Half Ogre Conspiracy, I am unsatified.

I wanted to start the forum to discuss and get help on my campaign to find a solution to the half ogre conspiracy quest. I believe that the solution lies with the death of the king of Tarant. Through investigation I have learned that the king and all of his known family were killed by the gnome conspirators. However after speaking with the half ogre guard at the Isle of Despair. I have a sneaking suspicion that the ogre is none other than the child of the queen, born during the half ogre island experiments, and rightful heir to the Tarant throne. I got more information after speaking with the librarian but I am using this angle to try and find the answer to and long unresolved situation.

 

Just exactly how did you come to that conclusion?

There are some problems in Arcanum not even a lvl 50 Living One can solve. I actually applause that lesson of humility, in a way.

 

How I came to the conclusion that he is the heir is for a few reasons. First, reading the journal found at the laboratory on half ogre island you will find mention of a recent arrival, of which seems to have created some controversy by how it is worded in the journal, that successfully was able to produce offspring before dying. When speaking to the halfling at Tyron's house, the halfling mentions the kidnapping of the royal family, in particular the queen, who is used in the breeding experiments on half ogre island. I am quite confident that the recent arrival is the queen. Thus there would be a half ogre heir to the throne of Tarant. Second, while talking with the half ogre on the Isle of Despair, he mentions that when he was very young he had a caretaker who loved him, possibly the queen again. When he began to ask her questions about who he was and about his mother, he was sent to the Isle of Despair. Seems like quite a punishment for some simple curiosity. The only thing I can think of is that the answer to the question would have extreme consequence, such as the revelation of one's birthright to the kingdom of Tarant.

On another note as for investigating the death of the king of Tarant, remembering the librarian talking about the kings library. She talks about how the king was only allowing a slow approach of technology and that many wanted to pursue technology freely. Shortly after that the king was killed and the industrial counsel took over Tarant.

 

Not to reply to my own post but I have also found that you really have to do a lot of homework to get to the bottom of some quests in Arcanum. It can be a very deeply written game at times. Some quests are just simple gofor quests for Jongle others are so deep that I can't even find where to begin them at for example what is the purpose of the dragon blood? I read Krakatur's journal and found the mention of the spell the only required dragon's blood and saying the right words but I am not sure how to put those together and find what to do. Sorry to get off topic.

My point being that you have to turn over every stone with this game, it really has surprises everywhere.

 

The dragon blood restores the flesh of a certain tormented skeleton in a temple west of Ashbury (ask for rumors to get the location). It has no other uses.

 

Was used. She died after giving birth to three Half Ogres.

Ogdin, the Half Ogre from the Isle of Despair, said himself that he never knew his parents and that his earliest memories are about an orphanage. When he grew up he worked in a print shop and some time later he was a manservant of a respected gnome known as Mr Chaplaine. He had a tutor named Miriam hired by Mr Chaplaine, but she didn't love him in any way or at least it wasn't mentioned in the game - all that has been said is that she was kind to him.

Mr Chaplaine was simply wary of the fact that his "property" was asking him more and more questions. Yes, sending his servant to the Isle of Despair just for that may seem harsh when we consider Ogdin a person but as I said, for Mr Chaplaine he was just property and as influential and cold hearted as he was, it was easier for him to get rid of the Half Ogre and buy a new one than to deal with the first one, seeing how problematic and tiresome he was becoming to him.

All in all, you are correct that somewhere out there is a Half Ogre heir to the throne of Tarant (three Half Ogre heirs to be exact, plus potentially her human son, seeing how it was never directly stated that the Council murdered him), but Ogdin isn't him.

The only way to get the Dungeon of the Dragon Pool marked on your map is to accept the quest to aquire some dragon blood in the first place, so the purpose is pretty obvious if you get to that location by normal means.

 

It's possible to stumble upon the place.

 

I stand corrected it was a tutor Mariam. Although that does not disclude him from being the heir. After all he has unknown parents and is definately part of the experiments. If there is an answer to this quest it will most likely involve him somehow.

It is agreed then that there is an heir out there. One that the industrial counsel is probably trying to keep from being discovered. Thus again my suspicion of the half ogre on the isle. Why would they go to such lengths as to send him to the isle? He is educated, and if there was to be an heir to arise an education would be very beneficial to have.

Also, does anyone know why you cannot teleport to the Isle of Despair? Or is that completely unanswered?

 

Mithril deposits in the sand block incoming teleportation. That is why it was chosen as the perfect prison. As for the heir to the throne, did the queen marry into royalty or was it the king who married into royalty? Something like that is a major factor in who legit an heir actually is.

 

Yes, but frankly, that can be said about pretty much every single half ogre in Arcanum. It's not like Ogdin has a greater chance of being the heir than, say, Percival Toone's bodyguard.

If you mean an in-game answer, there is none. As for speculations between us fans, I don't think that there is any reason for the heirs to be in any way different than other half ogres. If you'd ask me, it may be even so that the Council itself doesn't know which half ogres were born by the queen, since they could have very well been all thrown into the same orphanage without distinguishing which half ogre came from which mother. After all, the important thing when it comes to choosing a bodyguard is his strength and loyalty, not his parentage, so which gnome would care.

If Ogdin was a heir and the Council was afraid of him, they would simply murder him. It wouldn't be any problem for gnomes which used to silently "remove" political opponents and kidnap their wives and daughters so that they could be raped by ogres and killed by giving birth to their offspring.

Zanza's answer is the most convincing one if you'd ask me, but it is one of few in-game theories. They are described in a book in the library in Tarant.

Interesting. Could you describe how would the situation look in both cases?

To answer your question, I don't think it was ever said directly, but I believe Tarant's last king is shown as the one who was wielding the power, so I'm guessing the king was the one who inherited the crown.

 

You mean a remedy to the situation does not exist with-in the game. How are you certain of this? Is this just by the fact that no one has yet to find it and tell about it?

 

There are two reasons:

• [1] The game has been played by thousands of players for nine years already and no one has ever announced that he found a way to solve the Half Ogre Conspiracy quest.
  
  [2] People such as Drog and rroyo, during their patching or modding ways, made it so that the Arcanum community as a whole has laid eyes on every single bit of dialogue or game mechanic from the "inside" of the game that was to be seen. If there was a satisfying way to end the quest in the vanilla game, we would know by now.

These apply to every question that can be asked about quest solving in Arcanum. I don't think the game has retained any secrets from the community by now.

 

why the fuck cursed items don't disappear

 

There is a big, fat answer to why you can't teleport to the isle (or from it, I believe) lying by the islands northern shore.

 

Because I say so. There, mystery solved.

...since that is pretty much what I meant in that context.

I'm afraid I disagree.

Spoiler

If a single Vendigrothian submarine would be enough to prevent teletorting to/from anywhere in a radius of miles from it, it would be even more impossible to teleport to/from the Vendigroth Ruins (or anywhere in the Vendigroth Wastes, for that matter), and yet the latter is not so. Massive underground beds of mithril are a much more coherent and sensible answer, if you'd ask me.

 

I'm afraid I disagree.

Spoiler

I always considered that more of a lack of forethought by the designers. Afterall, one would expect magick to be weakened in Vendigroth, yet there's Tulla, City of Mages, most powerful center of magick in Arcanum. It really just doesn't make any sense. Given the entire 'two sides of the same coin' mentality within the game, the most advanced machine (aside from the VD itself) would make a plausible excuse as to why teleportation is blocked, but you're right in that if that was the case then the VD would prevent teleportation to the Vendigroth Ruins. The Mithril descriptor is blue, like an enchanted item. The elf dude that wants mithril does say that it's not inherently magickal itself, just very receptive to magickal energy, so maybe that's a cause? It absorbs the teleportation magick? That doesn't make any sense either, since that would make it impossible to teleport from the Isle of Despair, but shouldn't affect teleporting to it. Then again, Teleport is the most powerful level of magick, so the 'regular' technological level of the Vendigroth Wastes wouldn't have any effect. Still doesn't explain the ability to teleport to the Ruins tho'. Or maybe the VD is a blend of technology and magick, giving it a neutral aptitude thus not affecting one way or another. Meh, I'm going with shoddy planning by the designers.

 

Well, here's how I've always imagined it. Feel free to call me a genius or an idiot.

Muro's theory on mithril:

Mithril absorbs magic and the waves of the magical flow around mithril work similarly to a magnetic field (incoming Paint image):



The magnet represents the underground beds of mithril under the Isle of Despair. The magic absorbing flow coming from the mithril isn't very strong on the Isle itself which is why it doesn't affect any magic happening only within the island (not noticeably at least), but it refracts and absorbs all of the magic trying to enter the Isle from the outside or magic trying to leave the island. In other words, mithril creates an anti-magic bubble around the Isle of Despair, which is why casting spells on the island is OK but teleporting in or out is impossible.

 

Kudos on the pictorial diagram and explanation. I like that concept enough to steal it and use it in my own game setting.

 

This would however depend on the dynamics of how the teleportation magic works. Assuming that it works in complete circuits like electricity, meaning a circuit must be complete before power will flow, would then explain why you would not be able to complete the circuit allowing travel to or from the Isle. If, however, it did not need a complete circuit, again to clarify from location and to location are able to have undisrupted magical connection, then it would simply make the Isle a teleportation trap, allowing incoming traffic but no outgoing traffic.

In regards to the quest being completed, I will have to hear from someone who looked at the scripting to verify. If this can be fully verified without doubt that there is no script in the game that would bring an end to the quest then yeah I will have to give it up, or try to add something in, but that would not be as satisfying. There wouldn't even be a game summary during the end or anything to tell of the results. I think that is one of the best parts of the game, to see a review of all the quests you completed and how they bring change to Arcanum.