Northeast Hive

The Hive (AR0200)

   From the mortuary you enter the Hive. To learn more about the hive, talk to the citizens. Be careful however with the Hive thugs. Some of them attack you when you ask them a question and their friends will help them. If you like to fight and gain some XP go for it, if not then save regularly and run away. Talk to everyone else though, they give you valuable information of the environment. One thing you will learn is that there are 5 areas in the hive Northeast, Southeast, Northeast, Southwest and the Ragpicker's Square. Additionally there is also an alley between the NE and the SW.

Pox

   Near the entrance to the Mortuary stands a collector named Pox. He knows you and has means of taking you inside the mortuary. You just got out and don't want to go in just yet, but it might come in handy at a later time.

A Monument

   At the Dustman Monument you'll meet Sev'Tai. She'll offer the possibility to go on a quest to kill three Dog Barking thugs that killed here sister. Well that's something we'll do at a later time. Also talk to the dustman there about the monument and what it is for.

Where is my plane

   There is also a woman running around, stop her and find out her name is Ingress. She'll tell you about the gates to the other planes and that she has been trying to find the gate back to her own plane. Offer to help her in finding an experienced planewalker that can lead her back home.

Baen the Sender

   Baen the sender is somewhere walking around there too. He is looking for somebody named Craddock because he needs to give him a message. Offer him to give Craddock the message when you find him.

You also meet Annah at the monument in the centre. You can ask her about Pharod, but you don't get a lot wiser from her yet.

The Post

   There is a zombie named "The Post" from which you can get a cobblestone (another useless item). He also has some notices on him, read them. One of them is a message about a hiring ad by a dustman named Norochj at the Gathering Dust Bar, Which is the building behind the zombie. Also a notice from the "office of Vermin and Decease control" that offer a bounty for every rat-tail that is brought to them. And last but not least it has some graffiti about Pharod.

Angyar and the Dustmen

   Now before you go into the bar first pay a visit to the house at the SE corner of the area. This is Angyar's house (AR0103), talk to his wife, She will tell you that Angyar has signed a contract with Mortai Gravesend. Promise her to try and undo it. This is the time to pay a visit to the Gathering Dust Bar (AR0205). Go talk to Norochj who will ask you to look into some troubles at the Mausoleum. Ofcourse you need the experience so you agree. Another dustman hanging around there is Awaiting-Death who wants to kill himself. It's up to you to stop him (500XP). Then there is Sere the Sceptic, who is sceptic (what a surprise). Go along with her scepticism and gain 500XP. Now talk to Mortai Gravesend who offers you a contract for 50 copper pieces, in order for the Dustmen to use your body after you've died. This is the type of contract Angyar signed. Just convince him to give you the contract of Angyar back and get 500XP and the contract. Finally talk to Emoric who wants to know where Pharod gets the bodies. Through him you can also join the dustmen. For the moment we do nothing of the kind and we leave the bar. Go back to Angyar and tear up the contract (750XP). Ask him a favour and let him tell you where Pharod is. He tells you the location and the way to get there. He appears to be on the other side of the portal at the Ragpickers Square through which you can jump holding some junk in your hand. Now this is what I call some solid information.

Character decisions

   Before we go on, let's get back to some of the game playing stuff. You start out in the game as a fighter, but you have the opportunity to change to a mage or a thief. If you wish to do so then go to the Ragpicker's square first. There you can become either a mage or a thief. If you do not wish to become a mage then you can still go there because there are some XP's to be gained saying that you want to be a mage. You can then still decide in the end not to become a mage and have the XP anyhow. If you want to be a mage or a thief this is the time to change, because the XP's you got up to now are added to your experience as a fighter. When you change to a mage, you basically restart and do not inherit the XP's you have as a fighter. So you should change early on in the game if you want to become a mage or a thief. I became a mage because the spell animations are so cool and this game emphasises not so much on combat in the early part of the game so you do get the time to raise your stats as a mage in order to get through the game. If you wish to become a mage or a thief then go to the north-east and progress to the next area then immediately go to the north and move on to the Ragpicker's square (which is described on the next page).