Seeking Revenge

Chapter 2: Seeking Revenge is the second "level", or chapter, of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. It marks the formal beginning of gameplay, opening with Kain's awakening in his mausoleum and concluding upon his arrival at the Pillars of Nosgoth.

Plot
In the Blood Omen era, a few days after his assassination, Kain awakens in his mausoleum, and begins adjusting to his unlife as a vampire. Bent on attaining the vengeance promised to him by Mortanius, he makes his way out of the crypts and into the open Cemetery. Exiting the graveyards, he quickly tracks down the men who murdered him, and violently exacts revenge by drinking their blood. With this task accomplished, he believes his quest is over.

Mortanius, however, is swift to correct him, informing him that the brigands were the instruments of his murder, but not the cause. Their masters, he claims, are connected to the Pillars of Nosgoth. Passing through Ziegsturhl, Kain ponders his folly in accepting the Necromancer's offer so hastily, wondering if his gift was a curse, but is soon distracted by the beauty of the distant Pillars. He makes his way to their central dais, and is met by a spirit.

The specter is that of Ariel, the murdered Guardian of the Pillar of Balance. She explains that her murder triggered a chain of events which resulted in the Pillars' corruption, and Kain's only hope of finding a cure to his vampirism lies in their restoration. Though apathetic about Nosgoth's health, Kain silently agrees to undertake this odyssey for his own sake. For each Pillar, there is a Guardian symbiotically bound to it, and each Guardian must die for Nosgoth to be redeemed: Nupraptor, Ariel's lover in life, is to serve as his first kill.

Kain's Mausoleum


Upon awakening in his crypt, Kain begins with the following equipment:


 * BO1-Icon-Weapon-Menu-IronSword.png Iron Sword: "This is your basic weapon, available from the start. With it you can cut open barrels and hack down bushes. The Iron Sword has all the regular combos."
 * BO1-Icon-Armor-Equipped-IronArmor.png Iron Armor: "Your basic suit, available from the beginning."

He must press the switch in the northwest corner of the room to open the exit. In the following room, he will discover the Sanctuary spell:


 * BO1-Icon-Spell-Sanctuary.png Sanctuary: "This is the first spell you learn; allows you to escape to the crypt if in trouble. A useful spell to use if trapped. It will also replenish some of your health."

When Sanctuary is collected, the north door will open. Kain encounters his first potential meal - a gravedigger whom he must kill. After slaying him, Kain can continue to the next room, and push the nearby boulder out of the way to collect his first battle artifact:


 * BO1-Icon-Artifact-HeartOfDarkness.png Heart of darkness artifacts: "This can be used in two ways. If you ready it and use it before you are killed, it will resurrect you back to nearly full health. If you die with one (either readied or simply in your inventory), it will resurrect you back to life, with all your items, but it will only give you a little blood."

Traveling north to the next room, Kain can press the floor switch to access the west room (with a chained human and a blood vial). The floor switch in this room will open another chamber to the east, with a second captive and a rune triangle. Returning to the central room, Kain must press the wall switch mounted just right of the locked door to progress.

The skeleton in the next room will not actively attack Kain, but will explode and deal damage if he comes into contact with it. There is a magic sphere to collect, and a save altar in the room to the east. Avoiding the spike pits, Kain should travel north, following the stairs and corridor to leave the Mausoleum.

The Cemetery


Following the linear track south, Kain will encounter another gravedigger before entering the second mausoleum. Inside, the chamber just east contains another Save Altar. Traveling west, Kain will meet more skeletons, gravediggers and captives. There is another blood vial and rune triangle to pick up on the way, before entering the next room.

The wall switch will remove a section of the spike pit here, enabling Kain to travel forth and slay a skeleton. Another switch just west lowers the barrier and the way to another skeleton. There are three switches on the wall just beyond; they must be pressed "in, in and out" respectively to clear the way. In the following area, Kain finds another gravedigger, and a second artifact:


 * BO1-Icon-Artifact-Flay.png Flay artifacts: "This tracking projectile strips the flesh from an enemy's bones. More than one might be required. A good strategy for this slow-moving projectile is to fire five or six, forming a moving wall, and walk behind them. When you encounter an enemy, the Flays will focus on him immediately."

In the next area, Kain discovers a number of sarcophagi. Approaching these will yield another Heart of Darkness and a Flay. Traveling west and then north, slaying more skeletons on the way, he will find a pair of boulders with bloody, circular runes beneath them. These cannot be pushed aside at this point in the game, but will reveal a secret area later. The east chests contain Kain's third rune triangle and Heart of Darkness.

There is another Save Altar in the next room, and the exit leads out into the main Cemetery and Kain's battle with his assassins. The southern zones in the Cemetery cannot be accessed until a later chapter. On the way, he encounters a zombie: it will just revive if killed with the Iron Sword, but Flay artifacts can destroy it.

Kain's assassins are just north, beyond the Cemetery gates. There are nine peasant swordsmen to kill. They are easily dispatched, but will overwhelm Kain if confronted all at once, so he should progress gradually, luring one or two into combat at a time. He will find another magic sphere along the trail. When all nine are slain, Kain can progress east to Ziegsturhl.

Ziegsturhl


This is the first of many human settlements which Kain can explore. There are no hostiles within the town area itself, and he can feed on the villagers at leisure without fear of repercussion, but there are foes in the wilderness, further south. Inside the northernmost building - the familiar tavern - he will find only enemies; a wench and a man-at-arms. The barkeep cannot yet be accessed.

The house just east contains two non-aggressive villagers, and a barrel which Kain can break with the Iron Sword to obtain a Flay. The final accessible building, further south, houses another villager and two barrels with two more Flays. If it is nighttime, Kain will encounter sleeping villagers in the latter two buildings instead of wandering citizens.

Back outside, the trail east, across the bridge and north towards the Pillars, is linear, with no collectibles but many peasant swordsmen, and knife throwers. These are the first projectile-wielding enemies Kain will meet, but their aim is rough, so they can be slain with ease if approached with caution.

The region west of the Pillars
Progressing north, Kain will find a teleporter, which will take him directly to the Pillars of Nosgoth, and the next chapter.

Players (in order of appearance)

 * Kain (voiced by Simon Templeman) and Kain's voiceovers
 * Brigands/Kain's assassins
 * Mortanius (voiced by Tony Jay)
 * Ariel (voiced by Anna Gunn)

Conclusions

 * This chapter has marked the first appearance of Kain's Mausoleum and the Cemetery, and the first mentions of Nupraptor, Janos Audron and the Unspoken. Nupraptor's Retreat is also mentioned, but it is referred to only as the Fortress of the Mind.
 * The names of Kain, Ariel, Ziegsturhl, Nosgoth and the Pillars of Nosgoth have been given in dialogue.
 * Kain has killed those directly responsible for his assassination. He has realized that he is a vampire (and thus, in his opinion, cursed), that the orchestrator of his assassination is still active in Nosgoth, and that he must right the Pillars of Nosgoth to realize peace.
 * It has been revealed that the Circle of Nine (the Pillar Guardians) once presided over the Pillars, but they are now corrupted thanks to an unidentified traitor, and the Guardians are insane. The significance of Ariel's murder in the preceding chapter has been revealed. She was a member of the Circle - the Balance Guardian - and her murder drove her lover, Nupraptor (the Mind Guardian), mad. He turned his magic against his fellow Circle members, permanently driving them to irrevocable derangement.
 * Despite his apathy, Kain sets out to return balance to Nosgoth by restoring the Pillars, assuming that this will lead to a cure for his vampirism.