| Important: The content featured in this article was introduced in Valine's Enhanced Edition Remake of Part One. Locations, quests, and NPCs mentioned here may not exist in Part One version 1.50. |
On the Isle of the Dead, the Princess can encounter a pretty young man named Desser Fynolt, who claims to be trapped by a witch named Kena. If the Princess convinces him she can help, he'll ask her to talk to Kena on his behalf to free him.
Notes
- You may want to save this as one of your very last sidequests, as the ending can lock you out of some other quests if they aren't already completed. (The exact quests are a major spoiler - check the spoilers section at the end.)
- Doing this quest is required to complete the quest Missing Citizens
- This quest helps explain some things about Bardo Kross’s basement
Walkthrough[]
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Isle of the Dead
Start this quest by finding Desser on the Isle of the Dead. He's sitting up in the northwest corner, at #2.
To get the quest from Desser, you need 17 Persuade to convince him you can sway Kena. If you pass, he'll give you an Amulet of True Seeing, and tell you to visit Kena at her tower on the isle. If you fail, you can come back later.
Entering the tower[]
There are two buildings you can enter on the isle--a temple to the death god (#1), and Kena's tower (#3). The tower will appear empty when you enter it, but if you put on the Amulet of True Seeing and cast True Seeing on yourself (from the radial menu when clicking on the amulet in your inventory), it will transform. However, you'll immediately find yourself outside the tower again, several hours later and with no idea what happened. No matter how many times you try to enter the tower with True Seeing on, the same thing will happen.
To figure out what's going on, you need to talk with someone who knows a lot about magic, and who won't care about you breaking into a tower.
Finding an expert[]
You can ask Jacia or Sanah Senner about why you might have blacked out, but neither of them will be any help. (And, as long as you're running around with your new Amulet of True Seeing, there's another merchant you may want to inquire with.)
However, Gena Morwegyr, the necromancer squatting in the basement of the Swan and Maiden in Betancuria North, will be willing to help if you've done her a favor.
Gena tells you that your memory has been magically altered. She'll recommend that you buy a scroll of Greater Spell Mantle from the academy shop, and offer to cast it on you if you bring it to her.
The scroll is quite spendy (7-9k), so you may need to save up before you can spare the cash. Despite Gena's advice that you'll need all the protections you can get, you don't need to buy any other expensive protections--she won't cast anything else on you anyway.
Returning to the Tower[]
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Proceeding past this point will lock you out of certain other sidequests and quest resolutions. You may want to finish out all Family quests and Kingdom of Shadows before proceeding.
Ensure all of the following are true:
- It's night
- You have the Amulet of True Seeing in your inventory, with a use still available for the day
- You have the scroll of Greater Spell Mantle
- You're equipped to handle a DC 50 lock
Then return to Gena. She'll cast the scroll of Greater Spell Mantle on you and teleport you in front of Kena's tower. (If you have a high Use Magic Device or wizard/sorcerer levels, you can go to the tower on your own and cast the scroll on yourself instead.)
Cast True Seeing on yourself again, and enter the tower. This time, you'll actually get a look at the interior.
The tower has a number of hard-to-spot negative energy traps, so proceed forward carefully. The first floor has a small room with a cot that you can choose to rest in.
| Fix Me: Can you use the cot to progress time if you came during the day? It seems like it should go poorly since Greater Spell Mantle would wear off... |
The second floor has a guard hiding behind the curtains in the hallway. A library contains some necromancy scrolls, poisons, and a diary with a note from Kena.
A secret door leads into another hallway. The southern door here is a small prison with the remains of the missing citizens from the Missing Citizens quest, while the northern door leads onwards. Sneak past more enemies to reach a locked door (DC 50) to the next floor.
Sneak into the bedroom where you'll see Desser having a conversation with Kena (who will look quite familiar.) Kena is trying to force Desser to drink something, but he'll refuse.
When the conversation finishes, talk to Kena. She’ll try to cast a spell on you, but it will fail. Desser will be thrilled, and he and Kena will continue their argument. Eventually Desser will break Kena’s influence: he’ll destroy the potion, then stab Kena and challenge her while claiming to be in love with you. Kena doesn't believe the love bit, but she’s still (emotionally) defeated: she breaks down and agrees to give Desser his freedom.
Kena will apologize for what she did to you earlier, tell you to take what you want from the tower, and leave Betancuria for good.
Talk to Desser again. He'll explain more about what happened when you came before, and that Kena has been killing people to make potions that she forces him to drink for unknown reasons. However, he quickly starts feeling off.
As you may have gathered by now, Desser is long dead, and he transforms into a zombie now that Kena's potions are no longer keeping him alive. Now mindless, he'll attack, and you have to put him down.
Take what you want from the tower, and be on your way.
Afterwards, you can talk to Alfons about what you saw in the tower to get more backstory about Kena and Desser. You can also reuse the Amulet of True Seeing to trigger the quest Revelations.
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| Spoiler: Kena is Jacia, so the quests that become impossible to complete after Undertow are: Jacia's Messenger, Vald's Key, Kill Vald, Dhorn Slayer, Punisher, and the ability to sell the book from Kingdom of Shadows to Jacia.
Interestingly, Undertow can be completed even after Welcome Home. The fact that the potion for Desser requires a brain puts a new spin on Jacia’s fondness for “collecting” heads. |