Bahssikava v1.0.9
by Kelandon
Comments, criticisms, help by e-mail: tomwatts@berkeley.edu
Look for updates and other things by me at my home page: http://home.sanbrunocable.com/~tommywatts03/
Like this scenario? Dislike it? Like some parts and don't like others? Rate it at the Lyceum's Comprehensive Scenario Rankings: http://p080.ezboard.com/fthelyceumfrm32.showMessage?topicID=24.topic

This is my first real scenario for BoA. Have fun!

This scenario will work only with a BoA app that runs Scenario Format Version 2 (Mac v1.1, Windows v1.0, or better). Also, it has custom graphics. If you see a dialog pic in the first set of intro text, the custom graphics are working.

There is a hint file included (HINTS.txt). It has a FAQ and a detailed walkthrough.

This scenario was designed to be played by a party roughly on par with a strong one that has just finished Diplomacy With the Dead (ie high 30's, low 40's in level). If your party wasn't that strong or you don't want to reuse that party over again, you can generate a new high level party with my utility scenario, the High Level Party Maker, available from my web site. I recommend the level 40 setting in the HLPM for this scenario.

For roleplaying purposes, you should assume that this is NOT the same party that beat DWtD, though, because this scenario takes place significantly before all four pre-packaged scenarios.

Because of the nature of the subject matter of this scenario, the content changes based on your party's size and racial composition. For example, if your party consists only of sliths, the scenario will be slightly different from what it would be if your party was all human. Play it again with a different kind of party to see what I mean!

I feel I would be remiss if I did not mention that this scenario deals primarily with sliths and takes place in slith lands. Choose your skills and abilities accordingly. (Hint: Pole Weapons and Thrown Missiles.)

Also, you have an ability called "Set Cut Scene Speed" that you may find useful if the cut scenes are going too slowly for you.

****************************************

PLOT NOTES
This scenario is set within the Avernum world. It takes place twenty years after Avernum 1, four years after Avernum 3 (which puts it, by my reckoning, twenty years before the Za-Khazi Run). I've tried to make it accessible to those who haven't played the Avernum Trilogy, but it's better if you have, especially Avernum 1. If you haven't played A1, this scenario may not make as much sense.

Legare is a real character from A1. He is a little bit different there, but I think twenty years will change a person. Most of the towns mentioned and many of the characters are also from the Avernum Trilogy or the other BoA scenarios. My version of slith history is a bit more elaborate than Jeff Vogel ever gives, but I think it's not inconsistent with anything in the games.

And just to be clear, Legare is not a representation of anyone in particular. I've heard a suggestion that he seems a lot like Jesus, but if I intended that he be a representation of Jesus, the story would go differently. The sliths of Gnass would ask King Micah to execute Legare, and the king would refuse, and they would ask again until he finally gave Legare back to them, and then they would execute him. Legare would come back from the dead briefly to speak to Kass and Pithoss, who would be accompanied by many other disciples. After that, the disciples would go around spreading the word of Legare, despite persecution by the sliths of Gnass and eventually the human government of Avernum itself. And so on. This would be a very different scenario. 

In my scenario, Legare is Legare and no one else. Yes, there is a reason that he seems like Jesus at times, but he also seems like Muhammed at different times and other people at other times, and it's not as straightforward as a one-to-one correspondence between characters in the scenario and characters in other traditional religious stories.

****************************************

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All custom graphics that are not from other Spiderweb games are from the Louvre (http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/b/x/bxb11/boa/louvre/). 

The two Lightning Pillars and the Basin are by Daniel Ray. 
The Infernal Lamp and the Warrior Lich are by Necris Omega. 
The myriad paintings are by the Almighty Doer of Stuff. 
The Slith Warrior is by Terror's Martyr. 
The Black Winged Demon is by Naja. 
The Skeleton Warrior is by Brett Bixler.
The Strange Soldier is by Zharrad.
The Troglodyte Khazi is by Stareye.
The Lizard Rider is by Fulbert Teh.
The Warlord is by Mortimer.
The Slith Warrior is by Eldiran.
The Road Down and Underground Metropolis are by Kalinging Song.
The Avatar of Bane is by Enraged Slith.

All other graphics are from the Avernum Trilogy, the Geneforge series, or the pre-packaged BoA scenarios. Some Avernum graphics have been edited for size (as was the Slith Warrior graphic). Script attributions are in the scripts themselves. Thank you to everyone who made the graphics and scripts that I have used; without your contributions, this scenario would have been much more bland.

Thank you to my beta testers: Thuryl, TM, Sboto, Toast, Benajamin, Timber-Wolf, Dastal, Mako, Simo Lehtinen, Pascal, and JStafford. Thanks in particular to Thuryl, who provided probably the most invaluable advice of any of the testers.

I also have to thank everyone in the BoA community. I used virtually every resource currently available, from the Louvre as above to Isaac's 3D editor (a wonderful tool that became available about halfway through the design process). Without the energy and effort of everyone else around me, I could not have made this scenario.

****************************************

VERSION HISTORY
v1.0.0 - 2/20/05 - Initial release.
v1.0.1 - 2/22/05 - Made Silthokh's  Repel Spirit book give 2 levels, instead of just 1. You can no longer take infinite metal triangles from the library in AB.
v1.0.2 - 3/6/05 - Various other bug fixes. Also, for Windows users, a new special ability that allows you to tell your party's location. Extended the cut scene speed ability that allows you to skip the cut scenes entirely.
v1.0.3 - 3/12/05 - Fixed the unhandled exception in Vasskolis.
v1.0.4 - 4/2/05 - A few superficial bug fixes. You can no longer win the scenario by leaving the Temple of the Goddess east -- you just leave, not win. You can't leave dead Phaedra behind after killing N-K, nor do you get stuck in MG L1 for that.
v1.0.5 - 4/15/05 - Fixed the Warlord graphic.
v1.0.6 - 5/30/05 - Re-did the items. A lot more variety now exists. The golems in the Galthrax fight are now stronger (so they might actually be useful). Contest version!
v1.0.7 - 6/29/05 - Fixed a crash due to specters potentially having two types of missile weapons. Thanks to AJ Mestel for bringing this to my attention and Jeff Vogel for explaining it.
v1.0.8 - 9/5/05 - Fixed a bug when you skip the first cut scene.
v1.0.9 - 9/18/05 - Fixed a bug involving the crystal puzzle in the Nolagh-Khar quest. The switches now display their proper locations.