Avowed's Most Unforgettable Side Quests: Moral Labyrinths and Narrative Masterpieces

In the sprawling, plague-ridden world of Avowed, the main storyline of confronting the Dreamscourge is merely the tip of a colossal, narrative iceberg. For the discerning Envoy, the true soul of the Living Lands is not found in grand political declarations or clashes with godlike beings, but in the quiet, desperate whispers of its inhabitants. These are tales woven not from epic poetry, but from the frayed threads of regret, survival, and impossible choices. The side quests of Avowed are not distractions; they are the very bedrock upon which the game's moral universe is constructed, each one a meticulously crafted puzzle box where every decision sends ripples through the fragile ecosystem of the frontier. They transform the player from a mere problem-solver into an architect of fates, where compassion can be as deadly as a blade and mercy can sow the seeds of future ruin.

🗡️ 8. Keep History Alive: A Deception Written in Parchment

The Pargrunen monks, typically as welcoming as a stone wall, are forced to breach their own isolation when their Living Archive is corrupted by Dreamthralls. Tasked with retrieving two irreplaceable tomes, the quest initially feels like a simple errand—a librarian's desperate plea. The twist arrives like a papercut: a novice monk intercepts you, her eyes holding a secret heavier than the books she requests. She pleads for the volumes, offering a reason that tugs at the heartstrings. Only later, as the main story unfurls, does the Envoy discover the novice's true intentions, revealing the quest to be a prologue to a larger, more sinister scholarly conspiracy. This quest is the narrative equivalent of a sleight-of-hand performed with a history book—what you see is never the whole story.

⚖️ 7. Don't Look Down: The Trapper's Dilemma

Stumbling upon the jovial Moapo, the Envoy is asked to deliver supplies to two allies supposedly cleansing a tower of Dreamthralls. The reality is a vertical gauntlet of death, a tower booby-trapped with the meticulous cruelty of a spider's web. At its base, an injured Aedyran soldier gasps a warning. At its peak, the Envoy finds not monster hunters, but Katoa and Haiako—a duo using the structure as a gruesome lure for imperial soldiers, viewing each kill as a blow for liberation. The game presents no easy answers: execute the vigilantes for their murders, or attempt a tense negotiation, understanding their brutal calculus of resistance. It's a masterclass in subverting the simple 'fetch quest' into a stark examination of colonial violence and the price of freedom.

🍷 6. One Last Drink: A Toast to Betrayal

Captain Ngunu in Thirdborn is a figure of boisterous, imperial pride. His request to reunite his old crew for a drink seems a nostalgic whim. Yet, the quest quickly curdles. Tracking down former crewmate Ruanga, she reveals a past stained with theft and whispers of Ngunu's simmering, vengeful nature. She fears the gathering is a trap, a final reckoning disguised as camaraderie. The Envoy must then navigate a social minefield, deciding whom to believe and how to proceed—through persuasion, deception, or force. Each crewmate gathered (or not) changes the tense reunion's outcome, making this quest feel like orchestrating a play where every actor has a hidden script.

💔 5. Heart of Valor: The Right to an End

This quest begins with a simple, sad request from Keipo, a legendary hunter turned recluse: retrieve the leviathan heart from a treacherous ruin so he may see it one last time. The journey is perilous, but the true trap is emotional. His niece, Chiko, intercepts the Envoy, revealing Keipo's true intent—to use the heart's properties to craft a poison for suicide. The Envoy is then thrust into an agonizing moral vortex. Does one respect the autonomy of a broken hero, granting him a chosen end? Or does one prioritize the living, denying his wish to spare his family further grief? There is no 'winning' outcome, only degrees of sorrow, making it one of the most emotionally devastating narratives in the game.

🔬 4. That Which Remains: A Homestead of Horrors

Exploring the burned-out shell of Scaedclef seems like standard post-apocalyptic scavenging until the Envoy descends the well. Below lies not just caged Dreamthralls, but three surviving researchers, their desperate work on a Dreamscourge cure having led to catastrophe. The player's choices here are brutally pragmatic:

• Eliminate the Thralls: A straightforward, violent solution.

• Decide the Researchers' Fate: This is the core dilemma.

• Send them to Eagle's Reach (likely to imprisonment or execution).

• Secretly supply them to continue their dangerous work.

• End their suffering and the risk they pose permanently.

This quest presents the Dreamscourge not as a mere monster-spawning mechanic, but as a tragic disease, turning ethical medicine into a potential war crime.

🕵️ 3. Steel Resolve: The Bounty That Bites Back

What begins as a routine bounty hunt against the Tranton gang in Emerald Stair unravels into a web of betrayal. Investigating a missing ranger exposes Dorso, a member of the watch, as a conspirator with the terrorist Steel Garotte. Confronting her yields critical intelligence but also a fateful choice: execute a traitor or exile her. The game remembers. Sparing Dorso means she will later fight against you in the Siege of Paradis. Furthermore, failing to act on her information and raid the Steel Garotte's cave leads to a catastrophic, off-screen event—the fiery destruction of a major city. This quest is a slow-fuse attached to the game's world, proving that inaction can be as consequential as any drawn sword.

👥 2. Chorus of the Lost: Echoes of a Cult

Companion quests often define an RPG, and Marius's personal journey is Avowed's crown jewel. Traveling to his derelict homeland, the Lost Village, forces him to confront repressed memories of a mass suicide orchestrated by the cult leader Razvan. Discovering Razvan alive but shattered, haunted by the spectral chorus of his victims, presents a profound choice. Does the Envoy grant a mercy killing to a broken man, or let him live in eternal torment as punishment? Neither option is clean, but both help Marius suture a deep, psychic wound. It's a story about the ghosts we carry and the fragile peace found in closure.

⛪ 1. Dawntreader: Divine Ambition and Human Sacrifice

The pinnacle of Avowed's side content begins deceptively as a rescue mission for a lost Aedyran expedition. The lure of a rumored godlike adds intrigue. The Envoy finds Sargamis, a godlike of Eothas, not as a prisoner, but as a architect. In a revelation as horrifying as it is brilliant, Sargamis is using the trapped souls of the expedition to power a colossal statue, a beacon to resurrect his god. The choice is staggering: aid a divine resurrection built on mortal sacrifice, or murder a being of faith to save a few lives. The reward, Sargamis's magnificent sword, is a bitter trophy, a permanent reminder of a choice between heresy and atrocity. This quest doesn't just ask a moral question; it etches the answer onto your very equipment.

Why These Quests Define Avowed in 2026

A decade into the evolution of the narrative RPG, Avowed's side content remains a benchmark. They succeed because they understand a fundamental truth: the weight of a choice is not in the XP it grants, but in the silence that follows it. These are not quests to be 'completed,' but experiences to be endured. They ensure that long after the Dreamscourge is a memory, players will still be wrestling with the consequences of a drink shared, a heart denied, or a soul sacrificed on the altar of belief. In the Living Lands, history is written by the victors, but it is lived—and often ended—by the people you meet on the side of the road.