I beta'd this part of the quest pack a few years ago, but didn't see it through it's evolutions since then, and hoped to give some beta-tester like opinions on the final product, hope no one minds
It was a -lot- of fun, I only wish I didn't feel so evil for backstabbing Aran, since he never backstabbed me. Yes, I know, I know, they're evil bastards anyway, but it does still feel kinda treasonous, he kept his word to me at least. I almost feel like in his place, I'd be legitimately thinking "No good deed goes unpunished, in my next life I'll be sure not to do anything good for anyone "good" even if it serves my interests too". Especially since he -just- gave me help taking down Bohdi for the 2nd time too.
Is there any tie in between the Carrack quest and this? If there is, I managed to miss it, he left in Chapter 3 plotting revenge against the Shadow Thieves and here they're all dead and he doesn't even say "yay". Seems like there should be some way to get him involved if even peripherally, if only to give further justification to a good party to betray Aran.
Anyways. Small possible bug here? I walked into Aran Linvail's office with Keldorn, Minsc, Jaheira, Aerie and Imoen. Aran says "How could I not have anticipated this?" Then Keldorn talks first, they taunt each other a bit, then Aran says to Imoen something like "And you Imoen, no gratitude?" and she says something like "I'm glad you were willing to rescue me, but that doesn't excuse all the other bad things you've done.". Then I click on the button which says "Continue" at the bottom, and the conversation aborts and the fight starts. Between the fact that he never talks to -me-, and that the button says "Continue" instead of "End Dialogue", I'm guessing this is aborting prematurely. If that really is all there is to that conversation, I'd recommend adding a bit more back and forth, it seems a bit anticlimatic after killing what seems like a hundred thieves to get to him. I'd expect him to try to bribe you or something, at least - it's not like he lacks for money, and considering how many thieves you killed to get to him -and- you very probably killed Bohdi before doing this too, he can't be too optimistic about his own chances.
Incidentally, as a test, I thought I'd try dumping all my npc's and see what happened if I confronted him solo. I got the "How could I not have anticipated this?" followed by "Well, let's see who emerges the victor!". That second line may be all that's getting aborted, in which case no big deal, but in case there's something else missing, thought I'd mention it.
Anyways, let me wrap up by saying how much better Quest Pack has gotten since the last time I played through, and to commend Simding on a job very well done
Qwinn