Gotta say the Sun-Touched Mail is fantastic, if only because it's the closest equivalent to a Sunbro armor in the game, and even if the Paladin that wore it did not meet a pleasant end.
I'm assuming that's a Dark Souls reference. I've never played any of the Dark Souls games. (I suspect I'm opening myself up to questions like, "Why don't you ever play any decent videogames, Chandagnac? What's wrong with you?")
That's an interesting point. Pillars of Eternity is designed to be somewhat non-linear, much like the first two Baldur's Gate games, so you can tackle most of its sidequests in any order. However, that's very difficult to balance properly, so you can easily become over-levelled for certain areas. Most of the fights in the most recent update were fairly easy, but the Forge Knights came very close to kicking my arse more than once. Even if I managed to prevail in the end, I was pushed to the limit. Also, there are some areas that can be ridiculously difficult if you stumble into them too early.
Anyway, I'm going to try to update this Let's Play sometime in the next few days. Look forward to that!
I'm going to take some time away from Defiance Bay to explore the 'Endless Paths' beneath my stronghold at Caed Nua, but if you expect it to actually be 'endless' you'll be sorely disappointed. I've seen much bigger, if you know what I mean.
I've already explored the first level of the 'Endless Paths' (where I met and killed Maerwald earlier), so I'm going to skip past that and go straight to the second level.
Kana is excited to be getting on with his personal quest. He wants to find the tomb of an ancient Engwithan wizard named Gabrannos, who he believes was the original author of the Tanvii ora Toha, a sacred text that has become a central part of Rauataian culture. Because it has been such a long time since the Engwithans died out, there has been a substantial amount of linguistic drift, so the words of the Tanvii ora Toha (as recorded in the form of a chant passed down from one generation to the next) can be used to justify almost anything. Kana hopes that by finding the original text (and getting me to translate it, since I speak Engwithan, thanks to Icantha) he can discover its true meaning and thereby stop people using it to justify their sinister ideas about racial purity, isolationism and so on.
I agree to help, of course. I'm fairly sure I already agreed to help way back when I first met him.
The second level is infested with xaurips, Pillars of Eternity's knockoff kobolds. They're well-armed and numerous. I think I've mentioned this before, but high-level xaurips have class levels (rogues, priests, paladins etcetera). The main danger of them in this area is that there are so many of them and my party will almost be outnumbered. Also, the xaurips often have wyrmlings accompanying them (tiny baby dragons with nasty breath attacks).
In one of the containers in this area, I found the upper half of a broken blade. If I find the blade later on, I'm sure I'll be able to have it reforged into a magic sword. It's an old cliché, but I'm sure I'd feel cheated if I found a piece of a broken weapon in a fantasy RPG and I wasn't able to reforge it into something useful later on.
I also found a tiny recently-hatched wyrmling I'll be keeping as a pet from now on. Yoink!
And I found the corpse of a dead adventurer wearing this snazzy breastplate, which I'll be giving to Edér to wear from now on. It'll slow him down a bit, but I think it's worth it.
He was carrying this note:
Pillars of Eternity said:
"Let me get it down in writing: I knew this was a shit plan from the start.
Merec gleeful as a toddler, convinced we were going to talk the xaurips into helping us fill our pockets. Help Andras right into a great big pit, more like.
And now you've all run off like hares. Meanwhile, here's me, up to my armpits in bones and xaurip shit.
I hope you all rot down here. I hope Merec trips right off the edge of the world, and Drafden loses what's left of his wits and guts the rest of you. Five of us left, and you run. Curse each and every one of you. And curse me, too, for dying here on account of a bunch of mewling pisspots.
Here's for when one of you rotten lizard bastards learns some Aedyran - I hope you all fucking choke."
In another room, I found a xaurip who was dying of a common poison, known as Mocga's Tears, which was presumably used on him by one of the adventurers.
I encountered a group of xaurips in the middle of a religious ceremony. Their leader wanted me to jump down the pit to my death. I said no. After that, a fight ensued.
Then, a pair of ghosts appeared, telling me to "Turn back" and that "There is only death… upon the Endless Paths…"
And then I found an entire bucket filled with Mocga's Tears. If the last group of adventurers carried it with them, that seems like overkill to me. (Ba dum pish and so on.)
Also, I found a unique rapier called 'Measured Restraint', which I gave to Gianni, at least for now. I decided to enchant it with 'Corrosive Lash' to add an extra +25% Corrode damage to my attacks. I'm sure it'll be useful.
It's possible to leap into the sacrificial pit or use a rope to descend safely, bypassing the next few levels of the Endless Paths, but I don't see the point. I'd miss out on a lot of treasure and xp and then end up surrounded by hostile xaurips and have to fight my way out. It's a short cut, but I don't think it's worth taking.
The third floor is full of ogres. They're extremely dangerous, enough so that I've just realised maybe there was a good reason to use the shortcut to bypass them after all.
The first ogre I met, named Thulgar, wasn't interested in fighting me. He was exiled from his tribe after they all went mad from eating tainted xaurip meat. They are now cannibals who feed on each other to survive.
I offer to put them out of their misery. Thulgar says he will reward me if I bring back Zolla's torc as proof that she's dead.
Ogres are very tough and they hit like a truck. Their druids know a bunch of dangerous spells including Plague of Insects, which does a lot of damage over time. My usual tactic for dealing with them involves kiting and then picking them off one by one. However, against Zolla and her bodyguards, that isn't really an option.
It was a nasty, brutish and horribly difficult fight, but I won in the end. Even though I came pretty close to death.
I made sure to take Zolla's torc off her corpse. In the bone pile next to her throne, I found the Gloves of Manipulation, which will be useful for picking high-level locks later on.
I brought the torc back to Thulgar. He gave me a robe named 'Rundl's Finery' in exchange. I'll give it to Aloth to wear.
Then, I decided to rest.
Oh. Right… well, I should probably talk to Durance about that.
He reveals that he was one of Magran's priests who designed and built the Godhammer, the weapon that was used to kill St. Waidwen (who was possessed by Eothas) at the Evon Dewr Bridge.
Apparently, ever since the Godhammer struck, his connection to Magran has changed. Where once he was able to commune with his goddess, now there is only silence. The eleven other priests, disciples and craftsmen, who worked on the Godhammer with him have all disappeared and he doesn't know what happened to them. Despite the fact that they won a great victory in Magran's name, he feels as if they were cast aside when she no longer had any use for them.
In an effort to reconnect with his goddess, he wandered the land as a pilgrim, dressed in a shabby robe and carrying nothing but a staff. Hoping to bring an end to the Hollowborn Crisis, which began soon after St. Waidwen's death, he joined the 'Purges' and helped the Dyrwoodans to exterminate Eothas's worshippers wherever they could find them. But Magran still won't speak to him. And the Hollowborn Crisis (also known as Waidwen's Legacy) is still blighting the lives of people all over the Dyrwood.
The Godhammer was designed to shatter St. Waidwen's soul as well as burning his flesh, leaving nothing for Eothas to inhabit. In doing so, it seems to have damaged the souls of the men and women who designed and built it, including Durance. However, when I suggested this to him, he denied it and refused to talk to me anymore.
I decided to move on, scour the level and kill any remaining ogres (as well as some black oozes) and then continue downwards.
Level Four is inhabited by beetles, slimes and trolls. The most interesting thing about this chapter is the giant head carved out of solid adra. Because the monsters kept making a beeline for him or hitting him with ranged attacks even if some of the other party members were closer and more convenient targets, I decided to equip Gianni with the plate armour I was given by the Crucible. We'll see how that goes, I guess.
Also, I found a unique sabre called 'Resolution' and I'm thinking about respec-ing Edér so he can make use of it. And I found a strange bejewelled seal and another letter left behind by the last adventuring group to pass this way.
This is what it said:
Pillars of Eternity said:
"My journal is molting pages. I do not know if any part of my account will survive this expedition.
We thought Sceyda lost alongside Edriga, but she has returned, carrying a strange seal and a smirk on her face despite her injuries. She is badly wounded, and Merec is tending to her.
I have been researching the seal in the meantime. It is of an intricate design, made of adra shaped around a small bloodstone gem. It seems one of our predecessors was attempting to translate some of the inscriptions in these ruins. According to his texts, these seals were carried by three Engwithan overseers, all bearing titles - The Guardian, the Builder, and the Scribe. This one seems to have belonged to the Guardian, who was charged with defending these ruins against incursions from dangerous beasts.
I have to admit I don't believe he did a very good job of that."
At this point, all of my party members other than Eleni had enough xp that they were able to level up.
So, Gianni gained Body Attunement (a potentially useful defensive power) and Two Weapon Style (which will make it easier for me to Dual Wield).
Edér gained Weapon Mastery: Adventurer (which will increase the amount of damage he can do).
Kana gained 'Shatter their Shackles, Cast Off their Chains!' (which will be useful for resisting status effects such as Paralyzed and Petrified) and 'Mental Fortress' (which will help him to resist status effects such as Charmed or Confused).
Durance gained 'Superior Deflection' (which will make him harder to hit).
Aloth gained 'Scion of Flame' (which will make his fire spells more damaging).
Level Five is home to a tribe of xaurips. So many xaurips.
In the xaurips' treasure hoard, I found the hilt of that broken blade I found earlier. When I return to Defiance Bay, I'll take it to Cromwell (the blacksmith at Crucible Keep) and see what he can do with it.
And then I found another journal page left behind by the same group of adventurers who left so many other souvenirs behind.
This is what it said:
Pillars of Eternity said:
"Sceyda did not make it. I know Merec tried his best.
'No point in turning back now.' That's what Merec is saying. I think the point is leaving these ruins alive. We have lost half of our people already, and I am not sure how we are meant to survive this place, especially with Sceyda gone. The gods were kind to let us find that study and the books there. Those tomes would fetch a good price in and of themselves. We don't need to go any further.
But that seal has stirred his blood. He's sure we'll find more Engwithan relics below. Every step takes us further from a guaranteed haul, and deeper into unknown territory. I don't know what madness has gripped him.
I cannot stop thinking about Edriga. The way she screamed."
So yeah. I don't think their story is likely to have a happy ending.
Then, I came across the creature the xaurips have been sacrificing to. It's a drake, a juvenile dragon: older, larger and more intelligent than the tiny wyrmlings, but not yet fully grown.
It demands that I step forward and be 'honored' by being eaten. I refuse.
Although Gianni was paralysed right at the beginning of the fight, it wasn't actually that difficult. All of my party members survived without taking too much damage, including Gianni (his new plate armour must have saved him).
Among the bones in the drake's room, I found an exceptional-quality shield called 'Ifan Byrngar's Solace'. I'll be giving it to Edér.
I've reached Level 6 of the Endless Paths. And now I'm going to take a break before exploring any further.
Conceptually, the Endless Paths is probably my favorite dungeon in the game. It is VERY traditional in the way of Gygax and Arneson, it's got a not-Numidium right there, it's got thematic floors with certain enemy types, it's got a failed expedition, all the hallmarks of a fun time.
Oh and you definitely want to fix that sword of yours. It's worth it.
Conceptually, the Endless Paths is probably my favorite dungeon in the game. It is VERY traditional in the way of Gygax and Arneson, it's got a not-Numidium right there, it's got thematic floors with certain enemy types, it's got a failed expedition, all the hallmarks of a fun time.
Oh and you definitely want to fix that sword of yours. It's worth it.
I seem to remember you have to fix it again in POE2… but I don't intend to keep playing that far.
Anyway…
I went back up a few levels, to where I fought Zolla and the other ogres, and put the sabre called 'Resolution' into the hand of a statue I found there. This caused a secret door to open, behind which there was some not-very-valuable treasure in an old tomb. Then, I returned to Level 6 of the Endless Paths, which I'd just reached at the end of the last update.
Down there, I found a lot of skeletons and darguls. Dozens of them.
Yeah… it wasn't an easy fight, but I prevailed in the end. Ouch.
After that, I decided it was time to rest again. But first I went into the side chamber those skeletons came out of, just to see if they were guarding some treasure or anything else that might be useful. I found an Emerald Overseer Seal, a match for the 'strange bejewelled seal' I found earlier.
I talked to Durance some more. Although apparently that's not his real name. He named himself after a man who was the leader of a particular sect of Magran's faith, whose teachings are now 'impolitic'. The original Durance believed that before they became priests, initiates should wander the land trying to prove themselves devout.
I asked why the original Durance's teachings are no longer popular. Durance replied:
Pillars of Eternity said:
Durance: – "The reasons are so many you would age and die listening to them all." Durance's eyes narrow, as if staring into the distance. "But the teachings of Durance also included casting established clergy out who might need reminders of such devotion as well."
Durance: – "And no priest seeks to be removed from his comforts, whether food, bed, or a whore's warm mouth on his cock."
After Durance decided he didn't want to talk to me anymore, I carried on and killed some more skeletons. I'll admit my positioning wasn't the best, but all of my party members survived.
I found the body of a dead adventurer carrying a ripped piece of paper with this written on it:
Pillars of Eternity said:
"–find the remaining two seals, so long as we leave afterwards, as Merec promised. Get the books and the final seal from the fourth floor, and run the rest of the way out of here. We'll find some new band of fools willing to take on the Endless Paths. Sell them the keys to the deeper vaults. Let them have all the glory. Meanwhile, we retire and live a long and quiet life. Somewhere warm, I hope. Somewhere far away from here."
And then I found a Lost Spirit, who had this to say:
So, no happy ending for the adventurers who carried on deeper into the dungeon even after most of their fellow party members had been killed. What a surprise.
It took some time for me to search the rest of the nearby chambers and kill all of the remaining undead. Along the way, I found a Sapphire Overseer Seal, which I assume must be the last one I need to open the door to the next level.
And I found this:
Pillars of Eternity said:
"I do not believe that we will ever leave this place. I wonder if Merec still does. It's just the two of us now, as it was when this all began, and the longer we stay the more certain I am that it will be how it ends, too.
We barely escaped the drake. I cannot help but think it must simply not have been hungry at the time. I would call us lucky, but we will have to pass it again on the way back up.
I found Andras. I don't think he was alive for long, after that fall, but he made use of his time. The entire pool reeked of Mocga's Tears. The crooked bastard always did love his poisons."
Hmm. I must have found the last two log pages out of order.
Sure enough, the three bejewelled seals were needed to open this door. Eleni levelled up, so I gave her an extra point in Mechanics and the Devastating Blow talent. Maybe I'll get around to actually using it someday.
Kana said this about my latest achievement:
Pillars of Eternity said:
Kana: – "Well done! We're farther in than anyone else has managed. Let's keep going!"
Level 7 of the Endless Paths is infested with blights (they're the Pillars of Eternity equivalent of Elementals, if I haven't mentioned that already). They can be annoying to fight because each type of blight (fire, earth, rain, wind, etc.) is immune to a different type of weapon damage.
Also, there are adragans (kinda like stone dryads) who can petrify people. Because of that (as you can see in the above screenshot), Edér was hurt much worse than he has been in a while. I guess it's hard to tank if you've been turned into stone.
And there are shades and spectres, which I've fought many times before but which are no less annoying than ever (because of their tendency to teleport around the battlefield).
Honestly, it was a bit of a slog. Especially considering that blights tend to explode when they die. I'd soon lost enough health that I was considering stopping to rest again.
While I was clearing out the next couple of rooms, I found an Old Copper Key and a Rain Prism, both of which I'll need to open up later areas.
Yeah… Gianni had to run away and hide in the back for a while. Then, I used all of my most powerful spells and once-per-day items and just about managed to scrape a win. I decided to rest after that.
I used the Old Copper Key to open the door to an office belonging to the Engwithan mage Gabrannos, the writer of that book Kana is such a fan of.
Kana was very distressed to find out that his hero was actually a brutal slaver who was experimenting with blights and turned himself into an undead monstrosity I had to put down. Also, he was horrified to discover that the passage of millennia had not been kind to the stone tablet inscribed with the original version of the Tanvii ora Toha, the sacred text he had come here to find. It had been reduced to shattered remnants.
I continued exploring, fought a few more enemies, found the rest of the prisms and put them in their correct places. And then…
I got down to Level 8.
Then, I decided to turn back. I came close enough to death on Level 7 that pressing on any further seemed like a bad idea. I'll come back later when I'm stronger and better-equipped.
Also, when I sent Eleni to scout ahead, I caught a glimpse of fampyr wandering around this level. They use Dominate and other status effects I have no real defence against. So yeah, I'm going to end this expedition here.
Besides, I've done what I came here to do. Even if Kana wasn't happy with the result, I still found Gabrannos and the Tanvii ora Toha.
Just out of curiosity, before turning back, I decided to see if Durance's second-level spell 'Suppress Affliction' works against fampyric domination. It turns out it does. But I ended up having to use that spell three times in one battle and it was such a difficult fight that I decided I didn't want to repeat it anytime soon. And it's not as if I got any decent loot out of it.
So yeah, that vindicated my decision to turn back. I just wish I'd done it sooner.
And then, when we got back to Level 1, we were attacked by Leaden Key Assassins. Apparently, they were sent to destroy the Tanvii ora Toha. I told them they were too late for that.
They still wanted to fight, of course.
They didn't last long. Afterwards, Kana wondered why they bothered. He suggested that the real reason they've been hunting us is because we've been exploring old Engwithan ruins. I said maybe we should turn the tables on them. After all, we still have a lead we need to investigate: apparently, the Leaden Key are doing something suspicious in the mysterious ruins near Dyrford Village…
Actually, I might remove Kana from the party, at least for the time being, so I can spend some time with the other recruitable party members and make a start on their personal quests. Hmm.
There's such a big difference between with how likable Kana is and how much of an ass Durance is. Though the latter's questline is a bit more interesting philosophically while Kana is a bit more simpler but also tied to the Endless Paths, which is one of the best parts of PoE.
Good to see more companion questlines. The other big part of PoE1 is it didn't get as much dialogue out of the companions compared to even Obsidian's earlier games, so it is kinda weird how they're all silent for hours upon hours only to give the odd quip or bark in combat. This is, thankfully, remedied in PoE2.
One of my major criticisms of Pillars of Eternity is that all of the companion quests are shaggy dog stories. I've been getting ready to write a whole lecture about that, but I'm not sure whether to share it now or later on.
There's such a big difference between with how likable Kana is and how much of an ass Durance is. Though the latter's questline is a bit more interesting philosophically while Kana is a bit more simpler but also tied to the Endless Paths, which is one of the best parts of PoE.
I think it's a nicely laid-out dungeon crawler. However, despite the fact that it's called the 'Endless Paths', it feels oddly small. A couple of the levels have virtually nothing in them.
Still... I suppose it doesn't outstay its welcome, which is a plus.
Good to see more companion questlines. The other big part of PoE1 is it didn't get as much dialogue out of the companions compared to even Obsidian's earlier games, so it is kinda weird how they're all silent for hours upon hours only to give the odd quip or bark in combat. This is, thankfully, remedied in PoE2.
I've recently been replaying Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, which has virtually no companion dialogue, so POE1 seems like it has plenty to me. In the above update, I missed out a dialogue with Kana in which he asked me how I felt after robbing the tombs of ancient Engwithans and told me about curses they were supposed to have left behind. So yeah, there are a few companion dialogues here and there.
You know, reading Durance's dialogue, I'm starting to realise why I hate Chris Avellone's writing so much, and it's because it reminds of 19th century Russian literature (or "Tostoyevsky" as I've heard someone call it) and, no, that is NOT a compliment.
Like Dostoyevsky, he doesn't even try throw even the thinnest of veils over his mouthpieces, who are not so much characters but vehicles to deliver nauseating sermons because he doesn't trust the player to pick up on his ideas on their own. He gives his characters "telling names" that inform what kind of person they are (Durance, The Grieving Mother, Ravel Puzzlewell, Atton Rand, etc.). Even JK Rowling, the one who gave us a black character named "Kingsley Shacklebolt," would be embarrassed by it.
He has one "go-to" character that he writes over and over again: the tortured soul who used to believe in some grand idea, but who then had their entire worldview shattered, and now they're succumbed to nihilism and engage in all sorts of tedious, angst-ridden navel-gazing.
He managed to score on hit with Planescape: Torment (and even then it flopped on release), and ever since then he's been trying to recreate it over and over again.
He gives his characters "telling names" that inform what kind of person they are (Durance, The Grieving Mother, Ravel Puzzlewell, Atton Rand, etc.). Even JK Rowling, the one who gave us a black character named "Kingsley Shacklebolt," would be embarrassed by it.
Characters with significant, symbolic or punny names are so common in fiction that I think it's rather unfair to single out Chris Avellone for using them.
I'm not going to say anything about JK Rowling because she has nothing to do with Pillars of Eternity and is therefore irrelevant to this discussion.
He has one "go-to" character that he writes over and over again: the tortured soul who used to believe in some grand idea, but who then had their entire worldview shattered, and now they're succumbed to nihilism and engage in all sorts of tedious, angst-ridden navel-gazing.
He managed to score on hit with Planescape: Torment (and even then it flopped on release), and ever since then he's been trying to recreate it over and over again.
See, I disagree with you. For one thing, I think Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, large stretches of which were written by Chris Avellone, is utterly fantastic and maybe even better than Planescape: Torment. It's just a shame that it was attached to the end of Neverwinter Nights 2, which was a sea of clichés with a few good ideas jutting out of it.
I think both NWN 2 and PoE 1 suffer from the 'kitchen sink' approach to fantasy storytelling. They didn't want to alienate anyone who might be a potential customer, so they threw in everything they could think of. Mask of the Betrayer benefits from being shorter and more tightly focused. Also, it's very well-edited. Someone had the job of reading through everything, pruning away irrelevant details and making sure all of the characters and side-quests related back to the game's main themes. And they did it very well. I really feel like PoE 1 would have benefited from having someone like that.
Or maybe the writers of PoE 1 were just so impressed with themselves that they refused to let the editors do their job properly. It seems like Chris Avellone was hired and then set loose to do whatever he wanted. I find Durance kind of amusing, despite the fact that he is an utterly vile and disgusting person, but his massive dialogue tree could have been cut in half and lost nothing of substance. And I find Grieving Mother so exasperating that I don't think I'll bother to recruit her in this playthrough.
On the other hand, towards the end of Durance's personal quest, there is a fantastic twist that turns what the player knows about Eothas and the Saint's War on its head. It is one of my favourite moments of PoE 1… but it was ignored and outright contradicted by PoE 2: Deadfire. Seriously, it's as if no one else in Pillars of Eternity's writing team bothered to read what Chris Avellone had written, except to make sure that he was vaguely on task, so they didn't tell him that everything about the Grieving Mother is overwritten dreck, and they didn't check if he had any good ideas they should include in the sequel.
There are plenty of famous authors who wrote something great early on their careers, but later their work took a significant downturn in quality because no one dared question them or do any editing beyond a cursory grammar and spelling check. After all, if they've become so famous, they must know what they're doing, right? Chris Avellone isn't as rich or famous as most of those authors, but he's very well-known in a particular niche of the videogaming community, so I suspect that many of the other writers he's worked with since Planescape: Torment came out are fans of his and therefore reluctant to say, "No, that's a bad idea" or "I think it could do with a rewrite."
Judging by some of your snarky comments, I guessing you don't like Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords. Well, I love it, although I'm not blind to its many faults. Sure, it's a mess, but it's a fascinating mess. Chris Avellone and his team wanted to do something different; they had a grand vision in mind and a story they wanted to tell, but they were unable to finish it because the people who'd hired them to make the game wanted a quick hackjob they could push out as quickly as possible in time for the Christmas sales. The creators of KOTOR 2 had real passion for their work, which is why they worked punishingly long hours in their efforts to get it finished before the deadline, and I admire them for that. Sure, they failed and the game completely falls apart towards the end, but… ehh, I still like KOTOR 2 better than any number of mainstream videogames that were designed by committee to be bland, mediocre, appeal to as many different people as possible, and make more money than the international drugs trade.
Most recently, I've played Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, both of which include a character who was written by Chris Avellone, and both of them buck the trend you describe. In Kingmaker, Nok-Nok isn't one of my favourites and I rarely included him in my party, but he's a fairly amusing comic relief character. He certainly doesn't have a tragic backstory or a nihilistic worldview. In Wrath of the Righteous, Ember is the sweetest, kindest and most optimistic character in the entire game, despite her utterly horrific backstory. I actually wish there was a little more depth to her. Early on, one of the other characters (Wenduag) assumes that Ember is rather more cunning and dangerous than she lets on, but… nope, it turns out that Ember is pretty much all surface. What you see is what you get. I think she would have been rather more interesting if there was something underneath her sweet, innocent and optimistic façade. Maybe if she was actually conscious of how much she'd suffered and how horrible other people can be, so at times she might show a more jaded and mature side to her personality, but nevertheless she deliberately chooses to be kind and cheerful because she's determined to make the world a better place. I feel that would be an improvement and only require a few minor changes to WotR's script.
Also, there are some events later on that I feel strain credibility, especially when Ember gets some of the demons to change sides with the power of her Care Bear stare. And some of the dialogue is a little too on-the-nose. Like, it's Pathfinder canon that (later on, after the events of WotR) Nocticula gets fed up with the meaningless hedonism and cruelty of the Abyss, so she eventually leaves, changes her alignment to Chaotic Neutral and becomes 'the Redeemer Queen'. But I couldn't help but wince when Ember outright tells Nocticula, "You could be the Redeemer Queen!" That's the kind of sly wink to the fans that I really don't like. And it makes Ember seem like an important part of Pathfinder's ongoing continuity, despite the fact that she was only created for the videogame.
Still, feel free to disagree with me. I know some people really love Ember.
Since I last visited Caed Nua, I've paid to have some of the buildings restored, including Brighthollow (basically an inn where I can rest and get a few bonuses for doing so) and the Warden's Lodge, where I can pick up bounties. These are optional challenges that involve travelling back to some of the locations I've previously been to and fighting a series of difficult battles against beefed-up enemies in exchange for money, loot and bonus xp.
Pillars of Eternity said:
Gianni Baldassare: – "What are the most recent bounties?"
Warden Fyrgen: – "Now, I ought to warn you – there's a reason these bounties are still on offer. These are tough bastards, every one of them. If you're not up to it now, feel free to come back around when you're better prepared."
Warden Fyrgen: – "In the meantime, here's a good batch to start us off."
Warden Fyrgen: – "There's the standing bounty on Sly Cyrdel's head, of course. Then there's the forest lurker haunting the trade routes, and this ogre shaman – should fetch a good price. And up last is one, ah, Warchief Iklak."
I'll go around collecting all the bounties, but I'll do it offscreen. Because these missions involve a lot of fighting and nothing else, I can't imagine they'd be very interesting for my readers to read about.
Besides, one of the bounty targets (the ogre shaman) is in a location I won't be able to access until later in the game.
For the time being, I've replaced Kana with Sagani, who is a Boreal Dwarf Ranger whose animal companion is an arctic fox. She comes from Eora's equivalent to the Arctic Circle. She's been sent to find the reincarnated soul of one of her people's former leaders, a man named Persoq. However, she's so far been unable to find him. I've offered to use my Watcher powers to help her with that.
She's good at using a bow and shooting things. Her animal companion, Itumaak, is very good at getting himself knocked out in almost every fight. Or so I remember. I'll see what happens this time, I guess.
It's supposed to be one of her people's most important traditions, but she's been travelling for so long that she's feeling distinctly unenthused about it. She's had to leave behind her husband and children; it's likely that the youngest won't even remember her by the time she gets back.
Pillars of Eternity said:
Sagani: – "But five years without finding him." She scratches at a callus on her middle finger. "It's like two hours of necking. I'm ready to be done with it."
She's a generally phlegmatic, patient sort of person, but this long journey has been very hard for her.
Anyway, after chasing down all of the bounties I could, I levelled up most of my characters to Level 9, which means Aloth and Durance each get to choose one of their Level 1 spells that they'll be able to use once in every fight for free. Which means Aloth will be spamming Chill Fog even more than he already has been. It's one of my favourite spells.
I travelled south, past Defiance Bay, to a place called Searing Falls. It's infested with xaurips, drakes and flame blights. A lot of them, but nothing I can't handle.
When I cleared the area, I found this cave, inside which there's a lot of smoke and lava. Also, more xaurips, drakes and flame blights.
Also, there's a massive drake, named 'Cail the Silent' despite the fact that it's a lot more talkative than most of the other drakes I've met. During my previous playthroughs, I had assumed that Cail was a dragon, so I was all ready to explain that Cail is the weakest fully-grown dragon in POE 1; but nope, despite his impressive size, unique colouring and so on, he's actually a drake. Not quite fully-grown just yet.
He's not happy with my being in his cave, so a fight will ensue no matter what I say.
In this fight, I used all of the items that enable me to summon monsters to aid me. Also, Aloth used Essential Phantom, which is a different type of summon. The result was that my party wasn't outnumbered, for once. And, actually, this wasn't a very difficult fight. Cail the Silent went down easier than some of the bounty targets I defeated offscreen.
It turns out that Cail's precious spark was actually a fragment of the Godhammer that was used to kill Eothas. Durance had a lot to say about that. He says there's no way the fragment could have been blown this far by the explosion, so the drake must have carried it a long way. Or perhaps Magran put it here. He feels angry at being the victim of a divine practical joke, but that's normal for him. Also, he warns me that the markets have been so flooded with counterfeit pieces of the Godhammer that this genuine relic probably isn't worth anything. Not if I try to sell it, anyway.
I also found this pitiful treasure hoard. From a distance, it looks fairly impressive, but most of it is worthless trash. The only things worth looting are a few gems and a small pile of copper pieces.
After that, I went further east, to the Pearl Bluffs, to make a start on completing Sagani's personal quest.
In this area, there are xaurips, forest lurkers, drakes and pŵgras (i.e. dryads). Drakes backed up by pŵgras are horribly difficult to fight. In fact, there was one fight that I had to reload multiple times. I found it more difficult than the boss fight against Cail the Silent, although possibly that's because I haven't rested since then and don't have any more summoned creatures I can use to keep from being heavily outnumbered and outflanked.
I had another vision, which showed me where to look for Persoq next. Sagani seemed happy we'd found a trail to follow. She idly remarked that everyone in her home village seemed to have something different they wanted to say to Persoq – apparently, he was "a strong leader, a dependable builder, a caring grandfather, a wise elder, a generous neighbor, a cunning negotiator" – but he died so long ago that no one really knew him very well, except for a few of the oldest residents. I suggested that the tradition is less about the person who died and more about helping the other villagers move on.
Sagani is fairly laidback about most things, including my tendency to joke around.
Pillars of Eternity said:
Aloth: – "You've been on your own for five years."
Some of her interactions with the other party members are quite amusing. Well, I think so. You may have a different opinion.
Also in the Pearl Bluffs, I found the entrance to a cave. To get inside, I need to use a rope and grappling hook and then climb down the side of a cliff. I hope it'll be worth it.
Inside, I found a group of darguls. Compared to some of the enemies I just had to fight up on the surface, they were easy meat.
On the body of a dead adventurer, I found a magic ring that will be very useful for Aloth, enabling him to use his 1st and 3rd level spells more often. Score!
I travelled back to Defiance Bay, to the temple of Magran in the Ducal palace, where I met Fyrga, the current high priestess. She's the one who sent me to Searing Falls in search of whatever she could see in her prophetic visions. I hand the fragment over to her, but she's disappointed because she doesn't feel any different.
I now have several possible options for what to say next. I could say that Magran gave her a trial to complete, but she sent me to do it in her stead, thereby proving herself faithless. This would cause her to step down as high priestess and I would suffer a hefty penalty to my reputation in Defiance Bay (because people depend on her for leadership and succour, but with a few careless words I could take that away from them). The same thing happens if I tell her that I don't know what to say.
Instead, I tell her that Magran entrusted the Godhammer to her followers, so maybe she's trusting them again to solve the Hollowborn Crisis. This leads to my gaining an extraordinary boost to my reputation in Defiance Bay. Although it's never made explicit, I think this shows how many people depend on religion as a source of hope and strength during troubled times. If that was intended, it's rather more subtle than most of what POE1 has to say about religion.
Whichever dialogue option I choose, the reward is the same: a powerful magical flail, which I've decided to give to Edér. He can use it better than anyone else. He already has all of the appropriate Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization and Weapon Mastery feats.
Pillars of Eternity said:
Durance: – "This woman hasn't been tried at all! Would that we were alone I would take it upon myself to instill REAL transformation."
I adore Sagani as a character. Instead of going the easy route of making a male, bearded, heavily armored, drunkard of a dwarf, they instead made a tribal mother/wife from some frigid wastes who's a good hunter and wears furs with a pet fox. I also really enjoyed her short story. How many RPGs lets a party member be a mom? The only atop of my head is Vulture's Cry from Wasteland 2, released a year after POE1.
I'll go around collecting all the bounties, but I'll do it offscreen. Because these missions involve a lot of fighting and nothing else, I can't imagine they'd be very interesting for my readers to read about.
I actually remember one of the quest bugging out on me, couldn't collect the bounty of one of the targets because I needed their heart or something. Shame really. It's also something of a balance issue when a bandit party is tougher than a literal dragon but that's game balance for you.
Also, he warns me that the markets have been so flooded with counterfeit pieces of the Godhammer that this genuine relic probably isn't worth anything. Not if I try to sell it, anyway.
Whichever dialogue option I choose, the reward is the same: a powerful magical flail, which I've decided to give to Edér. He can use it better than anyone else. He already has all of the appropriate Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization and Weapon Mastery feats.
It's not much but I really appreciate games giving me flails. I think the popularity of flails in video games kinda peaked with the release of Elden Ring but POE1 and others help pave the way. Gaun's Share carried me for a while in the early game.
Fun Fact, the flail you were given, Unforgiven, is I think someone can correct me on this, the first and only mention of the Steel Garrotte in POE1 before their introduction in POE2. It says a bit about the fandom that the article on it is very lacking, not even referencing the flail you've gotten. Shame that Unforgiven doesn't give like a buff to Intimidation like the flavor text would suggest.
It also continues the very odd tradition of giving any random mercenary what is clearly a holy relic in RPGs. Lorewise, this seems like quite a big deal. Imagine if some synanogue handed over a Sefer Torah to a gentile for helping them with something, you know, extremely priceless relics that Jews would die to keep safe.
"Man, that bitch Magran keeps fucking with me, what does that bitch have against me, I haven't even called her a whore in like a week I should definately keep loudly insulting her."
Honestly I think Pillars of Eternity makes disorganized religion look a lot worse than organized religion.
If I had a nickel for every Dwarf sent away from home on a quest that stretched on for years leaving them sad but still an utterly good person Id have two nickels, which isn't a lot but its weird that it happened twice.
They'd need a good reason to be separated from their children, like Vulture's Cry and Sagani have: Vulture's Cry is separated from her children by an impenetrable radioactive dust cloud; there's no way Sagani could go against her village's sacred traditions without causing much worse problems for her family. Otherwise, a woman who left behind her young children to go adventuring might be seen as too unsympathetic.
Hmm. I don't think I've ever seen an older, mature woman with grown-up children as the protagonist or a recruitable party member in any videogame RPG, but I'd like to. There are plenty of grizzled old men in videogames these days (Kratos, Solid Snake, Joel Miller and so on), so why can't we have a grizzled old woman as well?
I actually remember one of the quest bugging out on me, couldn't collect the bounty of one of the targets because I needed their heart or something. Shame really. It's also something of a balance issue when a bandit party is tougher than a literal dragon but that's game balance for you.
In a previous run-through of this game, I was unable to complete all the bounty missions because a glitch prevented me from getting back into Heritage Hill. POE 1 isn't a particularly buggy game, but there are a few that crop up here and there.
I remember reading a comedic retelling of the history of England, in which one of the skits depicted King Edward the Confessor nearly bankrupting the country by purchasing large numbers of obviously fake holy relics, including "two heads of John the Baptist and the original self-assembly instructions of the True Cross."
Actually, I was surprised to find out that there was a good reason for the proliferation of counterfeit relics during the days of the early Church. In an article that appears in The Encyclopedia of Religion (1987), John S. Strong wrote that:
John S. Strong said:
It was thought to be beneficial in the early Church to be physically close to the saints. Hence, from the start, Christians paid visits to their tombs; there, they celebrated the Eucharist on the stone slabs covering their graves. Sometimes, they even decided to settle permanently in the vicinity of these graves. In this way, tombs became altars, and whole cities arose where once had been cemeteries.
Alternatively, the bodies of the saints were sometimes brought to the faithful; they were translated from their graves to existing cities and enshrined in churches there. Thus existing altars also became tombs, and the custom of celebrating mass over the bones of the martyrs was reinforced. In fact, by the fourth century, in the Eastern Church, the Eucharist could only be celebrated on an altar covered with an antimension – a cloth into which were sewn fragments of relics. And in the West, the common custom was to enclose relics in a cavity in the altar top itself – a practice that became formalized in 787 when the Second Council of Nicaea declared the presence of such relics to be obligatory for the consecration of a church.
In Western Europe, every village wanted to have their own church. If churches could only be consecrated in the presence of holy relics, it stands to reason that either the holy relics would have to travel around a lot or there would have to be a certain amount of counterfeiting going on. In a way, the counterfeiters could be said to be doing the faithful a favour, by providing them with places of worship.
It also continues the very odd tradition of giving any random mercenary what is clearly a holy relic in RPGs. Lorewise, this seems like quite a big deal. Imagine if some synanogue handed over a Sefer Torah to a gentile for helping them with something, you know, extremely priceless relics that Jews would die to keep safe.
To be fair, Unforgiven is considered to be a holy relic by the worshippers of Eothas and Woedica, both of whom are very unpopular in the Dyrwood. Eothas is blamed for the Saint's War and the Hollowborn Crisis while Woedica is seen as a symbol of Aedyran oppression. Fyrga is a priestess of Magran, so… well, I suppose it's still weird for her to be giving it away.
"Man, that bitch Magran keeps fucking with me, what does that bitch have against me, I haven't even called her a whore in like a week I should definately keep loudly insulting her."
Honestly I think Pillars of Eternity makes disorganized religion look a lot worse than organized religion.
If I had a nickel for every Dwarf sent away from home on a quest that stretched on for years leaving them sad but still an utterly good person Id have two nickels, which isn't a lot but its weird that it happened twice.
Durokan from Order of the Stick, a really fun play on Lawful Good and how to make such a character really interesting, plus a legit sympathetic and engaging backstory plenty of hidden depths to be explored when given his own arc.
I've nearly finished all the sidequests in Defiance Bay. I just need to tie up a few loose ends.
At the end of the last update, I was in the Ducal Palace. While I'm there, I may as well visit the records library, so I can continue Edér's personal quest.
Edér wants to find out what happened to his brother, Woden. Apparently, he died during the Saint's War, but Edér doesn't know for sure. In fact, he doesn't even know which side Woden was fighting for. He had assumed they both joined the army of the Dyrwood, their homeland, but recently he's heard some nasty rumours that said Woden was a traitor who fought for Readceras.
At first, the records clerk didn't want to let me in, but I have a good enough reputation in Defiance Bay that he allowed himself to be persuaded.
When Edér looked through the records, his worst fears were realised: 1) Woden is definitely dead and 2) he was fighting for Readceras. He was mystified as to why his brother would leave the Dyrwood and join up with their would-be conquerors.
Apparently, Woden died in battle at a place named Clîaban Rilag. Edér wants to go there to see his brother's final resting place. He says he doesn't know how else he's going to make sense of all this. I offer to go with him and use my Watcher powers to find more information, if there is any to be found.
Pillars of Eternity said:
Edér: – "I appreciate that. Wish I could say you won't regret it, but you certainly might."
I'm not sure how I might end up regretting it, but okay. I suppose I could run into something extraordinarily dangerous in the wilderness on the way to Clîaban Rilag, but that's a chance I have to take wherever I go.
Before going anywhere else, I went to the market and bought this bow. Borresaine is expensive (10575cp), but it's probably the best war bow in the entire game. Eleni will be using it right up until the end.
That's something Pillars of Eternity does better than a lot of other CRPGs: money is actually useful. Yeah, by the end of the game you'll have a lot of it, but there's plenty of good stuff to spend it on. A lot of the best weapons and pieces of equipment can only be bought from shops.
Next, after I'd had a good night's sleep, I came across Gordy, the boy I gave the march steel dagger to, being berated by his father. I could have told a lie and got him into more trouble, but instead I took the 'Diplomatic' option and said that I'd given him the march steel dagger because he wants to be a Crucible Knight and I thought it was a good way to get him started in an honourable profession. His father stared at me and said he still didn't approve of him having a dagger, but he was glad he wasn't a thief. And he's going to keep hold of the dagger and not give it to Gordy until he's a squire in the Crucible Knights.
All's well that ends well, I guess. This way, Gordy won't be able to accidentally chop his own fingers off.
After that, I went back to Ondra's Gift. There, I found Marceno, a sailor who decided to visit the Salty Mast when he was supposed to be guarding a sea chest filled with valuables. Unsurprisingly, while he was away verbing the adjective noun, if you know what I mean, the sea chest was stolen. Marceno says he'll be strung up from the yardarm if his captain finds out. So, I offer to find it and bring it back for him.
Pillars of Eternity said:
Marceno: – "Please, if you could get it back for me, I swear by the flame, I'll make it worth your while. You can have my pay – I won't be spending it if Captain Fortanero finds out anyway."
Before long, I found the thieves who'd stolen the strongbox. They tried to put up a fight. It didn't go well for them.
Then, I was given the opportunity to attempt to pick the lock on the sea chest and steal its contents for myself I decided not to. It didn't seem like the 'Benevolent' thing to do.
I returned the sea chest to Marceno. He was truly grateful.
Incidentally, while I was walking around the harbour, I overheard this conversation:
I met this woman, Niah, who has bought an abandoned lighthouse that she plans to turn into an inn. Unfortunately, the lighthouse is haunted and the ghosts have chased away all the workers she hired to renovate it.
Instead of making jokes about whether or not her bar will serve spirits, I offer to investigate. I'll try to put the ghosts to rest. For a small fee, of course.
A rather impressive building, isn't it? But it doesn't look wide enough to contain the rooms that are supposed to be inside it.
Good news! It turns out that the lighthouse is definitely haunted! No, wait… that's not good news at all.
Oh well, it doesn't matter too much. Yes, there are a lot of ghosts, but they're all fairly low-level. All of my party members are Level 9, only three levels below POE 1's original level cap (before the expansion packs were added).
On the next floor, I got a bit careless and the ghosts did a bit of damage to my vulnerable back line. They kept throwing ice shards at Aloth, whose defences are pretty low, but he was never in any real danger of dying or being knocked unconscious.
I kept climbing up the stairs until I reached the top floor, where I found a non-hostile banshee (or Cean Gŵla) named Lilith.
If I'd got too close, she would have rapidly turned hostile, so instead I took the opportunity to look around. I found a logbook written by the last lighthouse keeper, who seemed to be tracking the appearance of a ship called the 'Red Dream'. I also found a unique suit of padded armor called 'Jack of Wide Waters' (Fine quality, +2 Survival, which I gave to Gianni, at least for now, and a unique cloak called 'Lilith's Shawl' (+3 Perception, +1 Stealth to party members within 5 metres), which I gave to Eleni.
Outside, I asked Niah about the 'Red Dream'. Apparently, it's a famous pirate ship captained by an elf named Maerwith. She doesn't seem to be considered a criminal here in the Dyrwood, presumably because she only attacks foreign ships, so she regularly docks here in Defiance Bay and spends her ill-gotten gains at the Charred Barrel in Brackenbury. In fact, she's there right now.
I figure that I should probably go talk to her.
It turns out that Maerwith was Lilith's daughter. Before she became a restless ghost, Lilith was a lighthouse keeper who died during the War of Defiance, when the Aedyrans attacked the city and Ondra's Gift was flooded. That was 151 years before the start of POE 1.
Before that, because they were poor and on the verge of starvation, Maerwith became a thief. Lilith did not approve, so they had a nasty argument that ended with Maerwith being thrown out of their family home. However, Lilith must have been keeping track of her daughter's movements, which is why she kept a log of when she'd last seen the Red Dream. Despite their bitter dispute, she must have still cared for her daughter on some level.
I tell Maerwith about the banshee in the lighthouse and suggest that she should pay her a visit. It would mean they'd both get some closure. She agreed.
I went back to Niah in Ondra's Gift, who was delighted to tell me that, ever since Maerwith came to the lighthouse and did something, the banshee wails have stopped and everyone is convinced that the place is no longer haunted.
From now on I'll be able to buy food and drink from her new inn, which is called 'The Wailing Banshee', as well as recruit mercenaries and retrain my party members, but I won't be able to rest there because the rooms are still under construction.
While I was wandering around, I overheard this conversation:
Pillars of Eternity said:
Sagani: – "How's the hand?"
Edér: – "Turning purple. Might have to cut it off."
Sagani: – "I warned you not to pet him."
Edér: – "If I'm not supposed to pet him why is he so soft?"
Anyway, I've now completed all the side quests here in Defiance Bay, with the exception of Pallegina's personal quest (which I wouldn't be able to complete until later in the game anyway), a couple of bounty missions (which I can't unlock yet) and a quest linked to the White March expansion pack (which I don't intend to tackle until I've completed the rest of the game, if at all).
I actually remember trying to strong arm the clerk with a MIG 14. It took me a lot of finding the right good and inns to get that number but I did it. Only for the clerk to tsk tsk me and told me without him, Eder will never find what he needs. I opened my third eye when it came it to that.
I always appreciate a good haunted house, especially when it's a lighthouse.
It recently occurred to me that while I was in Anslög's Compass much earlier on in the game, I didn't have enough money to buy the best hat and belt in the game. Well, now I've got plenty of money, so I'm gonna head back there.
Ponamu Bird-Scorned is a shipwrecked mariner who hangs around Anslög's Compass, selling stuff for fairly low prices so he can… Uh, actually I'm not sure why he stays there. Wouldn't it make more sense for him to head to Defiance Bay where there'd be more potential customers, there are plenty of ships that might be willing to hire him as a crewmember, and he wouldn't be in as much danger from monsters trying to kill him?
Anyway, he's got a number of interesting items to sell including the Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer and the Company Captain's Cap. They're both soulbound items that were added with 'The White March' expansion, along with Ponamu Bird-Scorned himself.
Basically, soulbound items are linked to the soul of whoever wears them, so they can only be worn by that person unless the link is broken. Over time, as certain conditions are met, the link grows stronger and the items give better bonuses to their wearer. For example, the Company Captain Cap starts off giving +1 Resolve and +1 Dexterity. After its wearer takes 300 points of damage from enemies, it will unlock the next level and grant the 'Spell Holding: Confusion' enchantment, which will confuse anyone who scores a critical hit on the wearer. This needs to happen fifteen times to unlock the next level, which will grant its wearer immunity to confusion and daze status effects. And so on.
There are plenty of soulbound weapons, some of which are better than others, but I won't be able to get hold of any unless I buy them from Ponamu (he has a soulbound club and arbalest he's willing to sell, neither of which are really a good fit for my current team) or head off into the White March (which is a separate story that doesn't really fit in with the rest of POE1).
I know some people who've played POE1 and 2 aren't a fan of soulbound weapons because they can't be enchanted in the same way that other weapons can, which means that many of them can never reach 'Legendary' weapon quality. I'm bemused by this because upgrading a weapon to Legendary quality requires a unique item you can only ever have one of, so it's not like it really matters that you can't use it on soulbound weapons. (Unless you start using cheats to spawn more into your inventory, but what would be the point of that?)
Anyway, I gave the hat to Gianni and I will probably give the belt to Pallegina when I add her to the team.
On my way back, I got a notification that a group of cutthroat bandits were going to attack my stronghold. It was on my way past, so I made sure to put a stop to that.
It wasn't a difficult fight, except that keeping all of my stronghold guards alive was a bit of a pain.
From there, I moved on to the Stormwall Gorge, where it is constantly raining and the lower levels are flooded. I think this is the only place in POE1 where weather effects are used. It's really just a way of barring the player's progress to the southern parts of the map and the Glanfathan city of Twin Elms until later in the storyline.
There are also some quite powerful foes in this area, including pŵgras, adragans, lions and feral druids. All in all, it feels like it was designed to discourage players from exploring this way until after they've been to Defiance Bay and gained a few levels.
Also, in the same area, I came across an obviously recruitable party member with his own portrait. Say hi to Hiravias. He's an orlan Druid from the Fisher Crane tribe in Eir Glanfath, capable of wild-shaping into a humanoid stelgaer (a large sabre-toothed cat). He has an irreverent sense of humour and a grudge against his patron god, Galawain. Hmm. Wait a minute…
So yeah, just like Durance, he has a grudge against his patron god. Except unlike Durance he doesn't go around calling his god a whore. Instead, it's possible to reconcile him with Galawain (if you point out that the hardships he's gone through have made him stronger, which is the whole reason why he prayed to Galawain in the first place) or encourage him to worship Wael instead (if you encourage him to believe that Wael has guided him in his search for answers).
In this first meeting with Hiravias, he starts off trying to trick the player character to eat a deer's raw intestines. Gianni was able to dissuade him fairly easily by saying, "After you." When I asked what brought him to this place his reply was that he likes to wander around, finding new things to do and new sights to see, rather than staying in one place and taking root like a tree. Then, he offered to join my group. I found this quite refreshingly direct, so I accepted him into my party.
And then he vanished into the incorporeal plane occupied by party members I don't have enough space for right now, which also includes Kana and Pallegina.
Having cleared the Stormwall Gorge as much as possible right now, I moved on into Dyrford Village. There, by the side of the road, I met a group of cowled thugs led by an elf named Medreth. They're legbreakers working for House Doemenal, hunting for Nyfre, a woman they claim stole something from their bosses.
I'm not sure there's any way to complete this quest except by doing something morally objectionable, but I offered to help anyway.
Upon entering the village, I was accosted by a nobleman's armed guard who wanted to know if I'd seen his master's daughter, Lady Aelys. Apparently, she has disappeared and the village is now turning into Silent Hill. No, wait… sorry, wrong game.
Anyway, I offer to do a bit of detective work and try to find her.
And then I came across this man, Rumbald, who is angry because an ogre stole all of his pigs, leaving only a few piglets. He wants the ogre dead and for me to bring back his head. I didn't explicitly agree to this, but it was added to my quest log anyway.
I've only just entered Dyrford Village and already I've got three new quests to complete. It's going well.
Inside the tavern, I spoke to Lord Nestor Harond, father of the missing Lady Aelys. He's angry and upset, claims that none of the villagers seem to care that his daughter is missing. He asks me to help find her.
Apparently, the Harond family (consisting of Lord Nestor and Aelys) and their guards were travelling along the road to Eina's Rest, where Aelys was supposed to be betrothed to someone as part of an arranged marriage. However, along the way, Aelys fell ill and so they decided to stop in Dyrford Village for a few days to allow her to recover. Instead, she vanished.
Yeah, Lord Nestor is an unpleasant fellow. And his story is suspicious as hell. I guess I'll need to do some investigating and find out what's really going on.
First, I spoke to the innkeeper, Dengler. I managed to persuade him to tell me about Aelys.
Pillars of Eternity said:
Dengler: – He leans on the bar and sighs. "That girl, Aelys… she was looking to disappear. You should've seen her, watching the door like a sheep at slaughter. All the same, she didn't hardly speak to no one. Only folk I seen her talk to's Trygil."
Dengler: – He nods at the east window. "His shop's by the broken tower. Bit of a hothead, that one. My advice is to let the matter drop. Like I say, it don't profit to dig around in other people's business."
So, it seems pretty clear that Aelys didn't want to go with Lord Nestor to Eina's Rest. But was that because she didn't want to be forced into an arrange marriage, or is there something more sinister going on?
I'll have to talk to a few more people to find out. Including Trygil, who is the local currier (i.e he processes leather into a saleable form, which is a foul-smelling business).
Outside the inn, I spoke to an apothecary named Hendyna. She was badly burnt in an ill-advised attempt to steal a dragon egg. So, she wants me to get it for her. I said I'd think about it, but first I'm trying to find out what happened to Lady Aelys. She revealed that Aelys was pregnant and suffering from morning sickness so bad that she didn't seem to notice Trygil's stink.
Yeah, I need to talk to Trygil. But first…
Well, she obviously doesn't have anything interesting or useful to say, so I'll just leave her to get on with her very important work.
Seriously, Grieving Mother is my least favourite recruitable party member. For plot reasons, she has no interesting banter with NPCs or other party members (unless you're on the evil path, when it becomes darkly hilarious when no one notices you've used her as a human sacrifice), she has a dreary, mopey personality and her dialogue tree is interminably long and boring. Worse, it contains very little of substance.
Let's see if I can sum it up in only a few sentences:
1. Grieving Mother used to be a midwife.
2. People thought she had magical powers and asked them to bless their babies even as she was delivering them.
3. In fact, Grieving Mother has cipher powers and was using them to brainwash people into loving their children more.
4. When the Hollowborn crisis came, she used her powers to brainwash people into thinking their Hollowborn children were perfectly healthy and normal.
5. This resulted in the death of at least one new mother who was so focused on the care of her Hollowborn child that she forgot to feed herself.
6. The people of Grieving Mother's home village realised she had been brainwashing them and chased her away.
7. Now, Grieving Mother is desperate to do whatever it takes to end the Hollowborn Crisis.
Fairly simple, right? But if you were playing POE1 for the first time, you wouldn't find out Grieving Mother's backstory without wading through several thousand words of dialogue and description.
Also, she's obsessed with babies and children to the extent that it becomes rather awkward. I mean, there are plenty of people in real life who are devoted parents, or whose job involves looking after babies and young children in hospitals, nurseries and so on, and I'm sure they spend a great deal of time thinking about the children in their care. However, I'm equally sure that they must have hobbies, interests and the occasional thought about something in their lives that doesn't have anything to do with children. Whereas Grieving Mother is so single-mindedly devoted to children that it seems like she never thinks about anything else.
So yeah, the only reason why I ever bother to recruit her is that her cipher powers are useful for a couple of quests. In this playthrough, Gianni is a cipher, so I don't need Grieving Mother for anything.
If I find myself missing her company at all, I'll just shout, "Dead babies!" a few times. That's pretty much all she has to say. Don't worry, though: while I do it, I'll try to sound properly horrified.
Inside the shop next to the broken tower, I spoke to Trygil. At first, he claimed he'd never met Aelys Harond, but then I mentioned that both Dengler and Hendyna had seen her with him.
Then, he changed tack: he tried to tell me that Aelys had found him so attractive she had agreed to have sex with him, so they had sneaked away across the river to find a quiet place where they wouldn't be disturbed. And then they were ambushed by an ogre who abducted Aelys and carried her off, intending to devour her, before Trygil could do anything.
Pillars of Eternity said:
Gianni Baldassare: – "Don't take this the wrong way, but this shop smells like an outhouse. Am I really to believe that a lord's daughter snuck into the woods with you?"
So yeah, he's obviously lying. And he doesn't want me looking in the backroom. I'm guessing that's where he's got Aelys locked up.
Hmm. I'm wondering what I should do next. Should I hunt down the ogre and find out if it really did abduct Aelys? Or should I just cut out the middle man, break down the door to Trygil's backroom and find out what kind of creepy sex dungeon he's got hidden there?
If I find myself missing her company at all, I'll just shout, "Dead babies!" a few times. That's pretty much all she has to say. Don't worry, though: while I do it, I'll try to sound properly horrified.
