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Let's Play Prelude to Darkness (Finished)

Fezzik

Cipher
Joined
Nov 2, 2008
Messages
515
The quintessential buggy masterpiece. Since it's one of the better RPGs and it seems like a lot of people can't get through the game because of the CTDs, I figured I'd show it off. I don't know how long I'll keep it up, but if time permits, I'll try to go all the way through.

It starts off with a little intro. A man called "The Watcher" is scribbling in a notebook and explains the situation.



The Watcher explains that there are two peoples occupying the Valley: the Riverfolk and the Children of the Flame. Long ago, the Children of the Flame arrived in the valley and defeated the VanGesh, who were at war with the Riverfolk. Now, after centuries have passed, there is an uneasy tension in the Valley and events and rumors portend a grim future. In the town of Jerrock, the center of mining, a warehouse was burned down. And a rumored rebellion is building and is allegedly behind that act. Many in the Valley believe that the Goddess of the Riverfolk is waning in power.

The agents of the Watcher may be compromised, so he looks elsewhere for help in uncovering just what's causing the commotion and how to stop it. That's where our party comes in.

We have three characters to create in the beginning. We can pick up three more as the game rolls along. We choose the bloodline (Riverfolk, Flameblood, or mixed), the attributes, the background, and the starting skills.



This is the first character. He'll be a pure fighter with no non-combat skills and the Guardian background.



His primary skills are Sword and Armor, but we'll give him some Missile and Unarmed (to be honest I don't think he'll use the unarmed skill at all, but whatever).

Next, we have Sally, a Riverblood thief concentrating on thiefy skills and a little bit of combat.



And finally, there's Jacob the druid. I've never played with someone who has high Gifts of the Goddess skill or high nature skill, so we'll see how this goes. In particular, note that at this point he essentially has no offensive abilities (Gifts of the Goddess is essentially your cleric magic).



Now that the characters are created, the game begins.



We meet the Watcher and he explains things.







To sum up, there are racial tensions in the Valley between the Riverfolk and the Children of the Flame and a group called the Rebellion has popped up and claimed responsibility for the fire in Jerrock. The Watcher's agent in Kellen, Jactus, has been approached by the Rebellion and the Watcher would like the party to meet up with Jactus. From there, the goal is to see what information can be gathered about the Rebellion.

After that, the party goes to sleep, collectively dreaming of ending up in the Barrier, a city, with a horde of strange creature invading.



The resident Flamebloods of the Barrier use their magic on the creatures.



Unfortunately, once the first one is dead, those defenders of the city transform into the same ilk the are fighting.



Once the party is outnumbered it isn't long before my thief is taken down.



And with that the dream ends and we arrive at the inn in Kellen. We talk to the owner and he tells us where to find Jactus. We also ask him about the barmaid in the inn.





Something to look into. In the meantime, let's go see what the deal is with Jactus. We meet him and make idle chat with him first.



I think that bit of information will come in handy, but back to the mission.



Shadowy figure in his window makes an appointment with him. Pretty suspicious. We ask to accompany him but he declines and says that he can handle himself and was
asked to come alone.

An hour passes and Jactus hasn't been seen. Time to find out why. We set off for the abandoned hut and find a grisly scene.



However, there's a clue!



I believe that finding this clue is stat-dependent, though I might be wrong. We follow the children's footprints and wind up at a house where the parents are fighting about their daughter being sick. The father mentions a woman he thinks can help, but the mother shoots the idea down. Again, something to look into.

We go to the Mena's room, where she is trembling.



Unfortunately, she's unable to speak. Maybe it has something to do with witnessing a murder.

So we go around town for a bit looking for information. First we stop by Antius' home



It turns out he's a former guardian from the Citadel. He's a little nervous and testy, though -- he says he's not interested in talking about his problems. What?! In RPGs everyone tells you their problems on the spot. Clearly he's someone who has something to hide.

After that, we stop by the local bakery. We find out from the baker that the woman the child's parents were arguing about is the mother's sister, Heira.



She tells us where to find Heira and explains that Heira has a gift for healing. The child's mother has a grudge against Heira because she was unable save their mother who died during childbirth. What a bitch. Anyway, having a healer's touch will probably be useful for helping out a traumatized little girl.

We go to Heira's place and tell her that Mena is very ill.





Hmmm . . . is it really that easy to tell it's shock? But whatever, now we can help the kid. We go back and give her the potion. She gets better and the first thing she says is . . .



So now we know who the killer is: Salje the butcher. We'll confront him and do some other stuff next time. Stay tuned!

Addendum: Any suggestions? At the points where there is a particular choice to be made, would you like me to put it to a vote? Would you like me to include all dialogue in future updates? Different image size?
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
Patron
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
27,089
Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
I remember trying to play this game many years ago. I never got anywhere.

The conversations and characters seem kinda interesting. I'd like to see this continue, and I see nothing wrong with how you set this LP up.
 

Moray

Scholar
Joined
Oct 28, 2008
Messages
222
Location
British Columbia, Canada.
I've tried to play this game on several different occasions, but it doesn't seem to like my PC or something because I get ridiculously chronic CTDs.

You don't need to include a vote anything - at least I think so - since it might slow everything down and cause it to stagnate, but I'd love to see all dialogue included.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2007
Messages
3,585
Location
Motherfuckerville
I wanted to enjoy this game so much, but luck wasn't exactly on my side, as I was plagued with crashes that made the game nigh unplayable. Good luck with the LP.
 

Fezzik

Cipher
Joined
Nov 2, 2008
Messages
515
Last time, we discovered from a child that witnessed the murder that Salje the butcher, an appropriate title for a murderer, killed Jactus at the abandoned hut.

But before we confront him, let's take care of a few things. First, the skill points we've received so far. This is what the skill screen looks like:



There are no levels in this game. Instead there's a combination of learn by use and distribution of skill points that you receive upon completion of quests. Kind of a Morrowind/VTMB combo, except I never felt the need to hop around to every destination in this game. This could create an imbalance in the game if you're not careful when distributing the skill points: putting too many points into combat skills could mean that there won't be enough for non-combat skills to be effective later on. That's why it's probably best to have party members who are more or less dedicated to a few specific non-combat skills that they reserve their skill points for.

Anyway, we improve the sword skill of the guardian, the thief skills of the thief, and the magic/nature skills of the druid.

Next, some kids in Kellen mentioned a man named Cranos throwing lightning rocks at them, so let's check that out before we arrive at the butcher shop.







We'd like to learn how to do that -- or at least get some skill points.





Handyman, the RPG.

We head off to look at the fence.



Now that we know what the problem is, we go to the woodshop and get a hammer and some nails to fix it.



We get a little option box when we get back to the fence.



And Sally, having adequate tinker skill, fixes the fence.



We head back to the irritable codger to tell him the fence is repaired.









On the way back to town we come across some travellers.



Not to much to say about them. It turns out they're hunters and the leader is named Elkas. Some of the encounters with travellers in the game are more interesting than others. I get the feeling it has to do with the skillset of the person doing the talking because I seem to remember being able to go hunting with a traveller on a previous playthrough.

Now we head to the butcher's shop to have a chat with Salje.





And with that, combat begins. This game has a lot of well-designed elements, and the combat shines more than most. It's turn-based, but turns are not broken up like "Person A goes, Person B goes, Person C goes, round over." Instead, whoever's turn it is, the character is allowed to take one action between moving, attacking, waiting, defending, and casting spells, each action requiring a certain amount of action points. Once he takes that action, it is someone elses turn to move, but if he still has action points to spare, eventually he his turn will come up again during the round. I'm not sure why, exactly, but I can't get enough of it.

Also, note that we could have told Antius about the murder and gotten him to come with us. But in that case Antius will die, which I'm not interested in because the party can take Salje without any help.

Anyway, my thief being the most speedy of the bunch gets to go first and fires an arrow at Salje.



After that, my fighter waits for Salje to approach. Once Salje is there -- and as it happens, out of action points -- he clobbers him.



By the middle of the next round after my thief has fire a couple more arrows, Salje's toast.





Once he's dead, his apprentice, who saw the whole thing and never wanted to be a butcher to begin with, asks to come with.





When we step out of the shop, having killed an upstanding member of this tiny village . . .





Fortunately, Nylis sticks up for us.









Small town private justice is swift. Or something. I guess Nylis must be more trustworthy than his dead boss.

Our next stop is to follow up on that rumor that Vauni sneaks out in the middle of the night. Maybe it will give us some info about her mystery man. We go to the inn and wait until nightfall. We follow close behind her, but she doesn't mind.



She sneaks over to a tree. After she's left, we find . . .



Ah ha! So Antius, the man with so much on his mind that he wouldn't tell us, is the father. To confirm things let's casually go talk to Vauni about it.







What's Antius' reason to push Vauni away? Fear of fatherhood? Jealousy? Age difference? Let's get it straight from the horse's mouth.









So, he thinks she had an affair on him with Rasmeri, the owner of the woodshop.

What do you guys think? Should we be nice and look into the Rasmeri situation? Should we try to blackmail Antius? Should we go get a reward from Vauni's father by ratting out Antius? If nobody wants to choose, I'll just make the noble choice and continue with an update tomorrow.

In future updates, I think I'm going to either use fewer screenshots and copy down the dialogue as text, or reduce the size of the screenshots. The screens are 200 kb apiece and if a bunch of updates are crammed into one page, that could make for some awful load times. Thoughts?
 

thesheeep

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 16, 2007
Messages
9,939
Location
Tampere, Finland
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I envy you for being able to play that game.
Like for most others, it didn't work for me, either.

I don't care in what way you continue. Just do ;)
 

ElectricOtter

Guest
Thanks for doing this. As with many others, this game runs like a sack of polio.

Do continue. I suggest taking the evil route, out of mild curiosity.
 

GarfunkeL

Racism Expert
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
15,463
Location
Insert clever insult here
Well the barmaid is screwed! Solve the mystery! And sure, copy down the text since the game portrays so nice portraits for you already. Hopefully they are easily extractable.
 

Fezzik

Cipher
Joined
Nov 2, 2008
Messages
515
Last time, we revealed to Antius that we knew he was the father of Vauni's child.

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Having seen her sneak to Rasmeri's shop in the middle of the night, Antius is convinced that she's cheating on him. We ask him to consider that there may be other explanations, but he's set on distrusting her.

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At this point, I would have gone the evil route, as suggested, but I already took the screens for the "nice" path. I still have the quicksave from before the conversation with Antius, though, so if you like I can make a mini-update showing the evil root later on.

Anyway, we head to the woodshop to get to the bottom of this.

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Let's go ask Vauni about it then.

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Seems that people just can't work their own shit out. Now that we're in on the "business" Rasmeri referred to, let's talk to him about it.

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At this point, we could ask Rasmeri to make the ring again, paying for it out of our own pocket. But that's lame, so let's talk to Rasmeri's little helper instead.

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So he lost it, he knows where he likely lost it, and he still hasn't tried to find it. Kids today, no sense of responsibility.

We go to the stone circle southeast of town and lo and behold!

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Now that we've found the ring, let's show Antius the evidence and watch the shame roll over him.

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Hmmm . . . I don't know if them getting married is a great idea. Antius obviously has trust issues and Vauni might hold this over his head in the future. But whatever. They kiss and make up and have a wedding.

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And Antius gives the party a gift for saving him from his own paranoia.

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The sword is pretty good. If my fighter also had some magical ability, the sword would increase it.

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Back to the main quest. We take a look at the letter that we found amongst Salje's remains.

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A new contact. We'll meet this mysterious "P" character shortly, but first, I'll use my knowledge of the game to pick up another NPC party member. Off to Citadel.

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On our way to the citadel, we have an encounter with some Lupins. I won't go into detail with most combat encounters unless you guys want me to, but needless to say, the party is victorious.

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The two major cities in PtD, Citadel and the Barrier, are a couple of my favorite RPG cities. Lots of NPCs in the streets, competing organizations, nice layout, etc. Citadel is divided by the river with some bridges crossing it.

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Here's one of the many locals around here.

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We'll see more of the citadel later, but for now, let's get our new party member and move on to Land's End.

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Diviana is a good fighter. She has a fair amount of skill in both unarmed combat and sword combat. I'll be having her go the unarmed route. She gets to attack very often that way and her punches do a fair bit of damage.

Next, it's off to Land's End

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Land's End is a big sprawling farming town. It takes time to move around the town, but a fair amount of stuff happens here.

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I head off for Lond's house, Lond being the agent of the Watcher in Land's End. On the way there is an encounter where I have a choice of what to do.

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But I guess my stealth skill isn't good enough.

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At that point the game crashed. So we load back up and go talk to Lond.

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So there's another agent of the Watcher in Land's End and Lond doesn't trust her. Something to look into. Let's head to the inn and talk to the only person there whose name begins with a "P."

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I guess my speech skill wasn't high enough to get that reward.

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So we have three ways to join the Rebellion: Steal something from the Academy, get to that ore shipment, or sell out Lond.

Let me know if the new screen shots are difficult to read and I'll try to fix it.
 

Fezzik

Cipher
Joined
Nov 2, 2008
Messages
515
Last time we were in at the Treefort Inn in Land's End. We've been given three options by Pylmi for joining the Rebellion. We'll get to doing that in a bit, but first, let's look around Land's End a bit, starting at the inn.

We make some idle chat with the waitress.

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We'll look into this before we leave. Next we talk with one of the men who work here.

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man9.jpg
I noticed you were limping and grimacing in pain.

rmBaliam.jpg
Yeah, I twisted my ankle and have been trying to let it heal. It's proving problematic because I need to deliver some food over the the Temple. We deliver meals to the Priestess, Kalliope.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

An errand to keep in mind, but let's hold off on this. We head off in the direction of the Ironwood sisters. There's only one that has anything much to say.

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man9.jpg
Banderwillow?

rfKnife.jpg
the banderwillow calms the soul
a leaf, with food inside the bowl
for pregnancy or troubled sleep
too much will bring a slumber deep


man9.jpg
Crystal blade?

rfKnife.jpg
visions dream a blade to make
crystal grows from tress to break
change in name, now iron call
sister made it, lost it all

man9.jpg
Where can I get some?

rfKnife.jpg
crystalwood a dagger cost
a banderwillow's secret lost
Drachs belittle drachs be quick
five of them for willow stick

man9.jpg
Pay 5 drachs

rfKnife.jpg
She smiles and hands you the sprig of Banderwillow.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

So we've got some Banderwillow, which according to that little poem of Fowyr's induces a deep sleep if taken in large doses. Definitely something to keep in mind to use if the occasion calls for it. Note that we could also purchase this by giving her a dagger, as per her rhyme's request.

We wander around Land's End and pick up a bit of gossip.

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We'll see if we can look into this later.

Next, we come by a farm home and meet the lady of the house.

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man9.jpg
Isn't that dangerous?

rfYoung8.jpg
For folks like you and me maybe. My daughter, how does one put it? Well she received a gift from the Goddess. Animals and creatures of all time just like her. She can even speak with them on occasion.

man9.jpg
That sounds like quite a blessing.

rfYoung8.jpg
Janni's eyes flash with a look filled with sorrow and concern. She can't always differentiate between humans and animals. I . . . I don't know.

man9.jpg
I can go and check on your daughter if you like.

rfYoung8.jpg
Thanks. She really does worry me sometimes. The caves are just north of here. I've been meaning to ask Thorvar to board up the entrance.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

So we're off to see whether the little gir who can talk to animals is all right. To the cave!

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We enter the cave, find the girl in the back surrounded by cave dwellers but cool as a cucumber.

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Uh oh.

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And combat begins. This is a fairly tough fight. These particular cave dwellers are quite tough and I had to run through this fight twice.

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But the cave dwellers die and Malpia comes out.

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So we take Malpia home.

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aChild5.jpg
The party got little rowdy again. Not all the guests liked each other. Then these people brought me home.

rfYoung8.jpg
Go on over to your room young lady and you can tell me all about it later.

rfYoung8.jpg
(to the party) Thanks for helping me find her. I hear about these rowdy escapades at her tea parties and I get worried for her safety.

While we're walking around, we have a run in with some mantids, but it's nothing serious.

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Then we head to the academy to look into procuring an item to give to Pylmi.

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We talk to a man standing at the fountain.

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man9.jpg
What do you do here?

fmOldbeard.jpg
I'm the lead courier. It's my job to ensure that all important notices from the council reach their destination safely.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

Every bit of information helps in this game. A woman is standing behind the fountain. We approach and have a conversation.

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man9.jpg
Is everything all right?

ffblack03.jpg
I've been worried about my friend Ottavia. She can be quite the music chime sometimes.

man9.jpg
Music chime?

ffblack03.jpg
From the children's tale, Vilvalius and the Dark Woods. "There was nothing to stop people from going into the woods except the music chime that foretold of coming doom and gloom. Tinkle tinkle. Tinkle tinkle. It went."

man9.jpg
Ottavia is foretelling doom and gloom?

ffblack03.jpg
Not like she's having visions and talking about the ruin of the Valley. It's a more localized doom and gloom. She doesn't have enough drachs to pay for further study here at the Academy.
I have started a collection amongst the students, but there haven't been too many contributors. Nobody seems to have any money, or they are hoarding it because they fear that with the bad harvests, food is going to get a lot more scarce and therefore expensive.

man9.jpg
Please take seven drachs.

ffblack03.jpg
Seven drachs. One for each trial Vivalius had to face! You've been quite generous, thank you. You're a real glow lichen.

man9.jpg
Glow lichen?

ffblack03.jpg
Ottavia works at the Museum and found a tome that has stories from the time of the Exile. When the Children of the Flame wandered in the darkness of the caves, there was no Flame and they felt that all was lost. They saw light ahead and let it guide them to solace. When all hope was lost there was the glow lichen.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

With that exercise in verbosity concluded, we talk to an older-looking gentleman.

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man9.jpg
This place looks like a museum.

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Echemnon is very abrupt and rolls his eyes.Very perceptive of you. It is indeed a museum. I am Echemnon, custodian over the artifacts.

man9.jpg
What's the matter?

fmEchemnon.jpg
There recently was a robbery here at the Academy, and a rare dagger was stolen from our vault. We have correspondingly tightened security.

man9.jpg
A rare dagger?

fmEchemnon.jpg
Rare is a misnomer. As far as I know it is unique.

man9.jpg
What did the dagger do?

fmEchemnon.jpg
Do? I suppose you could cut things with it. It was more important from an academic point of view than from any practical standpoint as it was a link to our past. Maetius was studying it more closely. He can be found in the Library if you want to find out more about it.

man9.jpg
Do you know how the thief got in?

fmEchemnon.jpg
No, that has been puzzling me and as you may or may not have heard, I am offering a reward for information regarding any details on the point of ingress.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

An invaluable ancient dagger stolen from the Academy? To what purpose -- after all, it would seem that the dagger is priceless more to historians than anyone else, so would there be any value in stealing it?

Moving on, we talk with Glauke, the headmaster of the Academy.

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man9.jpg
I'm looking for training.

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Are you a practitioner of the thaumaturgical arts?

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No.

fmGlauke.jpg
Arcane understanding is not something that can be learned easily. Indeed many prove incapable of grasping the basic concepts regardless of instruction. The Academy exists for the rigorous instruction and training of magicians, not the schooling of novices and dabblers. I can attempt to teach you the basic understanding to perform simple cantrips and incantations, which is the first step down the path of Thaumaturgy. But it is a rigorous process. If you wish to be taught I will requre a full day of your time and a fee of 200 drachs.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

Much as I'd like some Thaumaturgical goodness, I'd rather my cash pool didn't fall to rock bottom when my party members haven't bought more than a bow yet. So maybe later.

Next we stop by Ottavia's room. We have to remember what we're doing here: trying to steal an artifact from the Academy. Ottavia's having tuition problems and we could use an inside man.

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man9.jpg
What do you do?

ffOttavia.jpg
I channel the spirits and contact houses of old. No wait, that's not quite right. I'm a student here at the Academy. Sorry if I'm a little cynical, I'm a little depressed right now, problems making ends meet and all.

man9.jpg
Therese mentioned you worked in the Museum.

ffOttavia.jpg
Yes, I need the drachs I'm afraid. Echemnon has been quite distressed by the recent robbery. Luckily he trusts me.

man9.jpg
Offer 30 drachs

ffOttavia.jpg
I don't know. Echemnon has been on his guard.

man9.jpg
I'll double the amount to 60.

ffOttavia.jpg
Ok. Wait here, and I'll go and get you something.

ffOttavia.jpg
Here you go, I grabbed a vase. Hope it does you well.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

There is an alternative at the point where we double our offer:

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If our speech skill is great enough, this ought to get her to hand over the vase for 30 drachs instead. If it's not high enough, however, she flat out refuses to talk to us afterwards.

Finally, we talk to the Watcher's agent in the area.

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man9.jpg
We're from the Watcher.

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What? Oh. Oh! I suppose you're hot on the trail of the Rebellion by now. I'm sorry, but the only information I have is local, and none of it pertains to the Rebellion.

man9.jpg
Can you mark Academy locations on our map?

rmSallio.jpg
Sure. There you are.

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What can you tell me?

rmSallio.jpg
Not much. Business is slow and Academy enrollment is low. I think some artifacts were stolen from the museum recently. Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary happened lately.

man9.jpg
Tell me about enrollment

rmSallio.jpg
This is the place to be if you want to learn or increase your skills as a thaumaturgist. If you want to enroll, Headmaster Glauke is the man to see. He's in his quarters.

man9.jpg
Tell me about the robbery at the museum.

rmSallio.jpg
You'll have to speak to Echemnon about that. He should be outside the museum.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

Nothing much new there. Let's go talk to the guy in the lab.


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man9.jpg
What are you doing?

fmPaplios.jpg
I am searching for lost knowledge. Hopefully our new equipment will yield answers to some of the riddles of the ancients. Now, if you'll excuse me.

I'm sure he has important, important work to get back to. Now that we have the artifact, we head back to Pylmi in Land's End.

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man9.jpg
I want to talk about your token of faith.

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Yes?

man9.jpg
I have an Archaic Vase from the Academy.

rfYoung3.jpg
It's beautiful, and you've proven yourself to me. Welcome aboard. She examines your gift with a knowing grin.

rfYoung3.jpg
Go and speak with Genwen. Her house is north of here. Tell her I sent you. I'll vouch for you.

So we head on over to Genwen's.

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man9.jpg
Pylmi sent me.

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Genwen takes out a letter, seals it with wax, stamps an impression into the wax, and hands it to you. Take this letter to Deba in the Citadel. You've joined us at an exciting time. We are about to embark on a course of action that will make the burning of the warehouse in Jerrock look insignificant.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

Alright, so we're climbing the Rebellion's ladder rung by rung. On our way to the Citadel, let's stop by Kellen and see if we can finish some business there. First, up we talk to a man tending his herd of Baki.

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man9.jpg
That's quite a herd you have.

rmDirming.jpg
Not what it once was, I'm afraid. In the past few weeks they have fallen prey to countless attacks by lupins. I fear that I shall soon no longer have a herd to tend.

man9.jpg
Do you know where the lupins are coming from?

rmDirming.jpg
No I don't. I suspect they have a den nearby. They never used to trouble my herd before. Something must have changed, but I cannot think what.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

We'll have to see if we can figure this one out at some point. This next stop is talk to Hjor, a guest at the inn.

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man9.jpg
What do you do here?

rmHjor.jpg
I hunt. Around these parts mostly topi. Their pelts and meat don't fetch the most drachs, but it's easy and consistent hunting. I've been finding a lot of 'em in a small clearing just north of town, to the west of the road. Have to keep my eyes open though, I've seen a couple lupins in the area.

man9.jpg
Could you teach me about hunting?

rmHjor.jpg
I don't usually give lessons. But I am a little short on drachs, so I'd be willing to make an exception for one lesson. It'll cost you 80 drachs, for just you, your friends will have to stay hre, and it'll take a full day. Now, what kind of training were you interested in?

woman8.jpg
I'd like stealth training.

rmHjor.jpg
Hjor takes the 80 drachs. Very good. Let's be on our way then.

rmHjor.jpg
There you are. Hope it serves you well.

You've gotta take skill points any way you can get them. I could have taken wilderness training or missile training. My thief, however, will be a little stretched thin skill point-wise, so that rules out wilderness training for the druid. And combat is a secondary concern for the thief, so stealth it is.

On the way out, we talk to a man dining at the inn with his wife.

32.jpg


man9.jpg
Hello.

rmAdult2.jpg
Gralvar looks very concerned. This isn't the best time, friend. We're in the middle of dinner.

man9.jpg
Is something wrong?

rmAdult2.jpg
Yes, I'm afraid there is. My son Eino is missing. My wife and I are understandably upset. So if you don't mind leaving us to our dinners, it'd be much appreciated.

man9.jpg
Do you have any idea where he might be?

rmAdult2.jpg
If I had some idea, I probably would have looked there by now, don't you think?

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

No need to be snippy mister. Nosy adventurer types have a way of getting things done, don't you know?

There's a dweller cave in the area, so the party takes off to look at that.

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While passing through the tunnels we come across several cave dwellers. We choose to avoid them for now.

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We get to the end of the passage to find a creature called an idea drip and summarily kill it.

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At the end of the cave we find some basic loot. Nothing special, but the axe will be good for Nylis who's been using a butcher's cleaver so far (not the Diablo kind).

40.jpg


On the way out we kill the cave dwellers.

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Real basic little dungeon. It's probably only there as a way for new players to test out the combat, given its proximity to Kellen, the starting town.

Next up, word is that Verugi is insane, so let's go see him.

43.jpg


man9.jpg
Who are you?

rmVerugi.jpg
Who am I? I am Verugi, the Valley's most famed inventor, scholar, and all around genius. Why people come from across the Valley to hear my wisdom and behold my magnificent inventions.

man9.jpg
May I see one of your inventions?

rmVerugi.jpg
Certainly. You see that tall four legged chair over there in the corner with no back? Well it's not a chair, it's a stool. My invention, brilliant isn't it. Stool! None of my other inventions are functioning properly right now, but stool, good old reliable stool always works. Hooray for stool!

man9.jpg
What work?

rmVerugi.jpg
Why, the creation of the Ultimate Power Source. It seems apprentices aren't as well informed as they used to be. Back in the olden times when I was an apprentice I always knew my task, I'll tell you that. You didn't see me wandering around not knowing what I was to be working on. Going "blah blah blah, What work? blah blah." We knew that there was always gonna be work and we were there to do it. Yes sir . . . Verugi begins to trail off.

man9.jpg
Do people really come from all across the Valley to see you?

rmVerugi.jpg
Alas, no. They used to though. But then they stopped. Can't say I know why . . . Verugi sniffs his armpit, shrugs and then scratches his head in contemplation.

man9.jpg
Yes, let's get to work.

rmVerugi.jpg
Silence. How dare you try to tell The Great Verugi what to do! It's time you learned your place. You are my apprentice. I am your lord, master, and god . . . perhaps "god" is a bit much. No, now that I think about it, it's about right. Bow down to me, grovel before me, worship your god, kiss my feet! You detect a hideously foul odor which seems to emanate from Verugi's bare feet.

Well . . . what the hell.

man9.jpg
<kiss>

rmVerugi.jpg
Verugi's feet are wart ridden and matted with hair. The experience is even more unpleasant than you anticipated. Ahh much better. I haven't washed in weeks. Ha! Henceforth I shall call thee Footlicker. Now, Footlicker, I need you to fetch some things for me, so that I may assemble the Ultimate Power Source. If you serve me well, once the device is complete and I rule over land and sky, you shall take your place at my right hand and lick my rank feet whenever it strikes your fancy.

man9.jpg
What do you need?

rmVerugi.jpg
What I need is for you to stop asking questions and start blindly following my every whim. To begin with I need a glass of milk from Land's End. Proceed to Land's End, procure some milk and return here. And hurry up about it!

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

Christ.

We talk to the madman's son.

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man9.jpg
What do you do?

rmArvild.jpg
Well when I'm not busy taking care of my father, I do odd jobs as a tinker, fixing things.

man9.jpg
Is your father ill?

rmArvild.jpg
Not physically no. He's just a little . . . well he's crazy. I suppose that's the best way of explaining it.

man9.jpg
What do you mean he's crazy?

rmArvild.jpg
What do I mean? He's completely deluded. Don't believe a word he says. He's insane.

rmVerugi.jpg
I am not insane! I am a brilliant inventor, brilliant!!!

rmArvild.jpg
You were a farmer Dad, a farmer!

rmVerugi.jpg
An inventor!

rmArvild.jpg
A farmer.

rmVerugi.jpg
An inventor extraordinaire!

rmArvild.jpg
I don't even know why I bother to argue.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

Well that was an experience.

We get the hell out of there and wander around Kellen. What do you know, we find Eino.

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We talk to him.

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man9.jpg
Hello.

rmChild2.jpg
The boy says nothing, he just stares at you.

man9.jpg
Are you all right?

rmChild2.jpg
I'm fine. Leave me alone.

man9.jpg
Eino, your parents are looking for you.

rmChild2.jpg
They must be. Please don't tell them where I am. I can't go home, I can't.

man9.jpg
Why not?

rmChild2.jpg
Because I'd be in big trouble.

man9.jpg
Why, what did you do?

rmChild2.jpg
After a moment of hesitation, Eino tells you what happened. I didn't mean to. I-- I was throwing rocks in the river and I hit a sylkie and hurt it real bad. I didn't mean to though, I swear. I swear I didn't!

That's the speech skill kicking in.

man9.jpg
Where is the sylkie?

rmChild2.jpg
He's to the east by the river. I just hope he's gonna be all right.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

The party makes a bee line to the sylkie. We have a couple options of how to treat it and choos the magic route.

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And Ta Da! The Goddess speaks to us.

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Hurray, a new spell -- slow.

We head back to the kid and tell him things are all right.

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man9.jpg
We healed the sylkie.

rmChild2.jpg
You did? And it's ok? You mean I can go home now? Wow thanks sir! Eino wipes the tears from his eyes and smiles. With a wave he leaves you and scampers off towards home.

We talk to his mother.

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And finally, we make our way to the Citadel to deliver the letter to Deba for the Rebellion.

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man9.jpg
Genwen sent this note for you.

rfDinre.jpg
Deba breaks the seal and studies the note for a second. So, the plan is in motion. Go see Telus the jeweler in the Barrier Fortress, and collect the necklace that he was commissioned to make. Then bring the necklace to Genwen. We're happy to have you assisting the cause. Serve us well and you shall receive a great reward.

man9.jpg
Goodbye.

Next time we'll check out the Citadel and its politics. This concludes this installment. I'm spent. Get posting so we can get a new page.
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
Patron
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
27,089
Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
You should have one screen that shows a CTD, just to give us the complete experience of playing this game.
 

Azael

Magister
Joined
Dec 6, 2002
Messages
4,405
Location
Multikult Central South
Wasteland 2
Just finished this game after a long hiatus, I did have some crashes, but not as bad as the last time (OK, it crashed a lot in some areas).

Really great game though, many different solutions to quest. There are several ways to find out who the father of the child is or an alternative way to find out who Jactus' murderer is for example. If not for the bugs, this would be one of the finest CRPGs out there.
 

ghostdog

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 31, 2007
Messages
11,079
I never got around to play this game, seems very interesting. Nice LP, keep it up.
 

Fezzik

Cipher
Joined
Nov 2, 2008
Messages
515
I ought to have an update some time tomorrow. Putting all of this dialogue in is a fuckton of typing.
 

Fezzik

Cipher
Joined
Nov 2, 2008
Messages
515
FFFUUUUUUUUUUUU . . .

I guess I'll do the next update with imageshack . . .
 

DrWest

Novice
Joined
Aug 28, 2009
Messages
5
Location
East of the wall
Why are all the images set to display:none? Am I missing something?

EDIT: to clarify, the images are there, but the 'dex hides them! scandalous!

I registered just to post this, WTF?

EDIT2: seems my firefox is fuck up
 

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