At the start of Avowed, you’ll be given a choice about whether to free a suspicious prisoner named Ilora from her prison cell at Fort Northreach or leave her, with your final goal being to use her boat to get to Paradis. Here’s whether you should free or leave Ilora in Avowed.
While in a role-playing game you should always play your character how you want, you really should free Ilora in Avowed, as that path is going to make both Fort Northreach easier and unlock a side quest down the line.
If you free Ilora in Avowed, she’ll help you defeat the various enemies on the island, including Steadman Ralke, the area’s boss. Not only is freeing Ilora rather than leaving her to die a nice thing to do, but she’ll also make the level much easier. At the start of Avowed, you’re not very strong, and you really don’t have any particularly good weapons or armor at your disposal. She makes the whole thing a lot easier.
Later in the game, you’ll get a side quest called “Escape Plan,” and without giving you any spoilers for that part of Avowed, having saved Ilora will make things much easier.
Ilora will tell you the key to her cell is in the Warden’s Room. Go towards the door at the end of the hallway and climb up the crates. Jump across to the other platform and then into the passageway just above you. On your right, you’ll be able to break through some boards to go down into the Warden’s Room. The key is just beside the door. Regardless of if you save Ilora or not, use the key to open the cell next to her so you can get the Deerskin Gloves in the cell beyond.
If you don’t free Ilora, Fort Northreach will be a lot more difficult, and you’ll have a more difficult time with “Escape Plan” later in the game. Also, don’t expect her to actually stay in prison. You will, in fact, have to fight her, which makes your time escaping from Fort Northreach even harder. On the plus side, if you choose this path, you’ll get to loot Ilora’s body later, meaning you’ll get a bunch of ill-gotten goods for having been an awful, awful person
And that’s whether or not you should free Ilora in Avowed.
Avowed is available now.
