ewan

'Resetbugs' does not appear to be working for me: I obtain the quest from Litalia after previously purging the bugs, then use 'resetbugs' several times in different zones; proceed to secret lab and hit 'release' on the control panel, but "the control panel lets out a squeak. Nothing else happens" and on returning to the Haven, my only conversation option is still to tell Litalia that they're destroyed. Suggestions? Ah: never mind. The suggested edit for Astoria was also needed, and now - oddly! - I get *both* the 'Astoria is upset' and 'had to destroy bugs' options.

[sorry for rash of posts today..] At level 51, not too much gives xp any more (and I'm not doing Sammann again!). However, I'm at the final push (as an Alwanite this time) into Gazaki-Uss, sitting at the entrance into the inner fortress (i.e. at the east edge of the chamber where you encounter Ghaldring previously). I've cleared all the drakons, thralls, gazers and patchworks. What I have *not* done is tell the Shaper to begin the assault yet. So it appears that I am getting an unlimited flow of new drakon/thrall/patchwork enemies coming from that east door, each of whom is worth 21xp (and who present no challenge when coming through in single file!) Anyway - might help others in a similar situation. [p.s. Also source of infinite cash, of course, but at this point in the game you're probably not in need of more cash.]

Has anyone translated the runes in the border of the window at the centre of the Shaper Council picture? They look to be taken from Tolkein..

On the other hand: between AP items ((taking me to a max of 12) and haste, I would guess that I get 2 attacks on 90% of rounds. So not *that* bad.

Originally Posted By: Thuryl Originally Posted By: ewan By far most annoying: after having taken down his pylons (and *boy* did that take a long time) he still 'healed from his pylons'!! Why did you do that? How did you do that? The pylons really aren't meant to be killed until after S-dawg is dead. Patience, grasshopper ;-). OK, that's facile but true: As to how, basically burned through 50-odd essence pods. Charmed every creature, most of whom then attacked the pylons and absorbed Sammann's attacks. [Most effective were War Thralls]. Why? Well, didn't try 'go outside the dome' often/early enough, and Sammann seemed to run back inside and heal too easily. So, given the message -'draws healing energy from the pylons' - it seemed logical to knock them down. [After the first one went down, the second was faster, just as well given that I think I was down to 2 companions at that point.] Originally Posted By: Thuryl Originally Posted By: ewan [And yes, Ghaldring was a walkover in comparison. That was the second most-annoying attribute: that the final battle was anticlimatic.] Final battles in Spiderweb games are intentionally balanced to be relatively easy so that people can actually see the ending even if they're not great at the game. Oh, I know; not really a complaint. This was my first run-through, played as a Taygen slave for the sheer horror, and I was impressed with the level of custom text at the end; now to go find more palatable endings!

Sammann - argh. Cost me all but one of my creations - in retrospect I might have been better off leaving them out of the line of fire, as I relied mostly on charming his creations. By far most annoying: after having taken down his pylons (and *boy* did that take a long time) he still 'healed from his pylons'!! And never seemed to shift into 'green' mode - only once, in a one-hour real-time battle, and only for two rounds. So after the pylons going down didn't faze him, I had to go outside - then he fell rapidly. Odd! [And yes, Ghaldring was a walkover in comparison. That was the second most-annoying attribute: that the final battle was anticlimatic.]

I really appreciate all the suggestions here. Yep, told Addison that it was a trick, then slew him. I even went back to Ft. Despair to see whether I needed to make his absence noted or something, but nope.

Thanks! - I'll try that.

OK, OK, I should have been using 'unlock' more. But I didn't; and am now in dire need of some tools to adjust the Repository. Suggestions for places where I might have missed being able to obtain these are welcome

Yep - and when I return, I'm only given the 'he's as good as dead' conversation option, but no option to actually say that he *is* dead! [And Alorael: yes, I rescued the lost Trakovite also.]

Possible bug, but more likely some step I'm skipping? I've lured Addison out, killed him, but Litalia doesn't seem to recognise this: there's no conversation option for me to report it. What am I missing?

Oh, c'mon. You'd rather I started another, fragmentary topic?

I'm having trouble here: I have Koerner's blade, but can't get him to notice the fact - nor does he ever ask me to fetch it. Ideas? [if it matters, I'm rebellious and have already entered the Inner Keep - is that causing the trouble, maybe?] {{Editied to add: even weirder, I am allowed through the main gate into the Inner Keep without difficulty..}}

That would be it. Thanks! Ewan, currently annoyed; forgot to get the Hraithe Lord quest before annoying the Thanatai. Grr.

OK, I have clearly missed something. Just encountered Garvin, and he's the second NPC to have a dialogue option referring to a hidden magical lake. I *assume* that this is the Lake of Trials - which I've completed in this game already - but does anyone know how I triggered this set of dialogues? Thanks .

So - I'm running through an Anama party (well - duo; I thought about singleton but also wanted to try the trick to nab the neat Fang Clan test gear). Just finished the Anama lands, and Micklebur turns up to apologise for the ambush and state that he'll go hold off Darksiders coming from the east. OK. Except... he doesn't. And in fact it seems that there's no limit to their numbers: if you stand just outside the Anama land gates, a line of Darksiders appears each non-combat turn. This allows for instant xp, I assume, as it is quite possible to have the sequence 'f [start combat] pr [divine retribution, kills off all Darksiders] f [stop combat] space [pauses, new line of Darksiders appears]' - repeat ad nauseum. Yes, I get that this is a game mechanic to force movement towards the west, and in a game where I didn't go Anama it kinda worked. But when the Anama lands are in theory closed to the Darksiders... well, is there *no* benefit to going Anama other than a couple of spells? Just seems a bit silly.

*Sure*? No. Doesn't make as good a story, though, if that is the case .

Dude. Your sentinels are all dead, your deepest secrets are in the hands of the Empire, Dorikas, *and* the late Melanchion, and your tower just burned. I'd be mad too ;-)

Seems that posting is as ever a process to finding the solution; the Harkin's Landing drake offers this info on being freed. I was amused to see that on my second exit from the Slith lair, someone had gone to the chest which previously contained a Warmaster helm and placed a bronze shortsword in it. Consolation prize? I wonder how many times this gets refilled?

Minor, but annoying :-). Last game someone in-game told me that the Slith staue with onyx eyes conceals a treasure, but I never went after it. This game, I found the statue, but have not been so told and hence the party does not pause to investigate. Anyone remember who tells this titbit?

Lastly... ...I played (the first time, anyway) as 4 nephils and a slith. That made it *really* hard to get motivated to go Darkside, given that my role even at best would pretty obviously be peon/untermenschen. Would have been ideal to have, maybe, a Loyalist subplot with the possibility of raising the profile/status of nonhumans in that setup? Too late, I know, but there are few enough gripes with what was really a great game . *** EDIT: Oops - see below: for 4, read 3. No 5-character party (!); one Slith tank, one nethil swordsman; one priest/archer and one mage/thief. I guess I can buy the 'darkside route is for human parties' - and yes, I noted the text mods, but they were very obviously not sincere on 'his' part

Skippy quoth: Quote: Originally written by ewan: Quote: And in fact it's quite possible (oddly) *not* to kill the drake even whilst being geased. This surprised me - when I returned to the Drake cave (I'd been there earlier, but was just finishing up town quests before freeing it) I was able to choose between "I'm sorry, I have to kill you now" (which was my first indication that there might be a geas active) and "go free." The first indication that a geas is active is a message indicating an overwhelming compulsion to skin the drake. If you haven't taken the geas yet then you can free the drake. And if you have made it to Tranquility before accepting the geas then you don't need to do anything to the drake. But being able to free the drake after being geased is a bug that ought to have been squashed - it can cause nasty side-effects. Hmm. I believe that I had, indeed, been at least close to Tranquility before I decided to double-back and accept a geas. Maybe there's a code item that sets Gladwell's first desire to the scrolls? After all, if you free the drake before seeing Gladwell, there would be a problem otherwise. One of my favourite things about the Avernum games is the presence of such self-test questions: just how many helpless creatures am I willing to kill, even virtually? Will I go along with torture if it gets me more personal power? [And finally, is Anama status irreversible?]

And in fact it's quite possible (oddly) *not* to kill the drake even whilst being geased. This surprised me - when I returned to the Drake cave (I'd been there earlier, but was just finishing up town quests before freeing it) I was able to choose between "I'm sorry, I have to kill you now" (which was my first indication that there might be a geas active) and "go free." The only geas part that really annoyed me was that (I assume) it made it impossible to join the Anama. I'm curious how the storyline goes if you do so, but don't have a relevant savefile. I was mildly annoyed not to be able to help Shafrir, but that one's avoidable, I guess.

Randomizer: Quote: The throne room opens when you pursue Dorikas as this is the last place he retreats to for help. Maybe you killed him too quickly. Nothing much there and you can't use the loot that you can get there. Aha. Yep, that would be it: I was careful to block the apparent retreat route as soon as I got the 'tries to aim for a beter place to make a stand' or whatever text. Thanks. *** I liked very much that there was an option to sell Melanchion's egg to Solberg. Neat. Still silly that it then vanished when I killed him without even leaving the room in between ;-)

Scuttler eyes drop (sometimes) if you kill one after getting the quest. That 'after' may be important. I got caught by a similar chain of events with the rockhound-crystals; that one explicitly notes that they'll probably respawn, but I ended up only getting 9 crystals without spending time laboriously revisiting old places. [Off-topic: doesn't it seem odd that after, for instance, killing Gladwell, the party doesn't find the notes from Solberg that were previously handed to him? Irritating ]