Thanks to that mysterious god in your head, Avowed presents you with the unprecedented RPG protagonist opportunity to solve your own assassination. Once you eventually track your assassin down though, he's conveniently had a change of heart. This leaves you with the option to kill or spare Ygwulf, or force him to confess to the Steel Garrote—which basically just means getting him executed.
The question is, can you trust the Steel Garrote? Or, if you’re particularly loot-driven, what’s in it for you if you turn Ygwulf over? I've tested out the three main choices and there are significant differences in each outcome that are worth knowing about before making your verdict.
Should you kill or spare Ygwulf?
Sparing Ygwulf is the best option as it keeps you aligned with the rebels who are fighting back against the corrupt Steel Garrote. Depending on your build (or if you’re going for an evil playthrough) you might want to pick a different option though.
Confronting assassin Ygwulf boils down to three major choices, each with a different reward and different long-term effects on the story. All three choices do give you 625 coins and the key to leave the assassin’s lair in the short term.
Each choice also has a minor impact on the ending. Having Ygwulf confess or outright killing him yourself will hinder the resistance and see the rebels defeated in the ending animation explaining the fate of the Living Lands.
Sparing Ygwulf
Immediately upon sparing your assassin, you’ll be rewarded with a single piece of adra, a rare resource used to upgrade gear. Most notably, Ygwulf’s associate Stecg gives you a Writ of Passage when you head to the entrance to Emerald Stair.
As the item description explains, this Writ gives you safe passage into resistance areas. I put it to use when I discovered the Riverside Cave rebel camp in Emerald Stair. I walked straight in and the rebels thanked me for sparing Ygwulf. You can still betray the rebels here, though, if you want to.
Attacking Ygwulf
Choosing to attack will immediately trigger combat with Ygwulf and his assassin associates behind him, which will be a very tricky fight if you don’t use a shield or have AoE magic. Once you start combat, you must kill Ygwulf to end the quest, so make sure you’re certain.
Once Ygwulf meets his end, you can loot him to get the Blackwing Armour, which you won’t get from either other option. Surprise, surprise, this assassin armour set is great for stealth with +30% stealth attack damage and +25% increased move speed while crouched.
Instead of the Writ of Safe Passage, you’ll get the Dissident’s Warning from Stecg, which puts you in the rebels' bad book.
Force Ygwulf to confess
It doesn’t take much to convince Ygwulf to confess to the Steel Garrote, but it really seems like the worst option. Ygwulf will be executed by Lodwyn and in retaliation, the rebels will murder Garryck. I was genuinely shocked when I happened across his body on the tree next to the Southern Embrace camp.
Just like if you kill Ygwulf with your own hand, you’ll get the Dissident’s Warning when you reach the entrance to Emerald Stair. You also won’t get a unique reward like you do for sparing or killing Ygwulf yourself.
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