Crushed Dreams

Crushed Dreams was a virtual representation of one of Eivor Varinsdottir's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan in 2020 through the Portable Animus HR-8.5.

Description

Eivor found a man crushed beneath a giant rock pushed onto him by bandits.

Dialogue

While in Picheringa, Eivor overheard two women conversing near a stall selling fish.

• Hilda: A fishmonger can't sell week-old fish. Where's that husband of yours? Off fishing again?
• Vera: So he says, but the only thing he ever catches is more gambling debts. I fear I cannot keep him around.
• Hilda: Bah! You're better off without that wastrel.
• Vera: My husband should be back by now. The poor lug worries me so.
• Hilda: He fishes along Scarborough shore, beneath the tower ruins, does he not? That's foolish, the cliffs are too steep.

Eivor talked to herself on what she overheard.

• Eivor: One who has need of their wits wanders wide... I might find good fishing below the Scarborough cliffs.

Eivor traveled to the shores below the Scarborough cliffs and discovered the grisly site of a corpse crushed beneath a huge boulder, near some fishing nets.

• Eivor: Crushed to death. An unlucky way to die. Doubt he felt much.

She found a letter and a delicate ring near the body.

A Love Letter

To my dearest wife,

I know your patience has been tested, time and time again. I am the one to blame, and the fault is mine alone. For we were young, and I had begged you to marry me. I know in recent time that I have gone astray. The path of vice was the easiest to tread. But I see clearer now, without drink, without smoke.

Thank you for all that you have done... for your kindness, warmth, and for tending our stall in Picheringa. Happy Anniversary, my darling. I hope you like this gift.

A loud voice from higher up the mountain caught her attention.

• Anglo-Saxon Soldier 1: Did you hear that sound after I pushed the rock?

Hearing the voice, Eivor determined that the cliff above was the source of the boulder. Eivor climbed up the hill to investigate, discovering a band of bandits standing over the edge where the boulder fell onto and crushed the fisherman.

• Anglo-Saxon Soldier 1: That fisherman was asking for it. He should have paid his dues when we asked for them.
• Anglo-Saxon Soldier 2: Yeah, to Hell with his sad Pickering love story and his homely fish-stall wife.
• Anglo-Saxon Soldier 1: That reminds me, remember to go down and get that ring, eh?

Eivor went on to slay the bandits as revenge for the fisherman. She then went to Picheringa to locate the widow at her stall.

Eivor reporting the fisherman's death to his wife

• Eivor: Are you the wife of the man who fishes below the cliff?
• Vera: My husband fishes there, yes, and I run the stall. Do you fancy some fine, fresh fish?
• Eivor: I found your husband.
• Vera: And where is that fool? Drunk in some bed? Working off a debt?
• Eivor: Dead, I fear. Some bandits crushed him with a rock, hoping to fleece him.
• Vera: No! Wh-why... that sweet fool, leaving me penniless...

Here, this ring belongs to you.⚖️The bandits took everything.

• Eivor: Here, take this ring. I found it on his body. It is rightfully yours.
• Vera: His mother's ring! That fool, that damned, soft, loving fool. Thank you stranger. At least I have this.

• Eivor: The bandits made off with all that he had.
• Vera: That worthless man! Even in death, he leaves me penniless! The useless pig!

Eivor took her leave and overheard the woman grieving.

• Vera: Marry, they said. Marriage has left me naught but a poor widow with nary a fish to sell. That lovesick fool... I warned him to stay away from the cliffs.

Outcome

Eivor brought the news to the newly widow. She either returned the ring or kept it.

Behind the scenes

The ring will disappear from the inventory as soon as the memory ends regardless of the dialogue choice.

Gallery

• 
  Eivor hearing a voice from the hill above
• 
  Eivor dispatching the bandits
• 
  Eivor finding the wife at the stall in Picheringa