Mann, why is it that when I finally have time off work to do the tag game, I find out I have no pictures for my other universe rook? Now I have to dig out my PS5 to do so. Lookie a baby wyvern
Now caught up, sorry for spamming the posts. Just trying to have them all neat
I got possessed by the spirit of motivation and finished this a week early. Word count: 1.7k
Trigger/content warning for blood and gore(squirmy scene with a broken leg.
Rook is somewhat of an asshole in this. I tried to keep true to her neutral evil alignment. But yeah, let me know your thoughts:)
Reunion
There had been a report of a Venatori bloodletting in a small village a bit past Rivain. For this mission, Rook had decided to bring Davrin and Taash. Assan flew high below the clouds for this, occasionally whistling a high-pitched song.
“Assan, you have to be quiet,” Davrin called up at the young griffin, but it fell on deaf ears.
“Mm, he’s going to regret that when he gets shot at by a mage blast.”
Rook looked away and continued walking through the forest; her irritation at the slow process of stopping the elven gods had been overflowing. Gods, why was it so hot here? Weren’t they in Rivain? It should be much cooler with the ocean nearby!
“You’d think Assan would stop doing that after last time.” Taash quipped.
“Wait…quiet. The forest is quiet. It smells like smoke.”
Taash growled and crouched low in the brush, the rest of the party following suit. True to their words, the once lively forest filled with chirps had grown stilted and dead quiet. Assan stopped singing, dropped out of the sky, and scurried behind Davrin, his pupils blowing wide, and the griffin was strangely silent. He never acted like this in any of their jobs. The winds shifted, and a sour note and a rancid beef smell filled their noses. As they slowly got closer, the scent stung their eyes like venom.
“That’s the smell of Dragonfire; I can’t tell which type, though.”
Fuck. Fuck. Not another dragon fight. So much for fighting Venatori.
“spread out and move in”Rook whispered, tightening her claw gauntlets again.
Assan and Davrin went to the left, while Taash went to the right. The village they were supposed to investigate for the Venatori was gone. Ruined houses and ash were all left, and a horrific smell of burning flesh, the unmistakable sour scent of dragon flame. There were piles of sticky oil residue of dragon venom; dragons used that volatile substance to breathe fire.
It had the nasty habit of igniting once air hit it and was hard to rub off. That pungent odor of burning? It was the countless bodies of Venatori and villagers, some of ’em still twitching. The fire hadn’t finished the job. Huh, humans smell like pork when burned….good to know. The air was so hot it hurt to be in the destroyed village. There was no sign of any of the villagers or Venatori. Well, scratch that, she found them amongst the burned remains. She saw bits and pieces of melted coins, pottery, and Venatori masks perfectly fused to the skulls. Well, great, just great. There is more work to do. She sighed and stood up, patting off the ashes, and turned, yelling out to Davrin a couple of hundred feet away
“Hey, Davrin! Find any survivors?”
“None. I found the bloodletting workshop set up in the basement. They were in a hurry to leave.”
Assan squawked and bumped into Davrin meekly to stay close to him.
“Assan, where is that macho attitude from yesterday? I think the dragon venom is making him frightened.”
“Really? he dives head-on into a hoard of dark spawn, but dragons scare him? Eh, fair enough.”
She shrugged, left Davrin to rally a meek griffin, and trotted to a kneeling Taash. Taash’s eyes narrowed and pursed their lips in thought.
“Look at these footprints. Dragons gotta be huge, going off the spacing in the toes.”
“What breed do you think it is?”
“Not a Fangscorcher; their toes are stubby with sickle claws. Can’t be a Vinsomer; they have webbed feet.”
The footprints were massive enough that Rook could lay comfortably in them, which was saying something considering her stature. Five fingers, slashing tilt to the claws, bowed.
“Know any other fire-spitting species?”
“Yeah, a bunch, but not many with the sticky venom flame. Those types aren’t in Rivain; they like to stay up Thedaus near the mountains.
“Sticky venom… wait a second, what about a—“
Rook’s words cut off with a low, nasally lull that rolled into a piercing, warbling shriek. A flash of yellow followed the roar, and the sky darkened. The air howled with the armored wings cutting through effortlessly.
“Shit! Frostback incoming!”
At Taash’s words, Rook darted away from them, not smart to be clustered and too easy a target for fire. Well, shit. If they were going to be fighting a dragon, they should have brought the ranged people of her group. What can she do, toss her shield at it? Nun, uh, she paid too much money for this fancy shield to break it on those diamond-hard scales. Davrin whistled for Assan to fall back; feathers and flame didn’t mix.
The dragon let out another titillating roar, breaching off into a howl as she spat those sticky globes at the party, immediately bursting into scorching green-tinged flames. The dragon swooped low, reaching out a claw and gouging the air as Davrin dived out of the way and sank his sword into her claws. She howled, yanked her hand away, and climbed the air away from him.
Taash whirled their axe in a loop and launched it at the dragon when she swooped low again. It sank into the thick crust of scales on the nape; yanking hard, the dragon slammed into the ground in a sickening crunch and a storm of dust and ash. Enraged, the dragon reared up, howling, flaring her expansive wings. There was a smallish hole in the right wing and a thick, gnarly scar on the wing bone …wait, that looked familiar. Rook braced herself—then lunged, her axe aimed at the soft plates under the dragon’s belly.
Above, Taash swung up the rope tethered to their axe, using the momentum to vault onto the beast’s neck. They planted their feet and drove the blade into the bare patch at the nape.
Hot, acidic blood sprayed from both wounds in a stinging burst
The dragon’s roar twisted into a wailing screech. She bucked violently, hurling Taash into the air—then dove. Her massive fangs sank into Rook’s leg with a sickening crunch.
The crunch was instant. Bone shattered beneath serrated fangs. The pain hit a heartbeat later—white-hot, blinding, like her nerves had been set on fire. Her scream tore from her throat, raw and ragged, as the dragon’s teeth ground deeper, crushing muscle and splintered bone alike.
The world tilted.
Rook’s vision blurred, dark at the edges. Her body went rigid with shock, then limp, barely aware, as the dragon’s wings unfurled and beat the ground into a storm. With one mighty thrust, the dragon launched into the air—dragging Rook by her ruined leg.
“Rook!”
The wind roared, drowning out Taash and Davrin’s voices.
*Gods, these armored boots do jack-shit.*
*Fuck. Fuck!*
This dragon’s flight was godawful. It kept lurching to the side as it beat its wings.
Rook groaned and hauled herself up toward the dragon’s muzzle. Her weight shifted—and her leg gave a wet, crunching pop that echoed up her spine.
Pain detonated behind her eyes. A blinding electric blast made her vision white out; she gagged, breath shallow, and looked down. The bone was pushing through the skin now. Splintered. Slick. Her thigh pulsed with every heartbeat, blood bubbling around the dragon’s lips, shredded flesh, and twisted armor.
She reached, her fingers shaking, groping down her ruined leg. Ignoring her leg's horrible mess, she found the dagger in the slip. Solas’s blade hummed, glowing a pale blue.
*if this scaly bitch was going to eat her, she’ll make it hurt!*
Rook yanked the dagger free and drove it between the dragon’s scales, aiming for the eye. There was resistance. Then, a sickening pop as the blade punched through the soft tissue. Blood sprayed—thick and hot like a blister popping. The blood sizzled on her skin.
*Damn it*. Too low. She’d missed the eye and hit the bottom eyelid beneath it. Not the satisfying, goopy explosion she wanted.
But it worked; the dragon screamed in pure agony. Rook bared her teeth and clung to the eye-spines as the dragon reared back, wings stalling mid-air. Then, the spiral as the beast fell from the sky.The world was a dizzying whirl of colors; the blue sky, blood, and green trees made Rook nauseous; closing her eyes tight to steel herself against this nightmare.
WHAM!
The beast crashed into the ground hard, making Rook fly off the muzzle and into a boulder. The world grew fuzzy as she desperately fought to get air in her lungs. With a low, mournful groan, the dragon shakily got to her feet. She snarled and towered over the prone Rook. Hot drool fell onto her cheek; big gleaming fangs filled her vision.
This was just great!
Solas’s dagger was still deep in the dragon's eye bag. Those eyes were gorgeous, a glowing yellow surrounded by a mint green; they reflected Rooks's beaten-up growling face as she bared her fangs up at the dragon. The tiny bits of venom sap stung and burned her face as the dragon's thunderous roar echoed off her face in the forest. Suddenly, the dragon's face relaxed and looked puzzled; her head dipped close to her neck and took big whiffs. Her pupils grew, and her head reared back and tilted. The snarling turned into a curious warble.
“Ha…ha.. well? What are you waiting for, you bitch? Let’s go!”
The dragon sat back on her hind legs and stared at her puzzled, panting Rook propped herself against the boulder. This odd moment of peace gave Rook a good look at her would-be murderer—a stout head with large, sloping, spiky horns dotted with razor-sharp spines. A robust, stocky form with large, willowy wings. Wait, those scars….. those bowed claws.. a thin circle scar wrapped just under that thick head
“…..H-Hissera?”
“*Rooooooo*”
WHOOMP!
Hissera rammed her head into Rook's chest. Rook grabbed the dragon's eye spines, and the dragon lifted the qunari high in the air.
“My Hissera. My baby. That’s my Hissera. Oh Gods, you're so big.”
Her voice cracked as hot tears stung the scratches on her face. Gods, she has never cried since she was with Tama. At that thought, the dam broke, and the forest filled with her sobs, great heaving gulps as she soaked the dragon's face. Hissera thrummed with pleasure, and her body ran hot. Rook felt so warm and comfortable at that moment. Rook could hear Assan’s screeching and Taash and Davrin’s shouts. But none of that mattered. All that mattered was the dragon. Her friend was back—her Hissera.
Proportions are all off on the first one. The second one is a spoof on how Rook got Hissera back to the lighthouse. I'd say Hissera is approximately 26 feet tall currently.
Hissera’s wing scars are set in a way that makes her flaping movement all jerky but, the soaring gets smooth afterwards. Hissera had left The Hinterlands due to overcrowding and a excess of dragon hunters. She has a particular hatred for most humans because of the trapping incident, which is why she torched the entire village indiscriminately. She now has a mild dislike of Taash because of the axe whacking.
I got some SolRook I have to do and stop pushing it off. Solas is so hard to draw right:(. I also got a angst half-animation with Rook and Hissera, about the dragon’s long lifespan.
I drew a bit of Rook and Hissera’s first meeting and an unrelated piece of the two.
They are both in their teens in this one. Hissera having recently left her mother’s hoard and been caught by an old dragon trap and a couple months after Rook left Par Vollen. The trap ruined Hissera’s right wing- keeping her grounded. Rook had discovered her and tried to help which, Hissera had tried to maul her, which gave Rook the broken horn and face and chest scar.
It took many long weeks of tossing food to the injured dragon before Hissera finally allowed Rook close enough to treat and free the dragon from the trap.(the trap was right under her head so she couldn’t free herself and fly away). By then their relationship had grown enough to be considered wary allies,turned friends. After Rook freed Hissera they traveled/stayed with each other before, they had to separate to keep Hissera safe from hunters.
I’d say in the first artwork Hissera is about 11 feet tall at the shoulders, still growing and Rook is still 7 feet tall.The other artwork Hissera is about 19 feet tall. I’m currently writing a scenario in which they finally meet again as adults after separating. The perspective on these pieces is weird so the sizes are all off.
I finally managed to draw my Rook halfway decent for once.
I tweaked the Defiant Plate armor in game to fit her personality better. The scales are Fereldan Frostback scales, some from Hissera and some bought from merchants. The gauntlets/gloves(?) she wears are her favorite because it looks like a dragons claw, that and she can scratch people with them. It’s hard using those for daily life so she only wears them for battle.
I feel like Qunari should have fangs. Idk if they do in game but oh well.
Kalais/Rook hates caring for her horns because the horn balm smells awful to her so, the horns have started to crack and itch. That is until Taash snatched her up and forcibly oiled them.
I’ve got more art ideas but I’m terrible at drawing people so who knows when I’ll get those done.
I liked @shivunin Rook Codex Writing Prompts. I picked number 30 for today.
Trigger warning for toxic family. There is nothing toxic in it but, I wanted to put one just in case because, my Rook has a toxic relationship with her “mother”. This letter she wrote multiple times over the years she traveled and this one is the latest one, a couple weeks after she met Varric.
Rook always had regrets leaving the Qun, she loved her Tama even if their relationship was terrible. Just some trauma and guilt she has to work through.
I like filling out these little charts for my Rook. :) there's the link for the blank one.
Hey put your rooks in this
The salmon color doodle is how she draws her dragon friend Hissera from memory. It’s been a long time since she’s seen the dragon so, it’s obviously outdated.
The dragon is how I personify her because I’m terrible at drawing people. She stole Solas’s old wolf jaw necklace last time she was in the fade, he doesn’t mind too much anymore.
To keep my ramblings about her lore coherent, I just decided to use @pinkhallaclub questionnaire who was inspired by @cassieuncaged's BG3
Development Questions
1. Where in Thedas is your Rook from?
She was born and raised in Par Vollen in the city capital of Qunandar.
2. What is your character's alignment?
Neutral evil, her morals are skewed from being conscripted into the Antaam at age 12. It doesn't matter how taboo something is, if it helps her goals she'll gladly do it without hesitation. Although she is trying to be better in that regard but, hasn't made much progress
3. Race and subclass?
Qunari-warrior, she is most comfortable with a Battle Axe and Shield
4. If your Rook was a companion, where would they be found?
Knee deep in some random forest collecting dragon scales, most likely in a clearing
5. What emotion did they usually pick?
Contempt and annoyance
6. What companions are they platonically close with?
Davrin, Neve, and Taash
7. Romantically close with?
Has a Enemies with Benefits relationship with Solas
8. Who are they suspicious of?
Most of the Antivan Crows. Since she is a Tal-Vashoth to the Qun she is always fearful of the Qunari assassin's after her. She knows it's ridiculous considering it wouldn't be a human or elf to catch her, but she can't seem to shake the dread of what if they did hire a crow to do it?
9. Does your Rook get along with their chosen Faction?
She gets along well with the younger Grey Wardens she trained with. The older wardens seem to distrust her so there's bad blood with most of them.
10. Are they proficient in playing any instruments?
NO, she is banned from playing any instruments
11. Weapon of choice?
Battle Axe, she uses one that has Ferelden Frostback scales welded to the handle. Memento of her dragon friend; Hissera
12. What is their orientation?
Pansexual.
13. What are their thoughts on killing? Is it a necessary evil or do they enjoy it?
Conflicted on this. She enjoys killing but understands it's necessary to do at times. Rook grapples with the idea that it makes her a monster in some eyes so, she keeps her enjoyment of it under wraps but, that doesn't work sometimes
14. What hobbies does your Rook have?
Not many. Currently her number one hobby is to beat Manfred at rock paper scissors. That score is 34 to 5 much to her anger. Reading, drawing, learning about magic from Emmrich
15. What NPCs do they like? Which one's do they dislike?
She is obsessed with Vorgoth and likes Viago. She had never seen a like him before and always asks him questions about his biology, which he obliges. She likes Viago for his fancy mustache.
She has a playful dislike of Manfred since, he beats her at their games
16. Do they have a favorite creature in the Thedas?
She loves dragons, particularly Ferelden Frostback for their colorful scales and long sweeping horns. When she first set out on her journey after leaving home, she had found a young Frostback who was injured from hunters. After a long struggle of gaining her trust, Rook called the dragon Hissera. The dragon seemed to enjoy her company but they had to separate so hunters wouldn't find the dragon. She wishes she could see Hissera again but, that's not possible right now.
17. Do they enjoy life as an adventure? Yes, adventuring is a wonderful way for her to discover new sights she never seen before.
18. What would your Rook be doing if they weren't recruited by Varric?
Besides being a Warden, she would till be traveling around the world getting banned from cities for tax evasion. She thinks taxes are asinine and as a result of not paying them she would continue to get into a lot of fights with city guards, then get banned from said city.
19. How do you think they would meet their end? In the re-education program from the Qunari, once they catch her.
20. Would they side with Solas or fight him?
For her that's complicated, if his plans didn't result in the destruction of the world she would side with him. But, it does so she fights with him every step of the way regardless of their odd "relationship".
21. What is your Rook's favorite ability? Whirlwind.
22. What languages is your character fluent in?
Qunlat and the Common tongue but, currently she is struggling to learn elven from Solas; much to his exasperation at her slowness of it.
23. What do they do after an absolute crisis?
Shuts down and hides away to keep her emotions from the team. She self soothes by cleaning her weapons or doodling
24. Does your character believe in the afterlife?
Somewhat. People's spirits obviously go somewhere when they die, it's hard to not believe in an afterlife, after seeing Manfred and Vorgoth.
25. What specialization best represents your Rook?
She wishes to be a mage but that's not possible for her right now. Champion
26. What animal best represents your Rook?
She likes to think herself as a dragon but, the other Warden trainees label her as a pissed off bull. Strong headed and narrow sighted when something pisses her off.
27. What was their life like before the events of Veilguard?
After leaving the Qun at 19 and nearly loosing her life in the process and meeting Hissera, she spent her day's wandering around Thedas. Sleeping and hunting in the forest, only going to the cities for supplies. The market was a huge cultural shock, having to buy items instead of goods being freely distributed. That's something she still can't wrap her head around. After getting banned from the capital Denerim and taking down the guards, she had caught the attention of an old elf called Glandival; who tried to recruit her to be a Warden. She refused it vehemently thinking it was like the Antaam, after trying on leave him Glandival. Knocked her out and dragged her off to the Wardens under the guise of her being a wanted criminal. That didn't go well with her at all, there was a lot of fighting and running away attempts as she trained there but, ultimately she ended up enjoying being a Warden and made it official. Going on five years in that faction before Veilguard happens(I'm keeping this short so I can iron it out better)
28. Is your character the de facto leader of the party? Or do they consider someone else to be the leader?
The way she carries herself so confidently made the party flock to her as a natural leader. A lot of her bro being one she fakes and has mental breakdowns in hiding over not being worthy. Secretly she always thinks of Varric being the leader but, that's not possible so begrudgingly she presists
29. If you could choose a different faction for your Rook, which one would they have joined and why?
Mourn Watch. That is one she would pick without hesitation, it would finally give her the opportunity to be a mage since it would be deadly under the Qun.
A great opportunity to better understand the dead, seeing as she normally kills and moves on with her life and doesn't think about what happens to them afterwards. Fighting dark spawn is disgusting most of the time.
30. What's your favorite thing about your Rook?
I just love tall horned races. My Rook I've realized looks somewhat like me which was something I did unconsciously which, is nice. I had so much fun towering over most of the pcs, hence her being "7'0",. Height slider on max always.
Fun facts: Rook's eyes are a deep emerald color but cataracts affected her as a child making her blind. She was able to get her left eye magicked so she is able to see out of it ( that's why it's pink)but, her right eye is permanently blind.
Hissera had broken off a piece of her left horn while Rook was trying to gain her trust. She exclusively goes by the name Rook and is deeply uncomfortable with her true name Kalais, even becoming violent if she is ever called that. That name ties her to her elder tamassran, who she has a toxic relationship with.
Rook is a terrible lightweight when it comes to her alcohol, just one drink is enough to knock her out. Oddly enough she passes out while standing, that has led to a fun ring toss game other Warden trainees made using her horns as the goal post.
Sorry if any of this sounds incoherent, I'm still trying to work on my writing skills :/
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