Lemming42
Arcane
PART 9: PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED
In this part, I face the consequences of a life of crime, try to ingratiate myself with the nobility, run a PR campaign, get a title, face down a vampire, insult a skeleton, and do a welfare check on a local grandma.
A note: I misunderstood how legal reputation works in Daggerfall, which led me to do all the wrong things to fix it. Rather than replaying this part, I'll just leave it as it is, because it's funnier. In actual fact, doing quests for nobles and joining a Knightly Order does not affect your legal reputation; only time and three very specific quests do. However, Aubk-i and Cyndassa don't actually seem to care about your legal reputation, but rather your personal reputation with them, so the solution I used here still worked.
tl;dr: I talk some bullshit about legal rep here, when I actually meant personal/factional rep.
Join me next time when I'll take on Cyndassa's Werewolf quest, which includes the first mandatory kill in the game. Can Gwynona find a way around it??!?!?! (The answer is yes, I've already found one)
In this part, I face the consequences of a life of crime, try to ingratiate myself with the nobility, run a PR campaign, get a title, face down a vampire, insult a skeleton, and do a welfare check on a local grandma.
A note: I misunderstood how legal reputation works in Daggerfall, which led me to do all the wrong things to fix it. Rather than replaying this part, I'll just leave it as it is, because it's funnier. In actual fact, doing quests for nobles and joining a Knightly Order does not affect your legal reputation; only time and three very specific quests do. However, Aubk-i and Cyndassa don't actually seem to care about your legal reputation, but rather your personal reputation with them, so the solution I used here still worked.
tl;dr: I talk some bullshit about legal rep here, when I actually meant personal/factional rep.
Right now, there's two angles of investigation open - Lhotun wants to meet me in Hammerfell, and Brisienna told me to approach a low-ranking member of the court of Daggerfall. She gave me that advice when I was level 1, though - now that I'm level 4 or whatever, Queen Aubk-i is actually prepared to deal with me directly. So, I'm gonna go with Daggerfall first.
Castle Daggerfall is at the end of a big shopping street full of wealthy houses.
I approach Aub-ki , the current queen... and get told to fuck off.
Uh oh! I'm persona non grata in Daggerfall, all thanks to the shoplifting spree earlier. Yeah, even if you get found not guilty, the finger of suspicion is still pointed at you. Bullshit! My current reputation is "undependable", and thus nobody here will talk to me.
Luckily, there's a powerful and influential courtier named Lady Bridwell, who is willing to deal with me. By getting into her good books, I can worm my way back into polite society.
Everyone stand the fuck back as I attempt a never-before-attempted feat of technology: an AI-to-AI conversation. I wrote Bridwell's initial line here, but after that, it's two AIs talking to each other:
Jesus.
Alright, here's the task she offers us:
Got all that? No? Me neither.
Anyway, if this can kickstart the PR campaign that saves Gwynona's image and gets her back in with the nobility, it's a small price to pay. We make haste for Burning Sunrise of Kynareth, a temple out in the countryside.
This quest is nothing, really - Bridwell's friend here in the temple gives me a staff and tells me to take it to a nearby farm. I do, I hand it to another lady, and she pays me. Not much of a quest, and not enough to restore my reputation. However, just outside Daggerfall castle is this place:
This is the headquarters of the Knights of the Dragon, the knightly order which Lady Bridwell and her husband preside over. Joining them is as surefire way to rehabilitate my image.
Despite being a known criminal, I'm allowed right in. I'm not sure why this is. Is it based on your reputation with Lady Bridwell? I dunno. Either way, I'm in. Gwynona is now a Knight of the Dragon. This alone doesn't rehabilitate me, so we'll need to do a quest.
Rescuing an imperiled princess? It literally doesn't get more noble than this! Let's get in there, grab her, get her to safety, and bask in the glow of my newfound honourable reputation.
The vampire's out in this weird castle in the middle of nowhere. The dungeon itself is relatively straightforward. Annoyingly, the enemies are bats and skeletons, who can't be talked down. My high Speed attribute means that running past them is trivial, however.
The vampire and the princess are locked behind a lever puzzle. If you've played Daggerfall enough, you'll know how to do this; it's the block with the two elevators and the two cog wheels that move the walls and slide open the barred grate. This is easy. What's less easy is getting up to the top of the shaft...
With my low Climbing skill, I'll break my legs doing this. It takes a couple tries, but I do manage to edge up to the top... only to be set upon by a swarm of bats.
I take a hit, but dodging around them is easy enough. Opening the next door, though, lets out the vampire, and she and her bats are pissed:
To beat the quest, though, you just have to grab the princess. So by leaping past the enemies, I can get into her cell and scoop her up before the vampire can stop me:
Here's a trick for anyone new to Daggerfall - if you find yourself in this dungeon block, with the long shaft (lol) and the cell at the top, click the dangling chain above the shaft. It'll cast Slowfall on you, and you can then float down to safety, and your enemies won't be able to follow.
...Unless they're bats, in which case, they will indeed fly down after you and rip your face off.
Still, a bit more ducking and diving and we're out, with minimal health remaining. Back to the Knights of the Dragon for a hero's welcome and, at last... Queen Aubk-i will talk to me! The PR onslaught has worked! Between terrifying Lady Bridwell into singing my praises and becoming a questing knight, I've finally turned my public image around!
Exactly how Bridwell managed this isn't clear, but I like to think she put up posters across the city reminding everyone that Gwynona is not a thief, despite what people may have heard:
Anyway, back to where we were at the start of this part: Aubk-i will finally talk to me. Here's what she has to say:
So, for those of you following the plot: Aubk-i's husband is Gothryd, Lysandus' son. Nulfaga is Lysandus' mother, and she's not best pleased about his mysterious death. Nulfaga's castle is Shedungent, a creepy old place deep in the mountains which is over two weeks away at full speed.
Shedungent is tricky. Let me noclip out of bounds to show you what we're dealing with:
A devious maze of traps and puzzles, each more challenging than the last. Could be trouble for any adventurer, let alone a pacifist grandma.
However... when you enter, you're faced with this.
Go up and click on that banner.
Tell the voice to "shut up", and...
The door swings open. There you go; that's it. That's our first trip to Shedungent. No violence necessary, never even got attacked. Quite why this grinning skeleton is the door guardian, I don't know, but, in case it's not clear: Nulfaga is weird.
Weirder still is what she's doing upstairs.
Yep, she's just chilling with her pet dragon! This fucker is, believe it or not, the asshole responsible for wrecking our ship at the start of the game. You can enter dialogue with him but it's all generic.
Best friends forever!
Anyway, Nulfaga's losing it:
Yep. Agreed, honey.
Alright, we've done our little welfare check on grandma and found out that she is - and I speak carefully and sensitively here, because I don't want to upset any mental health charities - a batty old spaz who's gone mental. Time to head all the way back to Aubk-i to report in.
Thanks, Queen. What a superb gift for a pacifist.
Castle Daggerfall is at the end of a big shopping street full of wealthy houses.
I approach Aub-ki , the current queen... and get told to fuck off.
Uh oh! I'm persona non grata in Daggerfall, all thanks to the shoplifting spree earlier. Yeah, even if you get found not guilty, the finger of suspicion is still pointed at you. Bullshit! My current reputation is "undependable", and thus nobody here will talk to me.
Luckily, there's a powerful and influential courtier named Lady Bridwell, who is willing to deal with me. By getting into her good books, I can worm my way back into polite society.
Everyone stand the fuck back as I attempt a never-before-attempted feat of technology: an AI-to-AI conversation. I wrote Bridwell's initial line here, but after that, it's two AIs talking to each other:
Jesus.
Alright, here's the task she offers us:
Got all that? No? Me neither.
Anyway, if this can kickstart the PR campaign that saves Gwynona's image and gets her back in with the nobility, it's a small price to pay. We make haste for Burning Sunrise of Kynareth, a temple out in the countryside.
This quest is nothing, really - Bridwell's friend here in the temple gives me a staff and tells me to take it to a nearby farm. I do, I hand it to another lady, and she pays me. Not much of a quest, and not enough to restore my reputation. However, just outside Daggerfall castle is this place:
This is the headquarters of the Knights of the Dragon, the knightly order which Lady Bridwell and her husband preside over. Joining them is as surefire way to rehabilitate my image.
Despite being a known criminal, I'm allowed right in. I'm not sure why this is. Is it based on your reputation with Lady Bridwell? I dunno. Either way, I'm in. Gwynona is now a Knight of the Dragon. This alone doesn't rehabilitate me, so we'll need to do a quest.
Rescuing an imperiled princess? It literally doesn't get more noble than this! Let's get in there, grab her, get her to safety, and bask in the glow of my newfound honourable reputation.
The vampire's out in this weird castle in the middle of nowhere. The dungeon itself is relatively straightforward. Annoyingly, the enemies are bats and skeletons, who can't be talked down. My high Speed attribute means that running past them is trivial, however.
The vampire and the princess are locked behind a lever puzzle. If you've played Daggerfall enough, you'll know how to do this; it's the block with the two elevators and the two cog wheels that move the walls and slide open the barred grate. This is easy. What's less easy is getting up to the top of the shaft...
With my low Climbing skill, I'll break my legs doing this. It takes a couple tries, but I do manage to edge up to the top... only to be set upon by a swarm of bats.
I take a hit, but dodging around them is easy enough. Opening the next door, though, lets out the vampire, and she and her bats are pissed:
To beat the quest, though, you just have to grab the princess. So by leaping past the enemies, I can get into her cell and scoop her up before the vampire can stop me:
Here's a trick for anyone new to Daggerfall - if you find yourself in this dungeon block, with the long shaft (lol) and the cell at the top, click the dangling chain above the shaft. It'll cast Slowfall on you, and you can then float down to safety, and your enemies won't be able to follow.
...Unless they're bats, in which case, they will indeed fly down after you and rip your face off.
Still, a bit more ducking and diving and we're out, with minimal health remaining. Back to the Knights of the Dragon for a hero's welcome and, at last... Queen Aubk-i will talk to me! The PR onslaught has worked! Between terrifying Lady Bridwell into singing my praises and becoming a questing knight, I've finally turned my public image around!
Exactly how Bridwell managed this isn't clear, but I like to think she put up posters across the city reminding everyone that Gwynona is not a thief, despite what people may have heard:
Anyway, back to where we were at the start of this part: Aubk-i will finally talk to me. Here's what she has to say:
So, for those of you following the plot: Aubk-i's husband is Gothryd, Lysandus' son. Nulfaga is Lysandus' mother, and she's not best pleased about his mysterious death. Nulfaga's castle is Shedungent, a creepy old place deep in the mountains which is over two weeks away at full speed.
Shedungent is tricky. Let me noclip out of bounds to show you what we're dealing with:
A devious maze of traps and puzzles, each more challenging than the last. Could be trouble for any adventurer, let alone a pacifist grandma.
However... when you enter, you're faced with this.
Go up and click on that banner.
Tell the voice to "shut up", and...
The door swings open. There you go; that's it. That's our first trip to Shedungent. No violence necessary, never even got attacked. Quite why this grinning skeleton is the door guardian, I don't know, but, in case it's not clear: Nulfaga is weird.
Weirder still is what she's doing upstairs.
Yep, she's just chilling with her pet dragon! This fucker is, believe it or not, the asshole responsible for wrecking our ship at the start of the game. You can enter dialogue with him but it's all generic.
Best friends forever!
Anyway, Nulfaga's losing it:
Yep. Agreed, honey.
Alright, we've done our little welfare check on grandma and found out that she is - and I speak carefully and sensitively here, because I don't want to upset any mental health charities - a batty old spaz who's gone mental. Time to head all the way back to Aubk-i to report in.
Thanks, Queen. What a superb gift for a pacifist.
Join me next time when I'll take on Cyndassa's Werewolf quest, which includes the first mandatory kill in the game. Can Gwynona find a way around it??!?!?! (The answer is yes, I've already found one)
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