Part 72: The Sword of Lies
Chapter 54 - The Sword of Lies
Music - "Something is Amiss"
Download (Thanks to Grawl)
Well actually, a talking cat told me.
A talking cat? You must mean Arhu. It was a good thing I let him in on my plans, otherwise I would never have gotten out of here.
I hope that means you DO have a plan for getting us out of here, old man. Hopefully not the passage to the sewers, that's sealed now.
Yes, I do have a plan. What are you doing here? I came here with one of the other Marked Ones - Joris was his name - to see if the Sword of Lies is still in its place. But we failed. He was captured and I barely escaped into the catacombs. What happened to Joris? A few days ago, I was able to rescue the third Marked One from his imprisonment, but an alarm was sounded. In the fighting, we got split up and separated in the maze of passages down here. It was only today that we were able to meet back up once more. How did he die? A Death Knight attacked and killed him without mercy, and I was driven into this room. What was that you mentioned? The Sword of Lies? You speak in riddles, old man! Have you ever heard about the Age of Chaos or Ulthring the Weapon master? Um... maybe? I think I read something about that in the Stormfist library, but so much has happened that it feels like that was weeks ago. And this seems important. Very well. It seems I shall have to start at the beginning... If you think we have the time for that. Please tell me all you know. Ulthring was both a brilliant wizard and versed in the arts of swordplay - much like yourself it seems, my friend! He was a true battle mage by will and by nature. What happened to Ulthring? He became a member of the Damned and forged the Sword of Lies under the direction of the cursed Lord of Chaos. That made it one of the most dreaded weapons to ever trouble our poor world. So? What happened next? Ulthring became the wielder of the sorcerous blade, and the Lord of Chaos himself lead the Damned and a horde of Hell-summoned demons against the Seven Races. Large parts of Rivertown and even the famous mage school Rai'alor were destroyed. The slaughter of innocent people was a horror to see... How did the Seven Races stop the Lord of Chaos? When the war reached its climax, the surviving armies of the League of Seven met the Lord of Chaos in open battle upon the field. They used all their powers - strategic, magical, and base trickery to banish the black deity from Rivellon. Gods! They simply banished such an almighty foe? They succeeded, but the victory cost the Council of Seven everything they could give. They sacrificed their lives in order to banish the stinking deity. Great story. But we're still trapped behind enemy lines, in case you've forgotten. Can we leave now? No, we must first finish what I came here for, we must see if the Sword of Lies is still in its place! I will go and have a look. ... Um... where is it?
Very well. There was something else I wanted to tell you. Something important... but blast it all, I can't think of what it is. Well, don't worry. I'll be back soon enough.I headed off through the trap infested corridors.
What was it I needed to tell him? I think it was something about the sword.
I'm sure I told him everything he needed to know. The sword was created by Ulthring...
Seven Gods, that has got to be the creepiest door in all of Rivellon. ... The Lord of Chaos put a tiny piece of his soul into - Seven gods! What a fool I am! I forgot to warn him to never touch the sword under any circumstances! I've got to stop him! 
What?! A talking door? I must be hallucinating!
I AM NO ILLUSION OF EYE OR EAR! I AM THE GUARDIAN DOOR TO THE INNER TREASURE ROOM OF STORMFIST CASTLE. SPEAK THE MAGIC WORD OR LEAVE!
I can only hope he's smart enough to understand the implications of everything I told him. Damnit! What a scatterbrain I am. I've forgotten it! What are you?
I AM THE GUARDIAN! Magic word, magic word... Ah! Now I remember! The magic word is 'AVAS ENROD'! THE MAGIC IS SPOKEN TRULY! ENTRY TO THE TREASURE ROOM IS GRANTED!
Creepy. As. Fuck.
Huh. It's still here. I guess Zandalor had nothing to worry about after all.
Don't touch it! Why?
Just Don't! ...
You know what? I'm sick and tired of your bullshit and non-explanations. I may not be able to cast spells right now, but I can tell just from looking that this sword is extremely magical. It's a hell of a lot more powerful than this dinky knife. Zandalor must want me to have this. It might even make me powerful enough to rescue Jenna from wherever she's locked up.I grabbed the sword. It was surprisingly warm. I felt the energy seep into my body.
Noooo! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Mystery voice? Hello? Hello?
Hello.
Marked One! You must... oh, NO!Zandalor sunk to his knees and hung his head in sadness.
Beware! He's going to try and kill you. What? That's crazy! He saved my life! He's my ally!Zandalor looked up at me.
I'm sorry. For what?Without warning, he drew a dagger (with startling speed for one of his age) and charged me, aiming the dagger right at my heart! No warning, no explanation, he just suddenly tried to murder me. My reaction was entirely on instinct. I drew my new sword and thrust before I had a chance to think about it.
Zandalor collapsed at my feet. He looked at me with horror and sadness before he closed his eyes forever.
I told you. You should listen to me. Stupid old man. What the hell did you do that for? How many WEEKS have I spent looking for you, FOR YOU! And you don't even offer a word of explanation for trying to kill me? I saw the dagger he'd dropped. It looked very interesting. It had an ornate red handle with a gold skull at the end, and a finger-guard shaped like a gold fang. The blade itself was wavy. I reached for it.
You really shouldn't touch that. I just got one annoying voice out of my head, I'm not listening to another.I ignored the voice and picked up the dagger, then immediately dropped it.
Agh! That BURNS! What the hell? I tried to warn you.I looked around.
Damnit. No answers, no explanations, my sister is still mising... And I'm still trapped here! AARGH!!!I gave the wizard's body a savage kick. A bottle rolled out of his robes and rattled across the floor. I picked it up. Scrawled on a label were the words "Emergency Teleport Potion."
Looks like this is my ticket out of here. OUR ticket out. Well, whatever.I materialized outside the Dwarven Bread Inn.
Now what? I've got abso-bloody-lutely nothing!Arhu approached.
There you are! Where's Zandalor and the third Marked One? They're both dead.
What?! No! A Death Knight killed the other Marked One. This is terrible! What about Zandalor? What happened to him? The old man was one loaf short of a bread basket! He went crazy and tried to kill me! What? Why would he do that? I don't know? He told me to look for the Sword of Lies. I found it right where he said it was, and I was bringing it to-
WHAT?! What's your problem now?! Stay away from me! Stay away! Arhu?Arhu suddenly rushed past me and into the tavern.
What the hell is everyone's problem? Nevermind that. We have work to do. What work? You will see...Next Time: Act 4 - Chaos
Next Time: One Small Step for Sword...
Behind the Scenes
Yes, the game actually gives you a choice on whether to take the sword or not. Both paths still work, but the story radically changes depending on your actions. It's pretty awesome.
The Sword of Lies is an awesome weapon. Unlike the other weapons, its stats are always fixed, but just LOOK at those stats - 151-180 damage, and it drains health and mana from enemies. The only downside really, other than it being EVIL, so using it forces us into the bad ending is that it's two-handed, so we can't use our shield.
Thankfully, we don't actually have to fight Zandalor, he dies in a cutscene. He would be really hard to kill if we had to fight him. He's immune to all elemental damage, has a lot of HP, and does a lot of damage.
After this, Wouter vanishes from the Dwarven Bread Inn. Even if we rush in as soon as we get control back, we wouldn't be able to find him. But he'll show up later.