Esoteric Ebb Walkthrough – Day 3

Esoteric Ebb is an isometric, Disco-like, TTRPG-turned-CRPG set in a bizarre post-Arcanepunk fantasy setting. You are The Cleric, an expert in esoteric events, and a glorified government goon. Inspired by classic CRPG games, Esoteric Ebb features deep and branching dialogs with a staggering amount of choices. In this part of the walkthrough, we use the spell Speak to Dead to find out what happened to the Elf at the Tea Shop and how we are involved. We also meet the Freestriders leaders and the Azgal leaders. We recover a book from the depths of the City Below in the Living Library. We meet our new familiar, Meek Mimic.

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The Tower

As usual Day 3 begins at the tower. I then set up all 12 of my spells and 3 Cantrips at the Shrine next to the bed.

I then used Mage Hand to check the chest above for its contents – Crowns and Vourgeni River Droplets, which gives a minor strength (+1) increase when drank. I then spoke to Ettir which involved a Daunting Strength check but I somehow rolled a decent number and got her to talk about religion.

This is a flirting dialogue chain but also an enlightening one. She will offer to assist you in the Undercoast path and it will update the Valkyrie quest.

This will unlock Ettir as a companion in the Undercoast Path.

Quest: Class Conflict

I just noticed at this point that I had completed the Class Conflict quest by asserting 10 times that I was The Cleric. I had a feat to take root in. My choice came down to The Cleric or the Friendly Local Druid. This will vary for your depending on what class you choose. For my case, The Cleric made my healing spells better and would use Strength as a modifier if it was higher or The Friendly Local Druid which would make rolls better in outside areas, overgrown areas and caverns. I chose The Cleric, which is a Strength based Feat.

I then headed off to get Snell at the Goblin Garden.

Tolstad

It was raining when I made my way through Tolstad, which was pretty nice. I found a cat near the park area.

I cast Speak With Animals on it. You will have a moderate difficulty Charisma check to get real answers from him.

He will confirm all that we have learnt over the last two days including that Sageleaf is a dragon. There is also a mysterious dwarf on the far end of the park from whom you can pickpocket a Shard of Jor or 19 Crowns. He won’t speak to you.

The Goblin Garden

Quest: The Tea Shop that Blew Up

I liked Sageleaf, so I decided to tell her everything I knew. There was a Challenging Diffculty Charisma check and a moderate Difficulty Intelligence check.

I passed the Intelligence check on my second attempt and was rewarded with a “Ring of Regeneration” for my efforts. I also handed her Drummer’s papers. This concluded the quest “The Tea Shop That Blew up.” This led me to “Taking Root” for a feat. I had three choices this time – Lone Cleric, Master Memorizer and Friendly Company. Lone Cleric (Strength based) It heals an additional amount equal to the levels of exhaustion you have after a short rest. Master Memorizer (Intelligence based) During a short rest it will randomly restore two spell slots instead of one. Friendly Company (Charisma based) During short rests, always roll Hit Die with advantage. Snell also gains an extra proficiency in his initiative rolls. I picked Friendly Company. I then headed to the Lich House.

The Lich House

You might be tempted to use the Speak to Dead spell on the corpse here, don’t. You can only revivify him to complete the quest, speaking to him will just waste your 3^rd Level spell slot. Go upstairs and cast the spell on the Elf. You can pick up the Bracers of Thievery from the slab.

So you have 5 questions to ask and 15 options.

So these are the questions I think you should ask –

“What was your name?” This will confirm that she is indeed Pinja’Athena – the elf we met on our first night and gave us the quest to find the missing paladin.

“Why were you in the tea shop when it exploded?” This will confirm Lisa’s story and update the Freelance Hag quest.

“Who actually came to this meeting?’ She will answer “the state” and point at you. wtf.

“What was this meeting you had planned in the tea shop?” She will confirm it was a negotiation/sale with her Freestrider contact.

“Who did you work for?” She will say Ilym and herself.

The following discussion with Snell will update the “Elven connection” quest.

I then headed to Waterlane View.

Waterlane View

Quest: Milkurious

If you come here in the morning you will find Ost here, doing his milk run.

He will ask you to sell the milk at a ridiculous price. You can accept because the profit sharing will be after the election, so that’s a problem for another day. I figured it was a scam and refused to take part in this business. Which will complete the quest in one way. Head to the AR Trading building.

Askanii – Reeds Trading

Inside the building you will see a Celestial, Ambassador Ivcx Liuvben.

Quest: Golden Line

Go speak to him. You will notice Lady Chamar as well, who we met on Day 1. He will flatter you for a bit and offer to extend a bond to you and Snell. Basically, he wants you to be a Golden Horde/Freestrider spy. If you have handed out three AEFAs, the quest “Capital Dominion” will be updated. He will then continue to strong arm Viira. He will ask you a loaded political question. You can choose to stand by the Clanlands or support the Golden Horder. My choice was to stay neutral. This will complete the quest “Golden Line”.

Quest: Capital Dominion

Eventually you will get a Daunting difficulty Dexterity check where you can catch the Ambassador out, if you so choose.

If you fail you can either consider his offer or ask him to go to hell. Either will end the quest “Capital Dominion”. Alternatively you can turn down his offer and the Golden Horde wont be in contact with you. And this will lower the Dexterity check requirement, and you can get a better deal for Viira. You can cast Augury before you start this conversation to ensure you have a successful roll, if you have WEAL show up. You can also use Bless to give you an advantage. Either way, Viira will offer you the sword on the mantle for your troubles. Or you can choose to flirt with her. I chose to flirt with her. She agreed to a date and gave me full access to the facilities (which I didn’t really need anymore) and she gave me the Kattegatt which gives you +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom. If you examine the sword you will get a Moderate difficulty Wisdom check.

Kattegatt will speak to you. He will proceed to give you a personality check so he knows he can trust you. Answer as a good person and Kattegatt will unfurl giving you Moralizing Kattegatt. It will now also give you an Advantage against Evil Creatures.

If you check your Quest Tree, you can take root for completing “Capital Dominion”. In this playthrough, I have veered a bit towards the capitalist nature of the Freestriders and therefore a political discourse follows. But essentially you get 3 choices – Unstoppable Force (Strength based) Alters ability score modifiers on Weapons, Invisible Hand (Dexterity based) advantage on all pickpocket or trifle checks or Immovable Object (Charisma based) Dexterity modifier adds to your haggle discount in shops. I chose Unstoppable Force. Now speak to Viira again to have the scroll on the table, which she will give to you freely. Very nice spell for combat situations, Protection from Evil and Good and Etcetra. I want to check behind the mirror but Viira is still here.

Snurre’s Office

If you go into Snurre’s office and talk to him, he will give you a quest” The Lost 6^th Edition”. You need to find a book for him in the City below. He has a lot of dialogue, exhausting all of them will get you a fair few points of experience as well as update the “Golden Line” quest. Head to the Drunk Sphinx now.

The Drunk Sphinx

Quest: An Easy Riddle

The bar should be empty right now. Go to the right side of the stage and engage with the wine barrels. Olzis will ask Snell to leave if he is with you and then move the barrels.

Go up to the stage and cast the three Cantrips you have – Mage Hand, an Arcane Spell, Druidcraft, a Primal spell and Thaumaturgy, a Divine spell. You should have picked up all 3 if you followed the walkthrough. Enter the void and keep going till you reach a chest.

Inside you will find the “Deck of Many Things”. This will teleport you back infront of Olzis and complete the quest “An Easy Riddle”. You can now “Take Root” for the quest.

You ponder why there is a Gate to the beyond being guarded by a Sphinx here but you realise you will not get an answer. Ultimately you will get four choices.

• Leyline Hook (Charisma based) Alters ability score modifiers on Trinkets,
• Millenia Guardian (Constitution based) The effects from Potions are doubled,
• Positive Tingle (Wisdom based) Healing spells use double the number of dice and
• Scribble the Margins (Intelligence based) Your cleric level is double when calculating the number of spells, you can prepare.

I picked Leyline Hook and gained 800 XP. Speak to Olzis about the Deck of Many things if you want. Examine the deck, it will either give you a good result or a bad result. I drew five cards – the first one burnt up, the second one gave a choice to increase one stat and decrease one (strength over wisdom), the third one gave me 50000 crowns, the fourth made me play rock paper scissors with Doden or Death, the fifth card was a Jester (the best card in the deck apparently) which gives me an advantage in every dice check. Now, I do not how many cards you can pull from the deck but after I put the deck away it disappeared so up to you to experiment.

Goblin Garden

I went to pick up Snell and headed to the Holes (the slums) past the Pillars Crossing.

The Holes

Knock on the door on the second floor.

Alfoz will open the door for you. Inside you will find Modissa, Alfoz and Siimi. During your conversation with Modissa we find out the cleric’s mother is a famous suffragette and that by extension you have dwarf ancestory. If you ask to help her, she will tell you she needs ink from the AR Trading Warehouse. You have unfettered access so getting that might help with the quest “Copper Press Fever”. You can sabotage the printer here if you are so inclined. If you tell Alfoz about the dead elf it will update the quest “Elven Connection”. You can also see a Belt of Dwarvenkind behind Alfoz.

Speak to Simii and leave.

Askanii-Reed Trading Warehouse

Quest: Copper Press Fever

Pick up the ink cartridge from the box in the corner.

Leave and go back to the Holes. Alfoz and Modissa will be having an argument. You should have a No Trouble difficulty Wisdom check to solve it.

Handing her the ink will complete the quest “Copper Press Fever.” Taking Root will give you 3 choices.

• Mass Media Propaganda (Intelligence Based) – Alters ability score modifiers on TEXT.
• Human-Dwarf Unity (Wisdom Based) – While you are at full health, whenever you take damage, those dice are rolled with disadvantage.
• Azgalian Endurance (Constitution Based) – For every 3 hours spent being exhausted, you lose 1 level of exhaustion.

I chose Human-Dwarf Unity. I had also levelled up so I dropped a point in Strength. I felt I had almost done everything I could so it was time to head down below.

The City Below

You will meet Ettir near the Pillar of Jor, if you got her to join your party. After speaking to her she will head down below. Head north from the pillar. You will find a broken calendar. Hop down the stairs on the right. You will find Azkel Madsson here.

If you speak to him and accept his quest, the “Lost Mines of Toul’Amon” will be added to your quest log. He needs you to go past the Roots and find a symbol of a sun or two blades. Go around and take the right side path up you will reach a skeleton on the floor, be careful as there is a trap here. You need a dexterity check to avoid the trap.

If you avoid being burnt alive, paw marks will show up where you can deactivate the trap. Deactivate the trap by walking together. Next you will have a myriad of checks.

In my current build, Intelligence seem the easiest to pull off. After you succeed, Snell will create a situation for a small rest where you can have a long heart to heart with him. If you have Wisdom above +21 (I did) you will now notice a secret doorway.

This is a path to the Undercoast. We will go through it later. If you head south from here (north is a dead end), you will find 4 things. HWBT supplies on the right in the Sewers, A Statue, A Cube that wants to kill you and a Mysterious door. Check all the supplies in the Sewers first.

The Sewers

Up north in this area, you will find a camp of sorts. As you inspect the food crates, a crocodile creeps up behind you. It’s Kraid, Rage of Askan (?). This will become a combat situation now. If you get initiative try to dodge his attacks with dexterity, he will soon get bored.

You can now speak to him. You find out he is one of Visken’s workers and eventually you get a Moderate Charm check to ask him to stop stealing the Goblin’s food. If you succeed, you can direct him towards the Freestriders or the Azgals. You pick really, I sent him after the Freestriders. He will offer you a “Slogdog” with a Constitution check. You can find out more about Visken if you come back here without Snell. This will update the quest “Lichhouse Blues”. Go back into the tunnels.

The City Below

Go south now and turn to the right you will find a giant statue of a Minotaur. Engaging with it will lock you in.

He will ask you and Snell three questions, the answers are pretty simple but eventually it will lead to a precarious situation. It will happen, there isn’t a win situation here.

You will have to pass a Strength or a Constitution check to survive this. I chose Constitution as it was just 8 compared to a Strength check of 18. You will be rewarded for surviving this chamber with Jacinth which gives you +2 Strength and -2 Intelligence and Incense Bowl which gives you +2 Intelligence and + 2 Wisdom (These are all modified for me because I have Leyline Hook enabled). Head out and if you keep going south you will be stuck inside a murderous Cube where you have to survive so I suggest avoiding this path. But if you do get stuck and survive, use Mage hand to pull out the torch in it’s center. It’s called Run Fackla, and you will have a new accessory with +2 Wisdom (modified) and will give you a 10 Foot Light. You can also pick up the item Docile Stress Cube which gives you +2 Wisdom (modified).

Further south is a mysterious door.

If you had checked the petrified statues in the Roots you know the secret password. Otherwise you need to pass two difficult checks – Intelligence or Strength. Inside you will find the spell “Dancing Light”.

An Arcane music box which reduces Charisma by 3 can also be picked up. Check the stack of books for some XP and finally check the “Not a Mimic Sign”. If you touch it you will find out the sign itself is the Mimic. You can pull out your hand with a Moderate Dexterity check or shove your hadn in deeper with a Challenging Constitution check. I chose to shove my hand in deeper which let me pull my hand out and to meet Meek the Mimic.

If you speak to him you can reduce his Charisma check to a measly 4.

Meek will join you as a familiar (and a cloak, A Mimic Cloak). Keeping familiars equipped gives you bonuses in dice checks. Go out and through the path that the Gelatinous Cube was blocking and you will find a book in an alcove on the left.

This is an esoteric artifact that can locate any book. If you write “Book of the Mind, Sixth Edition, by Cividix” a door will open. You are now in the Living Library.

The Living Library

Quest: The Lost 6^th Edition

Pick up the Shards of Jor from the first pile of books. At the bottom of the library you will find the book we are looking for. Trying to take it will wake the Library up.

You will have to figure out an equal exchange for the library to let the book go.

A simple Intelligence check will show you that if you give up your Voting Card, you can keep the book that Snutte wanted. But Snell will throw a wrench in the works and now you have to run. You will have to pass an easy Intelligence check and a challenging Strength check if you want to leave unharmed. You will now have completed “The Lost 6^th Edition”. You can give it to Snurre but that will cause you to lose an hour and speak to Cividix, the writer of the book and no substantial benefit except the XP gain and the lore. Which is what I did.

The Tower

It was 1:30 PM so I decided to call it a night but I ran into Warden KullervoLamalainen infront of the tower.

This will update the quest “Elven Connection”. You learn that Pinja’Athena was a terrorist of sorts and was going to use the Fireball Necklace to blow up the city on election day. We have to check on the corpse later. Right now we need to end the night.

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