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quote:Sarth has a good deal of backstory to it! It's an old robber baron fortress converted into an Ishapian chapel dedicated to knowledge, where they're transcribing, cataloguing and storing texts of all kinds. It mostly features in Silverthorn, where, while travelling north, Arutha and his gang are harried by Nighthawks and a weird, demonic abomination that attempts to hunt them from the skies. Taking refuge at Sarth, the monks give them magical cover and the lead priest uses a magical amulet to enchant Arutha's rapier, turning it into a potent artifact that can do damage to even demonic creatures. It's also noteworthy, to me, for being the worst-written part of that entire book, it feels so clunky. No way to do this without seeming pedantic, but this is not entirely true. At Sarth, Arutha finds a thin lead on Silverthorn and the monks give him an amulet that he wears around his neck. This amulet makes him immune to magical divination so that The Enemy can't find him easily. At the end of Darkness at Sethanon, Pug melds the amulet to Arutha's rapier so that he can fight the big bad guy. I never had a problem with this section of the book except that there is a major fight that seems slightly like a climactic moment too early, but I would like to know why you think it 'clunky'. This section does contain some incredibly good Jimmy dialogue that shouldn't be missed, though.
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Oct 6, 2021 17:43
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JustJeff88 posted:No way to do this without seeming pedantic, but this is not entirely true. At Sarth, Arutha finds a thin lead on Silverthorn and the monks give him an amulet that he wears around his neck. This amulet makes him immune to magical divination so that The Enemy can't find him easily. At the end of Darkness at Sethanon, Pug melds the amulet to Arutha's rapier so that he can fight the big bad guy. Oh, no, that's perfectly fine pedantry, because I literally cannot keep track of what happened in Silverthorn and what happened in Darkness At Sethanon, since they start out extremely similarly with a Nighthawk attack and then a secret departure from Krondor on the part of Jimmy, Arutha, etc. Mostly my issue with that part is the bit where the priests fight off the Enemy's abomination, which just really reads like someone narrating a D&D fight poorly.
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Oct 6, 2021 17:46
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PurpleXVI posted:Oh, no, that's perfectly fine pedantry, because I literally cannot keep track of what happened in Silverthorn and what happened in Darkness At Sethanon, since they start out extremely similarly with a Nighthawk attack and then a secret departure from Krondor on the part of Jimmy, Arutha, etc. Now that I think about it, Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon do repeat some themes. I never minded the fight at the Abbey just because Jimmy's lines are solid gold.
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Oct 6, 2021 20:12
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Man, that Nago fight destroyed young me so many times. I was too young to understand exploration, so I usually went straight south, maybe finishing the dwarf side quest, before just getting wrecked by Nago. I think I thought it was a required fight for some reason, just skipping it never occurred to me. There is so much story and writing, I think I can forgive the game for not having more dialogue for Rowe, it was probably put off for later or overlooked. One mean fact about paralysis, if everyone in your party is paralyzed or dead, you get the partywipe game over. This does not work if you paralyze all enemies.
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Oct 6, 2021 21:08
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I doubt this is the reason why it doesn't insta-end the combat but that's a great opportunity to heal back up and save on rations.
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Oct 7, 2021 00:03
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Do corpses (or their loot) despawn in this game? Seems like carrying capacity is limited, and I guess it'd be sad to wipe out a bunch of encounters early on and have to leave a bunch of vendor junk behind to disappear if you're not constantly running back to stores.
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Oct 7, 2021 03:44
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Schwartzcough posted:Do corpses (or their loot) despawn in this game? Seems like carrying capacity is limited, and I guess it'd be sad to wipe out a bunch of encounters early on and have to leave a bunch of vendor junk behind to disappear if you're not constantly running back to stores. I think they eventually despawn, though the timer for it is rather long, and there are a few ways to get around it. For instance, containers containing a letter/note never despawn, so if you really want to preserve something, you can drop a bag containing one of those and whatever other stuff you want kept safe. Secondly, moredhel word chests are also usually safe containers. Mind, it's mostly a matter of patience since most of the stuff on corpses at this stage of the game is vendor trash with emphasis on the trash. Like, the party's got 4000 sovereigns due to their various detours, and a generic suit of armor and sword from a Moredhel or Quegan warrior will yield maybe a total of 15 from most stores, if of high quality. You're usually never more than one or two days' travel from a store, so if you're patient enough, none of it will go to waste, but it's generally not worth it. Roxors posted:Man, that Nago fight destroyed young me so many times. I was too young to understand exploration, so I usually went straight south, maybe finishing the dwarf side quest, before just getting wrecked by Nago. I think I thought it was a required fight for some reason, just skipping it never occurred to me. I would say that if you're taking the direct path, I'd consider it a required path to get Locklear or Gorath a much-needed sword upgrade but, somewhat disappointingly, taking out the wizard coordinating the assassin squads doesn't actually seem to despawn any ambushes or otherwise make things easier for you(in the book, they logically conclude that without taking out Nago, they're gonna eventually get sliced to ribbons or worn down by successive injuries on the way to Krondor).
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Oct 7, 2021 09:16
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Schwartzcough posted:Do corpses (or their loot) despawn in this game? Seems like carrying capacity is limited, and I guess it'd be sad to wipe out a bunch of encounters early on and have to leave a bunch of vendor junk behind to disappear if you're not constantly running back to stores. I think corpses despawn when they're flagged to not appear in the current chapter. So in chapter 1 and 2 you might have 3 moredhel ambushes set to appear along a certain road, but in chap 4 it might be 2 ambushes of a different enemy and the game just gets rid of the references (corpses/enemies) from the first set. I may be wrong and they despawn at the start of a new chapter though.
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Oct 7, 2021 10:37
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PurpleXVI posted:Oh, no, that's perfectly fine pedantry, because I literally cannot keep track of what happened in Silverthorn and what happened in Darkness At Sethanon, since they start out extremely similarly with a Nighthawk attack and then a secret departure from Krondor on the part of Jimmy, Arutha, etc. Not just you, at least -- I reread those when this thread started and the same thing happened to me. A couple times I was thinking 'ok now is when xyz events happen, right' and no, it was in the other book. Eventually I remembered to ask myself if a specific person was present, since the party composition (so to speak  ) was different and that got it squared away.
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Oct 12, 2021 17:52
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Just a quick post to let everyone know the next update is probably going to be slightly delayed because there are a lot of things to go over and also a sneak peek of a weird-rear end bug that popped up in a fight: Yes, that's a dog's sprite suddenly turning into tombstones and a brick texture.
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Oct 13, 2021 19:59
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Oct 13, 2021 20:08
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That's clearly just a dopplodog.
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Oct 13, 2021 20:17
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"Oh, your dog plays fetch? That's cute. Watch this."
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Oct 13, 2021 20:20
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That's amazing, makes me think I should use the dogs more.
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Oct 13, 2021 20:27
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Black Robe posted:"Oh, your dog plays fetch? That's cute. Watch this." "Ask me why my dog is called Glitch."
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Oct 13, 2021 20:33
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 "What the gently caress, Owyn." 
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Oct 13, 2021 20:46
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Perhaps the dog was gravely ill and the stress of the fight sent him to the boneyard.
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Oct 14, 2021 01:37
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JustJeff88 posted:Perhaps the dog was gravely ill and the stress of the fight sent him to the boneyard. The game tends to be very cryptic about these things, could be just a stray bit of code, things were pretty ruff back in that era.
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Oct 14, 2021 01:59
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Guildenstern Mother posted:The game tends to be very cryptic about these things, could be just a stray bit of code, things were pretty ruff back in that era. My only complaint about this post is that now I have to think up different terrible puns for the actual LP update.
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Oct 14, 2021 02:50
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PurpleXVI posted:My only complaint about this post is that now I have to think up different terrible puns for the actual LP update. I dunno, you might be barking up the wrong tree there.
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Oct 14, 2021 09:22
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PurpleXVI posted:My only complaint about this post is that now I have to think up different terrible puns for the actual LP update. Eh, don't worry about it, I don't think anyone wants you wasting time hounding after puns. Just work at a pace you're happy with, I imagine balancing life and working on LPs can be a bitch. I think everyone would prefer a high-qualiry LP over a steaming pile of shih tzu. I REGRET NOTHING.
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Oct 14, 2021 13:21
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PurpleXVI posted:My only complaint about this post is that now I have to think up different terrible puns for the actual LP update. Well not to blow my own horn, but I've got tons more horrible puns ready if you need them. I'll just have to summon up the dogged strength not to use them.
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Oct 14, 2021 21:27
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Update 12: Grave Mistakes, Part 1  Welcome to the sewers of Krondor! Every time there's a part of a Midkemia story set in Krondor, the sewers get to be involved, and they seem roughly as actively travelled as the streets above, therefore it's no real surprise that the instant we arrive, someone's walking up to hassle us. BaK posted:A figure moved in the tunnel.  Meet Limm! He's a Mocker, and oh boy am I going to have a lot of complaining to do about the Mockers in the lore post after this one.  Who be you and what would you in the Thieves' Highway? I be Seigneur Locklear and I do whatever I will in the Prince's sewers! If you're half as intelligent as you seem then I would advise you step out of our way. Fast with a blade I am. Step any further and I'll do you, I will! The only thing you will do my young friend is die an unfortunate death on the point of my sword. I used to spar with Jimmy the Hand and I'm a faster blade than he. Do you still wish to cross me? Jimmy the Hand? He's a legend, sire. Next you'll be telling me you've lain with the Empress Lakeisha of Kesh. I'd advise you to be nice like, however cause I got five blokes waiting a little on down to make sure nothing happens to me, see. I don't suppose you've come on behalf of Seigneur James have you? Seigneur James? Then you don't...well, perhaps we have. Alright then, down to tacks. If he didn't send you, you'll be answering to the Upright Man and not me, so I wash my hands of it. Just watch your steps down here, as there's a bit of trouble going on down here. G'day. Wait...we don't know our way around down here. I look like a bloody page to you? I've got affairs of me own whats I gots to do. Just answer a few questions? Right then, so long as you don't ask me anything what might get me in the hots with the Nightmaster. What you want to know?We don't actually have anything we can talk to Limm about for now and, in general, he doesn't have a lot of dialogue options in future chapters either. The only thing he's good for at the moment is selling us lockpicks in case we're short on them but... we're going to effortlessly be drowning in the loving things anyway. There aren't actually that many actually, well, locked locks in the game, at least not compared to word locks, and most of the ones really worth getting into can be sorted with keys and... ooooh the keys are a whole other kettle of fish. Anyway, we'll bid Limm goodbye since he seems willing not to set the entire guild of thieves on us for splashing around in his territory. I'll be off now as I've got business with the Upright Man. You'll have to come and tell me some more of your fables about Jimmy the Hand. Perhaps we will. Thanks for your help. Squire, is it normal for the sewers to be this crowded in Krondor? Honestly? Yes. To listen to James, he runs into more people down here than he does up above. If you two are done chatting, we've got company up ahead.  Rogues are a relatively common encounter down here, but most of them, note that I say most of them, are no big deal since it's just two or three of them and we're ready for that kind of shenanigans by now.   Hold up, something's strange about the darkness up ahead. How can darkness be "strange"? Well, it seems more murderous than darkness usually is. Also carrying swords. Ah, my favourite part about the sewers, Nighthawks. You sometimes wonder, when you're killing a rogue, or a moredhel, whether maybe they're just good people in bad situations, but Nighthawks... Dressed as they are in all black, Nighthawk encounters are very likely to happen without you spotting them down here in the sewers. Their all-black outfits suit them less above ground, but they wear them there anyway because... here's the thing... the Nighthawks, despite being a guild of assassins, are dogshit awful assassins. The only time they're ever a threat to any protagonists in the series are when they have magical assistance(for a notable period, dead Nighthawks had the annoying habit of rising again as murderous zombies, Black Slayers, who can only be put down by magic or being burned, due to a dark pact they'd signed with the False Murmandamus featured in Silverthorn and A Darkness At Sethanon.), but outside of those situations they're regularly killed by a 15-year-old Jimmy the Hand and do bungling cartoony poo poo like accidentally shooting each other with crossbows in the middle of fights or charging like cartoon bulls so protagonists can just step aside and let them drop over tall ledges. In BaK they are, appropriately enough, not that particularly much stronger than the other enemies in the game, though they're more likely to carry better-quality weapons than the enemies fought so far, and regularly bring crossbowmen and poisoned bolts. There are no Nighthawk mages.   And now we cut out their hearts and burn them! At least the smell of burning human flesh is better than the smell of the sewers.  Looks like they were guarding this ladder, maybe it's the way u-BaK posted:Someone whistled.  It's just like you Jimmy. I haven't seen you in seven months, then I rescue you from a band of Nighthawks and the first thing you want to talk about is my bloody change of hair color! What is going on around here? The front gate is smashed and there are Nighthawks loose in the sewers. Not Nighthawks. Impostors. Someone has been trying to convince Prince Arutha that the Guild of Death has reestablished operations here in Krondor and is using the sewers as their hideout, hoping that the Lancers will come down and clean out the place. In doing so, I think whoever is running this game hopes that the Lancers will root out the Mockers while they are at it. What, take out the Guild of Thieves? Doesn't seem likely from all the things you've told me from your days as a Mocker. More to the point, we know now a few of the Nighthawks escaped to Romney when we smashed them up after that affair with Princess Anita. They certainly won't dare tread Krondor's streets for a while yet. I'd been tracking around down here trying to find out more when I ran into those fellows... So...why have you come back so soon to Krondor, Locky? I thought you were going to be gone another four months or so. I've got bad news from the Northlands. Looks like the Dark Brothers are stirring again. They raised Murmandamus' battle standards over Sar-Sargoth and there's a moredhel army gathering to attack the Kingdom. This moredhel used to be one of their clan chieftains, something of a hero during the Riftwar against the Tsurani too. I thought Prince Arutha would be interested in talking to him. I don't like this, Locky. The moredhel stirring again in the north and someone mimicking the Guild of Death... My bump of trouble says that things are going to get far worse before they get better... I assume since you're down here that you're trying to get into the palace the way I showed you a few years ago? Yes...I was thinking I would have to pry off the grate somehow, but if you have the key, it would save me a great deal of trouble. Still on me. It's all yours. I can find my own way into the palace. I'm going to creep around a while longer down here and see if I can unravel this particular mystery. Suit yourself. I, for one, am anxious to get out of this hole. Come and get me for breakfast tomorrow after I've spoken to Prince Arutha!Welcome to Jimmy the Hand. While he doesn't have the supernatural powers of Pug or Tomas, he's the third major protagonist and usually more competent than any adults he's travelling with in the books where he's not even 18 years old yet. By the time of Betrayal, I think he's around 25 years old, though the specific progress of the timeline is often kind of vague and can generally only be inferred by keeping an eye out for minor comments about how old a given character has turned compared to comments about their age in previous books. He's generally kind of smarmy and unlikeable in Silverthorn and Sethanon, but in the Betrayal-Assassins-Return trilogy, he's a lot more tolerable. In-game he is, like Locklear, inexplicably an rear end in a top hat to people(sometimes in funny ways) for no good reason. Oh and also let's not forget that there's a sewer entrance(a sewer that connects to the sea and is reachable by boat) right into the Palace of Krondor. That's good design work, folks. In any case, the sewer features a number of "false" ladders that lead nowhere, only the right one can be opened by the unique key James hands us.  And it can't be picked, so we need to bungle into James to progress.    So that's Jimmy the Hand? I've heard stories of him, supposedly quite skilled, for a human. He is pretty skilled. So what do the moredhel stories say about me? ... Oh come on, there aren't any stories about me? I tagged along for all those adventures and I don't even get the smallest bit of fame? This is the worst.Past a rope-requiring pit(you CAN come around from the other side, to be fair), and a couple of false ladders, we find the right one.   Now, time for text... BaK posted:The gate swung open. In the book, this entire sequence is much different. For one thing, the three goons go and have a bath first before marching up to the Prince of Krondor covered in blood and poo poo.    Incurable sewer rats, the both of you. I shall have to order that each of you be accompanied by a score of washing maidens to keep you presentable enough for court. Welcome home, Locky. Thank you. As happy as I am to be here, I'm afraid I come with bad news from the Northlands. I expected as much. With the false Nighthawks prowling my streets above and below it can only mean the moredhel are up to their old mischief. What do you know?BaK posted:Motioning to Gorath, Locklear introduced the former moredhel chieftain with a wave. Slowly, Gorath lowered his hood. The gasps and startled reactions of those crowding the hall helped mask the stealthy entrance of a second moredhel in the chamber; this one armed with a longbow!  Assassin! Get Down! I love how Arutha just stands there, not giving a gently caress, after a Moredhel assassin manages to infiltrate his castle and starts shooting arrows at him.  Welcome, somewhat abruptly, to chapter 2, which starts, like chapter 1, with a ton of text. BaK posted:A whisper led him through madness. In the book this flashback is somewhat more detailed, giving us a good bit of background on Gorath's life and sorrows, and how he's never exactly been eager to join in warfare, though he got swept up in the madness of both the first (real) Murmandamus and the second (false) Murmandamus. As for the new characters introduced here, the only one that needs explaining is Gamina, Pug's adopted daughter who can read minds and communicate telepathically, but is otherwise mute. Pug also has a biological son, William, who we won't be seeing in Betrayal at Krondor.  Pug and his wife, Katala, have clearly had too much to drink themselves and have no idea how to deal with Arutha being a belligerent drunk. Katala is a member of a minority from the Tsurani homeworld, the Thuril, she was a slave alongside Pug for a while, but he had her freed when he became a megawizard. The descriptive text always goes on about how she's headstrong and from a proud warrior culture, but she generally just plays the generically nagging and worried housewife, because women aren't allowed agency in a Midkemia story until Return to Krondor. I have been tolerant while I listened to your vague speculations based on incidental half-heard conversations, but how am I to believe what you say? What evidence have you laid before this council to prove what Delekhan intends to do?  He is leader in name only. However bitter a draught Delekhan may be for your kith and kin to drink, magician, his rule is black poison in the gullets of me and mine. Already he enslaves my cousins and rapes the land. Bloody his nose Prince of Krondor. Blunt his swords and the unified tribes will cast him down in wrath. Let him cross your Northern border, however, and ten other clans will join their strength to his and the legacy of Murmandamus will be but a spark next to his glory. Where would you have me send my troops? If indeed he intends a strike against one of our northernmost possessions, which castle shall I garrison for the attack? Highcastle? Ironpass? Northwarden? If I am to fight a war, by my teeth tell me where would you have me fight it! Would that I could tell you! Delekhan holds in good confidence only a handful of cowering dogs and, among them, only a few are privy to his war plans. His private counsels are restricted to choice individuals, his advisors Narab and Nago, his mistress Liallan, his son Moraeulf and - Nighthawks! He keeps foul company that leader of yours... Your highness, if you give me leave, I believe I can find the evidence of Delekhan's intent. I will need someone to accompany me to Romney and supplies for my journey and a small parcel of gold. Romney? What do you think you can find in a provincial river town in the heart of the Kingdom? I aim to catch a bird in flight. Of late Delekhan has emptied a good deal of his treasury to revive the service of the Nighthawks. In exchange he has demanded tactical information about kingdom holdings... He's turned the Guild of Assassins into a guild of spies? Only for a time. Although the payments have been left in various hidden locales, the messengers were always to rendezvous in Romney. If I go there, I may be able to intercept information concerning a forthcoming attack. Would such evidence suffice? Perhaps. drat me but I don't trust you Gorath. How do I know that this isn't a plot of yours? We can weigh the evidence to our heart's content and your cousins could be slitting the throats of my serfs as we sit dawdling... Go to Romney, but you'll provide for yourself. If this is part of some secret moredhel scheme, I'll not look the fool before the world. Pug, unroll the map for me...This conversation also goes a bit differently in the book, going in a bit more on why Gorath dislikes Delekhan. Not just because he's a dictator who has his political enemies killed, but because the Moredhel, being slower reproducing and much lower in number than the humans, suffered incredibly from their huge losses at Armengar and Sethanon. Gorath worries that if Delekhan leads another war against the Kingdom, it'll completely destroy the Moredhel as a people.  This bit has Arutha jabbing at various points on the map with his... what is that? Just a general metal pointy stick? Anyway, refer to the map in the first post if you're wondering where the various locations actually are. ...and Northwarden. His fortress at Sar-Sargoth is three hundred miles to the North and I doubt he has the resources to defend a line that long. So an attack at Northwarden seems unlikely. Leaving Highcastle... Which is a viable alternative, but neither target seems to have an obvious goal. I know you are no field strategist and you hate to become involved in state matters but I should like you to delay your return to your home at Stardock for a while. I feel...ill at ease. You are not alone in that. I too have sensed something unusual in the air, but I won't ascribe it to anything as dire as magic. More likely we suffer from bad soup. Feelings aside I will call up the militia reserves from Malac's Cross, Darkmoor, and Lyton and join them to a detachment of the Krondorian Lancers just outside of the Dimwood. James will send word to me there. What of the garrison? It will remain in place. I have considered the option of a full push south and it seems unlikely, but I will give Delekhan nothing. Our agreement remains. Now we wait. Gods help Gorath if he betrays us to the moredhel.And then we're dropped back into control.  This is absolutely not the lady who played Katala in the cutscene. There's like a 15-year age difference at the minimum. Anyway, let's talk to her before we do anything else.  A pleasure to see you again, James. Mine is the greater pleasure, my lady. Is Pug about? You've just missed him. He and Makala went off to discuss magic someplace and if I know my husband, that means I won't see him for a few days. Even on holiday, he can't seem to take his mind away from the art for long. In many ways, he and the Prince are much alike. Where is Arutha anyway? Out with his twins and the Princess Anita. It seems your famed luck is running thin today. Quite the contrary, for I still have your company. If I may have a moment? As much time as you need. What may I do for you?She doesn't have an awful lot of keywords, and one of them, Rations, only triggers if we manage to completely starve ourselves, in which case she'll graciously allow us to make use of the kitchens. [GAMINA] So, when do I get to meet this stunning daughter of yours? I've heard quite a bit about Gamina, but I've been too busy to make the time to meet her. I imagine you will see her as soon as I do. She's more than likely trailing Pug and Makala about the palace. Any opportunity to hear her father discuss magic and she's immediately at his side. Then too, it may be she's hiding away from Arutha's twins. She's not quite interested in boys yet.[MAGIC SUPPLIES] I know that quite few of the artificers in Stardock have begun exporting their goods from the Academy. Are there any good places to buy magical items near here? The most notable one that's close is a little place called Stardock Annex at the Abbey of Ishap at Sarth. Officially they have no ties with the Academy, but there's not much we can do to keep them from using the name. There's also a fellow by the name of Dabeh who buys from us, but he lives a long distance from here, out north of Romney if I recall.We can't go out the main gates, because James will complain that it isn't stealthy enough, on the left side of the screen is an exit back to the sewers, but it's vitally important that we use the exit on the right first because...  That's where all Locklear's stuff went, and James starts with gear at about the same level as what Locklear did at the start of Chapter 1, so these upgrades are absolutely vital to make James not dead weight. Not that it really does a lot to fix him up since... yeah, let's just go over his starting stats. On the bright side, he has the highest starting Defense, Stealth and Lockpicking skills in the game, and he's slightly sturdier than Locklear is starting out. On the downside, the only character we've had with worse melee than him so far is Owyn, and these are starting stats. He's missed out on all the trainers and practical experience that the rest of the party have enjoyed on the way south from LaMut. Despite being one of the main protagonists of multiple books, he's definitely playing second fiddle to, well, everyone, for a while yet.  Alright, Gorath, I don't know how things were with Locklear, but from this point on we're doing things my way. And what is "your," way, human? Quiet, calm, professional, minimum of detours and no un-needed violence.   I can see why you'd prefer that, even Owyn would have been more threatening in a fight than you. Can it. Why didn't we bring him, by the way? He's been useful so far. He's completely unrelated to this entire thing, it would just put him in danger and, secondly, if we deal with any national security matters, we don't need an extra witness.I proceed to then bumble around in the sewers for a bit as I make my way towards the exit, in part because I know there's a chest down here with a Skyfire scroll that I want to pick up, though it requires mulching a few rogues to get to.     These fights haven't been trouble so far, but they consist mainly of James whiffing two out of three swings while Gorath drops all the enemies with a single swing a piece.   Behind these guys is another gang(guarding a dead end), but you can stay just outside of their aggro radius and sneak into the side corridor containing the Skyfire scroll, you know, for any future wizards we might pick up. Now, to take the shortest and simplest route back to the exit...   I can't help but notice you've walked us right into a conflict where we're outnumbered more than two to one.Also, two of those rogues are rogue mages(you can tell because they have yellow pants, which is because of magical power, not because they wet themselves). One of them, funnily enough, has Skyfire as a known spell, despite being underground, but he also has Grief of 1000 Nights, and losing Gorath for 32 rounds in this fight would be a game-over.   Instead, while I use James and his high Defense to disrupt the enemy casters, they tag Gorath with a cast of Unfortunate Flux, which basically sees him attacked by a small swarm of angry magic wasps. It always hits and is interesting in being one of the few spells that do randomized damage, in this case between 30 and 130 damage. Thankfully Gorath is built like a brick shithouse and survives it, though it also sees him then spending an entire turn chugging magic meth to get back to near-full health.   Thankfully, positioning allows James to disturb both mages at once, and then Gorath sets to work, dropping rogues left and right like the badass he is.  Gorath is absolutely the MVP of this party. Anyway, now we have a clear run to the exit. This fight and two others are spawned at the start of Chapter 2 exclusively to ensure you have at least one fight on the way to the exit, mind you.   I sense another ambush, someone is waiting for us...BaK posted:A shadow approached. It took you two long enough. I was beginning to think the Mockers had you bagged up again, Seigneur James. Is everything all right? Squire, suppose I ignore the fact that this trip is a state secret to which you are not supposed to be privy AND that we are hurrying out of the sewers instead of leaving by the main gate at the proper time. How did you find out we were coming? Well, after Seigneur Locklear dumped me off after we got here and told me I could go home, I got bored and decided to check out Krondor. Unfortunately there's nothing much interesting going on here, so I decided I would come back to the palace. I tried to pay Gorath an unexpected visit last night, but discovered that the guards had been doubled with orders that no one could see him. I might have fallen for it if I hadn't heard someone snoring in his cell... Gorath doesn't snore, I take it. Not a sound. When I realized that something was in the air I went to find Locklear and discovered that he was mysteriously absent, despite a tray of food delivered to his door just moments after I slipped away. Finally, I came down here and talked to Limm who told me you had been down here earlier this morning. At that point, I realized Arutha meant to slip Gorath out of Krondor for some reason... Are you sure you're not a thief by profession? You think unnervingly like a Mocker I used to know. So, are we ready? We should probably get moving. Where are we going anyway? You cannot accompany us, Owyn. Our mission is much too important. Quiet, moredhel! I'll handle this. But I could jeopardize your mission! Who knows who might take me captive between here and Tiburn? If I go back to Krondor now, I might accidentally talk to someone. Besides, I'm from the eastern part of the Kingdom. I know the area and I might be able to help... For better or worse, you seem determined to hitch your fate to catastrophe. But if you want to get yourself killed at a tender young age, who am I to naysay it? I used to pull the same stunts when Arutha wished to pull out of Krondor... All right then squire, you can come along, but these are the ground rules. One, I am in charge and you do whatever I say without question. Two, under no circumstances do you reveal anything about Gorath or our mission to anyone. If someone asks, we will continue what Seigneur Locklear suggested - Gorath is an elf. Thirdly, and lastly, you don't wander off on your own. I don't care if you're watering the trees, you ask me first. Is all that clear? Absolutely. Whatever you say. Stop smiling. You're going to earn your keep. I know I'm going to regret this, but let's get moving. We have a long way to go and no time to get there.Neither the game or the book are very clear on exactly why Owyn decides to come along on a mission that sees his attempted murder every five minutes and gets him on the poo poo-list of a gang of assassins that have attempted to kill Kingdom heads of state multiple times over the last decade, but in the book it's much the same, Owyn figures that the quest isn't over yet and just sort of wriggles his way into the party with "drat, sure would be a shame if someone forced me to rat you out through horrible torture or something, getting my fingernails yanked out always loosens my tongue," which is a relatively strong argument for why he should come along, but one that should be used on him rather than by him. What, you think I'm gonna bail on this party? Have you seen the cash this mission rakes in? Little about the books ever establishes the value of a Kingdom "Sovereign," except for a passing comment about how 100 of them would see someone set for about 4 months of good living. Considering that this party has, at one point, been carrying around 4000 sovereigns(which must have weighed a hell of a lot, they're supposedly relatively pure gold coins), that would've been about 12 years of comfortable living in the Kingdom. And I'm not settling for "comfortable," so let's get a move on, we've got chests to crack and pockets to empty. ...I feel like the stealthy, low-violence approach has just gone out the window. And so, we're clear to leave Krondor! Before I do so, though, I want to drop by the inn...  The Rainbow Parrot pops up in both Silverthorn, Sethanon and Return to Krondor, since the owner is good friends with a number of canon characters and also has a secret door into the sewers in one of his back rooms. The guy we want to talk to is the only NPC who isn't generic-looking, Nivek. He's also here in chapter 1, but has nothing to say then, now, however... BaK posted:James grinned.  The pleasure is mutual. How are the ledgers of the Kingdom, Nivek? Think we shall have enough money to keep the Kingdom running for the year? The ledgers are at a balance, but I daresay my thirst suffers a deficit of catastrophic proportions. Though I handle thousands of sovereigns a day, I fear I haven't the command of more than a handful for my own use at the moment. I don't suppose you might be in a position... What do you say, Owyn? Do we buy a drink for the honorable tax collector or do we allow him to expire of thirst?[YES... we want to buy him a drink, not YES we should let him die of thirst] Bartender, a drink for the tax collector! Drink up friend and tell me what you know. You've always had a good ear for the happenings in and out of the Kingdom.[FIRST DRINK] Rumors? My goodness me, I'm not the kind to consort with the rumormongers. No sire, you should know that. Of course, I do occasionally hear a few facts that are of interest to people. Accounting is a...UHRUP...fascinating business you know, all the figures and such. Something a little more lively if you please. Stolen cows, cheating wives, dishonest traders - that sort of thing. The prurient and the scatological, eh? Hmmm. Well, let me think on it. I believe I heard something last week - at least I believe it was last week. Maybe it was the week before that. Couldn't have been before that annexation in Malac's Cross --- If you please, Nivek. We would like to get out of here before tomorrow. ...I...AHHHP...would be most pleased to accommodate you, but it seems that my mouth has grown a bit dry. What do you say to buying me another drink?[SECOND DRINK] Ahh now. That's much better. What was I saying? Oh yes, about this story. Th-ere was...UHRUP...this fellow that lives near Sethanon that has filed three new claims on land in the past year. Thr-ee, ya understand that? Is there something suspect about his purchases? Oh, his selections of land are nice enough. Prime pieces of land matter of fact, but he's without a...AAHHHP...ti-tle! How'z a person of ignoble birth manage to buy three prime estates? Tell me that! What was this fellow's name? Perhaps we should look into it. What kind of ques---RUCHH---question is that now? Ya think I carry my ledger about in my head? I mean you might as well rear end me the name of Prince Arufa's---Arutha's wife... You mean to tell me that you can't remember Princess Anita's name? No---what is her name? You were telling me about the man near Sethanon. What else do you know about him? Tell me about the man. ...Ahhhh...I fink his name was Fibber... NAH, that's not right, not right at all... Fleeber...Monk's Finger...Map's Flipper...Fever... FEEBER! Maxie Feeber! Thatsss it! Ya know, I'm really, really getting tired now and maybe I should go home. There's still a few things I need to know. Think you can hold out for a just a few more minutes? Sure...RUCCHH...I kin do it. Need something else ta drink though. You buy---UHRUP--ing?[THIRD DRINK] That hit the---the ahhh---What? I suppose you mean that your drink hit the mark. Why don't you tell us a little more about this Max Feeber character? NAHnahnahnahh...that's bori---UHRUP--ng... let's talk about the last year. Did ya know that for every cow in Midkemia, we get a golden sovereigns a year alone just for their manure... Did ya know that? BETCHA didn't! An for every duck... Max Feeber. I want to know about Max Feeber. Dokay. Moxie Flipper. Ahm, I know that gee was tryging to buy up some of the propurtee left in Sethanon a few years back from Jared Lycrow but Jared wouldn't sell to no one, so Moxie co--AHRUP---cooked up this idea... Sure you don't want to hear about the ducks? No. Just tell us about Max. What did he do? Ee gots him selk a shovel and dug---ARRGHA---to try to skeer Jared. Corse Jared wasn't skeered of nuthin but it shore fri-teened---UHRUP---Nia... What was he digging up? ...Goin ta slep now... Gnite... Maybe I could buy you another drink? What, you haven run outta mon---mon---money yet? Oh, in that case I'll have nother...if you're buying?[FOURTH DRINK] Grabeyurd neer Sethnon. Dats whur he wusss diggin. Up---ERRRRUP--- Frait o gosts n Jer-rud whatnt. Not at ull. Jes Nia. Littl o Nia... Where do you think he got the funds to buy the land? E...Ee sait that he gots it in na hole! Alz the monkeys...ARRAH...moneys in na hole! Jus got go...to get it... Ain't frait no gooset... What hole are you talking about? Where is he going? I tink I go home now... One more tankard of ale to keep him going?[FIFTH DRINK] Ya nu... Zaa unturducktur key urdn skeywers...trite to sulit tome but...UHRUP...I no crumiminal...oh gles mr...AAAGH. O Ghats! Imna be sich! Ha- ho! The what? I don't understand. I sait, mna be SICK! Okay, okay. I think I've abused you enough for now. Sleep well, Nivek. I think we know all we need to know.Now, this might seem like a completely pointless way to waste our money, but! Ol' Nivek here is, in fact, our first clue on the way to one of the more lucrative sidequests in the game and which, if completed, rewards us with a weapon of which there are only four in the entire game, and which is thus eminently easy to miss out on entirely. It's also the quest that suffers the most from some Sierra-rear end triggers that make it very easy to miss out on being able to complete it because you have to visit not just the right people, but also in the right order, Nivek here and one other thing are the only two ones you can get anything out of in the "wrong" order. Anyway, that's for later, for now, we're gonna hit the road! As we do so, I also have James read Thiful's Bird Migrations for the boost. Then, because he's so far behind, I have him chew up the remaining 96 charges, because hey, with an 8% chance per charge, he SHOULD get more boosts, right? Ha ha, loving NOPE. James gets absolutely ZERO boosts beyond the first guaranteed one. This game has a cruel RNG.
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Oct 19, 2021 22:01
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Update 13: Grave Mistakes, Part 2   Strange, we're already within sight of Darkmoor and no one's tried to ambush us yet. ...just how bad was that journey down from the north? This is practically the heart of the Kingdom. At worst you might see a few bandits here.In general, there are less fights(but not quite NO fights...) in the southeastern part of the game map, which is the more densely populated part of the Kingdom, being closer to the older East than the frontier-ish West, section of the map that includes Darkmoor only has a single battle, and it never gets replaced or supplemented by others later on. The party soon arrives at Darkmoor, which is mentioned in the books only as a stopover on the way to Malac's Cross and the rest of the east.   At the moment, this is just yet another place for Owyn to get some barding XP and a couple of doors to knock on, so let's get knockin'. BaK posted:After knocking on the small wooden door, James stood back to survey the house and its surroundings. "Darkmoor seems friendly enough," he said. The next house, of course, has different dialogue whether to knock on the door during the day or the night. BaK posted:DAY It's just a bit of fluff text, nothing that really matters to us. I think perhaps there was originally going to be a general undead-slaying spell which might've later been removed and this was supposed to hint at it... but I'm honestly not sure. Once past Darkmoor, there's an unusually dense thicket of tree sprites alongside the road, which tends to be a hint that the devs hid some chests or other interactibles inside.   Seriously, this is denser than the Dimwood. It also contains what's probably the easiest magic trap in the game.   This is just sad.   MILK This one contains a suit of Elven Armor which is no upgrade for this party, but if you took the straight path down, you might've missed out on other opportunities for this upgrade.  RUST This one contains a general mix of supplies, small stacks of food, restoratives and Fadamor's Formula. Nothing too exciting, but all of it useful. It's very easy to feel like you couldn't possibly carry or need more Restoratives and then run into one of the situations where you do.    Further east along the road lies the Temple of Ruthia, the goddess of Luck. It's one of the few temples in the game, which span the entire canon Kingdom pantheon, which has no dialogue for visiting the priests, just the party not being allowed to talk to anyone. Which is a bit of a shame, they could at least have said that getting an audience was a matter of flipping a coin or winning a game or chance or something, and luck just is not with the party.    Eventually we reach a corner where two sections of "mountain" reach each other, where the road curves there's a small graveyard, and this is our clue that we've got the turn-off for Malac's Cross just behind it.     Malac's Cross has some of what you expect from a large town in Betrayal at Krondor: a store, a temple(Ishap) and an inn, but it also has an extra location on the left side of the road, let's try getting in... BaK posted:A man halted them. Unlike some of the other random NPC's we've engaged with in the past, this actually isn't just some random maniac who's going to brain the party with a bottle, we can actually attain a ticket, but you might think it's impossible if you took the longest possible way around to Krondor, because getting a ticket isn't possible till Chapter 2. Since I know where we get a ticket, let's stumble into the local Temple to Ishap(the building at the far end of the main street). It's somewhat more story-relevant in the book, since events at the abbey ties into Krondor: the Assassins, but for a few chapters yet, currently it's mostly interesting for ticket-related purposes.  My young charge here wished to visit your famed school of nobles. I don't think he would have let us leave Malac's Cross without paying a visit. Well, well, well. I am pleased to see that our reputation precedes us. Am I to assume you are interested in becoming a new pupil, or are you visiting from our estimable rival, the Academy of Magicians at Stardock? My father would never allow me to study magic formally. Even though he more than has the financial resources to send me to Stardock, he thinks it's a waste of a young noble's time to spend ten and twenty years with his nose stuck in a book and yet be hardly capable of doing anything else. If it weren't for a magician named Patrus that I met once, I wouldn't know anything of magic at all. It is true that magicians study for longer periods of time with fewer visible results, but no course of study is a waste of time. And while magic is not a primary staple in our directed studies here, magician Pug is kind enough to occasionally send instructors from Stardock to lecture on issues that involve magicians. If you would be interested in enrolling... I regret that we don't have time for that kind of detour. He is on crucial business that takes him elsewhere. What about you, Seigneur? Is there anything in our curricula that interests you? Books and scrolls? I'm a bit too old for that sort of thing now. Really? How unfortunate for you. And I was preparing to offer you a chance to attend a lecture on tactics that is being taught by one of our guest instructors... Now that I think on it, you probably wouldn't be interested. It's being taught by this, well, odd fellow, a one eyed gentleman who goes by the name Bas-Tyra. Bas-Tyra? You mean Guy du Bas-Tyra? King Lyam's First Adviser? Yes, I believe that's his title... It's part of the Abbaye Ishap's arrangement with King Lyam. In exchange for setting aside part of our facilities here for the purposes of education, the King occasionally will loan us some of the finest minds in the Kingdom. It works to our mutual benefit. I can still arrange to allow you in if you're still interested for a small donation of twenty sovereigns. What do you say, Seigneur?[YES] I think we can make time. Where do we need to go? In town, near the Queen's Row, there's a small hall that we have reserved for Guy's speech. Simply present this ticket at the door and they will admit you all. I believe you will be in for a stimulating evening. Thank you. We are looking forward to it.In the book, this encounter has a somewhat different note since James recognizes Graves as a former enforcer for the Mockers in Krondor who felt the calling of Ishap, and the two of them have a quick rapport. James implies that the establishment of the Ishapian college at Malac's Cross is for the purposes of A) countering the political influence of Pug's magical university at Stardock and B) for keeping an eye on Sethanon. Why Sethanon needs keeping an eye on... we'll get to that. For now, let's just grab the ticket and head back to the building on the left side of the main street... BaK posted:A man took their ticket at the door. Having played Betrayal almost a decade before I first read the first Midkemia books, I was completely baffled when the books got to Guy. See, for the duration of both Magician books, as well as Silverthorn, Guy is loathed by every single main character as the greatest villain imaginable, the sort of dude who locks sick old men in dungeons for political reasons while attempting to marry(at 50+ years of age) their not-even-teenage daughters, also for political reasons, and generally seems to be constantly angling for political power at the expense of honour and human lives. He eventually redeems himself enough in Darkness At Sethanon to be accepted as an ally of the protagonists, explaining his past actions AND doing his level best to prevent the Moredhel from accidentally ending the world. Anyway, what the lecture actually does is increase the party's Assessment skill. Apparently it can only be raised by trainers, repeated use doesn't increase it. It's, as mentioned, a pretty useless skill for the most part since it takes up your entire turn looking at an enemy's stats rather than lowering those stats by blowing said enemy up, but if it didn't take a turn to use, it would be pretty handy! Now, let's hit up the inn.  Unlike a lot of inns, this one has two characters to talk to and oh man do they both have plenty to say. Let's talk to the innkeeper, Ivan, first. We also missed an interesting greeting if we'd come here in chapter 1...  BaK posted:Locklear motioned to the figure across the room. BaK posted:James motioned to the figure across the room.  I hope you haven't come for the match. It's already over! Match? What kind of match? You're in the Queen's Row and you can ask that question? A chess match of course. It was wondrous. Jamie Tiller was defending his title against that snot nosed prat from the Abbaye, Kyle Fischer. Jamie opened, moved his queen's pawn to fourth rank. Fischer opened with Abbar's Gambit - arrogant cud - but Jamie actually maneuvered into it with his knight. I was thinking that he was going for the queen... ...But he sacrificed his King's rook and took the priest... It's a brilliant move, but it left his own queen vulnerable didn't it? You've got a good head for the game, Seigneur. The Prince likes to play, but we don't always have a board handy. Once you learn to play in your head, a board almost becomes redundant. I have to admit it's tougher earlier into the game. More pieces to keep track of. It's still fun to watch, though. That's why the Queen's Row is here. Perhaps I can relates the rest of the game over ale, assuming you gents are buying. What can I get you today?Ivan has a lot of keywords, though at least one seems to expect us having gotten the Chapter 1 greeting. [ABBAYE ISHAP] The Abbaye is developing quite a reputation, isn't it? I've heard a number of stories. I doubt you've heard the stories I've heard about the place. They produce a few fine minds there, aye, but they're also a refuse heap for nobles who wish to get their sons out from underfoot. The majority of them are runts... And the few that aren't? The special ones, they're fine men. Ishap willing, they'll grow into fine dukes and barons and such. The lot of them have become wonderful tacticians. That's what the Abbaye specializes in.[EN PASSAH] Sorry, but you've piqued my curiosity, what is an en passah? I've seen quite a few variations of chess but I don't think I've ever heard of that move. It's Keshian. One night I was playing this fellow from Durbin. I had my game swinging on one particular pawn and the game was in my favor. So what does he do but move his pawn to the square directly behind mine, then claim to have captured my piece! That's an illegal move. So, I said. He goes on to tell me it's one of the most fundamental moves of the game. We argued about it for three hours until a student ran from the Queen's Row to the Abbaye to dig up an old book. And there it was. Back of the text, written in Keshian, the original rules to the game. En passah cost me two diamonds and very nearly the Queen's Row itself. Needless to say, I don't allow that rule to be played in here anymore. Last fellow that tried to use it on me was a fellow named Navon Du Sandau and I set him straight, though he showed me an incredible move he invented called Sandau's Retreat. Can't quite remember how it worked now, though.[CHESS] Any chance I can interest you in a game of chess? I don't play unless I'm making a wager. Makes playing interesting... What kind of stakes? Thirty, forty sovereigns? I don't play unless the stakes are quite high. Emeralds, nothing less. Do you think you're good enough for stakes like that?It goes without saying that we can't dunk on Ivan quite yet. But if we should stumble across an emerald, we have a couple of ways to get a leg up on him. [LOST & FOUND] Do you keep things that people have lost here? Sometimes if it interests me, or if it seems like they would be coming back for it. Why have you lost something here before? No, I was just wondering if there was anything interesting you've found that you think it's unlikely the original owner is going to come back for. If so, I might be interested in taking them off your hands. Probably wouldn't do me any harm to clear out the area beneath the bar. I believe there are probably a few things. Tell you what, I'll sell you the lot of them sight unseen for...say...fifty sovereigns. Deal?There are a few interesting things in the Lost & Found, nothing we desperately need, but we may as well pick them up since they're worth more than the asking price if we were to buy them afresh from shops. [ADVICE] With all the trade moving back and forth through here, I imagine you talk to quite a few traders. I talk to my share. Mostly the Queen's Row is a haven for the students from the Abbaye... Anything unusual going on that someone making a long trip should know? Bridge out somewhere? Bandits attacking? Only thing odd I've heard recent is that Lord Lyton's got a batch of tax collectors stopping folk what are trying to get in and out of Lyton. Some ridiculous high amount of gold. If folks don't have it, the collectors just direct them the other way or end up splitting their spleens for 'em. Course the merchants around here wouldn't make a pence if they stood for it. They've apparently found some way to sneak around the guards.[ABBAR'S GAMBIT] Isn't there another move like Abbar's Gambit but a little different? Aye, there's Abbar's Turn. That's a brave man's gambit. In the right place it's about the most powerful structure a man can put out, but in the wrong place it can cost you dearly... How does it work? I'll not be teaching you that play. If you knew truly how to use it, I'd have to give up playing chess against you. The very fact that you even know about that move tells me you know the game altogether too well.James is canonically actually a rather poor chess player or, at the very least, considerably worse than Arutha and the Keshian ambassador. In any case, this is all we're getting out of Ivan for now... until we're ready to come back and take him for everything he's worth. Oh and like in five minutes when we're done interrogating the other NPC in the room, which opens up a new keyword with Ivan.  Like Ivan, she has some Chapter 1 unique dialogue... BaK posted:Locklear motioned to the figure across the room. The dialogue is mildly less strange in chapter 2, though. I am afraid you have me mistaken for someone else. My name is James. James is it? Ha-ho, of course it is! And I'm not your gran Petrumh either, I take it. You're masquerading again! This isn't like that time you ran about Malac's Cross for a month begging and chewed up soap is it? Oh, but you made some fine sovereigns with that act! With all that foam coming out of your mouth, a body would think you had the creeping mongus and they'd pay a pretty coin just to have you away from them! You've always been a wily one, Lysle. Did you pinch any bread for me? Why can't you buy your own bread? Who pissed in your pot, eh? You know perfectly well that I haven't had nothing since Jack died...unless... What are you doing with an elf, boy! Don't you know they bring bad luck?! They're the ones what killed Jack and are stirring up all that trouble in Sethanon! What's got into your head? Have you run mad? What trouble in Sethanon are you referring to, madam? You're...you really aren't Lysle, are you then? But you're his mirror image, you are. How could this be unless...some kind of faerie evil isn't it? That's what it is! Some kind of faerie magic and you finally come for me! Took Lysle's form! We aren't brothers of the dark path, miss. Please, trust us. Perhaps I may bear some resemblance to this Lysle character you're talking about, but we're just ordinary folk. I would like to talk to Lysle, however. He sounds like...like he might be a relative... Hmm. I guess you don't look like evil faeries... Leastways, none I've ever heard of. So, Lysle might be your brother? I don't know. I never knew my father and my mother never mentioned a twin, but when I was taken captive in Krondor a few of the men who were guarding me kept asking about places I'd never been to and about people I'd never met. At first I wanted to dismiss what they were saying, but then I got to thinking about some of the events that happened before the battle of Sethanon. Someone tried to slip in a double for Prince Arutha. Maybe the moredhel are repeating their old strategies... This is all very interesting, but I haven't had a bite to eat in days. Do you think you could spare something for me?[YES] I've got a pack of rations that are yours, providing you tell us a little more about this Lysle. Last I saw of him, he was heading towards Lyton. Said something about wanting to meet some gentlemen there. More than likely he'll be staying away from the main roads. Try as he might, he does have a tendency to get into trouble now and again. Thank you, miss. Watch out for yourself.This conversation is pretty true to the book, with the main exception that in the book, Gorath takes a lot of offense at Petrumh calling him an elf, since that's usually associated with the Eledhel. It's mildly funny. Another issue is that Petrumh is wrong, Lysle hasn't headed for Lyton, he's headed for Darkmoor. You'll know this if you have a quick chat with Ivan before setting out, since this opens a new dialogue option with him. Ivan, do I look familiar to you? Can't say you do. Should I know you? Not me, my face. I want you to take a close look at me. Are you sure you don't know of anyone with a face like mine? Didn't say I've never seen anyone with a face like yours, I just said I've never seen you before... The man you're after is named Lysle Rigger. Is he related to you? Not sure. I don't know anything about my father and my mother died when I was young. It's possible either of them could have had another child. All I wish to do is talk to him, find out if we have any common history. Good enough... He's been running some sort of errand, though he hasn't told me what it was about or who hired him. He said if he should drop out of sight for any length of time, he would be hiding in Darkmoor, probably in the common storage bins there. If you get near there, call out that Ivan has sent you. He'll make an appearance. I'll warn you though, trouble of ten follows after him. I'd be prepared for a rumble. Sounds familiar. If he's no brother of mine, he's at least a close cousin. So, when are we setting off to find your twin, squire? I'm sure Delekhan will wait patiently for us to resolve your familial issues. Aren't you guys at least mildly curious to see if they even bothered to use the same actor? Fair argument, we could use a laugh.   Appropriately enough, on the way back to Darkmoor, I manage to bungle into a Nighthawk ambush I had somehow managed to avoid by walking off the road to look for chests. No encounters spawn as part of the "look out for trouble near Lysle"-comment, but this almost makes it feel like they did!   The fight instantly becomes a chaotic scrum as the Nighthawks pile in and go straight for Owyn's throat. Because I felt like some variety, I busted out the Horn of Algon-Kokoon instead of Sleepytime Dust, and spawned two dogs. Since each honk spawns TWO dogs, it's an excellent disruption item, especially as the dogs are melee combatants that will often chase mages. The downside is they're much worse at hitting enemies than Rusalki, and there's a grand total of two of them to be found in the game(one we already found, the other is on an enemy's corpse somewhere), though a single shop(in Dencamp on the Teeth) also sells it for a completely absurd price. Still, buying an extra horn would be a great use of the party's funds at some point since they only come with six charges a piece.   Since James is still less dangerous than the rest of the party, he mostly distracts the Nighthawks while Owyn clubs them to death, Gorath hacks them to pieces and two dogs angrily maul them.  It does not go well for the boys in black. No, seriously, these guys almost killed Arutha twice?Owyn could probably one-on-one a Nighthawk with just his staff at this point.    Interacting with this barn in Darkmoor in the past would've just gotten us a generic "it don't do anything"-message, but now that we've talked to Ivan and Petrumh... BaK posted:The barn door was closed tight.  ...Twins, yes, so it seems. Seeing you, a great number of things suddenly seem crystal clear to me. What is your association with the Mockers in Krondor? What do you mean? I don't... Stop the idiot act, Lysle. I know you have something to do with the Mockers in Krondor. A few months ago, I was abducted by a band of cutthroats dressed as Nighthawks while I was investigating a rumor in the sewers. At the time I thought they had abducted me because I was close to Arutha, but that wasn't the case at all, was it? That must mean things have gotten even worse than the Upright Man imagined. When he sent word for me in Kesh... Excuse me...did you say Kesh, as in the Great Empire Of? You of all people should know that the Upright Man has contacts everywhere, including under the Empress' nose. He couldn't very well operate the single most powerful guild in Midkemia without them. But as I was saying - he sent for me in Kesh and asked for me to take a boat into Silden and check on a group of thieves who operated there. I can't really say more, but I confirmed the Upright Man's suspicions. If you should get to Krondor before I do, tell one of the thieves - a boy named Limm - that I think the Upright Man's right, though I am quite positive now that the Crawler is not Jocko Radburn. He should give you a reward for the information. If there is something in the offing that threatens the Prince... Don't worry your head. The Nighthawks in Krondor were likely sent into Krondor to kill the Upright Man after I fumbled up matters investigating in Silden, not go after Arutha. This Crawler fellow that's running the new thieves' guild is determined to expand his empire, but he's been busy infiltrating other guilds. He's the shadow prince behind half a dozen, most notably the new Guild of the Romney. He's also training his men in magic... A whole band of thieves trained as magicians? I don't like the sound of it at all. Neither do I, though for much different reasons. I'm still working on finding out who's training them. Last trail I followed, I heard word that someone in Lyton wished to buy glory hands - magic artifacts I had heard something about. I found this skeletal hand near Sethanon and I sold it to a fellow in Lyton named Glover. I figured if they were magicians, they'd spot the substitution and perhaps I would have a lead. But they bought it from you and killed your lead. How did you find the skeletal hand? You'll probably find this a bit distasteful, but...I was going to dig up somebody from the Sethanon graveyard and just borrow a hand. Since that part of the world has been deserted for quite some time, I thought it would be my best bet to find what I needed without getting caught. Fortunately, some old ghoul saved me the trouble. I have no idea what this fellow was up to with the corpse, but he was dragging it through this field like he was headed to the graveyard. At one point he apparently got tired or thirsty and left the body for a bit and I went over to liberate this dead man of his hand, but before I could finish, the old man came back. Since I nearly had the hand off, I came back the next day to see if it had wiggled loose in the transport... And so you found it and sold it to Glover in Lyton. Just so, but my troubles didn't end there. There were a few men in Lyton who recognized me, apparently men working for the Crawler. Seems that he's issued a death token on my head after I was spotted in Silden. So, since then, I've been lying low. Understandable... Someday, if we should meet again, I would like to talk to you some more. Find out more about where you came from. You mean, find out if we're brothers? It's not likely. I was born in Tulan and only came to Krondor about three years ago when the Upright Man sent for me. I was never sure why he sent for me, but apparently he had heard of me. But, he is odd that way. I doubt I'll ever understand the way his mind works. That makes two of us. Thank you for this talk at least, Lysle. You've been quite a help to us and it's been interesting seeing how others see me. I hope we can meet again.So, James and Lysle meeting is canon, but the whole Sethanon corpse-robbing sideplot isn't. The books are much more interested in dealing with the Crawler, something that would supposedly have gotten expanded on in a third Krondor game, but since that got binned after Return sold poorly, the whole Crawler sideplot never really got resolved for years until Feist(or more likely a ghost writer) finally tied it up. In any case, this conversation with Lysle isn't required to solve this sideplot and is, in fact, actively making it more difficult for first-time players. See, it directs you towards Glover in Lyton, but you can't actually interact with Glover until after you've interacted with several people south of old Sethanon first, like Glover does not exist for you to interact with until then, which is kind of what I consider a Sierra-rear end series of triggers. In the book, the party also saves Lysle from several Nighthawks at the last moment and treat him to a meal at a nearby inn where he tells them his story. Then when they wake up in the morning he's pretended to be James and sold off their horses for gold while they were still asleep before skipping town at high speed. I still don't really think he looks like James, though. Anyway! Time to high-tail it back to Malac's Cross and then continue northwards to rejoin the main road.
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Oct 19, 2021 22:02
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Update 14: Grave Mistakes, Part 3   While we're travelling, a fun fact: The Temple of Ishap in Malac's Cross is the only place you should go if you ever want to get gear blessed, it has the absolutely cheapest Tier 3 blesses in the entire game. Oh, and, if you head off-road here you can find another moredhel chest.    CHEST Once again this one messes a bit with the formula, like the BLADE chest we encountered previously. The only really worthwhile thing in this one is snagging the shovel inside if you don't already have one. Most graves are not high-value targets, but a few are, and predictably we need a shovel to finish up this chapter's highlight sidequest anyway.   East of Malac's Cross are two locations of note, the Temple of Lims-Kragma and... something special we'll check out after we're done annoying a bunch of death cultists.  Here, we can actually bother the high priestess for some exposition. BaK posted:There were no walls in the high priestess' chamber. Lims-Kragma is a goddess of death in the same sense as Morr is in Warhammer Fantasy, that is to say, death as a part of the natural cycle of things. There aren't exactly a lot of undead marching around Midkemia, skeletons, vampires and zombies aren't generic enemies(at least not for a couple of books yet), which leaves the Temple a bit redundant compared to similar faiths in other settings, until the Black Slayers show up. The one thing that makes the Nighthawks in Silverthorn and Sethanon(as well as a contingent of Moredhel who have sworn the same oaths), somewhat scary, is that the Black Slayers among them refuse to die unless their hearts are cut out and burned, or magic cuts their puppet strings permanently. Until then, they literally recover in a few minutes from any sort of damage done to them, and can be remotely puppeteered(and made even more scary by), the dark masters who empower them. The Temple of Lims-Kragma helps out mostly by offering final rest to a repentant Slayer in exchange for intelligence on Murmandamus' doings. It's a good thing we've yet to meet anything that scary.   I know this part of the Kingdom well enough to know that this is neither the road to Sethanon or the road to Romney. I just wanted to check up on something down this way...   The party visiting this statue is entirely canon. Let's have Owyn touch it. This seems like a terrible idea.Good thing Owyn doesn't get a vote in this party.     While your body is lying, safe, still and silent in a cove near Malac's Cross, your mind has journeyed elsewhere...here... Your arrival has been expected. I am pleased to have you as my honored guest, Owyn Beleforte of Tiburn. Me? At journey's end you shall not be as you are nor may you turn back the way you have come. The times ahead of you will be filled with hardship and many times you will believe yourself far less significant than you truly are. In the days to come, you may stand at a critical juncture between Rythar and Mythar and if that comes to pass you should know this: A time comes for all things to die... What does that mean? Who are Rythar and Mythar? I can explain in no measure more as you yet understand your world. In years and in wisdom you will come to me again and a great destiny will be upon you by then. You will be ready for the fullness of truth on that distant day. Until such time, you may consult me on other matters. Tales say that dragons know their own destinies, but I had not heard that they knew the destinies of others. I am no dragon though I wear a dragon's skin. I am the Oracle of the Aal and I am the last of my race. I am ancient, older than dwarf or elf, older than dragons and older than the Valheru who were their masters. Stars that at my birth flamed with violent power have long grown cold, expired. All these things I have seen and farther yet I see into the things that might be. You can see the future? I can glimpse things that may be. Such was the gift given to all those of my race.[GORATH] A moredhel travels with us named Gorath. Is he what he says he is? Can we trust him? He is not what he names himself to be, though even he may not know the lie of his heart. He will be a strong ally unto you and I believe he may even be a champion to the kin who now curse his name. A great destiny awaits him should he have the courage to renounce his pain.[DELEKHAN] Gorath has told us of a moredhel leader, Delekhan. Will he cross the Teeth of the World and attack the Kingdom? Delekhan will never cross the boundary between the Kingdom and the Northlands, but through treachery he will strike a blow against both the Kingdom and his own Nations of the North. Can't you be more specific? Where is he going to strike? What is the nature of this treachery? I do not see futures as you imagine, but futures as they perhaps can be. I know only that Delekhan engineers a deceit with six magicians and that it concerns the fate of the Kingdom.It feels like the Oracle may originally have been intended as a sort of hint station for players who got lost, and she does actually have useful hints for a couple of the less obvious sidequests(like, for instance, the goddamn one we're headed to Sethanon to get involved in shortly), but otherwise she doesn't have an awful lot to say. In the book she mostly just shares her thoughts on Gorath after Owyn asks if Gorath is about to stab them all while they sleep, and then Owyn wakes up. She is, in fact, a hint that something very important is going on, something you'd only know about at this point if you have read Darkness At Sethanon, as the Oracle is very closely related to an Important Metaplot Thing. Since this is also one of the bigger reveals towards the end of the story, I'll be leaving this one out for now. Owyn! Are you alright? Yes... yes, I'm fine. A dragon just told me you were our friend. ... No, he isn't high, the oracle is real, the oracle is also a dragon, and I'm somewhat happy to hear she thinks well of you.  The Oracle's roughly halfway between Malac's Cross and Lyton, and as we're on our way northwards I manage to bungle my way into a trap because I figure I can take a shortcut back to the main road.   I wish they'd made more of these traps more challenging, perhaps mixing in some more enemies and such, since it's usually blatantly obvious where the various crystals have got to go to disable the lightning rods or block the fireball throwers.   As usual, it's protecting a chest. NOTHING   Coming back to the road we also encounter a novelty: a chest that isn't hidden away in the rear end end of a thicket of brambles and bushes.  KNOCKER This one actually has something interesting and gives me an excuse to talk about one of the worst mechanics of the game.  Keys. So, every non-code lock in the game can have one of four states: Unlockable only with lockpicks, unlockable only with a special key, unlockable with lockpicks OR a generic key, not unlockable(there are a few of these, like the "fake" ways up from the Krondor sewers). Now, the problem is that being openable by a key does not immediately make a lock harder to pick, in fact, of the locks openable both with non-generic keys and lockpicks, James can open 7 of them at the start of chapter 2, 15 if we hand him the Amulet of the Upright Man(of course we did). How many are there across the entire game? 23. There's also nothing in the game that really hints, to you, the player, whether a given lock can be opened by a key or not., and all these statistics are also hidden from the average game player, so you never know if you want to grab some keys from a store or not. On top of this, keys are also not expendable. If used right, they never break, if used wrong they sometimes randomly break(assuming they aren't special unique keys). This is a case where less obfuscated mechanics would've worked better. If the player always knew if a non-generic key opened a given lock, and the lockpicking requirement, and keys were always expended when used, it would turn it into a tactical decision of whether to spend limited resources(keys, and thus by extension money) or bypass a chest that they were unable to pick. Oh and if keys were actually usable for more than a fraction of the game's chests. By far the majority of them are Moredhel wordlocks.    Rant aside, as we travel the road between Malac's Cross and Lyton(devoid of combat encounters, nicely enough), we come across a lone house with a well. This house and the associated well are related to a very important bug. Let's have a talk with the owner, oh and poke at the well, of course. BaK posted:The well seemed normal, and yet there was something about it. So at first glance, this well is a ripoff unless the party is severely beat. Resting on the road will bring you up to 80% max health for a pittance in rations, and the remaining 20% can be covered by about 10 gold worth of resting at an inn. This well jumps the entire party straight to full health for 25 gold. Or it would. Except that someone fat-fingered the code and Flarr never takes any actual payment for it. So any time you can be bothered to trek here, the party can get a 100% heal for free. It's pretty handy and I make use of it a few times while dealing with this area since... the party takes a few nicks and scratches.   Looks like we're coming up to the main road between Sethanon and Lyton. To Sethanon, then? ...alright, yes, but only because anyone mucking around up there might be a matter of national security.  The area south of Sethanon proper actually has a number of small farms and homes scattered around, some of which are relevant to us. Let's go see if the farmers here know about any corpse-snatching weirdos in the region.   This first house just spawns an ambush of four quegans, which isn't really a threat to this party but could be a nasty surprise to someone who doesn't see it coming.  They do drop a two-handed broadsword that would be a useful upgrade for someone coming here early.  This is also one of the few fields that has a scarecrow which, if interacted with, the party will inscrutably attempt to yank out of the ground. Don't ask me why.    The area contains a number of worthwhile little caches to either side of the road, including an untrapped chest with a 47% Ruby, which is a pretty great score in terms of money if you find the right store to sell it at(some stores have higher buying and selling prices than others, so if you really want to min/max, you're going to be doing a lot of travelling. It's not really necessary, though, without doing any exploits, simply by going north and through the Dimwood early, this party is probably set for gold for the rest of the game), but soon we arrive at the second farm of the area.  These guys being RPG protagonists, they obviously break into the guy's barn before doing anything else. Also because I couldn't remember if there was anything useful there.  Odd things to have in a barn, what are these?BaK posted:The stamp was simple - the kind generally used by nobles or priests - and it had a handle made of ivory from which depended several silk streamers. The seal itself was of three pots stacked one atop another, the symbol associated with the powerful Glazer's Guild of Romney. Oh, I recognize these. They're seals for the Glazer's Guild in Romney... don't ask me how they ended up in a barn this far away from Romney, however. Clear some space in your packs for them, since we're headed to Romney anyway... you never know what might come in handy.With that bit of theft done, the owner isn't in his house, but if we march into the field past the house...  Quite a nice little stead you have here... Probably wouldn't, but this seems like such a nice lot to give up. Why would you want to? Everybody knows that something evil happened at the Battle of Sethanon, definitely unnatural. Me myself, I used to live in the center of town before King Lyam offered up the money that I should leave. I didn't think much of leaving, but I thought that the evil would stay there. And it hasn't? It's creeping down the road from Sethanon? Listen boy, I don't care for your attitude. You may be all educated, but it don't mean you know nothing about the world. If you're wise, you'll stay away from Sethanon and take anybody else that'll go with you. There's something evil here abouts and I don't want to be about when at last it gets here... So, how much do you want for your land? I...uh...what? If this evil is so imminent and you're anxious to be away from it, I'd be interested in buying this little lot of yours. I'm not afraid of ghosts. What will you sell it to me for? Well I haven't actually decided to make the move as yet... Don't want to get the cart before the horse you know... It'll likely be a while before I sell, see... Don't want to rush it... Do you know anything about the land that adjoins yours by any chance? Is it for sale? Uh, no. Not anymore. I bought it when old widow Petrumh moved out. Bought it? I thought you said you wished to move? I do and... Look, I haven't time to stand about talking all day. If you're interested in the land go ahead and look a round - just stay clear of my stead. Now, I got things to do. Good day. Good day to you, sir.James' first instinct on interacting with people in this game often seems to be to give them a hard time for no obvious reason except that something about them basically offends him. Still, I'm sure Max here is completely unrelated to what's going on. Like hell he is. But we're going to need some sort of evidence or blackmail if we want to wring him dry.   And thus we reach the unnamed town south of Sethanon. New Sethanon, possibly? It's not very large, but it holds probably the most convoluted sidequest in the game except for the grain one. First, let's knock on a few doors and harass the locals, then we'll go to the tavern. BaK posted:James knocked on the door. Now, for the inn.  It has the usual options of barding, drinking, fooding, sleeping and listening to rumours, and I actually get a relevant one this time. BaK posted:He seemed glad to have the company. Like the Temple of Lims-Kragma, it's an extremely heavy-handed hint that there's a spell for making Black Slayers go to eternal naptime. Now, let's harass the tavern owner. Hello there, may I buy... I was offering, miss, to buy you a drink... Oh...oh, sorry. I was thinking you were stopping in to buy something from my goods store across the road. Since my father's death I've had the run of these two places, the tavern here and the goods store across the way. You know, I've had folks in here, four a week by last count, all offering money for a sword made by a hermit up North. Fool that I am, I sent the word out, but that was before things started happening in my store. I've since closed up things for a bit. Closed your store? Why? What sorts of things were going on in there? You'll think I'm foolish...I think I'm foolish... Tell me and I'll listen. If I laugh once, even once, you may upend a cask of ale over my head. You'll pay for the cask if I do... All right then. I'll tell you. In the past few weeks, I've seen a man prowling about in my shop. That's easy enough. Between companions and myself, we can get rid of your prowler by dinnertime tomorrow. Can you now? You run through ghosts as easy as that, poleax poltergeists in your spare time? Ghosts? This prowler of yours is a ghost? Told you that you wouldn't believe me. I'll put it to you though. If you can find a way to put the ghost in my shop to rest, then I'll reopen my shop and give you the Galon Griefmaker that I bought from the hermit. Simple as that. That offer is nearly as attractive as the woman delivering it. Thank you, fair lady.The offer of a sword upgrade is nice in itself, but especially when you know what sword she's offering. It's a really good elf-specialized sword, compared to the Keshian Tapir it loses a tiny bit of strength in exchange for being much more accurate, and hard-hitting swings are worth nothing if they all miss. This is absolutely worth going for, especially as, as long as you can get here in the first place, you can actually complete this entire quest without getting into any fights. It doesn't trigger until chapter 2, though, so no speedrunning down here from LaMut to snag it.  Time to investigate, any proper haunting starts with a dead person, so let's go check out the local graves. Most of the graves contain nothing, but one is one we need to poke at. BaK posted:Jared Lycrow. Owned a shop and a tavern. Never wanted for more. So now we suspect, confirmed by rumours from Nivek and Lysle, that this haunting is because someone defiled Jared's grave and stole his hand. However, at this point it's a bit unclear where you should go next, especially since the next triggers need to actually be done in the right order(not that you can softlock, they'll just not trigger at all until you've done the preceding ones, the only excepting is meeting Lysle). Mind, I don't even think I got the order right since at one point I had one of the triggers refuse to fire and re-talked to multiple NPC's to make it do so. And that was AFTER I pulled up a FAQ to figure out which step I screwed up. Now imagine someone trying to figure this out without a FAQ on their first playthrough. In any case, we now need to go back to Hershel... BaK posted:Hershel scowled at them. Something which really reveals nothing new, but is apparently still important! Also after leaving Hershel's house I get turned around and blunder into the trees where I find some more chests.   WIND Spare change and a low-quality crossbow.  BLOOD This one contains some more money and a new spell, "Thoughts Like Clouds." It's a spell that prevents enemy mages from casting spells(though not from moving and attacking physically), this is theoretically a very good spell except that for the same cost you can prevent them from casting by popping a Rusalki next to them, which will also shoot at enemies or simply hit them with Grief of 1000 Nights which will ALSO prevent them from moving or fighting. Still, it goes towards completionism.   Now, while messing with those chests I REALLY got turned around and ended up heading west when I thought I was heading east, until I looked at the compass. By this point I realized I had almost reached the turn-off north towards old Sethanon at the southern edge of the Dimwood and I thought, hey, why not? I remembered the path as not being very scary...   After all, look at this! A single shade? I will banish this effortlessly. EFFORTLESSLY.  Of course, there are five battles on the road to Sethanon, featuring, respectively: 1, 2, 4, 5 and 5 shades. Which ones I bungle into is somewhat randomized by stealth rolls, but after banishing this one and taking another few steps...  Alright, so, with these fights being ambush fights, the Shades always win initiative. They have ranged attacks that MAY be able to miss, but I've never seen them miss, and each shot does ~25 damage. This means that if they focus their attacks, they can huck ~125 damage at each party member per round, and our least beefy character is Owyn, who can take barely 130 damage before going down, while the most beefy, Gorath, clocks in at around 170(combined Stamina and Health, so once the first half is down, they're in trouble anyway). Secondly, the Shades seem to take halved damage from most sources, with Gorath's usually-formidable swings doing barely 20 damage to them, and each shade has between 60 and 90 total damage needed to put them back in the grave.  The first round scraps half of Gorath's health and puts Owyn under threat so he can't summon rusalki, forcing him to resort to dogs instead. This, on the bright side, gives me two per use, but expends limited Horn uses, plus there's a hard cap of four dogs summonable per battle, not on the field at once, but summonable at all. I can ALSO summon four rusalki alongside that, but it would require a ghost to not be currently subjecting Owyn to its terrible grave breath.  Sadly, in the grand battle of dogs vs ghosts... ghosts win. Also note that at this point I have still yet to kill a single Shade.  By the time James and Owyn end up on the ground, Gorath has managed to flatten two Shades and is now in a three-on-one fight with enemies that can hack off half his health per round, and pausing to consume Restoratives eats up his entire turn.  It ends predictably. So let's, uh, reload, shall we?  After reloading things are already off to a better start as I'm now hitting the four-shade battle rather than one of the five-shade battles. That's a significant reduction in the volume of murder headed the party's way every round. Additionally, I've used an Alfathain's Icer that I picked up from a dead Nighthawk earlier on James and Gorath's swords. Normally it would be a +50% damage boost against enemies, in this case it's barely a 25% boost, but I still desperately need it since it may in edge cases cause a Shade to go down in one hit less.  Secondly, while I have no great insight into exactly how the AI makes decisions, Shades seem to shoot from afar about 2 out of 3 times, and the remaining 1 out of 3 times they rush in for a melee attack that does basically the same thing as their ranged attack. This time, they all stood off at range, allowing Owyn to get started on pumping out rusalki. The rusalki last about two or three attacks each, and seem to be priority targets for the shades, thus providing a significant amount of ablative armor for the party.  James still eats poo poo because he's a fragile little babyman, though.   Owyn cuts it close with the rusalki and starts switching to dogs, as the shades start losing some of their number, they kill one of the dogs and something... odd happens.   ???????????? What the hell was in those rations we ate last night?It starts flickering through multiple overworld sprites, mostly gravestones and, once, even a campfire.    I'm not even sure where the brick/stone sprite/texture is from. I vote that we throw the horn in a river when this fight is over. This is absolutely too strange. I no longer want to be a wizard.   Weirdness aside, the battle actually ends up going in our favour. Afterwards, Owyn and Gorath forcefeed James a liter or so of restoratives and they start the trip back towards Sethanon, this time thankfully uninterrupted.  The dog turned into what? A campfire, a gravestone and some bricks. I'm starting to regret taking this route, and this adventure, but now we're here... let's have a closer look. It's around this point that Gorath pops in with a somewhat belated message. You could have maybe pointed that out half an hour ago, I would've still ignored you, but it would've been more fitting.  Despite claiming that Sethanon is somehow important to Midkemian history, it's literally never mentioned in the books until A Darkness At Sethanon where it exists for roughly five minutes before getting annihilated by a magical apocalypse at the climax of the book, ending the Moredhel invasion under the False Murmandamus and giving everyone for miles extremely weird and trippy visions. The government then pays everyone to gently caress off from Sethanon and its environs and never come back, which seems like a totally non-suspicious thing to do. Predictably this also means that, despite the town screen, Sethanon has no amenities to offer. But it DOES have an old storeroom to loot...  As expected, the rations are all spoiled, but everything else is good, including the spells, which are... Dragon's Breath: Creates a fog bank which lessens the aggro radius of enemies both visible and ambush, potentially allowing you to simply walk past them. Useful if there's a fight in a given area that keeps kicking your rear end, but otherwise not super noteworthy. Dannon's Delusion: Creates a fake double of a party member that lasts for a given number of rounds before expiring and which should have equal targeting priority to the real party member. Slightly cheaper than a rusalki, but can't attack like a rusalki. May not have an upper limit, though. And Grief we already have, as one of the game's MVP spells. Now... let's get the gently caress out of here and back to our other side trip. No having side trips inside side trips. We currently need to head back to harass Max Feeber again.  This time, we're breaking into his house before talking to him(for some reason, the previous stages of the quest trigger this as being a good idea to Owyn). BaK posted:The door was unlocked.  In true videogame fashion, anything with a skull on it is important. Let's go interrogate Max about why he's got grave goods lying around his house.  What do you mean? I mean, the three of us found a burial cloth and we think you have something to do with all this evil that is going on around here. You've been desecrating graves haven't you? You broke into my house! I'll tell the constable for this! If he were still living in town I might feel threatened, but I rather imagine you've already managed to scare him off. Now talk, or I'm going to have a cozy little chat with a friend of mine named Nivek - Prince Arutha's tax collector - nice fellow. I think the two of you will get along marvelously... One grave! One grave only, I dug up. I don't remember the fellow's name now, but he used to own the Six Toe Tavern before Nia took over the shop. I thought that maybe I could scare her into moving out and selling to me but she's too darn stubborn. What did you do with the corpse? No corpse about him! He was down to his skeleton. I tried to rebury him but I never found one of his hands. It's bound to be near the graveyard. I think I may have dropped it when I was near old Hershel's house. What else? That's it. That's all I know! Honest. Dug him up and then I reburied him. We'll need to find that hand then and bury it. No thanks to you. Good bye sir and I would advise that you stay away from the Six Toe Tavern from now on. I doubt you will be warmly greeted.This absolute prick dug up Nia's father's corpse to try and scare her out of her property, like a loving Scooby Doo villain. What an absolute twat. I'm sad there's no option to stab him in the brain and be done with it. Once we've talked to Max, we need to head further east to Lyton.   Lyton...  Is patrolled by tax collectors who'll hassle you unless you pay, now, we could pay them, but... That's my money! I earned it fair and square by throwing fireballs at elves and looting their corpses!We could also tell them to gently caress off, at which point trying to continue down the road triggers a battle. Alternately we could just hug the mountains south or north of Lyton as that bypasses the tax collectors. But let's say we fight them like a bunch of savage libertarians who hear the word "taxes."  This triggers a battle with five Quegans(or east of Lyton, four quegans), who are ostensibly tax collectors despite being dressed like pirates. See, killing the tax collectors was the right thing to do. They're obviously just a bunch of corrupt scoundrels masquerading as tax officials.They're of unexceptional strength, but unique in two ways: Firstly, they leave no corpses behind, and thus are only good for training. Secondly, 36 in-game hours later, their encounter respawns at full strength. You could theoretically use it to grind up combat skills, but there's no great need for it. You can also turn off the tax collectors by bringing a number of suits of high-quality kingdom armor to the local "Lord" Lyton, but that's an awful lot of effort since our inventories are full of meth, steroids, food, quarrels and looted valuables.  Good luck taxing my army of ghosts!  Lyton is unremarkable UNLESS we've talked to Lysle, talked to Nia, inspected the grave, and then talked to Hershel to get his second dialogue, then, upon going to the inn...  BaK posted:Men were laughing. This allows us to actually talk to Glover, the guy who bought the hand, otherwise he just ignores us when we interact with his house. There's also another bit of Chapter 2-only dialogue from one of the random people in the inn. BaK posted:James asked for company. Now, we go outside and interact with Glover's house...  BaK posted:The man at the door flew into a rage! This might seem like an awful lot to pay for...  This. But it leads us to a Griefmaker, which literally no shops in the game carry, and is thus quite a good purchase(if it WAS in a shop, the base price would be 350 gold anyway, so still a good price). Now to go put Jared's soul to rest.      Now we just need to tell Nia that we saved the day and get our reward...   I don't know how you've done it, but bless you. I've not heard a knock or a bump coming from my shop for hours! First time in weeks! After I do a little dusting, I should be able to reopen it for business. And seeing that you've held up your end of the bargain, I'll hold up mine. As requested, you can have the Galon Griefmaker I told you about. Thank you again and please come by the shop across the street any time. I promise I'll give you the best bargains you'll find! Thank you, fine lady. It was our pleasure to serve you.As a side effect, this also opens Nia's shop(previously there'd just be a "CLOSED FOR BUSINESS" sign in the window), and while it's somewhat out of the way and doesn't really sell anything unique, another shop is always useful. Guides say it's supposed to be an extra-cheap shop that buys almost anything, but from what I can tell from the actual FAQ site and in-game experience, it's neither.
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Oct 19, 2021 22:03
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Update 15: Grave Mistakes, Part 4 Anyway, it's getting a bit late in the day, so maybe we should- What about that grain? What grain? Locklear promised the Temple of Dala up near Highcastle that he'd look for a sack of grain for them. Oh hell, Ruthia's got it out for me enough as it is, I don't need another angry goddess looking to ruin my day. Guess we're taking a side trip to Highcastle.Since we're now in Chapter 2, we can actually complete the quest! Also the reward for it is super good, so we actually want to finish it, especially since we, at no point, pay anything to do so.  Before we go, here's the Griefmaker. It looks kind of neat, I suppose.     Because I'm flush and also absolutely not actually slogging it all the way to the Teeth of the World on foot(again), I'm heading to Malac's Cross and getting the priests to teleport us to the Temple of Ishap near Loriel for a cool hundred gold coins.   There are a few new encounters up here, mostly low-strength moredhel and a few fresh packs of trolls, but nothing worth reporting on. Moredhel get the sword, Trolls get the fork.  As we're walking along, though...   We interrupt Squire Phillip in the process of taking a dump in some bushes. He's relocated himself notably farther north than last time, but he has nothing new in the way of keywords. He'll be a bit more useful in chapter 3, but for now we'll just leave him to get on with his business and head on to deal with our business, which consists of harassing three local landowners.  Here's the first one... and technically one we can skip, but for the sake of showing off the intended way to resolve it, we're starting here. BaK posted:A friendly woman answered their knock. The fork is, of course, a tuning fork. It only has 4 uses, but that's fine, we just need any tuning fork for the next step. Conveniently she's right near the Temple of Dala(which is actually where I intended to teleport to in the first place, but I hosed up and forgot which one was the right one). Now we need to continue further east, past Highcastle, almost to Wolfram.   (Please forgive me if I screenshot the wrong houses, they all look kind of similar, if you haven't noticed!) BaK posted:James's knock was greeted with a giggle. Usually when pulling things from inventories from these sorts of things, the game will start from the leftmost character moving right, so make sure James has the lowest-uses tuning fork you have, if you have multiple. Also, unlike the goddamn Griefmaker quest, we can visit these sisters in any order and get told what they need so we're able to return. Anyway, we now have pants(though their inventory picture is a pair of boots). Now we're ready to visit the last Halfgate sister, who's south of Highcastle, on the road to the Dimwood.  BaK posted:A pretty woman answered the door. We now have grain! And you might think, gee, how could a single little bag of grain help the Temple of Dala feed the hungry?   Look at the size of this thing. Though it does look like a sprite lifted from some Sierra game(Dynamix, who made BaK, was a subsidary Sierra studio for most of their lifetime). Either way, let's FINALLY see if this was worth it.    BaK posted:James motioned for help. Now, we can choose between one character, or no characters, and obviously we have everyone's defense skill tagged... now, if we just pick ONE character, they get an insane 37.5 boost to Defense, while if we pick no-one, we're praised for our humility and get a "mere" 15 boost to Defense for all characters, still absurd. Here are the text for doing either(I picked "no one" to get everyone boosted). BaK posted:[JAMES] Now, what this actually amounts to, uh, I actually don't quite have a clue(and no FAQ or guide on the internet seems to go into any detail about it that I can find). The simple understanding would be that there's a fixed chance to hit(maybe 50%?), boosted by Accy Melee(or Casting, or Ranged, as appropriate) and subtracted from by Defense. Considering that this, with all the training from being in fights and a copy of Psalm's of Dala I picked up from a store earlier, puts James at almost 100%, this would theoretically make him really, really loving hard to hit(not that Gorath and Owyn are slouches in the department either, but James is the high-Defense champion of the game). I guess we'll see! In any case, we're not quite done with the north. Implausibly, Northwarden and its environs actually have some Chapter 2-unique content.   Why were you two insisting we head up here again? There's a guy here who plays a mean lute. I should have followed Locklear's example and denied you two any votes.Now, at first it might seem like Tamney's gone AWOL since he's not where you met him last time, but he's still here! He's just hiding in an unmarked off-road location in among the trees, north of the road.    Please tell me he hasn't sent you. I'm too exhausted right now to play and I've run all the things I know into the ground. Hmm. I've heard it's a dire day in the keep when the minstrel is without charm. What's bothering you? When one of the Baron's new recruits asked for musical instruction, I heartily agreed, sacrificing my morning walks to make time for his lessons. We started immediately. I demonstrated for him a simple royal scale - ascending eighth notes, progression from Cabdicant to Acoronant in half steps, Kingdom time. Even after two weeks he couldn't find all the notes. He refuses to practice, he can't tell the difference between a tuned and untuned lute, and he patently refuses to learn how to read minstrel writs. I don't understand why he desired lessons at all. Perhaps he thought it would be easier. Everyone does. They believe you simply pick up an instrument and it magically makes sounds of its own accord without so much as a whit of your concentration. Learning music takes discipline, the same as learning how to use a sword. Perhaps you could give us a lesson sometime. You're in luck, I'm free just now and I've recently restringed my lute. There is, of course, the matter of a small fee which Baron Gabot imposes for services rendered outside of the garrison compliment. It would be seventy five sovereigns for the lesson. I realize it's a bit steep, but part of the cost covers the price of the practice lute itself. Do you still want the instruction?[YES] We are your obedient pupils, musician. I already know where to find the notes on the lute, but beyond that I'm completely in the dark. I'm sure of it. You'll find a lute there behind you.Play all scale the notes from middle C to the G in quarter notes, playing only the coronant notes and then come back down to middle C again. Good. That is the royal scale. Now I want you to play the same scale but instead of playing E coronant, play the E abdicant. All the rest of the notes are the same. Exactly. That's the noble's scale. Together, the royal scale and the noble's scale are the basis of most of our music, though we occasionally use the empress or Keshian scale. The empress' scale is played by playing C coronant, D abdicant, E abdicant, progress to F coronant, G coronant, A abdicant, B coronant, and finally C coronant. I know it sounds complicated, but try it. You may master the lute yet. I want you to repeat the things that I've taught you for an hour every day. Once you can play those comfortably, we can have another lesson... Forgive me, but I have to go and prepare some songs for the Baron Gabot's dinner tomorrow night. Take care and keep practicing with your lute. We shall. Thanks for the lesson.Then after this we can walk away for five minutes, then right back and trigger a SECOND dialogue. BaK posted:Music drifted on the wind. I haven't seen you in a while. Have you three been practicing what I taught you before? A little. We've been occupied with a search for the Nighthawks. Do you know anything about them? I try not to know things about the Guild of Assassins. The greatly knowledgeable on the subject tend to rapidly progress to the greatly dead. Call me a coward, but I tend to stick to topics which don't endanger my life. Understandable. Are you still giving your musical lessons? Yes. Since you've already purchased your practice lute, its only twenty sovereigns this time around. Do you want more instruction?[YES] We are at your command, musician. Go ahead and use my spare lute. It's there behind you. Do me a favor and strum the strings.Ach, it's what I thought. I haven't gotten around to tuning it today. Okay, strum the top string. Since someone stole my tuning fork last week, we'll just have to call that string E. Now, put your finger on the fifth fret of the first string and strum the first and second strings together. Okay, that's good. The second string's in tune. Try doing the same thing with the second and third strings. The third string is a bit abdicant. Turn the tuning peg for the third string until the two strings are in harmony. Try the fourth string now. Good. The fifth string is a bit odd. Rather than putting your finger on the fifth fret, put your finger on the fourth fret of the forth string and strum the fourth and fifth. And the last string is tuned like the second string. Finger on the fifth fret, fifth string and strum the fifth and sixth. Excellent...unfortunately, I don't have time to teach you anything else but at least now you'll know how to tune your instrument - after all, if your lute is out of tune, how will anyone know you're playing the song correctly? Please forgive me, but I've got to get an arrangement put together before dinner time tomorrow night, so I have to go. Keep practicing. You're showing real promise. We shall. Thanks for the lesson.There's some randomness involved, but this increases Barding for the entire party by between 24 and 36 points. The end result, in this case, is that Owyn is at 92 Barding. He can now collect the maximum barding fee from every tavern for the rest of the game. This HAS cost, in the end, 95 gold sovereigns, a crossbow string and a single practice lute, but if we hit every possible tavern from here on out, that would probably be well in excess of 3000 gold collected. The party's potential money problems are sorted by this... as well as all the other stuff they've done so far. And we've still yet to exploit any of the actual glitches. We're still not quite done with Northwarden, though, the last time we visited, the Baron was out, let's see if he's in now(he is).     You should know that there are not many things that anger me. But as I feel, I never have been angry until this very moment! If I have given you offense... Offense?! Every day my men ride to the border of the Northlands to hold back Delekhan's obscene dogs, every day they thrust their lives into the breech to buy another day of the Kingdom's freedom! These mountain tops are littered with the bodies of men who have given their lives in that cause and you spit on their graves by bringing a moredhel into my castle! I should hang you from the bailey! He has cause to be here. Prince Arutha believes this moredhel may have information that can lead us to the Nighthawks... drat Prince Arutha! He has no conception of what the moredhel are like and the fact that he has taken this moredhel's word proves it. Seigneur Locklear told me the story about this moredhel and I no more believe in his virtue than I believe in Delekhan's strength! Baron, I have a duty to perform and if in the name of that duty I must offend a Baron then so be it! As I have had cause to come to this place, I need a few answers and I sincerely believe it would benefit the both of us to help one another. If you choose to block me, then I am sure that Prince Arutha would be more than happy to inform King Lyam that one of his subjects has deemed himself above imperial courtesy! Seigneur, as a border baron I owe fealty to King Lyam and he alone! What Prince Arutha may or may not do is his own affair. But if by answering your questions I may be shod of you all the more quickly, I am at your disposal! What do you want?[HELPING OUT] Who is in charge of your guards here? I would be interested in speaking to him... My guards are hard at work. If you wish to speak to the guards, I can arrange for you to walk guard duty, Seigneur. Otherwise, I will not have their schedules disrupted. Shall I have Lieutenant Aaron put you on the night watch?[YES] Sounds marvelous. When do I start? Lieutenant Aaron! I have a new recruit I would like for you to assign...BaK posted:It was late. I would be most interested to know why you felt it necessary to have me awakened in the middle of the night. It would have been preferable if you had come when I called. Your guard shifts are utterly inadequate, Baron. Last night, while I was on guard duty, I decided to vary the schedule a bit and see what happened. When I watched the bailey gate when I was to be on the other side of the castle, I noticed a soldier slipping a note to another man who was waiting outside the castle gate. A few minutes later, when I shifted to the opposite side, again I saw another instance of someone attempting to steal a griefmaker from the castle armory. I stopped him, naturally. There were several other instances. And the note passed through the bailey gate? Harmless. A love letter from a soldier quartered here named Corbi to a girl named Thea... You've become too regimented here. Your schedules are known outside the castle, very likely made known by a spy working within these very walls. I urge you to take greater precautions and to reevaluate your staff. It could be the downfall of this castle. I shall...consider it... In the meantime, I ask you accept something as a token of gratitude. There is a suit of Euliliko Armor that I no longer have a need for. You may have it if you wish. It makes no difference to me.Euliliko armor is the third tier of armor, one step above the Elven stuff that Gorath and James have been wearing for a while now, but quite rare despite it. Most suits of armor in the game are Kingdom, Elven or Dragon Plate(Fifth tier out of six), oddly enough the 3rd and 4th tiers(Euliliko and Grey Tower Plate) are almost completely unrepresented in the game by comparison.  The Euliliko armor also has one hell of a garish paintjob, that should give a loving stealth penalty. Also, as should be obvious, this entire detour is completely non-canon. In the book, the party is much more duty-bound and actually take their jobs seriously. The chumps. Anyway, ONE last detour. ONE LAST DETOUR, as we head south from Northwarden to take a shortcut back to Malac's Cross.    This actually brings us quite close to Kenting Rush, though it isn't our goal. Along the way, we get an area transition dialogue... BaK posted:Owyn was whistling.    There's little to do here at the Temple of Kahooli until Chapter 3(no interesting dialogue from the temple leader), but it saves me having to walk all the way back to the Temple of Tith or Dala, as I can just teleport back to Malac's Cross instead.   And thus, we've spent about a month enriching and training the party rather than saving the kingdom. Good thing Delekhan operates via the calender of game triggers rather than real time. Update 15.5: Lore Dump 4 Arutha and the Mockers OR Why Arutha Sucks So, the Mockers and Arutha are common fixtures of the books all the way from Magician: Apprentice, where we're taught of Arutha as a competent and pragmatic commander and administrator even while he's "just" a prince of the realm without estates or holdings to his own name. But the problem is that he's kind of an rear end in a top hat and a creep. When the books start, Arutha is in his early 20's and Anita is about 6 years old, she gets an "Arutha sure is cool and dreamy"-crush as kids will sometimes get on an older figure, basically a platonic swooning thing. They later meet when he's in his mid-20's and she's 10 or 12 years old, when he rescues her from an older man(Guy du Bas-Tyra) planning to marry her for political reasons(though Guy is in a rush to assure everyone that he does NOT want to gently caress the child). Anita gives Arutha a very chaste peck on the cheek as thanks for saving her, and Arutha promptly starts acting all dreamy-eyed and swoony about her and ends up marrying her at the first moment where it would only be VERY creepy rather than IMMENSELY creepy(i.e. when she's like... 16? The timeline is a bit vague, but he's at least twice her age at the time it happens). Now, to explain another reason why Arutha sucks requires going into the Mockers. They're a thieves' guild, which isn't a rare thing in fantasy fiction, where they run the gamut from being wholesalers for adventuring thieves(i.e. tomb robbers who need high-quality crowbars and trap-disarming tools) through pacifist burglars(Oblivion's Thieves' Guild comes to mind), rich-to-the-poor revolutionaries or sometimes just a parody that takes on a life of their own(looking at you, Discworld). And usually there's some sort of reason why they're tolerated. Either they mostly steal from monsters and the dead, or they're so stealthy and pacifist that they don't bring much attention to themselves as an organization, or, as they redistribute wealth, they have the support of the common people. The Mockers, though... are pricks, absolute pricks, they're a "thieves' guild" in the sense of the mafia, in that they have legbreakers and loan sharks, collect protection money and even organize prostitution and begging throughout the city. They absolutely kill people and their only goal is to enrich themselves. They're also very centralized and Arutha knows that their headquarters is in the sewers, where he could send in the army to flush them out and drag them before the courts or just kill them all. He doesn't give a drat, though, that they're exploiting the vulnerable or killing people. Additionally, the Nighthawks, the guild of assassins, also operate more or less openly in the Kingdom, killing for money without anyone reacting to it(they operate so openly that they have signet rings and amulets declaring them killers for hire on their person at all times), but at no point does Arutha or anyone else in power make it a point of policy to wipe out an outright assassins' guild until the Nighthawks gently caress up and plug Anita with a poisoned bolt while aiming for Arutha. Which to me means that Arutha is A) an immense creep and B) unconcerned with the lives or safety of his citizens except if something that threatens them might also threaten himself.
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Oct 19, 2021 22:04
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So someone might be thinking right now: "Purple, you absolute fuckface, why the hell did you just post FOUR updates?" The answer is that thanks to all the fuckin' words words words in this game, I ended up at 160000 characters of text, which is well above the 50k-per-post limit of SA.
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Oct 19, 2021 22:07
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Good lord, that took a while to read, at least an hour and a half or somesuch. And I'm a pretty fast reader as well.
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Oct 20, 2021 00:06
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You know, if you read the letters diagonally down and right on the CHEST chest, it says ‘MEMES’ instead.
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Oct 20, 2021 00:38
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Great update - really enjoyed reading that. It also shows me that I was doing it wrong as a kid just going straight to where the quest pointed me.
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Oct 20, 2021 01:16
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Thoughts about the update string: -Having only played the game and not knowing any of the backstory of the Mockers, I had a totally different view of them. Their 'secret' headquarters in the sewers has a passageway that apparently connects to the prince's sitting room, they're friends with James, and apparently everybody in the drat palace knows they exist. So I always assumed they were an unofficial arm of the throne - keeping thievery to an acceptable level, having an ear to the ground to pass along rumors, helping out with various unsavory but necessary stuff like spying on allies, etc. -The sewers in Chapter 2 are interesting, because Owyn is actually present at like 5 different locations just to ensure you can't get out of the sewers without him. Also, the new fights are positioned such that you're guaranteed to run into one on your way out but you can find Owyn prior to fighting anybody, so if you're really struggling (say if you came straight to Krondor and thereby James has pretty garbage gear), you can get your mage back to help you push through. -Keys are even more useless than you're saying because the game doesn't give you the really good keys for free until much later. So you'd need to buy them, but wait, if you're going to spend money, why not just buy extra Amulets of +15 Lockpicking (yes they stack) and be able to open everything? -Assessment isn't particularly useful, but between the boost you get here and another training and the skill book, you get something absurd like +50 to the stat. So if you do ever bother to use it for some reason, your character gets the entire stat sheet of the opponent in one go. -Chapter 2 is a goddamned mess. It's not at all clear what you need to do either in the side quests or the main quest. Most of the other chapters usually provide at least some guidance, but Chapter 2 always felt the most unfocused.
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Oct 20, 2021 02:13
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I belive that the Lysle/James thing is intimating that (minor lore spoiler) both are sons of the Upright Man. This is confirmed during a face-to-face meeting in Silverthorn. The Upright Man says this to Arutha who agrees to keep quiet; James has no idea how his father is, though he did occasionally remark that he seemed to get away with poo poo that most people couldn't. Not completely, though... in this same meeting, Arutha has to bargain for Jimmy's life because Jimmy broke one of the unpardonable rules of the guild. It's one of my favourite scenes. An another note... Purple, sometimes I think that we didn't read the same books.
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Oct 20, 2021 03:35
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quote:Keys. So, every non-code lock in the game can have one of four states: Unlockable only with lockpicks, unlockable only with a special key, unlockable with lockpicks OR a generic key, not unlockable(there are a few of these, like the "fake" ways up from the Krondor sewers). Now, the problem is that being openable by a key does not immediately make a lock harder to pick, in fact, of the locks openable both with non-generic keys and lockpicks, James can open 7 of them at the start of chapter 2, 15 if we hand him the Amulet of the Upright Man(of course we did). How many are there across the entire game? 23. There's also nothing in the game that really hints, to you, the player, whether a given lock can be opened by a key or not., and all these statistics are also hidden from the average game player, so you never know if you want to grab some keys from a store or not. Key mechanics are weird but I think you might be a bit off on parts of it. You can click on the lock and it will tell you what kind of key it takes (if it does take one). Not sure if you have to have opened a lock with that type of key yet for it to work, I'm reasonably sure you do, but there's definitely a few different dialogues for lock clicking based on what category the lock falls into. But yeah, by and large you're better off just boosting the hell out of James and Gorath's lockpicking. Also James, while lovely at the start of the chapter has one very important stat: speed. For all that Locklear says that he's faster with a blade, James is the fastest character in the game, making him an A+ mage harasser.
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Oct 20, 2021 04:16
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Jesus that was a big update. Also, yeah, Arutha loving sucks.
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Oct 20, 2021 05:37
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JustJeff88 posted:I belive that the Lysle/James thing is intimating that (minor lore spoiler) both are sons of the Upright Man. This is confirmed during a face-to-face meeting in Silverthorn. The Upright Man says this to Arutha who agrees to keep quiet; James has no idea how his father is, though he did occasionally remark that he seemed to get away with poo poo that most people couldn't. Not completely, though... in this same meeting, Arutha has to bargain for Jimmy's life because Jimmy broke one of the unpardonable rules of the guild. It's one of my favourite scenes. I gotta admit, I used to like the Midkemia books more. When you're in the 14 to 18 years old span and like books with elves in them, they're like crack. Oh man there's elves! Two kinds of elves?! Three?! FOUR????? And there's a wise-cracking kid who shoves a warhammer up a monster's butt so someone can stab it? This is perfect! And there are descriptions of murdering and wizards exploding things??? Hell yeah! But like, every time I've reread one of the books, for some reason, something new jumps out at me as being an issue or poorly considered. You don't really notice how hosed up the Arutha/Anita romance is, for example, unless you read the books together in close succession and actually pay attention to the ages because they're so vaguely stated(hell, I wouldn't be surprised if it slipped Feist's mind how far apart they were, too, and thus he's not aware of how creepy it is). The lack of any female characters with anything approaching agency is also something that has aged really poorly. In my opinion, out of the nine Midkemia books I've read(Magician: Apprentice, Magician: Master, Silverthorn, A Darkness At Sethanon, Krondor: The Betrayal, Krondor: The Assassins, Krondor: The Tear of the Gods, Honoured Enemy, Jimmy the Hand), the best four are absolutely the ones where someone else wrote them, the three Krondor books and Honoured Enemy. Jimmy the Hand also had a different writer or was co-written but suffers from just a bit too much Sex Weird on top of everything else. Now, you might go: "Wait a moment, Purple, doesn't it say Feist wrote the Krondor books?" It does, but according to folks on the official Midkemia forums, they were actually ghostwritten by someone else with extremely minimal involvement from Feist(considering a particularly egregrious editing slip-up in Tear of the Gods, I can absolutely believe this), the same goes for Honoured Enemy despite it being credited as a cooperative work(as it has a couple of points where it countermands some central Elf Lore). And even if Feist did write the Krondor books, he clearly works much better when someone else handles the basic characters and script outline and he just has to fill in the spaces. Guildenstern Mother posted:Key mechanics are weird but I think you might be a bit off on parts of it. You can click on the lock and it will tell you what kind of key it takes (if it does take one). Not sure if you have to have opened a lock with that type of key yet for it to work, I'm reasonably sure you do, but there's definitely a few different dialogues for lock clicking based on what category the lock falls into. But yeah, by and large you're better off just boosting the hell out of James and Gorath's lockpicking. Well, consider me corrected. I didn't even know you COULD examine locks. Thank you, game, for making this so super obvious that I noticed it before replaying this game for the (10th???) time.
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Oct 20, 2021 08:59
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PurpleXVI posted:
This bit was particularly amusing to me because I came at these games before the books - and backwards at that, with Return to Krondor first and then this. So I played entirely through Return, found out about Betrayal, and went back to it... and wondered who the hell this Locklear nerd was because he's obviously noteworthy as a major PC, but I can't recall a single instance he gets so much as mentioned in Return. I don't have much of a memory of him from the books, either, but to be fair I basically downed those in such a rush in my teens that I barely remember a thing about them anymore. Mostly I remember getting really enthusiastic about Pug as a character for a while after reading the Magician books, though I'm glad I at least didn't do the extremely teen nerd thing of trying to copy him with a D&D character.
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Oct 20, 2021 16:55
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With Max James was being a dick to him because James is an experienced criminal and could already kinda sense this guy was doing some scammy bullshit with all the dire warnings about ghosts and his tons of newly acquired land, so he thought he'd call the guy's bluff for sport.
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Oct 20, 2021 17:05
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disposablewords posted:This bit was particularly amusing to me because I came at these games before the books - and backwards at that, with Return to Krondor first and then this. So I played entirely through Return, found out about Betrayal, and went back to it... and wondered who the hell this Locklear nerd was because he's obviously noteworthy as a major PC, but I can't recall a single instance he gets so much as mentioned in Return. You probably don't remember Locklear because he mostly disappears from the books after the Riftwar Saga. Spoiler for Prince of the Blood, a book I barely remember Locky gets killed off camera in an attempt to incite a war. It is a pretty depressing end to the character, especially compared to some of the other characters that Feist presumably liked more. I don't remember the age thing all that much aside from that Jimmy the Hand book, the Arutha romance thing barely registered with me. The lack of woman agency was pretty bad though, I don't remember a single book with a woman main character aside from the side books set on Kelewan. I think this was pretty typical for the genre at the time, books aimed at boys written by adult boys. I haven't read any of the newer stuff, maybe it has changed. Still not as bad as fellow fantasy writer Piers Anthony, who I read way too much of as a teen.
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Oct 20, 2021 17:54
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Pug's second wife is a magician who does poo poo, but she suffers from Wheel of Time Woman syndrome where her personality is "I'm cranky about stuff"
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Oct 20, 2021 18:07
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"oh look, an updat---"  Just confirming, yes you can investigate locks. I knew that when playing back in the day, I do not know how I knew. And the ratio of keys to locks is absurd - 70+ common keys for 8 common locks. What. Whaat. I tried to look up a Midkemia timeline and it requires some conversion of dates (all based on years of reigning king whoever) but best I can tell, there's an 11 year difference from Arutha and Anita, so they're 28 and 17 when married. Does that change the overall point not really. On the other hand he's pretty casual about the progress of time, so perhaps the game is slightly closer to canon than you'd think with Delekhan patiently waiting a month for you to wander around! One book has a huge number of events compressed into less than a year and others casually have four year jumps between chapters. As for the Mockers I get you - a lot of the books and this game try to make the claim it'd be "more trouble than it's worth" for Arutha to bring in the army and boot the Mockers but they're always light on details of how or why a romanticized organized crime syndicate is plot immune. But I think future books give evidence, what with the truly ludicrous chains of events Feist had to set up to keep the Mockers as part of the setting. To me that says authorial decision to keep the faction in play at all costs. After all, D&D campaigns need thieves.  Psion fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Oct 20, 2021 |
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Oct 20, 2021 18:56
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