BETTER THE DEVIL YOU DON’T K NOW, IN
Flenk stands on the field of victory. Lying moccasins are the corpses of his beside his luxury owlbear fur-lined enemies:thefearsomegoblinleaders whom he was tasked with destroying to save the druid, Halsin. Well, I say bodies. But in truth there’s only one. The other two are as yet undiscovered. One, Minthara, fell to her death when Flenk heroically collapsed the bridge she was standing on. The other, Dror, was blasted to oblivion when he failed to notice Flenk surrounding his throne with explosive barrels, also heroically. If that sounds cowardly – and it probably does – rest assured that our hero heroically killed Priestess Gut with his bare hands (actually with a rapier, in a four-on-one mugging inside a locked room). However you spin it, though, the job is done and Flenk intends to devour every morsel of praise from the refugees whose lives his actions have saved. Songs will be sung. Stories will be written. Exaggerations will be made.
GLAIVE DANGER
Flenk returns, triumphantly, to the liberated druid camp. It’s wonderful because every snippet of overheard dialogue is praising our vital work. Flenk has never before felt such an overwhelming desire to speak to every single shuffling nobody. Adoration is his ambrosia. There’s also a delicious moment during which Halsin tells off Kagha, the rogue druid who previously tried to enact the Rite of the Thorns, while Pillius lurks behind the hulking druid, sniggering like the head boy watching a ruffian get a dressing down. “Someone’s in trouble!” The only downside is that I don’t get to have a full conversation with Kagha and rub my timely intervention in her beautiful face. The sting of this is somewhat lessened by the news that Team Flenk is getting a reward for their hard work. Some mild puzzling later, and Flenk unlocks a subterranean vault full of delicious riches, including a glaive that’s probably cursed and a robe that he’ll almost certainly feed to Gale. Oh well. Pillius Flenk doesn’t act heroically for monetary gain; he does it because praise is his lifeblood and he’ll turn to dust without constant adoration.
There’s a party back at camp to celebrate Flenk’s victory. I realise I’m talking about this like I’ve finished the game, when, in fact, this is only the first act. But all the signs point to Pillius’ adventuring career being short and feeble, so he’s making the most of it. Everyone he speaks to is celebrating his victory. There are even bards writing songs of his exploits.
