Ess-Eschas

As you can see, this is a part I don’t remember as well! I had a quick check against the town texts to remind myself. Legare’s unusual name is indeed mentioned, although it doesn't seem to be referenced at exactly this point in Avernum 1. I found it in Sss-Voss’s dialogue in Lost Bahssikava, but it amounts to the same thing, and it’s repeated in the remake, too. I had forgotten there was already dialogue about Legare’s name! I believe what I quoted is new, but it seems less likely to be a reference if it’s restating some earlier text. Oh well. I thought it was probably unlikely! I think it’s great to take points like that to paint small but important details in fiction, such as those slith accents you mention. It’s completely in keeping with how things work in Avernum and, at least to me, helps to make Bahssikava feel like a natural extension to the main series. The similarity between the names is very good at highlighting names that are unusual, such as Calindor, as you mention, while enhancing the links between the Bahssikavan sliths. That’s an interesting point about the dragons, by the way. I hadn’t noticed that comment from Motrax about his not being related to the others. I suppose you could argue that Motrax is mistaken, and the remarks come from his ‘senility’ as mentioned by Sulfras and Athron, but that also doesn’t hold true. The other dragons repeatedly mention that Motrax is an older sibling but, if they were from the same clutch, wouldn’t they all be almost exactly the same age? After all, Athron’s brood seem to be all the same age. If so, how likely is it that only one of them is becoming senile? I think it can be safely said that there are dragon clutches sometimes, though, since we see Athron’s clutch throughout most of the series, but it’s probably hard to go for consistency much outside that. Using Avernum 1 as a basis seems best, though. Bahssikava only appears there, after all. Oh, and I do find the changing dragon genders a little amusing, even though I know they’re simple mistakes. I tend to default naturally to thinking of the dragons mostly in a mishmash of the early Exile variants (so with Sulfras and Khoth both being male, for instance), which is why I was slightly surprised that Pyrog was female this time around. Without wishing to ramble, I’ve a quick question now I’ve reminded myself about Avernum’s Bahssikava. Is the Kass in Avernum 1 related to your Kass? I’m guessing probably not, given what the Empire does in the town, but there are some similarities between them. Legare escaped from the Empire too, after all. <Edit: I'm leaving this in, but I realise my initial thought didn't make sense. For some reason, I always have it in my head that Kass in Bahssikava is female, despite clearly being male in the dialogue. Hence my confusion!>

Well, it’s a small change and easy to miss. Also, the remakes are a significant investment of time. It took me months to get through each one. It’s a little disconcerting to think how much time I must have spent on all the different versions of Exile I in total. Actually, if I’m being honest, I’m still not quite done with Crystal Souls. I stalled just before Garzahd’s fortress, the last major dungeon I’d need to work through, during a busy spell at work. I should really get back to that. While I think about it, there is one other possible Bahssikava reference, although perhaps this is a little more of a long shot. Legare’s text is slightly changed in the remake. In particular, in his opening dialogue, there’s one extra little paragraph: ‘He nods to you. “Is this rescue for Legare? Dare I dream it?” His speech is entirely without lisp or accent, and his name is unusual.’ I can recall you saying that Legare’s unusual name was part of what inspired you to make him such an important feature in Bahssikava. Maybe Jeff felt like putting that in there as a little reference too? Or perhaps I’m reading too much into this. Oh, and the dragons still aren’t quite consistent? Ha ha.

I'm pleased that you stumbled upon this little change! I noticed this the first time I played through the remake, although only really by chance. The text at the doors is significant, and I must have committed the Avernum 1 words to memory without really intending to do so. When I played the remake, I thought something was different, so I went a checked (and I still have the couple of screenshots I took back in early 2012). I actually almost pointed it out to you when testing The Magic, but I never got around to it. Perhaps it's coincidence, but I'd like to think that it was a little nod of Jeff's to Bahssikava. It seems like such a small, specific point to change otherwise. You could even argue that the change of sense from 'watching' to 'returning' might be a nod to Bahssikava too, since the Goddess does indeed return to the Darklings during the scenario, albeit it physically only briefly to Legare. Once the narrator is talking about returning, it then seems natural to talk about restoration of wisdom, too, rather than simple bestowing, but perhaps that's going a bit too far out on a limb. In any case, it's nicely fortuitous that it fits in to your series's continuity so neatly! Incidentally, I hadn't noticed that typo until just now, though …

Hello jeffreywilens, All that you should need to do to get in to Pyrog’s Cave is to pick up the papers in Fort Dolthar and report to Elohi-Bok. He’ll then give you the information you need to find the secret passage. The other pointers you mention (Erika and Solberg) are references to other quests; Olgai is the central point for all of the vahnatai quests, so it can be a little confusing separating out which bit of information relates to each quest! It sounds like you might have missed picking up the right set of papers in Fort Dolthar. If you have the papers with you, Elohi-Bok should always mention Pyrog’s Cave at this stage, even if he only reminds you how to get in. There are several sets of papers in Fort Dolthar, and it’s easy to miss the one that you need. You need the information that directly refers to the crystal soul, and not just to the vahnatai. The papers are in a slightly different place in this remake compared to the original Avernum 2. Which cabinets are you checking? Have you tried checking in other important places on the upper level of the fort?

Oh, I misunderstood the point you were having problems with! Sorry about that. The walkthrough is indeed correct for this section of the port. In order to get to the entrance of the Realms of Mist, you need to get a boat from Skane. Sorali stands in your way, attempting to bribe you with the boats to do a questionable mission. Instead, someone else in Skane (Sain) suggests that you do away with Sorali and use the keys on him to steal a boat. Sain is telling you the truth. If kill Sorali, you'll get access to the boats and be able to proceed.

Hello Hyena, If you press Scyld a little, you'll get a little more information. The place you're being sent is 'the western isle'. This isn't referring to Skane, but a place not too far from there. If you have a look around, you should be able to find the entrance. Have a look for an interesting natural formation! If you can't find it, there's a detailed walkthrough for the original, Blades of Exile version of this scenario. The ported scenario is almost identical except in some small points, so the majority of the information in the walkthrough should still apply. You can find it here: http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/mac/file/blades_of_exile_river_and_leaf.txt

Hello Sarath, Mods like these work by changing data files for the game. These are unique to each game, so these mods will only work for Geneforge 4, I'm afraid. However, the games all use the same language in their data files, so it's possible to 'port' general mods like this from one game to other relatively easily by changing the code in the scripts. That might sound a little scary if you're not used to it, so I whipped up a quick port for you. These files should do the same things as Samcast's original mods, but for Geneforge 5. I hope you don't mind me making the ports, Samcast! You can download the ports here (and they'll be alive for a few months at this link): http://wikisend.com/download/935502/Samcast_Mods_Geneforge_5.zip If you want something more powerful than this, though, there is also a full-on editor mod for Geneforge 5. See this post: http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/18989-geneforge-5-editor/

Hi nikki, Here's a link to a page which hosts a Windows version of the 3D editor: https://www.idupree.com/2004/3d-blades-of-avernum-editor I believe this isn't the most recent version – it looks like the original port of the Mac version before Tridash worked on it – but hopefully that should be enough. For the record, I did have a quick look in the Internet Archive, but unfortunately the link to Tridash's editor wasn't stored there.

You know, I like the idea of having a more powerful Repel Spirit. The undead spells in Exile and Avernum have generally felt a touch on the weak side, especially compared to what I remember of Exile’s Ravage Spirit for demons, but perhaps that’s just me. I suppose it makes undead-filled crypts more viable to design! In any case, it’s good that you’re finding issues like this now before too much of the scenario is set in stone. While I can only imagine how tedious it is at this stage, hopefully getting everything balanced well early on will make the rest of the scenario much easier to work on. Also, this: This bodes really, really well. If you’re this happy with part of the scenario at this early stage, then I’m all the more excited for what’s to come! Keep up the good work!

Your new approach to coding the special spells sounds neat, and it makes my programming side very happy! It seems far more elegant to pass all the spells through one place, and it should make your life much, much easier when the base code is working. I like your idea about powering up fighters, and I’ll be interested to see how that plays out. Hooray for the Prologue being completable! It’s great to hear that a little chunk of Homeland is already at that stage.

It's hard not to make this sound like an understatement, but this is just brilliant! I thought there might be a small chance of you getting back into this series again after The Magic, but what with the relativeness quietness of scenario design right now, I wasn't sure. You're working on Homeland – hooray! I think the best part of this is that you've gotten past the writing block. I know only too well what that's like, and how painful it can be. I find it sometimes takes an age and a half to find a way to make all the elements of a story come together in a way that feels right. There's another understatement. Still, it sounds like you've blazed past that and you're making some good early progress. Long may that continue. Of course it's a large scenario, so take the time that you need. It's better good than rushed and if it takes several years, so be it. If you need help at any point down the line (testing etc.), I'd be happy to chip in!

I'm glad you liked it! I had huge amounts of fun putting it together, and it's nice to know it's been well received. Bonus points for appreciating its meta quality, too. It's good that you didn't see an obvious flaw with the language use, either. To explain my reservations, languages have always been my weak point; I wasn't sure if I might have missed something obvious. I think the main concern I had was whether I had used adjectives correctly. You mention them briefly in your notes, but I don't recall you saying much about where adjectives appear within the sentence structure, and you didn't give too many examples. Still, if you didn't spot a mistake on the first glance, that's good enough for me! It's been nice coming back to this work again. I'm happy enough with how it turned out that I might even put together a sequel one of these days.

Hello World! This is my first post here, although I’ve been hanging around the community for a while. I’ve been playing Spiderweb games for almost twenty years now, but for some reason or other never quite got around to creating an account on these forums. Almost two years ago, I wrote a piece of fan-fiction based on the world of Kelandon’s scenario, Exodus. I was reminded of the story again recently, and thoroughly enjoyed reading through it again. It seemed odd that I didn't put a link to the story on these boards at the time, and so I'm correcting that now. You can find the story here: http://dermuda.deviantart.com/art/Thissa-in-Thassaka-Part-1-of-3-551230965 Do please give it a read! I’ve written quite a lot about the work in some notes which are appended after the story in the link, but here’s a brief overview. ‘Thissa in Thassaka’ is a shortish novella set in the early stages of Exodus. It loosely deals with several themes: the history of Avernum; the place of sliths in Avernite society; undercurrents of hostility between different races and species; and some of the reasons behind the slow collapse of Kelandon’s slith empire. Throughout the story are occasional memory scenes detailing events that occur over the course of Exodus and the earlier scenario Bahssikava. It deals with a party of four adventurers, Jenneke, Thissa, Frrrrrr and Adrianna, as they rest in the city of Thassaka after having escorted Legare’s expedition there. It's designed to be enjoyable without any knowledge of Kelandon's scenarios, or even of Avernum, although someone who has played the scenarios will be able to make the most of the many little references scattered throughout the story. Also included with the story is an illustration which I produced at the time. For the record, this was a study piece which I made to learn about the slith form, and it bears strong similarity to a piece of art from the new version of Crystal Souls. You can read more about that in the link. If you’re interested, give it a look through. If you do, I hope you enjoy it! -- Ess (Although I’ve also gone under the name Hugo in some recent beta testing)