The Reaping

Pillars of Eternity

by Eric Fenstermaker

Edér finds much has changed in Gilded Vale in the time since he left to enlist in the Saint's War. Tensions within the town boil over at a religious harvest festival known as Gaun's Reaping, and Edér is forced to take sides among neighbors and old friends.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Video Games

ebook

Published November 10, 2015

Reviews

[Yanik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the last of the Pillars of Eternity tie-in short stories I had left to read, and wow, did it surprise me.
The other ones had been good, but this one is definitely the best of the five, to me.

It runs a tad longer than the others (save for The House of Wael), and features a bit smaller font so it is able to fit more into its small format, and boy does it make use of the space.
The pacing is amazing while bringing a varied mix of contemplation, (wry) humor and gritty action.
Besides being a great study of Edér, one of the games’ first introduced companions, it also does a tremendous job of introducing the starting village of Gilded Vale, the preceding war and in particular the curse on the land’s new born that came after.

Once again, the Pillars lore plays an important part to the plot and, while staying mysterious and relatively vague, things like a perished, vengeful god, soulless new-born and the titular religious festival give a great glimpse into the setting.

Above all, the prose struck me in the right spot. It is a dark fantasy with an atmosphere of longing, mourning and an overall sense of loss, presented in poetic descriptions and colourful, if often fittingly bleak, dialogues and characters. It’s tragic and a tad depressing but very much in line with the world of Eora presented in the game. A great introduction to the world created and a wonderful short story in its own right.
I hope Eric Fenstermaker considers writing more in the future, I would very much welcome it! After reading this I can certainly see his hand in some of the game's dialogues, descriptions and narrations.

“A pair of minstrels stood beneath them on a ramshackle stage, puffing air into homemade woodwinds. There had been four of them once, but the war had taken two, including the singer. The two remaining had not learned enough about music to compensate the losses, and so they merely played the same parts they had always had, harmonies without melody, and the music wandered anxiously through the air like a lost child.”

[Peyton · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He dreamed of a pleasant supper with his family, which, if it wasn’t meant to be a nightmare, might as well have been one."

The Reaping is one of a small collection of short stories published by Obsidian Entertainment, the same publishers as the Pillars of Eternity video game series. This story describes the farmer and war veteran Edér's day-to-day life in Gilded Vale shortly after the departure of his parents from their farmstead. (Although the events in this short story precede the events in the first game, I would recommend playing both games before reading this short story, as it strongly hints towards plot developments in both games you might want to avoid spoiling.) I enjoyed this story's atmospheric exploration of the region of the Dyrwood under Lord Raedric's control during the turbulent post-war era. I found it difficult to place where exactly in the fifteen-year time span between the end of the war and the beginning of the first game The Reaping takes place, which is one failure of this story. However, the story still works overall. Edér's characterisation is convincing, and we get a look at the origins of his dark sense of humour and his feelings of loyalty and responsibility. A must-read for fans of the Pillars of Eternity games.

[Allison Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this story. It gave us more characterization about both Eder and Gilded Vale.
But wow, I was not expecting it to get so sad.