Finding the Towers (Uncharted 4’s Chapters 8-11)
Nate and Sam make their way to Scotland, where Rafe, Nadine, and her mercenaries are blowing through the cathedral grounds with dynamite. Sully waits in the airplane while the brothers head to the cemetery, fighting through Shoreline thugs on their way. They soon locate Avery’s grave, which opens down into a crypt. Traveling through, they find a clue leading them to a cave closer to the cathedral. After more mountain scaling and thug-beating, they reach the cave and must pass a number of trials for “Those Who Prove Worthy.” They come across a series of deadly traps, more references to the penitent thief (Dismas), and signs of Thomas Tew, the Rhode Island Pirate. From the skeletons along the way, it’s clear that Henry Avery was recruiting and testing various pirates.
Having made their way to the underbelly of the cathedral, the two find themselves directly under Nadine and Rafe, who are arguing over Shoreline’s invasive search procedures. Nadine wants to continue with the dynamite and give up on the search if it doesn’t yield results soon. She even accuses Rafe of trying to draw out the Drakes because he needs them. It’s also clear there’s some sort of romantic entanglement between these two.
Moving on, Nate and Sam continue through the trails, reaching a large room with a scale holding a jeweled cross on one side and a handful of coins on the other. They realize the trial pertains greed and so they wisely pick up a single coin. This triggers a large light projection that reveals a map of Madagascar on the floor, specifically pointing to King’s Bay, an old pirate haven.
Except Nadine has been stalking them and heard everything. Her and her goons hold Nate and Sam up at gunpoint, but the brothers trick them into taking the jeweled cross from the scale, causing a sort of self-destruct system for the room. Nate and Sam make a break for it at this point, reaching Sully’s plane in the nick of time. They head for the King’s Bay volcano depicted on the coin they took, with Nate stopping to chat with Elena again along the way. His lies have made her suspicious, and she appears hurt and distraught at the end of the scene.
Cut to Nate, Sam, and Sully on a jeep in Madagascar. Twelve different towers surround the volcano, each one representing a famed pirate captain, presumably Avery’s recruits. In one of the largest towers, the trio finds a map of all twelve locations. They narrow their search down to two possible towers, their sigils closely resembling an image on the other side of the trials coin. Noticing traces of Rafe, they decide to split up to save time. Nate and Sully go to one tower, and Sam goes to the other.
Nate and Sully’s travel through a crowded market place towards their goal, a massive clock tower. They chat along the way, Nathan joking that after all this, he’ll get a dog and name it after Sully. They quickly realize their tower is the right one, and call Sam to let him know as Nate begins scaling the bells and solving puzzles. After the collapse of the entire bell structure, Nate and Sully head under the tower and meet a pirate sigil puzzle. Nate sends photos of the puzzle to Sam, who is much better versed in pirate history, for help. Solving the sigil puzzle leads them to a map revealing “Libertalia,” an island off the coast of Madagascar and home to the legendary pirate utopia.
Unfortunately, all this time, Rafe has been hacking into their phones and knows everything. He and Nadine send their henchmen to both towers to corner the two brothers. After a crazy escape trailing through town and countryside, Nate, Sam, and Sully meet up again at their motel. Upon walking inside, Nate sees Elena, and she is definitely not happy. Caught red-handed, Nate tries his best to explain, but his lies and a brother she never knew of are a bit too much for Elena, and she bolts out the door. Sully tries to get Nate to go after her, because, you know, she’s his wife, but he’s already too focused on finding the treasure and saving Sam. After snapping at Sully, Nate tells him to go after her, effectively straining two of his closest relationships.
Things are left a bit tense in that shitty motel room.
