Shadowed Vale is a scripted interaction in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. It is located on the central island of The Black Isles, at the coordinates 30° 31′ S, 58° 26′ E.
Background[ | ]
The land here is shattered and barren, eerily quiet, with jagged hillocks plunging abruptly into the calm, clear seas. No birds fly above, and you've not spotted the first boar, rat, or lizard.
By comparison, the camp ahead positively bustles. Horses are tied off to stakes, a robed figure - cowl pulled over its head - sits upon a crate, and the scent of a hearty stew wafts from the pot hanging over the small campfire.
Interaction[ | ]
Upon making landfall on the dry, barren landscape of The Black Isles, you come to a camp. You see a circle of tents pitched around a campfire - a cooking pot sits upon it and wafts a scent of hearty stew. A mysterious hooded figure sits next to one of the tents. You can ask your companions for their thoughts (see the table below).
- You can either approach the camp openly, or use Stealth 6 to do so quietly. Either way, a savannah folk emerges with his crossbow pointed directly at you. A lithe female wood elf in Aedyran finery steps from a tent and greets you, and another broad-shouldered island aumaua joins the man with the crossbow. The robed figure makes no movement.
- Ask who they are (to no response) and then introduce yourself:
- As captain of the Defiant, and formerly the Watcher of Caed Nua (+1 Honest).
- As an explorer, an adventurer, righter of wrongs and a saviour of small folk (+1 Rational).
- As a mere servant of the gods.
- Or refuse, "My name is my own" (+1 Shady).
- You have a few options for allowing the group to let you in:
- A Watcher-only Diplomacy 9 check to convince them you mean no harm.
- You can threaten them with a Watcher-only Intimidate 7 check, "I go where I please". Failing the aumaua retorts with some mysterious philosophical response, otherwise you are invited in.
- If you asked Edér his thoughts, you can say "My friend here likes your horses" (Clever, Diplomatic), which always succeeds.
The elven woman bows and invites you to join them by the fire. The aumaua offers you a bowl of stew and the use of their tents. Looking around, you notice that there are a few too many tents for the few kith you see about.
- Ask if they know much about the chain of islands. The aumaua knows very little, but the Aedyran says she knows a thing or two, and asks why. Your dialogue below yields a vague response from the trio.
- Arcana 7: Point out that the geography in the area has been twisted or broken by some great power.
- Religion 9 or as a Priest: Say that the place feels holy.
- Survival 5: Mention that you expect so see wildlife, but the place seems dead.
- Say that you're just naturally curious.
- Ask "why can't you just answer a fucking question?"
- Ask where the rest of their crew is. The savannah folk smirks "Around.", seemingly the others are in the area "For danger. Among other things."
- Ask who their hooded friend is. The woman laughs, "Just that, perhaps you should ask yourself." You can shout out to the figure who does not respond. You can also approach to look under the hood.
- Approaching seems to take minutes, but you bend low and peer under the hood. You see a hairless face with pale grey skin, thin lips, a narrow nose and no eye sockets at all.
- Ask what is going on. With Religion 9 (or if the Watcher is a Priest of Wael) you seem to recognize the figure as one of the many forms of Wael, the eyeless face:
"Wael?"
The visage smiles, its mouth curling at the corners. "Of course not."
The figure stands. "No one is what they appear."
- If you currently have a crew member on The Defiant with the Enigmatic (Eadulf, Handsome Eliam) or Ascetic (Caergr) personality, you see their face instead:
"<crew member>? What are you doing here?"
<crew member> raises an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I be here, captain?"
The hand's voice sounds unusually even and quiet, as if echoing from within a deep pit.
- The crew member will turn up missing from your ship and will not return.
- In either case, the ground beneath you gives way and you plunge into the void. When you wake, there are no traces of the campsite to be seen and the interaction ends.
- If you flee or try to attack instead, the same occurs.
- You can also return to your seat at the campfire and speak nothing of it, the figure pays you no further mind.
- Attempt to steal from the group, although it will require a distraction.
- Ask one of your party to keep them talking with a Bluff 8 check on the chosen companion, or have someone cast a magical decoy (e.g. a Wizards Essential Phantom Substantial Phantom, always succeeds). Alternatively you can do the distracting yourself, which means someone else will need to do the stealing. In this case you have a number of additional Watcher-only options to distract them:
- Arcana 10 to succeed: "I've been struggling with Llengrath's Theorem of Misperception..." (+1 Rational)
- Bluff 7 to succeed: "So, have you heard the one about the Dyrwoodan, the Vailian, and the orlan?" (+1 Clever)
- History 7 to succeed: "I'd argue that culturally, the Huana share more in common with Eir Glanfath than Rauatai." (+1 Diplomatic)
- Metaphysics 6 to succeed: "You see, the Beyond is a series of tubes..." (no disposition change)
- Religion 5 to succeed: "Before we enjoy this stew, let us all bow our heads and thank the gods." (+1 Passionate)
- If you had a companion cast a decoy spell, the group will follow the noise, leaving you to the camp and the hooded figure. You can either continue to search the camp as below, or head over to the figure to look under his hood (same result as the above, if you were to normally do this).
- If the distraction is a success, either you or the nominated companion will require Sleight of Hand 5 to search the camp for valuables. This check is increased to 10 if the distraction fails. Regardless of whether you fail or succeed, you find a small sack containing several eyeballs, which stare blankly up at you - a sign of the all-seeing Wael. You gain 7x Reptilian Eye.
- Ask one of your party to keep them talking with a Bluff 8 check on the chosen companion, or have someone cast a magical decoy (e.g. a Wizards Essential Phantom Substantial Phantom, always succeeds). Alternatively you can do the distracting yourself, which means someone else will need to do the stealing. In this case you have a number of additional Watcher-only options to distract them:
- Eat and rest. This gives you the buff Good Food, Better Friends (+2 Constitution, +5 All Defenses). When you wake up, the campsite, tents and kith are mysteriously gone, and there's no sign of them ever being there.
- If you leave at any point, you look back only to see no trace of it.
- At any moment you may attack the group. This ends the interaction and places you into the Desert staging area against a number of mysterious kith. Once they're dead, loot them for some regular and exceptional quality gear. The mysterious priest has a Cloak of Greater Protection, and another has a Necklace of Fireballs - but otherwise they don't drop any unique loot.
Companion reactions[ | ]
- Aloth: "Something isn't right here," Aloth says. "There's an unusual magical presence, but I can't pinpoint it."
- Edér: "All right, first, we get into their good graces with carrots. Then we brush out their manes - they look matted. If they're not our friends by then, we go back to the carrots." Edér's attention lingers on the horses.
- Maia: "Stew smells good. Almost too good. I'm thinking it's a trap." Squinting, Maia thumbs her chin and nods slowly.
- Rekke: Rekke stares at you blankly. After a few long, silent moments, his eyes widen, and he slowly shakes his head.
- Serafen: "Don't look much like a trap, cap. Don't feel like one neither. Not a peck of hostility on that old salt. Or much else." Frowning, Serafen scratches the back of his head.
- Tekēhu: "Watching someone cook their dinner is not the highlight of our time together, but I say it makes for a pleasant distraction." Tekēhu holds his growling stomach.
Other reactions:
- Sidekicks: [Specified 0] shrugs. "If it's a trap, it doesn’t seem like much of one."
- Watcher: You wonder what you think, but only you can answer that.
Gallery[ | ]
- Scripted interaction graphics
