The Man Behind the Man

The Man Behind the Man was a virtual representation of one of Eivor Varinsdottir's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan through the Portable Animus HR-8.5.

Description

Eivor prepared to assault Rouecistre Fortress and capture Tedmund.

Dialogue

Eivor traveled to Rouecistre Blockade to release the naval chain. Eivor noticed that she needed a key to unlock the door to break the chain.

• Eivor: I need to clear this fort and break this chain to get our ships safely upriver. The mechanism should be inside.

After looking around, Eivor noticed a Saxon soldier had the key. Eivor stole the key and entered the locked building. Inside, Eivor destroyed the restraints and released the naval chain.

• Eivor: With the chain down, Geadric and the ships can get through.

Eivor left the blockade building and went to regroup with her allies. Eivor arrived at her warriors' camp.

• Norse Warrior 1: Eivor, we await your orders.
• Eivor: You brought your weapons and armor?
• Norse Warrior 1: Aye, Raven-Tamer.
• Eivor: Good. Now we dig in, and wait for our friends.

Time passed as Eivor met with Basim ibn Ishaq and Geadric, who docked their ships.

Eivor welcomed Basim and Geadric upon their arrival

• Eivor: Well met, old friend.
• Geadric: When the chance arrived to lodge an axe in the sod of Wessex, you thought of me! Such an honor.

Eivor and Geadric welcomed each other through a handshake.

• Eivor: Is everything else in place, Eivor? Are we ready to take Rouecistre?

I am ready.I need more time.

• Eivor: Rally our army. We will drag this mouse from his hole.

• Eivor: Not yet. I need more time to prepare.

Eivor left and returned to Basim later.

• Eivor: Basim...
• Basim: Are you ready, Eivor? Your allies stand firm. We await your final order.

I am ready.I need more time.

• Eivor: Let us take Rouecistre.

• Eivor: I still need more time.

(returns to choices)

Eivor's army readied for battle as Eivor meditated before the assault. Eivor and her army began the assault by escorting a battering ram to the main gate. After fending off the troops above and ramming the door a few times, the wood gave way.

• Geadric: We are through, Eivor! Good work, Eivor!

Eivor fighting Tedmund's forces with Geadric and Basim

Eivor, Basim, and Geadric fought alongside their soldiers against Tedmund's forces to escort their ram deeper into the fortress. An elite pikeman attacked Eivor, but Eivor defeated him.

• Geadric: Ha! He was no match for you!

They escorted the ram until rows of cauldrons poured flaming oil into their path from the walls above.

• Geadric: The ram can't pass through the flames, Eivor!
• Eivor: Then we'll put them out!

Eivor climbed the walls and ignited the oil cauldrons, eliminating their threat. The ram continued up the path made safe.

• Eivor: Defend the ram!
• Basim: Keep those Saxons back!

Eivor and Basim noticed the chained drawbridge.

• Basim: We must find a way to lower that drawbridge.
• Eivor: I will see to it.

Eivor started to shoot the links of the drawbridge and brought it down.

• Geadric: The way is clear! Onwards!

Eivor and her army crossed the drawbridge.

• Geadric: Another gate! It will not hold against us!
• Eivor: Beware that burning oil!
• Geadric: Break down that gate!

The ram crossed the lowered drawbridge. Eivor led the breach of the final gate.

• Eivor: Tedmund is holed up in the tower keep, press forward.

Eivor and her men broke through the gate.

• Eivor: Keep going! Inside!
• Basim: They have the keep sealed tight down here, Eivor.
• Eivor: Then we must look higher up for a way inside.

Eivor made her way up the interior of the keep, slaying any guards that got in her way.

• Basim: A good strike, Eivor!
  Another Saxon goes to his grave!

Eivor freed a shelf blocking the door outside, to reach the roof. There she found Tedmund, who brandished a flail and shield. Eivor and Tedmund engaged in one-on-one combat.

• Tedmund: I'll kill you before I let you take this fortress.

As they fought, Tedmund continued to boast through his fear.

• Tedmund: I'll cut you down, Dane.
  Rouecistre will not fall to you rabid pack of mongrels.
  Kill me, and all of Wessex will rise against you!

As Eivor wounded Tedmund, he put away his shield in favor of wielding two flails at once. Eivor struck between his swings and finally defeated Tedmund, ending the assault.

• Tedmund: You dare take this fortress, Dane? Aelfred's army will smear your innards across the battlements.
• Eivor: We are not here for stone and sand, Thegn Tedmund.
• Tedmund: I shit on you! You and your toy gods! I will not bow to you like some puppet lord. I would rather die.

Tedmund was pushed back by Eivor and tied up by Basim.

Tedmund was tied up by Basim

• Eivor: How much will your king pay us to keep your sniveling head upon your neck?
• Norse Warrior 2: An army marches upon us from the south! A holy man from Saint Hadrian's Priory, backed by a fyrd!
• Tedmund: Ah! Then Abbot Cynebert? God be praised! If riches are all you care about, the Church has it in abundance.
• Eivor: If the terms are fair, you'll have your freedom. A chest or two of silver for a shit-stained sewer rat.

Basim and Eivor took a captured Tedmund to meet Abbot Cynebert.

• Basim: Stay quiet or I'll not be able to stop my friend from slitting your throat.

Basim put Tedmund on the back of his horse.

• Tedmund: Ah! Watch yourself, heathen! You handle me too roughly!

Basim and Eivor began to ride.

• Tedmund: You will die for the indignities you have showered upon me, Dane!
• Eivor: I mean no offense, thegn. You are only a hefty ransom to me, nothing more.
• Tedmund: This is why you batter down my gate, kill my men, for a purse of grubby coin? You have no honor!
• Eivor: Enough, or I'll return you to the Saxons with ten fewer fingers.

Cynebert awaited Basim and Eivor, who held Tedmund at knifepoint.

Abbot Cynebert arrived with his fyrd

• Cynebert: You there! Heathens! Let this good man go, or suffer an iron sickness!
• Basim: And what do you offer us in return?
• Cynebert: Your lives!
• Eivor: We lost many good men storming this keep. It will not be in vain, Christ-slave. Twenty chests of silver.

Eivor raised a knife to Tedmund's face.

• Tedmund: Give them what they ask, Cynebert.
• Cynebert: A hefty sum, that will leave God's coffers hollow. I cannot give it up without some assurance... Tedmund?
• Tedmund: You extort me in return for my life? You were swiftly met, abbot. Not long after these... these scallious worms took my fort.
• Cynebert: On the Lord's bidding, Tedmund! At prayer, a terrible vision befell me. A host of heathens, your life in danger...
• Tedmund: A coincidence I find rather... rather omnious, abbot. Do you−

Tedmund collpasing

Tedmund started to cough heavily.

• Cynebert: God help you man, are you well?
• Tedmund: Air... I need... I need air!

Tedmund fell to his knees as the rest watched.

• Tedmund: (gasping)

Eivor leaned in to Tedmund and flipped him over.

• Eivor: He's dead.
• Basim: The work of a poison, no doubt.
• Cynebert: No no no no, rouse the man! He cannot be dead! He must not be dead!
• Eivor: Poison? How does the man die of poison in our arms!
• Basim: Many great kings and paranoids have carried poison in times of war. As an alternative to capture. And ransom.
• Cynebert: A catastrophe! Aelfred will choose another and... by the saints, Aelfred! How will I explain this to the king?

Eivor urging Cynbebert to keep his end of the bargain

• Eivor: We followed this road to its end, Cynebert. You may not like where it led, but you owe us our half of the bargain.
• Cynebert: You shall have your paladin. I... I need a day. Return to my abbey tomorrow and you shall... O dear, O, dear.

Cynebert walked off upset.

• Eivor: These delays are grinding at my bones. We should abandon Cynebert, find Fulke ourselves.
• Basim: Peace, Eivor. Speak with Geadric and relieve him of his oath. I'll meet you at Cynebert's abbey

Eivor nodded as Basim left. Eivor met and talked with Geadric.

• Eivor: You fought like beasts escaped from your hell today, Geadric. Your oath to me is fulfilled.
• Geadric: It was good to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you against the pox-dogs of Wessex. May our friendship endure.
• Eivor: This tangle-briar of Christians and lords means nothing to me. I'm here for Sigurd.
• Geadric: I understand. When you find him again, come see me. We'll feast and sing with mead and friendship to warm us.
• Eivor: Agreed.

Eivor and Geadric shook hands and parted ways.

Outcome

Tedmund was captured but died from poison. Nevertheless, Eivor held Cynebert to his promise of producing Fulke and thanked her ally and friend, Geadric, for his aid.

Behind the scenes

Rouecistre Fortress is open to exploration prior to the assault via the wide open main gate. Thus, as in Ringing Cyne Belle, players are able to sabotage the oil jars and springalds ahead of time, the condition of which will be retained once the assault is begun in earnest. However, the main gate is the only entrance, as a full perimeter of log buttresses completely cuts off any attempts to scale the outer walls, which in turn greatly limits players' stealthy infiltration and sabotage options.

Sometimes when Tedmund is defeated, the cutscene of his capture will not trigger. Instead, he will drop to his knees and players will be able to tie him up—much like in the previous memory with Shergar, with whom Tedmund shares an actor—but this has no effect; it is impossible to toss or carry him down from the roof in this manner. The only solution is to load the most recent autosave and try again, or if that fails to resolve the bug, reload the one from the previous checkpoint created when breaching the final gate.

Upon speaking to Geadric to relieve him of his oath, Rouecistre Fortress will completely reset to its pre-assault state. All enemy soldiers will respawn and retake their stations, all celebrating allies will be despawned, all corpses will be removed, and the fort will return to being a Restricted area. The main gate remains the only entrance, with little cover from guards' lines of sight. If players are actively seeking the fort's secondary treasures—the less-significant chests containing iron, leather, and fabric—or just simply wish to clear out their map markers, they ought to obtain them before relieving Geadric, as the resetting of the fort's forces will make this much more difficult.

Gallery

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  Eivor arriving at the blockade
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  Eivor shooting the mechanism to remove the blockade
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  The naval chains removed
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  Eivor rendezvous with the Vikings
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  The group laying siege to the castle
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  Tedmund defeated
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  Tedmund confronted by Basim and Eivor
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  Eivor thanking Geadric for his assistance