Rising From the Ashes

Abandoned by the Gods

• Recommended Level: 27
• Prerequisite: Complete the quest lines Pirate Hospitality, Land of the Lawless, and A Prescription for Discovery
• Unlocks: And the Streets Run Red
• Story: It was as if the gods themselves had infected and cursed Athens with the plague. Having found the clues required to locate your mother, you return to find Aspasia.

Return to Athens

Attika: Athens

No matter how you get there (horseback, foot, or fast-travel using the statue of Athena), when you head toward the marker near the Akropolis Sanctuary (1) and step foot in Athens, a cinematic introduces you to the dismal state of Athens as a result of the plague.

Talk to Aspasia in Athens

Having seen the effects of the plague on Athens firsthand, follow the next marker (2) to talk to Aspasia at her home (Perikles’s residence). Along the way you can find Hippokrates nearby and help him with a side quest: A Growing Sickness. In it, you must burn bodies to keep the plague from spreading even more.

When you get within 50 meters of Perikles’s residence, Phoibe comes running up to you in a hurry, says she’s got somewhere to be, and runs off quickly. She says she’ll meet you at Aspasia’s.

Sokrates and Kleon are in the crowd nearby just as the Phoibe cinematic ends. You can talk to each, but it does not change the outcome of this or the next quest. Head inside Perikles’s residence; find and talk to Aspasia in the central area with the open roof.

Conversation with Aspasia

She welcomes you back to Athens and adds that the world they’ve built is crumbling at their feet. You can be pessimistic and say “It’s not looking good,” or be optimistic and say “We have to hold it together.” Either works. You push for information about your mother, but this is the least of Aspasia’s concerns right now. Perikles is dying and does not want to see Aspasia. You can choose not to press anymore about your mother and respond, “I’m sorry about Perikles.” He needs treatment, but he won’t let her near him, so she asks you to go talk to him. She promises to talk about your mother afterward.

Talk to Perikles in His Room

You can follow the hallway to the stairs to get to the top level of the residence or just climb up one of the columns near Aspasia for a shortcut. Approach and interact with the closed door on his second-level room.

Conversation with Perikles

Perikles lets you in when he discovers it’s you. He’s embarrassed to be seen in his state. You can reply “You look fine” or “You don’t look so good.” Either choice is fine.

Escort Perikles to the Balcony

Perikles pulls himself out of bed and leaves the room. Follow him to the edge of the nearby second-level balcony.

Conversation with Perikles

At the balcony, Perikles says he should be with the people on the streets. You tell him it’s a mob and Kleon is doing nothing to calm them. Perikles thinks the gods have turned on him. You can respond, “You can’t blame the gods” or “The gods betrayed Athens.”

Either response is fine. You tell him he should get back in bed.

Time to Find Phoibe

After the conversation with Perikles, leap over the inside balcony to drop next to Aspasia, still pacing the first floor.

Conversation with Aspasia

You tell Aspasia that Perikles took the drugs like a good boy. This is when she drops the bomb on you. She says she had expected Phoibe back by now! She said she sent her to Anastasios to see about the ferry to leave Athens. Aspasia does not seemed too concerned about the little girl out in the dangerous streets. If you respond “You shouldn’t have sent her” you will berate Aspasia while she tries to defend Phoibe’s street smarts. You ask for the location of Anastasios’s house. She tells you it’s across from the Odeon of Perikles.

Completing this conversation about Phoibe unlocks the quest And the Streets Run Red and completes Abandoned by the Gods. Time to make sure Phoibe is safe.

And the Streets Run Red

• Recommended Level: 27
• Prerequisite: Complete Abandoned by the Gods
• Unlocks: Athens’s Last Hope
• Story: Angry that Aspasia has sent Phoibe out on an errand in Athens’s infected and dangerous streets, you decide to go and find your friend yourself.

Find Phoibe and Return with Her to Aspasia

Greater Athens

Aspasia said that Phoibe should be at Anastasios’s house in the southwest of greater Athens. From Perikles’s residence (1), head east 378 meters to the theater area (2). When you are 150 meters from the marker, you are prompted to search with Ikaros. Send your eagle up in the air to pinpoint the correct location. When near, Ikaros can also tag a treasure in the same home. Enter the home, rob the treasure, and enter the next room to find clues.

Investigate the Room

Anastasios’s Home

When you reach the room with the objective marker you discover a murder scene with three clues to inspect. Inspect the dead body on the floor. Inspect the bloody handprints on the wall.

You deduce that Phoibe wasn’t there. Inspect the dead body on the bed. You suspect Deimos is involved. Leave the house.

Protect Phoibe from the Cult Guards

When you exit the home, you hear Phoibe scream in the distance. Looking toward the next marker (3) to the northwest, you can see her running from a couple of cultist guards.

Send arrows to their heads to try to stop them. Phoibe runs into the Odeon of Perikles, where she is ambushed by a couple more cultists. Sadly, there is nothing you can do to stop what transpires. Defeat the four cultists and then check on your friend Phoibe lying propped up against a column.

You break the news about Phoibe to Hippokrates and Socrates. This quest ends and Athens’s Last Hope unlocks.

Athens’s Last Hope

• Recommended Level: 27
• Prerequisite: Complete And the Streets Run Red
• Unlocks: A Mother’s Prayers
• Story: Athens has never looked more unlike itself. Chaos runs rampant in the streets, Phoibe is dead, Perikles is missing, and Aspasia is desperate to take him out of Athens. You have to persist.

Talk to Aspasia at the Temple of Athena

Parthenon

Leave the Odeon of Perikles (1) and head north up the hill into the Parthenon (2). Find Aspasia on the steps near the entrance on the east side of the building.

Conversation with Aspasia

When she greets you by telling you to quickly get inside (she thinks Perikles is inside), you can tell her “Phoibe is dead because of you,” and it’s kind of true, or you can point fingers at the real problem and say, “The cult killed Phoibe.” Your answer has no effect on the outcome.

Sokrates and Hippokrates catch up to you at the entrance to the Parthenon, asking for news on Perikles’s whereabouts. During the conversation everyone hears the sounds of someone being accosted.

Everyone runs in to find the feeble Perikles being restrained by Deimos, who has a sword at his throat. Deimos tells you to stay out of the way and escapes while leaving two very large cultist guards to deal with you.

Kill the Cult Guards

Defeat the two guards using some Warrior abilities. Use Hero Strike to deal damage right off the bat or Shield Breaker to remove a shield from the guard’s hand and beat him with it.

While Aspasia cries over Perikles’s body, Sokrates suggests that they get her out of Athens.

Escape from Athens

Next, you and your group of survivors are sneaking up to your ship, which is still 70 meters away at the pier it’s docked at. Make your way through the clearing while heading directly for the ship (and objective marker). Five of Kleon’s Athenian soldiers find you just before you reach your ship.

Kill the Athenian Soldiers

Kleon wants Aspasia brought to him. You can’t let that happen. You alone must fight off the Athenian soldiers. There are five of them; three have shields. Use the Shield Breaker ability every time you have the adrenaline needed to do so. Build up your adrenaline with some heavy attacks, and once the meter is full again, seek out and remove another shield from a soldier. Once their defenses are down, go at them with everything you’ve got.

Conversation with Sokrates

After the battle, Sokrates and Hippokrates decide to stay for Athens’s sake. You can tell them “Athens is ruined” or “You’ll be killed”—a response that displays more feelings for your friends’ well-being. You ask the two to retrieve Phoibe’s body and give her a decent burial.

Conversation with Aspasia

Once aboard the Adrestia and sailing away from Athens, you approach Aspasia as she looks out to sea. You apologize for Perikles and Athens. She says there’s no need for apologies. You can respond with “I did what I could” or “I should have done more.” She reaffirms that it’s no one’s fault but the Cult of Kosmos.

Aspasia asks where you plan to travel now. You tell her that her information about your mother will help decide their heading. Aspasia says that Phoenix’s ship was last docked on the island of Naxos.