Arcanum, BLACK ROOT, Part XV

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

Full-sized map of Black Root, annotated: [3328 * 1528 px]:

Black Root Location

Black Root is located east of Shrouded Hills and north of Dernholm. King Praetor of Dernholm can mark Black Root on the Arcanum map.

Black Root

Unlike Dernholm, Black Root is discoverable on the world map via exploration (it does not need to be map-marked by an NPC). But usually, we gain knowledge of its location from King Praetor in Dernholm Castle.

Black Root is no longer a province of Cumbria under Praetor's rule: the mayor has gone against Praetor's wishes and allied with Tarant and the Unified Kingdom.

If we are kind to the Half-Orc blacksmith at Steadfast Anvil, he gives us a pair of Dwarven Gauntlets. 

Also, don't forget to talk to the grizzled war veteran, Herkemer Oggdoddler: he shares some history of the Cumbria-Tarant war that augments what Lianna shared with us in Dernholm. 

Dante

Arcanum Companion: Dante is found chilling in the Sour Barnacle. Dante focuses in Force, Nature and Necromantic White colleges. In the late-game, he is one of the best martial companions.

The mayor's mansion is a HIKE from our starting position.

The Mayor's Badge of Office

The dialogue for this quest does not trigger unless we have accepted the quest to collect the taxes for King Praetor of Dernholm. The mayor requests we retrieve a silver ceremonial dagger from the thieves who stole it:

D'ak Taan

The silver dagger is held by the elf, D'ak Taan, who is found on the outskirts of town. The thieves' camp is on the other side of the stream, just north of Drop Yer Anchor:

We can pick pocket the dagger, purchase it for 300 GP, slay the thieves or do one of two jobs offered by D'ak Taan: acquire some poison from Grunwalde the alchemist (Persuade) or retrieve the small statuette from a locked and trapped chest owned by Tugal the hedge wizard.

If we retrieve the poison or statuette: [800 XP, Evil +20] And D'ak Tan hands over the dagger along with some other stuff stolen from Black Root. We can now deliver the dagger to the mayor:

[800 XP, Good +4].

Mrs. Lydia Cameron

Mrs. Lydia Cameron is found pacing about in her home. She requests that we locate her missing son, Liam:

Lydia marks the location of Liam's workshop on our map:

Liam's Workshop

Liam's journal, a magickal trap and a scroll of Disperse Magick are looted from Liam's workshop.

Then, we follow a long, winding wilderness track south, east and then west, where we find another Magickal Trap on Liam's a corpse. 

We slay 15th level Lesser Void Lizard and 15th level Araya Slave followed by a 20th level Greater Void Lizard as we approach the magical portal spoken of in the journal:

Magical Portal

Coming out of the portal are more strange critters and Level 30 Infernal Araya:

In order to close it, we cast Disperse Magic on the portal:

[4,600 XP, Good +4]

Note that we can farm the critters indefinitely, and that Liam cannot be resurrected.

Finally we inform Lydia that her son is dead but he died a hero trying to shut down the portal:

[4,600 XP, Good +4, Chapeau of Magnetic Inversion]

Easy XP is easy.

Note that Chapeau of Magnetic Inversion can be Fate pickpocketed from Lydia very early in the game.

Tyron's Note

Tyron's note is found in his house, but it cannot be picked up unless we have kicked off the Ren'Ar Siaemese Twins quest in Tarant. The note reads "The Crow is in Danger". Tyron is actually in Caladon.

Franklin Payne

Note that Franklin Payne does not spawn in his home until we have Thanatos map-marked. cf. Arcanum companions.

Next up: We dive back into the main quest by exploring the Black Mountain Mines!

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)