I’m intending this to be a one-stop source for all the Arcanum information
you might need. The first half of the document is for reference and general
strategy information, and the second half is for the walkthrough. I’m
including information I’ve discovered on my own, as well as information
gleaned from web sites and forums. Everything in the document should be true
for version 1.0.7.4.
Since Arcanum is a complex and detailed game, there is a good chance I won’t
find all the information there is to find. If you’re looking for something
not included here, you can also check places such as the Terra Arcanum web
site
http://www.terra-arcanum.com/
and Sierra’s official Arcanum web site
http://www.sierrastudios.com/games/arcanum/
Good luck and happy hunting.
****************************************************************************
* 02.00 CHARACTER CREATION *
****************************************************************************
You’ll earn 64 character points during the course of the game (if you reach
level 50).
If you can get your speed over 20, you’ll go first in every battle.
Lock picking and gambling are skills that aren’t very useful unless you put a
lot of points into them. Since money isn’t overly important in the game, I’d
recommend you skip gambling entirely.
Disarm traps and spot traps are fairly useless skills. The traps in the game
just aren’t powerful enough to warrant spending character points to avoid
them.
Ditto for repair. Repairing items is very cheap, and there are enough
capable repairers in the game so you shouldn’t have a problem with your
equipment.
Every combat style other than melee requires ammunition, so it’s a good idea
to have a melee weapon -- and some points in the skill -- as a backup option.
Technologists need to carry around a lot of doodads to make their skills
work. If you want the game to be simpler, then play a magician or a class
(melee fighter, thief) that doesn’t require either aptitude.
It takes four points to improve a skill by a full rank, so if your chosen
race and background don’t give you four points in a skill, you’ll still have
to spend 5 character points on it to reach your maximum ability. That is,
backgrounds that add skill points are mostly worthless.
Also, try to avoid backgrounds that give you an object. You’ll find much
better objects as you progress in the game, and it’s better to get bonuses
that will always help you, like increased stat points in the right places.
If you’re ugly but intelligent, you’ll still be able to talk to people and
get (almost) all of the quests. But if you’re stupid and pretty, you won’t.
Unlike the Fallout games, it makes almost no difference whether you’re male
or female.
Like the strategy tips at the back of the manual suggest, being a melee
fighter is the easiest way to play through the game. With full points in
strength, dexterity, dodge, and melee -- call it 25 character points -- you
can win any battle, and it doesn’t really matter what you do with the other
40 character points. So you can then go for a high aptitude rating, dump
points into hit points and fatigue, or go for extra skills.
Some possibilities include:
The ugly fighter (half-orc, troll offspring)
: You’ll only get one follower, but that’s all you’ll need. (Virgil is
a good choice because he heals.) You’ll still get all the quests
because your intelligence will make up for bad initial reactions.
The stupid fighter (half-ogre, raised in the pits)
: This is something to try after you’ve played through the game once.
The stupid conversation choices are much funnier than the regular
ones, but you’ll lose out on many quests.
The well-rounded fighter (human or half-elf, hyperactive)
: The extra speed will come in handy, and other backgrounds will cost
you character points.
Magician
--------
The important thing here is not to hedge. Just be a magician, and don’t try
to build up fighter skills as a backup. You should max out your willpower
and dexterity, and you should put points into constitution and intelligence,
so that your magician is convenient to play as well as being powerful. Learn
all the spells in the force and conveyance colleges, and then pick out other
spells that might be useful (like harm and major heal).
Note: The bonus to magical aptitude isn’t really important (you should get to
100 anyway), and so elves and half-elves aren’t necessarily the best magician
choices.
Some possibilities include:
The ugly magician (half-orc, only child)
: You won’t have many followers, so you should delve into the summoning
college and create your own.
The persuasive magician (human, bookworm)
: If you can’t talk your way out of trouble, then your friends and
spells should be able to do the job.
Thief
-----
As with magicians, don’t try to make a combo class. Get into being a thief
and learn skills like backstab, prowl, pick pockets and pick locks, plus the
old combat standbys dodge and melee. Then try to find a good, fast weapon
and rack up the bonus multipliers by hitting enemies from behind.
Some possibilities include:
The tech thief (dwarf, beat with an ugly stick)
: You’ll need to build your own equipment -- especially with armor, so
you can wear something good and still prowl. Learn all the schematics
from the smithy college, and also learn charged rings (to negate the
dwarf dexterity penalty) from the electricity college. You might also
want to consider skipping backstab and making guns your primary
weapon.
The aptitude-neutral thief (halfling, raised by monks)
: Balance the tech skill of picking locks with a few select spells like
strength of earth (to negate the halfling strength penalty) and major
heal. Then take advantage of the thieving bonuses on magical
equipment while still being able to use choice tech items.
You can only add Chukka to your group after exploring the Black Mountain
Mines for Bates. You don’t have to be level 16 to get him, but there is some
other requirement (and I have no idea what it is).
Chukka starts out with 22 strength, and he’s an excellent melee fighter.
Dante
-----
Location: Black Root (Sour Barnacle)
Level : 12
Training: None
Align : Good
Level 50 stats:
20 st, 11 cn, 18 dx, 8 be, 17 in, 18 wp, 8 pe, 10 ch
5 dodge, 5 melee
5 air spells, 5 force spells, 4 necromantic white spells
164 hp, 144 fatigue
Notes:
Dante learns spells from the necromantic white, force, and air magic
colleges.
Dante doesn’t like orcs, and I suspect he won’t join you if you’re a half-
orc.
You have to rescue Dog to get him into your party, but once he joins he won’t
count against your follower limit.
Dog is an excellent melee fighter. In fact, he’s so good that he might make
combat boring if you have him.
If Dog is in your party, you won’t be able to ride on trains.
Franklin Payne
--------------
Location: Black Root
Level : 35
Training: None
Align :
Notes:
Payne only shows up in Black Root after you’ve visted T’sen-Ang. He knows
the first schematic in each of the tech disciplines, but that probably won’t
be very useful by the time you can get him.
Gar (Garfield Thelonius Remington III)
--------------------------------------
Getting Loghaire to join is sort of an involved process. First, even before
getting to Loghaire, you have to talk to his son Randver about the Stone and
the Shape (which requires intelligence). Then, knowing about that, you have
to bring it up while talking to Loghaire to get him to come out of exile.
Finally, you have to discover what happened to the Black Mountain Clan, and
then Loghaire will join.
Magnus
------
Location: Tarant (by P. Schuyler & Sons)
Level : 8
Training: None
Align : Good
9 st, 17 cn, 18 dx, 10 be, 17 in, 18 wp, 12 pe, 8 ch
5 bow, 4 dodge, 1 melee
5 water spells, 5 necromantic white spells
140 hp, 155 fatigue
Notes:
You have to discover what happened to the Black Mountain Clan before Raven
will join your group.
Raven learns spells from the water and necromantic white magic colleges.
Sebastian
---------
Location: Tarant (in Boil, after talking to Willoughsby)
Level : 30
Training: None
Align :
Notes:
You need to talk to Edward Willoughsby and get him to describe his plans for
the Boil before Sebastian will appear. Then you’ll have to kill a gang
leader to get him to join.
Sebastian learns schematics from the electricity and explosives disciplines.
You must have at least 3 ranks of persuasion to add Thorvald to your group.
You must also be at least level 22. Thorvald starts with 21 strength and is
an excellent melee fighter.
When you reach the Wheel Clan, Thorvald will leave your group when you talk
to the guards at the entrance. You can get around this by telling Thorvald
to wait when you approach the guards, and then have him join back in after
you finish the conversation.
Tollo Underhill
---------------
Location: Dernholm (in the pit)
Level : 30
Training: None
Align : Evil
Notes:
To get Tollo to join, you have to be evil, you have to rescue him from the
Dernholm pit, and then you have to shame him into staying in your group.
Virgil learns spells from the necromantic white college, plus he picks locks.
As long as you don’t garner too high of a technological aptitude, Virgil is
useful to have around (otherwise his healing spells will fizzle on you).
Virgil is also the most interesting of the companions, and he’ll add the most
dialogue as you explore the world.
Vollinger learns schematics from the gun smithy and chemistry disciplines.
However, he secretly works for the Molochean Hand, and he’ll attempt to
betray you eventually.
You must solve the Bedokaan poacher problem peaceably in order to get
Waromon.
Waromon doesn’t wear body armor or a shield, but his natural hide provides
protection. He also seems to avoid two-handed weapons.
Weldo Rubin
-----------
Location: Gateway to the Wastes
Level : 25
Training: Pick locks (expert)
Align :
Notes:
If you’re low on persuasion, then you have to be polite to Weldo when you
meet him (and not act surprised that a halfling can be an adventurer) to get
him to join your group.
Z’an learns spells from the earth, force, and temporal magic colleges.
****************************************************************************
* 04.00 MASTERS AND EXPERTS *
****************************************************************************
Backstab
--------
Expert : Mr. Black, Tarant
Mr. Razzia, Caladon
Master : Dr. Edmund Craig, Roseborough
There isn’t a quest to receive master training, but Craig will attack you
after he’s trained you, and you’ll have to kill him.
Bow
---
Expert : Elite Bow Captain, Dernholm
Master : Kietzel Pierce, Black Root and then Caladon
When you find Pierce in Caladon, he’ll offer to train you as a bow master if
you can retrieve a bow for him from the Ruins of Szabo. He’ll mark the
location on your map, and when you get there you’ll find some bludgeoners
plus some skeleton bowmen to kill. The only trick to the area involves some
torches you’ll find. Three times in the ruins you’ll come to the end of an
area, and the only thing there will be a torch. So just shoot the torch with
your bow to move on. In the last room, you’ll find three torches, and in
that case you should shoot the one on the right. Then just take the bow back
to Pierce to receive your training.
Note: The bow is a Bow of Ecclesiastes, which has a long range but a slow
speed. If you want to keep the bow and still receive training, you can
either steal the bow back from Pierce, or you can tell Pierce that you didn’t
find it, and he’ll offer to train you for 2000 gold.
Disarm Traps
------------
Expert : Thrayne Iron Heart, Wheel Clan
Adam Maxwell, Caladon
Jason C. Guy, Roseborough
Master : Daniel McPherson, Caladon
To get master training, you just have to prove yourself to McPherson. To do
that, accept the key that he gives you and then head down through the trap
door in his house. You’ll find yourself in a maze of sorts, and all you’ll
have to do is walk through all of the tunnels and then go back up the ladder
and talk to McPherson. The traps in the maze aren’t any worse than the traps
in the rest of the game, so you can simply bite the bullet and walk right
through them if you have a competent healer with you. Note: When McPherson
trains you he’ll also give you trapmaker spectacles (+2 dexterity, +2
perception) which are pretty nice.
To receive master training, Chambers will require you to kill Sir Garrick
Stout of Dernholm and return with his eyes. However, Stout is the melee
master, and for Chambers’ story to work best, you should do Stout’s quest
even if you don’t plan on being a melee master yourself. (See the melee
section for information on Stout’s quest.)
Once you’ve killed Stout, you may or may not find his eyes on the corpse (it
depends on if you talked to Chambers before killing him). You’ll be able to
receive master training from Chambers regardless. Also, be sure to talk to
Lady Druella to get the cure blindness potion, and then return to Chambers.
Take the dialogue option about giving him the eyes, and then give him the
potion. You should become a dodge master, and Chambers and Druella should
live happily ever after. (You’ll be able to meet them later in Roseborough.)
Firearms
--------
Expert : Doc Roberts, Shrouded Hills
Herkemer Oggdoddler, Black Root
Master : William Thorndop, Ashbury
When you talk to Thorndop, you should recognize him as the firearms master,
but he won’t want to train you. However, after you finish speaking with him
a halfling (who looks like a dwarf) will run up to you and deliver a message.
If you read the note and talk to Thorndop again, you’ll discover that the
Willenbecker gang is after him and that they’ve kidnapped the halfling’s wife
to lure him to the barn where they’re waiting.
Since Thorndop can’t do anything about the gang, offer to help out and then
head east to the barn. You’ll find seven gang members inside, ranging in
level from 10 to 30. The gang member to pay the most attention to is the
half-ogre in the back. He’s the one guarding / attacking the halfling wife,
and so you need to distract him before he kills her. Once the gang is dead,
simply head back to Thorndop and convince him to train you.
There isn’t a quest here. Just talk to Rockharrow and then gamble with him.
Once you’ve won about 20,000 gold (not counting your losses), Rockharrow will
declare you to be a master.
Note: In earlier versions of the game, triggering the Matt de Cesare quest
sometimes “scares” Rockharrow into not talking to you any more. So if you’re
playing without any patches, and if you want to get gambling mastery, deal
with Rockharrow before dealing with de Cesare.
There isn’t a quest here. Just pay Morat 10,000 gold and he’ll train you to
be master. Plus he’ll give you his ring of influence (if you haven’t stolen
it already).
There isn’t a quest here. As long as you are good enough, Fawn will train
you (and give you her amulet, if you haven’t stolen it already). Note that
you must have high intelligence to be trained, so if you’ve been using
potions of intellect to learn heal, make sure you have one when you talk to
Fawn.
Melee
-----
Expert : Herkemer Oggdoddler, Black Root
Master : Sir Garrick Stout, Dernholm
The master quests for dodge and melee are related. If you plan to do both,
it’s best to talk to the dodge master (and accept his quest) before talking
to the melee master.
Regardless, to receive master training you have to “rescue” Lady Druella from
the Gyr Dolour. (Stout will mark the location on your map.) The Dolour can
freeze opponents, but otherwise they’re easy to kill. Once you’ve woken Lady
Druella, talk to her and formulate a plan for killing Stout, and then kill
Stout after receiving your training. Then be sure to get the cure blindness
potion from Lady Druella before leaving.
Persuasion
----------
Expert : Madam Lil, Tarant
Master : Edward Willoughsby, Tarant
Willoughsby will only show up in Tarant after you’ve been to Qintarra. When
he does show up, you’ll find him in front of his house.
Willoughsby’s quest involves going to Caladon and convincing the king’s
advisors that Caladon should join the Unified Kingdom. He’ll give you a
dossier describing the ten terms of agreement, and you should read the
dossier so you know what to expect. Then go to Caladon and talk to Renard in
front of the Castle, and then go inside and stand in front of the podium.
(Ignore the lobbyists.)
The king’s advisors will ask you about each of the ten terms of agreement
from the dossier, and you’ll have to give answers that are good for Tarant.
To get the best agreement, simply select the first dialogue option for each
question. If Caladon doesn’t agree using those choices, then take a more
moderate approach. As long as the agreement favors Tarant Willoughsby will
train you, but if you get the best agreement you’ll also earn a reputation as
an honorary ambassador for Tarant.
Pick Locks
----------
Apprentice: Lloyd Gurloes, Shrouded Hills
Expert : Garret Almstead, Black Root
Adam Maxwell, Caladon
Master : J.T. Morgan, Caladon (in prison)
To receive master training, first visit Mrs. R.L. Morgan in Roseborough. If
you’re skilled enough at lock picking, she’ll ask you to smuggle J.T.’s lock
picks in to him at Caladon’s high security prison (which is part of police
headquarters there). You’ll have to pick some locks and possibly kill some
guards, but when you get to J.T. and give him his picks, he’ll train you to
be master.
Pick Pocket
-----------
Apprentice: Thieves (but only after discovering the Thieves Underground)
Expert : Poone, Tarant
Mr. Black, Tarant
Master : Sammie White, Tarant (Kensington Park)
This is a master quest you might want to skip. The master bonus is
worthless, and doing the quest will lower the reaction rating of everyone in
Tarant towards you. But if you really want to do it...
Trade barbs with Sammie, and then keep talking to him until you can ask what
he does for a living. He’ll admit to being a pick pocket, and you should
then be able to ask for master training. Sammie will tell you that he
doesn’t want money for training you. Instead he’ll ask you to take off your
body armor and run up and down Kensington Broadway. So do that and watch all
the people make fun of you (and earn the reputation of Pervert of Tarant),
and then go back and talk to Sammie. He’ll train you as master.
Prowl
-----
Expert : Mr. Black, Tarant
Mr. Razzia, Caladon
Elite Bow Captain, Dernholm
Master : Albert Leek, Caladon (Sobbing Onion)
The quest here is simply to find the master, Albert Leek, and to do that you
have to follow the clues from three notes. You’ll get the first note when
you train to be an expert, and it should lead you to the Mushroom Inn, room 4
(in Caladon). There you should find a second note, and it will give you
clues to look under the bed, put on the glasses you should find there, and
then look at the portrait. You’ll receive a new location on your map -- a
Mysterious Location (1586W, 1816S) -- and there, if you travel northeast,
you’ll find a hollow tree stump guarded by several brute fangs. Brute fangs
are nasty in groups, so be prepared before you go in. In the stump you’ll
find the third note, and it will tell you to read the note again by the
fireplace in the Mushroom Inn. So go back to the inn, read the note again,
and learn that the master is named Albert Leek and can be found at the
Sobbing Onion.
When you find Leek, he’ll introduce himself as “A.L.” but if you have a
couple drinks with him, you’ll eventually recognize who he is, and he’ll give
you training (plus a ring of silence). Note that the drinking might lower
your prowling skill enough that you’ll have to wait until you’re sober again
to train. Also note that it doesn’t appear as if you really have to get the
notes. Once you get expert training you can just walk right up to Leek to
train with him.
To get master training, you need to prove that Maxim’s heavier-than-air
machines actually worked. To do that, just give him the camera from the
crash site.
Spot Traps
----------
Expert : Herkemer Oggdoddler, Black Root
Vegard Molten Flow, Wheel Clan
Master : Frederick T. Fitzgerald, Tarant
You’ll have to prove yourself to Fitzgerald by retrieving the Staff of K’an
T’au from the Castle of S’nel N’fa. The castle is full of traps, of course,
but since you should be skilled at spotting traps (and probably disarming
them as well), it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to work your way to the
back of the castle, kill K’an T’au, and then get his staff from the chest in
the room. (The trap door there just leads out of the castle.) Then just
return to Fitzgerald to receive training.
Throw
-----
Expert : Lianna Pel Dar, Dernholm
Theo Brightstart, Ashbury
Master : Clarissa Shalmo, Black Root
Shalmo will ask you to retrieve Azram’s Star from K’na Tha, and this quest
will go essentially the same as the bow master quest: you’ll have to kill
things using ranged attacks, and you’ll have to shoot out torches when you
run into a dead end. If you don’t like trial and error, then the correct
choices are: middle torch, right torch, unlit torch, left torch, left branch
(of the purple intersection), middle torch, middle torch. That will take you
to the final area, where you’ll find Azram’s Star in an altar. Then just
shoot the nearby torch to be taken back to the world map.
Note that you can’t complete this quest using the aerial decapitator. It
doesn’t have enough range. So if that’s your weapon of choice, be sure to
bring along a boomerang or something to shoot out torches. (You can find a
boomerang in K’na Tha.)
This section includes statistics for interesting and useful items. You can
use it to see what might be available in the game, or to see what tech
college might be best for you. Most objects in the game load in random
locations, but there are some trends: all schematics seem to load in
appropriate shops, and all magic items seem to load at gypsies -- provided
you’re patient and keep looking for them there. Other items load in
particular places or have an excellent chance to load in a particular place,
and for those items I’ve listed a location as well as statistics.
Notation:
* The item is guaranteed to be at the location.
+ The item is sometimes at the location.
M The item is magical.
T The item is technical.
N The item is neither magical nor technical.
Medallion of Beauty (M): (+2) beauty
@ Tarant (Closed) Sewers+
Worn by woman in King’s Inn & Pub, Dernholm*
Worn by wandering woman, Black Root*
Worn by woman at the Roseborough Inn, Roseborough*
Inside the innkeepers’ chest at the Roseborough Inn, Roseborough*
Ancient Maze+
Lair of Bellerogrim+
Medallion of Silence (M): +2 prowling
@ Elven Ruins*
Black Diamond
@ Ancient Maze (on the ground)*
Bangellian Deeps (on ground)*
Caladon Castle (in upstairs guest room)*
Bone Dagger
@ Carried by Krag Berserkers, Caladon (old sewers)*
Carried by orc bandits (in random encounters)
Carried by bone butchers, Caladon (catacombs)+
Geode
@ Stonecutter Clan (on ground)*
Next to Kaitan’s altar, Gorgoth Pass*
Heartstone
@ Bedokaan Village (on ground north of pit)*
Bedokaan Village (on ground north of Kan Kerai)*
Bedokaan Village (on ground southeast of Kan Kerai)*
Lava Rock
@ Black Mountain Mines (on ground)*
Li’tani
@ Elven Trader, Ashbury (for sale)*
Olive Branch
@ Wheel Clan garden*
Passion Root
@ Near Qintarra (on ground)+
Stillwater (next to Geshtianna’s altar)*
Wheel Clan (in garden)*
Eye Gear (T): +2 perception
@ Black Mountain Mines forge*
Feather-weight Chainmail (T): AC 13, DR 24, FR 5, ER -10, NP -25
Fleet Helm (N): AC 2, DR 10, NP 10
@ worn by magical smith, Caladon*
Flow Disruptor Shield (T): AC 30, MR 30
@ Worn by Sebastian, Tarant Boil*
Helmet of Strength (N): AC 2, DR 15, PE -1
@ Worn by clerk, Tarant (Castleman’s General Store)*
Helmet of Vision (T): AC 3, DR 7
Iron Clan Armor (T): AC 45, DR 50, PR 30, FR 30, NP -20 (small size)
@ Iron Clan*
Machined Plate Mail (T): AC 25, DR 45, PR 20, FR 20, ER -10, NP -90
@ Worn by Albert, Tulla*
Worn by Edward Willenbecker, Ashbury (firearms master quest)*
Mechanized Gauntlets (T): AC 5, DR 7, D 15
@ Black Mountain Mines forge*
Worn by Lianna Pel Dar, Dernholm*
Worn by blacksmith, Ashbury (Ashbury Premium Armature)*
Gorgoth Pass (1500W, 1443S)
Hardin’s Pass (1288W, 714S)
Gateway to the Wastes (466W, 742S)
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 06.03 QUEST AREAS |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Arbalah’s House (1451W, 1304S)
The Bangellian Deeps (1180W, 289S)
The Bedokaan Village (1180W, 315S)
The Black Mountain Mines (1308W, 955S)
Boat Landing on Thanatos (628W, 1594S)
Dungeon of the Dragon Pool (993W, 790S)
The Castle S’nel N’fa (1385W, 643S)
Elven Ruins (711W, 1023S)
Falcon’s Ache (1627W, 565S)
Half-ogre Island (923W, 1698S)
The House of Maximillian (320W, 838S)
Isle of Despair (323W, 877S)
K’na Tha (1435W, 616S)
Kree (636W, 1204S)
A Lair of Gyr Dolours (1182W, 1583S)
Lethe Wyvern Sighting (1580W, 1010S)
Liam’s Workshop (1179W, 1466S)
Mysterious Ruins of the Wastes (474W, 694S)
A Mysterious Location (1586W, 1816S)
Nasrudin’s Resting Place (722W, 1892S)
The Pit of Fires (1365W, 937S)
The Place of Lost Voices (1321W, 830S)
The Poacher’s Camp (1205W, 277S)
Razors Pointe (1505W, 1772S)
The Ruby Glade (794W, 211S)
Ruins of Szabo (1028W, 1325S)
Secret Entrance to the Iron Clan (1514W, 1185S)
Shades Beach (346W, 827S)
Simon Fahrkus’ Shack (1450W, 1325S)
Stonecutter Clan (1344W, 886S)
Stringy Pete’s Cove (682W, 1341S)
Stringy Pete’s Treasure (807W, 1341S)
Thieves’ Cave (1550W, 1536S)
T’sen-Ang (1506W, 297S)
Torin Quarry (1419W, 1101S)
Vendigroth Ruins (308W, 587S)
Vooriden (871W, 1193S)
The Williamson Homestead (509W, 1114S)
The Women’s Camp (268W, 824S)
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 06.04 OTHER AREAS |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Ancient Maze (1367W, 1585S)
Ancient Ruins (1755W, 1480S)
Ancient Shipwreck (499W, 892S)
Ancient Temple (776W, 920S)
The Bog (1075W, 515S)
Bolo’s Altar (1626W, 1636S)
Broken Cathedral (1627W, 1207S)
The Cold Place (1611W, 1415S)
Crash Site (1452W, 1292S)
Dark Elf Camp (345W, 650S)
The Fan Graveyard (1060W, 809S)
Forbidden Pit (831W, 1033S)
Kerlin’s Altar (882W, 423S)
The Lair of Bellerogrim (769W, 839S)
The Lair of Bogaroth (640W, 1765S)
Land Bridge (720W, 1886S)
Old Blind Master’s House (750W, 556S)
Old Lagoon (1695W, 1319S)
Secret Village (1320W, 181S)
Small Camp (1261W, 479S)
Small Pond (1595W, 882S)
Strange Ceremony (1373W, 706S)
Strange Pond (618W, 528S)
Torg’s Altar (1215W, 1139S)
Uncharted Cave (1048W, 695S)
Village of the Ashlag Tribe (744W, 1702S)
Vollinger’s Meeting Place (1230W, 982S)
Wolf Cave (1230W, 1530S)
****************************************************************************
* 07.00 ANCIENT GODS / ALTARS QUEST *
****************************************************************************
The Ancient Gods quest is a way for you to improve your character -- perhaps
drastically -- during the course of the game. But it isn’t an official
quest, and it won’t show up in your quest log. It involves making offerings
to the 12 ancient gods -- and doing so in the correct order.
If you talk to Aldous T. Buxington at the Tarant University, he’ll give you a
book with information about the gods, and he’ll also point you to a mural
showing the relationships between the gods. The book and the mural provide
all the information you need to complete the quest, but if you don’t want to
puzzle it out on your own, then keep reading. The next two sections include
information about the gods and the correct ordering for the ultimate
blessing.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 07.01 THE GODS |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
The Noble Lesser Gods
---------------------
Ter’el, Elven God of Wisdom
Location: Falcon’s Ache
Offering: Li’tani
Blessing: +1 perception, +4 bow skill
Geshtianna, Human Goddess of Love
Location: Stillwater
Offering: Passion Root
Blessing: +1 beauty
The Neutral Lesser Gods
-----------------------
Alberich, Dwarven God of Stone
Location: Wheel Clan
Offering: Lava Rock
Blessing: +1 strength
Makaal, Bedokaan God of the Hunt
Location: Bedokaan Village
Offering: Heartstone
Blessing: +1 dexterity
Bolo, Halfling God of Thieves
Location: Bolo’s Altar
Offering: Any Ring
Blessing: +4 pick locks, +4 pick pockets
Kerlin, Gnome God of Gold
Location: Kerlin’s Altar
Offering: Mnura Coin
Blessing: +4 haggle, +4 persuasion
The Darker Lesser Gods
----------------------
Shakar, Orcish God of War
Location: Kree
Offering: Bone Weapon (bone dagger or reaper’s axe)
Blessing: +4 dodge, +4 melee
Torg, Ogre God of Heart
Location: Torg’s Altar
Offering: Ruby
Blessing: +1 constitution
Greater Gods
------------
Halcyon, God of Truth
Location: Vooriden
Offering: Olive Tree Branch
Blessing: +2 willpower, +2 perception, +4 spot traps, +4 heal
Moorindal, God of Shadows
Location: Ancient Temple
Offering: Black Diamond
Blessing: +8 backstab, +4 prowling, +4 melee
Kaitan, God of Balance
Location: Gorgoth Pass
Offering: Geode
Blessing: +1 beauty, +1 charisma, +4 bow
Note: Some skills might not appear as if they received the full benefit of
the blessing. This happens when the associated attribute value is lower than
it should be for the skill level.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 07.02 THE ORDER |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
You can pick out any single lesser god and get its blessing by making the
correct offering, but in order to accumulate blessings and eventually receive
Velorien’s blessing, you need to make offerings in the following order:
First Circle
------------
Ter’el, Makaal, Alberich, Geshtianna, and then Halcyon
Second Circle
-------------
Torg, Bolo, Kerlin, Shakar, and then Moorindal
Third Circle
------------
Alberich, Makaal, Kerlin, Bolo, and then Kaitan
Final Blessing
--------------
Velorien
Every time you get a blessing from a greater god, you’ll lose the blessings
of the first four gods in the circle, and when you receive Velorien’s
blessing, you’ll lose the blessings of the greater gods. However, you can
stop making offerings at any point and keep the blessings you have. So you
might want to stop before reaching Kaitan or Velorien so you can keep the
strength and dexterity bonuses from Alberich and Makaal in the third circle.
Fate points aren’t really critical to finishing the game, but they certainly
are convenient. If you have lots of followers, then the best place to use
them is probably to force good reactions from your followers, so they don’t
get mad at you and leave. It’s also useful sometimes to use a fate point to
guarantee a success at picking a pocket or picking a lock.
Listed below are some of the situations where you can get fate points:
-- Convincing the bridge thieves to leave (Shrouded Hills).
-- Killing the bridge thieves (Shrouded Hills).
-- Freeing Gar from H.T. Parnell’s (Tarant).
-- Exploring the tunnel under the Bates mansion (Tarant).
-- Killing Gilbert Bates (Tarant).
-- Delivering Gilbert Bates’ journal to Cedric Appleby (Tarant).
-- Convincing Loghaire to end his exile (Wheel Clan).
-- Killing the Stillwater Giant (Stillwater).
-- Discovering the journal on Half-ogre Island (Caladon).
-- Freeing the half-ogres (T’sen-Ang).
-- Discovering the journal of St. Mannox and relating its contents to
Alexander (Caladon).
-- Curing Cynthia Wit of lycanthropy (Caladon).
-- Convincing Donn Throgg to work with Councilman Babcock (Tarant).
-- Convincing Donn Throgg to attack Captain Wheeler (Tarant).
-- Killing Donn Throgg (Tarant). (This is worth 2 fate points.)
-- Repairing the Altar to Halcyon (Vooriden).
-- Solving Wrath’s “murder” (Qintarra).
-- Betraying the Bedokaan lizards to the poachers (Bedokaan Village).
-- Curing Adkin Chambers of blindness (Stillwater).
-- Killing everyone in Stillwater (Stillwater).
-- Assassinating King Farad for Heinrich Jenks (Caladon). (You’ll get the
fate point when you return to Jenks.)
-- Killing the Schuylers with Magnus (Tarant). (You’ll need to first agree
to make a deal with the Schuylers, then tell Magnus to think about it, and
then attack.)
-- Stealing the idol at Kree without killing anybody (Kree).
You can put any objects you want into your hotkey slots, so it’s useful to
keep some slots available for large inventory objects (like armor) so you can
carry more items around.
Tarant makes a good hub for your adventures. There is a gypsy there to
identify your objects, and the junk dealer will buy most anything and is a
capable repairer.
The best two things to buy at the character creation shop: lockpicks and a
fine steel dagger.
Don’t use trash bins to store your objects. They get emptied periodically.
Do use trash bins to “throw away” objects you don’t want your party members
to pick up.
The easiest way to hear all the rumors for a town is to talk to a bartender.
You can get into a conversation loop and keep asking for rumors until there
are no more to hear.
If you need to pick up a large object, but you don’t have enough room in your
inventory and you can’t tell how big the object is (and therefore don’t know
how much room to create), try to pick up the object, and when that fails,
drop an object. You’ll create a “junk pile” with the large object, and
you’ll be able to see how big it is.
If you click on the sign or plaque identifying a building, the name of the
building will appear on the area map.
If you wear heavy gloves, they’ll adversely affect your pick pocketing skill.
Save your game before entering bars. Patrons will randomly bet you 500 gold
on trivia questions, insult you, ignore you, or even attack you.
When traveling on the world map, you can set waypoints any place on the map,
not just on known locations.
To identify an object using a scroll: select the scroll, move it to the hand
icon on the right side of the inventory screen, and then select the item you
want to identify.
At several points in the game, you’ll receive a note or a book, and a quest
will only be triggered once you read the item. So even if you’ve played
through the game once, be sure to read everything that comes your way.
Non-obvious items you should hang onto: shovel, kathorn crystal, Molochean
Hand amulet, mithril, scroll of shrink, offerings for the altars quest.
This section contains a walkthrough for Arcanum. The goal is to allow you to
do as many quests as possible, and see as many things as possible, but stay
on the side of good when there are conflicting options. (I’ll touch on some
evil activities, but the story doesn’t work as well when you take the evil
path, and performing evil acts has overly negative consequences, like turning
towns against you.)
For the most part I’m assuming characters have average intelligence and
charisma, but don’t be surprised if your game doesn’t go exactly as I’ve
described. That’s part of the beauty of Arcanum, that no two games are
exactly alike.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 10.01 CRASH SITE |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Let VIRGIL join your group and then search the area around the wreck. There
are a few useful things you should find -- the matchbook and passport on
PRESTON RADCLIFFE’s body, the camera on ISAAC ZAPRUDER’s body, and the note
on WILHEMINA CARPENTER’s body -- plus some other gadgets that you can sell
later. You should also find the wreckage of one of the planes that shot down
the zeppelin. Note that an ogre was piloting the plane, and that the plane
came from Maxim’s Machinery in Caladon.
“Ah. Something isn’t quite right about all this.” -- Virgil
Continue exploring and kill the wolves, boars and little warriors you run
into. If you’re confident you can take on the enemies yourself, tell Virgil
to back off (F5) so you can get more experience.
On the northeastern edge of the area, on the far side of the lake, you should
find a cave. Inside the cave are some sewer rats that you should have no
trouble killing, plus some more gadgets to pick up, plus a spirit to talk to.
The spirit is CHARLES BREHGO, and he’ll tell you how an evil wizard named
ARBALAH cursed him and his friend. Agree to kill the wizard to break the
curse.
Then exit the cave, finish exploring the crash site if you need to, and head
southeast. Eventually you’ll come to a shrine with an inscription on it.
Conveniently, the inscription is the prophecy that Virgil couldn’t quite
remember before: “And his spirit shall be reborn on wings of fire in hills
shrouded in fog.” After Virgil says his bit, save your game.
Once you walk a little past the shrine, you’ll be approached by a hooded man.
The man is a bad guy, and if you let Virgil do the talking, he’ll scare the
man away. However, if you do the talking, you can provoke the man to fight
and pick up some extra experience. So try fighting first, and if that
doesn’t work let Virgil talk. If you kill the man, notice that he was
wearing the same sort of amulet as the ogre pilot. (It’s a Molochean Hand
amulet.)
A little past the confrontation, you’ll finally be able to access the world
map. Virgil will tell you about it, and you can also tell by the blue globe
that shows up on the upper left part of the interface (assuming you’re not in
fullscreen mode). Don’t go to Shrouded Hills yet; instead go to Arbalah’s
House.
Notice the two fresh graves outside the house, and then go in to talk to
Arbalah. (If it’s night you’ll have to wait for morning.) Arbalah will give
you a different story than Brehgo, that Brehgo and his partner SIMON FAHRKUS
killed his family and stole his holy artifact. Arbalah is the one telling
the truth, so agree to help him get his artifact back, and then go back to
talk to Brehgo.
Inform Brehgo that you talked to Arbalah, but then lie to him and say that
Arbalah will lift the curse if he gives back the artifact. Brehgo will take
about two seconds to give up his partner and point out the location of his
shack on your map. So exit the cave and head for the shack, but don’t tell
Brehgo you lied to him when you leave.
At the shack, you can kill Fahrkus, rob him, or lie to him to get the
artifact. It doesn’t matter which you do, but killing him gives the most
experience, so try doing that first. Then take the artifact back to Arbalah
and receive a blessing (+5 reaction) in reward.
“I do have something to give you, something of immeasurable value. I
bestow my blessing upon you.” -- Arbalah
Now, if you’re feeling particularly evil, you can kill Arbalah and then talk
to Brehgo again to finish Brehgo’s quest. You’ll get the reward for the
quest, plus you’ll be able to keep Arbalah’s blessing. Then proceed to
Shrouded Hills.
If it’s dark, sleep until morning so you can see the town better. Then talk
to SHERIFF OWENS. He’ll give you a little background information on Shrouded
Hills and the BESSIE TOONE mine, and then he’ll tell you that the only exit
from the town, a bridge to the northeast, has been blocked by brigands.
Agree to help him get rid of the brigands.
Then head north and talk to the gnome. He’ll claim to be WILLIAM RADCLIFFE,
but he’s lying. So don’t give him the ring, and don’t worry if the encounter
seems incomplete. You’ll run into him again later.
Now head west and enter RISTEZZE’s shop. Talk to Ristezze and show him the
ring. If you want to make some extra money, take the following dialogue
options: ask who G.B. is, ask who else might know who the owner is, say it
was given to you by a victim of a blimp crash, and then say you’re the only
survivor. Ristezze will give you 50 gold. Also, you can sell the ring by
asking how much it is worth, and Ristezze will give you 150 more gold.
“Ristezze is a business man, but he has a heart as well.” -- Ristezze
Now you can ask Ristezze about P. Schuyler & Sons. He’ll decide that he
needs something back for the information, and he’ll ask for a camera or an
item of Bessie Toone’s. The camera is actually useful for something else
later in the game, so hang onto it and get back to Ristezze when you find
something of Bessie Toone’s.
Then wander around the town, talk to everybody, and sell the stuff you found
at the crash site. (The general store gives better prices than Ristezze, so
start there.) You’ll come across several quests:
-- DOC ROBERTS will ask you to help him defend the bank against the Bowen
gang. (The magical reward is a sword, the tech reward is a gun, and the
indecisive reward is an axe.)
-- LLOYD GURLOES (the blacksmith) will ask you for pure ore.
-- GAYLIN (the herbalist) will ask you to find an elven amulet called N’Tala.
-- JONGLE DUNNE will ask you to destroy the town’s steam engine.
-- PERCIVAL TOONE (western house) will ask you to free his mother’s ghost.
-- JACOB BENS (in the inn) will ask you to rob the bank.
Accept all of the quests except for robbing the bank. That’s the kind of
quest that can get the whole town after you, even if you do it right.
“There’s a conspiracy here at Shrouded Hills, a dark plan full of
mystery and intrigue.” -- Jongle Dunne
There are also two things of interest at the inn. SOGG MEAD MUG is there,
and he’ll join your group if your charisma is over 8. And ELDER JOACHIM’s
room is at the back. When you go there you’ll find two dead assassins and a
note. The note will tell you to look for a telegram when you get to Tarant.
The easiest place to go from here is the mine, so head west and find it at
the western end of town. Inside you’ll find some spiders and wolves to kill,
a sprocket with “...groth” written on it (save it for later), plus maybe some
pure ore if you’re lucky. If you’re not lucky, you’ll either have to make
some yourself (or have Magnus make it for you if he joins your group in
Tarant), find it lying around somewhere, or get some in the mine (in Bessie’s
room) after you put Bessie to rest. The blacksmith will make a fine steel
dagger for you when you give him the ore.
Also in the mine, on the western side, you’ll find Bessie Toone’s ghost. If
you click on her you’ll hear her mumble about “Sara, my dear Sarah” which is
a clue about why she’s there. Also in the room you should find a metal can,
and inside you can pick up one of Bessie’s boots (for Ristezze).
So head back to town. When you talk to Percival he’ll let you know that
Sarah is his sister and that he doesn’t like her very much. He’ll also let
it slip that Sarah is living in Dernholm and that the new owners of the mine
are living in Tarant.
Then talk to Ristezze and give him Bessie’s boot. He’ll let you know that P.
Schuyler & Sons is located at 44 Devonshire Way in Tarant, and he’ll mark
Tarant on your map. (The sheriff can also mark Tarant on your map, once you
have a reason to go there.) If you want, immediately buy back the boot for a
few coins. You’ll be able to sell it for a profit later.
Then save your game and talk to Doc Roberts next to the bank. If it’s
daylight then the robbery will start right away, and you’ll have to do some
fighting. Otherwise you’ll have to wait for morning. Once you do get to
defend the bank, you’ll find three robbers inside. Sometimes Doc will help
you in the battle and it will go easily, and sometimes he’ll get stuck at the
door and you’ll have more work to do. Depending upon how you’ve been
developing your character, the battle still might be easy, but if you have
problems, keep trying. When the robbers are dead, loot their bodies for some
good stuff, and be sure to talk to Doc to get your reward. Depending on what
you said to him before, you’ll receive an enchanted sword, a revolver, or an
axe.
If you’re feeling evil, you can now help Jongle Dunne. The steam engine is
located in the temple, and you’ll find it “guarded” by a dwarf technologist
named Hervor. Move your mouse cursor over the engine, and you’ll find that
part of it -- the control box -- highlights when the cursor is over it.
That’s the part you need to destroy. You can either attack it outright (go
into combat mode and then alt-click on it) or you can use dynamite on it and
then attack whatever is left (if anything). You should kill Hervor while
you’re there (he’ll probably attack you anyway) to prevent him from telling
the sheriff about your deed.
Then go back to Dunne to collect your reward, and learn that he now wants you
to pick up a secret ingredient from CHARLES DOLAN in Dernholm. Go ahead and
pick up the quest, if for no other reason than Dunne will mark Dernholm on
your world map if you do so.
When you talk to the sheriff next, you’ll get a quest to fix the steam
engine. He’ll want a sprocket (the “...groth” sprocket) but don’t complete
the quest yet. Doing so will upset Dunne, and then you won’t be able to
complete his second quest.
So instead head out of town to the northeast, wave to the gypsy on the way
past (she can identify magic items for you when you find them), and then
approach the bandits at the bridge, but save your game before talking to
them. You have a few options to get past them: you can pay a fee of 1000
coins, you can talk your way past them if you have a rank of persuasion, or
you can kill them. (If you hadn’t agreed to help the sheriff to get rid of
them, you could also have done a quest to get past them.)
“Who am I? WHO AM I? I am Lukan! Lukan the Witless! Where I roam,
the masses quabble in pertubisiveness and trepidunction!” -- Lukan the
Witless
The best solution is to persuade the bandits to leave. So ask to cross the
bridge, say the “persuade you” dialogue option, and then pretend to be with
the Thieves Underground, but don’t mention leaders or handbooks. If you do
everything right, the bandits will even pay you 200 gold before departing.
But don’t let them leave. Instead, immediately start combat mode and attack
them. There are two reasons for this: their equipment is useful (especially
if you’re a half-ogre or have Sogg Mead Mug with you), and you can get a
“bonus” fate point for killing them. (You should already have received one
for convincing them to leave.)
But killing the bandits can be difficult. If you’re a melee fighter, you
might be able to just wade in and kill them, but otherwise you’ll have to use
some strategy -- or at least some heavy explosives. Along the way you should
have picked up some grenades (in Brehgo’s cave, for instance), and this is
the perfect opportunity to use them.
So as soon as you start combat mode, immediately use an explosive grenade on
Lukan and a stun grenade on one of the ogres. If you’re standing close
enough, you should always hit your targets, and with Lukan dead or badly
wounded, and one of the ogres stunned for a couple rounds, you should be able
to win the battle. If not, make sure your group has the best equipment
possible and try again until you succeed. Then collect your reward from the
sheriff, and head out of town.
When you get past the gate, you’ll meet up with the gnome “William Radcliffe”
again. This time you’ll have to fight him, but he should be easy to kill.
Once he’s dead, loot his corpse and discover a note from “G.L.” directing him
to kill Preston Radcliffe. Then exit the area and head for Dernholm.
-- Sarah Toone will tell you how Percival sold the family mine, and how that
drove Bessie to kill herself. She’ll also tell you that the new owners of
the mine are the Stanton Importers, and that they can be found at 25 Lion’s
Head Circle in Tarant. Agree to help Sarah get the mine back.
-- Dolan will give you the package for Dunne.
-- LIANNA PEL DAR will give you some background information on the city. In
particular, she’ll let it slip that King Praetor isn’t the rightful king.
-- SIR GARRICK STOUT will brush you off, but you’ll have more to do with him
later.
-- JAYNA STILES will join your group, provided you have enough technological
aptitude. (It has to be some value greater than 5.)
-- GLADYS will tell you how a valuable family ring was stolen many years ago,
and she’ll suggest you talk to ARCHIBALD at the docks. Archibald will yell
at you and say he’ll never give the ring back. Furthermore, he’ll threaten
to send his son BERNARD after you. Don’t kill him (although that’s one way
to get the ring). Instead, go southeast a bit and talk to Bernard. He’ll
tell you how Gladys sends somebody after Archibald every month or so. Go
back and talk to Arcihbald again and suggest that Gladys is attracted to him.
He’ll then give you the ring, and you can return it to Gladys.
-- KING PRAETOR (in the palace) will ask you to collect taxes from Black
Root. This will mark Black Root on your world map.
“Cursed technology has toppled my dear Cumbria from its former
glory.” -- King Praetor
Once you’re done with Dernholm, travel back to Shrouded Hills. Give Dunne
his package to finish that quest, and then give the sprocket to the sheriff
to fix the steam engine. Then head off to Tarant. (You’ll likely discover
Torg’s Altar along the way, but ignore it for now.)
a Water and Power Plant 1 Rail Station A: W. Garillon Bridge
A Appleby Residence 2 Rail Station B: Vermillion Station
b Bates Residence 3 Rail Station C: Tarant University
B Bridesdale Inn 4 Rail Station D: Warehouse District
c Wellington Gentleman’s Club 5 Rail Station E: Commercial District
C Cemetery 6 Rail Station F: Tarantian Docks
d Dept. of Water, Hall of Records 7 Rail Station G: Kensington Park
D Delores Beston, Seer
e Entrance to Closed Sewers
E Fitzgerald Residence
f Factories
F Franklin Residences
g Grant’s Tavern Q 17 Quilton Bend
G Garringsburg Residence r 36 Low Dervish Road
h H.T. Parnell’s R 11 Low Dervish Road (Thief Fence)
H Halster Residence s Miscellaneous Shops
i Stanton Importers S Simon Plough’s Warehouses
I Panarii Temple t Telegraph Office
j Joseph the Stone Cutter T Toussaude’s House of Secrets
J Junk Dealer u University Buildings
L Madam Lil’s V Vermillion (Train) Station
m Magic Shops w Wellington Residence
M Mooreland Residence W Willoughsby Residence
N Newspaper Office X P. Schuyler & Sons
o 32 Mulligan Bone Alley y Gypsy
O 57 Mulligan Bone Alley Y Mynor Residence
p Poone’s Flophouse z Zoological Society
P Pettibone Residence Z Miscellaneous Buildings
You’ll find yourself on the edge of the Boil, a disreputable part of Tarant
-- and a part you’re not powerful enough to mess with yet. So cross the
bridge to the northeast and make your way to the main part of the city.
Tarant is a large city, but it is organized nicely, and so finding your way
around shouldn’t be too bad. A river cuts the city in half, and the “rich”
side (with residences, shops, and the university) is to the north and west,
while the “poor” side (with docks, warehouses, and factories) is to the east
and south.
Explore the rich side first. Here are some of the people and places you
should see:
-- CASSANDRA PETTIBONE will be waiting at the corner of Lungsten and
Kensington during daylight hours (she’ll be locked in her home at night).
She’ll ask you to steal an elven funerary stone from the Elven Ruins, and
she’ll mark the location on your map. If you’re persuasive, you can get her
to increase her payment to 300 gold.
-- There is a man loitering next to the Pettibone Residence. If you found
out about the Thieves Underground from Lukan in Shrouded Hills, you’ll be
able to talk to the man. He’ll tell you that THADDEUS MYNOR is the contact
for the Underground in Tarant, and he’ll also suggest that you see him for
some work. (See section 10.08 for the Thieves Underground quests.)
-- EVELYN GARRINGSBURG will ask you to retrieve a stolen painting, but she
won’t have any idea who took it. However, she’ll tell you that her husband
might have mentioned the painting while drunk, and the newspaper article will
say that the husband frequents the Wellington Gentleman’s Club.
-- At the Wellington Gentleman’s Club, you can learn a few things. If you
talk to the doorman, he’ll give you a guest list for the night of the
robbery, and you’ll find that everybody there was a member except for
somebody named RORRY LIMES. If you check at the Hall of Records, you’ll find
that Limes owns a warehouse at 57 Mulligan Bone Alley. Inside the club,
you’ll meet a dark elf noble who will ask you to deliver a note to 36 Low
Dervish Road. You’re not supposed to look at the note, but if you do you’ll
find it says “57 Mulligan Bone Alley,” and so there are two ways to find out
the address.
Note: If you’re female, the doorman won’t let you into the club. So you’ll
have to find Wendell Wellington (near the university) and convince him to let
you enter. The only way to avoid his “fee” is to kill him or steal an
invitation from him. Since his ogre bodyguard is only level 1, it’s easy to
kill him. You can also steal the key to the club from the doorman, but he
seems fairly alert, and so it’s easiest to deal with Wellington.
-- MATTHEW JAMESON will be standing at the corner of Devonshire and
Kensington. He’ll ask you to retrieve his wedding ring, which he lost in the
sewers. Go ahead and solve this quest right away. The entrance to the
sewers is right next to you (a manhole), and the ring can be found on the
ground in a room with a few sewer rats in it (take the western tunnel at the
first fork you come to). If you don’t see the ring, check your companions to
see if they picked it up. You can also explore the rest of the sewers if you
want, and pick up some extra loot and experience.
“Looks like I won’t be sleeping on the porch.” -- Matthew Jameson
-- At the telegraph office you’ll be able to pick up another message for
Virgil, provided you read the note at the Shrouded Hills inn.
-- DELORES BESTON will ask you to find her a new crystal ball, and she’ll
suggest that you steal one from MADAM TOUSSAUDE (whose shop is on the poor
side of town).
-- VICTOR WRIGHT (at the newspaper office) will offer to pay you 500 (or 800)
gold for your story about the zeppelin crash. Go ahead and do it. Not only
will you get the gold from Wright, but from now on random townsfolk will
sometimes give you money when you talk to them. Wright will also pay you 75
gold to deliver a note to MRS. HALSTER. Do that as well. The Halster
residence is only a couple of blocks away to the southwest.
-- There are a couple things you can do at H.T. PARNELL’s. If you have at
least two ranks of persuasion, you can talk to Gar about tea and coax him
into showing his real intelligence. If you then talk to Parnell, you can get
him to release Gar from his contract by pretending to blackmail him. Now Gar
will join your group, but you can also release him to get a fate point (but
note that Gar won’t ever rejoin you if you release him). The second thing
you can do at the museum is sell Parnell Bessie Toone’s boot for 250 gold.
-- At the university, you’ll find BENJAMIN GERSHWIN, phrenologist. He’ll ask
you to find the skulls of JIN and XIN, the Ren’ar Siamese twins, and he’ll
tell you that they’re interred at the local cemetery. But if you go there
you’ll only find a matchbook (for the Wellington Gentleman’s Club) in their
tomb. You’ll also find ALDOUS BUXINGTON at the university. He’ll give you
some clues on the Ancient Gods Quest. Lastly, you’ll find the university
bookseller. He’ll offer to sell you technical manuals, which will improve
your technical expertise (by the same amount as your intelligence) while
they’re in your inventory.
-- You can give the note you found at the zeppelin crash to JARED, a guard in
front of the train station. He’ll then ask you to talk to the local
stonecutter (whose shop is on the poor side of town), so he can make
arrangements for Wilhemina’s tombstone.
Also on the rich side of town you should find the P. Schuyler & Sons building
with MAGNUS standing out front. Magnus will give you some background on the
establishment, and he’ll even join your group if you want him to.
“Beyond the rumors of murder, mysticism, and foul play? No, I think
that just about covers what I know, my friend.” -- Magnus, on P.
Schuyler & Sons
Once inside the shop, talk to JAMES KINGSFORD, the salesperson. If you’re
persuasive, you can pretend to be with the authorities, and he’ll give you
the key to the basement. Otherwise he’ll just give you the run-around when
you talk to him, and you’ll either have to rob him or kill him to get the
key.
Then explore the areas under the shop. You’ll find some zombies to kill and
some loot to pick up, and eventually you’ll come to the Schuylers. If you
talk to them you’ll learn that they’re a family of necromancers and that they
built their shop on top of some ancient dwarven ruins. Plus, you’ll get to
talk to dead Pelonious Schuyler, who will tell you that the ring was made for
Gilbert Bates.
However, the Schuylers are just a little bit evil, so you might want to kill
them instead. In fact, if you have Magnus with you, you won’t have any
choice. He’ll decide that the dwarven zombies are really his kin, and he’ll
demand revenge. Fortunately, the Schuylers are spellcasters without powerful
spells -- and two of them are only level 4 -- so they’ll die quickly. Then
you can pick up the key to their file cabinets (on Winston’s corpse) and find
a telegram from Benjamin Bates commissioning the ring for his son, Gilbert.
“Thank you, friend, for fighting by my side.” -- Magnus
Now you can explore the seedier side of Tarant. Here are some of the people
and places you should visit:
-- MADAM LIL will give you several quests. The first will be to retrieve a
necklace from the Mooreland residence. Simply walk over there and talk to
LAURA the maid. She’ll want a reward for it, and you can pay her, threaten
her, or persuade her to give up the necklace. (If you persuade her to join
Madame Lil’s, she’ll give you a “freebie” later as a reward.) Note: The
necklace is non-magical and gives +40 magic resistance. That sounds pretty
good, but you won’t face many spellcasters in the game, and all the necklace
will usually do is cause heal spells to fail. In any case, you can steal it
back from Madam Lil later if you want.
For the second quest, Madam Lil will ask you to collect 400 gold from MR.
LANGLEY at the Bridesdale Inn. He won’t have the money on hand, so you’ll
have to wait five days to get it. Since time doesn’t matter in the game,
just advance the clock five days and pick up what he owes.
For the third quest (male players only), Madam Lil will ask you to deliver a
package to Mrs. Halster and tell her it’s from Mr. Halster. (It seems Mr.
Halster visits the brothel more often when he’s getting along with his wife.)
For the last quest, Madam Lil will ask you to find a Medallion of Beauty.
Sometimes you can find one in the closed part of the city sewers, but
sometimes you can’t. If it’s not in the sewers, then you’ll have to pick it
up in another city at some point (such as from the woman in the King’s Inn &
Pub in Dernholm).
“Come on, honey... let’s get hopping!” -- Bunny
-- At MADAME TOUSSAUDE’s, the madam will know why you’ve come, and she’ll ask
you to choose a side between her and Delores Beston. Pick Madam Toussaude’s
side (she gives the better reward), and she’ll give you a crystal ball to
give to Beston. Do the delivery, watch the result, and then return to
Toussaude to get a blessing of +1 charisma.
Note: Don’t do this quest before finishing the Garringsburg painting quest.
If you do, Toussaude will only give you the location of the painting, which
you can find by other means.
“Delores Beston tried to run from her fate. It’s as I always say,
traveler -- the future is inevitable.” -- Madam Toussaude
-- SIMON PLOUGH will ask you to clear his warehouses of rats. You’ll face
lots of rats, but they shouldn’t pose much of a problem. Clear the western
(smaller) warehouse first because that’s where you’ll find the key to the
other warehouse. Once they’re clear, you can use the warehouses for your own
storage. They’re conveniently located between the junk dealer and the gypsy,
and they’re right next to a stealrail station.
-- At 36 Low Dervish Road, you can deliver the note that the elf from the
Wellington Gentleman’s Club gave you. If you didn’t look at the note, you’ll
receive 1000 experience for the job. Otherwise you’ll have to fight the trio
of bandits you’ll find there. You can fight the bandits regardless and pick
up some armor to sell, plus Rorry Limes’ passport. (If you didn’t get the
guest list from the Wellington Gentleman’s Club’s doorman, you can use the
passport to get an address for Limes from the Hall of Records.)
-- At the Stanton Importers building you can either buy back the Bessie Toone
mine, or you can trick STANTON into believing you’re with the Industrial
Council and convince him to simply give you the mine.
-- CEDRIC APPLEBY will give you an alternate, evil method to learn about
Gilbert Bates (instead of working with Bates). He’ll ask you to destroy a
prototype steam engine at the Bates factory to prove yourself, and then he’ll
ask you to sneak into the Bates mansion and find some incriminating evidence.
The evidence is Bates’ journal, located in his bedroom on the second floor.
Reading the journal is essentially the same as talking to Bates. However,
the story flows better if you work with Bates instead, and, in terms of the
walkthrough, that’s the method I’m going to assume you’re going to use.
-- At the Panarii temple, you can pick up a funny pamphlet. You can also
find the Jewel of Hebe, a quality neutral-aptitude necklace.
-- At 12 East End Avenue you’ll find JOSEPH the stonecutter, and you can tell
him about Jared's wish for a tombstone.
-- At 57 Mulligan Bone Alley you’ll find a half-ogre guarding a closet. The
Garringsburg painting is in the closet, and you can either kill the half-ogre
or steal the key from him to get it. Then you just need to return the
painting to the Garringsburgs to complete the quest.
-- On the “island” at the center of Tarant you’ll meet a man named THOM GRAK.
He’ll ask if you know MATT DE CESARE. Answer that you do (you should have
met him at the Wellington Gentlemen’s Club) and agree to deliver a message to
him. When you get to the club, you’ll discover that the message was just a
ruse to allow an assassin to follow you and find de Cesare. De Cesare will
kill the assassin and then go outside so you can talk privately. When you
join him, he’ll ask that you to find the skulls of the Ren’ar Siamese twins
and suggest that they might be in a warehouse somewhere in town.
The correct warehouse is at 17 Quilton Bend (near Simon Plough’s warehouses).
It has locked metal doors, and if you can’t pick them, then this is a good
place to use dynamite (if you have it). Plus, inside you’ll find a wererat
and a half-ogre, and dynamiting the doors might kill them at the same time.
If you have to kill them in normal battle, though, concentrate on the wererat
first since it is the much more dangerous of the two. (It will also have
some gold on its corpse, so be sure to check it after it’s dead.) You’ll
find the skulls inside some locked barrels, and when you take them back to de
Cesare (the phrenologist can wait), he’ll ask you to deliver them to ARTHUR
TYRON, who was last known to be in Black Root.
“Some years ago, bizarre breeding experiments were begun in secret
which would eventually affect the balance of power here in Tarant.”
-- Matt de Cesare
Note: In earlier versions of the game, the skulls were treated the same as
pure ore, so don’t leave them in the inventory of a character who makes
balanced swords (like Magnus).
Also, at some point when you’re in Tarant, newspaper vendors will announce
the headline, “Anarchist Laborers Take Over Factory!” When that happens you
can go to the orc factory at 15 Ten Hands Alley and either try to save DONN
THROGG, the half-orc activist, or get him killed. If you want to save him,
talk to COUNCILMAN BABCOCK (the gnome) outside the factory, and he’ll give
you a key so you can go inside and convince Throgg to slip away at night. If
you want to kill Throgg, then talk to CAPTAIN WHEELER (the human wearing
chainmail). He’ll also give you a key, but this time you can go inside and
convince Throgg to “surrender” to Wheeler. Both solutions will net you
10,900 experience, but the best thing to do (morals aside) is to get
Wheeler’s men to fight the orcs so you can loot their bodies at the end.
You’ll find things like a mechanized gun, a power axe, and lots of bullets.
“Thank you for luring that bastard Donn Throgg out here for us! You’ve
done the city of Tarant a great service!” – Captain Wheeler
With most of the city quests complete, now is a good time to finally head
over to the Bates mansion (on the northeastern edge of the city) and talk to
Bates. However, his door guard won’t let you just waltz in. If you’re
persuasive, you might be able to convince him that you’re an old friend. Or,
if Cedric Appleby asked you to destroy Bates’ steam engine, then you can rat
him out to gain entry. Otherwise, you’ll have to complete a quest to prevent
the steam engine from being destroyed.
To complete the quest, go to the factory at 18 Ten Hands Alley. The steam
engine is in the back. (It has a control box like the steam engine at
Shrouded Hills.) Stand by the door leading to the steam engine, and advance
the time to midnight. Three low-level bandits will teleport in, and you
should be able to kill them pretty easily.
You’ll find Bates on the second floor of his mansion. He won’t be able to
tell you much, but you’ll learn three things: that the “gnome” who gave you
the ring was really a dwarf named STENNAR ROCK CUTTER, that Bates earned his
wealth by stealing steam engine technology from the Black Mountain Clan, and
that the Black Mountain Clan disappeared some time ago. Further, Bates will
ask you to investigate the clan, and he’ll mark the location of their former
home on your world map.
You should probably be around level 20 before you try exploring the clan
home, and a good place to get the experience you need is in the closed Tarant
sewers. The entrance is southwest of the gypsy, across a land bridge and in
a house surrounded by water.
There are several level 20+ creatures in the sewers, so you might have to
avoid some places for now and then come back later. Also, the thieves in the
hideout are possibly part of a Thieves Underground quest (I’ve heard it but
never experienced it myself), so you might want to avoid them until you do
the quests.
When you’re ready to move on, exit the city and head east to the Elven Ruins.
At the Elven Ruins, you’ll meet four dark elf nobles. They won’t be thrilled
to see you, and chances are you won’t be able to talk your way past them. So
talk to them (but don’t rat out Cassandra Pettibone or you’ll botch the
quest) and then get ready to fight.
“Explore? Don’t you mean pillage and rape our ancient burial
ground?” -- dark elf noble
After you kill the dark elves, you can raise PROFESSOR JAMES’ spirit to learn
that the elves killed James and his workers without warning.
“They appeared as if from nowhere and began hunting us like dogs...”
-- Professor James
The excavation is pretty small, but you should find a few chests with magic
items, plus the funerary stone (6x4). Just grab it and then head back to
Tarant to give it to Cassandra Pettibone. On the way, you might want to stop
by the Forbidden Pit (831W, 1033S) to kill three spiders and pick up a ring
of poison resistance.
If you didn’t persuade Lukan to leave Shrouded Hills, then giving the
funerary stone to Cassandra Pettibone will finally allow you to talk to the
man loitering next to the Pettibone residence. He’ll tell you that THADDEUS
MYNOR is the contact for the Thieves Underground in Tarant and suggest that
you pay him a visit.
There are several quests with the Thieves Underground, but if you’re not a
thief (with about 3 ranks of pick pockets, pick locks, and prowling), you
might want to skip them and head straight for Black Root.
When you meet with Thaddeus Mynor, he’ll want to know if you’re qualified for
the Underground. So he’ll ask you to steal the sewer map from the Department
of Water. There isn’t anything tricky to the quest; just pickpocket the
clerk to get the key and then get the map from the nearby safe. When you
return the map to Mynor, he’ll give you 300 gold and let you know that you
can fence items at 11 Low Dervish Road.
After you talk to the fence, MR. BLACK, go back to Mynor. If you have a high
enough level (20 is enough), he’ll offer you a new quest, to steal a golden
idol from the barbarians at Kree, and he’ll mark Kree on your world map. He
might also mention that Cedric Appleby is looking for a thief to steal
something from Gilbert Bates, but that’s just the evil method for finding out
about the Black Mountain Clan. (And, if you’ve already helped Gates, Appleby
won’t talk to you any more anyway.)
Kree features a lot of level 25-30 barbarians, but they’re spaced out enough
so that you should be able to attack them one or two at a time and kill them
easily. (You can also try prowling past them.) Eventually, if you keep
heading northeast, you’ll come to four barbarians standing around a fire,
with an arcane chest next to them. Inch towards them slowly, and then run
away when any of them notice you. Again, you should be able to pick them off
one by one this way. Beyond them you’ll find the altar with the idol in it,
and northwest of that is the Shakar altar. When you return the idol to
Mynor, he’ll give you 1000 gold.
“The price is always right when dealing with Thaddeus.” -- Thaddeus
Mynor
To get more jobs from the Thieves Underground, you’ll have to find a thief in
the street. They look like regular citizens, but when you talk to them
they’ll mention the Underground. One such thief continuously circles the
block around Mynor’s house (or loiters at Poone’s Flophouse), and he’s a good
source for information.
Thief jobs are rumors rather than quests (and therefore show up in your rumor
log rather than your quest log), and you can only have four outstanding jobs
at any one time. To complete a job, you have to acquire the object in
question (and you don’t have to be subtle about getting it) and then give it
to Mr. Black. Some items, such as the Ring of Virility and Jewel of Hebe,
you might want to keep rather than fence.
Here are the things to steal, their locations, and their rewards:
-- Cassie’s jewels; back room in Madam Lil’s; 400 gold, 1500 exp. (Prowl
around or kill Winno the maid.)
-- Dwarven Rubies; ship in port; 500 gold, 1200 exp. (The rubies are in a
barrel in front of the ship.)
-- Enchanted Looking Glass; Pettibone residence; 100 gold, 1000 exp. (Prowl
around or kill Cassandra Pettibone. If you attack her, she’ll call the
guards.)
-- Essence of Will of the Wisp; H.T. Parnell’s; 200 gold, 1000 exp.
-- The Heron Device; Bates Warehouse; 500 gold, 1700 exp. (The warehouse is
at 46 Mulligan Bone Alley. The patrolling guard has a key. The device is in
a crate in the back room. Note: For some people the Heron Device is in the
thief hideout in the closed sewers, but it’s never been there for me.)
-- Jewel of Hebe; Panarii temple; 500 gold, 1600 exp. (Prowl around or kill
the priest.)
-- Lucky Medallion; vagrant at Poone’s Flophouse; 150 gold, 1000 exp. (The
vagrant should be circling Madam Lil’s, stopping in at the flophouse every
time he passes it. He’s difficult to rob since he keeps moving, so you might
want to just kill him to get the medallion.)
-- Potion of Darkest Power; Fitzgerald residence; 500 gold, 1700 exp. (The
potion is in the chest next to the bed. But note that Fitzgerald is the spot
traps master, so don’t kill him for the potion if you’re going to pursue that
skill.)
-- Rare Sword; Appleby residence; 500 gold, 1500 exp. (You can bash in the
safe and Appleby won’t notice.)
-- Ring of Virility; Franklin residence; 200 gold, 1700 exp. (Mr. Franklin
is wearing the ring.)
-- Schreck’s Multi-barreled Pistol Schematic; Bates Factory; 400 gold, 1500
exp. (The factory is at 18 Ten Hands Alley. Break in using the back,
eastern-most door. The plans will then be in a cabinet in the room to the
southwest. Bash in or pick open the cabinet when the patrolling guards
aren’t in the room.)
-- Vial of Lethe Wyvern Venom; Zoological Society; 200 gold, 1000 exp.
(Prowl around or kill Tristan Fenwick.)
With Tarant effectively looted, head on to Black Root.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 10.08 BLACK ROOT |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
-- In the pub you’ll meet two people of interest. CLARISSA SHALMO will
mention she’s looking for Azram’s Star. KIETZEL PIERCE will ask you to track
down one of his students, DUDLEY CROSSTON, and let him know that Pierce has
moved on to Caladon. (Crosston is in Dernholm.)
“It is good to meet a fellow adventurer. I fear we are becoming a
rare breed.” -- Kietzel Pierce
-- In the inn, if you tell DANIEL HALLAWAY that his rooms are more than you
can afford, he’ll give you a quest to retrieve his strongbox from the local
blacksmith. So head southeast to the blacksmith’s shop and talk to GARRET
ALMSTEAD, the blacksmith. Convince him that losing Hallaway would be bad for
business, and he’ll give you the strongbox for 50 gold.
Note: When you talk to Almstead, if you ask him about being a half-orc and
then tell him you’re sorry for his loss, he’ll give you a pair of dwarven
gauntlets for free.
-- In one of the old shacks on the west side of town, you’ll find a note that
reads, “The Crow is in danger. -- Tyron.” It’s a clue in the Matt de Cesare
/ skulls quest. If you go back to Tarant to inform de Cesare that Tyron is
no longer in Black Root, he’ll just tell you to keep looking.
-- LYDIA CAMERON will ask you to check on her son Liam at his workshop
outside of town. She’ll mark the location of the workshop on your map.
-- The mayor will let you know that Black Root has changed its allegiance to
Tarant, and that they’re not planning to pay taxes to King Praetor. Question
him further, and he’ll give you a quest to retrieve his ceremonial dagger
from a group of thieves camped out on the outskirts of town (northwest of the
train station). If you picked up the newspaper in Dernholm, you can use that
to convince the mayor to give you the taxes, and bypass the dagger quest.
-- If you listen to HERKEMER OGGDODDLER tell his war stories, he’ll offer to
train you to expert level in melee, dodge, firearms, and spot traps.
-- At the Sour Barnacle, talk to DANTE, the former head of the Church of
Cumbria. Listen to his problems and then, if you want him, offer to let him
join your group so he can help with the taxes and thus get back into favor
with King Praetor.
Now you can head out to the thief camp and talk to the thieves. D’AK TAAN is
the elf thief in back, and you’ll have several options to get the ceremonial
dagger from him. You can buy it for 300 coins, you can steal it from him,
you can steal a statuette from the hedge wizard, you can buy poison from
Grunwalde, or you can just kill the thieves.
If you’re trying to keep your character good, then the best option is to kill
the thieves. However, if you’re evil then doing one of the quests is best,
because the quests will net you -20 alignment. If you decide to rob the
wizard, you won’t have to be subtle; you can just kill him and then bash in
his chest to get the statuette. If you decide to buy the poison, you’ll have
to give Grunwalde the “infestation,” “rat problem,” and “big as orcs” answers
before he’ll sell you what you want (for 100 coins).
Regardless, once you have the dagger, take it back to the mayor and point out
that the Tarantian guards couldn’t protect him from petty thieves. The mayor
will decide that Cumbria has something to offer after all, and he’ll give you
the taxes.
But before heading back to Dernholm, first explore the coastline east of the
mayor’s compound. You should find a halfling wizard. He’ll offer to let you
play an ancient game, and you should agree. He’ll then ask you a riddle, and
once you answer it correctly (clock), he’ll tell you that the next halfling
can be found west of the thieves camp. So trudge over to the new location,
answer the second halfling’s riddle (spring), and then head north and answer
the third and final riddle (fire). You’ll receive 800 experience and a
mysterious gem as a reward. The gem will summon a level 50 halfling to help
you out.
“The wise man will spot what the dullard does not see.” -- halfling
wizard
Now head over to Dernholm and give the taxes to King Praetor. If you have
Dante with you, you’ll have to make a choice. If you speak up for him, the
king will take him back (but you won’t get a fate point or anything). If you
don’t speak up for him, he’ll stay in your party. Also, if you tell the king
the reward isn’t enough, he’ll give you 75 extra gold.
Then head over to Sarah Toone’s house to give her the deed to the mine.
You’ll receive 4500 exp and a filament sword. (You could also give the deed
to Percival for 1700 experience and 500 gold.) If you still haven’t
completed the quest for the Shrouded Hills blacksmith, you can now go to the
Toone mine and pick up some pure ore from the room where Bessie used to be.
Lastly, talk to all of the elite bow guards. One of them should turn out to
be Kietzel Pierce’s lost student, Dudley Crosston. Crosston won’t be
thrilled to see you, but that’s all you can do in that quest for now.
With all of the side quests taken care of, exit town and head north to Liam’s
Workshop. Along the way, you might want to stop at the Wolf Cave (1230W,
1530S) to pick up some extra experience and a set of lock picks (plus some
random magical equipment).
You’ll start at the end of a dirt path. Follow the path west and you’ll come
upon Liam’s workshop. Go inside and loot everything you can find. You
should pick up (among other things) Liam’s journal, a scroll of disperse
magic, and a magic trap. If you read the journal you’ll discover that Liam
found a magic portal that was letting strange creatures into the forest, and
that he thought the scroll of disperse magic or the magic trap could destroy
it.
So exit the workshop and follow the path as it heads south and then loops
around to the west. You’ll encounter some of the strange creatures Liam
mentioned in his journal, and eventually you’ll come to Liam’s corpse. Save
your game here.
About two screens away to the west, you’ll find the portal. To destroy it,
put the magic trap or the scroll of disperse magic (depending on your
aptitude) in one of your hotkey slots, and then, as soon as you see the
portal, hit the hotkey and target the portal. The portal will disappear and
the creatures will die.
However, you don’t have to destroy the portal right away. If you kill any of
the creatures guarding the portal, the portal will replace them, and you can
keep killing them for extra experience. Eventually (or so I’ve heard) the
portal will stop producing creatures, but you can still take the opportunity
to get your character to level 20 (if it’s not already there). Don’t use the
portal to gain too much experience or else the rest of the game will get
boring.
Once you’ve destroyed the portal, head back to Black Root to let Lydia
Cameron know about her son. Depending on your aptitude (or perhaps the
method you used to destroy the portal), she’ll either give you a mage’s
dagger or a chapeau of magnetic inversion.
Now you can head to the Black Mountain Mines.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 10.10 BLACK MOUNTAIN MINES |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
_______
Level 1 |2 3 4| Legend
------- |_ ___ _|
| | | | 1 Stairs from Level 1 to Level 2
____|X| | |____ 2 Stairs from Level 1 to Level 2
__ | ____| |____ | __ 3 Stairs from Level 1 to Level 3
| 1|__| | | |__| 5| 4 Stairs from Level 1 to Level 4
| __ | | __ | 5 Stairs from Level 1 to Level 4
|__| | | _____ | | |__|
| |__| |__| | F Forge
|____ _X__| G Ore Golem
|__ __| M Seething Mass
| | P Plant Room
| | R Throne Room
__| | S Rock Sprite
Start |____| T Treasure
The Black Mountain Mines basically comprise a great big dungeon, and they’ll
cause you three types of problems:
1. You’ll run into traps everywhere, so make sure you have a healer with you
(or make sure you can spot and disarm traps).
2. You’ll find some high level creatures to kill: rock sprites (level 15),
seething masses (20), ore golems (25), and granite rats (30).
3. Rock sprites, ore golems, and seething masses will damage most melee
weapons when you hit them. Ranged weapons and spells seem to work fine, but
otherwise you’ll need to use a backup weapon that you don’t care about, or
use gloves (war gauntlets are fine). Also, seething masses will damage body
armor when they hit you, so be sure to strip when you run into them.
All you have to do in the mines is kill stuff and work your way to GUDMUND
ORE BENDER on Level 3. Once you reach Gudmund, you’ll discover that the
Black Mountain Clan was exiled to the Isle of Despair, and that LOGHAIRE of
the Wheel Clan and elves were involved.
“I spit on the judgment of the Wheel Clan.” -- Gudmund Ore Bender
Once you’ve talked to Gudmund, click on the Pillar of Truth for a more
coherent explanation of what happened, and then, if you want, click on
Gudmund again for even more clarification. There isn’t anything else that
you need to do in the mines, so you can just leave (a scroll of exiting is
useful here). But note that there are some useful things you can pick up
while you’re here: herbology components in the Plant Room; mechanized
gauntlets, eye gear and a pyrotechnic bow schematic at the Forge; and two
kathorn crystals in the Throne Room.
Once you’re done with the mines, head back to Tarant and report to Gilbert
Bates. When you tell him that the Black Mountain Clan was exiled to the Isle
of Despair, he’ll ask for you to go there and find them. Further, he’ll
offer the services of a captain in his employ, EDWARD TEACH, and suggest you
seek him out in Ashbury.
If you have 3 ranks of persuasion, ask Bates what the Isle of Despair is, and
then ask if his indebtedness will run to more than 300 gold this time. He’ll
give you 450 gold for expenses. (Cheapskate.)
Also, after accepting Bates’ quest to go to the Isle of Despair, you can ask
his bodyguard Chukka to go with you (sometimes). If you’re a half-ogre it’s
useful to have Chukka join (if only briefly) just to get his smoking jacket.
Before going to Ashbury, take some time to explore the Boil.
“That is the Boil in there. You will never find a more wretched hive
of scum and villainy. You may enter at your own risk, but I wouldn’t
recommend it.” -- Tarant Officer
There are two sides to the Boil. The northwestern side mostly belongs to the
Maug Clan, and the southeastern side completely belongs to the Pollock Gang.
To start out, go into the northwestern side, kill the bandits that attack
you, and then enter the (unnamed) pub.
You’ll find quite a few people inside. If you talk to the halfling near the
door, he’ll give you an introduction to MIRANDA TEARS (Pollock Gang), who is
standing next to the bar. If you talk to the half-orc sitting off to one
side, he’ll introduce you to MUGGS (Maug Clan), who is standing in the
corner. If you want to join the Pollock Gang, talk to Tears; otherwise talk
to Muggs. It doesn’t make any real difference which side you join, but the
Pollock Gang seems to be the “nicer” (and more difficult) of the two.
If you join the Pollock Gang, Tears will ask you to fetch some ale from
Maug’s warehouse. The warehouse is to the northwest, and you’ll find it
guarded by two of Maug’s henchmen. They should be easy to kill, and one
should have the key to the warehouse. Then just grab the ale from inside and
deliver it to Tears. She’ll tell you to talk to Pollock for your next job.
So go to the other side of the Boil and talk to POLLOCK. He’ll ask you to
kill his rival, DAMIAN MAUG, but he’ll give you some help. If you say you’re
a magic user he’ll give you scrolls of nightmare, shrink, and unlocking
cantrip; and if you say you’re a tech user, he’ll give you an energizer
potion, an exploding grenade, and a hand cannon.
Maug lives on the opposite side of the Boil, and to get to him you’ll have to
kill several level 30 orc berserkers. They’re fast, so don’t try the combat
in real time. The berserkers are also separated, so, like the barbarians of
Kree, you can fight them one or two at a time, and they shouldn’t pose too
much of a problem. But if you do have trouble, stock up on some haste
potions. They can usually turn the tide in a tough battle. When you do get
to Maug, you’ll find that he’s level 40 -- but much easier to kill than the
berserkers. Once he’s dead, just go back to Pollock to collect your reward.
If you join the Maug Clan, Muggs will direct you to collect 200 gold from a
man named LARRS (located to the northwest). Larrs won’t have the money, so
you can either kill him or pay the debt for him. When you return to Muggs,
he’ll invite you to talk to Damian Maug himself. However, when you get to
his residence, “the Bentley” (the big building to the northwest), MILO the
doorman will require that you kill a half-orc named TREAT in order to gain
admittance. So head to the other side of the Boil and find Treat in a
building to the south. Treat will appear like a snake elemental, and after
you kill him and return to Milo, you’ll find out he was really a shapeshifter
and not a half-orc.
“Why do you think I didn’t do the job myself?” -- Milo
Now you can go in to see Maug. He’ll ask you to kill Pollock. If you’re
intelligent enough (or perhaps persuasive enough) you can ask for a weapon to
use against Pollock, and Maug will give you a repeater rifle. Now go back to
the other side of the Boil. It’s probably best to kill Pollock’s henchmen as
you find them, so when you get to Pollock he won’t have any help. Pollock is
level 40, but he won’t have a weapon equipped, and he won’t pose the same
sort of challenge as ore golems or seething masses. Once he’s dead, head
back to Maug to collect your reward.
You can also do a quest for the pub’s owner, CALEB MALLOY. He’ll tell you
that his whiskey shipments have been getting robbed, and he’ll ask you to go
meet BIGGS on the Garrillon Bridge to pick up the latest batch. When you
make the pick-up, one of two things will happen. If you joined the Pollock
Gang, you’ll simply be attacked by some orcs. Otherwise, MALEK NEBBS will
let you know that you’ve interrupted a Maug operation, and he’ll ask you to
hand over the whiskey. Then you can fight him and get the standard reward
for finishing the quest (500 gold and 3100 exp), or you can give him the
whiskey. If you choose the latter, you can let Malloy know who did it, or
you can keep the information to yourself. Either way Malloy will give you
100 gold for your trouble -- and he’ll keep giving you 100 gold each time you
talk to him, so you can gain as much money as you want.
Now you can head on out to Ashbury. If you’re not a magic user, this is the
perfect time to try out the train station in Tarant.
“All aboard for Ashbury! All aboard!” -- Train conductor
If you choose to walk, you might want to visit the Ancient Temple (776W,
920S) along the way. At the temple you can learn some background information
about the Derian-Ka and the Molochean Hand, plus pick up some magic loot.
The Lair of Bellerogrim (769W, 839S) is also a good place to visit. Once you
destroy some containers, you can go down a level and find the last testament
of Kraka-tur (a creature exiled to the Void).
As always, explore the town and talk to the people you meet. You’ll find a
few things of interest:
-- THEO BRIGHTSTART will have two quests for you, but they’re sort of
annoying and unrewarding, so you might want to skip them. First, he’ll ask
you to kill some pigs that have been eating his crops, and he’ll offer you 50
(or 75) coins for the job. The pigs are to the west, but they’re good
aligned creatures, and attacking them will annoy your good companions. So be
sure to have your good companions “wait here” so their reaction towards you
doesn’t drop.
Second, Theo will ask you to move some boulders for him, and he’ll offer 50
(or 100) coins for the job. The boulders all weigh 4000-5000 stone, so you
might have to drop / unequip some things before you can move them. But the
boulders are just objects, and the cart where you’re supposed to move them is
just a container, so there isn’t anything complicated in the task. If you
can’t find all five boulders, be sure to check your companions. Sometimes
they’re strong enough to pick one up.
-- WILLIAM THORNDOP will tell you about the Halcyon Order. He’ll also be
carrying a looking glass rifle that you might want to steal. (But he’s the
firearms master, so don’t kill him for it.)
“The Halcyon Order is a small movement and our belief system is
simple. We focus on the truth that all sentient beings were created
to dwell together in peace and harmony.” -- William Thorndop
-- On the eastern side of the inn, you’ll find a gnome kicking a dog. You
can either pay the gnome or threaten him to drive him off, and the dog will
then join your group. Note: It’s not clear just when the gnome starts
kicking the dog, so you might want to head to the scene as soon as you reach
Ashbury if you want the dog in your group.
-- Outside City Hall, you’ll meet CHESTER MILLER, the mayor. He’ll tell you
that the town wants to build a monument to LORD BETTINGTON, “the greatest man
ever to come out of Ashbury,” but that it can’t decide on anything about it.
Agree to help him, but before going inside to the podium, check your
intelligence. This quest requires at least 10 intelligence (and perhaps some
persuasion if it’s that low), so if you’re not smart enough, go to the elven
trader outside the spectacles shop and buy some essence of intellect.
Then, when the citizens start asking you questions, give the responses that
start with
-- “It is right and fitting...”
-- “Hierarchical design principles...”
-- “An issue of municipal bonds...”
-- “We will bid the project...”
-- “Probably a metal statue...”
-- “Take an inch...”
and the citzens will go away happy, and you’ll earn about 2000 exp when you
talk to the mayor next. Note that if you’re using essence of intellect,
you’ll have to give your answers quickly so the potion doesn’t run out before
the questions do.
“You’re a loon!” -- Ashbury citizen, upon giving an incorrect answer
-- Outside 12 Trellis Way, you’ll meet THEODORE. He’ll ask you to retrieve
some mechanized plate from the house of an eccentric scientist who hasn’t
been seen for two weeks. Agree to do it. Conveniently, the scientist lives
at 12 Trellis Way, so just go inside. You’ll find a mechanized arachnid plus
an automaton to kill, and they’ll both damage weapons like the ore golems
did. If you have Dog with you, he’ll just rip them apart, but otherwise use
backup weapons or gloves to kill them. Then give the plate to Theodore to
collect 200 (or 300) gold, plus 800 exp. Of course, if you’re a tech user,
you might just want to keep the plate or steal it back from Theodore after
you deliver it to him.
-- Inside 14 Trellis Way, you’ll meet KENDRICK WALES, an author. He’ll let
you know that he’s written a new book, but he won’t tell you anything about
it. (Kendrick will be more important later in the game, so just remember
where he is.)
“I’m not one to sound my own virtues, but I must admit that it’s a
masterpiece! A true example of scholarly pursuit!” -- Kendrick Wales
-- At the cemetery gates, you’ll find GEOFFREY TARELLOND-ASHE. He’ll give
you some background information about why the zombies might be rising from
their graves, and he’ll ask you to give him whatever object is causing the
problem. If you’re evil, he’ll even join your group to help.
Regardless, work your way to the cemetery chapel, killing whatever zombies
get in your way. (Or, if you need experience, just sit around and kill them
for a while.) Inside you’ll find two fire elementals guarding an inferno
hammer (D 1-8, FT 1-10, FD 5-10) in the furnace, but unless you really want
the hammer or are a glutton for punishment, just skip them. Then head down
into the catacombs, kill a bunch of zombies, putrid walkers, and gore guards,
and pick up the gem in the burial room past the passage. (You can also pick
up the mace of the damned in one of the caskets.) When you give the gem to
Geoffrey, you’ll receive 500 gold and 1500 exp.
With Ashbury’s quests done, you can either head right out to the Isle of
Despair (by talking to Edward Teach), or you can explore the Haunted Castle
first. The Haunted Castle isn’t involved in any quests, and it doesn’t
provide any exciting equipment (unless you’re an evil mage), but you can get
some decent experience there. Plus, it’s atmospheric, and you’ve always
wanted to meet the Lord of the Damned anyway, right?
Regardless, before you leave you might want to pick open the barrel next to
Teach’s ship. You’ll have to turn Teach around so he doesn’t notice you
(stand on the opposite side and talk to him), but once you open it you’ll
find a copy of “The Hand” by Frederick von Hapsgood. It’s a book you might
be able to use on the Isle of Despair.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 10.13 ISLE OF DESPAIR |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
F _ North
__________________ /|
__/ \_ /
/ _________________ \
/ __/ _________ \ \_
/ / ___| ____ | \_ \
| / _| | T | |__ \ \
/ / _| | | | \ \ Legend
|__| | ___ |____| _ |_ \
__ | | | O |_| |_ \ C Cynthia Boggs
| | | |___| _ G ___ | | F Footprints
| | | ___ / \ | J | | | G Gorrin
| | || | | Pit | |___| | | J Jones the Collector
| | ||___| \ _ / ___ | | N Norian
| | | ___ | | | | O Ogdin
\ |_ | N | C|___| | | T Thorvald Two Stones
\ |_ |___| ___ __| |
\_ |_______|___|_____| |
\ Gate /
\________ ________/
| |
______/ \__
To start off, save your game. Once you leave the Isle of Despair, you won’t
be able to come back, so just in case you mess something up, it’s better to
be safe than sorry.
You’ll start out on the island next to Teach’s ship. Follow the path to the
west, and shortly you’ll arrive at an enclave. Talk to the gate guard, and
he’ll let you know that THORVALD TWO STONES is in charge of the enclave, and
that he has a personal guard named OGDIN.
The guard might also tell you of a “sorcerous beast” that has been troubling
the enclave. (If he doesn’t offer you the quest, you can kill the beast and
then come back to trigger it.) Agree to kill the beast and then head west
around the outer walls of the base. If you stick to the coast you should
find some shallows that allow you to cross the water. From there, stay with
the coast but head north and then east, and you should find some footprints.
If you follow the footprints, you’ll arrive at the beast’s lair. The beast
is a level 29 “temporal crusher” and it can apparently freeze an opponent for
a short amount of time. So attacking it without followers might be
difficult, but otherwise it should pose no problem.
After the beast is dead, explore its lair to find a junk pile with baneful
gauntlets (bad) and a charmed ring (PR 5, FR 5, ER 5, MR 5) in it. Then go
back to the starting point of the footprints and travel east. You’ll
eventually come to a trail leading northeast. If you follow the trail you’ll
find a chest (hidden behind the trees) with 1837 gold in it. Now head back
to the enclave to receive your reward for killing the crusher: a serpentine
necklace (poison heal rate x2, reaction -5), plus 1200 exp. Finally, enter
the enclave.
On the eastern side of the enclave you’ll meet CYNTHIA BOGGS. She’ll tell
you how she has been “abused and treated like common property,” and she’ll
ask you to rescue her. She’ll also tell you of a nomadic group of women who
live on the island, who might take her in if she can escape from the enclave.
Agree to help her, and she’ll mark the location of the women’s camp on your
map. If you’re male, she’ll also give you a white scarf.
In the building next to the one where Boggs is standing, you’ll meet JONES
THE COLLECTOR. He’ll ask you to pick up some technological items from Shades
Beach, and he’ll offer a strange weapon as a reward. When you agree to help,
he’ll mark the location of the beach on your map.
In a building on the southern side, you’ll find Norian. He’ll tell you that
he makes potato moonshine, and he’ll ask you to deliver some to a man named
MAXIMILLIAN, who lives outside the enclave. If you agree to do the delivery
for him, he’ll give you some moonshine and mark Maximillian’s location on
your world map.
“You never know what some of old Norian’s moonshine is worth.” -- Norian
Finally, you can talk to Ogdin in front of the large building to the north.
He’ll let you know that Thorvald is the only dwarf on the island. He’ll also
tell you that the only way to meet Thorvald is to prove yourself “on the
field of battle.” If you’re persuasive or have a copy of “The Hand,” you can
skip the combat and go right in, but otherwise you’ll have to talk to GORRIN
and schedule a fight in the pits.
There are five battles in the pits:
1. Borag, a level 10 half-ogre
2. A level 12 human bandit
3. A level 11 elven thief
4. A level 14 human bandit
5. Three level 15 halflings (kill the spellcasters first because they can
summon demons and fire elementals)
You only have to win the first battle to see Thorvald, but if you can win all
five you’ll gain a reputation as “Champion of the Pit.”
Note: You’ll have to fight the battles alone, and to do so you’ll have to ask
all of your party members to wait for you. Since there are some bugs in the
game with joining and rejoining (especially with Magnus), save your game
before asking anybody to wait, and then make sure everybody will hook back up
with you before continuing. If you find that you’ll lose a party member by
fighting in the pit, you can instead just fight your way to see Thorvald and
kill him for the information you need. It’s not pretty, but it works.
But supposing you gain access to Thorvald in the normal way, he’ll confirm
that the Black Mountain Clan isn’t on the island, and he’ll suggest that you
talk to the Wheel Clan about it. Thorvald will then mark the location of the
Wheel Clan on your map, and he’ll let you know that you’ll need special
glasses in order to see the entrance to the clan’s home.
“The whole clan gone? My clan involving themselves with magicks?
None of this makes sense!” -- Thorvald Two Stones
From here you can proceed in a variety of ways. Thorvald has the glasses you
need, and you can either convince him to join your party (which requires 3
ranks of persuasion) or you can simply convince him to give you the glasses
(which requires 9 intelligence or very low intelligence). You can also kill
him or rob him to get the glasses, or you can loot the chest in his room to
get a schematic for the glasses. Lastly, you can go to the spectacles shop
in Ashbury and ask the proprietor there to make you a pair (ask about his
wares). But note that the schematic and the shop require kathorn crystals,
so if you don’t have any, it’s probably best to get Thorvald’s glasses -- by
whatever means necessary.
Whichever choice you make, go ahead and leave the enclave, and then start
working on all the side quests you discovered earlier:
-- At Maximillian’s house, after dropping off the moonshine, you can talk to
Maximillian and learn that he’s really the heir to the throne of Cumbria.
He’ll then ask you to contact Lianna Pel Dar (in Dernholm) and let her know
about his situation.
“I can still hear her, you know... the stone walls of Dernholm, the
rolling hills and vales, the trumpet blast of the Dragon Knights
marching to battle.” -- Maximillian
-- At Shades Beach, you’ll find the wreckage of a strange craft guarded by
some spiders. The craft is a submarine (you’ll learn more about it later),
and you should find six “ancient” technological items near it: two
schematics, a filament, a pocket watch, a looking glass, and some gears.
Jones will take any of the items other than the schematics.
-- At the women’s camp, you’ll find several women standing around a fire. If
you’re male, make sure you’re wearing the white scarf on your head before
entering the area, or the women will attack you and you’ll botch the quest.
When you talk to LORRIA, the leader of the group, you’ll find that the women
are not interested in helping Boggs escape. All they’ll do is provide you
with a gun to give her. You’ll have to help Boggs yourself.
“Better to die fighting than to live a torturous life.” -- Lorria
So head back to the enclave, report to Norian and Jones to complete their
quests, and then talk to Boggs. If you just give her the gun and tell her to
escape on her own, she'll start attacking the gate guards and get mowed down.
(And, amusingly, if your companions are close enough, they’ll help kill her.)
Instead, offer to help, but don’t leave through the front gate, or you’ll
just have to attack the guards yourself. There are numerous windows in the
walls of the camp, and while they’re all locked, they’re all easy to pick.
So just head east to the wall, open a window, and escape the camp that way.
If a guard tells Boggs to stop following you, inform him that she’s your
property now, and he’ll go away. When you talk to Lorria again, Boggs will
leave your group. You won’t get any experience for completing the quest, but
you can always keep the scarf or Boggs’ locket as a memento of your time
together.
Note: You can also take Boggs with you when you return to Ashbury. I’ve
heard people say you get a fate point for doing this, but I’ve never gotten
one myself.
That’s it for the Isle of Despair, so head back to the mainland. But before
going to the Wheel Clan, you might want to stop at the Ancient Shipwreck
(499W, 892S). At night skeletons appear there, and they always seem to have
kathorn crystals on them. So if you need some, that’s a good place to look.
Also, if you go to Tarant and report in to Bates, he’ll give you some gold.
Lastly, on the way to the Wheel Clan, you’ll probably have a random encounter
with Arronax (or it might happen at the Wheel Clan entrance itself). He’ll
just taunt you a little, and there isn’t anything you can do about it.
“I am returning. It has already been set in motion, and there’s
nothing you can do about it. I am returning, and all will fall.”
-- Arronax
When you arrive at the home of the Wheel Clan, you’ll only see a blank rock
wall. To make the entrance appear, put on the kathorn spectacles and then
step into the stone square on the ground. Once you see the entrance, you
won’t need the spectacles any more, and you can get rid of them.
Inside, take the middle staircase on the first level, and then keep moving
northeast on the second level until you arrive at the throne room. You’ll
find a passage there in the northeastern wall (it might be hard to see), and
when you pass through it you’ll find RANDVER THUNDER STONE, Loghaire’s son
and the current King-in-Waiting. Save your game here.
When you talk to Randver, you should learn that Loghaire hasn’t been the same
since he sent the Black Mountain Clan into exile, and that he’s shut himself
into an area of the mines called the Dredge. At that point you should get a
dialogue option that starts with “I’m confused....” and then, if your
intelligence is high enough (10?), Randver should tell you about the Stone
and the Shape. During that conversation be sure to ask about Lorek and the
Clan Wars.
“As slate will flake and crack under the sculptor’s chisel, so will a
dwarf who knows not his purpose, knows not his Shape.” –- Randver
Thunder Stone
At the end of the conversation, one of two things should happen: either you
should realize that Randver has a secret passage he uses to contact his
father, or else Randver should give you permission to explore the Dredge so
you can fight your way to see his father. If neither of these happens, you
might want to reload and try the conversation again. Otherwise you’ll have
to kill the dwarf guarding the stairs to the Dredge in order to get in.
The staircase to the Dredge is on the eastern side of the level, near the
throne room. But before going down there, explore the rest of the Wheel
Clan’s home, especially level 3:
-- VEGARD MOLTEN FLOW will ask you to retrieve a family heirloom from the
Dredge.
-- ERICK OBSIDIAN, the local historian, will tell you about an ancient race
of dwarves called the Iron Clan. He’ll give you a schematic for a key to the
“Place of Iron” and ask you to give him the Durin Stone if you should somehow
find the place and get inside.
-- THRAYNE IRON HEART will ask you to deliver a message to his brother ERLAND
at the Stonecutter Clan. He’ll then mark the location of the clan on your
map. (However, in some games Thrayne will never get up from his bed, and you
won’t be able to do the quest.)
-- In the mines, ARVID MILLSTONE will tell you that something has been
killing miners lately, and he’ll ask you to solve the problem. You’ll find
that the problem is a bunch of spiders. (In fact, you might discover the
spiders long before Millstone.) Once you kill the spiders, return to
Millstone to become a hero of the Wheel Clan.
“Sometimes, when you dig this deep, you find things that weren’t ever
supposed to be found.” -- Arvid Millstone.
-- In the garden you’ll find an olive tree, and on the ground next to it
you’ll find some olive branches.
Even if you don’t have to go to the Dredge, you might want to anyway. There
are some nasty creatures down there -- ore golems, groups of brute fangs, and
more -- but you’ll gain a lot of experience, you’ll be able to complete
Vegard Molten Flow’s quest, and you’ll be able to find some mithril ore and a
schematic for mechanized platemail (in the room with the Grey King).
However, if you don’t find any mithril in the Dredge, or if you skip the
Dredge, you can always buy some from the dwarven smith.
Note: If Randver told you about the secret entrance to the Dredge, then you
won’t have permission to use the normal staircase. However, you can still
enter the Dredge by exiting Loghaire’s location to the southwest.
When you get to Loghaire, he’ll tell you that it was a delegation sent by the
SILVER LADY (queen of the elves) who demanded that the Black Mountain Clan be
exiled. He’ll also tell you that the elves threatened war, which is why he
complied. During the conversation you should get a dialogue option with
“That’s because your Stone is still true....” in it. From there you can
discuss the Shape and the Stone with Loghaire and eventually convince him to
retake his throne.
Also, Loghaire should become suspicious of his encounter with the elves, and
he should ask you to go to Qintarra to talk to them. He won’t know where
Qintarra is, but he’ll suggest you go to Stillwater to find out, and he’ll
mark Stillwater on your map. Lastly, he’ll give you a letter from the chief
of the elven delegation, someone named M’IN GORAD.
If you went down to the Dredge, go ahead and give Vegard Molten Flow his
heirloom -- a toy train -- and collect the reward: a miner’s helmet (AC 15)
plus 6400 exp.
“Were you expecting some ancient dwarven artifact, perhaps some lost
piece of technology? In this world of magick and myth, is it
impossible that something as simple as a toy wagon might have value?”
-- Vegard Molten Flow
You can’t complete either of the other Wheel Clan side quests for now, so
head on over to Stillwater. On the way, you might want to stop at the
Uncharted Cave (1048W, 695S). Inside you’ll find a nasty level 35 fire
elemental plus a magick ring (PR 10, FR 10, ER 10, MR 10).
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 10.15 STILLWATER |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
__
Legend |C | MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
|__| MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
A Adkin Chambers MMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMM
B Brigitte / Altar MMMMMMMMMMMMM __ MMM
C Cyrus’ House MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM |H | MMM
G Gildor Nightwalk MMMMMMMMMMMMMM |__| MMMM
H Stanley X. Hippington MMMMMMMMMMMMM MMM MMMMMM
M Myrth MMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMM MMMMMMMM
R Richard Leeks ___ MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM
X Giant Cave | | ___ MMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMM
Y Marley __ | B | | M | MMMMMMMMMM MM
|A | |_______| ___ |___| MMMMMMMMMM M
|__| | | | | MMMMMMMMMMM X M
| | |___| ___ MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM M
|_____| | G | MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM M
____ ______ |___| MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
| | | R | | MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
|____| o |___| | MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
Pub |__| MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
____ _____ MMMMMMMMMMMMM
| | | | MMMMMMMMMMMMMM
|____| | | MMMMMMMMMMMMMM
Shop |_____| MMMMMMMMMMMMM
Inn __
|Y | MMMM
|__| MMMM
Explore the town. You’ll find several people who will offer you quests:
-- RICHARD LEEKS (the blacksmith) will ask you to check in on CYRUS the
wizard. He’ll also give you some background on the Stillwater Giant (whose
statue is prominently displayed in the center of town).
“If there’s anyone in this land who knows more about blacksmithing
than I do, I’d be very surprised.” -- Richard Leeks
Cyrus’ house is on the northwestern edge of the town. When you get there
you’ll find that the house is empty, but you’ll see pools of blood and a set
of large footprints leading north. So follow the footprints for a while
until you come to a cave. When you go inside you’ll find Cyrus locked in a
cage. He’ll tell you that the ogre DROG BLACK TOOTH captured him -- and that
the ogre will be back just as soon as he finds something to spice up the
soup! However, don’t let Cyrus out yet. When you stop talking to him the
ogre will appear at the entrance to the cave, and if you let Cyrus out he’ll
immediately run in that direction and maybe get himself killed (thus botching
the quest). So instead go to the entrance yourself, kill Drog (who is
weaponless and only level 30), and get the key from his corpse. Now you can
let Cyrus out and collect the reward from Leeks.
“Thank the stars! It was going to be wizard stew for old Drog if you
hadn’t come along!” -- Cyrus
-- At the Bleeding Rose Inn, you can talk to the innkeeper and get a book
from Joachim. When you read the book, leave it open long enough for Virgil
to start a conversation (provided you still have Virgil with you).
-- BRIGITTE (head priestess for the Cult of Geshtianna) will tell you that
somebody has stolen the idol from Geshtianna’s altar. Agree to help her, and
then go to the local pub and listen to all of the rumors. You’ll find out
that MARLEY is suddenly much more popular than he used to be, so go over to
his house (on the southeastern part of town). If you’re persuasive, you can
convince Marley to give up the idol (in exchange for a blessing). Otherwise
you’ll have to rob him or kill him for the key, and then get the idol from
the large crate in the back of the house. When you bring the idol back to
Brigitte, you’ll receive a +1 beauty blessing -- plus other rewards, if you
feel so inclined.
“Perhaps you would spare me a moment to, uhm... instruct you in the
ways of the goddess?” -- Brigitte
-- GILDOR NIGHTWALK will tell you a story and give you a book to set up the
background for his quest -- to retrieve the Great Ruby of K’alru. He’ll then
mark the location of the ruby on your map. (Nightwalk is also wearing a ring
of concealment, but its “considerable” bonus to prowl is only +2.)
-- MYRTH will tell you the location of Qintarra, but first you’ll have to do
two things: you’ll have to get him to give you a straight answer, and you’ll
have to perform a quest for him (of course). To get the straight answer,
just give Myrth a taste of his own medicine. When he asks if you mind him
asking why you want to go to Qintarra, just say that you don’t mind, and then
make him wait two times. Then tell him, “I said I didn’t mind you asking,
not that I’d tell you.” He’ll enjoy that remark, and he’ll offer to let you
know the location of Qintarra, provided you can bring him back the pelt of
the Stillwater Giant. He’ll also suggest you talk to STANLEY XAVIER
HIPPINGTON, the local expert on the giant. (If Myrth is antagonistic when
you meet him, then take the dialogue option that starts with “Excuse ME,
elf...” and then end the conversation and speak to him again.)
If you decide you don’t like Myrth very much, or if your character isn’t able
to follow his word games, you can learn the location of Qintarra in another
way. Myrth is wearing an amulet named N’tala, which you might remember as
the amulet Gaylin was looking for way back in Shrouded Hills. If you get the
amulet from Myrth (one way or the other) and give it to Gaylin, she’ll tell
you where Qintarra is located. Of course, the amulet is nice (+1 strength,
+1 constitution, +100% healing rate), so you might want to get it just to get
it.
-- You’ll find Stanley Xavier Hippington (“renowned cryptozoologist”) in his
house on the northeastern edge of town. He’ll tell you that the Stillwater
Giant is a shapeshifter and that, to conserve energy, it usually takes the
form of a small, blue bunny. He’ll also tell you that the giant conveniently
lives in a cave nearby, and he’ll ask you to capture it.
So take the cage and scent Hippington gives you and travel north and then
east to the creature’s lair. Capturing the bunny / giant works just the same
way as closing the portal near Liam’s workshop: put the cage in one of your
hotkey slots, and then, as soon as you see the bunny, press the hotkey and
select the bunny. You don’t have to use the scent. When you take the caged
bunny back to Hippington, he’ll tell you that you need to get the giant
legitimized, and that you should see Dr. Tristan Fenwick of the Tarant
Zoological Society.
So once you’ve finished all the Stillwater side quests, journey back to
Tarant and talk to Fenwick. He probably won’t give you the response you were
hoping for, but he’ll direct you to H.T. Parnell’s museum, where you can buy
a (fake) Stillwater Giant pelt for 2000 gold. Go ahead and buy it or steal
it (Parnell is carrying the key to the case), and then trek all the way back
to Stillwater.
“Oh, I just love you practical jokers. A blue rabbit! Hah! Nice
paint work, though.” -- Dr. Tristan Fenwick
When you give the pelt to Myrth, you can either lie or tell the truth about
how you got it (lying might take some persuasion), and he’ll mark Qintarra on
your map. He’ll also mark a pass through the Stonewall Range so you can walk
there. I don’t think there’s anything you can do with the bunny in the cage
at this point, so feel free to stash it somewhere. Maybe it would look good
in Hippington’s house.
Before traveling to Qintarra, head on over to the Stonecutter Clan -- even if
you didn’t accept Thrayne Iron Heart’s quest to talk to his brother. You’ll
find some interesting background information while you’re there. The
location of the clan is (1344W, 886S).
Also, now that you’ve completed the Stillwater Giant quests, at some point
when traveling near Stillwater you might have a “random” encounter with a
blue bunny. It will, of course, turn into the Stillwater Giant, and once you
kill it you’ll get an authentic pelt. You can then sell the pelt to H.T.
Parnell for 2000 gold. (And there’s a money cheat with the transaction.
Offer the pelt to Parnell and then refuse his offer. Talk to him again and
ask to conclude the transaction. At that point you can ask more questions
and get the conclude transaction dialogue again, and you can repeat it as
much as you want and gain as much gold as you want.)
When you enter the clan’s home, you’ll find zombies wandering all over the
place. Kill the zombies and eventually work your way to a locked room with
some dwarves in it. The “dwarf technologist” will turn out to be Erland Iron
Heart, and he’ll tell you how he found an ancient necromancer’s laboratory
and accidentally created the zombies. Let Erland know his brother is looking
for him, accept the key that he gives you, and then go in search of the lab.
The passageway to the lab is behind a locked storage room. Erland’s key will
unlock the doors. When you get to the lab, you’ll find a level 30
“Bludgeoner” that will look more formidable than it really is. Once you’ve
killed it and the putrid walkers with it, loot the table in the room to find
a journal, a necromizer schematic, and a cursed ring and medallion. The
journal belonged to KERGHAN, the first necromancer, and you should read it to
learn a little more about him, Nasrudin, and Arronax.
Now head on to Qintarra. Unless you have the teleport spell, you’ll have to
make your way through Hardin’s Pass. There isn’t anything interesting to the
pass; just make your way generally south and west until you get to the other
side. Now you’ll be able to travel on the western side of the Stonewall
Range, and in the future you won’t have to stop at the pass to cross from one
side of the mountains to the other.
Enter the tree canopy to the north and talk to the guards next to the
passage. They should let you up into Qintarra. Once you’re there, explore
the area and talk to the people you meet:
-- WINDE (master of the hunt) will ask you to find a missing hunter. He’ll
mark a location on your map (the Bedokaan Village) where the hunter was last
known to be. When you get to the village, you’ll find the elf in a nearby
pit, and he’ll tell you that he didn’t do anything to provoke the lizard
people. If you’re not very diplomatic, you can find vine ropes on most of
the (red) lizard guards in the village. Then, if you kill the (green)
Bedokaan guard next to the pit, you can talk to the elf again to give him a
rope, and then talk to him one last time so he leaves the village.
If you’re more persuasive, you can head northeast of the pit and talk to the
(blue) lizard chief, KAN KERAI. It’s possible to have a long conversation
with him and convince him that not all warm-blooded creatures are the same
and that the elves haven’t done anything to his people. Then you can either
go out and kill the poachers who caused the problems, or you can convince
Kerai that the poachers are evil but humans in general aren’t. If you’re
persuasive enough to take the latter approach (it requires 3 ranks of
persuasion) and, if you tell Kerai your story, he’ll offer you the services
of WAROMON, who is standing at the altar dedicated to Makaal, southeast of
the pit. Then just talk to the elf (now outside the pit) so he leaves the
village.
“All warm-bloods know not our ways, the cold-blood ways.” –- Kan Kerai
Note: While the Poachers’ Camp will always appear on the world map, the
poachers themselves will only appear if you agree to kill them. Since the
poachers have an elephant gun and lots of bullets, you might want to take the
more violent approach just to pick up better equipment.
-- JORMUND (a dwarven wizard) will tell you that he is under contract to
serve an elven wizard named WRATH until either Wrath dies or Wrath lets him
go free. If you offer to talk to Wrath for him, Jormund will decline, but if
you head northeast to talk to Wrath anyway, you’ll find that he has been
murdered. So play the detective and examine the corpse. You’ll find a wine
glass with a “strange, pungent odor” to it.
When you go back to Jormund, you’ll find that the elves have put him under
arrest. So talk to the elf guard, and then talk to Jormund again. Jormund
will claim he didn’t do it, and he’ll ask you to help him out. Also, if you
show him the wine glass, he’ll suggest that it might have been poisoned, and
he’ll let you know that SHARPE is the local apothecary.
When you go over to Sharpe’s shop, you’ll find that his wife IVORY is there
instead. However, don’t go in and talk to her yet. Instead, wait until
22:00 when she leaves for the night. Then go in and either pick open or
break open the vase. Inside you’ll find a vial that once contained poison.
Then wait for morning and finally talk to Ivory. Select the dialogue option
about the vial, and eventually the two of you should come to the conclusion
that Wrath was so bitter about Ivory loving Sharpe that he actually killed
himself and tried to frame Sharpe for the deed. (If you’re persuasive
enough, you can talk to Ivory about the wine glass and then the vial, and the
conversation will sound better.)
Now you can take the vial to the elf guarding Jormund and convince him that
Wrath killed himself. Jormund will then give you the Staff of Xoranth (a
really fast two-handed weapon), and you’ll be able to add him to your group
if you want.
“We all know that elves do not have it in them to wantonly murder each
other over things like jealousy.” -- Ivory
-- ELLUMYN will ask you to get some mithril for him. (If you don’t have any
on you, you can get some at the Wheel Clan or the Stonecutter Clan). In
return you’ll receive Ellumyn’s Bow (a faster version of the elven hunter’s
bow) plus 1700 exp.
-- WHYSPER will give you a gem if you tell her your story. (The gem will
turn you invisible for several hours.) Also, Whysper will ask you to find
some essence of the Vol’ars Wisp. Sometimes you can find such a wisp in
random encounters near Qintarra, but otherwise you’ll have to wait until
later in the game to find one. Regardless, once you do have the essence and
return it to Whysper, she'll give you a scroll of succour beast.
-- SWYFT will ask you to guide her to Tarant. If you decide to do the quest,
you should take her right away; otherwise she’ll complain and then (almost
immediately) leave your group, botching the quest.
“Oooh! I get to go to Tarant! I’m so excited!” -- Swyft
-- When you ask RAVEN for an audience with her mother, the Silver Lady,
she’ll tell you that she’s too busy with other, more pressing matters, to
deal with you. If you offer to help, Raven will ask you to remove a group of
humans from Falcon’s Ache. But don’t rush off to complete the quest right
away. Instead, keep talking to Raven until you learn everything you can
about the Ache. In particular, you’ll find out that Falcon’s Ache is an
elven holy place, and that if you spill blood there, the spirits will exact
revenge. Plus, Raven will mark the location of the Ache on your map.
So head on over to Falcon’s Ache. When you get there, you’ll find some
surveyors, headed by WILLIAM BENCH of the Torringsdale Lumber Company. If
you’re persuasive (2 ranks is enough), you’ll eventually get the dialogue
option “I think I’ll be able to persuade you otherwise.” And from there you
can pretend to be a representative of Gilbert Bates and convince the
surveyors to leave. If you’re not persuasive, then you’ll have to be a
little tricky. Since the spirits of the Ache will punish anybody who spills
blood there -- and not just you -- if you can get the surveyors to attack
you, you’ll be able to get rid of them that way. So move far away from the
surveyors and tell your followers to wait. Then walk over to Bench and
insult him until he and his followers attack. As soon as one of the
surveyors hits you, the spirits will kill them all.
Now you can return to Raven and finally meet the Silver Lady. Listen to
everything she says, and then talk to Raven and listen to everything she says
as well. It’s ok if you don’t understand most of it. All you need to take
away is that M’in Gorad might be a Dark Elf, and that in order to find the
home of the Dark Elves, you’ll have to track down a human named Dr. Renford
A. Terwilliger, who was last known to be in Tarant.
“It’s an interesting thing about prophecies, traveler. They’re no
clearer to one such as myself, living both in and out of the stream,
than they are to you, walking on the shore.” -- The Silver Lady
So head on back to Tarant. When you get there, go to the Department of
Records and ask the clerk about Terwilliger. She won’t find anything, so
suggest she check back 50-100 years. She’ll find an obituary for
Terwilliger, and it will list him as the author of “T’sen-Ang: Horror Among
the Dark Elves.” You’ll then receive a quest to track down the book.
Note: If you discovered Terwilliger’s grave marker at the cemetery before
going to the Hall of Records, you can immediately ask the clerk to find his
obituary. Also, if you killed or otherwise can’t deal with the records
clerk, the obituary can be found in the rightmost filing cabinet in the
locked room nearby.
“Mr. Terwilliger’s publicist announced that the troubled author had
recently been undergoing treatment to aid with ongoing delusions that
someone was attempting to murder him for publishing his work.” -- from
Terwilliger’s obituary in the Tarantian
Your next stop should be the university library. They won’t have a copy of
“Horror” but they will have a copy of a related book, “Curse of T’sen-Ang” by
Kendrick Wales (who you might have met in Ashbury). If you’re feeling
generous, you can buy a lifetime membership to the library and get Wales’
book that way. Otherwise you can rob or kill the librarian to get the book.
When you read “Curse” you’ll find that everybody involved in publishing or
owning “Horror” has met an untimely end, but that one copy of the book still
remains. You’ll then receive a quest to find the owner of that last copy,
VICTOR MISK of Caladon.
At this point Caladon should show up on your world map, and you should be
able to ask ship captains to take you to there. So do just that.
A Adam Maxwell O Sobbing Onion 1 \
C Carrington’s house P Police HQ 2 | Murders
D Daniel McPherson S Shops 3 /
G Guardhouse T Telegraph Office
J Jonathon Sanders W Warehouse
M Museum Y Arthur Tyron
N Newspaper Office Z Old Sewer Entrance
As always, explore the town and talk to the people you meet:
-- At 9 Gray Wolf Terrace, LILLIAN MISK will tell you a couple things: that
her husband Victor died four days ago, and that, before he died, he hid his
copy of the book “somewhere that only he and his old Dad would know.” If you
keep talking to her, she’ll also ask you to find out who let Kendrick Wales
know that Victor had the book.
You can question the two servants -- WESLEY CARRINGTON the butler and BRINDA
the maid -- but you won’t learn anything interesting from them. However, you
can pick up Carrington’s passport from the couch and learn that he lives at
25 Dragon’s Turnabout. Also, if you’re interested in finding the Iron Clan,
you should grab the copy of “Durin’s Truth” sitting on display in the front
room. Lillian Misk is carrying the key to the case.
-- At the cemetery, you can dig up Victor Misk’s grave. You’ll need a shovel
to do it, and if you don’t have one, you can either steal one from BINGHAM
SCHULEFEST (the dwarf in the graveyard), or you can hire him to dig up the
grave for you (which results in you owning the shovel). Inside the grave
you’ll find a skull and a book “purchased at the Roseborough Gift Shop.” If
you ask Schulefest about the gift shop, he’ll mark Roseborough on your map.
You can also ask Lillian Misk about the gift shop.
Note: If you have Virgil with you, he’ll leave the group and wander over to
the eastern side of the graveyard to pay his respects at a grave marked for
LAWRENCE BRUMMOND. But when you talk to him, he’ll rejoin you.
-- At the Sobbing Onion, RYAN SANDERS will ask you to kill his father,
JONATHON, for 1000 gold. Jonathon is located at 5 Whytechurch Landing (just
to the north). It doesn’t seem to matter how persuasive you are; if you try
to tell Jonathon his son wants to kill him, he’ll just attack you. So take
the initiative and attack him, and then, once he’s dead, loot the house and
report back to Ryan for your reward. You can gouge Ryan for an extra 1000
gold, but then he’ll attack you, and some of the bar patrons won’t talk to
you any more.
-- At 15 Old King’s Way (the large building on the western side of town),
you’ll meet HIERONYMOUS MAXIM. He’ll tell you how his workshop was destroyed
and how ogres stole his heavier-than-air machines (which should sound
familiar). He’ll also tell you that the king’s advisors think his heavier-
than-air machines are a hoax and that he’s about to lose his funding. If you
give him the camera from the crash site (which contains a photo of his
machines in action) he’ll give you a medical arachnid (plus schematic) and
offer to build you a mechanized rifle if you can deliver him the necessary
parts (a loading mechanism and a Clarington rifle). You’ll also earn 9,900
experience.
“Those stupid, inbred, ignorant beasts! They destroyed my
masterpieces!” -- Hieronymous Maxim
-- At 25 Old King’s Way (the house with the rabbits in front), you’ll meet
DAVID WIT and his daughter CYNTHIA. They’ll tell you how something has been
eating their rabbits at night during the last lunar cycle. Agree to look
into the matter for them, and then watch their house during the night.
Without too much surprise, you’ll find that Cynthia is really a werewolf and
that she’s the one who has been eating the rabbits. Keep your followers back
so they don’t attack her, and then once she’s killed a rabbit go talk to
David again. He’ll beg you not to kill his daughter (so don’t), and he’ll
suggest you might find a cure for Cynthia at Tulla.
-- At 22 Dragon’s Turnabout, you’ll finally meet Arthur Tyron. He’ll tell
you how gnomes have been doing breeding experiments to create bodyguards, and
that the skulls were from their first experiments with orcs and elves. He’ll
then ask you to go to “Half-ogre Island” to find evidence of the breeding
experiments.
“They’ve enslaved women and are forcing them to breed with ogres, I
tell you!” -- Arthur Tyron
So just ask a ship captain to take you to Half-ogre Island (or teleport
there, if you can). When you get there, follow the path to a large
laboratory and find the safe inside. The safe should contain a journal about
the experiments plus a schematic for the potion of paralysis. However, when
you try to take the journal back to Tyron, you’ll find a gnome in his house
instead. The gnome will tell you about the gnomes and their experiments --
or maybe not -- and that’s basically where the quest ends. You can sell the
journal to the Tarantian, but if you go back later you’ll discover that the
reporter you sold it to was a fake. You can also go back to Tarant and sell
the skulls to the phrenologist, but he’s a gnome and is involved in the plot
as well.
“What have I told you that is real?” -- unidentified gnome
-- At 25 Dragon’s Turnabout (Wesley Carrington’s house), you should find a
note stating, “Dear Mr. Carrington: Enclosed is the payment we agreed upon.
Elmer Burbottom.” The note by itself isn’t enough to prove Carrington sold
out the Misks, but it gives you a name to check out the next time you’re in
Tarant.
-- At the palace, you can talk to PRINCE AUGUSTE FARAD. At some point, if
you visit Razors Pointe (1505W, 1772S), you’ll find a corpse carrying an
amulet. The amulet has the inscription, “To Aria, my love. Prince Auguste
Farad.” If you tell the prince that Aria is dead, and if you give him the
amulet, he’ll give you 1000 gold.
Note: Finding Aria is also a quest for King Praetor of Dernholm. (She’s his
daughter.) You can complete the quest by talking to Praetor the next time
you’re in Dernholm, and he’ll give you some gold as well.
-- At Shoreline Park, you can meet L.N. RENFORD (a gnome) and TARRY (a
halfling). If you talk to Renford he’ll tell you how Tarry sold their
gardening tools for three magic beans. If you’re feeling generous you can
give Renford 1000 gold for the beans, but otherwise it’s better to steal
them. The beans are essentially potions of full heal / resurrect, but you’ll
have to identify them to use them.
-- At Police Headquarters, CHIEF INSPECTOR HENDERSON will allow you to help
investigate the Whytechurch murders, and he’ll suggest you take a look at the
first two murder sites. (If you don’t get a dialogue option about the
murders, be sure you’ve read the newspaper lying in front of the Mushroom
Inn.) In the next room you can talk to RENEE who will tell you that the
murderer was slender and might be an elf.
“All I got workin for me are a group of slack jawed simians!”
-- Chief Inspector Henderson
So head to either of the two murder sites. They’re both the same, so it
doesn’t matter which one you go to. Inside you should notice a trap door
that won’t budge when you try to open it. Go back to police headquarters to
let Henderson know what you’ve found. He’ll send you off to a third murder
site, and at this one you should find the name “L’anamelach” written in green
blood. (You could also get the name by conjuring the spirit of either of the
first two victims.) Henderson will let you know that L’anamelach is a demon
name and suggest you get into contact with a demonologist.
“When do I get the case where I have to go to some nice tropical island
to solve it?” -- Chief Inspector Henderson
There’s a demonologist in Tarant. If you talked to him earlier in the game,
you can use the telegraph office to send him a telegram. But since you need
to go to Tarant anyway to look up Elmer Burbottom (plus do other things), you
should skip it and just make the trip.
But before leaving, you might want to do the Thieves Underground quests in
Caladon. They’re much easier than the ones in Tarant, and you don’t have to
be much of a thief to complete them. (But you do have to be a member of the
Thieves Underground to receive the quests, and you can only join in Tarant.)
The Thieves Underground quests in Caladon work just like the ones in Tarant,
except the fence is located in the back room of the Sobbing Onion, and the
thief who gives you the jobs is standing in front of the inn.
Here are the things to steal, their locations, and their rewards:
-- Caladon Crusading Chain; armory under guardhouse near Shoreline Park; 400
gold, 2200 exp. (The armor is pretty good for spellcasters, so you might
want to keep it.)
-- Chest of Gold; shipwreck south of town; 700 gold, 1000 exp. (You can also
grab some poisoned platemail and a small steam engine while you’re there.)
-- Magic Necklace; Mushroom Inn room three; 250 gold, 1500 exp. (When I
identify the necklace, it comes up as a “dark helm” but it’s really a
standard +40 MR amulet.)
-- Police file on Ryan Marshall; Police Headquarters; 300 gold, 3100 exp.
-- Sanders’ Pocketwatch; on Ryan Sanders at the Sobbing Onion; 300 gold, 1500
exp.
-- Staff of Restoration; Sanders residence; 500 gold, 2800 exp.
-- Tarant Postal Bag; dock warehouse; 350 gold, 2000 exp.
You’ll also receive two jobs from ADAM MAXWELL at 24 Dragon’s Turnabout:
-- The book “Divinations and Magicks for the Adept Wizard”; in the Misk
house; 250 (or 350) gold, 3100 exp.
-- The Necklace of Queen K’na S’ea; Caladon Museum; 550 (or 750) gold, 6400
exp. (The necklace is just a medallion of beauty in disguise.)
To get back to Tarant, you can either take a ship or you can travel overland
through the Gorgoth Pass (1500W, 1443S). Since you need to explore the pass
anyway to complete the Ancient Gods quest, you might as well take that route.
The pass has lots of nasty equipment-damaging creatures in it, but just keep
heading east and north, and eventually you’ll get to the other side. The
altar is on the northern edge of the pass, about 2/3 of the way across.
Back in Tarant, head over to the Hall of Records and discover that Elmer
Burbottom lives in Ashbury at 14 Trellis Way. (You can also ask about
Lawrence Brummond and find out that he was brutally murdered and had a
brother named Virgil.) Then head north to the university and sell the skulls
to the phrenologist. Finally, visit Professor Eakins the demonologist (west
of the phrenologist) and talk to him about L’anamelach. He’ll give you some
background information on the demon, and he’ll tell you how to kill it:
retrieve the Sword of Xerxes from the Pit of Fires, and then use the sword
against the demon.
“Who in their right mind would try to take a demon into their body,
thinking they could contain it?” -- Professor Eakins
You can also finally meet EDWARD WILLOUGHSBY while you’re in town. If you
approach his house, he’ll come out with his bodyguard and a wizard named
PERRIMAN SMYTHE. If you talk to Willoughsby, he’ll ask you to meet him at
his office (in the Department of Water / Hall of Records building) in an
hour. If you talk to Smythe and tell him your story, he’ll offer to join
you. You can also ask him about his adventures with Willoughsby, and he’ll
mention that CHADWICK MOORE has been pestering him to write a story about it.
That’s interesting because one of the loading screens for the game shows a
copy of Arcanum Tales with the story from Moore in it. (That’s Smythe on the
cover.)
So go talk to Willoughsby (you don’t have to wait an hour). There are two
things he’ll do for you. If you have enough persuasion to receive master
training, he’ll give you a quest to go to Caladon and convince the king’s
advisors there to have Caladon join Tarant and Ashbury in the Unified
Kingdom. He’ll also mention that he’s taking “personal measures” to clean up
the Boil. If you press him for details, he’ll suggest you talk to somebody
named SEBASTIAN at Caleb Malloy’s pub.
When you leave Willoughsby’s office, you’ll be approached by HEINRICH JENKS.
If you listen to him long enough he’ll ask you to kill King Farad of Caladon
(as an evil option to Willoughsby’s quest). However, doing Jenks’ quest will
seriously mess up Caladon for you, so you should probably avoid it even
though the payment is 20,000 gold. Note: You can accept the quest and then
tell Willoughsby about it, but nothing seems to come of it.
At the Boil, you can talk to Sebastian and find out just what Willoughsby
meant by “personal measures.” It seems he wants the leaders of the two rival
gangs dead, and so Sebastian will ask you to kill whichever leader you didn’t
kill before (or both, presumably, if you didn’t kill either). This should be
a pretty easy task, and when you return to Sebastian, he’ll offer to join
your group.
Now make a quick trip to Ashbury to check out 14 Trellis Way. You’ll arrive
just as an elf assassin deals a mortal blow to Kendrick Wales (author of
“Curse of T’sen-Ang”), but you’ll still have time to learn that Elmer
Burbottom is Wales’ real name and that Wales paid Wesley Carrington for the
information he got about “Horror Among the Dark Elves.”
Finally, make the trek to the Pit of Fires.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 10.21 PIT OF FIRES |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
_____
Legend |T |___________________________
| E _________________________ |
E Fire Elementals |_ _| | |
G Other Group (Remains) | | | |
M Seething Masses ______________| |____ | |
P Pit of Lava | ______ ________ | _| |_
T Treasure | | | | | | ____| |
| | | |________| | | __ E G|
| | |_____ ____| | | |_ _|
| |_ | | | | | |
|_ | | |____________________| | _| |_
| | |M _________ __________| | M|
__| | |_| _| |_ | P |
|____| | | |_____|
Exit |T M |
|_____|
The Pit of Fires is a small dungeon -- and you don’t even necessarily have to
go inside. If you have at least three ranks of persuasion, you can talk to
the four adventurers waiting outside the entrance, exaggerate the powers of
the demon, and convince them to go in and retrieve the Sword of Xerxes for
you.
“Gads! We must stop this beast now! Damned be our measly fortunes!”
-- Jyheired
Otherwise, if you decide to go inside, be prepared for fire elementals and
seething masses. That is, have extra weapons (and perhaps armor) for your
followers, and stock up on some haste potions. Most of the creatures in the
area are spaced apart widely enough that you can fight them one or two at a
time, and that’s the best way to approach them. Also, be careful when you
get to the Pit of Lava (where the Sword of Xerxes is kept). Accessing the
“container” causes fire damage.
When you’re ready to move on, head back to Caladon.
In Caladon, let Lillian Misk know that the butler did it, and she’ll tell you
that he was recently found dead with a dagger in his heart -- another victim
of the curse. Then go over to police headquarters and tell Chief Inspector
Henderson that you found the Blade of Xerxes. He’ll give you permission to
access the old sewers via the small building to the east.
The old sewers aren’t very big, and it shouldn’t take you long to find
VINCENT, the possessed elf. When you get to him, talk to him briefly and
then attack him. Make sure you’re the only one attacking him, and make sure
you have the Blade of Xerxes equipped. If you’ve done everything correctly,
the demon won’t appear and you’ll receive a log entry (for finishing the
quest) when Vincent dies. Then you can go back to police headquarters, and
Henderson will give you a 2000 gold reward for killing the murderer.
At this point you might also want to go to the new sewers. You’ll find some
fairly easy combat there, plus some arcane gauntlets and other (good) random
magical equipment. But ignore the passages for now. When you’re ready to
move on, head to Roseborough.
Roseborough is a small town without much to see or do. It is the home of the
Ring of Brodgar, which will become important later, but for now the only
really important place is the town cemetery. There you can dig up Phillip
Misk’s grave to find a copy of “Horror Among the Dark Elves.” When you read
the book, you’ll discover the location of T’sen-Ang.
But, of course, there are also some side quests to the town, and you can find
them all at the Roseborough Inn:
-- JASON C. GUY will tell you that the wards guarding the Ring of Brodgar are
weakening. He’ll also ask you to look for signs of ancient technology for
him so he can prove his theory about magic and technology working in cycles.
(You’ll find the technology he’s looking for in Vendigroth, but you don’t
seem to get any experience or anything for letting Guy know about it.)
-- Next to Guy you can talk to TREVOR LYNWOOD, a journalist for the
Tarantian. He’ll tell you about his troubles with the Lethe Wyvern, and if
you offer to take a picture of it for him, he’ll give you his camera and show
you the place on your map where you can find the beast.
When you get to the location, finding the wyvern might be difficult because
it moves around. However, I’ve had some luck immediately moving my party
east to an outcropping of rocks, and then moving them north. The wyvern is
usually in that area somewhere. When you find it, operate the camera on it
(you should hear a click), and then, if you want, go ahead and kill it. It’s
not too tough to kill. Then be sure to find the bridge so you can cross over
the river and more easily get to the Glimmering Forest.
“I’ve seen it! A truly horrible beast! I caught the merest glimpse....
but that was all it took!” -- Trevor Lynnwood
-- You can also talk to the innkeepers about the matchbook (from the crash
site) if you still have it. They’ll give you some information about
Stennar’s activities as he passed through Roseborough. They’ll also let you
know that he was planning to see Mr. Razzia in Caladon about obtaining a
passport.
“I told him... that he was in luck! The maiden voyage of the IFS
Zephyr would be leaving from Caladon shortly. It was surely to be the
quickest way to Tarant.” -- innkeeper
-- Lastly, there is a quest involving FREDERIK. If you listen to all of the
rumors for Roseborough, you’ll hear that there is a thieves cave in the
mountains nearby. The cave is located at (1550W, 1536S), but the entrance is
so small that only minute races and those affected by the shrink spell can
get in. In fact, if you’re a large race and if you don’t know the shrink
spell, then you should probably skip the quest. Scrolls of shrink aren’t
very common, and you’ll need two to complete the quest. But if you do get
inside the cave, you’ll find four halfling thieves. They’ll tell you about a
job they did at the Roseborough Inn and how Frederik ratted them out to the
local guards. They’ll then ask you to plant some of the loot on Frederik so
the guards will decide he did it instead. So take the statue they give you
and head back to the Roseborough Inn, plant the statue on Frederik, talk to
the guard in the barracks, and then report back to the thieves to complete
the quest. You can also simply tell the guards where the halflings are and
earn 150 gold.
Outside of the inn, there are also some training masters and a master-related
quest in Roseborough. EDMUND CRAIG is the backstab master, and he can be
found in a small house on the northern side of town. If you’re skilled
enough at picking locks, MRS. R.L. MORGAN will tell you how her son J.T. has
been locked up in Caladon’s prison, and she’ll ask you to free him. J.T.
MORGAN is the pick locks master, and if you get his lockpicks to him he’ll
train you. Lastly, if you successfully completed the dodge and melee master
quests you’ll find Adkin Chambers and Lady Druella in a house on the eastern
side of town.
When you’re ready to move on, head north to T’sen-Ang. Along the way you
might want to stop at the Old Lagoon (1695W, 1319S) because you can find some
Volar Wisps there (and pick up their essence for Whysper). You might also
want to check out the Broken Cathedral (1627W, 1207S). It has an arcane
chest, and you can usually find good magical equipment inside.
To get inside T’sen-Ang without violence, you must show the door guard an
amulet of the Molochean Hand. If you don’t have an amulet, then you have a
few options. The best one is probably to check Bingham Schulefest (the
dwarf) at the Caladon Cemetery. He should be wearing one. Otherwise, you
can try going back to the crash site and checking the ogre pilot there, or
you can check the assassin bodies at the Shrouded Hills inn, or you can check
the assassin bodies at the Black Mountain Mines. You can also just wander
around on the world map and hope you run into assassins.
Once you get inside, there are only a few interesting encounters:
-- Z’AN AL’URIN will offer to join your group if you’re evil and tell her
your name.
“Blind devotion to a cause is the easiest path to take, and the most
foolish.” -- Z’an Al’urin
-- You should also find a group of three ogres (MAUG, LUG, and THRALL) being
taunted by a dark elf. The wizard N’VAL N’OR is maintaining a spell over
them to keep them docile, but if you kill the wizard, the ogres will run free
and attack all of the dark elves in the city. Note that they’ll also attack
Z’an Al’urin, so if you want her to join your group at a later time, don’t do
Maug’s quest. You also probably shouldn’t do Maug’s quest until after you’ve
spoken with M’in Gorad.
“Maug kill all bad elf here. Crunch each bone one by one. Maug have
fun! Maug love tear dem in pieces!” -- Maug
-- You’ll find M’in Gorad alone in a room on the northernmost circle of the
city. If you’re persuasive, M’in Gorad will tell you that the Black Mountain
Clan was banished to the Void so that they could construct a means for
Arronax to break down the wards guarding Ring of Brodgar and return to the
world. (You might even be able to collect reward money for assassinating
yourself.) If you’re not persuasive, you’ll have to kill her and then read a
note on her body to gain the same information.
Note: If you’re evil you can join M’in Gorad and the dark elves, but there
are serious consequences. Qintarra will turn against you, you won’t be able
to go to Thanatos, and you won’t be able to complete any quests in Tulla
(including the magic college mastery quests).
-- Once you leave M’in Gorad’s chambers, you’ll meet GIDEON LAIER, First
Blade of the Molochean Hand (the “G.L.” from those assassin notes). He’ll
recognize who you are, and you can either convince him to leave you alone (by
mentioning that he’s working for Arronax), or you can just fight him. He’s
carrying a shield of force, elven boots, and a dagger of speed, so you might
want to kill him just for his loot.
If you have Virgil in your group, then the best course of action at this
point is to kill all of the dark elves in the city. The reason is because
Virgil will want to leave your group when you leave the city, but if the dark
elves are hostile to you, then the door guards outside will attack you as
soon as you exit the city, and Virgil will only leave if you talk to him or
go up and then back down the stairs. (If the guards aren’t hostile, then
Virgil will always talk to you and leave.)
In early versions of the game, Virgil’s departure changed him. He lost his
equipment, dropped to level 25, and became a pure spellcaster. But in the
latest version, Virgil doesn’t change at all, and so there’s no reason to let
him leave unless you want to know more about his history and finally meet
Elder Joachim.
If you have Vollinger with you, then he might take the opportunity to leave
you as well. He’ll mark Vollinger’s Meeting Place on your world map, and
he’ll ask you to meet him there alone. If you do so, he’ll reveal that he’s
an assassin with the Molochean Hand, and he’ll attempt to kill you.
Regardless of what you do with Virgil and Vollinger, your next stop should be
Qintarra. There you can give Whysper her Volar Wisp essence, and you can
talk to Raven and the Silver Lady. The Silver Lady will tell you that “your
answer lies with Nasrudin,” and Raven will suggest that you go to the First
Panarii Temple in Caladon to learn more about him. She’ll also offer to join
your group. So head south to Caladon.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 10.25 FIRST PANARII TEMPLE |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
If you lost Virgil and want to get him back, your first stop in the city
should be at the Sobbing Onion. Go into the back room (where Mr. Razzia the
thief fence is), and use the trapdoor to drop down into the basement. You’ll
hear a fight, but when you get to the scene of the commotion, you’ll find
Virgil dead and four angry bandits ready to kill you as well. Once you’ve
dispatched the bandits, check the chests in the room and pick up the scroll
of resurrection. Use it on Virgil, and you’ll end up having a conversation
with him and Elder Joachim. You’ll learn that Virgil’s brother died because
Virgil couldn’t pay his gambling debts, and that it was the four bandits in
the room who did the deed. Virgil will also offer to rejoin your group, so
go ahead and bring him back.
“Thank you. Thank you for bringing me back.” -- Virgil
Now you can head over to the First Panarii Temple. Inside, read the Archaeon
(the book in the lobby) and then go into the next room and talk to Alexander,
first acolyte of the temple. He’ll give you background information on all
sorts of things -- Nasrudin, Arronax, the Elven Council, St. Mannox, and more
-- but the important topic is the Void. When discussing the Void, tell
Alexander that people can come back from it, and then tell him your story.
He’ll be thrilled to recognize you as the Living One, and he’ll suggest that
you also tell your story to GUNTHER WILLHELM the historian, but avoid telling
it to HADRIAN the archeologist. Further, if you ask him who else you can
talk to concerning Panarii history, he’ll mention Hadrian and Gunther again,
and he’ll open the doors to the interior of the temple.
“This is an astronomical event! The return of Nasrudin! The final
battle! The end of all we know, and a new beginning!” -- Alexander
So go inside and talk to Hadrian and Gunther. Hadrian will tell you that the
remains of Nasrudin are in the catacombs, but that he’s never actually seen
them himself. Also, when you leave, he’ll mention that you can get into the
catacombs through the sewers, and he’ll hint that he wouldn’t mind having a
piece of Nasrudin’s skeleton, should you happen to find it. (If you have 4
ranks of persuasion, you can convince Hadrian that you’re an archeologist,
too, and he’ll give you more explicit directions to the remains, and he’ll
give you a password to get through one of the doors more easily.)
Gunther will tell you that he’s been finding discrepancies in the Archaeon,
and, if you talk to him enough, you’ll discover that an elf named K’an Hua
both discovered Nasrudin’s remains in the catacombs and witnessed Mannox’s
ascension. If you point out the “coincidence” to Gunther, you’ll be able to
tell him your story, which you should do.
So exit the temple and go into the sewers. There’s a sewer entrance right
next to the temple entrance, but it looks like a grate rather than a manhole.
If you use that sewer entrance, you’ll find a passage to the catacombs right
away (on the northwestern wall).
The catacombs aren’t very big, and it won’t take you long to come to a door
inscribed with “Knock no more times than three, if ye have not the key.”
That’s the door that Hadrian might have given you the password for. If you
don’t know the password, you can do one of two things: you can just bash it
down and then fight the storm soldiers that appear, or you can use the other
passage in the sewers, which opens up into a part of the catacombs beyond the
door.
Once you get past the door, go up the stairs and find yourself next to
Nasrudin’s sarcophagus. Open the sarcophagus and get the skull from inside,
and also look at the sarcophagus lid. Then go back the way you came and talk
to Hadrian. When you give him the skull, he’ll announce that it belongs to a
human rather than an elf, and when you mention that the skeleton was also
missing a finger, he’ll decide that it was really Mannox buried in Nasrudin’s
sarcophagus.
Next talk to Gunther and tell him what you’ve discovered. He’ll let you know
that the words on the sarcophagus lid mean something like “opposite” and
“truth,” and he’ll tell you that he’s found another discrepancy, that
Nasrudin probably lies on the island of Thanatos rather than Caladon. He’ll
also ask you to look into the mystery of Mannox, but his request won’t show
up in your quest or rumor log. (You can also talk to Alexander again before
leaving the temple, but his conversation seems to be a backup in case you
missed something with Gunther.)
To solve the mystery of Mannox, go back to Roseborough and examine the
directions on the stone in front of the Roseborough Inn. If you plot them
out, they’ll send you east and then southeast. Since one of the words on the
sarcophagus was “opposite,” instead head west and then northwest along the
coast (stay on the Roseborough map; don’t try to use the world map). You
should come to a wheel requiring a password, and when you click on it, it
should open to the other word on the sarcophagus, “truth.”
Inside, you’ll find Mannox’s sword and journal. The journal will let you
know what really happened with Mannox and K’an Hua. So go back to Caladon
and talk to Alexander again, and give him his family sword. He’ll take care
of the problem in the church. More importantly for your cause, you can now
talk to Hadrian again, and he’ll let you have the three objects in his
collection.
“It seems that we, the Panarii, have an important responsibility. Many
of your troubles, Living One, were born because we allowed ourselves to
be deceived for so many years.” -- Alexander
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 10.26 IRON CLAN |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
You should now have everything you need to find the Iron Clan. First, use
the iron key schematic to combine mithril ore (from the Wheel Clan) and a
heartstone (from the Bedokaan Village) to create the iron key. When you look
at your key log, it should be labeled as the “Key to the Iron Clan Chest.”
That’s a pretty broad hint, so go to the Zoological Society in Tarant and
unlock the chest there. Inside you’ll find three iron drums and a map to
“The Place of Lost Voices.”
So go to the Place, and you’ll find an ancient machine. A part of the
machine can be highlighted, and when you look at it the description will
mention that it has empty slots. So use the three iron drums on it (book,
key, and then symbol), and the machine will tell you to “find the book of
Durin’s Truth, for within its pages lies the key you seek.” When you look at
the book (from the Misk residence in Caladon), you’ll discover the entrance
to the Iron Clan.
At the entrance you’ll find a pedestal and a vault door (both labeled as
ancient iron devices). Use the glass key (from Hadrian’s collection in
Caladon) on the pedestal, and the vault door will open. When you go through
the door, you’ll find yourself in a large empty room, but in the room to the
northeast you’ll be attacked by several automatons. Since the automatons can
be nasty, and since they can damage weapons, you might want to prepare before
going in. Once the automatons are dead, you’ll be able to open three pillar-
like containers, and inside you’ll find some Iron Clan armor, an Iron Clan
hammer, and Durin’s Stone. To finish the quest, give Durin’s Stone to Erick
Obsidian at the Wheel Clan.
Note: If you have Magnus with you, then he’ll recognize the Iron Clan as his
lost clan, and you’ll earn a fate point. If Loghaire is with you as well,
then he’ll put Magnus in charge of the clan.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 10.27 ACQUIRING A SHIP |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Your next stop should be the island of Thanatos, but if you ask any of the
regular ship captains to take you there, they’ll refuse. And if you look for
Edward Teach in Ashbury, he won’t be there. So what do you do? Well, you go
to Black Root. There you’ll find three options:
1. If you have 50,000 gold, you can buy a ship from the ship builder.
(Hagglers can get the price down to 25,000 gold.) But it doesn’t matter too
much what the price is. The ship builder will stick around after the sale,
so you can kill him to get your money back if you want.
2. If you’re a master at gambling, you can gamble KILLIAN DRAKE to get Edward
Teach his ship back. Both Drake and Teach will be at the Sour Barnacle, and
if you talk to Teach, he’ll describe the three options to you.
3. Lastly, you can do the Stringy Pete quests. To trigger these, you can
either talk to Teach or you can talk to Salty Seadrick (keep buying him
drinks) and then steal his treasure map from him.
Even if you can buy or gamble for a ship, you might want to trigger the
Stringy Pete quests anyway. Stringy Pete and his companion skeletons are the
most difficult battle in the game, so they’re fun to fight just to see how it
goes. Also, if you have ogres in your party, you might want to kill Killian
Drake. His ogre bodyguards wear large basic plate mail.
Now, supposing you need to deal with Stringy Pete, go to his cove at (682W,
1341S) and walk south until you see a rowboat. When you click on the boat
you’ll arrive on a small island. In the center of the island you’ll find
Stringy Pete’s grave, and on the eastern side you’ll find a dock. Stringy
Pete should be on the dock.
When you talk to Pete, you’ll find out that he doesn’t enjoy being undead and
he doesn’t like haunting the waters of Arcanum. So he’ll agree to give you
his ship if you can break the curse keeping him in the mortal plain. To
break the curse, you’ll have to complete three tasks: give Stringy Pete’s
treasure to the Williamson family, restore the altar at Vooriden, and destroy
the weapon known as the Bangellian Scourge by placing it in the Bangellian
Furnace. Pete will give you the locations of all of the tasks, and none of
them should cause you problems. (However, in early versions of the game
there are some bugs with the quests, so watch out.)
“If’n you do these things, I’ll give you my word as a pirate that I’ll
give you my ship.” -- Stringy Pete
When you’re done, return to Pete and he’ll give you his ship. Then, to make
the ship work, just click on the helm (steering wheel) and you’ll get a list
of places to go. Since Thanatos is where you want to go, choose that as your
destination.
Follow the path south to find a small campsite. Examine the barrels until
you find one you can open, and then get the book from it. When you read the
book, two new locations will show up on your map. If you go to the Ashlag
village, you’ll only find a couple of arcane chests and some lesser gowraths.
So stop there briefly and then head to the land bridge.
When you get to the land bridge, follow the trail south until you come to an
opening in the trees. Inside the canopy you’ll find lots of creatures to
kill and some chests to loot, but none of it will likely be useful, unless
you really need the experience. So head south and west at every opportunity,
and keep your eyes peeled for the exit. It can be hard to see, but it’s on
one of the southern walls, in a “room” that hits the southern edge of the
overhead map.
Outside the canopy you’ll find a shack. When you go inside the shack you’ll
discover that Nasrudin is still alive, and you’ll hear a funny conversation
between him and Virgil if Virgil is still with you. Nasrudin will then tell
you that Arronax was his son, and he’ll fill you in on the story of Arronax’s
banishment. However, the conversation is a little bit buggy, and Nasrudin
will skip the reason for Arronax’s banishment, that he destroyed the
technological city of Vendigroth.
At this point, if you’re evil, Nasrudin will want proof of your sincerity,
and he’ll send you off to kill the Bogaroth (the creature that destroyed the
Ashlag Tribe). The Bogaroth is only level 20, so it’ll probably take longer
to make the round trip to its lair than it will to kill it.
Then, good or evil, Nasrudin will tell you that the people of Vendigroth
devised a way to kill wizards once they retreat into their protective shells,
and he’ll suggest that it’s the only way to kill Arronax in the Void. So
you’ll receive a new quest: to find the Vendigroth Device and then to return
with it to the Ring of Brodgar so Nasrudin can banish you to the Void where,
hopefully, you can use it to defeat Arronax. Nasrudin will also mark a new
location on your map, the Gateway to the (Vendigroth) Wastes. That should be
your next stop.
“The world out there is not mine; it only serves to remind me of my
failures.” -- Nasrudin
Note: Don’t kill Nasrudin. Doing so will send you straight to the Void, and
the game might be difficult to finish without the Vendigroth Device.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 10.29 GATEWAY TO THE WASTES |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
When you get to the Gateway, you’ll meet Weldo Rubin, “renowned halfling
adventurer.” If you ask him about his travels, he’ll tell you about finding
a strange device at some technological ruins, and he’ll also mention finding
a city with “no obvious entrance.”
The city that Weldo found is Tulla, and that’s where you want to go. To get
there, you have a few options: if Weldo likes you, he might just mark the
location on your map; otherwise you might be able to pay or coerce Weldo into
giving you the location, and, if all else fails, you can do a quest.
Supposing you have to do the quest, Weldo will mark the location of the
technological ruins on your map, and he’ll ask you to retrieve a sprocket
from the place. You’ll have to fight some level 7 lizards, but they
shouldn’t pose much of a problem. The sprocket (one of those “...groth”
sprockets) should be in a junk pile against one of the walls, and when you
take it to Weldo, he’ll mark Tulla on your map.
Note: If you’re polite when you meet Weldo (and don’t seem surprised that
there are halfling adventurers), or if you have at least 4 ranks of
persuasion, Weldo will offer to join you. Otherwise he’ll tell you that he
prefers to adventure alone.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 10.30 TULLA |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
_____
Legend _____| B2 |_________________
____________| ___ ___ |
A Starburst Symbol |D2 B1 ____ | | | | D3 |
A1 Divination | | | | | D4|___| |
A2 Meta | |____| |___| ___ |
A3 Mental | ___ | | C2 |
A4 Temporal |B3 | | B4|___| ______|
B Spiral Symbol ___| __ |___| | |
B1 Conveyance | | __| |
B2 Force o | o | A D | Main|
B3 Morph | | | Gate o B | Building|
B4 Phantasm o | o | E C |__ |
C Stick Figure Symbol |___ __ ___| | |
C1 Necromantic White | | | Maze ___ |______|
C2 Necromantic Black |A1 |___| Arch C4| | |
C3 Summoning | _________ |___| A3 |
C4 Nature | | Munk | ___ |
D Plus-in-Circle Symbol |D1 C1 |____ | A4| | |
D1 Earth |____________ |____| |___| C3 |
D2 Air |_____ A2 _________________|
D3 Water |_____|
D4 Fire
E Three-Pronged Symbol
Tulla is a city of mages. When you get there you’ll find out that you’re
expected, and the gate guard will let you enter. Inside you’ll find that the
city is pretty small, and that there isn’t too much to do. In fact, there
are only three quests in Tulla, two side quests and one (somewhat tedious)
main quest.
Here are the two side quests:
-- HERZOD MUNK will ask you to take his phantasm final for him, which
involves finding a way through Fa’al Kin’s maze. Accept the coin Munk gives
you, and then enter the archway to the west. You’ll arrive in a room with
two chests in it. Loot the chests and then touch the stone in the middle of
the room. You’ll be teleported to another room with another stone in it.
From here you have to keep wearing a piece of equipment from the chests and
then touching a stone to move forward. The “wearing order” is: none, ring,
amulet, helmet, boots, gauntlets, dagger, all, none. Be sure to pick up the
chalice in the last room; you’ll almost be standing on it, so it might be
difficult to spot. Then just give the chalice to Munk to earn your reward.
You might also want to unload the coin somewhere at this point so you don’t
accidentally re-enter the maze.
“How’s a fellow supposed to enjoy himself if his nose is always in the
books?” -- Herzod Munk
-- In the main building you’ll meet the master of the water college, V’ED
ECKES (on the eastern side). He’ll ask you to retrieve a gem of water purity
from a student waiting outside the gates. (Notice the parallels between this
quest and the original Fallout story.) If you’re persuasive, you can
convince the student, ALBERT, that he doesn’t belong in Tulla, and he’ll give
you the gem peaceably. Otherwise you’ll have to rob him or kill him for it.
Since he’s wearing machined platemail, you might want to kill him regardless.
But when you have the gem, take it back to Eckes for your reward.
“We cannot have immature minds that have been influenced by the outside
world living here.” -- V’ed Eckes
For the main quest, go to the main building and proceed northeast until you
reach the stairs. Go up the stairs and meet JORIAN at the end of the
hallway. He’ll tell you to examine the mural on the first floor, so go ahead
and do that (it’s next to the pink portal). In fact, you might want to take
the time to sketch the mural, or at least note how the small symbols (which
are magic college symbols) relate to the large symbols. Then go back
upstairs and talk to SIMEON TOR.
When you ask Tor about Vendigroth, he’ll tell you that only PELOJIAN, the
founder of Tulla, can answer your question. The problem is that Pelojian has
been dead for over a thousand years, and so you’ll have to figure out some
way to speak to his spirit, which appears at his pool in the town square
every night at midnight.
Well, obviously, the solution has something to do with those large and small
symbols from the mural. If you walk around outside the main building, you’ll
find four locked buildings with the large symbols on them, and you’ll find 16
pressure plates scattered around with the small symbols on them. What you
need to do is open the doors of the locked buildings by successively standing
on the correct pressure plates.
Here’s how to do it: Look at the mural of the building you want to open.
Start with the small symbol at the 12:00 position and stand on it. Then move
clockwise and step on the next three symbols in order. The last symbol
should always be right in front of the building you want to open.
If you don’t want to deal with the mural, here is the solution (remembering
that the small symbols represent magic colleges; check your character sheet
and press the “magic” button if you don’t remember which symbols go to which
colleges):
-- Plus-in-a-circle building: earth, air, water, and then fire.
-- Spiral building: conveyance, force, morph, and then phantasm.
-- Stick figure building: necromantic white, necromantic black, summoning,
and then nature.
-- Starburst building: divination, meta, mental, and then temporal.
If you can pick locks or cast the unlocking cantrip, then you don’t have to
step on the pressure plates at all. You can just use one of those alternate
means to open the doors.
In each building you should find a canto, and in the plus-in-a-circle
building you should also find Pelojian’s Amulet. You have to wear the amulet
to talk to Pelojian, but all the cantos do is tell you the correct order to
step on the symbols surrounding the pool. (So you don’t actually have to
open the other buildings unless you really want to.) For example, the
starburst canto has the phrase “there is only one step which begins a
journey” and so the starburst symbol goes first. You could also just use
trial and error to figure out the order: starburst, spiral, stick figure,
plus-in-a-circle.
So put on the amulet, step on the symbols surrounding the pool using the
correct order (the three-pronged “magic” symbol goes last), and then talk to
Pelojian. You don’t have to wait for midnight. Pelojian will give you some
background information on Vendigroth and the Device, but mostly all he’ll do
is mark Vendigroth on your map and warn you to be careful when you go there.
“I was blessed with the gift of seeing the future, and I knew that
someday you would need my help.” -- Pelojian
You can get the werewolf cure for Cynthia Wit while you’re here (from the
morph master), but it’ll cost you 2000 (or 1000) gold unless you steal it or
kill for it. Also, if you’re a good thief or feeling particularly violent,
you can get all sorts of good (arcane) loot from the mages. But if you kill
anybody in Tulla, the entire city will turn against you.
It’s also possible to become the master of a magical college while at Tulla,
and, as a result, cast spells from that college at half the mana cost. Just
seek out the master mage associated with the college while you’re in the main
building, and agree to take the test. The test is different for each
college, but they all involve killing creatures and solving puzzles, usually
with spells from the college in question playing an integreal part. Once
you’ve completed the test, you’ll also receive a reputation as master of that
college of magic. You can only become a master of one college.
Note: The only complicated college test is that for conveyance. In the first
area you need to use the spatial distortion spell to reach the teleportation
circle, and in the second area you need to push colored pillars into the
corners of the area so the unmovable pillars between them are the combination
of their colors. That is, the order of the pillars should be: orange, red,
magenta, dark blue, light blue, green, lime, yellow.
The Vendigroth Ruins are basically a great big dungeon. Inside you’ll find
lots of mechanical creatures to kill, plus a few technological goodies to
snatch up. The only thing you have to do inside the ruins is retrieve the
Vendigroth Device, but there are a couple other useful things to do as well:
1) you might want to stop at Velorien’s altar if you’ve been working on the
Ancient Gods quest to receive the final blessing, and 2) you should find the
schematic and components of the vivifier. Buy tech manuals in Tarant if you
have to, but once you create and use the vivifier you’ll gain +1 to all of
your attributes, and it’s permanent.
Note: To pass from level to level, you need to go through vents, so pay
attention to the walls of the levels.
After leaving the ruins, your next stop should be the Ring of Brodgar in
Roseborough. However, once you meet Nasrudin there and go to the Void, you
won’t be able to return to the regular world. So if there are any quests you
want to finish or any map locations you want to visit, do that now before
proceeding. But note that you don’t need to be level 50 before going in.
You’ll find plenty of things to kill in the Void, and you can gain about five
levels there if you’re careful.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| 10.32 THE VOID |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
If Raven is in your group, getting to the Ring might cause a problem. Raven
sometimes leaves your group when she gets close to the Ring, and under some
circumstances you won’t be able to convince her to rejoin (such as when
you’re playing a half-elf). However, as with Virgil at T’sen-Ang, there is a
way to get around Raven leaving.
Actually, there are two ways: Instead of talking to Nasrudin, you can attack
him. If you can kill him without Raven getting too close to the Ring, you’ll
be transported to the Void with your group intact. The better way is to use
the walk command (F1). Approach the Ring from the east, and then tell Raven
to walk as far away to the east as possible. When she’s reached her
destination, quickly move west and talk to Nasrudin. If you can select your
two dialogue options quickly enough, Nasrudin will transport you to the Void
before Raven can leave.
“May your gods accompany you to the other side and help you stop
Arronax.” -- Nasrudin
The Void will start out very straightforward. You’ll find lizards and arayas
on the first two levels (creatures you might remember from Liam’s portal),
and all you have to do is kill them and then move on. (Be sure to get a void
animal carcass from one of the dead lizards.) Then go down the stairs to the
prison level.
On the prison level, a door guard will stop you but then let you in to see
Arronax when you ask. Arronax will tell you that he has been trapped in his
prison for the last 2000 years and that it must be Kerghan who is trying to
return to Arcanum. He’ll then ask you to release him, but he won’t have any
idea how that might be done. His only conjecture will be that something
nearby must be maintaining the shell around him. That something is actually
the spirit snake patrolling outside his cell. Once you kill the snake and
the door guards Arronax will be free, and he’ll offer to join your group to
help stop Kerghan.
“I am not saying it will be easy to defeat Kerghan. In fact, the
attempt might be fatal. Yet I believe it worth the risk.” -- Arronax
Then proceed to the pink portal behind Arronax and go through. You’ll find
yourself in a new area, and you’ll have to make a choice. If you take the
portal next to where you start out, you can visit more of the Void, do some
more killing, and meet the other famous exiles from Arcanum’s history:
Gorgoth, Kraka-tur, and the Bane of Kree. All three will potentially join
you to help fight against Kerghan, but you might have to meet their
requirements: for Gorgoth you’ll have to give him food (the lizard carcass),
and for Kraka-tur you’ll have to be evil (or charismatic) and give him back
his last testament (from the Lair of Bellerogrim).
Even if you don’t want any of the trio to join you, you might want to visit
their part of the Void anyway. There are two good swords to find there:
Torian Kel’s ancestral sword (used by the Bane of Kree) and Kryggird’s
Falchion (in a cave along the southern face of the area past Gorgoth). Both
swords are likely better than the weapon you’re using now.
Once you finish visiting the exiles, get back to where you were and then head
across the bridge and into Kerghan’s Lair. There are three levels to the
lair, and inside you’ll be able to meet what’s left of the Black Mountain
Clan plus kill some more bad guys. Eventually you’ll come to Kerghan.
When you talk to Kerghan you’ll learn that he finds life an abomination and
that he plans to kill everything when he returns. At this point you can join
up with him, you can kill him, or you can talk him out of it.
If you decide to join Kerghan, then you’ll have to kill the other exiles in
the Void, which should be pretty easy (most don’t even have weapons). Then
just return and talk to him and end the game. Note: the Void Ring he gives
you will cause teleporters to always take you to the Portal Level, so only
wear the ring when you want to go to that location.
If you decide to kill Kerghan, then just attack him like normal until he has
3-4% health left, and then use the Vendigroth Device on him when he retreats
into his shell (although just continuing to whack him with a sword has worked
for me, too).
If you decide to talk your way past Kerghan, then you need to have Arronax in
your party. Just nod along while Kerghan talks to you, but then select the
dialogue option that starts with “An interesting point of view...” when it
appears (almost immediately after the cut scene). Then tell Kerghan his
offer is tempting, and whisper to Arronax that you have a plan. From there
you just need to convince Kerghan that not all souls are the same, that not
all souls are in pain. Eventually he’ll let you use the Vendigroth Device on
him, since it will prevent him from ever being resurrected and experiencing
life again. (But the final cut scene won’t start up right away, and you’ll
still have to fight him for a bit.)
“So many years I’ve raged against the living. All those years, and the
distortion was in my own soul.” -- Kerghan
Thanks to all of the people who have submitted information for this guide,
plus all of the posters at Sierra’s official Arcanum forums.
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* 11.00 REVISION HISTORY *
****************************************************************************
September 10, 2001
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Initial release.
September 13, 2001
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Added a table of contents, sections 10.07 -- 10.09, and other minor things.
September 16, 2001
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Added sections 10.10 -- 10.13 and other minor things.
September 19, 2001
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Added sections 10.14 -- 10.17 and other minor things.
September 26, 2001
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Added sections 10.18 -- 10.22 and other minor things.
September 29, 2001
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Added sections 10.23 -- 10.27 and other minor things.
October 2, 2001
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Added sections 10.28 -- 10.31 and other minor things.
October 5, 2001
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Added sections 7.00, 8.00, 10.32, and 11.00, and other minor things.
October 8, 2001
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Corrected some problems with the Tarant map (10.04), updated some master
quests (4.00), added the Stillwater Giant money cheat (10.15), added more
fate points (8.00), and added some other minor things.
October 11, 2001
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Added some level 50 stats (3.00), some master quests (4.00), the location for
the aerial decapitator (6.00), and some more information for the final battle
(10.32).
October 14, 2001
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Added more level 50 stats (3.00) and master quests (4.00). Updated some item
stats (5.00).
January 1, 2004
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While working on an HTML Arcanum guide for GameBanshee, I took another look
at this guide and corrected a bunch of typos and added in some other minor
things. I’ll probably update again in about a month.
February 10, 2004
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Corrected some more typos, and added in some more equipment.
June 18, 2004
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Removed emails from the Thanks section.
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* 12.00 PERMISSIONS AND UPDATES *
****************************************************************************
This guide may be posted on any web site as long as the text is not changed
and as long as I am informed of the posting. I will always submit new
versions to GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) first, so if you are looking for the
most up-to-date version of this guide, that is the place to look.
