Part 40: I made a mistake

Part XL: I made a mistake

We're close to the end, with just a few things left to finish. Let's go see Lord Darganus.



Miltiades is here, putting on a show as usual.



Oh god, what did you do?





Anyone get a sudden feeling of dread?





Oh boy.

We need to see Pancratius.



Um...



I hope I don't regret this.







You're enjoying this too much, Milty.





To hell with it, we're in this deep already.



Crap.



Darganus is much tougher than he looks. He has this insta-kill move that he likes to haahahahaha I'm kidding. He's a pushover.



After a few turns, a group of zealots burst through the door.



They're no match for us with their base-tier equipment.



I just wanted to show off the fact the power armor glows in the dark.

After the fight, we head outside.



Huh?



We can find Miltiades at the tavern in Lowtown.









And that's the end of Miltiades' quests.

I know what you're thinking. "That was a hell of an anticlimax." You're right. Know why? I fucked up. Turns out when Darganus asks you to take care of the zealots, you're supposed to kill Pancratius, not Hector. The idea here is Hector is just a violent thug while Pancratius is the real danger because he's a charismatic leader. Thing is, I didn't feel any violent intentions from Pancratius until this part when he surrounds himself with crossbowman.

So, I reloaded a save. A much, MUCH earlier save. Just so I could see this quest to its proper conclusion. God damn it.

The mission plays out like it did above, except this time we go to Hector to rile up the zealots.



: Hector?







We're going with the middle option.

: Because the city will burn if he attacks Lowtown. He doesn't get it but I do. Help me stop him.







Oh yes, we're completely trustworthy.



This time, Miltiades doesn't come in saying the district is overrun and you don't have to fight any zealots.











Miltiades takes up residence in Darganus's house.





Never change, Milty.

And that is the real ending to Miltiades' side quests. God damn it.

After that shit show, I make a stop at the castle.





: I'd like to visit Meru's private library and pray where that great man worked.





Meru had quite the library.





Hmm.





I'm not sure if this info unlocks anything. It's clearly referring to the portal network, but as far as I can tell it doesn't change how they work. I'm just including it here for completeness' sake.



At long last, it's time to find the temple. There are two ways to get there: Hellgate and Dead River. We haven't been to the latter, so let's investigate.







: The evil wind?





I dunno, yes? Let's go with yes.

: Yes.









Yes, giant scorpions. They're a massive pain in the ass.



: There is no other way across?







Everything's a grift in this world.











That's a big fucking bridge.



Next to the stone steps is this fellow.







Sounds like something we should check out.

: Can I see these machines?



: So you maintain these machines?









Sounds terribly boring. Next stop is downstairs.



It's pitch black down here. If you look carefully you can see a bunch of Elders standing in empty rooms. You can't interact with them -- I guess they're busy meditating.



The only light is coming from this room.



Holy fuck, is this dude from Innsmouth?





: Did anyone make it?



I wonder who she was. The old woman in Inferiae?



And these guys engage in child trafficking. Lovely.



: How do you do that?





That's not how you maintain machines!





Please don't touch me.







See, that's how you fix an arcane contraption of unknown origin!



We need the Eye of Thor-Agoth we got from Widowmaker for this next part. If you recall, Feng also gave Gaius Brutus one at the start of his playthrough -- which means Feng had a legitimate artifact. Who'd have thought?





Before we do anything, let's try an alternative route.



A rope is required to climb down into the hollow.



This is just like the fog at the bottom of the Abyss. Let's try the Aegis.



No? How about the respirator?



Oh fuck, it's worse than the Abyss!

The gimmick here is the fog will slowly drain your health as long as you're down here. Our power armor negates that, but there's a bigger problem: there are sixteen giant scorpions in the hollow too. Nine are optional fights, but the rest aren't. The scorpions are like scolopendras, but worse, as they're beefier, hit harder (inflicting poison, natch), and you usually have to fight more than one at a time. There are some skeletons with items, but they're few and far between, and if the flyover shots didn't make it clear, it's a very very long walk. Don't come down here unless you have a ton of healing items and a death wish.

Fuck that, I'm overloading the generator.





I hate this place.

Next Time: Ia Cthulhu fhtagn