The Iron Flail is a main quest in The White March - Part II.
It is automatically started after speaking to Deryan in Stalwart Village during The Forgotten Army.
Synopsis
The objective is to gain entry to the Iron Flail Fort in order to discover the fate of the Stalwart delegation sent to negotiate peace with the Iron Flail commander, Adaryc, and resolve the situation.
Walkthrough
- Talk to Deryan in Stalwart Village.
- Go to Iron Flail Fort on the world map, and gain entry to the fort. There are three ways of getting inside:
- Blast down the main gate, by way of a cannon barrage (requires Ready the Cannons to be completed).
- Assault the main gate, using a battering ram (interact with the logs beside the draw bridge).
- Stealthy approach. This is best attempted at night when the guards stay at their campfires rather than move within the camp all the time. Climb over the Western side gate using Rope and Grappling Hook, or squeeze in with an Orlan main character or by casting Form of the Helpless Beast on your party if you have a caster. You need to lead with a character (or an Orlan main character) with 6 Stealth to avoid waking up the sleeping guard.
- Find and talk to Adaryc, inside the Command Post. Sneaking through the camp is a challenge, but can be done if you do it at night and avoid dogs like the plague. Use a Stealthy character to clear the way first. Moving along the northern edge of the fort can be a good idea, especially if you use the battlements and the stairwell to your advantage. If you are confident of your fighting/stealthing skills and your MC is stealthy, you can leave your party at a tavern and proceed alone
- You meet the commander in an automatic cutscene, where he also reaches out to you with his Watcher talents. The experience is particularly painful and Adaryc will be shocked to realize that you're the Watcher at Caed Nua (he isn't up to date on the news).
- You can attack and wipe him out... Or resolve the situation peacefully. (Whether or not this works seems to be dependent on how many of his underlings you killed on the approach. Being stealthy is recommended if you wish to resolve the situation without further bloodshed. It isn't necessary to completely avoid killing his soldiers, but kill as few as possible.) It is possible to have a peaceful resolution even if you wipe out all hostile guards in the fort including those outside on the perimeter. He will be extremely hostile at first, but with the right dialogue options, including asking if he has a cure for being Awakened, telling him you saw a vision of an army too, using Intellect options, telling him to read your soul, and finally saying perhaps two Watchers can solve the problem. He will eventually surrender peacefully. This option may require a high Benevolent and Honest reputation (he will say you are soft hearted when he reads your soul).
- To calm him down. The chat where you ask him about Readceras or use Perception 11 or Intellect 14 to inquire about the shameful treatment of Watchers there are sidelines. As long as you don't explicitly attack him, you can keep exploring the dialogue tree. To progress towards a peaceful solution, ask him about the delegates and his mission. He wants to control the cannons of the Battery to turn them against the Dyrwood once it invades Readceras, as he saw in his vision. You can then tell him that you had the same vision and when he doubts you, you can use Intellect 14 to point out that Dyrwood couldn't possibly wreak the kind of destruction he saw (this check gets reduced to Intellect 12 if Duc Aevar is dead), Resolve 16 to point out that dying won't do Readceras any favors, rationally point out that you made a mistake in assuming the Iron Flail to be the army from the vision, or mention the thunder and a hundred eyes.
- Then, you can use a Negative 2 reputation with Stalwart, tell him to read your soul, or point that if he's wrong, he's wasting men and material on confronting the enemy. Then you can suggest that two Watchers can succeed where one could not. He gives you his Soulbound blade, Steadfast, if you convince him to stand down, and he and his army will march to your aid during The Battle of Yenwood Field. You are also granted the skill Sever the Soul after completing this encounter.
- Free the Stalwart delegation from their cell by interacting with the grate and talk to them. Saving them will gain moderate positive reputation with Stalwart, but making peace with Adaryc will gain minor negative reputation. The raving delegate, the one who was screaming about drowning and waves, will shortly open her own jugular.
- Interact with the Soul to have a Vision. It turns out that the delegate was a deep cover operative from The Abbey of the Fallen Moon, ordered by High Abbot Kaoto to drive the Readcerans from the mountains, then report to him or the Tidebringer after the mission is accomplished... So that they can call off the army of the Eyeless. As you learn the truth, there will be a sudden, deafening crash outside, heralding trouble for you, together with the sound of smashing timbers and panicked screaming.
- Exit the Command Post to meet and fight two Eyeless Hammers.
- This will trigger another vision, where you find yourself in the memories of the Eyeless:
“
As the last maegfolc falls, a tide of essence sweeps through the ether. It washes over you, and you find yourself in the memories of the Eyeless.
The hulking creatures surround you, their sinew-wrapped skeletons clanking and screeching in the semidarkness. Their bodies fill the air with the tang of metal and the musk of sweat. The cavern in which you stand - it looks like a cavern, anyway - glows with a dim, ambient light. Steel flashes as the Eyeless shift and stir. They stamp their feet and groan in rasping, metallic voices. Their restless energy prickles at the back of your neck.
You begin to wonder how many Eyeless are crowded around you. You suspect there must be scores of them - maybe more. It's difficult to tell how far back this chamber goes. Or where it is. Ahead, you see a glint of light. It might be an exit. Already, however, the vision is starting to fade.
[Explore further into the chamber.]
You push past the lumbering Eyeless and cling to the wilting shreds of the vision. The cavern broadens before you. It swells with echoes until you hear the growling, grinding sounds of the Eyeless all around. You pull yourself onto a glowing, crystalline outcropping and survey the expanse of blunt heads and piston arms. There aren't scores of them. There are hundreds.
[Investigate the glint of light.]
You push past the lumbering Eyeless and cling to the wilting shreds of the vision. The light up ahead is blinding after the dark of the cave. You rush toward it even as it fades into a pale blur. You can't see where you are, but you hear a cold wind whistling through the gap and feel a spray of moisture sting your cheeks.”
- You automatically gain The Rising Tide quest after the vision. Adaryc will offer a parting word if you managed to talk him down.
- Go back to Stalwart Village and speak with Deryan - you can gain minor reputation with Stalwart Village
Journal
| quests\px2_critical_path\px2_05_qst_iron_flail | ||
|---|---|---|
| ID | Objectives | |
| 0 | The Iron Flail | |
| 10000 | The villagers of Stalwart are concerned about a band of Readcerans, known as The Iron Flail, which has come to the mountain with the intention of claiming the Battery for themselves. A group of delegates was dispatched to negotiate, but they have not returned. | |
| Alternate descriptions | ||
| 40001 | While traveling northwest of Stalwart, I came upon a fort flying foreign banners. Whatever the intentions of those within, it seems that they have come in force. | |
| 1 | Reach the Readceran fort. | |
| 10001 | The Iron Flail has erected a fort in the mountain pass to the northwest. Any answers as to the fate of the Stalwart delegates will lie there. Deryan asked me to deal with their Commander, Adaryc Cendamyr. | |
| 20000 | Though it appears that the delegates did arrive at the fort, I was met with hostility at the gate, and turned away. The doors look like they could withstand anything short of a battering ram. Perhaps I can find another way inside. | |
| 20004 | I ran into a pair of lovebirds outside the fort, one of them a Readceran soldier. He mentioned that the guard on duty at the side gate tends to doze during his watch. | |
| 20005 | The guards posted outside the fort walls were forthcoming with their reasons for being here. Apparently their Commander was guided to the White March by some kind of vision. | |
| 2 | Find the Iron Flail commander. | |
| 10002 | The Iron Flail isn't amenable to visitors, but I've managed to find a way inside the fort. Adaryc is probably somewhere nearby. | |
| 3 | Search the fort. | |
| 10003 | This Readceran band is organized and well-equipped. Perhaps I can find some clues as to their motivations within the fort- or else snuff this threat before it grows. | |
| 4 | Deal with Commander Adaryc. | |
| 10004 | I have come face to face with the fort's commander. He has the Stalwart delegates in captivity- and it's unlikely he'll take my intrusion well. | |
| 5 | Free the prisoners. | |
| 10005 | Adaryc imprisoned the Stalwart delegation in a cell built into the earth floor of his cabin. With the commander out of the way, they can be released. | |
| 6 | Survive the ambush. | |
| 10006 | Giant, towering creatures have attacked the Iron Flail fort, and all its inhabitants. That includes me. | |
| 8 | Investigate the commotion. | |
| 10008 | It turns out that one of the delegates sabotaged the negotiations. She took her own life before she could be questioned in the usual way. From her memories, I have gleaned knowledge of the temple complex she was sent from.
Any further investigation will have to wait- I've been interrupted by the sounds of conflict just outside. | |
| 9 | Investigate the fort. | |
| 10009 | A sizable fort has been erected at the base of the mountain pass that leads to Stalwart and the Battery. It may be worth investigating whether this is the army I saw in my vision. It could pose a serious threat to the White March and Dyrwood. | |
| 20002 | The fort appears to be manned by Readcerans. I was met with hostility at the fort gates, and turned away. It seems I won't be welcomed inside.
The doors look like they'd withstand anything short of a battering ram. Perhaps I can find another way inside. | |
| 20003 | I ran into a pair of lovebirds outside the fort, one of them a Readceran soldier. He mentioned that the guard on duty at the side gate tends to doze during his watch. | |
| 20006 | The guards posted outside the fort walls were forthcoming with their reasons for being here. Apparently their Commander was guided to the White March by some kind of vision. | |
| Unused strings | ||
| - | 30002 | |
| End states | ||
|
Fort - Finished with diplomacy | |
| 30000 | I was able to defuse the precarious situation with the Iron Flail, and gain a potential ally in the process: Commander Adaryc, a fellow Watcher. Stalwart is safe from the Readcerans for the time being, but the real threat has emerged: an army of towering creatures known as the Eyeless. | |
|
|
Fort - Finished with Adaryc's death | |
| 30001 | I confronted Commander Adaryc, leader of the Iron Flail and evidently a fellow Watcher. With his death, the Readceran threat to Stalwart has been eliminated. However, the true enemy has surfaced: an army of towering creatures known as the Eyeless. | |