A little group gossips in the town square as we come down from our castle visit. (These people and this quest are easy to miss.) The Duke is sending troops to question the Witch. We already know that Selene is alone in the Witchwood and that she doesn’t understand Wyrmspeak.
Off we dash.
Outside of her treehouse a mob clambors at her door. “Hang the witch!”
As we rush forward, a rock formation activates and rises up. It’s a golem monster that had been sleeping peacefully as a boulder. That sends the mob scurrying, and we’re left alone to do battle with it.
The trick to a Golem is to hit its glowing discs, and this can only be done with brute force. Magic is useless, and I’ve just idiotically changed my pawn into a sorcerer. I have arrows and daggers, though, so up I climb.
When it’s defeated, we see that it guarded a gated passage. At the end of it, in a graveyard, we find Selene safe with a glowing, ghost-like woman. With no lead up, these two drop some plot bombs:
“Some part of me has long known I was, in truth, a pawn. I do not age, or die, as others. And always I found making my own decisions…difficult,” says Selene.
“And this girl, Selene…was my pawn. The soul of an Arisen cannot but affect their follower. Given time, the pawn will assume the Arisen’s very form. See how Selene resembles me. I pray she can soon live her life as a human true. Selene is more than pawn now. She yearns to choose the course of her life, free from the will of others. Pawns are but shadows of life, doomed to forever echo out across the rift. But soon you will be freed of this unending cycle…then will your thoughts belong to you alone. Then will you speak with your own voice,” monologues the ghost woman, a former Arisen.
I honestly don’t understand the complexities of the Arisen/Pawn relationship. The ghost woman is dead, I think, and Selene remains behind, becoming more human-potential every day? Whatever the details, Selene is now coming to live at my house in the fishing village. Sure! Come on and move in!
We followed Quina into the Witchwood long ago in order to activate this Selene mission. I wanted to remember this plot knowledge. Also, more juicy battles will become available here, but only if I chased Quina.
In preparation, we drop a portcrystal at the ledge overlooking the village lane. It’s the closest entrance point to the Witchwood, and you can’t reach it from below without this secret travel technique.