Part 25: Too Many Circles
Too Many Circles
You head to Learned Jaffee's lab next. The servile is quietly remonstrating with one of his tamed fyoras when you arrive. You watch until he notices you.
"Tell me, ally, what you've learned," you say. News that you're now working with the Obeyers has almost certainly reached the ears of everyone in Pentil. It's not as though Rydell's hall has doors.
"I know that there is great turmoil on this island. I know that alien invaders have come here, and they are unleashing powerful forces," Jaffee says. "But most of what I have is rumor and supposition. When you gain information, tell it to Rydell. I will then use that knowledge to assist you. The thing I can help you with best is understanding the strange Shaper magic left on Sucia."
"There is something powerful on this island. I don't know what it is, but its name sounds like 'Geneforge.'" You're curious if Jaffee's connections are better than his leader's. Learned Jaffee doesn't strike you as the type who feels much loyalty to any individual figure. He's probably more interested in his projects and, perhaps, in the sect's principles.
"Interesting. Remember, though, that this island is Barred. Whatever this thing is, the Shapers wanted it to be forbidden, forgotten, ignored. If you seek it, it should only be to destroy it," he says. Then it is the principle of the matter that concerns Jaffee, not knowledge for its own sake.
"There are definitely foreign, alien humans on this island. One of them is named Trajkov. Do you know anything about them?"
"This explains much." Jaffee leaves for a moment, and returns with a sheaf of paper. "We found this near the bridges to the east."
He shows the sheets to you. They are covered with writing. It seems alien. At first. "These papers were dropped by one of the foreign humans. We didn't know it at first. We do now. It is different from our written language, but similar. With some work, we were able to decode a bit of it. Better, by spying on alien humans near here and eavesdropping, we were able to understand some of the pronunciation. We can teach you a small amount of their language. It is not enough, by itself, to communicate, but, if you can learn more elsewhere, you may be able to speak with these beings. Then, perhaps, we may be able to deal with them properly, and the true will of the Shapers might be furthered."
Jaffee teaches you some more of the Sholai language. It is strange, and yet familiar. (You have now had one language lesson.)
I think the game assumes that this will be the first place you receive a language lesson. Clearly, that's not how things worked out for Solution.
"I have used many of the canisters on this island. They are making me more powerful. What else are they doing?" The rebel Sholai have been clear about one thing: use of the canister turned their leader and his followers violent and angry, qualities not fit for a diplomatic mission.
"Shaper, it is clear. They are rewriting you. What will be the final result? I do not know. But, while I suspect you will need the power they give you, beware. Sucia Island was Barred for a reason."
It's a shame that this servile can't further your understanding of the canisters and the Geneforge, but your expectations weren't very high. The serviles can't use the canisters, and are understandably reluctant to experiment with them. But Jaffee has more initiative than most of his kind when it comes to working with Shaper materials. "I saw your fyoras in the woods to the south. Why don't you tell me some of what you have learned, so I can add to it and help you."
Jaffee bows his head. "I am ashamed, Shaper. But, for the sake of my fellow serviles here, I will expose my ignorance so that you can help me."
You discuss the qualities of fyoras and other aspects of creations with Jaffee for a while. He learns some things from you, and you are surprised at how much he has discovered. You even manage to learn a few things, which is quite a surprise.
We gain a point in Fire Shaping for this. Also, all the dialogue options about what we've learned from our adventures grant experience, though now Solution's level is too high to gain exp.
You unlock the old storage room in Jaffee's lab, freeing up extra space for his work. You're rewarded with the discovery of another usable canister. The effects of this one aren't as immediately apparent, but you feel more confident than you did before, above and beyond the rush of power and well-being you've come to associate with the canisters.
I forgot to check out the Pentil storage area before leaving, so we'll come back to that in a future update. But if you kept track, you'll see that Pentil just gave us some serious upgrades -- an extra point in Mechanics, Leadership, Fire Shaping, and Melee just from joining up. There's also a canister of Create Roamer in the untouched storage room. As a bonus, we got some vendor trash and the carnelian gloves!
Also, in the interests of full disclosure, I played the next section before Solution joined the Obeyers, but it made more sense to switch the order for the LP. Nobody really wanted to wait for me to finally mosey my way back to the main plot, right?
All the evidence you've collected points north and east. Goettsch, Trajkov, and your potential escape all lay in these unexplored lands. Astrov advised you to avoid the bridges, and your alternatives, such as the pass, require you to explore.
The road leads north of Darian's vale before it's blocked again by overgrowth. You follow an unmarked path amid bone-strewn ruins until you reach a circle of menhirs. The arrangement is certainly unnatural, but this style doesn't correspond with any Shaper monuments you've seen before.
There is a battle alpha standing in the middle of this clearing. He looks like a young specimen. Either he was recently created, or the battle alphas left behind on this island centuries ago have been breeding.
He slaps himself on the chest and shouts, "I am Aitch!" It's a standard name. Shapers give all the battle alphas in a unit preset names to aid in standardization. "This Freeplace! We no want Shapers here. No follow no more. We greater than Shapers! I challenge you! Duel! Duel!" He raises his arms in the air, roars, and lunges forward.
Freeplace? None of the serviles have mentioned the name, but it does sound like a Taker idea. But you don't have time to think about that -- this is the first time an alpha has spoken to you, and now it's coming for your blood. If it speaks, then maybe you can reason with it -- this alpha is already a step above nearly all the non-servile rogues.
"But you're right! You are greater than Shapers."
Somehow, your words pierce Aitch's tiny brain. He stops moving. "Uhh... What?"
"Of course. You're clearly greater than me. I won't try to tell you what to do. You've won the duel," you say.
"Oh. I... I... Oh. Hah! I have beaten you! You will have no Ieadering here!" He proudly tromps back to his post. He looks slightly doubtful. Something about what happened is bothering him, but he can't quite figure out what.
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This is the lair of a large group of battle alphas. The creatures are bred to function in groups. However, seeing how they try to live on their own is, in a bleak way, quite comical.
Battle alphas are made, in part, to dig trenches and build fortifications. They have done all right widening these caves, and they have even laid down a crude wooden floor. All the sorts of things they were intended to do.
However, they are not very good at providing for themselves. The rooms are full of random items they have scavenged, seemingly without awareness of what they are for. Shelves line the walls, but objects have simply been left scattered on the floor.
They have gathered some food, but not much, and you can smell some of it rotting. Battle alphas were not made to live unsupervised, and it shows.
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This creature seems surprised and bothered by your presence in his or her lair. However, it doesn't move to attack you. It just snarls and shuffles away.
This battle alpha is extremely old. He may be the father (or mother, you're not sure) of this clan. He stares morosely into the fire. He is not as strong and confident as the others.
He looks up at you. "I am Ell. I lead Freeplace." He looks back at the fire.
"I need to know more about this island," you say.
"No know. We stay here. No know." Ell subsides once more into painful contemplation.
"I need your help. Come fight with me." A battle alpha would make a tremendous ally, especially when combined with your other forces.
"No. We stay here. We no help. You not command us." He seems extremely depressed when he says it. His kind was not made for independence. He knows that he wants it, but he can't understand it.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I have to think lots. Have to take care of home. Is hard. Have to find food. Lead. Strange. Hard for us." Surely it is difficult. These creatures were not designed to live on their own. They were not given very good brains.
You could try giving Ell an order. Battle alphas were shaped to serve, not to make their own settlements. But you're sure Ell will refuse, and perhaps violently. The alpha is working hard in his own way, and after your initial encounter outside, these rogues haven't threatened you.
Freeplace represents an immense threat, but you find that you don't want to destroy these rogues, even if by law you should. These battle alphas are struggling to overcome their innate limits. This defies every Shaper effort to command and control creations, every law and barrier your kind has put in place to create useful, predictable, dependent lifeforms. Yet instead of fear, you only feel regret.
"It's easy to live on your own," you say. "Here's a little advice." At first, Ell is reticent. Then you start to explain to him the basics of housekeeping and food gathering. You also throw in a little advice on organization and cleanliness.
"You have... You... That help. Part about using shelves make sense. And cooking food. Very interesting. We will try what you say. May help us. We pay you back. I give you things we not need. Fair trade." He leaves the room for a minute. You hear the grinding of stone on stone. Then he returns. "I have to think lots. Have to take care of home. What you say is good start. But we always need to think more."
You leave Ell to his work and investigate the canister behind him. None of the battle alphas react to you examining it, so you go ahead and use it. When their agents finish changing you, your searer spell is significantly more powerful.
The previously blocked off room is full of supplies, but most important is the shielding knife you find in the crystal box. With it in hand, your body is protected by a minor deflection spell.
Another path outside the battle alphas' burrow takes you further east into the woods. As you examine the tumbledown ruins, you hear something crashing through the forest nearby.
This battle alpha isn't friendly like its fellows. You're forced to order your creations to take it down. You examine its remains, but nothing indicates why it was so hostile to you. Perhaps it was just completely mad.
The obelisk here reads "Maintaining Station." You step inside in hopes that you might find more pods or tools.
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Up until recently, this was a recharging and shaping station, maintained by a servant mind. The essence and healing pools are still alive, though, if they are not cared for, they won't be for much longer.
Recently, someone raided this place. They killed the servant mind and attempted to smash the pools with the hammer. It seems like simple, senseless vandalism.
That's another servant mind accounted for... At first, seeing how badly this facility has fared, you think the mind was slain by one of the battle alphas here.
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The servant mind is dead. It looks like it was killed about a month ago. It wasn't slain with weapons, but with magical fire and acid.
The use of magic to murder this creation rules out the alphas, though. Perhaps a servile armed with fire wands and acid batons could have done it, but you suspect the outsiders did this.
Time to boost our fyoras and artilas a little.
There's another small ruin further east. Until the door slides open, there's no indication that anything's wrong.
The first thing you notice is the stench of decay. This ruin is full of rubbish and worse. There's a single bedroll on the floor and beside it, a prone servile and a bloody hammer.
You don't notice the other servile at first, not in the dark, not with all the heaped up trash. Your attention is on the downed servile, who is unfortunately quite dead.
This one is still alive, and as you draw near, he cries out a threat. You catch the glint of an iron dagger. There's only one conclusion to draw as the servile darts out at you... and with a single spell, you kill a probable murderer.
There's really nothing to this room besides the hostile but not aggressive Zygan and the dead servile. As far as I know, there aren't any scripted actions here, nor any quests. I don't know if this is just a random weird thing to find or if Vogel intended to do more with the named NPC but forgot.
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You find a couple of old chemical vats. These thick crystal jars are made to store substances useful to Shapers. Usually, they need to be kept very cold.
These have not been kept cold. Even decades later, the foul stink of rot still hangs over them. They are useless.
One of these actually has some consumables.
You head south, still mulling over the strange and fatal encounter with that deranged servile. It seems clear that the one servile murdered the other, but there are so many unanswered questions that you'll never be certain. You hope you served justice, but now you have to live with doubt.
You find another box mine while you're distracted by these questions. Luckily you notice it before you stray too close. You shoo your creations back and try to disarm it, but it's too complex for you to disarm. On the bright side, you're fast enough that it doesn't trigger before you back off.
Sometimes there's an Ur-Glaahk here, but it doesn't spawn this time. We'll be back later.
As you head back south, you encounter another hostile battle alpha. The rogue charges right into your strung-out line. You don't have time to recriminate yourself for sloppiness.
Your creations are more than a match for a lone rogue now, though. They take it out without sustaining more than bruises.
The path to the middle of the woods is also blocked with mines. You decide to turn back to Pentil for now, rest, and regroup.
After some time for sleep and meditation, you remember that Mickall Blade had asked you to look for one of the Obeyer outposts near Kazg. You're sure you're not welcome among the Takers now, but as long as the outpost hasn't been overrun by them, checking in on Doge should be safe enough. You haven't had an opportunity to investigate the southeastern coast of the island yet, anyway.
Offscreen, I returned to the tombs regions and made sure we didn't miss any points. Thanks to our thrusting gloves, we gained a point in Anatomy, and thanks to the point in Spellcraft from the Sholai, we are able to gain a second point in that too. We're starting to get pretty powerful!
It's twilight when you make it over Southbridge. You walk into a huge clearing dominated by a paved circle inscribed with a huge glowing rune. Nothing happens when you draw near, not even when you dare to walk over it. Nearby is an intact version of the pillar you found in one of the caves back west. Before you can investigate it, though, some roamers emerge from the woods.
Regular roamers are no match for your creations now, nor is the vlish that leads them. You blast one roamer with searer while your fyoras finish the other off with fire. The vlish is burst before it can even act.
The rest of the roamers arrive too late to support the rogue vlish. They surround placid saviour, but the artila is far too fast and wily for them to contend with. Your team picks them off in short order.
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This stone pylon is very, very old and worn. It is probably ancient enough to predate the Shapers' settling of this island. The years of exposure to the elements have crumbled it and left whatever markings were on it completely illegible.
This forest is very strange. You wonder what happened to the people who built all this, and what the Shapers who came before you made of it all.
You encounter another pair of rogue patrols before you reach a large ruin. Mopping the rogues up is almost more time-consuming than it is dangerous. The tedium is a relief, really, but you're also glad to have a look at what the Shapers left behind.
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This looks like it might have once been a waypost or a station for maintenance of creations. More recently, traveling serviles have used it as a safe, enclosed place to camp.
Now that rogues have overrun the area, it is completely abandoned.
You think you detect the scent of essence in the air. Perhaps this ruin still has a living essence pool. They can survive for quite a long time.
The pools soothe your weariness and heal your creations. The serviles who used this as a waypost must have also maintained the pools.
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You find an old notebook dating back from Shaper days. The pages were coated to protect them from the elements, and the serviles have respectfully left it alone. It looks like it might have been an old study journal, protected from harsh conditions.
Flipping through it, you find that it was kept by a Shaper who was researching the tribes that lived on Sucia Island. They died off a few centuries before your people settled here, though the keeper of this journal apparently had no idea why.
He comments that these woods seem to have some strange energy in them, centered around the nearby stone circle. He has had no luck solving the mystery, but he thinks that the strange, crumbling stone pylons might have something to do with it.
There are truly an alarming number of rogues here. The serviles wouldn't have stood a chance against the dozens of roamers you've destroyed so far. You also find more of those huge, glowing runes and more of the stone pylons.
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This is an ancient stone circle, made by whoever lived on this island before the Shapers did. It's a remarkable structure. It's a pity this island is Barred. If it wasn't, Sucia Island might have a solid tourist trade.
After crushing a few more patrols, you find another ring of megaliths. They exude incredible power, though their purpose is not at all evident. The energy has drawn in a swarm of roamers and even another vlish. They don't respond well to your sudden appearance.
The roamers fling themselves at you even though they die swift and terrible deaths. The submission vlish controlling them can't keep up with the injuries your creations inflict, but it keeps struggling to heal its enslaved roamers. This ties it up until only one rogue roamer remains. Then the vlish turns its attentions on you.
You think you've gotten almost as used to burns and stabbings as anyone can be, but you've not experienced a vlish trying to steal control of your mind. The effort of fending off the submission vlish's mental magic disorients you. Fortunately, your creations don't try to slip their leashes while you recover. Instead, they destroy the rogues.
The nausea fades as you leave the stone circle. You explore the outer ring of paths and clear out a few more patrols before you find a little break in the trees.
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This stone pylon is very, very old and worn. It is probably ancient enough to predate the Shapers' settling of this island. The years of exposure to the elements have crumbled it and left whatever markings were on it completely illegible.
As you start to walk away, you have an unexpected bit of good fortune. You notice that there is a small crack running up the side of the pylon. You look closer. There is a concealed compartment in its side.
With a little bit of effort, you pry open the compartment. Inside, you find a short baton, carved of bone and lacquered. It is small and light. You take it.
You need at least 1 point in Luck to get this from the northwestern pillar in this tiny clearing.
You pocket the bone wand for a moment and examine the bodies, but neither the servile's nor the human's reveals any secrets.
You try focusing essence on the wand, but it doesn't respond any more than any other inert object. You point it at a pylon, then tap one with it, and even shake the wand, but nothing happens. Then you try taking the wand over to the first glowing rune you found. As you step onto the circle, you feel the wind.
The impenetrable forest a few strides away abruptly becomes a small clearing. The wand has dispelled an illusion -- or perhaps it's a key, and the glowing rune is a lock.
You're not alone in the clearing, though. An almost completely transparent figure hovers between two ancient pylons. The land beneath it is just bare earth littered with bones, rocks, and pottery.
The ghost points at you. Before it can do anything, your artilas shoot it down. Spirits are apparently no more proof against acid than clawbugs are.
You thought the spectral rogues the Shapers made were the closest things to ghosts that really existed, but apparently not. Perhaps the Shapers found inspiration from these old shades.
You cross all of the runes with the wand in hand and clear out the ghosts. The pylons over what you guess are graves don't reveal any more secrets, but at least you're making these woods a bit safer for anyone who passes through in the future.
In one of the clearings, you find a pair of enchanted boots after you clear out the resident specter. You suspect the boots are ancient, but they're still in amazing shape.
After you disperse the last specter, you find a robe that matches the boots. The material is very light and cool to the touch, like silk.
This has been a very odd diversion. You're left with more questions than when you started. You rest by the pools for a while, and then press on.
Next time: Everybody Run, It's the