Part 9: Cleopatra Jones and the Sidequests of Kyros

Cleopatra Jones and the Sidequests of Kyros

Last time on Tyranny, we cleaned up some loose ends while a bunch of people gave us sidequests. Today we're going to do those sidequests for the glory of Kyros.



Today we are visiting this remote settlement to tell people to join the Scarlet Chorus, an upstanding organization.



Funnily enough, Archons have the Right of Conscription under Kyros' law, so we are 100% in the right here.

: No need to hide. I've no desire to fight - merely to talk.



: I've come to offer you redemption with the Scarlet Chorus. I'm doing my best to try and save you all... Feel free to help me with that endeavor.





Oh look, Nerat and the Scarlet Chorus are giving us another opportunity to get ourselves killed!



This is the kind of shit that gets Tunon to burn your town.



I'll spare you guys the combat. It's pretty much yet another "rotate through all abilities until you kill all who oppose you."



The one thing I do want to mention is that combat is frequently punctuated with screams by people on fire. Every humanoid enemy in the game will scream when you hit them with enough magefire, up to and including the final boss. It's a nice touch to show that the conquest isn't some glorious liberation to grant people the love of Kyros, it's brutal murder and subjugation in the name of an amoral tyrant who doesn't care about their followers.



This archer requires a long detour for your melee folks to reach him, but unfortunately is quite flammable when exposed to Fatebinders.



Gee, thanks.

: You're welcome. Though I came here to recruit for the Chorus. Slaughter wasn't my intention.

We can't really afford to piss off either army right now - we probably need them both to take Ascension Hall and not die.



: Ah, yet I seem to have killed all your would-be conscripts. Apologies.




Let's go back to Death Knell and get our quest reward.





: You've got some explaining to do, Fury. I don't appreciate being used.

My guess is Nerat at least tacitly approved of this to get rid of the meddling Fatebinder.



Bullshit. You told Cleopatra to hide while the real fighters did their work.

: You knowingly put a member of Tunon's Court in danger. I assure you, this is no laughing matter.



: You're right. I don't find being nearly killed all that funny, but I'll let you slide just this once.




It's a miracle the Scarlet Chorus has lasted as long as it did with this kind of structure.



Vittles here is a Scarlet Chorus recruit.

: Something wrong?



: Having regrets about joining the Chorus?



: And just why is this a mistake? Did someone take the vow for you?



: You made a vow to the Archon of Secrets. Only death can release you from your pledge.



Vittles is not the smartest tool in the shed.

: A little too late for regrets, as you can't exactly quit the Chorus.



: [Leave] Coward. Get busy living, or give up already.




After looking it up, it turns out you can actually confront a local commander about how Vittles here is underage or just beat the shit out of him to toughen him up. I don't need to say so much about this, because it's just more evidence that the Chorus is an utterly amoral organization.


Nerat is, as far as I can tell, completely within his rights here. Vittles is obviously not a warrior and as a fourteen-year-old kid (all men of the Tiers serve in the watch at the age of 15 unless they're on a ship) he's just gonna be beaten by the rest of the camp. It's yet another way Kyros screws over the people Kyros claims to bring peace and prosperity to. We'll come back to this when we hang out with Sirin.



On the plus side, we found this magic staff in a chest. It grants immunity to frightened. Now, magic staves kind of suck, but you can raise various magic skills by attacking with them. You don't actually want to autoattack with them because that's time you're not rotating through your spells, so most of the time you autoattack only because you switched characters to micromanage and the AI refused to have the inactive character cast a damn attack spell. Cleo gets this.



Let's go get those Earthshakers.



Another fight with the same uninteresting collection of Vendrien Guard. That sage cast the big fuckoff ice patch that trips our crew inside it, which is a pain, but it doesn't keep us down long enough for us to not beat the shit out of them.



The Earthshakers were hiding behind this earthen barrier the entire time we were fighting. What a bunch of heroes.



Again, I reiterate the theme that Cleopatra and friends are the last competent people in the Kyrosian armies.



: [Return the salute.] You're welcome.

Again, we're kind of stuck wrangling all the dysfunctional people for Kyros.



: I need to speak with Commander Ironcore.



Now, in Helspar's defense, there are a few dead Earthshakers lying around.

: Where're the rest of you? Was part of your squad killed or otherwise separated?



: What do you mean "all he could spare"? Did Ashe not order your entire guild's return from Azure?




As a reminder, Cairn was an Archon who decided to no longer serve the Overlord because he disliked the way the Overlord treated the Tiers. The Overlord executed him via the Edict of Stone.

: And so Radix refused Ashe's orders?

In other words, the Earthshakers prioritized doing their stupid bullshit to honor a dead traitor over the will of Kyros. The hilarious irony is that Ashe is under the Edict of Execution, while Radix is not.



Helspar realizes just how close he is to being hauled in front of Tunon's court. Radix is one of the inner circle of Ashe's advisors, true. We don't know how their relationship is, but it sounded to me like Ashe knew about it ("the Earthshakers are sealed outside the valley") and they're doing...something.

: Not if your General and his entire army is dead.



: The Overlord has issued an Edict of Execution. If we don't take the Well by Kyros' Day of Swords, everyone here will die, including Ashe.



: Regardless, it looks like you're all we've got. Report to Ceveus at the Disfavored Camp. He'll have futher orders for you there.




It just keeps getting worse. Despite being the "Great General" whose outward persona is that his men are fiercely loyal to them because he cares about them, Radix decided that building a Treason Fort was more important than actually helping his beloved leader. Radix is in the Iron Guard, Ashe's inner circle. What a well run and disciplined legion.

Oh well, back to the Disfavored fort.



I...what? The last time one of your cohorts saw any action against the Vendrien Guard, Eb completely destroyed the entire cohort with assistance from your utterly incompetent commanders. We had to bail them out. Nobody in this game has anything like siege equipment or even cavalry.



Because you'd rather be working on Treason Fort?



Erenyos is the other competent person on this side of the conquest.

: If Radix is not inclined to help, perhaps a next of kin might take his place?

Because this is the Disfavored, and our only options are nepotism or silence.




What are we to take away from these two quests? These quests serve to reinforce that no matter what Kyros' propaganda tells you, these two armies are completely disfunctional and require constant babying to get anything done. Nerat and the Chorus are still putting the Fatebinder into dangerous situations where they can be legally killed so that they can pull off whatever bullshit they want, while also pissing everyone off with mass conscription right down to the children. Ashe is still a complete fuckup who is losing control over a portion of his army because they would rather build a Treason Fort than win the war. Now, this doesn't automatically prevent Ashe from being a great general - both Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar had to deal with mutinous soldiers - but it's not a great look that he can't get his own Iron Guard to bring in the siege equipment instead of building a treason fort. Julius Caesar was able to go out and win over his men. Ashe's Earthshakers refuse to even show up.



On the plus side, we got this cool pendant for Barik out of it.



Alright, this is the last offensive before we march on Ascension Hall and the Spire.





RPG writers will never get over their love of unnecessary prose, it seems.



: You two know each other?

: This one used to run with my pack... until he left for Death Knell's gang.

: Motherless swine didn't even have the guts to fight me for the right to leave - he just packed up and left with his coward's tail between his fat legs.

: And wise move at that. How many have you lost under your command so far? He holds up a hand, stifling a smile I misspoke. I'm sure you only got most of them killed - can't rule out death by their own incompetence.



: [Athletics 34] [Grab Fake Limp by the neck.] Apologize. Now.



: At last he tears himself away from your grip, gasping for air and clutching at his throat. I am sorry, Mistress Verse. I did not... I did not mean any disrespect.



: Apologies... I have been in the field for weeks, answering to no one. I've forgotten my place.



Once again unnecessary dialog is interjected to mirror the models. And yes, we are going to have to do all the work again.

: What's your plan now?



: [Glare silently]

This is such a common reaction it's become a meme, but honestly considering the amount of shit dumped on the Fatebinder its not hard to see why. Again, the army is refusing to fight even facing certain death.

: My gang and I will lurk nearby. When you make your move, we'll descend and help with capturing Florian. Don't worry, I'll let the others know you did the heavy lifting. I'll cheat at battle, but not with my reputation.


What a true war hero. Anyway, let's get this over with.



These guys show up and get beaten to death after a slow, grinding battle because everything in this game has too much HP.



Another battle. I want to point out that the 121 damage was us luring that guy into his own trap. Occasionally there are D&D style spike traps that you have to disarm, or you can pull enemies into them to make fights slightly shorter. That is far more damage that we can do.



For reference, that 50 damage is a spell critical by Landry.



Landry levels up and takes this talent, ensuring that he will never, ever leave the active party. Spell slots are great! Lore is great!



We also loot this, and it's one of the game's best sigils.



This is great. It lets any fire or frost spell inflict both frozen (a 70% slow on all animations) and magefire (a fire DoT that bypasses armor). You are going to slap this on every single fire and ice spell you cast, because these effects work on nearly everything in the game, including the final boss.



Florian here is the guy we're supposed to capture for Nerat.





: I left my nicest blue flag back at camp, but I'd like to talk all the same.

: You want to talk? Florian looks in either direction at his soldiers, gauging their reactions. Fine. Speak your mind. Try anything funny and I'll run my falx clear up your backside until you taste bronze.





: [Conquest] I'm telling you this to try and save lives, like I did in the past. If you'll submit to the Voices of Nerat, these soldiers go free. You have my word.





: "Tyrel would say the same." He loosens his grip on his falx, shaking his head.

Tyrel is the guy we had the Disfavored execute. You can actually find him, by the way - he's near the arch of the ruins. They crucify him, not impale him - my bad!



Decisions Lie Before Us!

What are we doing with the rebel commander?

Also going to start doing some bonus mechanics updates - would you prefer to see companions, the Fatebinder's talents, or Favor/Wrath first?