Pillars of Eternity 2: Risky Research

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Back at Neketaka from the iceberg, the team attend a meeting at the Royal Palace where it is guessed that the statue's target is somewhere within a section of ocean far too dangerous for any one ship to pass. Instead, they would need to gain favor with one of the factions OR upgrade a vessel to withstand the punishment. The Royalty themselves are already crossed off that list as they hate the squad for freeing the captive dragon their water benders were leeching power from, so Gerrod tries to appeal to the arch mages next by doing research retrieval for the local arch mage Arkemyr.

Doing this work sees the deaths of Yrsa who is impaled by a horned whale at sea, Zefr who is clobbered by staff wielding monk, Maia and Petrus killed by arch lich Concelhaut who had reconstructed himself from their last encounter. What makes it worse is that upon handing the research over, Arkemyr promptly refuses to help. At least his apprentice Fassina joins the team but that's not really the help Gerrod was hoping for.

Really hard to keep these dead.

The next faction are the constantly infighting pirates, but since they are naturally scum Gerrod hires the master thief Garrett to make them squabble even more. As they execute one of their own leaders the team kills all the remaining ones of the pirate's council throwing that entire organization into chaos - crossing another potential ally off the list. Phht. What sort of allies would these scum be anyway?

Pillars of Eternity 2: Death in the Afterlife

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Journeying in Rymrgand's land of the dead is a dangerous task, especially since his servants are still on duty to "make things stop existing". Farcol is the first to have his soul collected and soon after Esme and Sofie are exploded on a firey bridge (it's a strange afterlife). Maneha also gets abducted by more tentacles for eternity this time (what is it with her and tentacles) before the team finally confront the undying dragon.

Gerrod somehow convinces it to go fight Rymrgand for power and it loses badly. Since it brought its phylactery to the fight (to power up or something), Rymrgand destroys it - ending the dragon permanently. The god is not happy that he ended up doing their work and decides all of the team should stay forever. Combat ensues and Dijaam is disintegrated into the White Void while Vatnir and Arzang are both crushed under Rymrgand's hoofs.

It did not go well for the dragon.

Only Gerrod and Iholikan make it to the exit and seal the portal. To make up for their losses a number of end of worlders are recruited: Rook, Ubin, Ludin, Yrsa, Zefr, and Petrus. Gerrod's fellow arena buddy Voghiln is also here and is recruited once he sobers up.

Banner Saga: After the End

[Part of my Banner Saga play through]

Looks like victory to me!

Emerging from the basement, the few survivors of Arberrang are greeted by the warm sunlight of a once again moving sun. After taking in the view, Rook nods to his compatriots to enact "the plan". Aleo stabs Bastion in the back, but the dagger is too weak to kill the dredge who smashes the bard into paste as retaliation. Rook and Petrus take it down while Ludin and Yrsa murder the remaining dredge scum in Rook's revenge plan.

At the same time, Hakon tries a similar surprise attack on Canary, but misses wide and gets a poisoned javelin in the back instead with Scathach and Ro'Ech double mule kicking him on either side of his head to make it explode in a shower of blood. Fasolt manages to club Ro'Ech to death and catch Canary in his big hands - promptly throwing her off the cliff face onto the jagged rocks below to see if she can fly. Scathach runs him through before old Ubin catches the last horse born unaware with a mighty axe swing, beheading him. Then comes the grisly task of turning them into supplies.

The remaining survivors: Ludin, Rook, Ubin, Yrsa, Zefr and Petrus are left to decide if they will try rebuild Arberrang or begin marching elsewhere to see if anyone else survived the end of the world.

Insight: Welp, that was my "try be an idiot and get everyone killed" run through of Banner Saga though in part three I did try to make more sensible decisions when it came to Arberrang's defence and doom timer. I really liked that bit though, and wish they had more of it early on.

Banner Saga: Saving the World

[Part of my Banner Saga play through]

Arberrang is on borrowed time as the darkness engulfs it. Fortunately Zefr and the plentiful court menders can put up a huge light shield to protect the town but they must be defended from direct assaults by the warped. Prince Ludin and his archer guard Yrsa volunteer to take charge of that while supported by Scathach, Ubin and Bastion to defeat waves of the scum. Despite doing really well they eventually have to fall back further and further to the inner keep as more and more menders are lost. Apparently not happy with the current death count, Canary also kills fellow horseborn Derdriu for centaur-girl reasons.

 

So it's our last-last stand then?

Eventually it is only the great hall still shielded as the warped continue their attacks, which the survivors - even the terrible fighters like Aleo, defend as long as they can - losing Tryggvi. After the third day, they need to enact Yrsa's plan of burning the roof and hiding in the fortified basement in hopes that someone will save them. Luckily they did manage to buy enough time for Iver and the Ravens to make it to the White Tower where Bolverk somehow awaits, but is absolutely steam rolled by Iver this time around as the one armed varl downs the ex-Raven leader mid-sentence.

The wounded giant serpent reappears at this point, offering Eyvind a deal: instead of dooming Juno to an eternity of imprisonment, he can kill her before going back into the new sun. It's price is to devour only half the world. Since Eyvind is seriously considering this, Iver doesn't take the chance and chops down the mender from the back. The witch Alfrun takes his place for the original plan which recreates the black sun, locking Juno, the serpent and the darkness away.

Unfortunately Alfrun is not as strong as Eyvind and is destroyed in the process - which also obliterates the White Tower and everyone nearby. Though they saved the world, she, Iver, Bersi, Oli, Sparr, Eirik and Valgard are disintegrated!

Insight: I managed to buy Arberrang 21 days and 21 hrs on the "doom clock" and only had 12-13 hours to spare at the end.

Banner Saga: A Bed of Enemies

[Part of my Banner Saga play through]

Much like the old tower, the relationship between the refugees and Ludin's father, King Meinolf, is also collapsing as they found their new leader in governor Rugga - who manages to stab the old king with a poisoned dagger just before getting his allies to attack the walls, desperate to get away from the growing darkness. So many are slain in the conflict that with the King's dying breath, he allows everyone inside the walls. Rook makes sure Rugga isn't one of them, which gains the approval of royal guard Petrus. Nid has the opposite reaction, and takes the first boat out of there to continue fleeing with a number of other cowards. As for Ludin - he's happy to pass all the responsibility to Rook.

One of the best parts of the game.

After a few days of quelling riots, Fasolt (the unkillable) arrives with the dredge army hot on his heels, rallied around a new leader called Ruin who uses a massive black anchor grappling hook to tear at the outer walls of Arberrang. Fasolt and Hakon aren't keen on Oddlief's cowardly plan to weaken Ruin with explosives so that's exactly what Rook opts to do and it works. They then drive a wedge right through the attacking dredge and its old Ubin who finally brings Ruin down, causing the remaining dredge back off and basically weep for they too fear the oncoming darkness.

"Let them rot," Rook decides, but is quickly countered by the arrival of Zefr who somehow survived the tower collapse. The old mender explains that the darkness will warp them into fiercer foes if left out there, so Rook and Oddlief make the bold move of opening the gates and inviting them in - and seeing Oddlief carrying a baby dredge she had kidnapped from the battlefield just earlier encourages them to do so peacefully.

Rugga's loyalists are having none of it though, and are quick to spear Oddlief to death upon returning into the city - causing further rioting and panic. Eventually with the help of a massive dredge guard called Bastion, Rook and Petrus round up all these rebels and burn the lot of them alive as a lesson for the others. That's how good rulers do it.

Insight: At the start of Banner Saga 3, everyone's gained level so make sure to spend all those points when you can! Petrus is especially handy since once per combat he can summon another guardsman into battle! On the Raven's side, you might also get Eirik who can do similar by summoning a bear!

Banner Saga: Flight of the Ravens

[Part of my Banner Saga play through]

Elsewhere, Bolverk and his crew of Ravens which include Folka the shield maiden, Sparr the old skald, Oli the axe thrower, Dytch the rogue and fellow varl Bersi who once served as Prince Ludin's bodyguard are on a secret job for Juno to dump a large box into the sea. Their road takes them through murdering refugees while out pacing dredge and eventually to the mining town of Bindal which is run by captain Gudmundr and menders Nikels and Zefr, where a large force of dredge finally catch up to them.

When Bolverk explains he's doing a job for Juno, Nikels and Zefr don't believe him as the mender council executed her months ago. Prying the box open they discover it contains the body of Bellower, and suddenly Zefr understands why the dredge have been pursuing them. To escape the dredge army at the wall everyone evacuates into the deep mine with Gudmundr sacrificing himself to seal the passage behind them to buy some time.

Not that it matters as there are dredge in here too, including the necromancer Eyeless who keeps reviving the fallen. Zefr explodes Nikels to escape from that, only for the team to run into warped dredge who absolutely wreck the party at every turn. When the survivors make it to the surface, they barely have time to look at the giant black dome in the distance as Bolverk calls for a death march to get past the swarming dredge and across the small human bridge of Old Ford which is guarded by Fasolt - who somehow survived the fall of Einartoft!?

So many spectators. They'd easily win if they all decided to charge.

Eyeless catches up to the Ravens here, and after a short battle on the bridge is brought down by Oli's axes, but not slain. With both sides too injured in the clash, a stalemate is formed giving Bolverk and Zefr the time to push on with Bellower's corpse while everyone else remains to hold the bridge. By chance, they run into Juno, Eyvind and Iver at an old tower and immediately attack, with Bolverk beating Iver down before Eyvind drops the entire structure on top of them all.

Insight: For a mender, Zefr's magic ability sucks as enemies can also benefit from walking over the tiles her boons randomly appear on. Best used as for her armor repair skills instead. Also somewhat worthless is Bolverk himself. Sure he has good multi-attacks but until he levels up and gets his "bear rage" on (which lets him counter) he's an easy target to beat down.