Divinity: Original Sin 2 is one of those games that’s filled with objects. Each cottage, fortress, tavern, and dungeon you come across is loaded with things that you can pick up, move around, equip, or sell. Sometimes those things tell a story. Sometimes those stories do not immediately make sense.
In the game’s second act, you arrive in a sprawling region called Reaper’s Coast. Northeast of the town of Driftwood there’s an area called Paradise Downs, which is ironically not very much of a paradise at all. The whole place has been torn apart by a powerful mage, and huge cracks have been rent in the earth. Windmills, farmhouses, and stone streets tilt and balance precariously amid newly formed cliffsides.
Amid the wreckage, I happened upon these boots:
If you look carefully, you will see the boots are balanced on a washboard.
I have some questions. Namely:
- How did the boots get here?
- Did someone place them on the washboard? If so, why?
- Why are both objects balanced on the edge of a cliff??
- Does one even use a washboard to wash boots?
- If someone was in fact washing the boots with the washboard, where is the tub of water? Were they simply grating a pair of dry boots over a dry washboard?
- Again, why must this be done so close to a cliff’s edge?
I can only assume that someone placed those boots there for a reason. I cannot fathom what that reason could have been. I’m open to any and all hypotheses.
Update 1/24: Larian’s Vladimir Gaidenko offered this explanation on Twitter:
Gaidenko says his friend has not yet reached the area where the boots are placed, so we do not yet know whether he appreciated the story of the lost snowboarder of Paradise Downs. I will continue to monitor this situation as it unfolds.