[ACT I] The Mystery of the stall-keeper and the suspicious meat, and more

[joriandrake]

[ACT I] The Mystery of the stall-keeper and the suspicious meat, and more

Hi allI can't figure out how to get this secret out, my guess is that the stall keeper uses either dead people as her 'meat', or undead's meat. I thought she misght get it from one of the 2 caves if i go there in the right time, i even killed the 'Plants' and hid in the dark. Maybe it was a bad idea to begin with, but maybe i just went there in the wrong time...I am also curious about her overall, she seems important somehow, or i think she is, but she definetly tries not to get into the 'spotlight' of events, i would even say she might be the real cause why the village suffers from the hellhound, or atleast partially...yes i know about Odo who killed his brother, and Odo's dog has to be actually in real the brother's (that is why it is guarding his dead master), and i know about the guard who raped the girl who's body can be found in the crypt....but the part of Alvin's vision about the witch doesnt fit: A witch killing kids because a hurt 'Puppy' and wolflike roaring? I don't think Abigail would be like that, and she has no dog (no, the dog at Odo's house s definetly not hers), i know she is not an innocent angel but she tries to play always the kind one, sells to anyone without asking what her potions would be used for, ect., she would never become so aggressive as in the vision.well, overall the little infos gathered made me wonder about the true story behind the beast...I am level 9 and near 10 by now, got the 2 trophies and made all known sidequests aswell, but as you can get info from people for gifts without a quest, or as you can have a nice afternoon with a peasant women without a real quest neither, couldn't it be that there is no quest for the stall-keeper and the real witch's finding but it is still possible?maybe i just had a false idea, but somehow i think the real witch from the vision might be the stall-keeper and her pet might be a wolf/werewolf from one of the dens what might only appear at the right time, and use her pet to gather 'meat.What do you think, anyone thought about this possibility yet, tried to find out where the stall-keeper gets her meat from yet? ???and something else: the potion Abigail makes for Alvin, i guess she lied about the recipe, but can it be made somehow? maybe using other indregients, like wine base (bought from Abigail) instead the flowers or the cadavrine? (I thought the winebase because it was mentioned that those flowers you have to gather are excellent for winebase, i guessed that might be something like concentrated 'flower' exctract then in alchemy) it would be interesting if we could get Alvin somehow have another vision before you talk to the Reverend so you have better knowledge about the full story. I restarted the game after I had to chose between abigail and the townspeople, i feel there might be a third option if we get enough info together, the many people talking about the bad meat of the vendor is a hint maybe, and i didn't find info yet about the possible daughter of the Reverend, who Abigail said was banned from the village by her own father because she was pregnant...something else: i like how info from tales help you in the missions, the tale about the drowned miller girl helped me to find 'her' at night and collect the first throphy then, i killed the alghould, but there i didn't find any info about the second 'boss', anyone found the backstory of it per chance?thanks for reading my thoughts about this, i am interested in your replies, and if anyone was able to find anything out about the stall-keeper.Also, was the game rushed? Might it be that i have athe right feeling but these things were cutted out? I also saw some little....goblins/kobolds around at some places and feelt like they should be part of a quest, but they weren't... (of course it can simply be that i await more from the game than there reall is :-[)

 

[hanni]

Damn, I cant wait untill you get in Chapter II lol. Because Chapter I is pretty straight forward if you ask me. You're in for plenty more of surpises believe you me.

 

[joriandrake]

Damn, I cant wait untill you get in Chapter II lol. Because Chapter I is pretty straight forward if you ask me. You're in for plenty more of surpises believe you me.

i wouldn't call it at all straightforward, as example: Abigail plays the innocent woman who is distrusted and hated and that men like her but as she doesn't give her to them they spread a rumour about her being a whore. On her witcher's notice on the board she salls herself a herbalist, but at this point you can allready ask yourself why a herbalist would need monster skulls?As you gain more informations, you see she calls herself a witch (i guess she realized that this would be obvious to Gerald), and that she is it really, but he plays still the innocent one till a point where she changes her shown attitude and says it is all not mattering to her, and she doesn't care on what people use her potions. Quite a good manipulator, right? You nearly don't even realize how much she hides because she always tries to change your view about her only slightly. Again and again till she is absolutely different from the innocent herbalist whom you met first.Actually thinking about the not 'shouted out' hints, the small stonethingy with a stock and skull upon it before her house might be a grave for something small, like a dog...maybe it is still she who revenged the death of her dog on kids? The 'Beast' as you know is said to be dead so death doesn't hurt him much, maybe the Beast is the manifestation of all the evil in the little village, but manifested in the body of the dead dog of Abigail, or just melted together with its own dead spirit?Let's see the facts, the 'Beast' is the best judge in the matter or who is responsible for its own existence, from the rumors you get to know:It appears at night before Abigails homeIt appears near at the bridge to the city (near to the 'docks' and the stall-keepers...stall, what also means the most nearest possible place to the chapel, out of the village)It haunts Odo sometimes (that is partially why he is so nervous and is always drunk)About Abigail these infos you will gather whatseems to be true:She had contact with the other Witcher, she had some of his things on her, but she doesn't tells this you till a lot laterShe sold a poison to Ilsa, who appears to made suicide because of rape, as later the salamanders say they raped Ilsa, so what Abigail says about the guard is partially a lie, he didn't rape the one he twistedly loved...atleast not alone (But yes, he did know about it, remember after you fight the salamanders at that bridge and talk to the guard later, when you say you find a dead woman who atracted the ghouls...he actually SAY THE NAME OF ILSA before you actually have a chance of finding out who the girl might be, my research says that the guard might be secretly a member of the salamanders, and even as he liked/loved Ilsa he hated it so much that he is not loved back that he and his fellow Salamanders raped her. This conclusion is a simply combination of the 2 facts that the salamanders said the raped the girl and that the guard already knew who the woman was without you knowing her name. Somewhere/sometimes it is mentioned in the game that salamanders also have the right to get into the City, this makes automaticly a possible salamader supporter/member of one of the guards at the gates, or the Reverend who can give out the needed papers. Both seem to be the case.)As Abigail sold the poison to Ilsa, it appears she knew why she kills herself because Ilsa told her about the group-raping, this is how she was able to say you later for her own defense that the guard raped Ilsa and now wants to blame it on her. After the character profile of Abigailt is quite clear that while she doesn't want to eat Alvin, she only wanted him because his abilities/visions.Abigail seems to have liked the brother of Odo, a known, beloved, rich, charming/heroic knight. (you can gather this together from rumors)She tried to 'bewitch' him, maybe only because she liked him, maybe because his wealth, but I guess because of both. You will find a doll that resembles Odo, or atleat Gerald himself says that once, but if you look in the game closer to the doll you will see the doll is quite average without facial resemblance to anyone...and its not fat. Siblings do look a bit like eachother.This is a part im unsure about, but i think this might have happened: Abigail tries to get the brother of Odo, Odo sees this and tries to intervene, then Abigail not using her natural charms anymore now tries to use 'voodoo' on the knight to get atleast the wealth if not a free-willed lover (not worth to use the puppet on Odo, it seems even Abigail has somekind of class in men what she doesn't get lower on, and if she would have wanted to hurt Odo himself then he would not live by now, she didn't kill him because that would not made her the legal inheritor of the riches and she didn't got into bed with him because he is too disgusting even for the witch), then Odo can't do anything else with a controlled brother than to kill him, so Abigail doesn't gain the knight nor the wealth, and Odo killed his brother (not because he wanted to save him from the witch, atleast i think the first thing if this would be the case would be to find help against the witch to break the controll over the knight, the 'why' was because Odo didn't wanted the wealth to get out of his hands, as he says to you once: he always knew being knight is dangerous, so he just wanted originally to wait till his brother dies on battlefield, but that didn't happen so when Abigail intervened in his plans he decided to kill his brother in sleep)this is not even half of the things, and i am still quite sure something is very wrong with the stall keeper aswellI love the hundreds of layers of charasteristics and shemes/plots in the game, i always loved detective books and hated to get to know who the real murder is in Sherlock Holmes stories, but here, even I am confused a lot of times and have to rethink things over and over again! ;D

 

[hanni]

I've got a feeling you're gonna love this game even more once you've finished Act I. Things get a bit more complicated after that lol.

 

[joriandrake]

I've got a feeling you're gonna love this game even more once you've finished Act I. Things get a bit more complicated after that lol.

The bandit merchant seems the most easier characters of this Act, he didn't kill anyone so he is not directly responsible for the Hellhound and Barghests, he trades with anyone, anything.It seems he knows a lot about the other occuring events and goals/plots of the others, and he tries to not get too much into the buisness of others, atleast if its not profitable to him.He is a criminal, but he is more openly that than the other people around the village, and he may even be of use to you if you don't mind to know that he is a bandit. (actually a little help needed here: if you spare the elves and ask him to get info about the dwarf, does he actually get any info on it later?)He is like a chameleon, but instead of disguising himself he 'uses' the morals and ambitions of the people surrounding him for his own profits. If his shop would be placed in a monastery and good people would surround him then he would look to the most people like a good man because the deals he does. He is like a tree that changes its colors as the sessions pass by.Maybe this passivity did add to the Beast, maybe it was that through him other bad people used his info/items to hurt others. Still, interestingly he is the one i consider the least guilty, but not at all innocent.He knows about the salamanders (you know that since start) but at the Act's end you get to know he also knew since he met you where the Salamander hideout is, and its possible he sold kids to them. (Salamanders who ask for orders from you instead attacking you on sight? The only possible explanation would be if they knew you to be working for them, like the bandit Merchant or the Reverent, or the guard)

 

[joriandrake]

Never had the idea but I truly like it! I love how people even if they can't find any real proves, get ideas about interesting and even maybe posible things.When I playd first time I had the idea that Meat-Seller is important, but forgot about that when other things got on my head. If you will have more ideas like that - please share them!

well yes, sadly i also 'learned' with time to overlook informations in games because they usually point out to the 'important'§ ones anyway,. this game however reminds me of the best days of my life, when i only read all day different detective books, where the reader itself can combinate and figure things out.I nearly never play and PC game twice, except those that capture me, and these are usually only because their story (like Gabriel Knight, Shadow of Memories, or Septerra Core), and i am already sure this game will be one of those (the 7th one to be exact) that i will replay atleast twice, and this time because both the hidden information shards and the story.BTW: still awaiting please some info/replies on my questions, thanks

 

[joriandrake]

goblins/kobolds - in act 4? if yes, then yes, they are a part of quest. Well... the Thing that they have is needet for one side quest. Plus - Abigail (if she's alive ) will tell something about them(I'm not sure if you have same thing/creature in mind)

i didn't even moved to act 2 yet, i await it if there is anything more to the matters i talked about in act 1 first

 

[joriandrake]

wow, then I don't have and idea what you are talking about! Can you tell how they look?

hmm...small, brown/white things that look a little like the furry gremlins of the movie with long ears

 

[Eri94_user70]

but following you. and have you notices that you cant kill children?

 

[xhan]

That's not an accident, as the developers of Oblivion would be quick to point out.

 

[joriandrake]

That's not an accident, as the developers of Oblivion would be quick to point out.

and i guess you can also say that about Fallout 3 aswell

 

[Eri94_user70]

but you can kill old undefense people, and dogs, and whatever doesnt hurt you, so why cant you kill children? there isnt much diference between old granmas and a poor boy

 

[starwolf]

@JorianDrake:Have you considered hooking up with the modders who have been preparing for writing and building new mods and modquests for this game? I think a lot of the side quests were places that could have had quests but the developers ran out of time/money/etc and had to just leave them out. With your way of looking at and digging into the side bits (like the meatseller), and your truly intriguing views and thoughts on motivations/relationships/dynamics/complexities.... I could see you coming up with some seriously sweet content for some quest mods.....I'd certainly be into checking out your work, even just having read your bits in this post.....

 

[joriandrake]

@JorianDrake:Have you considered hooking up with the modders who have been preparing for writing and building new mods and modquests for this game? I think a lot of the side quests were places that could have had quests but the developers ran out of time/money/etc and had to just leave them out. With your way of looking at and digging into the side bits (like the meatseller), and your truly intriguing views and thoughts on motivations/relationships/dynamics/complexities.... I could see you coming up with some seriously sweet content for some quest mods.....I'd certainly be into checking out your work, even just having read your bits in this post.....

hmm thanks, actually i rather playinstead create (sad is that usually there is nothing where i suspect some intriguing info in most games)i tried once to start the creation of a mod for NWN 1/2 but as im not a modder i don't know what/how to do, i made the map, created the main story and a lot of side/minor quests, but forging all these together is not in my abilities...I would like to have a list of unfinished things in the game from the developers, because its annoying to find out after long searching that what you thought to be there should had been there if the developers would had time/cash for it.I had to quit games before finishing them a lot of times just because the bad taste in my mouth when i realized this and this and that too was not included...just like with NWN2 where i realized only a bit too late that Neeshka is a not finished love interest, then i put the game for months beside I might be interested in modding, but as said i can only make minor graphics (99% 2D things) and the questsbtw, one more thing that annoys me is that the game actually thinks anyone playing it knows the main character, books, and his personality already, I myself never heard of that writer or its books before, thus the game seems flawed as it doesn't truly seeks the player to get into the character, the only excuse that makes this a smaller problem is that he has no memory of the past, thus you can create a new personality for him (something like that). I have to admit i would have rather had the chance to create a fully 'Own' character in this world instead having him, but i can understand that choice of the developers, this way they didn't had to make extra options for dialogue (especially for female characters this could have been fun, looking at the card possibilities what i guess female players would have demanded ) nor did they had to make extra character textures...well, then there is no info or quest related to the things i asked about, right? what about the choice between townspeople and the witch? i only fought the beast before i restarted the game so i just read about the later townspeople possible fights on the forums, tell me about that scenario: am i able to kill only them all but the townspeople and the bandit? Abigail is obviously an evil schemer, maybe some things were left out of the game but the artist who made the paintings had to know the full story behind the characters and their personality, because he did include those into the paintings...and the truth with abigails portrait is QUITE impossible to miss (and the sorceress with you have the first chance to do 'something' has also a hidden agenda, as far i can tell from the black cat in her portrait). The reverend actually sold the townspeople to the slavers, the guard and the merchant were involved in killings, but the bandit is just an opportunist, if he wouldn't had traded with the bad guys an other would had, and he was the most truthtelling. But foremost i want to evade the massacre of a whole village, because there are innocents for sure, be them just a handfull.EDIT: ehh, i guess my avatar might be too big for the forums here? i have to find an other one then because so tiny it looses details

 

[username_2065765]

I never massacred the whole village. Just the Reverend, Odo, Haren and a few of their cronies. There seemed to be some dead bodies along the road but I didnt kill them. I assumed this was the work of the beast as most of the villagers had fled.

 

[username_2071369]

Ozzrel = Odo's brother?He has pretty much an entire armory in his crypt(which is by far the biggest, fit for a glorious warrior) and can put up quite a fight, better then anybody else in act I exept for the Beast.As for Odo's dog:Everytime you see him, he's howling in the direction of Abigail's hut.All dogs in act I will turn to barghests at night exept for this one, however: After you fight the beast, if you check Odo's area, his dog is missing.

 

[lucifiel]

I'm still in chapter 1 but... perhaps she sells human meat? Or even... ghoul meat? Or perhaps she scavenges the meat from dead animals or steals chickens from others and kills them. Or... perhaps the townspeople are just really superstitious and don't want to buy anything from her for various reasons like her stall being too close to the beggars.

 

[Eri94_user70]

And to really mess with your mind when you go into the crypt and Geralt sees the girl on the floor he says that she is drawing the gouls. You can actually pick up the glass vile beside her and it goes into your Quest objects inventory :|