How do you get the Elven Chain?

qwert_44643

Before the update(6) i had the encounter where dorns appears and all the enemies were slain but no elven chain.Is there any other places to get it from?

moopy

I believe it has been moved to later on in Dorn's quest line.

I'm thinking it is the final battle in his quest line outside of Baldur's Gate. Not 100% sure on that though if someone else cares to chime in.

KidCarnival

I think so. I completed that encounter long ago and he hasn't mentioned any new targets. Simmeon was the guy who betrayed him, and he didn't reveal to have worked for someone else. Guess Dorn got his revenge and is happy now.

LordsDarkKnight185

...So the only way to get it now (fairly) is to allow an evil character in your party and use him long enough to go through his foolheardy quest? ...Ugh

[Deleted User]

All you need to do is kill Kryll and then go to Baldur's Gate after Cloakwood. You can easily do this by not adding him to your party when you first meet and then pick him up after you can enter BG.

KidCarnival

The people you kill are evil. It's very easy to justify why a good, even a lawful good, character would kill them. And then Dorn.

moopy

KidCarnival said:

And then Dorn.

My type of player.

I had a solo game and I went around chunking every joinable npc I came across. Started with Imoen.

smeagolheart

moopy said:

KidCarnival said:

And then Dorn.

My type of player.
I had a solo game and I went around chunking every joinable npc I came across. Started with Imoen.

Silly Charname, you are not of good alignment.

KidCarnival

moopy said:

KidCarnival said:

And then Dorn.

My type of player.

I had a solo game and I went around chunking every joinable npc I came across. Started with Imoen.

I don't always kill NPCs I don't want or need, but if I do, I get the gender change belt back from the corpse.

moopy

smeagolheart said:

moopy said:

KidCarnival said:

And then Dorn.

My type of player.
I had a solo game and I went around chunking every joinable npc I came across. Started with Imoen.

Silly Charname, you are not of good alignment.

Actually, technically, at least in my character sheet I was :P

I wasn't RPing at all in this game and was more or less running around being stupid. Didn't get super far and quit that game.

Philhelm

I was waiting for some patches before doing a dedicated run. How soon can the Elven Chain be obtained, or rather, how soon can Dorn's quest be completed? Is there a chapter requirement to begin and complete his quest? How does his quest activate once you have him in the party?

Jalily

@Philhelm
The elven chain is obtainable in Chapter 5+ during an encounter that's part of Dorn's quest. To start his quest once he's in your party, talk to Taris by the Nashkel Inn or

just go straight to the area southeast of the Nashkel Mines and start exploring.

Elendar

Not getting the elven chain until so late makes it pretty useless for any character except a bard, as the robes of the archmagi are superior.

Sarevokok

@Elendar See now, I have the Robe of Vecna in my game, lovely little armor pack

Jean_Luc

It's like BD are constantly teasing and mocking us with the godsdamned elven mail. Place it at a decent stage of the game when it's not useless as part of some "neutral"/non-specific quest or just put it up for sale somewhere. Jeez.

Oxford_Guy

Elendar said:

Not getting the elven chain until so late makes it pretty useless for any character except a bard, as the robes of the archmagi are superior.

Yes, my thoughts too! :-(

Looks like it's back to the Shield Amulet for my Jester, but that's quite costly to keep charged.

KidCarnival

Screw this. Jester will be invisible and sing, and do absolutely nothing else until he gets his shiny armor. Can we at least have a harlequin hat (helm, only usable by bards, fulfilling zero purpose beyond looking funny)?

The_New_Romance

Okay... I think Beamdog needs to find balance. Dropping it right after Nashkel is daft, as it's way too early in the game (the items that drop, magic shield and all, are also too powerful for that stage of the game - I think Monty is still wielding that shield after Cloakwood, because there aren't better ones). Having it as part of a questline that you may not want to play as it involves a specific PC, and only giving it to you from Chapter 5 on is too late.

Maybe just have it as a reward for a new, generic quest, or for sale somewhere. Or just leave it out, it's not that necessary.

the_spyder

KidCarnival said:

The people you kill are evil. It's very easy to justify why a good, even a lawful good, character would kill them. And then Dorn.

LOL. At the end of the day, every character in your party ends up being Multiple-mass murderers. Does the ethics of it really matter?

Jean_Luc

the_spyder said:

LOL. At the end of the day, every character in your party ends up being Multiple-mass murderers. Does the ethics of it really matter?

Yes.

KidCarnival

To someone playing a lawful good character? In a roleplaying game? Ummm...

Quartz

KidCarnival said:

The people you kill are evil. It's very easy to justify why a good, even a lawful good, character would kill them. And then Dorn.

That's what I did. I mean, there is even a dialog at the end of the quest,

"now cast off the evil that has taken a hold of you!" and stuff like that.

That said, the complaint of "I can't get item unless I have in my party?" is a COMPLETELY legitimate one. We were promised content in the spirit of the original game, and quite simply, that method of obtaining items was utilized heavily in BGII and NEVER in BG1. Ergo, not in the spirit of the original game! Thus I have memorized the area codes for Neera and Rasaad's areas as a result and I go there at my own discretion, like any other adventure map. Dorn remains somewhat annoying, but it is very easy to go through his quest line in 15 minutes, so I do it to get the items and then pretend it never happened.

The_New_Romance

Quartz said:

Dorn remains somewhat annoying, but it is very easy to go through his quest line in 15 minutes, so I do it to get the items and then pretend it never happened.

You know, it wouldn't be that bad if the stuff you got was only useful for the NPCs in question. Elven Chain, however, is not useful for a Blackguard, but for a whole lot of other character classes - especially such (at least in BG1) underserved ones as Bards. I really wonder what Beamdog thought. I totally agree with you that the current way they're doing it is not very in line with BG1's spirit.

KidCarnival

@Quartz, @The_New_Romance: I agree, it doesn't make any sense to restrict an item useful for other classes to an NPC's personal quest. It's Dorn's quest, so it should be something that is either a personal item for him/only usable by Blackguards (I believe Rasaad gets 2 items only he/monks can use?) and it is also not fair, roleplay-wise, to force an evil NPC onto every player to get access to said item. I would probably be okay with a neutral character in the same position as this can be justified much easier by any alignment.

I see a similar situation with Neera and the gem bag. Neera is supposed to be neutral, but her joining "quest"/first encounter leads to a fight (in almost all cases) that requires the player to kill. Even if you tell the wizards you first want to know what's going on or that they can have her, Neera attacks them and they turn hostile on you. With Edwin in the party, they will leave without a fight to look for the guy Neera zapped, but this also means you will either lose Edwin or not get the gem bag/Neera.
(Now contrast this supposed-neutral encounter with chaotic evil Xzar, who helps you, gives you a - at this point in the game very valuable - potion and asks nothing more than going with him where you are going anyway. Alignment-wise, that's pretty mirror universe to me.)

I feel it isn't right to not leave the choice to the player if they want to side with Neera (good), stay out of it due to lacking information (neutral) or side with the wizards (evil).

Garrick is neutral, and in his case, it does depend on my choice about Silke's request if he offers to join my party or not, with clear good/evil options. That's how it should be. If I want the gem bag - and really, who doesn't? - I must accept Neera, who - unlike Dorn or Rasaad - clashes with another party member. And only an evil party member; there's no good-aligned NPC who won't stay in a party with Neera. So evil parties are sorta screwed on that one and it takes metagaming to get the stupid gem bag and keep my party the way I want it. I guess it's not a stretch at all to say that the gem bag is universally useful to any class and an even more desirable item than Elven Chain.

Quartz

The_New_Romance said:

Quartz said:

Dorn remains somewhat annoying, but it is very easy to go through his quest line in 15 minutes, so I do it to get the items and then pretend it never happened.

You know, it wouldn't be that bad if the stuff you got was only useful for the NPCs in question. Elven Chain, however, is not useful for a Blackguard, but for a whole lot of other character classes - especially such (at least in BG1) underserved ones as Bards. I really wonder what Beamdog thought. I totally agree with you that the current way they're doing it is not very in line with BG1's spirit.

Yeah, good point. I find it highly amusing that the Bastard Sword you get at the end of the quest seems to be pretty much right up a Paladin's alley ... yes, a Paladin-like sword from a quest with a Blackguard. Pfft.

@KidCarnival Also well put. For clarification on the Monk items, Rasaad comes with one equipped (Moonlight Walkers) and you find another LG Monk-only item at the end, the Glistening Bands or something. However the famed 19 Str 6 Int Big-Fisted Belt is also apart of his quest, and that's usable by anyone of course.

For me on the Gem Bag, I either recruit Neera and she's there to stay (she's my fav new NPC, I love her), or I simply shoot her down from range without even activating the dialog. That's sad, and really out of character sometimes, but yeah...

KidCarnival

I tried to have Rasaad in my party long enough to trigger his quest, but his attempts to sell me a Watchtower are unbearable (especially for a Priest of Talos). Never knew what items come from that, just that he has the boots (with a LG restriction only). I thought it's a different belt than the cursed hill giant (?) one. As much as Rasaad annoys me, that's the NPC they handled best. He has items relevant to his class tied to his quest and you can recruit him at your own convenience, without being dragged into a battle/silly roleplay situation or having to wait until he sees it fit to join you. With Neera, it's metagaming all the way and sneaking around her in Beregost until I have my party ready for her encounter (which may include putting Edwin into a building and having him sit out the battle, and also missing out on a rare bit of old NPC/new NPC banter).
I can see why she has the gem bag (possibility to destroy 80 % party gold, creating gems), but I absolutely don't see why they couldn't put the gem bag in the High Hedge list, too. Sure, if you have 2 bags, they'll share space, but that's a minor thing compared to the hoops you need to jump through if you only want a bag without recruiting Neera.

Also - shoot her? My Neera is immortal. I tried killing her several times and she'll be on "near death" forever. Does that only work if you didn't trigger the first encounter? In FAI, she can take poison damage for 10 minutes and should long have run out of hitpoints, but just won't die.