Part 13: Grave Mistakes, Part 2

Update 13: Grave Mistakes, Part 2







Strange, we're already within sight of Darkmoor and no one's tried to ambush us yet.
...just how bad was that journey down from the north? This is practically the heart of the Kingdom. At worst you might see a few bandits here.

In general, there are less fights(but not quite NO fights...) in the southeastern part of the game map, which is the more densely populated part of the Kingdom, being closer to the older East than the frontier-ish West, section of the map that includes Darkmoor only has a single battle, and it never gets replaced or supplemented by others later on. The party soon arrives at Darkmoor, which is mentioned in the books only as a stopover on the way to Malac's Cross and the rest of the east.




At the moment, this is just yet another place for Owyn to get some barding XP and a couple of doors to knock on, so let's get knockin'.


The next house, of course, has different dialogue whether to knock on the door during the day or the night.


It's just a bit of fluff text, nothing that really matters to us. I think perhaps there was originally going to be a general undead-slaying spell which might've later been removed and this was supposed to hint at it... but I'm honestly not sure.

Once past Darkmoor, there's an unusually dense thicket of tree sprites alongside the road, which tends to be a hint that the devs hid some chests or other interactibles inside.




Seriously, this is denser than the Dimwood. It also contains what's probably the easiest magic trap in the game.




This is just sad.




MILK

This one contains a suit of Elven Armor which is no upgrade for this party, but if you took the straight path down, you might've missed out on other opportunities for this upgrade.



RUST

This one contains a general mix of supplies, small stacks of food, restoratives and Fadamor's Formula. Nothing too exciting, but all of it useful. It's very easy to feel like you couldn't possibly carry or need more Restoratives and then run into one of the situations where you do.





Further east along the road lies the Temple of Ruthia, the goddess of Luck. It's one of the few temples in the game, which span the entire canon Kingdom pantheon, which has no dialogue for visiting the priests, just the party not being allowed to talk to anyone. Which is a bit of a shame, they could at least have said that getting an audience was a matter of flipping a coin or winning a game or chance or something, and luck just is not with the party.





Eventually we reach a corner where two sections of "mountain" reach each other, where the road curves there's a small graveyard, and this is our clue that we've got the turn-off for Malac's Cross just behind it.






Malac's Cross has some of what you expect from a large town in Betrayal at Krondor: a store, a temple(Ishap) and an inn, but it also has an extra location on the left side of the road, let's try getting in...


Unlike some of the other random NPC's we've engaged with in the past, this actually isn't just some random maniac who's going to brain the party with a bottle, we can actually attain a ticket, but you might think it's impossible if you took the longest possible way around to Krondor, because getting a ticket isn't possible till Chapter 2. Since I know where we get a ticket, let's stumble into the local Temple to Ishap(the building at the far end of the main street). It's somewhat more story-relevant in the book, since events at the abbey ties into Krondor: the Assassins, but for a few chapters yet, currently it's mostly interesting for ticket-related purposes.



My young charge here wished to visit your famed school of nobles. I don't think he would have let us leave Malac's Cross without paying a visit.

Well, well, well. I am pleased to see that our reputation precedes us. Am I to assume you are interested in becoming a new pupil, or are you visiting from our estimable rival, the Academy of Magicians at Stardock?

My father would never allow me to study magic formally. Even though he more than has the financial resources to send me to Stardock, he thinks it's a waste of a young noble's time to spend ten and twenty years with his nose stuck in a book and yet be hardly capable of doing anything else. If it weren't for a magician named Patrus that I met once, I wouldn't know anything of magic at all.

It is true that magicians study for longer periods of time with fewer visible results, but no course of study is a waste of time. And while magic is not a primary staple in our directed studies here, magician Pug is kind enough to occasionally send instructors from Stardock to lecture on issues that involve magicians. If you would be interested in enrolling...

I regret that we don't have time for that kind of detour. He is on crucial business that takes him elsewhere.

What about you, Seigneur? Is there anything in our curricula that interests you?

Books and scrolls? I'm a bit too old for that sort of thing now.

Really? How unfortunate for you. And I was preparing to offer you a chance to attend a lecture on tactics that is being taught by one of our guest instructors... Now that I think on it, you probably wouldn't be interested. It's being taught by this, well, odd fellow, a one eyed gentleman who goes by the name Bas-Tyra.

Bas-Tyra? You mean Guy du Bas-Tyra? King Lyam's First Adviser?

Yes, I believe that's his title... It's part of the Abbaye Ishap's arrangement with King Lyam. In exchange for setting aside part of our facilities here for the purposes of education, the King occasionally will loan us some of the finest minds in the Kingdom. It works to our mutual benefit. I can still arrange to allow you in if you're still interested for a small donation of twenty sovereigns. What do you say, Seigneur?

[YES]

I think we can make time. Where do we need to go?

In town, near the Queen's Row, there's a small hall that we have reserved for Guy's speech. Simply present this ticket at the door and they will admit you all. I believe you will be in for a stimulating evening.

Thank you. We are looking forward to it.

In the book, this encounter has a somewhat different note since James recognizes Graves as a former enforcer for the Mockers in Krondor who felt the calling of Ishap, and the two of them have a quick rapport. James implies that the establishment of the Ishapian college at Malac's Cross is for the purposes of A) countering the political influence of Pug's magical university at Stardock and B) for keeping an eye on Sethanon. Why Sethanon needs keeping an eye on... we'll get to that. For now, let's just grab the ticket and head back to the building on the left side of the main street...


Having played Betrayal almost a decade before I first read the first Midkemia books, I was completely baffled when the books got to Guy. See, for the duration of both Magician books, as well as Silverthorn, Guy is loathed by every single main character as the greatest villain imaginable, the sort of dude who locks sick old men in dungeons for political reasons while attempting to marry(at 50+ years of age) their not-even-teenage daughters, also for political reasons, and generally seems to be constantly angling for political power at the expense of honour and human lives.

He eventually redeems himself enough in Darkness At Sethanon to be accepted as an ally of the protagonists, explaining his past actions AND doing his level best to prevent the Moredhel from accidentally ending the world.

Anyway, what the lecture actually does is increase the party's Assessment skill. Apparently it can only be raised by trainers, repeated use doesn't increase it. It's, as mentioned, a pretty useless skill for the most part since it takes up your entire turn looking at an enemy's stats rather than lowering those stats by blowing said enemy up, but if it didn't take a turn to use, it would be pretty handy!

Now, let's hit up the inn.



Unlike a lot of inns, this one has two characters to talk to and oh man do they both have plenty to say. Let's talk to the innkeeper, Ivan, first. We also missed an interesting greeting if we'd come here in chapter 1...





I hope you haven't come for the match. It's already over!

Match? What kind of match?

You're in the Queen's Row and you can ask that question? A chess match of course. It was wondrous. Jamie Tiller was defending his title against that snot nosed prat from the Abbaye, Kyle Fischer. Jamie opened, moved his queen's pawn to fourth rank. Fischer opened with Abbar's Gambit - arrogant cud - but Jamie actually maneuvered into it with his knight. I was thinking that he was going for the queen...

...But he sacrificed his King's rook and took the priest... It's a brilliant move, but it left his own queen vulnerable didn't it?

You've got a good head for the game, Seigneur.

The Prince likes to play, but we don't always have a board handy. Once you learn to play in your head, a board almost becomes redundant. I have to admit it's tougher earlier into the game. More pieces to keep track of.

It's still fun to watch, though. That's why the Queen's Row is here. Perhaps I can relates the rest of the game over ale, assuming you gents are buying. What can I get you today?

Ivan has a lot of keywords, though at least one seems to expect us having gotten the Chapter 1 greeting.

[ABBAYE ISHAP]

The Abbaye is developing quite a reputation, isn't it? I've heard a number of stories.

I doubt you've heard the stories I've heard about the place. They produce a few fine minds there, aye, but they're also a refuse heap for nobles who wish to get their sons out from underfoot. The majority of them are runts...

And the few that aren't?

The special ones, they're fine men. Ishap willing, they'll grow into fine dukes and barons and such. The lot of them have become wonderful tacticians. That's what the Abbaye specializes in.

[EN PASSAH]

Sorry, but you've piqued my curiosity, what is an en passah? I've seen quite a few variations of chess but I don't think I've ever heard of that move.

It's Keshian. One night I was playing this fellow from Durbin. I had my game swinging on one particular pawn and the game was in my favor. So what does he do but move his pawn to the square directly behind mine, then claim to have captured my piece!

That's an illegal move.

So, I said. He goes on to tell me it's one of the most fundamental moves of the game. We argued about it for three hours until a student ran from the Queen's Row to the Abbaye to dig up an old book. And there it was. Back of the text, written in Keshian, the original rules to the game. En passah cost me two diamonds and very nearly the Queen's Row itself. Needless to say, I don't allow that rule to be played in here anymore. Last fellow that tried to use it on me was a fellow named Navon Du Sandau and I set him straight, though he showed me an incredible move he invented called Sandau's Retreat. Can't quite remember how it worked now, though.

[CHESS]

Any chance I can interest you in a game of chess?

I don't play unless I'm making a wager. Makes playing interesting...

What kind of stakes? Thirty, forty sovereigns?

I don't play unless the stakes are quite high. Emeralds, nothing less. Do you think you're good enough for stakes like that?

It goes without saying that we can't dunk on Ivan quite yet. But if we should stumble across an emerald, we have a couple of ways to get a leg up on him.

[LOST & FOUND]

Do you keep things that people have lost here?

Sometimes if it interests me, or if it seems like they would be coming back for it. Why have you lost something here before?

No, I was just wondering if there was anything interesting you've found that you think it's unlikely the original owner is going to come back for. If so, I might be interested in taking them off your hands.

Probably wouldn't do me any harm to clear out the area beneath the bar. I believe there are probably a few things. Tell you what, I'll sell you the lot of them sight unseen for...say...fifty sovereigns. Deal?

There are a few interesting things in the Lost & Found, nothing we desperately need, but we may as well pick them up since they're worth more than the asking price if we were to buy them afresh from shops.

[ADVICE]

With all the trade moving back and forth through here, I imagine you talk to quite a few traders.

I talk to my share. Mostly the Queen's Row is a haven for the students from the Abbaye...

Anything unusual going on that someone making a long trip should know? Bridge out somewhere? Bandits attacking?

Only thing odd I've heard recent is that Lord Lyton's got a batch of tax collectors stopping folk what are trying to get in and out of Lyton. Some ridiculous high amount of gold. If folks don't have it, the collectors just direct them the other way or end up splitting their spleens for 'em. Course the merchants around here wouldn't make a pence if they stood for it. They've apparently found some way to sneak around the guards.

[ABBAR'S GAMBIT]

Isn't there another move like Abbar's Gambit but a little different?

Aye, there's Abbar's Turn. That's a brave man's gambit. In the right place it's about the most powerful structure a man can put out, but in the wrong place it can cost you dearly...

How does it work?

I'll not be teaching you that play. If you knew truly how to use it, I'd have to give up playing chess against you. The very fact that you even know about that move tells me you know the game altogether too well.

James is canonically actually a rather poor chess player or, at the very least, considerably worse than Arutha and the Keshian ambassador. In any case, this is all we're getting out of Ivan for now... until we're ready to come back and take him for everything he's worth. Oh and like in five minutes when we're done interrogating the other NPC in the room, which opens up a new keyword with Ivan.



Like Ivan, she has some Chapter 1 unique dialogue...


The dialogue is mildly less strange in chapter 2, though.

I am afraid you have me mistaken for someone else. My name is James.

James is it? Ha-ho, of course it is! And I'm not your gran Petrumh either, I take it. You're masquerading again! This isn't like that time you ran about Malac's Cross for a month begging and chewed up soap is it? Oh, but you made some fine sovereigns with that act! With all that foam coming out of your mouth, a body would think you had the creeping mongus and they'd pay a pretty coin just to have you away from them! You've always been a wily one, Lysle. Did you pinch any bread for me?

Why can't you buy your own bread?

Who pissed in your pot, eh? You know perfectly well that I haven't had nothing since Jack died...unless... What are you doing with an elf, boy! Don't you know they bring bad luck?! They're the ones what killed Jack and are stirring up all that trouble in Sethanon! What's got into your head? Have you run mad?

What trouble in Sethanon are you referring to, madam?

You're...you really aren't Lysle, are you then? But you're his mirror image, you are. How could this be unless...some kind of faerie evil isn't it? That's what it is! Some kind of faerie magic and you finally come for me! Took Lysle's form!

We aren't brothers of the dark path, miss. Please, trust us. Perhaps I may bear some resemblance to this Lysle character you're talking about, but we're just ordinary folk. I would like to talk to Lysle, however. He sounds like...like he might be a relative...

Hmm. I guess you don't look like evil faeries... Leastways, none I've ever heard of. So, Lysle might be your brother?

I don't know. I never knew my father and my mother never mentioned a twin, but when I was taken captive in Krondor a few of the men who were guarding me kept asking about places I'd never been to and about people I'd never met. At first I wanted to dismiss what they were saying, but then I got to thinking about some of the events that happened before the battle of Sethanon. Someone tried to slip in a double for Prince Arutha. Maybe the moredhel are repeating their old strategies...

This is all very interesting, but I haven't had a bite to eat in days. Do you think you could spare something for me?

[YES]

I've got a pack of rations that are yours, providing you tell us a little more about this Lysle.

Last I saw of him, he was heading towards Lyton. Said something about wanting to meet some gentlemen there. More than likely he'll be staying away from the main roads. Try as he might, he does have a tendency to get into trouble now and again.

Thank you, miss. Watch out for yourself.

This conversation is pretty true to the book, with the main exception that in the book, Gorath takes a lot of offense at Petrumh calling him an elf, since that's usually associated with the Eledhel. It's mildly funny. Another issue is that Petrumh is wrong, Lysle hasn't headed for Lyton, he's headed for Darkmoor. You'll know this if you have a quick chat with Ivan before setting out, since this opens a new dialogue option with him.

Ivan, do I look familiar to you?

Can't say you do. Should I know you?

Not me, my face. I want you to take a close look at me. Are you sure you don't know of anyone with a face like mine?

Didn't say I've never seen anyone with a face like yours, I just said I've never seen you before... The man you're after is named Lysle Rigger. Is he related to you?

Not sure. I don't know anything about my father and my mother died when I was young. It's possible either of them could have had another child. All I wish to do is talk to him, find out if we have any common history.

Good enough... He's been running some sort of errand, though he hasn't told me what it was about or who hired him. He said if he should drop out of sight for any length of time, he would be hiding in Darkmoor, probably in the common storage bins there. If you get near there, call out that Ivan has sent you. He'll make an appearance. I'll warn you though, trouble of ten follows after him. I'd be prepared for a rumble.

Sounds familiar. If he's no brother of mine, he's at least a close cousin.

So, when are we setting off to find your twin, squire?
I'm sure Delekhan will wait patiently for us to resolve your familial issues.
Aren't you guys at least mildly curious to see if they even bothered to use the same actor?
Fair argument, we could use a laugh.





Appropriately enough, on the way back to Darkmoor, I manage to bungle into a Nighthawk ambush I had somehow managed to avoid by walking off the road to look for chests. No encounters spawn as part of the "look out for trouble near Lysle"-comment, but this almost makes it feel like they did!




The fight instantly becomes a chaotic scrum as the Nighthawks pile in and go straight for Owyn's throat. Because I felt like some variety, I busted out the Horn of Algon-Kokoon instead of Sleepytime Dust, and spawned two dogs. Since each honk spawns TWO dogs, it's an excellent disruption item, especially as the dogs are melee combatants that will often chase mages. The downside is they're much worse at hitting enemies than Rusalki, and there's a grand total of two of them to be found in the game(one we already found, the other is on an enemy's corpse somewhere), though a single shop(in Dencamp on the Teeth) also sells it for a completely absurd price. Still, buying an extra horn would be a great use of the party's funds at some point since they only come with six charges a piece.




Since James is still less dangerous than the rest of the party, he mostly distracts the Nighthawks while Owyn clubs them to death, Gorath hacks them to pieces and two dogs angrily maul them.



It does not go well for the boys in black.

No, seriously, these guys almost killed Arutha twice?

Owyn could probably one-on-one a Nighthawk with just his staff at this point.





Interacting with this barn in Darkmoor in the past would've just gotten us a generic "it don't do anything"-message, but now that we've talked to Ivan and Petrumh...




...Twins, yes, so it seems. Seeing you, a great number of things suddenly seem crystal clear to me. What is your association with the Mockers in Krondor?

What do you mean? I don't...

Stop the idiot act, Lysle. I know you have something to do with the Mockers in Krondor. A few months ago, I was abducted by a band of cutthroats dressed as Nighthawks while I was investigating a rumor in the sewers. At the time I thought they had abducted me because I was close to Arutha, but that wasn't the case at all, was it?

That must mean things have gotten even worse than the Upright Man imagined. When he sent word for me in Kesh...

Excuse me...did you say Kesh, as in the Great Empire Of?

You of all people should know that the Upright Man has contacts everywhere, including under the Empress' nose. He couldn't very well operate the single most powerful guild in Midkemia without them. But as I was saying - he sent for me in Kesh and asked for me to take a boat into Silden and check on a group of thieves who operated there. I can't really say more, but I confirmed the Upright Man's suspicions. If you should get to Krondor before I do, tell one of the thieves - a boy named Limm - that I think the Upright Man's right, though I am quite positive now that the Crawler is not Jocko Radburn. He should give you a reward for the information.

If there is something in the offing that threatens the Prince...

Don't worry your head. The Nighthawks in Krondor were likely sent into Krondor to kill the Upright Man after I fumbled up matters investigating in Silden, not go after Arutha. This Crawler fellow that's running the new thieves' guild is determined to expand his empire, but he's been busy infiltrating other guilds. He's the shadow prince behind half a dozen, most notably the new Guild of the Romney. He's also training his men in magic...

A whole band of thieves trained as magicians? I don't like the sound of it at all.

Neither do I, though for much different reasons. I'm still working on finding out who's training them. Last trail I followed, I heard word that someone in Lyton wished to buy glory hands - magic artifacts I had heard something about. I found this skeletal hand near Sethanon and I sold it to a fellow in Lyton named Glover. I figured if they were magicians, they'd spot the substitution and perhaps I would have a lead.

But they bought it from you and killed your lead. How did you find the skeletal hand?

You'll probably find this a bit distasteful, but...I was going to dig up somebody from the Sethanon graveyard and just borrow a hand. Since that part of the world has been deserted for quite some time, I thought it would be my best bet to find what I needed without getting caught.

Fortunately, some old ghoul saved me the trouble. I have no idea what this fellow was up to with the corpse, but he was dragging it through this field like he was headed to the graveyard. At one point he apparently got tired or thirsty and left the body for a bit and I went over to liberate this dead man of his hand, but before I could finish, the old man came back. Since I nearly had the hand off, I came back the next day to see if it had wiggled loose in the transport...

And so you found it and sold it to Glover in Lyton.

Just so, but my troubles didn't end there. There were a few men in Lyton who recognized me, apparently men working for the Crawler. Seems that he's issued a death token on my head after I was spotted in Silden. So, since then, I've been lying low.

Understandable... Someday, if we should meet again, I would like to talk to you some more. Find out more about where you came from.

You mean, find out if we're brothers? It's not likely. I was born in Tulan and only came to Krondor about three years ago when the Upright Man sent for me. I was never sure why he sent for me, but apparently he had heard of me. But, he is odd that way. I doubt I'll ever understand the way his mind works.

That makes two of us. Thank you for this talk at least, Lysle. You've been quite a help to us and it's been interesting seeing how others see me. I hope we can meet again.

So, James and Lysle meeting is canon, but the whole Sethanon corpse-robbing sideplot isn't. The books are much more interested in dealing with the Crawler, something that would supposedly have gotten expanded on in a third Krondor game, but since that got binned after Return sold poorly, the whole Crawler sideplot never really got resolved for years until Feist(or more likely a ghost writer) finally tied it up.

In any case, this conversation with Lysle isn't required to solve this sideplot and is, in fact, actively making it more difficult for first-time players. See, it directs you towards Glover in Lyton, but you can't actually interact with Glover until after you've interacted with several people south of old Sethanon first, like Glover does not exist for you to interact with until then, which is kind of what I consider a Sierra-ass series of triggers.

In the book, the party also saves Lysle from several Nighthawks at the last moment and treat him to a meal at a nearby inn where he tells them his story. Then when they wake up in the morning he's pretended to be James and sold off their horses for gold while they were still asleep before skipping town at high speed.

I still don't really think he looks like James, though.

Anyway! Time to high-tail it back to Malac's Cross and then continue northwards to rejoin the main road.