Petarus and Vanja

Petarus and Vanja are an NPC that can be found in Highgate in Act 4 and Act 9. They also function as a vendor of magic/caster items as well as flasks.

They are a somewhat unusual couple - Petarus is an ex-Blackguard who decided to rescue Vanja, an exile soon to become a subject of Piety's experiments, and abandoned The Ebony Legion. They escaped to Highgate, and are inseparable ever since.

Lore
Petarus and Vanja been accepted into Highgate by Oyun as the first foreigners in two centuries - much to Kira's disgust. They are clearly very grateful for her aid, and besides Kira, they seem to be generally liked throughout Highgate, sharing knowledge and stories of the outside world with the long-isolated Maraketh people.

As Tasuni puts it, Petarus and Vanja seem to be "two mouths speaking from one mind" - they seem literally inseparable, even as far as completing each other's sentences while speaking. There is notable contrast in their character, and the mild-mannered Petarus sometimes appears a little overwhelmed by Vanja's energetic, strong-willed nature. But despite their near-constant bickering, they obviously care deeply for each other, and contrary to their sometimes slightly childish behaviour, they both appear to be quite intelligent and offer plenty of interesting information and insight.

Dialogues
Petarus is voiced by New Zealand actor, Simon Ward. Vanja is voiced by New Zealand actress, Torum Heng.

Introduction
Vanja: You are most welcome here, sister. What you did back there in Sarn, it was truly…

Petarus: terrifying. Don’t get me wrong. Piety, the rest, they had it coming. But there’s no-one like that here. These Maraketh, they’re good people. Vanja: She knows that! Please, sister, ignore Petarus.

Highgate
Petarus: My Grandfather was a captain in the Ebony Legion. My father too. And me. Just following the path that’d been laid out for me.

Vanja: Until you met me.

Petarus: Yes, until I met the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

Vanja: Behind bars. An exile waiting to become an experiment. Not quite how I imagined meeting the man of my dreams.

Petarus: I realized then that I wasn’t part of the Ebony Legion any more. I’d become a Blackguard, like every other damned legionnaire in Sarn, taking orders from a madman.

Vanja: Petarus freed me and led us here.

Petarus: I’d heard about the Maraheth from those few legionnaires who survived the assault on Highgate.

Vanja: And I talked them in the harbouring us.

Petarus: Vanja can be very persuasive when she wants to be.

The Mines
Vanja: Emperor Voll is dead, for good this time.

Petarus: And the entrance to the Mines stands open. I suppose you’ll be heading down there to…

Vanja: to free us from the sickening supremacy of Nightmare.

Petarus: I was going to say, ‘to kick some nightmare arse’.

Vanja: I think I out it better.

Petarus: Of course you did, sweets.

Dialla
Petarus: Dialla was there when it all went bad. If anyone can help put things right, it’s…

Vanja: why would she? Wraeclast has been like this for almost three hundred years. What’s made her want to do something about it now?

Petarus: She’s the Gemling Queen, Vanja! There’s no way we could understand what goes on in that mind of hers.

Vanja: I know, and that’s precisely what worries me.

Dialla (after activating the Rapture Device)
Petarus: Dialla saw the mistakes of the past with her own eyes, and now she’s given everything to fix them. Right, Vanja?

Vanja: I don’t know, Petarus. I saw people die for each other in Sarn. I saw clarity, resolution in their eyes. In Dialla’s eyes… I see ghosts.

Petarus: Those eyes have seen horrors that we can’t even imagine.

Vanja: Maybe, but this ‘sacrifice’ of hers? I think it was more like a deal and Dialla didn’t quite get what she’d bargained for.

Malachai (Witch)
Petarus: It’s obvious to everyone now.

Vanja: There’s no-one like you, Witch.

Petarus: The Beast learned that the hard way…

Vanja: …and the whole of Wraeclast will learn about it, one way or another.

Petarus: So, I guess this is the happily-ever-after they promised us when we were kids, right, Vanja?

Vanja: For us, for Wraeclast... maybe. What about you, sister? Do you even know what that looks like for you?

Petarus: There’s plenty of happiness to go around now.

Vanja: You deserve a piece of it.

Kira
Vanja: Kira is a racist bully with that fancy hair crest of hers stuck so far up her…

Petarus: …come on, Vanja, she’s a warrior. It’s not her job to be nice. It’s her job to defend…

Vanja: …look all lithe and sweaty when you’re watching her train? That’s the only ‘job’ you’re interested in.

Petarus: I’m studying the Maraketh fighting style!

Vanja: Sure you are, sweetie.

Oyun
Vanja: Oyun gave us a home…

Petarus: …our lives back.

Vanja: Appreciate the good ones when you find them in Wraeclast.

Petarus: It’s not like there are many.

Tasuni
Petarus: Tasuni? He’s a conman.

Vanja: Petarus just don’t understand him.

Petarus: I understand that he gets his every need catered for by talking in riddles and telling lies…

Vanja: the truth about the Nightmare. He makes sense of the chaos, as best he can.

Petarus: How can we possibly know whether what he’s telling us is the truth or not?

Vanja: We can’t. But who else is there to ask?

Trading
Vanja: We’ve a few bits and pieces lying about that might help with what’s to come.

Petarus: “Bits and pieces?” I risked my neck to salvage those artefacts!

Vanja: I know, sweetie, and I really appreciate your… artefacts.

Petarus: You didn’t say that when I brought them in. You said, “Is that all?”

Vanja: You’d been gone for ages!

Petarus: And you think you could do a quicker job of it?

Vanja: Yes, if you’d let me, yes!

Petarus: No. Not for all the jewellery in the world. What if I lost you?

Vanja: Ok. I’m sorry. We have charms and regalia, sourced at great risk from some of the most dangerous places in Wraeclast. Better?

Petarus: Yes. Thank you.

Piety
Vanja: Piety… she still lives?

Petarus: Then she needs to die again…

Vanja: …permanently this time. I honestly don’t know who I’m more scared of, the Beast or that black-hearted Witch!

Petarus: It’s the combination that scares me, and it should scare you too, exile.

The Beast
Vanja: I’d heard of the Beast before coming here. Piety talked about it. I suppose she saw no point in keeping secrets from the people she was planning to murder.

Petarus: I’m so sorry, Vanja.

Vanja: God, it’s not your fault, Petarus! Piety used to say that the Beast was the source of her power, how she managed to turn poor men and women into those… things. She kept using a phrase… what was it?

Petarus: Universal transmogrification. I heard her assistants talk about it, too.

Vanja: The power to change the world into anything you like.

Petarus: Bloody scary power in the hands of someone like Piety.

Vanja: Bloody scary power, full stop!

Daresso
Petarus: Daresso? He’s down there, inside the mountain?

Vanja: Are we talking about the Daresso? The Sword King?

Petarus: Seems like it. But how did he get in there? He left Oriath about a century and a half ago, hoping to find a cure for his lady, Merveil. He would have had to fight his way through the Maraketh, but… Oyun’s never mentioned anything of the sort.

Vanja: Maybe he didn’t go in alive.

Petarus: What do you mean?

Vanja: We live in a land where the dead walk and things like Dialla live for centuries.

Petarus: You think he died somewhere else and then the Beast got hold of him?

Vanja: Could be.

Petarus: Well, if the Beast can do that, then… what bloody good was Deshret’s Seal? Vanja: Exactly.

Daresso (after defeating Daresso)
Petarus: You killed the Sword King?

Vanja: Daresso wasn’t actually alive, Petarus.

Petarus: Daresso must have thought he was alive.

Vanja: True. Thinking and being… a bit of a blurred line here in Wraeclast.

Petarus: Exactly.

Greetings
Vanja: You can gripe all you want lover, we can’t stay here. Not with all this blood...

Petarus: Where do you expect us to go, Vanja? We have our whole lives here in Highgate.

Vanja: I don't know... west, perhaps? The Ezomyte lands. I don't care, just somewhere that has unpoisoned water...

Petarus: Oh, ah Beast Slayer!

Vanja: Good to see you again!

Petarus: Even if you have happened upon us in a rather unruly time...

Vanja: Shush now sweetie, there's no need to bother them with our woes.

Oyun
Petarus: Oh, they don't know! I can see on your face, you haven't heard...

Vanja: It’s Kira, she's gone mad!

Petarus: Absolutely bonkers.

Vanja: She's abducted Oyun...

Petarus: Stolen off with her into the desert. And, to make matters worse...

Vanja: ...The whole of Highgate is in a state of disarray. There's Beast blood in the water!

Petarus: ...Usurpers are eyeing up the throne...

Vanja: And the old gods have risen! If you want my advice, get out of Highgate...

Petarus: ...Or save us...

Vanja: ...While you still can.

Oyun (after defeating Garukhan)
Vanja: Oyun was my friend. To depart this world in the manner she did is...

Petarus: ...Barbaric. And without a protector for the tribe, we're sitting ducks here. Tasuni thinks he can rule, but he is seduced by all manner of dark things.

Vanja: There is no easy fix here. I’ll be awake for many nights to come.

Petarus: I'll be right beside you, my love.

Vanja: Let’s not fool ourselves love. You'll be sleeping.

Petarus: In any case, it’ll be time to crown a new chieftainess soon.

Vanja: Or chieftain. Tasuni is next in the bloodline. Sure, he doesn't mind breaking a few rules, but at least he's no Dominus.

Petarus: I do hope you're joking, sweets! The Maraketh are a matriarchy! The men here aren't used to being in charge. Tasuni would ruin everything the Mother stands for.

Vanja: You would have them crown Irasha?

Petarus: She’s strong, stable and traditional. I don’t see why she shouldn't rule.

Vanja: Because, ironically, Tasuni has the one thing that Irasha lacks.

Petarus: What's that?

Vanja: Vision.

Kira
Petarus; Please, Vanja, don't say it.

Vanja: Say what? I told you so? Well, I never trusted Kira. Her need to control everything no matter the cost, was never a trait I held much faith in.

Petarus: Yes, but ambition is not the problem. I have ambition, do you not...

Vanja: Of course I trust you, sweetie, but you're not about to go killing everything that moves in exchange for a bit of power now, are you?

Petarus: Well, I'd trade dreams of power for dreams of you, my sweets, any day!

Vanja: Oh Petarus...

Irasha
Petarus; lrasha? Well, she’s the best we’ve got. Strong, purposeful, an honourable warrior...

Vanja: I think the description you’re failing to provide, love, is "stick in the mud".

Petarus: Stick in the mud?

Vanja: Yes. As stubborn and serious as they come.

Petarus: You just don't like her because she treats you differently.

Vanja: Irasha is a stuck-up elitist. She refuses to see me as a woman.

Petarus: Oh, sweets. You're more woman to me than all of them put together.

Irasha (after giving the Sekhema Feather to Irasha)
Petarus: Irasha holds the feather? Then Highgate has been saved. She may not be in the bloodline, but she holds fast to their traditions, and that's all that matters. Just think, Tasuni may have steered the tribe into dangerous and unknown territory.

Vanja: The beast you know is not always better than the one you don't, my love.

The Old Gods
Petarus: I’ll let Vanja take this one.

Vanja: Thank you, love. I trained in Oriath...

Petarus: As a witch! Imagine that!

Vanja: I thought I was telling this story, Petarus?

Petarus: Yes, sorry sweets.

Vanja: I learned all about the old gods. They were supposed to be our idols, beings of divinity that guided us through our mortal lives.

Petarus: But they aren't like that at all, are they love?

Vanja: Hardly. The gods're no better than we are! And nobody that is as bad as us should ever wield that much power!

Petarus: As bad as us? Speak for yourself. I'm positively delightful!

Vanja: Yes, yes, you're so sweet, they dipped you in a barrel of sugar as a babe. We know!

The Beast
Petarus: What was that earthquake caused by? Some sort of death shudder from that volatile Beast? I've no thaumaturgical bone in my body, yet still I can sense the corruption seeping out of the cracks in that mountain. This can't be! Why would you disturb its rest?

Vanja: Hush now sweetie, the situation is more complex than you would first think.

Petarus: The Maraketh sat under the curse of the Beast for thousands of years, they had just gotten free, yet now you do... something... to bring the source oi its darkness into our very presence? This unconscionable, it's...

Vanja: ...the right choice. Would you rather a hostile reign of warring immortals? Our hero obviously have some kind of plan in mind. If this shift in the mountain can remove the gods from Wraeclast, then I for one am happy to be shook up a little.

Petarus: Well, whatever the case, at least we have each other.

Vanja: And we are strongest when we stand together.

General Adus
Vanja: A noble Legionnaire...

Petarus: ...but a Legionnaire all the same.

Vanja: Petarus and I did our research on Adus.

Petarus: We needed to know as much about him and his dig site as possible...

Vanja: ...to make sure he was worth our while.

Petarus: The General was an eternal commander of the Highgate Legion...

Vanja: He ran a mining camp up here in the mountains. The bastard was the one responsible for controlling Karui, Maraketh and Ezomyte slaves, forcing them into the black bowels of rock fissures in search of gems...

Petarus: ...At least he treated them fairly and as human beings.

Vanja: A slave is still a slave my sweets.

Petarus: For all his faults, the general appears to have been a good man for his time. It's a shame what happened to him... an even greater shame that by the sounds of things, he's come back.

Vanja: Yes, we'd advise steering clear of his old camp.