Two weird things happened to me on my most recent trip through the Aquarium/frost salamander breeding grounds/xp mine.

1) I had a summoned dire wolf, upon becoming unEntangled, run out on top of the whale. You know, an area that is impassable to the party. It sat out there and I couldn't get it back. I seem to recall this happening once before.

2) This one was really strange. I had a character walking around with speed boots, as I always do when invited to look around, and a frost salamander walked in front of me down a narrow hallway, turned the corner, and killed Vera (the thief). Say what!!??

I reloaded, of course, since her two quests (talk to the slaves about her, tell her when the slaves have been released) are worth something like 240 000 XP.

Anybody else ever had these things happen?

Number 2 is not really a bug as far as I know. I have witnessed them killing her before and I always try to finish them off ASAP to prevent this from happening.

Actually, I'm pretty sure her being killed is a scripted event. *you* are the deciding factor. If they find her before you do, dead. If you find her before they do, she still might die. If you slaughter everything sans Vera, she lives :D

Interesting. I was following my normal routine in this area - talk to Kerish, explore with a single character wearing speed boots and talk to Vera, go downstairs and get the quest for the slaves, get the key from Kerish, set the slaves free, come back up the stairs with full buffs, take the quickest route to Vera, then mop up the rest. Vera was killed in step 2, before I had a chance to even talk to her, which is a necessity if you want to get the XP from Gareth for telling him she's alive.

I'll put it down to bad luck, then. I've been through the area close to a dozen times using this sequence and I can't recall her being killed before.

Vera gettin' offed:

It's the frost salamander guard you talk to. You go have a look for him and report back that you didn't find anyone (unless you're evil.) You get points for it. The guard has a small random pattern and he might take off in Vera's direction after you have made the area unshaded. If he does...Vera is history (unless you are OUTSIDE the aquarium area completely.)

Are you saying there's a small quest from talking to a salamander (other than Kerish)? You're talking about one of the ones right outside the little dead-end corridor where you find Vera, right?

I didnt know there was a quest from one of the guards??

Mini-Quest:

Yes...
Soon as you unshade the area Vera is in, there is a frost salamander standing in the middle of the "hallway". Talk to him and tell him that you'll go check on the "noises" around the corner. Report back to him and either say "'twas nothing" or tell him the truth. I never told him the truth, but I'll assume that he is programmed to head off in Vera's direction if you do. Even if you lie and get the points, he may still go kill her! It's a random thing due to his patrol program I would imagine. That's why she may or may not get killed.

Note that a few of the other frost salamanders have cute things they talk about, but Vera's salamander is the only one that you can get points off of (besides Kerish.)