(Updated for 1.3)
Hello everyone,
I wanted to write down the events of the story so far as a summary, but it ended up being more than just a summary. The story is not complete, and some things change between patches. I’m not an expert, only human, so I could be wrong in some places. There are some interpretations, speculations and sometimes commentary; but here’s a rundown of all the events. Obviously, spoilers throughout. Enjoy.
You are told by the Observer that before your story began and even before everything came into existence there was only the void and two gods that occupied it. While one of whom, the Observer, was content with just nothing, the other, Eterra, wanted light, life, she wanted people. To the disagreement of her brother, the Observer, she created humans and a world for them, named it after herself then filled it with living creatures that would serve the humans, such as other gods, her children. Because of her association with all life, Eterra’s likeness is on your life bar. The Observer, later to be called Orobyss, on the other hand is represented on your mana bar so his connection to it must parallel that of hers.
After creating the world, Eterra lived in it along with the other gods through its first epoch, the Ancient Era. This is when dragons and dinosaurs roamed. There is a temple in the sky dedicated to Eterra where she and all past humans resided away from the dragons and other hostile creatures. While you will eventually come to learn more about this era all you know for now is that at some point in time Eterra and her brother disappeared, and her temple fell down.
Present day is in the Divine Era, 6000 years later, a time in which the children of Eterra -the once child gods- are all grown up and live among us. The dragons were all killed off by the gods, presumably after Eterra’s disappearance. These gods are Heorot of the frozen Tundra in the north (God of Strength and Compassion), Lagon of Sea in the west (God of Storm and Freedom), Majasa of the Desert in the south (Goddess of Beauty and Change) and Rahyeh of the endless Skies in the east (God of Glory and Power). They each have a city where the majority of their followers reside. Heoborea for Heorot, this is where the Primalist player is from. Solarum for Rahyeh, this is where the Sentinel player is from. Maj’elka for Majasa, this is where the Rogue player is from. And Thetima for Lagon.
Near where Eterra’s Temple fell a city called Welryn was formed which eventually became a prominent place for scholars who used the knowledge in the temple to learn magic and such. This is where the Mage and Acolyte players are from.
Chapter 1 - The Keepers
The story begins as Rahyeh declares war on the other gods and sends his soldiers to burn everything down. His first sights are set on Heoborea and on the Temple of Eterra safeguarded by the Keepers. Heoborean tribes are sent south to negotiate peace with the Keepers and to join forces against Rahyeh. You stumble upon these talks as if fate knew you your assistance would be needed.
Before 1.0 each class had their own intro cinematic, thus had some back story about them but they no longer seem to be canon. For those interested (as some of these might still be true) these are what your characters were doing before they stumbled on the peace talks:
The Acolyte is banned from Welryn after practicing dark magic and after hearing Rahyeh’s attack there she is headed towards Welryn to watch it burn.
The Mage is searching for the Acolyte, his apprentice, which he feels he has let down. After hearing Welryn burn, he is headed there to help.
The Primalist witnesses the assault on Heoborea and heads to the Temple of Eterra to seek answers.
The Sentinel is a former blacksmith, currently a soldier in Rahyeh’s army but after seeing innocents die, he abandons it and is trying to help anyone he sees to repent.
The Rogue is a criminal for hire and is hired by the Vessel Maiden Apophis (important character later) to publicly assassinate herself. She nopes from the obvious trap and is headed towards Welryn for a fresh start.
To no one’s surprise Rahyeh attacks the peace talks with his Osprix (The birdlike race) lead by their general Orian who is in search of something the Keepers are hiding but he doesn’t know what yet. Along the way you meet Grael (The champion of Heoborea) who was sent for the peace talks on behalf of Heorot and you immediately become allies with him. You meet Keeper Leena and later learn the Keeper’s sole purpose is the protection of the shards of Epoch which they believe is a task bestowed on them by Eterra herself. 3 shards form the Epoch which is said to possess unimaginable power that could alter the fabric of reality itself. While its true nature is unknown to you at this point, you will eventually come to learn it is the last remaining living part of the now absent God of Fate and Time. To keep the Epoch from the wrong hands (like Rahyeh, who wants it now) the 3 shattered pieces were kept apart for everyone’s sake with the keepers keeping both this knowledge and the shards to themselves. One shard is on a Keeper (Balthas), always moving around, one is hidden in the Temple of Eterra currently under siege and one is in a fortress hidden in the mountains nearby where Orian is leading an assault. Keeper Leena informs you Balthas went to the fortress alone to keep the shard safe, unintentionally risking the safety of two shards at once. She asks for your help in helping Balthas while Grael leaves on an unrelated mission to secure a weapon for Heorot. On your way to Balthas you help a Heoborean soldier foil the plans of some of Rahyeh’s troops who apparently can animate armor to fight (the Sentinel player can as well, being formerly of said army). You find and help Balthas but he is kidnapped by Orian, you get him back but he’s had enough of everything, he doesn’t wait for Grael, he has two shards and two is enough, he wants to use its time travel power to hide the shards in a different time, away from Rahyeh, but he ends up tearing a rift and sucking you into the future.
Chapter 2 - The Ruined Future
You find yourself in a post-apocalyptic time in the Ruined Era 1300 years into the future with a shard of Epoch, one of two Balthas used. While one shard travelled with you to this time the other travelled with him to a time long before you arrived.
This post-apocalyptic future holds void corruption where entire cities, animals and people were twisted and consumed. It’s clear without its creator the world is ceasing to exist and is being consumed by the void that once was the only thing in existence. The godlike entity known as Orobyss is guiding the void to take everything back into darkness. He has successfully corrupted Eterra (the world) and is about to wipe out the last human settlement protected from his corruption. How is it protected you ask? Why with the shard of Epoch Balthas had with him. Turns out he travelled to the Ruined Era as well but a lifetime before you did. He was stuck at the time he was at as a single shard does not allow time travel. He saw the corruption come and realized the shard held it back. Using it as a beacon he created the Last Refuge in the fortress hidden in the mountains where the shard used to be held. He became the first Elder and when he died, he left the shard to the Council of Elders so that they can protect the people of Last Refuge. The Elders are also descendants of the Keepers so in a roundabout way the shard is protecting the Keepers that once protected it.
But that protection is failing. As you make your way to the Council Chambers in the heart of Last Refuge, you see the void pouring in, even witnessing a dog refusing to leave the side of his dying master. You try to help the guards and save as many people as you can. Right outside the Council Chambers you both assist and take assistance from Elder Erza in dispatching the immediate void threat. When you arrive in the chambers you meet Elder Gaspar who gives you idols of the old gods (your gods) long dead, to improve your power. From him you learn that this world is as good as gone, nothing to be done and the small light the shard once held at holding the corruption back is slowly fading as it is being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of it. But surprise(!), you also have a shard with you so maybe now these people have a chance to survive.
Elder Pannion is an expert on the shard and can help you weaponize yours. Since one shard can’t leave the center of the settlement, you use the one you have to try and help those stuck outside the other shard’s failing range before they fall to corruption while you chase after Elder Pannion. Along the way you help Elder Erza recover his ledger and help some folks evacuate, but fail to save Elder Pannion, his students and countless others as they end up getting corrupted. In fact, Pannion actually gets corrupted just enough to steal the shard from the center of the town deluding himself that he could use it to fix everything. When you retrieve this stolen shard out of his corrupted corpse it reacts with the shard you have and you involuntarily time travel.
You are now at the End of Time where the world has ended and various characters from various timelines found themselves in for one reason or another. There are islands of destroyed worlds that are currently (re)living the events that happened in their respective timelines. Here you are greeted by a mysterious knight then meet a different version of the Elder Gaspar that has met many versions of you. Many of which had abilities far superior to yours, but their essence did not survive the ripping of time and space. This Gaspar is able to channel and tune you in with such a version of yourself so you can gain the knowledge that they once had, a process he’s learned by absorbing other Gaspers over the countless years of his existence. But you cannot attune to more than one such version, as that could make you share their fate, tearing yourself out of existence. You make your choice and are imbued with the version of yourself you wished to attune with. Not only are you more powerful now but you are also in possession of two shards, meaning you are freely able to time travel (logically I think this is the point where the game should allow you to time travel freely but it’s a nice qol to do so before).
Chapter 3 - Seeking the Last Shard
You return to the Ruined Era to an oblivious Gaspar who notes there is no hope for Last Refuge anymore and their only chance is to find the last shard and unite all three to use the Epoch. Originally his plan was to take all survivors to another time using the Epoch and two shards weren’t enough for this, you needed the whole Epoch; but after the revamp of Chapter 1 it’s ambiguous how the Epoch is supposed to help Last Refuge. They’re just hoping you find a way to use the Epoch somehow, perhaps they hope you can vanquish the void all together with it. We’re probably missing some sprinkled story beats that will come with later patches to remove the ambiguity.
The last shard is in the Temple of Eterra where it has always been and that’s where you need to now venture to, outside of the mountain.
On your way to the surface, you encounter a titanic creature walking in the distance in the mountain composed of nothing but rocks and wood. Once outside you follow along the mountain ridge to a Lightless Arbor where you meet a friendly spriggan. This spriggan has recently woken up after a long nap that started in the Ancient Era by the loud footsteps of the giant you saw, which she says is a Titan. She is horrified that the forests are no more, that the rest of her kin and the majority of humans have lost themselves, not recognizing or knowing what the void is until you tell her. She talks about Eterra as if she’s just seen her, not knowing of her disappearance, remarking how she had gone dormant and released the humans from her temple. She is happy that some humans are still themselves but is worried they are about to be crushed inside the mountain they’re in due to the Titan shaking about. This spriggan knows she’s the last of her kind and that this world is dying soon, yet because she was hand made by Eterra herself she follows her will to protect all humans even if it means the death of a fellow creature, the Titan, who’s the last of his kind as well. She was told that the Titans were simple creatures, though some may speak, they are primal in nature, nothing more than gigantic animals, so this one is probably hungry and is desperately searching for food that doesn’t exist anymore. The spriggan assists you in chasing down the Titan by sending her consciousness from tree to tree, which is hard for her to do when so few of them are left alive. You finally reach the Titan and burn him and his stone heart. The spriggan notes the Titan probably woke up after all this time as it felt there wasn’t any more time left for it to sleep and while everyone’s time in this world is limited, she feels yours is not; she gives you a piece of her branch so that one day you may replant and regrow her. You take her up on that offer and plant her branch in fertile soil in the End of Time on your next visit.
Leaving the spriggan behind you carry on your journey to the Temple of Eterra, but first you must pass through the Ruins of Welryn, which are crawling with supposedly friendly survivors that are definitely not cultists that you agree to assist. While helping them you run into an immortal undead begging to die and learn about an Immortal Empire that ruled before the void came and after the gods fell. You help him out as well by destroying the soul phylacteries, keeping him alive. You also learn the reason Welryn was one of the last places to be corrupted is thanks to a gift called the Symbol of Hope, (Sentinel’s be cookin’) given to them by an Oracle a long time ago (casually glances at the name of Chapter 5). The only non-corrupted humans in this time are either hiding out in the Last Refuge or are cultists of Orobyss trying to corrupt as many people as possible that they find in the wild (including themselves) a fact you figure out too late.
After dispatching the void amalgam the cultists mash into, you continue on and find out about a group called the Outcasts who used to live near the Temple of Eterra during the Emperor’s reign in the Immortal Empire. These people were led by their Queen and were descendants of the Keepers and did everything they could to hide the shard from the emperor (That is how it remained undisturbed all this time). You find out they eventually fled into the mountains where the Last Refuge is, making them their ancestors.
You also find tears of reality throughout your journey that are somehow tied to the shards being on you. It almost seems the shards sense when you need to be somewhere and tear a portal to a time you need to go to (which is peculiarly almost always to the Ancient Era for some reason, almost as if fate is calling to you to go there). This is how you are able to pass all the obstacles to the last shard in the Temple of Eterra, like finding the missing parts of a bridge.
Though not all tears are equal, some are ripped open with claw marks. These lead you to the lair of a Rift Beast, creatures that can tear the fabric of reality to pursue their prey across time. These creatures that are native to the Ancient Era are also prey themselves, hunted by a famous Wengari hunter of the time, Skarven Bloodhorn. While you don’t know much about his race at this point you do know this particular hunter is from the distant past like the rift beasts and is an expert on the creatures. He will both help you and trade you for various beast parts to improve your hunting gear. Due to the nature of the beasts, selective breeding by way of sparing certain eggs will yield in generations of the creatures to hunt for the parts you need without messing up the timeline.
You also encounter Rune Prisons scattered about. These hold powerful Exiled Mages that were imprisoned and banished through time by an order of Runemasters for their crimes. Driven mad by eons of imprisonment, if freed from their rune-prisons they attack you without mercy but once defeated gain you access to their enchanted equipment that they have been experimenting with.
When you arrive at the temple you start to hear the Epoch whisper to you, thinking you are Eterra presumably because of the shards you hold (Heorot does the same later). It asks you if you’ve come to make it whole and speaks of Eterra’s demise. Something about the voice… It reminds you of Orobyss.
You reach the heart of the temple, but the shard is not there, instead you find a lotus prison, empty. The whispers say Eterra is gone, Orobyss is free. So, much like before, the two shards of Epoch send you when you need to go to, which is further in time to when you can find the last shard, unfortunately it’s at the hands of a void corrupted version of the emperor. You defeat the Emperor, take the final shard and form the Epoch (If you’re wondering why the game is called Last Epoch like I did; an Epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era, basically every era you travel to is just at the end of its era when it is about to become the next. Thanks to Mael_Jade on Reddit for the explanation).
You head off to the End of Time after forming the Epoch, leaving the fate of the Last Refuge ambiguous. (Most likely to be resolved in Chapter 12)
Chapter 4 - The Outcasts and the Empire
Knowing the Emperor was corrupted, and the knowledge alternate Gaspar gathered from travelers, it is decided you should exercise your time travel powers to defeat the void before they came to fruit. To this end you must go back 300 years right before corruption began at the height of the Immortal Empire.
Now here is what you missed in history: The gods all died in the war in the Divine Era, and one particularly opportunistic person found immortality using their power and crowned himself Emperor (maybe even killed them himself if propaganda is to be believed), ruling Eterra (the world) for a thousand years and giving immortality to those loyal to him. So, this Emperor ruled for a thousand years all from the Divine Era to the Imperial Era. The bodies of these immortals continued to decay even though they didn’t die leaving them to look like mostly skeletons or grotesque undead. His immortal army slowly perished over the years however and the void that they left behind manifested into corruption.
It is speculated that seeing his power slowly fade, the emperor turned to Orobyss, and he let the corruption in or was manipulated in his quest for power or in some other form responsible for the mess the world ended up in. With the guidance of alternate Gaspar, you travel to the Imperial Era (1000 years after present time - 300 years before Ruined Era) to the Outcasts (whom you know to be the descendants of the Keepers and the ancestors of the people of Last Refuge) to stop whatever led the void in, which basically means stopping the emperor. In this era the living are the minority and the rebels who refused the emperor’s gift of immortality are outcast from their society. Hence the name.
The outcasts had made camp in the outskirts of the Temple of Eterra. Welryn, the city that was once home to a multitude of knowledge, is run by the Empire now. You know imperials aren’t around in the ruined era, so you know they aren’t indestructible. In the best side quest in the game (imho) you seek knowledge about the Empire in the college of Welryn. Normally you could access this information in the ruined era if the door wasn’t locked, but the lock is too decayed to be opened in the future. You unlock it in the past but now you are gatekept by an officer at an enchanted door that requires an imperial seal to open. So, heading to the future ruins via an Epoch tear you head inside through the now inactive enchanted door and find the corpse of the imperial officer that died with their seal and take it back to unlock seal in the past to the shock and horror of the same officer. With all obstacles handled you find the truth about the emperor’s gift of immortality: The immortals are not immortal ϞϞ (๑⚈ ○ ⚈๑) (shocked Pikachu face). They in fact need living essence to drain to keep themselves alive. Over the years, living has become so scarce that all non-essential personnel have been sacrificed for the Empire as they were left to decay and perish, losing their minds and identities basically becoming zombies. There are barely enough living to sustain the higher ups, hence why the outcasts are not outright squashed or the willing no longer converted and why the emperor most likely turned to the void. Why is this quest a side quest? Who knows. You keep the information to yourself though.
During your exploration of this Era, you stumble upon the Soulfire Bastion, a place of research of sorts that is trying to solve the very problem you just learned of. Soulfire Bastion is run by an Imperial called Cremorus who is experimenting with different kinds of soul magic, trying to fix the soul shortage by infusing souls with elemental fire to varying success. But unfortunately for him his success is not desired by his childhood friend and fellow Imperial Formosus, the patron of Grin, the Soul Gambler, an undead who asks for your help in dispatching Cremorus for him because undead on undead sabotage is frowned upon. He even offers to trade for the soul embers Cremorus was experimenting with. As a living, however, you also need to burn some of those embers to shield yourself from the necrotic or infernal fire of the place. You wreak havoc in there and even take down Cremorus, who had used his flawed soul embers and as result was unable to cool down as he got hotter and hotter until you put out his flame. You are thanked and rewarded by Grin and go back to your main objective.
So, what is your main objective? Killing the Emperor. How, you ask? Using the Epoch, of course. And how do you use the Epoch to do that? Never explained and never actually used (yet). The Outcast Queen (who apparently showed up one day and could be a different character we’ve already met or will meet) acts as though the only flaw in this plan is getting to the emperor. So, this entire Era is one big wild goose chase trying to get to the emperor. How, you ask? Well first you need to find a mage (Alric) that knows the location of a secret entrance to the emperor’s base. The only(!) problem is he was captured just now(!) and is being taken west out of Welryn.
You follow along his trail and rescue a prisoner who says Alric is taken for interrogation but doesn’t know where. He did leave behind a magical ring that can help track him, how conve- I mean thoughtful. Its magic, however, needs to be activated (because sure, why not) by the outcasts settled at the nearby lake (formerly known as Lake Liath - on the road to Thetima). So, to the lake you go, using Alric’s ring to get into the outcast hideout, you are guided by a Seer who tells you using the ring that Alric is about to be taken far away on a massive ship by Admiral Harton, a very high-ranking Imperial. The hideout is found by the imperials who raid the place. You help the people as much as you can and try to get to Thetima before Harton’s Dreadnaught leaves the shore.
You reach Thetima, stowaway on the ship before it leaves, deal with Harton, rescue Alric and decide if you’re going to roleplay as someone who knows how to swim or not, then jump off the ship with him.
Chapter 5 - Aid from an Oracle
You wash up on the shores near Maj’elka where you and Alric conveniently were headed. Your goal is reaching a teleporter that backdoors straight into (pretty much into the sewage of) the Emperor’s Citadel. The only(!) problem is that the teleporter is in Empire occupied Maj’elka (As most cities are in this Era). But conve- I mean luckily, Alric has an ally in the city that can help get you get there, who turns out to be the Oracle (pretend you remember she was the one who gave a gift to Welryn that delayed the void corruption there). For the rest of your journey with Alric, him being a mage and all, he teleports a lot and is always ahead of you, yet he’s not very good at combat so you have to help him or save him every now and then.
On your way to the Oracle, you meet a friendly imperial scholar/historian (Rouj Zabat) that wants your help with some research that wasn’t approved by the Spymaster Zerrick, another very high-ranking Imperial who is the top undead in Maj’elka and used to live under Majasa’s rule back in the day (meaning he was alive in your time, hinting the Emperor was too). This is also where you learn about Nagasa for the first time. Much like how Osprix were a birdlike race serving Rahyeh, Nagasa were a serpent like race that served under Majasa. You learn they buried their dead with gems thanks to Rouj Zabat before he is executed by Zerrick’s men for talking to you. Alric informs you Nagasa lived under a caste system that is each represented by a gem (Emerald-Lower Class, Ruby-Warriors, Sapphire-Scholars, Diamond-Upper Class). You use the appropriate gems to dispel a barrier guarding the Oracle. You realize that the Oracle has human refugees living with her that she hides from the Empire. Before you meet the Oracle, you decide to help one of them, the Shrine Maiden, with the people’s water shortage first by finding an artifact (a water tablet) in the Ruined Era once used by the Sapphire Nagasa to purify water.
The artifact was suspiciously right next to a Temporal Sanctum, a place you never knew existed, in fact, no one did. Inside you find a Sapphire Nagasa, who appears to be from the past just like you. Seeing you in the sanctum she panics as that could mean the timeline is unraveling from the goings on in the Sanctum. You assure her the Sanctum had nothing to do with your presence and tell her you have the Epoch. She can’t believe it, as the power it possesses means you are able to travel to any Era at will(!). The leader of the Temporal Sanctum is a Sapphire Nagasa named Julra (not Yulia, different character), who’s been driven mad experimenting with the Eternity Cache inside the Sanctum. It’s these experiments that have left this scholar stranded in the Ruined Era, locked outside. Luckily Julra’s experiments have also sent multiple versions of the key needed to enter the Sanctum scattered across time, keys which you have already found. You enter the Sanctum in search of Julra, who is obviously a chronomancer, a type of magic user who has limited control over time. Julra seems to have more power over time than any of the chronomancers you’ve met, the ones who have helped you on your journey by allowing you to undo minor past actions such as changing your talents or mastery. Though she’s not nearly as powerful as the Epoch, her power no doubt was enhanced thanks to the mysterious Eternity Cache in her possession. As you pursue her you constantly have to Era hop while navigating her temple, facing off against either Nagasa or the Void depending on the time, this makes Julra realize you have the Epoch, the very thing she was hoping to get her hands on. Along the way you find her notes and realize she is from the Divine Era, like you. She time traveled to the Ruined Era and saw the devastation the void caused and warned her kin, who ridiculed her. Continuing her research in secret, she tried to prevent the future she saw from happening, but no matter what event she changed the future remained the same. She shared her findings with the Vessel Maiden Apophis (An important Diamond Nagasa you will meet) and told her about the void but got no help from her. Julra realized the only way she could fix everything was with the Epoch. She built her Sanctum exactly where she needed to and moved enough pieces in time to allow you to come straight to her. She had messed up with time for so long that when you do in fact end up where she wanted you to, she’d forgotten why she was pursuing you to begin with and attacks you. After having to put an end to her madness you now have access to the Eternity Cache which you can use to merge powerful equipment that will undoubtably help you finish what Julra started.
You return to the Imperial Era a bit more powerful and give the artifact you found to the Shrine Maiden in the Oracle’s Abode. When you do finally meet the Oracle, you realize she is a Diamond Nagasa herself, one that has lived for centuries (not undead as you could have assumed due to her long life). She seems to know you and is surprised to see you. She also knows you have the Epoch.
The Oracle opens a hidden path to the teleporter you seek, which is apparently a crude version of the ones you’ve been using. You learn that those waypoints you’ve been using were from the Ancient Era but not much more than that. Zerrick is mining a dead Titan (like the one you saw and killed in the Ruined Era) and using its innards to power a makeshift waypoint they made. While you killed a Titan out of mercy, what Zerrick has done has been basically torture. The only silver lining is that the Titan was never woken up and its insides were mined while it was kept unconscious with magic. Zerrick was praised by the emperor for his immoral yet profitable idea.
On your way to the teleporter, you cross paths with Spymaster Zerrick and defeat him, then use the transporter with Alric to somewhere near the Emperor’s Citadel where you can sneak inside it.
Chapter 6 - Infiltrating the Immortal Citadel
You are now one step closer to the Immortal Citadel and every step further will have you face more and more imperials as you reach their capital. It was built on Rahyeh’s former empire in Solarum and as such the way there is crawling with fallen Osprix who are now undead and under the command of the emperor. Along the way you encounter a chamber hidden away, with an ancient hole that seeps void corruption, a probable origin of how the ruined era began as all Imperial who approached it fell to its whispers, and it is also a grim clue that the void is older than first imagined.
Before that though, as soon as you come out of the other side of the Maj’elkan teleporter, you meet Yulia, the right hand of the emperor, an immortal undead that is friendly to you and wants to help you take him down. Neither she nor Alric trusts each other.
Alric leads you through aqueducts and sewers as close as he can to the capital, but his knowledge of the Emperor’s Citadel is limited and eventually you are forced to trust Yulia who leads you to her hideout. On the way there Alric’s magic ring, the one that helped you find him before, is destroyed by a fallen Osprix General that you chase down for revenge for Alric (The ring apparently also had history for Alric involving his love interest). Once you are alone with Yulia, she acts like she knows you (similar to the Oracle) and talks about a plan you supposedly made with her. She has already taken care of some Imperial patrols in preparation, knowing that the sewers will cover their stench. She then leads you to the Capital, through those sewers (is there like a law or something that every ARPG must have sewers?), straight into the Citadel. After a very long journey you finally reach the emperor in his yet to be corrupted undead glory (there is definitely a law to have a Skeleton King though).
It was a trap! Yulia betrays you and both Harton and Zerrick get resurrected. I mean, you knew they were immortal so long as they had living to extract, so it’s a good thing you didn’t bring any livi- Alric dies of cringe in a silent ‘I told you so’ (It’s actually very ambiguous how he dies, his essence is not actually used to resurrect the two; he is alive until you kill both Harton and Zerrick then it suddenly jump cuts to his death. We’ll probably get a cinematic or cutscene or something, he doesn’t even have a death animation right now - still doesn’t in 1.3).
You deal with Yulia, kill off Harton and Zerrick, again, but before the emperor can finish you off, he is frozen in place by Yulia, the betrayer. Yulia tells you now’s your chance to use the Lance of Heorot to finish off the emperor. You obviously don’t have it nor know what she is talking about. So, what is she talking about? Well, in a few moments you will travel back in time to your time, to the Divine Era, where you will meet Yulia from your time and indeed make plans to get and prepare the Lance of Heorot as a god killing weapon. Yulia is not a time traveler like you, so your paths crossed in the wrong order. From her point of view, you made the plan, got the Lance, prepared it and are now in possession of it to kill whatever threat you face, that threat being the emperor right now. You take the opportunity to escape and leave undead Yulia behind to be killed off camera for her betrayal (once the emperor is no longer impaled).
1.0 Edit: So, they made a cinematic, which makes things way more ambiguous and quite possibly changes a few things. For starters Yulia doesn’t seem to know you’re a time traveler now like she did before 1.0 and she doesn’t talk about you lying to Alric about who you really were. She’s not the one telling you to go to the past anymore for the lance so (you just randomly end up there) that fixes a bootstrap paradox, but it now makes the player doubly confused about what the hell just happened. Also, you can’t understand Alric dies unless you click on him now.
Chapter 7 - The Might of Gods
You’re back in the Divine Era now, in your time.
Previously on the Divine Era: Rahyeh is waging war on the Keepers and the other gods, starting with Heorot, as you left off. You are now in Solarum (Emperor’s Citadel was once Rahyeh’s capital). You are very close to Heorot’s domain and his capital Heoborea (which is probably why Heorot was the first target). With the knowledge that Rahyeh wants to kill Heorot and sight of smoke in the distance you are put on a collision course towards him on your way off the mountain. You are, however, unable to reach him in time and are literally forced to watch him die at the hands of Rahyeh. After mortally wounding him, Rahyeh flies off and Heorot starts you off on your fetch quest for the Lance of Heorot. Right afterwards you meet Yulia, alive. This pre-undead Yulia doesn’t know you so now she’s the one who’s forced to trust you, because Heorot does (as the God of Compassion, he sees right through you) and she is also the chieftain of Heoborea.
So, while Heorot dies very, very, very slowly, you go on a fetch quest to get the item to help you get the item you want. Heorot once had a demigod son named Morditas who tried to overthrow him and take his power. Heorot took blessings from the other gods to empower his lance so he could strike his son down with it. It is the only weapon known to kill or otherwise incapacitate a god, and it only did so with one-time blessings that need to be gathered again. Rahyeh can only be stopped with the lance (so, I guess the Epoch is no longer a weapon as it has been treated for the last two Eras) but it needs the other gods’ blessings along with Heorot’s. With Heorot on deathbed you have a limited time to retrieve it and get his blessing.
As for the whereabouts, the lance impaled Morditas in ice and Heorot placed his son in a tree in Farwood north of Heoborea that could only be accessed by his temple that could only be accessed by his horn that you need to find in a nearby nomad camp. Unfortunately, the Wengari raided the camp right before you got to it and took the horn along with some prisoners to their Wengari Fortress. Rahyeh has Osprix, Majasa has Nagasa and Heorot had Wengari, the minotaur people (half elk, actually). They are mostly nomadic, tribal and their relationship with people varies from tribe to tribe and even with individuals. Most of the Wengari are not followers of Heorot anymore though and as such your enemy. You do, however, find a more welcoming tribe of them in Champions’ Gate where friendly competitions are held between humans and Wengari alike as all the fighting is left for inside an Arena. This arena is how this tribe is able to gain experience for combat that allows them to fend off all the other tribes that despises their relationship with the humans. You are also welcome to compete in the Arena anytime you want to gain experience as well (I love how this game explains its game mechanics perfectly with lore).
On your quest for the very important and very time sensitive(!) McGuffin you also gather stuff for a man who tricks you into bringing him herbs that you believe is medicinal but in actuality are aphrodisiacs. I generally omitted side quests not really relevant to the plot but found this one humorous for the amount of effort you go through.
You reach the Wengari fortress, free the nomad prisoners, get the horn, realize you forgot to unlock the waypoint in Heoborea (rip my favorite joke, patched out as of 1.0), use the horn to access Heorot’s temple, get to Farwood and run into Grael there (how the hell did he get here without the horn?). The lance is apparently the weapon he left the peace talks for. You can also go back to the Keeper’s Camp in the Ulatri Cliffs to find out the peace talks with the Heoboreans fell through as Heorot could not provide the Keepers aid without the shards they were bringing to the table. Keeper Leena took what few of them left north, closer to the Temple of Eterra to possibly protect the last shard better (where their descendants will eventually become the Outcasts).
Grael is in Farwood because he had the idea to use the lance before you but Heorot being a peaceful god had forbidden it. Grael was waiting at the ready in case Heorot changed his mind and is devastated when he hears why he has. With Grael’s help, you reach the tomb of Morditas that is being protected by Yrun who is imprisoned inside a treant-like cage. Yrun was the former champion of Heorot (Grael being the current champion) and when Morditas rebelled he became his champion instead. It’s a bit ambiguous but I think after Morditas was frozen Yrun was both forgiven and punished by Heorot by becoming his son’s warden inside a prison of his own. Now Yrun is trying to stop you from freeing Morditas (Why? I don’t know as it is against what both Heorot and Morditas want). You defeat Yrun, who is glad to die free and retrieve the lance which will eventually set Morditas free (after he thaws off camera).
Chapter 8 - Lagon’s Blessing
Heorot holds out for you as you reach him just in time with the lance and once you get his blessing he dies. Now you need the blessing of the other gods, Lagon and Majasa (You need their blood actually). So, to the lagoon of Lagon you go. Being the God of Storm, he resides in the ocean, and you need to get to a ship; the biggest harbor and Lagon’s capital of Thetima is your best bet. You get to a Heoborean harbor (of a neighboring tribe), clear the pier from Rahyeh’s forces and catch a ride to Lake Liath (hey, that’s where the outcast hideout with the seer was, in Imperial Era). Logistically speaking however there is no direct water line from the Heoborean harbor to Lake Liath on the map and the closest line of water passes by Thetima to get to Lake Liath, the only way I can imagine is a hidden or underwater river under the mountains that leads directly to Lake Liath which is possible with the layout of the map and in line with how the harbor is in a cave and called Deep Harbor.
Once at Lake Liath you separate from Yulia and Grael with the plan to meet up in Thetima. With Heorot now dead Rahyeh is sending troops towards Thetima, against Lagon. Yulia plans on evacuating nearby villages, Grael will find out about some mercenaries Rahyeh might have enlisted (which he never discloses again, which probably means he took care of them) at the same time you will try and find Lagon’s right-hand gal, the Architect Liath. The one whose name is plastered all the way to Thetima, the servant of Lagon blessed with a portion of his power who acts like a pseudo prophet, a messenger between Lagon and his people. To seek an audience with Lagon you need to find Liath, and her tower is the best place to start.
When you arrive at her tower it is infested with Osprix. After dispatching them you meet Liath, who immediately shuts down any attempts to speak with Lagon and tells you to just wait out things in Thetima instead. She offers that if you must do something you should recover her records from her tower that she wasn’t able to take because she left in quite a hurry. Nothing you can say changes her mind to let you speak with Lagon, not the death of Heorot and not telling Rahyeh is coming to kill Lagon. She rushes off to report everything to him.
You recover her records from her tower and learn Lagon saved a young Liath’s life from pirates and bestowed some of his power with her, which she still hasn’t figured out why. Lagon is apparently prone to tantrums, sulks in his underwater temple a lot and rarely ever deals with his subjects, having Liath deal with everything. Liath feels like a glorified babysitter for a divine toddler who would level cities on a whim. Lagon is incredibly unpredictable and if Liath did let you speak to him it is clear he could try to kill you because he felt like it, or he could be so offended he could destroy Thetima, alternatively he would welcome you with open arms, give you his blessing and send you on your way; all equally probable.
You reach Thetima and meet up with Yulia and Grael. Yulia thinks you should find a ship willing to take you to Lagon’s Island and try your luck with Liath again, alone. She thinks just the presence of her, although they are friends, would be perceived as a threat by Liath.
You learn Thetima ships were grounded by Liath’s orders due to Rahyeh’s attacks coupled with Lagon’s increasing temper that is causing ever more violent storms. It would seem the economy of Eterra is spearheaded by the Trade Princes of Maj’elka who uses a mix of land and sea trade routes that converge on Maj’elka and Thetima respectively. With the sea routes now closed Rahyeh’s attacks are now causing people more suffering than just on the battlefield.
You find a captain willing to take you and wouldn’t you know it, his name is Harton. What are the odds?
Once you get to the Island of Lagon you are attacked by Meruna, Lagon’s equivalent to Osprix/Nagasa/Wengari. They mostly look like isopods (like the Pokémon Kabuto if that helps you not google it) though sirens are also a type of Meruna, and unlike their counterparts they don’t seem to have much free will (such God of Freedom, much wow), they seem to be bound to Lagon’s will (this is further cemented later in an alternate timeline you visit). On the island you help a stranded captain who’s lost his crew to sirens and a Trade Prince by finding his lost employee. That same employee had lost his brother to Osprix and had been depressed lately; you cheer him up with his brother’s favorite meal and he decides to quit so he can explore what’s west of Westeros- I mean Eterra. You find two halves of a moon fragment and placing them on altars opens the way to Lagon’s temple. (1.1.7.2 Edit: So long the most inconvenient part of the campaign, you will not be missed)
Despite Liath’s warnings you enter the temple and Lagon attacks you with his tentacles now, in addition to Meruna he controls, not a good sign. After going through the many layers of the temple you finally reach its architect, Liath. Liath knows how to talk to Lagon to minimize his outbursts and cannot risk an outsider to trigger a tantrum by upsetting him. She even decides to withhold information on Rahyeh and Heorot at the risk of him destroying Thetima, enraged by the whole ordeal (He actually does this on one of the alternate timelines you visit later on). Liath is a very overprotective babysitter that cares deeply for Lagon and her people but doesn’t understand the stakes and downplays them. In the end both of you realize you can’t persuade the other and come to blows which ends in your victory and her death. Liath was trying to protect everyone but ended up protecting no one.
You reach Lagon and your chat doesn’t start until Lagon deems you worthy to speak. Once your skills entertain him enough you plead your case. He is unphased by Liath and Heorot’s death and hopes Rahyeh would kill Majasa next, feeling safe from his attacks underwater and commenting Majasa is exposed in her desert. He scoffs at your murder of Liath implying she cannot die without his will, that her life belongs to him. (Could an older Liath be the Outcast Queen as the outcast townsfolk speculated?) He is amused Heorot gave his lance to such a small mortal and for that alone he gives you his blessing along with a portal back to Thetima.
Back in Thetima Harton apologizes for leaving you there as he was attacked by Meruna (which Lagon would never have allowed them to do). His encounters along with your description persuade him to abandon his worship of Lagon (what little he had left of it), calling him cruel and unworthy of worship. Harton joins your crew for the time being.
Yulia is saddened by Liath’s death, the only one to be so, and is a bit let down you couldn’t persuade her (She is genuinely a good person, and you slowly see she’s not the type of person to blindly follow the emperor). Grael on the other hand decides to gather up an army to face Rahyeh, while you go ahead to Maj’elka to get Majasa’s blessing. To get there first you, Yulia and Harton, head to Soreth’ka along the sea trade routes (now open) with the help of the Trade Prince (Melvern) you helped earlier.
My guess would be that Yulia never wanted to be undead and she only did so to keep an eye on the Emperor or to eventually take him down. She probably wanted to look more human so the people she possibly secretly saved from the Emperor did not fear her. Harton and Zerrick may have also been more gluttonous than her when it came to consuming innocent souls. They probably were more human like in the early days is my guess, Yulia probably took better care of herself as well, she seems more responsible.