#ocularum

Oculara and Shards Banter

The Hinterlands Masterpost Related Location: Forbidden Oasis

The first time the PC approaches an ocularum:

Cole: A skull, but different, singing, swinging, sighting. He couldn’t scream when he died. He felt nothing, and then too much.

Dorian: A skull on a stick. What charming customs you have here.

Cassandra: Who placed a skull out here, and for what purpose?

Varric: What’s with the skull?

Sera: What is that? Who dresses up skulls?

Using an ocularum the first time:

Solas: The skull illuminates certain objects in the distance. I am not familiar with such magic.

Dorian: The skull makes things light up when you look through it? I’ve never seen anything like this.

Vivienne: The skull describes a glow around certain objects in the distance. I have not seen anything like it. ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Sera: I don’t want to touch anything a skull lit up! Skulls don’t say “here’s a good thing.”

Iron Bull: Not lovin’ the use of the skull, in case anyone asked.

Varric: Of course, it had to be a skull that lights up creepy shit.

Blackwall: A magical scrying skull. So wrong in so many ways.

Cassandra: Why would someone use a skull as a magical looking glass?

Finding the first shard:

Cole: It is one of many, alone, lost in dirt too wet for where it was made. It wants to go back to the door.

Sera: That’s what the skull lit up? What is it?

Dorian: So this is what the skull illuminated? I sense something faint in it, but… no idea what.

Solas: Interesting. I cannot say what it is, but there must be a reason the skull illuminated the object.

Varric: That’s what the skull helped you find. Right. Not ominous at all.

Vivienne: Someone went through a great deal of trouble to find that, whatever it is.

Finding the third shard (before unlocking Forbidden Oasis):

Solas: Perhaps the Inquisition could determine the nature of these objects.

Varric: you think the Inquisition could maybe find out what these things are?

Cassandra: Perhaps the Inquisition could determine the nature of these objects.

Iron Bull: Any chance the Inquisition could find out what these things are?

Blackwall: I think the Inquisition should learn about these things before we fiddle with any more of them.

Finding a shard after unlocking Forbidden Oasis:

Sera: One of those key things.

Varric: Another one of those keys.

Dorian: Another key to that mysterious old temple.

Cole: Another key.

Vivienne: Another key to that ancient temple in the desert.

The PC kills some Venatori near an ocularum:

Dorian: The Venatori are creating these oculara to help search for something.

Solas: The Venatori have made the oculara and are using them to search for something.

Vivienne: The Venatori created the oculara to search for something.

PC: The Venatori made the oculara, and they’re using them to search for something.

No shards found:

Vivienne: What could be worth so much effort?

Solas: But what?

Dorian: Wonder why they went to such trouble.

Shards found, Forbidden Oasis not unlocked:

Vivienne: Something like those strange shards.

Solas: Something like those odd shards, presumably.

Dorian: Most likely those strange shards we found.

Unlocked Forbidden Oasis:

Vivienne: The keys to that ruin in the desert, most likely.

Solas: Presumably the keys to that ancient ruin in the desert.

Dorian: Most likely the keys to that old ruin in the desert.

After finding more shards:

Sera: More stupid keys for the stupid lock I could have picked if it wasn’t stupid magic.

Varric: Who designs a place that takes this many keys to get inside?

Cole: The temple has a lot of keys. They all sing, but never the same song.

Dorian: Honestly, how many keys does one ancient temple really need?

Iron Bull: How many keys does this stupid temple need, anyway?

Blackwall: This desert temple seems to require a great many keys.

After finding enough shards to open the Temple of Solasan:

Sera: That’s it, right? All we need to open the temple? Time to get what’s in there.

Varric: If anyone wants a treasure hunt, we have enough keys now to open that temple door.

Iron Bull: That’s it, right? That’s all the keys we needed to get the door of that weird temple open?

Cassandra: I believe we have enough keys to open the temple door.

Blackwall: That must be enough keys to open the temple door.

Cole: It will open now. They can all sing together.

After finding the truth about the oculara in Redcliffe:

Cole: They’re Tranquil skulls.. They couldn’t fight back when it happened. They couldn’t ask for help. I would have heard. I would have helped. I would have stopped it.

Cassandra: Every ocularum is made from the skull of a Tranquil?

Solas: So each ocularum is made from the skull of a Tranquil.

Varric: Those were Tranquil skulls?

Dorian: Every ocularum is made from the skull of a Tranquil?

Vivienne: Every ocularum is made from the skull of a Tranquil? ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Iron Bull: Not like the Tranquil were doing much with ‘em.

Blackwall: I had wondered what became of those poor souls when the Circles collapsed. Now we know.

Sera: Every skull was…? No, done thinking about it. Done.

Vivienne: I had hoped they were safe with the rebel mages. I see that I was mistaken.

Varric: I figured they’d fled with the rebel mages. Poor bastards.

Solas: I had wondered what had become of them when the mages rebelled. What a tragic waste.

Cassandra: I had wondered where they had gone. I should have looked harder.

Nothing to see here, just Amell holding a talking skull, no biggie 👀💦

The Darvaarad [Qunari term for a magical quarantine site] is a Qunari island fortress controlled by the branch of Ben-Hassrath called "Dangerous Purpose" who are lead by Viddasala. The Qunari in the Darvaarad investigate inner workings of the eluvians and brought in, catalogued and studied various artefacts, including red lyrium, astrariums, ocularum, ancient elven statues and murals. They stockpiled knowledge and power, which allowed them to open several mirrors.

This place is divided in the exterior areas:

Fortress Approach

Courtyard

Research Tower

And the interior areas:

Darvaarad Barracks

Study

Gaatlok Factory

Venom Extraction Chamber

[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

Inktober 2019 Day 8 FRAIL

The oculara codex entry says this:

“Remember, the skull will only attune properly if the Tranquil is in close proximity to one of the shards when the demon is forced to possess him. Even then, the blow must be delivered immediately. The oculara produced from Tranquil killed even minutes later failed to illuminate the shards when used.”

So it sounds like it does specifically have to be a tranquil, and they specifically have to be killed in close proximity to one of the shards mid-possession in order for the ocularum to work.

How the hell the Venatori ever found this out, I’ll never know, but the same codex says that Alexius ordered them to look for more shards as “without them, the Venatori cannot claim the treasure our master seeks.” I think it’s the same deal with all the other ancient elven temples/tombs the Venatori are after; Corypheus wanted to get into Solasan, looking for power.