Possible changes to The Voice (spoilers)

[CamDawg]

The Voice of Durdel Anatha was, I think, fairly straightforward in terms of what's supposed to happen, though not necessarily where. The Voice can not be killed, is being controlled by Brother Harken, and is somewhere in LDD. To appease him, you must find out the source of the old elven-dwarven conflict (speak with Nym) and confront Brother Harken. Brother Harken exists in the game (he's the crazy priest in the evil idol room, near the upper right) but they changed his dialogue to a generic one, like the other trapped priests. He still floats his messages from the cut quest.

 

As for placement, I felt putting the Voice near the body in the artisan's district was the way to go, as it essentially made Pale Justice a reward for the quest and gave some explanation for its presence there. Until the Voice is appeased, the umber hulks no longer burrow through the walls and open up the passageway. As for Harken, I moved him to take the place of the dead priestess (closer to the doors of the evil idol room), assigned his old dialogue, and created a new priestess in his old spot with his current dialogue.

 

So, you can fight The Voice as many times as you want. If defeated, he'll collapse in a heap and revive in a few rounds. Brother Harken mentions summoning the Voice to fight in his dialogue, but I neglected this mainly for two reasons--I was concerned the player wouldn't remember to go back and pick up PJ, and I felt the idol room is tough enough as it is without throwing in another 200HP undead into the mix.

 

Razfallow emailed me some suggestions, mainly about placement, which is why I wanted to discuss this a bit. Raz placed the Voice in the evil idol room, and set it to respawn near the door every time the party entered. It also would not attack if the party showed Pale Justice to it; rather it would wander around aimlessly.

 

So, I wanted to open this up for a bit of discussion and suggestions.

[redrake]

According to the info you gather he roams the Durdel Anatha, so I wouldn't place him in the idol chamber. The miners village (where you find pale justice) should be more fit. But there are problems. Grog encountered them. That area has some bad designed areas and it is possible for the undead paladin not to show up.

Perhaps he should roam in the garden. That seems the be place that connects all the other areas.

[CamDawg]

Well, the Voice's journal entry reads:

 

We entered an area of Dorn's Deep called Durdel Anatha. Standing in the doorway was an animated suit of armor that called itself "The Voice of Durdel Anatha." It claimed that in life, it was a paladin of Torm. It tried to find out what was causing conflict between the elves of the Hand of the Seldarine and the dwarves of Dorn's Deep. It failed in its duty and wandered as a restless spirit for hundreds of years. Recently, some priests of Ilmater bound his spirit into a suit of armor and now command him from afar.

 

So perhaps the better question is, where is Durdel Anatha? (And yes, I should have asked this before... ) There are some hints:

 

Beorn says (8934)

The mines are southeast of Durdel Anatha, south of the palace, and west of the Great Forge.

 

The player can respond thusly to Ilmadia (10771)

I thought the salamanders were your allies. Don't they drive the slaves in the mines and Durdel Anatha?

 

Tarnelm says (11389)

You're a smart one, aren't you? Obviously the salamanders don't eat our food. Why don't you try checking in the small palace off of Durdel Anatha? Marketh lives there. There should be some food there. If you are especially brave, you could try checking the domes in the Artisan's District. Ma... Malavon might...

 

However, the journal entries from Fengla, Norl, and Seth (23341, 34092, 34168, 34243, 34244, and 34422) leave no doubt that Durdel Anatha is ar8001, the opening area of LDD:

Someone in a small palace in the northeastern section of Durdel Anatha cut Fengla's tongue out. She showed us a symbol of a pickaxe on her wrist. Perhaps that is the sign of her assailant.

Fengla told us that she takes food to a watchtower in the southeastern area of Durdel Anatha. The watchtower appears to be heavily fortified and is surrounded by cattle pens filled with deep gnome slaves.

In Durdel Anatha, we met a gem-cutter named Norl, who hates Marketh. Marketh forces Norl to create jewelry for his concubine.

A halfling named Seth asked me for "papers" outside of a palace in Durdel Anatha. When I told him that I didn't have any papers for him, he had a gang of hidden goons leap out and attack me.

A halfling named Seth asked me for "papers" outside of a palace in Durdel Anatha. When I expressed my confusion, he asked me if someone in the "Kraken Society" had sent me.

We met a slave girl in Lower Dorn's Deep. She was taking food to a watchtower in the southern portion of Durdel Anatha. We asked her for the key to the watchtower, and she handed it over.

[redrake]

Durdel Anatha might be in fact the great forge. The problem is where could you place him in there? That area is pretty crowded. Perhaps the upper level of the watchtower? Such are the known places for some ghost haunting.

[Kulyok]

I don't quite understand: isn't Durdel Anatha the big entrance level of Lower Dorn's Deep? I thought it was more or less a given.

 

 

(As to "where is the best place to put him", I'd say the southern entrance of the Garden, but the party can enter the Garden through many gates. Or near the entrance to the mines).

[redrake]

Well, the things are a bit confused. Durdel Anatha might even be the gnomish name for the whole Lower Dorn's Deep cave network.

[CamDawg]

Quoth JE Sawyer, IWD dev:

 

Hmm. I'm pretty sure that covers all of my cut content. I can't remember any of the content that other designers cut. Durdel Anatha was the dwarven name for all of Lower Dorn's Deep, but was usually used to refer to the first section of it, containing the watchtower. The Voice was intended to appear in that area, in the garden, in the artisan's district, and in the forge area. He was supposed to appear on a timer, each appearance coinciding with the ringing of a bell (I can't remember where the bell was supposed to be... possibly in the palace with Marketh/Ginafae). His appearance with the corrupted priests was only supposed to coincide with the party's (old, cut) conversation with Harken. The rewards for the quest were items from the priestess of Ilmater in Kuldahar, but that's a bit of a hike for that late in the game.

[redrake]

Well, there is a bell on the second level of Marketh's palace, in the large room with a throne.

[BigRob]

Having the Voice wander, if it's not a hideous coding challenge, would be an ideal thing, as it fits with the idea of the paladin still searching for some means to fulfill his quest (plus original intent).

[Guest wanderingelf]

Are there any known bugs with the restored quest? I completed it, or so I thought, yet even after The Voice collapsed into a heap for good and we picked up his remains for proper burial, no passages opened up, no umber hulks appeared, and Pale Justice was nowhere to be found.

[Guest Guest_mcasey666_*]

Are there any known bugs with the restored quest? I completed it, or so I thought, yet even after The Voice collapsed into a heap for good and we picked up his remains for proper burial, no passages opened up, no umber hulks appeared, and Pale Justice was nowhere to be found.

please see topic

http://forums.gibberlings3.net/index.php?showtopic=13718

 

for a few methods that will allow you to get Pale Justice.

[CamDawg]

This was all addressed in the v5 Voice recode.

[Ayce]

This is all interesting.............I currently have v7 installed, The Voice appeared in the artisan district once (and never again), I never saw him again until Brother Harken summoned him when we went into the priests' chambers with all the undead. There hasn't been any dialogue options about appeasing the voice, rather, after destroying the idol, Brother Harken keeps summoning the Voice (he doesn't revive either. So he is actually in the room full of undead contrary to above posts....................... In any event, I haven't killed Nym yet, so I don't know what will happen then, but so far, the dialogue seems stuck.............