Welcome to Part II of my Werewolf Island walkthrough for Baldur's Gate, a cRPG developed by BioWare in 1998-99.
 |
| The two main areas of Werewolf Island: Settlement and wilderness |
We arrive on the island, shipwrecked. Just like Balduran did 300 years ago.
*Sniff Sniff* "I smell... outsider?"
Repeatedly uttered by the commoners, these are the first words heard upon our arrival. Yep, the island appears to be inhabited by humans. We notice farms, docks and several buildings. Clearly, the inhabitants have lived here for some time. If spoken to, the commoners refer us to Headwoman Kaishas Gan, who dwells in a hide-roofed hut located within a walled-in compound to the north.
Kaishas Gan
Speaking common in an accent exactly like Mendas, Kaishas seems open, kind and honest (Talias, who stands beside her, can't stand the sight of us). Kaishas and her people have dwelled on the island for time out of mind.
Kaishas claims not to have heard of Mendas or Balduran, and she claims that the leader of her people, her husband, Chieftain Selaad Gan, left for the mainland "some time ago". Kaisha knows of a wreckage located in the wilderness to the north, but her people have not explored there due to the "cursed beasts" that roam it. When pressed as to the nature of the beasts, she describes them as "animals that live as wolves and carrion-feeders" as well as "wolf-like, but not wolves" and "man-like, but not men." When asked about a way to deal with the beasts, and if there is a way to get off the island:
At this point, one may look for the following dialogue option: "Don't take this the wrong way, but en route to your hut your people were sniffing my behind, you mentioned the cliffs as having sharper points than your teeth, and your people fight tooth and nail with Karoug's kind. So, I have ask: Are you guys mangy mutts, too?"
At any rate, our quest is clear: we need to travel north, explore the wreckage, and take out Karoug. Only then will a natural harbor be available for shipbuilding.
There are a few side quests offered around the compound, but they are simple and/or plain FedEx (fetch doll, fetch cloak, fetch corpse, rescue baby, avenge wife), and so, with the exception of Dradeel's quest, I won't be covering them in this write-up. The flavor added by the lore dialogues are much more interesting.
For example, a salty seadog who once carried Sybarr spices out of Amn, boasts about adventures that rival Charname's...
... though "eating one's shoes" casts doubt on the whole story.
Now a fisherman, he gives us the lowdown from his perspective...
(The inhabitants of the island are descendents of Balduran's crew).
... though it is unclear as to what happened to Balduran:
The war leader also offers lore on wolf-beasts, and how to defeat them:
Ok. We journey to the northern wolfwere wilderness in search of the wreckage. There are a few encounters in which wolfweres in human form lure us into an ambush. These are true to the lore. Other than that, there are three main points of interest: Dradeel the elven mage, Kaisha's ship and Balduran's wreckage.
First up, Kaishas Gan's ship (which she was supposedly in the process of building) is spotted in the harbor, and looks already to be sea-worthy, but we cannot gain access to the harbor due to the sheer cliffs. We will find out later that the harbor may be accessed through secret tunnels in Kaisha's compound.
Dradeel
Next up, Dradeel. We find this elven mage hiding out in a dilapidated cabin not far from the cliff-face.
Dradeel is an interesting figure. He was the arcane advisor for Balduran during their voyage to Anchorome. While meeting Dradeel and helping him recover his spellbook is not necessary to plot-progression, his dialogues (which are some of the best in the game) give us the background on events that occured so long ago, and he aids in our escape from the island as the quest hits its crescendo.
Upon entering the mage's cabin, he comes running up to us:
He reveals that the lycanthropic infection is of Anchorome origin.
Dradeel gives a harrowing account of the initial breakout and bloody attack that followed:
... and tells us how he managed to survive alone for so long:
We of course agree to his request to retrieve his spellbook:
The protection item given is the Wolfsbane Charm (amulet, THAC0 +2, dmg +2 vs. lycanthropes, usable by all).
Optionally, it is possible to ignore Dradeel's plight or simply attack him outright. If attacked, he unleashes the power of his Goddess (Selûne's Curse) and erroneously drops two Wolfsbane Charms (along with Robe of the Neutral Archmagi) upon being vanquished (his war cry is funny and his death cry is drawn-out and funny, too).
Dradeel is actually found imprisoned in Spellhold in Shadows of Amn. Judging by his rationality, kindness and worship of a Goddess in the above dialogue segment (along with another which is covered in Part III, screep-capped here), it is difficult to believe that he would end up being committed to such an institution, only to become a gibbering lunatic.
Yeah, I just don't buy it. The journal describes Dradeel as "a bit insane" and one of Balduran's logbook entries describes him as "addled in the head" -- yet his adventuring advice to Balduran was right on the money, and he shows no sign of madness until the sequel.
Anyway, our next stop is the Balduran wreckage; a stone's throw from the cabin and partially concealed by the trees.
 |
| The Wandering Eye wreckage |
Karoug
Inside, we must take out wolves of all kinds (wolfweres are accompanied by and empower other wolves) as we make our way up three levels to the captain's quarters, where Karoug - a Greater Wolfwere - is waiting for us.
As you can see, there is a hint at another way to complete the quest...
... but we are blocked off in the end from following through:
Thus, an inevitable battle ensues against a pack of wolfweres!
 |
| Cramped quarters: a potentially difficult combat encounter |
Greater Wolfweres (and the Loup Garou werewolves encountered later) are immune to non-silver weapons and weapons with less than +4 enchantment (though there are various exceptions). Two such weapons are found in the wreckage itself; one of which is a Balduranic artifact: the Sword of Balduran.
Balduran's quarters also holds the logbook and butterknife of Balduran, along with Dradeel's spellbook locked in a lightning-trapped trunk. The time-worn logbook holds many entries, but they don't reveal anything more than what Dradeel already told us. Here are fragmentary entries that are relevant to the infection:
...the crew, but a larger share for the remaining will keep them well and truly happy. I shall conscript replacements from the local populace this night, and we shall set our sails at dawn...
...delays, but with one hundred and fifty new hands, one must expect the going to be slow at the start. They seem quite calm and orderly, not at all as I expected...
...weather unseasonable, and the moode does worsen. As well, beetles have beset the foode stores, and we shall surely be hungry long before reaching the coast of home...
...set aground to forage. It is a small isle, but will yield what we need. Perhaps I shall...on my own while the crew...time on land will do them goode...
...original men seem quite shallow in the face, quite different from the pallor of the new recruits, but all are most definitely ill...
So the origin of the infection lies with the 150 new hands conscripted from Anchorome. As we will soon experience for ourselves, the incubation time is two days, so it is conceivable that the infected would not have been detected upon boarding.
Having delivered the spellbook to Dradeel, he Dimension Doors away without so much as a thank you (though he will return to offer help soon).
Continued in Part III.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.