Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Gameplay Journal - Part 8
The Hollow Marshes continue to get weirder and weirder the more I explore them. After some much-needed character maintenance at the top of the first video, I came across my first true crossroads in Divinity - Original Sin 2 that didn't feel like a forced choice. The second video has me actually encountering a Shrieker, which was mentioned as The Divine Order's super weapon in the previous entry, before wandering up on some more Voidwoken.
The choice I happened across was a chest with some loot in it. I would've gone straight over to it if it weren't for some severed heads surrounding it telling me not to. It wasn't entirely clear to me what would happen if I looted it anyway, so I decided to quick save to find out. The result was... peculiar? Opening the chest sets off a series of explosions (which predictably tanked the frame rate), but if you move quickly you can escape them. The loot inside seems fine, but the greater reward comes from feeling like you got away with a heist.
Wandering away from the explsions, I came across a castle that is guarded by a Shrieker. After talking to the person just outside of its range I decided I need to keep exploring to figure out a way inside. It's not entirely clear exactly what I have to do, though, so I guess I just have to trust that I'll come across a solution soon enough. That's kind of the Divinity - Original Sin 2 way, it seems.
On starting the second video, I was a little impatient and jazzed up from the heist, so I decided to test out what would happen if I attacked a Shrieker. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it didn't go well. The Divine Order is right to consider them super weapons. After quick loading, I continued my wandering where I found a new kind of voidwoken enemy. This one also talks, and--more curiously--knows who my character is. After the lengthy fight to take care of it, my party and I are wondering what the deal is with these creatures and their agenda fueling their destructive nature.
To cap off the session, I stumbled across a pitiful magister who had been blinded in a fight with Voidwoken. I tried to stay out of conflict with him, but upon looting some nearby bodies I guess I upset him and he attacked. It was one of the easiest, and perhaps saddest, fights to-date in the game, but a magister is still a magister, so I don't feel too bad about it.
Unless Divinity - Original Sin 2 somehow convinces me that The Divine Order capturing and sucking the souls out of people to turn them into weapons is somehow "a good thing, actually," I'll continue my playthrough as a champion of Sorcerer's and ally to the Seekers. But who knows what revelations might be waiting for me further in the game? Until next time!