holoz0r plays Pillars of Eternity - Part XV - Burning down a town

I saunter back into town, with a bit of a swagger. I have to murder some more people, or at least, I plan on murdering the bloke who is apparently responsible for the disappearance of the noble man's daughter. However, I'm an idiot, and have no one capable of picking locks to go to the hidden places, so I respec Kana, the chanting man; to be a lock picking man, as well as a chanting man. Its a long process.

Once this is finally done (and I probably have a stronger, more rounded character) I return to the broken building where the fellow who last saw the noble man's daughter is loitering. I'd killed him earlier. It was his outburst of rage, not mine. I stand by this. I have five witnesses who were complicit in the murder.

Beneath the broken building, I find a familiar scene, the blood pool that spoke to me is down here too. Good level design! Making efficient use of real-estate. I get a little bit confused until I find the one room that I had not yet accessed. The girl is there, as well as some sinister looking folks, involved in a ritual described as "a dizzying array of cables and machinery." The woman is bloodied. Not in the combat sense, either.

A conspiracy is quickly revealed, and this is a brilliant piece of story-telling. The nobleman has incestuously involved himself with his daughter, or relation; and she is now pregnant. The tail-end of the ritual that I've just witnessed is the implantation of some sort of possessive, evil spirit that will ensure that the poor lady will murder the noble, and his entire family, one by one. I love this idea, in all of its detail; and permit it, contrary to the pleas of my party. 10/10 side quest. Would do this the same way again.

I go back to the noble and deliver the good news, and the girl. I snigger the whole time. I get some sweet precious loot, and another quest turned in. More XP is good XP. More coin is good coin. I head back to the big city, after deciding none of the other quests I have in my queue look particularly exciting. Before I do; I tell the people that are loitering outside the official looking building.

I'm using the word loitering a lot today. Its a nice word. That is, in fact, what I do a great deal of, before making it back to Defiance Bay to settle ... matters.

Those of you who have been following this series can guess which option I choose here.

stepping over the fallen body, I continue on through the upper floor of the building; killing some hired goons. I steal everything along the way. its a very enjoyable experience. I steal the gem (I was commissioned to do this some time ago) and return to the other noble house in order to cause some sort of politicking. I get a deeper political plot given to me, that at first, I misinterpret. Its pretty hard to misinterpet "murder this man, and leave this token".

I leave the token, without murdering the man. I later realize I need to murder the man, and do so. The first time I speak to him "I haven't time for visitors," he states. Oh yes sir, you do, you have time for visitors. What I fail to ask is why I am murdering the man... well, its to ensure that the triangular conspiracy between the "Knights of the Crucible", "The Dozens" and the Wealthy Family I just helped is unbalanced in the favour of the wealthy family.

Before I commit the murder, though, I go off to court. Some scoundrel thinks he owns my stronghold by right of inheritance. I heated discussion plays out, and the scoundrel will have no word of anything, he rage quits the negotiations. I get told I've made a powerful enemy. I welcome the conflict.

Back to murder. This is the moment where man becomes meat, and I kill my first proper innocent. You can observe this by the sword hovering over the green ring. To make it more evil, I make sure I do it while his back is turned. I murder one of the Knights of the Crucible's foremost leaders, and saunter out, to report that the deed is done.

I talk to the people in charge, and eventually get into those Animancy hearings that were occurring in the palace at long, long last.

The hearings go well for me, because well, here's a list:

1. I get access to the leader of the city.
2. It progresses the plot.
3. It unlocks some new areas for me to explore.

The hearings don't go so well for the city, well because, I'll paint a picture for you: The leader of the city is murdered by the very people I am trying to fight, brazenly, in front of everyone who is going to fight him in the future. So that is definitely not great. Here it is, in pictures:

Then there's another problem, the city is on fire

not only is the city on fire, but the citizenry are attacking the establishment

THIS IS FANTASTIC

I wander out of the city, and Aloth has news for me. He's a fucking traitor, working with the Leaden Key the whole time, except he hasn't had any contact from them in... months. Therefore he wants to work with me, instead of against me. I spare his life, and give him an ample warning that he best not betray me. I mean, there's a city of people behind me that didn't do anything untoward to me that is burning... so Aloth better learn.

I wander off, to chase the man that caused the chaos behind me.