Hortensa/Conversations

Spoiler Warning: This article contains information normally only found in the course of advancing the main quest line.

This information is reliable as of patch 2.0.184.1. If this is no longer the current patch, you can help by updating it.

This information is reliable as of patch 2.0.184.1.

Default

Start

[ Hortensa ]

Drink deeply of life, (player's offspringTerm). Are you finding your way?

1) Do you know anything about Bethesda Susa?	Available only during Decoding the Signal.
2) What do you know about Omonporch and the self-appointed Earl?	Available only during The Earl of Omonporch.
3) Did you feel that rumbling, Hortensa?	Available only during Grave Thoughts.
4) Have you ever met Pax Klanq?	Available only during Pax Klanq, I Presume?.
5) Your hair is so gray! How long have you lived in Grit Gate?
6) Could you tell me about the other Barathrumites?
7) Are you a liquid-tinker?
8) Live and drink.	[End]

Bethesda

[ Hortensa ]

There are pools of convalessence there. You see, when cryogenic mist condenses, it forms a cool, luminous liquid that's restorative if you're able to bath in it.

Oh! And in one of the ruined wards, the Alchemist keeps their shop. Who's the Alchemist, you ask? A sort of enigmatic figure -- amateur liquid-tinker, poet, merchant. Their methods aren't scientific, but they are useful if you're seeking a specific kind of liquid. Just be careful around them, (player's name).

1) Your hair is so gray! How long have you lived in Grit Gate?
2) Could you tell me about the other Barathrumites?
3) Are you a liquid-tinker?
4) Live and drink.	[End]

Omonporch

[ Hortensa ]

Nothing other than a pet theory of mine that the Spindle is a liquid in laminar flow.

1) Your hair is so gray! How long have you lived in Grit Gate?
2) Could you tell me about the other Barathrumites?
3) Are you a liquid-tinker?
4) Live and drink.	[End]

Rumbling

[ Hortensa ]

Yes! I was even provided with a brief premonition of it, as my workbench liquids are sensitive to small vibrations around the enclave.

1) Your hair is so gray! How long have you lived in Grit Gate?
2) Could you tell me about the other Barathrumites?
3) Are you a liquid-tinker?
4) Live and drink.	[End]

Klanq

[ Hortensa ]

Oh, yes. You see, years and years ago, we were studying optics in the course of our research into laser technology. Barathrum was giving a lecture to some guest attendees, and...

Oh, I'd rather not talk about it.

1) Your hair is so gray! How long have you lived in Grit Gate?
2) Could you tell me about the other Barathrumites?
3) Are you a liquid-tinker?
4) Live and drink.	[End]

HowLong

[ Hortensa ]

*Hortensa chuckles.*

Years. Decades on decades. Centuries, perhaps. Most of these wet-earred cubs were merely sketches in their mothers' dreambooks when I arrived to study under Barathrum. We knew so little then, know so little now.

1) Could you tell me about the other Barathrumites?
2) Are you a liquid-tinker?
3) Live and drink.	[End]

LiquidTinker

[ Hortensa ]

*Hortensa chuckles.*

You are sharp, (player's name). In a way that's what I am. But liquids are more willful than scrap. I can't solder them together; they would run away, hide in the shale cracks, slowly come apart and disappear. I moreso think of myself as a wisewoman in dialog with them -- I manage their moods and phases. My notebooks are full of their quirks and caprices. It's a wonder, isn't it, how at just the right temperature and pressure the continuity of matter is smashed apart? How the gaseous butterfly flits out of the dense worm?

1) Your hair is so gray! How long have you lived in Grit Gate?
2) Could you tell me about the other Barathrumites?
3) Live and drink.	[End]

OtherBarathrumites

[ Hortensa ]

I won't denigrate them, (player's name), or presume to speak for what's in their hearts. But I can direct you around the contours of the impressions they've left on me.

Who would you like to hear about, (player's offspringTerm)?

1) Barathrum.
2) Otho.
3) Jacobo.
4) Sparafucile.
5) Q Girl.
6) Mafeo.
7) Iseppa.
8) Neek.
9) Dardi.
10) Shem -1.
11) Aloysius
12) Ereshkigal
13) I'd like to ask about something else.
14) Live and drink.	[End]

Barathrum

[ Hortensa ]

Larger than life. Paternal. Concerned. The lenses of his eyes are focused on the far points of the world.

1) Otho.
2) Jacobo.
3) Sparafucile.
4) Q Girl.
5) Mafeo.
6) Iseppa.
7) Neek.
8) Dardi.
9) Shem -1.
10) Aloysius
11) Ereshkigal
12) I'd like to ask about something else.
13) Live and drink.	[End]

Otho

[ Hortensa ]

Brassy. If you bent him he might snap. The way I treat liquids on my burner, Otho treats the units of the enclave.

1) Barathrum.
2) Jacobo.
3) Sparafucile.
4) Q Girl.
5) Mafeo.
6) Iseppa.
7) Neek.
8) Dardi.
9) Shem -1.
10) Aloysius
11) Ereshkigal
12) I'd like to ask about something else.
13) Live and drink.	[End]

Jacobo

[ Hortensa ]

Sharp as a tack, and living a life of deep meaning. Inventive and orderly. I can't say I understand his music, but I do love how expressive he is with it.

1) Barathrum.
2) Otho.
3) Sparafucile.
4) Q Girl.
5) Mafeo.
6) Iseppa.
7) Neek.
8) Dardi.
9) Shem -1.
10) Aloysius
11) Ereshkigal
12) I'd like to ask about something else.
13) Live and drink.	[End]

Sparafucile

[ Hortensa ]

Oh, I have such a precious vantage point on my sweet neighbor! When he achieves a moment of perfection in his craft -- a flawlessly spiraled barrel, a mound of powder measured to the grain -- he beams like the high salt sun. What a lovely smile.

1) Barathrum.
2) Otho.
3) Jacobo.
4) Q Girl.
5) Mafeo.
6) Iseppa.
7) Neek.
8) Dardi.
9) Shem -1.
10) Aloysius
11) Ereshkigal
12) I'd like to ask about something else.
13) Live and drink.	[End]

Q Girl

[ Hortensa ]

She explodes like gas and dust in a quiet corner of the galaxy. Radiant. Revolutionary. She's a good listener and companion for supper, which you mightn't expect.

1) Barathrum.
2) Otho.
3) Jacobo.
4) Sparafucile.
5) Mafeo.
6) Iseppa.
7) Neek.
8) Dardi.
9) Shem -1.
10) Aloysius
11) Ereshkigal
12) I'd like to ask about something else.
13) Live and drink.	[End]

Mafeo

[ Hortensa ]

After supper I like to retreat to the library, take a storybook off the shelves, flop down on the chairbear, and lose myself in another world. Many of these worlds feature palaces, markets, gardens, ships. Many of those places have bells. When they do, I always think of Mafeo. More than anyone else, Mafeo could be a character in the bright world of a story, where this dusty place is itself confined to a mere storybook.

1) Barathrum.
2) Otho.
3) Jacobo.
4) Sparafucile.
5) Q Girl.
6) Iseppa.
7) Neek.
8) Dardi.
9) Shem -1.
10) Aloysius
11) Ereshkigal
12) I'd like to ask about something else.
13) Live and drink.	[End]

Iseppa

[ Hortensa ]

Our sleepy sage. So sweet. She calms me. I sit in her room and we muse on the nature of things.

1) Barathrum.
2) Otho.
3) Jacobo.
4) Sparafucile.
5) Q Girl.
6) Mafeo.
7) Neek.
8) Dardi.
9) Shem -1.
10) Aloysius
11) Ereshkigal
12) I'd like to ask about something else.
13) Live and drink.	[End]

Neek

[ Hortensa ]

I've instructed Neek since they were a lil' cub. What a strange one! Bouncey. Full of smiles. But brilliant in their own way. My favorite book in all the world is Neek's "Spiderwebs on Hoversleds". Who would have ever thought?

1) Barathrum.
2) Otho.
3) Jacobo.
4) Sparafucile.
5) Q Girl.
6) Mafeo.
7) Iseppa.
8) Dardi.
9) Shem -1.
10) Aloysius
11) Ereshkigal
12) I'd like to ask about something else.
13) Live and drink.	[End]

Dardi

[ Hortensa ]

Fiery. Blustery. Like the stews he cooks. If you're going to chat with him, make sure you have your schedule cleared and a ewer of honeyed wine.

1) Barathrum.
2) Otho.
3) Jacobo.
4) Sparafucile.
5) Q Girl.
6) Mafeo.
7) Iseppa.
8) Neek.
9) Shem -1.
10) Aloysius
11) Ereshkigal
12) I'd like to ask about something else.
13) Live and drink.	[End]

Shem -1

[ Hortensa ]

Precious Shem. They've such a wider view of the world than we do. What a momentous obligation we've created for ourselves, and how I wouldn't undo it!

1) Barathrum.
2) Otho.
3) Jacobo.
4) Sparafucile.
5) Q Girl.
6) Mafeo.
7) Iseppa.
8) Neek.
9) Dardi.
10) Aloysius
11) Ereshkigal
12) I'd like to ask about something else.
13) Live and drink.	[End]

Aloysius

[ Hortensa ]

I've shared my honey with that prickly troglodyte for more years than I can count. I can't help but like him, and while he won't admit it, he feels the same about me.

1) Barathrum.
2) Otho.
3) Jacobo.
4) Sparafucile.
5) Q Girl.
6) Mafeo.
7) Iseppa.
8) Neek.
9) Dardi.
10) Shem -1.
11) Ereshkigal
12) I'd like to ask about something else.
13) Live and drink.	[End]

Ereshkigal

[ Hortensa ]

She's a sphinx! So enigmatic that one. It's not entirely clear if she was there, waiting, when Q Girl succeeded at retreading the mainframe's guts, or if she sparked into being that very moment. Or was it some synthesis of the two?

1) Barathrum.
2) Otho.
3) Jacobo.
4) Sparafucile.
5) Q Girl.
6) Mafeo.
7) Iseppa.
8) Neek.
9) Dardi.
10) Shem -1.
11) Aloysius
12) I'd like to ask about something else.
13) Live and drink.	[End]

Before More Than a Willing Spirit

Start

[ Hortensa ]

(player's offspringTerm), who are you?

1) Live and drink.

[End]

A Call to Arms

Start

[ Hortensa ]

Stay safe, (name). Please.

1) Live and drink, Hortensa.

[End]