Part 1: Chapter I - Buzzurk! Gorschabarmarzabuldarvel!
Chapter I - Buzzurk! Gorschabarmarzabuldarvel!quote:
Nestled atop the cliffs that rise from the Sword Coast, the citadel of Candlekeep houses the finest and most comprehensive collection of writings on the face of Faerûn. It is an imposing fortress, kept in strict isolation from the intrigues that occasionally plague the rest of the Forgotten Realms. It is secluded, highly regimented, and it is home.
Within these hallowed halls of knowledge, your story begins. You have spent most of your twenty years of life within this keep's austere walls, under the tutelage of the sage Gorion. Acting as your father, he has raised you on a thousand tales of heroes and monsters, lovers and infidels, battles and tragedies. However, one story was always left untold: that of your true heritage. You have been told that you are an orphan, but your past is largely unknown.
Lately, Gorion has been growing distant from you, as if some grave matter weighs heavily on his heart. You have asked about his concerns as gently as possible, but your queries have been in vain. Your sole comfort is the knowledge that he is a wise man, and you know he will tell you when the time is right. Nonetheless, his silence is troubling, and you cannot help but feel that something is terribly wrong...
Today, Gorion has appeared more agitated than ever, and now he has uncharacteristically interrupted your chores in the middle of the day. Imparting hurried instructions for you to equip yourself for travel, he has handed you what gold he can spare, but given no clue as to why. Nevertheless, you now stand before the Candlekeep Inn, ready to purchase what you need for an unplanned and unexpected journey.
We begin our tale in front of Winthrop's inn in Candlekeep. Let me introduce our main character for the next few minutes:
Young Vichan (or CHARNAME if you prefer) is eager to make his mark on the outside world with his extraordinary acrobatic skills, impressive swordfighting abilities and dazzling charm and good looks. Nobody is going to upstage this budding protagonist, let me tell you!
From my experience most mods don't really add all that much to Candlekeep so let's just enter the inn to get some gear so we ca-
...Oh. It seems we've already stumbled on our first NPC mod right out of the gate. While the dwarf runs off to sulk in the corner we approach Winthrop, the jovial innkeeper.
A mysterious gift, eh? Let's see what it is!
Interesting...
...Though a bit too light on the information part. The unofficial guide mentions that the sword “has limited enchantments and is usable by any class.“ It'll probably be a while before we're able to identify the thing so let's just equip it and see what we're working with here.
Damn, those 'limited enhancements' are quite something. A -1 AC bonus, a -3 for Thac0 and 1d10 + 2 damage? Not bad considering we haven't even left Candlekeep yet. It also protects us from fire, I guess the flames on the sword cancel out other fires.
Looks pretty snazzy as well. I can't wait to meet this 'Sanna' so I can thank her in person!
First we've got to deal with the elephant in the room, though. Said elephant being the eccentric dwarf still hanging around the inn.
(In screenshots I will be highlighting my chosen dialogue options)
And with that we get our first quest.
Breagar doesn't seem to appreciate our helpfulness.
While all this is going on a noblewoman is wandering around the inn, let's see what she has to say for herself.
Making a mental note to visit the infirmary I decide to circle around to do the usual Candlekeep quests, most of which seems to be unchanged from the original. I do run in to the errand boy, however.
Rather stereotypical, don't you think?
Ah, clearing rats out of the cellar. The way all great adventures start!
Funny, I don't remember him being here. Let's oblige him.
He's as much of a pushover as the other Candlekeep assassins. The studded leather armor on his corpse is appreciated though. I wonder which mod he's connected to?
Boy, is he going to be in for a surprise when he checks the basement!
Inside the infirmary we meet Sir Trun, Linda's husband-to-be.
Shortly after leaving the infirmary Linda approaches us.
What a nice moment.
We also get a reputation point for playing psychiatrist. We finish off the miscellaneous quests before heading through the gardens back to the inn. On our way Imoen greets us. Try to guess where the original dialogue ends and the mod dialogue begins.
Hard to tell, right?
Sandrah mod allows you to pick Imoen's class here. Thief, mage or mage/thief. We'll go with the middle option because
1. I'm already playing as a swashbuckler.
2. We're probably going to go through NPCs like nobody's business and having a steady mage on hand makes sense.
3. Mage Imoen apparently has extra content with Sandrah. I also don't want to diminish Sandrah's effort in teaching Imoen magic.
Anyway, onward to th-
Could this be this Sanna girl I've heard so much about? Before I can thank her for her gift she storms off and Gorion doesn't seem to have anything to say about what just happened. Oh well.
In the gardens we meet Finch.
(A lot of dialogue options here, I'll be sure to get better screenshots of them in future)
I love Finch. One of the better NPC mods for Baldur's Gate 1. She's supposed to have crossmod content with Sandrah so we'll definitely be seeing her again.
Now all that's left is to deliver the book!
We'll definitely look him up should we ever pass by Beregost.
After completing this quest I gained a level, I don't think I've ever had this happen to me this quickly before. All these mods are really paying off!
Enough long-winded silliness though, it's finally time to leave this boring place.