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Everything posted by Ess-Eschas
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Hello mikeprichard, I'm believe that one is a duplication. Given that it's placed in the crags, I think it's referring to the reward that can be found there based on the party's reputation. Synergy refers to this as the 'reputation reward' a couple of items further on in the list. This increases all the primary stats, including endurance, by one. I assume that Synergy corrected the original entry, but just forgot to remove the old one. I did a quick check in the scripts, though, just to verify this. Sure enough, there is no place in this zone (or indeed in the entire vale) that increases just the party's endurance stat in this way. Enjoy your time in the vale!
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How to Manually Edit Saves + NPC Skill Trainer Question (GF2)
Ess-Eschas replied to DrunkAnton's topic in Geneforge Series
Ah, Slarty just beat me to it! To elaborate on what has just been said, you should be able to make the changes you want by editing the game's scripts. These scripts control almost everything, so they're a very powerful way of adapting your character. At least at the moment, there seems to be more knowledge about this than editing the save files – although it's interesting to know that it is possible to do so! Thankfully, you might not need to learn scripting in order to make the changes you want. Some members of these forums have used script editing to create editors for Spiderweb's games that allow the changing of the player's stats, money items etc.. This might be the best place to start for now. For instance, you can download an editor for Geneforge 2 from this topic: http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/13129-geneforge-2-editor-updated/ If this editor doesn't do what you would like it to do, do say. As long as you're not looking for something too complicated, I or someone else on the boards might be able to work up a quick editor file for you. -
Hello eaintree, I've come up with a little fix for you that should remove that quest item from your list! First, go to Shayder and stand in the mayor's office. Then, press 'shift' and 'd'. This should bring up a small dialogue box. Enter the following: sdf 4 5 1 This makes a slight change to the flag relating to the Krizsan quest. If you talk to the mayor now, you should see a new dialogue option allowing you to complete that quest and claim your experience reward. Just initiating this dialogue will set things back to where they were before, so that should be all you need to do! If this doesn't work for whatever reason, let me know. This behaviour is a little odd, so it's possible there's another cause I haven't anticipated.
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Hello, Slarty is indeed correct. In order for the difficulty setting to stick, you need to change it from within the game itself. Just to clarify this a little, open your save file and then open the File Menu. This can be done by clicking an icon in the bottom display bar (or by pressing Escape if you're on a Mac). Then, select the Preferences option. This will show you a screen where you can change the difficulty, amongst other things. If you do this, and then save your game, your difficulty setting will be changed from that point onwards (or until you change it again) and stored in the save file!
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Hello, In order to set your changes in stone, you need to manually save the file before clicking 'done'. When you load a file, an option should appear immediately underneath the 'Load Saved Game' button with the text 'Save Changes'. If you select this, you'll be prompted to save a new file – and this will have all of your changes! The option is hidden away slightly in a box that mostly contains other options, so it's easy to miss.
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Problems in Spider Area in Resurrection
Ess-Eschas replied to Curtis's topic in Nethergate and Nethergate: Resurrection
Hello Curtis, Both of those areas can only be reached when the friendly spiders give you access to them, I'm afraid. To get access to the first, you'll first need to speak to the chief of the spiders. There will be a comment in this spider's description saying that he seems to be a leader. He will first give you a quest to speak to the Widow Queen, far to the west of the outdoors. Once you've done that and returned, the spider leader will give you a second quest. This is the one that involves the nasty spider. The quest will open up the section at the top of the map. Once you've finished this quest, you'll be able to reach the chest in the centre. Access will open up directly to the north of that area, and a small set of stairs will get you to the chest. Best of luck! -
Hello kGeek, There's a little section on Spiderweb's site that talks about this, although it's a little hidden away. There are two different ways to reactivate the editor depending on whether you're using a Mac or a Windows computer. Here's the Mac version: "To reactivate the Nethergate: Resurrection character editor, go into your Preferences folder (in the Library folder in your Users folder) and throw away the file "Nethergate Resurrection Prefs". If your copy of the game is registered, you will need to ask us for a replacement registration code. (This is free.)" The Windows version is the same, but instead you need to delete 'NethergateSettings.dat', which can be found in 'Nethergate Saved Games' inside 'My Documents'. This will make the game unregistered, but if you send an email to the address below, giving the email address and name you originally registered under, Spiderweb will send you a new code at no cost to you. They're usually very quick about this! support@spiderwebsoftware.com
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I also tend to prefer Curses somewhat over Jigsaw (and Graham Nelson's other games), but I think that's just personal preference. There's much to like in both games, and they both made quite an impression on me when I was younger. I fear I'll have to agree with Slarty on this one. When I first played through Curses, the ending didn't come across as a joke to me. It felt quite satisfying, as if it nicely wound up the themes explored in the work as a whole. In fact, I find the ending to be quite sad. The inherent magic surrounding the player character and their surroundings is broken, and the magical devices used throughout the entire game are no longer functional (with a couple of exceptions, granted). The surroundings return to banality, and you return to normal life – exactly what the force of the curse was trying to prevent. It feels like the wonder experienced during the game has evaporated, and I'm sure that's deliberate. I think I disagree with you about the map, though. This gets into some specifics, so I'll put this in a spoiler block: I also feel it's a little unfair to judge Curses on that 'last lousy point' mechanic, although I fully concede that it's a frustrating feature. That mechanic was hugely popular at the time of the release of Curses, and Curses was Graham Nelson's first game. I suspect he included it to make the game as complete and 'current' as possible. Nelson, incidentally, disliked the mechanic, and wrote about it negatively a few years later. I'm sure the point's in there somewhere, though. Perhaps someone will find it one day. I have a suspicion there might actually be three mutually exclusive points depending on the player's choices, but that's only speculation. I really hope it isn't that old don't-save-the-game trick. Incidentally, did either of you find out how to be turned into a constellation? I always wondered about that. It is possible to bring this topic full-circle again. Jigsaw was praised at the time it was released because of the novel way it handles the romance between Black at White (although I have one minor quibble about how it's done). As someone who is a fan of Jigsaw, googoogjoob, I'm curious as to your reactions to the inclusion of that romance. In your option, do you think Nelson does a decent job in writing it?
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BoE Scenarios Archive? And BoE Version
Ess-Eschas replied to Richard Bacon's topic in Blades of Exile
Hello BainIhrno, I'm not aware of any complete port that will run on Intel Macs, I'm afraid. One of the new experimental builds can open old scenarios, so you can use it to browse through scenarios if needed, but you won't be able to save any changes. I do have a pre-Intel version that works like a charm, but it sounds like that won't be useful for you. This might not be a helpful suggestion, but have you looked into going back even earlier in time and emulating Mac Classic? It is a little bit of a pain to set up, but I feel it's easier than setting up Windows or PowerPC emulators – at least if you're not paying money to do it. I can run the editor this way using the program 'SheepShaver' to emulate Mac OS 7.5.5, and it works like a dream. The advantage of setting up the system this way is that you can also run Blades in its original environment, so you're getting the full experience as Jeff originally wrote it! However, it's also easy to move scenario files to and from the 'fake' Classic machine, so you can always use the scenario editor in Classic and move the files over to your Intel machine to play them there – so you can use the editor and enjoy the quality-of-life improvements that have been added in newer versions. A number of people have set up convenient Classic emulators using SheepShaver over the years, so you should be able to find some good advice by searching online. If you're having problems, I might be able to give you some pointers. One other, much easier, option is to see if you can get hold of Tyranicus. He made a Wineskin version of the editor back in 2013. The link he posted seems to be down now, and it's not on the Archive, but he (or indeed some others on the forums) might still have a copy floating around for you. That won't require any porting – the editor will behave just like a normal Mac application, but it's actually pretending to be Windows. It can run straight out of the box! -
Hello Muscleguy, It seems that this is a bug that can happen occasionally. It's something that's appeared on these forums before: http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/24462-quest-to-kill-garzahd/ Unfortunately, the solution posted above – replaying the fight – might not work out if you don't have a save handy, and it's extra work! Since this has popped up a few times, I had a dig into the scripts to see if I could figure out the cause. Unfortunately, the part of the program that registers Garzahd's defeat seems to be hard-coded, so coming up with a fix isn't entirely straightforward. If you're interested, there's one flag that logs Garzahd's death, and another that lets Avernum 'know' that he's dead. Only the first (oddly) is set by actually defeating Garzahd. That other one is hard-coded. However, I have a suggestion that might work, although it's based on a little guesswork. Try going back to Garzahd's fortress and entering it again (I'm hoping this will still be possible). There's something in the scripts that looks like a sanity check for a situation like yours. With luck, when you enter, you'll get the ending picture and dialogue for the Garzahd major quest. If you don't – let me know what happens. I might be able to use that information to come up with a fix that works! If all else fails – try the above method first! – I can at least get you the quest reward, although probably not things such as achievements. Hold down 'shift' and press 'd'. A dialogue box will appear. Type the following: sdf 16 11 1 Avernum's people will then recognise your feat. Interestingly, there are actually quite a few people who have things to say about this (e. g. Thompson, Solberg, Caffren-Bok etc.). In fact, Limoncelli even has a dialogue option removed if Garzahd is defeated. That's good foresight!
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I think you might have misunderstood fractalnavel, River Linden. The posted link is a working link to Homeland. Also, and I hope you don't think I mean to be rude in pointing this out, but the daughter of the game's creator posted earlier in this thread. I'm all for positive criticism, but I'm not sure this is the best place to be plugging those old Homeland memes ... In fact, why not download the game yourself and give it a try? You might be pleasantly surprised! Greetings, siennilox. You are very welcome on these boards!
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It's possible that I'm misunderstanding you entirely, here, but Avernum 4 is really quite old now. The original game was released back in 2005, which was several years before even the first iPhones were released. There wasn't any original iOS port, and I don't think Spiderweb has made one since then. Avernum 4 was the first game in a completely new engine, one that was a sort of amalgam between the old Avernum games and Geneforge. It has some significant changes compared to the previous Avernum games, since Jeff was going in a slightly different direction. It was a first attempt, so it doesn't have some of the small improvements made to some of the later installments. That lack of a talking command is one (although you can still get part of the 'A' effect by using Tab to highlight the names of people). Generally, the game is a little more mouse-focused. That's not because it was a port – it was a deliberate design choice! Your issue with the trackpad is an odd one. I seem to be able to move about with a quick tap on my end, but that's probably not very helpful to you. Have you tried playing around with your settings? Also, it shouldn't be possible to break the difficulty settings in the way you describe, no matter what operating system a player is using. If I understand how the engine works, the game itself would break completely long before something like the difficulty settings would go wonky. Again, Avernum 4 was a new engine, so the balance might be a little different compared to what you're used to. Just keep on going, and I'm sure things will hot up! Still, as a sanity check, it might be worth checking to see that your difficulty setting in the Preferences is set to Tricky. If it says Tricky, then that's what the difficulty should be. On the original topic, I feel that Avernum 4 was something of an experiment. It added quite a lot of changes compared to the earlier games, such as the different use of AP, the way item weight is handled and the different approach to the outdoors. That tends to make it a little harder to get into for players used to the other Avernum games. I insist that, under all these points, there is really quite a good game in Avernum 4. Sure, it's different to the other games, but that just means it's a different sort of Avernum – not necessarily a worse one. For my part, I feel that there are some really nice, memorable moments in this game. There are also good, novel things this game does that don't appear in subsequent games – a 'non-violent' way of dealing with the threat to Avernum, for instance. Now, I'm clearly in the minority here, and this isn't an argument I will make any attempt to win. But, still, I would really suggest that people give Avernum 4 a chance. If you get past the engine differences, it's the same old Jeff Vogel, the same old set of caves, even most of the same characters (even Pathass!). You might have more fun than you think!
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Yes, bugs in how the party moves outdoors do seem to occur every so often. I've had it happen naturally to me about once per playthrough of each game, which probably says something about how I move my party around. Actually, I've had this bug happen several times around those same lava fields. There is a version of this bug that's reproducible, although I think it's slightly different from the one you describe. Next time you're in Avernum, try clicking on an inaccessible area of ground while your party is already walking. Good candidates are spots behind closed secret doors. Note that it has to be ground that your party could stand on if the way to it was not obstructed. The first character in your party will stay fixed where they were at the moment you clicked, but the rest of the party will obediently keep walking to their original destination. They'll also have their masks removed, so you'll be able to see your characters through things like cave walls. When you click again, the party will reunite. I suppose it's the opposite of what happened to you. I've had that bug happen too, but I can't reproduce it yet. It seems to like narrow tunnels, at least ... I've always assumed that there's one piece of code governing how the first party member moves, and some slightly different code for all the rest. If these pieces of code behave slightly differently, it might account for some of the confusion that the game is displaying! Still, as a bug, at least it's nice and harmless!
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Hello ruppert29, Each of those doors needs to be activated by a switch before they'll open normally. Each door has a switch, but only on one side – usually one that's harder to get to. If you're near the spawner, there should be a switch nearby!
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Sharimik scroll quest
Ess-Eschas replied to txmimi's topic in Avernum Trilogy (2011-2018 remake versions)
Hello txmimi, This is a little strange, and I’m not quite sure why you’re seeing this behaviour. It sounds like a flag has broken somewhere. The game is coded to try and make it so that you simply can’t walk through into the castle unless very specific requirements are met. I think I can fix this for you but, just to try and figure out what has happened, could you answer me a few questions? 1. When you walked into the little foyer area with windows on either side right at the entrance of the castle, did any text or dialogue come up at all? If so, what was it? 2. What specifically are the first dialogue options you are presented with when you meet the King? To fix this, enter the castle from the outdoors. Hold down ‘shift’ and ‘d’, and a prompt to enter some text should appear. Type this: sdf 28 8 0 Now, exit the castle to the outdoors and enter again, but don't move the party any further. Sorry about that – it slightly reduces the number of changes you need to make! Use shift-d again and enter these codes, one at a time: sdf 28 12 0 sdf 28 17 1 sdf 28 16 1 sdf 28 13 0 Now, walk into the foyer. A message should come up, and you should be taken to see the king. You’ll skip the part with the history scroll, I’m afraid, but the encounter should play as normal after that. Don’t save until you’re sure everything is working as it should! It might be best to use a separate save slot if you have one available. Let me know if you have any problems. This should work, but there might be complications if, say, the game isn’t recognising your diplomatic papers. I’ll need to come up with another workaround if that’s the case, or if the cause of your problem is something unusual. -
Hello Muscleguy, Jeff has coded the Avernum games so that the meat of their content – the scripts – is the same regardless of what platform you're using. It's really quite a nice system! The advantage is that, if someone makes a mod like this, it will work in exactly the same way for all platforms. The only difference between a PC and Mac user is that they'll be putting the files in a slightly different place. You're right that, as a Mac user, you'll want to put these scripts in the Resources folder inside the application. Before making any changes, I highly recommend making a backup of the entire Avernum 2 application, just to make sure you can go back to it if something goes wrong, or if you don't want to use the mod any more. All you then need to do is to drag the several text files that make up the mod into the Resources folder. These will overwrite the originals (which is why I recommend making a backup!), and the game will then be modded. I haven't used this mod myself, but all the text files it provides are also included in the standard Mac version of the game. The PC and Mac versions use the same set of text files! In order to make big changes like this, only a couple of important scripts need to be changed. That's why you're not seeing hundreds of text files. In fact, most of the files in the mod are just changes to the help dialogues – it's only 'a2itemschars' and 'a2objsmisc' that carry all the gameplay changes. Just drag all the text files over and see what changes the modder has made to the engine!
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Hmm, that's interesting! I think it makes sense that spawned and dropped items have different 'behaviours' for a situation like this. Items that the player drops already exist somewhere in the game's memory and are just being shunted about, but spawned items have to actively take up a new address. Perhaps dropped items don't mind overwriting old items, but spawned items do? Either way, I shall have to be more careful with item piles in future, just to be on the safe side! Have fun! I have a soft spot for the first Geneforge, and I'm sure you'll have a great time. Try to solve the mystery of the ancient pylons later on in the game if you can – you learn something quite interesting about the island for doing so!
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If my memory serves, items start disappearing when you go over the item limit for an area. It's hard to do, but not impossible; some towns already have quite a few items as it is. Generally, Jeff's coding is really very solid. In my experience, it's pretty rare to find something that actually crashes his games. I wouldn't worry too much about it, Chopkinsca. Just leave items where you feel most convenient. If you start piling up lots and lots of items, just make a second pile somewhere else! No zones in Geneforge 1 are ever overwritten completely, so if you leave items somewhere, they will stay there forever.
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Yes! But did you know that this rakshasa was also magically pretending to be Pyrog in Exile I? And that she initiated an emergency teleportation to the surface after the party ‘defeated’ the ‘dragon’? After all, Prazac and Pyrog are never in the same game. Their names even start with the same letter! Coincidence? I think not. I thought it was unusual that you didn’t comment on the link the first time. I wonder what the problem is? Maybe it's something odd with the permissions? In any case, to get around it, I’ve downloaded the files and uploaded them elsewhere, briefly. Here they are for your perusing delectation: https://we.tl/526MBGlLhz
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I still think it's problematic to try to get anything too concrete about of this one statement. Your idea that the sculptors made the Empress's statue look older than she is is perfectly valid, but it's an extrapolation. My counter-idea that they made the statue look younger than her is equally valid and, like yours, has a basis in human history. I can't see that there's any way to distinguish between the two ideas based on what the game says. However, all is not lost! Your text dumps are alive and well. So far as I can see, all of Aran's webspace is back up, and has been for a little while, I think. Here's a link to the text dumps: http://stuff.ermarian.net/slartucker/dump/ Have a look and see if you can find something I missed!
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This does seem to be a fairly common idea, and it would stand to reason that it stemmed from content in the games themselves. However, much like with Pyrog's cruelty, I think it is possible that this might have become lore without any real basis. Essentially, the problem I have is that I can't find any reference whatsoever to any comments that say that Prazac is a child during Exile II. I don't remember any from when I've played through the games before, and checking the games and the text dumps doesn't reveal anything either. Of course, I may be missing something, and I wouldn't mind being proven wrong! So far as I can see, the only references are the two statues in Exile II, which describe her as a 'young woman'. Now, I know we've discussed the accuracy of these statues before. However, for a bit of fun, I thought it would be interesting to see the types of people Jeff describes as young women in the games. There are actually quite a few in Exile II. One of them is Nance. One of them is Linda. Now, meaning no disrespect to Linda, she doesn't seem to be a teenager by the time of Exile I, let alone Exile II. Also, here's some text describing Julie the fletcher in Dharmon: There is a surprisingly young woman sitting behind the counter - only in her late twenties. Now, this is hardly proof that the statue – taken at face value – shows someone in their late twenties. But I think it casts some doubt on the idea that Prazac is a youngster. If Prazac is a child during Exile II, I don't think I am convinced based solely on these two statues. I need more evidence from the games, and I can't come across any. If there is some text in the Exile series that describes Prazac as being a child, then show me! I'm happy to be proven wrong! If I have the time, I'll see if I can test this. Hopefully, zipping through Footracer again won't involve huge amounts of work, although dealing with Rentar probably will!
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Hmm, I like this too! I'm finding it hard to come up with a decent motivation for her attacking the surface, but that didn't stop Rentar when framing the others! :) Sorry about that! I am not always entirely clear in the thrust of my arguments, a bad habit I still fall into every now and again. Before I say any more, Slarty, I want to make it clear that I’m agreeing with you here. I just want to clarify a few points. The idea I was trying to put forward was that the sort of emergency teleportation I had in mind for Erika was not entirely uncommon in Exile. I tried to put forward some examples of this. I was focusing more on the ‘without portals’ side of things, mainly because I thought that the idea of ‘preparation’ was less of an issue. In coming up with some sort of emergency teleportation technique, I would (and did) argue that Erika has had plenty of time to prepare. She has been cursed for decades, and I feel that she would have put something in place during that time, just as a precaution. I would also argue that, if Aydin and Josie could make preparations to teleport back to their tower from a dangerous place, why might Erika not do the same? In terms of Garzahd’s minions, yes, they do teleport out: As his anguished dying scream echoes through the halls, you hear his few remaining servants teleporting away. It’s vague, but I would interpret that as the minions actively choosing to teleport, rather than being dragged away by another power. As for the Word of Recall sorts of teleportation, I was trying to use those more as an indication that teleportation over large distances can occur without using too much power. As you rightly point out, and as I tried unsuccessfully to imply, these exact spells cannot be used. The games state that Word of Recall is limited – not just in combat mode – but in town, because of the difficulty of controlling teleportation through twisty little passages. I hope it’s not unreasonable to use this spell as an indication of what a more powerful magic-user, and one who is more adept at controlling their magic, might in principle be able to do. However, you make a very good point in the amount of time teleportation takes to take effect. This isn’t clear, but it’s quite reasonable to assume that it’s by no means instantaneous. That would be crucial for the sort of battle situation being considered. Since there’s doubt there, and there’s further doubt in my idea that Rentar might block any teleportation out of her fortress anyway, it’s hard to argue the Erika can escape simply through teleportation. And, if that’s the case, there’s no basis for ascribing reckless pride to Erika. You have your argument, I think! This was a genuine mistake on my part. I simply misread the text when I was checking the passage of time. The four/five year window occurs between Exile II and the nation deciding to go to the surface. Presumably, this predates the discovery of Upper Exile, the building of its towns and the shuttling of people up to Fort Emergence. That would take many years. If anything, 10 years sounds like almost an underestimate. With that part of my argument gone, I can’t really place any stock on the party’s experience of the Empress in Exile III. Enough time has passed that I feel she could be a wide range of ages in Exile II and not elicit comment for her age in the sequel. I think that leaves the Empress’s age as a problem of interpretation. There just doesn’t seem to be enough evidence to come to a really valid conclusion, much as in my thoughts about Pyrog. The Empress might have been a young teenager, and you give a nice explanation of events given that. But I don’t think it disproves my thoughts about the Empress being a little older, either. If I was was being particularly adversarial, I could even come up with exactly the opposite argument: the Empress is actually already into middle-age by Exile II, and the statues deliberately make her look younger and more innocent than she really is. After all, a leader who is a young adult comes across as a better figurehead (and there are plenty of historical allegories for this type of artistic treatment). I could even argue that this older Empress deliberately shoves the responsibility of the war onto Garzahd – it keeps her hands seemingly free of the blood spilled in the war, and gives an easy scapegoat if (as it did) it happens to go wrong. Is this a stretch? Yes. But does it contradict the facts in the Exile trilogy? I’m not sure it does. As it is, I’m not convinced it’s possible to give the Empress a definitive age. Perhaps the Dragons might assassinate her, or perhaps they wouldn’t. Either way, the plot of this new Avernum 5 would still be valid, just with some differences in detail! This is going to sound like I'm being deliberately contrary, but I'm really not. Are you sure? I have a distinct recollection that she doesn't teleport in without the amulet, and I can't seem to find anything in the game's text that talks about Erika appearing in that situation. Annoyingly, though, the saved games I have for the end of that playthrough are lost, so I'd have to play through the entirety of Footracer again in order to find out for myself. That's not a quick test!
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Yes, I do agree that teleportation gets more difficult with distance. If that wasn't the case, then the Exiles could simply have teleported out of Exile after being banished! However, I get the feeling that the distances have to be really quite large for them to become a problem – larger than most distances we see in the games. In this case, I don't think distance is a limiting factor. Erika teleports herself all the way from her Tower to Rentar's Fortress without even working up a sweat. Thinking solely about the distance travelled, I don't see why she shouldn't be able to just teleport back. This also isn't the first time she's done something like this. In X1, she easily teleports from her Tower to the Teleportation Augmenter and back again, all while maintaining enough power to teleport the entire X1 party to the surface. As for the party, there is a cut scene in Exile III too. This shows the party being teleported out by only a single wizard, rather than a small group. Whilst I'm sure this wizard is powerful, it shows that one person could indeed have enough power to teleport out of Rentar's fortress if needed. However, I think the greatest example of this for me is Word of Recall. A single party member can use this to teleport an entire party of six over any length of distance seen in the games – across the whole of Exile, across the entire length of Valorim, even from places where the Amulet of Rapid Returning fails. This is all without a portal. If distance is a limiting factor in teleportation, I think it has to be over a much larger range than the distance from Erika's Tower to Rentar's Fortress.
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I'm pleased that my not-particularly-helpful pool of trivia about Exile is going to some good use! I think I'm almost ready to concede to you on this one. You make some very good points and, honestly, I prefer your interpretation. I like Erika as a character, and if her death was the result of a calculated risk on her part, rather than an avoidable mistake, then I would be happy with that. There's something quite fitting about her death being an act of humility. It feels like great character progression, actually. I particularly like your comment about Garzahd's knowledge of wards. Given his expertise in this area, it seems very likely that he would be able to place a curse on Erika in such a way that it could not be warded against. I think that makes narrative sense, too. If the curse could simply be defeated by applying appropriate wards, it would not nearly be as potent. Even if a strong ward was needed to beat the curse, it would still allow Erika to stand on the surface, even for a little while. That would be at least some comfort. From what Erika says about her curse, it seems clear that that is not the case. So, I think it reasonable that Erika can't ward herself against the effects of curse. No magic parasols here. As for anticipating it, I buy your suggestion that she's been underground long enough not to anticipate such a move on Rentar's part. I'd also forgotten just how quickly the move happened. So that doesn't seem to be possible, either. Just as an aside, I believe it is possible to set rock and dirt on fire if you get its temperature high enough (and quickly enough in this case). That's what I'd envisioned there. Perhaps that could have worked, but only if Erika had anticipated Rentar's action. So, what's my hangup? I'm still wondering about teleportation. You mentioned that instant teleportation without portals doesn't happen in Exile. I disagree. There are quite a few examples that I can think of. For instance, Aydin teleports himself and Josie out of the Empire Archives once you free them in X2. Garzahd's minions teleport out of his throne room when he is defeated. The Cult of the Sacred Item teleport out of Fort Emergence without a teleporter (even though they used one to get in). The party itself is teleported out of Rentar's fortress at the end of the game. And, while not really relevant to this particular case, the party can cast Word of Recall or use the Amulet of Rapid Returning to travel huge distances. But the example I had in my head while thinking about this was something that Erika herself does. In fact, this is something she only does in Exile; it's written out by the time Avernum comes around. If you attack and defeat Erika in X2 – apparently I was uncharacteristically ruthless when playing through the game back then – then you're presented with the following text: Erika decides she’s had enough, and disappears. As you start looking for her, her final trap activates itself. Flames roar through her chambers, reducing you to ash. Now, there are several ways to interpret this, but I've always read it as saying that Erika teleports away. I suppose she could have cast something like Sanctuary on herself, but that seems self-defeating if she then fills the room with fire. If Erika can teleport away as a failsafe, why not do it when fighting Rentar? At least if she flees she can work on some sort of backup plan while seeing how the party deals with the situation. If nothing else, she can pass on the location of the vahnatai to Exile and the Empire, allowing others to continue the work. What I have in mind here is something slightly different to what Erika does above: a failsafe device. To me, it seems like a natural reaction to being cursed with death when coming into contact with something. Even if there was very little chance that I would actually come across that dread something, I'd want to have at least some protection in place, just in case. For example, think of a magic orb that detects the closest source of sunlight. By 'closest', I mean in terms of something like the optical path length: a measure that takes into account both how far away the light is, and what material is in the way. When this value is low enough, the orb automatically teleports the user away. Detecting nearby materials isn't too much of a stretch – this is what spells like True Sight and Magic Map do. What is effectively a machine could react far faster than a human would – it would detect when the hole was getting close to the surface and teleport Erika away before it even broke through. My feelings were that not having such a failsafe on hand was foolish, the result of overconfidence. Erika would have had plenty of time to devise such a device. I'm sure she would have thought about it at length while in Exile and, even if she had not, she would have had days while the party travelled to and through Footracer to come up with something. Even if she hadn't thought of sunlight during the battle with Rentar, she might have done so beforehand – she knew the party was travelling close to the surface, after all. However, even as I write this, I concede something I hadn't thought of initially. Teleportation magic can be prevented against. Going back to Aydin, he was prevented from teleporting out of the Empire Archives by a type of ward. Perhaps Rentar's Fortress is warded in this way. Maybe Erika did indeed try to teleport out, but was prevented from doing so. It's not infeasible. Rentar could then lower the ward when she teleports out at the end of the game, paving the way for the adventurers to escape too. Actually, that's nicely fitting now that I think about it. Rentar ends up inadvertently saving the aventurers by her own actions. So, Erika could have been foolish in not having a teleportation failsafe in place, but there's no way to be sure. So why not just say that she did? There's no need to say that Erika died out of hubris. Okay, I've convinced myself of your argument even as I write. Huh. Hooray for Erika! This, I'm not so sure about. So far as I'm aware, there are only two references to Prazac in X2. These are both statues, one in Harston and the other in Fort Dranlon, both inscribed with 'Empress Prazac - Long may she reign'. The one in Fort Dralon has some further description: This is a statue of a young, smiling woman, looking almost touchingly innocent. Strange. Now, this doesn't sound to me like the statue of a baby, or even of a child. By my reading, this would be someone at least in their late teens, and probably in their early twenties. I would argue that, if Prazac were a child, there wouldn't be any statues of her around at all. If you're trying to assert your dominance over the Exiles in Harston, proudly displaying images of your supreme commander as a small child doesn't seem like the best way to go about it. Also, the time that passes between X2 and X3 is quite brief. It's either 4 or 5 years depending on what pieces of text you believe. When the party meets Prazac in Valorim, no mention is made of her age at all. If she looked young, I would expect the party to at least comment on it. If she had been a small child during X2, she would be at best a young teenager by X3. Wouldn't that be commented on? The fact that her age isn't mentioned makes me think that she's middle-aged here. This fits in with my reading that she's in her early twenties during the Empire war. If she was in her early twenties, then she would be more than capable of seeing what the Empire was doing and understanding the consequences. If Prazac was an adult, then my feeling is that the Dragons would think her accountable. Even if she didn't push for the war, even if she had nothing to do with its details, or with the capture of the Dragons, by not acting against it, she was implicit in her support of it. Regardless of the strength of her commanders, and of Garzahd, she is the Empress. A word from her could have stopped the war, even if that word was a difficult one to get out. She could have stopped the war that abused the Dragons. But she didn't. I think the dragons would want to call her to account for that, even if they were aware that the war was not her idea. I'm not even convinced that the Dragons would know much about Prazac's actions after the war. After they left for the surface, it seems to me that they broke off all ties with Exile. This includes Erika and Aimee. That leaves Athron as the only Dragon shown to have the skill to really effectively scry the Empire. But why would she? She has no interest in her siblings' war, or in the Empire itself for that matter. She's concentrating on her brood. I think it entirely reasonable that Sulfras and Khoth would not know that Prazac has a much kinder stance to non-humans. The two Dragons would need to do some scrying of the Empire to plan for their attack, but they're not going to be paying attention to the detail of Prazac's mentality while doing that – all they'd need to know would be where to best attack her and her main officials. Just one final comment on Prazac's age. Something I really hope is deliberate on Jeff's part is this: Prazac's year of birth is given in X3. However, no other event in any of the games in given using that dating system – so it's not possible to determine how old she is. I hope that's some wry humour showing its face. I was checking something, and actually came across these dumps by accident. It looks like they're back up! http://stuff.ermarian.net/slartucker/dump/
