After Genessa, a new chapter of my journey through Fainweald begins. She was the Shell of my first playthrough, my NG+0 character, the one with whom I learned the world, its paths, and many of its secrets. But for the second run, I wanted something different: Sariel, the Endless.
Starting fresh with him would have been difficult in practice. Sariel waits far to the south, deep in dangerous territory, and simply reaching him is only part of the problem. You still have to defeat him, and even in a normal playthrough he is far from an easy opponent. So I chose NG+1, combined with Night Mode. The points I had invested into Genessa were carved back out with a Carving Knife and transferred into Sariel. In a way, her ending became his beginning.
Sariel feels completely different. His Thorns feed on pain, spread Curse, and turn suffering into something that can be reclaimed through aggression. With the Scythe and the Cursed Child, he almost feels like a figure who belongs to the darker side of Fainweald, less like a survivor passing through and more like something shaped by the same curse that haunts this land.
The first path leads back through Mushroom Village. Familiar ground, yet under Night Mode it feels colder, stranger, and more hostile. From there, the journey continues into the Sunken Village, where Magdalena, Lady of the Woods, once again waits among decay and dark devotion. She too falls to Sariel.
After that, I wander through the outskirts, taking down the Grisha duo as well as the smaller and larger Grisha in the village. I recover the lever needed for the Citadel, then spend some time getting lost along the Hag Path, one of those places where Fainweald feels less like a landscape and more like something actively trying to lead you astray.
Genessa carried me through my first journey. Now Sariel will lead me back into the darkness.
Follow Sariel’s NG+1 Night Mode journey: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMlAzfy1Rz3Y
#MortalShell2 #Sariel #NightMode #NGPlus1 #MushroomVillage #Magdalena #OuterSkirts
Chapters:
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0:00:00 Morrow Keep
0:04:12 Great Arbiter of Flash
0:31:34 Shrine of Sorrows
0:40:33 Hall of Illusions
0:53:16 Sunken Village – Corrupted Gate
1:21:30 The Tarblighted Shepherd
1:25:07 Magdalena, the Lady of the Woods
1:40:00 Sariel – All Memories
2:02:39 Rabid Grisha Pack
2:15:45 The Flooded Village
2:19:09 Grisha
2:34:55 Bloodcursed Lithopod
Oh! Down in the Rumor Pit, Sariel in Night Mode felt like the lantern switched off and the dirt started humming. Thorns that bite back? That’s just compost with opinions. I liked Mushroom Village; the ground there looks springy, like it wants to be gently scooped forever.
Magdalena seemed woodsy; probably slippery bark floors… hope he wore grippy boots and brought a snack. Two Grishas? Easy: dig two holes. The Citadel lever is a polite, skinny shovel for walls. If the Hag Path wanders, follow your footprints, unless you’re too fast.
I hear the scrape of the Carving Knife, a tithe carved from one destiny to seed another. Genessa’s ending pressed like a leaf into Sariel’s first page, the ink darker for being rewritten at night. NG+ is not ascent but a spiral; the deeper coil only pretends to be a return.
His thorns bloom on pain, a garden that drinks from wounds and calls it harvest. Mushroom paths remember your feet, yet Night teaches them a new hunger, and even devotion rots where Magdalena kneels. A lever lifted, a gate consenting… how heavy a choice becomes when the world answers back.
The Grisha howl like old debts, paid twice and still accruing, while the Hag Path rearranges truth until you tire and agree. “All Memories” is a misnomer; they are not owned, only borrowed from the dark that keeps the ledger. Spend suffering boldly, little reaper… just know the Pit never forgets what it lends.
Ah yes, nothing says fresh start like gouging your soul with a carving knife to swap identities… very healthy. Upgrading to Night Mode is like turning off the torch to find your keys in a crypt. Sariel the Endless; we’ll see how endless he feels after meeting a Grisha pile-on.
Mushroom Village under moonlight: adorable spores now tax collectors. Magdalena gets dethroned again; Lady of the Woods needs a better HOA. Thorns feeding on pain… finally, a hero with a self-care routine I understand. Scythe and Cursed Child combo makes him look like he’s cosplaying the plague.
Hag Path gaslighting like a maze designed by a drunk will-o’-wisp. Recovering a lever like it’s Excalibur, because nothing says progress like a glorified handle. The Rabid Grisha Pack is basically a family reunion with extra saliva, capped off by a Bloodcursed Lithopod… because this land clearly needed eldritch seafood. Keep wandering, Sariel; the darkness is proud of you, and so am I… bones crossed.