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Ready the Cannons is a side quest in The White March - Part II.

Synopsis[ | ]

To protect Stalwart, Wengra wants to reactivate the Battery's artillery positions, so that she can rain death and destruction on anyone in the White March. Problem is, the skuldrak are in the way and there's no guarantee the cannons will even work after a century of exposure to the elements.

Walkthrough[ | ]

  1. Talk to Deryan in Stalwart Village and then to Wengra at Durgan's Battery.
  2. Ascend the West Tower via the Battery's Great Hall. Fight your way through the skuldr to the patination chamber in the northwest. It's filled with deadly gas (used to patinate the cogwheels for the elevator). The cloud inside will deal constant Corrode damage to anyone entering and the disease puddings inside are no joke either. The prize is a patinated cog, one third of the solution to repairing the lift.
    1. The best companion to send in is the Devil of Caroc (she's immune to the gas, but will still take a modest amount of Health damage, so, y'know, don't tarry).
    2. Alternatively you can sneak around directly to the patinated cog chest by using the exit to the outside near the maintenance room. This will vented the room.
  3. Next, collect the dwarven lever from the adjacent maintenance room and enter the cannon range to get the Pargrun rust-dissolver from Potionmaster's quarters.
  4. Repair the artillery lift by replacing the lever into the slot (although you can also use a torch or a prybar), the broken cog on the wheel, and finally the rust-dissolver on the rusted chain.
  5. As the elevator ascends, you are attacked, leading to a scripted interaction and then a fight:
    1. With Mechanics 12 and one of either Stealth 8 or Might 16 you can successfully repair the lift and avoid the combat encounter, but everyone except the character repairing the lift with will be inflicted with Severe Burn and Severe Wound. With Mechanics 15, only the Severe Wound is inflicted.
    2. Standing ground in the center of the platform will inflict the entire party with Severe Burn and Severe Wound, and you will begin the combat encounter surrounded by skuldrak.
    3. Standing on the edge of the platform will only inflict one party member with Severe Burn. However one of the party members will be knocked off balance and fall to their death, unless you have Rope and Grappling Hook to pull them to safety, or simply use Dexterity 22 to bring them to safety. The Monk ability Flagellant's Path will also work. You will still need to fight the skuldrak, but with you surrounding them.
  6. After dealing with the elevator debacle, clear the battlements of the skuldr and interact with the wheel by the globe to activate the cannons and enter another scripted interaction.

Transcript[ | ]

Items in italics are quoted directly from the game.

You find solid ground beneath your feet even as the air around you is a haze of smoke and heat shimmer. Coughing, you bat acrid fumes away from your face. As you acclimate to the soot-choked air, you see flames leaping in the distance. Each flare bathes you with warmth, and even as you struggle to pick out the details of this place, something about it seems familiar.

You can see little through the thick smoke, but the dancing flames illuminate a dragon's head cast in stone. It's the White Forge.

As you start toward it, something massive comes crashing down in front of you. You leap back at the sound of metal slamming into metal and feel a deep tone ring through the thick air. Recovering your bearings, you find yourself looking at an enormous hand.

It's dark and shiny with heat, but you see every bone, muscle, and tendon working in harmony beneath the bronzed flesh. The hand's owner is hidden behind clouds of smoke, but the hand itself is wrapped around a pole as thick and sturdy as a tree trunk.

Follow the arm

You try to follow the arm to its owner, but the heat and smoke overwhelm you. You turn back.

Follow the pole

You continue onward to see what lies at the other end of the pole - and what's responsible for the clangorous music - just as the hand rises again. It swings back down in a perfect arc. A tower of metal smashes down ahead of you, raining sparks and glints of essence as another deep, ringing note sounds. You realize that you're looking at an enormous hammer. The head glows with heat and essence, though the purple luster fades as soul energy is sucked from the hammer and into the work under it.

Inspect the hammer

It's a block of black steel, as dark as a starless night and shiny enough that you can see your reflection in it. It's a work of art itself, a study of simple yet perfect design.

(If the fragment of Abydon's hammer was recovered) You recognize it as the same hammer you saw in the vision at the Abbey of the Fallen Moon. The same hammer of which you now hold a piece.

Get a closer look at the work.

As the hammer rises once more, you dart forward to see what lies beneath it. A lone figure sprawls on an expanse of steel as smooth and broad as lake ice. The figure itself is enormous, a maegfolc of twisted flesh and forged metal. Its arms end in two spiked clubs, and its head is a blunt, eyeless wedge.

It opens its mouth and keens. The desperation in that noise reminds you of a newborn's fear and confusion. Air rushes at your back. You look up and see the hammer, its head once more glowing with essence, speeding toward you.

You awaken to the sensation of warm tiles beneath your face. You're prone before the boiler, which drones on, pushing heat through the tower floor. But in the vapor that pulses from the boiler and pipes, you smell the fumes of the White Forge.

Cont'd[ | ]

  • By the time you come to, the heat from the White Forge will have heated the cannons up, ensuring they can be used again. Return to Wengra outside Durgan's Battery.

Journal[ | ]

quests\px2_02_durgans_battery\px2_02_qst_tower_cannons
ID Objectives
0 Ready the Cannons
10000 The heavy cannons at the top of the West Tower of Durgan's Battery were once a powerful defense. They could be a valuable safeguard for the Battery - and me.
1 Ascend the West Tower.
10001 Wengra told me that the heavy cannons are at the top of the West Tower.

However, she also said that the workers she'd sent to reclaim them were attacked by beasts.

2 Repair the artillery lift.
10002 The artillery lift that leads to the top of the tower is broken. I'll have to get it working again to continue onward.
20003 One of the cogs in the gearbox is missing. I'll need to find a new one to replace it.
20004 I've found a cog. I can use this to repair the lift gearbox.
20005 The chain is rusted solid. It might work again if I could find something to remove the rust.
20006 I found a solvent that might remove the rust on the lift chain.
20007 The control mechanism is missing a lever. There may be something nearby that I can use in its place.
20008 I've found a spare lever. I should be able to activate the lift with it.
20009 I've repaired the lift. I can now ascend to the top of the West Tower.
3 Restore the cannons.
10003 I've reached the top of the West Tower. I need to make sure the heavy cannons are working before I return to Wengra.
20001 The cannons are frozen. I'll have to find a way to keep them warm before anyone can use them.
4 Return to Wengra outside Durgan's Battery.
10004 I activated a boiler atop the Western Tower that keeps the cannons warm. When I did, I had a vision of someone - Abydon, I think - constructing a maegfolc of metal and flesh at the White Forge.

Wengra is waiting to hear that the West Tower is safe and that the cannons are ready.

5 Find Wengra at Durgan's Battery.
10005 Deryan mentioned that Wengra and her crew are repairing the Battery's heavy cannons.

It would be worthwhile to check on them. These cannons could be a formidable weapon against the army from my vision.

Unused strings
- 20000
End states
Yes Boiler activated
30000 Wengra was ecstatic to hear about the cannons. She's heading to the top of the West Tower to test them out.
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