All that monster slaying in my yesterday’s Gothic session got me a level and a half of experience, but I was still a level or so away from getting strong enough to become a full-fledged member of the Old Camp. I figured, other camps are waiting for me to impress them, so why not do it and get the rewards? I don’t have to become a member after I’m done.
Impressing the Brotherhood of the Sect Camp
I went to the Sect Camp first, mostly because I barely explored it the last time I was there. I found it confusing and I was in a hurry, so I skipped it.
I stumbled into this giant skull randomly. There’s a gate in the mouth, but I can’t open it.
This time, I thoroughly explored the entire camp and found out what I needed to do to impress them. The alchemist I need to steal the recipe for Dexter from is also the camp’s boss, pretty much. He wants me to impress at least four Baal’s to be considered for acceptance. The Baal’s are the guru’s I’ve mentioned before and most of them won’t even talk to me right now.
I’m not allowed to enter the sect’s temple yet.
Instead, I spoke with some of the novices and other low ranking members of the sect, until I finally got a quest. One of the novices was supposed to be replaced on the job by another guy, but instead of showing up, he was getting high and sleeping at home. I hit him a couple of times with my sword and this made him show up for work. A guru noticed me doing this, so he spoke to me and gave me a proper mission. I was supposed to get the next shipment of weed from the swamp and deliver it to the alchemist.
Weed Farming
Of course, he wouldn’t tell me where the weed farms are, so I had to scour through the swamp on my own. I found the first farm nearby, which got me 50 of the 100 stalks I needed to deliver. The leader of this small camp said the other farm was on the other side of the swamp, so I naturally misunderstood him completely.
There’s a Baal at the first weed farm, but I’m not sure he’s a real Baal. He definitely smoked too much weed, though.
I thought he meant “the other side of the camp”, so I made a circle around the entire camp, before getting back to the farm and feeling silly. On my second go, I tried going deeper into the swamp, dodging swamp sharks, killing blood flies and avoiding the edge of the barrier, which was dangerously close. I finally found the other farm at the very edge. Before I got there, I saw some random guy get chased and killed by swamp sharks. I can’t deal with these monsters yet, so I wasn’t able to help him, or loot his corpse, for that matter.
They wouldn’t give me their shipment, though. First, they wanted me to kill all the blood flies nearby. While doing this, I managed to nearly get myself killed by jumping into the barrier. I got hit twice, but I managed to stay at near zero health and survive. I got the shipment and delivered it to the alchemist (I really need to start writing down names). While I was there, I also took the opportunity to pick open his chest and steal the recipe for Dexter. He was so distracted with his work, I didn’t even have to steal.
The swamp sharks are to strong for me. This scene did not end well.
I went back to the guru who gave me the quest and he told me I have his vote. He also gave me a sleep spell, which I immediately used to impress another guru, as I was told to do by someone in the camp. All I had to do was to put one of his students to sleep. Being able to use magic was impressive enough for that one.
Recruiting Dusty into the Brotherhood
I had one more guru I knew how to impress, but for that, I needed to go back to the Old Camp. There was a guy named Dusty there, who asked me to check out the Sect Camp and tell him about it, because he was considering defecting there. A guru wanted me to find him more recruits, so this guy was perfect.
This book taught me how to extract stingers from dead blood flies. Of course, I got it after the swamp.
I got back to the Old Camp, spoke to Dusty and also gave the recipe to Dexter. Dusty asked me to escort him to the Sect Camp, but he also needed 100 ore to bribe the guards because they wouldn’t let him leave. I figured 100 ore was worth whatever experience I get from the two quests, so I agreed.
This is me right now. You don’t level a lot in Gothic, but every level matters.
Since I already cleared the route to the Brotherhood, there was no danger for Dusty, so this was an extremely basic escort quest. I finally got him to the Sect Camp (he moves a bit slower than me, so I had to wait) and this got me a total of 750 experience, 250 from Dusty and 500 from the Guru.
Impressing the Old Camp
Three out of the four gurus were impressed now, so I decided it was time to go back to the Old Camp. I got a level, so as soon as I got back, I increased my strength to 41 at Diego’s. I was now confident I can beat at least Kirgo at the arena, so that’s exactly what I did. I got 250 experience for this and according to Diego, I impressed everyone I could at the Old Camp. All that was needed now was Diego’s test of faith. I needed to go to the Old Mine, but I have no idea where it is.
In any case, I won’t be doing that yet. I think I’ll go impress the guys at the New Camp first. I want more experience!
