An exile returned? How is that even possible? And a Karui warrior, too. Descending from the sky to destroy our enemies like Tukohama in the stories my mother used to tell me. Well, your 'divine intervention' gave us just the diversion we needed to take this tower, so if you keep doing things like that then I might have to start believing in the gods again.
An exile returned? How is that even possible? And a Templar at that. Striding out of the sunlight to lay waste to our enemies like Ramako in the stories my mother used to tell me. Well, your 'divine intervention' gave us just the diversion we needed to take this tower, so if you keep doing things like that then I might have to start believing in the gods again.
An exile returned? How is that even possible? Rising out of the darkness to claim the souls of our enemies like Hinekora in the stories my mother used to tell me. Well, your 'divine intervention' gave us just the diversion we needed to take this tower, so if you keep doing things like that then I might have to start believing in the gods again.
And thank you for finishing off that last overseer for us. I don't know what sort of mother could've birthed that land-loving whale, but we were lucky he wasn't here when we took this tower. He'd have spread us across the floor like butter on a piece of bread.
Here, take something, for helping us in this hopeless fight of ours.
Thank you. By killing Casticus, you've given us a fighting chance.
And about his eyes... I'm sorry you had to do that, yet although Utula's solution might seem brutal, I've seen Karui men blinded with a hot poker simply for looking a fraction too long at an Oriathan lady. Yes, this is war... and just a little revenge too.
We'd been planning it for months. Spreading the word. Stealing weapons. Gathering support. Utula and his followers did most of the dirty work. I just carried a few messages here and there. Should've known I'd end up like this when the real fighting started.
In the darkest hour before dawn, that's when we broke our chains, and as many overseer necks as we could wrap our hands around. We took the panopticon as the sun rose over Theopolis, and that's as far as we got. When you're up against cold steel and colder hearts, there's only so far that anger will take you.
Few of us can say that we've devoted our lives to anything greater than ourselves. Can you?
I think Utula can. Since the day I met him, I've seen Utula do nothing that wasn't in the service of his people.
He's a smart one. He could have escaped. He could have sailed off to Ngamakanui and never looked back. Yet there he stands, our herald of freedom. I might die of this wound, yet I'd be giving but a fraction of what Utula has to honour the Karui Way.
I can't yet begin to unpick the lies that Utula has told us, but this piece of truth I do have. Utula sensed that very moment when you struck your final blow, when you broke the Templar's power. He turned to me and told me this.
"Now our King comes to us. He'll be hungry, so very hungry. I shall prepare him a feast!"
Then he gathered his followers and left.
Where's he gone? Oriath Square. You won't need directions. Just follow the screams.
You've sent the traitor to meet his Ancestors, have you? That'll be an interesting conversation. I'm no hatungo, but I can foresee Utula walking a long road of trial and suffering before he earns himself a place at the Ancestors' table.
And just as Utula's journey continues, so does yours, right into the jaws of Kitava.
I don't profess to understand the mind of a god, but I know the stories. Kitava is patient. He waited in the darkest pit of Hinekora's realm. He will bide his time while his hunger spreads like the plague it is, and when his tribe is replenished, a hundred times over, Kitava will rise one final time to finish the feast that he has started. Oriath is merely the appetiser. There's a whole world out there for Kitava to taste.
You've proved that you're a hero who can slay legends. Let's see if you can kill a god.
I'd be dead right now if not for Vilenta. I just hope I live long enough to repay her. And how will I do that? By talking Utula out of his inclination to slice Vilenta's throat open.
As far as I'm concerned, our pasts are as broken as our chains.
Bannon is... unexpected. At least, he's not the sort of Templar that I'm used to dealing with. His ideas about Innocence almost make sense to me. The way he worships Innocence, and receives such power in return, it's like his devotion actually brings out the best in his god.
But how is that possible? A god is a god. They bless us and they punish us, not the other way around. Yet for Bannon, somehow it's... different.
When I was a courier for my father's house, I'd cross Cathedral Square a hundred times in a day. On the fairest days that square would be filled to bursting with Oriath's high born, come to bask in the sun and each other's glowing nobility. It was a pretty sight, depending on where you stood.
The King's Feast is an ancient ritual born of less enlightened times. Long before the Karui followed the Way, one tribe would conquer another and a feast would be prepared for the triumphant King. The main dishes of this feast were selected carefully, for the sweetness of their nature and the tenderness of their flesh.
You see, when the conquered fills the belly of the conqueror, two tribes become one.
And that's what's happening out there in Theopolis, right now. The Tribe of Kitava is feeding upon the Tribe of Oriath, and the feast won't end until two tribes become one.
"He is the Tormented One, destined to rise up from the darkness... And we, his children, rise with him."
It was there all along, in eyes too bright and smiles too wide. Cunning concealed by kindness. Conquest wearing the mask of Freedom. I didn't see it because I was looking for something else. Hope.
The Cult only wanted what it's always wanted. To be born again in their father's image. They are Kitava's children, the first of his tribe. Unless you do something about it, they won't be the last.
Once Kitava has gobbled up every scrap of Oriathan flesh, sucked every Oriathan bone dry of marrow, he'll turn his endless hunger to Ngamakanui and the whole Karui Archipelago.
As you know, the Karui will fight, and they'll fight hard, but they're going to need all the help they can get. And I know of three treasures that might just make the difference.
They were taken when the Templar raided Ngamakanui. A whip woven of Hinekora's hair. A tooth that Tukohama ripped from his own mouth. A fish hook that was once the jawbone of Valako. Together they're known as 'Kitava's Torments' and lie within the Reliquary that borders Oriath Square. I saw them with my own eyes when delivering messages to the scholars there.
Please, go to the Reliquary and claim those treasures before Kitava's children do.
Not all slaves believed Utula's lies. Some I know have managed to steal a ship and are soon to set sail for Ngamakanui. Hopefully, with these treasures onboard, Valako will bless their voyage and breathe deeply into their sails.
No, I'm not going with them. I helped bring this curse down upon Oriath so I'll help save what little there is left to save.
Here, take something, in thanks for your part in preserving the Karui Way.