Part 58: Faction Quests
Faction QuestsWe have a few loose ends and alternative faction quests that we skipped.
First, let's return to the friendly town of Kazg.
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If you speak to Poola after joining the Takers, she says, "You are Taker now. You have key and run of Kazg. You can see all of it. You do not need my humble help."
If you speak with Gnorrel and say that you'd like to talk to her about events on the island, she will say, "No need. Your work is done. Go to the Sholai boat, which is docked not far to the northeast. At last, you can go to your people, and the great work can begin." And that's all for her!
Didn't the Takers ask us to take care of some pests? Let's see what we can do. But first, maybe it's time to see some other creations that we didn't test our during our adventure.
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Meet our two ornk friends, Cronische and Glazius! Ornks move incredibly slowly and are super fragile. Their lack of levels isn't helped by the fact that we only get one joke ornk canister. Couldn't we at least have gotten the ornks that blow up?
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Meet vdate and SIGSEGV! Pyroroamers sacrifice the roamer's ranged acid attack for a guaranteed explosion upon death. It's a terrible tradeoff, though you can make some clever tactical use of these guys if you want to play a weird challenge game.
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And last but not least, wiegieman and rastilin! Searing artilas are a straight upgrade over the base artila, but cost a fair bit more essence. I like their pulsating blue models.
Don't mind the bloodstains. Our old creations are fine, I assure you.
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First, we need to run a quick errand back at the servile warren.
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You check the corpse. Control Three is dead.
Yep. Still dead.
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We return to update Kyazo on the Servile Warren situation.
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She leaves for a minute, and returns with a shield. It is wrapped in cloth. You notice that she takes pains not to touch it directly. She hands it to you. "This burns us, but is good to you. Thank you again, fellow Taker."
It's a Shaped shield, which has a good armor bonus but isn't as good as most of the enchanted shields you can find.
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The rebels are not immediately hostile. Approach Masha.
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She thinks. "No. You cannot be trusted. Now, now we must begin war against Trajkov here."
Then all of the rebels hiding here turn hostile, excepting the turrets!
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Oh no, our ornks!
Ornk fatalities aside, none of these rebels pose a challenge now. They held back on canister use, so they're not nearly as powerful as Trajkov's faction.
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Didn't Masha forbid us from digging around in her stuff? And there was a locked door here, too...
First, let's make some new friends. Cryoas are a good upgrade over fyoras. Night10194 and Rockopolis can help us clear out the rest of the filthy rebel scum.
Game Text posted:
This is a crystal box. Shapers sometimes make them. They're quite rare and prized.
You open it and find some torn, dirty clothes and a brass key. You take the key.
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The key lets us open this door without spending a billion living tools.
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Game Text posted:
Masha put most of her remaining possessions in this very old wooden case. Her clothes, belts, and so on aren't valuable to you.
You do find some notes, though. You look at them and find that someone wrote down copious notes about your tongue and the language of the Sholai. You can't find any indication of who wrote it.
You browse through the notes and find that you already know most of it. It only contains things Masha already taught you.
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There goes the neighborhood. Sorry, Narsu and Solyony. You were all right.
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I don't know if the turrets are supposed to turn hostile and bugged out, or if this is merely an oversight.
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We report back to Eko Blade about the fate of the rebels.
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"Do this for me, and I will pay you well. Go west, to Pentil. Near Pentil is Thorny Wood. I send group of scouts there. They are trapped by filthy Obeyer serviles.
"Leader of rebels is Ezog. Kill guards and free him. When he free, I pay."
Oops. We killed Ezog during the Obeyer's side of the quest. If I leave Kazg now and return, all Takers turn hostile to me because they'll finally realize that Ezog is dead (at our hands, no less). This is a mutually exclusive quest, and the hostility is permanent. Even cheating with "pleaselikeme" won't reset Kazg back to friendly status.
You can only get the Taker quest to free Ezog if you complete Eko's quest to slay all of the rebels in the refugee caves. The Taker reward is a pair of Shaped gauntlets. There's no terribly interesting dialogue involved in this quest, so I opted not to replay most of the game to snag this one side mission.
Let's return to the plains north of Kazg.
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We turned in all the other spies, so we might as well take care of this one, too. Spying is wrong!
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As some guards move to deal with Hew, Agat enters Kazg. A few minutes later, he emerges with a belt. "This Shaper artifact. No good to us. Hurts serviles who wear it. But it good symbol for what happens when you help Takers." He hands it to you.
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One of the features of a revolution is a period called "the Terror," named for the same period during the French Revolution. Agat is well on his way to putting the requisite conditions in place for that type of systematic persecution. Good luck, Takers?
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If you ask to join the Takers and can't bargain your way in through Leadership, you can take on a quest from Gnorrel to prove your intentions.
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"We need for him to die. Do this, slay him, and we will take you into our number. Only this task lies between you and the rewards we offer you."
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Let's hit up the Spiral Burrow while we're out and about. Ellhrah asked us to take care of something here a while ago.
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"Shaper, no! I have a programmed purpose, and it is far from completed! Please do not make me end. I can still serve you!"
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Nothing happens. Control Four doesn't move or speak. At first, you think it is ignoring you. Than you realize that the creature's already shallow breathing has stopped altogether.
"Control Four is dead."
(I really have no idea why that is in quotation marks. Perhaps we said it.)
Control Four does not respond to your queries. It is dead.
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Let's return to Ellhrah's Keep. The servile himself awaits us.
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"I am convinced of your sincerity. I believe that you feel serviles are worthy of rights and dignity. If you wish, you may join the Awakened."
...Nah.
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Ellhrah pops like a sack of rotten potatoes. Do those pop? They do now. You can easily kill him when you first get the assassination mission. Just steal that discipline wand in the back halls and force attack him with it equipped. The only problem for a starter character is fighting your way out. Swan is a strong opponent during the early game, but defeating him (use the rest of the discipline wand's charges!) will yield some good equipment.
From this point on, Vakkiri and Ellhrah's Keep are both hostile.
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"Once again, you are allied with us, Shaper. I beg you, please do not abandon us again."
Just a little extra Obeyer dialogue.
I did forget a little extra area content, so we will check that out to round off this update.
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Last time we visited the Crossroads, we were on our way to meet Trajkov. I mentioned that this area has a rude little trap in store for players with the Taker amulet, and I showed how to get around that. This time we're going to explore the rest of the Crossroads and ram head-first into an ambush.
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Mines everywhere.
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Game Text posted:
The first chamber of this old Shaper temple had fallen into ruin. In here, however, everything is pristine. Everything seems exactly as it was left. The tapestries along the wall depict various spiritual scenes.
It is strange that everything here is so intact. This shrine must have some sort of defense against raiders and decay.
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This mummified corpse has some inconsequential loot.
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Game Text posted:
The altar, like the entire shrine, is still completely intact. The ceremonial vestments are still here. There is a tunic, robe, and cap. They are lovely, but they don't seem useful.
There is also a girdle. It's a thick, wide leather belt, set with steel studs and gold wire. It's a beautiful object. It also looks like it might be very useful.
Take it!
Game Text posted:
The enchantments which left this temple so pristine also serve to defend its treasures. The moment you touch the girdle, these defenses spring to life. An icy wind blows through the temple.
The belt is Bhargeth's Girdle, which is a +6 to damage. I don't know if that's a solid six points or if it's six levels of damage or what!
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Once you clear these spectres out, a few more will ambush you outside.
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A Sholai mage walks quickly up to you. When he gets close, his form starts to blur. Time speeds up. You feel lightheaded. He brushes close to you. Then he steps away.
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Gavrila turns and runs.
If you don't have the Taker amulet, Gavrila will teach you some of the Sholai tongue, and all the rebels in this area will be friendly.
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Chasing after Gavrila leads you to this stone circle. Just north of it is a Sholai rebel camp. They all die like chumps.
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Game Text posted:
You inspect the pylon. It is centuries old. There are markings running up and down its length. Looking closely, you see that the markings look like dancing or worshipping forms.
This must have been a place of worship or entertainment for whoever lived on this island before the Shapers arrived.
Game Text posted:
You inspect the pylon. It is centuries old. There are markings running up and down its length. Looking closely, you see that the markings look like dancing or worshipping forms.
This must have been a place of worship or entertainment for whoever lived on this island before the Shapers arrived.
You have an unusual burst of good luck. You notice something which looks like a panel at the base of the pylon. You pry it open and find a pouch.
The leather of the pouch crumbles at your touch. It's incredibly old. Inside, you find a long, thin strip of leather, curled up. It looks like a belt.
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Gavrila leads us into another ambush.
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But we corner him.
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Game Text posted:
You try to read the notes here. The Sholai writing is hard to understand, but you can decipher one part:
"The mines are made to not (garbled) Sholai. We could enter safely if there wasn't (garbled) beyond. Shapers and creations will be (garbled) by the mines, and good.
"But there is a safe (garbled) to pass the mines. The colored batons Trajkov made will (garbled) them. We don't have one yet. But there is one on a body in the valley with all the turrets. We haven't been able to (garbled) safely."
Some hints about how to disarm spore mines!
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Your final reward is a canister of "Create Glaahk." Well I'll be!
Next time, we plunge into other ending content.