Time for a Storm of Zehir spoiler thread. I've edit this first post a bit, to make it more of a summary of the "data" collected.

 

Please add any funny areas, random encounters or cool quests you encountered, so we can share the experience.

 

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Keep the updates coming.

 

Recruitable Cohorts

 

Belueth, Aasimar Rogue/Shadow Thief of Amn (Temple of Waukeen Neverwinter)

Grykk Bannersworn, Half-Orc Paladin (Tavern in Neverwinter)

Finch, Human Bard (Tavern in ??) (I think I found him in both Phadalin and New Leaf, so maybe he travels around)

Ribsmasher, Human Monk (Banite caves in Neverwinter Woods)

Lastri Kassireh, Lightfoot Halfling Swashbuckler (Tavern in Samargol)

Quarrel, Half Drow Warlock (in West Harbour)

Chyr Darkfire, Deep Gnome Wizard (In the Underdark Market in Samarach)

Soraevora Aeravand, Sun Elf Favored Soul (in Crossroad Keep)

Septimund, Doomguide of Kelemvor (in Port Llast)

Umoja, Human Druid (in the Samargol market)

Inshula Sar Mashewe. Human Ranger (in the Samargol market)

 

Easter Eggs / Funny Encounters

 

Shymone and Scarbunkle - Bards in ?? Tavern (Sword Coast)

One of Many - Random encounter in Samarech

Chicken Adventurers - Random encounter on the Sword Coast.

Feargus Orc-heart - An orc in a cabin, having a party. (anyone know where?)

Haven't finished yet.

 

Grykk's found in the inn in Neverwinter. There's an aasimar thief/shadow thief in the Temple of Waukeen in Neverwinter. The mercenary in Samarach, is that the ranger? If so, I've found her. In the Underdark Market, if you kill all the illithids (tough fight, but doable at level 9 or 10 if you prepare ahead of time) you can find a deep gnome wizard named Chyr Darkfire.

 

There's a quest in a city to the southeast of Crossroad Keep (the city's on the road) to open up a cold iron mine. I assume that's the one that lets you get cold iron for upgrades.

Yeah the mercenary is the Ranger.. You met two more than me, but that still mean there's one more since there's 11 in total.

 

Thanks for the tip on the cold iron.

 

I'm gonna replay as an evil party this weekend, so I'll be trying some of those different cohorts then.

I think the ending was good. Not an emotionally striking one of course, but it did give me the information I needed and wanted. Fit well with the game and I've really come to like Volothamp, hehe.

 

On my first playthrough I had the Druid cohort from Samargol with me and I picked up the Captain from the ship at a later time in the game. With my (almost) totally evil party I've got the Ranger from Samargol and Belueth, the Aasimar Rogue/Shadow Thief of Amn.

I kinda like what they did with the Cohorts. It feels pretty fresh to not have these people unload on you with their emotional burdens, and the little one-liners that sometimes pop up when you enter areas plus the unique dialogue options give them some personality still.

It would've been nice though to be able to ask them about their past a bit.

 

I still haven't found the chicken adventurers, though I did like One-of-Manys role. He's a tough encounter if you want to fight him. I'm feeding him cohorts that I don't want at the moment, and I gained a lesser evil aura (think it gave me +1 STR and INT).

I think the ending was good. Not an emotionally striking one of course, but it did give me the information I needed and wanted. Fit well with the game and I've really come to like Volothamp, hehe.

 

On my first playthrough I had the Druid cohort from Samargol with me and I picked up the Captain from the ship at a later time in the game. With my (almost) totally evil party I've got the Ranger from Samargol and Belueth, the Aasimar Rogue/Shadow Thief of Amn.

I kinda like what they did with the Cohorts. It feels pretty fresh to not have these people unload on you with their emotional burdens, and the little one-liners that sometimes pop up when you enter areas plus the unique dialogue options give them some personality still.

It would've been nice though to be able to ask them about their past a bit.

 

I still haven't found the chicken adventurers, though I did like One-of-Manys role. He's a tough encounter if you want to fight him. I'm feeding him cohorts that I don't want at the moment, and I gained a lesser evil aura (think it gave me +1 STR and INT).

 

Wait you can have him join you? and feed him? .. wow..

 

I tried to fight him, but he steamrolled me, so I just left him alone after my some dialouge.

Nah, you can't have him join but you can return to him and feed him cohorts. You get some exp for doing this as well as the aura I mentioned (in the form of a feat), which I assume gets stronger the more cohorts you feed him.

haha nice.. I do remember him talking about feeding him and I had the captain with me, who strongly objected to it. Plus I was a good guy..

 

Did the fact that you fed them to One of Many have any impact on their story? (obviously, but it never hurts to ask)

Well, the story is that they die basically, lol. Once you feed them to One-of-Many they are gone forever, so choose which cohorts you want to have with you and which ones you want to sacrifice wisely.

Also, it's worth retireing your party before you actually beat the final dungeon/boss just to see what happens. It's pretty cool. And if I didn't misread it, it kinda hints at... *something*. Exactly what I don't know, but maybe someone in well versed in the 4th edition would know.

"you kill all the illithids (tough fight, but doable at level 9 or 10 if you prepare ahead of time)"

 

I did them at level 6/7. Still, the best fight of the game. illithids are kewl.

I'll try that - I remember how much I feared them in BG2, but at least there's no Beholders around *shudders*.

Has anyone found where the bards from Crossroad Keep went after they stole Khelgar's gauntlets? I've been all over the place looking for them, and haven't found them anywhere. Also, I noticed a cave above the Onyx Cave and a Foreign Temple above New Leaf, but I can't find any way to get to them. Anyone figured that out?

I *think* you can get to those otherwise unreachable places by completing the Red Wizards Arcane Nexus task. I'm planning on doing that for my current playthrough.

 

The bards are really hard to find. Have you found the cabin where the guy named Skullcrusher resides? If memory serves, it's west of there. In the middle of the forest, there is a small clearing with some rocks in it. The bards are hiding in a cabin there, but you must get *very* close to it, otherwise the cabin won't show up.

Also, there's a funny OEI easter egg in there.

The bards are really hard to find. Have you found the cabin where the guy named Skullcrusher resides? If memory serves, it's west of there. In the middle of the forest, there is a small clearing with some rocks in it. The bards are hiding in a cabin there, but you must get *very* close to it, otherwise the cabin won't show up.

Also, there's a funny OEI easter egg in there.

I actually found that cabin quite some time before I got the quest, but it wouldn't let me in at the time. If you leave Crossroad Keep and head to the east, once you get around the rocks, go almost directly northeast and you should find it. It's only a very short distance inside the woods.

 

EDIT: Updated the list with most of the missing information:

 

Inshula Sar Mashewe. Human Ranger (in the Samargol market)

Quarrel, Half Drow Warlock (in West Harbour)

Soraevora Aeravand, Sun Elf Favored Soul (in Crossroad Keep)

Septimund. Doomguide of Kelemvor (in Port Llast)

Umoja, Human Druid (in the Samargol market)

Edited November 27, 200817 yr by Deraldin

I *think* you can get to those otherwise unreachable places by completing the Red Wizards Arcane Nexus task. I'm planning on doing that for my current playthrough.

 

The bards are really hard to find. Have you found the cabin where the guy named Skullcrusher resides? If memory serves, it's west of there. In the middle of the forest, there is a small clearing with some rocks in it. The bards are hiding in a cabin there, but you must get *very* close to it, otherwise the cabin won't show up.

Also, there's a funny OEI easter egg in there.

 

Skullcrusher? Is that THE Skullcrusher from Pool of Radiance?

Finch, the bard who needs a pass to Neverwinter, will be in the cohort room of the Merchant Headquarters in Crossroad Keep after some point. I don't know what triggers his appearance, but I noticed him after I had trading posts in all the towns. He was level 10 when I got him. That put me up to all 11 cohorts.

 

Speaking of cohorts, I rather wish their gear leveled up with them. Some, like Grykk (my favorite of the cohorts) have +2 gear when you meet them. Others, like Inshula and the other Samarach cohorts, only have +1 gear. Would be nice if, like in NWN1, their equipment got better with them

 

Starwars, thanks. That helped, and I was able to find it. The Easter Egg was great, too, and I thought the quest's name was a great Easter Egg, too (even if it wasn't produced by BIS/OE).

Edited November 27, 200817 yr by deganawida

"Would be nice if, like in NWN1, their equipment got better with them"

 

Why? Unlike NWN1 OC, can't you just equip them yourselves, anyways? NPCs in SOU, or HOTU didn't have level up equipment. neither NWN2 OC or MOTB.

"Would be nice if, like in NWN1, their equipment got better with them"

 

Why? Unlike NWN1 OC, can't you just equip them yourselves, anyways? NPCs in SOU, or HOTU didn't have level up equipment. neither NWN2 OC or MOTB.

 

And if you want to "level up" their equipment, isn't that what enchanting is for? I'm guessing it wouldn't work on some things that already have 3+ effects, but for everything else you should be good to go.

Plus - I was able to make some armor that was alot better than what they had on when I found them. Ungrateful goons the lot of them. Set me back nearly 100.000 gold pieces, I could've lived like a king for that.

"Would be nice if, like in NWN1, their equipment got better with them"

 

Why? Unlike NWN1 OC, can't you just equip them yourselves, anyways? NPCs in SOU, or HOTU didn't have level up equipment. neither NWN2 OC or MOTB.

 

LOL, yeah, I can, but I'm being lazy They're cohorts, not PCs or companions, so I am extremely reluctant to give them any gear or waste enchantments on them.

 

Of course, all this is coming from the guy who hoards spells and single-use items to the extent that he rarely uses them. In any game with Vancian spell-casting, my spell-slingers spend more time slinging than they do with spells. I'm terrified to use resources only to find out that I'll need them later in the game (you should see how many potions I end up with; I think when I finished SoZ this evening my leader had three pages full of potions that I had picked up, and I hadn't used a single one).

Coincidentally, I listened to Scarborough Fair before hopping back into my SoZ. There I ran into a pair of bards by the name of Shymone and Scarbunkle singing a song that is shamelessly inspired from Scarborough Fair.

 

I LOLed

 

We gotta make a compilation list of Easter eggs.

Edited November 28, 200817 yr by Zoma

Sure - I'll add it too my first posts.

 

But please add any encounters you've found, because I only saw a handful.

He dies at the end.

He dies at the end.

 

I think you are talking about another game?

Another Easter:

 

There's an orc by the name of Feargus Orc-heart in a cabin having a party.