Let's Sail The River of Time - 21 (Rat Diplomacy)

Right, adopting ghostdog's advice. Also trying to make updates a bit smaller overall, they might be slightly too big for a steady LP rate otherwise.

The moment Sayyid steps out of the tower, a man runs up.



What the... it's the inconspicuous man we've seen around town.

Sayyid ibn Nasreddin, stop... a word with you.

I can't think of any reason why I'd talk to someone like you. Good day.

Now, now! Not so hasty! I didn't mean to barge into this. First of all, let me explain how you came to my notice. How you mastered the last stages of your apprenticeship with old Brookbeard... that was just superb. And how you outwitted that Boron Deont... I must say, that was very cunning indeed.

Spare yourself the charade, good sir, and get to the point. What is this all about?!

I'll get to that in a moment. But the most revealing part was the story about that... Blood Wolf. Pity it didn't spare any of the smugglers. They could probably have given us lots of information.

Blood Wolf? Smugglers? Right, I've had it! I want to know what's going on here. At once!

My name is Gerlin and my... 'office' requires me to see to it that I am always well informed about things. To put it bluntly, I ... stumbled across you ... so to speak ... during my investigation of the pirate attacks.

Man, why can't we ever meet non-shady people out there?

You're on the trail of the river pirates?! What were you able to find out, and what do these ... these smugglers have to do with it?!

I don't know that myself yet, but I'm sure we'll find out soon. However, that is something we should discuss in a somewhat quieter location.

You still haven't told me who you're working for.

When you get your teeth into something you just don't let go, do you? Heh heh... I like that about you. However, I regret that I must keep this information from you... for now. We really should discuss this in a quieter location.

Man, he even chuckles? And look at that mustache! The only thing missing is a little "admiral Ackbar" medallion, and the "it's a trap" signal series would be complete.

Blast his eyes, I'm not about to be intimidated by some fat, overdressed heathen dandy.

Hm. All right, agreed. After you.

Alright then. Follow me.

Different spellings of "alright" in back to back phrases. Sloppy? Nah.



Oh yeah, here we go, back alley and everything.



Liegemen, eh? I'M ON TO YOUR TRICKS!



Aha! Now the...wait, cooperation?

Cooperation? Isn't that rushing it a bit?

I was only talking about exchanging information, nothing more.



*sneers* Oh good, an elf. No doubt her fairy magic and "senses" will be of great value to us all.

Gerlin has always had the right instincts so far. It...

It's not up to us alone to make any decisions about a mutual plan, anyway.



For a moment there I thought the game was just going to cutscene me into the next quest.

So, what say you? Do we want to work together on this?

No.

But thou must!

I don't trust you.

So? A healthy dose of mistrust may be good, perhaps even essential! But mistrust us? No, that's completely uncalled for.

You make me laugh: 'completely uncalled for'. How do I know you're telling the truth?

You can't know that. You can't ever know that, not with anyone. You can only put my word to the test if you follow me. At least we didn't strike you down from behind like these river pirates.

Wow. Way to alleviate my concerns. Anyway, there's two dialog options here, and both of them say "ok I'll work with you" in different wording.

Hm. If there's a chance of nabbing the pirates, I'm in. But remember: I'll be keeping an eye on you. Now tell me what you've found out.

My sources tell me that a ship will dock in the harbor tonight, after the curfew. It's possible that stolen merchandise from the pirate attacks will be on board. Anyway, we'll take a close look at this situation.

After the curfew? Isn't that too risky? The harbor will surely be monitored by patrols.

Normally you would be right about that. However, according to everything we were able to learn, there won't be any patrols tonight.

A tricky matter. The influence of the men behind this must reach farther than we supposed. The question now is... How far?

It's no good. We'll only find out once we see the situation for ourselves. How do we want to proceed?

As soon as you are ready, Jaakon will take you to our meeting place when darkness falls. We'll discuss the last details there and leave together.

Ach, if that's all there is to it. That'll be child's play.

Don't get your hopes up, Sayyid ibn Nasreddin. This will be anything but a walk in the park. Make sure you are really well-prepared for our mission... then meet me behind the tavern at the marketplace.

This Jaakon is level-headed and smart. From his dress I would gather he is a mage like I am. His presence does help alleviate some of my concerns of this group.

Of course. I'll prepare myself and then go to the tavern.

Well then, that's everything... right? Please excuse me. I also have some preparations to make. Oh, and... keep a low profile... not one word to anyone about our mission.



There's not much for me to do, preparation-wise. I clear out my inventory by selling some useless goods and head to the meeting point, where Jaakon is waiting.

Excellent, you're here. Everything has been arranged. I'm pleased to meet someone from the magic workers' faction. I heard that your last teacher's methods were somewhat ... unorthodox?

They certainly were. But I probably learned more in my short time there than I could have ever hoped to learn elsewhere.

Heh heh. I think I know what you mean. I was at a rather orthodox and straightforward - not to mention boring - academy. I also learned a lot there. But let's drop this topic. Are you ready for our mission?

I am, but first I'd like to know a bit more of this Jaakon Zagor fellow.

Can I ask you a personal question?

Oh, I ... of course. You may.

Your name sounds Fountlandish. May I ask where you learned the arcane arts?

No, I don't come from Fountland originally, even if a large part of my family feels very at home there. I studied at the Hall of Mercury in Festum. I didn't stick with it very long there.

Fountland seems like a touchy subject, for whatever reason. Best no to pry.

What made you leave?

Too little practical work, too much theory. I actually had looked forward to studying there. After all, the academy had a reputation for undertaking frequent expeditions to magical phenomena.



How about Gerlin? He hasn't let much slip so far. I still don't know who he is working for. Or you for that matter.

And you won't get that information from me, either. Sorry. All I can tell you is that he is an outstanding friend and mentor, and that he never leaves any of his people in the lurch. He thinks very highly of you for some reason. I guarantee you that you can trust him completely. I even surmise that ultimately we are pursuing the same goals. That's all I can tell you about him.

That Elf ... what was her name again? Fayris! How long have you known her?

Fayris Lynxeye, she is a Half-Elf, to be exact. Why do you ask?

I'm just curious. After all, you know more about me by now than I know about you. Well?

Actually I began my service with Gerlin at just about the same time as she did. We met for the first time there. At first the teamwork wasn't as successful as Gerlin had hoped. But over the years we've overcome our differences to have a viable working relationship, as Master Gerlin likes to say. I think very highly of her. You won't find a better scout anywhere.

Oh, I see. You think very highly of her, eh? A working relationship, nudge nudge. I bet she randomly bursts into elvish song by the campfire, the ultimate sign of blooming love.

About our mission ...

Of course, the mission. Are you ready now?

Yes. Let's get started, Jaakon.

Now we're getting to the deadly serious side of things. We'll meet up with the others behind the Praios Temple after darkness falls. Let's go!

Sayyid and Jaakon discuss magic theory while the hours pass, as they wait behind the Praios Temple for Fayris and Gerlin to arrive.

But they don't...



Perhaps the harbor watch is on patrol after all and held them up.

Out of the question. We would have seen them in that case. No, it must ... psst ... someone's coming!



Fayris!

By Rastullah, woman, put on some pants. This is an outrage!

Sayyid ibn Nasreddin, Jaakon! We ... Gerlin, he ...

What's the matter with Gerlin? What happened?!

We were ... he wanted to check on something. The smugglers captured him, I ... I couldn't intervene.

Curses! How could he be so careless?! Something ... must have rattled him. Could you see where they took him?

No, I ... I didn't want to endanger Gerlin in any way. One of them muttered something about 'the two big warehouses' and 'the only way into the harbor district'.

Ah, mutterers, the boon to RPG gamers everywhere.

Hmm ... if we want to rescue Gerlin, we'll have to sneak through those warehouses whether we want to or not. Hurry! Who knows what they're planning to do with him!

Hang on a moment. Not so fast. I don't like this.

This is not a good time to dwell on feelings, don't you think?

Sayyid ibn Nasreddin, please. I sense that Gerlin is in great danger. If we still want to rescue him, we have to act now.

Oh right, I'm sorry, if the elf senses something I guess we have to go along.

I warned you. Alright then: It's your mentor, so it's your plan.

And thus Fayris and Jaakon join the party (which means it's finally a party). Other followers so far were temporary and thus I could not access their stats or inventory. Not so for these two.



The outrageously pantsless woman is a basic Elven ranger. Very skilled at healing, good with a bow, a natural for setting and disarming traps.



Jaakon is a battle mage. Good store of AE, not a bad selection of spells, including the elven heritage spell Sleep of a Thousand Sleep.



We immediately run into resistance.

Oh, no! Members of the smugglers? gang. How could they have followed me?

We can speculate about that later. Hm, they haven't noticed us. Maybe they're only supposed to be lookouts while the ship is being unloaded.

We can speculate about that later = momma gung get spanked

I have an idea! What about if I set up a trap in the passageway, and then we lure them in there?

A woman forwarding an idea? Hah! No wonder it is so useless.

We can deal with them easily enough. Come on!

These guys aren't worth wasting traps on. Traps in general aren't necessary but do come in handy a couple of times. I guess this instance is just supposed to act like a tutorial of sorts.



Sending out a thunderbolt welcome wagon.



When adventure points dawn, they dawn...IN FIRE.

Wow, it really does work on anything.



More of them near the marketplace.

We'll have to get rid of him first... Jaakon, knock him out with a 'Somnigravis' sleep spell!

Even though it's called Sleep of a Thousand Sleep in the spellbook, the translator stuck with the original name.

Anyway, another tutorial-esque remark. It's almost quicker to just kill him.



Double rape flames.



A whole troop of them here. Using traps here might be more sensible, but eh, charge!





Hah, he didn't even get close before being fried by a culminatio.



The usual burning and maiming ensues. Picked out this screenshot as it shows Jaakon with "slight gangrene", a common poison effect early in the game. Any poison can be cured by Clarum Purum, which Fayris is casting, meaning treat poisons becomes effectively useless (treat wounds is similarly replaceable by a combination of Calm Body and Balm of Healing, but I never bothered, it's a bigger investment).

However, they locked that gate after passing through it.

A dead end, great!

The gate was open earlier...

... they're trying to cut us off! Quick, try another one!



It wouldn't have been worth it. You'd only have risked them harming Gerlin. He would have been proud of your discretion.

You're right, Jaakon. But I can't get it out of my mind. I should have at least found out where they were taking him.

Then they might have caught you too. No, no... Don't worry, Fayris, we'll find Gerlin and rescue him.



It is a quiet night, even for this sleepy town. Only the cats still prowl around, curiously witnessing the humans from their rooftop perches.



And us, three comrade-in-arms. United to find our missing compatriot, indivisible in our goal.







What?







Well.

Fine then.

Because splitting up always works out well, right?

Side with Fayris

Cenobyte said:

Side with Fayris

Click to expand...

Oh I'm pretty sure he will, being a male and all that.

But this moment does indeed feel pretty forced and stupid.

What's about to come caused quite a bit of butthurt in the German Drakensang forums... some people that played with a mage went after the mage, and people playing with an Elf went after the Elf...

That said, though, Fayris is definitely the most interesting companion of the two... pretty good voice-over in German as well.

Oh guys. You narrowly avoid spoilers but do remember lots of people reading this LP have no played the game. Not that this plotpoint isn't easy to see coming if you've ever played an RPG/read a fantasy story, but still...

abnaxus said:

What's about to come caused quite a bit of butthurt in the German Drakensang forums...

Click to expand...

That's kinda dumb. Not only is it pretty easy to see coming, the game autosaves for you, as you can see. The next autosave overwrite isn't until Thurstone I think, so it's not like you can't go back.

Update later. I'm working about three updates in screenshots ahead, I wasn't really planning to call a Codex vote on any choices in this game. I don't think it makes too much sense with this type of game.

What the...



Fortunately they miss.



The villains step up.

Tsk tsk ... always these puffed up snoopers who don't know when to quit. Now you'll pay the same price for your stubbornness as your friends did.

Oh yeah?! If your accomplices are as talkative as you are, I'll still have plenty of time to save my friends.



Two archers with - uniquely - incendiary arrows on their bows attack. The smuggler who talked to me was obviously trying to taunt my ass as he just wants to distract from attacking the archers. I'm not going for it though.



Easy enough. But now what?

By the false beards of the fake gods! My companions are in trouble! Both of them! But who di I aid?!



My brother of magic, Jaakon, went to the north. His control of the elements and minions is impressive. My instinct tells me he will be alright, at least for now.



But this elf, Fayris? She is only a woman after all, and without pants on, for that. I do not think Jaakon will forgive me if I just leave her to the hands of these smugglers.

Fayris it is!



I know! Hold on, I'm at your side!



It's not exactly a well set-up trap. The first two smugglers are down as their backup (a smuggler and a mage) run in.



And they don't last much longer.

I thank you, Sayyid ibn Nasreddin. Hurry! We have to go to Jaakon in the other warehouse. Gerlin is probably there, too!

Agreed. Which way?

Through the back gate! Out to the harbor. If we access the other warehouse from there, we might have the element of surprise working to our advantage!



Hmmmm. Four smugglers between us and the other warehouse.

Quiet! We'd better avoid alterting them...this is tricky enough.

She has a point. Fighting them will only slow us down. And from a gameist perspective: you get 10AP if you sneak past them, which is about the same as if you fight them. The River of Time does that a lot, often even giving you more AP (though not often more loot) for the non-combat paths.



A mage patrols the waterside in a regular pattern, the thugs don't move. Not hard to avoid.



He almost got us there! Narrow escape.



Safely past.



Fayris signals me back. As much as this sequence (understandably) angers some players, the way Fayris and Jaakon take point makes some sense since they're the professionals here. But they're clearly a bit lost without Gerlon.



Speak of the devil. At least he still looks alive. Who's that guy standing by him, though? Dressed like a mage, looks like an arrogant and powerful individual. No guards near him. None needed?



That must be Jaakon! I knew he'd be fine.



Jaakon immediately attacks the figure standing near Gerlon. That seems a bit rash, but maybe he knows more than us.





The attack was completely blocked by his shield. Whoever this mage is, he is impressively powerful.





He calmly, if not dismissively, counters with a ball of lightning.





May Rastullah accept his soul. Poor Jaakon, he clearly underestimated his opponent there.





What?



I hate to even think it, but he's right. Jaakon attacked him first. Even considering this man is holding Gerlon, "why did you do that" is a really dumb question, woman.

If the ladies and gentlemen would excuse me now, I have other duties to attend to.



He walks off, dropping...something on the ground.



The blue light is pulling bits of trash from the piles around the warehouse. Constructing...something.



Pull yourself together, woman. Something is happening.





This... this is the new shit.



Not counting this blood wolf fight, this is the first "boss" fight. He has 200VI (on normal difficulty) and wide-sweeping attacks that hit anyone within an arc. He also causes fear. However, what makes this fight a breeze is that he's susceptible to fire attacks, being made out of (primarily wooden) junk. And "coincidentally" I just picked up incendiary arrows for Fayris, and I've got some firepower myself.



Equipping the pantsless one. Notice the armor is marked in red. In TRoT, you can freely switch out items (weapons/ammo) between characters and equipped/unequipped in combat and not lose a beat. But using an item (like a potion) takes a turn, and you can't switch out any armor items at all.



Catches fire immediately. But the golem heads straight for Sayyid.



Sayyid is overcome by fear, lacking the willpower to resist it. This takes him out of combat for 10 seconds, and then golem immediately turns to the skeleton. The skeleton is of course immune to fear, and can take quite a bit of damage from the golem, so this is pretty advantageous to us.



Chipping him down.



Both the skeleton and golem are right near to collapse.

Burn in Rastullah's holy flames, monster!



The summoning spell breaks up, scattering junk and knocking down Sayyid.



Fayris ran off, crying over Jaakon's still body. He's gone.

A pity, such magical potential. Still, even as she now breaks down as the woman she is, I was impressed that Fayris could set her feelings aside long enough to fight the golem. She did well. For a female.

Since Fayris is useless right now, we free Gerlin. He's still alive, fortunately.

Coldstone. I... I was too careless. I'll never forgive myself.

You shouldn't talk like that. It wasn't you who killed Jaakon, it was that heartless criminal.

Anger and sorrow will not bring us closer to our objective. If we wish to honor the sacrifice Jaakon made for us, we should think hard about how to continue.

You are right, of course. Although his loss has left a void in our hearts, we must not become careless. His courage should be an example to us.

Fayris recovered from her emotional distress fast. Professional. As for Sayyid, he liked Jaakon well enough, but this Coldstone is one powerful magician. It'd be interesting to learn more about him.

Is 'Coldstone' the name of the man whom we have to thank for all this' What part does he play in this matter?

That's the big question I don't have an answer for... not right now, anyway. I don't know much about him. But I will remember his face... and his name. We've clashed before, during my youth.

Clashed?

Yes, it was a trivial matter during my service, an... irregularity. I can't even remember exactly what it was about. But I'll get to the bottom of it, even if I have to examine every document from my service days.

Don't you think that it's time to admit who you're actually working for?

If I had been allowed to make the decision, I would have told you already. It's just that Gerlin...

Gerlin promised his master that he would mention him only if absolutely necessary. Count Growin of Ferdok - in person - instructed us to get to the bottom of the pirate attacks.

Growin! That's interesting. From the manual:
Count Growin of Ferdok
Some were surprised when Emperor Hal made the young, but capable Dwarven warrior Growin son of Gorbosh Count of Ferdok. It is much easier to imagine the portly Dwarf enjoyinh Ferdok beer at the smithy rather than at his escritoire. He is extremely popular with the people and a great patron of Imman. He prefers to travel in a sturdy coach, rather than horseback, although he generally avoids any other unnecessary expenditures from his well-filled coffers

Nobody manages money quite like a dwarf. If he sounds like good people from that description, it's because he is. But, as the manual and game both mention, that fat slob of a baron Dajin expected to be made count of Ferdok when the title became available, but was passed up for the dark horse, Growin. The pieces of the puzzle are clicking together.

So what happens now? That ship's hardly going to make an appearance after tonight.

Well... the actual reason I ended up being taken prisoner was a conversation behind a courtyard wall - and I was able to overhear by accident while on the way to our meeting point.



When they stopped talking, I climbed over the wall to see what was in the chest. I was so eager to catch a glimpse of it that I didn't notice I wasn't alone on the other side of that wall. I felt a blow on the head and... woke up here.

And honestly, it all broke down from there. I'd question their professionalism, but that's how it goes with plans.

And? What was in the chest?

I didn't get to that, more's the pity. But we still have the following clues: The initials SB were carved on the chest. I suspect that SB could be the Commandant of the Tollgate, Stitus Bloomfold.

Wait, the initials SB. Remember the letter we uncovered earlier?



Crap. So all we got out of all this is a clue that I actually already had but never showed to Gerlin? Shit.

Stitus Bloomfold, interesting. What's the plan this time?

Fayris. I want you to accompany our new lady friend here. If you see that she trusts someone, you trust that person too.

Hmmmm. An elf. A woman. I'm not enthused. Still, she has potential. But just the two of us against whatever pirates, guards and mages we might face won't work...

Ah, speaking of which: I'm traveling with three well-heeled merchants who are also in search of the pirates. Something extremely precious has apparently been stolen from them.

Yes, I know these gentlemen. You can tell them everything. You must go to the Tollgate and find out what the connection is between Commandant Bloomfold, the smugglers and the pirates.

Well, I don't really know. I don't really want to get any more involved in this than I absolutely have to.

As I said from the start: we are all in this together. Unfortunately, I fear that in the meantime, you and your wealthy merchants are in this up to your necks.

Hm ... perhaps. I've got to keep going, if only to prevent my friends from being left in the lurch. We've got to get to the bottom of this, for better or for worse.

Yes, we shall - It should be a laughably easy task for us to find out what that Toll Commandant is up to.

Excellent! I'll journey to Ferdok to report on the night's events and what we've found out so far. And I will do everything in my power to find out all I can about Coldstone. May Phex be with you until we meet again!

I hope you'll find some answers. Take care of yourself, Gerlin.

Killed by a Culminatio... which according to the game rules only does 1d20 + 5 damage... like Irenicus, Coldstone cheats bigtime.

Great stuff do far !

Although I would expect more extremeness from such a face :




EDIT: Oh, you're using photobucket. prepare for upcoming bandwidth rage.

ghostdog said:

Although I would expect more extremeness from such a face :

Click to expand...

I try to add some typical Rastullah-worshipper thoughts in the cursived bits, but really the game doesn't allow too much in way of extreme choices, it basically forces you to be a fairly good guy. Can't be helped.

ghostdog said:

EDIT: Oh, you're using photobucket. prepare for upcoming bandwidth rage.

Click to expand...

At 22%. It's a force of habit. At least the interface is ok, but yeah, it's a bit suck.

Brother None said:

I try to add some typical Rastullah-worshipper thoughts in the cursived bits, but really the game doesn't allow too much in way of extreme choices, it basically forces you to be a fairly good guy. Can't be helped.

Click to expand...

I actually don't really mind that. Found that I prefer it to false choices leading to an alignment shift that means jack shit. If you're going to make an evil or the p. tough guy who don't(...) path through the game make it count by branching the story accordingly or just make it plain cool/fun (like ME collar-grabbing).

Whole RoT has a fairy tale vibe and EXTREME doesn't really fit in, much like in Divinity 2.

Metamage is as extreme as it gets, walking around with a summoned skeleton in the Praios Temple... still, it might be explained by the game taking place a decade before the return of Borbarad, when the Praios Temple wasn't yet that hardcore.

This game looks better and better, now I'm really considering geting it. Is it a bugfest like Neverwinter Nights 2 or something?

"Not extreme enough" be as it may, you can't argue Sayyid isn't one cold sumbitch.



Look at that uncaring bastard. He's all "bitch, please".

abnaxus said:

Metamage is as extreme as it gets, walking around with a summoned skeleton in the Praios Temple... still, it might be explained by the game taking place a decade before the return of Borbarad, when the Praios Temple wasn't yet that hardcore.

Click to expand...

I'm glad it does. I'm not too familiar with TDE post-Borbarad's Return, and always enjoyed TDE's whimsical setting.

lightbane said:

This game looks better and better, now I'm really considering geting it. Is it a bugfest like Neverwinter Nights 2 or something?

Click to expand...

As bug free an experience as I've ever had. Some customization by way of increasing the walking speed is advised, but for a first playthrough the standard walking speed is fine. The only errors I ever encountered were in sloppy localization, but as you can tell the English is mostly fine. Camera isn't the best but not nearly as annoying as NWN2's camera.

Besides the RTwP combat this game has a really high quality level. The (german) VO is excellent, graphics are beautiful and I didn't encounter any crash at all.
A shame Radon Labs went under, they learned their lesson after DraSa 1.

Brother None said:

Click to expand...

When I see your face.. There's nothing that I won't change.

RK47 said:

When I see your face.. There's nothing that I won't change.

Click to expand...

So you'd change everything?

Onwards!

The night passes. Gerlin takes Jaakon's body with him to Ferdok, to have shipped to his remaining kin in Fountland. Sayyid and Fayris see him off before heading back into Nadoret.

So what now, Sayyid ibn Nasreddin?

Well, perhaps you and I could spend some time to better get to know each o... no! By Rastullah! What is this I'm saying? Your nakedness is starting to corrupt me with impure thoughts, by Rastullah! Put some pants on!

Eh... I... uh... well, Gerlon did give me Jaakon's equipment before shipping him off, including his clothes...

By the almond eyes of Khabla, put them on, woman!

But... Jaakon's pants?

It will be honoring his memory! Do it!

At least the temptation is over. Though honestly, the 62nd law of Rastullah (there are 99 in total) states "The Godfearing shall avoid women and exchange with them neither words nor looks if they have not entered into marriage with him". If you follow all of Rastullah's rules (including a set of rules on food) the Godfearing become nearly impossible to play, so most players do not. Besides, I'll just consider Fayris a possible candidate for Sayyid. At least there's no lizard people in this game, Novadis hate those.

The two head out to do some training. I picked up defensive combat stance for Sayyid (+2 PA as long as it's active and your endurance doesn't run out). It's not very useful for mages so it's the only rank I'll pick up, and the only combat skills I might want for him are feint and knock down.
Fayris already knows the offensive stance for when she resorts to knives, but I want to keep her on her bow, really.
We'll head on to Ardo and friends in a bit, first let's waste some time on sidemissions. Particularly, Huckster Olbin has a bunch more packages to deliver around town. I guess it serves as a way to encourage you to look around if you didn't before. First stop: a package for the miller. On the way there...



That's odd. Those fireflies weren't around before. Nor were those nests you can see to the left. They don't seem hostile though, so let's let them be.
(Nature classes will have seen them before, but not mages)

I have a delivery from Olbin for you.



The packages send Sayyid all over the map, including to Laurelin and Tailor Marcusi. But it's when we deliver a package to the quartermaster that we see something interesting...



There's someone in the prison! Let's talk to the guard...

This lunatic has bred fireflies again, which are threatening the populace!

Oh ... um ... that's the beekeeper, isn't it?

What? How would you know?

Oh, no. Did you have to remind me? I had just forgotten about it, but now all the memories are flooding back! My poor, sweet little bees! Who are you bringing your honey to now, I wonder?

Your 'sweet little bees' are mature fireflies.



Play?! They're dangerous monsters that could attack our farm animals or even our children at a moment's notice!

They didn't seem that aggressive or dangerous to me...oh well...

I can take care of the firefly plague!

Do you really want to do that? That is excellent! You have to find the nests with the queens in them and slay them. Otherwise they'll multiply and we won't ever be able to get them back under control again.

How many nests are we talking about here?

If I paid close enough attention to his prattling, then there should be ten queens. They primarily nest in trees. If you bring me all ten stingers, there'll be a reward waiting for you!

I'll buzz off then.

Haha! Get it?!

This quest is a bit dumb but what the hell, I'm in no rush. A bunch of packages in I return to Olbin for the next one...



Cool. Nice cash reward.



Getting to the fireflies, there's ten nests as the guard said, spreads in the outskirts. Break open a nest to release the queen, kill the queen for a stinger. All the fireflies nearby turn hostile but honestly, they're the very weakest creatures in the game. Still, they provide 1AP for level 2 characters, so let's grind!



Fayris hits the third level first. The River of Time doesn't give AP for killing creatures well below your level, and at level 3 already she stops getting AP for killing the normal fireflies.



Pretty boring stuff really.



And Sayyid is up.



The fisherman doesn't even bother to look over his shoulder at a mage, an elf and a skeleton fighting giant fireflies. Guess it's a regular event around these parts.

Anyway, the nests at the bridge are the last.

Were you able to eliminate the danger?

I got rid of all of the queens. Here are their stingers.

Very nice, all of the little bees are dead, hee hee hee ... now there won't be any more honey and everyone will miss the beekeeper. But he's no longer here. No, he's veerrryy far away now. Bzzz, bzzz ...

I hope you'll be happy there ...

Thank you very much for your help! Take this as a reward for your trouble.

Two more ducats. Soon Sayyid will reach his life's goal of being able to afford to keep seven wives.

I hope that his monster breeding days are finally over. There's no one around here to give him any silly ideas!

Perhaps. A short stop at Master Brookbeard's to buy a Black Magician's Robe later, we're walking through the streets when suddenly...



Thanks be to the Twelfgods! Finally someone who looks strong and able! I ... we, oh, what am I saying: All of Nadoret is in danger! I need someone to take care of these filthy creatures right away!

Keep calm. Tell me, what kind of 'creatures' are we dealing with here?

Wolf Rats! Giant Wolf Rats! A terrible infestation threatens to overrun us if they escape!

Giant Wolf Rats. Hhm. I'll see what I can do.

I'll never forget this favor! But you should know that these specimens are unbelievably large and strong, because they've ... well ... eaten something magical.. A young breeding female rat has already escaped. It's unthinkable what would happen if the dominant male rat got out, too. He is incredibly wild and strong, a terrible beast!

Oh, Frith. People who played Drakensang: TDE have met this female rat at an old age. What a horror those rat tunnels were...

I had already hired some mercenaries, but they were unsuccessful! I gave them the last money I had. They still have it on them, that and their armor will be your reward! But be warned. I can't take any risks, that's why I'm going to lock the door behind you and only open it when the dominant male rat has been killed! You must be really well-prepared! Let me know when you're ready, then I'll bring you to the infested cellar.

Hah. Yeah, no, no way I'm doing this quest right now with a party of two. I'll be back for it later.

On to Ardo. But first, one more delay as it's time to talk with Fayris for a bit...

How can I help you?

What do you think about the lay of the land?

My opinion? Well, we should get to the bottom of the matter about the corrupt tollkeepers, while Gerlin tries to find something out about this Coldstone. I ... I miss Jaakon's advice.

Why don't you tell me something about yourself.

I come from a town called Thunderbrook. Elves and humans live together in complete harmony there. That's why it was also completely normal for me to move among both populations. I learned archery and hunting from my father early. Then I had an incisive experience. My father kept getting older, but I didn't age because of my Elven blood. When he died, I became interested in exploring foreign lands.



So I settled in a small woodland near the Kosh and earned my living with tracking game and as a guide over the mountain passes. That's where I met Gerlin. After I accompanied him on a dangerous mission, he hired me often. I think he values my discretion.

What was the nature of your relationship with Jaakon?

Mr Sensitive there.



Changing the topic quick.

Is it something special to be Halfelf?

I have the virtues of both races in me. My mother's magic and my father's hardiness. Yet many humans and even Elves are full of prejudices.

We shall consider her candidacy for joining my hareem as remaining open.



His friends have joined him now. They were wandering around the town before, not sure what they were trying to accomplish, but it's time for me to bail 'em out...

Ah, there you are. Did you find anything useful?

That's more than useful. A certain 'Gerlin' approached me. He's on a secret mission to track down the river pirates.

This closes down the "gather useless rumors on pirates" quest if you haven't yet, for obvious reasons.

Gerlin, you say? Never heard of him. What does he have to do with this' And who is this with you?

My name is Fayris Lynxeye. I am with Gerlin - and in his name I would like to help you in your search for the pirates.

Fayris Lynxeye. Hmm. That's all very well ...

I think we can trust Gerlin. He suspected that a band of smugglers were taking goods from the pirate attacks from here further inland.

That's right. Your friend helped me and my partner Fayris Lynxeye explore the docks one night to try and find out about this contraband.

Well, well. So we're supposed to trust these people ... hmm. Did you find anything suspicious' Were smugglers there?

Were there! We were instantly ambushed several times. We had to rescue Gerlin, as he was being held by the smugglers and a magician called 'Coldstone'. Unfortunately one of Gerlin's men was killed in the attempt, whereas Coldstone was able to use his magic to escape.

Hmm. What have we gained if he escaped? We still don't know where these pirates have their hideout. If this keeps up, we'll never... get the stolen merchandise back.

Well. It's not at all certain whether the smugglers and this Coldstone have anything to do with the pirate attacks. Gerlin was, however, able to overhear a conversation that linked the commandant of the local Tollgate with the smugglers.

The commandant of the Tollgate, you say? Hmm... Perhaps we should pay the gentleman a visit, what do you think, Ardo?

Aye... I think we should see what's what there. What about you? Are you going with us?

Of course I am! What did you think? Fayris, are you coming too?

Gerlin wanted me to help you with your investigations, anyway, so I'll help you with this, too. I'm happy to go with you.

Right, then it's settled. We'll meet at the docks.

Hah, yeah, there's something weird about the wooden expression and the hand gestures.
Are you playing at a lower graphic setting? It looks so strange, I recall Drakensang 1 looks much sharper than this. And the grass. Ugh.

RK47 said:

Are you playing at a lower graphic setting? It looks so strange, I recall Drakensang 1 looks much sharper than this. And the grass. Ugh.

Click to expand...

First few updates are on high. Last few are with high-res textures turned off, and most other options set to medium. It looks much better at max settings, particularly with high-res textures in, but I didn't feel like dealing with the loading times. I can pop em back in I s'pose.

Related to the latest update: Elves have the worst training/initiation quests of all starting archetypes/classes. Coincidence?

Cassidy said:

Related to the latest update: Elves have the worst training/initiation quests of all starting archetypes/classes. Coincidence?

Click to expand...

Pretty much. But you know what's worse? The Nature intro is for the three elven classes (ok sure), the dwarven Geode (works for me) and the friggin' dwarven Prospector. The Prospector gets nothing out of it since he already knows the skills Laurelin teaches, and then he gets an item at the end that is of absolutely no use to him as opposed to the class-specific item upgrades the others get.

It's like Radon Labs was randomly targeting people who play Dwarf Prospectors to the fuck out

Tollgate is a mighty fine area. Looking forward to it.

Trying very hard not to spoil myself too much. I really want to buy this game, but not sure where to get it.

Depends on where you live. US/Canada can get it from digital download via GamersGate, Impulse, Amazon or Steam. Europeans best import the English version from the Benelux via Azur or FRS. Azur has a flat shipping rate of 4 EUR within the EU and 15 EUR worldwide. FRS has variable shipping rates and might be more expensive or cheaper depending on the region.

PS: next page?

I didn't know you could pick up the Rat quest that early.

It's unlocked the moment you finish the Mad Beekeeper.

I delight in thinking of all the noobs used to level scaling that just dive into that fight and get slaughtered