Rescuing the Imperial envoy

[BathtubPirate]

Indeed, someone else long ago changed the description for "man2" to say "Just the right thing to blend in well with the village idiots", so I played along.

But someone else had the idea in the first place.

If you solve the tavern drinks puzzle in Devlin Opera and then go look for Blaze and Bonnie in Santo Domingo, you meet another aptly named "man2".

The bonus quest was fun. I almost felt sorry for Uasco Mazinho when he said "but how can I unload your cargo when I'm tied up?" Only complaint: The quest book said I threw an ether bottle into the cave, whenin reality, I didn't even had one and instead went inside and talked to Jaime Something.

 

[Grey Roger]

First, as this is no longer about Letters of Marque, we're now in the section about the "Ardent" storyline.

The bonus quest was fun. I almost felt sorry for Uasco Mazinho when he said "but how can I unload your cargo when I'm tied up?" Only complaint: The quest book said I threw an ether bottle into the cave, whenin reality, I didn't even had one and instead went inside and talked to Jaime Something.

Where was Edmundo during all this? If you have no ether bottle, he should have a way to get one. Failing that, did you have any other officers with you?

 

[BathtubPirate]

Where was Edmundo during all this?

In jail, probably. I only had Fred Bob as an active officer when I was arrested. The Santiago governor's assistant got my out of the prison.

 

[Grey Roger]

Edmundo should never be stuck in jail (apart from Downing's dungeon a lot earlier in the story). If Grigrio Formoselle got you out of jail then Edmundo must have been unavailable for some reason - had you put him in command of a ship, perhaps?

Apart from Edmundo, any officers you had with you at the time of the arrest will have been taken from you. That doesn't prevent you from recruiting more after the escape, though.

There is a lot of code handling what happens at the cave because it can go all sorts of ways depending on whether you're carrying an ether bottle and who is with you. Simply walking in and talking is a last resort if you managed to arrive completely unprepared, with no useful equipment and no helper, and you presumably had to pay a lot of money for that lack of preparation.

 

[BathtubPirate]

Simply walking in and talking is a last resort if you managed to arrive completely unprepared, with no useful equipment and no helper, and you presumably had to pay a lot of money for that lack of preparation.

Well, it's what happened Edmundo wasn't in command of a ship, he was just not an active member of my party at the point where ships and officers are taken away and stored. Formoselle only gave me the ship and I don't normally carry ether bottles anyway. I only sawthe possibility of Edmundo intervening afterwards, when I read through the wiki walkthrough to see roughly, what else might have happened.

 

[Grey Roger]

Thanks for that. The check on whether Edmundo is available for the rescue will now check if he's a passenger, not just an officer. (On the other hand, if he'd been in command of a ship, he should have shown up anyway.) And I'm adding a new quest attribute when you throw the ether bottle, then various places check for it to decide which questbook line to add - the lines for when you don't have a bottle were already in the file and are used for some occasions, now they'll be used for more occasions.

Next time, make sure you have an officer, whether Edmundo or a new recruit after the prison escape, active with you when you go to the cave. If you didn't bring an ether bottle but did bring Edmundo, he may have a way to get one. Otherwise, you go into the cave, talk to Jaime Lezcano, leave the cave to negotiate - see what happens if you choose not to pay him...

 

[BathtubPirate]

Next time, make sure you have an officer, whether Edmundo or a new recruit after the prison escape, active with you when you go to the cave.

Okay, it's just because Edmundo didn't show up ever and I felt there was no need to recruit some Bloke from the tavern during this temporary quest, since I knew everything would be restored soon, I don't run around as a full group anway as long as it isn't neccessary, and the current status doesn't require it either. I can easily go through life and especially boardings with just Fred Bob active, and neither Fred Bob nor Helen get many scratches in battle.

 

[Grey Roger]

Having more officers is a good thing anyway. They earn experience in their specific jobs more quickly than you - for example, if you hire a gunner, he'll gain XP in "Cannons" and "Accuracy" more quickly than you when you're in sea battles. If he's not joining you on land then you can concentrate on giving him all the gunnery abilities - he won't need melee abilities if he's not getting into personal fights, and he won't be able to use other abilities which are listed as not contributing. So you concentrate on giving yourself melee abilities, give the gunner his gunnery abilities, give the carpenter his damage control and repair abilities, and so on. If you want to attack forts, even with the Dauphin Royale, a good gunner and a good carpenter with high skills and all their relevant abilities can make a big difference!