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Warning: Spoilers This section or article may contain spoilers! |
Childhood
The Hero starts as a poor orphan living with his/her(the player can choose to be a boy or a girl) older sister. Going to see what all the noise is about that morning they find a trader selling "magical" items from his cart(most of which are frauds as he sold a magical mirror which would make the owner appear beautiful in it but would only work in complete darkness). They are especially fascinated by a music box that will "grant the user one wish". However his sister doesn’t think it will work. An old women appears and expresses her disappointment that some kids don't even believe in magic (the hero's sister probably does believe she just can't take any chances with any gold they get as they need to spend it on food rather then magical objects that most likely are even real), and encourages the two to earn five gold to buy the music box, as they will never know if it does grant wishes if they don't try. They spend the whole day earning the 5 gold needed and buy the music box and make their wish to live a castle; the box starts to shine and then disappears. Disappointed they return to their make shift shelter, and find the dog they saved from a mean kid. Late that night they find that some guards want to take them to the castle, and they instantly agree. There they meet lord Lucien in his study, he tells them that if they help him with something then he will let them live in the castle with him. He tells them to stand on a platform on the floor bearing a strange symbol(the crest of the Heroes Guild, when they do it shines and forms a blue barrier around them. Lucien tries to enter but it kept out by the barrier which turns red, surprised he goes to the table and reads through one of his books. He states that they are heroes, but none of the three he needs, stumped the heroes sister asks what’s going on. Lucien then gets a gun from one of his draws and apologizes to the kids. He then shoots the Hero's sister, apologizing again he shoots the hero out the window of the tower. He survives the fall and is found by Theresa(the old women from the trader's cart) and his dog.
Early adulthood
The story jumps forward to the hero who has been living with Gypsies in their camp next to Bower Lake. Theresa gives the Hero some items and a Guild seal and sends him to cave at the bottom of the Lake, once there Theresa tells him (through his guild seal which acts as a communicator) that the cave was once the "Heroes Guild" where 500 years ago Heroes were trained to fight evil (however once the Heroes left the guild they were free to become good or evil). And that the Guild was destroyed along time ago when the people of Albion revolted against the "Heroes" as they had become self serving and generally evil, being more like mercenaries then Heroes, after gaining his/her new abilities the Hero heads for Bowerstone, there Theresa. Informs the Hero that Lucien is at “The Spire” and he plans to rebuild it, she tells the story of how it was built by the old kingdom as a hub for all the “Will” (magic energy) in the planet and how its immense power can grant the users wishes. She tells the hero he/she needs to recruit the Heroes of Skill, Will, and Strength, if they want to defeat Lucien. Hearing this, the Hero heads to Oakfield to find the Hero of Strength, a monk named Sister Hannah who unfortunately is the daughter of a monk at the Temple of Light and thus a pacifist (someone who refuses to fight). The Hero agrees to escort her through a cave so she can retrieve holy water, needed to help plant “The Golden Oak”. A magic acorn that only appears every 100 years or so which is needed by Oakfield’s people, as before the first Oak was planted the land was barren and dead, and if the new Oak isn’t planted then it will return to its original state. Going through the cave Theresa states that she will need to find a reason for Hannah to fight, in the last chamber a monk informs Hannah that a stranger is in the temple and he has a gun to her father’s head. Enraged Hannah takes a huge hammer off one of the statues and races for the temple, the Hero arrives at the temple only to see a strangely clothed man shoot Hannah’s father, and Hannah inter kill him with her hammer. The next day at the funeral Theresa arrives and tell Hannah that lord Lucien sent the man who killed her father, Hannah agrees to help and tells everyone to call her “Hammer”(lots of people would joke calling her Hammer instead of Hannah which she never liked) and Theresa take her to the Guild Cave (some people believe that Theresa was the cause of Hannah’s father dying as she said before that she needed to find a reason to get Hannah to fight then Lucien found out where she was and sent one of his men to hold her father hostage which ended with both dying and Hannah vowing revenge on Lucien). Theresa tells the Hero to seek out a powerful Will user named Garth in his tower in Brightwood, the same man the Hero as a kid saw leaving the castle the night his sister was killed by Lucien. Reaching Garth’s tower the hero is attacked by a “Shard” (a magical floating stone that Lucien uses to teleport his men to where he needs them to go) and has to fight off Lucien’s men known as Spire Guards. At the top of the tower the Hero is blocked and can’t help Garth, who is taken prisoner by one of Lucien’s more powerful men.
The Crucible and the Spire
Informed by Theresa that the winners of the Crucible (a tournament going through 8 stages each with 3 rounds) are invited to join Lucien’s army in the Spire, and that if he did win he could go to the Spire and rescue Garth. She also sends Hammer to help, as the Westcliff path is infested with “Balverines” on the way to the arena Hammer and the Hero have a run in with some Balverines and kill them (during which Hannah points out all the good their doing stating that she would pray for hours at the temple but it wouldn’t actually help anyone however they just killed some Balverines and made the path safer for everyone). Reaching the Crucible Hannah isn’t allowed in, due to her pointing out that one of the guards name doesn’t make sense (asking why he needs to have “Strangler” as a middle name when he is already called “Mad Dog” something that the other guard agrees with). After beating the challenge the Hero departs for the Spire leaving behind his dog and his equipment, once at the Spire the Hero sees an older Lord Lucien who explains his plans of cleansing the world of its evil. Later the Hero meets the“Commandant”, (the same man who kidnapped Garth in his tower) who explains how there is a collar around his (the hero’s) neck and he will be tortured if he disobeys him, he tries to break the hero’s will, hitting him and telling him to thank him for it. Later the Hero finds Garth, who says to be patient, and wait for their chance. 10 whole years pass and the Spire has been almost completely rebuilt by Lucien’s slaves. The Hero still trapped is ordered to find a missing guard, the finds the guard’s corpse and take his weapons. Garth appears and uses the last of his magic to remove the hero’s collar, leaving the hero to do all the fighting. They make their way to the Commandant’s room, where the Hero kills him and lets Garth absorb all of the released experience orbs, giving him all of his lost powers. Escaping from the Spire, Theresa and the Hero’s dog meets them at the shore, and Theresa recruits Garth. After seeing Hammer after the long ten years the Hero heads to the Guild, where Theresa tells the Hero that the Hero of Skill is a pirate named Reaver who resides in Bloodstone, hearing this Garth takes the other Heroes to his tower where he was working on a Cullis Gate. Fighting off a small army of Lucien’s men, while Garth charges the portal, however only the Hero and is dog make it through the portal to Wraithmarsh. Going through Wraith Marsh Theresa explains that it used to be Oakvale, but over 100 years ago one of the citizens made a deal with evil forces and all of the people living in the town had to pay the price. The Hero finally makes it to Bloodstone and finds Reaver posing for a sculpture in his mansion. Reaver first dismisses the Hero as he isn’t “Renown” enough, looking the door behind the Hero, (if the player stays close to the door he can her Reaver question the artist “You think my buttock looks like that?” and then shoots the artist) after returning Reaver sends the Hero to return a seal to someone in the “Shadow Court” in Wraithmarsh. Finding the court the Hero finds that Reaver was behind the destruction of Oakvale all those years ago having made a deal with the Shadow Court, inter for agreeing to let them destroy Oakvale, the Court agreed that as long as he continues to send them a sacrifices to steal the youth from (who they will know by the seal he sends them with) they will send the persons youth to him, granting him eternal youth. However there is a young woman in the Court’s chamber, who was teleported there by accident when she read from an old book. The player decides weather to keep the seal stealing his/her Hero’s youth or giving it to the young girl to preserve their own. Either way the hero returns to Bloodstone where Reaver is posing for a photo, having just finished Reaver kills the photographer as it will take 3 months for the picture to develop. Reaver also explains that h heard Lucien put a bounty on the Hero’s head and he of course took it. Lucien’s men arrive and start destroying the town, one of Reaver’s men informs him that Lucien is also after him. Realizing that he has been double crossed while double crossing the Hero, Reaver uses his escape tunnel, leading the hero through the caves fighting Lucien’s men to his escape boat. Getting to the other end they are met by Garth and Hammer who Theresa sent to wait there. Reaver tries to leave on his ship which he named “The Reaver” (claiming that he would have named it something else but someone else had already taken it ) but it is destroyed by a “Great Shard”( a larger and more powerful version of the normal shard), which the Heroes destroy working together. Returning to Bower Lake Theresa takes the 4 heroes to the top of the rock formation in the lake and has them stand in a precise order, to complete a ritual that will give the Hero a weapon that will stop Lucien. When the ritual is complete a huge blast goes of and all the Heroes are temporally weakened, the weapon still hasn’t appeared and Theresa is gone. Lucien however appears with his men who kidnap the 3 other hero. But Lucien stays behind with the Hero and his dog, he pulls a gun on the Hero saying that “The last time I killed you it tore my heart out”, Lucien then fires only for the Hero’s dog to block the shot killing it. Unfazed by the heroic gesture Lucien reloads his gun and shoots the in the head. The Hero is woken up by his sister Rose and finds that he/she a child again; the Hero spends all day playing with his/her older sister on their farm home. Going to sleep at the end of the day the Hero is woken up by music coming from beyond the gate, the Rose encourages him/her to go back to sleep. However the Hero runs out the door and beyond the gate the as Rose screams from far behind, the Hero runs down a path filled with dead corpses, at the end of the path the hero finds the music box that Rose and him/her bought as children. There the Hero is shown his/herself as they changed throughout the journey; from child to teenager to Spire guard, to their self now. Theresa informs the Hero that they have the weapon that they need, all of the sudden the hero is transported to the Spire where he/she finds Lucien draining the energy out of Hammer, Garth, and Reaver and is about to make his wish. Revealing the music box all of the energy is drained out of Lucien, who tries to convince the Hero that he was only trying to save the world from all evil, talking on the player can kill Lucien with whatever they want. However if they wait too long then Reaver will regain conciseness and shot Lucien robbing the Hero of their vengeance, at which point he says “Sorry did you want to kill him?”.
Final choices
Either way Lucien dies and Theresa appears in front of the heroes revealing that the Spire can still grant a wish and she gives the player 3 choices, Sacrifice: All of the people who died in the Spire’s making will be brought back to life, but the Hero loses the chance of seeing their family ever again(presumably until death). Love; The Hero’s sister, dog, and family will be brought back to life, but their lives come at the cost of the countless innocence who died in building the Spire. Or Wealth; The Hero will receive more gold then they could possibly imagine, to spend on whatever they want, but any they loved and all of the Spire’s prisoners will remain dead. The player decides what the hero’s wish is. Theresa explains that from that room of the Spire she can teleport them any where and offers to send the other heroes wherever they want, Garth wishes to return to his homeland of Samarkand, with Reaver tagging along to find some “exotic substances” and “uninhibited people” Though Garth insists that its “nothing like that”. Hammer explains that she is still fond of fighting but has grown tired of killing things, and thus asks to be sent north to study with the warrior monks she had heard about, who fight as a means of enlightenment rather then killing, she admits that there is nothing left for her in this land, but that she will be leaving behind her best friend. With all of the other heroes gone Theresa tells the Hero that the world is theirs to enjoy, but the Spire is hers, from there she teleports the Hero to Oakfield and severs all communication with the Hero.
Depending on the player’s choice the hero receives a letter explaining how the people of Albion fell about them now.
Snag between the plots
There is a error made in the Chamber of Fate early in the game, reguarding the Hero of Oakvale's second battle with Jack of Blades. When Theresa talks about the current Hero's ancestor she mentions that he battled Jack of Blades twice once in the chamber of fate, and again when Jack of blades reformed himself as a dragon. She said that not much is known about the battle, other then the fact that the Hero of Oakvale used the Sword of Aeons against him. This doesn't fit as Theresa is alive, and to keep the sword of Aeons the Hero would have had to kill her. Also in the Chamber of Fate when you look around the room at the paintings recording his achievements, you see the good version of the picture marking the first time he defeat Jack of Blades. Also meaning that he choose to destroy the sword of Aeons instead of killing Theresa. The only other explanation is that someone replaced the pictures in the Chamber of Fate, and that the Theresa in this game isn't really Theresa.