Part 15: Grave Mistakes, Part 4

Update 15: Grave Mistakes, Part 4



Anyway, it's getting a bit late in the day, so maybe we should-

What about that grain?
What grain?
Locklear promised the Temple of Dala up near Highcastle that he'd look for a sack of grain for them.
Oh hell, Ruthia's got it out for me enough as it is, I don't need another angry goddess looking to ruin my day. Guess we're taking a side trip to Highcastle.

Since we're now in Chapter 2, we can actually complete the quest! Also the reward for it is super good, so we actually want to finish it, especially since we, at no point, pay anything to do so.



Before we go, here's the Griefmaker. It looks kind of neat, I suppose.






Because I'm flush and also absolutely not actually slogging it all the way to the Teeth of the World on foot(again), I'm heading to Malac's Cross and getting the priests to teleport us to the Temple of Ishap near Loriel for a cool hundred gold coins.




There are a few new encounters up here, mostly low-strength moredhel and a few fresh packs of trolls, but nothing worth reporting on. Moredhel get the sword, Trolls get the fork.



As we're walking along, though...




We interrupt Squire Phillip in the process of taking a dump in some bushes. He's relocated himself notably farther north than last time, but he has nothing new in the way of keywords. He'll be a bit more useful in chapter 3, but for now we'll just leave him to get on with his business and head on to deal with our business, which consists of harassing three local landowners.



Here's the first one... and technically one we can skip, but for the sake of showing off the intended way to resolve it, we're starting here.


The fork is, of course, a tuning fork. It only has 4 uses, but that's fine, we just need any tuning fork for the next step. Conveniently she's right near the Temple of Dala(which is actually where I intended to teleport to in the first place, but I fucked up and forgot which one was the right one).

Now we need to continue further east, past Highcastle, almost to Wolfram.




(Please forgive me if I screenshot the wrong houses, they all look kind of similar, if you haven't noticed!)


Usually when pulling things from inventories from these sorts of things, the game will start from the leftmost character moving right, so make sure James has the lowest-uses tuning fork you have, if you have multiple. Also, unlike the goddamn Griefmaker quest, we can visit these sisters in any order and get told what they need so we're able to return. Anyway, we now have pants(though their inventory picture is a pair of boots). Now we're ready to visit the last Halfgate sister, who's south of Highcastle, on the road to the Dimwood.




We now have grain! And you might think, gee, how could a single little bag of grain help the Temple of Dala feed the hungry?




Look at the size of this thing. Though it does look like a sprite lifted from some Sierra game(Dynamix, who made BaK, was a subsidary Sierra studio for most of their lifetime). Either way, let's FINALLY see if this was worth it.






Now, we can choose between one character, or no characters, and obviously we have everyone's defense skill tagged... now, if we just pick ONE character, they get an insane 37.5 boost to Defense, while if we pick no-one, we're praised for our humility and get a "mere" 15 boost to Defense for all characters, still absurd. Here are the text for doing either(I picked "no one" to get everyone boosted).


Now, what this actually amounts to, uh, I actually don't quite have a clue(and no FAQ or guide on the internet seems to go into any detail about it that I can find). The simple understanding would be that there's a fixed chance to hit(maybe 50%?), boosted by Accy Melee(or Casting, or Ranged, as appropriate) and subtracted from by Defense. Considering that this, with all the training from being in fights and a copy of Psalm's of Dala I picked up from a store earlier, puts James at almost 100%, this would theoretically make him really, really fucking hard to hit(not that Gorath and Owyn are slouches in the department either, but James is the high-Defense champion of the game). I guess we'll see!

In any case, we're not quite done with the north. Implausibly, Northwarden and its environs actually have some Chapter 2-unique content.




Why were you two insisting we head up here again?
There's a guy here who plays a mean lute.
I should have followed Locklear's example and denied you two any votes.

Now, at first it might seem like Tamney's gone AWOL since he's not where you met him last time, but he's still here! He's just hiding in an unmarked off-road location in among the trees, north of the road.




Please tell me he hasn't sent you. I'm too exhausted right now to play and I've run all the things I know into the ground.

Hmm. I've heard it's a dire day in the keep when the minstrel is without charm. What's bothering you?

When one of the Baron's new recruits asked for musical instruction, I heartily agreed, sacrificing my morning walks to make time for his lessons. We started immediately. I demonstrated for him a simple royal scale - ascending eighth notes, progression from Cabdicant to Acoronant in half steps, Kingdom time. Even after two weeks he couldn't find all the notes. He refuses to practice, he can't tell the difference between a tuned and untuned lute, and he patently refuses to learn how to read minstrel writs. I don't understand why he desired lessons at all.

Perhaps he thought it would be easier.

Everyone does. They believe you simply pick up an instrument and it magically makes sounds of its own accord without so much as a whit of your concentration. Learning music takes discipline, the same as learning how to use a sword.

Perhaps you could give us a lesson sometime.

You're in luck, I'm free just now and I've recently restringed my lute. There is, of course, the matter of a small fee which Baron Gabot imposes for services rendered outside of the garrison compliment. It would be seventy five sovereigns for the lesson. I realize it's a bit steep, but part of the cost covers the price of the practice lute itself. Do you still want the instruction?

[YES]

We are your obedient pupils, musician. I already know where to find the notes on the lute, but beyond that I'm completely in the dark.

I'm sure of it. You'll find a lute there behind you.

Play all scale the notes from middle C to the G in quarter notes, playing only the coronant notes and then come back down to middle C again.

Good. That is the royal scale. Now I want you to play the same scale but instead of playing E coronant, play the E abdicant. All the rest of the notes are the same.

Exactly. That's the noble's scale. Together, the royal scale and the noble's scale are the basis of most of our music, though we occasionally use the empress or Keshian scale. The empress' scale is played by playing C coronant, D abdicant, E abdicant, progress to F coronant, G coronant, A abdicant, B coronant, and finally C coronant. I know it sounds complicated, but try it.

You may master the lute yet. I want you to repeat the things that I've taught you for an hour every day. Once you can play those comfortably, we can have another lesson... Forgive me, but I have to go and prepare some songs for the Baron Gabot's dinner tomorrow night. Take care and keep practicing with your lute.

We shall. Thanks for the lesson.

Then after this we can walk away for five minutes, then right back and trigger a SECOND dialogue.


I haven't seen you in a while. Have you three been practicing what I taught you before?

A little. We've been occupied with a search for the Nighthawks. Do you know anything about them?

I try not to know things about the Guild of Assassins. The greatly knowledgeable on the subject tend to rapidly progress to the greatly dead. Call me a coward, but I tend to stick to topics which don't endanger my life.

Understandable. Are you still giving your musical lessons?

Yes. Since you've already purchased your practice lute, its only twenty sovereigns this time around. Do you want more instruction?

[YES]

We are at your command, musician.

Go ahead and use my spare lute. It's there behind you. Do me a favor and strum the strings.

Ach, it's what I thought. I haven't gotten around to tuning it today. Okay, strum the top string.

Since someone stole my tuning fork last week, we'll just have to call that string E. Now, put your finger on the fifth fret of the first string and strum the first and second strings together.

Okay, that's good. The second string's in tune. Try doing the same thing with the second and third strings.

The third string is a bit abdicant. Turn the tuning peg for the third string until the two strings are in harmony.

Try the fourth string now.

Good. The fifth string is a bit odd. Rather than putting your finger on the fifth fret, put your finger on the fourth fret of the forth string and strum the fourth and fifth.

And the last string is tuned like the second string. Finger on the fifth fret, fifth string and strum the fifth and sixth.

Excellent...unfortunately, I don't have time to teach you anything else but at least now you'll know how to tune your instrument - after all, if your lute is out of tune, how will anyone know you're playing the song correctly? Please forgive me, but I've got to get an arrangement put together before dinner time tomorrow night, so I have to go. Keep practicing. You're showing real promise.

We shall. Thanks for the lesson.

There's some randomness involved, but this increases Barding for the entire party by between 24 and 36 points. The end result, in this case, is that Owyn is at 92 Barding. He can now collect the maximum barding fee from every tavern for the rest of the game. This HAS cost, in the end, 95 gold sovereigns, a crossbow string and a single practice lute, but if we hit every possible tavern from here on out, that would probably be well in excess of 3000 gold collected. The party's potential money problems are sorted by this... as well as all the other stuff they've done so far. And we've still yet to exploit any of the actual glitches.

We're still not quite done with Northwarden, though, the last time we visited, the Baron was out, let's see if he's in now(he is).





You should know that there are not many things that anger me. But as I feel, I never have been angry until this very moment!

If I have given you offense...

Offense?! Every day my men ride to the border of the Northlands to hold back Delekhan's obscene dogs, every day they thrust their lives into the breech to buy another day of the Kingdom's freedom! These mountain tops are littered with the bodies of men who have given their lives in that cause and you spit on their graves by bringing a moredhel into my castle! I should hang you from the bailey!

He has cause to be here. Prince Arutha believes this moredhel may have information that can lead us to the Nighthawks...

Damn Prince Arutha! He has no conception of what the moredhel are like and the fact that he has taken this moredhel's word proves it. Seigneur Locklear told me the story about this moredhel and I no more believe in his virtue than I believe in Delekhan's strength!

Baron, I have a duty to perform and if in the name of that duty I must offend a Baron then so be it! As I have had cause to come to this place, I need a few answers and I sincerely believe it would benefit the both of us to help one another. If you choose to block me, then I am sure that Prince Arutha would be more than happy to inform King Lyam that one of his subjects has deemed himself above imperial courtesy!

Seigneur, as a border baron I owe fealty to King Lyam and he alone! What Prince Arutha may or may not do is his own affair. But if by answering your questions I may be shod of you all the more quickly, I am at your disposal! What do you want?

[HELPING OUT]

Who is in charge of your guards here? I would be interested in speaking to him...

My guards are hard at work. If you wish to speak to the guards, I can arrange for you to walk guard duty, Seigneur. Otherwise, I will not have their schedules disrupted. Shall I have Lieutenant Aaron put you on the night watch?

[YES]

Sounds marvelous. When do I start?

Lieutenant Aaron! I have a new recruit I would like for you to assign...


I would be most interested to know why you felt it necessary to have me awakened in the middle of the night.

It would have been preferable if you had come when I called. Your guard shifts are utterly inadequate, Baron. Last night, while I was on guard duty, I decided to vary the schedule a bit and see what happened. When I watched the bailey gate when I was to be on the other side of the castle, I noticed a soldier slipping a note to another man who was waiting outside the castle gate. A few minutes later, when I shifted to the opposite side, again I saw another instance of someone attempting to steal a griefmaker from the castle armory. I stopped him, naturally. There were several other instances.

And the note passed through the bailey gate?

Harmless. A love letter from a soldier quartered here named Corbi to a girl named Thea... You've become too regimented here. Your schedules are known outside the castle, very likely made known by a spy working within these very walls. I urge you to take greater precautions and to reevaluate your staff. It could be the downfall of this castle.

I shall...consider it... In the meantime, I ask you accept something as a token of gratitude. There is a suit of Euliliko Armor that I no longer have a need for. You may have it if you wish. It makes no difference to me.

Euliliko armor is the third tier of armor, one step above the Elven stuff that Gorath and James have been wearing for a while now, but quite rare despite it. Most suits of armor in the game are Kingdom, Elven or Dragon Plate(Fifth tier out of six), oddly enough the 3rd and 4th tiers(Euliliko and Grey Tower Plate) are almost completely unrepresented in the game by comparison.



The Euliliko armor also has one hell of a garish paintjob, that should give a fucking stealth penalty.

Also, as should be obvious, this entire detour is completely non-canon. In the book, the party is much more duty-bound and actually take their jobs seriously.

The chumps.

Anyway, ONE last detour. ONE LAST DETOUR, as we head south from Northwarden to take a shortcut back to Malac's Cross.





This actually brings us quite close to Kenting Rush, though it isn't our goal. Along the way, we get an area transition dialogue...






There's little to do here at the Temple of Kahooli until Chapter 3(no interesting dialogue from the temple leader), but it saves me having to walk all the way back to the Temple of Tith or Dala, as I can just teleport back to Malac's Cross instead.




And thus, we've spent about a month enriching and training the party rather than saving the kingdom. Good thing Delekhan operates via the calender of game triggers rather than real time.

Update 15.5: Lore Dump 4





Arutha and the Mockers OR Why Arutha Sucks

So, the Mockers and Arutha are common fixtures of the books all the way from Magician: Apprentice, where we're taught of Arutha as a competent and pragmatic commander and administrator even while he's "just" a prince of the realm without estates or holdings to his own name. But the problem is that he's kind of an asshole and a creep. When the books start, Arutha is in his early 20's and Anita is about 6 years old, she gets an "Arutha sure is cool and dreamy"-crush as kids will sometimes get on an older figure, basically a platonic swooning thing. They later meet when he's in his mid-20's and she's 10 or 12 years old, when he rescues her from an older man(Guy du Bas-Tyra) planning to marry her for political reasons(though Guy is in a rush to assure everyone that he does NOT want to fuck the child). Anita gives Arutha a very chaste peck on the cheek as thanks for saving her, and Arutha promptly starts acting all dreamy-eyed and swoony about her and ends up marrying her at the first moment where it would only be VERY creepy rather than IMMENSELY creepy(i.e. when she's like... 16? The timeline is a bit vague, but he's at least twice her age at the time it happens).

Now, to explain another reason why Arutha sucks requires going into the Mockers. They're a thieves' guild, which isn't a rare thing in fantasy fiction, where they run the gamut from being wholesalers for adventuring thieves(i.e. tomb robbers who need high-quality crowbars and trap-disarming tools) through pacifist burglars(Oblivion's Thieves' Guild comes to mind), rich-to-the-poor revolutionaries or sometimes just a parody that takes on a life of their own(looking at you, Discworld). And usually there's some sort of reason why they're tolerated. Either they mostly steal from monsters and the dead, or they're so stealthy and pacifist that they don't bring much attention to themselves as an organization, or, as they redistribute wealth, they have the support of the common people.

The Mockers, though... are pricks, absolute pricks, they're a "thieves' guild" in the sense of the mafia, in that they have legbreakers and loan sharks, collect protection money and even organize prostitution and begging throughout the city. They absolutely kill people and their only goal is to enrich themselves. They're also very centralized and Arutha knows that their headquarters is in the sewers, where he could send in the army to flush them out and drag them before the courts or just kill them all. He doesn't give a damn, though, that they're exploiting the vulnerable or killing people. Additionally, the Nighthawks, the guild of assassins, also operate more or less openly in the Kingdom, killing for money without anyone reacting to it(they operate so openly that they have signet rings and amulets declaring them killers for hire on their person at all times), but at no point does Arutha or anyone else in power make it a point of policy to wipe out an outright assassins' guild until the Nighthawks fuck up and plug Anita with a poisoned bolt while aiming for Arutha.

Which to me means that Arutha is A) an immense creep and B) unconcerned with the lives or safety of his citizens except if something that threatens them might also threaten himself.