Quick question regarding the Blade of the Endless Paths and Whisper of the Endless Paths in both Deadfire and PoE1. I've heard conflicting reports that not finding the pieces of the Blade of the Endless Paths aboard your ship in Deadfire is a bug or not.
I was under the impression that the pieces of the Blade, along with those of the Whispers of Yenwood, were in your cupboard if you recovered both weapons in Pillars of Eternity at some point. The Fextralife article here, however, seems to indicate that you have to deliberately fail the Blade of the Endless Paths task and not reforge the sword so you get the pieces in Deadfire, and if you DO reforge the sword in the first game, it's lost forever.
So...which is it? Is this a bug or a feature? I want to know before completing the first game, so I know whether I have to fail the quest or not. I'm a bit of an obsessive completionist, so the idea that I can't get the Whispers of the Endless Paths if I'm too thorough with doing quests in the first game bugs me, to say the least!