Episode 3 Finale Sneak Peek #6

SPOILER WARNING

The following preview is of the Episode 3 finale. If you have not played the alpha build up to the very end of its current content, or if you would like to avoid major spoilers for how things play out, you may want to skip this post. As the finale is very dependent on companion and approval levels, prior actions, and player choice, the following is only a sample of what may occur on some routes.

“Is it arrogance or is it confidence? I know my place, $lastname. Do you know yours?” 

1. “I’m well aware of what I am.”
[CHOICE] 2. “I did once—and now I don’t. Maybe that phenomenally talented mind of yours can figure out why.”
3. Stop talking. 

“Such high compliments,” he drawls. At least one of you is enjoying this. “What fine acclaim. I am confident in my talents, but to have it acknowledged by one devoid of magic is high praise indeed.” 

“I didn’t mean it as praise.” 

“Ah, come now, $lastname, don’t be a spoilsport. Then again, the apprentice of Amali Sero, the most divisive and paradoxical Grandmaster in your order’s history, did not inherit Brissa Varyn’s silver tongue. But I see a hint of something in you. If you wish to spar, let us spar.” 

Your throat closes. “Fuck you.” 

He sighs. “If that is the way of it… fuck me, indeed. Very well. If it makes you happy, then yes, I am arrogant. A self-aggrandizing, egotistical bastard who fully believes he alone can usher in a new age and change the failing landscape of this world before it falls to ruin. I know exactly what I am, for the path I walk is one I do not expect those who would oppose me to understand. And I have many, many opponents.” 

Beside you, Aeran tenses, his expression turning dark. His eyes boil with anger, yet he does not reach for his weapon. Under any other circumstance, he would have snapped by now. 

“Bullshit,” you say. “All bluff and bluster.” 

“Is that your true assessment? Or is it simply the conclusion you came to because you are determined to despise me on principle?” 

“Even if I didn’t despise you on principle, I’d despise you for being a self-aggrandizing, egotistical bastard.” 

“At least I am content with myself. Some would say it is the age, but you do not need to live a hundred years to achieve clarity of self.” His piercing blue gaze sweeps over you. “You have wandered this continent for half a decade, displaced and uprooted. How does one overcome that, I wonder? For all your bluff and bluster, you’re paralyzed by insecurity, by the thought of the unknown.” 

You grit your teeth. You hate where this is heading. You hate it. 

[CHOICE] 1. “Once again, I wonder why that is. Have you figured that one out yet?”
2. Reach for your weapon.  
3. Stop talking. 

“Oh, the destruction of your order is the obvious cause,” Quirinus says. “There. I have said it. Does it make you feel better to hear me voice it? Is that what you wanted?” 

Your mouth runs dry; any response you could give has dried up with it. 

He chuckles—quietly, delicately, dangerously, as if he is privy to something you cannot fathom. Or perhaps he is enjoying toying with you a little too much. “I do not blame you for your sensitivities. I can imagine all too well what it must feel like, to have been apart of something greater than yourself one moment and to be uprooted and displaced the next. To lose the one place you found sanctuary is a great loss indeed. Rhesainia is unkind to magiani, this we all know too well. And to others who live beyond the sanctified laws of the Hexade.” 

Ridiculous that he, the Grand Archsage—a man so privileged, so powerful that he can publicly spout heretical beliefs in the heart of the Empire without facing the consequences from the Imperial court or the Meissandium—could empathize with you. Magic—and your lack of it—has been nothing but a blight on your life. You’ve been maligned for simply existing, used like a tool, and disposed when your presence is no longer beneficial. Some would argue that is just the life of a mercenary, but you know it’s more than that. 

“…what are you getting at?” you hiss. 

He merely smiles. You’re getting sick of it. 

“Did you know the Guild of Mages and the Wayfarer Order have shadowed each other for much of their history?” he says. “One could say they are two halves of the same coin. But the Guild has forgotten the purpose for which it was created and it is my sworn duty to lead them back to it. As for your order… I cannot say the same—” 

“Shut up.” Aeran is shaking with rage. 

Quirinus blinks, unbothered. As if he did not hear him. “Consider this, $lastname,” he continues, his focus solely on you. Regardless of what you may believe about me, I do not wish to see the end of the Wayfarers—” 

“Shut up!” 

“—Your order is gone, and with them went whole generations of trained magiani, the likes of which we may never see again. There is a need for people like you. People with your skills, your talents. Without you, the world will lack a certain… balance, shall we say. It would be misaligned. The Farans understand such things, but here in Arathia we are not so cultured. The emperor—” 

“SHUT UP!” 

Aeran’s voice echoes across the boulevard. 

Quirinus sighs. “By all means, Kellis, if you have something to add, go ahead.” 

The air stills, the quiet broken only by the sound of the ward’s buzzing hum. Your gut twists, foreboding creeping across the nape of your neck. The fight last night wounded you deeply, but you made the decision to trust him. Didn’t you?   

It’s a goad. It has to be a goad. Quirinus is trying to get him to attack, so Solarath can attack back without consequence. Say they were provoked.  

1. You have to ask Aeran what Quirinus means. You have to.
2. You’re no fool. Don’t let Quirinus manipulate you.