A3: a few mid-to-late game ?s (minor spoilers)

[BenS]

1) I can't seem to get Irvine to deal w/ me in Shayder. Since doing a quest for him opens up some nice little subsequent paths re: the Anama, I'm hoping someone can point out what I'm missing or doing wrong.

 

2) I bought a certain property in Lorelei, but even though my surly housekeeper noted I have a "guest", I cannot find said guest, no matter how many times I've looked in every nook and cranny. I even spent the night and looked again. Nada. Subsequent visits to my new home did involve an interesting fight against "rats", though. Any ideas?

 

3) This is an early game issue, but it's bothering me still. In Shayder, down in the sewers, there's a Muck Pit or something like that. I cannot find anything there even though the game is hinting that I should be able to when I enter it. Not sure whether I need a certain Luck score (or perhaps collective Luck total among the 4 PCs), and if so, what it is. I had thought I needed a high Nature Lore, but even at 16 (I know, too many points!), I don't find anything there. So that's why I now think it's Luck-based. Can someone confirm what I need here?

 

Thanks in advance.

[googoogjoob]

1. You gotta buy a beer from the bartender, then buy another one, then she points you to Irvine.

2. This didn't work out for me either... you're supposed to see the ghost of the previous owner of the mansion, and he shows you where a treasure is, but I only ever got the basilisk event and the ghost in the courtyard event. Maybe it's bugged in the remake?

3. Is this uh. There's a sailor you can talk to in Shayder who mentions tossing a wand down the sewer once he joined the Anama, and I think what you mean is the place where you find the wand? But you gotta know it's there first from talking to the sailor.

[Randomizer]

2. The ghost appears only on certain days. Leave town and return when you are in the area.

 

3. You can find the wand without talking to the sailor. That is one the east side.  There is another area on the west side with the spiders that just requires get items.

[BenS]

Ok, thank you both.

 

I will try the bartender avenue to talk to Irvine; never thought about it.

 

As for the ghost, that's going to be a bit annoying having to track different days and returning there in hopes of it appearing, but so be it. Hopefully it spawns often.

 

Yes, the wand I got much earlier, but it sounds like I need to use the trusty "u" key in the Muck Pit to find something I'm missing. B/c I'm pretty sure I already looked there otherwise when I first got there. Which is why I was confused when the text box hinted at something there.

[BenS]

4. On the small island of Kneece, there is a stone circle where I believe there is supposed to be an opponent to fight. But nothing shows up. Do I need a quest to meet said opponent?

 

5. On Lost Isle (Remote Isles), I think I missed out on a quest opportunity w/ Captain Brooks b/c I had a *gasp* Nephil in my party. Can anyone confirm that, and if so, what was the quest/reward?

[lIlTheOnelIl]

3 hours ago, BenS said:

4. On the small island of Kneece, there is a stone circle where I believe there is supposed to be an opponent to fight. But nothing shows up. Do I need a quest to meet said opponent?

 

5. On Lost Isle (Remote Isles), I think I missed out on a quest opportunity w/ Captain Brooks b/c I had a *gasp* Nephil in my party. Can anyone confirm that, and if so, what was the quest/reward?

4. You need to read a book on a certain place to be able to locate the lair.

[Randomizer]

5. Brooks still doesn't give a quest to an all human party.

[BenS]

6. How many Xian artifacts are there? I thought I had them all (8) when I triggered the medal/Steam achievement, but now I've found a 9th...

[googoogjoob]

There are 10 Xian items. Or at least, there were in Avernum 3.

[unixtroglodyte]

Manually fiddling with inventory using cheat engine, I have the following (10 items):

 

Spoiler

HEX     /	DEC	ITEM
0226	/	550 Xian Skull
0227	/	551 Xian Coin
0228	/	552 Xian Vest
0229	/	553 Xian Slacks
022A	/	554 Xian Rock
022B	/	555 Xian Harp
022C	/	556 Xian Shrub
022D	/	557 Xian Oil Lamp
022E	/	558 Xian Amphora
022F	/	559 Xian Pouch

 

 

I've only found 6 so far

 

EDIT:

OP said minor spoilers, sorry (moved list to spoiler tag)

Edited February 19, 2018 by unixtroglodyte

[BenS]

Looks like I missed the 

Spoiler

Shrub.

Let me guess; it looked like an innocuous plant and unless I hovered my cursor over it for long enough to read the description, or otherwise saw the intermittent sparkles...I missed it. So be it.

 

I finally dropped off in my manse the 3 annoying items: 

Spoiler

Skull; Rock; and Pouch.

 

[GodRob]

Spoiler

I don't see the Shrub on Randomizer's list.  It was in Sharamik in the previous game.

10th Xian item question.

Edited February 20, 2018 by GodRob
added info on what the spoiler is for

[Randomizer]

I didn't think to look for a Shrub so I never checked out the plants and gave up looking for an Ale.

[unixtroglodyte]

The shrub has the base icon/sprite/whatever of the potted plant. The pot is a light green, the foliage is bright green and it does the intermittent magic sparkle in inventory, but doesn't seem to do it on the ground. I haven't found it yet either.

[Sade]

Shrub location:

Spoiler

 

I certainly didn't spot it either on my playthrough and had to check nlambert's index.

[BenS]

1 hour ago, Sade said:

Shrub location:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I certainly didn't spot it either on my playthrough and had to check nlambert's index.

Can you tell us what it does? And thanks for the picture worth a 1000 words!

[BenS]

Finished game; some last questions:

 

7. Are the Get Research Books & Unicorn Horns never-ending quests?

8. Geoffrey in Lorelei tells you that some animal pens have loot; obscure, yes, but did anyone find out which towns have this?

9. Did I miss an alchemist that takes Aranea Fangs? You can't sell them either.

10. I found a 2nd Perfect Flower long after the 1st was used to complete a quest; similar to a 2nd (albeit special item) Dryad Hair. I assume these were just back-ups?

11. It seems like a lot of bows & such were designed to support a priest/archer. But is this really viable, splitting your resource build like this would take? At best, I imagine a slightly gimped priest w/ somewhat decent archery skills.

12. Did anyone understand the cryptic message W of Manara, at the end of some drake fights in a secret cavern: "When the end is near...Pants on the west rune...And step on the east rune."??

13. In the Monastery of Madness, there's a switch in an upper NW room I could never get to. Anyone have any luck w/ it?

[unixtroglodyte]

3 hours ago, BenS said:

Can you tell us what it does? And thanks for the picture worth a 1000 words!

 

if i had to guess:

Spoiler

begindefineitem 556;
	it_name = "Xian Shrub";
	it_graphic_template = 52;
	it_graphic_sheet = 2;
	it_which_icon_ground = 8;	
	it_which_icon_inven = 9;
	it_graphic_appearadj = 10;
	it_usable_each_day = 0;

	it_ability = -1;

 

 

nothing. 

 

EDIT:

http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/16809-xian-items/

 

Old version:

 

Posted February 9, 2012

....

Xian shrub = Pretty useless though, will make plants sprout randomly

....

 

possibly does what the Xian rock does, but randomly adds plants to inventory?

Edited February 20, 2018 by unixtroglodyte

[fractalnavel]

It "drops" random vegetation scenery when you are indoors.  Unfortunately (to my way of thinking, anyway), they aren't permanent.  Not items, it's temporary landscape tile changes.

[Sade]

7. Yes.

8. According to nlambert's index, the towns are Krizsan, Lost Isle, Point Contemplation, Bengaro, Dorngas, and Moon.

9. I didn't find any use for them either.

10. Apparently so.

11. Priest spells can be useful enough even without heavy skill investment, as long you are limiting yourself to healing and blessing spells only. Trying to build a character that uses both priest spells and bows for attacking is likely a bad idea, though.

12. This is a hint for finding a secret area.

Spoiler

In Rentar-Ihrno's Keep is a room with two runes. If you drop a regular pair of pants on the west rune and then step on the east rune, you will be teleported to an easter egg dungeon.

13. You can access the switch in the northwest room by first stepping on two runes, one in the southwest corner (with a big arrow pointing at it) and one in the northeast anvil room.

[BenS]

Sade, thank you so much!

 

About to start a 2nd game w/ a very different set of PCs, but had another ?

 

14. Does the party collectively only benefit from 1 member having the Negotiator trait, or would 4 members w/ it be 4x the benefit?

[TriRodent]

14 - Everyone NEEDS this trait.... (4x the boost)

 

/11a - a strong priest will do a lot more damage to more of the horde charging at you than an archer will.  Having an archer subsepcialty isn's a horrible idea (as if you get an extra shot from Sniper (I think) you can use it to drop a Divine Fire spell on a clustered up group...), but Smite will do as much damage to a single opponent as an arrow will (from what I could tell)

[BenS]

Good to know re: Negotiator, thanks!

 

I'm trying a risky band for my 2nd play through; dropped the priest/archer dream, but that's a matter for perhaps another thread.

[BenS]

13. I got to that switch in my current game, but I thought that then lead to a 3rd rune. What did that do when I stepped on it??

 

15. Is the point of the Wand of Carrunos to use it on a summoned creature to make it tougher?

16. The 1st Dryad Grove on the surface has an island to the NE w/ a Stone Circle. Is anything supposed to happen there?

17. In Bavner, I thought I remembered from the 1st playthrough that Voorn's prices as a trainer went from Exorbitant to Very Reasonable after the Roach plague was solved, but that doesn't seem to have happened in my 2nd game. Am I just mis-remembering that?

18. House on the Hill: you can rest there, but your Energy doesn't replenish. Is that working as intended?

19. I don't know if this is my monitor, but do some of the portraits we get (Vothkaro is a prime example) seem blurry to people? The medals/achievements are the same. Not all of the portraits; Erika's is sharp and clear.

20. Grindstone: it appears from the mini-map (and the hint book map) there is an area in the NE. How do you get there?!

21. Ruined town of Draigoth. As Alien Beasts are found here, was I too late getting here or is this town a goner no matter what?

22. Blackcrag Fortress: Quicksilver Sandals. This appears to be the only item that penalizes (-5%) your Hostile Effect Resistance; or is that a typo and should be +5%? I can test it but it will be a while before I get here in my 2nd game.

[Randomizer]

13. Keep exploring the level to find something new, but don't leave because then you need to start over.

 

15. Not all Stone Circles have something.

 

!7. That's the way I remember it. But it might be you haven't turned in the quest?

 

20. There is a hidden switch in the Treasure Room that is hard to see.

 

21. Most towns are destroyed anyway.

[TriRodent]

1 hour ago, Randomizer said:

 

20. There is a hidden switch in the Treasure Room that is hard to see.

 

I think Ben is talking about the area upstairs in the top right of the screen (in the original A3 you would go there & then go downstairs to a small treasure room).  I was never able to figure out how to get over there

 

The switch in the downstairs treasure room opens up the wall to get to the boat to go to the SW (lower left of the screen)

[Randomizer]

Okay that one starts with a hidden switch on the north side near the entrance and then has more hidden switches and other barriers.

[BenS]

17. He has no quest of his own, and I long ago turned in the Roach-related quests. The text near his name mentions there's a discount for those sporting Anama rings. That must be the difference; currently I'm neither a real nor fake Anama member.

Edited March 2, 2018 by BenS

[BenS]

20. Got it! Thanks.

 

13. Still didn't find anywhere new on the 1st level, and now I have to return a 3rd time b/c 1 of the magic barriers on the 2nd floor requires DB 3. Sigh.

[Randomizer]

13. After stepping on the third rune:

Go to the pond in the center and walk onto the dockl.

[BenS]

13. Got it!

23. There's no way to get to level 3 w/ Capture Soul & Simulacrum, is there? So when the game tells you that you need to cast it at a higher level...that just means the level differential between you and the target needs to be smaller. I think.

[googoogjoob]

27 minutes ago, BenS said:

There's no way to get to level 3 w/ Capture Soul & Simulacrum, is there?

Try entering Ghikra by boat.

[BenS]

10 hours ago, googoogjoob said:

Try entering Ghikra by boat.

D'oh!

 

23. Solved. Sadly for me, I'm already 32nd level, and would have been much better off had I had this earlier.

 

It's funny the things you miss, even on a 2nd playthrough.