Pillars of Eternity (Obsidian Isometric RPG Kickstarter) -…

In the Twin Elms inn there is frightened person you need talk to, he says that Raedric has returned and sends you a challenge.

When you go to find Maerwald the Watcher to talk to him, you find him too far gone and will be forced to kill him. After Maerwald dies, a dialogue trigger with Maerwald's soul is supposed to come up, where you can choose whether to free his soul, bind it to your stronghold, or absorb it for knowledge.

Some times this trigger doesn't happen. If this breaks, it's a problem.

Not having the conversation with the soul:

• 1) Results in you not gaining your second Watcher ability
  
• 2) Misses out on Stronghold upgrades or extra loot:
  
• 2a) Bind soul to stronghold (+1 security)
  
• 2b) Free soul (+1 prestige)
  
• 2c) Absorb soul (Secret loot room in the Endless Paths)
  
• 3) Does not start the next part of the main quest

The biggest problem is that this may have happened to you, and you don't even know about it because the game seems to continue as normal after this encounter. Characters know Maerwald is dead, you still inherit the stronghold, and you still get the side quests for the NPCs that tell you to go to Defiance Bay. But you don't get the main quest continuation.

If you aren't sure you interacted with Maerwald's spirit, check your quest log. If "The Old Watcher" is completed, but "Never Far From The Queen" was never added to your quest log, you have this problem.

Through IEMod and a lot of patience, I've found this patchwork workaround that seems to fix all of these issues. That said:

DISCLAIMER: I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know if this fixes everything. I don't know if this breaks anything further down the line. I don't know what will happen if a future patch ever resolves this problem retroactively. So far it works for me.

Here's what I had to do:

1) Install IEMod - http://rien-ici.com/iemod/
2) Load your game
3) Input the following console commands (you can copy-paste them) depending on the outcome you want:

a) If you wanted to absorb his soul, type in the following commands:

• SetGlobalValue b_watcher_chamber 1
  
• [I don't know how to open the chamber yet! It should be possible but I do not yet know how! Use this one at your own risk!]

b) If you wanted to free his soul, type in the following commands:

• SetGlobalValue b_watcher_prestige 1
  
• AdjustPrestige 1

c) If you wanted to bind his soul to the keep, type in the following commands:

• SetGlobalValue b_watcher_security 1
  
• AdjustSecurity 1

Once you've done one of the above, also type in the following two commands:

• AddAbility player speaker_to_the_restless
  
• StartQuest data/quests/critical_path/act_2/cp_qst_ff_ruins.quest

Once done, you should be good to go. This will begin the next quest properly, give you the Watcher's ability, and give you the boon for releasing/binding his soul. I do NOT yet know how to open the chamber at the bottom of the Endless Maze as I have not gotten that far yet (nor will I for some time), so if you want the treasure pile, use it at your own risk. Most likely it should be possible to unlock the chamber or acquire knowledge of it somehow once you're on the bottom floor, but I cannot be sure of this yet.

For now, I'm going to keep playing until the next thing breaks.

Link to my post on the Obsidian forums about this: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/73273-maerwald-dialogue-bug-in-caed-nua/?p=1623655

Entire starting village killed by lord.
Crime lords ruling the city, making people move out due to too high taxes.
The tower in Heritage Hill activated again.
Keep falling into disrepair.