Completed Arcanum LP [Tech/Evil][Fortified with memes][Finished]

[Egosphere]

Isle of Despair always reminded me of The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. I wish it had better quests, like helping Thorvald judge someone, or a long quest for improving the life quality in the island, maybe using materials from the sub..

Yeah, they could have done much more with that little island. You could probably even make a whole game in itself out of that setting.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Edit: On the other hand I'll miss out on a shitload of content. Will he stay where he left the party indefinitely? I might eventually return and recruit him once I'm back at negative alignment.

If I remember correctly, companions eventually fuck off to the places where you originally found them but I could be completely wrong.

 

[baud]

Isle of Despair always reminded me of The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. I wish it had better quests, like helping Thorvald judge someone, or a long quest for improving the life quality in the island, maybe using materials from the sub..

Yeah, they could have done much more with that little island. You could probably even make a whole game in itself out of that setting.

Like

Spoiler

I have no idea how the "story" is in PoE, I just know it's using this basic setup.

 

[Egosphere]

PART XIV: THE INCLINE IN MY MORALS IS BEGINNING TO ALARM ME

So we kick off in the abode of the wheel clan. These guys blow the lid off of Black Mountaineers' place.​

Spoiler

The dungeons are broken up into 4 levels ( or so I presume ): the 'main' level that leads to the underground fortress that houses the dwarven king; general housing and trading area; the 'Dredge'; the abandoned mines inhabited by some mysterious monster. We'll visit the 2nd of these to reap some side quests and brush up on the gossip.

Nah, mate, I just saw him.

In the housing area we find a few notable dwarfs:

Tell me of the wheel clan

What happened to Loghaire, the King?

You can trust me

What else can you tell me

Who are you?

What did you lose?

Should I retrieve it?

Done.

Erick Obsidian is the dwarf in the adjacent room.

He goes off on a tangent, here, I think, and we steer him back to our original question

Pay or no pay, I'm going on this adventure!

The schematic that we got is for an iron key. You don't need skills in smithy to craft the item, which is a nondescript key

There was that giant box in Tarant, where they kept the dragon skull replica. I wonder..

Last up is Ironheart

Tell me of the Wheel clan

Clan wars?

Where are your women?

Why do you live in such secluded conditions?

I think you're being harsh

Are there any jobs you have for me?

Before we visit the king, let's take a look at their wares

Some nice, minor dialogue c&c

We pick up a schematic for an explosive decoy..

..and leave. They have cultivated a nice garden despite the harsh limits imposed by the dingy surroundings. You can find olive branches there, for the ancient gods quest.

The Alberich altar is up in the 'main' area

And finally, we reach the underground fortress. Impressive.

Where is the King?

*tell him your story about the Black Mountain clan being exiled*

No sign of them

Blast who? The elves?

Clan wars?

Lorek?

Any connection to Bates?

What was the role of the elves?

What had BMC done?

Who were these elves?

What did the other clans say?

What is the Dredge?

I'm confused. Why was your father so ashamed?

Don't worry. I have 165 IQ.

(steel thyself for enduring this soporific, philosophical discussion)

Do you disagree with his choice?

(What is even the point of including that in the dialogue option then, lol )

What, exactly, are you referring to?

Please, continue..

Explain a bit further, plz..

But what of the shape?

Elaborate plz

So 'quartz' would be the shape of the stone?

So in terms of your father..

And what of Lorek?

We redirect the conversation to this guy's connection to his own father and try to suss out some more info out of him. We call his bluff and openly challenge the notion that he hasn't seen his father

You'd have gone looking for him

Your anger is hollow

Armed with our new found knowledge on dwarven ways, we descend the ladder to Loghaire's little retreat

I come him with the blessing of your son

I come with news of the BMC

[tell him]

What had technology done to the elves?

Why did humanity adopt tech so fast?

Were there elves in the forests of Mobihan?

And she was angered?

Have you ever spoken to her?

What's the difference between you and the elves?

Being a King isn't easy..

And here we pull out our ace of spades

What do you see as the nature of that betrayal?

That was Lorek's flaw, yours is of Shape..

No. You must pay the price. I cannot do that for you..

You must return to your people. Be true to Stone AND Shape.

Alright, I'm off then..

I foolishly hand the axe to Torian

We took the shortcut to get to Loghaire, but we can still explore the rest of the Dredge. Moltenflow or whatever his name wanted us to retrieve his heirloom here.

the battles come thick and fast

and some exotic nasties pop up down here

Seething mass on steroids

I'm blue daboodee, dabooday

We find the 'heirloom' in a locked room

does it ever end?

Oh yeah, here's Min Gorad's letter

We get the sheet of metal that we'll need for crafting the ancient key

This spider doesn't want to attack us. My companions don't want to attack it either. I guess it's tame.

And finally we climb back out of that god forsaken hellhole

Loghaire has taken his son's place in the throne room

But just as I thought I was out, they pull me back in. There's a SECOND mine full of savage monstrosities that we need to clear.

Need help?

I'll do it

Respect is all I need

I'll return when I've killed him.

It's an absolute unit, this one

'Dread Crystal Spider' is the name

we get another schematic in one of the chests in the spider room

Ah, you have to clear the whole damn mine for this quest to complete.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUCCKKKCKCKCKCCCKCKC

What's my alignment? THIRTY FUCKING EIGHT is what it is, ffs. How did it get so high so quickly? I was at -1 or so when I stepped into Tarant. I killed people in Ashbury to steal their shit! I gave the Shrouded Hills mine back to the swine and not the daughter! I killed Arbalah! I destroyed the steam engine! And yet here I am, illuminating the caves with the faint, oily glow of the inchoate halo that is shimmering above my scalp.

Well that's just brilliant. Torian has the good armour, the dwarven axe, some stat boosting rings and is a superb swordmaster to boot.

<<I do not follow one who travels the path of righteousness>>

Aye, we're righteous alright.



Here's your damn heirloom Veganrad or whatever your name is

I'm leaving. I really am.

We sullenly trudge to he Stone Cutter clan to tell some guy that his brother is waiting for him in the .. ah. what's the name of this clan again? Ah fuck it.

It's abandoned and full of zombies anyways.

I am so pissed with what had transpired that I don't even bother with this place: I simply turn around and walk away.

The trip to Stillwater is mired with kite ambushes, but we pull through and eventually reach the quaint little village. The artwork is great,

and the music is simply sublime. Easily my favourite track in the game:





We're down, but not yet out. It will a long, brutal journey to bring our alignment back to the right (left) side of the karmameter. I had hoped to temper my morals with a potential murder spree in Tarant, but the sheer snowballing inertia of my positive actions on the Isle of Despair and the Dwarven clan had caught up to me when I least expected it. We're between a rock and a hard place when it comes to keeping our party: as we slaughter and pillage, it is very likely ( almost certain, really ) that Gar will leave us. And he's the only other guy in our group who's nifty with a blade.​

 

[Black]

Will you be going back to the dredge? There's stuff there.

 

[Egosphere]

Will you be going back to the dredge? There's stuff there.

Yes.

Also i glanced at the map on the wikia and apparently there's some 'grey king' which i completely missed down there.

Ill get torian and geoffrey back in the team as well.

 

[Lithium Flower]

And this is why moral systems in games are like hella dumb, yo.

 

[Black]

Agreed, it works with tech/magick aptitude but bad/evil in Arcanum is just pants on head.

 

[Egosphere]

And this is why moral systems in games are like hella dumb, yo.

I went back to the stone cutter clan, told the dwarf to go home. Brought the statue of geshtianna back to the altar at stillwater (killed the guy who stole it). Killed all the inebriated cultists after the orgy. Killed the elf who wouldn't locate Qintarra for me. Alignment of +53 right now.

I'm off to shrouded hills and will systematically start exterminating select populations to see how my alignment goes. Vagabond, sheriff, doc roberts; pigs and will o wisps at ashbury. Plenty of targets in tarant as well, though I hoped to leave that after dealing with caladon.

 

[Lithium Flower]

And this is why moral systems in games are like hella dumb, yo.

I went back to the stone cutter clan, told the dwarf to go home. Brought the statue of geshtianna back to the altar at stillwater (killed the guy who stole it). Killed all the inebriated cultists after the orgy. Killed the elf who wouldn't locate Qintarra for me. Alignment of +53 right now.

I'm off to shrouded hills and will systematically start exterminating select populations to see how my alignment goes. Vagabond, sheriff, doc roberts; pigs and will o wisps at ashbury. Plenty of targets in tarant as well, though I hoped to leave that after dealing with caladon.

I didn't even remember it being that bad and I was trying to play as a douchebag last time. Jesus Christ.

 

[Egosphere]

Isle of Despair always reminded me of The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. I wish it had better quests, like helping Thorvald judge someone, or a long quest for improving the life quality in the island, maybe using materials from the sub..

Yeah, they could have done much more with that little island. You could probably even make a whole game in itself out of that setting.

Like

Spoiler

I have no idea how the "story" is in PoE, I just know it's using this basic setup.

wasn't there some russian rpg where you're on a penal colony on an island?

edit: yeah there was - Planet Alcatraz. A planet, not an island.

 

[Lithium Flower]

I also don't remember Torian Kel leaving the party when recruited through persuasion - pretty sure I kept the guy through the entire game as a good character - in case you were looking for an alternative that did not involve genocide. The requirement is pretty high, though. As I said, it was something like 4 points + Expert.

 

[Egosphere]

I also don't remember Torian Kel leaving the party when recruited through persuasion - pretty sure I kept the guy through the entire game as a good character - in case you were looking for an alternative that did not involve genocide. The requirement is pretty high, though. As I said, it was something like 4 points + Expert.

I don't think I'll be getting expert because i don't really want caladon in tarant's orbit. We'll have to chop our way through.

 

[CappenVarra]

it's good to be bad, but it ain't easy

 

[Lithium Flower]

I also don't remember Torian Kel leaving the party when recruited through persuasion - pretty sure I kept the guy through the entire game as a good character - in case you were looking for an alternative that did not involve genocide. The requirement is pretty high, though. As I said, it was something like 4 points + Expert.

I don't think I'll be getting expert because i don't really want caladon in tarant's orbit. We'll have to chop our way through.

Expert is trained by the Madame in Tarant, its Master that requires diplomaticool fuckery.

Edit: Oh, just noticed what Master actually does for you: "anyone will join with the Character, regardless of reaction to one's alignment."

So you do need Master to recruit our boi as a good character after all. Welp.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

Ins't killing Stillwater for M'in Gorad a fantastic little karma nuke?

Be sure to shag evil elven bitch as well.

 

[Egosphere]

Ins't killing Stillwater for M'in Gorad a fantastic little karma nuke?

Be sure to shag evil elven bitch as well.

I know you have to exterminate stillwater, but i never followed through with the evil path so it'll be my first foray into that content. I want to beef up the party before i go to qintarra, though. there's a few things ill try first and if that doesn't work, then we'll regroup with torian and geoffrey later.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I always love playing the master of persuasion in Arcanum. Getting people to do whatever you want is the greatest.

Also, I love Gar. His dialogue is fantastic and he's a great fighter. My biggest complaint about him as a follower though is that he has the human template despite being in he body of an orc.

Really, he should have the intelligence and charisma of an educated man with the strength, constitution, and beauty of an orc.

Also, would have him something other than Pure Melee Dodge.

Actually, some of the characters like Torian Kel are actually a bit too... bland in abilities for me. I'd give Kel the Dark Warrior template, referencing his necromantic origins.

 

[Egosphere]

I always love playing the master of persuasion in Arcanum. Getting people to do whatever you want is the greatest.

Also, I love Gar. His dialogue is fantastic and he's a great fighter. My biggest complaint about him as a follower though is that he has the human template despite being in he body of an orc.

Really, he should have the intelligence and charisma of an educated man with the strength, constitution, and beauty of an orc.

Also, would have him something other than Pure Melee Dodge.

Actually, some of the characters like Torian Kel are actually a bit too... bland in abilities for me. I'd give Kel the Dark Warrior template, referencing his necromantic origins.

i dont think ill be master of any skill in this playthrough. Killed the gunslinger in ashbury, and im killing willoughsby after i throw the caladon negotiation. it's funny that i'm level 30, but my character is pretty much complete: high gun skill, high persuasion, smart, has some decent crafting abilities. I can beat the game without needing to level up. i might start bumping up dodge to get that blind guy quest.

As for Gar and Torian, I agree. Seems like too many characters are pure melee builds. It would have been great to have some sway in how they level up.

im back on +20 karma right now. Should be down to 0 tomorrow and the next part will be up.

 

[Egosphere]

PART XV: PSYCHO

We left off the last episode upon arrival in Stillwater. Skipping the stonecutter content irked me, so I turned around and went back​

Spoiler

Clearing out the zombies, we get some decent loot

whilst the isometric camera lets us sneak a peek at the challenges that lie ahead

The doors are locked and we're forced to destroy them

and follow the winding path

to an .. exit? We'll leave that for now and clear out the other zombies

We get another little preview of what's up ahead if we strain our camera to the side

That's racist

I go into turn-based mode and decide to draw them out in smaller groups. Chaucer has other ideas and charges right at them by himself. Turns out they're a bunch of pansies.

And we come upon something interesting at the end of the tunnel

what happened?

that was irresponsible

where's the lab? (it's the exit)

what happened to your father?

We take our leave and go back. As you go into the laboratory, you're in for a nasty surprise. There's an ambush waiting for you on the other side and you have little time to get your bearings if you have real time combat engaged.

the bludgeoner is the worst of the lot, tearing through your armour and dealing shattering amounts of damage

There's a diary on the table and some loot

and the diary belongs to *drumroll* Kerghan, the ancient necromancer who was banished into the void.

We leave the wretched caves and run into 2 new enemies we haven't encountered before

Back in Dernholm, the capital of Cumbria

We go to Lianna del Par to tell her of the true king who's still alive

That's going to affect a couple of ending slides

Back in Stillwater, the remote village in the north

tell me of stillwater

anything of interest around here?

what's so unique about your weapons?

do you enchant the weapons as well?

Caladonian guard? Caladon sources its weaponry from Stillwater? They are well and truly screwed if they ever wage war against Tarant. Those supply lines will be blocked in under a week.

Perhaps I can look for him for you?

I'll do it

We leave the blacksmith and ask some random stranger about the local giant myth

The tavern is beside the big statue

and the inn is not far off as well. Joachim was supposed to leave some papers for us here.

There's literally nothing new in these papers. We know all of it, and more, already. Thanks Joachim. Great help, as per.

Yes we ARE in Stillwater, Virgil, you soft headed bastard

After we read the book, the lines dont trigger, so i run around in circles around the inn until they finally appear

Yes, we literally had one of them in our party, Virgil.

Yes, we're missing the loving, guiding touch of the Panarii in all this. Indeed.

Sure isn't.

More stillwater giant paraphernalia

The Geshtianna cult, domiciled in Stillwater, has cut themselves a nice yard of empty space right in the middle of the village. They've cleared away the snow, too. How nice.

Took your joy pills today, dear?

I'll get it back.. for a price

and this blessing does what, exactly?

tell of me stillwater

stillwater is famous for its blades

I have no idea why this is the only option I'm given here

Do not fret. I too am trying to follow the path of love.

This dialogue is schizophrenic

Thank you. I leave you now.

The idol is hidden on the other side of town

Nah, mate. I know what you're up to.

We cut his head off and break into the storage room.

Don't mind if I do

We wake up from a giant orgy in the adjacent building.

hey, we need to lower our karma, so how about we kill the cultists?

Gar isn't happy. What's wrong Gar?

aw come on, we're just cutting heads off geshtianna cultists. We're the good guys.

I sense a 'but' coming..

Heh. Sure thing Gar! Got some right here. Put the kettle on.

So you want to sign up for our adventure once more?

You know what, Gar? We've had a good run, but our ways will paths will bifurcate sooner or later. Perhaps it's time to say our goodbyes. You're a free man, Gar. I release you.

Gar warmly thanks us and stays standing in the corner to solemnly watch as we methodically slaughter the geshtianna cultists

Tell some guy to go back home. +20 positive alignment! Kill 30 people in cold blood. You're still teh good guy!

There's a halfling who lives not far from geshtianna's altar

Byron

anything happening here recently?

Any work for me?

perhaps im more stealthy than i appear

proceed

uh huh

ok, gimme the damn book ffs

my screenshots messed up so the last page is missing. I think we get the broad picture anyways.

hey, i've finished reading your book. fascinating. please continue.

continue, plz

if only they could read..

you left?

never been back?

I'll get the ruby. Like im scared of some earth-spawn. Can't be worse than the bludgeoner.

We leave and go to the east until we find an elf. Maybe he can tell us of Qintarra?

Tell me about Qintarra

where in the forest

maybe I'll carve the info from you instead?

The twat has the amulet of N'Tala on him. This is the amulet that we were asked to return to Gaylin, the herbologist in Shrouded Hills.

Bye bye.

So. We're at +50 karma and we need to bring it to < 0. Let's begin.

Hey sheriff, why didn't you deal with the thieves at the bridge yourself?

it's because you're a coward

you're in dire need of a sound beating

That's a start. We destroy a stockpile of building materials near the river, but that doesn't affect our karma

Back in Stillwater, we start insulting the beggar

Keep doing that until he attacks, then kill him. It's a good way to shave off a few points from your alignment.

Back in the north western corner of Stillwater, we find the wizard's house abandoned, with a pool of dry blood at the doorway and large footprints disappearing to the north

you cyrus? Richard sent me

You know, i wish i could help you Cyrus. But I'm kinda trying to go the other way in my choices. So, ta-ta!

we can't tell him that we found him in the cave?

Up to the north stands a solitary shack with rusty cages strewn on the outside

we can't get the quest, because we killed myrth the elf. Fuck.

It's a cool quest and it's a pity we can't get it. Here's the cave with the blue bunny, anyways

We go to Ashbury to genocide the love-lights. They bleed, which is .. weird, I guess?

We also kill the pigs and collect our 50

any more work?

don't think ill be lifting them stones, mate

At the prison, we get to hear the other story which I missed in my previous visit

and we kill the Halcyon cultist

Nice rifle. Maybe I'll keep it.

Back in Tarant, another vagrant!

and more newspapers!

Hey, Virgil, do you mind if we whack the Panarii priest for good measure? No? Good.

The chest has the Jewel of Hebe, which boosts a couple of your primary stats

We waltz through the security into Bates' mansion

I've talked to Loghaire. He told me the elves were involved.

Thank you Bates, but i'm afraid your time is up.

We await nightfall and follow him into his bedroom. Killing him softly doesn't work. The guards give chase immediately, so we extirpate them as well.

They have pretty shotguns. We don't need them, but they look too good to just leave them lying there, all alone in dead mens' hands.

The servants downstairs have to be dealt with as well, unfortunately

but the guards outside the gate are pretty chill!

In the morning, we kill Pettibone, and the white knights who come charging in to defend her

She's been literally carrying that elven funerary stone on her back all this time

Back in Shrouded Hills ( Yes, once again! )

No more banking for thee

And here I discover the most effective way of lowering your karma. Killing chickens. No, I'm not kidding.

That takes away about 9 points from our alignment.

We also kill Percival Toone

his bodyguard glitches out and stays glued to a spot beside the window. We kill him as well.

The wise lady has to die, too

and im sorry Gaylin, but since we've gone so far over the line..

In Blackroot

Mayor is dead

The other guards don't seem to mind. Not until we try to leave through the front door, that is.

My autism got the better of me, so I decided to follow the railway tracks out of Blackroot to see whether they spanned the continent. Turns out, they disappear into a tunnel.

But they don't come of the mountain on the other side!

Underrail

We go back to the wheel clan to recruite Torian Kel, discovering an uncharted cave in the process

Ah, but Torian is no longer here!

Is he back in his beloved temple? He sure is.

and whose fault is that?

Geoffrey is now back at Ashbury, gazing over the graveyard. Why he is doing that is unbeknownst to Lord Byron.

Uh huh. Sure..

So the A team is back together. We re-shuffle our gear, upgrade Geoffrey to the requisite standard and head off to Kree to pick up the dialogue I've missed

Giger aesthetics

Unfortunately, the dialogue does not trigger. I clear out the town and meander between the buildings, but nothing comes up. This has been a recurring problem in this playthrough. So, unfortunately, we won't be hearing of Torian's mistress.

Black tipped me off to some missed content in the Dredge, in the Wheel Clan. There is indeed a whole corridor that was left unexplored.

It's home to a unique enemy, the Grey King, and his followers Shadow Hunters

Thanks Torian

Christ, look at that posture.

Mongrelyns ( or some other variation on 'mongrel' )

We get the machined platemail schematic for our efforts

On our way to Stillwater, we take a detour into the uncharted cave. There's a big pool of lava that burns half of your armour off as you're running past it.

this is the fire elemental. It's a tough beast and can still kill me in 1 hit. We get the better of it and appropriate his stash. Apart from the mundane, there's 1 unidentified ring.

Back in Stillwater, we break the little wizard out from his cell

but the ogre never shows up. A glitch.

hey, do you have any gossip to share?

9g per piece of gossip. Let's hear them, then!

Is this a joke, Richard? Are you extorting money from me? Is that it?

Well, at least that's pretty useful.

Hey Stan, can I talk to you about the Giant?

So that's that. We won't be seeing the giant, I take it.

Well, it's been a laborious journey to re-recruit Geoffrey and Torian, but we've finally done it. We won't be making the same mistake twice. I'm keeping my eyes peeled on the karmametre from now on. Join me next time as we battle our way through Hadrian's pass and unlock the other half of the continent!
​

​

 

[Lithium Flower]

Between the schizophrenic conversations, the -9 karma genocides, and Richard's half-assed """rumors,""" this was pretty damn hilarious.

Shame about the giant.

 

[Egosphere]

Between the schizophrenic conversations, the -9 karma genocides, and Richard's half-assed """rumors,""" this was pretty damn hilarious.

Shame about the giant.

why oh why did they have to tie that quest up into myrth's? Ludicrous.
Just give me the option to ask Hippington about the giant.

 

[Black]

One way to get your karma down is to "grind" beggars by telling them to fuck off. Which sounds like something Byron would do anyway.
It's hard to be bad in Arcanum.

 

[Egosphere]

One way to get your karma down is to "grind" beggars by telling them to fuck off. Which sounds like something Byron would do anyway.
It's hard to be bad in Arcanum.

yep, that's what i did with all 3 that i could find. That probably took about 20 or so points off. Killing the animals was about 15, and killing people was another 15 on top of that.

if you're adept at magic, you can use those alignment reducing items like the dark helm etc.

 

[CappenVarra]

we need more chickens to kill