<font color=plum>I recently entered the Bridge District with my solo Bard and met the Guard Captain warning me about the murders in the area. I decided to help investigate and went through the preliminary steps. Then I went to see the tanner. He didn't offer any information and I was giving 3 dialogue options.
<font color=lime>
1) I'll leave for now, but this isn't over.
2) Sorry to have bothered you.
3) Perhaps I should just kill you anyway to be certain.</font>

My bard is Neutral Good, so I chose #2 to start with. I left the building, then immediately returned. In previous games, the tanner was usually gone on my second visit, but this time he was still here. I spoke to him again and chose option #1 this time. He said he would have armed guards when I returned. OK, now we're getting somewhere. I rested for the night and went back the next day. Sure enough, he had 3 guards, but none of them turned hostile. I questioned the tanner yet again, and got the same 3 dialogue options.

So now I'm stuck. Apparantly, I have to choose option #3 to initiate any hostilities. But I just can't see my bard doing that from a roleplaying standpoint.I did try to go on down the stairs beside the tanner with him standing there, but the game said "It wouldn't be prudent to search the house with the owner standing there in plain sight".

Is this a bug, or do I really have to threaten the tanner before this particular quest will proceed? If so, then I guess I'll just skip that part. I have no intention of using the item I could eventually gain from the quest and I can't envision a Neutral Good Bard threatening to kill the tanner just to make him attack.</font>

Why don't you find out everything about the murder. Have you talked to Rampah, the beggar? Have you questioned Rose, the prostitute about the scent that was at one of the murders. Have you talked to Mrs. Ican'trememberhername who's supposed to be a witch? That way Aegisfield himself will try and solve things (the way the quest is supposed to happen)

<font color=plum>Yes, I've talked to Rampah and Rose. That's what I meant by having "done the preliminary steps". I haven't talked to the witch yet, I don't think that dialogue prompt has come up yet.

Since I'm playing a bard, I spent the night at the Five Flagons Inn and learned of another quest that is much more suited to my talents and interests. I'll get back to the Murder Mystery after rescuing the lost member of the acting troupe.</font>

You must have a certain item dropped at one of the crime scenes, you must know what the item is (talk to the seller that buys), you must have the testimony of an eyewitness, and you must have her identify what she smelled (again, talk to the seller that buys). If you did all THAT and you can't talk the tanner into fessing up... something is very very wrong.

Talk to the merchant next to rose he'll give you items. then talk to the hooker again

<font color=plum>OK, let me go into more detail.

I talked to Rampah and took the item he offered. I spoke to Rose, retrieved the needed items, and asked her to identify the smell. I thought that would have been fairly clear since I went to the Tanner's house after doing these steps.

Now I'm wondering if my game might have a bug regarding the spawning of certain Quest Characters. I never did find Igarol when trying to do Cernd's Quest - and when I CLUAConsoled him in, he wouldn't talk to me. Now I've been told on the forum about a witch that I don't remember any game dialogue leading me to - so I'm wondering if that aspect failed to spawn also.

Well, the Quest isn't Fubarred yet. In fact, it is still going on. I could threaten the Tanner, but that simply doesn't fit my character's personality. If that means I don't complete the quest, that's OK. I know how it plays out and my character would not be interested in the item the quest eventually leads to.

Still, I will look for the witch after I rescue Haer'Dalis and complete the Astral Prison Quest and see if I can end up solving the murders also.</font>

SPOILER


speak to the tramp near a pillar, he will give you a hide, take that to the merchant bloke and then go to officer...as well as identifying smell

You need to know what the hide is, exactly. Talk to the merchant again.

Edit- And for the record, not only is it possible to do this without the Lieutenant, but it's generally better for all involved to leave him out of it.

[ 08-08-2004, 08:37 PM: Message edited by: Illumina Drathiran'ar ]

<font color=plum>Let me try this one last time.

<font color=yellow>I DID SPEAK TO RAMPAH AND GOT THE HIDE!
I DID SPEAK TO ROSE AND HAD HER IDENTIFY THE SMELL!
THAT IS WHAT LED ME TO THE TANNER'S HOUSE TO BEGIN WITH!!!</font>

Sorry about that, but I said in my very first post that I had taken the preliminary steps in this Quest. The fact that I was at the Tanner's house should have been an indication that I had already done the steps with Rampah and Rose.

I do appreciate the responses and advice so far. Please forgive my brief Barbarian Rage. It has passed and I am once again my cool, collected, and "Calmth" self. ;) </font>

Did you try talking to Rampah? [img]smile.gif[/img] Sorry... couldn't resist.

When you say he didn't offer any information, does that mean you had dialogue options *before* the ones listed above? If so, what were they?

Also, I guess we could go the "check your GLOBAL variables" route again. Looking through a save after completing the Tanner investigation, I found these which look like they involve the Skinner murders...

GAVESMELLYITEMS = 1
MURDERSOLVED = 1
SKINWENTHOSTILE = 1
TALKEDTOHOOKER1 = 1
TALKEDTOHOOKER2 = 1
TALKEDTOINSPECTOR = 1
TANNERMOVE = 1
TANNERPLOT2 = 5 (this is the one I bet you could experiment with)
TOOLATETANNER = (timer variable)

I can't find anything that looks like it deals with Rampah so you could check your value, but there's bound to be one - I was just skimming down the list so I might have missed it if it wasn't obvious.

- Imrahil