Tyranny: Of Secrets and War

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The Voices of Nerat, Archon of Secrets, didn't expect Verse's will to be so strong. She overpowered his mind and took over his body. Loyal to Shelumu, the Voices of Verse then took all the remaining Scarlet Chorus for an all out assault on the Disfavored main base and Barik went with her to confront his ex-commander and Archon of War, Graven Ashe. Shelumu and Sirin wished them luck and instead headed to Tunon's court to angle for a different type of victory.

The battle is fierce and Ashe's ability is to protect his soldiers makes them a force to be reckoned as Chorus suffer terrible losses. Graven Ashe personally manages to trip Verse over and smash her head like a watermelon with his giant maul and then proceeds to smash Barik's armor off one swing at a time. Suddenly, Bleden Mark, Archon of Shadows appears and whisks Graven Ashe away... and right into Tunon's court where the Archon of Justice finds him guilty of sedition and war crimes thanks to evidence presented by Shelumu.

Tunon is ready to play GTFO.

The Archon of Shadows immediately carries out the sentence and executes Graven Ashe. Unfortunately this means all those once protected by the Archon of War suffer the same fate in an explosive fashion, leaving Barik the sole survivor in the camp, free of his cursed armor but broken in the mind amidst the bodies of his half sibling and his previous brothers and sisters in arms. All he can do is scream.

Insight: Verse is actually the first companion you can kill, with the same scripted death as the above. Finishing her quest lines to avoid the boss fight against Nerat is handy though. In combat she has a few handy combo moves that are nice (the one with Barik especially) but needs some management as she is not too tough. Meanwhile Barik is great as a tank, but is easily replaced by Killsy who can tank AND DPS. Also, its a pain to get that armor off him (for both Barik and the player).

Tyranny: Of Blood and Hunger

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With the war in full swing, Eb and Kills-in-Shadow return to Lethian's Crossing to aid their forces in repelling a massive Disfavored attack. Eb's tide casting is handy in putting out the fires while the beast woman tears into the enemy force... until she is killed by Lucia. This rallies the Disfavored forces to victory and forcing the rebels to surrender. To further teach them a lesson, Lucia executes Eb in front of them.

Lucia's celebration is short lived however, as Bleden Mark the Archon of Shadows catches her in the privy soon after and slits her throat for Kyros, taking with him the Silent Archive.  

Don't mess with the Archon of Shadows.

Meanwhile Verse had come up with a plan to handle the Voices of Nerat so she, Shelumu, Barik and Sirin push on to the main Scarlet Chorus base to confront him, a surprisingly easy task due to the low number of guards. Nerat knows he is on the back foot and offers a deal - he and the Chorus will withdraw from the region if Verse gives herself up and she agrees.

The Voices of Nerat devours her on the spot.

Insight: You can execute Eb much earlier, after the battle for Ascension Hall. Kills-in-Shadow is a little trickier as you can only eliminate her in the later part and only if you are too friendly with Graven Ashe and the Disfavored. Eb is an ok mage but not much of a loss (I rarely used her), but Killsy is an excellent and ultra mobile DPS machine (titan tree) so think hard if you really want her gone.

Tyranny: Of Stone and Fire

[Part of the Cursed story line]

A broken Barik, on a suicide mission against the Chorus, eventually found his way to Shelumu in the Stone Sea and thanks to Verse (who turns out to be his half sister) convinces the soldier to join the rebel team. There they also manage to convince a tribe of earth shakers to join their growing alliance by breaking the Edict of Stone and putting their leader to rest. As a side effect, this also ruined the already low crop supply of the main Chorus camp nearby.

Enraged, the Voices of Nerat unleashes the Chorus horde upon Shelumu, but thanks to Eb's studies of the ancient devices atop the spires, Shelumu manages to halt their advance by recasting the Edict of Stone! This kills over three quarters of the attacking force, causing the rest to flee. Admittedly, this does fix their low food issue thanks to the fewer mouths AND the return of fertile ground.

Elsewhere Lucia found herself back in the Burning Library, which was still ablaze with the Edict of Fire she herself had proclaimed years before. Kyros' intention was for the fires to continue until all the forbidden knowledge in the library was gone, but with the Chorus trying to save said knowledge to strengthen themselves in the war she had no option but to take a more hands on approach, eventually finding the last remaining item called the Silent Archive - a magic scroll that knew the answers to almost everything.

Well, that looks like a trap.

Despite strict orders to destroy everything, she opts to take the powerful artifact for herself. As soon as she leaves the library the Edict of Fire ends, as all the forbidden knowledge within is gone. While the Disfavored are easily fooled about its destruction, her crime does not go unnoticed by the Archon of Shadows, Bleden Mark, who is everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Insight: When fighting people I normally go for two handers and mages first, followed by the weaker scout types and leave the tanks for last. Regular bane wise, I find the red ones scarier than the blue so I always burst them down first. It's all about enemy DPS mitigation.

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! ;)