Part 84: Stabbey’s Thoughts

Chapter 63 – Stabbey’s Thoughts


Minus the italic conversation after the title card, that kick-in-the-nuts was the actual ending to Ego Draconis. I am not kidding.

People HAAAATED it, a lot. Like, to the point of sending death threats.

I actually didn’t hate the ending, I found it kinda hilarious. Any half-assed writer can kick the player in the balls. But Larian did an amazing job with the ball-kicking, making sure that there was no spot on the ball left unbruised. They actually ended the game in such a way that basically suggested that the world would have been better if you had let Marius slaughter you in front of the Maxos Temple. Anyone can flip the bird at someone, but this was like using a middle finger as large as the Battle Tower to flip the player off. It was awesomely sadistic.

That was the story for about a year, until Flames of Vengeance/Dragon Knight Saga came out. The game isn’t over yet, that was just Act III.

Also, man, I am glad this twist is done. I didn’t dare even drop a single hint about it, except for the Mystery narrator comments. I had to carefully write those so that they’d sound the same coming from either the Divine or Damian.

I made a minor tweak to a couple lines of the Divine’s dialogue at the end. The original lines:

As she took on the guise of that courageous woman and showed you a vision of things to come,

I’m pretty sure that’s a mistake, and Talana showed you the vision as the last thing she did before dying and giving you the powers. She even says so immediately before the vision. It seems to make more sense if the vision was from Talana. After the vision, it was Ygerna who you heard. If you go back and check, I only started using the blue Talana portrait after the dream ended.

The twist caught me completely by surprise, I have to say. But as soon as I heard Talana’s voice coming out of Ygerna’s lips, I went “Oh fuck!”


I actually didn’t think it was foreshadowed much at all, but now that I think about it, there were some things:

Listening to the real Talana, she actually does have a slightly different accent than Ygerna (listen to the way Talana pronouces her A's and E's). Of course, Talana was mortally wounded, and Ygerna's voice does have a slight echo to it, further disguising the switch.

There are parts where “Talana” sounds a bit eager for vengeance and power, but it doesn’t sound too unnatural at the time.

One of the bigger foreshadowing things was the completely optional and missable part where if you Soul-Forged Keara and Velanir, who was already dead. There were questions about that in the LP, so I quickly added that into the update as “Talana” making an explanation that again, sounds reasonable.

Another part of the foreshadowing was that Damian wanted the entrance to the Hall of Echoes revealed… except that there was no reason to, if reviving Ygerna would kill him. Thankfully, no one asked why Damian would have wanted to enter the hall, although I could have just made up a reason for that as well.

The strange conversation at the end of the update isn’t actually relevant to this LP, but if I ever do get the chance to do an LP of Dragon Commander, I think that might be the hook to hang a framing story on. Of course, that is still definitely up in the air, the game’s release is months away and I have little information about it, but just in case, that’s a hook for the Dragon Commander narrative.

Next Time, we start in with the Flames of Vengeance expansion.












(Zandalor) Lucian, stay your hand! An intruder! You – step out from the shadows. Who are you?
It matters not. This is but a memory.
(Lucian, the Divine One) This poor creature is delusional, Zandalor.
Tell us stranger, why have you come here?
You will stand aside, all of you. It shall not be Ygerna’s head that rolls today, but oppose me and yours will.
You must be a fool to challenge us, but I’ll give you one last chance. Leave now and do not look back!
Come what may, Ygerna shall be saved.
No, she will not. And neither will you. May the after-life prove pleasant to you.


Lucian, stay your hand! An intruder! You – step out from the shadows. Who are you?
One loyal to Damian.
The Black Ring is here! On alert, paladins!
I suppose you are here for the girl then, fiend.

This re-joins the other conversation paths here. It’s also a bit of a continuity mistake, as at this point, Damian is just missing, not with the Black Ring as far as everyone knows. But this is a dream so it doesn’t matter..

Reader Participation

1. When did you figure out that the Mystery Narrator was the Divine, not Damian?