Arcanum, TARANT, Part VII

(Part VII of Arcanum Walkthrough for Troika's cRPG Definition of 2001, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura).

Tarant Arcanum

Arcanum's city of Tarant is the greatest and most reactive quest-dense urban hub in cRPG History.

Tarant Location

Tarant is located in the center of the continent of Arcanum. Constable Owens and Ristezze of Shrouded Hills can mark Tarant on the Arcanum map.

Map of Tarant

Full-sized map of Tarant, annotated (except The Boil): [5800 * 2700 px]:

Once we've milked Shrouded Hills for all the experience points and items we can, it's time to make our way to Tarant and spread our wings.

En route to Tarant from Shrouded Hills, waylays can range from none at all to several in a row, but the combat encounters are always easier than those between Shrouded Hills and Dernholm.

The City of Tarant

Tarant is the foremost representative democracy in Arcanum whereas Caladon and Dernholm are monarchies. Tarant is ruled by the Tarantian Industrial Council of which Mr. Edward Willoughsby is Chairman (we don't meet him until post-Qintarra).

Ashbury and Black Root have joined with Tarant and together constitute the Unified Kingdom, but the goal is to unify the entire continent of Arcanum.

Tarant has railroads, shipyards and -- thanks to Gilbert Bates -- builds more steam engines and machinery than the rest of the continent combined.

In the war, the tech-powered Tarantian Industrial Council obliterated Cumbria's Dragon Knights (swords versus firearms).

The chief rival of Tarant is now Caladon. Indeed, councilman Braithe wants Tarant to go to war with Caladon whereas Chairman Willoughsby wants Caladon to unite with Tarant under the Unified Kingdom.

Magick Tech Dichotomy

Exploration and questing is largely non-linear in this lore-rich urban hub of unrivaled size, reactivity and atmosphere. Magickally-inclined characters find exploration a little harder, though:

But Mages get far more useful teleportation abilities, at least in the long-run:

And we can't shop wherever we like:

Anyway, the first thing we want to do is avoid The Boil in the far southwest. That is a high-level area that can't be properly quested in until a certain NPC has returned to Tarant from Caladon, and that doesn't happen until the PC has been to Qintarra (a long way into the campaign). But still, we have the option to slay the aggro in there if we want to.

The Tarantian

Paperboys offer Tarantian newspapers for sale, and what is published in them is reactive to our plot progression and quest resolutions:

We can immediately head to Mr. Wright at the Tarantian Editorial Office located at 44 Polton Cross, and there sell our story about the Zephyr crash to the press for 500 GP:

The next day:

Wright gives us a payment note to deliver to Regina at the Halstar Residence located on the corner of Devonshire and Vermillion. Return to Wright after doing so for an easy 1,200 XP.

Tarant Tips

• Straight away, you might like to head to Grant's Tavern at 81 Kensington B'way in order to pick pocket or Fate Point pick pocket the Ring of Influence from the gnome, J.M. Morat. Why? It confers Charisma +3. A further one-point Charisma bonus can be easily acquired from Madam Toussaude.
• If you're a gunslinger, you might like to Fate Point pick pocket the Hand Cannon and Sharp Shooter's Pistol. You might also like to source the schematic for the Pyrotechnic Axe.

Tarant Union Telegraph Office: Telegram for Virgil from Elder Joachim

The telegram for Virgil from Elder Joachim is picked up at the telegraph office:

Virgil interjects:

We can't do anything more until we reach the northern town of Stillwater, which is a long way off.

Panarii Temple & Religion

At the Panarii temple located at 7 Lion's Way, we can ask about the Panarii religion Virgil was going on about at the crash site:

Nothing comes of it at this point, but it's good to know.

Getting Two More Companions

Note that, at this point, it is quite possible to pick up Vollinger and Jayna Stiles from Dernholm, and Dante from Black Root. cf. Arcanum companions.

As soon as we arrived in Tarant, I wanted to get Magnus and Gar into the party ASAP. Getting them as companions requires that I spend no fewer than eight precious character points on Charisma/Persuasion instead of on spells and important stats such as Willpower and Dexterity. This weakens my build's early power progression significantly. However, Virgil, Magnus and Gar are interesting and fun to adventure with -- they can also be useful in utility, muling and combat roles -- and so I recommend that everyone recruit them on their first playthrough (you're missing out if you don't).

Magnus Shale Fist

Magnus is found standing outside P. Schuyler & Sons. I have to raise my Charisma to 12 since I already have two companions (Virgil and Sogg) and the requirement for three companions is 12 Charisma.

Magnus does not seem to react to me being an elf let alone an elven mage with 35 Magicka, but he does check reputation and level. If we are not >=7 and Good-aligned, he will NOT join the party.

Magnus is at first abrasive, but he is a kind and noble Dwarf with a heart of gold. Note that, in this dialogue, it is not possible to gain Reaction points from Magnus unless we are also a Dwarf, but it IS possible to LOSE Reaction by being disrespectful of anything to do with Dwarves or Magnus' clan:

Magnus' Mysterious Dwarven Gauntlets

Ok, we've got the Dwarven technologist, Magnus. That is very cool. Magnus levels mechanical and smithy technological disciplines. He also levels martial combat stats and skills (ST, DX, CN + Melee & Dodge).

Note that Magnus can immediately forge Balanced Swords and assemble Auto Skeleton Keys. Eventually, he'll be able to forge Feather-weight Axes, too.

Garfield Thelonius Remington III, aka Gar

Next up, I went and recruited Gar from H.T. Parnell at the Emporium of Wonders. I had to increase my Charisma to 16 in order to expand to four companions. While meeting Gar's level requirement of 9, I had to up my Persuasion to 3 in order to get the famous Earl Grey Tea line:

H.T. Parnell

The negotiation for Gar's release:

H.T. Parnell demands 3,000 GP for Gar's release, which is non-negotiable. To avoid paying such an exorbitant sum, I needed to suggest that taking Gar's human nature public could ruin this proprietor's reputation. Note the initial, generic reaction that I receive from HTP: it's because I'm beautiful and wearing an elegant dress. Some NPCs hate elves with a passion, though, so good impressions are not guaranteed in all social situations:

And now, we have Gar in the party:

[Evil +5] Release Gar: [Good +10, Fate Point +1]

Gar levels Dodge and Melee combat skills. He cranks Strength and Dexterity as he levels, which is wise. Gar can wear heavy armors without getting encumbered (which impacts attacks per turn). Give him Dread Armor.

Note: Bessie Toone's boot can be sold to Parnell for 250 GP.

P. Schuyler & Sons: Fine Jewelers

Ristezze of Shrouded Hills gave us the name and address of this business in Part III: Bessie Toone Mine. We're trying to find out the significance of the ring given to us by Preston Radcliffe at the crash site; specifically, what the initials "G.B" stand for. If we don't have the ring because we sold it to Ristezze or gave it to the gnome assassin, we can still progress by describing the ring we once had to the relevant NPCs.

James Kingsford

Now with a party of five, we step into P. Schuyler & Sons and speak with James Kingsford, their receptionist:

It's an amusing "conversation" because receptionist Kingsford makes an assumption and goes on auto-pilot:

We can then loot his corpse for the key to the back room. Otherwise, we have to pick-pocket the key, pick the lock to the back room while he's sleeping, or slay him for the key.

Dungeon Crawl

In the backroom, we find a trapdoor in the corner. We climb down a ladder into a basement. Magnus looks around in wonder:

We take out several zombies, loot the dungeon for treasures, and then drop down a hatch. Magnus starts getting upset:

Several more zombies are taken out as we wind our way through the tunnels to a dead end, where a large pack are lurking. The party-friendly Fireflash AoE works wonders:

We drop down to the third and lowest level of the tomb, where we find Dwarven zombies?

The Schuylers

We find three cloaked Schuylers at the end of the hall: Winston, Edward and Niles. They are necromancers. Behind them, slumped in a chair, is the corpse of their father, Pelonious:

What follows is a lengthy, complex and reactive dialogue which can be milked for extra lore (Magnus' voiced lines bolded in grey):

That is as far as we can take the dialogue before we have to make a choice: side with the Schuylers or side with Magnus.

Pro-Schuyler (the Spirit of Pelonious' lines are printed in italics):

[2,000 XP, Fate Point +1, Evil +2, Magnus dead, Gilbert Bates lead] 

We can also slay the Schuylers after the fact.

Betrayer of Magnus Shale Fist

Reputation: Betrayer of Magnus Shale Fist: Because you have betrayed the friendship of Magnus Shale Fist, you are his sworn enemy. [Reaction -100: Magnus]

Pro-Magnus: If the noble course is chosen, we simply battle it out vs. the Schuylers with Magnus on our side. Since we don't get the lead from Pelonious Schuyler, we need to loot the corpse of Winston and use his key to unlock the filing cabinets, wherein we find an old purchase order for the signet ring (purchased by Benjamin Bates for his son, Gilbert).

[2,000 XP, Magnus Reaction +5]

(The zombie Dwarves under PS&S were not members of his lost clan.)

Pelonious Schuyler

And no, if called up by Conjure Spirit of the Necromantic Black college, Pelonious doesn't give us any info:

It's funny because his sons are dead...

Thus, either way, we now know what the initials "G.B" on the ring stand for (Gilbert Bates) and we know that Gilbert Bates is "the boy" the old gnome told us to find when he gave us the ring before he died at the crash site. Our next port of call, therefore (as it pertains to the main quest), should be the Bates Estate in northeast Tarant.

cRPG Blog	8. Thieves' Guild Arcanum	17. Ashbury Arcanum
ARCANUM (Index)	9. Cassandra Pettibone	18. Isle of Despair
1. Arcanum Walkthrough	10. Gilbert Bates	19. Wheel Clan Arcanum
2. Shrouded Hills Arcanum	11. Garringsburg Heist	20. Durin Stone Arcanum
3. Bessie Toone Mine	12. Madam Toussaude	21. Stillwater Arcanum
4. Jongle Dunne	13. Ancient Maze	22. Qintarra Arcanum
5. Doc Roberts Arcanum	14. Dernholm Arcanum	23. Bedokaan Village
6. Amulet of N'Tala	15. Black Root Arcanum	24. Persuasion Master Arcanum
7. Tarant Arcanum	16. Black Mountain Mines	25. Caladon Arcanum (to the end)