Removing Centeol's Curse

Permidion_Stark

If you talk to Centeol, the big fat spider woman in the nest in Cloakwood, she reveals she was cursed by Jon Icarus (which apparently was the original name given to Jon Irenicus). It would be nice if there was some way of removing her curse rather than just having to kill her. Maybe it could be a future side-quest? Or has someone already thought of this?

Drugar

I have never thrown a swarm of fireballs quicker and harder than at Centeol. Creepy witch.

Considering Irenicus' power, it'd have to be some badass decursing to break through his magic. Even IF Centeol allows it, I think she's pretty far gone in her insanity.

Alderon

Man... thanks for reminding me of that encounter. I remember trying desperately to finish it even though I needed to rest and return to civilisation to re-supply and identify loot. Just because of my own weird sense of 'story.'

Poison was so over-powered in BG1 thanks to everyone's low hit-points. Even with a steady supply of antidotes it could slaughter you just because drinking potions took time. (Time spent not killing spiders.)

Even if you could reverse the curse though, I think you would simply end up with a gibbering, warped, deranged and dangerous woman who's lost all sense of humanity. As Drugar above me says; she's just too far gone.

ajwz

Also, for future bg2 references in bg1, prism's sculpture is of a beautiful elven queen called "elisime".

Varyahen

Nothing better than a bit of exercise. This is what she need. And no more ettercap hamburguers.

Permidion_Stark

@Drugar

I agree she is pretty far gone and it would take more than just a Remove Curse spell to counter Irenicus's magic. But it could be an interesting way of foreshadowing his appearance in BG2. And the curse he has placed upon her is more in the nature of a twisted joke than the truly evil stuff he does later on. Presumably he cursed Centeol early in his career, before his power was fully-developed, so it wouldn't have to be amazingly high-powered magic. The standard trope with something like this is that you have to restore to the victim a personal possession that was taken from them (like the lock of Jaheira's hair in BG2). So maybe the party would need to discover something that Irenicus stole from Centeol in order to curse her?

Helsefyr

It doesn't even have to be something as obvious as a side-quest. To me it would be intriguing enough to find a piece of her (lock of hair / finger / toe / whatever) in Irenicus' dungeon / the asylum (where you find his journals). It doesn't even have to carry any real significance, other than it tells the story of how and why she was cursed. I don't know about you, but I love that sort of stuff.

Quartz

ajwz said:

Also, for future bg2 references in bg1, prism's sculpture is of a beautiful elven queen called "elisime".

Nice one. Concerning Prism, when you agree to get Sir Sarles to make artwork for the temple, it is mentioned that he is "second only to that poor Prism of Nashkel." I thought it was a cool nod to the fact that Prism was supposedly an awesome, renowned artist and everyone eventually learned that he died.

LREC

I agree with @Drugar...no one but Centeol receives my full blunt of fireballs, stinking clouds, webs, magic missiles and chromatic orbs. Not even Sarevok

trinit

one of the creepiest encounters in the game. enter, chat, obliterate, exit, do not look back and do not let bad memories haunt you...

Poulsen

I also hope they give her additional spell casting abilities (as in the Dudleyfix tweaks).

To me, it feels sad to kill her in that defenseless, immobile state.

Syntia13

My view of Centeol will be forever biased by a piece of BG2 fanfiction. Do you remember a drow priestess living under Athkatla's cemetery, breeding spiders? Her 'sanctuary' is a carbon copy of Centeol's cave, except that when you first enter, there are several civilians standing around. As soon as the drow sees you and becomes hostile, the civilians disappear in a poof of smoke and are replaced with a swarm of small spiders each. I had no idea how to interpret it, until I read 'Siblings' and came to following paragraph:

"They entered the building; Pai’Na was there, a dark figure with a quarterstaff, bowing over a human body.
The body was still moaning; its stomach was slit open, and moving with a mass of hatching spiders; Pai’Na cast one look at them, and yelled angrily in her own tongue; Imoen only caught the word orbb, spider, before Pai’Na started to cast a spell, and the spiderlets started to pour out of the body; and the others."

Yeah, I think the author got the intent behind that scene pretty well. Feel free to take a moment to feel sick.
I can't be sure if the same came down in Cloak Woods, but considering the human bodies found in the web I think it's very plausible. It takes away any sense of pity I might have had for the cursed woman, especially since she apparently brought it on herself. (Do I remember correctly that she says she killed Jon's wife?)

Though it would be pretty sweet if this throw-away line which you only get if you choose a specific line of dialog would be expanded in BG:EE. Not necessarily a quest, but just a journal of a trinket which could tell us a bit more of Centeol's past.

Drugar

@Syntial13
Yeah that's what I got from that place as well. Though I still feel sorry for her. I mean, fine, she killed someone, that's bad. But to live as a fat, probably spiderbaby infested creature, lodged in a webbed dome somewhere deep in a dark wood with only the company of hungry, mindless giant spiders all day, every day...nobody deserves that.

kamuizin

I never liked her, neither she gave any reason to my main char like her in any of my plays (what means i already passed by her with at least one of each alignments types), so why bother with her, let's just make a kill and carry on.

At the maximum an easter egg in BG2 with some kind of reference to her could be nice, but nothing more than that.

limlite

I dream that she lives happily with Baron Harkonen in the netherworld, where I sent them both for I am Bhaalspawn Atreides, disgusting, rabid killer, psychopath's matchmaker!!

TheWhitefire

She's not nearly as immobile as I wish she was. If you die in there, she kind of... slides around towards your corpse, I can only assume to lay her eggs in your rotting carcass so that spiderlings can burst from every orifice when they hatch.