Tide Together

**Tide Together** is a quest in *Bastard's Wound*.

## Synopsis

Tidecasters and Sages have been fighting each other for longer than either side can remember. True to form, Wagstaff has at least one such rivalry. He has asked you to kill a Sage named Phoibe and bring back all of her possessions as proof of the deed.
Wagstaff mentioned a woman named Melitta, an associate that may know where Phoibe currently resides since the Vellum Citadel was destroyed by the Edict of Fire.

## Walkthrough

* Melitta is located in Lethian's Crossing, in the Sunrise district, overlooking the merchant stalls. Talk to her and you can use Athletics 52 to intimidate or Subterfuge 57 to point out that she robbed the passerby just moments ago, while pretending to pack her belongings.
* In order to get her to tattle on Phoibe, you need to make it worth her while.  1 (  10000),  8 (belt of bronze), Lethian's Crossing Favor 3, or Athletics 52 (→) will earn her cooperation.
* Phoibe's last known location was in what remains of a village currently known as Phlogiston. The village can be found in the Contested Lands not far from the Burning Library.
* The area is controlled by Crass Callia's gang. To get to the sages if you're not on the Chorus path, you can either pay her  30 or use Athletics 57 to intimidate her. Otherwise, you can always attack.
* Phoibe is up top. Talking to her allows you to identify the real reason as to why she was targeted by Wagstaff. Violence is of little help and eventually causes you to torture her to death. However, Athletics 57 or Lore 52 are more helpful in getting it out of her, leading you to discover that she and Wagstaff were involved in a decades-long romance of mutual erotic and intellectual discovery. When she clams up about her discovery, Lore 57 helps suss out just what that discovery is (Subterfuge makes her call your bluff), as long as you also have Eb in your party. She will reveal that they worked together on the Tome of Aqueous Metallurgy, a magical approach to forgework focusing on the manipulation of metal in its molten state.
* If you don't mention Wagstaff, you can explore the reasons as to why she visited Phlogiston and use Subterfuge to find out about the Tome of Aqueous Metallurgy the same way.
* If you manage to pry the secret from her mind, she will give you the location on one condition: You kill or drive away the Chorus gang that imprisoned her. If you strike a bargain to kill them, however, be warned, as the gang will immediately rush you. Otherwise, you can try to make them go away.
* Talking to Callia allows you to leverage their gambling against her or demand the release of the Sages. Athletics 57 allows for intimidation, while  20 is a standard bribe.
* Talking to Contusion and Needle Toe with sufficiently high Subterfuge will allow you to discover the latter's planning to escape. You can then strong-arm him into killing the Chorus gang while they sleep (also counts as resting), for no Chorus Wrath. You'll only get this option once, so make sure you're ready to make the gang disappear when you pursue it.
	+ Note that the option for Needle Toe to kill the rest of the gang will not be available if it's night time when you reach Phlogiston. The layout of the town will also be different in that the garrison is gathered together to discuss their bets on which Chorus group managed to secure the Silent Archive. If you have already recovered the Silent Archive, you can rig the betting with Skinner and high Subterfuge.
* Either way, if you didn't kill Phoibe, but drove the Chorus away, her belongings will be in a smashed chest to the southwest.
* Return to Wagstaff.