Flutiebear: Rambling My Way Through Thedas

Hiding this behind the break, out of courtesy to those readers who’ve just started DA2:

CARVER HAWKE’S LIST OF THINGS THAT WENT RIGHT IN KIRKWALL

Medicine is not about salves. Medicine is bloody. It’s fierce. You can’t just slap a bandage on a gushing wound and expect the bleeding to stop. You have to stitch the skin closed, which means more wounds and more blood. More agony. But ultimately that’s okay. That’s just how medicine works. Because sometimes you have to break the bone further if you’re going to re-set it; sometimes you have to crack open the ribcage to mend the faulty heart. Sometimes, as Urgl says, it has to hurt if it’s to heal.

That’s what Elthina never understood. And how could she? Power is comfort. When you’re in power, you don’t break your body; you enjoy it. You have the luxury of complaining about arthritic joints instead of phantom limbs, or of digestive distress instead of empty bellies. You have the choice and opportunity to avoid pain, except that of your own making, and you can squeeze your eyes shut and pretend your lack of pain is some sort of objective fact that should apply to everyone—and for those whom it doesn’t, nothing can be done.

But the refugees who work in mines or beg for coin in the chokedamp, they know better. The elves preyed on by slavers and criminals, they don’t get to choose to be ignorant. And the mages, starving and cramped and raped in their chambers, whipped until they’re bloody for breaking curfew or reading the wrong book or even just sneaking a kiss—they know a thing or two about how wounds are given, and how they are healed.

Nobody knows this better than the healer of Darktown, the man who dedicated his life to saving the people everyone else forgot. He’s the only one capable of fixing this city, because he’s the only one willing to crack open its ribs. He knows there’s no compromising a flesh wound, or parlaying with a faulty heart. You have to toss out your salves and stitch the skin closed. You have to get your hands bloody. You have to be fierce. You have to be on fire. You have to hurt, if you’re ever going to heal.

(via jkateel)

spicyshimmy:

succulentthighs:

*shrieks*

~~It’s more upsetting if you look at it with ThiS haHA~~

A little brother is always a little brother, no matter how times change, or how wounds don’t change.

No matter how much more the soles of the feet ache. No matter the new holes in old boots. No matter the distance between scrapes and scars, between home and tomorrow. No matter the depth—from the shallows to far, far below the surface. From the ripples to the darkest spots of shame, hot cheeks and pink ears and a scowl like a mabari mid-snarl.

Just not as fierce. Go on, then. Run along.

From the wooden shield to the practice sword to the heavy blade, the chips along the shaft like the chips carried on a broad shoulder. From a squalling baby, half-formed like unbaked dough, to a strapping lad, they forge themselves, but somehow allow themselves to be forged.

If only they were always so strong.

From the bloody nose and the stubborn, short shadow to the sullen shrug.

From the time Hawke held him to the chest and shielded him from the sun to the moment it first occurred to Carver Hawke, blinking his eyes straight into the light, that the lullaby meant someone else must’ve thought he was little. Small. Young.

When you were a boy, Hawke thinks, just a baby bird, you might’ve been mad at me for being older, but at least you looked up to me.

Well, if only because you had to.

A little brother is always a little brother. Bloody knees and bloody noses. Bruised knuckles and tiny fists. Never a match for the bullies or the butchers. Never one to step in any footsteps other than his own. Which leaves a narrow path, doesn’t it?

Well then. It’s no wonder he’s been so cranky for so long.

my life has become coaching people through the Deep Roads

how much do I love that jay now has a tag called “dammit anders”

HOW MUCH

(via jkateel)

100ottersonanaeroplane:

So had a photoshoot with my cosplay in the woods to see how it was.
Genderbend of Anders from Dragon Age II.

If anyone has any tips or think I should change anything, I would really appreciate it (*^3^)/~☆

(last enstallment of photos)

Oh I’m so sorry I didn’t mention it! I based the cosplay half on the original and half on Vintereik’s sketch (somewhere in tumblrs archivestuff) He did a great job!

Oh WOW. Don’t see too many fem!Anders cosplays out there. Nice!

ONE OF US

Jay finished DA2 tonight…

…and immediately started another playthrough.

Thoughts on combat in DA2

Dragon Age 2 is more tactical than a lot of RPGs. The combat can be fast and frenzied, and to get by on a Hard or even Nightmare setting, or even just the later stages of the game, you can’t get lost in one-on-one combat. You have to think instead about how best to manage your entire party all at once, on a split-second timeframe. In particular, that means setting up attack combos amongst your party members (Anders and Fenris, for example, or Aveline and Isabela, etc.)

That’s why, of the three classes, I find that the mage class is probably the easiest to play as a beginner, because many of your spells are a) really freaking powerful, and b) target multiple enemies at once.