The Avowed Secret Side Quest That Hides a Huge Consequence

ign.com:

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Avowed’s second region, Emerald Stair.

The second act of Avowed ends tragically. Fior mes Ivèrno, the town at the centre of the Emerald Stair region, burns to the ground. Its people, already pushed to the edge of starvation thanks to failed harvests, are driven from their homeland by the tyrannical Steel Garotte, an army of fanatical paladins from the invading Aedyr Empire. When the flames finally fade, the city is removed from your map, its ruins occupied by the paladins who razed it.

But this is an Obsidian game. And so, as the developer’s tradition of branching storylines and player choice dictates, there is a way to prevent the town from burning. But unlike most choice-supporting RPGs, this isn’t achieved via completing an opposing mission branch. There simply isn’t a quest to stop this event from happening. Instead, the Steel Garotte is hidden in the region, plotting the town’s downfall, and it’s up to you to find them without instruction or waypoint. It’s an incredibly organic approach to altering the course of Avowed’s story, rewarding curiosity and authentic choices as opposed to the simple obedience of following an objective list in a journal.

The journey towards saving Fior mes Ivèrno begins with rumblings and rumours. NPCs mention sightings of mysterious figures in the wilderness. Notes and documents theorise that the Steel Garotte has established a foothold in Emerald Stair. It's the sort of stuff that you could mistake for mere background world building, but this is actually the first breadcrumbs on a vital trail.

Those breadcrumbs can be investigated in a number of ways. A hands-off approach is available through the use of intelligence-gathering spies. If you’re a dab hand at manipulating conversations you may have encouraged Elowe, a member of the Paradis resistance found in Avowed’s first region, to work as your spy. She’s not your only option; while wandering Emerald Stair’s forest you can bump into