Continuing on from: Let's Play Pillars of Eternity ~ introduction and part one... 🙂
In the last post we met Ellu'kha Kael the wood elf ranger and her trusty wolf, Xander. They fought bandits, were forced into an ancient ruin, and upon their escape a great machine spun with force and sent forth a blinding light over the region. Ellu'kha awoke, fearing a concussion, and sought the nearest town with haste.
To get to the nearest town, the Gilded Vale, the town that Ellu'kha had dreams of settling within, they first had to pass through the Valewood — a dangerous forest.
Whilst traversing the forest, the strange colours and ghostly shapes continuously assaulted her senses. She would find herself stumbling after what appeared to be the wispy shadow of a man, only to then trip over a corpse. If she didn't know any better, she'd assume she was actually seeing the ghosts of the dead.
That was impossible though, surely. Her head was pounding after her blinding collapse, dried blood caked her temple, and she was tired, oh so tired. She had a concussion. That's all it was.
She tried to get her bearings and discover a passage through the forest, only to instead come across a great, gloomy cave. Muffled grunts and growls emanated from within that sounded suspiciously like a bear. Xander raised his hackles and whipped his furry face back and forth declaring, in his wolfy way, that Ellu'kha should definitely not enter the cave.
Ellu'kha nodded to her trusty wolf and instead crossed a stream... and fell right into a camp of primitive lizard men.
The lizard men brandished their spears and rushed at the elf and her wolf. She really did not feel up to fighting, but she had no choice. She was a survivor. She would survive. And survive she did.
Limping away from the victorious battle, Ellu'kha at last found a well-trodden road that wove through the forest. Surely this would lead to the little town she had wanted to call "home." The Gilded Vale.
On the path was a camp and a man hurriedly disassembling it. Ellu'kha asked him for guidance to the Vale and received a curt nod down the path she was already following. The man warned her against leaving the path. There was a huge hulk of a bear in a nearby cave and it had just eaten his friend. He was getting the hell out of here himself.
She was glad she had heeded her wolf's warning to not go into the cave, but she felt an urge to return later, when she was feeling better. A beast like that, so close to a settlement... it couldn't be allowed to live.
Ellu'kha and Xander followed the path and could see the silhouettes of small buildings in the distance. Gilded Vale. They were so close.
Upon the wind, however, Ellu'kha could hear angry voices and the snivelling of an upset dwarf. Unable to ignore her curiosity, she peered through some nearby bushes and discovered a group of bandits circled around a short, fat dwarf. He wore an apron and a chef's hat and was crying into a boiling cauldron as the bandits jeered him on and told him to hurry up and make them some damned stew.
Her head swam and it felt like her heart itself was pounding through her brain, but she wouldn't let that stop her. Signalling to Xander, they snuck up on the bandits and let loose.
It was a poor decision. One that had almost cost her her life. It was almost the end of her story, before her story had even begun. But thankfully with the wolf's great bite, he took down the bandits and allowed Ellu'kha the time she needed to come to. Damn, she needed to get to Gilded Vale and rest in the inn, and see a medicine woman, now.
The little dwarf thanked Ellu'kha profusely for her aid and told her if she stopped by the Vale they'd happily serve her for free in the inn. Ellu'kha nodded, thankful. She would need it. She already needed it!
By the time Ellu'kha and Xander reached Gilded Vale, night had fallen. Shrouded by the shadows of night, a leafless monstrosity of a tree loomed before them and welcomed them to the settlement, their greeting in the form of the dead that hung from the tree.
Was this real, or was her concussion getting worse?
A man strode over to them and welcomed her to the township, then asked if she was one of the new settlers. He gestured toward the tree of death and smirked. "Plenty of vacancies are now available."
So it was real, after all, and not just the figments of a broken mind. On second thoughts, maybe she didn't want to settle down in this strange, bleak and blackened town.
Three bells suddenly rang out across the land and the man she spoke to froze.
Apparently the tolling bells signified the death of their Lord's son, and now it would be unlikely new settlers would even be considered in town. That was fine by her, but this whole situation was strange. Or maybe that was just her head. After the man insinuated that she, too, might find herself strung from the tree, she backed away and hurried to the inn. She needed food, rest, and then to get the hell out of here.
She raced to the inn as fast as her tired legs would allow her, then swiftly found herself in yet another conflict.
A fellow wood elf was surrounded by drunken villagers. At first he was soft spoken and sounded like quite the intellectual, the next he had a strange accent and was telling an irate man to go roger his sister. What a curious fellow. She watched, entranced as his personality shifted back and forth, then, unable to restrain herself, leapt to his defence as the drunken villagers began to beat him.
She really needed a sleep. By the gods, how did she have any strength left to keep fighting these battles?
Breathless, she and Xander stood by the strange wood elf... who then offered to travel alongside her.
That could be interesting, and entertaining. She shrugged and said, "sure, why not?" then stepped into the inn to at last get some rest.
Until next time! :)
and are from the game: Pillars of Eternity.Posted from Kaelci Games with Exxp : https://kaelci.games/2022/07/15/lets-play-pillars-of-eternity-part-two/