Figured I'd give an update since its basically been like 3 months. I'm putting some of it under a spoiler tag since it involves spoilers.
Obviously between real life and beamdog stuff I haven't had as much time for this as I'd hoped, but I have been putting a steady amount of work into this. This past week I was mostly focusing on doing a lot of work on kind of bringing up my initial work on this project (which I started when I was a lot less technically aware) up to a more advanced level. Just to improve its compatibility with other mods.
Today and yesterday I basically finished work on the Bassilus/Cyric questline. There is actually a second part of the quest line that I will get around to doing at some other date (but that part will have to be included after I release the mod). At this point I think all of the secondary quests I wanted to include prior to release are included and ready. The only exception to that being Thalantyr's murder (which I may have to revisit given its impact on other mods).
Today I was largely working on getting Imoen to appear in Chapter 6 in Candlekeep if you reject her as well as modifying the encounter during the grand duke ceremony so that if you have saved Duke Eltan previously, or you have Duke Eltan's body with you, you won't get auto-killed.
I should have more time to work on this in the next coming weeks as well. So things are progressing nicely. At this point its largely just the stuff in chapter 7 of Baldur's Gate that I have left to do.
I know that there is still long road ahead before you with EoW's development, but since you mentioned working on compatibility with other mods I'll do the same thing as doing in Faiths an Powers topic and will advocate for looking into compatibility with EET (Enhanced Edition Trilogy). The mod's author @swit (a.k.a. K4thos) will surely be more than helpful to help you with this, since he helped adapting many mods to work with EET already. EET and EoW are two ptojects that I'm waiting for badly. That, and SoD of course. Then, I will finally be ready to start my grand custom Trilogy SCS run with favourite mods and tweaks installed.
Also, @elminster let me know when you achieve progress when you do not plan to add more dialogue lines. I'm interested to give the mod a go for Polish translation in the future, but would like to work with as much finished version content wise as possible. I know there's still long road ahead of you, but I thought that I'll let you know of my intentions just now
@Cahir, from the sound of it I don't see why the mod wouldn't work with EET when installed on BG:EE previous to installing EET on BG2:EE. I will check if it can be added to compatibility list when it's released. In such case @elminster wouldn't even need to change a single thing for his mod to be compatible.
On the other hand if elminster is planning to expand this mod with BG2:EE content than it will be worth adding native support to it (which means a way to install it after EET on BG2:EE). Again once the mod is released I will be able to help with this task. This can be done automatically with EET_modConverter tool available within EET package.
Just an addendum to yesterdays update. Today I finished programming and writing all of Alatos's lines.
So as it stands now players who complete the quest to gather the Halruaan Sky Components, and survive the encounter with the mage, should unlock further conversation with Alatos that will prompt them to investigate the Iron Throne on his behalf. Rather than requiring you to deal with the Fist. Players then will get appropriate journal updates that will direct them through the quest (as you would if you were siding with the Fist). Eventually you report back to Alatos and he gives you a book to enter Candlekeep with (and advances the chapter to Chapter 6).
I also expanded the options you have when talking to the Keeper of the Portal. So players can now instead give Balduran's Logbook as a book when entering Candlekeep.
I've also removed the silly auto-kill that Duke Eltan had when it came to you refusing to discuss the Iron Throne. So players who decide they want to back out from that quest line will at least have the option to do so.
The final thing I accomplished today relates to Candlekeep.
As I mentioned in my intro one of the options that players will now have is the possibility of attacking and potentially even killing someone in Candlekeep before they initially leave (during the prologue). This includes attacking Gorion as well. If this path is taken people in Candlekeep will be understandably extremely angry at you for your actions. In some cases I chose not to change some encounters if you go down this path, though for the most part all the big encounters that you experience in Candlekeep (including the Keeper of the Portal) will have had their dialogue changed in some way for players who take this route. This won't affect players that play through the game as they would have previously (players that don't make Candlekeep hostile towards them).
There won't be a "beta" per se. The mod will be released for anyone to use and test out. It'll probably go up on SHS, though I might attach it a copy here as well just to ensure people can download it in the event that SHS goes down. If anyone encounters any problems they can report them here.
This week I managed to get a bit more work in on the mod. It was largely housekeeping stuff and testing. One example is basically just ensuring that writing accounts for both soloers and parties.
Not a lot of detail otherwise this week. One neat thing I thought I'd share is the approach I'm taking to figuring out 1) What I've actually finished and 2) What components I want in the mod and their priority. On a mod this scale you pretty much need some method of organizing your thoughts and figuring out how far along you are.
I use a program for this called FreeMind. Basically with it I'm able to make a big web that showcases all the little things I want in the game. I can then divvy up different components and determine if they would fall under a main component or a secondary component for the mod. I can also further divvy up components into specific tasks that need to be done.
So at the moment my map looks like this. Keep in mind this is at 6.5% zoom. So its fairly large. Basically the left half of the screen is devoted to main components and the branch on the right is devoted to secondary components.
I use a ✓ (complete), ✓x (partially complete) and x (not complete) system to determine whether or not I've finished a component.
RE: Thalantyr's death. I thought about it for awhile, given the existence of the upgrade mod, and I've basically decided that the old codger will die. However, his death will relate to you starting down a new questline. So the existing mod should remain compatible provided that you don't extensively go down that road.
This last week I've done a few more things mod wise.
I started working on the negotiations quests. Basically fearing the possibility of a war Kelddeth asks you to negotiate with some of the nearby settlements in order to insure the safekeeping of Beregost's citizens in the event that they need to flee. So you've got up to 4 different places you can go to request an agreement. Generally the people you are interacting with will be a community leaders, though that won't always be the case. They'll probably also want you to solve a problem in their community before they'll agree to take in any refugees.
Haven't spent much time on this in the last few weeks. The biggest thing I did was to add a component that makes the bandits more accurate according to what is said about the Chill and Blacktalon's in Gold and Glory. So with the component installed in the Bandit Camp you'll find
Ogres Orcs Goblin Riders Kobolds and female Blacktalons. Each of the new humanoids has a lieutenant that is slightly stronger than their subordinates. Also the existing human bandits in camp are upgraded to look and fight as well as Blacktalon elites. Blacktalon's are actually supposed to be well equipped.
Also another thing I worked on (which I forgot) had to do with a component for the werewolf island Karoug encounter.
Karoug is now able to be hit by any magical weapon. The silver weapon only restriction is removed (in PnP its supposed to be immune to normal weapons that aren't cold iron, rather than silver, but not immune to magic weapons. So bioware really mucked it all up. Since there aren't any normal weapons that are cold iron/silver (and at that point in the game given the existence of magical weapons anyways there isn't much point in adding them) I opted to just remove that restriction all together.
Technically there also isn't a Greater Werewolf mentioned as far as I'm aware in any forgotten realms book. The only one is from Ravenloft. So that is what I based him off of.
He instead now has 50% magic resistance like other Greater Wolfweres. Instead of doing 1d12 damage with 3 attacks per round he has two 1d6 slashing attacks and a 2d6 piercing attack. He will also randomly summon 2d6 Dire Wolves in the event that his initial allies are killed. Finally, I've increased his regeneration rate to 8 health per second, to make it consistent with both the source material (which states that he should be healing almost all of his 66 health in a given round) and with how the shapechange: greater wolfwere 9th level wizard spell works.
Non-ship wolfweres now have 10% magic resistance to keep them consistent with PnP. Daese and other wolfweres within the ship have 25% (just because the game already makes them slightly more powerful than their other counterparts, so that is consistent with how the game handles them).
Most of what I've shared so far has been pictures. So this time around I'm going to share a bit of dialogue. Its all coming from a variety of different places and I won't say who says it. Though a few of them are kind of obvious
(and its safe to say that at 23,000 words there is a lot more to the mod than this that has not yet been revealed)
"Bassilus? The man's a lunatic. Why waste your time on someone as small as him?"
"Did you hear about Bassilus? Heard some adventurers took care of him. Young lad that saw him claims he'd even been raising the dead. I've got an uncle buried round here. Hate to think what I'd do if he started walkin' about."
"Amn won't be sending children to fight you!"
"Promotional opportunities? We're 2000 feet above sea level here and in the middle of a cold and depressing hovel. What possible opportunities could arise from this?"
"More intrepid adventurers no doubt at the door. I am Reis Kensiddar, innkeeper and magician. What can I help you for?"
"Mutton-headed fool! Tiax only answers to Cyric, not a pesky ant. Tiax WILL rule ALL!"
"You think this is the Twin Towers??? DO YOU SEE TWO TOWERS? Enough of this. I'll not stand here and be compared to Haarken Akhmelere, the pusillanimous and feeble moron that he is. GUARDS TO ARMS. KILL THESE INTRUDERS!"
"Ye hear that Ragefast up in the gate was murdered? Never thought that stodgy sack would see combat, let alone in his own house - most of which is covered in shelves of books I hear. Not even mages seem safe these days."
"Ye may not be seein it now but there's a storm on the way. Mark my word there be snow fallin soon. This is just a taste of what the Frostmaiden will do if ye not pay up."
"Seems obvious enough to me why you are really here. This place is crawling in wild magic. Something happened here and it must have been big, I've never seen anything like this before."
"You ave much to learn from the folks here. Berrun Ghastkill is a stocky little fella too scared to face a cold winter, and Nalin ain't much better. Up in the peak tops towns people know better than to challenge Auril. With good iron scarce and plows breakin an early frost is not what the farmers need, so they pay. So pay! Give me 100 gold."
"Take hold and grasp the power of this place. Others have and will seek to influence your mind, clouding it with thoughts that aren't your own. You are young yet you resist. This is promising."
"I can hear it... the blood and the suffering of battle. I'd forgotten how much I wanted to *kill* these bandits."
"What we have seen so far seems too rudimentary. There may have been more traps previously. Years of adventurers trying their luck seems to have weakened what remains, but we should still be on our guard."
"Excellent! You have been bathed in the blood of the murdered and the tears of the dying. At its heart this is what sustains you. This is the very essence of *your* destiny."
And finally a bit from a sad tale
"I saw the face of the man when we realized there was someone had to stay behind to hold the orcs back. Stoic as the stone. The man had a child back home in Saradush I think, didn't stop him anyways. Some of us watched from the ramparts as he held off the orcs. He bought us the time we needed and that was that."
Aaaa, your kilin' me @elminster. When, oh when, will you release it? This stuff is filled with lore and I can feel that the BG world will be enriched with this mod greatly. I'm lovin' it!
Due to some of its contents I'm not going to be releasing it until Siege of Dragonspear is released (unfortunately its the kind of stuff that I can't/don't want to separate from the main mod). Actually I'll probably wait a few days after SoD's come out. Give people time to try it out SoD.
One area of the game I'm working on today is a component that specifically only involves chapter 7 in Baldur's Gate. Basically with this component active the following will occur.
- At the start of chapter 7 all areas within Baldur's Gate (the city) will be hidden on your map. Instead the only way to access and leave the city is to pay your way across the river (the smuggler available for this is actually present in the unmodded game but no one uses him because there is no reason to). A guard will talk to you if you try to enter the city by foot. - Quick travelling into the city (even after you've gone there in Chapter 7) will be fairly restricted. - Rather than being stationary Flaming Fist patrols in the city will be walking around (because they aren't stupid). - To a limited degree they will also be patrolling the sewers (though if you kill any Fist in the sewers you won't take a reputation hit, since no one would have seen you and since there is likely a lot of illegal activity going on there anyways). - There is a random chance that some commoners will recognize you and call the guards - After you prove your innocence any of the above will no longer be active.
I'm also going to be looking into adding more merchants and stores in the city. Based on my knowledge of urban planning on a historic level (as well as the existing presence of trading carts) I've identified the 7 places in the city most likely to see some kind of impromptu market appearing near them. The ones in yellow would be more higher end. So they would sell books, valuable gems, expensive cloth, golden cups, a gold candle holder, telescopes, mirrors, wine, musical instruments, toy dolls, quill feathers, gem bags, scroll cases, etc. As well as enchanted weapons and armor. A lot of this wouldn't add anything of much use to the game. Mostly just stuff that adds flavour.
On the other hand places marked in red would be lower end goods. Normal weapons and armor, local foods (like grapes and berries), and practical items (butter knives, maps, sea charts, a mug for ale, a belt, etc). Also (in perhaps in a less savory place like the docks) various types of household related poison (for instance rat poison).
One of the things I did tonight was basically begin moving some of the sewer entrances/exits to make them more realistic to where things line up in the streets above.
These are unmodified maps taken from Dudleyville (so that you can visualize what I'm referring to)
North East above ground
East above ground
South East above ground
East sewers
Central sewers
So for instance in the case of the east sewers
- E1 was moved to the north-east corner so that it is just south-east of NE1. - E6 was moved so that it is about the same as E5 in terms of its Y axis, except now is to the right. Its still in the circular area you found it before. - SE3 was moved so that it is to the south-west of SE2 at the end of one of the tunnels. - Some of the previously used entrances now have an info trigger which (if clicked on) describes why that particular entrance is not usable (there are actually a lot of places that are visually shown to be a set of entrances in the sewers that aren't used).
and in case of the central sewers
- the entrance from the east sewers (and exit to them) was moved to where N3 is. N3 was moved a tiny bit north so that it is on the corner (where the stairs actually are). The current entrance/exit for them now longer exists (so going that far south has no real purpose). - I haven't done it yet but I plan to switch D2 with D3. This move doesn't make sense if you look at the city as a whole but from the standpoint of the layout of the docks it makes more sense. - C2 and C3 will be moved somewhere to the left of C4. - By my count there are 10 stairs and 16 places where stairs are claimed to be. Bioware put stairs (as in exits/entrances) in places where there is no visual evidence of there being any stair (stairs aren't very helpful if you can't see them). I may need to add in some map markers to indicate where some of them are.
* Make E2 and E3 in the sewers both go up to E1 on the E Baldur's Gate map. Going down can go to E3 (since it's more obvious) * Sewer E4 and E1 go to City E3 and E2, respectively. * Add an exit at the end of that unused branch SW of the Ogre Mage to City E4. * Sewer E6 to City E5. There's also another sewer grate by the wagon across the street from City E5 to direct to Sewer E5. * Sewer SE3 to City E6 (since you're moving SE3)
Pretty much looked at the sewers today and decided that it was going to be too much work to try to fix. Particularly in a way that was compatible with other mods (plus I'd probably have to make up a map anyways to point out my fixes, so in the end it all didn't seem worth it).
Instead I spent some time today adding some new stuff for Brage as well as the ceremony with the grand dukes.
So now in the unlikely event that you have Remove Curse memorized, and you fail his riddle, you can cast it on him and he will come to his senses.
Also you can tell him you are taking him back to the garrison. Which then leads to some dialogue with "Hick" (who is an amnian guard that was using the hick.cre file and the hick.dlg file, so I figured Bioware probably thought of calling him "Hick" at one point). Obviously this leads to a reward.
As far as the ceremony goes how it now works will be this. You can now save duke eltan (but not have any documents) and not find yourself being autokilled. As long as you either bring him to the ceremony or give his body to the Harbormaster you should have it that either Duke Eltan or someone else intervenes on your behalf. Sarevok then threatens them which leads to a fight (and him fleeing). This happens even if Liia and Belt are killed during the ceremony (someone else is present who vouches for you).
I've updated the initial description for the mod to more accurately reflect the mods state at this point (in terms of what hasn't yet been implemented). I also included some additional information I've already been laid out in this thread, as well as included specifics on Daran Highhammer (who will be a recruitable NPC for SoD).
Daran Highhammer (Siege of Dragonspear only)
(Note: The following are the mods stats and abilities regarding Daran. They may not correspond with his stats and abilities in-game without this mod being installed.)
Class: Fighter/Thief Kit: Vermin Slayer Alignment: Neutral Good
STR: 18/10 DEX: 17 CON: 14 INT: 11 WIS: 9 CHR: 11
Proficiencies:
Short Sword: ** Crossbow: ** Short Bow: * Single Weapon Style: *
Thief Skills
His highest thieving skills will be Find Traps, Move Silently, and Hide in Shadows. He will be pretty weak in everything else.
Kit: Vermin Slayer
VERMIN SLAYER: The Vermin Slayer is a highly skilled specialist who enters the tunnel systems of monsters such as kobolds and goblins with the intention of eradicating them. Vermin Slayers are also adept at negotiating the constricted passages created by giant rats, centipedes, and other pests and vermin. They are used to fighting in confined spaces and are experts at hiding in shadows, where they wait to surprise their prey. Vermin Slayers are similar to Pest Controllers, but where a Pest Controller uses traps to catch his prey, Vermin Slayers actively hunt victims with light crossbows and other assorted weapons.
Bonus
- It grants +1 Thac0 and +2 damage against a variety of pest related enemies (as well as certain types of humanoids). I won't say all of them (but it has been tailored towards what you face in SoD and BG2EE). Most of these enemies are individually fairly weak, but tend to appear in groups. - It gives +5 to Find Traps, Hide in Shadows, and Move Silently
Penalty
- 10 to Pick Pockets
Restrictions
- Only accessible by Daran Highhammer
Biography: When asked about his past, Daran comments that he isn't used to this kind of conversation. Most of the time his conversations involve customers who are far more concerned with his ability to stop the kobolds running around their living space from "mukin up everthin." Daran describes how he is a Vermin Slayer, a highly respected group of fighter/thieves in dwarven society that train specifically to fight creatures like goblins, kobolds, and spiders in confined spaces and passages that other dwarves would never dare fight in. As he explains it he isn't one to go "trotten about" looking for an adventure, but rather prefers to see people find him. It’s no wonder that he seems quite happy to be assisting you on your quest to defeat Caelar.
Where you find him:
You find Daran in a rather nasty situation. He's agreed to do a job but his client has been less than honest with him. The result of this is he's caught up in a situation that seriously threatens his own life, as well as threatens his ability to get paid. It also threatens the lives of those who came with him on the expedition that he is on, though at present he is less than concerned about their lives. As far as he's concerned his clients did not adequately explain the risks of this expedition and what happens to them as a result is their own fault.
Characterization:
He wants to make the realms a better place, but the reality is that in the circumstances you find him in he doesn't have the tools for the job, he's not really looking forward to fighting these enemies (and potentially getting killed) given how uncertain he is about getting paid for his work here, he doesn't want to unleash these enemies on the innocent, and he wants to ensure Caelar's forces don't cut off their escape. You encounter him with all these things in motion and he is just sort of reacting to something that has only recently transpired.
Comments
Obviously between real life and beamdog stuff I haven't had as much time for this as I'd hoped, but I have been putting a steady amount of work into this. This past week I was mostly focusing on doing a lot of work on kind of bringing up my initial work on this project (which I started when I was a lot less technically aware) up to a more advanced level. Just to improve its compatibility with other mods.
Today and yesterday I basically finished work on the Bassilus/Cyric questline. There is actually a second part of the quest line that I will get around to doing at some other date (but that part will have to be included after I release the mod). At this point I think all of the secondary quests I wanted to include prior to release are included and ready. The only exception to that being Thalantyr's murder (which I may have to revisit given its impact on other mods).
Today I was largely working on getting Imoen to appear in Chapter 6 in Candlekeep if you reject her as well as modifying the encounter during the grand duke ceremony so that if you have saved Duke Eltan previously, or you have Duke Eltan's body with you, you won't get auto-killed.
I should have more time to work on this in the next coming weeks as well. So things are progressing nicely. At this point its largely just the stuff in chapter 7 of Baldur's Gate that I have left to do.
Also, @elminster let me know when you achieve progress when you do not plan to add more dialogue lines. I'm interested to give the mod a go for Polish translation in the future, but would like to work with as much finished version content wise as possible. I know there's still long road ahead of you, but I thought that I'll let you know of my intentions just now
On the other hand if elminster is planning to expand this mod with BG2:EE content than it will be worth adding native support to it (which means a way to install it after EET on BG2:EE). Again once the mod is released I will be able to help with this task. This can be done automatically with EET_modConverter tool available within EET package.
I also expanded the options you have when talking to the Keeper of the Portal. So players can now instead give Balduran's Logbook as a book when entering Candlekeep.
I've also removed the silly auto-kill that Duke Eltan had when it came to you refusing to discuss the Iron Throne. So players who decide they want to back out from that quest line will at least have the option to do so.
The final thing I accomplished today relates to Candlekeep.
I just want to congratulate @Elminster for what seems to be a fantastic mod, worthy of being official content.
If there's ever a beta, I'm enthusiastically applying to it.
This week I managed to get a bit more work in on the mod. It was largely housekeeping stuff and testing. One example is basically just ensuring that writing accounts for both soloers and parties.
Not a lot of detail otherwise this week. One neat thing I thought I'd share is the approach I'm taking to figuring out 1) What I've actually finished and 2) What components I want in the mod and their priority. On a mod this scale you pretty much need some method of organizing your thoughts and figuring out how far along you are.
I use a program for this called FreeMind. Basically with it I'm able to make a big web that showcases all the little things I want in the game. I can then divvy up different components and determine if they would fall under a main component or a secondary component for the mod. I can also further divvy up components into specific tasks that need to be done.
So at the moment my map looks like this. Keep in mind this is at 6.5% zoom. So its fairly large. Basically the left half of the screen is devoted to main components and the branch on the right is devoted to secondary components.
I use a ✓ (complete), ✓x (partially complete) and x (not complete) system to determine whether or not I've finished a component.
This last week I've done a few more things mod wise.
PS. Elminster should still dieeeeeeee.
Ogres
Orcs
Goblin Riders
Kobolds
and female Blacktalons. Each of the new humanoids has a lieutenant that is slightly stronger than their subordinates.
Also the existing human bandits in camp are upgraded to look and fight as well as Blacktalon elites. Blacktalon's are actually supposed to be well equipped.
Technically there also isn't a Greater Werewolf mentioned as far as I'm aware in any forgotten realms book. The only one is from Ravenloft. So that is what I based him off of.
He instead now has 50% magic resistance like other Greater Wolfweres. Instead of doing 1d12 damage with 3 attacks per round he has two 1d6 slashing attacks and a 2d6 piercing attack. He will also randomly summon 2d6 Dire Wolves in the event that his initial allies are killed. Finally, I've increased his regeneration rate to 8 health per second, to make it consistent with both the source material (which states that he should be healing almost all of his 66 health in a given round) and with how the shapechange: greater wolfwere 9th level wizard spell works.
Non-ship wolfweres now have 10% magic resistance to keep them consistent with PnP. Daese and other wolfweres within the ship have 25% (just because the game already makes them slightly more powerful than their other counterparts, so that is consistent with how the game handles them).
Ok, who invited all these spiffy dressed bandits to this party? Also whats with the orcs and goblins?
This Tynnos guy doesn't seem too thrilled about me being there. Not sure I want to find out what those necromancers have been up to either.
It's wonderful when screenshots come!
(and its safe to say that at 23,000 words there is a lot more to the mod than this that has not yet been revealed)
"Bassilus? The man's a lunatic. Why waste your time on someone as small as him?"
"Did you hear about Bassilus? Heard some adventurers took care of him. Young lad that saw him claims he'd even been raising the dead. I've got an uncle buried round here. Hate to think what I'd do if he started walkin' about."
"Amn won't be sending children to fight you!"
"Promotional opportunities? We're 2000 feet above sea level here and in the middle of a cold and depressing hovel. What possible opportunities could arise from this?"
"More intrepid adventurers no doubt at the door. I am Reis Kensiddar, innkeeper and magician. What can I help you for?"
"Mutton-headed fool! Tiax only answers to Cyric, not a pesky ant. Tiax WILL rule ALL!"
"You think this is the Twin Towers??? DO YOU SEE TWO TOWERS? Enough of this. I'll not stand here and be compared to Haarken Akhmelere, the pusillanimous and feeble moron that he is. GUARDS TO ARMS. KILL THESE INTRUDERS!"
"Ye hear that Ragefast up in the gate was murdered? Never thought that stodgy sack would see combat, let alone in his own house - most of which is covered in shelves of books I hear. Not even mages seem safe these days."
"Ye may not be seein it now but there's a storm on the way. Mark my word there be snow fallin soon. This is just a taste of what the Frostmaiden will do if ye not pay up."
"Seems obvious enough to me why you are really here. This place is crawling in wild magic. Something happened here and it must have been big, I've never seen anything like this before."
"You ave much to learn from the folks here. Berrun Ghastkill is a stocky little fella too scared to face a cold winter, and Nalin ain't much better. Up in the peak tops towns people know better than to challenge Auril. With good iron scarce and plows breakin an early frost is not what the farmers need, so they pay. So pay! Give me 100 gold."
"Take hold and grasp the power of this place. Others have and will seek to influence your mind, clouding it with thoughts that aren't your own. You are young yet you resist. This is promising."
"I can hear it... the blood and the suffering of battle. I'd forgotten how much I wanted to *kill* these bandits."
"What we have seen so far seems too rudimentary. There may have been more traps previously. Years of adventurers trying their luck seems to have weakened what remains, but we should still be on our guard."
"Excellent! You have been bathed in the blood of the murdered and the tears of the dying. At its heart this is what sustains you. This is the very essence of *your* destiny."
And finally a bit from a sad tale
"I saw the face of the man when we realized there was someone had to stay behind to hold the orcs back. Stoic as the stone. The man had a child back home in Saradush I think, didn't stop him anyways. Some of us watched from the ramparts as he held off the orcs. He bought us the time we needed and that was that."
- At the start of chapter 7 all areas within Baldur's Gate (the city) will be hidden on your map. Instead the only way to access and leave the city is to pay your way across the river (the smuggler available for this is actually present in the unmodded game but no one uses him because there is no reason to). A guard will talk to you if you try to enter the city by foot.
- Quick travelling into the city (even after you've gone there in Chapter 7) will be fairly restricted.
- Rather than being stationary Flaming Fist patrols in the city will be walking around (because they aren't stupid).
- To a limited degree they will also be patrolling the sewers (though if you kill any Fist in the sewers you won't take a reputation hit, since no one would have seen you and since there is likely a lot of illegal activity going on there anyways).
- There is a random chance that some commoners will recognize you and call the guards
- After you prove your innocence any of the above will no longer be active.
On the other hand places marked in red would be lower end goods. Normal weapons and armor, local foods (like grapes and berries), and practical items (butter knives, maps, sea charts, a mug for ale, a belt, etc). Also (in perhaps in a less savory place like the docks) various types of household related poison (for instance rat poison).
These are unmodified maps taken from Dudleyville (so that you can visualize what I'm referring to)
North East above ground
East above ground
South East above ground
East sewers
Central sewers
So for instance in the case of the east sewers
- E1 was moved to the north-east corner so that it is just south-east of NE1.
- E6 was moved so that it is about the same as E5 in terms of its Y axis, except now is to the right. Its still in the circular area you found it before.
- SE3 was moved so that it is to the south-west of SE2 at the end of one of the tunnels.
- Some of the previously used entrances now have an info trigger which (if clicked on) describes why that particular entrance is not usable (there are actually a lot of places that are visually shown to be a set of entrances in the sewers that aren't used).
and in case of the central sewers
- the entrance from the east sewers (and exit to them) was moved to where N3 is. N3 was moved a tiny bit north so that it is on the corner (where the stairs actually are). The current entrance/exit for them now longer exists (so going that far south has no real purpose).
- I haven't done it yet but I plan to switch D2 with D3. This move doesn't make sense if you look at the city as a whole but from the standpoint of the layout of the docks it makes more sense.
- C2 and C3 will be moved somewhere to the left of C4.
- By my count there are 10 stairs and 16 places where stairs are claimed to be. Bioware put stairs (as in exits/entrances) in places where there is no visual evidence of there being any stair (stairs aren't very helpful if you can't see them). I may need to add in some map markers to indicate where some of them are.
* Make E2 and E3 in the sewers both go up to E1 on the E Baldur's Gate map. Going down can go to E3 (since it's more obvious)
* Sewer E4 and E1 go to City E3 and E2, respectively.
* Add an exit at the end of that unused branch SW of the Ogre Mage to City E4.
* Sewer E6 to City E5. There's also another sewer grate by the wagon across the street from City E5 to direct to Sewer E5.
* Sewer SE3 to City E6 (since you're moving SE3)
Instead I spent some time today adding some new stuff for Brage as well as the ceremony with the grand dukes.
Also you can tell him you are taking him back to the garrison. Which then leads to some dialogue with "Hick" (who is an amnian guard that was using the hick.cre file and the hick.dlg file, so I figured Bioware probably thought of calling him "Hick" at one point). Obviously this leads to a reward.
As far as the ceremony goes how it now works will be this. You can now save duke eltan (but not have any documents) and not find yourself being autokilled. As long as you either bring him to the ceremony or give his body to the Harbormaster you should have it that either Duke Eltan or someone else intervenes on your behalf. Sarevok then threatens them which leads to a fight (and him fleeing). This happens even if Liia and Belt are killed during the ceremony (someone else is present who vouches for you).
Daran Highhammer (Siege of Dragonspear only)
(Note: The following are the mods stats and abilities regarding Daran. They may not correspond with his stats and abilities in-game without this mod being installed.)
Class: Fighter/Thief
Kit: Vermin Slayer
Alignment: Neutral Good
STR: 18/10
DEX: 17
CON: 14
INT: 11
WIS: 9
CHR: 11
Proficiencies:
Short Sword: **
Crossbow: **
Short Bow: *
Single Weapon Style: *
Thief Skills
His highest thieving skills will be Find Traps, Move Silently, and Hide in Shadows. He will be pretty weak in everything else.
Kit: Vermin Slayer
VERMIN SLAYER: The Vermin Slayer is a highly skilled specialist who enters the tunnel systems of monsters such as kobolds and goblins with the intention of eradicating them. Vermin Slayers are also adept at negotiating the constricted passages created by giant rats, centipedes, and other pests and vermin. They are used to fighting in confined spaces and are experts at hiding in shadows, where they wait to surprise their prey. Vermin Slayers are similar to Pest Controllers, but where a Pest Controller uses traps to catch his prey, Vermin Slayers actively hunt victims with light crossbows and other assorted weapons.
Bonus
- It grants +1 Thac0 and +2 damage against a variety of pest related enemies (as well as certain types of humanoids). I won't say all of them (but it has been tailored towards what you face in SoD and BG2EE). Most of these enemies are individually fairly weak, but tend to appear in groups.
- It gives +5 to Find Traps, Hide in Shadows, and Move Silently
Penalty
- 10 to Pick Pockets
Restrictions
- Only accessible by Daran Highhammer
Biography: When asked about his past, Daran comments that he isn't used to this kind of conversation. Most of the time his conversations involve customers who are far more concerned with his ability to stop the kobolds running around their living space from "mukin up everthin." Daran describes how he is a Vermin Slayer, a highly respected group of fighter/thieves in dwarven society that train specifically to fight creatures like goblins, kobolds, and spiders in confined spaces and passages that other dwarves would never dare fight in. As he explains it he isn't one to go "trotten about" looking for an adventure, but rather prefers to see people find him. It’s no wonder that he seems quite happy to be assisting you on your quest to defeat Caelar.
Where you find him:
You find Daran in a rather nasty situation. He's agreed to do a job but his client has been less than honest with him. The result of this is he's caught up in a situation that seriously threatens his own life, as well as threatens his ability to get paid. It also threatens the lives of those who came with him on the expedition that he is on, though at present he is less than concerned about their lives. As far as he's concerned his clients did not adequately explain the risks of this expedition and what happens to them as a result is their own fault.
Characterization:
He wants to make the realms a better place, but the reality is that in the circumstances you find him in he doesn't have the tools for the job, he's not really looking forward to fighting these enemies (and potentially getting killed) given how uncertain he is about getting paid for his work here, he doesn't want to unleash these enemies on the innocent, and he wants to ensure Caelar's forces don't cut off their escape. You encounter him with all these things in motion and he is just sort of reacting to something that has only recently transpired.