The Painted Masks is a quest in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire.
Synopsis
Aloth has spent the last five years trying to deal with the Leaden Key, but the task has proven difficult. He wants the Watcher's help to find a Leaden Key cabal in Deadfire that may provide him with much-needed insight. He said no one in the region seems to know that name, so our best hope is to keep an eye out for signs of the Leaden Key.
Walkthrough
- Aloth will talk to you and ask for help with finding the cabal and then promise to talk to you once he's collected his notes. However, to truly progress the quest, you need to head northwest, into Rikuhu's Maw, and sail around waiting for an encounter with a deserted ship. Its sails will bear a variant of the Key's insignia. Investigate the soul to learn that a Huana tribe has attacked the ship, abandoning it dead in the water.
- Talk to Aloth and reveal that fact. He will reveal that he has also found stains. You can identify them as koiki pulp with Survival 4 and then with History 7 as a material used by Wahaki hunters from Ori o Koīki.
- Continue to Ori o Koīki and to the ranga. While Aloth will mention the mural displaying Thaos in the Wahaki shrine, you want to talk to the ranga, Ruāsare, and mention Thaos and the Leaden Key. This will allow you to read her soul. You will move hundreds of generations back, to the memory of a strange, foreign man:
When at last you seize it, you find yourself in the very same throne room. But the condition of the place - and the memory of your host - suggests that it is many, many hundreds of years ago. If not more.
You are seated on the dais. A man is brought before you, dressed in stifling black robes. He reminds you of a corpse dressed for a funeral. He reminds you of something else, too, but one of your attendants leans in and interrupts the thought before you can follow it. She tells you that this is the man you asked to see, and that his people have been harassing yours.
He calls himself 'Thaos ix Arkannon.'
"Explain yourself, stranger."
He gives you a smile that sets your teeth on edge.
"Your Excellency, I come to warn your people. Your presence among these ruins is an affront to the gods. "You must remove yourself lest you face the gods' wrath."
Indeed, the man is an even greater fool than you had been told.
"The gods surely take their time. We have lived here two hundred years, and they have yet to raise an objection."
He bows. "The timeline of the gods is not for mortals to understand. But even their patience shall wear thin, especially after this warning."
You certainly feel your patience wearing thin. Who is he, this foreigner, to send your people from their halls and homes? And who is he to tell your people, the survivors, about the wrath of the gods?
"What ungrateful guest evicts his hosts? Our ancestors built these places centuries ago. We will not leave."
For a moment his unctuous facade melts away, and he blinks at you and your attendants. You get the impression that your response has surprised him.
"Your people cling tightly to their history." His jaw is tight as he speaks. He swallows hard, as if gulping something unpleasant. "But where are these designs among your arts? Where is the carved adra in your wooden huts?"
You knew he was a fool, but now you suspect he is a dangerous one.
His words are a lie, but like the very best lies, they contain the shadow of truth.
Everyone knows foreigners once lived among your people as guests. But they have not been seen in two hundred years.
"These places were not built by the Huana, but by an ancient people from a distant land."
"The murals in these places and the stories of our ancestors tell it differently. How would you, foreigner, know our history better than our own grandfathers?"
What prickles the back of your neck is the question of how he might know this. And why he brings it to you. He smiles. "I have seen your murals. And I know that you will recognize this."
He produces a helm with two horn-like protrusions and a mask attached. He is correct. You do recognize it. Your guards and attendants gasp. The man, Thaos, smiles more broadly.
"It was my people who built these places. And now I come before you bearing their warning."
At least that much is true.
You turn to your guards.
"Seize him."
Just as a look of surprise appears on Thaos' face, the ancient ranga's memory skips ahead.
You are looking at Thaos once more. This time, however, he and a score of robed men and women are bound amidst a heap of peat and wood.
This time, he is staring at you in disbelieving fury.
You have gathered your people and told them that the foreigners before them are the same ones who came to the islands centuries ago.
And now your people are angry and frightened, too, because every Wahaki remembers the story of how these foreigners abused the hospitality of their Huana hosts. So great was their iniquity that the gods destroyed the great city of Ukaizo and many others besides.
"Watch now as I wipe their stain from among us."
Your people cheer. Thaos struggles and yells, but his words are drowned out.
"Let us never forget that this foreigner is a trickster and his people a plague."
Hundreds of Wahaki stamp their feet and beat the ground with the butts of their spears.
Still Thaos scowls and thrashes in protest.
"From this day forward, we must be vigilant. Let us root out such foreigners and keep our lands pure of their wickedness."
The tribe cheers louder than ever. Young and old, Mataru and Roparu, all are united in purpose.
A change seems to come over Thaos. The struggle leaves his body and the rage departs his face.
Good. Let him accept his end.
One of your attendants offers you a torch.
You hurl the torch. The flames spread quickly.
The foreigners scream as the fire advances. All except Thaos, who looks back at you with a strange smile of satisfaction.
- When you find the memory of Ruāsare's past life as a long-ago chieftain of the Wahaki, it seems Thaos came to scare her people into abandoning the Engwithan ruins. She executed Thaos instead, yet their interaction cemented the Wahaki's suspicion of outsiders. Thus, the tribe has unintentionally served the Leaden Key's interests for almost two thousand years. Aloth will want to know about this.
- How you answer his questions determines his ending. He can either be heartened by knowing that even Thaos' imperfect efforts have progressed his grand schemes, or think that his approach truly doesn't matter.
Trivia
- Note that killing the ranga for the quest Tip of the Spear will cause her soul to exit her body and linger above her corpse so that you may interact with it, thus preventing the quest from being stuck.