dilemma

I killed off the second group first, taking no prisoners, then went after Sly C. I turned down his plea for mercy (not taking him prisoner) and killed him, but no head. My first run-through I didn get his head, but not this time. So this seems to be an occasional glitch.

I have little trouble with bounties now that I have the Confuse spell. But first I send my fastet runner with a bow to entice away fringe members of the bounty group, retreating the whole party far enough so that most other enemies turn back and you can pick off just one. Repeat this tactic unless three of more insist on following you to the edge of the map. Then hit them with Confuse and get the party far away. Often they will kill or severely damage at least one of their number. I was able to isolate the Dweller by killing off all others in his group. Then he was easy to kill with enough hold spells or knock-downs.

Warlock, Well that's good to know! I guess I'll return to the stronghold and tackle Level 14.

I've had less trouble taking on battles "over my pay grade" since choosing a rogue as my chief character and buying a "tank" fighter to do the main battling alongside Edér. But how I take on major battle groups is a method people may find tedious. Once my rogue is at at least 3 stealth (#1 requirement), equipped with a bow (#2), and has that temporary invisibility ability (#3, but I forget the precise name of it), I'm set. I park the party far from the anticipated enemy party and send my rogue ahead, scouting. As soon as one enemy (only one if possible) comes into sight, my rogue fires--then runs back to my group. If your party is far enough away, most or all of the pursuing enemies will turn back at some point, and the rogue can attack the last one visible and draw that one away from the pack. Sometimes my rogue finds a sweet spot where one step backward gets the target to retreat. Then the rogue follows, shoots (the target turns and chases), then the rogue retreats to the sweet spot, and repeats these steps until the target is dead. Or the whole party comes forward to pick off the loner. As I warned, it may seem tedious, but it's made my rogue the chief killer of the party and allows you to pick off one-by-one the members of a much stronger force. I'm sure you could do this with a purchased rogue, also, as long as those three criteria are met. Bonus if your rogue is high in Mechanics: you'll rarely meet a chest or locked door that rogue can't conquer.

I started over after getting stuck on a glitch (and made better initial choices, so no complaints there). However, this time I've also made different choices to freshen the reset. Chief among those is not teaming up with the Dozens, with whom (the first time through) I easily got the acra disk needed to lower the water level. Now I'm going in circles trying to find it. Those giantkillers from whom I took it the first time aren't in any of the five sites I have revisited. Is there another way to get the water level down? Perhaps my miatake is not yet siding with the remaining two factions who will still take me\? (I've burned my bridges with the Dozens, so side quests for them is no longer an option.)

Thanks, Marchlord! Perhaps that did the trick! I think I must have tried to skip Black Meadows (which I did exhaust days ago) and head to Caed Nua directly from the inn. Got in Caed Nua this time, killed Maerwald, and now have lots to do instead of wandering around in circles through exhausted sites. Thanks again!

I don't find this problem in Support FAQ. According to my journal, I've completed the required prerequisites to entering Caed Nua and have talked to everyone I can. Here's what else I've done so far: Because I can't find the entry, I've also visited and revisited all other locations available to me, even if not yet required--though my Mechanic skills weren't high enough to get past two doors at Raedric's Hold. I've killed everything possible (including Osrya at Raedric's Hold) and can find no new ways to level up. I've scouted carefully all around the outer west side of Caed Nua and can't find an entrance, certainly not by the gate where Kana waits. I visited Caed Nua earlier in the game but in the latest visit, the areas were all dark again and I harvested the same plants as the first time--as though this was my first visit to this site. Any tips on why I can't find an entrance into Caed Nua?