PART XVI: WHODUNNIT, QINTARRA EDITION
Well, we're standing at Hardin's pass, facing the beaten crags that bar our passage into the glimmering forest
Well, we're standing at Hardin's pass, facing the beaten crags that bar our passage into the glimmering forest
It's pretty confusing on your first playthrough, since you don't know which way to go and might be inclined to go north. That's the wrong way and you'll simply hug the mountain range all the way to the east.
You have to go south. You'll spot patches of ice and polar bears, signifying the correct path.
Hardin's pass isn't hard, but it is lively. Watch out for the ice, as well. You can slip and fall over on it.
We find a barbarian body with a strange axe on it. Don't think I've ever noticed it, or picked up the axe, before.
More exotic fauna will attempt to impede your progress
Not very successfully
And we're finally on the other side, the vast swamps and forests of the west
Well, we could go to Qintarra straight away, but we're still looking for that Azram's Star for someone in Blackroot. Let's head to the location she gave us, first.
You enter what looks like a door with a stairway, but it ends up being a portal that transposes you into some hidden pocket of space
There's a huge building with a collapsed roof and decrepit walls that stands there
My memory is very foggy on this whole part of the game. I don't remember this place, or what's in here.
Dear god what the f is that thing?
"Plaguish maiden"
She's armed with what appears to be a bow, and cannot attack us due to the rivulet that divides her part of the building from the main one.
I fire at her from the other side and she soon drops dead. We can't, however, cross over the water and loot her body. To the side of this ancient castle stand two derelict rooms. 1 has a wargunne, the other has bears. We clear out both rooms and find a 'black chest', which appears to be a normal chest like any other. Opening it up reveals very little of interest.
The plaugish maiden soon rots away to leave some loot, which I can't pick up.
I had absolutely no idea what to do here so I left the building, but that boomerang was a big clue. The whole place is a puzzle, and you have to throw the boomerang at the torches across the water to be teleported to the next part. I'd never have figured this out by myself. Well, it will have to wait until the next episode, because I only looked at the hint today.
We leave the mystical temple and travel to Qintarra. We arrive at sunset
Greetings, can I come in?
And we're finally here, the great tree city.
We find some straggler loitering around on one of the platforms
Yes, I do travel quite extensively
Yes, I've visited that shithole many-a-time
She begs us to take her there and we agree ( I have other, karma reducing, plans in mind )
How old are you?
Isn't that too young to be by yourself?
Alright alright, let's go then.
*15 metres away from the entrance to Qintarra*
My serial killer instincts have not yet receded, it seems
Back in Qintarra
The pleasure is mine. So, you hunt?
Lots of hunters here?
I'm sure the most outdoorsman faction in the continent should be able to tell the time, of all things, with a cursory glance at nothing but the shadows of the trees themselves, but we tell him the time anyways.
Could I help?
Done
Next up is Fawn
What do you do?
Alright we'll leave you to it
Up next, is Whisper
Lord Byron
[tell her]
Yes
Thanks. Mind me asking, what do you do here?
What are you studying?
What is a VW?
Could I help?
Alright, I'll do that.
Aluminum is up next
Let's trade
>selling bullets in qintarra
We stumble upon a conspicuous group guarding what appears to be an entrance into a giant tree trunk
I don't believe we've met?
She's voice acted, btw
Interesting. Hey can I see the Silver Lady?
how do I convince you?
Should I return later?
so can I help you in any way?
none taken. what's the problem?
I'll do it
ok, a few questions first then. What is the FA?
anything else I should know about?
All clear. I'm off then.
We run into Wrath whilst exploring the other platforms.
Hey nice robes, man. You're a real rebel. I'm Lord Byron, adventurer extraordinaire.
Your name is Wrath? That's fitting.
Four
Make me
We cross Qintarra into the last few dwellings.
AHH! A TALKING TREE STUMP! Ah, I mean, ahem, I'm looking for some dwarves that were banished.
You're a mage?
You sound like you want to leave now
why agree to such a bad contract?
Perhaps I could "convince" him to release you?
Well, good luck then.
There's another elf I missed when exploring. She meditates by night.
Whilst we're passing by Wrath's place, I notice something very strange
"no sign of violence"
Back at the tree stump's place
dun-dun-DUN
You believe he killed Wrath?
Does that make me a suspect?
How was he killed, mind me asking?
What about dark magic?
No weapons or magic, that leaves poison right?
Can I speak to Jormund?
I do not think you're guilty of murder, Jor!
[perception success] He was killed by neither weapon nor magick. That leaves poison.
Sure, I'll give it a go.
I don't need your giant dildo, but I'll help out anyways.
Back at the apothecary, ie. the meditating babe's hovel, we unlock the vase and find an empty flask with traces of poison in it!
We confront her in the morning.
I'm looking for Sharpe, where is he?
[show her the vial]
Why did he become angry?
He felt your were violating elven customs?
Anyone can be pushed to murder
the vial points to Sharpe's guilt
What do you mean by that?
He was in love with you?
what happened then?
You've been most helpful!
Wrath killed himself. He was trying to frame Sharpe.
Aaah, but you have not yet heard the full story of what transpired. Wrath was the one who concocted the idea of them living together. When she refused, he grew increasingly deranged and began threatening her. When he realized he could not have her, he decided to frame Sharpe for murder. Taking one of Sharpe's proprietary flasks, he distilled a vicious poison and drank it. That is when his ribcage exploded his right arm fell off. He then ran across Qintarra with the flask, unseen; he climbed inside Sharpe's house, lockpicked the vase in their house with his one good hand and planted the evidence. He then ran back to his house and finally succumbed to both the poison and the blood loss. It all fits.
So you'll release Jormund then?
Any time
Geoffrey fucks off from the party. Apart from a few high level items, good riddance if you ask me
Are you leaving now?
Why don't you follow me?
And look at our karmametre. What heroic deeds we have committed here!
Sharpe returns to qintarra just as his name is cleared of any wrong doing
You are most welcome
Ok then, Falcon's Ache here we come. This place is so peaceful, even the gorillas don't attack.
The human encampment is to the south
what are you doin here?
We have a problem, Mr Bench
You're not supposed to be here
I'll persuade you otherwise
I haven't yet told you who i represent
I'm from the CLD
Ok ok I lied, I really represent Gilbert Bates
C&C blindsides me once again ffs
We start trash talking him and goading him into attacking
Elven magic strikes down the combatants immediately.
The end.
Well, actually, I've played through this part at least twice and this is the first time I've encountered a quest breaking bug here. No matter how hard I try, the elven magic kills ME even when I don't attack him. I try leaving the party away from the encounter; I try turning on turn based mode; I try shooting them from a safe distance: doesn't work. Perhaps it's tech alignment, or perhaps equipping a firearm registers as an automatic attack as soon as the combat starts. I just don't know. What I do know is that we're not getting rid of these guys.
Well, we do it the dirty way then.
This nets us a measly -5 to karma
This way, we never get to see the Silver Lady since the door remains forever locked. There's not much to see, anyhow. She's a ghostly apparition that will go on a long, cryptic rant about burning fields, wolves and other such stuff, which Raven would interpret as Caladon being your next destination ( since they have wolves in their insignia )
If you're still interested in seeing her, here's an image from a quick google search
Back in my own playthrough, we loot Raven to find a note from a certain Terwilliger.
Luckily I have great eyesight, so I spot that Sogg has dropped his great arcane sword and doesn't want to pick it back up
Hey, Torian, anything you can share with us about this place?
Virgil, what should we do next?
Oh, and where are we right now?
The voice acting for that line especially is superb
The guards who are supposed to protect the silver lady tree don't mind us killing her daughter
And I forgot to mention that Falcon's Ache is home to the elven god altar
Well, we can go to the camp where the elf hunter disappeared
It's home to the lizard people. No really.
And the elf is in a pit.
The lizards have an altar of their own, a work of great craftsmanship
We find the lizard leader, Kan Kerai.
I'm sorry?
Mask of the betrayer
What do you mean, know all our faces?
The "cold blood" ways?
I'd like to learn of your ways
Not all warm bloods are the same
Have I killed your people?
Neither the elves nor I have hurt you
I'm Lord Byron
Tell me what happened
Where did they come from?
Thanks Kaspersky
What did they do with the bodies?
Poachers! I'm sorry.
Make war? But it's only these men
You must allow me to convince you otherwise
I lose track of the conversation here. I think I tell him not all warm bloods are the same
elves have their own code
elves live in trees, men in stone buildings
elves have words of power
cold-blood is not the only way
I meant to say that elves are too tied to the land
I'll do it
And off he goes on the ultimate chad strut.
Anyways, I go to the poachers camp and fight them, but end up narrowly dying when their last man standing fires a critical shot with an elephant gun. I reload and restart the conversation with the killer croc once again, but this time I don't make the mistake of telling him that the cold-blood isn't the only way. I tell him that the elves are tied to the land. This leads to a different conversation.
tell me of the cold blood
some men have dark hearts
Mens' hearts make their dreams
If that were so, would they let me survive?
It is. Men are evil, but many are good
[tell him the full story]
Ok, I'll do that. Hey Waromon
You wanna come with me?
Excellent. We're all set. Waromon is a bow and melee expert
who can wear a helmet
but can't wield a sword.
We forget to talk to the elf before we leave the bedokaan village, damn.
Ah who cares, anyway. We'll get around to it eventually.
We go to the poachers' camp to kick their ass, but they're not there this time.
We do discover the Bangellian Deeps on our way there this time, though
with much walkers rising from the swamps in a weak attempt at stifling our progress
In Ashbury, we heard a rumour of a stranger who spoke of coordinates. We can now visit them. On our way there, we see Kerlin's altar.
our secret destination turns out to be called the Strange Ponds
It has a few of those giants we saw in the Ancient Maze ..
and not much else. There's the one treasure chest in the middle with an unidentified chainmail and ring. We take the ring.
On the way back we stop atKerlin's altar, which is pretty amazing since its made out of solid gold
More troika trolling
Joke's on you troika, I have almost 50k in my wallet.
And finally we visit the Ruby Glade, the place which contains the elusive ruby guarded by some vicious beasts
As you pass the first marker stone, you're greeted by a coterie of greater demons intent on tearing you a new arse
I have to do this a few times until their spawn pattern allows me to turn around and escape. My friends take care of the rest.
On the way back west, we get a few unique enemies thrown our way
I do visit the Bangellian Deeps, but I have little to no bullets, no health items, no fatigue restorers etc. It's not long before the poison traps and trash mobs force me to retreat.
Apt name
More exotic enemies outside
Ooh is that the essence we're looking for?
We take 3 for good measure
No, that's not the essence of VW. We need the VW.
Back in Stillwater
I brought back the ruby!
It was quite a task!
Bye bye
So finally we circle back and wind up in Tarant. Same old, same old. Where do we go now? Well, we need Terwilliger's current status and what better place to look than in the hall of records?
We also need to sell a lot of our stuff, identify the loot etc.
What's all the rage in the town these days, anyway?
Rats, of all things. That reminds me: we still have the underground left unexplored and the mob boss un-whacked. That will be in the next episode.
Hey, Bates boy, how's it going?
I am aware of that fact, being the one who killed him
I apologize for my politically incorrect joke. I did not mean to trigger anybody. Good day to you. *Doffs hat*
Last edited: