Ephesos

While I doubt this, it could be a whole pun on the christian habit of Christmas shortening to Xmas, making the items Christian.

 

Presumably, this explains their interesting range of rather dysfunctional abilities, and why some of them are flat-out detrimental. I imagine the xian skull would be a rough analogue of some babbling idiot such as Pat Robertson.

Which ones? The ones outside the fort? You're not being specific enough...

 

And are you trying to save the vahnatai who came with you?

Hm... I assume that you mean the fortress west of Fort Remote. If not, ignore this.

 

That fortress is interesting, in that there are a lot of doors you just can't open until you defeat Rentar and grab a key. I get the impression that you missed the gate in the far southeast corner of the fort, because there's a usable door near that gate, and that's how you get in.

 

Do you have the vahnatai escort that Ghall-Ihrno mentioned? They should've given you some pointers.

Actually, as far as I know, the blessing kicks in on the undead's first turn after being hit. So if you time it right, it can kick in immediately, but you have to know what priority your characters get in combat, relative to the undead.

 

Not sure if the blessing kicking in can be delayed by Slowing them... it would kind of make sense.

Ah... I remember back in the good ol' days of the early betas. Those undead were affected by (of all things) Repel Spirit. Acid Spray wasn't ever needed... but then Jeff fixed it. Oh well.

Uh... I don't quite understand exactly what kind of error you're talking about. In fact, all I can tell from your post is that you use Windows.

 

Did you try the read me file?

 

And there's no need to post this in two forums... (EDIT: Good to see that Kel noticed it as well)

Oh... that's not good. So you took the crystal box to Houghton before finishing the Ghall-Ihrno quest? That's basically a bug.

 

It's not really important, anyway. You just miss out on a little bit of help at the end of the game.

I think I know what must have happened here, so let me take a guess:

 

-You went to Fort Saffron and cleared out the bandits

-You exited through a narrow passage that drops you in the Scree Caves

-You got Demonslayer and killed the drake

 

...in that order. I assume that you never talked to the commander of Fort Emerald about the crystal box quest? That's the only way to get the barriers lowered (assuming you have the fixed version where you can't just dispel them).

 

Thus, backtostart wouldn't mess up the plot at all. Just go talk to Advisor Houghton about the crystal box, then talk to Fort Emerald's commander.

 

EDIT: Drat. Beaten by a full four minutes.

Ah... the ones who attacked you were just bandits, with a vague reference to something further down the plotline.

Did you kill everything and search everything? I'd suggest looking over by the lich...

 

EDIT: I do seem to recall some door with a freakishly-high tool use req., and there was nothing useful behind it.

Are you sure you've looked everywhere? There should be three or four control panels... find every trapdoor/set of stairs on the first floor.

 

Oh yeah, what'd you think of Garzahd?

Of course, there's always the possibility that he was killed by an orchard slime... A4 has a few places where semi-important characters can get killed pretty easily.

 

Personally, I remember some farmers north of Formello getting killed by rats when I left a door open for too long.

After some exhaustive shielding, augmenting, blessing, hasting, and reloading, I managed to save Houghton once. He still dies in a dialogue box, from some slight nick he gets from a blade when the vahnatai enter (also in a dialogue box).

So rest assured, there is absolutely nothing you can do, even if you technically do save him. (Not even my level 4 Curing could've done the trick)

I believe that is the Castle treasury. So no, it's not really important.

EDIT: Agh! Quote tags!

Keep looking under the Goblin Caves to the south of Fort Monastery. You need to go to the extreme south of that area, I believe... so far that you're closer to Grindstone than Fort Monastery.

 

And no, you don't need to be registered.

No kidding... they only seemed to notice you if you actually went up and hit them. Though in that respect, they're like all the shamblers and shambler-type-things from A1, which never even moved until hit.

 

The A4 shamblers did have some impressive resistances, though...

The dialogue is supposed to turn out like that, since after all, nobody really explains the whole testing thing to you, except the paltry exposition granted by the various testing shades. In fact, nobody ever mentions the tests. Ever. Not even in The Castle.

It's not really a quest, just a bunch of fun things to look for. You didn't expect X's creations to have a purpose, did you? The Xian Coins are rather useful, but if I recall correctly, the Pants are awful.

 

Personally, I loved the Xian Shrub. Spreading joy and small ground cover plants throughout Valorim...

When you say that you've "won the game", I assume you mean that you've gotten to Rentar's final fortress. Anyway, here are directions to Erika's Ruins:

 

-Go to Rentar's final fortress, but don't go towards the entrance.

-Head back south, across those plains that the vahnatai guided you across.

-From the southwest corner of that section, you should be able to head straight south and reach the ruins of Erika's Tower.

-Watch out for the shambler things...

Slow does the "skip every other turn" thing for A1-3, I believe. It's just in A4 that it gives you a half-turn.

Did you talk to everyone near the entrance to Bahssikava? I believe one of the slith leaders (not the chief or the priest) has a triangle in a secret passage behind their house.

What version of Avernum are you installing? If it's later than v2.0, then you've got the Carbonized version and it shouldn't work on OS 9.2.

Aimee was always an interesting character... too bad she never reappeared. (Or maybe she did? Conspiracy theory, anyone?) I expect she could've just watched Avernum from another plane.

 

X will live forever. Or until he finishes that anvil-dropping spell... one of the two.

 

And now, for the conspiracy theory:

 

Aimee came back to Avernum sometime shortly before A4, and took Cheeseball with her. Cheeseball, being inclined towards the whole "hunting strange mice and meeting other cats" thing, was thrilled to leave Solberg and his secluded tendencies behind. Solberg, embittered at the loss of his familiar, summoned a demon to try and hunt down Aimee, but the demon regrettably took up residence under Patrick's Tower.

 

</lunacy>

This is true, if you follow the exact path perfectly. If you don't, or if you can't find it, haste helps a lot.

You don't have to kill the pylons... ever. It works just as well to try and find ways around the pylons, and you die a lot less that way.

 

Look for places where there are no pylons, and try to move along walls... as far away from pylons as possible. Haste everyone, and rush them past pylons in combat mode.

Which ones do you mean? There are two major groups, after all...

 

For the ones west of Fort Dranlon, you need to talk with someone in the fort to be told about a secret passage to the north of the fort. That'll take you west across the river (or rather, under it), over to a bunch of sliths and the Emerald Chestguard.

 

If you mean the ones which have the Avengers Ring (who are kind of off in their own little section of Avernum, towards the middle of the world map), then look for a hole west of the Castle. You're there when you see a bunch of Warped (blue) Chitrachs walking around. Go down that hole, head northeast while underground, and you'll be under the land of the sliths.

 

In short, please be more specific next time.