Shale/Dialogue

Shale and Morrigan

 * Shale: The swamp witch has a great deal in common with my former master.
 * Morrigan: "The swamp witch?" How original.
 * Shale: The swamp witch has the same arrogance, the same air of cruelty. I would hate for it to have possession of my control rod... if it still worked, of course.
 * Morrigan: Let me tell you what you can do with your control rod, golem.
 * Shale: Is it telling me that if the rod did work that it wouldn't want control over me?
 * Morrigan: I wouldn't go so far as that. I could, for instance, command you to go and jump in a lake. A very deep lake.
 * Shale: It fools no one. The swamp witch would control everything, if it could. it would have us all dancing on its strings.
 * Morrigan: Oh, you know me too well, golem. Your revealing gaze has laid me bare.
 * Shale: I will be watching the swamp witch. it must not be trusted.
 * Morrigan: (Sigh) Now you're beginning to sound just like Alistair.

--


 * Shale: I understand the swamp witch is out to slay its own mother?
 * Morrigan: Entirely in self-defense.
 * Shale: So it claims. It could not have been its plan from the very beginning, then.
 * Morrigan: I knew nothing about my mother's... intentions... prior to finding the book. 'Twas your notion I arranged that?
 * Shale: Unnecessary, considering it is the only one who can read the book. It could just as well be a journal, or a book of recipes.
 * Morrigan: Would you like me to teach you how to read the book? Then you can see for yourself.
 * Shale: (Snorts) Now it is testing me.
 * Morrigan: (Chuckles) Well do you care enough to learn, or no?
 * Shale: No. I do not care.
 * Morrigan: Then leave me be.

--


 * Shale: Why does the swamp witch still travel with the Grey Wardens?
 * Morrigan: You are of the opinion that I should not be?
 * Shale: I am curious. It seems as if it has little reason to stay.
 * Morrigan: The same could be said of you. There is no control rod commanding your presence, golem.
 * Shale: I have no history, and thus no purpose. The same cannot be said for the swamp witch. Its purpose is simply unknown.
 * Morrigan: Keep asking questions and I shall turn into a bird. I can do that.
 * Shale: (Snorts) I have no fear of birds.
 * Morrigan: Oh, I didn't say you were afraid. I would simply hover out of reach, hovering, waiting until...
 * Shale: Enough! I shall be silent.
 * Morrigan: Excellent choice.

--


 * Shale: How many other forms can the swamp witch become?
 * Morrigan: Several.
 * Shale: Can it become a golem?
 * Morrigan: Seeking companionship, are you?
 * Shale: If it could become a golem, I simply wonder why it would not stay that way. It is a superior form.
 * Morrigan: No, I cannot become a golem. I can learn to become animals, and each form must be learned anew.
 * Shale: And how does it learn a form? Does it read about it somewhere?
 * Morrigan: (Laughs) 'Tis not a talent one can read from books! You must copy a creature's soul!
 * Shale: I do not understand.
 * Morrigan: Nor should you. Rock is unchanging -- allow it to stay that way.

--


 * Shale: Would the swamp witch consider explaining the nature of magic to me? I am most curious.
 * Morrigan: Surely there is another who would not be so bothered by your tiresome questions. Perhaps Alistair?
 * Shale: I fear the second Warden has not the knowledge to answer my question.
 * Morrigan: You might ask him anyhow. Certainly whatever he happened to come up with would serve as amusement.
 * Shale: I do not understand. I seek enlightenment, and not amusement.
 * Morrigan: You're apt to get much further seeking amusement, I assure you.
 * Shale: The swamp witch is a most confusing creature. I do not understand it.
 * Morrigan: You're not the first one to say so. The first golem, perhaps.
 * Shale: I will ask the swamp witch later when it is less inclined to make bizarre responses to my queries.
 * Morrigan: You will be waiting for some time, then, I fear.

--

--
 * Shale: I would still like to know how the swamp witch learns its forms.
 * Morrigan: Eater, are you not? Does the golem wish to become human, after all?
 * Shale: A human is soft and weak form. I desire no such thing.
 * Morrigan: Then why the interest in shapechanging? Unless you secretly wish to become something other than what you are?
 * Shale: Is that why the swamp witch learned? To escape her form?
 * Morrigan: In a way. It was lonely to grow up in the Wilds. To join with the forest, to become one with its denizens... there was a freedom in that.
 * Shale: I think it would be an excellent talent for disguises.
 * Morrigan: Or perhaps to walk through doors without hitting one's head, hmm?
 * Shale: Yes, exactly.
 * Morrigan: well. 'Tis not a good enough reason.
 * Shale: What is a good enough reason?
 * Morrigan: For which?
 * Shale: It said that my reason for learning more of shapechanging was "not good enough." What reason would be?
 * Morrigan: (Chuckles) i do not know. tell me what it is, and I shall decide.
 * Shale: It could simply decide any reason was insufficient then.
 * Morrigan: You find that maddening, do you?
 * Shale: It has a bird-like nature to its sadism, I'll give it that.
 * Morrigan: Good. Let us leave it that way.

--
 * Shale: So I take it that the swamp witch and the Grey Warden are... intimate?
 * Morrigan: I am goping that is not a reference to Alistair.
 * Shale: Because it believes I am an oblivious moron?
 * Morrigan: Anything is possible. As to the original question, is there a reason you ask?
 * Shale: I am simply curious as to whether or not it bewitched the Grey Warden.
 * Morrigan: (Scoffs) I have no need to force anything from men.
 * Shale: Oh? My apologies then. I was about to offer my congratulations for a task accomplished.
 * Morrigan: And not intended as a backhanded compliment at all, yes?
 * Shale: Not at all. I am the soul of politeness.

--
 * Shale: The swamp witch desires something from it.
 * Morrigan: From what? Ah... you mean from him. (Chuckles) And if I do? What of it?
 * Shale: it is aware of the swamp witch's true nature?
 * Morrigan: Let me guess. You know my true nature?
 * Shale: I have spent a great deal of time observing the world. I know what I see what I see it.
 * Morrigan: You spent thirty years watching whatever a small village was willing to parade in front of your eyes. Do not cast yourself as the worldly sage. At best you are a barely-working statue with a poor memory and a poor attitude. Do not seek to begin judging me.
 * Shale: Hmph. Perhaps it has a point.
 * Morrigan: Yes, I should think so.

--
 * Shale: The swamp witch has been looking at me oddly. Stop it, or I will crush it's tiny, bird-like head.
 * Morrigan: I am simply finding it difficult to believe that there is a woman inside of there.
 * Shale: A woman who was also a warror. And a dwarf.
 * Morrigan: Yes, that would explain a great deal.

Shale and Alistair

 * Shale: It has become very close with the other Grey Warden
 * Alistair: Uh...yes, I suppose I have at that.
 * Shale: I find this difficult to comprehend.It is whiny and weak and constantly laughing.
 * Alistair: Then I guess a romance between you and I is completely out of the question?
 * Shale: And the attempts at humor. I cannot understand how it is endured.
 * Alistair: Well maybe you should ask her why she likes me so much instead of bothering me with it.
 * Shale: It has a loud mouth. Why its head has not been crushed already is hard to imagine.
 * Alistair: Or maybe you just happen to figure she likes me a lot more than she likes you.
 * Shale: Don't be foolish.
 * Alistair: Yes, I thought so. Just watch your step or I'm totally telling.
 * Shale: I'm going to stand over here now.

--


 * Shale: I find it very odd.
 * Alistair: "It" meaning me? Am I an "it," now, too? I feel honored.
 * Shale: For one who professes to be a warrior, I find it remarkably weak-willed and indecisive.
 * Alistair: Er... thank you?
 * Shale: It also likes to hide its many weaknesses behind a veil of jocularity.
 * Alistair: For a statue, you know a lot of big words.
 * Shale: Is there a reason it enjoys following others so much? Especially when it is in a position to lead?
 * Alistair: Have you ever been responsible for someone else's life? Or a lot of other lives? Or an entire nation?
 * Shale: Of course not.
 * Alistair: Then... shut... up.
 * Shale: I will remember this moment when the birds come.

--


 * Shale: I am told that it lost a large number of comrades in the battle with the darkspawn.
 * Alistair: Me? I guess I did, yes. I didn't know all of them that well, however. Mostly just Duncan.
 * Shale: I am unfamiliar with this name.
 * Alistair: It's... it's not important. You don't need to know who he was.
 * Shale: I cannot remember if I ever had anyone important to me. All I remember is being given orders.
 * Alistair: I would gladly be following Duncan's orders right now, if I could.
 * Shale: It enjoys following others? I find that odd.
 * Alistair: You wouldn't understand. Don't worry. I don't expect you to.

--


 * Alistair: So, Shale... when you were standing there all that time? Did you... sleep?
 * Shale: I have no need to sleep. My body does not tire or do -- ugh -- other flesh-related functions.
 * Alistair: But don't you get bored? Wouldn't you want to dream, at least?
 * Shale: I do not dream. This is what it does when it sleeps? It paws its nose and mumbles incoherently.
 * Alistair: Yes, of course. I thought we all -- huh... you watch me?
 * Shale: I watch all closely when they are still at night. There is little else to do.
 * Alistair: For... hours and hours?
 * Shale: I count the breaths. it helps to overcome the overwhelming urge to crush their faces while they sleep.
 * Alistair: Well. I won't be doing much of that anymore.

--


 * Alistair: So tell me something... do you feel pain? When you get hit in combat?
 * Shale: This is when it squeals loudly and spurts blood about? This is when it feels pain?
 * Alistair: Uh... maybe? I've seen you take some bad hits. Don't you feel anything?
 * Shale: Anger. Rage, even. Perhaps a little distress. Is this pain?
 * Alistair: I'm not sure. I don't think I'd call it distress, exactly. It's more... (screaming)
 * Shale: For me, it is more... (pained growl)
 * Alistair: That sounds more like a bowel movement. I mean that sharp, stabbing... (screams) Like that?
 * Shale: No. Nothing like that.
 * Alistair: No? Huh. Good to know.

Shale and Oghren

 * Shale: (Sigh) So. I have a question for you, dwarf.
 * Oghren: Oh? Sounds like you're passing a stone, there. (Laughs) get it? "Passing a stone?"
 * Shale: I do get it, yes. My question is this: had the Anvil of the Void not been destroyed, does it believe the dwarves would have used it?
 * Oghren: Hmm. You mean to create more golems? Oh yes, faster than you could squish a nug.
 * Shale: Even knowing the agony that it caused? They would still inflict it on others?
 * Oghren: No need to inflict it. There'd be plenty ready and willing to sign up, just as you did. There's fewer and fewer of us each year, and the darkspawn never run out. If it meant saving Orzammar? There'd be plenty who'd become a golem, sure.
 * Shale: Does it think it was wrong to destroy the Anvil, then?
 * Oghren: (Sigh) No... sometimes people need to be kept from doing stupid things, even for good reasons.
 * Shale: It is referring to its former wife?
 * Oghren: I think some statues should sod off and ask their sodded questions to someone else.

--


 * Shale: Would the drunken dwarf have saved its former wife if it could? I assumed that since the drunken dwarf was a master of the inappropriate it lacked the ability to actually be offended.
 * Oghren: Hmph. Good call. Truth is, I don't know. She was almost crazier than when we were married, it looked like.
 * Shale: Almost? It is exaggerating, surely.
 * Oghren: Branka was always a bit twitchy. There was that day she took her forging hammer to my head for misplacing her tongs... ah, good times.
 * Shale: I am finding the nature of its relationship to this Branka difficult to imagine.
 * Oghren: Make-up sex. She really knew how to polish the old anvil, if you take my meaning! (Whistles) Paragon! (Laughs)
 * Shale: I am done imagining, now.

--


 * Shale: There was a man in the village who reminded me of the drunken dwarf.
 * Oghren: They had some dwarves just like me, huh?
 * Shale: No. None of the dwarves were similar. They were quiet and respected, more or less. No, the one I remember was a human. He vomited in the street constantly. Then he wandered into a snowstorm and froze to death.
 * Oghren: Huh? And how is that like me?
 * Shale: Did I say similar? I meant I hoped he was similar.
 * Oghren: I think I had a wife like you, once.

--


 * Oghren: So. Do golems know any good jokes?
 * Shale: I know at least one. It is a drunken dwarf that travels with the Grey Warden, constantly belching and--
 * Oghren: Bah! I mean a real one! You must have overheard at least one or two standing there as you did for years and years!
 * Shale: There was a human man who once started telling a joke to another as he relieved himself on my leg. I confess I didn't listen. I was too busy planning my revenge.
 * Oghren: Eh? And what happened to him?
 * Shale: He disappeared during the fighting in Honnleath. Tragic. Hit his head on a rock, I think.
 * Oghren: Huh. Remind me not to fart anywhere near you.

--


 * Shale: The drunken dwarf fights... reasonably well.
 * Oghren: You don't have to make it sound like you're passing a stone to admit it.
 * Shale: It is not physically weak. Or entirely inept. In combat.
 * Oghren: You looking to borrow money, or something?
 * Shale: I am saying that there are worse things than being forced to fight at its side.
 * Oghren: Good to know. Should I drop my trousers now? Or are you done?
 * Shale: Done. Very done.

Shale and Leliana

 * Shale: So I am to understand the sister is a follower of this "Maker"?


 * Leliana: Am I the sister? Aw... that's so cute. It's like you're my big brother, or sister... or whatever.


 * Shale: I am a creature of stone. I doubt that we will be related in any shape or form.
 * Leliana: Oh I didn't mean it literally. Don't you think people can be related in spirit?
 * Shale: I noticed that humans tend to believe in a great deal of things that are not true, even when given evidence to the contrary.
 * Leliana: Believing in things when there is no proof is what faith is all about, Shale.
 * Shale: Believing in things when there is no proof is what gullibility is all about.
 * Leliana: So I am gullible now?
 * Shale: I, ah, take it we are no longer sister in spirit?


 * Shale: I, uh, may have a cause to apologize to the sister.


 * Leliana: Apologize? For what?


 * Shale: For suggesting that the sister is gullible for believing in things which were not real.
 * Leliana: Oh that. I've already forgotten about that. Thank you for reminding me.
 * Shale: I suppose it would offer some... comfort... to believe that things occur according to some grand purpose. All those years I spent in Honnleath, unable to move, it would be comforting to think there was some reason for it.
 * Leliana: Do you know there wasn't? Maybe the Maker did it to bring you here, to us. You once said that you have no purpose. Perhaps you were simply looking for it in the wrong place.
 * Shale: Perhaps. I shall think on this.


 * Shale: I have thought about what the sister said.


 * Leliana: Our last talk? And?


 * Shale: I would like the sister to explain to me the purpose of birds.
 * Leliana: Birds? What... kind of birds?
 * Shale: Any kind. The evil little demons that strafe the ground with their droppings. What reasons could your Maker have for such things?
 * Leliana: The same reason he has for any...evil. Such as the darkspawn, if one were to... equate the two.
 * Shale: I have a hard time believing a higher power inflicting any evil upon this world. Does it enjoy such jest?
 * Leliana: Perhaps there is a lesson to learn in it. Not all lessons are easy, Shale.
 * Shale: Hmph. It's any wonder this Maker has so many followers. I mean... Birds! What was He thinking?


 * Shale: I have thought a little more about the sister's Maker.
 * Leliana: He's not just my Maker Shale. He's your Maker too. He created everything.
 * Shale: I happen to know exactly who my maker is.
 * Leliana: I think you're wrong. The important part of you... that part which makes you you... He made that.
 * Shale: And the sister simply believes this, even though there is no proof?
 * Leliana: I do.
 * Shale: And the sister still believes that she and I could be sisters? In spirit?
 * Leliana: I do. I think that would be nice.
 * Shale: I suppose there are worse things that could happen. Like being assaulted by a flock of pigeons.
 * Leliana: I'm glad to hear it.


 * Leliana: I did not realize that you were a woman.
 * Shale: That is because I am not. I am a golem.
 * Leliana: But you were once a woman. And a dwarf. Dosn't that... mean anything to you?
 * Shale: The bard speaks of someone who lived five centuries ago. What have I in commmon with her?
 * Leliana: You share a soul.
 * Shale: I do not... it talks in riddles. Desist, or I shall crush its head.


 * Leliana: Do you miss the life you once had, Shale? These centuries of memories you have lost?
 * Shale: Does it miss being within its mother's womb?
 * Leliana: Do I...? Well, no. I dont' remember that far back.
 * Shale: It is no different. My memory stretches only so far, and what went before is now lost.
 * Leliana: And you remember nothing at all? Not even a little bit?
 * Shale: There are... images. Faces who I have no names for. places I remember being but not where they are. Do I miss these things? They are without context. I feel only disquiet when I think of them.
 * Leliana: Like dreams, then. When you awake all the details have fled.
 * Shale: Is that what it is to dream? Then yes. Perhaps it is like that.
 * Leliana: How very sad. To discover your entire life has been a forgotten dream. I am so sorry.


 * Shale: The sister has interesting footwear.
 * Leliana: Oh? You... like shoes, do you?
 * Shale: My mass is considerable. Some cushioning on my feet would be ideal, but I doubt such footwear could be made.
 * Leliana: Hmm. I could see some nice, thick sandals being made. With very tick leather straps. Oh yes, that could be done! Perhaps we could find some cobbler who could give it a try! What color would you want?
 * Shale: Surely the color is unimportant.
 * Leliana: In fact, the color is very important. That, and picking a shape that makes your ankles look slender... and you could use some help there, I fear.
 * Shale: I... have thick ankles?
 * Leliana: It's all right. I don't like my thighs. What's important is working with what you have.
 * Shale: Hmm. Very well. I wish my shoes to be red.
 * Leliana: Ooh! Bold choice! We'll have to remember that!


 * Shale: Why does the bard stare at me so?


 * Leliana: I was thinking about writing a song about you. "The Statue with the Heart of Gold"... or something like that.
 * Shale: It thinks my heart is made of gold? It is stone, as anything else. Cold stone.
 * Leliana: I meant that you had... I good heart. It seems to be that you do.
 * Shale: And they call this having a "heart of gold?" Why?
 * Leliana: Uh... because gold is precious and shiny and... a good heart is just as valuable?
 * Shale: Shiny.
 * Leliana: In a manner of speaking.
 * Shale: My heart does not qualify as shiny. I kill. Frequently, and not without pleasure.
 * Leliana: You had a difficult life. Deep down, at the center of your being, you are a good person. I believe that.
 * Shale: Even though I have never demonstrated this aspect? How peculiar.
 * Leliana: You aren't all stone, Shale. There is a person inside of you.
 * Shale: If so, it is because I ate him.


 * Leliana: I do not understant why you hare birds so much.
 * Shale: It is because I had to endure their chirping, their perching, and most especially theis constant sh-
 * Leliana: No, I understand that part. But they were just... being what they are!
 * Shale: Exactly. Disgusting vermin with wings. Darkspawn must be exterminated for being what they are, as well.
 * Leliana: But a bird is a creature of grace, and beauty! They open their mouths and they sing!
 * Shale: The bard hears music. I hear a wail of banshees that boils my blood.
 * Leliana: But... what about a nightingale? Or a swan?
 * Shale: They are not pigeons, it is true. Still? Evil beasts of the sky.
 * Leliana: (Sigh) I give up.