Walkthrough

(This walkthrough will contain spoilers!)

Starting Notes:

A.
Controls in Daughter of Essence can be changed from the options menu at any time, but below is a
layout of the default controls. The autosave feature is enabled by default and overwrite your most
recent save file upon certain map changes, but it can be disabled at any time by pressing the “N” key.
Similarly, auto-run and text speed can be changed from the options menu.
B.
Stats in Daughter of Essence are primarily raised through obtaining Skill Points earned in combat or by
resisting essence when encountered. These stats will always affect some aspect of combat and some
aspect out of combat.

1. Attack - Attack governs damage with most physical attacks and weapon skills, unless otherwise
specified. It also determines Mercy’s physical strength and her ability to move heavy objects
outside on the map.
2. Spirit - Spirit governs damage with most non-physical attacks and essence magic, unless
otherwise specified. It also determines whether Mercy can find certain hidden on-map items
that would normally be invisible, as well as a handful of "intelligence"checks.
3. Agility - Agility governs the Active Time Battle progress bar in combat, meaning the higher a
character’s agility stat, the more frequently their turns come. It also determines Mercy’s
dexterity and ability to squeeze into tight spaces and find hidden treasure on the map.
4. Defense - Defense governs damage mitigation from physical attacks or weapon skills. It also
determines Mercy’s ability to dig up and open trapped and buried chests on the map.
5. Resistance - Resistance governs damage mitigation from non-physical attacks or essence magic.
It also determines the amount of Skill Points earned from resisting essence.
6. Luck - Luck determines the odds of status ailments successfully being inflicted, as well as
increases the chance of stealing items with Plunder and slightly increases the damage of critical
hits. It also increases the amount of gold findable on the map and increases Mercy’s odds of
catching a fish.

Prologue: The Dream

Very straightforward. Just follow the mysterious wolf up through the cave entrance and approach the
throne to activate a cutscene. Section over!

Chapter I: Shiveworth

A.
Equip your skill, Plunder, and spend a stat point if you want by going into Advancement in the menu.

Mercy wakes up and sees Elijah, the stable boy, go into the stables. She is overwhelmed by the urge to
follow him. Do so, and the scene cuts to Mercy’s parents watching from their bedroom window. Lady
Albath (her mother) makes references to a need to marry Mercy on account of her mysterious “gifts.”
Cut back to the stables where Mercy finds herself overwhelmed by an urge resembling lust. Choose to
either yield to the essence or resist it, and shortly after, the two are interrupted by Marlan, Mercy’s
trainer and personal guard for the Albath Estate. He informs Mercy that her father wishes to see her.

B.
Mercy returns to the manor and finds that her eldest brother has returned briefly from the war efforts.
Mercy’s brother also has a journal describing the different types of weapons in the game.

Mercy’s parents’ room is the farthest room to the north, through the double-doors. She talks to her
father and learns that he is in the process of arranging new marriages. She declines without ceremony
and immediately leaves, planning to leave home.

C.
When Mercy tries to leave the estate, Marlan confronts her, ostensibly to stop her. A fight ensues in
which Mercy can’t win, so it’s advised to plunder Marlan’s ring instead of trying to kill him. After the
fight, Marlan reveals it was a test to measure her progress, and he sends her to the docks for a new
weapon. He also mentions that Mercy’s aunt from the local nunnery was looking for her.

D.
Mercy can now explore Shiveworth, talk to people, search for items or go straight west and north to the
chapel. Once inside, talk to Mercy’s aunt (Agatha) to initiate a cutscene in which Agatha claims to have
a gift for Mercy. They go upstairs and are joined by Claire, one of the sisters. It turns out the “gift” is a
large dildo, apparently infused with essence. Claire uses the dildo on Mercy, and Mercy draws essence
from it, which prompts a choice as to what type. This is a one-time decision to define Mercy’s class, so
read the details and choose carefully.

After the scene, explore the church for hidden items or talk to the sisters, then talk to Agatha one last
time before leaving and heading for the docks. Mercy gets to keep the dildo, which can be used
periodically from the inventory as a restorative buff. She also gets a special essence-based bottle of lube.

E.
Mercy has a little money to shop at the various stands, and make sure to visit Hammond at the
weapons vendor on the docks to get a free weapon of Mercy’s choosing.

Duelists Rapier +10 Attack, +5 Luck

Watchman’s Halberd (Axe): +300 HP, +15 Attack, -3 Agility, -3% Critical Rate, -3% Accuracy
Fishermans Knife: +10 Attack, +7 Agility, -2 Defense
Broadsword: +15 Attack, +4 Defense, -4 Resistance
Riding Spear: +12 Attack, -6 Defense, +6 Resistance
Walking Stick: +6 Attack, +6 Spirit, +30 MP, -3 Luck
Horsecutter (Great Sword): +30 Attack, -5 Agility, -6% accuracy
Flintlock Pistol (Gun): +2 Attack, +3 Agility, +3 Luck, +3% Critical Rate, -3 Resistance, -3 Defense,
-30% Guard Effect (Gun damage is based on a combination of Agility + Luck, and therefore does not
suffer a back row damage penalty)

Once Mercy is finished in Shiveworth, board the ship and talk to Devon on the deck. They try to throw
Mercy off, and Mercy gets into a fight with Heckart. After the fight, the captain returns and agrees to
let Mercy stay on board for the money she’d been saving up. Follow the captain below when ready.

i. Optional Shiveworth Content

(No optional battles are possible before visiting Aunt Agatha)
a. Rosa has lost her wedding ring in a narrow passage behind the house to the west. Retrieving it
for her will mean fighting off the bat that attacks in the process.
b. There’s an earth essence sprite looming in a tree between Moon Lee’s alchemy shop and the
excise warehouse. This is one of the more challenging fights before leaving the island.
c. There’s an aggressive fish bubbling in the water at the south end of the docks that will attack if
tampered with.
d. There’s an investigator in Moon Lee’s alchemy shop looking for some evidence. This will allow
Mercy to purchase an early fishing rod from Ginny on the docks. The evidence can be fished
up on the far western edge of Shiveworth, near Audrey’s baked goods stand, and returned to
the investigator for a reward.
e. There is a chest in Mercy’s room with a water jug, which is used for scooping water from wells
and streams to become a cooking ingredient.
f. There’s a chest in the Lord and Lady Albath’s room containing a unique accessory.

Chapter II, Part 1: The Voyage

A.
After heading into the cabins on the ship, Mercy goes to sleep and the scene cuts to a familiar cove,
where the same wolf as before is surrounded. You assume control of the strange wolf for an encounter
with two mercenaries of some sort, and after the fight is won, the wolf retreats into the deeper caves to
rest and recover.

B.
Mercy wakes up in the ship’s hold to find that the essence-based lube has gone missing. Feel free to
explore, look for hidden items, and talk to everyone on board. Make your way up to the deck again
eventually and talk to Honorable Pete to initiate a duel. After winning, head for the captain’s quarters
on the second floor of the cabins, all the way to the left.
C.
Captain Bell has recovered the lube and questions Mercy about the nature of its contents. It turns out
he has some knowledge of essence and wants to test Mercy to see if she’s the real thing. Mercy is once
again overwhelmed by essence and must choose to yield to or resist its effects.

D.
After a brief nap in the captain’s bed, Mercy wakes to some commotion. The door is locked, so she has
to move a box in the bottom-left corner of the room and crawl down a ladder to get out. There’s a
monster in the hold, and Mercy has to fight it. While in the hold, Mercy can take a ladder down into a
storage space to find that Poppy, the woman who stole Mercy’s lube, has been knocked unconscious.
Mercy helps her (the degree to which Poppy recovers is based on Mercy’s spirit stat), and you can either
choose to steal a key from her or not. If you don’t, you can talk to her later for a reward. If you do, you
can open a chest in her room right away.

There’s another monster in the shipwright’s quarters on the second level, and yet another in the galley
on the first level. After all three are defeated, head for the deck to find that the whole crew is under
attack by several more of them. Mercy joins the captain to take on the game’s first real boss fight, The
Prince of the Deep!

E.
After defeating the boss and talking to the captain, who thinks the monsters attacked to get at Mercy,
finish up any last business you have on the ship. It’s advised to talk to Christopher in his room if you
have a fishing rod, since he will give you a journal to record your fishing records. You can get this later
on if you miss it the first time, but you only get two chances (for now).

Once satisfied, talk to Nicholas behind the wheel of the ship to initiate the cutscene in which they
come upon a Carvannah merchant vessel anchored near a series of small rocky islands. Talk to him
again when you’re ready to depart.

Chapter II, Part 2: The “Traders”

A.
Captain Bell, Mercy and a couple of others head for the cove, where an anxious group of traders wait
for their approach. A cutscene ensues, and Captain Bell asks for a place to rest while they make repairs
on the ship. Meanwhile, the rest of his crew is robbing the anchored merchant vessel in secret.
Mercy is advised by the captain to engage with some of the traders to get to know them better. In order
to progress, she needs to speak to Meghan about her memories of the cove, and also attempt to enter
the left-most tent. After getting scolded, Mercy’s curiosity is piqued, and she can pull the box out of
the way and eavesdrop on the tent from behind. Mercy can feel essence and goes to report the incident
to the captain.

They have a conversation and Mercy insinuates that she’s going to probably cause some trouble. After
the dialogue, head north where the obstacle is blocking the entrance to the cave and move it out of the
way, then head inside.

B.
The cavern is completely dark, so light up the brazier to the right as you enter. This will trigger a
cutscene with the wolf (Orus) appearing, and Mercy converses with it (in a sense). It turns out, there is
a massive amount of wealth stashed away in the cavern, and Mercy basically calls dibs.

Choose a class for Orus and leave the cavern, at which point two of the traders will confront Mercy. A
fight ensues.

After the traders are defeated, head for the left-most tent again and go inside.

C.
Mercy discovers that the traders were so defensive because they were trafficking a szarva woman. Mercy
inspects the shackles and vows to return after she takes care of the other traders and finds a way to
break them.

Captain Bell and his men have Holden, the most dangerous of the traders, cornered, freeing Mercy to
confront Glendale in his tent on the far-right. He and two of the others are waiting in ambush. After
the fight, return to Captain Bell and mention the szarva woman. He suggests getting the craftsman,
Gorps, who’s still oblivious in his (middle) tent to help.

Mercy brings Gorps back to the tent and frees the szarva woman, whose name is Leite. She then asks
Gorps for some privacy. Leitie is strangely attuned to Mercy’s gift and even seems to know who she is.
She wants to thcShe sees a ship on the horizon and goes to warn Gorps, in the north-eastern portion of
the cove. He sees a light through a crack in his mining and Mercy goes to investigate.

B.
The new cave features some puzzles, so you’ll have to polish up your pushing/pulling game. The best
course of action is to clear a path through the obstacles before pulling the first switch and making a
dash towards the second, otherwise you might run out of time.
After pulling the second switch, run for the room in the center. The lanterns also indicate your
direction in case it isn’t clear. Interact with the statue to initiate dialogue and engage a new enemy: the
Moon Spirit. It has a move that deals damage proportional to your HP, and it’s immune to moon
poison, so keep that in mind.

After the fight, Mercy hears a swarm of bats rush out from the cavern into the cove. Return there to
initiate a cutscene in which Holden has returned.

C.
After the cutscene, the cove is populated by a selection of new occupants, and also a bunch of Moon
Bats. Talk to each of the newcomers to gauge their usefulness and potential for contribution to the
new base and kill bats in the meantime. Up to five will appear in the cove randomly.

Moon Lee wants you to fetch a calcinator and Eva wants some shelving and furniture to set up her
belongings. Speak to Dalkon and Vincent, respectively, to get help in those matters. After everyone is
happy, speak to Glendale to settle payment.

After the debt is paid, Glendale takes off and time lapses three days, after much of the efforts to build
up basic stations for each of the visitors is completed. The bats are still there if you haven’t killed five
yet.

Visit all the new stations to learn what they can do for you and to unlock new goods. Earth essence can
be crafted into ink for spells, moon essence can be crafted into ink for weapon skills, sun essence into
runes and sea essence into special potions. No one there knows anything about essence of the night, so
you have to hang onto those for now.

Talk to Moon Lee a second time to learn about the calcinator and refining essence. If you have 3
unrefined essence of any variety, she’ll refine them for you.

Talk to Dalkon again if you want to spar him, but he’s tough. If you lose, you can rematch him after
recovering at the tavern.

D.
After everything is wrapped up in the cove, interact with the planning table on the western side of the
cove. There is an option to wait for Captain Bell’s second supply shipment. Do so and more time will
lapse, and he will arrive.
He has brought with him an unwanted visitor: Marlan, who bumped into the crew in Carvannah.
Mercy has mixed feelings about him being there but decides she needs his help protecting her money
and getting to Carvannah to buy a ship so they aren’t stranded in the cove or at the mercy of pirates.

E.
Talk to Bell to arrange payment, then retrieve his fees from the third floor of the tavern. Mercy can also
visit her room if she hasn't already and find a couple of things. On the second floor, Mercy can
persuade Marlan to help her. Return with the funds to Captain Bell, then leave the tavern.

Gorps needs to be notified of Mercy’s plan to buy a ship, and once that’s done, interact with the
planning table again to set sail to Carvannah.

Chapter III, Part 1: Journey to Carvannah

A.
There’s not much to do on the ship this time around. You can rematch Honorable Pete on the deck if
you want, and he’s a little stronger this time around.

If Mercy saved Poppy, she can be found in her room on the second level. Depending on Mercy’s
choices before, Poppy will reward her proportionally.

If you have any more coral, you can talk to Tafo and trade it for some unique armor or weapons.

Once you’ve talked to everyone you want to talk to and searched where you want to search, go to the
far-right side of the hold and speak to Marlan, then go to Mercy’s bedroll and rest until you arrive at
Carvannah.

Once she wakes up, climb back up to the deck and speak with Captain Bell, who gives you a rowing
boat and wishes you farewell. He does not intend to stick around Carvannah.

Chapter III, Part 2: Carvannah

A.
Mercy and Marlan converse on the docks about the problem of getting their money past the routine
inspection. Marlan takes the money and tells Mercy to meet him in the city at an inn called the White
Rat.
There are a few things to find and interact with at the docks, and then Mercy can head for the gates to
get her pat-down from the guard.

B.
Mercy finds herself in Carvannah Square, where the main feature is a dragon skeleton roped off in the
center. There’s an inn right in the square, so Mercy goes to see if it’s the White Rat. It is not, but she
gets directions to it: west and the north, through the miners’ districts.

On her way out, a mysterious woman called Hallie Mizzrin will get Mercy’s attention if they haven’t
already conversed. She promises to find Mercy again.

Navigate west and north, and the White Rat is in the far north-western corner of the city. Inside,
Mercy gets a room for two and crashes right away, happy to be in a real bed.

She has a naughty dream, interrupted once again by Marlan’s entry. He warns Mercy that her mother
has hired other mercenaries to find her and most likely bring her back home. The solution, he decides,
is to scare them off and send a message to others.

Mercy’s primary objective is to find a ship, but the city exterior is now mostly open to explore. To the
east of the White Rat is the Merchant Plaza and the city’s castle. To the east of the square, where Mercy
first entered the city, is the noble district. There are many people to talk to and hidden
items/side-quests to pick up in each, so feel free to spend time wandering around and shopping.

C.
Two leads open up regarding the purchase of a ship. One is in the southern mining district’s dormitory
building, in the western portion of the district. Climb to the top floor and speak with the foreman,
who describes a club called the Sleeping Frog. He gives Mercy a token to access the club.

Another lead is found in the west-most tent in the mining district, in which Mercy senses essence and
encounters a young man who seems to have inherited his estranged father’s wealth. Part of that wealth
includes a ship, and Mercy arranges to buy it. He tells her he’ll meet her with an answer at the bank
later.

D.
Return to Marlan in the White Rat to tell him about the possible lead on a ship and get the money to
make the purchase.
Then head to the eastern portion of the square, where the man from earlier is waiting in front of the
bank. He declines the sale and Mercy pouts, deciding to call it a day.

A cutscene ensues in which the would-be ship seller is confronted by Hallie Mizzrin, who lights him
up with magic to steal the deed to the ship.

E.
Mercy goes to rest, but doesn’t get much sleep before Hallie knocks on her door and wakes her up.
Mercy lets her in and must choose whether to resist or yield to the intruder’s essence. Hallie lets slip
that she knows about the daughter of essence and reveals her own identity as an assassin, here to kill the
archbishop of Carvannah. She wants to join forces with Mercy and takes it very personally when the
latter declines.

An encounter with Hallie ensues. She puts up a barrier that absorbs damage, but it will break after you
deal enough to it. After the fight, Hallie flees and Mercy passes back out, waking in the middle of the
night to test her luck with a new crowd.

F.
The first night in Carvannah. Feel free to explore around and see what’s different in the city. To speed
your objective along, however, head south from the White Rat into the miner’s district and enter the
miners’ dorm to the west. You’ll find Albert, the foreman, on the top floor, who mentions that there
aren’t a lot of sailors in the city, but that she might have some luck in a joint called The Sleeping Frog.
He gives Mercy the token required for entry.

G.
The Sleeping Frog is to the east, in the noble district. It’s the far north-east building, next to the alley.
Mercy gets through the front desk and has to take a staircase into the basement of a strange little
speakeasy-type club where everyone is masked. Feel free to speak to everyone, but the primary person
of interest is the silver-haired gentleman called Clyde (Captain Clyde Jurgeldsen, technically). He’s a
weird dude and gives Mercy an old ship he had sitting around just because he likes her face and wants
her to stop bothering him about “business.”

With her business concluded, Mercy goes to leave and is confronted by the co-proprietor of the
Sleeping Frog who invites Mercy to stay for the main event. Narcotic gas pours suddenly from vents in
the room and Mercy flees before it affects her too much. She can sneak a peek back in if she wants to see
the show.
H.
Mercy’s “new” ship is docked the west of the city, in a boathouse. She has to pass through the main
gates and head west past the naval docks and into the coastal region beyond. The boathouse is just west
along the coast. Mercy goes to check it out and finds it in predictably bad condition. While there, she’s
confronted by the two mercenaries hired to take her back to Shiveworth and has a showdown. After
the fight, she can choose to either kill or spare them, and each decision will have different consequences
on the playthrough down the road.

I.
After the fight, Mercy decides she’ll need a shipwright to estimate the extent of the damage and the cost
of repairs. If she talks to the dockworker along the way or a guard in the square, she’ll learn a bit
more--that there’s a shipwright of considerable skill somewhere in the city called Sigrun. The guard
indicates that she lives in the noble district most likely, but it’s late now, so Mercy decides to go back to
her room in the White Rat and head back out in the morning.

J.
Marlan has returned, and he’s waiting in the room when Mercy gets back. They have a dialogue and
Marlan suggests checking out the bank the next morning as well, since they might be able to help with
the deed Hallie gave to Mercy before their falling out.

They go to bed, and it’s a long and very awkward night for both of them.

K.
The next morning, Mercy can do the following two errands in any order: go to the bank or pay Sigrun
a visit at her house in the noble district. The order is of no consequence.

At the bank, Mercy is told that the deed belongs to Ralph, the man she met before, and that he’s been
taken to the infirmary for injuries. A guard accompanies Mercy there so she can meet with him, but
something happens at the palace and the guard has to scamper off in a rush. Mercy meets with Ralph
and returns the deed taken from him. He’s still undecided about what he wants to do.

Sigrun’s house is in the northwest corner of the noble district, and it turns out that she’s a half-szarva,
just like the woman on Bell’s ship. Mercy negotiates a rush job on the repairs since she’s in a hurry to
get out of Carvannah.

After the two errands are completed, all that’s left to do is wait. Mercy can finish exploring the city and
wrap up any optional quests or content you want to do. Once satisfied, she heads one last time to the
White Rat and rests until a commotion in the distance wakes her up.
L.
Cattie informs a startled Mercy that there’s been an incident at the castle, and that there’ll be a public
execution. Mercy gets a bad feeling about this and goes to see who it is.

Hallie appears to have succeeded in her assassination attempt, but she’s been captured and will be
burned at the stake on the plaza. Mercy is faced with a tough decision: risk everything to help a woman
she barely knows, or walk away and let the woman die. This choice will have lasting consequences for
the game and splits the remainder of the chapter in two parts.

M. (i. Rescue Hallie)

You still can recruit Silas and Hobart on this path (not sure about Dietrich)
If Mercy decides to rescue Hallie, Marlan stops her before she rushes to her death and tells her he’ll take
care of it. Mercy heads back to the boathouse to wait for Marlan, and the player takes the role of
Marlan for the section.

Climb the plaza steps and take on the crowd of guards. The first fight is a pushover, since they’re basic
guards and Marlan is extremely tough. The second fight is less a challenge to Marlan and more a race
against time. Marlan has to take on the captain and a couple of his soldiers, and if the fight drags on too
long, backup arrives and the game considers it a loss.

After the fight, Marlan scoops the delirious Hallie and flees. Mercy is waiting at the boathouse while
repairs are being done on the ship, and it’s several hours before Marlan finally shows up with Hallie.
They are forced to leave Carvannah before repairs are completed.

M (ii. Do Not Rescue Hallie)

If Mercy decides to leave the scene, she encounters Ralph in the square, who’d been waiting for her. He
tells her he’s finally come around on a decision, and he’s willing to lend Mercy his ship if she agrees to
take him along.

Mercy needs to round up any crew members she can find, and this will depend entirely on the optional
content done up until this point. With this path, there are 3 different characters who may accompany
you back to the cove:
1. Hobart1, the demolitions expert. You have to have cleared the mine for him.
2. Silas, the head of the Crows. You have to have confronted him in the aqueducts.
3. Dietrich, the harp. You have to have talked to him at least once before now, and then you have
to go and find him one last time before you depart. He’ll need a little convincing.

1
In the White Rat sitting to the right of the door
These are strictly optional characters, but they will be worth it for the added dialogue and extra help
down the road. For each of the three that you don’t have when you depart, Mercy will have to pay
1,000 gold from her stash to hire an extra hand.

After talking to Ralph in the square, head for the boathouse and tell Marlan there are two ships and
that you’ll be splitting up the crew. Then return to Ralph. Depending on which of the optional
characters you’re bringing with you, the crew breakup will be different, but it’s not hugely
consequential. Once the logistics are done, Mercy departs from Carvannah.

i. Optional Carvannah Content

a. The Hall, a battle arena in the miner’s district. When you complete the gauntlet, you will
receive 180 gold and only one of three chest armors:
- Miner’s Blouse: 8 spirit, 3 defense;
- Miner’s Cowl: 6 agility, 3 defense, 2 resist;
- Miner’s Mantle: 10 defense, 5 attack, -4 agility;
b. A fortune teller’s tent opens up on the market plaza
c. The other tent on the market plaza has a revealed ladder
d. The mines north of the boathouse can be cleared out for the guy in the White Rat
e. The alley next to the Sleepy Frog reveals a cutscene, a coastal area and access to the entire
aqueducts areas, where you can complete the quest to find the woman from the square’s sister & also
conclude the Crow thieves business. This requires pushing a crate from near the shipwright’s house
into the gap in the alley.
f. After the cutscene in the alley, Mercy can sneak a peek in the eastern-most miner’s tent for a
show
g. A woman on the market plaza asks Mercy if she could help with a job in the noble district.
Mercy can clear little fire elementals (3) out of a wine cellar in exchange for helpful reputation
i. If you return to the coast during the day, a very peculiar merchant appears near the mine
entrance
j. In the southern mining district, at night, a guy tries to win Mercy over by acting like a
shithead. Depending on Mercy’s choice, it will have different consequences for reputation & unwanted
attention
k. There are a bunch of hidden treasures & buried chests around the city. For the buried chests,
Mercy needs a shovel and a certain defense stat in order to risk the traps
l. Visit the inn in the square during the night to see Mercy wonder about her friends back at the
cove. A FF9-esque active-time event plays, depicting Leite and Gorps getting to know each other
better.
Chapter II, Part 3: Return to the Cove

A.
Mercy returns to the cove and settles in. Her stay will be short, however, as her newfound ship (or
ships) are useless without a crew to pilot them.

Depending on Mercy’s choice of upgrade before, a corresponding new feature will be available in the
cove. The scene library (accessible from the throne room) will have updated to reflect the scenes Mercy
happened to participate in or witness in Carvannah.

Mercy can talk to Gorps first if she needs a reminder on what her choice of upgrade was. Feel free to
explore, refine whatever new essence Mercy recovered since her last visit, talk to everyone and catch up.
Depending on her choices in Carvannah, there are different people to talk to and different
conversations to have. When she’s ready to progress, she interacts with the planning table and initiates
a cutscene in which her and Marlan talk about her plans and what to do from there.

B.
Since they had to leave Carvannah in a hurry, the old ship is still in pretty bad shape. Mercy goes to see
Vincent, who says that between him and Gertrude, repairs should be no problem. But their chat is cut
short when some kind of very large creature approaches the cove.

C.
Mercy can choose between one of three options for the ensuing fight:
1. She can fight the monster on her own
2. She can get Dalkon to help her fight the monster
3. She can get Marlan to take care of it

Depending on her choice, there will be different consequences for the cove’s morale and Mercy’s
reputation. Whichever the choice, after the fight, there’s a cutscene in the tavern where Mercy (or
Marlan) explains that the threat has been taken care of.
~
D.
Mercy remembers that Roald seemed to have some trade connections, so she gets his input on a good
next location for someone looking for help, but also looking to avoid running into any Oldlight people.
Roald suggests an island to the west called “Witchdale,” which seems to be something like an old
neutral trading village with possible pirate influence. Mercy decides to risk it and makes preparations to
depart. Whenever she’s ready, she can return to her room and initiate her departure by going to bed.
This is also where she gets to choose the next cove project.
Chapter III, Part 1: Journey to Witchdale

A.
A cutscene triggers back in Carvannah, where you get a glimpse of what’s happened since Mercy’s
departure. Depending on her choices in the city, the cutscene will differ. After the cutscene, Mercy is
back to sea on her newly-repaired ship. Their first destination is Shiveworth, where they’ll drop off
Marlan on the way to Witchdale so he can make his report to Mercy’s parents.

B.
Mercy can talk to her crewmates and explore the ship a bit, but it’s a skeleton crew for now. If she
brought Dietrich and Silas along to the cove with her, they’ll be on board as well. Gertrude is there
unless Mercy chose to upgrade her forge, in which case she’ll be replaced by Vincent, who seems less
thrilled to be back at sea.

C.
Mercy heads to her room in the ship’s hold and gets some rest while she can. During the night, her rest
is interrupted by something crawling up the outside of the ship, towards her window. She must choose
to yield to or resist the essence once again. Depending on her choice, she either attacks or is seduced by
the mystery intruder, and there are different rewards for either choice. After the encounter, Mercy
returns to sleep and the voyage continues until they arrive at Shiveworth.

D.
Marlan says his goodbyes and sails into Shiveworth while the others wait. He is accompanied by
Gertrude (or Vincent, depending), and the crew gets nervous when she (or he) doesn’t immediately
return. When at last she (or he) does, they have an unexpected passenger. Then the long voyage to
Witchdale must commence.

Chapter III, Part 2: Witchdale

A.
Welcome to Witchdale, a trading port built on the ruins of a forgotten civilization. Getting to the
city-proper will require a little traveling through the cliffs, and there are some encounters along the
way. One of the enemy types is the Vox Silvam, an earth elemental. Once 3 of these are defeated, the
encounters mysteriously cease.
B.
Navigate your way through the caverns until you come upon a crime scene with a couple of guards.
What happened is unclear, and the guards tell you to move on. After doing so, you’re in Witchdale.
The companions you brought with you split up and go their separate ways. First and foremost, head
for the tavern built into a cliff by the bridge and make the bartender’s acquaintance. She informs Mercy
of a few key visitors in town: an infamous pirate crew, and a mysterious szarva. She also mentions that
Witchdale doesn’t have any accommodations.

C.
After speaking with the bartender, Mercy needs to start gathering some information about recruiting
help in town. The first piece of information she needs is how much it costs to employ a capable sailor,
and this can be gleaned from Garvin right there in the tavern. Alternatively, she can get details about
the cost of a ship from Gorstag, a man shopping in the square to the south.

The rest of the information she needs is about her apparent competition in the recruitment efforts.
Head through the cliffs on the opposite side of the stream and talk to Franklin, an apparent member of
the pirate crew, who warns her against her objective. Once Mercy has the information she needs, she
can return to the ship and speak to Gertrude (or, if Gertrude is busy upgrading her forge, Vincent).
Depending on who you brought, the advice you get is different.

D.
After the chat, return to Witchdale and start looking for recruits. Mercy may also choose to align with
the peacekeepers at this as one of three branching paths. To do so, visit the barracks and speak with the
captain at his desk.

There are six potential recruits, but Mercy will only have time to pick four.

There are as follows:x

1. Elyas - An experienced sailor near the entrance to the cliffs in Witchdale
2. Gorstag - An ambitious young man in the square with dreams of opening a shop
3. June - A mysterious bounty hunter in the residential caverns area
4. Saul - An old smith in the dormitory to the north with unexpected ties to Mercy
5. Corrine - A sassy mercenary in the square who gets on Mercy’s bad side quickly
6. Camille - A newly recruited peacekeeper on the second floor of the barracks (can only be
recruited if Mercy cuts a deal with the captain of the peacekeepers)

E. After Mercy has recruited four new members, Van Ritter makes an appearance in the center of town
and tries to draw his competition out with a taunt. This is where the paths diverge in three separate
directions:
 1. If Mercy aligned with the peacekeepers, she meets with Van Ritter and tells the pirate she’s a
peacekeeper on official duty. He’s skeptical, but the captain corroborates her story.
2. Mercy may choose to confront Van Ritter openly.
3. Mercy may choose to sneak away and avoid confrontation.

Each decision will have different consequences and no one decision is objectively superior in every way
to another. These range from cove morale, Mercy’s intimidation factor, unwanted attention, and the
narrative outcome of her departure from Witchdale.

F.
Regardless of the choice, Mercy may then return to the inn where the pirate crew was staying and
check the floor for a room key. The farthest room on the right has a hidden ladder under some crates
that connects with the cavern. Once Mercy goes down and discovers it, she decides it will make the best
escape route for her crew. Evacuate Meghan in the square (unless she’s already back on the ship) and
Roald in the bank and tell him to bring the new recruits out through the hidden passage. Talk to Silas
at the bar if you brought him. Dietrich can fly out just fine on his own. After everyone’s out, sneak out
through the hidden passage.

G.
If Mercy chose option 1, she makes it through the cliffs without incident and gets all the way back to
the coast before Van Ritter catches up and makes a veiled threat. After that, she returns to the ship.

If Mercy chose option 2, she’s in for a brutal fight on the way back. She picks a good spot on the cliff
and settles in for a showdown with the whole crew, determined to show Van Ritter she won’t be trifled
with. After the fight, she drags herself back to the ship. This is the hardest of the paths by far.

If Mercy chose option 3, she’s got it a little easier. She hides out in the passages and only confronts a
couple of members at a time, playing it safe. Then she can take out Van Ritter by himself when she
reaches him waiting at the coast. Afterwards, it’s back to the ship.

H.
The weather isn’t quite so favorable on the way back to the cove. Talk to each of the new recruits
scattered around the ship as well as Roald, then Mercy can return to her bed and pass the journey.

If Mercy chose option 1, she’s not out of the woods yet. Van Ritter, ever the skeptic & opportunist,
trails Mercy back to her cove. Unfortunately for him, he has an unlucky encounter with some rocks,
and then an unlucky encounter with Mercy and her companions. Depending on Mercy’s allies
recruited thus far, Van Ritter’s crew can range from an extremely challenging fight to a trivial one. The
only guaranteed member is Dalkon, but Silas, Hallie and June will also join in the fray if they’re there.
After the fight, Mercy scuttles their ship and takes care of the rest of the crew. They manage to salvage
some materials and recruit one additional new member for the cove: Brandis, who was essentially Van
Ritter’s concubine.

i. Optional Witchdale Content

a. After defeating 3 Vox Silvams, Mercy may head for the top of the cliffs and inspect the
memorial, which triggers an encounter with Cor Silvam.
b. After defeating Cor Silvam and speaking to the bartender in Witchdale, Mercy can return to
the ship and take Moon reagent hunting at the top of the cliffs. They end up doing a little
more than alchemy.
c. There’s a mysterious woman in the inn. If Mercy tries to speak with her, she leaves. After that,
talk to the woman’s friend in Witchdale, named Gertie. You’ll need to speak to her twice if you
haven’t already spoken to her once. Mercy asks where the woman went, and Gertie tells her the
caverns, back near the coast. If Mercy chases her down, the woman warns Mercy with some
harsh words and tells her to leave them be. Mercy only realizes after the conversation is over
that the woman is also the Carvannah Hall champion. This will be important for later.
d. After speaking with Gertrude (or Vincent) about her plans going forward, return to Witchdale
and a couple of women will rush by carrying something. They return to a room in the
dormitory and lock the door, but Mercy can find the key hidden near the water in the market
square. Return to the locked room and one of the women turns out to have an unexpected
ability.
e. If Mercy has Dietrich with her, speak to him a couple of times before she finishes recruiting
everyone. He’ll mention something glowing in the water, under the waterfall. She can fish it
up, and it turns out to be essence.
f. There’s a chest in the cave near where the crime scene was. Once the guards move away, Mercy
can pull the crate around to the gap in the floor and access the chest.
g. On the ground floor of the barracks, there’s a woman who misplaced a vial of something.
Mercy agrees to help find it. The vial is on the top floor of the barracks, in a tall crate.
h. Also on the top floor of the barracks is the mysterious szarva. Talk to him, and then talk to
Molly outside the barracks, then head for the square. When she returns to the main town area,
Mercy will witness the szarva (Minron) following Molly out of the village. Track them into the
caves, and a peacekeeper will ask Mercy to investigate what’s going on. They’ve hidden
themselves away in a cavern near where the merchants are. Mercy can intervene and warn them
against the union, stay and watch it, or leave altogether. Whichever the case, the guard will have
to be informed, and Mercy is careful not to stir up any more trouble than is needed. If Mercy
intervenes, the guard rewards her for the information.
i. On the return voyage to the cove, talk to Meghan and then talk to Elijah more than once.
Mercy is given the option to either go help Meghan with the rope or take over the wheel so
 Elijah can help her. If Mercy chooses the first option, she gets a new cloak. If she chooses the
second option, Meghan and Elijah get up to a little more than tailoring.

Chapter III, Part 3: Upgrading the Cove

A.
After Mercy is back in the cove, she can catch up with everyone and see what’s new, depending on the
chosen cove upgrades. On leaving the inn, however, there’s a bit of a situation: Silas (if you have him
recruited) or Dalkon have confronted a stowaway and Mercy has to deal with the situation. She locks
the new visitor up in the expanded cove’s holding cells, for now.

B.
Mercy can visit the planning table now and make the next upgrade decision. This time, she sticks
around in the cove for the full duration and helps out. After making a selection, the game cuts to a
scene back in Shiveworth, where the mystery men from a previous cutscene in Carvannah confront
Marlan at the convent. They are beginning to piece some clues together, and since they brought a
finder, Aunt Agatha is in a bit of trouble.

C.
After the Shiveworth cutscene, a surprise visitor turns up at the cove. It’s Holden once more, and he’s
brought another guest. They head for the inn to relax, and Mercy can go and catch up with them. The
newcomer turns out to have quite the special skill, and she helps establish the final upgrade station in
the cove. Visit the new station and shop around if you have the essence.

D.
After getting the night essence station set up, look around the cove for a second new visitor: this one, a
weird, colorful little messenger bird. It has a note from Marlan, advising her to head for Esterholt
ASAP.

i. Optional Cove Content

a. Moon is selling a new potion (if you made it in Witchdale, you’re familiar with its properties).
If you rescued Hallie from Carvannah, you can make a potion and bring one to her now to try
it out.
b. If Mercy has chosen to expand the cove residential area twice by this point, there’s a new
extension north of the dormitory. There’s a mysterious chest sitting in the middle of the
cavern. It may be wise to save before opening it.
Chapter IV, Part 1: Investigating Esterholt
A.
This time, the voyage is a little different. Mercy can exit the cove via the docks, which puts her on the
overworld for the very first time. A world map item is added to her inventory (still a WIP). Locate
Esterholt to the northeast and set sail now. Mercy can technically return to Witchdale now, but it
hasn’t been updated yet to reflect the passage of time since her departure, so only do so if you want to
shop or missed the shapeshifter cutscene.

B.
Arriving at Esterholt, Mercy equips some new layers and speaks with the woman at the docks. She’s
informed that there was another arrival just recently: an abbess, who is supposed to be staying at the
manor in the northern part of town. Mercy is also warned about leaving Orus out in the open and
about the manor being an unwelcoming place.

C.
She can roam around a bit and chat up the town, but bear in mind that she’ll make a conscious effort
to ask around a little later as well. When she’s ready, she can head for the manor to the north. Inside,
she makes a few remarks about its qualities. There’s a housecarl, Lily, waiting at the bottom of the stairs
who informs her that the manor belongs to one Lord Balgruuf, and that Mercy is welcome to stay for
the time being. The abbess is, of course, Aunt Agatha, and she’s waiting for Mercy in the west wing’s
library. They reunite and talk about manor’s owner, who turns out to be Mercy’s great uncle, as well as
a coming storm, and Agatha recommends bringing everyone in to stay at the manor until it passes.

D.
Mercy returns to the docks to inform Elijah and the others. Elijah decides it’s unsafe for a ship to be
docked there during a storm and offers to take the ship out to sea to avoid any collisions and potentially
skirt around the worst part of the storm. Mercy’s only attending company is Silas if he was recruited
and Hallie if she was rescued. The former seems quite familiar with the abbess anyway, much to
Mercy’s chagrin.

E.
Once back at the manor, Mercy decides something’s still bothering her about Esterholt and she wants
to look more into it. More areas open up in the village, and the following four sections can be done in
any order:

1. Read the books on the shelves thoroughly. There are three sections in particular that interest
Mercy, and once these are read, she’ll comment that she’s found all she can.
 2. There’s a pile of old notes and journals in the basement pertaining to who Mercy believes was
her great grandfather. Read them all to learn a bit about his and the town’s history.
3. After reading the journals, go and speak to a man on the docks called Connor. If you haven’t
spoken to him once already, you’ll have to speak to him twice before he opens up about his
recently-deceased son. Mercy is somewhat perturbed by the mysterious circumstances of the
boy’s death and goes to see the doctor in his cabin on the eastern peninsula.
4. Mercy goes to see the doctor. What she learns specifically will vary based on her choices (and
stats) during the conversation, but regardless of the result, it will count towards her learning all
she can.
5. On the western end of the village, in a cabin called the Hunter’s Hall, there’s a woman called
Marianna. Speak to her for a brief lesson on “hunters” and their significance to Esterholt.
6. There’s a tent in Esterholt between the manor and the Hunter’s Hall. Inside, Mercy finds a
letter to Marianna with a 4-digit combination of some kind.
7. Mercy finds a ladder upstairs in the Hunter’s Hall leading into the attic, which appears to be
Marianna’s room (among other things). There’s a cabinet here with a combination lock. Input
the code from before to find a map inside with an X marking a location in the hunting grounds
north of the village.

F.
After finding all the clues and obtaining the map, Mercy can head out into the hunting grounds with a
shovel. She’s looking for “the great white oak” according to a note on the map she copied, and this is
found pretty much directly north if she follows the trail. From the tree, follow the directions on the
map to find what’s been buried under the snow.

She digs up a golden idol of some sort in the likeness of a woman, and at about the same time, the
storm starts to pick up. She packs the idol up and returns to the village to study it more closely.

G.
Once Mercy is back in the manor, she can retire to her room upstairs in the eastern wing. Interact with
the desk and Mercy and Mercy will begin her analysis of the object, which starts to spiral out of
control. Mercy can either yield to or resist the overwhelming essence of the object.

Afterwards, she determines the object is too dangerous to bring with her and probably better left in the
ground where she found it.
H.
After the incident with the idol, Mercy is feeling restless and goes to speak with Aunt Agatha on the
opposite end of the hall about some of her findings. Mercy reveals the idol to Aunt Agatha, who is
apparently even more susceptible to its influence than Mercy. Their conversation, however, is
interrupted by a commotion in the hall.

Lord Balgruuf has left his room fully armed and armored, and seems to be on a rampage. Mercy
follows him downstairs, where Lily is trying to talk the old lord down to no avail. She chases after him
in the blizzard.

I.
Mercy follows the two back east and north, into the hunting grounds once more. Lord Balgruuf is
ranting like a madman and Mercy catches up to him just in time to see him confront a giant wolf, dark
violet like essence of the night. The old lord moves to attack the wolf, and Lily pushes him out of the
way in time to receive the beast's retaliation herself. Lord Balgruuf is unconscious and Lily is grievously
wounded--neither will last long in the storm. Mercy shoos the wolf away and has to choose which of
the two to save.

1. If Lily is chosen, Mercy drags her back to the doctor, despite her protests. By the time she
returns to Lord Balgruuf, he’s dead. She lays his body in the hunter’s tent so he’s not lost
beneath the snow by morning and returns to Esterholt. On her way back to the manor, she
explains to Volda what happened.
2. If Lord Balgruuf is chosen, Mercy brings him to a nearby hunter’s tent and covers him with
furs to keep him warm. She then goes to bring Lily back to the doctor, but her condition has
worsened. After Lily is dropped off at the doctor’s, Mercy goes to find Volda, the woman with
the eyepatch who serves as a sort of unofficial town representative, to help retrieve the old lord
from the tent.

After that, it’s back to bed for Mercy, who sleeps until late the next morning.

J.
The storm is still going on the second day. Mercy decides to return to Marianne, the woman from the
hunter’s hall, and confront her directly about the idol. She’s in her room on the top floor, where Mercy
found the map to the idol. They argue back and forth, and Mercy learns some fairly twisted things
about Esterholt in the process. Mercy threatens to take the idol, but their conversation is interrupted
by Heimrich, who jumps to Marianna’s defense. It’s a one-on-one fight.
After she wins, Mercy tells Marianna to keep quiet about the idol if she wants to see it again. After
leaving, she realizes she’s hit a bit of a dead end in her investigations. The only place she hasn’t
explored, she decides, is farther north into the hunting grounds, towards the forest.

K.
It’s another trip through the hunting grounds, but this time, keep heading north. Mercy finds a
monument of some sort at the edge of the forest, in a large clearing. She puzzles over it for a bit and
decides to ask the hunters by their campsite more about it. They direct her to Judith, the eldest woman
in the village, who lives in a tent above the marketplace. Mercy returns to Esterholt and talks to Judith
about the monument, who finally admits that she thinks it was a cipher of some sort, but that the
monument was defaced after the mysterious stranger showed up 80 years earlier.

When the conversation is over, Mercy decides the only other person who would know more about it is
Lord Balgruuf, who’s currently out of commission one way or another. She heads for his room on the
manor’s second floor.

L.
The room is full of stone and stone carvings. There’s a calcinator, a mirror and some journals to
inspect, and once that’s done, she investigates the monument on the far-right end of the room. After
puzzling over its markings to no avail, she imbues the thing with essence and finds that something is
activated, she’s just not sure what.

M.
After looking through Balgruuf’s room, Mercy returns downstairs to see Aunt Agatha peeking out the
front door. She tells Mercy that a woman just ran through looking for Heimrich. Rather than follow
the woman, Mercy decides that a better idea is to return to the rest of the hunters to the north to see
why Heimrich is needed.

N.
In the clearing to the far north, two hunters are squaring off against the large wolf from last night.
Mercy tries to talk them down from fighting, but Orus shows up and scares them back. Just when
Mercy thinks it was a close call, a never before seen hunter appears and tells the others that Mercy
attacked Heimrich. The three of them attack Mercy and Orus.

After the fight, Mercy has to choose whether to fetch the doctor or leave the hunters to die. There will
be different consequences for her choice here later on. Either way, it’s time to return to the manor and
explain the situation to Aunt Agatha. Exhausted by the exertion, the storm and the necessity of
holding back the idol’s power at all times, Mercy barely manages to get the words out before she
collapses.
O.
Mercy is awakened in the night by strange dreams. Head to the monument again in Lord Balgruuf’s
chambers to find that something is different about it. Mercy is drawn into the essence and awakens
again in a different place altogether, unsure if it’s real or just another dream.

She can steal or leave anything she finds laying around--the choice is up to her, but it does matter what
she does.

There’s a stone altar to the north with nothing on it. Mercy mulls over what it’s for before the wolf
from before appears again and seems to be encouraging Mercy to leave the idol there. She’s glad to be
free of it at this point. Once this is done, she heads downstairs to find that Volda is waiting in the foyer.

P.
Volda will attempt to hold Mercy accountable for her actions, depending on whether Mercy spared the
hunters or left them to die. Either way, Mercy manages to buy time by warning Volda to investigate the
matter more thoroughly. After this, Mercy goes back to bed until morning.

Q.
In the morning, Mercy meets Aunt Agatha in the hall, who tells Mercy the storm has passed and their
ride has arrived. Agatha goes ahead to meet Elijah while Mercy finishes up in the manor.

Outside, Mercy is confronted by either Lily or Lord Balgruuf, depending on who she rescued. A
different scene will play and different circumstances will branch out as a result.

Mercy heads the rest of the way to the docks to meet back up with Elijah, but their conversation is cut
short by Volda, who stands her ground at the docks. Mercy leaves Volda with the veiled threat that she
will not go quietly, and Volda decides there’s no one left in Esterholt who can stop Mercy.

Mercy departs, eager to put distance between herself and Esterholt, and sails for the cove.

i. Optional Esterholt Content

a. There are several hidden chests buried around Esterholt. Mercy will need a shovel and adequate
defense to dig them out and open them.
b. If Mercy recruited Silas from Carvannah, she can visit Aunt Agatha’s room after the two of
them retire to catch them up to their old tricks
c. If Mercy returns to the hunter’s cabin after retrieving the idol but before going to sleep, she’ll
sneak a peek at Marianna and Heimrich in the loft
 d. After the first day in Esterholt, Mercy finds a training sword in her bedroom. If she aligned
with the Peacekeepers in Witchdale and has Brandis in the cove, interacting with it will cause
her to reflect on what Dalkon is up to…
e. A vial of shadow oil turns up in Aunt Agatha’s room on the second day. If she recruited
Dietrich, interacting with it will cause her to reflect on what’s going on back at the cove.
f. Cutscenes will be different (or in some cases, added entirely) in Esterholt if Hallie accompanies
Mercy
g. Speak with the blue-haired girl in the village more than once before the final day and invite her
back to the cove. If Mercy isn’t accused of murder in the village, speak to her on the final day by
the docks and she’ll accompany Mercy home.
h. There’s a hole blocking a chest in the hunting grounds. You’ll need to push the snowball in to
fill the hole, which requires pushing it as far north as possible and walking the long way around
the cliffs to pull it from the other side.
i. There’s a cave in the hunting grounds with a familiar-looking throne. Approach it, and Mercy
will have strange visions and wake up outside. If she tries to enter again, she’ll bring Orus with
her, and he’ll lead her to an extremely dangerous boss encounter. Mercy can attempt to flee this
fight at any time.

Chapter V, Part 1: Growing Pains

A.
Upon returning to the cove from Esterholt, a cutscene plays in the Shiveworth nunnery. When it cuts
back to the cove, Mercy tells her aunt and any other newcomers to settle in and get comfortable. In the
meantime, she has 3 errands to run:
1. Send a letter back to Marlan informing him that Aunt Agatha is safe
2. Check in with Roald
3. Give Eva the monument inscription she took from her great-granduncle’s journal

B.
Once these tasks are completed, return to the planning table and choose the next upgrade for the cove.
Mercy’s pain is getting worse, so she asks Dalkon for help “treating” it. After resting and recovering for
a while, Roald suggests they visit Mar’Liore, home of the world-famous harvest festival to stock up on
supplies and make new trade connections.

Mercy agrees, and decides to bring Leite and Gorps along for the trip to get them out of the cove and
give them a break for a change.
Chapter V, Part 2: The Harvest Festival

A.
Check the map and sail south-southwest to reach the island. Hallie or Dietrich will accompany you if
they’re in your party.

B.
To progress the story, head east through Mar’Liore and visit the tent near the public house. An
unexpected scene will unfold, and Mercy sees a familiar face. She decides to wait for him at the public
house, so head there and a cutscene will trigger, featuring two members of Captain Bell’s crew. They
speak privately in a room and Mercy is offered the chance to make a new connection later.

C.
After the chat, Mercy decides to check back in on Gorps and Leite to see how they’re doing. As it turns
out, not great--an Oldlight captain is accusing Leite of crimes she didn’t commit and threatening
arrest. Gorps loses his cool and attacks the soldier from behind, turning a bad situation worse. Mercy
sends them back to the ship with the soldier and sets out to find Roald and look for a way to cover up
their tracks.

D.
Roald is in a meeting with the governor at the Mar’Liore Overlook, south of the public house. Mercy
interrupts the meeting and warns Roald to hurry.

To cover Gorps and Leite’s tracks, Mercy has three options:

1.
a. Investigate a room on the second floor of the public house to look for clues about its
inhabitant. The clues suggest the inhabitant has been swimming somewhere close-by.
b. Head outside and talk to the old lady by the water wheel, standing by the stream. She
mentions that something or someone ate all their pumpkins this year and to talk to
Douglas in the barn to the north to learn more.
c. Douglas confirms that someone sketchy is going on and Mercy offers to take a look,
which gives her access to the boat at the lake.
d. Head west from the farm into the meadow, and then north to the lake. Take the boat
and cross the lake north, and keep going north until you reach a small inlet where a
szarva woman and two bounty hunters are having a conversation. Depending on
Mercy’s choices thus far, the bounty hunters will either attack Mercy or back down.
 Either way, once they’re taken care of, Mercy can speak with the szarva to learn that
she’s looking for her sister.
e. At the end of the conversation, if Mercy lies and says Leite was captured by soldiers,
Belka will act recklessly and make herself the primary suspect in the missing captain’s
case, which counts towards covering Mercy’s tracks.

2.
a. Visit the crime scene and pick up the Oldlight captain’s crest from the ground.
b. Head east towards the public house and look for the woman standing around with the
Southgate soldiers by the cliff. She’s a courtesan, and for a fee, she’s willing to plant the crest in
the Southgate captain’s room so as to incriminate him.

3.
a. If Mercy’s agility is 40 or higher (not counting any stats from her weapon), she can pickpocket
a Southgate captain standing on a ledge between the two tents in eastern Mar’Liore.
b. After taking the Southgate captain’s crest, she can plant it back at the crime scene.

E.
After these tasks are finished, head south from Mar’L iore to the docks to find Roald having just
wrapped up his meeting. He warns that they’ve already paid for the supplies, so leaving early means
taking a big loss.

Mercy then returns to the hold of her ship to find Leite and Gorps fretting over the grievously injured
soldier. Speak to Leite, and depending on whether Hallie is in the party and June has been recruited,
the following conversation and scenes will vary slightly. Either way, Leite says she plans to tough it out,
so Mercy sends her and Gorps up top to watch the fireworks while she deals with the body.

F.
After the body is dumped, Mercy offers to head into town and pick up a meal for Leite and Gorps.
Head to the festival area and speak with the woman at the food stand, then bring the meal back to the
ship. On the way, Tafo, Captain Bell’s ship doctor, offers to introduce Mercy to a mutual acquaintance.
She agrees, but she brings food to the others first.

G.
The mutual acquaintance is Petrova, a feared pirate. Petrova and Mercy strike a deal: she will smuggle
his weapons out of Mar’Liore and stash them in her cove for a time, and in return, Petrova will bring
Mercy anywhere in Oldlight territory she can’t reach on her own. After the meeting, Mercy returns to
the ship and goes to sleep.
H.
Come morning, the crew gets the supplies from Mar’Liore and loads it up. When Mercy is ready to
depart, she speaks with Elijah at the docks, and they sail back to the cove.

Chapter V, Part 3: Prison Break

A.
The game cuts to Admiral Belor in the Carvannah palace, speaking with one of the mysterious hunters
from before. The hunter reports that Marlan Corvis is in custody and being interrogated even now.
The admiral senses something strange going on, though he does not know what.

B.
The scene then cuts to Marlan being questioned in a dungeon. To his surprise, a familiar stranger
appears and sets him free, but he must escape on his own.

Before leaving the room, Marlan grabs a spear from the northeastern corner. He leaves the room and
finds Cattie wandering and confused. She’s been tortured for information about Marlan and the “class
3 finder” (Mercy) who was staying at her inn. Marlan vows to bring her to safety.

Head east through the corridors and confront the soldiers. One of them escapes to retrieve a finder.
After defeating the soldiers easily, Marlan must engage the class 2 finder by the exit. After the fight, it
cuts back to Mercy in the cove.

i. Optional Mar’Liore Content

a. If Mercy visits the old lady in front of the barn during the day, she learns that the assistant is
slacking in her duties. Mercy finds her passed out drunk in the northern part of Mar’Liore and
decides to help the old lady herself. Follow the recipe closely and add in the right ingredients
for the best outcome. Visit again at night to get a sample and talk to the guy next to the
cauldron to get his opinion.
b. Mercy can visit the upstairs room at the public house before Gorps attacks the soldier. If she
does so, Belka the szarva is still in her room, and Mercy can yield to or resist the woman’s
essence.
c. If Mercy gets the quest to deal with the pumpkin thief from Donald in the barn, she can take
the boat out on the lake and visit a cave on the west side. The culprit is waiting inside and does
not seem to take kindly to Mercy.
d. There’s an old fisherman by the lake who lost his rod to a giant fish. Head to the middle of the
lake and search all the fishing spots until you find the big lad. If you try to fish and the normal
 fishing prompt appears, it’s the wrong spot. When you find the fish, be sure to steal from
it--you can get a unique quest item.
e. If you tracked Carlisse down in Witchdale, you can speak to her again in Mar’Liore to
challenge her for the title of Champion of the Hall. She’ll tell you to come back later, and you
can do so by telling Elijah it’s time to go, leaving town, and coming back after. If you win, she
agrees to return to the cove for a time to see what Mercy has been working towards.

Chapter VI, Part 1: The Delivery

A.
After returning from Mar’Liore, Mercy can head straight for the planning table and decide what to
work on next.

B.
Time passes, and the scene cuts to Mercy’s bath interrupted by Dalkon, who brings news: Shiveworth
has been occupied by soldiers, and the Albath Estate was destroyed. Mercy, furious, decides to cash in
on her deal with Petrova by delivering his weapons and getting him to bring her straight to Shiveworth.

She dresses and prepares to depart, but finds Dalkon, Roald and Eva in a conference on the path. They
try to dissuade her from leaving and fail. She heads straight for the exit without any goodbyes, because
she’s both too proud to admit her mistake and afraid of disappointing her friends.

Her crew loads up Petrova’s weapons, and they sail west for Witchdale.

C.
Once in Witchdale, Mercy heads for the pub to see if there are any more rumors about Shiveworth.
The bartender mentions a new peacekeeper from Shiveworth, so Mercy heads for the barracks next.

The peacekeeper is on the 4th floor of the barracks, and her name is Vess: Mercy passed her in
Shiveworth before leaving. She confirms the rumors about the fire and also mentions that Marlan
Corvis has been captured.

D.
Mercy returns to the inn and reserves a room to wait for Petrova. She checks around her room to kill
time and reflects in the vanity mirror about her regrowing eye. She goes to sleep for a while, but
awakens to a loud explosion.

E.
When she gets outside, she sees the peacekeepers are under attack by an unknown assailant and appear
to be overwhelmed. She heads for the town center, revealing Petrova urging Captain Milton to
surrender. He does so under duress, and Mercy demands an explanation.
They return to the inn and converse, during which time Petrova reveals his plans for a revolution, for
which they need the weapons Mercy smuggled in. Mercy reminds Petrova of his part of the bargain,
and he agrees to bring her to Shiveworth.

Chapter VI, Part 2: Home, Sweet Home

A.
Mercy returns to the coast of Witchdale and departs on Petrova’s ship. They sail east for Shiveworth,
and Mercy rows into shore during the night to avoid Oldlight soldiers.

B.
Mercy travels east along the coast, which brings her close to town. She reflects on her adolescence
before heading north, into the woods around the edge of Shiveworth. Passing through the woods
brings her right to the nunnery, which is guarded by a trio of soldiers. There’s no way around them, so
Mercy decides to go through them.

C.
After the fight, Mercy heads upstairs in the nunnery and confronts her father. They have an awkward
conversation, and Mercy learns something about her life she was not prepared to hear. She leaves and
heads back to the coast where she first arrived, determined to return to the cove and put this all behind
her. Unfortunately, her boat is destroyed in a mysterious explosion as soon as she arrives, and she
realizes she’s trapped.

D.
Mercy returns east to find an Oldlight soldier waiting for her. She is trapped, surrounded by soldiers,
and a finder appears to subdue her. She tries to fight back, but it’s hopeless. She’s captured and taken
by ship far to the south, to a monastery near the Oldlight capital, where she’s blinded and made into a
finder.

Chapter VI, Part 3: The Finder

A.
Ritual conditioning is performed on Mercy with varying results depending on her choices to yield or
resist essence up to now.
B.
After the conditioning, Mercy finds herself trapped in a dormitory for finders in some remote
monastery. Her keeper is attempting to train her on behalf of the Church, starting with the finder sign
language.

Starting here, the choices diverge into a series of choices and paths which are a little too involved to
describe in full detail. However, there are two trackers to keep in mind:

- Stalled time
- Keeper favor

Stalled time is achieved by failing to perform well on tests and refusing to study. Keeper favor is
increased by responding to the keeper favorably and performing well on tests, and lost by doing the
opposite.

C.
It’s up to Mercy if and how she takes the finder tests.
1. The first one is the sign language test.
2. The second test is to find and identify hidden essence in the dormitory. Essence is hidden in
five locations:
a. The papers on the west side of the room
b. The finder’s bed
c. The big box next to Mercy’s bed
d. The wall by the exit
e. The plant on the east side of the room
3. The third test is the same as the second, but in the much larger and more treacherous “theater.”
There are ten essence locations:
a. A crack in the wall in the northwest corner
b. A skeleton against the western wall
c. A crack in the wall just to the east of the skeleton
d. A broken barrel in the mid-western portion of the room
e. A cubby of gravel just to the east of location d
f. The crane scaffolding in the center of the room
g. The finder shackles in the center of the room
h. A hole in the wall in the northeastern area
i. A crate in the far northeastern corner
j. A broken barrel in the far southeastern corner
D.
1. If the keeper’s favor drops low enough while enough time is stalled, the first route occurs.
Mercy is taken back to be conditioned further, which accelerates the growth rate in her
essence-eye and triggers a trance-like state, granting her the power to escape on her own. She
jumps off a bridge into the river below and washes up downstream. The mysterious guard in
her room, Rondo, chases after her and offers her a way out, which she accepts. They reach the
boathouse and sail for Carvannah.

2. If enough time is stalled without dropping the keeper’s favor too low, the second route occurs.
The keeper goes to deliver a message to the priestess, leaving Rondo alone to watch over the
finders. Rondo tranquilizes the class 2 finder and escapes with Mercy through the stables below
the monastery. Mercy is told to steal what she can from the stables to prepare for the journey,
but their escape is interrupted by an Oldlight captain and a soldier. Rondo has to fight them
before they can escape to the boathouse and sail for Carvannah.

3. If the keeper’s favor is kept high enough without stalling for too long, the third route occurs.
Mercy is brought higher into the mountains to an essence mine to get some actual job
experience and expedite her development. Mercy has to search the mine for essence, which can
be found down a little passage on the northern end of the mine. When she brings it back to the
keeper’s tent to the south, there are two possible results, depending on the keeper’s favor:
a. If the keeper’s favor is high enough, Mercy can seduce the keeper and steal her key and
her essence.
b. If the keeper’s favor is not high enough, Mercy must retrieve the shovel from the tent,
wait until the keeper goes to sleep, and knock her unconscious with it before stealing
the key and freeing herself from the shackles.
After taking the key, Mercy needs to create a diversion by knocking the torch onto the bridge
by the exit. She flees down the mountain until she stumbles onto a priest watching the sunrise.
He offers to bring her to a boathouse belonging to a friend of his, and she complies. At the
boathouse, she discovers that the priest’s “friend” is a fellow spy--Rondo. They set sail for
Carvannah.

E.
Mercy and Rondo arrive in Carvannah after their voyage, which is in the midst of an underground
revolution. The mastermind of this event is Silas, who Mercy may or may not be well-acquainted with,
depending on her actions in Carvannah previously. It appears Silas went through all the trouble of
freeing Mercy, in part, because he wants her help.
Chapter VI, Part 4: The Revolution

A.
After arriving in Carvannah, Mercy and Rondo (and potentially Claudia) head for the aqueducts, the
entrance to which is hidden in an alley in the noble district. They travel west through the aqueducts
until they reach the Crows’ hideout (either for the first or second time, depending on Mercy’s actions
in chapter III). Silas is waiting to greet them, as well as another mystery guest, who turns out to be
Beatrix, with Orus in tow. They share a long-awaited reunion, but their celebration is cut short by the
necessity of swift action for the sake of the revolution.

B.
Silas requests for the duo to find and lure a member of Carvannah’s clergy back to the hideout. The
priest, who was present at Hallie’s public execution, happens to be taking clandestine nightly trips to
the Sleeping Frog. They set off further west through the aqueducts and emerge from an abandoned
building in the middle of the noble district. From there, they return to the Sleeping Frog just a little
ways northeast and find their target in the basement speakeasy, partaking in the festivities. With a little
help from the proprietor, they manage to persuade the addled priest into following them back to the
abandoned building, where Mercy gives up the facade and resorts to threats in order to complete the
task.

C.
Mercy has yet to fully recover from her time at the monastery, and having completed their task, she
decides to head for the bathhouse to get away from the prying eyes of the Crows for a short while. She
returns to Carvannah’s square and enters the inn where the bathhouse is located. She checks in with
the innkeeper and heads for the baths, bringing Orus with her. She meets a nice young lady in the bath
and proceeds to traumatize her forever by attempting impromptu surgery on herself. It doesn’t go well,
and she wakes up back in the Crows’ hideout even worse for wear.

D.
She is afforded a short rest before Silas requires their aid again. This time, their task involves infiltrating
the Carvannah palace from below, passing through the aqueducts and the recently-excavated tunnels
west of the Crows’ hideout. There are enemies along the way, so prepare accordingly. Mercy depends
on Beatrix’s “Essence Flare” skill for the encounters since she’s still blind, but it may be wise to use it
sparingly, since it consumes unrefined moon essence.

After fighting their way through the tunnels, they reach a collapsed cellar area beneath the palace,
which connects to the dungeons. They head east through the dungeons and check around the dorm
area for clues before proceeding. They find a map and several scattered notes and letters here and there
while trying to piece together what’s happened. When Mercy is satisfied by their search, they proceed
to the stairs leading up to the palace. She begins to scan for other finders, but the party is ambushed by
two masked assassins.

If Mercy and Beatrix survive long enough, (by using the new ability Mercy learned from her finder
conditioning) the assassins will give up and withdraw before catching the attention of the castle
soldiers. Mercy and Beatrix make their way back to Silas in the aqueducts as quickly as possible to
report their findings.

E.
Having done everything asked of them, Silas relieves them of their duty and wishes them well. The
revolution begins, and Mercy and Beatrix escape back east through the aqueducts and emerge on the
coast, where Rondo is waiting for them with a ship ready. He sails them as far as Mar’Liore, where they
part ways. Rondo returns to Carvannah to see what’s become of the revolution, and Mercy and Beatrix
ride with one of Petrova’s commanders west to Witchdale.

In Witchdale, Mercy reunites with Petrova himself, who tells Mercy more about her grandmother,
who turns out to be Friehdhilda Albath, the First Calamity. He also mentions her first protege, a man
by the name of Benn Wilkes, who Mercy might consider looking into.

Elijah, meanwhile, was waiting in the Witchdale Inn for Mercy to return. He sent a bird back to the
cove for the others to retrieve him, and before long, a ship arrives and it’s time to return home at last.
Mercy makes amends with the cove for leaving on her own and introduces Beatrix, who gets along well
with everyone. She’s eager to return to her room and sleep in her own bed for the first time in months,
but there turn out to be a couple of unexpected guests.

i. Optional Witchdale Content

a. If Mercy witnessed the shapeshifter scene during her first visit to Witchdale, she can visit the
same house again for a more “personal” introduction.

ii. Optional Monastery Content

a. If Mercy seduced her keeper, she can speak with the class 1 finder before her departure from
the mine and bring her along.

Iii. Optional Carvannah Content

 a. Upon first arriving in Carvannah, Mercy can explore freely. If she speaks with both Trish (in
the tavern) and Kylie (on the castle plaza), Kylie will later appear in the inn when Mercy goes to
take a bath. Mercy has the option of “visiting” with Trish… and a surprise third party.
b. West of the Carvannah docks, near the boathouse, a new tent has appeared. Mercy is
introduced to the enigmatic flame cultist for the first time… but not the last.
c. The fortune teller’s tent is open at night in the castle plaza. Mercy can visit when she goes out
on the town for her bath later and have her fortune told. If she attempts to visit the tent again,
she finds it… different.
d. There’s an optional path to the southwest area in the excavated tunnels west of the Crows’
hideout with a jumping path and a treasure chest.
e. If you visit the interrogation room in the castle dungeon, Mercy will have a conversation with
Beatrix and leave. You can visit for a second time to find a secret item.

Chapter VII, Part 1: Grey Clarion

A.
After chatting it up with the recently-arrived Cattie and Marlan, head to the dorms and have a serious
discussion with Roald. Mercy has a choice of how to react to his insistence, which comes into play later
on. Once that business is over, Mercy decides it’s time to address the elephant in the room: her
returning eye, and the worsening pain associated with it. To this end, she goes to Moon Lee for help,
who vows to do what she can.
B.
The scene will jump to one or two different segments, depending on some of your actions thus far.
One of them is a palace conference room with a bunch of different high-ranking Oldlight military and
church representatives, who discuss the recent goings-on.

C.
Cutting back to Mercy, some time has passed with Moon Lee and Beatrix struggling to find a viable
solution to Mercy’s pain. Moon finally proposes somewhat of a long-shot: sail northwest to Grey
Clarion, home of the dangerous and enigmatic harp clans, in search of a certain plant capable of
expediting Mercy’s healing process. Mercy agrees, but it’s Marlan who leads the expedition, while
Mercy stays home to rest.

D.
Arriving at Grey Clarion, Marlan is sent out to find the flower. He travels west, where a harp confronts
him almost immediately. She cautions him that he’s being watched, and Marlan continues west to the
Red Steps. He fights his way through various enemies to reach the top and finds a hidden passage to
the west side of the plateau which lets him descend into the caverns below.

There are two harps engaged in some sort of clandestine activity, and Marlan is faced with a choice for
how to proceed. Either way, once through, he picks the flower and starts his journey back. When he
reaches the coast again, that same harp from before confronts him a second time and heralds the arrival
of their “nestmother.”

A larger, more powerful harp matron arrives and makes Marlan an offer he plainly refuses, which
prompts aggression from the nestmother’s pet worm. Marlan fights off a dangerous enemy before
returning to Moon Lee and sailing home.

They return to the cove with the flower, and Beatrix prepares for the procedure while Mercy is still
unconscious.

Chapter VII, Part 2: The Siblings

A.
When Mercy finally wakes from her pain and drug-induced sleep, several days have passed. Beatrix
catches her up on what’s transpired, and she goes to thank Moon at the alchemist station. Moon
suggests getting started on another project while she has the time, and Mercy returns to the residential
area to find Gorps and commission another project. They get to work right away, and Mercy is just
settling in to the comfortable cove life once more when a ship is sighted on the horizon.

B.
There’s a gathering around the docks as everyone discusses who it could be and how they’ve discovered
them. It’s decided eventually that the ship is unmanned and drifting past them on a trajectory to crash
on the rocks and sink. The prospects of a new ship and possible survivors prove too hard to ignore, so a
boat is sent to scout it out.

Two unconscious siblings are recovered from the otherwise empty Oldlight vessel. They’re put up in a
room in the dorms while they recover.

Mercy and Beatrix check on them shortly, once the girl has awoken. She’s called Isabelle, and she tells
Mercy that she’d been abducted from Mar’Liore to become a finder and her brother had fought back
against soldiers and been arrested for his trouble.
Mercy wakes the brother up and gets him to explain the rest. He’s called Edward, and he says they were
caught in a bad storm after leaving Mar’Liore, and he used the diversion to fight back against the
soldiers. He and his sister were knocked unconscious in the struggle and awoke in the cove.

C.
Mercy leaves them to check in with Vincent and Gorps near the docks about the Oldlight ship. They
explain that the repairs are uncertain, but that Gertrude is working on something and they’ve salvaged
some things from the ship in the meantime. They bring the chest full of goods back to the dorms, and
Mercy follows.

Looting the chest yields a collection of documents that Mercy can’t read in her present condition, as
well as some weapons and armor. She brings the documents to Roald, who skims through them and
finds a writ of capture for a class 1 finder, which corroborates the siblings’ stories. Since they seem to be
telling the truth, Mercy returns to their room to explain that they’re free to move about the cove as
long as they’re supervised.

After that, she returns to her room on the top floor of the dormitories and goes to bed early.

D.
A week passes in the cove while Mercy and the others wait for Marlan to return with the ship from his
supply run to Southgate. The siblings are acclimating to life in the cove, and they’re making themselves
useful.

Mercy is having breakfast in the tavern with Isabelle, who vows to help repair their bedding. After
eating and a chat with Leite, Mercy returns to the Beatrix’s room in the dorms to talk about removing
the blindfold. Their conversation is interrupted when Edward and Dalkon rush in looking for Beatrix,
and Edward explains there was a training accident. Dalkon’s hand is injured, but not seriously. Beatrix
stitches it up and Mercy leaves them with a stern warning about their carelessness.

On her way out, Roald stops her about those documents from before. He explains that as far as he
could tell, the ship’s captain had stopped keeping records many months before their presumed arrival
in Mar’Liore, and that nothing indicates they had ever been there in the first place. By itself, the news
doesn’t prove much. Mercy decides that they’ll just have to be careful until Marlan returns.

E.
After their talk, Mercy decides it’s time for a bath. She visits the bath house and just starts to settle in
when Gorps busts in dramatically, describing his big plans for a new construction project. Mercy
reluctantly agrees to hear him out and ends her bath prematurely.
She meets him outside and listens to his grand plans for a boathouse. She tells him to hold off on the
idea for now, until they have an actual shipwright. Edward pays them a visit and tries to pet Orus,
which doesn’t quite work, and Mercy sends him off to help Gertrude at the forge.

After the conversation with Gorps, Mercy returns to Beatrix to ask for her thoughts on what Roald
had mentioned previously. Beatrix gives her the sort of advice one might expect from Beatrix, and
Mercy decides to sleep on it. She’s anxious to pass the days, since she wants to get that blindfold off as
soon as possible, and returns to her room for another early night.

F.
Beatrix wakes Mercy in the night and tells her something has happened. Orus has been tranquilized
and the siblings are nowhere to be found. Furious, Mercy storms out to the docks with Beatrix to
confront the siblings, who reveal themselves to be Oldlight spies. They’ve spent the week sabotaging
anyone in the cove who might be a threat and have decided to capture Mercy and bring her back to
Oldlight.

Mercy has other plans, and surprises them by fighting back despite her condition, proving far stronger
than they anticipated. They’re slain, and Mercy laments to Beatrix that she should have held back or
done things differently.

G.
When the others wake, Beatrix explains what happened. Roald expresses concern that Oldlight might
have been tipped off regarding their location. Mercy has Gorps build two coffins and leaves the siblings
on the docks.

Later in the day, Mercy finally has her blindfold removed. At first, there is no change, but her sight
gradually starts to return in the eye that had been removed by Oldlight. She finds it confusing to see
both essence and normal sight simultaneously, and it takes her a while to acclimate.

They bury Edward and Isabelle at sea, and Mercy returns to sleep, having had very little the night
before. When she wakes, she leaves the dorms and prepares herself for the days ahead. In just a few
days, Marlan returns with supplies.

H.
Mercy catches Marlan up on the events during his absence, and explains that she plans to follow a tip
from Petrova regarding a man called Benn Wilkes, her grandmother’s protege and the infamous Second
Calamity. Marlan promises to hold the fort and wishes her good luck.
Chapter VII, Part 3: The Second Calamity

A.
With the ship crew back, Mercy wastes little time in setting off with the newly-acquired Oldlight vessel.
They sail east, wrapping north around the Oldlight continent and continuing into the uncontested
seas beyond.

When they’ve sailed far enough east, they come upon a tiny island with a lone little restaurant called
New Light.

B.
It’s surprisingly busy, and Mercy and Elijah quickly deduce that it’s a popular destination for pirates.
Mercy speaks with the proprietor of the establishment, a man by the name of Sodrek. He’s evasive with
his answers and invites Mercy to sit down for a meal. Once finished, she snoops around upstairs and
finds two sailors in the midst of a heated argument. It seems one of them has stolen something from
the establishment and the other wants nothing to do with it, vowing to leave his partner behind. The
partner chases after him and Mercy ducks into another room to avoid detection.

In the room to the far west, Mercy finds a key in a bureau and pockets it, then follows the two sailors
outside to see the commotion. Their argument continues, and as promised, one sailor leaves the other
behind and departs on his own. The commotion caught the attention of a couple of other nearby
sailors, and thinking she could use this to her advantage, Mercy advises one of them go inform the
bouncer.

This proves to be the distraction she needed to check out the cellar, where she finds a chest stashed
away in the far corner. Besides some banged up old armor, she finds a cook’s log and inventory from a
pirate ship, which makes her curious about Sodrek’s past.

C.
Mercy returns to the docks outside to find the stranded sailor confronted by Sodrek and his bouncer.
Out of options, she decides to look more carefully at Sodrek’s essence to confirm her suspicions. It
proves to be formidable, and she’s all but convinced that he was the cook for Benn Wilkes.

Sodrek leaves the mess to his bouncer and returns to the restaurant, and Mercy follows. She attempts to
get more information out of him discreetly, but eventually gives up and cuts to the chase: she shows
him the eye beneath her patch and tells him she’s looking for information about Benn Wilkes.

He eventually relents, describing how to reach Benn Wilkes’ location but warning her against it. Mercy
ignores his warnings and sets off at once.
D.
Wilkes has been hiding in plain sight, as it turns out. Sodrek’s instructions are to sail east until the birds
go quiet and the fish disappear, then turn due south. They follow these directions, but on their way
south, the ship is attacked by deepfolk.

Mercy and Orus (and June, if you recruited her) take a stand on the deck against the encroaching
beasts, bracing for multiple waves of attacks before providing any rest. At last, the leviathan appears,
and the party fights for its life. Once the deepfolk are defeated and the crew has rested, they continue
towards Benn Wilkes’ location, just a little farther south at the ruins of an old prison.

E.
The Oldlight Prison, or Fort Wilkes as it has become known, once housed some of Oldlight’s most
dangerous criminals. Many years ago, Benn Wilkes attacked it and made it into his personal base of
operations, and Oldlight gave up on taking it back altogether.

Mercy can rest in the coastal area before passing through the gate to the yard. The island is mostly
desert, but a heavy density of flora has taken root in recent years. The entrance to the prison is directly
north from the coast, through the yard.

F.
Inside the fort, Mercy and Orus are greeted by a strange, bear-like creature. It passes through the gates
and climbs the steps, and Mercy takes it for another elemental being, like Orus. The gates are locked, so
Mercy has to choose between going east or west. Regardless of her choice, she’ll eventually arrive at a
room in the far northern wing of the prison after passing through the prison corridors, fighting
strange, twisted creatures along the way.

G.
The northern room has two switches on either side of the staircase that control the different statues in
the room. There are two primary objectives here:

The first is to use the switches on the west and east walls to rotate the busts so that the directions
they’re facing matches the skulls in the stairwell.

The second is to use the switches on the northern wall to raise or lower the pillars so that they, too,
match the pillars in the stairwell.

Doing this will require taking both the east and west wings, in any order. Once these two objectives are
achieved, the central gate will unlock and the staircase to the warden’s office will be accessible.
H.
After reaching the warden’s office, Mercy encounters the familiar once more, and finds Benn Wilkes
waiting for her.

Just as Sodrek had warned her, Wilkes appears to have gone mad. He mistakes Mercy for her
grandmother and attempts to persuade her to take all of his essence. When Mercy declines, he takes his
own life and feeds his essence to the elemental, who devours it whole. As a result, the elemental
transforms and attacks Mercy.

I.
After defeating the transformed elemental, it vanishes, leaving Mercy and Orus alone in Wilkes’
chambers. Mercy searches the room and finds another golden idol like the one from Esterholt. She
decides to take it with her, fearful of it falling into someone else’s hands.

She leaves the prison and begins to search the yard for another monument like the one she brought the
first idol through. To the north, around the prison, she finds one, but it’s dormant. She’s at a loss for
how to activate it, so she makes a stone-rubbing to bring back to Eva. Once this is complete, she
reunites with Elijah and the others on the coast.

i. Optional New Light Content

a. Kethra, west of the dock, will buy edible fish for a marked up price compared to other vendors
b. If you let Kylie and Kobe Jones survive your encounter in Carvannah, they turn up again in
New Light. If Mercy speaks to them, Kylie will demand a rematch and meet you outside.
c. Kelsie, upstairs in the inn, is seeking revenge and needs help from a bounty-hunter. Mercy can
let her join, though she isn’t convinced a bounty-hunter is what the woman needs.

ii. Optional Fort Wilkes Content

a. There are many hidden items scattered in and around Fort Wilkes, several of which require stat
checks to find. Chests buried in the sand, items hidden in cracks in the walls, and some items
which require a certain level of spirit to be detected in plain sight.
 b. In the northern yard at Fort Wilkes, a mysterious being has just escaped the prison after a close
encounter with something inside.
c. In the west wing of Fort Wilkes, there’s a cell that can only be accessed via a hidden passage just
above the table.
d. In the northwest wing of Fort Wilkes, Mercy can recover the “interrogator’s journal” key item
e. In the eastern wing of Fort Wilkes, there’s a cell that can only be accessed via a hidden passage
just to the left of the large hay bale.
f. If Mercy returns to the warden’s office after the crew has packed everything up, there’s a ring
glowing on the floor where the journals had been.

iii. Optional Mar’Liore Content

a. If you return to Mar’Liore, Sigrun the shipwright may be recruited there and brought back to
the cove, along with two of her companions (including a dye-maker).

iv. Optional Esterholt Content

a. If you recruited Claudia and learned her story in the cove before now, her story can be
continued here on your way to track down Wilkes.
b. Returning to Esterholt with a Sun Key allows you to unlock the chest in the hunting grounds,
which contains a unique weapon for Orus (Earth Shard: Att +8, Def +8, Target Rate 150%).

Chapter VIII, Part 1: The Second Idol

A.
Upon returning to cove, the scene will cut to Oldlight’s Head of Intelligence, Kasto, in his office. He
learns of the disappearance of two of his spies, Edward and, and speculates about what may have
happened.

After that, the scene cuts to the deck of a Glass Sea Alliance battleship. Two familiar Oldlight assassins
appear to have killed everyone on board and are jumping from ship to ship, clearing out GSA forces.
After the scene on the ship plays out, it cuts back to Mercy in the cove.
B.
Mercy decides the best course of action is to speak with Moon Lee and Eva privately regarding the idol
she brought home. Eva takes Mercy’s stone-rubbing of the monument at Fort Wilkes and agrees to
meet. Moon agrees to host the gathering in her room, on the third floor of the dormitories.

On her way through, Mercy finds that the residential portion of the cave has undergone another
face-lift, with Gorps (and Hobart, if he’s there) having cleared out another sizable chunk of stone and
made it more spacious.

After finding Moon in her room, the meeting begins and Mercy produces the idol. Immediately, it
makes the other two women in attendance feel ill, and she’s forced to cover it back up. Eva decides to
get started on translating the monument as soon as possible, and Moon offers to see what medicines
she can come up with to combat the idol’s nauseating effects.

Mercy decides to lock it in a chest and sink it in the ocean nearby until Eva can figure out how to put it
back where it belongs.

C.
Feeling unsure where to go from here, Mercy seeks Marlan’s advice. He urges for more manpower,
especially, but also messenger birds to set up communication networks around the cove and keep ahead
of Oldlight’s movements.

D.
After the chat with Marlan, the scene cuts to one of two different locations, depending on whether you
recruited Carlisse back in Chapter V. If you did recruit her, a scene will play back on the same GSA
battleship as before, except this time, the player is controlling Carlisse. She encounters the ship and
boards it to investigate, where she’s ambushed by a couple of assassins. It does not go how they
planned.

If you did not recruit Carlisse, the scene cuts to Petrova’s galley, where his First Division Commander
reads him the latest news from the Glass Sea’s front lines: they have lost a number of ships
mysteriously, and Petrova wryly sends his condolences.

E.
Days pass in the cove after her talk with Marlan, and Mercy decides she and her crew have rested
enough: it’s time for her to set out in search of help. She heads to the planning table for what may be
the last time, then takes to the seas again.
Chapter VIII, Part 2: The Edges of the World

The better portion of Chapter 8 is open-world and optional. There are five major new locations, and
Mercy must visit two of them before Eva is finished with her notes on the monument and Mercy can
return the idol to Fort Wilkes. The following locations are listed in alphabetical order, but you may
find it more convenient to do them in a different order based on geographical location (or not to do
them at all).

I. Aster Valley - Aster Valley is southwest of New Light Restaurant on a large island adjacent to the
Oldlight mainland.

A.
When Mercy arrives at Aster Valley, she remarks that she was here once before, as a girl, though she’d
mostly forgotten about it. The valley branches east, southwest, northwest and north. East and
southwest both exit to the overworld, and leading northwest is a dead end for now, but heading north
will lead Mercy to Aster Village.

On the way through the valley, a massive bird flies overhead. It disappears, so Mercy decides to just
ignore it for now. Keep heading north, and she’ll eventually arrive at the village.

B.
A welcoming committee of town guards interrogates Mercy as she arrives. She lies and tells them she’s
her sister, Beatrix, in case they have her on record here. Mercy’s parents used to trade with Aster
Village, which the captain of the guard seems to recall. He lets her through.

If Mercy follows the path straight north through the village, she’ll eventually come to a large manor at
the edge of town. Bronwyn, the lady of the manor, is telling a crowd of familiar-looking Carvannah
soldiers they are welcome to stay and rest briefly, but there is no place for them in Aster Valley on
account of Carvannah’s recent defeat and subsequent renunciation by Oldlight. The soldiers are upset
and decide to set up camp outside the village.

Once the soldiers are gone, Bronwyn and the guard captain discuss what to do about a certain
troublesome priest in the village. Mercy confronts the guard after their discussion, who warns her to
stay out of it.

C.
Because Mercy listens to no one, she decides not to stay out of it and instead visits the church near the
entrance to the town. Two priests are having a heated argument, and one of them storms out. Mercy
follows the priest south, all the way to the southern edge of Aster Valley, where he’s brooding.
The priest is called Winfred, and he seems deeply troubled by the valley’s recent trend of increasingly
immoral behavior. He is also deeply confused, and believes his ability to perceive essence is a religious
phenomenon. Consequently, he thinks Mercy is someone very devout and is filled with determination
by her presence. He returns to the village with a renewed sense of purpose.

D.
Unfortunately, the guards back in Aster Village are not interested in Winfred’s message. They threaten
to lock him up if he doesn’t calm down and cease his proselytizing, but Winfred seems nearly
possessed. He refuses to back down, and just when Mercy thinks it’s over for him, he releases a
powerful essence attack, incapacitating his would-be detainers.

The nearby locals see the essence magic as a religious miracle, and Winfred’s message against the priests
and the Lady of Aster start to sink in. Mercy decides the debacle will make a useful distraction for
Oldlight and the Church, so she continues on to the manor to ensure no one else puts a stop to
Winfred’s tirade.

E.
Two disenfranchised guards, who happened to witness the spectacle, are explaining the situation to
Bronwyn, who demands Winfred’s capture. Rather than risking the wrath of the Light, they decide to
just flee town, but Mercy intercepts.

Her plan to cause a diversion depends on the village not only staging a successful revolt against
Bronwyn and the priests, but also being able to withstand any minor probes from Oldlight. To that
end, she needs the guards to stay and help out. Since they aren’t interested, it becomes a fight.

After Mercy beats the guards up, she warns them to arrest Bronwyn before the mob gets riled up and
things get any worse.

F.
Mercy feels like it’s a job well-done, so she prepares to leave the valley and head for the next destination.
On her way out, however, the massive shadow of a bird flies overhead once more, and this time speaks
to Mercy.

It offers the Daughter of Essence aid, if she can reach him deeper in the valley. She heads northwest
through a narrow path in the valley, determined to find the mysterious bird.

There’s a winding passage that leads to a swirling vortex of night’s essence against a cliff face. She draws
the essence out, revealing a passage hidden beneath it.
Inside the passage, there are a series of obstacles Mercy is forced to overcome by manipulating essence.
The first is a pillar of fire, and like with the illusion outside, Mercy takes the essence and dissolves it.
The next is a sprawling black pit, and Mercy materializes the moon’s essence in the pit to form
platforms to jump across. Lastly, a raging waterfall, which Mercy separates by controlling the sea’s
essence to reveal the passage’s exit.

Beyond the waterfall lies a massive crater. The bird appears before Mercy directly and explains the
crater’s significance: the site of an ancient war, where the first Daughter of Essence was killed by a
combined effort of szarva and what the bird describes as “nightmares,” which Mercy understands to be
the aggressive essence beings she’s encountered many times before.

It also conveys a few new pieces of the mythology surrounding the Daughter of Essence to Mercy, who
is skeptical of its accuracy. At the end, the giant bird pledges to serve Mercy, and says its name is Qel.

Mercy leaves the crater on Qel’s back and returns to the ship, where Elijah and the others are waiting.
She explains that she won’t be needing a ride home, since she can now fly around the world map on her
new giant bird.

Qel will only land on the places he’s marked as safe, however, which limits Mercy’s options somewhat.
To summon Qel, press [V] anywhere on the overworld.

i. Optional Aster Valley Content

a. After the Carvannah guards leave the village, Mercy can find them camping out in the valley
and persuade them to turn against Oldlight and join her cause.
b. There is a staircase to the left of the church going down into its basement. This is where
Lindsay, the wildlife rehabilitator, works with a number of animals. In exchange for milk (4)
and wool cloth (9), Lindsay will offer to help Mercy find some messenger birds. He meets
Mercy near the valley’s eastern exit, by a big tree, and directs her to search the little crawlspace
behind it. She finds a bird, but its big shaggy friend attacks. After the first bird is obtained,
Mercy can meet Lindsay again outside Bronwyn’s manor. This time, the bird is sitting up in
the branches, so they need to lure it down with some food. Mercy will have to collect grapes, a
clam, and bread for Lindsay’s bait. The bait works a little too well and draws some unwelcome
visitors, but when the dust settles, Mercy has 2 new messenger birds to bring home to Marlan.
c. If you visit the Inn, a scene will play with a strange girl being thrown out. Mercy will relent and
allow the girl to accompany her back to the cove.
d. Lady Bronwyn’s pocket watch can be found upstairs in the inn, suspiciously.
 e. A key can be found in a box within the large villa. This unlocks a hidden door behind the cafe
in which a mysterious woman seems to be baking treats for the shop out front. Mercy realizes
something else is lurking there with them and draws the thing out to destroy it. A tough fight
ensues, and afterwards, Mercy vows to assist the recalcitrant woman as best she can. This first
involves speaking with the shop owner, then bringing the woman back to the cove to rest and
recover under her supervision and Leite’s care.

II. Danforth Crook - Danforth Crook is located west of Mar’Liore, technically in the Glass Sea.
Oldlight has broken through a Glass Sea blockade (thanks to the help of a couple of pesky assassins, it’s
implied), and the small island farmlands called Danforth Crook are in the path.

A.
Upon arriving in Danforth Crook, Mercy notes at once that the fields are burning, and she suspects it’s
too late to do anything about it.
In the center of the little village, a woman is working in front of a gathering of food and supplies. She
reveals herself to be Vos, the captain of a team of guards hired by the GSA to watch over the farmlands
and keep it safe from thieves or predators. She asks a couple of favors of Mercy, who is happy to help
the village in turmoil.

B.
The first favor is to round up the loose chickens and return them to their pen in the barn. Mercy can
only pick one up at a time, but they’re all nearby and relatively easy to find. Once five chickens are
returned to the pen, she needs to block off the entrance by pulling over the wooden sawhorse from the
bottom-right corner of the barn.

C.
After the chickens are secured, Mercy has to round up loose pieces of produce scattered around the
village, left behind by Oldlight soldiers when they ransacked the stores. There are twelve pieces in total,
and all of them begin to sparkle once the quest to find them is active, so mount up on Orus and zip
around collecting them, and it shouldn’t take very long.

Once the produce is all gathered up, Mercy returns to Vos to report her progress. The guard captain
has one more favor to ask, and this one is a little bigger.
D.
Mercy is asked to head north beyond the fields and look for a bandit camp hidden away in the forest.
Vos doesn’t want the bandits stealing what little food they have left, since the winter is already going to
be harsh.

Mercy heads north to investigate, and once inside the forest, she finds the bandits in a bit of a bad
situation of their own. Oldlight came through from the north, and the bandit camp was their first stop
along the way. Some of the bandits are dead or unconscious, and one bandit in particular doesn’t take
kindly to Mercy’s approach.

Mercy is forced to fight Weston, who’s a quick knife-wielder, but ultimately no match for the
Daughter of Essence. After his defeat, Weston’s companion pleads for the bandit to be spared. Mercy
presses her for details about what happened and offers the bandits a chance to fight back against
Oldlight by joining her.

E.
Eventually, they accept the offer, and Mercy returns to the farm to tell Vos. Vos isn’t thrilled by the
decision to let the bandits go, but Mercy doesn’t really care. She returns once more to the camp, where
the bandits have packed up their belongings and are preparing to go. One of them is seriously injured,
so they have to be careful moving him, but after speaking with Weston and bringing what they can
carry, they’re ready to return to the cove.

ii. Optional Danforth Crook Content

a. After finishing your jobs for Vos, speaking with the girl standing next to the burning fields in
the north-west lets you recruit an expert agriculturalist. In exchange for helping Mercy with the
cove, she asks for a shipment of food to be brought to the village from Mar’Liore. Mercy can go
to Mar’Liore and arrange something with the woman who runs the food stand where the
harvest festival takes place, then bring the shipment back to Vos.
b. In the public hall, a man named Barion asks for help reaching Glass Sea Alliance forces. Mercy
can bring him to Witchdale and leave him with Petrova’s First Division Commander, who
vows to send word to the GSA.
c. Mercy can return to the bandit camp after everyone has packed up and left. If she does so, she’ll
find a key stashed away in their leftover supplies. If she brings the key to the public hall and
moves the box in the bottom-left corner (which requires 50 ATK), she can access a secret
basement and find a mysterious prisoner. The prisoner really didn’t want to be discovered, and
he’s not happy about it.
III. Fogsborough - Fogsborough is technically on the Grey Clarion continent, but it’s far enough to
the west that it’s been occupied by Glass Sea settlers. The only way to access Fogsborough is by passing
through a cavern just east of it.

A.
The mountain pass east of Fogsborough is split up into two major interior sections. The eastern
section has a couple of ice puzzles, so expect Mercy to do a little sliding around until she finds the right
path through.

There are also crawlers and stalkers, two ice-based enemies, in the pass, so bringing fire and light magic
will help her get through easier.

The western portion of the pass is predominantly a cavernous lake with different routes across by
jumping the gaps. Mercy will also find a place to rest and recover here, if she needs it.

B.
Once through the pass, Mercy enters Fogsborough from the eastern side and has a few different
options for what to do. Talking to guards or townsfolk reveals fairly quickly that there are pirates in
Fogsborough, and Mercy is mistaken for one of them on more than one occasion.

Route 1:
The first option for finding out what’s going on is heading straight west, for the docks, then north to
the market. On the left side of the market, near the water, you’ll find Irving, the disgruntled old man
from Bell’s crew. He appears to be interrogating a member of the guard, but he doesn’t reveal to Mercy
why he’s here.

Leave the market and return, and he’ll have moved on to a different member of the watch to
interrogate. This time, instead of confronting him directly, Mercy can hide behind the fishmonger’s
stand and eavesdrop.

Route 2:
The second option is to head directly to the town’s tavern, found in the north-west corner of the
eastern portion of town. While approaching, a cutscene will play featuring Abigail from Captain Bell’s
crew and a hapless watchman. She finagles him into following her upstairs to her room, and Mercy
decides to follow after to make sure he’s not in any danger (since Abigail is a little insane).
Head upstairs to the tavern’s second floor accommodations, and at the second door from the left,
Mercy can listen in on what’s happening. What’s happening, as it turns out, is just about what you can
imagine, except Abigail’s purpose is clearly extracting information.
C.
Whichever route was chosen, Mercy will learn that a portion of Bell’s crew is here in Fogsborough
hunting for a man called Franz, who appears to be a dock-worker living in an attic apartment near the
docks. She decides to take it upon herself to find this Franz person before Bell’s crew does, because
she’s interested to know why Bell is so eager to track him down.

D.
Charmy’s house, where Franz is staying, is the one nearest to the docks, and Mercy heads upstairs and
into the attic to find Franz. Franz is occupado and really doesn’t appreciate the interruption. Mercy
warns him about Bell, but negotiations break down quickly and it turns into a fight.

Sort of. Franz essentially pocket-sands Mercy and makes a break for it, and Mercy, furious and a little
bewildered, pursues him to the docks, where she learns from a guard that she’s not allowed to pass
through any farther.

E.
The ship at port is a Glass Sea Alliance vessel, so Mercy gets the bright idea to flush Franz out by
reporting a stowaway to the GSA soldiers meeting in the town hall. The town hall is near the entrance
to town, guarded by a member of the local watch. Mercy bids him summon the ship’s owner from
inside, who is not thrilled, but reluctantly agrees to conduct a search to make sure nobody’s hiding out
on his ship when he sets sail.

F.
Once the search begins, Mercy visits the docks again and checks in on the progress. She sees GSA
soldiers guarding the docks now and scouring the deck, so she decides he’ll have to make a break for it
sooner or later. Since the only other way out of town is east, the way she came, she decides to camp out
in the mountain passage and wait for him to pass through. She waits at the campsite in the western
portion of the passage to see if he comes along, and sure enough, he falls right into her ambush.

This time, however, the gloves are off, and Franz turns out to be quite a lot tougher than he let on the
first time. Franz wields a rapier and boasts a lot of the same thunder-based skills as Captain Bell, and
merely by coincidence. Once Mercy prevails, he finally relents and the two have a chat.

Franz, as it happens, is the true captain of Bell’s crew, but one day he just suddenly called it quits and
headed for the hills. Bell has been chasing him all over the world for years, trying to get him back, to no
avail. Even so, Mercy persuades him to see what she’s been working on, and Franz agrees to return to
the cove.
iii. Optional Fogsborough Content

a. Abigail and Irving aren’t the only members of Bell’s crew in Fogsborough. Heckart is chilling
in the bar, and Mercy can catch up with him.
b. There’s a partially-deaf sailor on the docks called Gongo. Mercy can persuade him to sail for
her in exchange for getting Beatrix to help his sick mother. After some deliberation, he follows
Mercy out of town once she finishes setting things up with Franz.
c. In the market square, there’s a gifted young alchemist called Colette. After speaking with her,
Mercy can ask Moon Lee to borrow some notes. Moon Lee consents, and the notes can be
taken from the counter in her room. Bring these notes back to Colette, and she can be
persuaded to join Mercy in the cove, where she sets up a new workstation for useful medicine.
d. At the western entrance to the mountain pass, there’s a chest buried behind a tree to the east.
Mercy will need 68 DEF to open it.
e. In the western portion of the mountain pass, hidden in the south-east corner, there’s a glowing
object on the ground. Mercy can retrieve the item and bring it with her to the frozen pond in
the eastern pass. There’s a strange-looking column above the ice where Mercy can insert the
stone, which in turn opens the iron gate back to the west, near the waterfall. A hidden passage
leads to a frozen throne, and a cutscene will play.

IV. Grey Clarion - Grey Clarion is north of Witchdale and east of Fogsborough. Marlan was here
previously to retrieve the flower for Moon Lee.

A.
Before arriving at Grey Clarion, Mercy speculates that she may be able to enlist the help of the harps
somehow. The cliffs are broken up into four major sections and riddled with dangerous enemies. The
area Mercy first arrives in is the coast, and west of the coast is Grey Clarion proper, a fairly linear path
west to the mountains. The path north through the mountains is aptly called the Red Steps, and this is
a winding trail up to the area at the top of the steps called The Plateau.

B.
On the way up the Steps, a harp appears before Mercy and warns her off. Mercy proclaims herself the
Daughter of Essence and asks to meet the harp in charge (the nestmother). After a little help
translating from a secondary harp, the first harp flies off to arrange the meeting. Mercy is able to
continue north to the Plateau, and from there, cross the bridge to reach the Eastern Spire, home of the
closest harp nest.
C.
The harp from the Steps is waiting at the foot of a strangely-shaped building with a clock looming over
its doorway. She introduces herself now as the nestmother’s second and says the nestmother will meet
her inside.

The nestmother is a strange, wordless harp, bigger than all the others and considerably more powerful.
She communicates via a brutal form of telepathy and visions, but Mercy more or less gets the gist: the
nestmother wants revenge for the death of her harps at the hand of rival nest.

Mercy isn’t sure she wants to get involved in a bird gang war, but she needs all the help she can get, so
she heads back west across the bridge to look into what can be done.

D.
At the west end of the Plateau, there’s a hole in the ground with vines leading down into the grotto,
where Marlan previously found the flower. This time, Mercy is going to jump across the rocks over the
river until she reaches the doorway beneath the waterfall. This enters the grotto passage, which
branches west and north.

Follow it north, deeper into the mountain pass, and continue along the trail until Mercy reaches an
opening at the northern edge of the tunnel that opens up into a sprawling, open-air region along the
top of the mountain peaks called The Teeth.

To cross the Teeth, Mercy has to take the path to the west, following it all the way north, where two
unfamiliar harps are talking to each other. Mercy startles them by moving too close, and they run off to
get backup.

E.
Beyond the Teeth, to the north, is the peak of another very tall plateau belonging to a rival harp nest,
called the Northern Spire. Climb the long staircase to the very top, where a group of harps are waiting.

Rather than fighting her themselves, the harps send out their pet dragon, which is a vital part of every
nest’s combat strength, and part of the reason the Eastern Spire is so vulnerable, since Marlan recently
killed theirs on the way through.

It’s a tough battle, but once Mercy defeats it, she’s able to return to the nestmother with the good
news. The loss of their dragon will make the Northern Spire nest much less likely to take over now that
their levels of strength have evened out considerably.
F.
The nestmother is appeased by the offering and agrees to aid the Daughter of Essence. She sends
Megaera, her second-in-command, to accompany Mercy back to the cove.

iv. Optional Grey Clarion Content

a. After speaking with the nestmother for the first time, some new conversations open up with
harps around the spire and the market. If Mercy talks to some of the harps and learns more
about the nest’s woes, she gets a dangerous idea for how to help the nestmother… and herself.
Visit the nestmother again to see another mutual exchange.
b. A small nest of moth feathers can be found in a cave if you follow the western path beyond the
waterfall. If Mercy has collected enough of the moth feathers scattered around the Teeth and
the Northern Spire, she can deposit them into the nest to trigger a hidden encounter. Winning
this encounter will be helpful later on in the story.
c. In the nest’s belly, beneath the Eastern Spire, you can find an old statue of a human
swordsman. There is an engraving on the statue, which can be used to unlock the chest in the
grotto.
d. Also in the nest’s belly, there’s a bookcase with a music box on one of the shelves. If you
recruited Dietrich from Carvannah, you can take the music box with you.
e. In the Eastern Spire Market, the blonde harp from the Red Steps called Honu asks a favor after
you’ve spoken with the nestmother. She wishes for Mercy to bring back a male harp called
Aklas who fled the nest to look for his son. He is apparently quite special. Mercy can find Aklas
on an island to the southeast, camped out among the cliffs. If you had previously recruited
Dietrich, you’ll find the two of them together, since Aklas is Dietrich’s father. You can invite
them to the cove or part ways amiably, to avoid any conflicts of interest with the nest.
f. If you chose to bring Dietrich and his father home, the music box can be returned to Dietrich
in the throne room. He’s happy, and he gives Mercy something of his in return.

V. Hawk’s Keep - Hawk’s Keep is an ostensibly abandoned fortress on a small island south/southwest
of Mar’Liore. It was used by Oldlight in the Oldlight-Southgate war, but abandoned when a massive
sinkhole opened in the middle of the castle, making it unsafe and largely uninhabitable.

A.
Upon entering Hawk’s Keep, Mercy notes that she’s not alone. There appears to be a mining camp
here digging up crystal formations made by essence deposits.

Hop in the mine cart near the exit and take a ride to the other end of the Keep, then double-back a
little ways to find Crandt working at a desk under the canopy.
Much to Mercy’s chagrin, however, Crandt is the head of the world-class mercenary force known as the
Grey Lions, and he seems eager to collect on the very large bounty that has fallen into his lap.

B.
Mercy has three options. She can call Crandt’s bluff and fight him one-on-one before making a run for
it, she can negotiate with Crandt for a better deal than Oldlight’s offering for her bounty, or she can
just try to run away immediately.

Path 1: Fight
If you choose the fight option, he proves a challenging opponent. If the fight takes too long, Crandt’s
backup will arrive in the form of two more mercenaries, and Crandt himself backs off to ensure the exit
is blocked. With this path, you’re guaranteed at least one more enemy.

If you get him below a certain health threshold before 8 rounds, he throws a smoke bomb and flees
before backup arrives, but Mercy still has time to make a break for it. A timer starts, and if you make it
out of Hawk’s Keep before the time runs out, you avoid any other fights… for now.

If Crandt’s backup shows up, or you run out of time, you’re forced to fight Warris at the exit. He’s
another tough fighter, and he’ll also call for backup if the fight takes too long. If you rescued Hallie, she
actually jumps into the fray after a few rounds and fights by Mercy’s side.

The first backup arrives on turn 7, and it’s a high-defense fighter named Liesel. She can make the fight
drag on even longer, so try to take her down quickly. If the fight lasts 12 rounds, the real threat shows
up: a samurai-style fighter named Fukuro, who’s fast and deals extremely high damage. He’s a glass
cannon, so as long as you can withstand his attacks, he’ll go down quickly. He also has a unique sword
that can be stolen.

Once Mercy takes everyone down, she can head for the coast and escape the Grey Lions… for now.

Path 2: Negotiate
Mercy strikes a deal with Crandt: she’ll hire his forces to defend against an Oldlight attack and also save
the mercenaries time by locating the highest concentration of essence in the mines for them. She notes
that most of what they’re mining is worth very little, and Crandt agrees to the conditions.
C.
Finding essence for the Grey Lions means descending the rope ladder at the top of the camp down into
the sinkhole. Once Mercy reaches the bottom of the ladder, head west into the tunnels and navigate
your way south to the passage leaving the area.

The second tunnel area opens up to another black hole, this one even deeper than the last. Mercy finds
Fukuro at the top of the opening, who is decidedly uninterested in descending into the black
unknown. Unfortunately for Mercy, that’s where the essence is strongest, so she grabs the rope and zips
on down.

D.
The bottom of the pit is dark, and there’s a short passage leading west and north. Follow it until you
reach the sink hole’s molten heart, a giant underground lake of magma. Massive quantities of essence
are coming from beneath the surface of the magma, and Mercy is unsurprised to find an elemental
beast emerge from the depths to destroy her.

The fight is one of the hardest yet, but once Mercy prevails, its essence scatters around the cavern, ready
to be collected. Mercy returns to Crandt with the update, who seems pleased. In order to facilitate the
arrangements, Crandt sends Fukuro back to the cove with Mercy.

Path 3:
This is the shortest and simplest path. If you choose to flee, a timer appears, and Mercy has until the
time runs out to escape from Hawk’s Keep without being surrounded. This allows her to escape from
the Grey Lions… for now. But she expects she hasn’t seen the last of them.

v. Optional Hawk’s Keep Content

a. East of Hawk’s Keep, there’s a burial site for many of the victims lost when the sink hole
opened. One of the graves has a clue to treasure in the epitaph, referencing a hiding place near a
“lake of fire.” In the Heart of the pit beneath Hawk’s Keep, there’s a hidden path on the right
side that Mercy can try to navigate until the end, where she finds the treasure and another
message.
b. In the eastern passage at the foot of the first ladder after descending into the pit, Mercy can
bring a Sun Key to unlock a chest. Inside is a unique piece of offhand equipment: Book of Lies
(Luck -5, MP Costs -20%).
Chapter VIII, Part 3: The Second Monument

A.
Eva will finish translating Mercy’s stone-rubbing and return to her station in the cove after any two of
the previous objectives are completed, though it’s worth noting that running from Hawk’s Keep will
not count towards the chapter’s progress.

Eva passes her notes on the monument to Mercy and bids her leave at once, eager to be relieved of the
nauseating power of the idol.

Mercy takes her notes, retrieves the idol, and ventures back west to Fort Wilkes once more.

B.
She brushes up on Eva’s notes on the journey over. When she reaches the monument, in the northern
portion of the yard behind the Keep itself, she’ll have to manipulate the essence and arrange the runes
to precisely match Eva’s illustrations. Once that’s complete, she’ll also have to infuse it with enough
essence that it’s able to activate after so long dormant.

She does what she can, then rests while waiting to see if anything happens. The idol is not pleased by
the developments and tries to stage a revolt, but Mercy is having none of it. Once the monument is
ready, she activates it and passes through to another strange dimension similar to the last one, featuring
a throne and a platform for the idol.

She is joined suddenly by Seth, Wilkes’s elemental companion from before, in his original state. He
seems unconcerned by their previous encounter, and once she returns the idol, he sends her back
through to the other side.

Having completed her objective, Mercy packs it up and heads for home.

C.
On the way out of Fort Wilkes, the scene cuts to a place on the opposite end of the world. The procyot
territories, south of the Glass Sea, where Oldlight is building a shipyard to aid in their invasion. It
features the long-absent Abner, Mercy’s older brother and the Albaths’ middle child. He’s a
recently-promoted captain of the Oldlight Navy, and he’s visited by one of the three Oldlight Generals,
“Diana the Berserker.”

After that, the scene cuts to the palace in Carvannah, now occupied by Silas and his Crows. It features
Silas receiving a message from Mordecai from Petrova about the latest developments in the war. It
seems things are progressing faster than he accounted for, but it’s clear they have plans of their own.
If Carlisse was recruited, the scene will cut back to Mar’Liore, where she is convincing her old friend
and fellow Southgate veteran, Thorgeir, to join her one last time in the fight against Oldlight.

i. Optional Cove Content (Ch. 8)

a. After two out of the five previously-referenced locations are completed, Mercy can visit a room
on the 2nd floor of the inn, where something is sparkling in one of the dressers. It turns out to
be a breast pump of some sort, and Mercy reflects on what it’s doing there and why. Mercy can
then talk to Leite at the counter and ask her about the cove’s sudden new milk supply. After
this, szarva milk can be purchased directly from Leite.
b. One purpose of szarva milk is as a component in a new prototype potion from Moon Lee’s
alchemy station. Crafting the Potion of Plenty requires the station to have been upgraded once.
If Mercy crafts the potion, Moon asks to borrow it so she can “test” it first. If Dietrich was
recruited and brought back in chapter 7, he is the “lucky” guinea pig, and Mercy can visit
Moon’s room in the dorms to learn how the scene plays out.
c. If Belka was recruited in chapter 5, bringing a bruiseweed potion to Wulfhilde triggers unique
dialogue. She asks to borrow it, and you can visit Belka’s room on the 3rd floor of the
dormitory to learn what happens next.
d. Bring any messenger birds you collect to Marlan, who places them in the new aviary for
training. Two of the birds can be found in Aster Valley, and another in a small wooded island
northwest of New Light restaurant. These will have an effect on events in chapter 9.

Chapter IX, Part 1: The Coming Storm

A.
After the scenes play, Mercy is back in the cove, and Marlan meets her at the docks to tell her that a
meeting has been called. They’ve been scouted by Oldlight vessels, and Mercy joins them in the
residential area to discuss what can be done about it. The conversations that follow will depend on the
strength of Mercy’s cove, which is an observable level contingent on all the choices made up until now.
Depending on the outcome, Mercy will either decide to confront the coming forces head-on or try to
buy time for backup.

If your cove’s strength is high enough, Marlan will propose confronting the forces head-on, and Mercy
can choose between confronting directly or trying to defend until backup arrives. If the cove’s strength
is higher still, the choice disappears in favor of direct confrontation, since it’s generally a better option
at high strength.
However, though the reward for confronting Oldlight’s forces is potentially much greater, the risk is
also greater. It’s possible to lose nearly any member of the cove in this fight if they are less resilient and
assigned to a team with a low probability of success. Death tolls are calculated from lowest resilience to
highest, meaning if a team does suffer casualties, you can predict the outcome in advance.

Before either, however, Marlan asks Mercy to evacuate Leite and Cattie from the inn to the rear
portion of the cove, to ensure they’re out of harm’s way. Simply speak with both of them and return to
Marlan.

B1.
If Mercy’s cove strength isn’t up to snuff and she chooses to defend, all the fighting forces are placed
behind the main choke, and the objective is to hold out long enough for backup to arrive.

Mercy fights numerous waves of Oldlight soldiers, as do some combination of her allies (which can be
more or less difficult depending on your recruited allies). If Dalkon loses his fight, it’s possible to lose
him permanently!

Eventually, General Dianna herself shows up with a strong finder in tow, and the fight seems hopeless.
Mercy only has to hold out for a couple of rounds, however, before reinforcements arrive and the
General withdraws her forces.

B2.
If Mercy chooses to confront the Oldlight forces directly, Dalkon lays out a battle strategy and asks
Mercy to assign her forces to a handful of different tactical units based on their strengths.

Each unit has its own set of preferred stats--usually two--while the remaining stats only contribute 50%
value to the unit’s total score. Trying to maximize the value of your characters’ stats and minimize their
weaknesses is crucial for getting the highest possible scores in the battle.

Most recruited members of the cove can help defend, although some may require additional steps
before they’re ready or willing (like Claudia’s side-quest). Some, like Cattie and Leite, can’t fight at all
and need to be protected.

In total, there are 5 units:

1. Demolition Unit, which involves smuggling and planting explosives onto Oldlight’s battleship.
There are two members of this unit, and their preferred stats are Stealth and Resourcefulness.
 2. Infiltration Unit, which is the combat force assigned to accompany the demolition unit and
help infiltrate the ship and discretely eliminate any obstacles along the way. There are two
members of this unit, and their preferred stats are Stealth and Combat.
3. The Front Lines, which is out in front of the choke where Mercy herself is fighting. There are
four members of this unit, and their preferred stats are Combat and Resilience.
4. The Rear Guard, which is the unit in charge of protecting the civilians hiding out behind the
residential area. There are three members of this unit, and their preferred stats are Resilience
and Resourcefulness.
5. The Main Force, which is comprised of everyone not chosen until now. The preferred stats for
this unit are Combat and Resilience.

After assigning the units and returning to Marlan, the battle begins. Mercy has to fight overwhelming
numbers of Oldlight on the front lines by herself until she is eventually exhausted and overrun.
Collapsed and on the verge of capture, some part of the Daughter of Essence awakens, and she
confronts General Dianna and her finder in a new, vastly more powerful form.

Once the battle is over, a badly-wounded Diana calls for a full retreat and slinks away, taking what’s left
of the attacking force with her back to Oldlight. Mercy collapses from the exhaustion and wakes five
days later with Leite by her side to learn the results of the battle.

Depending on Mercy’s choices for each unit (as well as a few other hidden variables, like whether their
stations had been upgraded), the results of battle are determined and any rewards or penalties are
tallied.

Ratings for each unit can range from F to S+, as can the cove’s total score. An F rating for the battle
means the cove suffered catastrophic losses, however, and will lead to a bad ending.

Besides merely offering a better reward, the siege results will also partially influence the number of
reinforcements that arrive later.

Chapter IX, Part 2: The Spy

A.
Captain Bell’s forces arrive at the cove either during or after the siege, depending on whether Mercy
was holding out for reinforcements or not.

He stays a while and mentions his plan to help Petrova reach Carvannah by engaging with the
Oldlight. Marlan decides to take advantage of the distraction and asks Mercy to visit a place called the
“Emerald Flats,” an island behind the blockade in Oldlight territory where he wants her to look for a
Southgate spy named Mikhail he believes should still be hiding out there.

After talking it over with Bell, Mercy and her ship’s crew set off for the Flats and slip through the
blockade while Bell’s forces engage it.
B.
The Emerald Flats is a large area with a lot of buildings to search, but one of the largest among them in
the town’s center is the town hall, where she asks the secretary for some information about Mikhail.
Instead of helping, however, the secretary has her escorted to an internment camp for undocumented
immigrants who appear to be of Glass Sea origin. Mercy’s islander coloring makes her a prime
candidate for internment, and she’s disarmed and informed that she’ll be working in the mines.

While in the camp, before being assigned to work, Mercy meets some of the other prisoners. One of
them, a woman named Jess, tells Mercy she can’t recall anyone named Mikhail, but that she thinks
there was a Southgate man who fits her description named Bart, who’d been missing for some years.
Bart had previously been engaged to a woman from the Flats named Medina, and what’s more, Mercy
learns that Medina had been taken somewhere by the soldiers and missing for several days.

C.
After meeting everyone in the camp, Mercy is assigned to work in the mines. She soon realizes they’re
there to dig up remnants of essence from an old emerald mine. Pressing the “F” key while in the mines
detects nearby essence, and Mercy plays a sort of hot-and-cold game to narrow down the location until
she locates and mines out all four different locations.

Once finished, she can turn the essence over to the guard outside the mine and retire for the night.

D.
Mercy is awakened in the night by the news that an Oldlight Lieutenant wishes to speak with her. He
escorts her to a remote cabin and reveals that he knows her identity and wishes to make a deal: increase
the strength of his essence in exchange for her freedom.

Mercy agrees on the condition he reveals where the woman called Median was taken. As it turns out,
she’s a favorite of the Captain’s, and they’re staying together at the inn. Mercy promises to hold up her
end of the bargain, but instead loses control and drains him of all his essence, leaving him unconscious.
She takes his barracks key, and upon leaving the cabin, is forced to fight several of the Lieutenant’s men
while still unarmed.

After defeating the soldiers, Mercy decides to retrieve her equipment from the barracks before
confronting the Captain directly.
E.
While approaching the town’s center, a guard discovers Mercy and asks why she’s unattended. He
escorts her to the barracks and hands her over to the soldiers there to lock Mercy up while he goes to
investigate the cabin. Mercy complies, since she needs to go to the barracks anyway.

Once inside, she opts to fight again, taking down more soldiers inside the barracks, then retrieves her
belongings. Now armed, she heads for the inn and learns that the Captain is waiting for her.

F.
Inside the captain’s room, to Mercy’s surprise, she finds not only Medina, but also the class 2 finder
from Mubarek Monastery. The Captain returns shortly after Mercy’s arrival, and she finally realizes
that Mikhail, the Southgate spy she was sent to recover, had changed his name to Bartholomew and
gone undercover as an Oldlight soldier, eventually achieving the rank of Captain.

However, Captain Bartholomew is also the man responsible for Mercy’s prior capture, so she isn’t so
quick to forgive. Mercy has to fight both Captain Bartholomew and the powerful finder at once.
Mercy only has to weaken Bartholomew enough that Medina steps in and begs her to spare him.

Mercy agrees, but only on the condition that Medina and the finder return with her to the cove as
collateral to ensure that Bartholomew uses his authority as Captain to help them escape back through
the blockade.

G.
After leaving, a group of soldiers confront Mercy, but wisely decide not to fight until they learn the fate
of their captain. Medina and Iscah, the finder, are waiting for Mercy near the market, and they all
depart together.

Elijah is waiting on the ship and warns Mercy that Bell’s and Petrova’s forces are already long gone, and
that the blockade has collapsed back around the island. Fortunately, Bartholomew makes good on his
promise to get them through by recalling some of the ships back to help search the island.

H.
Back at the cove, Mercy helps Iscah and Medina settle in, then goes to tell Marlan what’s happened.
He’s not thrilled by Mercy’s choice to fight Mikhail instead of bring him back to the cove, but they
don’t have time to dwell on it. He informs Mercy that he’s going to meet with Petrova personally to
deliver one of their messenger birds, and he departs.
Chapter IX, Part 3: The Propagandist

A.
Depending on your choices previously, Roald will either be in the cove, waiting to speak to Mercy, or
he will have delivered a letter while Mercy was absent.
In either case, he explains the need to visit his contact in Mar’Liore (who happens to be the mayor he’d
made trade arrangements with on your previous visit).

You can find the mayor on the cliff overlook to the east of Mar’Liore where he and Roald were
previously negotiating. He reveals that he had been delivering shipments of Roald’s propaganda
pamphlets to Neresalem, the capital city, all this time, and that it had inspired many of Oldlight’s
enemies to strike out west in search of the Daughter of Essence.

Many of those people, as it happens, have been turning up in Mar’Liore, and the mayor has been
directing them to hide out on the island north of town.

B.
Mercy finds the encampment with a band of rowdy mercenaries all eager to find the Daughter of
Essence. She introduces herself and invites them all back to the cove to start preparing for Oldlight’s
next attack.

When they arrive back at the cove, Mercy has a chance to greet her new guests properly. Hamill, Clarke,
Grimace and Nathaniel are all four lieutenants of the now-defunct mercenary guild, Red Elm, and
each have a unit of soldiers at their command. The precise number of these reinforcements will vary
dramatically based on your choices up til now, with the general trend being that actions building on
Mercy’s reputation will increase the number of reinforcements that arrive.

C.
In addition to the reinforcements, there are a number of other possible units that can arrive with the
Red Elm band.
1. Monday, a world-class dancer, who has been seeking the Daughter of Essence for some time,
thought she doesn’t reveal why. Monday will only arrive if the cove has a certain level of morale.
2. Bennie, an infamous Southgate Captain known for his strength and determination. Bennie is
an exceptional soldier and a big asset to the cove, but he’ll only arrive if Mercy’s reputation
exceeds a certain level.
3. Kylie and Kobe Jones, the bounty hunters hired by Mercy’s mother to capture her in
Carvannah. In order for them to appear, Mercy needs to have spared their lives, as well as given
them a rematch at Newlight Restaurant.
 4. Lara, the mercenary from Carvannah. Lara will only appear if Mercy helped her out in the
wine cellar in Carvannah’s noble district on her first visit.

D.
After greeting all the new arrivals, Mercy is eager to get some rest. Depending on your actions
previously, however, there’s a chance that a commotion will prevent her from getting straight to sleep.
If the Red Moth Ejderha was confronted in Grey Clarion, it reappears now in the cove, and Mercy is
forged to rematch the powerful creature.

Just like last time, however, it doesn’t seem to want to commit fully to the fight, and instead flies off
when weakened, this time to roost above the cove.

After the commotion, or in the event that the creature never appears, Mercy retires to her room to
sleep and wait for Marlan to return.

i. Optional Emerald Flats Content

a. There’s a little island at the southern edge of the lake with a chest on it. This can only be
accessed by locating a barrel hidden behind a tree next to the nearby house with the grey roof.
The barrel then needs to be pushed into the water, creating a platform.
b. After leaving the barracks, the guard at the internment camp can be fought. Defeat the guard
and speak with Hector, in the camp, to help them escape. Later, when Mercy is leaving the
Flats, Hector and a couple of the others will ask to join her.
c. After leaving Captain Bartholomew’s room but before speaking with Medina and Iscah in
town, one of the other doors in the hallway is now ajar. Peeking into the room will reveal a
hidden scene featuring a new character. After the scene, the character returns downstairs in the
inn and can be spoken with and recruited to the cove. This must be done before the Oldlight
soldiers occupy the Inn.
d. There’s a character named Styles lounging around the town center who enlists Mercy’s help
with a peculiar delivery service. He wants Mercy to help bring his special muffins to a handful
of women in town, and she’s paid for her services (and given some samples to take home).

ii. Optional Fogsborough Content

a. In the Fogsborough Inn, the flame priestess, Mirelinda Kreel, once again seems drawn to
Mercy. This time, she lets slip that her order’s temple is struggling, and that their sacred artifact
is in need of help. Mercy finds herself dubious of the nature of this “artifact” and pressures
Mirelinda for the key to the temple and its location. The temple can be found to the north of
 Fogsborough. This is a fairly involved side-quest that takes you through multiple locations, so
be prepared!

iii. Optional Recruitable Characters

a. In Grey Clarion, either Ramesh or Elif will join Mercy’s crew, depending on whether Marlan
turned down their offer or not.
b. In Fogsborough, Dougar the blacksmith can be recruited if he was spoken to before the shop
closed down.
c. In Fort Wilkes, the “treasure hunters” Quinn and Bartleby can be found in Benn Wilkes’ old
quarters. These two can also be involved in the quest from part ii.
d. In Witchdale, three different characters can be recruited:
i. Peacekeeper Remi, on the 3rd floor of the barracks
ii. Peacekeeper Leland, on the 4th floor of the barracks
iii. Delilah the shapeshifter can be recruited on the 2nd floor of the dorms if her and
Mercy shared a scene previously.

iv. Special Bird Delivery

a. Mercy has three birds to deliver, and there are three places where she can deliver them. The first
is with the mayor of Mar’Liore, who agrees without any payment.
b. The second is an old man fishing out in the middle of the sea near Shiveworth by himself. In
order for him to agree to take the bird on, Mercy will have to impress him with a large enough
hufferpuffer (larger than 140 cm).
c. The third is a fishing vessel east of Hawk’s Keep, who will require a sizable down-payment for
the job.

v. Optional Cove Content (Ch. IX)

a. After the initial cove siege, if Carlisse, Thorgeir and Gertie were recruited, Mercy can visit the
room they’re staying in on the 2nd floor of the dorms for a hidden scene.
b. If Franz was recruited, a little wild goose chase can begin by visiting Eva, who seems a little out
of sorts. Mercy asks Wulfhilde about it, then returns to Eva to find a box that wasn’t there
previously. The box seems to have been provided by Moon Lee, who Mercy goes to visit next.
Moon implies that she has someone helping out already, and Mercy doesn’t have to worry.
That someone turns out to be Franz, who can be found in the residential area complaining
about Moon Lee’s errands. Return to Eva to discover that her bookshelf is uncharacteristically
out of order. Mercy can help straighten it out. After this, head up to the 5th floor of the dorms,
where Franz is staying, and check for the essence in his bed to reveal a hidden scene.
vi. Optional Hawk’s Keep Content (Ch. IX)

a. After completing Mirelinda Kreel’s temple quest, return to Hawk’s Keep to find Minron, the
szarva from Witchdale, overlooking the sinkhole. If you had spoken to him previously, you can
speak to him again, and he’ll reveal that he is looking for the same relic the flame temple was
housing. Once Mercy fills him in on the details, he vows to return home to his nation and
report all that he’s learned. This will have an effect on the coming battle.

vii. Optional Isle of Deer Content (Ch. IX)

a. The Isle of Deer can only be accessed via Qel, and only within a narrow window in the game
between completing the Emerald Flats and beginning the second siege. After visiting once
during this window, return to the cove and invite Leite to help translate the monuments
written in the szarva language.
b. There are 5 monuments in total--3 in the large path up the mountain, 1 near the lake to the
west, and another outside the cave to the north-east, beyond the campsite. Find and translate
the monuments in any order, and there will be a cutscene in which Mercy and Leite try to
puzzle out what it all means.
c. The campsite to the east offers an optional sidequest-within-a-sidequest in which Mercy
encounters a group of struggling excavators attempting to dig up an old szarva relic but falling
ill before they can locate it. Mercy can attempt to treat the group’s illness, but it will require a
series of Spirit checks to determine how successful she is.
d. After the 5 monuments are found, enter the cavern north of the campsite and Leite will
translate the large wall inscription, and a cutscene will play. Mercy loses consciousness as a
result of partial awakening, and at the same time, something is approaching from the distance.
Orus approaches the campsite and is forced to defend Leite and the unconscious Mercy from
attackers.
e. After the threat is handled, Mercy awakens and decides it’s time to leave. She passes through
the campsite and warns the excavation team about a looming threat, but how they respond will
depend on whether and how well Mercy treated their illness. As she descends the mountain,
she will be attacked by strange beings that seem made of or powered by moon essence. Once
she reaches the exit, the moon harbinger will attack, a challenging boss fight. If she was
successful in treating all the excavators, a member of the excavation team will join the fight and
help, as well as join the cove more permanently.
f. Once the moon harbinger is defeated, they can leave the mountain together and return to the
cove. However, it is also possible now to return to the lake with the moon glass obtained from
the harbinger and place it on the statue, bearing in mind that this will remove the moon glass
from Mercy’s inventory. Upon doing so, the statue will collapse into the ground, revealing a
jump-path to the waterfall. Mercy manipulates the water’s arc to reveal a passage underneath,
 and upon entering, finds a small cave with an armored szarva skeleton. The armor can be
brought to Belka and given as a gift if she was recruited, or it can be brought to Gertrude to be
refitted for Mercy’s personal use.

Chapter X, Part 1: The Invasion

(Warning: Reading ahead will spoil the end of the game!)

A.
As the cove continues preparing for the siege, Mercy waits for Marlan’s return from Witchdale. When
he does return, he asks to speak with Mercy privately, and the two of them meet in Mercy’s room to
discuss his meeting with Petrova. The pirate captain has agreed to offer some assistance in the event
that Mercy is evacuated at the first sign that they will lose, and to avoid her capture by Oldlight at all
costs. Reluctantly, Mercy agrees.

After the conversation, Marlan tells Mercy that he’s brought some help with him. Depending on your
actions in Carvannah earlier, that may include Silas and a couple of his Crows. Otherwise, it refers to
some of Petrova’s men. Once Mercy greets all the new arrivals, she can return to Marlan in the cove and
begin planning for the invasion.

B.
Return to the planning table one final time to begin assigning units for the siege. The basic premise is
similar to the first siege, but there are many more people, more units, more stats and more complex
variables in place which will determine the results.

Broken down most simply, the cove strategy comprises the following 9 units:

1. Mortar Unit - The forces in charge of firing on the encroaching ships with the mortars as long
as possible in the face of returning cannon fire. The stats prioritized for this unit are ranged
combat and resilience.
2. Ranged Ambush Unit - The forces in charge of firing on the ships from hidden locations in
the cliffs around the cove, causing confusion and picking off critical targets. The stats
prioritized for this unit are ranged combat and stealth.
3. Ship Flank Unit - The forces in charge of flanking Oldlight and firing across the shallows with
the long-ranged mortar, forcing some enemy vessels to split off and give chase or risk
catastrophic losses. The stats prioritized for this unit are ranged combat and resourcefulness.
4. Infiltration Unit - The forces in charge of sneaking on board an enemy warship and careening
it into the rocks during the confusion of the siege. The stats prioritized for this unit are melee
combat and stealth.
 5. Scouting Unit - The forces in charge of obtaining and delivering intel between the other
fighting units as quickly and carefully as possible. The stats prioritized for this unit are speed,
resourcefulness and stealth.
6. Shock Force - The forces in charge of ambushing Oldlight’s front lines as they storm the docks
from their rowing boats. The stats prioritized for this unit are melee combat and speed.
7. Main Choke Unit - The forces in charge of holding the main choke between the cove and the
residential area for as long as possible. The stats prioritized for this unit are melee combat and
resilience.
8. Rear Guard Unit - The forces in charge of holding the rear choke between the residential area
and the upper cove, where the civilians and supplies are hidden. The stats prioritized for this
unit are resilience and resourcefulness.
9. The Main Force - These are the remainder of the combatants in charge of coordinating the
battlefield once the main choke is breached and the front lines fall back. The stats prioritized
for this unit are melee combat, resilience and speed.

Other notes about the siege:

1. Oldlight’s strength will vary broadly according to a number of variables based on Mercy’s
decisions, allies recruited and quests completed up until this point. The objective of this
portion of the game is to build your units in such a way that they surpass Oldlight’s unit scores
by as much as possible to avoid casualties, a forced surrender, or worse yet, total annihilation.
2. “Combat Essence” and “Support Essence” are powerful and versatile stats which can make for
good “wildcard” units in the siege. Combat Essence can count towards either melee combat or
ranged combat, and Support Essence can count towards stealth, speed, resilience or
resourcefulness.
3. Once all of the units are chosen, Mercy can choose to distribute reinforcements to each of the
units. This can be a good opportunity to help out teams you’re less confident about and to
bolster your total score so as to avoid casualties.
4. Cove casualties occur in order of lowest resilience to highest on a unit-by-unit basis. If a unit
score isn’t high enough to contend with Oldlight’s forces, any members which fail their
resilience checks will die, which makes some units more vulnerable overall than others. There is
no randomness to the outcome, so all checks are measured against the difference between unit
scores.
5. Stats which are not “prioritized” in a unit are halved when calculating the unit score, which
makes it critical to optimize where high-stat members are assigned.
Chapter X, Part 2: The Dream

A.
After Mercy has chosen her final units, she reports to Marlan and a cutscene will play between Marlan,
Dalkon and Mercy in the residential area. During this scene, Mercy starts to fade away, and is pulled
suddenly out of the cove and into a dream-like plane, separated from her allies at a critical moment.

B.
As she wanders the strange realm, she encounters a number of mysterious women who reveal
themselves to be the likenesses of Daughters long past. Each of these three Daughters are old essence
creatures in disguise, and each will attack Mercy in whatever order she chooses to confront them in.
They are moderately challenging fights, but nothing Mercy isn’t familiar with by now.

C.
After defeating the three beings, the path forward is unblocked and Mercy can proceed to the next area.
There’s a sparkling current of essence rising from the floor in the next area that Mercy can heal from, so
conserve your healing items after the first three fights. After healing here, brace yourself and confront
the final Daughter standing near the base of the tree. This is revealed to be the likeness of Friedhilde,
and this encounter will initiate perhaps the hardest fight in the game.

D.
After the enemy is defeated, proceed further north beyond the unblocked path and Mercy will
encounter another vast sum of abandoned treasure. She does not have time to collect it this time,
however, since she fears her allies are under attack back home and has to scramble to come up with an
untested means of escape. Her methods will bring her back to the scene library reachable from the
cove, and from there, she manages to return to the cove as she normally would. Alas, she arrives too
late.

E.
Mercy discovers the battle is over and the assault is already concluded. The cove is littered with Oldlight
corpses, and Mercy follows the mayhem back through the residential area and to the dorms, from
which she senses life. Depending on the results of the siege, the results inside will vary:

Result 1 - Victory: Mercy discovers her comrades gathered together, recovering after the siege and
discussing how to proceed next. Leite fills Mercy in on what she missed, which will vary from
playthrough to playthrough. After catching up with her allies, they are visited by the Archbishop of
Neresalem and General Diana, who seek to persuade Mercy to abandon the cove and join him. Mercy
declines regardless, but the manner of her decline can take two forms: peacefully declining, or taking
the Archbishop’s essence by force. This choice will affect some of the ending paths later. Continued in
section F.

Result 2 - Surrender: Mercy discovers her comrades gathered together, recovering after their defeat at
the hands of Oldlight and biding their time, afraid to confess to Oldlight that Mercy is absent. Leite
fills Mercy in on what she missed, which will vary from playthrough to playthrough. Mercy surrenders
to Oldlight in exchange for the cove’s safety, and she spends the rest of her life in Neresalem as a finder,
but subject to awakening attempts every day for the rest of her life. Depending on Mercy’s yield/resist
choices thus far, the doctor either succeeds to induce an awakening (which has catastrophic results on
the world), or fails, subjecting Mercy to a lifetime of experimentation. These are endings 1 and 2,
respectively.

Result 3 - Total Defeat: Mercy discovers a number of Oldlight soldiers, General Diana and the
Archbishop of Nersesalem gathered together in the dorms, discussing how best to proceed. All of her
allies have been slaughtered, and there is no hope for the future. Depending on Mercy’s yield/submit
choices thus far, Mercy will either be driven to awaken in that moment (which has catastrophic results
on the world and constitutes ending 3), surrender (which leads back to endings 1 or 2), or reject the
cycle and fight her way through the soldiers in the cove, fleeing for the shore and vanishing into the sea
while her life leaves her. Before she can perish completely, however, something unexpected transpires,
and this results in ending 4.

F.
If the cove was victorious, a little time will pass and the cove will begin the process of healing. Mercy,
however, is tormented by her absence from the cove when it mattered most and the grim reality that
Oldlight will never stop trying to harm the cove for as long as she remains the Daughter of Essence.

She is also still having visions of the canyon that have persisted through the game. She decides to go
there, alone, and reconcile with what waits, knowing she may never return.

Chapter X, Part 3: The Canyon

A.
Mercy returns to Aster Valley and seeks out the canyon beyond the valley. If she was here before, Qel
brings her, otherwise she has to take a ship and pass through the cavern as described in the Aster Valley
portion of Chapter VIII.

Before entering the cavern, however, Mercy finds herself confronted by someone she’s never met, but
who nevertheless has influenced her progress along the way: Farchild. He intends to stop Mercy from
reaching the canyon, citing it as the last place the previous Daughter was seen. He is a challenging fight
with two forms, so come prepared.

B.
After defeating Farchild and declining to heed his warnings, Mercy proceeds to the canyon, where Qel
will assist her down to the bottom. Once at the bottom, Mercy will seek out the knowledge of the
valley, convinced that the secret to her powers reside here, where the dream feels weakest.

She will have to explore three key points to proceed: the glowing rock, the buried skeleton, and the
injured bird. After satisfying these requirements, Qel will warn of an approaching threat, and Mercy
will have to return to him and prepare to face it.

C.
The initial threat turns out to be two final back-to-back challenging boss fights in the form of giant
elemental beings. The first is the keeper of the sun and the second is the keeper of the sea. Upon
defeating these final foes, Mercy stands at the cusp of unlocking the truth about herself and about the
world, but something else awakens far more ancient and terrible, and Qel laments that their time is up.
Mercy is annihilated at the bottom of the crater and gains consciousness, alone, in a churning black
void, summoned by an unfamiliar voice.

D.
Walking north, Mercy eventually encounters Friedhilde Albath, and for the first time in history, two
Daughters speak with one another. Mercy is faced with a choice, and some different options arise
depending on Mercy’s yield/resist choices throughout the game.

1. Awaken (requires having yielded to essence at least 11 times) - Mercy’s understanding of

essence is complete enough to achieve a partial state of awakening, resulting in the 5th ending.
2. Stay With Friedhilde - Mercy decides the best thing for the cove and any future Daughters of
Essence is to preserve her essence in this space with Friedhilde, resulting in ending 6a.
3. Continue the Struggle - Mercy decides she is not done fighting yet and casts aside her gifts as
the Daughter of Essence in order to survive and return to the cove, resulting in ending 7.
4. Relinquish the Essence - Mercy decides the best thing for the cove is to relinquish her essence,
sending the excess she’s collected in her lifetime back to the people she cares about, resulting in
ending 6b.
5. Reject the Cycle - Mercy achieves a sort of reverse-awakening, rejecting the nature of the dream
altogether and powering her broken corporeal form on a quest for revenge against the Empire
until it breaks down for good. This results in the 8th and final ending.

E.
After the endings play out, the player is faced with a sequence of exposition in which many of the
consequences of their choices thus far are revealed. In all endings save for 3 and 4 (in which the cove
was destroyed), an additional scene featuring Leite will play, which is voice acted and has some
variation based on morale and whether Mercy returns to the cove or not.

i. Optional Cove Content (Ch. X)

a. After Marlan returns from meeting with Petrova, Mercy will be ambushed in her room by a
mysterious assassin. If Hallie was recruited, she jumps in during the fight to help, and it’s
revealed that the attacker is a member of the same organization Hallie previously belonged to.
After defeating her, and if Hallie was recruited, Mercy can attempt to hire that organization’s
services by asking Marlan about an advantageous target in Oldlight. If Hallie wasn’t recruited,
Mercy is rescued from being poisoned by Beatrix and Marlan after the fight is over.