I tried using the above console cheat to get rid of Mrs. Harpy and all it does is get rid of her picture. This I know because when I try to get Miss Gorgeous Farmer's Daughter Meleny into my party she just purrs and says my party is full. I just have to explore her charms (err, character development) for my Cleric of Love. I have seven characters in all playing mod 5.7.2. I even dismissed my wizard's familiar by puttin' it in my backpack and then dismissing it. So I should have a slot open for an eighth character. Fruella, Fruella, Fruella DeVille. She reminds me of Gertruda Burthalter, the general's sister from Hogan's Heroes, who was constantly after Col. Klink. I hear Fruella's voice, and harping, and that is what pops in my mind. Sad ain't I. But of course I bought her meat cleaver (Rolling Pin of Battered Husband +2) before trying to deep six her.
Yeah, that's what I thought but apparently it does. Eight characters counting the familiar – backpack and then dimiss the familiar – should leave one slot open. I only have seven portraits and the familiar is not in my backpack. But yet Meleny says I am full up at eight. Or actually I am the one saying my party is full. It is not Meleny's script, it is something else. I went back to the inn and rested in the hope of clearing the program of the familiar. I then tried picking up Otis as a test, he would not join either. So it is something else. And I definitely don't want to save at this point. And I'm enjoying the sorcerer interlude by the way.
An interesting discovery! I restarted the game, set the PC vs. NPC from 8:0 to 6:2. I then had my wizard place her familiar in her backpack but did not dismiss it. Now I can pick up Meleny and my Cleric of Love is ecstatic. Questions is, how was I able to actually pick up Fruella in the first place? And now how do I get my familiar back out of my backpack? The flyout only has an option to dismiss the little birdy. Ahh, there it is with the Inventory flyout. Called it from the flyout and it immediately croaked. It had 8HP, took 17HP immediately which means it should be at -9 hit points. A cure serious wounds does nothing whatsoever. Apparently a familiar counts as a character the minute it comes out of the backpack and so if the party is full at eight, a God steps in and smites the little bugger. An odd behavior of the program by all accounts.:shrug:
Fruella just barges her way into the party, for memory. Was known to cause crashes if you had an 8-0 party.
Fruella deVil Fruella deVil If you will not kill her Some evil thing will So send her to duel a Giant, Hill RIP, Fruella deVil
You have to do the One Bride quest to get the dialogue to join. You get the XP for the quest and can loot the cleaver. If all you want is the cleaver, just console it in. Item #4213 and skip the other sleazy nonsense.
If you take the familiar out of the backpack, it does take a character slot because you can control him just like a character. Unlike an animal companion, which will charge right in and get killed. But if your familiar dies out of the pack, it permanently takes HPs away from your wizard. Best to just leave them in there, you get full benefits from them while they are there.
An interesting observation, if not quite accurate. When my familiar went to the Great Beyond reserved for birdies, my wizard took no damage and fot that matter there were no detrimental effects that I could observe. After playing to the wee hours this morning I cast a Deep Slumber on myself and went to molest faeries in my dreams. After reading the quoted post I restarted and tested Ghoul's solution. I was able to place birdy in my backpack it opened up a slot. I could then pick up Sweet Miss Who Smells Like a Barnyard. All's well that ends well. Yes I could have consoled the meat cleaver in, but I do want to explore the ramifications of Fruella and Meleny.:dribble:
This might be a stupid question, but how do you put your familiar back into the inventory? Selecting the familiar's name from the radial menu after it's out just makes the wizard ineffectually wave his hand, and I don't see any other relevant options in the wizard's or familiar's menus.
Another interesting observation about this Fruella DeVille / Birdy Familiar / Meleny escapade. Now that I have married Miss Bubbly (Meleny) I believe I am supposed to have gotten, perhaps as a wedding present, as described over at Sorcerer's Place. Filliken ignores me and all that Meleny has is her little nighty thingy. I just love how I am able to buy her starting inventory of a nighty! My buffed dwarf ranger would look real appealing to the orc down the street in that! I really wanted that Holy Sward +1, but don't want to console it in if at all possible. It would be a nice addition to my PC who has the two weapon fighting feat and uses two long swords. Even then I wold have to figure out exactly what the item number is and then find the proper console command. [Edit: Oops, I now see that the Radiant Long Sword is in my Cleric of Love's inventory. My apologies for going off half-cocked.]
My understanding of the familiar thing is whether it takes a slot depends on whether there is one available. If there is not, the critter joins as a follower (like an animal companion or undead). Spider Dwarf - did you have Fruella in the party when Meleny joined? And if so, did she say anything?
Just think if we had the inner workings to the engine, we could come up with squences like is used in Dragon Age. I was sooo proud when I finally was able to trigger those!