Skogr | Chapter 2 The Banner Saga Guide

It will be better to let Egil and Alette join the next fight

Your visit in Skogr starts with meeting with giant Iver. At the end of this conversation you'll have to make a new decision:

• If you choose 1st dialog option (Go with Egil, Alette), you'll make Egil and Alette to go and hide in the small chamber and they won't take part in the battle described below. I do not recommend this variant because you could keep those characters alive with no problems and thanks to their help defeating new monsters will be easier.
• If you choose 2nd dialog option (Let them fight, Iver) will make Egil and Alette join other allies in the battle described below. This option is definitely better because thanks to number advantage (5:4) it will be easier to win the fight.

In order to start the fight click on the Great Hall and confirm team line-up (in this particular case it is only formality because you can't add anyone else).

The characters that will take part in the fights are, first of all Rook and Iver. You already know Rook and Iver has the Battering Ram ability, thanks to which he can push enemies away. If you have selected the second dialogue option in the recent conversation, then also Alette and Egil will join the party. You have already has the opportunity to met Alette, and Egil is equipped with a shield, thanks to which he can block enemy attacks. There are four monsters to defeat - one larger (Dredge Stoneguard) and three smaller ones (Dredge Grunt).

In this particular case I suggest spending some time to skillfully place your team members. The sample setting is shown on the attached screen. It involves occupying left side of the battlefield resulting in getting as close as possible to Dredge Stoneguard. It would be good to form a wall (passive ability of Egil, Shield Wall, adds a bonus to defense in such cases) and send Alette to the second line, because she is the worst character in defense.

Dredge Stoneguard is able to push away other creatures

After the fight begins focus your team members' efforts on weakening Dredge Stoneguard because this monster is the biggest threat for you. But avoid placing next to him several of your heroes because Dredge Stoneguard has a special ability which pushes away all nearby characters, resulting in taking off valuable armor points. Do not forget to repel him of most of his armor points and then focus on attacking his health bar.

During attacking lesser monsters also focus on particular opponents

During this fight, you need to remember that you can use special attacks of the individual party members. Rook's Mark Prey ability is going to be much more useful now and it is better to use it to mark enemies within the attack range of, at least, one of the remaining allies. At the same time, to weaken several enemies, I recommend that you use Alette's Thread the Needle, and Iver's Battering Ram. Egil's Stonewall is good not only to avoid taking damage, but also to stop Dredge Stoneguard from reaching archers and the other, weaker characters.

Besides Dredge Stoneguard there are three lesser monsters (Dredge Grunt) you have to deal with. It is best to eliminate those beasts in some particular order and that's because they also have quite good armors and they won't die as fast as you would like to. Do not forget about possibility of using the horn in order to replenish Willpower points and take care of less armored team members.

Egil can die if you choose wrong dialog options

After the fights there will be a new encounter and its course depends on the previous conversation. If you have previously sent Alette and Egil to the great hall then choosing dialog option ("Got it" or "Maybe we should skip the houses") doesn't really matter.

If Alette and Egil took part in just won battle then Egil's life will be in danger now. If you want to protect him from death you have to wait until a window with information of a monster appearing next to Alette pops up. First choose the "Shoot it with an arrow" dialog option and then choose "Stop thinking! Shoot the dredge!" option.

Village view

You can now allow yourself some rest. I recommend that you, first of all, take a peek into the Heroes tent, because one of the party members gained the next experience level, most probably. The tent can also be used to select the elements of the equipment and, one of the heroes (Alette) already has an artifact.

In addition it would be good to visit Market where you can buy supplies and artifacts. Of course you do not have to buy anything right now but it would be good to familiarize with rules of marketplaces. Finally click on Iver icon in order to listen to the conversation with Rook and him.

Meeting the chieftain

Now go to the Great Hall in order to meet Chieftain and his wife - Oddleif. Once again you'll be forced to make an important decision and here are possible variants of your behavior:

• If you choose 1st dialog option at the end of the meeting (That sounds like suicide, Iver. Let's do as the chieftain says) is equivalent to a try to control the village (it will be referred later as Variant A).
• If you choose 2nd dialog option at the end of the meeting (Iver's right. I'll help with the distraction) is equivalent to distracting monsters so villagers can escape (it will be referred later as Variant B). In addition you have to make a decision whether you allow Alette to join the fight (Ok, Alette. Just promise to listen) or you send her with fleeing villagers (Not this time. It's too dangerous). If you disallow Alette to join the fight, it will be obviously harder to win but later on you'll gain the most Renown points.
• If you choose 4th dialog option at the end of the meeting (Do we abandon the storehouse?) and then 3rd dialog option (We can't afford to leave the food behind) it will be equivalent to focusing on saving supplies in warehouse (it will be referred later as Variant C).

Regardless of what you did, you can expect that Oddleif, who is an archer, will join in, in the battles to come. Apart from that, in each of the variants, also Rook, Alette (if you have chosen variant B, then you additionally need to agree on her joining the battle), Iver and Egil (only if he has not died earlier) will join the battle.

One of sample variations of the battle fought in the village

Contrary to what you can think, the variant you chose will not significantly affect the battle, because you'll have to fight it, regardless of decision you made during the meeting with the chieftain (changes will appear only after end of the fight). The game randomizes the setting of your team members each time (you can be placed for example in the board center, on its sides or command two groups of separated heroes), as well as type of the monsters you have to defeat and their numbers (between 4 and 6).

As for enemies, there will be Dredge Stoneguard and Dredge Grunt among them, as well as Dredge Scourge units, seen for the first time.

Special ability of Oddleif may hinder enemies moving around the battlefield

As always your first step should be skilful placing your team members on the battlefield. Once again I remind about protecting archers and I suggest forming walls, which can be more robust thanks to Egil's support. Try to place your people in such places that they are not too far from stronger monster (if they appear in the battle), so they can early start to weaken enemies' armors.

A new team member is previously mentioned Oddleif, wife of the Skogr village chieftain. She is and archer and her special ability is Rain of arrows. You should use this action when you see that some stronger monster is approaching your archers - it will make his way harder or even force him to step into a trap.

Another novelty is connected with Dredge Scourge beasts - you haven't dealt with them so far. Those monsters are of course very tough and their special attack is to call for reinforcements. When you see that the Dredge Scourge gets away from the battlefield and he started the summoning process (example is shown on the above screen), quickly attack him because otherwise after several turns you'll have to fight a new Dredge Grunt and defeating enemies will be even harder. Fortunately such action happens mainly when Dredge Scourge is seriously wounded so finishing him shouldn't be a problem.

Same as in previous fights try to attack monsters one after another because even standard Dredge Grunts have good armor. Reward for winning the battle is not arbitrarily fixed because it depends on the strength of defeated enemies and you can obtain 8 Renown points maximum.

End of the visit in Skogr for variant A

If you have chosen variant A before starting the described battle, you'll have a choice now:

• Helping fighting allies (Help the fighters) - If you choose this option you'll have to fight another battle with monsters. Same characters will join this fight and it also has random rules (setting of units, type of enemies, reward). If you win the fight you'll be able to keep the village Chieftain alive and besides you should get 20 Renown points.
• Staying in the main group (Try to keep everyone together) - If you choose this option you won't have to fight another battle but there is a punishment for ignoring decision to help fighters - Chieftain will die. This will lead to decreasing of morale of your caravan members and depletion of its numbers. Some consolation is the fact that you'll gain 20 Renown points.

End of the visit in Skogr for variant B

If, before this battle started, you have chosen variant B, then you will not have to take any additional decisions, and only accept the consequences of your previous choices. If you allowed Alette to join in for the battlem then the Chieftain will die, and you will receive 20 renown points. If, however, Alette did not take part in the battle, the Chieftain will live, and you will receive 30 renown points.

End of the visit in Skogr for variant C

If you have chosen variant C before starting the described battle, you'll have a choice now:

• Helping fighting allies (Help the fighters) - If you choose this option you'll have to fight another battle with monsters. Same characters will join this fight and it also has random rules (setting of units, type of enemies, reward). If you win the fight you'll be able to keep the village Chieftain alive and besides you should get 20 Renown points.
• Staying in the main group (Try to keep everyone together) - If you choose this option you won't have to fight another battle but there is a punishment for ignoring decision to help fighters - Chieftain will die. This will lead to decreasing of morale of your caravan members and depletion of its numbers. Some consolation is the fact that you'll gain 20 Renown points.
• Trying to retake supplies (Get Iver to help retake the supply carts) - If you choose this option you'll have to fight another battle with monsters. Same characters will join this fight and it also has random rules (setting of units, type of enemies, reward). If you win the fight you'll be able to gain several units of Supplies but the bad news is that village Chieftain will die. This will lead to decreasing of morale of your caravan members and depletion of its numbers. Some consolation is the fact that you'll gain 15 Renown points.