The Master's Staff and the Ambush

[Arcares]

I wasn't sure if I should post this in the bugs section or in the spoilers section.... but to be on the safe side, I'm posting it here.

It's my first time playing the game. Am loving it so far. (Put playing Angband on hold for TOME actually) I'm playing a human Alchemist and had just killed the Master in Dreadfell. I unlocked a new race out of it and the Island of Dread quest is now showing as done in my quest list. Now, I've read through some of the spoilers, and from what I gathered, I was supposed to get a staff, right? And that there was supposed to be an orc ambush after leaving Dreadfell? Well, he didn't drop any staff. I checked my inventory and didn't see anything. I'm confident I couldn't have missed anything on the floor since I obsessively gather equipment for my Extract Gem talent. I used a Rod of Recall and there was no ambush. I figured it'd happen sooner or later so I went to Last Hope to recharge my wands (Btw: Wand of Healing > Refit Golem). I even went back to Derth and Angolwen to check the stores and dropped some extra stuff back home in Sher'tul Fortress. (On an aside, Sher'tul Fortress is still showing as an active quest even after I got control of the fortress.) Anyway, kinda getting worried that there was a break in the game or something.

So... is this a bug? Or am I missing something?

[Grey]

Ouch, sounds like a very serious bug. Have you tried going back to Dreadfell and looking for the staff around the area where you killed the Master?

[Arcares]

Ohh. So it is a bug... Yep. Was just going up and down the last levels. I've looked everywhere in the last level, and I can't find the thing. Got a couple of levels out of it and some nice equipment though. Dreadfell is a great place to level up, it seems. Since most of the monsters are weak to light and my staff deals light damage, it's been an efficient waste of time.

Anyway, if it is a bug though, I guess I'll look into the whole cheat console thing that I read up somewhere. There should be a way to give myself the staff. Hmm... might as well take this as an opportunity to learn the console.

EDIT:
I used cheat mode to create the Master again. Killing him again did not make him drop the staff. (Did unlock another undead race though.) I looked at the create item list but the staff isn't there. Have yet to try the lua console.

[Grey]

Have you tried speaking to the elder in Last Hope and seeing if the plot dialogue is triggered? I'm pretty sure it won't work but give it a go...

[Arcares]

Huh, didn't know there was anyone at all in Last Hope. Didn't think to try opening doors. Anyway, just tried it now. And nope, that didn't work.

EDIT:
Ok. Fixed it now. Just granted myself the quest Staff of Absorption.

[Arcares]

I spoke to soon. After `dying' from the ambush, I was stuck in the orc ambush level. All the orcs disappeared, and I couldn't use the RoR to leave either.

[Grey]

Can you use cheat mode to replace yourself on the world map?

[Arcares]

To answer your question... Yes. I suspect I got stuck then since I gave myself the quest without having the staff. The game probably checks my inventory for the staff so it can take it. Without me losing it since I didn't have it, I guess the exit portal didn't show. The same problem remains, then, when I change zone via cheats. When I go talk to the Elder, I don't have the Staff to give, nor say that the orcs took it because they couldn't. Talking to the Elder just ends with a dialog I can't escape from.

But! I finally fixed it, I think. Since the staff wasn't in the Create Item menu in the cheats, I used the create all artifacts option instead. I just picked the Staff from the pile of artifacts generated. I spent a while looking through the code, though, to see what function I could use in to generate an item in the level. Shame that I couldn't do it via console in the end.

Anyway, I have my worries though because of the pile of generated artifacts left in Dreadfell. Does the game stop the generation of new artifacts if the same artifact has already been generated?

[Grey]

Hmm, it would stop artifact generation, yes. You'd need to get the artifacts flushed back into the world. I think revisiting the level later on might do this. Otherwise sell them all to a shop. There may be difficulties with other guaranteed artifacts. What a can of worms... :\

[Arcares]

Haha. C'est la vie. I guess I'm going back to Dreadfell then. As for the other guaranteed artifacts later on... Well, if push comes to shove, I'll generate them as well. All in all, at least I can still play on.

Thank you for your help.

[Grey]

You should make a post in the bugs section about the staff not appearing - hopefully DarkGod will be able to find out the cause and fix it.