I went back to Ferro after my night of bliss and low and behold; he's not there!!
I have the dirty feeling he died in a combat! (I seriously hope I'm wrong) (and, no, I don't have an old save game 'cos I shouldn't need it)

I tried to keep all the combat away from him and I'm pretty sure I did just that. There are no items on the floor where he was. Does anybody know if he's elsewhere; 'cos if he is dead I'll be mad as hell! How can the shop keeper with the best weapons die? They really should have left him and any other NPC'S like this out of the combats.

Ooops, I just found his stuff! And it was far away from his counter. I don't know what he was doing in that area since I had no combat there myself. Now what the heck am I going to do?

Farseer, it is indeed a frustrating circumstance.

Your choices now are bad but simple. You can either do without the stuff Ferro sells and makes (you can do this), or you can reload your latest save prior to his death.

Sometimes it is best to turn left and go for Templar status before getting anywhere near Ferro.

Sorry about your bad luck.

A, "less than extraordinary exploit".

Well, I'll have do without him. I still can't believe he was that far from his shop though. I just get in the habit of only quick saving. I keep thinking there's an autosave everytime I enter an area.

NPC's join the fight when an enemy is near them, even if they are far away from you. Maybe Ferro was activated by some Rapax which fled from you, and followed him, and got killed by him.

Not that this will help you now, but perhaps for anyone else....

1. I always cast my buff spells (Armorplate, Missile Shield, Magic Screen, and Enchanted Blade) next to Ferro when in the main level of Rapax Castle. This will always make him a little more formitable (then he can actually hit something).

2. Make sure that you are always aware of where Ferro is on your radar (with X-Ray running). If I am about to enter a fight with Rapax and there are red dots by Ferro, then I will run to were he is if the fight has already started, or engage the Rapax next to Ferro. I try to cast Elemental Shield/Soul Shield next to Ferro.

3. Always watch the combat text for Ferro's name if I am remotely close to him.

I had a least one game where I thought I had drawn off the attackers and had to reverse course to defend Ferro. I saw his name listed during combat so I had to click on the radar to see his enemy. When I got there it turned out to be a Rapax Samarai, who was "cleaning his clock" (not sure where that phrase comes from, but it's weird).

There have been other times I was standing next to him and as soon as he finished with his enemy he went out in the hall searching for more (he couldn't reach the ones I was fighting). Good AI, but can be frustrating.

[ 06-23-2003, 06:50 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

To be more specific about "turn left," I usually stop just inside the castle, far from Ferro, at the first wall a few feet inside the entrance where only a couple at a time can come at me. When all enemies are dead,I hug the left wall then proceed directly away from Ferro until a Templar.

As Wereboar and Ziggurat pointed out, even these precautions are not a guarantee, but I have never had Ferro die in my games.

It is possible that one thing I never do is scatter enemies. I never cast Fear, Blind nor any of the clouds that might have a similar, "scattering" effect. What I do is damage and kill. Very little, if any, gets away. I use cone and area effect spells mostly, but also melee with my Bard and RPCs and possibly Priest.

Scattering effects can easly create the situation Wereboar describes. For example, a blinded Rapax Samurai might run out of the room, on the Ferro side, then, if still blinded, run again. If your luck is bad, when they are no longer blind, a convenient enemy, Ferro, might be only a few feet away.

So avoiding spells and ammo like that helps.

Excellent point. That's why I never buy Antone's Fear bolts, but buy Anna's Hunter Quarrels instead: I don't want them scared, running away--I want them dead. Nor do I use Sonic Boom; it's a "long" range spell to start with, so you just have farther to chase them in order to kill them.

However, Blinding Flash does come in handy against caster types in constrained-area zones like Trynton, or anywhere where I can stand in the doorway that is the only exit from a room. Being able to blind the Sprites before they start throwing spells at me has helped a lot in Trynton.

There have been other times I was standing next to him and as soon as he finished with his enemy he went out in the hall searching for more (he couldn't reach the ones I was fighting). Good AI, but can be frustrating.


I think that must have happened 'cos he was far from his shop.

As far as casting stuff around him; well I had an all fighter party so that was out.

"However, Blinding Flash does come in handy against caster types in constrained-area zones like Trynton, or anywhere where I can stand in the doorway that is the only exit from a room. Being able to blind the Sprites before they start throwing spells at me has helped a lot in Trynton."

Yes, the beauty of magic based battle strategies, is that there is always an exception. I was referring to Rapax castle, but it's true that it's a policy I apply most of the time. The more who I can squeeze into my cone spells the merrier.

On the Arnika road, I have even started intentionally parking between two or more large groups, then engaging all with long range area-effect spells, (Noxious Fumes, usually). Then I wait in a nook as up 30 enemies approach, then take them out with cones. It makes the magic, per point of mana spent, much more effective when it hits 15-30 enemies, instead of a mere 4-12. And that other group, that would be so much trouble if they interrupted my sleep of replenishment, is dead instead.

When things go badly on the road, however, Blinding Flash is my defense of last resort. When it works (on EM that is uncertain), it often lets me get two full run distances away from my enemy before they recover, usually in one round. When they-re blinded you know they are going to run, even before they do, and that pre-knowledge is powerful because it lets you make a break for it. My Alchemist generally picks that Level 2 spell at character Level 3 every time. Other crippling spells, even when they succeed, are less consistent in what the enemy dies. There is only a % chance they will run and they might be able to attack.

Farseer, I think staying away from Ferro will do it in most cases. It is interesting, once you get X-Ray and use it in Arnika, to see Higardi and Savants walking right through each others party with complete peace and harmony. It's just a game design trick so there will be both friends and enemies around when you come by. The same thing can help you with Ferro. It is your presence (other than the rare thing Wereboar spoke of) that triggers hostilities.

[ 06-24-2003, 01:10 AM: Message edited by: EEWorzelle ]

Think I'll try going straight for templar status this time. Some of those battles in there with 28-30 Rapax of various types is a little crazy.