Chapter 1:

After leaving the previous town, a few days of uncomfortable silence is evidenced between the priest and the hero. They face yet another monster from the Dweller of the Vale, and it nearly kills both of them. At this point the hero is beginning to wonder what he is doing and again tries to push the cleric about the identity of the dark elf assassin. The cleric offers little but when pressed again he snaps and tells the hero that if he wants to give the priest guardianship of the key and live his days in peace and safety he is welcome to it. The hero states that he won't and that he will see the end to this quest and the Lords of Sin who have caused so much evil in the lands. Nothing is said for a day, and then the priest pushes to end the silence and offers some words of consolation for the hero's plight. He states that although he understands the nature of the hero it is a difficult road and the next guardian could end both of their lives. He tells the hero that if he earnestly wants to back out and give the priest guardianship of the key he will understand, and in fact he pushes the notion that perhaps it would be best if he found others to join him. The hero in turn reminds the priest of the secrecy of their mission and that if he left then his friend the Captain would have died for nothing if the quest failed.

Game Notes for Chapter 1 up to this point:

This is where the player should make the decision as to whether or not to give the key to the priest. If he does, then the priest will immediately turn on the player…and kill him. I’d offer the player full control, but he shouldn’t be able to defeat the priest. So, if it’s surrendered, the game is “over,” but not before the priest kills the hero. If he refuses, then the priest barely manages to restrain his temper and forge on.

The conversation ends on an odd note as the priest offers to take watch and the hero falls asleep for a few hours...

The next day, the hero watches the road and sees for a fleeting moment the assassin's face in the trees. Doing a double-take, he can't seem to locate her again. Reporting this to the priest, the priest in turn says nothing about it except a grunt. The hero again has to wonder if the priest somehow knows this assassin...

They camp on the road that night and the priest tells the hero that by the end of the next day they will face the next guardian and will by the graces of the gods retrieve the next key. The hero practices his blade and thinks about the captain before he prepares....

Game Notes for the Remainder of Chapter 1:

The fights and the journeys are live action. During the journey, they encounter and defeat wandering monsters. The rest of the chapter is a cutscene.

Chapter 2:

The next guardian is found in a separate dungeon, an ancient tomb. The tomb is explored, and the guardian is eventually engaged and defeated. The battle is terrible, though, and the priest is wounded badly. It is up to the hero to defeat the guardian and land the killing blow. They walk out of the lair with the next key.

Game Notes for Chapter 2:

This chapter is entirely live action, except for short cutscenes of the guardian and the hero raising the key in triumph.

Note:

Chapters 1 and 2 do not necessarily begin Act III. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 of Act II, and Chapters 1 and 2, of Act III, do not proceed in a linear order. They occur in the order the hero choses. They are location-based. Thus the first real chapters in Act III are the last two locations the hero chooses.

Chapter 3:

On the road, the priest pulls the keys out of his pouch and looks at them for long moments before replacing them. This is a repeating pattern. For the most part the priest is silent except the hero can hear him muttering "soon, soon my Queen" and little more is offered.

That night they camp off of the main road. While the hero is finishing off a meager meal the priest comes to him and tells him that he really should give up guardianship of his key. The hero reminds the priest that if it wasn't for him he would have died in the last encounter. But, the priest is insistent and begins to ask again and again for guardianship. By then the hero is on his feet and he is wondering about the intentions of the priest. Refusing again, the priest flies into a rage and attacks him with a spell. The hero tries to resist but the priest comes at him. But, instead of killing him he keeps demanding guardianship of the key. Refusing, the priest threatens to kill him; the hero offers no retort, for he knows that this is within the priest's power. Then the priest pushes into a personal attack about the hero and that he's nothing but a worthless drunk and that he was a poor choice as guardian. He tries to plead again in a kind voice, but the hero refuses. Flying into a rage again, the priest begins to pound him with his fists and then pulls out a dagger. The hero swears under his breath and begins to make a prayer to the gods. The cleric laughs before moving in...

..and then watches in amazement as another dagger flies out of the woods and hits the priest in the hand that was carrying the dagger. Scowling, the priest begins to chant but the drow then charges the priest with her shortsword and stops the spell before it can be cast by plunging her blade into his stomach. Looking for his mace, the priest notes that it is on the ground and out of range. Swearing, he backs away while holding a wound which might be poisoned. But the hero, who is watching this, knows that even though the priest is wounded and unarmed he could easily loose another blast just as he did in the inn which caused so much damage and cost a few innocents their lives. The drow begins to pursue, but the priest immediately casts another spell and vanishes. The spell holding the hero expires, but he now finds himself face-to-face with the assassin... The hero is certain that he will die at this point at the hands of the assassin. But instead of killing him she looks at the stew pot before turning her attention back to him. Looking at her carefully, he knows her to be a dark one, one of the drow. After some long moments he asks outright why she saved him. Grunting, she replies that it wasn't that she was trying to save the hero, but rather kill the priest. It is then that she explains:

"The priest is not whom he appears to be. Millennia ago, a powerful creature from the Abyss, the goddess Salystra the Serpent Queen, who is trapped in the Maelstrom in a piece of the Abyss she called Naand, created the Serpent of Twilight. The Serpent of Twilight is a demonic being made from the pure energies of the Maelstrom. He is Salystra's emissary in Farland. The Serpent created a monolith that coursed with the power of Salystra. Yet this monolith had an even darker power: it could open a portal from the Maelstrom to Farland, releasing Salystra; yet this would also release the destructive energies of the Maelstrom, causing the continent of Farland to be destroyed. After the Serpent and the dark elves were defeated by the elves, a council of elven mages sealed the monolith’s power with the Keys of Naand to make sure no one could open the portal. Yet now, the Serpent wishes to take the Keys, break the monolith’s seal, and open a portal, destroying Farland in the process. Yes, the priest is the mythical Serpent of Twilight. I am determined to redeem the dark elf race from its disgraceful betrayal and will not allow the Serpent to unlock the monolith’s seal."

The hero interrupts her on multiple occasions to ask about the previous events. First accusing her of killing his friend, she states apologetically that he got in the way of her real target, the priest/ Serpent. AS for the poison, she emphasizes that the priest was the target, not the hero or the captain. The Darkness spell....same thing. then asks about the poison and said that sometimes the good must use unwholesome tactics to defeat evil. Delving further into what the reader should consider an introduction she retorts that for most of her life she has been misunderstood, a cast out, and a victim of the prejudices of society. She has undertaken this mission to redeem her and her people. Curious about her people, he asks if they all feel as she does. To that she offers no reply. At this point the hero asks the drow what the priest will do next, or where he will go. (He has a general idea, but does not know the exact location.) At this point he has little reason to trust her, and by all rights she should kill her for killing his friend. This almost brings a confrontation, but at the last moment the drow backs off and apologizes again. A few moments pass in silence before the hero reveals that he has a key. She is shocked by this revelation and states that even though he has one, the priest cannot be allowed to take the last key. After a few more words, an uneasy truce is formed. But, they have one nagging question: where is the exact location of the remaining key?

Game Notes for Chapter 3:

The battles in this chapter are live action. The new from the assassin is delivered as an interactive dialogue menu interspersed with cut scenes.

Chapter 4:

More questions are forthcoming from the hero the next day. (He notes that the sunlight hurts the drow but offers little concession). First, he asks if she knows about the Dweller in the Vale. She offers that she does not. He asks her again about the priest's confrontation in the room. She admits that that was her spell but she does not know enough about the Dweller to give any more insight. He argues that if they are to catch up with the priest and stop him they have to know the location of the Fifth key. The drow then states that one might know some of the answers to these questions....

On the road, they are attacked again, and although the enemy is dispatched easily enough (and, the hero notes that almost all of his old skill has returned) they do not know who is actually sending these monsters. Furthermore, if they were sent to the priest why did this one attack? More questions follow and it's uneasy, until after five days traveling they make it to a forbidding area and one who might be able to answer these questions.

Finding their way to a cave, where they must destroy the monsters who have taken up residence there, the drow opens a sealed door and calls forth others.... and to the hero's surprise, other drow emerge from the sealed door. After some greetings, he is introduced and the leader (a priestess) tells him that no harm will come to him. The assassin asks about the final location of the key, and more about the keys. The priestess states that she does not know much more than what was told...but she does know about the Dweller in the Vale and offers insight about her. She states that she is a rival, but instead of a desire to destroy the lands she wishes to rule them with an iron fist. She does know that she has controlled many of the keys through guardians and until recently a balance was kept in check. Furthermore, she offers warning of a suspicion that whomever possesses one of the keys, or any who have assumed guardianship over the centuries, has seen their lives fall to misfortune and poor circumstance. But, beyond that, she knows that the only people who might be able to answer the question as to the final location of the keys would either be the Dweller herself, the priest/Serpent, or their cousins, the elves. Looking around, the hero can't help but wonder just what would happen if a group of dark elves would seek to know the knowledge of the final key, especially considering their role in its origin. Voicing his thoughts, the priestess tells the hero that they can show him the way to the Conclave of one who might answer but that he would have to go...alone.

Game Notes for Chapter 4:

This is mostly live action, interspersed with cutscenes.

Chapter 5:

The assassin and the hero leave the cave and make their way toward the Belendale, the Elven forest, defeating wandering monsters on the way.

Once they reach the edge, the assassin begs off and tells the hero that the the elves guard their forests fiercely. When he asks about how exactly to find the Conclave, she tells him that he'll likely be found and brought there, as the elves are very protective of their forest... if he makes it into the forest at all. Waving him off, she tells him to meet her five miles back on the road and that she'll be looking for him. The hero enters the forest and find that the entrances into the forests are indeed laden with traps and wild beasts. The hero must defeat many outdoor traps here (pits, fuselages, snares, etc.) combined with magical beasts like owl bears that hunt the hero through the forest. Assassin vines also attack him. He fights his way past the dangerous entrance to the forest, he enters a safer area and is overtaken by how majestic it is. And, as foretold, he soon finds himself surrounded by elves... armed elves. They ask him his business, and he tells them that he needs to speak to an Elder about the Keys of Naand. This time, he even shows them his key. After some private words, the elves march the hero to their elven community.

When he gets to the Conclave and is taken before the Elder, the first words are not very optimistic towards his fate: The Elder asks him two questions...first, how did he get his key, and second, what was he doing in the company of a dark one. Before he can answer, the assassin is brought forth in chains. He then tells the hero that the life of any drow caught by the elves is forfeit. The hero begs the elves to spare the drow, asking if there is any way an exception can be made, and the Elder says that there is one way. He explains that according to custom, the hero may buy the drow a chance to at least state his purpose. He must defend the assassin’s life with a trial by combat against a bladesinger or fighter/wizard in an arena-type environment. The hero fights and defeats the elven champion, though he spares his life.

The Elder then says that they have won the right to speak. The hero explains how he got the key. The Elder asks about the oath, and the hero confirms that he took it. At this, the Elder confirms that he is indeed a real guardian, and not a false one as employed by the Dweller of the Vale. Then, he turns to the drow and demands her story. She tells it, and tells of her desire to redeem her people. Many in the hall are of a mixed mind about this, but the issue is resolved when the Elder asks the drow to make a sacred oath that dates back to before their people were split. She takes it. At this point, the hero asks questions about the key and whether or not it is cursed. The Elder responds that although the key is not cursed, the circumstances often lead one to believe it is, because of the weight in which guardianship implies. The hero then mulls his surroundings and wonders if he should ask to give up guardianship to one of the elves. As if reading his mind, the elves refuse. Instead, the elder charges him with a mission: As the only known guardian to remain, only he can release all of the keys back to someone else. Therefore, he must undertake the mission to get the rest of the keys back from the priest and turn all of them over for permanent guardianship. He implies the reality of how many folk have died by those who seek these keys, and that the keys should be removed once and for all to a place where they can do no more evil, nor tempt others to do evil. Furthermore, the elder states that two elven warriors who are also skilled in magic will go with him, for he knows that the final key is heavily guarded. Two elves march forward, one armed with bow and one with blade. They offer greetings, and after a few more words and a night's rest, they set off to find the remaining key. As for the hero, although he is thankful for the information and the assistance, he can't help but wonder if they are too late....

Game Notes for Chapter 5:

The beginning and end are presented as cutscenes. The rest of the chapter is live action and combat heavy. There is one especially crucial moment: If the hero cannot defeat the bladesinger, then the drow’s life is forfeit, and the game is over for the player.