Newbie questions

[Korva]

Howdy all. I got into this game about two weeks ago and am quite hooked. Before I pitch a few questions, let me say thank you to the good folks writing class guides, which has helped me quite a bit with getting the hang of things.

1) My highest level character is a 46 Thalore Wyrmic (Antimagic path) who has nothing left to do but dive into the Slime Tunnels and High Peak. Or pop open the killer vault in Vor Armory if I was feeling crazy. Can I expect to hit 50 with her before the final fight, or should I try my luck on a few farportals first, which I've never attempted yet? She still has all her lives as well as the Blood of Life and a certain ring. So I can take a few risks still. Can you return/recall from the Slime Tunnels? I hear you can't do that in High Peak.

2) What's the deal with the Fragmented Essence of Harkor'Zun? I know it's for an achievement/unlock, but I can't get it to work. One of my characters found and killed one of the things in Daikara and got multiple messages of them merging, or something like that. Yet no new enemy appeared. Another killed ~5 in Daikara and that was it, no further fragments, no message, no boss. Both characters have run circles through the respective level trying to lure out any shy stragglers, without luck.

3) Yet another character (I have a bad case of altitis) found a bunch of neutral elven cultists in Daikara. Each initially spawned near a monolith but then decided to follow me around, which was freaky since I kept worrying that I might aggro one and get blasted to bits by spellspam from the bunch of them. I couldn't talk to them or do anything with the monoliths, and when I left the level and returned later to tackle the Temporal Rift, the cultists were gone. Just a random flavor thing, or did I miss anything?

4) The second character I sent east is a Dwarf Alchemist. I think the elf lady zapped my golem when we intervened to help her, because the bloody thing returned fire once the orc was dead. Maybe I'm overlooking something very obvious, but is there a way to tell the golem to stop attacking someone? If I try to assign an empty tile as its target, it just sticks to whatever it's currently flailing at.

5) If I buy a special item from the Last Hope merchant, is there a risk of getting an arcane item for an Antimagic character (or vice versa, a disrupting item for a caster)?

Bonus question: does anyone else hate random unique runed/eternal bone giants as much as I do? Is there any way to stop them from ressing themselves over and over? I want to bite my keyboard every time I see one. The one thing in the game that said Wyrmic has been unable to kill so far was a bone giant in the Vor Armory. It couldn't actually hurt her noticeably, but no matter how hard I tried to nuke it, it'd always heal before I could shave off its last percents of health.

[wobbly]

4) The second character I sent east is a Dwarf Alchemist. I think the elf lady zapped my golem when we intervened to help her, because the bloody thing returned fire once the orc was dead. Maybe I'm overlooking something very obvious, but is there a way to tell the golem to stop attacking someone? If I try to assign an empty tile as its target, it just sticks to whatever it's currently flailing at.

You can turn off all his talents including attack in the tactical talent usage menu. Give order -> define tactical talents.

[nate]

1) My highest level character is a 46 Thalore Wyrmic (Antimagic path) who has nothing left to do but dive into the Slime Tunnels and High Peak.

46 seems a bit low. I'd try some farportals. You can return from Slime Tunnels, but really, it's a nothing zone.

2) What's the deal with the Fragmented Essence of Harkor'Zun?

Dunno, big bad Harkor always spawned for me. Maybe next time it'll work for you. There's nothing special that you're not doing.

3) Yet another character (I have a bad case of altitis) found a bunch of neutral elven cultists in Daikara. Just a random flavor thing, or did I miss anything?

Flavor, vault kinda thing. If you kill one, it summons a big baddy to hurt you. Sometimes the big baddy has drops.

5) If I buy a special item from the Last Hope merchant, is there a risk of getting an arcane item for an Antimagic character (or vice versa, a disrupting item for a caster)?

Nope, looked through the code, it checks.

Bonus question: does anyone else hate random unique runed/eternal bone giants as much as I do?

I did-- because I didn't understand what was going on. They have lots of defensive talents, but they only really have one rez. Once it's used, it's gone. (I think they have a couple of heals too?) Just don't change levels (which will reset the mob) and you can kill it. Which, you have to do twice.

[Darkmere]

I've started the high peak sequence as low as 44 before, it depends on how your kit is (and if you desperately need something in one area you're lacking, I guess). You can usually squeeze a level or two in before the summit, and leveling during the final fight is probably the best strategy for it.

I think once the anorithil turns hostile via golem-slap or a reflected AoE, she stays that way.

[Korva]

Thanks everyone. Yes, she still had the little chat bubble on her icon but talking to her was impossible. As much as I enjoy the bomb-tossing aspect of the class, the golem can be frustrating.

I'll try to hit 47 before tackling the Tunnels, then. Love playing Thaloren, but you do notice the XP penalty. And I'm glad the merchant is "fair" in terms of arcane/disrupting gear, thumbs up for that.

The thing with HarkorZun is a bit aggravating because I want the unlock legitimately. If he doesn't spawn properly the next time I meet his fragments, I might change my mind though.

Regarding bone giants, I'm relieved that the actual res only works once, but I've definitely had them pop back to full health repeatedly. Still, there's no must-kill bone giant boss as far as I know, so I guess it's just a reminder that this is a roguelike and I don't have to and can't necessarily expect to always kill everything.

[kazak]

Harkor Zun: the only thing that comes to mind is, he can move through walls. Sometimes guys who can move through walls, if they don't target you, just tend to mull around inside the wall. If that's the case, you can run around casting track or a detect wand or something like that until you find him, then dig him out.

[omero]

2) What's the deal with the Fragmented Essence of Harkor'Zun? I know it's for an achievement/unlock, but I can't get it to work. One of my characters found and killed one of the things in Daikara and got multiple messages of them merging, or something like that. Yet no new enemy appeared. Another killed ~5 in Daikara and that was it, no further fragments, no message, no boss. Both characters have run circles through the respective level trying to lure out any shy stragglers, without luck.

Weird. I just experienced something similar... On the 1st level of the Daikara, I met 3 fragments of the Fragmented Essence of Harkor'Zun.
No more fragments after the whole level was thoroughly inspected and cleared, giants' village included.

[edit]
Reported in the bugs section: http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=37104

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

I'm not sure that worrying over those levels would be an issue, though the thaloren exp penalty would play a role. High peak will almost guarantee you at least one more level, and the final bosses are worth a frigging crapton. My cornac anorithil went from 46 or 47 to 50 from killing just ONE of them, not counting stuff I gained on my way up high peak. And farportals can be ridiculously lethal if a bad boss decides to show up. They can also be cakewalks, but is it worth the risk?

The elven cultist event sounds like it bugged for you. They aren't supposed to follow you, but if one dies, a timer starts. Timer ends and boss is summoned, and always drops one specific artifact, and MAY drop more stuff on top of that. It's not an easy fight, wait util you're level 30+ at least.

Harky shows up on pretty much every game, you won't need to worry about that being a hard unlock. Typically he shows up in daikara, usually when you have to escort something past him. (Have fun with that.)

[Mewtarthio]

I've had the cultists follow me, too. I'm not sure what causes it, but it's really creepy. I generally leave them alone, myself.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

I've had the cultists follow me, too. I'm not sure what causes it, but it's really creepy. I generally leave them alone, myself.

It's not creepy at all. You're just irresistibly attractive to elves.

Though perhaps that holds it's own bit of creepiness?

[Korva]

Turns out the cultists didn't vanish on me after all, they were just hiding in a far corner.

Anyway, that character is currently looking for her last escort quest. Can they appear in other places beside the six starter zones, Daikara and Dreadfell? I've double- and triple-checked those without any luck.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

Escorts can appear in the first two tier one dungeons you do. If you start in one and leave, it usually won't count that one, unless an escort was generated on floor one when you were born (never seen that happen) so the first two you actually explored through. Then, can appear in old forest and Daikara for the tier 2 dungeons. After that they can appear in Dreadfell, and if you still haven't found them all yet, they can appear in the Ruins of Reknor. (This is the storyline location after Dreadfell.)

No escorts appear in any other locations then that.

[Nimmy]

Harkor Zun: the only thing that comes to mind is, he can move through walls. Sometimes guys who can move through walls, if they don't target you, just tend to mull around inside the wall. If that's the case, you can run around casting track or a detect wand or something like that until you find him, then dig him out.

Ditto. It happened to me the first time, I had to use my pickaxe to carve the walls randomly until I found him...

[Korva]

Belated thanks again. Should have guessed that Reknor was a possible escort place, the last one did indeed hide there. And I can happily claim my first victory with my Thalore Wyrmic. The vault shows only one death, but there were two, both in the final battle (plus at least three very close calls there) -- I guess having drunk the Blood of Life made the first death not count. Hard fight, good fun.