#castling

Chapter Two: Plan B

The destruction Rook causes allows Calpernia to escape as well putting them in another stand-off in an alleyway which is quickly dispersed by guards who are searching for them. They part escaping into the night. After fleeing through the streets of Minrathous that are now on high alert the group reaches a safehouse, also known as Neve Gallus’ apartment. In the hideout the remaining crew argues over what to do next. Neve points out that they should get back to the investigation as soon as possible while Solas’ trail is still hot. Harding believes they should report back to the Inquisitor first to give them this new information. Varric tells them to figure out the next move while he goes to find them transportation out of Tevinter leaving the choice to Rook.

The Smuggled Relic Case

Neve leads the party to Dock Town to meet the Shadow Dragons, a secret resistance group in Tevinter, for leads. Though Tarquin and The Viper have no leads on Solas they do tell Rook about a wave of slave rebellions and Venatori moving Lyrium artifacts through Dock Town. Given Solas’ previous patterns of behavior, Neve deduces that the slave uprisings are his doing. Given which Magister’s he’s hitting he must be looking for someone who knows a thing or two about Lyrium. Using a shard the Shadow Dragons give them they track the artifacts to the home of Albin Bataris, the son of a magister who has fallen in with Venatori cultists. They arrive to find Solas’ agents sneaking in through another entrance while Albin Bataris begins a blood ritual. Rook can decide to interrupt the Blood Ritual or intercept the agents.

If Rook interrupts the ritual the enslaved people that they free will ask Rook if they are with the Dreadwolf and will inform the party that Solas has been instructing those he free to travel to Arlathan forest to find a secret hiding place. If Rook intercepts Solas’ agents they will meet Reva, Solas’ ruthless second in command. They are here for a mysterious spell scroll that will aid in the plan to tear down the Veil. Though the team is too late they will find several missives in Bataris’s office that will give the crew more information on Venatori movements. They have supposedly been communing with Lusacan one of The Old Gods and following instructions to weaken the Veil through blood rituals.

Supernatural Aid

Harding brings the crew to report in with Charter an Inquisition agent. However when they arrive they find Morrigan alongside the spy. The witch’s presence alarms Harding because it means something has gone very wrong. Morrigan informs the group that The Inquisition is currently investigating what may be the start of another Blight. The Darkspawn have begun to appear where the Veil is thin. They suspect this may be the result of Solas’ meddling and remind the group of their mission’s urgency.

Rook reminds Morrigan that he’s not in charge of this mission. She replies by pointing out that Varric is not the one here and that Rook was made second in command for their penchant for daring exploits and bold plans which they now need more than ever.

Morrigan instructs Rook to seek out the Veil Jumpers in Arlathan Forest who are experts in ancient Elvhen artifacts and may have idea as to how the Lyrium Idol is connected to the Veil.

If Morrigan’s Ritual was preformed in Origins she will send her son, Keiran, with the party as a conditional Mage companion.

Away from Rook and the rest of the Veilguard we see Reva (she/they) step through an Eluvian to report back to Solas. While Solas preforms the spell to cleanse the dagger she urges Solas to allow them to take Varric & Rook off the board as a threat. Solas ignores their warnings and Reva warns him of sentimentality. He dismisses her instructing them to calling back Ishmael and their other agents in the crossroads. When Reva asks what Solas will do he is evasive something that clearly bothers the other elf but they acquiesce to their leaders request.

Chapter Three: The Dumat

Now with a new direction the team will rendezvous with Varric who has been arranging transportation for the team. Ringing in a favor from Isabella, Varric gets them passage on The Dumat, an old Lord of Fortune vessel that was stolen from the Antaam many years ago. The ship is a fixer upper but will act as the Veilguard’s home base for the first half of the game.

Chapter Four: In Entropy’s Grasp

They arrive from the sea to Arlathan Forest to find Strife and Irelin dealing with ancient magic welling up and Veil Jumpers going missing. They tell the Veilguard that the person who might be able to help them with their Red Lyrium artifact is Bellara Luttare who is one of the many Veil Jumpers who are missing. Rook & Varric split the party to go search for Bellara.

Rook finds Bellara who is eager to help but informs them that they are trapped in a Veil Bubble. A distortion of time caused by an artifact affecting the Veil nearby. After finding the artifact, The Nadas Dirthalen, and disactivating it the team manages to exit the Veil Bubble safely and into the night beyond.

Chapter Five: The End of the Beginning

They escape the Veil bubble to find they have spent too much time caught in its grasp. They find Solas already beginning his ritual in Arlathan Forest. They rush to find Varric and the others while the sky tears open. Reunited the group travels into Solas’ secret hideout that is eerily empty before coming out the other side to find the ritual site which Solas has been hiding in a veil bubble of his own.

The party fights through groups of spirits who seem loyal to Solas and his cause. Left with few other options, Varric attempts to talk Solas down one last time while Rook and the others keeps Spirits and Demons alike off his back. When the conversation takes a turn for the worse, Rook uses Varric’s distraction to their advantage. Taking a companion to knock over one of the Ritual statues Rook successfully interrupts Solas ritual. Meanwhile, the two old friends fight over the ritual dagger which results in Solas stabbing Varric. Before Solas can regain control of the ritual something escapes.

In an act of desperation Solas activates a spell that blasts them all back and knocks Rook out.

I also recommend you read this blog post:

(But only after you’re done with mine.)

In chess you have many pieces that all serve their own function. There's the King and Queen, the pawns, bishops, knights, etc.

In the video (and in DA:I), we learn that Solas calls chess pieces by a different name then what The Iron Bull does; a tribute to the pairs wildly different upbringing.

IT IS THE SAME GAME, THE SAME PIECES, BUT THEY CALL THEM SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

But because they know how the game is played, and the way each piece works, this minor infraction does not stop them from their mental battle.

Solas opened (started) their chess game with the name of a Netflix limited series that most will find familiar; The Kings Gambit.

From a Chess Website:

King's Gambit is an aggressive Chess opening that falls under the category of open games. It is characterized by White sacrificing a pawn on the second move to facilitate rapid development and initiate an attack against the opponent's king, specifically targeting the f7 square. 

Ok I still don’t really understand what this means. Lets use Wikipedia.

From Wikipedia:

The King's Gambit is a chess opening that begins with the moves: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 King's Gambit is an aggressive Chess opening, that falls under the category of open games. It is characterized by White sacrificing a pawn on the second move to facilitate rapid development and initiate an attack against the opponent's king, specifically targeting the f7 square.  White offers a pawn to divert the black e-pawn. If Black accepts the GAMBIT, White may play d4 and Bxf4, regaining the gambit pawn with central domination, or direct their forces against the weak square f7 with moves such as Nf3, Bc4, 0-0, and g3. A downside to the King's Gambit is that it weakens White's king's position, exposing it to the latent threat of ...Qh4+ (or ...Be7–h4+),  which may force White to give up castling rights.

Sorry, lets read that again, from the lens of a not-chess player (which I am, so a millions apologies to the people smarter than me reading this who were like, girl ur dumb for just figuring this out).

White begins a game of chess. White offers up a pawn as a sacrifice to black. If black accepts this sacrifice, white’s central control of the board is vulnerable, BUT, they can aggressively attack black’s king.

SO what are the downsides of this move, then? Sounds like a winner for anyone who knows how to play chess (I do not).

Remember when I said:

In the video (and in DA:I), we learn that Solas calls pieces by a different name then what The Iron Bull does; a tribute to the pairs wildly different upbringing.

Bull and Solas call bishops weird things. They call knights weird things, but one of the pieces they agree on, is the tower (or as I call it, the Castle).  

Which is weird. I mean, when I was a kid learning chess I called it the castle. It looks like a castle, (or a tower) why not call it a castle?

My cousin, who “taught” me chess, also made me call the pieces their correct names, even though I thought bishop was stupid, and knight even stupid-er. And he made me call my castle by its proper name;

ROOK.

What the fuck is a Kings Gambit again?

You sacrifice a pawn, to gain control of the board. You’re vulnerable, but you have high attack strength.

So WHAT is the downside of Kings Gambit?

From Wikipedia Again:

A downside to the King's Gambit is that it weakens White's king's position, exposing it to the latent threat of ...(mastermind chess moves),  which may force White to give up castling* rights.

Castle?

You mean Rook?

*Castling is a move in chess. It consists of moving the king two squares toward a rook on the same rank and then moving the rook to the square that the king passed over.  Castling is permitted only if neither the king nor the rook has previously moved; the squares between the king and the rook are vacant; and the king does not leave, cross over, or finish on a square attacked by an enemy piece. Castling is the only move in chess in which two pieces are moved at once.

Lets Re-cap:

Kings Gambit is an aggressive chess opening where white (the starting player) sacrifices a pawn (Solas after Inky: check).

Black accepts Whites sacrifice and takes pawn.

White can aggressively attack black, but they are vulnerable.

*Happy Solas Noises*

Rook is their ultimate safety blanket, their last minute escape route.

Rook is White's last resort.

Solas set up a Thedas version of the kings gambit.

But are we playing WITH him? Or AGAINST him?

Oh, and by the way…

THE  KINGS  GAMBIT  IS  ALSO  CALLED  THE  IMMORTAL  GAME