How did you end the 'Blood Legacy' quest?

[Primislas]

 

 

This was a tough quest, I actually did not know what to do and as of today I am still not sure whether I did the right thing (let the girl go to kill her uncles line, I killed the Skaen cultists and their leader and killed the two guys in the broken tower in Dyrford). I have no clue whether I did the right thing here (if you can speak of right/wrong in this particular quest) but I did feel the girl had to live on because she did nothing wrong in the end.

 

Was a tough one this, hope to see more later ingame ! and I am curious if at some point I will face repercussions because of my actions.

The weak point of this kind of game is that consequences of your actions are usually seen only in ending slides, not in gameplay.

 

 

For what it's worth, the town criers in Defiance Bay comment on virtually everything you do.

 

And Glanfathans gossip about almost everything you do in Twin Elms area. That boy with the dagger though. I thought his parent took the dagger away. Ouch. Parental edumacation from PoE is extremely effective and graphic! ^^

[pi2repsion]

It is interesting that the society of the Free Palatinate seems to be almost universally rejecting of avuncular relationships.

 

I killed the girl (put her out of her misery - I mean...what sort of life did she have left?), killed all the Skaen followers (right idea, but the wrong methods - especially the leader, I think he was secretly just using the rest to further his ends...how appropriate!), and then got extra money out of the Lord (why this gave me extraordinary good with the Village and a bad hit to the Doemengels is beyond me!).

 

Seriously, I think this is bugged.  I let him live, and that gets me in good with the Villagers?  And gives me a negative hit in Defiance Bay?

 

If intended, you got me.

Surely you must be kidding.

 

 

There are two aspects to consider here:

 

#1: He is a lord in Defiance Bay, and you choose to extort him for money, and you wonder why your Defiance Bay reputation takes a hit? Let's put it this way: When he returns home, he's not going to be your biggest fan.

 

#2: The villagers don't like him because he is an obnoxious visitor who has his guards harassing them with questions, not because of what he and his niece were up to, something of which they are unaware. Anything you do to make him go away will make them happy. Some of them are also pretty vindictive and close to the Skaenite way of thinking if we believe the notes we find (apart from the actual Skaenites, that is). Killing him, manhandling him, or spreading rumours about him makes them even more happy than merely making him leave.

 

---

 

My own choice was to have the Grieving Mother free Aelys and tell Aelys to roam the world as she saw fit, then letting Lord Harond go.

 

I must say that I found the resolution of this quest utterly idiotic and unsatisfying. She says that she can't go back to the inn, and all I get are different options of advice on where she should go, when I send a woman who is manifestly unprepared to face the world on her own out to find her own destiny in the Dyrwood without money, food, or means of defending herself. Yeah, that's a noble choice.

 

I didn't get the option that would have made sense in a medieval world with no social safety net and bandits and monsters roaming the wild, namely to try convincing her that she should overcome her fear and return with me to the inn and the life she knew. Which is pretty absurd on its own, but made even more absurd by my character having the aristocrat background.

 

Or if we are being even more blunt, how about an option to remind her of the many benefits of avunculate concubinage followed by an arranged marriage when compared to the risks of starvation, living in poverty, rape by opportunistic strangers, death from bandits or monsters, or having to sell her body for coppers on the streets or in seedy inns, all things for which her pampered upbringing have left her ill prepared?

 

And having sent her out in the world - or if we are being generous, accepting that that was her free will and not being a clear case of a malicious player character taking advantage of her emotional fragility - I don't get the option to inform her uncle where I sent her so he can do the best to protect her, I only get the option to tell him that she lives and that he should go home, that is if I don't want to lie to him and say she died or want to extort him for money or kill him.

 

This was truly one of the most unsatisfying quests I have done as yet, because it assumes that the player will act from sensitivities of outrage at the situation rather than thinking of consequences or, quite simply, not think the situation is all that outrageous in the first place given the information he knows.

 

Because, let's face it, if you aren't playing a Cipher, what you know about the situation is very limited. You know that she's pregnant, and there's a lot of insinuation, but the claims of actual knowledge about her actions and feelings come from the Skaen cultist in town, who is outright lying to you, and from the Skaen cultist in the temple, neither of whom can be considered reliable sources of information. The the lady herself, confused and newly escape possession, all you get is a desire not to return to the inn.

 

And yet your options are limited to believing the Skaen cultists' claims and being outraged at them.

 

---

 

One does have to wonder whether the almost universal rejection with which the avuncular relationship is met in the Free Palatinate would also extend to acknowledged avunculate concubinage and avunculate marriage.

Edited April 10, 2015 by pi2repsion

[Mirandel]

I ended the quest by letting the girl go with clear memory to the temple and let the Lord go and I didn't take any money from him. I still wasn't sure that the Lord did something really horrible. It used to be common in Medieval times or in some cultures to have children from other relatives than just your wife. So I just didn't feel I had enough power to judge those people. I am an outsider in this culture.

Those Skaen guys speaking of him didn't make me believe them either. I was like: "look who's talking! You have blood all over your tunics and floors". And I found no other proof of the Lord's horrible deeds other than the ugly Skaenist words. Did I miss something?

Sure he isn't the nicest person in the world, but that didn't give me the right to kill him, did it?

 

This. Looks like that lord was going to make that baby his heir, he was not going to kill the girl or something. For Medieval times he did not do anything extraordinary. While cultist are brutal even for that times. They sure did not deserve to live - and lord is punished enough.

Should there be the ending - "kill the lord and give everything to the cured girl" - that would be even better. But since it's not possible, I see no reason to just kill the guy.

 

 

 

I didn't get the option that would have made sense in a medieval world with no social safety net and bandits and monsters roaming the wild, namely to try convincing her that she should overcome her fear and return with me to the inn and the life she knew. Which is pretty absurd on its own, but made even more absurd by my character having the aristocrat background.

 

Actually, you have the option to send her to the Berath temple. Looks to me like the best outcome, considering the logical "kill the uncle and get his money" or "go for arranged marriage and enjoy his money through your baby" - does not exist).

Edited April 10, 2015 by Mirandel

[Katarack21]

 

I ended the quest by letting the girl go with clear memory to the temple and let the Lord go and I didn't take any money from him. I still wasn't sure that the Lord did something really horrible. It used to be common in Medieval times or in some cultures to have children from other relatives than just your wife. So I just didn't feel I had enough power to judge those people. I am an outsider in this culture.

Those Skaen guys speaking of him didn't make me believe them either. I was like: "look who's talking! You have blood all over your tunics and floors". And I found no other proof of the Lord's horrible deeds other than the ugly Skaenist words. Did I miss something?

Sure he isn't the nicest person in the world, but that didn't give me the right to kill him, did it?

 

This. Looks like that lord was going to make that baby his heir, he was not going to kill the girl or something. For Medieval times he did not do anything extraordinary. While cultist are brutal even for that times. They sure did not deserve to live - and lord is punished enough.

Should there be the ending - "kill the lord and give everything to the cured girl" - that would be even better. But since it's not possible, I see no reason to just kill the guy.

 

 

 

I didn't get the option that would have made sense in a medieval world with no social safety net and bandits and monsters roaming the wild, namely to try convincing her that she should overcome her fear and return with me to the inn and the life she knew. Which is pretty absurd on its own, but made even more absurd by my character having the aristocrat background.

 

Actually, you have the option to send her to the Berath temple. Looks to me like the best outcome, considering the logical "kill the uncle and get his money" or "go for arranged marriage and enjoy his money through your baby" - does not exist).

 

 I didn't get the sense, from the way people reacted in the questline and such, that this was anything normal or accepted in the world of Eora. Judging from the girls reactions aftewards--her fear, her unease, her instinctive knowledge that going back is dangerous--and from the disgusted reactions from both the cultists and your party members, it seems clear that what he was doing was not "accepted mideival practices", and that she was not a willing participant in having his baby.

[Mirandel]

 I didn't get the sense, from the way people reacted in the questline and such, that this was anything normal or accepted in the world of Eora. Judging from the girls reactions aftewards--her fear, her unease, her instinctive knowledge that going back is dangerous--and from the disgusted reactions from both the cultists and your party members, it seems clear that what he was doing was not "accepted mideival practices", and that she was not a willing participant in having his baby.

 

 

Even so, it was not like he was eating slaves for breakfast and drinking blood of unborn babies. He is not as monstrous as cultists presented.

 

Until that point the cult was about slaves and their masters - and was even understandable. But here it looked like clear interfering with domestic matter, where they had no business at all. They used a frightened pregnant (double unstable) girl to kill yet another noble, which did not do anything to them. Cultists could not even use her hatred - she had none, they infused her with hatred of others toward other people. 

 

What do we know for sure? There is a noble girl, raised exclusively for one purpose - to marry a noble man and give him his heir. (We know she is not a warrior, priest or anything) Outside that task she simply would not be able to survive, as pi2repsion pointed out.

The lord did a really bad thing but it did not change anything in her life, except she potentially would become more rich, since uncle would leave everything to her baby. And the thing he did - as horrible as it could be - others on a daily basis did/do worse. He did not deserve the faith cult intended for him.

[sparklecat]

Grieving mother wiped the girl's memory and I sent her to the temple, then let the lord go; my character was the lawful type, not the vigilante justice type.

[general_azure]

My glorious plan was to kill the lord myself, so she would inherit his fortunes and do a better job. Of course, being forced to send her away with a wiped memory ruined this completely.

[julle]

I wish the skaenites were a bit less evil satanic ritual like and a bit more morally balanced. I really like the skaenite concept of just cause but cruel means and questionable rebellion. But it needs to be toned down a little bit or it becomes too easy to disregard them as pure evil. 

[Viggo]

I killed the girl, I killed the Skaenites, I killed the Lord...I would have piled up all of their bodies in the center of town and burned them to ash if that had been an option.

 

With a different character I would probably handle the situation differently.

 

"InsaneCommander like this" I lol'd

[Emptiness]

Just last night I did the quest with a Kind Wayfarer PC, and the body count was (slightly) lower.  Grieving Mother helped the girl, and I allowed the Lord to bribe me for silence.  Ideally I would have wanted to then go to the girl and give her the bribe money to help her start her new life, but that did not seem to be an option.  If I could have, I also would have stopped by New Heomar to have a chat with the Lord's sister...

[NathanH]

I didn't really know who was doing what in this quest, but it gave me the option to break her neck, so I naturally took it. This fortunately allowed me to kill the cultist leader, because he came across as a mixture of a deranged psychopath and one of those annoying people who posts childish political rants on their facebook wall. Then I extorted some more money, because more money.

[Althernai]

I wish the skaenites were a bit less evil satanic ritual like and a bit more morally balanced. I really like the skaenite concept of just cause but cruel means and questionable rebellion. But it needs to be toned down a little bit or it becomes too easy to disregard them as pure evil. 

Yes, they definitely went over the top with that. Among the many missing conversation options in this quest is the option to respond to the chief cultist's description of how he's going to bring down the evil lord with something along the lines of "Dude, your temple has a pool of blood from human sacrifice and now you're telling me that you've mind-raped an innocent, pregnant girl in an attempt to turn her into a murderous psychopath and get a lot of people (including herself) killed. And you're somehow convinced that what you're doing is right? Seriously? "

Edited April 11, 2015 by Althernai

[Katarack21]

 

 I didn't get the sense, from the way people reacted in the questline and such, that this was anything normal or accepted in the world of Eora. Judging from the girls reactions aftewards--her fear, her unease, her instinctive knowledge that going back is dangerous--and from the disgusted reactions from both the cultists and your party members, it seems clear that what he was doing was not "accepted mideival practices", and that she was not a willing participant in having his baby.

 

 

Even so, it was not like he was eating slaves for breakfast and drinking blood of unborn babies. He is not as monstrous as cultists presented.

 

Until that point the cult was about slaves and their masters - and was even understandable. But here it looked like clear interfering with domestic matter, where they had no business at all. They used a frightened pregnant (double unstable) girl to kill yet another noble, which did not do anything to them. Cultists could not even use her hatred - she had none, they infused her with hatred of others toward other people. 

 

What do we know for sure? There is a noble girl, raised exclusively for one purpose - to marry a noble man and give him his heir. (We know she is not a warrior, priest or anything) Outside that task she simply would not be able to survive, as pi2repsion pointed out.

The lord did a really bad thing but it did not change anything in her life, except she potentially would become more rich, since uncle would leave everything to her baby. And the thing he did - as horrible as it could be - others on a daily basis did/do worse. He did not deserve the faith cult intended for him.

 

1) No, he's not drinking the blood of babies. Just quite possibly raping his niece. Repeatedly, until she gives birth to his baby--her desires be damned.

 

2) She didn't have any hatred because she was to full of fear.

 

3) We know she's not a warrior, priest, etc. We don't know that she was raises exclusively for any purpose--it never says that. As far as we know she's just an ordinary person of noble birth, not a breed-mare. Nobody ever hinted or implied that was normoal thing in this world. In fact, it's pretty clear based on peoples reactions people thought he was kind of extreme, even before the whole incest baby came up.

 

4) "The lord did a really bad thing but it did not change anything in her life, except she potentially would become more rich, since uncle would leave everything to her baby". Did not change anything in her life...except for being betrayed and used like a tool by her uncle, quite probably raped, then taken out to the wilderness where she haw no recourse and nobody to ask for aid while she's forced to give birth to her uncles baby.

 

You want slavery? Her uncle is treating her like a brood mare. Not like a little girl.

 

 

[Rosveen]

I don't care about incest, but I got the impression that she wasn't a willing participant. Whether he threatened, persuaded or simply raped her, he was taking advantage of her and orchestrating her life around his own needs. Especially if he raped her, he deserved a knife in the gut. I would have gladly sheltered the girl in Caed Nua, but I couldn't (shame on you, Obsidian), so I sent her to the clergy - I figured it was better than letting her hit the road on her own without money or knowledge of the land, she'd probably end up dead in a ditch somewhere.

[Mirandel]

1) No, he's not drinking the blood of babies. Just quite possibly raping his niece. Repeatedly, until she gives birth to his baby--her desires be damned.

 

2) She didn't have any hatred because she was to full of fear.

 

3) We know she's not a warrior, priest, etc. We don't know that she was raises exclusively for any purpose--it never says that. As far as we know she's just an ordinary person of noble birth, not a breed-mare. Nobody ever hinted or implied that was normoal thing in this world. In fact, it's pretty clear based on peoples reactions people thought he was kind of extreme, even before the whole incest baby came up.

 

4) "The lord did a really bad thing but it did not change anything in her life, except she potentially would become more rich, since uncle would leave everything to her baby". Did not change anything in her life...except for being betrayed and used like a tool by her uncle, quite probably raped, then taken out to the wilderness where she haw no recourse and nobody to ask for aid while she's forced to give birth to her uncles baby.

 

You want slavery? Her uncle is treating her like a brood mare. Not like a little girl.

1. He did not do it for fun, rape or not it had only one purpose - to get a child of his blood. Yes, nobody cared about her wishes - and? This is time of arranged marriages, nobody ever asked opinions of brides-to-be, a lot of them (nobles I mean) were engaged the day they were born.

 

2. "She looked bad because she had morning sickness" =/= "fool of fear". People frightened to the degree that this is the only thought in their had do not plan escapes. 

 

3. Your imagination only. People mention she looked sick (and apothecary girl explains about the reason for that - pregnancy). It's Ok to pity an unmarried pregnant girl. Such cases are never happy stories. Has nothing to do with the Lord to be any kind extreme. Most logic explanation - girl got pregnant and very, very unhappy father bought a husband for her to cover up the shame. Very common story. Explains jealousy and anger of the cult - nobody covers up same situation for slave-girls, they are simply used.

Oh, and can you tell me what other purpose do you think noble girls had in their life? If they did not get any specific training (like our poor girl)?

 

4. Again, your imagination. All we know is "father" found a husband for her and was going to take care about the baby. Otherwise there were no reason to drug her out of home. Yes, she was a tool. All not independent (in she was not) women were. Your point? In this world the are no social services, no juvenile justice organisations, no "rights for ..." basically anyone. Physical punishments for kids, public executions, the law of the mighty - and you expect someone to care about feelings? She was alive, she was taken care of - it's more than thousands of others could tell.

Again, another reason for the cult to be envy and angry and to kill the girl and her family.

[sparklecat]

It's just a bit of rape!  I mean, it's what her purpose in that society probably was anyway, right?  That's even assuming the story is true, which, come on.  She wasn't even acting like a rape victim.  Plus the guy was taking care of her; really, when you think about it, she should be grateful for all he did to support her.

 

Jesus christ.

Edited April 11, 2015 by sparklecat

[Mirandel]

It's just a bit of rape!  I mean, it's what her purpose in that society probably was anyway, right?  That's even assuming the story is true, which, come on.  She wasn't even acting like a rape victim.  Plus the guy was taking care of her; really, when you think about it, she should be grateful for all he did to support her.

 

Jesus christ.

 

And the point is missed. But who cares? You have your game copy - unleash your justice on that scumbag and embrace your inner hero!

[cirdanx]

Freed her, but i let him go, because the word of a guy who wanted to sacrifice HER and the baby to get his wishes is worth nothing in my book and my char was not some murderer.

 

There should have been the option to put him into your jail. That would have made up the possibility of a very interesting political and moral questline in the game including your stronghold. Sadly that didn´t happen. *shrug* wasted chance

[Katarack21]

Within the quest itself, I don't remember any implication that these actions, if true, were anything less than a moral event horizon. The veracity of the accusations is questioned--whether Harond actually did what he was accused of--but nobody reacts as if the accusation is anything less than horrible if it's true.

It's not normal behavior in this world, not even for nobles; hell, he's accused of his nobility to hide from the consequences. I'm not making any of this up; it's all in the dialogues with different characters. The quest line is set up so you can question the validity of the accusations and you can question the appropriateness of various punishments, or you can extort him to hide his crimes. But the moral judgment about the accusations is never put to question; it's terrible and everybody agrees on that.

[Nanocmai]

I have to agree with an earlier poster, I love this game, but this is by a wide margin my least favourite quest, to the point of leaving a bad taste in my mouth, Without the right class there is no way to end the quest satisfactorilly, but more annoyingly, you reach a point where the only two options appear to be; Let the girl go to murder her entourage or break her neck. Neither suits the character i am playing, and if i refuse to harm her it sets the damn cult friendly to me, and i am certainly not friendly towards them!

(i know i can force attack them but it always seem the worst option)

The thing that is particularly frustrating is that there was no indication, going in, that the quest would require a cypher. Maybe if there was some hint or note or SOMETHING that a cypher would be required, you could plan ahead and have more options, but as it is you only find out animancy is involved in the blood room just before.

 

Now i'm left with breaking an innocent girl's neck or letting her wander off to slowly go berserk and murder everyone she knows. I guess thats putting the Watch in Watcher

[Cantousent]

I *like* the fact that you can't finish everything in an ideal fashion. I think there should be more tough choices in games. ...And, yeah, I don't think what would make things ideal should always be broadcast. I think it *should* make sense, however, even if after the fact.

[Katarack21]

In their defense, the cipher companion is *right* there in the town where you pick up the quest.

[Nanocmai]

This is 40+ hours into my game, I'm not picking up another companion at this point! I don't care how abstract and lovecraftian her name is!

But seriously there should be quests that leave you with a hard decision, but i'm pretty sure one member of my party, perhaps the mage with the grease spell, the dude with 5 grappling hooks in his pocket, or the goddamn monk, master of unarmed combat, should be able to knock a girl out without breaking her neck! Plus the whole Watcher thing, can't i negotiate with the voices in her head?

 

Tough choices are great, but I guess the really annoying thing for me is that its NOT a tough choice if you brought the right character. There is no skill, ability, item, feat, level requirement, amount of searching, stronghold construction or background knowledge that can help you in the situation, just bringing the right class. I seriously even rushed through the whole dungeon without resting cause i thought she might be sacrificed if i didn't. If thats the case i feel a little warning "animancy stuff is goin' down in this here dungeon!" is justified, even if its a note in the pocket of the man up top. Plus, PLUS, i STILL wouldn't have any clue a Cypher could have helped me out if i hadn't looked up the quest online and discovered this thread.

Don't get me wrong, i was really enjoying the quest up till that point. The twists and turns, the characters involved, everyone looking a bit shifty. Its just that final resolution, the binary choice is getting my goat. I know this is nitpicking and i don't mean to be irrational, i think i'm loving the game so much this thing hit me like a kick in the nads though.

 

Update: okay, so i let the girl live, then force attack the cultists and kill them all. We go to the inn, at which point my choices are: let the girl leave with her rapist, or slaughter everyone present... Yikes. Man, i wish i didn't use the "putting the Watch in Watcher" joke earlier....

Edited April 14, 2015 by Nanocmai

[Ichthyic]

I wanted to go with Eder's suggestion, actually:  Lynch mob.

used grieving mother to free Aelys and told her to hit the road (brutal honesty)

then I wanted to go around town and tell everyone who knew she was preggers what actually happened.

...then expect an instant lynch mob to take out the Noble.

sadly, closest I could get was taking him out myself.

Hey, the noble got what he wanted... Aelys was leaving with a supposedly healthy pregnancy.  And I got what I wanted... a complete an utter dirtbag removed from society.

win win.

 

[Ichthyic]

Freed her, but i let him go, because the word of a guy who wanted to sacrifice HER and the baby to get his wishes is worth nothing in my book and my char was not some murderer.

 

There should have been the option to put him into your jail. That would have made up the possibility of a very interesting political and moral questline in the game including your stronghold. Sadly that didn´t happen. *shrug* wasted chance

oooh.

 

yes.  into the dungeon for a a few sessions with mr Happy, my prisonkeeper and torturemeister.  re-education camp ftw.

 

plus, you can let his own family judge him.  If they want him back, let them pay a hefty ransom.  if they don't want him back....