Part 2: Chapter II - *sadly* Me too.
Part II - *sadly* Me too.
Our escape from Candlekeep seems to have hit a snag.
Oh dear...
Crap.
10 year old me got teary-eyed at this bit.
*record scratch* Yep, that's me. You're probably asking yourself how I g-
God damn it, Imoen! Quit stealing my thunder!
Because Imoen was added to the game in the 11th hour of development this is the last time she speaks during the vanilla experience, at least in BG1. But because we're punishing ourselves with mods she'll have a *lot* more to say. Most of this content will be from both the Sandrah mod and the BG1NPC project which adds BG2-style banters and even romances with some characters. The BG1NPC additions range from okay to obnoxious, going by her Sandrah-related dialogue in the previous chapter I'm beginning to fear that her Sandrah mod content is much, much worse.
What I'm saying is that it's all downhill from here, folks. Strap in.
You've probably already noticed but Imoen is sporting a new portrait. It's a bit too grainy but I actually quite like it. I've always had the sneaking suspicion that Imoen's vanilla BG1 portrait was supposed to be the default female CHARNAME portrait. Since her lore skill is higher than mine I let her identify my mysterious gift for me.
Anyway, time to go back to the scene of the ambush to see if there's anything we can do for Gorion, when we arrive however...
SANNA!
Sandrah's not only extraordinarily beautiful as well but also pretty loaded.
Before I could even enter the menu Imoen interjects.
A Xvart village? As if such a thing actually exists! Silly Imoen...
Speaking of Gorion, let's strip his remains and have a eulogy.
Gorion's corpse actually disappears after this. A nice touch. Gorion had a dagger on him, when we examine it further:
Interesting, I wonder who this 'A' person is. Better keep it close.
Anyway, let's examine Sandrah more closely. Biography first:
What the hell, Roxanne, you aren't going to go with the 'When asked about her past' format?
Anyway, the identity of Sandrah's father is something of a mystery. Each time you pick up a clue you gain a 'sanpoint' and if you get enough you can finally ask her about it and learn the truth once and for all. The game will drop some subtle hints as to her father's identity, see if you can spot them all!
On to stats:
Yes, you read that right. Sandrah has a whopping 60 lore which means she can easily identify early BG2 items. She also has a book in her inventory that can sometimes boost her lore skill up to 120.
Speaking of her inventory:
That's quite a bit of unique items. Let's take a closer look:
Oh, our first clue! I almost missed it.
Time to exit the inventory and go check on Gori-
Shit, to arms!
I spit my cashews all over my keyboard the first time this happened to me. Having a wolf companion show up was the last thing I expected. I'm still at a loss for words.
We also get this whistle:
Before setting off on our adventure proper I wanted to circle back to Candlekeep to see if anything's changed, before I could talk to the gatekeeper, however...
Wait, what just happened?
What the hell....? Let's rewind a bit.
Before you ask: She pulls the exact same shit if you're rude to her at the end there.
Let's see if the keeper of the portal will let us in.
Hey! No fair!
Say what you want about Imoen, at least she's loyal!
Well, it seems like there's nothing left to do but press onward!
There's a new world map, by the way. From the dales to Calimshan and from Waterdeep to Thay. It's *huge* and would take dozens of screenshots to show in its entirety.
We barely take one step before
...Could we be so lucky?
Not two minutes later we run into Kollsed, a merchant on the road.
It really can't be overstated how much Imoen babbles.
Xzar and Montaron are met shortly afterwards.
Heeding the sage advice of my companions I tell them to hit the curb, I do accept their potion however.
Almost done with this map, let's take the diamond that's hidden in a nearby tree and get the h-
Oh, for heaven's sa-
...We're never going to get through it all, are we?