The Voice – Fable III

This guide will help you complete The Voice quest from the Understone Quest Pack DLC for Fable III.

The Voice Walkthrough

You’ll need the Understone Quest Pack DLC from Xbox LIVE or Games for Windows LIVE in order to see this quest. To initiate The Voice, head to the large factory in Bowerstone Industrial near the docks, and the exit to Mourningwood – it’s the one with a Silver Key and some steam vents in it. The owner of the factory, Mr. Boyle, will claim that he’s hearing strange voices, and thinks that the factory is haunted. Agree to help him get to the bottom of the mystery, then make your way for the trap door at the rear wall.

Note that before you enter Understone, you’ll want to stock up on lots of potions, especially Health Potions and Summon Creatures Potions. Understone is extremely combat-heavy, and although it’s not terribly challenging, you’ll find yourself losing a war of attrition if you don’t stock up now.

Down in the basement, open the chest hidden amongst the crates, then continue forward down the stairs for a dig spot, then up at the other side. At this point you’ll likely hear a voice over a speaker system announcing some rather strange stuff, including something about Albion being destroyed. This “haunted” thing seems a bit less likely by the minute. Press forward and you’ll enter into a rather pretty cavern area and be attacked by some bats, so deal with the pests as you see fit and run onwards. Enter back into the sewers and find another dig spot by the sewer grate on the left, then run down the stairs for a dig spot and another wave of bats.

Run across the rock bridge for… yet more bats, again. Sigh. Make a left and run down under the bridge for a chest, then back up and forward into the larger cavern. Shortly after stepping in, you’ll be detected as an intruder, and the automatic defense system of the place will send waves of… robo-skeleton Hobbes after you. Yep, apparently robotic undead goblins are all the rage these days. Smash them to bits and continue forward along the path.

You’ll shortly come across a note on a skeleton explaining that the voice over the loudspeaker is Montague Humes, a man who bought the Bowerstone cave network years ago for his own pet project. Well, that takes care of who our host is. Run forward and you’ll be attacked by some robo-skeletal wolves, which will shoot lightning at you. They’re pretty easy to deal with, fortunately. After they’re dead, you’ll soon find yourself at a crossroads; continue along the upper side for a dig spot, and at the end of the path you’ll encounter a security room containing a chest. The door will close if you step into one of the dangling lights, so avoid them and claim your prize. Backtrack to the crossroads and take the other path down, and you’ll fight some more robo-Hobbes and robo-wolves. As usual, treat them to the business end of your weapon, then grab the dig spot near the bend in the path, and trudge onward.

Past the spike pit begins a rather laborious slog through an onslaught of foes. Be sure to check the sides of this lengthy tunnel for the occasional dig spot, while dealing with the waves of enemies that come at you. You shouldn’t have much trouble, but their sheer numbers can be a bit much, so don’t be afraid to use a potion if you need it. After much fighting, you’ll finally find yourself able to breathe again, so head down the path, grabbing the chest in the small alcove just around the bend in the path, and a dig spot just ahead. Step forward and you’ll see a gate; open it, and you’ll be greeted as a citizen of Understone.

Head to the centre of the village and you’ll find an old man on a bench called Albus. He’ll tell you about Montague Humes, and how he sends orders to all the people of Understone through “talking tubes.” It seems everyone here has been born and raised underground, and you’re the first outsider they’ve ever seen. Hmm, this is starting to sound familiar… in any case, explore if you like, then run to the elevator and take it to Montague’s house.

You’ll find yourself inside a steampunk-esque laboratory, full of test tubes, gears, and so on. You won’t go far before being caught in a security gate, and you’ll have to fight several waves more of those robots. Lovely. The surround spells work great here considering the close quarters, as do mauls and shotgun weapons. These fights can get pretty hectic, so once again, don’t neglect your potions, though save some, as you’ve a harder fight ahead. Once you’re done the battle, continue forward up the stairs, and you’ll again find yourself caught in a security lock. Once more, defeat the enemies that spawn on and run ahead.

When you reach the final security lock (yes, this is getting tiring, I know), you’ll find another generic wave of robots to fight, but once they’re down, you’ll be given one last enemy: the Colin, a rather deadly robot. The Colin is fast, can teleport to close the distance between you, can block, can summon in helper enemies, and can perform a fast spinning attack that does quite a bit of damage. All in all, quite a challenge. I told you to save your potions, because you’ll want to use them here. The Colin tough, but heavy melee weapons and ranged attacks work very well against it. You’ll want to use your Slow Time Potions to get some hits in, or Summon Creatures Potions to keep his minions distracted. He should fall after a good thrashing, and finally you’ll be done with fighting.

Exit out of the laboratory and you’ll come across Montague’s house… but he doesn’t seem to be around. Climb up the stairs and you’ll find that Montague has, in fact, long since passed away, and has been using a robotic voicebox to control the residents of Understone, as he feared apocalypse had come to Albion (the Spire from Fable II). Sounds like someone at Lionhead’s been playing Fallout… as if the vault door in the town wasn’t enough evidence.

At this point, Mr. Boyle, the factory owner, will come upstairs now that you’ve cleared the path for him, and he’ll reveal that while he knew the caverns weren’t haunted, he didn’t know there was a whole city underground. He proposes taking control of the voicebox – with it, he could use the citizens of Understone to run his factory for him, using their mental conditioning to have them toil without wages, effectively as slave labour.

You’re given a moral choice here: tell the people of Understone that the surface world is safe and that the door to the outside will be opened, leading to their integration with the rest of Bowerstone (good points for this one), or, alternately, take up Boyle’s suggestion and have them toil for him unknowingly, while you get full ownership of Understone (obviously, the evil choice). If you choose to free Understone, it’ll become a full town complete with property you can buy and rent, as well as some stores, not to mention a bit of a tourist attraction. On the other hand, if you enslave the people, Understone will turn into a smog-filled pit full of machinery, and you’ll automatically own every building in the town at no cost.

Whichever choice you go for, you’ll end up with a fitting 30 Guild Seals, and a new town to explore, or exploit, as you see fit.