The Half Ogre Island continued?

I’m curious. Did anyone actually make a mod that would allow finishing this interesting quest? I mean… it seems that you cannot search for this laboratory where their breeding those half ogres. Did anyone make a mod that would changes this? Like for example enabling the player to expose this entire conspiracy thus putting a stop to everything? Or perhaps finding the laboratory by interrogating that gnome and then destroying everyone behind this madness?

If not could anyone make a mod like this? I hate having so much unfinished business… and I was hoping the quest would end in a rather interesting way. Or at least a big fight with the ones who where responsible. I’m have no skills to do this and I’m not sure if anyone still makes mods for Arcanum but this would be a really great mod.

 

You do finish the quest. You finish it when you return from the island and find the gnome in Tyron's house. That quest teaches you that sometimes, things are out of your hands. Is the diary real? Did Tyron tell you the truth, or was he just another half-crazed conspiracy-theorist? You'll never know. I'd hate to see a quest where you "solve" the mystery. It's a good quest because of what it already is. Mysterious and frustrating.

Besides, there are other ways to get back at the industrial council. One of them is named Don Throg.

 

But… what abut that fake journalist that takes the book from you instead of the real one? I killed that imposter and nothing happened. This quest is still rather unfinished to me. You might hate it but I'd love it. It's a matter of preferences. And I'd always rather see such matters to the very end.

 

This quest was done to be an X-File. You never do solve it.
The "journalist", the book, all the evidence on the island - it all disappears; leaving you with nothing to show for it.

 

That's why it's so irritating... I keep having flashbacks because of it. I'm not a modder myself as I have mentioned... else I would made a mod to finish it. I had a few dreams abut it too. Weird huh? Anyway it would be nice to have a way of actually finishing it.

Sir Rroyo. Woyld you help me with this? Or anyone else?

 

You need to dedicate your entire life to discovering the mystery behind it. Work your way into a government agency, make a name for yourself by being great at catching serial killers, then make a new name for yourself when you end up in the X-Files program (something like Spooky Nolanoth). Have a woman with a doctorate assigned to keep an eye on you. Have sexual tensions for 13 years. Mission solved.

 

No, no, no. I was thinking about something more at the lines of exposing this conspiracy in Tarant by giving that journalist this book you get (sorry I haven’t played in a long time and forgot about most of the names).

Like – the moment your giving the book to the fake journalist a feeling of uncertainty stops you. You start asking him questions abut his previous reports that involve conspiracies but he doesn’t convince you. So you tell him that your on your way to Tarant. The moment you do that he attacks you. After killing him (should be a hard battle) and looting his corpse you discover that he was an agent sent to retrieve your book, but that’s not all he was also in the possession of a document with the exact location of the new laboratory. From this moment one you have 4 choices:

1) You wait for the real journalist to show up – this will result in exposing the entire conspiracy. And all of the gnomes involved in it disappear/die (most of them get killed by the lawbringers). Then you can still go to the laboratory that’s just been attacked and surrounded by Tarant’s and Dernholm's forces – knights and armed soldiers). Inside there are 2 levels filled with well armed gnomes and half ogres. There should also be a room/cell with trapped females that where left in case they would started lacking more genetic material for their experiments – a good opportunity for the hero to gain some negative/positive reputation by slaughtering them all or saving them. Alternatively neutral characters could do nothing and tell them to wait and that help will be arriving soon. On one of the levels there could also be a similar situation where a mother of a half ogre is being protected by her son and vice versa. And she asks you to help them escape.

2) You go to Tarant and expose the entire conspiracy there (same as number 1 except that characters with teleport should not have to wait).

3) You go back to Mr. Gnome and give him the book willingly. But then you only get some XP and 2000 gold.

4) You go directly to the laboratory without exposing it first. But you meet heavier resistance in greater numbers then before. After that you can still expose it to the press.

Wouldn't this be... interesting?

 

I have plans to add endings (plural) for the half-ogre quest, but I don't believe quite ready to tackle them yet.

Also: "Sir Rroyo"?
I've been called a lot of things along the way.... :lol:

 

If you where a woman I would hug you right now.

Do you think I could help you in some way Sir Rroyo?

 

.....

Not at the moment. Thanks for the offer though. :thumbup:

I don't think I have the skills just yet to do a good enough job of adding even one decent ending to the quest, much less what I hope to do.

If all goes well, by the time I complete a couple lesser quests I have started I should be ready to tackle the first phase - adding the opportunity to find the fake newsman.

After that, I can expand this out, step by step, until I've covered the possibilities from PC buy-off to ultimate exposure of the Industrial Council.

 

….huh?

Sounds good. I hope you’ll be able to add a lab if you want to that is. Btw can you fill me in a bit on the entire fake newsman finding and all?

 

A new breeding area is tentatively planned. Of course, it will need a lab.

As for the fake newsman, I'm thinking of after the PC learns of the deception, having the fake newsman waiting at the docks for passage to Tarant.

For the initial outing, he'll still have the book on him. From there you have a choice of killing him and collecting the book from his corpse, or beating him into submission and learning another thing or two.

Take the book back to the real newsman, the story gets published, and depending upon what you did with the fake guy, (in order from above) you are either villified by the Industrial Council or expose the Council for what it really is.

With each successive addition to the half-ogre quest, the book is going to get further and further away, until you finally find it, conclusive proof of Willoughby's involvement, and the one who ultimately began the entire horror story - A Vendigrothian time-traveller named Herbert Wells.....

It gets really complicated but should be ten kinds of cool if I do everything right.

 

If you've an idea for quests, but want help making them pan out, let me know. I've a writing project I'm working on atm, but this would be a nice break from thinking about that... also, it could be kinda interesting to coerce Xiao into writing a quest...

 

Haha; you guys are brilliant.

It's been a while since I did that half ogre island thing, and I forget what happened. All I remember was "mother ogres" > "mother humans". That's all that rings any bells.

Anyways, regarding the time travel thing, well I am a fictional theorist, and I composed a theory which I title "the legalization of the consequences of time travel theory", which tackles the grandfather paradox in case you are interested.

 

Do you know what'd be really cool? If the exposing of the conspiracy had unforseen consequences, like some sort of gnomish holocaust. After a thing like this, people'd want blood. Naturally, gnomes all over Arcanum (involved with the conspiracy or not) will hate the player for what he's done to their race.

I also think that the noble gnomes of Tarant finds a way to legally distance themselves from the conspiracy, so that it becomes public but not official knowledge/fact. Everyone "knows" they did it, especially that Willoughsby was involved, but there's no way to legally prove it. Or something like that.

I'd like that more than the usual "you won everything, now it's ALL good" quest ending.

There should also be room for an evil ending.

 

You invest in the half-ogre making business and kill the witnesses?

 

I really like it left indefinite. It makes you wonder if there is an evil conspiracy or if you're just turning into a paranoid maniac, esp at the end if you've been murdering perceived 'conspirators' who've been reasonable all along.

And what if M. de Cesar was just winding you and Tyron up? After all, you never saw his body, how do you know he was really killed? If you did extend this quest, it should develop an even more intricate and disturbing web rather than leave a mystery solved and a clean wrap-up.

There are already plenty of winnable battles and solvable cases in the game; let this one remain a David Lynch headfuck.

 

rroyo: If your going to be adding content to that quest, be sure to add the 'Smokeing Man' just to round off the X-files feel.

 

That’s a good idea! I’ll be looking forward to this mod Sir Rroyo. And Dark would you be able to make a little modification for me? It’s somewhat dark and twisted but you might like it.

It’s abut Cynthia Boggs. You know the girl from the Isle of Despair (there’s some info about the Half Ogre quest there if you decide to talk to Ogdin a bit more). But I was thinking why would those barbarian women from the tribe give her an old revolver instead a sword? And wouldn’t it be nice to have a female slaveish fighter companion? You know take Cynthia with you. Either romance her a bit or drag her to bed by force, have a few interesting conversations.