Ghosts of the Empire

## Rewards

### Reward first ending

**Note: see rewards section for full explanation for all outcomes**Cult stays in the fort:

* 10 skill points
* 2600 valuables

### Reward Second ending

Convincing the cult to move or move to Orkneyjar:* 10 skill points
* 2600 valuables
* Orkneyjar: 5 power points and either 23 hides or a padded yew shield.

### Reward third ending

Destroying the cult:* 10 skill points
* 2600 valuables
* 5 prosperity
* loot from the fort.

### Achievement(s)

Romani Ite Domum

**Ghosts of the Empire** is a Northumbrian storyline quest which starts after meeting Aethelred in Yngilwood. They want you to convince the bishop of Eoforwic (York) to support the deposed king during the crowning ceremony in case the rebels succeed in deposing Osred. Since the bishop has a weak spot for the converted, they ask you to act like one to gain his support. To finish this quest, you have to complete at least one sidequest.

During the first conversation with Wada in the tent, there are multiple morale opportunities.

* *Selecting "And how might we..." **gains morale** with cunning followers, but **loses morale** with honourable ones.*
* *Selecting "I'll give my best impression..." **gains morale** with aggressive followers, **loses morale** with peaceful ones.*
* *Selecting "I'm not comfortable..." **loses morale** with cunning followers.*
* *Selecting "I don't like to offend..." **loses morale** with cunning followers.*
* *Selecting "His father was a spirit..." **gains morale** for Ketill.*

## Convincing the bishop

The bishop Eanbald can found in the cathedral in York. In case you pick the wrong sentence the first time of the Apostles' Creed, he will not believe that you have been converted. In case you admit, you will still get the mission though, but has consequences for the reward later. In case you have forgotten the text and want to recite it correctly, see the external links section for more information about the Apostles' Creed.

Whether the Apostles' Creed is recited correctly or not, he has a problem. He has received reports that there are people worshipping the Devil in the ruins a day away from York. He wants you to demonstrate your faith to Christ by finding a solution for this complex situation. He will send a message to Cynfred that you will help him. After this conversation, the area of Legacaestir (Chester) will be added on the map. It is west of Eoforwic.

### The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic and apostilic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

The dialogue options to correctly recite the creed should be: 1, 3, ?? and 2 as the last option.

## Legacaestir (Chester)

At Legacaestir, your be awaited by a priest called Cynfred, who asks you to investigate the nearby altar. If you examine the bucket under the altar, you'll find out that the priest is probably just trying to frame the cult. Talk again with the priest, who will tell you that the people in the ruined fort worship the Devil and wants you to drive them off or kill them if necessary. He wants you to investigate the ruins ahead and find a way to make them leave the area.

When you investigate the ruins, you learn that they don't worship Satan, but that their religion contains elements of Roman culture and Christianity combined. This religion is being leaded by a man called Valerius who is located in the chapel. The entrance to the chapel is guarded by a man called Ignatius and his Preatorians who won't let you enter unless you are friend of the legion.

At this point you can choose to solve the problem by helping the cult and convince them to move or becoming their enemy and force them to move.

You can convince them that you are a friend of the legion by finishing Seeking Sanctuary in favour of the refugees. After you gained the favour of the legion, you can enter the "chapel". You can become an enemy by attacking, flooding the sewers or solving Seeking Sanctuary in favour of the fanatics.

The first path will be explained in Friend of the Legion and the second one in Enemy of the Legion.

## Friend of the Legion

In case you did finish Seeking Sanctuary in favour of the refugees, you are considered a friend of the Legion and they will let you enter the chapel.

### Allowing the Cult to stay

When you speak with Valerius, you can decide to allow the cult to stay and kill Cynfred, the priest who accused them.

### Making the Cult leave

If you are the jarl of Orkneyjar at this point, you can recruit Valerius and the legion in your army at Orkney and gain 5 power points. Alternatively, you can convince him to leave with a medium sense check or offering 8000 valuables (4000 if you have Diplomacy rank 3). There's no need to be cheap anyway: due to a bug, you'll still keep the valuables even if Valerius agrees to leave. After convincing Valerius to leave the area, he wants you to kill the ones who follow Remus, since they are a threat for his people.

### Siding with Romulus or Remus

When you talk to Iovita, she tries to convince you that she should be in charge of the legion. If you are the jarl of Orkneyjar, she will agree to join you in place of Valerius.

Now you can make a choice, but you must take down either the followers of Remus or Romulus. If you side with Valerius, he'll give you 23 hides when you visit him to Orkneyjar, while Iovita will give you a Padded Yew Shield.

In case you want to help Iovita, you have to steal the eagle standard from Valerius. The standard can only be gained by fighting the guardians and Valerius as well. If you flood the sewers at this point, you won't be able to retrieve the eagle and Iovita will become hostile.

After taking the eagle standard, you can decide to betray Iovita and attack her. By doing so, you'll keep the standard for yourself and gain 5 prosperity points when you give it to your mother in Skjern, but, this outcome is the same as an Enemy of the Legion outcome.

## Enemy of the Legion

You can become an enemy of this cult by taking out the guards in front of the chapel. When this action is performed, there is no turning back and the quest can only be completed by taking down Valerius and Iovita. You can still complete Debt Collector by opening the chest behind Gaius Aelius after the fight. You can't take the fanatics from Seeking Sanctuary down the sewers, but you can use them in the fight against the Remus group.

In order to avoid the fight with the Romulus group, you can flood the sewers by interacting with a debris pile on the river bank, but you will lose access to the chapel and you won't be able to take the eagle standard nor to complete Debt Collector. After dealing with Valerius and the Romulus group, you should take down the Remus group. This fight can be tough, since they fight with 10 men, but with help of the fanatics, that shouldn't be much of a problem.

Another way to start hostilities with the Legion, is by aiding the Christian fanatics from the Seeking Sanctuary quest. You have to kill the refugees, then the Remus group, followed by the Praetorians guarding the chapel entrance. The Romulus group can be killed by combat or by flooding the sewers, but the last options results in losing eagle standard nor being able to complete Debt Collector.

When you're done, report the result to Cynfred before heading back to Eanbald, the bishop of Eoforwic.

## Returning to the bishop

Although the journey back will have no events related to the quest, the hird's arrival is anticipated near the first bridge by a fyrd with the intention of arresting the thegn and companions. There multiple ways to resolve this situation.

### Getting arrested or be defeated

Warning: don't take all of your most important warriors with you when you enter Eoforwic!

If Morcant accompanies you, he won't be arrested in case you come willingly. If you resist, you have to defeat 11 men to remain free. If you lose or accept your arrest, you will be thrown into the dungeons beneath Eoforwic. If you have three or more hirdmen back at camp, the guards will let one of your companions go and arrest everyone else, otherwise they'll only arrest the thegn and let everyone else go. You can select up to six of your remaining hirdmen to free the thegn during Dungeon Crawl.

### Avoiding the fyrd

If you completed Eoforwic Pier Access, you can avoid the fight or arrest by entering Eoforwic from the world map instead of the Britain map.

### Defeating the fyrd

Despite being outnumbered, it's not impossible to defeat them. It requires the shieldwall tactic and taking down enemy by enemy, keeping the shieldwall up, until victory is within reach. At hard difficult, the shieldwall needs 70-80% blocking at least, along with 220-240 skill points of each member, with good equipment. A couple of Tyr's Blessings and demoralise are handy as well.

The reward from defeating the fyrd is all the stuff that can be looted from the corpses or defeaten soldiers, but it's considerable less worth than the loot acquired from the dungeon breakout.

### Reporting to the bishop

When you escape from the dungeon, you accidently enter the crypts beneath the church before you enter the church itself. Eanbald will start a conversation when you enter the church from the crypt. The dialogue will be slightly different in case the church is entered by the front door, but the outcome is still the same.

When you ask about the person who accused you of pillaging a village, he will say that it was a fellow viking called Hrodgaerda. After you report your success on the "Satanists" of Legacaestir, you will get an expensive Bible worth 2600 valuables in case he believes that you have converted. Else he doesn't give the Bible as a reward.

Whatever the solution was concerning the fyrd, the player can walk around Eoforwic like nothing interesting happened.

## Report to Wada

After escaping out of the prison, you should head back to Wada in Yngilwood to report your success and start the next quest in in this storyline.

During the final conversation with Wada in the tent, there are multiple morale opportunities which occur near the end of the conversation when talking about the upcomming The Mercian Connection quest.

* *Selecting "It was an interesting diversion..." **gains morale** with open minded followers, **loses morale** with conceited ones.*
* *Selecting "I'm always happy to help..." **loses morale** with independant followers.*
* *Selecting "This mission was a waste of my time..." **gains morale** with independant followers, **loses morale** with open minded ones.*

* *Selecting "I do not count guile among...." **gains morale** with honourable followers, but **loses morale** for cunning followers.*

* *Selecting "I enjoy these political games..." **gains morale** with cunning followers, but **loses morale** for honourable followers.*
* *Selecting "If it will earn me your support..." **gains morale** with cooperative followers, but **loses morale** with independent followers.*
* *Selecting "I prefer to follow my own whim..." **gains morale** with independant followers, **loses morale** with cooperative followers.*

## Rewards

The rewards gained from this quest, depend on many actions taken during this long quest. As a result, the rewards can be quite different for each player and can't describe in the infobox. The following rewards depend not on the fate of the Legion:

* 10 skill points
* Golden bible worth 2600 valuables from Eanbald. This depends on how good the player was in reciting the Apostles' Creed.

The rewards gained from escaping the dungeon, are mentioned on the Dungeon Crawl page.

### Legion is coerced/bribed to leave

No special rewards. If bribed, could cost the player 4000 or 8000 valuables if the bug is fixed.

### Legion is welcomed in Orkneyjar

* 5 power for the homestead.
* Valerius offers 23 hides when welcomed at Orkneyjar.
* Iovita offers a Yew Padded shield (unknown durability, at least 56) at Orkneyjar.

### Legion is destroyed by the player's actions

* Loot from the Preatorians and Remus group.

If Romulus group is fought, instead of drowned by flooding the sewers:

* Roman Aquila can be brought to Astridr Ingvarsdottir in Skjern to improve homestead prosperity by 5 points.
* Loot from the Romulus Group.
* Debt Collector can still be completed.

## Achievements

* When you complete the quest, you get the Romani Ite Domum achievement. The translation of this Latin sentence means: 'Romans go home'. The incorrect version of the phrase, 'Romanes Eunt Domus', can be found on a wall in the fort.
* During Time-Out, you can find one of the four items needed for The Last Legionnaire achievement.

## External links

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles'\_Creed
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani\_ite\_domum