Negotiations with Caladon Bug

Hi guys, I have finally decided to take up this vintage CRPG. I am playing the GOG game with UAP latest patch. I reached the point where I meet Willoughby in his office. I want to get the quest to negotiate with Caladon but I only get it as a hearsay (black text instead of blue in the log).

I have maxxed out skills in charisma and persuasion so I should be eligible to get the file from him but when discussing with Willoughby the option does not appear: he says something along the lines „if only we could find someone...” and my options are „let me ask some general questions”.

I finished both his quests in the Boil & labour unions + the Ashbury statue quest which I looked up that should be prerequisities.

Digging deeper, I found something strange (probably because I messed with the Virgil debug): I am a master in persuasion, although the quest to become master is actually this one I am trying to get.

Anyone has any idea how to fix this? Is there a way to go back to expert in persuasion instead of master? The debug only gives you skills, not takes them away. I tried adding some curses to lower persuasion and charisma but I still get the „master” tag.

The virgil debug does not have anything to help so probably I should edit the save? Anyone has any clues how to do that?

This pisses me off because I feel this is a quest that is pretty important, not just a go fetch.

I am attaching a .zip archive with my status. I tried using a hex editor but the .gsi file seems incomplete or something?