Veil of Darkness - Dying a Charmed Death (Request for Assistance)

Written by Zenic Reverie

I'll start by admitting defeat. I'm stuck. I've been doing my best to avoid it thus far by scouring every place for items or clues, even replaying the game to make careful notes of words in dialogue before I learned to ask Seth for a light. I'll admit I've been a bit lax on doing so since then, and it might finally be time to pay the piper for that mistake. I thought the game would naturally give me all the pieces by the end. This game though seems keen on making me work for it. I'm facing Kairn, surely on the cusp of victory, and yet missing at least one vital step.

Maybe I need to blind myself.

I had thought avoiding the vampire's charms would require some item, and yet I've so far tried everything I have available. I hoped it was as easy as wearing the garlic necklace, but that must provide a different kind of protection. I reviewed the prophecy:

"He shall turn aside the vampire's charms,

And stand strong against claw and fang."

Well, it's really that first part that doesn't seem to be working out for me very well. I hope it's not something as silly as just looking at the wall. The talisman also seems to provide no protection. I've used the cross, drank various options, used the crystal to increase vitality, and even had the book out that breaks evil influence to no avail. 

In experimenting, I did learn the talisman is useful for avoiding death by banshee.

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself though. When last I left, I searching Kairn's fortress for his coffin. With no obvious options left, I started my room by room rubbing up against every wall, bookcase, and cabinet before not one but two had to be pushed out of the way to enter secret passages down below.

The cross does glow only after the first passage is found.

I avoided a ghost on the way down, and found not only the coffin, but Deirdre as well. Locked away behind a very sturdy door, she pleaded I release her quickly before Kairn returned for her. She said Kairn kept the key with him at all times. Good thing he didn't do the same for the key to the book. She also said it was her father that made a deal with Kairn. She's to wed the vampire in exchange for her father's ability to leave the valley. Key in hand I returned to the book. True to its word, it revealed Kairn's true name after releasing it. The book then vanished

Never would have guessed.

For the record, being under the influence of the book does nothing to protect from Yfelan's charms. The name itself does nothing for me yet as I have no opportunity to speak it. With not much else to go on I confronted Kirill about Deirdre's situation. Nothing came of it except a shouting match. I recalled the fortuneteller's vision, and purchased some iron nails from the general store. I also picked up the hammer from Ivan on the way out from Kirill's house. 

Two nails seems like enough.

At least I'm still making progress on the prophecy.

With my options running thin, I decided to go back to enemies I walked past to see if they'd drop anything that was worthwhile. Nothing came from dispatching all the zombies in the mausoleum, though it's a little safer to walk through. I still had no way to deal with ghosts or shades, but I went to the forest anyway to pick up the potions I had left on the ground. "I already had a full bag of them, and they would just weigh me down", I had thought. Turns out I missed some vital pixels beside one body.

Can you spot it? I didn't know it was there until I picked it up.

Here it is with magnification on. I wonder if I'm missing something like this on another screen.

It was the horn I'd been searching for to cross the lake. This allowed me to wrap up the last brother's quest line.

The witch carved her runes.

The ferryman took me across the lake to the island in the center.

I returned with a dagger, just another trinket to satisfy the quest. With that done, the shades of Kairn's family were put to rest. Before departing, they opened a passage to a room with a coffer containing the captured essence of sunlight. This is obviously part of the prophecy where I must set the imprisoned light free. That is of course after going toe-to-toe and releasing a holy attack (this might just be more holy water). It was here that I felt truly out of options. So, I went back to every NPC to see if they had anything new to say or if they'd react to some words.

The Nameless One did bless the silver sword, which allows me to banish ghosts. I don't feel very protected.

I even tried to do things out of order, opening the coffer immediately upon entering.

And that's where I stand. The fortuneteller gives the same vision of me hammering the coffin shut. No one seems to react to asking about vampire charms. I've ruled out doing anything with the banshee other than avoiding death. For what it's worth I picked up another candle and blessed it as well. The items I haven't used are the garlic necklace (which no NPC seems to respond to despite Annabelle's warning), the rope, and darts. The manual doesn't seem to hold a clue about this either. It did say shades fear fire, so maybe there's no way to destroy them yet maybe I can keep them at bay. I'll attempt to work through my options again, but I don't see many that will materialize some item to prevent the vampire's charms. Death is quite immediate once Kairn starts to speak.

So, I'll need a little help from my friends.

Specific questions I have are as follow:

• Do I have everything I need to defeat Kairn at this point?
• Is it a dialogue option with a secret word to trigger an NPC to provide an item?
• Is it an item I just didn't pick up?
• If it's something I'm missing, where should I focus my search?
• If it's some combination of items I have, what should I focus on?

I'll give it another week on my own before I check the comments in this order of questions. I'm hoping for a general direction more than a direct guide (which I could look up on my own). Looking forward to wrapping this up soon, as I'm sure all of you are as well.

Session Time: 3h 00m

Game Time: 15h 00m