Still in the industrial shithole, we stumble upon a factory that is exclusively employing orcs for menial labour
No breaks?
A rest period
I'm sorry
The foreman is human who doubles as a junk seller
No schematics, no crafting parts, no equipment, no nothing. We finally escape our drab surroundings and go to Bates' factory.
We loiter outside until nightfall, before circling around and running inside through a back door. There are guards on patrol in the factory, but there's only 2 of them and they have to cover 3 rooms. They also steer clear of the huge hall where the engines are actually housed.
You don't even need the prowl skill for this. Just wait until the guards are far away in another room and run straight into the hall.
We quickly plant the dynamite and, before you know it, we're outside, just as the engine goes up in a fiery inferno
Back at Appleby's
I destroyed it
Can you get me into his house?
There's a little bit of an inconsistency here. I think if you do the quest for the Thieves' guild first, then Appleby will tell you of a secret passage that can take you from the cemetery to the mansion, where you can acquire the servant clothing and not have to leave your party outside. Anyways, Appleby wants incriminating evidence of Gilbert's collusion with the dwarves
Consider it found [Truth]
We go back to Quilton Bend to find the local thieves' guildmaster
Yes
I'm listening
So I get my jobs from you?
What if I say no?
You have no problems with other thieves?
Sounds good ( it really does. It's a phenomenal deal, actually )
What is the job?
You want me to map them out?
Where are they?
I accept.
How did you know about that?
How much are you offering?
It's not much, but I'll take it. Seems a bit low for a genuine antique painting. For example, that chest of gold we sold to the junkyard is now on sale at his stall for a cool 17k in gold.
We pick up the morning newspaper
Seems like Mrs. Florence Willoughsby has a 'drug' problem, of sorts
We go back to Langley, who owes 400 to the whorehouse
She wants the 400. It's bad business to let it slide
Do you need some incentive?
I'll be back
There's some fancy gnome who lives in a nice little house close to the Vermillion station, but he's useless as of yet
so we arrive at the zoological society
Bellerogrim is the last of the dragons
I've .. never actually opened this thing in any of my playthroughs, either
Our map is updated
Fenwick is the head of the zoo society
What do you do?
For some reason, we can't ask him about Bellerogrim, so we leave and go the City Hall/ Department of Water
The city hall is really fancy
I need the map
I understand. 4 clicks later, his key is ours and so is the map, which was kept in a safe in the next room. He doesn't seem to mind.
Good to screencap this for future reference
Downstairs is the hall of records. There's another safe in a room that has some rats, but it's locked and I don't want to fight my way through
What info do the archives contain?
Newspapers?
Your storage requirements are immense, I presume?
We go back and ask the guard at Bates' mansion if we can help remove the saboteurs at the factory
I don't know what you're talking about!
Good day, then. We go back by the wharf and kill the annoying gnome who wouldn't pay us for clearing his warehouse
The map is worth 300 to the guild
That's Mr. Black he's talking about. They don't have much interesting on sale either ( the prices are inflated on top of that )
Blackmail really isn't for me, any other quests? ( I think if you agree to help Appleby here, without having talked to him prior to this, then you will get the info on the secret underground passage. Otherwise you just default back to the standard 'talk your way through the front door' variation of this quest )
We need to level up and come back
Back in the university district is the empty lecture hall
and the library
Tell me a little of the facilities here
King, madam?
Go on..
League of Gnomish Merchants. Remember that.
You mentioned membership?
How much for the membership?
Just beside the library is the university itself
Did you say 'phrenology'?
Will you read my head?
Your powers amaze me
I have a question regarding some skulls
Ren'ar Siamese Twins, to be precise
Anything else you can tell me about them?
He's lying.
In the next room is an elfprofessor
Where are your manners?
Probably because we're tech-aligned
Maybe there's something we can do to get past this?
Who are you?
I am Lord Byron. Can I ask some questions?
What do you do?
What sort of research?
Tell me about the pagan gods
Sure
There are still pagan temples left standing, then?
Do you believe in the pagan Gods, prof?
What's that map on the wall?
Deeper connections?
Can you explain the diagram to me?
This is the diagram, and our ticket to godhood level stats.
and here is the book with the excerpt regarding the pagan gods. It's a puzzle which we'll have to unravel ourselves. We only get one shot at this. Get blessed by the wrong god in the wrong order and it's over.
In the next room is another professor
Scientician and demonologist?
What can you tell me of demonology?
Remember him? One of the magnificent four.
Gorgoth?
What happened to him?
What about scientism?
Alright. Up next is the book store clerk.
What books do you sell?
What help are these books?
So how this works is, depending on your intelligence stat, purchasing a book will boost that tech subject skill by a certain amount, so that you can craft items without having to invest precious points in that subject. If I need 25 skill in electrical, but I only have 10, I don't really need to invest more points in it. Fork out the 750 for a manual and you're good to go ( provided you have a very high Int, otherwise I think you'll need a few manuals )
We go back to Parnell's and find Gar. Asking him about the green tea with high persuasion means he'll inadvertently drop his act and give you a cogent argument on the virtue of black tea
Why are you acting the idiot?
But you're smarter than all of the other orcs, are you not?
So you're not a pure bred orc?
So why did you do this to yourself?
Are you free to leave?
That was cruel of your parents
How long are you meant to be on display here?
Why don't you join me?
And if I secure your freedom?
About that orc of yours, Parnell..
That's pretty steep
We know he's human
Tarantian takes a dim view of human slavery
The truth has never gotten in the way of a good newspaper story
You must see how easily someone could ruin your reputation
I'd be glad to help you out!
And just like that, our party grows to 4. Gar has some info that might help us
Why does Appleby hate Bates?
what can you tell me of Tarant?
I thought you'd be sympathetic to the orcs
Interesting perspective, especially from a guy who's a 'good' character with a +25 karma rating
We go to the cemetery in order to find a way into the Bates mansion. It's a depressing old place
heh
Updated my journal
There's a fancy sepulchre of sorts that contains a matchbook
Nearby is the building that we need to open. When the guard is not looking, we plant the dynamite and retreat.
Absolutely zero fucks given
The grave is a fake
Down there is an annoying passageway. It's a long hallway full of traps and locked doors, so you have no other option than simply charging ahead and taking the damage to your health and your armour, hoping that you're lucky and they don't kill you. By the time we reach the end, my chainmail has dropped from 150 to 110 in 'quality'. I'm not sure what function the secret hallway serves. Perhaps it's a back up plan for Bates to escape the city come the revolution. We climb up and find ourselves in a walk-in closet containing the attire for Bates' servants.
Gar outright refuses to put on the servant clothes so we leave him in the there and go off to find Bates. It's an impressive, two storey mansion, bustling with cooks, servants and guards.
Bates is upstairs. We go right in and show him the ring.
A gnome gave it to me as he lay dying?
Well, he was skinny and had no beard
He had a scar over his left eye
Who's Stennar?
He said he had escaped to warn us of the evil..
He didn't say
He called you a boy
How did you come to betray him
But why did he send me here with the ring?
Arronax, perhaps?
so what is to be done?
Lets ask him some more questions. So you never actually invented the steam engine?
What did you think would happen after you sold it?
It must be unsettling to get so much praise
Why did you seek the company of the dwarves?
You were orphaned?
He abandoned you..
And then you gave it to Stennar..
What do you do nowadays?
You sure about that
How have you devastated your competition so?
Why?
I see. Any labour problems, recently?
Simply curious.
I refuse his offer to go the Black Mountain clan. We've heard the full story, but we don't have the incriminating evidence that Appleby needs. There's a way to cheese this, however. Wait until nighttime, then rush inside Bates' bedroom as he walks through the door. In there, use the fate point to pick the lock on the little treasure chest and pull out his diary. Wait until morning time and then rush back out as Bates leaves the bedroom. The diary is pretty much the same thing as what Bates told us, so I won't be posting it ( unless somebody here wants to read it, just leave a comment and I'll screenshot it ). We go back downstairs and find Gar patiently waiting for us.
So that's that. The 'gnome' at ISF Zephyr was Stennar Rock Cutter, an old acquaintance of Mr. Bates. Bates, an orphan, spent his time around the Black Mountain Clan and stole their steam engine technology. Once this tech began to spread, the dwarven clan disappeared without a trace, with the 'robed ones' warning Bates never to search for them again. The story's heating up nicely, innit?
Before I finish, just a quick note on the tech vs magic dichotomy in Arcanum. Although we now know how the industrial revolution came to be, the game does not directly answer why technology is spreading at such an alarming rate. I believe the answer lies in the game mechanics themselves. In order to master magic, you need high willpower. This automatically filters out the majority of the population from mastering magic ( if we accept that the willpower, like any other human trait, is usually distributed in a bell curve ). Tech, on the other hand, can be employed by anybody. You do not need to meet any statistical checks to ride a train, fire a gun or throw a bomb. Once the highly intelligent create a technological breakthrough, it can be shared with society at large.