ACT 2 - Chapters 7 - 9

Chapter 7

The scene opens with the ship pulling into the harbor in Gharmog. The party is seen exiting the ship and gathering together. Arc tells them how he had to come here when Cara was poisoned and that last time there was a big hunting festival happening. The city now looks much less festive as there is no hunting festival happening now. Arc says they should ask around about the massive trees. Control is given to the player and the title “Hunting City of Gharmog” appears in the bottom right corner and then fades. At this point the player can explore the city and visit all the shops including a tailor to buy new outfits. When talking to the townspeople, some will say that the Mother Trees were fantasy stories, others will say that they once existed on Foxwood but are now extinct, and others will say that they’ve heard that they still exist on the surrounding islands. Upon visiting the town library, there will be a man who examines the scroll and says that he knows where the scroll is talking about, a long forgotten city on a nearby island that apparently housed a piece of the Arvalis. After asking more about it, he reveals that the island is completely inaccessible because the atmosphere has become very toxic and nobody could survive there very long. He tells the party that if they wish to go there, they will need some sort of mask to breathe through or else they would die shortly after arriving there. Frith then recalls that there is a plant that grows a type of sponge that they could use as mask filters (as he once had to do that during a military operation in his younger years), and that there must be some growing nearby, Arc will say that he saw something like that in the forest during the hunting festival. Control is given to the player and they must now find the sponge plant by heading north into the forest. From there, the party will need to fight monsters and navigate their way deeper until they find the sponge plant. There will be a short scene of Frith confirming that it’s the same kind he used and the party gathering enough for everybody. Farrus says that the tailor might be able to fashion some sort of mask for them in town. Control is given to the player and they’ll need to navigate back into town until the reach the tailor. Upon arrival, there will be a short scene where they give the tailor the sponge and ask him to make masks. The scene will fade and when it reopens, the tailor will return with masks for the whole team. They thank him and leave. Control is given to the player and they must return to the ship, taking them to the World Map. Once there, the party must go northwest around the island until they see a dead and decaying island. Upon approaching the island, they will be prompted to land there. Once chosen, the scene will fade and reopen with the party aboard a smaller boat paddling for shore with the ship off in the distance. A thick fog will envelope them as they reach the shore and they all put on their new masks. Frith assures them that is should prevent them from breathing in the toxins for at least 24 hours. As they land and get out of the boat, they look around at the forest and wonder what could have happened to make the atmosphere so toxic. As they’re talking, the title "Aulcmog Deadwoods” appears and fades. Arc will remind them that they should be looking for an old city with a giant tree. With that they look around and see the remains of what could have been a road long ago. They decide to follow the road. Control is given to the player and they must navigate their way through the toxic deadwoods, fighting poisonous insect-like monsters and large flying creatures. Throughout the way, the player will need to overcome a number of obstacles, such as crossing contaminated and murky waters via a large leaf, cross over massive vines and tree roots, climb through petrified trees, and cross large chasms. Eventually, they will reach the old city ruins, completely covered in overgrowth and poisonous flowers. They see the colossal Mother Tree which is now petrified and crumbling. A scene occurs where Arc and Dyne both say how exhausted they are and that they need to rest. They decide it’s a good place to camp and so they make camp for the night. Dyne will be able to cook for everyone and the player can save their game. Once they decide to continue, the scene will fade and reopen to the next morning. Control is given to the player to explore the ruins of the city, they will be able to find some rare items laying around. Upon approaching the tree, they will see the ruins of a temple built into the base of it. Arc says that it must be the place that the scroll was talking about and they decide to investigate. Once inside the player will be able to explore and walk around the temple. As they enter, the title “Temple of the Lightkeepers” will appear and then fade. They eventually come to a large open room with murals all over the wall. As they are looking at them, they’ll realize that it depicts the entire history of the Arvalis leading up to Ghallus. It also shows the Emperor Falvor and how he took over most of the world, and how he and his enormous army was stopped by the Arvalis. They make the connection between the Arvalis, Emperor Falvor and the Order of Falvor. Frith deducts that the Order must hate the Keepers because it took away Falvor’s reign and power, and that their goal must be to restore his Empire by killing Ghallus and stopping the Keepers forever. Arc laments by saying how Ghallus is dangerous and is going to kill Cara and keep his ultimate power and that if he doesn’t the Order surely will. Everyone agrees that no matter what happens, they need to rescue Cara from whatever might happen. However, just before they can leave, there is a huge explosion of light and smoke, they party all fall backwards and shield their eyes. Before they can stand up, Ghallus appears before them all, floating in the air. He angrily asks the party what they are doing there. Arc says that they know he’s dangerous and that he destroyed Alda. He says that they know that he would kill Cara just to stay in power too. Ghallus laughs and says that they don’t know anything. Triss says that they’ll do anything to keep Cara safe, even if it means fighting him. Ghallus welcomes the attempt and says, “You can most certainly try”, with a laugh and immediately a boss fight starts and control is given to the player. Once “defeating” him, Ghallus will rise into the air and declare that the planet’s fate is in his hands and that nothing and nobody will get in his way. He warns the party to never return to Silverspire and to forget about seeing Cara again. He then looks directly at Arc and says “you only serve to complicate the matter”. Arc protests and says that he loves Cara and will do anything to keep her safe. Ghallus responds by saying “In that case, you must all disappear!” and he then reveals a small box containing the Arvalis inside, he opens it and light pours out of the box. Just then the temple begins to crumble and Ghallus disappears. The party has no way of escape and the ceiling collapses, trapping them underneath the rubble. The scene fades to black.

Chapter 8

The scene opens in a beautiful room in SkyeKeep. The sun in cascading through the curtains over a bed where Cara sleeps peacefully. As she wakes she shields her eyes from the light coming from the windows. She gets up and walks over to a balcony and looks out over the gardens. The camera zooms out to show that her room is high up in a lofty and beautiful white tower. A cinematic montage follows showing the entire palace in all its beauty. The title “Divine Palace SkyeKeep” appears and then fades. The camera then goes back to Cara in her room. Control is given to the player and they will be free to explore Cara’s room and the tower. As she descends and walks the halls, guards nearby and servant will greet her, saying good morning. After reaching a main courtyard, a guard will approach her and say that they’re waiting for her in her garden. Control is given to the player again and a mark is placed on the minimap. The player can then explore another area of SkyeKeep, however there will be no items to find. There is a library she can visit that will have all kinds of information about the Arvalis and history on its previous keepers. Once the player reaches the gardens, a servant will show her to a place for her to sit in the grass. Ghallus will then come to her there and sit down across from her. They begin training and Ghallus takes the box that contains the Arvalis, no larger than a small jewelry box. The camera zooms in on the box, showing that it’s a puzzle box containing gears and mechanical pieces. Ghallus says that in order to pass this part of her training she must be able to open the box without using her hands; it’s the only way. Cara struggles with the logic of how this works, but Ghallus tries to assure her that it has nothing to do with logic and to not think so hard. There will be a minigame of sorts at this point where the player tries to use her mind to open the box. Every time will be impossible to win. After the third attempt, Ghallus will correct her by saying to stop using her head, and to start trusting within (he’s subtly referring to having faith). This time Cara clears her mind and closes her eyes. The camera pans down to the box and starts to zoom in to show it slowly unlatching and beginning to open. Ghallus looks surprised and then smiles. Cara looks up in hope and finds the box most of the way open. In disbelief she looks shocked and the box closes back up again. Ghallus then asks her why she stopped, Cara doesn’t have an answer. The scene fades to black and reopens again with her in her bedroom alone. She sits on her bed and tries to focus again on what she did that afternoon, she closes her eyes and waits. A scene will show her focusing and without her knowledge, a few small things in the room begin to lift into the air and a breeze blows through the room. She opens her as things fall back into place without her noticing. She thinks to herself that nothing happened. The scene fades to black and reopens to another day. Cara walks out onto the balcony and sighs with a smile. There’s a knock at the door and Ghallus strolls in with a somber and serious face. Cara looks up and greets him excitedly. “Ghallus, I want to thank you for allowing me a visit today from Arc! Did you find him? Is he well?” Ghallus then walks into the room and the emotional atmosphere turns from bright and optimistic to sullen. Ghallus looks with sad eyes and tell Cara that he was able to locate him, but unfortunately he had died during an expedition with the others. Cara puts her hand over mouth in disbelief and begins to weep, Ghallus goes to console her and puts his arm around her and Cara leans into him. Eventually Ghallus say that “maybe this is for the best, as a Keeper should not be distracted or influenced by a love interest”. Cara looks up, horrified that he would say that, and storms out heartbroken. Ghallus stands, showing remorse for what he said, but doesn’t follow her. The next scene shows Cara running through the halls of SkyeKeep, weeping. She stops next to a door and sinks to the floor. After a moment, a voice is heard from inside the door beckoning for her to come in. She stands, unsure of who is speaking to her, wipes her face and enters the room. The scene fades to black.

Chapter 9

The scene opens with silence. Dust and smoke will fill the screen, eventually there will be movement and coughing, Finn will be the first to be seen. He’ll stand up and call out to the others, one by one he’ll find people and help them up or from under rubble. Miraculously, nobody will be injured badly. As the dust settles, they’ll notice that none of the large rocks or debris fell into where they were but instead formed a dome that enclosed them in, trapping them indefinitely. Frith will try to pull at some stones, desperate for a way out. He shouts angrily after reasoning that it’s futile to try and dig their way out. Dyne will seem hopeless, like they’ll be trapped in there until they die, Triss will try to be optimistic. Arc throws his twinblade in anger and slumps to floor saying that everything is his fault and that they should never have come there. Finn tries to comfort him but Arc is having none of it and blames himself saying that he doomed them all. Farrus has been quiet, searching the room for anything of use. He comes across some rubble that appears to be covering a stairway leading downward that wasn’t there before when they first arrived. He calls the party over and they begin to remove the rubble. Soon the pathway gives way and an opening leading further down is unearthed. As they descend, Dyne notices that the place seems much less ancient than the rest of the temple and that the atmosphere seems different. The stairway eventually leads into one open room. The room is empty except for a large stone ring standing upright in the middle of the room. Frith angrily points out that it was a hopeless cause and that there really is no way out. Everyone is about to give up hope when suddenly the Key of Alda lights up in the bag it was being carried in and it starts to emit a whirring hum. They take it out and it glows brighter and brighter the closer they walk towards the stone circle. Suddenly the ring fills with a dark liquid, almost like a curtain, filling the entire ring. The party is completely bewildered, Triss cautiously approaches it and puts her hand through it. Farrus notices that it doesn’t reappear on the other side but instead seems to be like a doorway. Farrus goes around to where Triss is and puts his head through. After about a minute he takes his head out and tells everyone that they need to go through. Slowly the party steps through it and they find themselves in a futuristic science laboratory. Everyone is shocked by their surroundings, never before seeing anything this advanced or futuristic. The party walks further into the lab, until suddenly from the end of the room and door opens and 5 people in white lab coats rush in and stare at the party in equal bewilderment. Frith draws his sword, ready for battle, but Arc motions for him to put it away. The scientists approach them, completely overjoyed to see other people, but also confused. “How did you get here? How did you open the gate? Where are you from?” There is a discussion between the party and the scientists about how they were trapped in the basement of a temple because of Ghallus, and how the Key made this ring fill with some kind of liquid, allowing them to come there. The scientists ask them all kinds of questions eventually deducing that they were from a either a distant future, or that time had passed them by much faster than what they perceived. They invite them into their living quarters to talk more. The scene switches to everyone sitting comfortably in a very modern looking lounge with couches and a bar. The party is still very fascinated by everything around them. The scientists tell them that they are in a pocket dimension, created by them by mistake through their studies about how the Arvalis can manipulate time and space. They reveal that they do indeed have a small piece of the Arvalis and they tell the party that their Key of Alda is also a piece of the Arvalis. Since the creation of their pocket dimension, over 500 years has passed in the world, but for them it’s been only about 5. It’s revealed that they are unaware of the destruction of Alda and begin to mourn and grieve when they are told that it’s been destroyed for nearly 500 years. The party then goes on to tell them the state of the world and how Ghallus is still the Keeper and plans to kill the next heir in order to stay in power. The scientists tell them that there might be a possible way to stop him by use of Arvalis powered cannons once built in Alda. One of them takes the Key and puts it into a machine, at once a holographic screen lights up and they can read all the specs and information imbedded in it. They tell the party that some of Alda still exists but is shielded by an invisibility barrier. They find the exact coordinates and write in on their map saying that when they approach these coordinates, the Key should allow them to enter past the barrier and effectively go to Alda and retrieve the cannons. With those they can fight against Ghallus and stop him from hurting Cara, perhaps even weakening him enough to kill him. Arc says that they don’t want to kill him, just get Cara out, “the world still needs a Keeper, I just wish it wasn’t him.” After this, one of the scientists say they want to come with them to Alda, as they could be of some use to them. They are about to leave when Frith reminds them that they’re still trapped underneath the temple with no way out. A scientist says that’s no problem and that with the use of the Key, they can open a portal right to their ship, effectively letting them escape. They bring up another computer and type in some information until a blue light appears in a metallic ring in the lab, it is then filled with the same liquid as before and a portal opens. The party says goodbye and they pass through it, reappearing on their ship. One of the scientists, named Avery joins them on board and the portal closes. After some feelings of amazement, the party rejoices that they’ve escaped from under the temple and are ready to go to Alda. The scene fades and reopens on the World Map, a marker will be placed on the minimap and control is given to the player. At this point they can sail anywhere they would like. They can visit most areas of the game already visited (except for Frewen and Silverspire) but in order to advance the player must take the ship to the far northeast corner of the map where the marker leads to. Eventually they will be prompted to enter Alda (in a spot that looks like open waters with no land). A scene plays with them approaching the barrier. The scientist will hold up the Key and they will pass through like going through a waterfall. From the outside view, the ship disappears behind the veil of invisibility. The camera zooms out to show another boat following in behind them. Ominous music plays as the scene fades to black.

Plot type

Main Story Plot

Parent Plot

ACT 2 - Memories of Antiquity