A Look at Pillars of Eternity: Part 3

And the adventures of Crariewan continues, after a long interval.

Recalling the unexplored area and the hunter's story about his deceased's friends, Crariewan sets off for the cave.

The hunter is gone from his camp but we press on.

More wolves though with three people, the wolves are nothing to fear.

Now to camp at last and this time, the buffs will be used.

A Xaurip camp with Xaurips present. Since they are hostile, Crariewan and co. must respond in kind.

A nice detail I may not have showcased clearer is the bestiary. Whenever a monster is killed (not a humanoid), experience is gained. This experience is a reward for filling out the bestiary. So comparing this Xaurip page with information from that one Xaurip I killed in the ruins...

...To the information I gained from killing the Xaurips in the camp, there is a notable change. The experience does cap which makes fighting and grinding monsters an unsuitable method to gain experience.

Here's the cave. Well, the hunter said something about something inside... I wonder what was it again...

BEAR!!! Well that was my initial reaction in my first playthrough where I was here alone.

Aside from the chest and that plant, there is the same purple glow on the corpse like the glow on that particular ornament on the tree.

Looks like there is a lost spirit here. Any decent RPG player will know to interact further for a quest.

Apparently, this hunter's friend was lying about what happened in the cave. Foul play is afoot and Crariewan will get to the bottom of it.

Since the hunter was not at his camp, Crariewan returned to Gilded Vale. From there, she went to the only other house she had not investigated before thus discovering the hunter in the company of a woman.

There are a lot of dialogue options to adjust tone though none that shapes personality.

The third option in this conversation tree does shape personality.

Now here is the dilemma. The hunter, Nonton, murdered his friend by injuring him in the cave, leaving him to the bear. The woman, Ingroed, wife of Nonton's friend, however tells a new side to the story; that of a horribly abusive spouse (Nonton's friend) and an acquaintance turned lover (Nonton) who took a chance to be rid of such a person. The options are to allow them to leave with their money(believing their story and giving them a chance to start over), accepting the bribe for your silence, deciding to turn them over to the magistrate or killing Nonton to avenge his companion (but also turning Ingroed hostile). So the player will either have to believe their story or follow the law.

Since Eothas is both a benevolent and honest god, Crariewan was in a pickle. But since I remember the reward for being benevolent, I was able to make a decision. A magic ring and a boost in reputation in the town.

The journal reflects the decision made for most quests which should be the norm for most RPGs with journals.

Well there are these ruins in the village so for adventure, Crariewan enters (and for me, experience).

Aside from the comments of the party members, there seems to be an additional object of interest here, namely Wirtan.

Another must-have for most RPGs, companion interaction with the situation. Since Eder is an Eothasian (a worshipper of Eothas), he has several spoken lines regarding the ruins of this Eothas temple.

Since this is my first time playing a cleric (and a cleric of Eothas to boot), I will probably pick any dialogue that references Crariewan's background as an atheist cleric. Yes, I chose such a background for fun.

And so we have a new quest. Discover the resting place of the temple's priests and bring their bones to Wirtan. Sounds simple enough.

Ahead are some wisps but with scouting mode, Crariewan was able to notice a secret cache highlighted by the mouse in this screenshot.

This ought to be useful.

And the wisps spot the party. No worries though. Nothing could possibly go wrong...

And due to poor micro-management, Crariewan was knocked out. Once a party member's stamina is drained, the individual falls unconscious as indicated by Crariewan's red portrait. Since her health (represented by the green bar next to the portrait) is still high, she is still alive but is out of the fight. I do have issues with being unable to wake an unconscious party member with simpler abilities but it is probably for balancing. But there goes the no unconscious party members achievement.

Here are a bunch of Ivory Spider(lings). I have an idea.

Barbecued spiders! Though I do wish that the spell was not that situational. 

After all those spiders, here's the amount of info I obtained regarding spiders. I apologise to arachnophobes for the image.

A vision on the activities of the temple when it was still active and not an abandoned ruin.

Scouting mode again. Remember to use it often.

Well there is more to the dungeon and I have explored a bit. I guess I'll-

-head back to the inn. There is a reason for this which is to use the stat-boosting rooms. These rooms cost more than an average room but allow for stats and skills to be enhanced. This is particularly useful in sequences requiring skill-checks (especially with low stats).

The boost I picked for Crariewan can be seen here.

I forgot to mention that the player may rearrange the party to suit their classes. Since Eder is a Fighter, he will go to the front. Crariewan can take some hits so she goes to the middle. Aloth is a Wizard with low Stamina so he stays in the back.

Some additional lore on the seas of Eora.

Seems being a sea-man is a horrible idea in Eora. 

A trapped container. Thank goodness for Scouting Mode.

This is what happens if the Mechanics skill is too low. The game does allow the player to choose who will activate the trap so the best option is to use the main tank. Eder...

Despite almost killing Eder with the trap, the amulet may be useful.

Another vision of the temple but it mentions bells.

The bells must be important if the journals mention them too. I wonder where could they be?

Found them! 

This is a puzzle. Based on dialogue spoken by the spirits and the journal, the player must deduce the order to ring the bells to open the sealed door. This will require logical deductions, careful thinking and calculated guesses.

Or make random decisions (while recalling the journal's lines) to open the way like I did.

Door's open! Crariewan and co. proceeds downwards!

The next stage of the quest commences and the party gets experience points for getting here.

Shadows are quite annoying to fight since they can teleport in battle (and usually teleport to the squishy mage).

Due to injuries sustained, the party has to rest while getting the Damage Reduction bonus.

Scouting mode again!

Another ring of protection. This ought to be useful.

As the reader can tell, there is a lot to explore...

Like the room beyond this door. What could possibly go wrong?

A shadow... Crariewan can take it down herself!

Oh... This is not good. Full disclosure, the party died here once due to Aloth being the first one killed by teleporting Shadows.

After that grueling battle, the party finds two trapped containers with Scouting Mode.

Again, the container here cannot be disarmed. So I send Eder to open the chest alone.

Ouch... The price inside better be good.

...I guess that's okay? It could be worse.

Flavor text to flesh out the place.

Something here. A valve? I guess water needs to be drained but first...

The party camps since Aloth got injured from that battle. With full health and Stamina, nothing can hurt again!

...Or not... To be honest, this battle did not go badly since the Shadows all teleported to Eder.

Interesting... There seems to be a key in the baths. I wonder if that is linked to the valve the party turned.

I guess the party will have to ask these oozes nicely for the key or beat the key out of them...

Here's that key!

And there is the one door the party had not opened yet.

After an encounter with a few shadows, the route seems straightforward. Nothing could go-

-wrong? We can take a bunch of oozes without breaking a sweat. Nothing could go-

Oops... This is embarrassing... At least I was not playing Path of the Damned, now that would be more frustrating.

Time to get serious. Now this time this should go a lot better.

See?

Here's the sanctum mentioned by the note and looks like there is a lost soul here too.

Here's some decent loot. A unique flail that someone else in the party may find useful.

After looting, Crariewan goes to interact with the soul.

The soul has its own story to tell.

Seems that Wirtan did not telling Crariewan the whole story of his involvement here. Apparently, he told the priests to hide in this room but never returned for them. Since she is a cleric of Eothas even if she is an atheist, she will console the lost soul with prayers of Eothas.

The remains are gathered and the party proceeds onward.

Into a den of skuldr. Their king packs a punch, knocking Crariewan out and forcing me to reload three times due to total party deaths.

As a reward for defeating the skuldrs, the party obtains this stat-boosting helmet. This will be useful especially with skill-checks.

Crariewan looking rather knightly with that helm.

Turns out the skuldr room leads to a hidden room in the temple. A lot of candles prepped for a party that never started.

Interacting with the candles prompts this conversation with the party as Eder recalls his childhood and his time in the temple when it was still active.

This does flesh out his character more and the way it is presented here feels appropriate rather than forced in.

Since Crariewan is an Eothosian cleric, she will pray. Since Eothas in-universe is presumed dead due to the death of his self-proclaimed mortal avatar Waidwen, there does not seem to be an answer.

Wirtan finally explains what truly happened here. He worked for Lord Raedric and was ordered to get rid of the priests of Eothas from the temple. Raedric, when the Hollowborn plague started to become significant, converted the entire village forcefully to worship Berath and condemned the worship of Eothas, who the people attribute the plague to as punishment for his presumed death. Wirtan claims that he sealed the priests in that chamber in order to make it seem that he got rid of them and claims that he was going to go back for them once the village stopped paying attention to the temple. Unfortunately, Raedric ordered for the temple to be sealed trapping the priests to a slow death. Only recently, Wirtan was able to return to the ruined temple. Confronted with this knowledge, Crariewan-

-goes to the inn to heal her injuries! Seriously though, I had the party ignore Wirtan and go to the inn first since their injuries were reducing stats I wanted to use for the skill-checks.

With injuries healed and skill-checks available, Crariewan goes back and confronts Wirtan.

Crariewan chooses to accept his claim and advises Wirtan to seek redemption for his actions by performing good deeds to atone.

Aside from the reward promised, the party gets an additional boost to reputation. Hopefully Wirtan does keep his word to atone for his actions.

The biography notes my actions here and now seems like a good time to stop. Next time, the party will attempt to solve more side-quests (like the one ignored from before) and may even meet a peculiar party member. Next time may be a while though...