Minor Question for Falling Stars

[Ur_Vile_Wedge]

Firstly, I'd like to say that I"m playing with the original Blades of Exile version, and Redemption v 2.0. Yes, I'm a fossil, but I keep coming back to graze some scenarios every once in a while.

 

Now, I seem to recall fighting a Seraph at the ruins of fort contemplation. You needed to get Regild to ask you to go get his pendant back, go hunting, not find it, and then get ambushed.

I peeked in the scenario editor, and it says that Regild is supposed to be in an inn in Western Xancrest, all the time, but he's connected to "stuff done flags 12 and 8". I've never been good at dealing with scenario flags, and digging through the zillions of "stuff done" flags is a bit beyond my skills.

Now, it also supposedly says that he's "always there" and since I can't see him, I'm guessing that this means I need to do something to trigger him entering the bar and drinking his mint julep.

 

For the life of me though, I can't remember or figure out what it is. Can anyone lend a hand?

 

Hoping someone can help,

Ur_Vile_Wedge

 

 

P.S., not urgent really, as I remember the convos very well, but does anyone know which teleportals are best to use for maximizing your chance of going to Elsewhere?

[Tonweya]

IIRC, I missed him a couple of times when I played FS, (which has been 'several').

He will be in the "First and Last" in West Xancrest in the tables in the middle of the room, north of where Dimagio is.

Try leaving town and then re-entering a few times and see if that works.

I think the last time I played I was looking for Dimagio and had to re-enter several times to get Dimagio to appear and Regild was there one of the times I re-entered.

In the meantime I'll see if I can see/remember how I found him there.

me

[Prince of Kitties]

Regild doesn't seem to appear much in the latest version of FS, but you can trigger the ambush anyway but going to Fort Contemplation and walking around.

 

(Well, actually there's a bug where you have to enter, leave, and then enter again before walking around. You get the idea.)

 

Also there's another Seraph fight nearby, which can get you an NPC if you're lucky; though said NPC is kind of useless due to shoddy AI.

[Tonweya]

Initially, I see the same as you; Regild is supposed to be, "always there". Although I do remember that he has not been there at times.

He will be at 41, 54 sitting at a table near the center of the 'First and Last' Tavern in Western Xancrest.

I'll need to 'dump' the Nodes to see what is meant by his life being dependent upon Node 12, 8 and will get back to you as soon as I find it.

Sorry to be taking a while to answer; I guess I'm getting slower in my old age. ;^}

Also, if you need the exact location of the battle that Miramor refers to, say so.

IMNSHO, I think a great part of a Scenario like this is to find ALL the objects that the Author has put in it, regardless of their value or purpose.

me

[Tonweya]

It looks like 12, 8 only removes Regild once the Ft. Contemplation Confrontation is completed.

I'll have to read them all to be sure, but it would appear that, as above, Regild is supposed to always be in the First and Last until after the Contemplation Battle.

And as you stated originally, that's all that there is to it.

me

[Tonweya]

Just noticed the P.S.

Check your E-mail.

me

[Ur_Vile_Wedge]

Thanks for the replies! Especially knowing that you can trigger the ambush simply by waiting eases things up. (Although, I wonder, if you have to enter, leave, and re-enter, maybe you have to enter, and then go to the inn to find Regild? Dunno.) I did manage to find him in my latest playthrough, although I'm not quite sure what I did.

 

 

And as for the Ambush, I had already gone there this game. I'm not sure why you don't like her though, IMO, she's probably the best companion, precisely because the AI is so shoddy. The Melee guys always get lost, and the mages always blow up my party throwing Firestorms against things that are quad immune. She'll just sit there and shoot things.

 

 

But once again guys, Thanks

[Tonweya]

If the NPC's you've added to your Party go off-screen, don't worry about them. They may kill a few of the Bad Guys and will still be around somewhere.

FWIW, if your Party is strong enough, "Use" each of the NPC's in your Special Items list and they'll be brought back to your group, but won't be in the battle.

In much the same way as Summoning NPC's, the Special NPC's are probably absorbing some of the Skill Points that are won in a battle, so if you don't need them, pull them back into your list and keep all the Skill Points for your Party.

There will be at least one or two battles that you'll prefer to have every durned Special NPC you can beg, borrow, or steal. ;^}

me

[Ur_Vile_Wedge]

Be aware of spoilers in the following post, although, tbh, if any of this is new to you, you should play more Falling Stars anyway

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, it's pretty rare that the NPCs are of negative utility, in fact the only case that occurs to me off-hand is during the Lazarus fight, after you've taken out the Seraph, and that's only the spellcasters, who will mindlessly throw firestorms at the undead giant. Maybe the ambush at the UNL fort as well, but there you often can't spare the round to exit combat to tuck them away (although an antimagic cloud usually works.)

 

 

Rather, what I was getting at is that before the Gamma Research center, you can only have a maximum of 4 NPCS join you, so there's a pick and choose element among the 7 that can.

 

My 2 cents,

 

 

 

Ajax 500 hp, 5 speed, 50 armor, 7d7+7d7.

 

He can be gotten *reasonably* early, depending on how quickly the party takes down Gesmal, which can be tough, especially if you don't have Major Cleansing, with her web-tossing insanity. Once you have him though, he's near invulnerable, although a bit light on pure damage for a heads up melee guy.

 

Diomed 500 hp, 7 speed, 50 armor, 5d11+6d8+6d8

Perhaps the best, all around. You'll probably want to get the crystal sword anyway, it's not that hard of a quest, and can be done early. With 7 speed, 3 big attacks, and enough armor to stay in the thick of the fight for a while, he can be an extremely powerful offensive machine, provided his AI doesn't have him wander off in the middle of a fight.

 

Byrne 750 hp, 7 speed, 35 armor, 4d14 +6d9

Very similar to Diomed, with the high speed, big attack and solid defense (750 hp!) I give him points off though, for a number of intangibles. He needs a high rep to join, enough that when you have enough to get him in, you don't really want to go bar-hopping looking for the guy. I seem to recall he won't join you if Diomed is in the party, as well. (Although it's been a while since I tried the two of them together, and it might have just been a "you have 4 people already" thing). Also, he's something of a jerk; half of his comments make me want to punch him.

 

Ralkan 350 hp, 5 speed, 45 armor, 5d7+5d7 his razordisks don't really do enough damaged to be worthwhile, and can distract him from closing to melee. He has a few semi-useful warnings, but overall one of the weaker NPCs, IMO. He is easy to get though, I'm not sure what his reputation floor for joining is, but I've never had a problem getting him in if I wanted.

 

Krug 700 hp, 50 armor, 4 speed, 7d12+6d10

Of the "fighters" he's the only one who gives materially helpful texts. He'll disarm the trap in Denmark's lair, and he'll be tremendously helpful in Lockverne's, dropping traps and giving you a +2 defense permanently. With 700 hp, 50 armor, and a big attack (Sadly, he only has 4 move, so he won't get as many attacks as the others.), he can go toe to toe with anyone. (Now, if only we could give him Konax Minoc in fights other than with the Ettin.......) He only has one real minus, which is sadly a doozy.... you have to raise 75 thousand gold to buy haverly estate and recruit him there, given the shortage of time, which impacts fund-raising, you'll probably need several hits of "Fool's Gold" to get it, which is Not Nice.

 

Raven. 250 hp, 6 speed, 10 armor, no attacks, but can cast 7th level mage spells and 4th level priest spells

 

Only Spellcaster of the initial group. Useful just for that, although sometimes I wish I could keep her from casting Sticks To Snakes repeatedly.

 

Alahana 380 hp, 20 armor, 9 speed, 3d8, but she shoots.

 

She Shoots. For whatever reason, it only takes her 2 AP to fire her bow, instead of 3 for you. So she can shoot 5 times unaided. If she's hasted, by one of the other NPCs or a Demon you summoned, that goes up to 27, which equals to 14 shots a a round. Unlike Ralkan, these shots can actually hurt things. Yes, she's pitiful in melee, and you have to wrestle a Seraph to get her, but she's a room clearer. Plus, having an attack that goes over distance, and is against a single foe, eliminates the two most odious AI behaviors of frying me in a crossfire and wandering around sucking its thumb. Her Aps will almost always be converted into pure damage against enemies, which you can't say for any of the other NPCs.

 

So my final listing would probably look something like this

 

1. Raven

2. Alahana

3. Diomed

4. Byrne

5. Krug

6. Ajax

7. Ralkan.

 

(If I'm cheating for gold, bump Krug up to #3 and move everyone below him down a slot)

[Alcritas]

So, to answer the original question, iirc, Regild shows up after you've visited Fort Contemplation once, and disappears after you've visited twice. The idea being he sets you up for the ambush, as he is a UNL sympathizer. Of course, you can trigger the attack at Fort Contemplation just by visiting twice anyway.

 

The portal to get to elsewhere is the one from the ops center, to Xancrest, iirc.

 

As for the NPCs, I mostly view them the same way as listed above, with the exception of Raven. Yeah, she's the only spellcaster early on, and as a bonus she'll lower the magical fields in Lockverne's lair to boot, but I find her somewhat redundant to Silnos in the endgame, who I always have a high enough reputation to get anyway. I tended to get Diomed, Raven, Krug, and Ajax when I played through myself.

[Prince of Kitties]

I didn't know about Krug's 4 AP, he seemed to do a lot of damage for that.

 

My feeling on NPCs is that bad AI makes the spellcasters and archers kind of useless; the spellcasters will bombard Rokka and boost their HP to godlike levels, saturate the battlefield with summoned monsters, etc. and the archers will eventually wander into melee and get killed.

 

Alas, Major Haste only works on NPCs when cast by another NPC...

 

(On the other hand, the NPCs become useful if guilt-inducing decoys during the final fight. If the Seraphim and Death Orbs are attacking NPCs, then they're not attacking your party...)

[Tonweya]

The only thing I did different from Al was to choose Byrne instead of Ajax. I felt that Ajax was too set on religion and would disrupt the Party. Also, he uses a Club vs Byrne uses an axe and no matter the given stats, an axe cuts wood. ;^}

Raven and Krug are necessary for a couple of specific tasks and Diomed and Byrne were my preferred Warriors.

Maintain Anti-Magic Fields on the Seraphim and start killing from the Head to the Feet.

IIRC you'll gain some spell casting by the time you have to do the "Big One".

me

[Prince of Kitties]

I'm pretty sure nothing can cause the party to split or anything, though having Ajax in the late game can lead to some... interesting interactions. Especially if you get the Slith NPC.

 

I don't think Ajax's "club" vs Byrn's "hit" attack matters other than cosmetically, but I haven't looked at the code so I'm not sure.

 

I don't recall Raven being good for any plot stuff, but yes, Krug will get you past the traps in Lockverne's lair. However the traps are not a big deal for a party with a good priest. The Grinches, on the other hand, are a big deal.

 

AFAIK it shouldn't matter where you hit the Seraphim. I found AM to be... less than useful against them though; too many special spells, and turns they didn't spend on spells would be spent hitting my fighters and draining my casters' spell points.

 

(That's the one place where Raven and Silnos shine... As decoys. They absorb magic so the Seraphim can just firestorm away at them and get nowhere, while you hack away.)

[Tonweya]

Religious differences and excessive breaking and entering will cause NPC's to leave the Party.

Ajax's Club and Byrne's Axe was just a 'quip' about why I chose Byrne over Ajax.

If you don't know about the importance of Raven and Krug, then I have to assume that you haven't experienced Denmark.

When I referred to the "Head and Feet" I was speaking of the concept to "strike at the head" of the enemy, not where to hit the Seraphim. You should first remove the greatest enemy and then work your way down the pecking order.

I often cover the enemy Spell Casters as a first shot so I have a better chance of placing my Party for the Battle. I don't rely as much on Spell Casting as I do on good old fashioned blood letting. But then, I'm not a very good "Player".

Lastly, I wouldn't use any of the additional NPC's as "decoys". There's a battle in a Castle that I'd call out the Marines and Blackhawk Helicopters if I could find them. ;^}

tx for the chat,

me

[Prince of Kitties]

Hmm I didn't know about the religious differences bit, interesting. FS seems to have as many hidden features as Nethack.

 

I haven't seen Denmark, whoever or whatever that is. More hidden stuff?

 

Full ack on attacking the Seraphim first, they're half the battle.

 

Regarding NPCs as decoys, I find it works okay vs. Seraphim and their minions. It doesn't work at all in the Flayer lair though - too many cephalopods hitting too hard from too many sides.

 

And yes, the end battles are nasty. The Wraiths on the stairs will kill all the NPCs given the chance, and you need them to keep the Seraphim and Death Orbs occupied in the next battle...

[Tonweya]

Rally notes that you should ask around about "News, Rumors and Advice". FS is a really well made Scenario in that you need to, literally, talk to everyone and be sure to ask these three items. Obviously, you're going to get a lot of nothing, but Al has put quite a few leads to Side Quests via these questions. It's worth the effort.

me

[Ur_Vile_Wedge]

Note: Here there be spoilers. Also note that I don't have the game in front of me, so they might be inaccurate spoilers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That being said, you get started on the Denmark quest by asking for I think it's rumors, from the bandit hiding behind the Talosian Embassy, the one who sells skeleton keys. You need to have your rep reasonably high before he mentions it (or maybe it's a function of time, the two go together).

 

Anyway, he'll tell you (after you pay him) to talk to Gemini, who in turn will tell you to talk to a man named Morrison, (who hangs around Danbar, IIRC), who tells you to go search under an inn right where you started, in Eastern xancrest.

 

There's a big fight with some brigands. Krug will disarm a fairly nasty trap if he's with you, and Raven will kick down some barriers, which leads to some fairly significant treasure (about 8500 gold, 2 emeralds, a ruby, and a diamond).

 

 

As for a direct answer, Denmark is a brigand who is being supported by the UNL and is causing trouble. You might have been attacked once or twice by brigands wearing Nordakar or Xancrest uniforms; those were probably his men.

 

As for my order of battle in the final fight, it was basically haste everyone, have the guy with the runesword down an invulnerability potion or use a shielding crystal and go after the seraphim, the guy with Daykon Marke do the same and go after Selene, spam antimagic, and use the item summons (headless and executioners) to keep guys off of Alahana. She is quite capable of killing the Seraphim if they don't attack her. Everyone with priestly ability tosses wounds at the death spheres.

 

And yeah, the previous tight corridor fight with the wraiths is much harder. Silver arrows FTW though.