holoz0r plays Pillars of Eternity - Part XXV - The Ending!

The bottom of the pit of death: a place where there are many enemies of a spectral, ghostly nature - and Adra 'Animats' - living stone. I fight through it all as though it is butter - except the Adra golems. They've got a fair bit of health, and seem to be quite resistant to my attacks.

There is a pillar of Adra and a spectral vision of my sister promises to tell me everything that they remember. I have a conversation with my dead sibling, and we get told that the gods don't exist; they're just an idea in a society of elites. Over the generations - their ideas, their strength, their faiths grew.

The party remains in disbelief, and I quietly wonder to myself - "How the fuck did I survive that fall, if the gods aren't real?"

I agree that foolish people need something to believe in, to give their life meaning - and receive a longer lecture still, which ends in the forgiveness of my sister. She fades from sight, and combat against Adra Animats begin earnest.

My party tries to understand the truth they've just learned, that the world they live in is devoid of gods, and the only faith that exists is that in their own minds. It hits home that people, towns, cities, have lived and died for the creation of false deities, and the story bizarrely mirrors that of holy wars fought in the real world.

There's a massive city underground, and my Watcher skills illuminate ancient torches throughout the area, and all is going well.

Things are going well, that is, until, the light illuminates the final doorway, and out of the darkness, emerges a shadow drake. It is a good, fair fight, and I do win, but Aloth and Durance fall in battle. That's okay, because immediately after battle, I get involved with some weaker foes, before stopping to camp in this bizarre, underground city.

With every nook and cranny explored, it is time, at last, to enter that doorway that was behind the Shadow Drake.

I camp again in the new environment - which is a spiraling path towards the center of a great room, with various apparitions of Thaos taunting me on circular stages as I wander through.

There's a lengthy chat that occurs between myself and spirit-Thaos, and then, all of a sudden, he is behind me. I finally get to kill him. I don't bother with a real chat. He knocks me to the ground, and summons two massive creatures from stone to fight by his side.

They are pretty large, and everytime Thaos takes some damage, they render him immortal. I kill the judge first, figuring that he won't become an executioner. Once the judge falls, Thoas gets back up.

I smack him back down, and the headsman renders him immortal again after a short time. So then, I smack the headsman down, which takes a while, and all of my healing skills. Its a long battle, but the way I see it, I figure it will be the game's last. I go crazy with my 'per rest' abilities; attack everything as much as possible. I just manage to fail at allowing Aloth to survive, and instead, having to revive him.

I also have to revive Kana, and Sagani, too, because they, too, have died. I manage to get everyone healthy again, and the fight rages on - it is bloody, intense, and yet, doesn't feel futile.

I didn't come this far to fail, but if I do, there's always the load button, right? Of course there is...

The Headsman falls after a protracted battle, and I'm left with just Thaos. He falls very quickly in combat, and we go back to dialogue. I have a choice.

I elect to tear Thaos, and his soul apart, destroying all of the apparitions that he has created. I keep my promise to Galawain, restoring the souls to the Dyrwood.

The game ends with a ten minute narrative about how everyone ends up, and basically, I'm rich, and successful. But then, everything goes to shit again; and there's tragedy after tragedy. There's happiness only for a while, then everything turns to shit.

But hey, at least I got rich, and got to kill lots of stuff!