Tyranny: Storm Breaker

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With the artifact in hand, Lucia and Barik manage to pierce the endless storm and with a contingent of Disfavoured, attack the hated lord of Sentinel Stand. This is because said lord is directly tied to the Edict of Storms, where it proclaims "Let Our storm rage until the last blade be broken, or the line of Regent falls".

The artifact magically farts the storm away.

The selfish bastard who let his people suffer is easily dealt with, but as the storm persists after his death the Disfavored are thrown a nice curve ball. His prisoner, the daughter of their leader, Archon Graven Ashe, had fallen in love with the lord's now also deceased son and bore child. While this was a shock to the squadron, Lucia didn't flinch.

She killed the mother, who clearly was now a traitor, and ordered Barik to prove his loyalty by killing the baby. With heavy reluctance he complied, ending the Edict of Storms once proclaimed by Shelumu that bound him to his armor. This also ended Graven Ashe's trust of Barik - who promptly renounced him from his army and exiled him into the wastes.

Elsewhere Shelumu continued to explore the Old Walls, finding more spires to awaken and even a whole colony of refugees. Unfortunately for them, they were doing experiments with captive beastmen so Shelumu let the bane take them all, save for the one beast woman he could save called Kills-in-Shadow.

Insight: Obviously there's a non child murdering loop hole option here. Now is a good time to mention Lore is the highest required skill to have more options during dialogue sequences so wizardly types might get more options than fighters. Also, yeah, I don't think you can get Ashe to renounce Barik so early in real even with this evil act. :P

Tyranny: The Bane

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With the armies back in their respective camps, Tunon summons both Shelumu and Lucia to his court for a debriefing all while under the watchful eye of the executor, Bleden Mark, Archon of Shadows. When questioned why he sided with the rebels, Shelumu argues that peaceful subjugation is better than outright conquest - a concept Tunon agrees with, thus the Archon of Justice allows him to continue helping them, for now.

Tunon then tasks the pair with investigating both Graven Ashe and the Voices of Nerat for any broken laws they or their forces have committed before sending them on their way with Lucia travelling to Sentinel Stand to help the Disfavored reinforce their base there while Shelumu heads to Lethian's Crossing to secure supplies for the rebellion.

In the small town Shelumu encounters Sirin, the Archon of Song, who has defected and is hiding from the chorus. It is an easy task to convince her to join his party as they end up exploring the nearby Old Walls - ancient structures that normally are forbidden by law to enter, mainly because they house magical "spirits" known as the bane. While doing so, Shelumu manages to activate a second spire.

Any time you see a bubble, it means boss fight!

At the same time, Lucia also deals with the bane in walls that have been breached by the Edict of Storms in an effort to claim an artifact that will help break the edict once and for all.

Insight: The Old Walls are the combat orientated "dungeon" section of the game with a small set of puzzles while the overland areas are mostly dialogue choices peppered with optional combats. So yes, there is A LOT of reading in this game!

Tyranny: The Battle for Ascension

[Part of the Cursed story line]

In a drastic move - Eb, one of the leaders of the rebellion, secretly met with Shelumu and asked him to join their cause. Having heard the edict, the rebels believe that by swearing fealty to Shelumu and letting him take their base of Ascension Hall will cancel it out. Shelumu agrees to this, though it does mean now requiring to defend the hall against both Graven Ashe's Disfavoured and Nerat's Scarlet Chorus.

Fortunately, their chances are greatly increased as the two archons declare war on each other the night before he attack which results in both sides fighting each other during the siege! Outside the walls Lucia and Barik join the Disfavored to face down Nerat's song bird, Sirin, the 15 year old Archon of Song whose ability is to control the minds of others. Despite this, they soundly defeat her and force her to retreat in humiliation.

Without that dampener Sirin is probably the strongest Archon.

It is the Scarlet Chorus who manage to enter the keep and with their impressive numbers manage to take Lantry down and spirit him away from the battle. Shelumu, Eb, Verse and the remaining rebels fight off the horde and Shelumu claims Ascension Hall for himself. This breaks the edict and somehow also awakens the ancient spire above them with magical light!

Both the armies of the Disfavoured and the Scarlet Chorus scatter at this sight, but it does not save old Lantry who is taken back to the main Scarlet camp in the Stone Sea and devoured by the Voices of Nerat.

Insight: This is Lantry's scripted death if you don't save him from the Chorus Camp. While he is a "sage" I used him more as a skirmisher/warrior as he can be decent with a sword. Just be sure to give him a throwing weapon too so that you can make use of his quill throwing skill tree.

Tyranny: A True Monster

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Before departing the camp, each Fatebinder was assigned a body guard. Barik, an elite Disfavored soldier who had become fused with his armor when he was hit by the Edict of Storms (previously proclaimed by Shelumu) understandably chose to go with Lucia.

Verse, a murderous fury of the Scarlet Chorus, volunteered to be Shelumu's escort and took him to their side of the camp. While Graven Ashe's Disfavored elites were few, well equipped and orderly this place was teeming with warriors, and with filth, chaos and barbarism - much like their leader, the Voices of Nerat.  

While there Shelumu went out of his way to rescue the sage Lantry, from execution as well since the old man had ties to the rebellion. In trying to avert the loss of life, Shelumu slowly helped the rebels by letting them escape the advancing armies and treating them with dignity.

I also like that you can sneak past enemies instead of having to fight everyone.

Elsewhere Lucia mostly killed every rebel she could get her hands on (the Disfavoured way), with only few occasions of capturing some for the Scarlet Chorus and their "Join or Die" motto. In reality some died and joined anyway, since the Voices of Nerat's ability as the Archon of Secrets is simply to devour people to gain their skills and knowledge. That is a true monster.

Insight: It is actually hard to unintentionally lose party members through combat (or traps) in this game since often times if they die it most likely means you are about to lose the battle you are in anyway. And since any battle loss is an immediate Game Over, you are pretty much required to load the save and do better or come back later with more XP/Gear. :P

Tyranny: The Fatebinders

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With Kyros' power extending across the continent, Shelumu took it upon himself to learn how the overlord's magical "Edicts" worked by gaining employment under Tunon, the Archon of Justice, as a Fatebinder - those chosen to read out these powerful words.

After years of service, he now stood in the commanders tent in Vendrien's Well as he finished reading out the second of Kyros' edicts he ever proclaimed.

"...Unless Our representative holds the Hall of Ascension on Our Day of Swords, all in the valley of Vendrien's Well shall perish."

These words shook those present to the core and forced the Graven Ashe, the Archon of War and his rival the Voices of Nerat, Archon of Secrets to stop squabbling among themselves and to prepare their forces to attack one of the last remaining rebel strongholds.

Graven Ashe and the Voices of Nerat.

Only fellow Fatebinder Lucia wasn't taken a back, instead wearing a wry smile on her lips as she twisted her dark locks around a finger. Shelumu always thought there was something wrong with the girl, and that made her dangerous.

Insight: As this story will be an amalgamation of two playthroughs I had expect there to be a lot of artistic / dramatic license to it! Well, more than usual anyway. And yes, I liked it that much to play through twice! ;)