holoz0r plays Pillars of Eternity - Part Two [of many]

Gherk awakens from a nightmare. He's still inside the Inn. Gherk wants to get rich, so he slept in the common room, at a grand cost of 0 copper pieces. I'm going to get so very rich. Filthy too, by sleeping in common rooms. It turns out that everyone in the inn has a spirit I can touch, and this tells me of their backgrounds and history in a level of detail that Gherk just doesn't care about.

Anyway, again, Gherk has a nightmare, of the tree in the center of town, that is like a Christmas tree, except one full of hanging carcasses. There's an 'animancer' who is among the dead, apparently, and this is the type of person who is rumoured to be able to fix my upset tummy, or whatever my affliction is.

Hungry, and without eating, I wander outside to talk to this animancer, who reveals that I am a Watcher. That's not the game breaking the third wall, but a type of person who can see the souls of others, and that there's a certain thing about souls in this world, where they fade over time. A sort of soul-entropy, as the animancer woman puts it. She sends me off in another direction, to some other quest.

Before I go, there are some stairs leading downwards that I wish to investigate. Its a dungeon of some sort, I hope, where there might be treasure to be had! Instead, there's a puzzle with some bells. I move onward, ready to kick some more ass. That... was very short lived...

I click the load button in shame. I go back to the Inn to get some new companions. You can create Companions in Pillars of Eternity, so here's my Godlike Priest, who I tried to make synergistic as shit with her priestly duties. I've died once, so that means I probably need some religion.

Meet FaeFae, Gherk's possible love interest:

So I have a barbarian, a wizard of some sort, a priest. I should probably have someone who can throw things at my foes from a distance too. Let's build a ranger type. I make this guy, an elfish dude, with a bear as his friend. I descend back down the stairs in a bid to slay the thing that slew me before I loaded my save file.

It's an easier fight against the Phantom who cause my demise last time, but I don't go very far before realising that these dudes hit pretty hard, and their stun hurts like a bitch. Before long, I'm back at the tavern, FaeFae is maimed, and I want to progress with the story instead of run backwards and forwards between the tavern and some ruins underneath the town. I might come back later. I might not. I rest in the common room again, hoping that FaeFae won't be permanently maimed.

She's not, and I travel to the East. Along the way I kill a pack of wolves, explore a meadow that has a Forest Troll in it (they're pretty tough) and head further onward. Eventually, I meet a man who is impossibly tall and says that he wants to come with me. Okay, the more the merrier I guess, and he knows that I'm a watcher somehow, so that seems helpful. I kill some mercenaries who have some orders about defending against people who emerge from the town from whence I came, and slaughter some bandits.

The solo act I was planning with a murderous barbarian isn't probably going to work. I find the skeleton of what was once a dragon, and no one in the party seems to care that a majestic creature fell in battle. Its just considered to be part of the world.

I arrive a keep, and meet another party member to join the fray. Suddenly, it seems like combat is going to be too easy with this many people in my group. I follow the quest line and get my best idea of what it is to be a Watcher so far:

The guy is legitimately crazy, and his past lives are vying for the control of his current life. It is as well written as the lady trapped in the marble throne upstairs. Pillars of Eternity has an excellent way of telling me a story, filled with characters, enemies, and monsters that are unique and varied, and I am not very far at all into the game at all.

I need to find the queen, and get some sort of Leaden Key in order to progress next. Not sure where I'll get that from yet, but I will find it. I'm getting more and more immersed into the game as I play more, but unfortunately, Gherk, his companions and holoz0r need to rest.