Entering buildings in Hommlet triggers combat?

My party has been down to the 4th level of the Temple, where they encountered (and killed) Barkinar. From his corpse I got something called the Black TZGY Scarab, which (I thought) might be the source of my problems, but after I left it in a chest in Nulb and returned to Hommlet without it, the same thing happened.

What happened? I went to the Church of St. Cuthbert to see if Terjon would know anything about that scarab. As soon as the scene loaded, I was in combat mode, and the audio dialog was Calmert yelling "Thief!", while the text dialog was a call to Terjon for help. I found myself in combat with Calmert and Terjon. I was shocked, because I had been to this place before, sold items to Calmert, had Terjon send me on quests and resurrect members of my party.

I didn't want to kill them, so I tried to flee combat; red text appeared that said "Invalid Action". This happened with all my characters when I tried to flee.

I reloaded the game and tried going into the Inn of the Welcome Wench; there I was again dragged into combat with every NPC in the place, with no explanation, and no ability to flee combat.

I reloaded again and tried going into Hommlet's tower, and was again greeted with unsolicited combat. This time the audio told me to surrender, but unless I'm missing something, the game doesn't have a surrender option.

I also went in to see Jaroo, and immediately found myself in combat with him and his brown bear.

Talking to the herbalist and innkeeper in Nulb did not trigger combat. The Inn at Verbobonc didn't trigger combat immediately; it waited until I got fairly close to the innkeeper there.

It acts as if one of my party is carrying an object that automatically tries to pickpocket nearby NPCs, but it doesn't happen everywhere, and I can't figure out what that object might be. Everything my party carries is pretty straightforward, except for that TZGY Scarab, and I've already explained that this happens even when I'm not carrying it.

It seems like a bug to me, but I'm open to the possibility that this is part of the game's plot. Anyone have any answers or advice?

I'm using Co8 5.0.4 under WinXP 64 SP2. I'm running a Neutral-Good party which includes Alhandra, Lidda, Mialee, Vadania, Soveliss, and the NPC Elmo. They're all level 8-9 at this point.

Thanks in advance.

 

While on Level 4 of the Temple, did you by chance kill the concubines? (Curry Leaf and Green Coconut, one of them aka Dazed Concubine?) The Dazed Concubine is actually a villager from Hommlet, maybe if you killed her, it set the Hommlet faction to KOS. Check your reputations: does it show "Butcher of Hommlet"?

As far as the innkeeper at Nulb, he works for the Temple, so I suppose if his faction is hostile (one of the elemental temples) you might be getting a KOS reaction from him, too.

AFAIK, no items in the game should cause what you describe.

 

AFAIK the TZGY Scarab is good for nothing more than a few gold pieces. (Does anyone know different?) If definitely should NOT be part of your problem.

 

Thanks for your replies..and thanks to Co8 for the patches and this forum.

No, I was never forced to kill a party member, and I don't have any Butcher of Hommlet reputation. There's one inn in Nulb where a woman tried to pickpocket me, and I ended up killing everyone (except one NPC who didn't join in the attack, but that person refuses to speak to me) in that inn (where Rentch hangs out). People like me in Nulb.

It turned out to be a glitch of some kind. I did some moving around, rested for 8 hours, saved the game in a new slot, and found that people no longer tried to KOS.

Thanks again.

 

I remember having such a problem once... I just reloaded the
game before travelling to Hommlet and it helped. That's a pretty
strange bug if you ask me.

 

The TZGY Scarab is a pass to Zuggtmoy's inner sanctum. I don't know if they function properly in the game, or are merely decorative in nature. Troika dressed the windows, but they don't all open.

 

I looked in the protos and there is nothing for the scarab, except a possible armor bonus. The bonus is set to 0, so it's basically useless. I had a wizard with greater temple robes and the scarab on and it had no effect on Senshock or Hedrack. Just another thing Troika never had time to develope.

 

It should be relatively easy to fix that, if a little time consuming. That's if the community can come up with a good way to implement the scarab. I very rarely play about with the Temple dlg or py so I'd need to check if it isn't already implemented first (odd if it ain't in some way).

 

why not make it a scarab of protection? Maybe Barkinar had his own agenda of subduing greater undead into service for the Temple but needed some protection in case the vampires didn't like him...

Or some scarab from a sun god taken from a hero at Emridy meadows... one that gives you improved turning, or destroy undead 1 p day, or searing light...

 

I changed the armor bonus to 5 and it's basically the same as bracers+5. It doesn't stack with bracers but does with rings. It wont save Barkinars butt. By the time of that encounter the party usually is strong enough that he's dead meat anyway.

 

@Daniel and wizgeorge - I was thinking more in line with the original module rather than new loot

Need to check again whether it did have any bonuses but IIRC it was just a 'password' rather than anything else.

 

oh, sorry, don't have the module...

(now imagine a bard using this Beetle of Full Plate Armor Protection, activated by singing "it's been a hard day's knight!" :lalala: )

 

True, it is basically a pass for certain members of the temple leadership to communicate/consult with Z. I think to implement it along module lines would be an extensive task. Seems like a lot scripting to me. It would alter end- game and need a lot of .dlg writing. Troika may have had plans along those lines, but we got what we got. Maybe something like the gnome ring and Wonnilon? Only, Z knows her temple people and if a stranger showed up wearing a scarab and Scather in-hand, well it would probably start a fight.

 

you don't have to have killed one of your npcs to trigger the wrath of Hommlet.
if you injure an npc with a fireball, that is under your leadership, has triggered the hommletcide for me.

make sure the npcs aren't hit as collaterol damage (spelling?)