An exile returned? How is that even possible? And a Karui warrior, too. Descending from the sky to destroy our enemies like Tukohama in the stories my mother used to tell me. Well, your 'divine intervention' gave us just the diversion we needed to take this tower, so if you keep doing things like that then I might have to start believing in the gods again.
— Introduction |
An exile returned? How is that even possible? And a Templar at that. Striding out of the sunlight to lay waste to our enemies like Ramako in the stories my mother used to tell me. Well, your 'divine intervention' gave us just the diversion we needed to take this tower, so if you keep doing things like that then I might have to start believing in the gods again.
— Introduction |
An exile returned? How is that even possible? Rising out of the darkness to claim the souls of our enemies like Hinekora in the stories my mother used to tell me. Well, your 'divine intervention' gave us just the diversion we needed to take this tower, so if you keep doing things like that then I might have to start believing in the gods again.
— Introduction |
And thank you for finishing off that last overseer for us. I don't know what sort of mother could've birthed that land-loving whale, but we were lucky he wasn't here when we took this tower. He'd have spread us across the floor like butter on a piece of bread.
Here, take something, for helping us in this hopeless fight of ours.
— Overseer Krow |
Thank you. By killing Casticus, you've given us a fighting chance.
And about his eyes... I'm sorry you had to do that, yet although Utula's solution might seem brutal, I've seen Karui men blinded with a hot poker simply for looking a fraction too long at an Oriathan lady. Yes, this is war... and just a little revenge too.
Take something, a token of our thanks.
— Justicar Casticus |
We'd been planning it for months. Spreading the word. Stealing weapons. Gathering support. Utula and his followers did most of the dirty work. I just carried a few messages here and there. Should've known I'd end up like this when the real fighting started.
In the darkest hour before dawn, that's when we broke our chains, and as many overseer necks as we could wrap our hands around. We took the panopticon as the sun rose over Theopolis, and that's as far as we got. When you're up against cold steel and colder hearts, there's only so far that anger will take you.
— Uprising |
Few of us can say that we've devoted our lives to anything greater than ourselves. Can you?
I think Utula can. Since the day I met him, I've seen Utula do nothing that wasn't in the service of his people.
He's a smart one. He could have escaped. He could have sailed off to Ngamakanui and never looked back. Yet there he stands, our herald of freedom. I might die of this wound, yet I'd be giving but a fraction of what Utula has to honour the Karui Way.
— Utula |
I can't yet begin to unpick the lies that Utula has told us, but this piece of truth I do have. Utula sensed that very moment when you struck your final blow, when you broke the Templar's power. He turned to me and told me this.
"Now our King comes to us. He'll be hungry, so very hungry. I shall prepare him a feast!"
Then he gathered his followers and left.
Where's he gone? Oriath Square. You won't need directions. Just follow the screams.
— Utula |
You've sent the traitor to meet his Ancestors, have you? That'll be an interesting conversation. I'm no {hatungo}, but I can foresee Utula walking a long road of trial and suffering before he earns himself a place at the Ancestors' table.
And just as Utula's journey continues, so does yours, right into the jaws of Kitava.
I don't profess to understand the mind of a god, but I know the stories. Kitava is patient. He waited in the darkest pit of Hinekora's realm. He will bide his time while his hunger spreads like the plague it is, and when his tribe is replenished, a hundred times over, Kitava will rise one final time to finish the feast that he has started. Oriath is merely the appetiser. There's a whole world out there for Kitava to taste.
You've proved that you're a hero who can slay legends. Let's see if you can kill a god.
— Utula |
I'd be dead right now if not for Vilenta. I just hope I live long enough to repay her. And how will I do that? By talking Utula out of his inclination to slice Vilenta's throat open.
As far as I'm concerned, our pasts are as broken as our chains.
— Vilenta |
Bannon is... unexpected. At least, he's not the sort of Templar that I'm used to dealing with. His ideas about Innocence almost make sense to me. The way he worships Innocence, and receives such power in return, it's like his devotion actually brings out the best in his god.
But how is that possible? A god is a god. They bless us and they punish us, not the other way around. Yet for Bannon, somehow it's... different.
— Bannon |
When I was a courier for my father's house, I'd cross Cathedral Square a hundred times in a day. On the fairest days that square would be filled to bursting with Oriath's high born, come to bask in the sun and each other's glowing nobility. It was a pretty sight, depending on where you stood.
— Oriath Square |
You deserve recognition for what you have done, you've freed us from Templar oppression. Yet I fear you may have defeated the lesser of two evils.
Still... take something. You'll be needing it in the dark times to come.
— High Templar Avarius |
The King's Feast is an ancient ritual born of less enlightened times. Long before the Karui followed the Way, one tribe would conquer another and a feast would be prepared for the triumphant King. The main dishes of this feast were selected carefully, for the sweetness of their nature and the tenderness of their flesh.
You see, when the conquered fills the belly of the conqueror, two tribes become one.
And that's what's happening out there in Theopolis, right now. The Tribe of Kitava is feeding upon the Tribe of Oriath, and the feast won't end until two tribes become one.
— The King's Feast |
Remember what Utula said about Kitava?
"He is the Tormented One, destined to rise up from the darkness... And we, his children, rise with him."
It was there all along, in eyes too bright and smiles too wide. Cunning concealed by kindness. Conquest wearing the mask of Freedom. I didn't see it because I was looking for something else. Hope.
The Cult only wanted what it's always wanted. To be born again in their father's image. They are Kitava's children, the first of his tribe. Unless you do something about it, they won't be the last.
— Cult of Kitava |
Once Kitava has gobbled up every scrap of Oriathan flesh, sucked every Oriathan bone dry of marrow, he'll turn his endless hunger to Ngamakanui and the whole Karui Archipelago.
As you know, the Karui will fight, and they'll fight hard, but they're going to need all the help they can get. And I know of three treasures that might just make the difference.
They were taken when the Templar raided Ngamakanui. A whip woven of Hinekora's hair. A tooth that Tukohama ripped from his own mouth. A fish hook that was once the jawbone of Valako. Together they're known as 'Kitava's Torments' and lie within the Reliquary that borders Oriath Square. I saw them with my own eyes when delivering messages to the scholars there.
Please, go to the Reliquary and claim those treasures before Kitava's children do.
— Kitava's Torments |
Not all slaves believed Utula's lies. Some I know have managed to steal a ship and are soon to set sail for Ngamakanui. Hopefully, with these treasures onboard, Valako will bless their voyage and breathe deeply into their sails.
No, I'm not going with them. I helped bring this curse down upon Oriath so I'll help save what little there is left to save.
Here, take something, in thanks for your part in preserving the Karui Way.
— Kitava's Torments |
You're still alive. So is Kitava. What more do you need to know?
You'll find a way, I believe it.
— Kitava |
The prodigal returns... have you brought with you a weapon to free us? The Ravenous One has only grown more hungry since you left us, and I fear your efforts may be too little, too late.
Kitava has all but destroyed us here, and our poor departed Utula's cultists have taken hold of the city. There's little ground left to tread that won't cause the grasping claws of Hinekora to reach out and wring our pretty little necks.
— Greetings |
I see your eyes, exile. You wonder why I am here instead of at the Overseer's Tower. I'll tell you the horrible truth. The tower has fallen to the infernal devices of Kitava. That witch, Vilenta, is to blame. She lowered a secret ladder and led Kitava's cultists right to our very beds.
Bannon and I barely escaped with our lives. Together, we cut through the hordes but it was no use. They had us surrounded. Bannon created a distraction which allowed me flee. When I last saw him, he was perched atop the rooftops, holding off our enemies, though how long he will last, I cannot say.
If you are going that way, perhaps you can find him and return him to me. I have grown... fond of that Templar, the fire of Ngamahu burns within his belly, it would not fare well for us in this war if that fire were lost.
— Bannon |
Bannon is alive and well, in no small way thanks to you I would be willing to guess. Without him being here, I would have lost my sanity or my life a long time ago. Take this gift as a token of both our appreciation.
— Bannon |
I believe Vilenta was not of sound mind. At night, we often heard her cry out in sleep, fearing unseen things. I wanted to toss her out on the streets, let the beasts of this fallen city tend to her madness, but Bannon refused to leave behind one of his own. Would that he had've listened to me...
Vilenta thought that if she gave us up to Kitava, the Ravenous One would look kindly upon her. Well, look upon her, he did, but what he saw and what she became is the thing of nightmares - her nightmares perhaps?
— Vilenta |
Now that you have returned and we have managed to sturdy ourselves once more abreast this mighty ship, I ask of you one more favour - find that traitor Vilenta and kill her. Though I wish to see her dead as revenge for her insurrection, Vilenta has become something far worse under the radiation of Kitava's gaze. She must be stopped.
— Vilenta |
You return from your hunt triumphant! Then Vilenta is dead. I wish I could say that a celebration is in order, but in our current existence, I have had all I can stomach of banquets and feasts. Here.
— Vilenta |
Before their god rose from the depths, Utula and his cultists had direction. They wished to see Kitava free to stage his horrifying banquet. I was foolish enough to believe these theological mumblings as symbols for Karui freedom. Now that their prophecies have come to fruition, the cultists have lost their minds!
It's hard enough to believe the end times of your chosen religion will ever happen, let alone to last longer than the final pages of your holy book...
— Kitava's Cultists |
In another life, perhaps Lilly and I would have sailed the oceans together. I enjoy her presence and the conversations she brings. She has a call for adventure, coupled with a kind of optimism I rarely see. I hope that once all of this settles down, we might remain friends.
— Lilly |
I don't quite enjoy Weylam as much as I do his granddaughter, but Lilly favours him, and so I will too, unless he does something truly horrid that forces me to revoke my opinion.
— Weylam |
Bannon was a man whom I greatly admired, possibly even loved. My heart is grieved to see him depart from us and journey to the home of Hinekora. Yet, he sacrificed himself so that we might live, and stood true to his convictions. This god, this born-again Innocence fills me with unease. Though he appears repentant of his past transgressions, I do not believe he should be forgiven, nor that he should tread this earth any longer than is required.
— Innocence |
A dark angel on your shoulder perhaps? In another time the presence of this god would trouble me, perhaps even frighten me, but in these days, I cannot afford the sensation of surprise. If he has helped you this far as you say, then one might expect he will help you all the way to the bitter end, and that is good enough for me.
— Sin |
Kitava's appetite has grown bigger than even his devotees had expected. His hunger moves faster now than his followers can keep up. I suppose the canals were the perfect answer to their problem really. They converted them into one giant feeding trough to bring food to his mouth at a speedier rate.
— Kitava |
By the light of Ramako, you did it! You, a mortal, have crossed the threshold between god and man and struck the ravenous one asunder!
I'd always held out hope that you would succeed, but at night, I would stay awake worrying that perhaps that hope was a foolish dream, but you've done it! You are no longer an Exile, my friend. I honour you, and I'm certain the rest of the world will honour you as well.
Please, I was saving this for something special, it's not much, but it's yours.
— Kitava |
— L04a_01.ogg |
— L04a_02.ogg |
— L04a_03.ogg |
— L04b_01.ogg |
— L04b_02.ogg |
— L04c_01.ogg |
— L04c_02.ogg |
— L04d_01.ogg |
— L04d_02.ogg |
— L04d_03.ogg |
— L05a_01.ogg |
— L05a_02.ogg |
— L05a_03.ogg |
— L05b_01.ogg |
— L05b_02.ogg |
— L05b_03.ogg |
