Part 76: Governor Boris and the Sea of Boredom

Governor Boris and the Sea of Boredom

Welcome back! Last time on Tyranny, we tried to throw Graven Ashe under the bus to pave the way for ourselves. Today we're knocking out our last Act 2 region, the Stone Sea.



I've been forgetting about this for a while thanks to us being on Story difficulty, but way back in Act 1 we unlocked Blood Magic by shaking down Fifth Eye.



Blood Mulch is pretty happy to see us as we've been rolling with the Chorus.



We also get to pick up the Blood Magic sigil, which...exists, I guess.



It's a 30% increase in spell damage that drains health from the caster. It's not bad, and you can certainly mitigate it by having healing or Gravelight spells on hand, but it also takes up an accent slot that you could just be using for Frostfire/Focused Rain/Stunning/whatever. Spell damage is nice, but the way mages play in Tyranny is just dully rotating through all the crowd control spells until everyone is finally dead.



This is a sidequest we got at Cacophony.



There's nothing interesting to say about it other than "the Disfavored all die after a bunch of Tyranny Combat".



I do want to say that for all its gameplay faults, the combat in Tyranny is very good at conveying the atmosphere that you're a vicious killer in a power struggle rather than a heroic liberator. The music is harsh and martial, characters scream and panic as they're set on fire, and there's blood everywhere.



Back to Halfgate. It's still not very interesting, but we don't have to slaughter all the Scarlet Chorus because they're on our team and actively rooting for our success.



First we're going to speak with Tangled Limb here.

: The Disfavored lurk and creep in the shadows of tall rocks. They think we don't see them. But we're going to grind them to dust. We'll cleanse the Disfavored from these lands, our lands - we'll burn them with Scarlet blood before the morrow.



: Well, I am now. Do continue.



: A shrine? In Azure?



: You'll need me to avoid unnecessary casualties. I might as well join you.

: Good on you, Fatebinder. Good on you! Well, as much as I enjoy conversing with you, I have to set off. My warparty's getting antsy. I'll be looking forward to spilling blood with you soon, Fatebinder.


This is of course the complete opposite of bringing order to the Tiers, but what are you gonna do?



Grayson gives us his spiel. Of note is that Calio dropped the Edict of Stone on them, he needs help retrieving the villagers who got captured by Stonestalkers, and everything sucks.



The racist villagers still feel powerless, so they take it out on Left-Claw.



Because we're with the Chorus, we have the option to conscript the unfortunate Left-Claw instead, which satisfies both Tunon and Hundred-Blood.



Also this terrible woman who immediately turns around and starts shrieking at us.

: I can't believe you freed that monster. Fatebinder, we both know that the Beastmen are a plague on our culture. We can't hope to restore our former glory while they think us little more than prey.



: Justice is reserved for those who accept Kyros' Peace. Halfgate is just an occupied city.

: A comfortable distinction to make when it benefits you. If it suited Kyros' law, I'm sure you could find a way to number us among the vassals of some Archon.

: She sighs. As if I'm in any position to question Kyros' law. Go on, then. Our business is done.


It's really hard to feel any sympathy for the Stone Sea villagers because of shit like this, and the bleakness is the point. People will happily sign up for what Kyros is selling if they're on the bottom of the terrible social order imposed by the Tiersmen - hell, Left-Claw actually thanks us for conscripting him into the army. There's a reason the game is called Tyranny instead of Kyros Quest.

Anyway, we've been instructed to report to Misery.



: And by little, I mean what's left of it after your friend had her way with the place. She lets out a harsh, barking laugh. Not that I'm complaining! Pure destruction really gets my blood going.



We have the option to betray her for no real gain, but we saw that path already so we're staying on the railroad.

: How'd you get your name?



: Oh? Run in with the Courts?





The cycle of abuse is a recurring theme in the Stone Sea. Cairn is in agony and the land literally writhes with his pain. The villagers are powerless so they take it out on the Beastmen. The entire Scarlet Chorus runs on this, as we see with Misery here.

: Nerat grows impatient that you have not yet killed Cairn. While you dawdle and fail, our army continues to starve.



Misery is definitely one of the smarter commanders we've run into.

: If that were the case, I would not be here to ensure the hastening of your success.



: Where does the intel point us?

: Word from the locals says Cairn was headed for a Spire when he crumbled. We've already checked the one at Gulfglow, so it's got to be at the place the Beastmen call Howling Rock.



: I presume the Beastmen have refused to lead you to Howling Rock.

: Right on the mark, you are. They've been less than welcoming ever since we hunted a herd of them during the fall of Azure. We've had to stoop to less than upstanding methods.



Note that if you do the Disfavored you only get the option to do genocide.

: Brutally efficient. I approve.

By this point there's really no pretending that our character is stupid enough to start mouthing off about human rights, because we voluntarily joined the madman who impales people on stakes and we bypassed all the [Betray Alliance] choices.



: But screw me on this, and I'll make sure the Voices eats you whole.



God damn, Sirin!

: She sneers at the other woman and pumps her spear in a both threatening and clearly vulgar manner.

: I could put a hole in your throat faster than you could squeak. Sure, it might kill me. But it sure as shit would kill you.


Time to move on.



On to the Jagged Maw Shrine. We have the encounter with the old man trying to attack us with chicken that I'm pretty sure we've seen already.



Tangled Limb doesn't understand this whole "ambush" thing, apparently.

: Now, I won't fault you or name you cowards if you wish to beg a swift death. I mean, it's plain as day a horrific, torturous end awaits you otherwise... oh all right - regardless.



: Considering I'll be joining the battle against you, I'd wager that bet on the Chorus' odds.

Caedis here is Radix Ironcore's brother (the leader of the Earthshakers). He's fairly important in the rebel path if you're trying to recruit the Earthshakers as you can have him convince Ironcore to defect from the Disfavored and join your little group of aristocrats instead. Come to think of it, half of the rebel path recruits can be deserters from Kyros' forces. Freedom fighters my ass.



There's a lot of cruel shit you can do like sneak attacking Caedis, decapitating him, and then showing the head to his brother. I missed those options so they're not shown.





: [Glare silently.]

: I don't care who you've fought or fucked in the past. Either stay out of this, Fatebinder, or help me and my squad survive, and I swear to you - I'll owe you my life.



: I fight for the Scarlet Chorus. Caedis, prepare to die, bleeding and broken in a wasteland of stone.




You know the drill, we kill them all. Tangled Limb is happy about it.





We also get the Stone sigil. On with the main quest!



Back to harassing the Stonestalkers!



Octave's question is a good one that also underscores just how dysfunctional the conquest is.



: Misery sent me to provide assistance with the Stonestalkers.



: The reason you've been unable to entice even a few Stonestalkers to our side is because of this Hundred-Blood - their leader?

Octave here is apparently the only male Scarlet Fury in the game.

: Far as I can tell, it's Hundred-Blood that's calling the shots. Thanks to her, most of the Beasts would rather fight us than talk.



: I'll win the favor of the tribe and ensure that we are led to Howling Rock.



: What information have you gleaned regarding these Stonestalkers?



: Why have you yet to uncover the route to Cairn's remains?



: Farewell.

: He shrugs, already dismissing you with a half-hearted wave over his shoulder. Be wary of the Beastmen, boss. They're in a vicious suit as of late.




Same shit as last time. Hundred-Blood has different dialogue because we didn't bring Killsy, but she still acknowledges us as an Alpha. We tell her that we want passage for ourselves and the Chorus, and we offer to do her a favor.



We're tasked with massacring all the Earthshakers again.



Basilion does the same crap he always does, but idiotically asks if we're BFFs with the Scarlet Chorus. This lets us kill him immediately and we take it.



Having heroically thrown Kyros' Peace in the trash with the explicit permission of Tunon, we can continue murdering all the Earthshakers offscreen. We've seen it before and it's boring, and Basilon also drops the key to Treason Fort.



Unfortunately I fuck up and forget the Spire puzzle. I'll grab the Spires next update. We don't have a lot of game left, honestly.



We get a random encounter that gives us the opportunity to ignore a bunch of Bane and clear fear from our companions.



Having massacred all the idiots we can report to Hundred-Blood, and things go a bit differently.

: The situation has been handled.



: I've slain the Earthshakers who were troubling your tribe.





: I would like you to meet with the Voices of Nerat.



Hundred Blood is understandably reluctant to do this, as she understands full well what she's dealing with. If you haven't gotten it yet, the Fatebinder is sullying themselves by association with the Chorus for very little in return. Do you get it yet, player?

: I assisted your tribe, Prima. You owe me.

There are echoes of Zdenya's death sentence here.

: She grunts her unwilling assent. Human comes from strange pack with blood-berserked Alphas ruled by insatiable lust for chaos. But Hundred-Blood can no longer deny Chorus' strength. Will go, will speak with human Alpha called Voices of Nerat.





Let's be honest, we don't love Nerat either.

: Be careful, Beastwoman. Keep your ears open and your eyes keen when dealing with the Archon.

This is advice probably anyone in the Chorus would give her, honestly.




You get no prizes for guessing how this turns out.



We can also cash in releasing Left-Claw to get the people from Racist Town released.



Anyway, we go to Howling Rock and kill all the Earthshakers. We saw it last time.



There's a bit more clicking on Octave and his forces help attack the fort, but he doesn't have much of interest to say.



Despite having the plot keystone, we still have to listen to these idiots loudly explain how to get into Treason Fort.



Then we have to report it to Octave because path.



Sirin isn't happy about it either, but what can you do?



We break in and kill everyone.



Something I wanted to point out was that the Earthshaker ritual is to permanently blight the land on behalf of the Disfavored.


This is completely counterproductive to the stated goal of providing food for everyone and it's horrifically self-defeating. If the Disfavored win they are going to rule this place, and they're ruining their long term strategic capabilities of being able to feed themselves and their subjects with this small minded idiocy. It's a minor detail, but it's worth pointing out!



Radix is mad. He dies like a bitch anyway and we ruin the ritual.



Note the implication that there have been "past iterations" of this ritual. My guess is that Kyros used this before and there are a bunch of starving people in the Empire.



Radix has incriminating evidence on his corpse.



We might actually be able to convict Ashe at this rate!



Boris gets his only Act 2 Edict here, the Edict of Stone. We could have gotten fire if we'd hit the Library, so I'm looking forward to seeing the differences when we actually have to drop it. We've seen most of the dialogue before, and the three mages get a loyalty boost.

Next time: We grab the Spires and move on to Act III.