Guild Wars 2

Sadly, the damage has been done. And it seems like they’re not stopping anytime soon.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Nilkemia.8507:

If only we could retcon her out of existence. If only.

It’d be better if she was just FIXED. She could have actually, really worked . . . if it weren’t for the uneven nature of LS1

No. She was broken lore staining filth from the beginning. And I consider the Sylvari my second favorite race (a close second to asura).

- Studying for all three asuran colleges at the same time? Check.

- Joining the Inquest when they consider sylvari little more than kindling? (Zojja’s words, not mine) Check.

- Creating lore-ignoring alliances whose factions had no reason to work together? Check.

- Being behind the Thaumanova disaster? Check.

- Being able to know things that only certain characters know, with no explanation as to how she knows them? Check.

And much more that I can’t/don’t feel like thinking of right now.

The only part of her legacy that people won’t frown upon is the various Black Lion ticket skins and gemstore items that came about as a result of her or her alliance forces. That’s it.

They could’ve found a way to use Faolain, or the Sinister Triad, or any of the remaining existing villains they had to cause all the chaos she did. They probably would’ve been less annoying to listen to as well.

Edit: They could’ve even brought Kudu back from the dead and he’d have been a better villain!

If only we could retcon her out of existence. If only.

There was no reason to gate the chest pieces behind that annoying world boss when all the others could be gotten at least two ways each, and could be gotten without relying on an entire map and RNG.

You have to earn it via the achievements first before it’ll show up in the vendor.

Which is annoying since the achievements themselves are annoying and their own rewards mostly rubbish/not worth the trouble otherwise.

I agree with your thoughts on the first 4 episodes. However, I differ on some things regarding the latter half:

- Long, interesting introduction episode in part 2 that gave us MASSIVE lore development for the story. Meaty involvement with Glints Lair, a bit more heavy exposition as to the Master of Peace role with Glints egg.

Glint’s lair was nice to look at, but that’s it. The distorted facet gimmicks got annoying/tedious after seeing them for a few minutes, and the crystal projections were all pointless to see except for the last one. And then it gets worse when Ogden reveals that he could’ve just told us instead of tricking us into going in there for a cheap laugh.

- White Mantle References Galore, oh my yes please now more of this.

Boring. Let me know if the Mursaat ever come back. Maybe then the White Mantle will be threatening, cause bandits don’t cut it.

- Final Boss was pretty satisfying, the story surrounding his defeat and what we used to defeat him created some good questions rather than bad ones, leaving us interested in Divine Fire.

Eh, no. The first fight with it was good because something was at stake there. Not this time. It just chooses to fight us because we happen to be around, instead of going after the egg like it was supposedly doing. And the divine fire is clearly a replacement gimmick for the Pale Tree binding it in the first fight, along with being the Deus Ex Machina for how we get through the door.

- Turai Ossa, nuffsaid.

Seeing him was fine. Doing those tedious mini-quests however, was not. Especially having to do it again and again and again for those annoying achievements.

- Caithe’s memory seeds storyline a tragic but wonderful tale of her history and motivations giving a lot of depth to her character, even if the plot was quite predictable and basic.

The only real tragedy in those flashbacks was Caithe’s incredible idiocy. Her love for Faolain (and vice versa) is never really shown nor explained how it got to that point. She has almost no personality, and Faolain’s only personality is being a prick who disagrees with the others all the time, just cause she don’t like being good, which makes Caithe look even dumber for supposedly being in love with her!

When they first hinted at Caithe’s secret back in Season 1, I hoped it’d be just a red herring, because otherwise it’s be something utterly ruinous to her character, much like making Eir suddenly having a son for no reason. And sure enough, they did that and more.

Had Caithe simply chosen to kill Faolain instead of Wynne, and then killed Cadeyrn and company outside, she could’ve probably avoided all of this.

They wrecked her character, they wasted potential to show her nicer side and Faolain having a nicer side before turning evil, and the cliffhangers and filler in between the first three flashbacks and the final predictable conclusion of Wynne dying all just left an awful impression.

- Sylvari are minions of Mordremoth, called it.

Yes, yes, that stupid theory that everyone and their extended kin who knew the lore either guessed or at least heard of.

“We came from the jungle dragon cause my Dream said so!”

Stupid reveal, crappy execution, and with plenty of questions/plotholes big enough to fly a Pact airship through. What’s next, the human gods are the dragons somehow?

Season 2 started off okay in the first half, save for the bad/ugly stuff you mentioned. But from the latter half of Echoes of the Past onward, they screwed up massively with annoying gimmicks, cheap twists and cliffhangers just for the sake of them, and a garbage reveal that they claim was their intention from the get go, yet screwed up so badly.

The last two cutscenes were amazing, I’ll admit. Seeing an Elder Dragon being an actual force of nature, along with us finally getting some substantial content in the future is great. But, I can’t help but be disappointed with all the dreck we had to go through to get there.

Astral Projections.7320:

/shrug

You were asking for it to be sold in the gem store. I’m not dead sure what difference it really makes between the 2, gem store or trading post, as long as the price either way isn’t outrageous.

Part of me still wanted me to be able to get it myself, instead of relying on the luck/costs of others. That’s the difference between the two.

That being said, it did save me some just buying it off the Trading Post like you said (though not by much, what with the gem to gold conversion ratio nowadays).

And, it’s a tad inconsistent to have 2 of the Biconics buyable from the get go and hiding the two others behind RNG/buying off the Trade Post from those who did get lucky. I suspect Taimi and Canach will get the RNG treatment too if they get minis. :/

Sigh. Fair enough. I still get a little annoyed when “buy it off the Trading Post” is the most effective/only good way to go about getting it.

Kinda like Giant Eyes, precursors, and other things I cannot think of but am sure also have this issue.

So, Rox, Braham, and Frostbite can be gotten right away in the gemstore, but apparently they decided that Mini Kasmeer should once again be hidden behind their annoying RNG chests again. Um…why?

I was considering buying gems for this, but I’m not wasting them on keys for chests that will (90% of the time it seems) give me junk. Why couldn’t you have just released her and Marjory in the gemstore too? Or just put Rox/Braham/Frostbite in the BL chests too? Sure, that would annoy me too, but at least you’d be consistent regarding the Biconic minis then.

Unfortunately, the odds of Season 1 being altered to the point where it could be introduced into the Story Journal is very low, between the nature of the content focusing mainly on open world events, as well as the upcoming expansion probably taking up much of their resources.

And with ArenaNet’s seeming inability to fix lingering problems in the past, or breaking things that were fine before, It’s something they’d find a way to mess up somehow.

Season 2 is over. And with an expansion in the works, it is highly unlikely they’ll bother with any more given the complaints with it.

Hopefully Super Adventure Box could be reopened in the meantime, and actually have ALL the vendor rewards available at the same time. And any holiday events would hopefully still be ongoing, even though I don’t think any come up in the time between now and the expansion demo.

I guess they thought the Vine/Mawdrey thing had backpieces covered…though, Sinister stats weren’t around at the time that came out, so I’m uncertain if making another one would allow you to choose those now. Hmm…

Even as someone who was around for each of the Season 2 releases, I still think it’s a cheap move to make others who missed them due to real life crap or just burning out have to pay money or grind lots of gold…sigh.

I don’t get annoyed. And, I don’t think they repeat it that fast unless you’re buying a lot of kits.

You’re probably also hearing the other Sylvari by him saying “I must not let fear poison my heart, even in this forsaken wasteland.” They have the same voice.

You could just stand away from them whenever you’re not using the merchant.

Although, you’ll probably just get annoyed by the other conversations…

Examples:

“I don’t see why we have to take orders from mice and talking cabbages.”

“Okay troops, let’s make our queen proud. Get to it.”

“I hope the queen left enough of us to defend DR, if it comes to that.”

And, someone mentioned this before, but that stuff has nothing on certain dungeon lines…

“You heard—you heard Gra—you heard Grast, hold the —-You heard--you heard Grast, hold the line—-You heard Grast, hold the line! Send the intruders to Grenth!”

“What is—what is-What i—What this this, what have they done to you, my sons? MY OWN FLESH!”

“NO NO NO! We sho—NO NO NO NoNOno—NO no no! No no no, we should—-NO NO nO! No no no! NO NO NO! No no no! We should go to the armory! That’s where Zadorodjny is likely to be!”

Seeing as we’re seemingly the second-in-command, we’d probably be the ones to take his place. I hope he’s not dead…the problem isn’t him so much as it is how he was thrown into the story at Claw Island (unless you’re going through the Sylvari Personal story were you at least see him early on for a bit/while).

And he’s not even a bad aspect in the Living Story, let alone the worst. Plenty of other problems come to mind regarding it, but that’s for other threads.

I’m still curious what happened to him. He didn’t seem to get corrupted, since I didn’t see him attacking Logan or Eir, but he just vanishes after the rest of the sylvari attack them. So, seems like they’re still deciding whether they want to commit to killing/corrupting him or not.

Bad in what sense?

How long has it been since you played?

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

I don’t know about you but my sylvari character’s Dream ended with the Shadow of the Dragon fight there. So . . . not sure how that doesn’t connect with the thing Mordremoth sent which resembled what was in the Dream.

Also, dreams being misinterpreted is not the same as the Dream.

Because at the time, everyone involved (our own character included) assumed it meant fighting Zhaitan, although we (the player) could tell something was off. If anything, that could’ve meant Mordremoth was connected to the Nightmare, or that was a lingering part of its corruption that the Nightmare Court had gotten in touch with.

Only later when the Shadow attacked the summit does Trahearne note that we saw that thing in our Dream too (which is a bit odd, seeing as Caithe was there and not him, thus it’d make more sense if she brought it up, but hey, not like consistency has mattered much now).

And…they could’ve done more to sell the whole “we came from the jungle dragon” twist. They could’ve had evidence that Wynne found in the cave to solidify her claim, show that she’d actually tried to research this beforehand. Some Forgotten artifacts, maybe pieces of seeds left behind too, something to show they were working their magic here—-maybe even testing/perfecting the ritual they used to free Glint, or maybe utilizing a version of it that could work without requiring the altar in Arah.

Then again…that would’ve clearly required more effort than they were willing to give. Sigh.

The difference is that those characters have (or had) potential, and didn’t muck up the very lore with their presence and actions.

The point is that Scarlet should stay dead.

Still a garbage reveal. “We came from the jungle dragon cause my Dream said so! Not like dreams can be misinterpreted or anything! Also awfully convenient that no other sylvari ever got this dream either! Meh.”

Hmm…..no. Scarlet “Invasive Weed” Briar was a trash character who didn’t need to exist already. She can stay dead. Her story’s done, and it took more then long enough for that.

She’s always in the Thaumanova Fractal, or certain parts of Season 2 (via hologram and/or memory seed flashback) Feel free to go there if you need to see her again so badly.

Wanderer.3248:

Omad’s machine (and Scarlet, and in fact all of LS1, and some if LS2) becomes unnecessary to the plot when you have Mordremoth taking control of Sylvari without it.

In fact, you could pretty much skip all the living story up to this point, and jump into this chapter and have Modremoth just take control of his minions and have it make no less sense.

Not that it made much sense to begin with…but yeah, pretty much.

The whole thing was done badly. The dragon minion reveal was bad enough, but they didn’t even explain it well. They could’ve shown evidence that the Pale Tree’s seed (and others) were purified by the Forgotten and that Wynne discovered this in the cave or while she was out exploring the Silverwastes.

Instead, she just knows because “my dream said so”. Not like dreams can be misinterpreted or anything. And how is it that no one else ever dreamed of that or of Wynne’s death at all, besides the Pale Tree?

If Mordremoth can take over Sylvari by sheer proximity, why haven’t the Mordrem tried that? Why didn’t the Shadow of the Dragon do that during its attack on the summit? Why didn’t any of the sylvari start to experience symptoms even around the vines?

Supposedly sylvari connected to the Dream are safe, but with the Pale Tree weakened, maybe Mordremoth is just stronger once they get too close…I doubt many of the sylvari in the fleet were Soundless, if any.

More questions, few answers, and messing up the sylvari lore even more…sigh.

“We come from the jungle dragon cause my dream said so!” Sigh.

The boss battle looked and sounded good, but was annoying gameplay wise, even more so when trying to get the achievements.

Caithe runs off with the egg…again.

The cutscenes at the end were the best part really…and even then it’s all stuff I kinda saw coming.

The point is that the dragon minion theory was bad fanfic material that didn’t need to be used for the origin of the sylvari at all, and just raises even more questions instead of answer—-oh wait, a smiley. Clearly a troll then.

Koviko.3248:

I think we should be assuming that all champions HAVE free will, but most of them choose to use that free will to assist their master. Glint and the Pale Tree have, instead, chosen to aid humanity.

Um, no. That is not at all how the link between dragon champions and the dragons work. Glint had to be freed from Kralkatorrik’s control by the Forgotten before she chose to help humanity. The Pale Tree’s seed would’ve also had to have been purified in a similar way for her (and the sylvari) to have free will too.

You’re missing the point.

I suppose I’ll just link this thread for you.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/lore/On-the-Sixth-Elder-Dragon-and-its-corruption/first

Oh really? What lore? They basically picked the theory everyone heard of when Mordremoth was nothing more than part of a name of a boss’s attack skill.

No. The only way this all works is if the Pale Tree’s seed (and any others with hers) were purified by the Forgotten’s magic, or created by a Mordrem champion during the last Elder Dragon rise who was purified, or subject to Mordremoth’s corruption but then purified afterwards (like the seed we can use to make Mawdrey).

They could’ve then have evidence of this in the cave that Wynne was in—some seed casings, Forgotten artifacts, things that could imply that they were working their magic there, possibly even testing/perfecting the ritual they’d use on Glint later, or using a lesser version of that magic, since they probably weren’t at the altar for purifying the seeds.

Instead, they went with the lame cop-out “We belong to the jungle dragon because my Dream said so”. Disappointing.

Not really, no.

Well…meh. It had some neat bits here and there. Being able to see Turai Ossa was interesting. It was nice seeing Zojja having actual voiced dialogue again. That golden cave was pretty and shiny. And the cut-scenes at the end were good.

But, as a finale after two bad cliffhangers, it falls short. What was resolved?

- Well, we found out about Caithe’s/Wynne’s secret…which wasn’t that great. Wynne’s death was pretty much a given. And the whole “we came from the plant dragon” thing…well, I’ll save that for another post.

- We fought the Shadow of the Dragon again and kill it this time. Nice to get some proper revenge for it wrecking the Grove. Then again, we were bound to do that eventually. And it’s basically there just to be the reason we don’t end up going with the Pact fleet..although, that’s a good thing, considering the Pact fleet “got rekt”.

Caithe and the egg are once again missing, with no clue how to find her now. Again. The suggestion of talking to Destiny’s Edge comes off as rather dumb when you consider we did talk to them during the Pact Assaulted quest, and they didn’t know her plans either.

After all this fuss about the egg, we still have no idea how it’s supposed to help us or anything. And I’m sick of Caithe’s antics. She’d better not get off easy for this. Unless she manages to pull off something impressive where she’s going, I’m certainly not gonna forgive her for dragging me through these bad cliffhangers.

While Season 2 started off okay and was working up to something big, it all went to crap the moment it started revolving around the egg, and letting Caithe come along to obviously swipe it. And this finale hasn’t done much to remove that impression.

Hopefully the “Heart of Thorns” will be good. But I’m not going to listen to hype. And all this talk of it being an expansion just because it was trademarked is silly. I’ll believe it’s an expansion when they say it is.

So, after that ominous scene, we finally get a Mission Complete, as well as a glimpse of things to come…

Caithe: The dragon is rising. And no one in Tyria is safe from it’s deadly reach.

But we can break free of destiny. It will require strength, strategy, and insight.

Rytlock: You can’t trust sylvari. They belong to the dragon now.

Canach: Stop treating us like monsters. We are not the enemy.

Braham: We take the fight to Mordremoth!

Okay. This cut-scene is awesome. A bit scary, but awesome. Even though many probably guessed it was going to go this way, it’s still awesome to see this. We’ve heard and read of how the Elder Dragons are like forces of nature, but I can’t recall a time where it was properly shown in-game…until now.

It’s also good because now we have to wonder just how we’re going to go about beating something like this, if it can just wreck a fleet for a morning flex.

Well…rest in peace, Glory of Tyria.

Trahearne gives the order, and the ships all open fire into a random jungle they’ve flown over. Okay…maybe there were lots of Mordrem down there that I’m not seeing, but I see no dra—-oh frak thistles.

Oh right, the Pact fleet launch…well, we missed it. A shame, but they’ve got Marshal Trehearne and Destiny’s Edge…well, three of them, but all the same. They should be okay.

After that beating, the dragon seems to have taken the hint that fighting us wasn’t a good idea, and tries to make a getaway. But this time it’s too weakened to do even that now, and falls back to the floor.

We get the torch back, and finish it off by poking the rest of the divine fire on its face….kinda uneventful, but hey, we killed it for good this time! Mother Tree would be so proud…

Hmm, I feel like we’re forgetting something…

Caithe. And the egg. Still gone in the wind, and no more memory seeds to track her with. So nice of her to ditch us once more. Didn’t even return to see if we lived. And she claims to be on our side…

Anyways after a little chat amongst the B-squad, Kasmeer suggests talking to Destiny’s Edge to figure out where she may have gone….Really? We did that in the last mission Kas! And even they didn’t know! I like you and all, but your suggestion is just stupid.

But speaking of Destiny’s Edge, we’ve also missed something else…

Since the Mother Tree isn’t here to bind it for us, we need divine fire to bind it instead. Rox will throw a divine bonfire into the arena every now and then, and Braham can create healing spots for us along the edges where we’re supposed to light the ring of fire.

All the while, the Shadow of the Dragon attacks us by lunging from underneath, lifting up rocks as it moves underneath, and summoning trip mine plants which Rox likes to throw the divine fire next to, since she’s not that bright.

Should’ve given Kasmeer the torch. She could at least teleport in and out to give us some fire to use….or maybe not, since the dragon blocked her portal back during the first time we fought it. Still would’ve given her the torch instead of Rox if I had the choice.

Anyways, once the ring’s finished, the dragon gets stuck in the middle, allowing you to just beat up on it. Be wary of AoEs around the boss however..I didn’t see exactly what they are, but they’ll knock you down, which is annoying.

After a certain amount of time, the fire will go out, and we go back to Phase 1, though the dragon will add another attack or two into the mix, as well as summon shadowy menders to try extinguishing parts of the fire ring, which you kill by hitting them with the divine fire buff on. Rinse and repeat until it’s HP is gone, which can be done in two full phase rotations at least, though it’s certainly lengthened by all the annoying stuff in Phase 2.

So, the Shadow of the Dragon is back for Round 2. Even though it was apparently here for the egg, killing us now takes priority, since we’re here and all. It opens up by entrapping us in a ring of vines and sicking the tendrils from last time on us, except they’re shadowy tendrils now…oooh, spooky.

The tendrils are no different, despite their new shadowy aura, and the dragon itself has some AoEs it can toss in via stomping or shock-waves.

After killing the tendrils, he goes into Phase 2, and plows into the arena underground. This is where things get very annoying.

Anyways, we finally get to the point at hand. We need the egg back. But Caithe pretty much ignores our request.

Caithe: “The egg must be protected.”

“You and I are on the same side. Never forget that, my friend.”

(No we aren’t. I don’t murder peaceful centaurs or my own kin—unless they try killing me first. At this point, my Sylvari alts would try getting the egg back, pointing out that they don’t know who Caithe is anymore, and probably never did. My Asura would just shoot her and be done with it.)

But then…

“The dragon’s shadow is upon us!”

So once again, Caithe vanishes with the egg, and we get no answers as to what she plans on doing with it. Good job proving you’re on our side, Caithe. You’re doing more running away than Logan Thackeray.

Now that our final trip down memory lane is done, the B-squad notice Caithe arriving in the cave too. How convenient.

We confront her, and she notices the memory seed…even though we planted it way back around a corner she can’t see from where she’s standing…maybe we were still carrying it, who knows…

Anyways, we question her, and she confirms that what we saw is indeed true. Wynne was apparently the first Night bloom, and her Dream revealed it to her….and no one else, because the Dream is suddenly very specific when the plot demands. Apparently Wynne considered keeping this secret her Wyld Hunt.

Faolain and Caithe would also part ways over this incident, with Faolain never returning to the Grove, instead joining the formation of the Nightmare Court.

The Mother Tree felt Wynne’s death, and the Dream eventually revealed what happened. She forgave Caithe apparently, but probably never forgave Faolain. Wait…so she knew all this already? Why not just tell us? Well….she was weakened, and there was the issue of other sylvari around…meh.

However, Caithe expects the secret will come out on its own eventually, as sylvari are losing control of themselves now…when did that happen? Did I miss something in the Pact Assaulted quest? Trahearne was acting fine, and I didn’t see any other sylvari acting up.

Anyways, feedback break time!

CureForLiving.5360:

I think you’re forgetting that development time and release schedule doesn’t necessarily translate to in-game time. The entire season 2 might only be set over a long weekend (unlikely) or only over a week or two.

Fair enough. It’d be nice if they gave an indicator of how much time is passing between these events…then again, that is a minor problem compared to other things…

Cosmin.8306:

The only problem I had with that part of the story, lore wise and immersion wise, is that we couldn’t just ask those items to be brought to us. We are the Commander of the Pact, we were insanely time pressed and he makes us fetch some items in the library, instead of asking the Priory scholars, who know where stuff is in their library, for it. The time spent there might have allowed us to catch Caithe.

Now now, that clearly would’ve made too much sense. Can’t have that in the Living Story.

Just like Ogden making us go through Glint’s lair for a laugh when he could’ve just told us “Glint had an egg, and the Master of Peace is guarding it.” Maybe we could’ve saved him with the time we wasted in there, who knows?

lakdav.3694:

May i just point out how persistent that bush must be to be there after about 25 years without expanding or recessing an inch?

Wow…you’ve got a point. I kinda wanna know more about that bush now rather than the story.

So…that was a thing. In case you didn’t click all that (and I can’t really blame you in that case)…

- Wynne revealed that Faolain attacked first, causing the fight in the first place (guessed that right from the start of it).

- Her big secret is that Sylvari apparently come from the jungle dragon, even though they’re born from the Pale Tree, but she probably meant their mother too. What’s her proof? “My dream said so!” Funny how the Dream suddenly gives very specific dreams to certain sylvari when plot convenience demands so.

And it’s not like dreams can be misinterpreted or anything, even though Kahedins implied that back in the first memory flashback, and that’s in fact something they warn you about in the early sylvari personal story.

- So, to keep Faolain from breaking her, she asks Caithe to kill her. Um…why not just kill Faolain instead?

Don’t feed me that bullfrak “Caithe loves Faolain” excuse. We have seen zero evidence of their so called love for one another. Wynne even points out that Faolain wants power more, and that even Caithe should know that.

There is nothing showing how or why these two came to love each other. It’s pathetic when you’ve got me, a yuri fan of sorts who thinks Kasjory is awesome, saying that Caithe and Faolain’s relationship is flat out nonsensical. Faolain is a prickly thorn who disagrees with everyone else just cause, and Caithe hung around her….well, just cause. Caithe herself has barely any personality beyond being distant and stupid enough to abide with Faolain’s crap.

- Oh, and Wynne dies. Totally saw that one coming.

Well, time for the big secret, the thing brought up by that Invasive Weed way back from Season 1. I’m sure this will be good, right? RIGHT?!

No. It won’t be. But I’ve stalled enough. Here we go. A “too long, didn’t look” version is coming in the next post.

Now it’s Caithe’s turn, but she has no luck either.

“She’s betraying us all, Caithe. It’s as clear as the tears on her face.”

“Faolain…maybe this has gone far enough.”

(Maybe? MAYBE?! You already went over and beyond far enough when you helped her and her Nightmare cronies massacre an entire village just because she started a fight! Why did Caithe ever love this trash thistle?)

Faolain disagrees however, and decides to use a nearby bristle burn plant’s leaves to torture Wynne into talking. Said bristle burn bush is far enough away so that Faolain won’t overhear what’s coming next…

Wynne: “Those centaurs…didn’t have to die. You must see that she’s going too far this time, don’t you? And she’s dragging you along with her.”

Caithe: “I need time to think.”

(Your sibling/supposed lover just threatened to torture one of your other siblings, your own kind! And you need time to think while she prepares to do this? Really, Caithe? This isn’t naivete. This is full blown stupidity.)

Well…Faolain’s got Wynne cornered, pressuring her to talk. Caithe tries to get Faolain to relent, to no avail. Wynne said she promised Mother she wouldn’t tell, and wants them to just go talk to her, but Faolain’s not buying it.

Faolain : “I’ll make you wish you’d never left the Dream, traitor.”

Seriously, what did Caithe see in this sod to begin with?

The magic gateway sucks us and the B-squad into a dark cave. Rox carries the torch and lights the way (why couldn’t we have given it to Kasmeer instead?). Along the way, we encounter some spiders, and more of those Echo minions from the Priory instance, presumably left there by the Forgotten.

Wait…doesn’t that mean Caithe and Faolain had to fight past them too? And Wynne, for that matter? Then again, Wynne had the actual seal for the door so maybe that deactivated those for that time, who knows…(shrug)

Eventually, we reach the end of the cave, where it gets bright again and we see…well…a cavern with lots of shiny in it.

There are a few things strewn about, but nothing really noteworthy about them. However, the last memory seed is meant to go here…and this is where things get really stupid.

Okay, trials over, Pact camp filler over, we can finally get back to the important task at hand, getting in the cave. Marjory’s got the torch, and the rest of the B-squad is here.

She gives it back to us, but as we start up the process, Mordrem show up. However the B-squad holds them off, and as we finish opening the door, the Mordrem get spooked away.

After that chat, the quest is technically done, but we get a little more dialogue.

Zojja: “I’m telling you Logan, you can’t assume Caithe knows what she’s doing.”

Logan: “How long have we known Caithe? She doesn’t think like other people, but she chose the path of good.”

(If only we could show him the centaur massacre…)

Zojja: “You saw how she high tailed it out of here to go after the egg. It had her attention the moment it was mentioned.”

“Maybe we should tag along…try to find Caithe.”

Logan: “No, Zojja. We promised to go with the Pact. They’re counting on us. Morale would drop if we left now.”

Zojja: “Ahem. Reminds me of…”

Logan: “Don’t even say it.”

(Okay, I’ll admit I laughed a little at that. Logan at least seems to be taking it in stride now. Still, Zojja’s got a point…)

Oh, and more banter between Eir and Braham.

Braham: “Seeing you with them…with Destiny’s Edge…it’s opened my eyes.”

“For the first time, I understand what it means to be a legend larger than your own life. I see it before me now. In you.”

Eir: “But I could have been a mother.”

(You know, besides not being one to begin with until the stupid retcon in Flame and Frost.)

Braham: “At least, I see now why you left us. I see what Father saw when he agreed to let you go.”

Eir: “I wish you knew how hard it was for me to leave you, to say good-bye to you…and your father.”

“And how many times I wanted to go back to you…”

(So much she never mentioned it in Edge of Destiny or any other lore depicting Destiny’s Edge up until the fight with Kralkatorrik! Consistency, who needs that?

Oh and by the way, Eir, you certainly had time to try after Destiny’s Edge’s little break up, didn’t you? But of course, you spent more time carving statues, and training the Slayer of Issormir rather than dealing with Braham….it’s as if he didn’t exist then…oh right. He didn’t. Have I made it clear that Braham being Eir’s son was a stupid, contrived plot point bordering on bad fanfic quality yet?)

“I couldn’t bear to have you look at me as if I was a stranger, to see you wondering who I was.”

(Um…weren’t you pretty much known by everyone at this point due to your time as Destiny’s Edge’s sorta-kinda leader? He might see you as a stranger, but he’d know who you are….meh.)

Braham: “I don’t want us to be strangers.”

Eir: “I’m glad. When I get back, let’s go on a hunt in the Shiverpeaks together.”

Braham: “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

(Gee, I sure hope she’s not put in a situation where she might die…okay, I’m being a tad unfair. The conversation itself is good at least, decently voiced, and admittedly it’s a bit nice to see Braham finally over his “I hate Eir” shtick.

It almost made me give a skritt. But not quite.)

So, Trahearne thanks us for the help, and decides that the fleet will launch soon, before the dragon fully awakens and the Mordrem swarm the staging area. We still have to deal with finding Glint’s egg however, and Trahearne agrees that it should be our priority. We’ll hopefully get back in time to join him for the launch…nah, probably not.

We then talk to Logan briefly. He asks if Caithe mentioned why she was taking the egg, but of course she didn’t explain that, because that would’ve made too much sense to do. We can question him about where she might’ve taken it, but all he knows is that she has hiding spots all over that could hold significance to her.

With the cannons gone, everyone falls back into the camp as the Mordrem pour in, and it becomes a series of tedious events until Trahearne finally realizes it might be a good idea to light a signal flare for an airstrike. We pull that off, and the ships firebomb the camp. Thankfully, friendly fire is off on the cannons, so they only blow away the Mordrem and not everyone else down there.

At this point though, an attack begins, as the Mordrem have finally realized that instead of trickling in one at a time to the gates, they should just zerg rush them instead.

So we fight them off a bit at the south gate, until they destroy the cannon there. Then we fall back and this time try to assist Trahearne and company at the north gate, with the same result. As the cannons fall, we also see the giant vines digging into the camp. Not good.