Tom

Not so. Cats either purr or roar, not both. Lions and tigers can't purr--the theoretical reason is because the laryngeal structure required to allow a domestic cat (or puma, cheetah, or any other purring cat) to purr is too constrictive to allow a roar; the most you get is a scream, not a true roar. Roaring cats have a nice, big larynx that gives their roars a lot of volume, but it also means that there is no chance for the constriction whose vibrations we hear as a purr to take place. Instead, you get growls, not a true purr. Some big cats can make a purring sound while exhaling, but a true purr occurs independently of the direction of airflow; small cats can purr while inhaling and that's what counts.

That is certainly possible, with such incidences as Anastasia's defection in Avernum I and the obvious integration of Nephilim in subsequent games. I'd think that the priests would try to preserve the old tongue for religious texts (we know they have them) and other such, much like Ecclesiastical Latin. I did some more looking. One of the major points while raiding the Nephilim Castle in Avernum I was the single English paper, addressed to 'Thinshadow' and left in a desk in the robing room/rectory behind the temple. Obviously, the priests understood English. Furthermore, in Avernum II, a Nephilim raised by humans owns the inn in Almaria, and one of the most easily-noticed things about him (according to the dialogue) is that he speaks English quite clearly. This would suggest that it's like a Japanese man speaking English as a second language, and that the only substantial difference between human and Nephil speech lies in the fact that they developed completely isolated from one another--limitations imposed by the Nephilim mouth structure either do not exist or can be effectively compensated, unlike the Slithzaerikai, who apparently have a permanent impediment to human speech. I'm going to tentatively suggest that Nephilim laryngeal structure evolved, not parallel to the human homologue, but approached the same limit from the other direction, assuming that evolution plays a part in the world--after all, the wide variety of Priest Spells proves a number of deities (or at least one with many faces), whose influence might throw a monkey wrench into the works. In any event, the mouths of both need to allow easy speech, but both are also for eating and breathing. Nephilim almost certainly came from carnivores, while humans almost certainly came from herbivores. Nephilim are obviously toolmakers, and excellent archers, so they probably don't use their teeth to kill. They might use their mouths to pant, and don't sweat normally like humans, which would imply a large surface area and elongated tongue. Where are the bleeding graphics files? I might as well get the portraits of the Nephilim and pray that they qualify as legitimate, instead of the dreaded 'Artist's Rendition'.

If the Nephilim have a surface homeland, the closest thing would be grottoes and hovels housing the scattered remnants of tribes in Valorim. Whether they are actually native to Valorim or were driven there by Empire expansion through the other continents is anyone's guess. As to the language, there would be some limitations imposed by the structure of the Nephil mouth. Since they can purr (Avernum II, when you cure the diseased clan near Mertis), then they are related more to housecats than to plains cats and cannot roar. They would have trouble with the dentals and probably use sounds for F and H that are substitutes for a human fricative. Though it would be funny to see a Nephil trying to make an F the human way and spitting out the sides of his mouth. They are omnivorous, however (the slave-driver Nepharim in the fort northeast of Fort Duvno in Avernum II forced the Nephilim to tend mushroom crops), which means that the limitations normally imposed by carnovire teeth would not necessarily apply to them. Even so, they do have elongated, catlike faces. They would not be able to rely on the human range of facial expression, but their tails and ears could make adequate substitutes, so you should not need to build that into the language. Even those human expressions they could use would be altered, however. A smile, for example, would not indicate happiness--they can purr, so they'd have no need for it. Actually, my cat only ever smiles when she's royally pissed off, which maes sense, because it frees the teeth to bite.

I know of no way to cure drunkenness, but that's probably because it isn't considered a 'bad' status effect. I know it reduces your to-hit percentage, but I'm not sure if it also reduces enemies' to-hit against you (a la drunken boxer). Still, multiple blessings will counter the effect; you'll come out hitting as well or better than normal, but obviously not as well as when legitimately triple-blessed. To make it more realistic, I think it would be rather interesting for spells like Light to cause damage to your party . . . anyone who's ever been really hammered will know what I'm talking about.

First: You can get the Crystal Souls in any order, so saying 'first' and 'third' tells us nothing. Second: Since you did say Pyrog's Cave, then what you need to do is this: You have to go to Fort Dolthar. It's where Sss-Thsss's castle was in Avernum I. To get there, take a boat from Silvar (I think the easiest place to get boats for this is Silvar--they cost 400g) across the lake and north to Fort Dranlon. Head west from Fort Dranlon, and south before you reach the Waterfall Warren. Fort Dolthar is the one with the three groups of Empire Soldiers guarding the gates. You need a blue or grey pass to get by them without a fight, but if you raise Hell in the fort, then you'll have to fight them on the way out. Better to enter the fort from the south, by boat. Once in the fort, murder, burn, and pillage your way up to the second floor. There are a few ways up, but only one will actually go anywhere (the others are escape routes or traps and only let people down), and it's the big stair at the south end of the first floor. Once on the second floor, hack and slash to the northeast corner. It'll stand out because of the Vahnatai architecture. Kill everyone inside and look around; there's a chest with the evidence you need. Now, the critical part is this: you must take that evidence to Olgai if you want to get into Pyrog's Lair by the rear entrance. The Council knows how to find the secret door to get in, and until you get it from them, you don't. With that newfound knowledge, you can take a boat (from the Empire Docks, past the Lair) for which you need red and blue passes, and a grey if you want to avoid a fight with some wanderers near the Lair (though you will have unavoidable fights at the guard tower nearby and the Docks themselves), use the back door, execute a few giants, work your way to the mage quarters, and retrieve Jekknol-Bok. For the rest of it, anyplace in Empire Lands from which you are barred will either stop you or kill you. Bargha, for example, just won't let you in. You'll automatically run from some other guardposts where you're seriously outclassed. Some places will kill you automatically: at the front near Dharmon, after killing several groups, you can advance to the Empire camp. They kill you quickly. If you try to fly over the chasm at Garzahd's fortress, a bunch of demons eat you. Just watch it when you're far from home and save often.

Go through the garden and pull the levers at the south end.

Earth. The name is used in Avernum 3 and I believe it may have been carried over from Exile 3, but I have no desire to play through the game again, looking for it.

There should be enough piercing crystals in the Grim Cavern to take care of the entire dungeon. It may be that one of them is behind a set of magic barriers (along with some other stuff, so the one you use to get there isn't completely wasted), but there is certainly one available, if you know where to look, that gets you in to the final chamber. Of course, if you wanted to hold off on it and use the crystals elsewhere, that might not be a bad idea. I never had the registration problem, so I would simply wait until I could grab Dispel Barrier and then sell the crystals for decent cash.

Watch it with the tools, though. You can take them from the supply depot with no trouble, but the man who wants them is not exactly on the bright and sunny side of the law. In other words, you lose reputation. It probably doesn't make much difference in the long run, but there's something deep in the numerically subtle, but sentimentally profound difference between 'Beloved' and 'Worshipped'.

There are places where food can be useful, but I generally have to leave and reenter dungeons anyway to haul stuff, and there's usually an inn in whatever town I use to unload. For that matter, all I really need is an energy potion for my priest and Mass Healing. I don't use inns unless I get a significant return on the investment--in other words, the time spent in the inn is less than the time I'd spend walking around trying to recover MP. Usually, this is an issue only when dealing with the Trogs or the Giants and they have raiding parties running about, since that constitutes a drain on my MP (either because I have to heal it when they beat me with sharp things, or because I have to fry them before they get the chance). Magic regenerates at least twice as fast as health, and Mass Healing, especially at level 3, is a bargain in restorative power.

Well, since the point is to have fun, and I don't have much fun sitting there doing nothing, I don't mind using the hintbooks at all. I don't usually get stuck too badly (exceptions being things like the Tower of Zkal), so I tend to use them like Alorael and read through after I've finished an area, checking to see what I've missed. Still, I've no compunctions about reading a walkthrough for an area before I've finished with it--for example, the Fading Tower or the Filth Factory, because you can't go back to get things you've missed.

Well, the problem with playing the First Expedition to Avernum is the obvious fact that you would have to play to lose if you wanted to preserve any continuity with the existing games. The problem with playing anything in Avernum after A2 is that Avernum has been covered twice now; everything that could be explored was explored, explored again, and if whatever baddie was in there wasn't cleaned out on the first shot, it was on the second (like the undead pit near Mertis). There's nothing left in Avernum that presents a significant challenge to anyone: the Slith Wars are over and most of the Sliths themselves are all gone, murdered by the thousands by the Empire; the Nephilim are either decidedly on Avernum's side or in small, isolated bands with no real structure or supply beyond basic subsistence; the dragons are all gone; the various undead problems have been sanctified out of existence or are about to be, because Avernum has quite a large number of competent magi and clerics--magic being, after all, Avernum's great strength; the Empire War is won and only isolated pockets of Empire resistance remain. Let's not also forget that Avernum and Valorim already have bands of exceptional adventurers trolling through, keeping things civil. It was said in A3 that the adventurers from A2 were still roving around, cleaning things up and protecting the state. The adventurers from A3 undoubtedly will do something similar in Valorim; not only are they the saviours of Avernum, they are the saviours of the Empire as well. They should have no trouble at all moving anywhere and doing anything that needs to be done (like, say, forcing a regime change in Gale). I look at the speculation that A4 would have to do with restless people being upset with the Empress for allying with Avernum, but it seems to me that allying with Avernum was be the best thing to solidify her power. Avernum has proven now that it can destroy the Empire (look at A2), save the Empire (A3), and that no one, and no one is protected from its exceedingly long reach (A1 and A2, with Hawthorne (on his own throne!) and Garzahd, respectively). With the rest of the Empire firmly under control, there is only one really feasible story on the surface: the dragons' revenge. It might be interesting to see how that plays out. The dragons will have their revenge, but with Avernum now allied with the Empire, would Avernum be obligated to come to the Empire's aid and slay the dragons? The problem with that is that it would make a nice scenario, but not much of a game. The continuation of the Vahnatai story might be another outlet, but it's been done, obviously. However, Bon-Ihrno said that there was a faction that opposed Rentar-Ihrno's methods. That faction was growing smaller, but that only means that it was growing more desperate. Plus, if The Valley of Dying Things is to be taken as canon, there are other factions of Vahnatai who've never encountered humans before. Maybe Rentar-Ihrno, seeing her plans in ashes, will go to them looking for help, only to find them aghast at her actions, if not her motives, and thus we have a problem best solved by Vahnatai adventurers (which, I think, would be cool in the utter extreme). The Sliths might be another way to go; they supposedly have a civilisation in caves even deeper than the Vahnatai (after all, one should bear in mind that Avernum covers old Vahnatai lands, and the current Vahnatai lands are only the next level down).

Actually, the fact that no one seems to make it through the game without dying a couple times raises a good point. You can't cast Raise Dead on yourself. Splitting up was the worst thing the party could have done. Maybe they would have done alright in pairs, but going each his own way was a stupid thing to do.

How does one catch the gremlin north of Lorelei? This would be the one that runs into the bushes, not the frightened one, north of Gale, who gives you Gymnastics.

I find it better to simply buy out Silverlocke's stock. Since that section of the caves deals almost entirely with wandering Empire soldiers, you wind up with a surplus of really good iron and steel weapons which sell for the piles of cash you need to buy out her stock time and time again. Plus, you can resell what potions you don't want to get decent chunks of change back, which you can use to go buy more potions or just to reduce your cash load. What I would do is run over to Silverlocke every time I came close to the 15,000G cap, buy everything I could, and then resell it in Blosk in order to keep from going over and to work toward buying out her stock again.

*Smacks forehead* That was his point. There is one, but not many would have believed the first person to do it until they did it themselves.