The Nest Above the Clouds - bad design?

[dirigible]

So in this quest, a sky dragon has taken over a temple of Hylea in order to raise its hatchling.

 

You can talk with the dragon, but there's almost no point. Despite there being multiple ways to question the dragon's judgement or suggest it should leave, it will invariably attack you unless you just agree with it completely.

 

Given the fact that Hylia would clearly value the dragon's life (since Hylia is the goddess of flying creatures and motherhood), AND the fact that Hylia clearly cares about her priests who were driven from the temple (she gave you a vision to help them), there is absolutely no way to broker any kind of truce.

 

This just feels like lazy writing/quest design. Am I alone in this? Anyone feel the same way?

[Wulfram]

The wiki seems to suggest you can allow it to flee with it's kid, though only after it's mortally wounded. I don't know how to trigger that, though, it just died for me.

[Sylvanpyxie]

I spared the dragon and still managed to obtain Bird Brain's blessing... It's entirely possible.

 

Her followers were also accepting of it, given they understand what their Goddess stands for, well... The loud mouth one wasn't, but the guy was.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Sylvanpyxie

[Wulfram]

I'd have liked to be able to negotiate a "stay, but promise not to eat people" option.

[dirigible]

The wiki seems to suggest you can allow it to flee with it's kid, though only after it's mortally wounded. I don't know how to trigger that, though, it just died for me.

Yeah that didn't work for me, either. It just died.

[rdarken]

I was able to let the dragon to stay and still got Hylea's blessing, so it's totally possible. One of the two followers at her ruined temple wasn't too crazy about it, but the other dug it.

[sparklecat]

Yep, I left the dragon and her kid alone, and Hylea was fine with it.

 

Also led to one of my favourite dialogue exchanges (paraphrasing here):

 

Hylea: You spared the dragon?  But the value of life is in creation; what do dragons create?

Me: More dragons!

[Rosveen]

Yep, I left the dragon and her kid alone, and Hylea was fine with it.

 

Also led to one of my favourite dialogue exchanges (paraphrasing here):

 

Hylea: You spared the dragon? But the value of life is in creation; what do dragons create?

Me: More dragons!

Lol, yeah, that response was hilarious. But it totally makes sense, she should appreciate parenthood, no?

 

How did she react to it, by the way? I went with fire. My actual motivation was death, but I figured it doesn't mesh well with her question about creation. I did choose Berath's way in the end...

Edited April 10, 2015 by Rosveen

[Blovski]

So in this quest, a sky dragon has taken over a temple of Hylea in order to raise its hatchling.

 

You can talk with the dragon, but there's almost no point. Despite there being multiple ways to question the dragon's judgement or suggest it should leave, it will invariably attack you unless you just agree with it completely.

 

Given the fact that Hylia would clearly value the dragon's life (since Hylia is the goddess of flying creatures and motherhood), AND the fact that Hylia clearly cares about her priests who were driven from the temple (she gave you a vision to help them), there is absolutely no way to broker any kind of truce.

 

This just feels like lazy writing/quest design. Am I alone in this? Anyone feel the same way?

I most definitely brokered a truce there on my second runthrough.

[Rosveen]

 

 

So in this quest, a sky dragon has taken over a temple of Hylea in order to raise its hatchling.

 

You can talk with the dragon, but there's almost no point. Despite there being multiple ways to question the dragon's judgement or suggest it should leave, it will invariably attack you unless you just agree with it completely.

 

Given the fact that Hylia would clearly value the dragon's life (since Hylia is the goddess of flying creatures and motherhood), AND the fact that Hylia clearly cares about her priests who were driven from the temple (she gave you a vision to help them), there is absolutely no way to broker any kind of truce.

 

This just feels like lazy writing/quest design. Am I alone in this? Anyone feel the same way?

I most definitely brokered a truce there on my second runthrough.

How? You can convince Hylea to accept your decision to leave the dragon alive, but you can't actually talk the dragon into living semi-peacefully. She and her kids are still a massive danger to all kith in the vicinity and the temple stays unusable.

 

Not that I complain, I mean it's a dragon, I can't blame her for not caring what pesky little humans want of her.

[Gallenger]

I felt happy with the decision to leave the dragon up there.

 

A.  The folks in Eir Glanfath could likely cut a deal with her - just let her eat all the looters!

B.  With a massive dragon and her brood kicking around, maybe the tribes in Twin Elms won't be so nasty to each other, I mean, a moment of weakness could bring dragon sponsored death from the sky!

C.  Hylea gets a new temple, eventually. 

[sparklecat]

 

Yep, I left the dragon and her kid alone, and Hylea was fine with it.

 

Also led to one of my favourite dialogue exchanges (paraphrasing here):

 

Hylea: You spared the dragon? But the value of life is in creation; what do dragons create?

Me: More dragons!

Lol, yeah, that response was hilarious. But it totally makes sense, she should appreciate parenthood, no?

 

How did she react to it, by the way? I went with fire. My actual motivation was death, but I figured it doesn't mesh well with her question about creation. I did choose Berath's way in the end...

 

Hylea: ...that's circular, but yeah, okay.

Edited April 10, 2015 by sparklecat

[Sonntam]

Hylea is not a godess of kith, but of all winged creatures and parenthood. No surprise she played favorites with the dragon mother.

[rdarken]

 

 

So in this quest, a sky dragon has taken over a temple of Hylea in order to raise its hatchling.

 

You can talk with the dragon, but there's almost no point. Despite there being multiple ways to question the dragon's judgement or suggest it should leave, it will invariably attack you unless you just agree with it completely.

 

Given the fact that Hylia would clearly value the dragon's life (since Hylia is the goddess of flying creatures and motherhood), AND the fact that Hylia clearly cares about her priests who were driven from the temple (she gave you a vision to help them), there is absolutely no way to broker any kind of truce.

 

This just feels like lazy writing/quest design. Am I alone in this? Anyone feel the same way?

I most definitely brokered a truce there on my second runthrough.

How? You can convince Hylea to accept your decision to leave the dragon alive, but you can't actually talk the dragon into living semi-peacefully. She and her kids are still a massive danger to all kith in the vicinity and the temple stays unusable.

 

Not that I complain, I mean it's a dragon, I can't blame her for not caring what pesky little humans want of her.

 

 

Just to interject here: According to the Wiki (spoilers on the page), mature dragons do not seek unecessary conflict, so it's possible they could live in relative peace, as long as the dang humans leave them alone After all, she didn't attack us on sight, so she's not some total murderer

[Rosveen]

 

 

 

So in this quest, a sky dragon has taken over a temple of Hylea in order to raise its hatchling.

 

You can talk with the dragon, but there's almost no point. Despite there being multiple ways to question the dragon's judgement or suggest it should leave, it will invariably attack you unless you just agree with it completely.

 

Given the fact that Hylia would clearly value the dragon's life (since Hylia is the goddess of flying creatures and motherhood), AND the fact that Hylia clearly cares about her priests who were driven from the temple (she gave you a vision to help them), there is absolutely no way to broker any kind of truce.

 

This just feels like lazy writing/quest design. Am I alone in this? Anyone feel the same way?

I most definitely brokered a truce there on my second runthrough.

How? You can convince Hylea to accept your decision to leave the dragon alive, but you can't actually talk the dragon into living semi-peacefully. She and her kids are still a massive danger to all kith in the vicinity and the temple stays unusable.

 

Not that I complain, I mean it's a dragon, I can't blame her for not caring what pesky little humans want of her.

 

 

Just to interject here: According to the Wiki (spoilers on the page), mature dragons do not seek unecessary conflict, so it's possible they could live in relative peace, as long as the dang humans leave them alone After all, she didn't attack us on sight, so she's not some total murderer

 

Nice to know. So I guess she chased away the priests to make the temple a safe place for her and her young? However, the wyrms could still be a problem, as they're highly aggressive.

[Althernai]

I kind of felt bad about killing her, but there doesn't seem to be a good way to deal with this situation. She murdered a lot of people (check out all of the piles of bones lying around) and has absolutely no compunction about continuing in the same vein. Sorry dragon, but if that's how you want to be, there's no place there for you.

 

I'm curious about how you can chase her away though. I guess you have to spare the wyrmling until the dragon is down to Near Death? I might give it a try on my next playthrough.

[Darkcloud1987]

I kind of felt bad about killing her, but there doesn't seem to be a good way to deal with this situation. She murdered a lot of people (check out all of the piles of bones lying around) and has absolutely no compunction about continuing in the same vein. Sorry dragon, but if that's how you want to be, there's no place there for you.

 

I'm curious about how you can chase her away though. I guess you have to spare the wyrmling until the dragon is down to Near Death? I might give it a try on my next playthrough.

She murdered a lot of people because they endangered her Hort. I mean how would you react if armed looters stormed into your Child's Room? 

[sparklecat]

 

I kind of felt bad about killing her, but there doesn't seem to be a good way to deal with this situation. She murdered a lot of people (check out all of the piles of bones lying around) and has absolutely no compunction about continuing in the same vein. Sorry dragon, but if that's how you want to be, there's no place there for you.

 

I'm curious about how you can chase her away though. I guess you have to spare the wyrmling until the dragon is down to Near Death? I might give it a try on my next playthrough.

She murdered a lot of people because they endangered her Hort. I mean how would you react if armed looters stormed into your Child's Room? 

 

She was the one who invaded the place, though.

[Volourn]

"Just to interject here: According to the Wiki (spoilers on the page), mature dragons do not seek unecessary conflict, so it's possible they could live in relative peace, as long as the dang humans leave them alone After all, she didn't attack us on sight, so she's not some total murderer"

 

She attacked the temple and murdered the priests. That makes her the invader and villain.

 

 

"She murdered a lot of people because they endangered her Hort. I mean how would you react if armed looters stormed into your Child's Room?"

\

She is the one who attacked the temple. She is the villain.

 

\Being a parent doesn't give you an excuse to murder someone in coldblpood or steal someone else's home/place of worship. That's evil. Plain and simple.

[Elerond]

 

 

I kind of felt bad about killing her, but there doesn't seem to be a good way to deal with this situation. She murdered a lot of people (check out all of the piles of bones lying around) and has absolutely no compunction about continuing in the same vein. Sorry dragon, but if that's how you want to be, there's no place there for you.

 

I'm curious about how you can chase her away though. I guess you have to spare the wyrmling until the dragon is down to Near Death? I might give it a try on my next playthrough.

She murdered a lot of people because they endangered her Hort. I mean how would you react if armed looters stormed into your Child's Room? 

 

She was the one who invaded the place, though.

 

 

It is called active self defense in this days, she just did preemptive attack to ensure safety of her family 

[LadyCrimson]

Dragon had to die. I wanted the dragon meat.

 

...well ok not really, but I didn't have much sympathy, since she invaded/killed to begin with, vs. trying to talk to them (since, hey, y'know, she can talk) and going "hey I need a cool place to raise my kid, can I stay here, I promise not to eat any villagers, just boars and deer." She gave a nice sob story, but ... nope, not buying it.

[b0rsuk]

Not all situations allow for a compromise. What's wrong with that ? And the dragon has already destroyed a temple and killed many people. It would be predictable and boring if every single quest had a peaceful solution.

 

The Sky Dragon is one of those quests which punishes you for being soft-hearted or cowardly. If you kill it, you get two Sky Dragon Eyes, which can enchant two weapons to Superb level. You also get to loot a nice warhammer.

 

The dragon just felt like it can whatever it wanted, because it's powerful. She's an arrogant bitch. Some people are too dumb to reason with.

 

 

Just to interject here: According to the Wiki (spoilers on the page), mature dragons do not seek unecessary conflict, so it's possible they could live in relative peace, as long as the dang humans leave them alone After all, she didn't attack us on sight, so she's not some total murderer

.

Ah, mature dragons. Then the dragon was immature.

 

Also, what if the hatchlings inherit the mother's nasty personality ? Hmm ?

Edited April 20, 2015 by b0rsuk

[DannyBarks]

Any tips for taking out the dragon?
I'm a filthy casual, but finding the fight really hard. I can get it down to about 20% health but with a fully wiped party.

Party: Eder, Durance, Aloth, Sagani, PC (paladin), Barbarian.

[Exyll]

Its a pretty standard tank n spank, except when she decides to fly into the air and then land directly behind your party.

Basically tank goes in first (after buffs) and watch the heals, theres no special move to watch for or anything like that.

 

I killed it to fill my bestiary, and also cause she  had a bit of an attitude which I didnt appreciate.

[Crucis]

Any tips for taking out the dragon?

I'm a filthy casual, but finding the fight really hard. I can get it down to about 20% health but with a fully wiped party.

Party: Eder, Durance, Aloth, Sagani, PC (paladin), Barbarian.

 

Pay close attention to the dragon's DR's.  (I don't know what they are, for what little it's worth.)  Try to use weapons and spells that attack the dragon's weak DR's not its strong ones.  Next time you fight the battle, if you get spanked, remember what those weak DR's were.  And if you don't have the right types of weapons equipped, switch in ones that are better for the weak DR's. 

 

Also, another thing that I've found worked for me in my first run through is this.  Some of the toughest bosses have ACC's that are high enough to rarely miss, except against someone with an EXTREMELY high DEFL for the current point in the game.  If you have some characters who have only middling DEFL ratings and who are wielding weapon and shield, you might want to consider switching them for a 2H weapon to get more punch.  If you're going to be hit anyways, better to have a beefier weapon in hand.

 

In this battle, I made sure to take the dragon's kid out asap.  It's a lot easier to kill, and it makes fighting mama easier when you don't have to worry about having junior harassing you. 

 

Something else, get your party spread out ASAP.  Don't clump up in a way that a single blast of her breath weapon will nail your entire party.

 

And it probably goes without saying, but I'll say it anyways.  This is a fight where you hold nothing back.  If you have to clean out your mage's spells, do it.  That said, you don't have to dump them in a massive hurry.  It may be a long fight, and if you can get a good feel for what spells will work better than others, use those.  Look at the dragon's reflex, will, and fort saves, and use spells that target the weakest one if possible.  Also check out its elemental DR's to see which elemental spells are more likely to do well.

 

Honestly, this is all pretty standard advice that was true for the old IE games and is still true.  But sometimes it bears repeating. 

 

 

EDIT: One last point.  In this sort of fight, I've found that it's best to hold Durance out of the melee.  He'll probably be using a lot of healing spells.  And when he isn't, just use whatever ranged weapon he's got equipped, preferably something like an arqabus.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Crucis