It's been months since my last entry. Time has gone by so quickly. Combine that with me… misplacing this book, and I haven't had much time to think lately. Things are very busy around Dunwall Tower these days, but things are definitely looking up. There are plenty of things to write down and for now, this will be my final entry. But I figured that it would be good to jot down what I remember of the events of Kingsparrow Island and the days that followed before I forget anything else. Things move quickly and I might not have the chance to sit down and write for a while.
Samuel and I pulled up to a small side dock near the B-Side port on Kingsparrow Island. No patrols were passing us by, so it seemed a good enough place to dock for the time being. I stayed back for a minute to talk with Samuel. He told me that he was proud of me and respected me because I managed to get through all this mess with a good head on my shoulders. It may seem strange, but I nearly teared up at that. My father and I haven't seen each other since I was a boy, he's most likely dead by now, but if he were still around he might be somewhere around Samuel's age. Hearing praise from him was worth a great deal indeed. It also told me that I made a good choice in trusting him the most along the way. I told him that I'll need to see him again once all this is settled. To this he only laughed and said to focus on the here and now. I agreed, and handed him this journal again, telling him to keep it if I don't make it out of this mess alive. He nodded solemnly and disembarked. The battlefield was no place for an old sailor like him, he said.
Turning towards the lighthouse, I looked at the paths before me. There was a watchtower close by that would get in my way no matter where I went, so I took care of that first. A quick Blink to the top was all I needed to remove the whale oil tank and have an excellent view of the area around me.
There were two entrances into the fort at the foot of the Lighthouse, A-Side and B-Side. A-Side was much bigger and had a good number of guards patrolling it, while the smaller B-Side was left under lesser guard, but the presence there was still troublesome. Havelock and his boys knew that I was on my way, so they made sure that they had the whole place on lockdown. Or at least most of the whole place, at least. I spotted what looked like a part of the pipeline for the sewers that had been left open out beyond B-Side. I knew my target, so I went off for the infiltration there.
I dove into the water and swam around so I didn't attract the attention of any guardsmen. Once out past the pier, I poked my head above water and Blinked up to the open port. There were no traps on it or immediately inside. It seems like despite what's been going on, the paranoia hasn't fully taken hold. I didn't know if they had heard of what happened at the Hound Pits Pub. I'm not sure how they could have known already, but it was definitely possible. Maybe they were being a bit lax since they heard I was dropped off in the Flooded District with Daud and his boys, maybe he hoped they'd kill me or something. A bit of a stretch, but I wouldn't blame them for making an assumption like that. It's a lot easier to focus on other things when you don't have to worry about someone coming after you like this.
I made my way through the pipeline to an empty room. I jumped up to the catwalk above and came out at the central courtyard of the fort. There were ten or so men pacing around the place. I spotted two Overseers with music boxes, Martin probably tipped them off about my tattoo. He had commented on it once before when we were at the Hound Pits together, but I didn't think much of it. I did make it a policy to never perform magic in front of anyone, though. I figured that it would be easier to do. It's best to keep a few trump cards up your sleeve, I suppose. Never show your full hand.
I Blinked past a patrolling guard and made my way up onto the inner wall. I had to then circle around the entire thing to get to a point on the opposite side where I could jump up and access the elevator to enter the lighthouse above. It was a tricky layout, but I had dealt with worse in the recent days. I strolled on by atop the wall and not a single man noticed me. It's funny how these things work. I passed a few stations as I crept along the wall and here is where I employed the final gift the Outsider deemed me worthy to give me: a power by the name of Dark Vision.
Upon activation, the color fades from my eyes. The world appears in various grays. However, I gain the ability to see outlines of others through walls and doorways. I can even tell where they're looking. Not only that, but objects become more pronounced as well. I can see individual coins jingling in a guard's purse and I can see the freshly torn seals of letters containing official orders from our lovely new Lord Regent.
One such letter I swiped and read over. There weren't many interesting things to note there. I suppose they hadn't received word that I was coming for them yet. They just said to remain vigilant and to watch the sea for any small boats (specifically piloted by an old man named Samuel). I had a bit of surprise on my side, that combined with the fact that the men here would be more focused on looking outward for threats instead of inwards. All the better for me.
I finished my little field trip along the wall and came to a ledge that was within Blinking distance. A few jumps later and I was nearly at the elevator. There was an Arc Pylon blocking the way with a few patrolling guards in a small building connecting the base itself to the lighthouse. But I just Blinked on top of the roof of the building and went from there. Why the Arc Pylon was left inside and not on the roof baffles me. An oversight in design, perhaps. It didn't matter to me. I managed to work my way up to the elevator itself and went for a bit of a ride.
Burrows Lighthouse, as it is unfortunately called, stands high above the city itself. It might actually be the tallest structure in Dunwall, in all of Gristol, even. The engineering here was quite impressive to say the least. Though, it was sadly easy to infiltrate. There's a winding staircase that goes up layer after layer to the main penthouse itself that's lined with guards. That would make an approach difficult. It would be even more difficult if they managed to actually finish the room where the elevator comes up. It'd be a shame if someone climbed up on top of the elevator and jumped from strut to strut to the top of the structure and then made their way to the back door to the penthouse suite, wouldn't it?
Once inside, things took a turn for the interesting.
High Overseer Martin and Lord Treavor Pendleton were both dead. They drank a potent poison, Tyvian stuff, the same that Havelock had used on me. Havelock was standing in the room alive, talking to the poor unlucky bastards about why he did this and what he needed to do from there. According to him, all of these actions were a necessity. None could remain alive who knew the secrets of what they had done to secure the throne for themselves. Honestly, I was a bit surprised that Havelock was the first to betray the others, but I suppose that makes me a bit slow. I knew that they were going to turn against each other eventually, I just didn't think that it would happen this fast. Looking back, I suppose Havelock always weighed his options with a gun in one hand and alcohol in the other. It's no wonder the old military man decided that killing his potential greatest enemies would benefit him more now than ever. Of course, those were also his two greatest allies at the moment. The poor man had nothing to do. No power, no options, no nothing. Once the guards found out the two were dead, they'd honestly probably kill him themselves and spare me the trouble. If Curnow heard what had happened, it'd certainly be done, but not at this point in time. Now, I was the only one to know what was going on. Havelock knew that I was coming for him and he was scheming about what he could do to make sure I'd never be able to enter the tower.
Using my Dark Vision, I scanned the surrounding area and saw that Emily was locked in a room directly below where I stood, on a balcony overlooking Havelock and the main chamber. She was curled up and rocking back and forth slowly, but I knew that she was listening to every word of Havelock's. The echo in here was fairy impressive. The poor girl. I decided to leave that until later. I Blinked down behind Havelock and choked him out mid-sentence. The poor bastard never stood a chance.
I found an audiograph on him along with the final entry to his journal. Both of which talked about his betrayal and his schemes to secure power for himself and to deny any who would stand against him. He would have been a dreadful leader of this city. I threw his body on the main table and decided to have the guards take him to Coldridge Prison later.
On a small table next to a nearby fireplace was the key to Emily's room. I suppose that Havelock was intending to greet me and to have some kind of conversation. Maybe he'd try to feign a surrender only to draw his pistol on me the second I picked up the key and was distracted by getting Emily back. A part of me wants to say that he's not that stupid, but we learned throughout that entire experience that his personal threshold is vast.
I walked over to Emily's room and unlocked the door. She ran out, gave me a hug, and things went on from there. Things were finally over.
Months have passed since then with what seems to be a blink of an eye. Empress Emily Kaldwin the First was crowned shortly after the raid on Kingsparrow Island. We all returned to Dunwall Tower as one big happy family. Callista joined us and was reunited with her uncle, Geoff Curnow. It was great to see them together again. Emily gave them both some time off so they could relax and update each other on the latest goings on.
Piero and Sokolov both began working for Emily as twin Royal Physicians. They had already been brainstorming a new elixir formula when we got back to them at the Hound Pits Pub. It was astonishing to watch them work. Within weeks they cured their first patient, a weeper of all things. With that, a great sigh of relief came over the city. People started turning up in droves to be cured of the plague and elite members of the City Watch, led by none other than Geoff Curnow himself, went off into the city streets, drawing out weepers and curing them by hand. It was dangerous work, but the risk of getting infected and dying of the plague was minimal now. We had the rest of the citizens cured shortly thereafter and got to work exterminating the last of the plague rats. Saying we got them all is a bit optimistic, but we wiped out the vast majority of them, which is a massive leap in progress.
As the elixir production process became smoother and smoother, Piero and Sokolov took turns tutoring our young Empress in all things considering natural philosophy. She has brilliant teachers and they say with no doubts that she's among the most brilliant students they've ever had. Emily's a bright girl, I'm proud of her.
Even Cecilia came back. She showed up at the doorway of Dunwall Tower one day and asked if she could be put to work in the tower serving us. I granted her request and she's now one of the best workers we have. I told her she didn't have to work, but she said she's much happier working than sitting around in the lap of luxury. I laughed and asked if I could help her out sometime. She looked shocked at the suggestion and then laughed, telling me I'd better focus on other things. She has a lovely laugh. I think that was the first time I've ever heard it.
Speaking of laughter, Emily's spirits brightened up immediately as she moved into her old room in the tower. She laughed and danced around the halls, regularly stopping people she recognized for hugs and celebrations. Everyone was so much happier having her back home, safe and sound. There were some of their number that lost their lives during the last year or so of hardship and strife. It was a shame, and Emily and I went to pay our respects to each and every one of them individually. She drew pictures for each of them, hoping that would be enough. I told her that they would love them.
After two months went by, we had another surprise visitor by the name of Samuel Beechworth. Emily ran out of her lessons and even avoided a few guards to come down and give him a hug. He was surprised, but his face was bright with joy. He had been to the coronation, but he didn't want to make himself known just yet. He said he needed to do a few other things first. I asked him what he was working on and he said he was just doing some simple renovations and wanted to ask for a favor. I smiled and told him that he could have anything he wanted since Dunwall owed its existence to him. He waved a hand at that, saying that he only did what he thought was right at the time. But he did ask for a deed of ownership. I asked him what he's like to own. His answer: the Hound Pits Pub. Emily said yes before I could and just like that the matter was settled.
I went down to the Pub for the first time last night. It was the first time that I managed to get down there in the months after Samuel's visit. He had the place up and running to a surprising degree. Cecilia left our service shortly after Samuel's return, saying that Dunwall Tower was lovely, but there was something about the old Pub that spoke to her more. Plus, she lived right across the street, so that helped out a fair bit. It was sad seeing her go, but I was happy knowing that we could visit her at any time.
Samuel and I spoke and drank into the night. I finally got the chance to tell him about Kingsparrow Island. Nothing surprised him of my story. He knew that betrayal was inevitable with those men and was sad that they didn't all live to be thrown into Coldridge Prison. Havelock was since tried and found guilty of treason against the rightful heir to the throne along with several charges of murder and attempted murder. He was sentenced to death and was killed. I don't know when. I don't worry about such things anymore. That's for others at the prison to deal with.
After I told him my story, Samuel got up and grabbed something out of a locked drawer that he had nearby. It was the journal. I had completely forgotten about it until that moment, it was like being reunited with an old friend, as odd as that may sound. I looked through the pages and all the memories came flooding back to me. It might not have been a good experience, but I'm glad that things turned out alright. Plus, it's nice to have something to remember Lydia and Wallace by, bless them. They deserved better than what they got. But at least their stories will be remembered and now the true story of all that happened in the wake of the murder of Empress Jessamine Kaldwin is written for a select few to read. I should really edit this down and remove the Outsider portions of it at some point. Samuel knows but he doesn't care much. He figures that since he helped set things right, he couldn't be that bad of a guy. I like his line of reasoning, but I'm not entirely sure I agree with his conclusion.
Speaking of the Outsider, though, I had a dream of him after I got back to the Tower. He went over a few things with me, tying up loose ends and saying that this whole adventure has been a delight for him to watch. That made me feel a bit strange, but I shrugged and let him get on with it. The Outsider said that thanks to my actions alone, Dunwall would become a much better place. The streets would be free of plague and rats, thugs and killers would leave their past lifestyles behind them and go off seeking new ventures, and horrible men would be put to death for their crimes. He said I would go on to serve as Lord Protector and Adviser to Empress Emily the Wise until my final days where she would weep and lay me to rest alongside her mother's tomb. The Outsider gave me one final farewell and the dream was over.
I still have the powers that he granted me, I suppose they're mine to keep. I hope I never have to use them again, though. I'd much rather settle into a peaceful life with Emily at Dunwall Tower. Things won't always be this pleasant. We have a city to bring back from the verge of death, after all. Yet I'm hopeful that we can bring Dunwall back better than she ever was, into a golden age of the empire.