andrastians, I imagine. Not to mention Protestants.

[ Not that he thinks you're all heretics, or anything, but you're probably all heretics and one false god is as good as another. ]

That they have any kind of mind to think is worth considering. We all kill them without a thought.

[degenere]

Ah, a Rifter.

[Said in the way someone would speak of a victim of a natural disaster, or a refugee. Sympathetic, measured and even.]

We must have patience. I should say that we kill them without a thought, because they are attacking with singular thought. And they cannot be reasoned with. Do we say, then, that they truly have a mind? A man might teach a parrot to repeat his words. The parrot should not be killed idly. It lives, truly. If the parrot were to attack you, and you killed it in retaliation, then the man might accuse you in court, but there would be a case to argue, yes? That you were within your rights, to protect yourself.

The talking darkspawn was more a book. Recorded thought. If a book fell upon your head, you might hack it to pieces, and we would all call you a madman, but you would be within your rights, still.

[mousquetaire]

But you don't know that. You're speculating, because you've never thought of them as anything better than animals.

[ You're comparing them to talking birds, Val, come on now. ]

If we have never known them to speak before, how much else might we not know? We can't pretend this didn't happen.

[degenere]

On the contrary. I have always thought them worse than animals. Animals, I have a love for. Darkspawn I do not.

And far from pretending this did not happen, I am speaking about it now, so that everyone will know that it happened. There is a significance to it. A sign of intelligence? Doubtful, my friend.

[mousquetaire]

Then you would suppose it's what, exactly?

If they are parroting something they've heard without understanding, that still requires more thinking than anything I gave them credit for.

[degenere]

I don't know what it is. I speak of it in the hope that others might shed the light of their secret or otherwise unspoken knowledges on it. This is cooperation, you see. I am capable of it.

[Not like anyone was suggesting otherwise, but it's gotta be said. For the record.]

I suggest that you do not try to engage the next darkspawn that you meet in a conversation. It would end badly, I think. Better to be rid of it before it has chance to tear your skin from your skeleton.

[mousquetaire]

Well, thank God you told me, I might have brought them in for tea.

[ Has he mentioned he's sick of fighting them? He's sick of fighting them. ]

If you'll excuse me, I doubt I've seen the last of them here.