Arcanum, WHEEL CLAN: Part XIX

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

Wheel Clan

Wheel Clan Mine Location

The Wheel Clan is situated just northeast of the Uncharted Cave, east of Stillwater. Thorvald Two Stones of the Isle of Despair can mark the Wheel Clan Mine on the Arcanum map.

The Wheel Clan was the first and greatest Dwarven clan in Arcanum. It has ruled unchallenged since the Clan Wars. To give an idea of how long ago those wars were waged, Winston Schuyler's great-great-great grandfather was Conjurer-Witness to the clan chiefs. During that time, "the great machines of the Dwarves leveled cities and mountains".

The object of this segment of the campaign is to delve down to the caverns known as the Dredge, where King Loghaire Thunder Stone wallows in self-imposed exile. From him, we must learn the location of the town of Stillwater. Note that various sidequests are on offer at the Wheel Clan as well. 

There are two ways down to the Dredge: via a secret passageway under the Throne Room (requires Persuasion) or via the dungeons (exploration + battles). The Persuasion option is the best one to take since it doesn't preclude kill XP in the dungeons (we can exit Loghaire's camp into the Dredge and then back up to the Wheel Clan).

Entrance to the Wheel Clan

Providing we're standing on the square-of-stones trigger point, the spectacles made by us or given to us by Thorvald reveal the secret entrance to the Wheel Clan:

Dwarven Guards greet us upon entry:

They refer us to King Thunder Stone after we tell them our story, but they do not acknowledge Thorvald's presence in the party, which is odd. At this point, Thorvald thanks us for bringing him home, and leaves the party. If we want to keep him in the party, we can tell him to wait outside the mines until we've nullified that trigger.

Deeper in, we encounter Royal Guards posted outside an easy-to-miss door:

Entrance to Wheel Clan Throne Room

Through that door, we find the impressive entrance to the Throne Room:

And through that door, we find the King-in-Waiting:

Randver Thunder Stone

The King-in-Waiting is Randver Thunder Stone, son of Loghaire Thunder Stone: 

From Randver, we learn of his father, Loghaire:

And we also learn of Loghaire's current location in the Dredge:

Through persuasion, we can find out that Randver knows the exact location of Loghaire in the Dredge, as well as a secret short-cut to him:

Secret Entrance to the Dredge

The Throne slides back to reveal a trapdoor down to the Dredge:

If we lack persuasion, we need to find Loghaire the tedious way: either stealth through or hack and blast our way through the aggro in the Dredge dungeons, which is filled with tons of "dark monsters." Search string [0.0]

Stone & Shape

The other important dialogue thread requires >=10 Intelligence to call up: namely, the Dwarven philosophy of Stone & Shape. This is key if we want to understand Loghaire and his actions:

Randver on Gilbert Bates and humankind:

"Blunder Stone" insult:

Loghaire Thunder Stone

Currently under self-imposed exile, and in a thoroughly wretched state, 35th level Loghaire, King of the Dwarves in Arcanum, is found in a cave that branches off from the Dredge, and is acutally located directly beneath the Wheel Clan Throne Room.

He catches sight of my Elven Mage PC:

As in the writings of Tolkien, the Elves and Dwarves of Arcanum despise each other as a rule. However, even as an Elven Mage, unless we provoke Loghaire to the point of bloodshed...

... it is possible to befriend, humble and eventually adventure with the Dwarven King.

We kick that off by asking Loghaire what happened long ago:

A delegation of Elves was sent from Qintarra:

Learning the name of the leader of the Elven delegation, M'in Gorad:

And the location of the town of Stillwater that apparently borders the Glimmering Forest in which the Elven city of Qintarra is nestled:

We learn about the differences between Humans, Dwarves and Elves:

And finally, we are able to mention the Stone & Shape (>= 10 Intelligence):

Before Loghaire retakes the Throne, he gives us his Harrow axe:

[5,300 XP, Fate Point +1, ability to recruit Loghaire later: Reaction +20 = 72]

Nice.

Now, if we can't pull this off because we lack Persuasion + Intelligence, Loghaire will remain in his pity pit, he will never be recruitable post-T'sen Ang, and we miss out on a Fate Point.

Loghaire Thunder Stone is recruitable only after learning of the fate of the BMC from M'in Gorad in T'sen-Ang: they were banished to the Void:

Note that we can wait in Loghaire's hideout. This is useful to restore fatigue, which in turn enables Virgil to heal us completely as we explore... the Dredge:

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The Dredge Arcanum

The Dredge is an abandoned cavern system that used to be an iron mine. Now, it is inhabited by "dark monsters".

The Dredge is a lengthy and straightfoward dungeon crawl that pits us against many tough enemies that can damage our armor and weapons. I would avoid getting bogged down in the Dredge unless you want the XP, Machined Platemail schematic and the Toy Train for Thrayne (XP is easy to farm on the overworld).

8x 25th level Ore Golem, 1x 20th level Seething Mass, 9x 30th level Granite Rat, 4x 2nd level Fire Spider, 6x 15th level Molten Arachnid, 5x 18th level Greater Gowrath, 9x Lesser Gowrath, 20th level Molten Giant, 3x 12th level Demon Shard, 6x 7th level Seether, 2x 7th level Venom Hound, 4x 7th level Timber Wolf, 2x 23rd level Patriarch Wolf, 6x 20th level Brute Fang, 4x 13th level Shadow Hunter, 3x 1st level Ailing Wolf, 3x 15th level Lycanix, 4x 20th level Mongrelon, 1x 30th level Grey King, 2x 30th level Burnowar, 2x 20th level Feraloch, 9x 3rd level Prodigious Vermin, 1x 15th level Hell Creeper, 4x 7th level Widower, 4x 15th level Rock-Rat.

There is an uncharted cave found en route to Stillwater from the Wheel Clan. In it, we can find a Magick Ring (PR 10, FR 10, ER 10, MR 10) guarded by a 35th level fire elemental.

Your adventures in the Wheel Clan have shown you there is a deeper mystery concerning the fate of the Black Mountain Clan. You must find Qintarra, ancestral home of the elves, in order to investigate the matter further.

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)