Story & Chapters

Newly thrown into the prison colony beneath the magic barrier, you arrive carrying a letter a Fire Mage asked you to deliver to the Old Camp's leading mage, Corristo. With no standing and no protection, you must align yourself with one of the three factions, since you cannot belong to more than one. The Old Camp under Gomez admits you only after you win over the influential Shadows of the Outer Ring (Thorus, Scatty, Sly, Whistler, Dexter, Fingers) so Diego will vouch for you to Gomez. The New Camp bandits take you in once Mordrag sponsors you to their leader Lares and you pay your dues. The Swamp Camp's Brotherhood of the Sleeper accepts you as a novice once you sway four of its gurus with Lester's coaching. Throughout, you run early errands, raise your reputation, learn skills, and start hearing of the colony's deeper troubles.

Point of no return: Choosing a camp is exclusive and effectively irreversible: swearing to one faction permanently bars you from joining either of the other two for the rest of the chapter's admission arc (e.g. once you are Gomez' man, Lares will not take you, and joining the Brotherhood or New Camp rules out the Old Camp).

The main plot ignites at the Swamp Camp. Cor Kalom sends you to its spiritual leader, Y'Berion, who is studying the focus stones, ancient artifacts tied to the Brotherhood's god, the Sleeper. You recover an almanac on focus stones from a goblin cave (the novice Talas having lost his nerve), then use the artifact to locate and retrieve a focus stone from the cliffs, defending yourself when the novice Nyras is driven mad by its power and attacks. You also work the cult's wider business, delivering swampweed to the Old Camp's ore barons and supplying Cor Kalom with minecrawler ichor and eggs from a nest deep in the Old Mine, which means securing Ian's permission, gathering templar muscle, and killing the minecrawler queen. The chapter climaxes at the temple square: the Brotherhood invokes the Sleeper through Y'Berion and the focus stone, but the contact overwhelms him and he collapses unconscious, leaving the colony's escape hopes in crisis.

Point of no return: Performing the invocation of the Sleeper at the temple square triggers Y'Berion's collapse, an irreversible plot event that ends the chapter and sets up the focus stones as the colony's central prize, the fracturing of the Brotherhood's leadership, and the rise of the Water Mages' escape plan in Chapter 3.

With Y'Berion dead, the Brotherhood's hopes of escape pass to the New Camp's Water Mages, and you carry the recovered focus stone and almanac from the Swamp Camp to their leader Saturas. He explains the plan: five focus stones are needed to channel the energy of the ore mound and tear open the Barrier. Having already secured one, you gather Diego, Gorn, Lester and Milten and chase down the remaining four, each an expedition in itself, from the crypt below the Stone Circle to the Troll Canyon, the Monastery Ruins and a golem-guarded mountain fortress. Meanwhile you formally rise within whichever camp you serve, scattering Y'Berion's ashes to become a templar, taking the Water Mages' oath, or earning warder status. Cor Angar sends you after Baal Lukor at the orc cemetery, where the templar breaks down and you are forced to kill him.

Point of no return: Quest titled "Point of No Return": helping Viran, Joru and Balor flee Cor Kalom's camp commits you against the Swamp Camp leadership; gameplay-wise it gates progression into the later chapters.

The Water Mages still need the Fire Mages to complete the ore-mound plan, so Saturas sends you to the Old Camp to recruit Corristo, but Gomez betrays and slaughters the Fire Mages and you barely escape with Milten. With the plan broken, Saturas turns to a last resort: a thirteenth mage, Xardas, in the orc lands. A talking demon guards his tower and demands ice, fire and stone golem hearts before letting you in. Xardas dismisses the focus-stone scheme entirely, telling you the only real way to drop the Barrier is to destroy the Sleeper itself, hidden in an underground temple inside the Orc Enclave. To pass the orcs you craft an Ulu-Mulu standard from Tarrok, guided by the outcast shaman Ur-Shak, then use the Sleeper figurine to open the temple. Inside you slay four undead shamans, but the fifth, Grash-Varrag-Arushat, is immune to your weapons.

Point of no return: Entering the Sleeper Temple via the figurine and confronting the five orc shamans; the chapter closes on the invulnerable Grash-Varrag-Arushat, forcing the search for a stronger weapon that drives the next chapter.

Inside the Sleeper Temple, more than the demon stirs: its nightmare warps the depths and twists creatures and even familiar faces into maddened forms. The hero fights through to the innermost halls and gathers the five gems hidden within. Xardas reveals that the sword recovered in the temple is Uriziel, drained of power, and forges its gems into a rune that can hold a charge again. With Milten's help the blade is recharged at the New Camp ore pile, the colony's vast source of magical energy, over Saturas's objections. Xardas then explains how to wield Uriziel against the Sleeper. On the Old Camp path, old scores are also settled, including breaking Stone out of the Old Camp dungeons.

Point of no return: Once Uriziel is recharged and Xardas explains how to use it, the path drives toward the final descent; pushing into the Sleeper's chamber begins the endgame.

Armed with the restored Uriziel, the hero presses through the last depths of the temple toward the Sleeper, a demon the orcs summoned long ago to destroy mankind. The corrupted guardian Mad Cor Kalom, now wholly given over to the Sleeper, refuses to yield and is cut down. In the heart of the temple the hero confronts the Sleeper itself and destroys it with Uriziel before it can fully wake, ending its hold over the Colony.

Point of no return: Entering the Sleeper's chamber to face it with Uriziel is the final point of no return.