Act II, Vergen Part I -- The Siege of Vergen

Act II, Vergen Part I -- The Siege of Vergen

Well clearly things have not gone as planned or as hoped...  The bulk of the Blue Stripes are dead, having been lured to a banquet in their honor and hanged, and it seems that the King and his Mage have gone off with the army to lay siege to Vergen.  The plan is a simple one -- head into the gullies and make your way to Vergen in the confusion of the siege, slipping past the larger groups of soldiers and killing the smaller groups.

Everything starts to go as planned but then we run into a Troll who tells us where to head-in -- she does not want us passing through her territory, and Roche thinks we should kill her!  But if you talk to her you will learn some important information, and besides we are card-carrying members of the Society for the Preservation of Troll Life, we cannot just kill her!  A bit of being nice to the Troll gets us more information, including the fact that Sile has passed through here.  Good one!

The she-Troll wants to go to sleep, so we thank her and continue on to the next marker, where we have to battle some Harpies and other monsters before passing through the quarry here and stumbling upon an enemy patrol attacking a Troll!  Since we are doing the protect the Trolls bit this time around -- and besides we would attack the soldiers anyway, wade in and start taking names and kicking butt!

Rescuing the final Troll for the Friend of Trolls Achievement

After the last soldier is killed the Troll asks us if we saw his wife back up the trail, and we admit that we did, reassuring him that she was OK when we left her.  That is the final Troll in the Troll Trail, and bidding him adieu unlocks the Achievement "Friend of Trolls" (15 G) Spare all trolls in the game.  Good on ya mates!  Well done!

-- The Vergen Mines --

When we arrive at the mines and enter we discover that Dethmold has been here before us, and left some Mercenaries to greet us.  When we go deeper in we find Adam waiting for us, and he sets a full patrol of Mercenaries on us -- after we handily beat them we work our way through the mine taking out the soldiers and Necrophages we encounter, eventually triggering a brief CS in which we encounter Dethmold and Adam together.  Dethmold is pissed!

After you take out Adams men -- and Adam -- you tangle with Dethmold but, as soon as you get close to killing him he teleports out of the chamber.  You get a closing CS with Adam and learn that it was Dethmold behind the Blue Stripes massacre.

You have to decide whether you will kill Adam or let him go -- I chose to let him go in the hopes that it will allow him to appear in the sequel.  He gives you some kit and the quest advances.  Our next immediate goal is to locate Sile!

Entering the city by the secret tunnel we find Zoltan in battle with the enemy and we get a CS with him in which he assesses Henselt's chances.  You try to convince him to abandon the city but of course he refuses... You tell him you are looking for Sile and he gives you directions to the house she is staying in.  Zoltan's parting comment to us is that the enemy has Iorveth surrounded in the Town Hall, and he asks that we help him...

Head in the nearby door and up the stairs to the bridge, where we get separated from Roche.  Basically we have two options -- go to Iorveth's aid or directly after Sile -- if we go direct to Sile that will quickly end the level, but at the cost of some extra XP so why not try to help Iorveth?

-- The Town Hall --

Head outside and along the path past the archers and into the door to the Town Hall, where you can help the elves there defeat the soldiers.  Go to the left into the hall and up the stairs immedaitely to the right inside to encounter Iorveth and help him defeat the soldiers, then get a CS with him in which he is clearly in denial.  You gain a small amount of XP for this and the quest is advanced.

Other than looting there is nothing left to be done here, so continue along the path and battle the Golem -- inside the house that the Golem appeared to be guarding are some crafts loot.

-- Phillipa's House --

With that mischief managed it is time to head for Phillipa's house, where you will very nearly capture Sile -- but she escapes yet again!  This is also where we encounter Hensfelt -- after taking out his men we battle him to a yield -- and he tells you that you have won the battle but lost the war, since he controls the city! 

Roche appears now and plans to kill the King -- you can ask about his rape of Ves, and you can allow Roche to kill him if you want to -- he certainly deserves being killed.  If you stop him you unlock the Achievement "Reasons of State" (15 G) Stop Roche from killing Henselt.

Saving the King unlocks the Achievement Reasons of State

If you chose to allow Roche to kill the King you will get a CS in which you two discuss the deed, and then you fill him in on Sile.   If you choose to save the King you unlock the Achievement and get the same CS.  If you watch the graphic-novel-like CS it is clear that you are not supposed to allow Roche to kill the King, and Garet makes a good point in that killing the King basically accomplishes the goals of the Kingslayers!
  
Either way you will unlock the Achievement "Alea Iacta Est (10 G) Complete Chapter 2 and then you are prompted to put in Disc 2.