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Imoen Is Stone (at the Promenade Fight)


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The whole mod content is a huge *** Spoiler *** for BGII game story so you are warned.

 

 

***

I feel under a lot of time pressure every time after the incident with Irenicus, Imoen, and the Cowled Wizards at the Promenade. This mod lets Imoen be turned to stone in that fight. The idea is to give the PC more ease of mind to do all the quests in Chapter 2, knowing that Imoen doesn't suffer - and can be turned back to live like Branwen was in BG1 once the PC reaches Spellhold.

 

The mod lets Imoen be turned to stone in the fight with Irenicus at the Promenade. She will still be taken by the Cowled Wizards, and Irenicus will have depetrified her and do his soul-experiments until the PC reaches Spellhold so the overall game flow is not altered. But overall it all happens a bit later than in the original, and (at least for me) it's a bit less disturbing.

 

This mod is meant to be a very small mod, which is also one of the reasons why the overall game story is not altered.

 

The mod tries to use as many originally voiced lines as possible, but some had to be taken out because they didn't make any sense without Imoen reacting. Also, some lines were added to stress the reasons why Imoen will be taken to Spellhold although she is turned to stone.

 

The mod is compatible with Alamateria's Restauration Project "Extended Waukeen's Promenade Cutscene", Tweaks Anthology "Faster Chapter 1&2 Cut-Scenes & Dreams", Alternatives, and Saeileth mod. It has to be installed after Tweak Anthology.

 

Visit the Mod's Homepage

 

Read the Readme

 

Download Imeon is Stone

Edited by jastey
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*knowing that Imoen doesn't suffer - and can be turned back to live like Branwen*

 

 

When Branwen talks to the PC about her experience while being cast in stone (the BG1NPC project's addon) that is really disturbing. After I read those dialogues, I always rush to release her as fast as I can in my playthroughs. Nobody deserves to suffer like that. I never felt much hurry to rescue imoen, a bhaalspawn and grown as powerful as myself by that time. i always felt she is quite capable to manage the unpleasantry for a while. But beein petrified changes this drastically.

 

But your mod may work for all those who never played with Branwen in BG1.

Edited by Roxanne
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New perspectives all along! I see your point. No, I didn't play with Branwen and BG1 NPC and I imagine being turned to stone differently - obviously. As someone else put it: it's treated like the NPC died, so I imagine the person to feel nothing. It's how Tamah (in Mutamin's Garden) reacts if the PC depetrifies her, too. (Then, dying doesn't make much sense for Imoen being a Bhaal spawn, either, but there you go.)

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New perspectives all along! I see your point. No, I didn't play with Branwen and BG1 NPC and I imagine being turned to stone differently - obviously. As someone else put it: it's treated like the NPC died, so I imagine the person to feel nothing. It's how Tamah (in Mutamin's Garden) reacts if the PC depetrifies her, too. (Then, dying doesn't make much sense for Imoen being a Bhaal spawn, either, but there you go.)

Maybe it is just that modders interpretation, just BG1NPC is a mod that is almost vanilla contents by now.

 

 

"I will recount the memories of the days I've spent in my sorcerous imprisonment, if you wish, but will you want to listen?

*Branwen takes a slow, shuddering breath and starts to recite, her eyes darkening by the moment.*

"Sky, forest, tents. People are going about their business as usual. This day is one of many, and it is still mine to watch. I watch mesmerized. Stone eyes cannot cry, why can they see?

Sometimes, when a soul dies, the rain cries and mixes the cold sky with cold dirt and blackened embers that

are left after the trees are gone. But it happens also that when a soul dies, sun shines on the red, purple and golden leaves, and the universe is at peace with itself. Some weep when her soul dies, some laugh. I can only be silent. What day will it be when my soul ceases to exist? We have had good weather lately, so most probably it will be warm when I shall hear the last faint beat of my heart. My lips are sealed, my lips are white, so I will neither laugh, nor cry. My heart ever so slowly, ever so painfully turns to stone. The last part of me to become marble. The very last.

He calls me a Princess of the North. Call me a Queen, a Goddess, a Dragon. Call me anything you want, buffoon. You are running out of time to find a buyer. Very soon, your pathetic scroll will be useless for me. The transformation is almost complete. Will it rain?

 

>>>> It's horrible, Branwen. Please, stop.

 

 

Edited by Roxanne
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Is this canon? Like, D&D canon. As I said, the game itself treats depetrified persons like having a complete blackout.

As for BG1 NPC project being like canon for the game - yes, I am proud having contribruted to the mod, but I am not proud of all the content - no offense. The melodramatic Branwen content you quoted is not my view in the matter, and I will not play with Branwen in my party with BG1 NPC.

 

Short version: do not play this mod if you think petrifying makes Imoen's situation worse. This is not the mod's intention.

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Is this canon? Like, D&D canon. As I said, the game itself treats depetrified persons like having a complete blackout.

As for BG1 NPC project being like canon for the game - yes, I am proud having contribruted to the mod, but I am not proud of all the content - no offense. The melodramatic Branwen content you quoted is not my view in the matter, and I will not play with Branwen in my party with BG1 NPC.

 

Short version: do not play this mod if you think petrifying makes Imoen's situation worse. This is not the mod's intention.

Sorry if I did not express myself well. I did not want to critisize but just point out that a lot of people will probably install both mods, many play or have played Branwen and for them the intention to make Imoen's rescue less urgent will just trigger the opposite.

And that was just a neutral statement. I did not even express an own opinion on the issue.

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Yeah, I've always thought of being petrified (for the victim) as essentially a time out--like jastey says, all of the various petrified folks in BG act like time essentially stopped for them. In addition to Tamah, there's also Vail and his party in BG who behave the same. I would also be curious if there's anything canon on it as well.

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Roxanne: sorry if I sounded irritated, I probably was, but not because of you and I surely didn't mean to direct it at you. (I'm not sure what baffles me more: that I wasn't aware of this BG1NPC Branwen content or that such melodramatic content, which I am not very fond of, is inside BG1NPC, a mod that I am fond of. No offense to the author(s) meant.) Thank you very much indeed for pointing this out. The mod is not intended to increase the time pressure.

At least the canon seems to agree with "petrified equals unaware".

 

lynx: What do you mean with the fourth-wall breaking party in Abazigal's lair, what is the same?

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In a fictional game about magic, with various bits and pieces of the world written by dozens of different authors, it's entirely possible there is more than one kind of petrification. Obviously a statue has no eardrums to hear, no retinas to see, no nerves to transmit sensory input and no brain to receive it. So the BG1NPC Project version of this is the most... let's say, 'fanciful.' But maybe Branwen was hit by a non-standard petrification spell, a particularly nasty variant. Maybe it was not "Flesh to Stone" but flesh magically preserved and helpless within a veneer of stone.

 

Players who install many mods are bound to encounter many different writing styles and tones, and indeed different interpretations of the game world and rules. It's up to such players to make sense of it. There is only a contradiction here if you close your mind to the possibility of there not being a contradiction.

 

I say bravo, this seems like an unmitigated improvement to the base story of SoA. (I may be biased, having taken part in the brainstorming that led to this. :p )

 

My question is, should the "Imoen Can Die" mini-mod be combined as a 2nd component of this one, in a broad "let's do terrible things to Imoen" mod? :)

Edited by subtledoctor
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lynx means Bondari and his friends in Abazigal's lair--of "Bondari reloads" infamy--also start petrified and also show no ill effects.

Ah, I only read 4th wall breaking and thought it's kind of criticism - all clear now.

 

 

My question is, should the "Imoen Can Die" mini-mod be combined as a 2nd component of this one, in a broad "let's do terrible things to Imoen" mod? :)

(in a melodramatic voice) After the whole thread is about how this mod is *not* meant to increase the terrible-ness of Imoen's abduction this question is kind of mistimed!!!1111one!

Heh. :)

 

On a serious note: I see your point, and it would make kind of sense since I coded it, but it doesn't really fit the scope of this mod, I think. But let's see how this develops, in the thread at Beamdog already mentions it.

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Is this canon? Like, D&D canon.

It's really not, but things not being canon won't stop writers from hamming it up for drama value! I mean hell, even Imprisonment works out worse for the victim.

 

Point is, just because a mod is popular doesn't mean the writing can't be bad at places, maaaan. There are no varying states of petrification in any D&D games.

Edited by Almateria
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lynx means Bondari and his friends in Abazigal's lair--of "Bondari reloads" infamy--also start petrified and also show no ill effects.

Ah, I only read 4th wall breaking and thought it's kind of criticism - all clear now.

 

 

My question is, should the "Imoen Can Die" mini-mod be combined as a 2nd component of this one, in a broad "let's do terrible things to Imoen" mod? :)

(in a melodramatic voice) After the whole thread is about how this mod is *not* meant to increase the terrible-ness of Imoen's abduction this question is kind of mistimed!!!1111one!

Heh. :)

 

On a serious note: I see your point, and it would make kind of sense since I coded it, but it doesn't really fit the scope of this mod, I think. But let's see how this develops, in the thread at Beamdog already mentions it.

 

 

I kind of see it for the people willing to add some drama to the game (as if it was not enough). Would even consider it as part of some restoration project - after all Imoen as "tucked in" of a character as one can be.

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