Keldorn's Old Friend

[icelus]

This quest was never detailed by David Gaider--only it's sheer existence was hinted at in his posts. Luckily, however, Bioware neglected to cut the dialog entries from the dialog.tlk file that concern the quest. Here is what we know:

"KELDORN'S OLD FRIEND - DIALOG.TLK ENTRIES


@10935 = ~Vakola attempts to take revenge on Keldorn.

We met up with an old acquaintance of Keldorn's... a man by the name of Vakola, who holds Keldorn responsible for some manner of 'betrayal' which Keldorn denies.~

@15122 = ~Vakola~
@15123 = ~Vakola~
@16533 = ~Vakola attempts to take revenge on Keldorn.

We encountered Keldorn's old 'friend', Vakola, again in the Sea's Bounty. This time, it became apparent that Keldorn and Vakola were once team-members in the Order, and that Keldorn turned him in for accepting bribes. The man's bitterness brought him and his friends to attack Keldorn and I... and now he is dead.~ "

There is a lot that can be done with this quest. The only thing we've come up with so far as a possibility is that Vakola, the ex-Order Knight, somehow got involved with either the slave or black lotus trade. The black lotus trade would be a bit more plausible, and wouldn't involve any major conspiracy theory involvement.

Questions? Comments? Ideas?


(The original thread can be obtained in .mht format here.)

[discharger12]

Finally a way to restore the black lotus quest 

[LTA]

What is the Black Lotus...?
...and what quest?

[discharger12]

What is the Black Lotus...?
...and what quest?

When you go to the gate in Athkatla, you see a guard who talks to a thief. The theif bribes him with black lotus, then walks on his way.

Talk to the guard about it, he won't say much.

[Alarielle]

Black lotus is a drug or something, isn't it?

[Kish]

Yes.  There is no quest associated with it.

[discharger12]

Yes.  There is no quest associated with it.

But didn't Icelus just state that in top post?

[Kish]

Icelus said that there was a cut quest associated with Keldorn's old friend, and said that UB will probably, in the absence of knowledge of precisely what Vakola did to get kicked out of the Order, connect him to the Black Lotus trade--not that there was a cut quest associated with the Black Lotus trade.

[Mongoose87]

Personally I'd jsut liek to get that little loose end tie up.  Not beign able to do anything with it has bugged me for a while.

[discharger12]

Icelus said that there was a cut quest associated with Keldorn's old friend, and said that UB will probably, in the absence of knowledge of precisely what Vakola did to get kicked out of the Order, connect him to the Black Lotus trade--not that there was a cut quest associated with the Black Lotus trade.

I mean that it has the Black lotus trade associatied with Keldorn's old friend, whether you not a cut quieist thing

[Kish]

Loose end? o_O  The existence of things in Athkatla the PC isn't involved with is hardly a loose end.

[Mongoose87]

Everything the PC is unable to interfere with is a loose end.  Especially stuff irrelevant to the main quest.

[Kish]

Okay, that's a bizarre idea.  Why do you think that?

[Mongoose87]

Actualy that was a joke

[chaz58]

Too sarcastic for your own good, eh?

Next time, use a 

[Alarielle]

or a 

[jester]

Everything the PC is unable to interfere with is a loose end.  Especially stuff irrelevant to the main quest.

ROFLMAO

Can I romance him, if I am a LG half-orc wizard slayer? Please.

[Cybersquirt]

you're forgetting teh Gollum!!!?//11 

[mcruz]

There is a lot that can be done with this quest. The only thing we've come up with so far as a possibility is that Vakola, the ex-Order Knight, somehow got involved with either the slave or black lotus trade. The black lotus trade would be a bit more plausible, and wouldn't involve any major conspiracy theory involvement.

Questions? Comments? Ideas?

Either way you look at it would have most likely resulted in Vakola being kicked out of the Order, and yes the black lotus trade would seem more plausible as long as Vakola is not linked to Anarg and the fallen paladins who I think were actually involved with the slave trade.  Besides that i don't know, but i guess it would depend on whether Keldorn is his superior, equal or under Vakola in terms of rank.  Perhaps Vakola felt that Keldorn didn't try to help him when he needed his help or he just assumed that Keldorn also condemned him and thus resents him for this.

Another interesting possiblity could be having Vakola linked to the cult of the Unseeing Eye maybe because that's how you originally meet Keldorn.

[Mana Garmr]

Either way you look at it would have most likely resulted in Vakola being kicked out of the Order, and yes the black lotus trade would seem more plausible as long as Vakola is not linked to Anarg and the fallen paladins who I think were actually involved with the slave trade.  Besides that i don't know, but i guess it would depend on whether Keldorn is his superior, equal or under Vakola in terms of rank.  Perhaps Vakola felt that Keldorn didn't try to help him when he needed his help or he just assumed that Keldorn also condemned him and thus resents him for this.

Another interesting possiblity could be having Vakola linked to the cult of the Unseeing Eye maybe because that's how you originally meet Keldorn.

It might actually make sense for him to be linked to Anarg and the others though. Since they all have something in common, being kicked out of the order, it would make a sort of sense that they would keep in contact, at least a little.

Maybe you could find a note on Anarg's corpse from Vakola as a kind of prelude to the quest. Then Vakola comes looking for Keldorn because he heard about his involvement in destroying the slave ring and that led him to try to find your party.

[amazinggameguru]

Quick thought on a possible quest related to this. 
If Keldorn is in your party you are approached by a woman or child that has a package.  The package is "medicine" to be delivered to a close friend in the docks. 
The friend can be found in the seas bounty. 
When the package is delivered the pc/keldorn is confronted by an "undercover" Amnish Soldier
It is revealed that the "medicine" is really black lotus and that they have been set up. 
PC offered chance to "redeem" themselves by taking care of a problem for the city of Amn
This could be to take out a group of bandits (really a group of rangers or harpers trying to stop the black lotus trade)
If they refuse Vakola and his men appear and after quick dialog they attack.
If they accept the job there is another chance to find out they have been duped when they get to the "bandit" camp
Upon returning to the seas bounty (regardless of whether they killed the bandits or not) they find Vakola and gang who will then give his dialog and attack.  If the party killed the bandits it will be a dialog option for Vakola to gloat over the fact.
Maybe an optional choice of alerting the chief inspector in the gov district before confronting Vakola and having some amnish soldiers to back you up.

[icelus]

Some old PMs I just came across:

I do think the Keldorn and old buddy Vakola has a lot of legs to it. Although the first suggestion I would make is to keep it divorced of any of the existing 'illicit trades' the game has going. Black Lotus and slaves are all well and good, but a little innovation is always good.

Some ideas for what Vakola could be up to...

Classic mafia activity (numbers, prostitution, racketeering, shakedowns) So in general, up to his eyeballs with Aran Linvail or one of his lieutenants.

Smuggling. Always a classic. Involved in smuggling Maztican goods. Nothing really illicit like drugs or slaves, but regular goods but not through customs/tax officials. Perhaps using his influence to get things offloaded at the docks without official documents. Nothing horribly evil, just not good. I think it could be an intersting 'grey area' quest. Sure Vakola wants revenge because his smuggling was made more difficult, but he wasn't smuggling anything really evil.

The unlicensed magic trade. Lets say he's helping wizards get materials, helping them stay out of notice of the Cowlies, and even getting people out of town from the Cowlies when they cross them. Not helping necromancers but helping the good wizards and such. An opportunity to really portray Vakola as a truly good person, just one operating outside of the law (huge grudge against the Cowlies perhaps?) and feels betrayed that the Order decided to side with the Cowlies and boot him and feels that maybe the Order has lost its way? The old abandoned zealot routine?

Well, just some ideas to chew on. I like the last two better because just another villain is kinda boring, but a good moral quandry and shaky grounds like that, always makes for a good story.

Thanks. Just as a clarification to the Cowlies subplot, I don't necessarily see a double standard. What you have is a man who did break the tenets of the Order in performing what is an illegal activity. When he gets found out, despite his protestations that he is trying to help good honest people access magic, he is still booted (he is breaking the law and making a profit ) And what you have is a very angry man who wants to show the Order he was on the right track. That the Cowlies are bad.. maybe in his desire to prove himself right, he goes off the rails, to plan an assault on the Order House with fake Cowlie mages. Or is planning to, and CHARNAME and Keldorn can stop him by talking him out of it and convincing him to try a different route, kill him, or agree with him and go along with him. If it happens in CH 6, you'd have a very motivated Imoen who'd definitely have something to say on the Cowlies...

Yeah.. the Maztica thing is a bit weak.. but it can be smuggling of other luxuries. *shrug* And prostitution does have its amusing features too....