Cormyrean Nights Introduction Characters Getting About Reputation Henchman Quest Walkthroughs Other things Cursed Items Lion Figurine Introduction Cormyrean Nights is a large module with the action set in and around Marsember in the Forgotten Realms. This document is a guide to the module, not exactly a walkthrough, but you should find all the information you need if you are stuck or just want to find out what you might have missed. If you can't find something in here then let me know and I'll update it. The module was designed to be played through more than once. You might find it entertaining to try the module with different character classes and sexes. Before getting to the quest walkthroughs, let's look at some other general stuff. Characters The module can be played with any class, race or sex. There are certain situations however, which will suit one PC class or sex over another and those players who choose PC's with certain skills will benefit in different ways from those who don't. This is not to say that there are advantages with certain PC's, it's just that the playing experience will be different. There are many situations where a PC can benefit from at least some skill in Persuade. Some things will only be "seen" by PC's with a high enough Intelligence or Wisdom and there are even situations where a high strength might come in handy. I've tried to reward players for having the right skills at the right time. The point is that you should be able to play the module more than once, with a different character type each time. Some players have said that they have found the combat in the game too easy. I didn't in playtesting but I recognise that I'm not the best at maxing out a character. I tend to role-play RPG's and tend to forget that there are players out there who like nothing better than impossible odds. If you are one of those then you can make life difficult for yourself. First choose a character class that's generally weaker, take them only to level 8 and increase the difficulty setting of the game. At present the module seems balanced enough and I don't want to start ramping up the difficulty if only a few players feel that way. Finally on this subject, the module assumes a good aligned player. In fact the story almost demands it but there is no reason why your PC can't at least start out as evil. Top Getting About and Resting The module is non linear in nature and some of the areas are pretty big. Several methods of getting about are included in the module in order to cut down on the amount of running about a PC has to do. The main one is the presence of City Guides in each of the major city areas. They will transport you around (for a small fee). Some areas are only accessible via their services, notably Fishgut rock, the Graveyard and Marsember Marsh. You will need to hear about these areas for them to become available. You will also want to obtain Ashandrin's Rod from the Adventurer's guild (see quests) and in the Hullack Forest and Hermit's Woods areas you'll want to active the respawn portals. There is a custom resting script operating. Basically you cannot rest anywhere in the city except in rooms in Inns, one of the rooms in the adventurers guild and Elestra's house. Outside the city and in the sewers it is possible to rest but you have a chance that random monsters will spawn. The monsters which spawn will relate to the area you are in. Sometimes you will come upon safe rest areas. You will get a text message indicating where these are or an NPC will tell you. Time passes whilst you rest; eight hours for full rest. If your rest is interrupted some part of the 8 hours will go buy before the interruption takes place. The city guides are very useful for information as well as for getting about. You should talk to them about the area you are in and ask them about people you are interested in. Anytime you find that you don't know how a quest should proceed, it's a good bet that a guide will have information for you. Reputation Your reputation with certain factions has an effect throughout the module and it can make a big difference to how the game plays out. The following is a discussion of some of the factors will affect your reputation and how that will affect gameplay. Commoners: Most of the NPC's in the module are commoners. All of them will talk to you and you can convince some of them to part with some cash. If you do then your reputation will drop. It will also fall substantially if you steal from chests etc in commoners houses (and they spot you doing so). Finally if you insult beggars your reputation with commoners will take another hit. Apart from the fact that some commoners will no longer talk to you the main effect of a low reputation with commoners is that you may be refused healing by the temple priests and any healing you do get will be more expensive. Prices at merchants will also be affected. You can increase your reputation by listening to beggars tales and paying them gold. You can also donate stolen goods to the church, which will not exactly wipe your sins but will go some way to repairing the damage. Merchants: You can in conversation insult merchants and they won't like it. They will retaliate by charging you higher prices and giving you far less than the value of items you sell them. You can also steal from chests etc in merchants houses as well as tap them for gold just as you can with commoners. These reputation drops will also feed through to merchant prices and to the costs of medical treatment. You can recover your reputation by completing quests, notable the two quests for Mr Blake. Again you can also repair some of the damage by donating stolen goods to the church. Some merchants will give certain races classes and sexes discounts. Pay attention to their initial greetings to get a hint as to which ones do this. Incidentally all merchants have limited gold, will only buy and sell certain items and won't buy stolen goods. Purple_Dragons: Originally I had a concept that you could end up in jail if you pissed off the Purple Dragons. I abandoned it however as I could see some difficulties, not least with forcing players to "come along quietly". At any rate you can piss them off a bit by refusing to put your weapon away when you are asked to. You'll get a fine as well as a reputation hit. You'll want to increase your reputation with the Purple Dragons well beyond the starting value however. You can do this by turning in the Seller of Stolen Goods in Fishgut Rock and reporting the dogfights in the back room of the Cloven Shield, especially if you don't take the offered reward. You can also increase your reputation by rescuing Captain Wayan's daughter from the Blue Hand Gang. If your reputation is high enough then in Starwater Keep you'll get the benefit of some sturdy Purple Dragon fighters to aid you in ridding the place of the monsters in that area. Adventurers Guild: If you neglect your reputation with the Guild then you won't get Ashandrin's Rod and won't be able to use the portal which makes travelling about a lot easier. You will also miss out on a huge quest with lot's of XP available if you don't make sure they like you. You gain reputation by carrying out quests to a certain standard; see Shara's Book, Blake's mine and Celinna Colds. Others: There are other consequences of reputation with factions such as the Temple priests and with individual NPC's. Details of the effects are given in the quest walkthroughs. Top Henchman There are four and it is recommended that you take one with you. Some henchmen are more suitable to certain areas but I'll leave that up to you. The henchman all have quests which you can get by talking to them; all of them are SoU type henchman so you can examine their inventories etc. You can't transfer certain items which belong to them however. If they die they should return to the adventurer's guild or to the last respawn point. Henchman have things to say and comments to make. Most of the time theses are worth paying attention too. If you piss them off then they will leave the module permanently. You can upset them in various ways, including not listening to them, being rude, forcing them to watch you having sex with prostitutes and certain quest actions. Also some of them are quite moral and if you do things which they consider not up to their standard they are likely to take offence. Two of the henchmen, Melinda and Negan start at the adventurer's guild. Negan is a fighter/barbarian whilst Melinda is a Cleric. Pyke, a rogue starts in Jail and you have to free him (see Jailed Brother) if you want him as a henchman. Ferek a sorcerer can be found near the entrance to Blake's mine and will join you for free, unless you are rude of course. All of the henchman can multi- class via conversation. Top Quest Walkthroughs Below are the quest walkthroughs. Just about everything is in here, but if you come across something that isn't then let me know if it's causing a problem. There are over 25 quests in the module some are quite short but others are bigger than you'll find in some complete modules. Bear in mind also that in some instances there are several methods of "solving" a quest. If one way doesn't work then try another. There is a central story line which is broken down into 5 parts and you can concentrate on this to the exclusion of other quests if you want. In order to complete the module you don't need to complete anything like the number of quests that are available. Dare I say however that you won't have so much fun if you do. Links to the quests broken down in to some kind of order are below. Main quests Other Quests Who Am I? Jailed Brother Memory Bruin the Bear The Fire Knives Debt Collection The Gates Belithrar's Crystal Rescue The King Heroes Promise Strange Map Quests related to main quest Earning Gold The Landlord Stolen Goods quest Missing Child Fregrin's Quest Fairie Dust Blake's mine Tax Fraud Stolen Gold The Taxman Holt's Treasure Amith's Lilies Henchman Quests Ashandrins Remains Pyke's Tale Spot the Dog Cult of the Dragon Celinna Colds Ferek's Story Shara's Book Negan's Shield Dela Who Am I? This is part one of the main quest. It starts the minute you wake up in jail, with a major problem. Talk to the guard and then the jailer to discover what that problem is and then go out into the bustling streets of Marsember. Near the entrance you can talk to Yvette (see Jailed Brother), on your way to the Purple Dragon Barracks. Talk to the receptionist and then wait for Captain Rogers in the waiting room. He'll tell you where you should look next, the Drowning Flagon in the City Centre. Once you find the Drowning Flagon you'll want to talk to Tilly the Barmaid. If you insult her (by calling her an airhead for example) then you'll get very little out of her. In fact you'll get so little that you will be completely on your own and have to figure out the next bit yourself. Assuming however that you are nice to her she'll tell you that she'll ask around. She'll also ask if you can do here a favour (see The Landlord). If you either carry out her quest or go back and talk to her after a while she'll tell you about a girl called Nadie, who may have witnessed something on the night. Nadie can be found at night near the Drowning Flagon. If you were rude to Tilly then you'll have to find Nadie on your own. Nadie will talk to you once you have paid her fee, if you don't have any gold then you'll need to find some. She'll tell you what she say and will direct you to a man called Earbos who runs a shop in the Docks area. So that's where you should go. Once you find Earbos you have a whole bunch of things that you can do. First if you gave your word to Nadie that you wouldn't mention here name and you then do so, Nadie will be pissed off and she won't talk to you again. This could make things awkward if you take on the Tax inspectors quest later on. In order to get the information you need from Earbos you can do the following: a) Persuade him to tell you; this is difficult unless you have a really high persuade skill. b) Threaten him: Again this is difficult unless you have a high Strength c) If you are a female PC then you can offer him sex. If your Charisma is high enough he'll accept the offer. d) You can kill him: A fairly direct approach which may or may not succeed. e) You can accept his quest to bribe a tax official (see below) Even if you accept his quest you could fail in it. If you do then you can try top bribe Earbos or kill him at that point. One way or another you will end up either with Earbos' sales ledger or him telling you to talk to someone by the name of Snyderman. If you now talk to one of the city guides (especially the one in the docks) they'll direct you to the Snyderman's house. Once you know where they live go talk to them. Once again you may be able to persuade or bribe them to talk, or you can take the direct route and kill them. Whichever way you'll end up with a necklace and a house key. If you talked then you'll know that your next port of call is someone by the name of Marrinsen. If you just have the key and the diary you'll have to work things out for yourself. (Incidentally it's far better to talk to both Earbos and the Snydermans rather than just killing them. It's worth far more XP and you'll get more informative journal entries) Marrinsen can be found in the city Centre and directs you back to the docks where the house is located. Check your map to find the house. Once inside you'll find a chest of drawers. Follow the conversation to find a note and a brooch. How much you remember depends on your intelligence ability. The finding of the brooch and the note bring this part of the main quest to an end. Quest Menu Memory: This is the second part of the main quest and starts as soon as the first part finishes. Your first port of call is to find Elestra in the Masked Merfolk in the Docks area (ask a guide if you haven't found it already). Wait till Elestra has finished her performance and talk to her. She'll ask you to meet her in her house. Once there you can tell her all that you've found out and if you haven't worked things out yourself she'll tell you that you are a Harper. You need to recover your short-term memory in order to find out why you were sent to Marsember in the first place. Also she'll be able to tell you who the necklace you found belongs to and the circumstances under which it disappeared. Looks like you could be a murderer! Elestra suggests that you get out of town and search for a Druid named Vine who lives in the Hermit's Wood. Make sure before you leave the city that you have plenty of healing potions and ammunition etc. There are no shops where you are going. The road takes you to a village called Moonever and you want to talk to the mayor, Desil who you'll find in the tavern. You have a couple of options here, either respond to his request for help (see Missing Child) or just ask for directions. If you do the latter he will suggest a route through the forest which is the longest and most dangerous possible. If you help him then he'll tell you a route which is shorter and less dangerous. If you don't talk to Desil at all then you can enter Hermits' Wood through any of the entrances and will become lost. You will just wander between the same two areas until you get fed up and then go back and talk to Desil. One way or another you'll eventually enter the Hermit's Wood. (Don't forget to activate the pillars you see beside each entrance. If you don't then if you or your henchman die, you'll respawn where you died – not recommended) Vine can be found by generally going north and west. There are several areas to the woods and you can get lost. If you generally head north and west however you'll eventually find your way to Vine's Grove. Vine is willing to help you but needs some fairie dust to complete a potion for you. Fortunately there are some sprites nearby who can provide it. Of course they require a favour in return. Once you have the dust take it back to Vine who will complete the potion she promised you and tell you what you need to do next. You can leave the grove via the stone in the lower left corner of the map. Touching it will transport you back to Moonever. Take the potion back to Elestra and she will tell you where Persifor's Tomb is. It's in the graveyard, surprisingly enough. You can only get to the graveyard via a Guide and if you talk to the one in the graveyard he'll point out the correct tomb. Once there arrange the letters on the door and enter the tomb. At the end of the corridor, talk to the Guardian. Despite what he says about a list you'll have to fight and kill him so you may as well do so now. Take the sword from his corpse and place it in the nearby weapon rack to open the door into the next room. Open the sarcophagus and read the note therein, then fight the undead which are released. Make your way north through the door with no coloured lights and around the corner until you come to a tombstone. Read the rhyme which gives you the clue to escape. It boils down to moving through the doors with red lights, ignoring all the other colours until you come to Persifor's tomb itself. There you'll need to fight a final guardian, open Persifor's tomb with the key it drops and get the Cap. Exit via the white lights to the Northeast. Now take the Cap back to Elestra, talk to her, wear the cap, drink the potion and recover your memory through the dream sequence. This ends this part of the main quest. Quest Menu The Fire Knives This is the 3rd part of the main quest and starts as soon as the second finishes. Talk to Elestra and she'll fill you in with what she knows. Your next port of call is Hashan's Tower, in the Merchant's Quarter. As you approach the tower the door swings open, looks like you're expected. There are traps of an electrical nature on the ground floor and in the corridor beyond you need to press the levers in the correct order. Examine them to find that each is marked with a letter; the correct sequence is of course O-P-E-N. On the second floor you'll face some more traps and a couple of guardian monsters and apprentices. Make sure you pick up the travel book from the book pile and place it in the bookshelf in the next room to open the door to the next level. Once you have found Hashan you can talk to him and he'll tell you about the Fire Knives and where they are located. You can now kill him if you want or you can let him go. If you do the latter he'll appear again later, so you might as well finish him off now. The house Hashan directs you to appears to be abandoned, but if you look carefully in the basement you'll find a secret door, leading to an abandoned sewer. Dispose of the guards and search their bodies. Take the key and wear one of the gloves you find. The Fire Knives basement has several traps and you'll want to find and operate the lever tucked away in the wall in the centre of the room. It opens the door to the next level. On the first floor of the hideout all of the Fire Knives you find will remain friendly to you provided you are wearing one of the gloves and you don't attack anyone or break any of the doors. In fact without the glove several of the doors won't open. In one of the small storerooms you'll find a key which opens the door to the second level. This door is in the last room on the first floor, furthest away from where you came in. On the second floor you will be challenged and will have to fight several Fire Knife cut throats and assassins. In one of the bedrooms, in a desk you'll find some plans which you should take to Elestra immediately. Of course the whole of the hideout is now hostile to you (if it wasn't already). You can escape any remaining Fire Knives by exiting from the building near the stairs down from the second floor. Once Elestra has heard your story she whips you off to see Bledryn Scoril, the Kings Herald. Once you have told him your story this quest ends. You can get some extra XP by telling him all about your being framed for his wife's murder. Quest Menu The Gates This is the fourth part of the main quest and starts after you have brought the plans found in The Fire Knives quest to Bledryn. He'll task you with finding out exactly what is going on ask you to start at the Illiance mansion. Getting past the gate guards is no problem with Bledryn's authority behind you, but getting any further without a fight is impossible. There's a horde of house guards, apprentices and dogs to fight through until you find Jandrick on the second floor. If you didn't kill Hashan earlier you'll also find him around somewhere too. You'll get the most XP if you can persuade Jandrick to give himself up and tell you what's going on. If you can't you'll need to kill him and his apprentices. Once you have the key, it's time to report back to Bledryn. This time the leader of the War Wizards, Celdor joins in the conversation. There is a way of preventing disaster if the gates can be closed. At this point you can end the module by taking the "my work here is done" conversation node. Not very sporting of you if you do. Assuming you volunteer to switch off the gates Bledryn will give you authority to enter Starwater Keep. Just inside the Keep entrance talk to Captain Steel. He'll fill you in on what's happening and will offer assistance if your reputation with the Purple Dragons is high enough. The first Gate is just in front and to the right of the start point. Once you have closed it and deal with any monsters talk to Steel again. He'll open the next dock gate and provide you with soldiers if your rep is high enough. Deal with the second gate and search around for a dead soldier near another bridge gate. He'll have a key on his body allowing you to open the gate. Once through it Celdor and some War Wizards will appear and bring you up to date with what's going on. This ends this quest. Quest Menu Rescue The King This is the final part of the main quest and follows on from part 4. Celdor tells you of the King's capture and describes the two ways into the Castle where the King is being held by the Fire Knives Leader. If you choose the main door you'll have to face a Balor and some minions, the other way you will face several deadly traps and a powerful assassin, as well as several locked doors. Your choice. (Whichever way you go Celdor will go the other way and everything will end up dead in that area. You could therefore cheat and follow him in, but that wouldn't be fun would it?) Once you find your way onto the first floor and beaten off a few other planar creatures you'll eventually find Lord Tagreth himself. The King and his Regent are caught behind a forcefield. You have a few choices here. a) Let Tagreth go in exchange for the release of the King b) Pretend to go along with Tagreth and con him out of giving you the key to shutting down the forcefield c) Actually go along with Tagreth and offer to join forces with him, saying you'll kill the king himself d) Kill Tagreth. If you choose d) the king will die, you have no chance of stopping this. If you choose c) a party of War Wizards will teleport in, Tagreth will be killed and you'll be jailed. If you choose b) you can then kill Tagreth and save the King and a) you save the king. It's up to you which you choose but there are a couple of cutscenes for you to enjoy, so you could try them all if you've saved your game just before the final confrontation. That's it you have finished Cormyrean Nights! Quest Menu Jailed Brother Just outside the prison where you start the module you'll find Yvette. If you listed to her and take a sympathetic line she'll tell you about her jailed brother Pyke. You can offer to pay Pykes fine of 100gp and free him. Once you have the gold speak to the Jailer and offer to pay Pykes fine. He'll let Pyke go. Talk to Pyke and either accept his offer to join you or not and then talk to Yvette again to finish the quest. Note that if you are rude to Yvette then you will never get access to Pyke, who is a valuable henchman. If you already have a henchman by the time you free Pyke you'll find him in the Adventurer's Guild. Pyke's Tale If you take Pyke as a henchman and talk to him about why he was jailed he'll tell you his story. Looks like he was wrongly jailed or at least there is some doubt about it. At any rate it would seem that the magistrate is the place to start. Talk to him and he'll give you the name of the merchant who got Pyke jailed. This chap lives on Fishgut Rock and you will have to talk to a City Guide to get there. Talking to the merchant will get you nowhere fast so you need to explore about a bit. The guide will tell you of strange goings on and that the merchant has a ship. You can gather evidence of the merchant's wrongdoing in one of the following ways. a) If you explore the basement of his house (the entrance is outside) you'll find some boxes which Pyke will recognise as being from the caravan that was ambushed. b) Enter the ship via the door (not the hatch) and in the last room on the right you'll find a werewolf who attacks you. Once you've taken a few points off him he'll transform into a human called Andris. He's the ex leader of Pykes gang and has a tale to tell. c) Again enter the ship via the door find the trapdoor in the room at the end of the passageway. This will lead to a secret area full of slaves. Talk to them and free them after fighting the werecreatures guarding them. Once you have the evidence return to Walin Davies' house. You'll find he has some dinner guests. Challenge him and you can either fight him or accept money to keep quiet. If you fight then he and his houseguests together with his butler and cook will all change into werecreatures and attack you. If you accept the bribe then Pyke will not be happy and probably leave you and disappear from the game entirely. To finish the quest (assuming you didn't take the bribe) search Walin's house and you'll find a diary in a chest in one of the rooms. Take the diary to the magistrate who will exonerate Pyke. Incidentally you can also kill Andris, but this will also cause Pyke to grumble and threaten to leave you. You have some chance of persuading him not to however. Quest Menu The Landlord You get this quest only if you agree to help Tilly in the Drowning Flagon. She has a problem with her landlord, he is demanding rent which Tilly thinks she has paid but she seems to have misplaced her rent book and so can't prove it. Her landlord now wants her out for non-payment of rent. You need to talk to Tilly's landlord Jert and exactly what happens depends on your intelligence and persuade skills. The following outcomes are possible; a) You kill Jert and find Tilly's rent book on his body. b) You catch him out in a lie and the whole story comes out c) You persuade him to tell the truth d) You talk to him but get nothing out of him at all. Whichever way things turn out go back and talk to Tilly in her house. If you killed Jert she will be most unhappy, and if you couldn't talk any sense into him she'll be philosophical about having to move house. Otherwise she'll be delighted. The main reward for this quest is that it advances the main plot. Tilly will give you Nadie's name once you have completed it. Bruin the Bear Bruin can be found in one of the small rooms beside the entrance to the Adventurer's Guild. If you are a ranger or a druid then you'll be able to talk to the bear and find out what its problem is. It would appear that its master is missing. If you're not a ranger or a druid then this quest will never appear for you. After you have talked to the bear talk to Losin for more details. It's clear that the bear's master is dead but exactly where is not clear. You will find the body along with a druidic staff in the insects cave in the Hermit's wood. Once you have the staff, talk to Bruin again and tell him what happened to his master. If you leave the staff with the bear you will get a large XP bonus. If you take the staff you won't get anything like as much XP. Missing Child This quest is given to you by Disil the mayor of Moonever, and completing it will make progress in Hermit's Wood a lot easier. Talk to the child's mother and she will give you a clue as to where Rico might be. Approach the area and you'll trigger a shout for help from up a nearby tree. Talk to Rico and he'll tell you he was "magiced" up the tree by a monster. You can try and get Rico down, but unless you have a very high dexterity you are more likely to fall and hurt yourself. The monster in question is a sprite and she can be found on the nearby hill. If you are nasty to her she'll disappear and jump about. Eventually you want to talk to her. Killing her is an option but not recommended. If you have a good enough persuade skill or if you can trick her into it the sprite will teleport Rico down from the tree. He will then run off home. Meantime you can try to persuade the sprite not to tease the boy so much. To complete the quest, talk again to the child's mother. If you rescued Rico then you'll get a lot more XP than if you didn't. Once you have completed the quest one way or another talk again to Disil who will give you the directions you need for the Hermit's Wood. Quest Menu Fairie Dust A straightforward quest given to you by the Sprites in return for some Fairie dust. Some large creatures have been harassing the sprites and it's your job to get rid of them. The creatures turn out to be Ogres who have taken up residence in a nearby cave. The twist is that the Ogres have fallen in with some vampires who are controlling them. Simply enter the caves, kill everything that moves and find the Ogre leaders head. Take this to the sprites and they'll give you some Fairie dust, which you need to take back to Vine. You don't have to kill everything in the caves including most of the vampires. Each of the vampires has a coffin to which their shade will return when they die. If you destroy the coffins the vampires cannot resurrect. The vampires are here purely for the XP and treasure; they have no other significance. Debt Collection This quest starts after you talk to Maricho, the moneylender in Interesting Times. You'll need to ask him for a loan and whilst he refuses you he will offer you money if you can collect a 1000gp debt from Perugo. The outcome of your discussion with Perugo has three possibilities, you kill him, he sends you off with a flea in your ear, or he'll ask you to help him so that he can repay the money. The first two options will end the quest once you have returned and reported to Maricho. See Belithrar's Crystal for details of what happens there. One way or another Perugo is never going to repay this debt and so it is impossible to collect. If however you offer to pay Maricho out of your own pocket you'll get a large XP bonus and your reputation with merchants will rocket. Belithrar's Crystal You get this if you are trying to collect a debt from Perugo (See Debt Collection). The mage will tell you that he is on the point of making a fortune and he only needs one final ingredient, a gem. Unfortunately it's in a tomb and he doesn't have any spells to combat undead. You can negotiate a price with him if you have the skills. The tomb is in the graveyard which you can only get to by talking to one of the city guides. Once there the guide will point out the correct tomb for you. The tomb is filled with false tombs which when you open them are trapped with various nasty diseases. You should take the corridor all the way to the last room and there you will find the correct sarcophagus. As soon as you take the crystal from the tomb you will activate a number of triggers which will spawn undead. You will have to fight your way back out. Incidentally don't bother taking the bones from the sarcophagus; this is a complete red herring. Once you have the crystal return to Perugo and discover that he has conned you. He will laugh at any suggestion of repaying the debt and teleport away, muttering about revenge. Everything can end here, but you should explore Perugo's house. The loose floor tile opens the door to the upstairs and there you will find a diary which details plans for revenge against another mage by the name of Jonan. Speak to a guide or to Shara in the adventurers guild and you will be directed to the Wizard's guild. There you will get some background and either finish the quest here or agree to rescue Jonan, if possible. If you take the latter it's off to Jonan's tower. There are two possible ways to get up to the second floor, the first is via the portal in the room on the right and the second is via the door at the end of the corridor. The portal is surrounded by 4 levers and you have to pull one of them and then enter the portal. Unfortunately only one of the levers will direct your destination to an empty (safe) room. Examining the levers might give you a clue as to which one that is. If you choose incorrectly then you'll come face to face with a monster of some kind. Once you have killed it push the button on the nearby pillar to return back down to the ground floor. The door is locked and it can only be opened with the silver etched key which can be found in the Ironwood chest beside the left hand wall of the entry room. Of course if you remove the key the guardian will appear… Without the key in your possession the corridor will fill with gas; with the key the gas trap still goes off but is delayed somewhat allowing you time to get to the door and unlock it. Once you have made it onto the first floor, make your way along to the last room at the end of the corridor. Inside you will find a chest, a lever and a loose flagstone. Operate the lever to open the chest so that you can retrieve the key from it. If you operate the loose flagstone it will spawn a monster behind the door you are just about to go through. The key will open the door heading for the next level. On the next floor you are met with a ghostly image who once he's had a few words with you transforms into a nasty spider. Once you have dealt with it find the portal key in the chest in the room at the bottom of the map. You'll find Perugo's sidekick Bob guarding the door to the portal at the top of the map. The final level is the laboratory and you are faced with Perugo. Once you have disposed of him you can get the soulstone and take it back to the Wizards guild to complete the quest. Quest Menu Heroes Promise This is a long quest which starts when you talk to the adventuring party found sitting in the Drowning Flagon. Talk to them and if you buy them a drink they'll tell you their story. Their leader, Mathandar is missing presumed dead, in the sewers below Marsember. The party were following up rumours of a weapon with great magical powers. Apparently three gems are needed to rekindle those powers. The sewer entrance is in the merchant's quarter near the marketplace. Mathandar's body can be found near the top of the map on the right hand side. When you find him you will also find the weapon with three missing slots. The type of weapon you find will depend on your class. The scroll you also find gives some hints as to what happened to the weapon and where the crystals might be. If you explore the sewers along the left hand side of the map you will find an old abandoned archaeological dig. If you go through the crack in the wall you will come to a buried temple full of Undead Lizardmen. One of the gems you are looking for is in this temple in the tomb of a long dead Lizardman King. You'll need to find two keys in order to open all of the doors in this temple. One is in the possession of an Undead Ghoul Lord and the other belongs to a Lizardman Zombie king. The tomb in which the gem is located is guarded by several lifelike stone skeleton statues. Naturally this is a trap; the statues will come alive if you open the tomb. They will also come alive if you attack any one of their number. The second gem is in the Small Cave in the Marsember Marsh. Fight the spiders and then prise the gem from the statues shield. Be prepared for a surprise when you turn around. The final gem is in the Old Sea Caves, also in Marsember Marsh. The entry to this cave is via the large boulder and you'll need to know the words of opening (see Strange Map). The gem is on the Shaman's altar. Once you have all three gems take them and the weapon to the Smithy and he will repair the weapon for you. He will charge you and the amount depends on your reputation with the merchant faction, so it helps if you are on good terms with them. The weapon should be worth all of the trouble you have gone to putting it together. (Incidentally you can break into the sewer without the key, and without being on the quest. If you do then you'll get a scimitar no matter what class you are.) Quest Menu Cult of the Dragon You get this quest only if you have Melinda as your henchman (Henchperson?) and you talk to her about why she left the temple. You might have to ask her a couple of times depending on your level. It turns out she disagreed with her boss and he dismissed her. You can come to the rescue by suggesting you and she follow up the rumour that she'd heard. First you need to talk to Derente the barman in the Roaring Griffon and he'll direct you to Spittler in the Temple Quarter. Talk to him and mention the amulet he carries and offer to take it off him when the horror of his actions sinks in. Talking to him will have opened up the Marsember Marsh if you haven't already discovered this place. A guide can take you to the Marsh and you should talk to the one that's near your drop off point. He can pin point the entrance to a cave where he has seen some priests. Before you enter the cave look around for some ghouls who are feasting on a dead cultist. Deal with them and take the robes from the body. Now enter the cave, don the robes and the symbol and approach the far wall. A secret door will appear, which leads to the cult temple. You need to find a diary, which you can talk to Melinda's boss to complete the quest. You'll find it naturally enough in a room far from the entrance and guarded by a Wearer of Purple, a high level Cultist. Before you operate the lever at the entrance to the temple you should operate the two levers in the small rooms at the end of the two passages which go off left and right of the main entrance. This will stop the Undead appearing when you pull the main lever. This lever actually opens a door further inside the complex not the one in front of it. This door opens provided you are wearing the cult symbol and the robes. Once you have the diary take it to Chansobal to complete the quest. Also in the final room the Wearer of Purple will drop a dragon tooth. If you place the tooth on the nearby altar a secret door will open, through which a twisty passage leads to the Cults current focus of attention, a black Dragon. The dragon isn't hostile unless you try to steal his treasure or attack it. See also Ferek's Story. You can stumble into the Cult temple without getting the quest but you'll only get a fraction of the xp for getting the diary before you know that you should be looking for it. Quest Menu Earning Gold This isn't a quest as such but just a journal entry which you get if you ask a guide how you could make some money. One thing he mentions is to ask a man about a dog in the Cloven Shield. You won't get this if you say you're not interested when he hesitates to tell you. If you do ask the barman about a dog, and provided its at night and you pay him a small amount of gold you can gain entry to the back room. Once inside you will find that dogfights are going on. You can wander about, talk to the owners and if you are a ranger or druid also talk to the dogs. Gustie, the bookie will explain the rules to you. If you don't lay a bet, you can report this activity to the Purple Dragons in the Barracks in the Kings Tower area. You will get a big reputation boost with them if you do (don't take the money offered for an even bigger boost). However if you do bet then you close off this option. There are three fights every day, and you can only ever win a maximum of 1000gp total. Stolen Goods This quest will start if you talk to a guide and have stolen goods in your inventory, or if you find Wart in Fishgut Rock and manage to persuade him to tell you what he is up to. If you trade with Wart at all then that's it, nothing further happens and the quest ends. If however you turn him in to the Purple Dragons you will get a reputation boost with them, especially if you don't accept any reward. Wart will end up in Jail. You can also fight Wart to end the quest before it even starts. He has a couple of hidden friends; so don't expect it to be easy. Also Wart only ever appears at night. He isn't to be found anywhere during the day. Fregrin's Quest A simple enough quest which you'll only get if you agree to help Fregrin in return for the information you need to get into Ivania Illiance's mansion. He wants a gem which he thinks is kept in her bedroom. He is correct; it's in a trapped chest there. Bring the gem to him to finish the quest. It really is that simple. Blake's mine This is the second quest which you will get from Shara at the adventurer's guild, but only once you have completed the Shara's Book quest. It's a simple matter of clearing out a mine, belonging to the eponymous Mr Blake, a rich merchant. He'll tell you how to get to the mine and more importantly how to get back if you don't have Ashandrin's Rod. All he wants is proof that you have cleared his mine. Take the portal and you'll find Ferek, a potential henchman near where you emerge. Enter the mine and if you take the right hand passage and work your way around through the various Goblins you will come to the Goblin leader. Kill him and take his head from his body. You can now return to Mr Blake, show him the head and then claim your fee from the adventurer's guild to complete the quest. However, you'll really want to explore the left hand passage and at the end of it descend into the lower level. Clear this out of all monsters, talk to Vrok and dispose of him and gather everything you find (pay particular attention to the stuff behind the platform in Vrok's room). Now go talk to Mr Blake and show him the goblins head and then mention the note you found on Vrok's body. This will lead you into the Stolen Gold quest should you decide to accept it. You should also offer to give Mr Blake any gold nuggets you found in the mine (I think there are at least 7 of them). He will tell you to keep them, and where to sell them and at what value. Also you will get a huge reputation increase with not only the merchant faction but crucially with the adventurer's guild. If you didn't do too well with the Shara's Book quest then you just might need this boost. The nuggets you can sell at Razenks Gold Emporium, but unless Mr Blake told you their true value you won't get a fraction of the gold. Quest Menu Stolen Gold This quest follows on from the Blake's mine quest assuming you found the letter on Vrok and brought it to Mr Blake's attention. Mr Blake hires you to find out who is stealing his gold. The first stop would appear to be the Purple Dragons and the receptionist will refer you to Captain Waynn. If you are observant enough, and persistent enough you'll get the story out of the poor captain. His daughter has been kidnapped and will not be harmed as long as he suppresses the report of problems in Blake's mine. Waynn tells you about the Blue Hand and gives you a pin, the only clues as to who is behind the kidnap that he has. You can get information on the Blue Hand from Shara in the adventurer's Guild or by talking to one of the guides. They'll tell you about the old hideout in Fishgut Rock. Once you know about the Rock the city Guides can take you there. Talk to the guide in Fishgut Rock and he'll point out the position of the old hideout. Scout around near that position and you'll find a secret trapdoor, enter it and examine the door in the basement. The pin Captain Waynn gave you will open this door and into some sea caves. You are faces with three levers but initially only one of them works. Follow the long passage up to the very top and you will find Nanci, some other members of her gang and Misa the Captain's daughter. Talk to Nanci and either instigate a fight or accept her quest. If you do the former, Misa will die in the fighting. The quest will essentially be over and all you can do is report back to Captain Waynn and Mr Blake. Once you have fulfilled Nanci's quest (see Holt's Treasure) and freed Misa you can either fight Nanci and her gang or hand over the Stone. You'll want to do the latter (especially if you are an arcane spellcaster) for the xp bonus it gives. You should now return to Captain Waynn and talk to Misa. She'll give you another clue about a woman who wears fancy perfume. She suggests that you visit the shop Nature's Scents. There you can convince the shopkeeper to give up the name of her customer, Ivannia Illiance. You can also buy some of the perfume if you want. Now talk to one of the city guides and he'll direct you to an ex employee of Ivannia's called Fregrin. If you talk nicely to Fregrin and accept his quest he'll give you a way to get into the mansion without alerting any of the guards. Now you have a choice. You can go in the front door of the residence and either bribe the guards to let you in or convince them that you are there to deliver some perfume. Or you can try to sneak in via the route suggested by Fregrin. If you take the latter course of action and you are a rogue or have Pyke with you, then there is a fair chance that you can avoid or disable all the traps and get out without alerting the guards. If you set off any traps however the entire household will turn hostile. If you go in the front door you can talk to Ivannia, but will always end up fighting with her. You can sneak around the house and find the stairs to the upper level and provided you don't set off any traps you can get out again without alerting anyone. This is a lot harder to do however. One way or another what you want is the diary in Evannia's study on the top floor. Once you have that you can take it to Blake and claim your reward. If you sneaked around and didn't alert anyone Evannia will end up in jail. Holt's Treasure This quest is given to you by Nanci in return for her agreeing to free Misa (See Stolen Gold). Your mission is to find a lost treasure in a series of caves inhabited by sea trolls. Nanci will give you a cog which will allow one of the levers at the entrance to the blue hand hideout to operate. Explore the area beyond the gate and find another cog which in turn allows the final lever to operate and a key. Again explore fully and in the final room you'll find a chest. Use the key, fight the guardian which spawns in and return via the secret door to Nanci's room. That's it except you should explore the two small alcoves on the way to the chest. One of them contains a skeleton with a valuable treasure. Quest Menu Amith's Lilies Amith is the lady that runs the Nature's Scents shop. She asks you to get her some lilies from Hermit's Wood if you ever visit that area. Easy enough. Just collect a few lilies when you are in the Wood and take them back to her. Watch out though, they sting! Ashandrins Remains Easily the most complex and hopefully entertaining quest in the game. You will only get this if you are in good standing with the Adventurer's guild and you have completed all the quests for Shara (Shara's Book, Blake's mine, Celinna Colds). Shara explains that for many years adventurer's have been attempting to find the remains of the founder of the guild Ashandrin. They know where she died but so far have never even been able to gain entry into the place where this event is thought to have taken place. Berente will give you more details and a gem which you can use to transport yourself to the Hullack Forest. Before you do so you should make sure you have everything you need because there is no going back until you succeed or fail. Once you arrive in the forest you should examine the standing stone nearby. Activate the re-spawning runes, this way if you or your henchman die you'll respawn here. There are three ways into the temple in the forest. The first is a secret door at the top of the steps, the second is another secret door at the back of the wall and the third is via the unblocked stone door. To open the door you'll need to have read the tombstones in the top right corner of the map. Once you have then start a conversation with the door. The secret doors are hard to find, unless you or your henchman have a high spot skill. The shortest and least hazardous route into the temple is via the door. If you take either of the secret doors you'll have to fight some spiders. Once in the main chamber you will see three pedestals and another with a glowing globe on it. You need to smash the globe to open the doors and shut down the magic missiles that fire at you when you approach the globe. In the next area there are four exits and as you move into it Ashandrin's spirit approaches you. If you give her the chance she'll tell you what you need to do to free her. You must find her soul, bind it to her sword, place the sword in her sarcophagus and then destroy the mythal binding her to this place. How you solve the puzzle (and this whole area is basically one huge puzzle) is up to you. One method is as follows. Find the chest not far away from you and take it's contents, especially the vials of ointment. Then go through the door marked ruined lab. There are some traps and spiders and two rooms. Look out in the first one for a painting, a book and a key. There are four paintings scattered around the ruins altogether and you should note the names of the subjects depicted and the colours mentioned in the description. The book describes the ritual which you must go through in order to trap Ashandrin's soul in her sword. In the second room (the key opens this room's door) there is another painting and a large book. Read the book and if your intelligence is high enough you'll get a clue "Always the middle one" as well as reading about someone or something called Harold. There is also a Mythallar here which you can safely destroy. Return to the main room and exit via the door to the crypt. Go straight ahead (ignoring the room to the right) until you come to a room with five sarcophagi in it. Open the middle one (remember always the middle one) and take the soul jar. Exit the crypt, without doing anything else. Return to the room where you met Ashandrin and exit via the door marked "Ruins" Just inside and to the left you can find a golem. Talk to the Golem and if you read it in the big book you'll know its name is Harold. Once you have established a link you can command Harold to open the bridge door. Now talk to him again and tell him to go to work. Pull the middle lever nearby (always the middle one remember) and this will open the middle door across the chasm. Inside there is another painting a self-portrait this time, several items of treasure and an altar which you'll need later. Now go find Harold who will have helpfully disabled most of the traps and opened a door or you. Not far from him you will find a locked door with a trap along the short corridor near it. Once you know about the door, talk to Harold again and ask him to break down the door. Once inside you'll find another Mythallar which you can ask Harold to break for you. Leave this area for now retracing your steps; don't take the other route out. Oh and Harold won't move out of this room. Also he will attack you if you move any lever other than the middle one and if you don't know his name you're going to have to deal with all the traps, locks etc all by yourself. Alternatively kill Harold and take his key; it will open a couple of the doors that you need to open. You'll need to disable the traps yourself and break down a door, none of which will be easy if you are not the correct character class. Now move on to the area marked ruined housing. Keep going left and down and enter the room at the bottom left of the map. Fight the Umber Hulk and then find another painting. Also in this room you'll find an urn with a wand in it. The wand is important, keep it safe. Now explore the rest of the area taking out any basilisks along the way. Find the petrified mage. If you have looked at all the paintings you'll know who this is. You need the quartz crystal which the mage wears so you need to either kill him or de-petrify him. He will not survive the latter process. Take the crystal and destroy the Mythallar (You could destroy the Mythallar first which will probably kill the mage as well since he is within the blast radius). Now find the petrified gnome, Drom. This time you want to de-petrify her and then talk to her. Drom will offer you a gem provided all the basilisks are dead. Once you have killed them all Drom will meet you in her hideout to the north, where you can buy the gem from her. (If you kill her in her petrified state you will find a chest here with the gem in it) Provided you have viewed all the paintings and have the quartz crystal you should then exit this area via the door to the north. Enter the courtyard through the door to the right and find the three guardians or key holders. Wear the quartz crystal necklace and talk to each monster in turn paying close attention to their descriptions. You should be able to work out what their names are from having viewed the paintings. Each will give you a key. Note you can get the keys by fighting the Key holders and you can also destroy the engines by bashing them – have plenty of healing if you do try this and be prepared for tiny xp awards. Now go through into the next room and interact with each of the three machines in turn, opening them with the keys and disabling them. When the last is switched off the barrier will come down and you will be able to get at Ashandrin's Runeblade. Take it and move back to the chasm where you found Harold. You now have everything you need to complete the ritual. Place the sword on the altar, the soul jar in one of the urns and the gem in the other. Now use the wand to cast an Aid spell on the altar. Recover the sword and go back to where you found Ashandrin. Go back into the crypt again ignoring the room to the right, but clear out the rest of the Undead, finding in the end room Ashandrin's sarcophagus. Place the sword in the tomb and go back to the door on the right that you passed by. Deal with the monster there and then destroy the final Mythallar. Return to where you met Ashandrin and you should find here there alive and well. Talk to her and she'll follow you out of the temple. Go back to the rune pillar and activate the runes and all of you will transport back to the adventurer's guild. Talk to Laura to complete the quest. Note that you can achieve almost the whole of the above simply by running around and killing everything. However the XP awards will be minimal in comparison to solving the puzzle. Quest Menu Ferek's Story You must have Ferek as your henchman in order to get this quest. After you have been in at least on fight where he has used his fire breathing ability you should talk to him about it. Provided you don't reject him he will tell you about himself. He will tell you more depending on your level, but eventually you will have the whole story about the dragon that killed his parents and his desire for revenge. The dragon is of course the one currently being groomed for lichdom by the Cult of the Dragon in the Marsember Marsh. Once the dragon has been disposed of the quest is finished. You can if you want allow Ferek to go after the dragon himself when he talks to you just before you meet the creature. If you do so Ferek will not be resurrected if he dies (and he is almost certain to die). Spot the Dog In the City Centre near the Drowning flagon you'll come across a little girl, Mari. If you talk to her she'll tell you about her dog who has run away down the sewer. If you want you can offer to get her dog, Spot, back for her. The sewer grate isn't going to budge so you'll have to find a tool and luckily there is one nearby. In the alley behind Mari you'll find a workman's toolbox and inside it there is a crowbar and a hammer. If you are not a ranger or a druid you should also take the time to buy some sausage-onna-stick from the sausage seller nearby, it'll come in useful. Use the crowbar to open up the sewer and explore, killing any rats as necessary. Eventually you'll find spot in an alcove along the right hand side of the map. Talk to the animal and if necessary feed it some sausage. It will now follow you out of the sewer so that it can be reunited with its owner. There is one alternative entrance to the sewers from the basement of an abandoned house. You'll need the hammer to break the cask hiding the entrance. Quest Menu Shara's Book As part of your induction into the adventurer's guild Shara asks you to recover a book for her which she claims has been stolen by a monk named Timo, who can be found in the Barrelstone Inn. Seek out the barman and ask him about Timo. You can persuade or threaten him into telling you that Timo is in room 3. You can further threaten or persuade him to let you have the key too. Now go upstairs and find the correct door, open it and step inside. Timo will come in right behind you, catching you red handed. He will talk to you and much now depends on what your answers are and how you handle the situation. This whole quest is in fact a test set by the guild designed to determine your suitability for the honour of carrying Ashandrin's rod. If you fail this test you'll have an uphill struggle to get your hands on the rod. I leave it to you to find your way through the conversation. The "correct" way is to not accuse Timo of theft, believe everything he says, don't say you need to search him or his room and don't under any circumstances threaten to kill him. Assuming you find the right thing to say Timo will tell you where to find the book. Go back to the guild and get it and take it to Shara. The quest ends when you either take the book to Shara or report your failure to her. Rewards depend on how you did and range from not good at all to you have passed with flying colours. If you have gained sufficient kudos you will get a copy of Ashandrin's rod which will make travelling about a lot easier. Tax Fraud This quest is given to you by Chea the chief tax inspector. You will have to have agreed to sort Earbos' tax affairs out for him. You can get this quest even if you have actually gone as far as getting the tax assessment reduced or even if you haven't yet talked to Bross. As soon as you report back to Earbos however you cannot get this quest. Taking this quest also brings the Taxman Quest to a halt since you can no longer go back to Earbos. Either the assessment you got from Bross will be taken away or Bross will be in jail, or won't talk to you. Chea wants you to find evidence of tax fraud by Earbos. She'll give you some clues as to where you might start looking and suggests you might get some information from prostitutes. From here you can go and talk to Nadie (provided you haven't burned your copy book with her) or hang around the docks after dark near the bottom left of the map and talk to one of the prostitutes there. Someone will give you the name Lana and by asking around you'll find out that she can be found in the Masked Merfolk. Be nice to the doorperson in the Masked Merfolk and pay your fee. Go upstairs and find Lana. She'll put you in touch with a man called Marick. What you get out of Marick depends on how you handle him. You can get some or all the information he has, as well as a key to the warehouse that you need to get into. One way or another you will find yourself standing before the Bearos warehouse. You have at least three options depending on what information you got from Marick and what time of day it is. The best time is between midnight and 8am. You will face only some guard dogs. During the day there are workers as well as the dogs and between 6pm and midnight there are docks, Earbos and his two henchmen. Another reason why it's best to sneak in at night is that there is more evidence to find and therefore bigger rewards. Assuming a night entry then, deal with the dogs first of all, and then find the room at the top left of the map. Operate the button on the post and then make your way to the top right of map where you'll find a door has opened. Deal with the dogs in the corridor and take the door to the left. Here you'll find some evidence in a desk, take it and follow the corridor along to the end. You'll find a secret door if you have a high enough spot skill. Go through the door into the secret room and there you will find more evidence. Take everything you find back to Chea. You will get details which will advance the main plot as well as an XP and gold award depending on how you did. Again if you kill Earbos you get very little, and if you find everything you'll get a lot. If you got information from Nadie and Lana and agreed to share your reward with them you should go back and talk to them again. You'll get a big XP bonus for doing so. Quest Menu Strange Map Not exactly a quest this more of a pointer. It starts when (or if) you find the map amongst the remains of the adventurer in the alcove of the Blue Hand Hideout. Talk to a guide and he'll direct you to Penman's Parchments. Penman in turn will suggest that the map shows some part of the Marsember Marsh. This opens up the marsh for you and the guides can now take you there. Talk to the guide in the marsh and he'll point out the location shown on the map. Once you are in that area you can "talk" to the stone and provided you have the map speak the words of opening. The rock moves aside revealing the entrance to a Lizardmen lair. This lair contains what you'll need for Negan's Quest and one of the stones for Heroes Promise. Negan's Shield You need Negan as your henchman and have talked to her to get this quest. She'll eventually tell you why she is in Marsember and you can agree to help her. Talk to one of the guides and they'll direct you to the Net of Pearls. Talk to the owner and he'll tell you about a group of mercenaries who he overheard saying they intended to go to the Marsember Marsh. Go there and talk to the guide who will point out the correct boulder. Unless you have the map and know the words of opening you won't get very much further (see Strange Map). Once inside you'll need to deal with lots of Lizardmen and eventually you will find the shaman's hut and the chieftains hut. The shield Negan searches for is in a chest in one of those huts. Giving the shield to her completes the quest. Note if you refuse to hand it over Negan will leave your employ for good. Celinna Colds This quest is given to you by Shara in the adventurer's guild after you have completed Blake's Mine. She asks you to talk to a lady called Celinna Colds who has a problem. Talk to Celinna and agree to find the ring for her. I would strongly suggest that you take Pyke with you on this quest if you have no rogue abilities yourself. You enter the Sleeping Wolf's Lair with the key Celinna gave you. Examine the table to find a current sales ledger and then enter the room on the right. Disable the trap and get the key from behind the painting. Enter the room on the top right, disabling all traps and pilfer everything behind the two doors. Now go through the door on the top left using the key you found and find the hidden trapdoor to the basement. Once down there disable all traps. Pick all locks and find the ring. When you come back into the main shop talk to the customer. Depending on how you talk to him you can get some useful information from him. You should by now have got sufficient hints that not all is what it seems. Go back and talk to Celinna. What you say is up to you, you can ignore everything and just give her the ring, you can challenge her version of events and then get her to pay you for your silence, or you can get her to confess her sins. If you take the latter course Celinna will give you a key and if you go upstairs you'll find a secret door which the key will open. Behind it is poor Scorponok. Talk to him and if you want huge discounts in his shop offer to give him back everything that you stole. He'll let you keep the ring and if he likes you enough he'll have some special items for sale when you visit his shop. To complete the quest report back to Shara. There are a few ways to fail to get the most out of this quest and you could lose a henchman if you take money in return for your silence. Dela You will only get this quest if you are in a certain area of the Temple district (Narrow lanes along the left hand side of the map) and it is nighttime. She will try to Mug the PC and you have three choices: 1) Fight and kill her, quest over xp 2 or something like that. 2) Give her some money, quest over tiny xp award 3) Listen to her story and agree to help her. Dela's boyfriend, Lenny is not being nice and is forcing her to go out and rob people, something she is clearly not up to. You will find Lenny, in one of the Cloven Shield. You can either kill him or talk him into being a better person. The latter nets the most XP. Report back to Dela to complete the quest. Quest Menu The Taxman This quest is given to you by Earbos in return for information you need from him. He wasn't you to bribe a tax official into reducing his tax assessment. There are many possible ways to complete this quest. 1) Take the quest by don't talk to Bross, go straight to his boss Chea (see Tax Fraud) 2) Talk to Bross and fail to persuade him to even talk to you, then either go back to Earbos and report your failure or go to Chea and tell her what is going on. 3) Get Bross to talk to you but fail to persuade him to change the assessment, then either go back to Earbos or talk to Chea. 4) Successfully get Bross to change the assessment and then take it back to Earbos or go to Chea and turn Bross in for taking bribes. It's up to you which trail to follow. Not bribing tax officials and taking Chea's quest nets you the most XP. Other things you can do: In the temple area there is a stuck sewer gate. If you visit Disil the wagon repairer you can buy a tin of axle grease from him. Smear the grease around the rim of the sewer grate and a few hours later you can prise it open. In the small sewer below is an area with some monster-guarded treasure in it. You might notice that Bertil's Blades is locked up. If you go out of the city (through the main gate in the City Centre), before you get to the part of the main story line where you need to go to Hermit's Wood and walk off the map to the east you'll find yourself "Somewhere in Cormyr". Walk along the path and you will come across Bertil whose wagon has broken down. If you help him then he will be able to get back to Marsember. Next time you are in town his shop will be open and he'll give you special prices for his goods. If you don't help him then next time you come into this area you'll find Bertil has been attacked and killed by robbers, who naturally enough don't like you witnessing the fact and attack you too. There is a mugger who only appears in certain alleys in the Docks area at night. You can pay him off or kill him whatever takes your fancy. You can have lots of sex either with street prostitutes in the docks or in the Masked Merfolk. None of this has any plot significance but you might piss off your henchman. In various locations you'll find things like rat's tails, goblin's hearts, Ettins Silk glands, Dragon scales and other exotic stuff. All of these items can be sold (and bought back again) from the shop in the War Wizards Tower. Cursed Items There are tow cursed items in the game, neither of which will at first appear cursed. Once you wear them however things will change. To get rid of them you will need to talk to the priest in the Temple who will open up the purifying chamber for you. "Talk" to the pool in the chamber and if you are wearing something cursed it will tell you how much gold and what ingredients you will need to break the curse. If you have the items and gold you can drop them into the pool and the curse will lift. The ingredients you might need are goblins heart (random drop anywhere there are goblins), dogs tooth (get this from the dog in pain in the Kings Tower area), Rat's tail (any sewer) and a Cockatrice Feather (which you will get from a dead cockatrice – I'll leave you to find it) Lion Figurine You'll find this in Walin Davis basement in a locked chest. If you ask Shara about it she'll be able to tell you it's name and from that point on you can call the entity to aid you. This is a figurine of wondrous power, a homage to Drizzt's famous panther. Just like Guenhwyvar the lion will only materialise on the prime plane for a short period before returning to the astral plane and you can only call her once a day. She'll also return to her astral home if she "dies". Quest Menu Top Servilan Linlithgow, Scotland 25/3/2004