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Ok, so this is my third time through SOA in preparation for TOB so I wanted to do it right. I have read about a million posts on this subject (with varying degrees of helpfulness, but mostly confusion) so I finally decided to write about my experience with this somewhat long romance.
My general plan was to try to schedule the romance events around the regular quests in the game, taking advantage of (among other things) that Jaheira disappears twice. All the while, weaving in the Planar Sphere quests as well so I could finish both BEFORE the underdark (all of it in Chapter 2). A daunting task to be sure!
To keep the romance progressing smoothly, I used the famous pause technique to quickly initiate dialog between events (like Dermin's appearances, Terminsel, etc.). This was the key and with a little patience (ok, a LOT) it worked great! For those who may not know what this is, since romance dialogs work on real time (not game days) you can start the game, pause it, leave your computer for an hour, return, unpause it and the next dialog will activate. This will activate the next dialog unless there is a trigger event OR a sleep event.
The romance events are as follows,
START
1. Automatic 'Where to now, fearless leader?'
2. Pause 'Hmmm ... seems I cannot help but speak of the dead lately.'
3. Pause 'Ehh, I think I still have a stitch in my leg from lying in that cold cell we were in.'
4. Sleep Jaheira has first bad dream.
5. Pause 'A copper for your thoughts.'
6. Sleep Jaheira has second bad dream.
7. Trigger Event Poisoned Man and Xar/Montaron quests.
8. Pause 'Blast, our progress is not as it could be, I am sure.'
9. Pause 'I ... This may be a bad time or not, but you asked a question of me and I brushed it aside.'
10. Pause 'We continue on our path and I cannot help but wonder if we walk in balance. I have a role to follow.'
11. Pause '(char name), do you worry of missing friends?'
12. Pause 'I do wish these scars would heal.'
13. Pause 'This is a dangerous life we seem to lead, it does seem.'
14. Sleep (Wild) Bandits appear and take Jaheira hostage. After which Meronia appears and tells Jaheira to follow her. Jaheira leaves the party.
15. Sleep Jaheira returns and tells you to go with her to the Harper Hold.
16. Trigger Event Confrontation with Galvarey at the Harper hold.
17. Pause 'So, what do you think of Amn so far?'
18. Pause 'We have had many people seek our death so far.'
19. Pause 'Again I must say how much I prefer the forest to artificial structures.'
20. Pause 'I have been in a similar place as this before, though it was in the company of other Harpers.'
21. Pause Reviane spawns and tells Jaheira that she will suffer a traitor's death.
22. Pause 'Skies are a bit gray no matter where we go, aren't they?'
23. Pause 'This may be a bad time or not, but I think we should speak..'
24. Pause 'There is an ill wind in the air.' Dermin appears for the first time.
25. Pause 'Blast, my armour needs some cleaning.'
26. Pause 'Your old injuries feeling alright?'
27. Pause 'So ... could I ... have a few moments of your time?'
28. Pause 'I ... I need to speak with you a moment.'
29. Pause 'How ... how did that battle make you feel?' Dermin comes again and this time warns Jaheira that the Harper court has decided her fate.
30. Sleep When you wake up you will find that Jaheira is no longer in your party. Terminsel shows up and gives you a note from Jaheira.
31. Trigger Event Go back to Harper Hold and get Jaheira back.
32. Pause 'Ah, the dawning of our day, though it is very rarely that we match our sleep to the cycle of day or night.'
33. Sleep (Wild) Dermin tries to kill Jaheira.
34. Sleep 'It is about time we rested. I have seen enough waking hours thank you very much.'
35. Pause 'What? What is it you want?'
36. Pause 'You needn't keep a distance between us.'
37. Sleep 'I have ... had a realization.'
38. Pause 'We have to be nearing our goal.'
39. Sleep This scene is when Jaheira propositions you.
40. Pause 'Terminsel' comes back and asks Jaheira some questions. If your reputation is >= 10 she gets the Harper Pin and you get a boatload of XP.
FINISH
The trick was to make sure I used the pause technique to get ALL of the dialogs BETWEEN the trigger and/or sleep events. For instance, after the Galverey trigger event (#16) I went to the Temple District (I was going to do the Unseeing Eye quest) and I got the next dialog (#17) . After that I just paused, waited for 1 hour, unpaused then I got the next dialog (#18). This way I got ALL of the dialog up to just before the next sleep event (#29) including the Revienne and Dermin appearances (and it barely took 1 hour *game* time).
The following describes my experience with the Jaheira romance and how it was interspersed with other major quests in the game. I did MANY other quests during the romance that are not mentioned.
QUICK SYNOPSIS/WALKTHROUGH:
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So after I had completed the dialogs #1-#6 I was ready to kick off #7 by resting in the wilderness. But first I had to leave Athkatla so I talked to Nalia and got the D'Arnise Hold quest and told her I'd meet her there. I then went to D'Arnise which started the Poisoned Man trigger event #7. I went back to Athkatla to finish the Poisoned Man and Xar/Montaron quests. After this when I had completed dialogs #8-#13 I was ready for the ambush (#14).
So, back to D'Arnise Hold I went. Resting here started the bandit ambush and Meronia causing Jaheira to leave. Now, since Jaheira was gone I picked up Nalia and did the D'Arnise hold stuff. Upon returning to Athkatla I sold some stuff, then rested. This caused Jaheira to return and rejoin ... adios Nalia. Then I go over to the Harper hold and get rid of Galverey (#16). This conveniently set me up to do dialogs #17-#20.
After that was complete I was ready to do event #30. I chose this time to do the Trademeet quests so I went there and slept. After Jaheira subsequently left, I went to get the quest and picked up Cernd. After finished in Trademeet and the Druid Grove I went back to Athkatla to do Cernds quests there. After finishing that, I dropped him for Korgan and did his quest. Finally I went back to the Harper Hold and got Jaheira back.
Next it was time to do event #32 to avoid the infamous dialog loop. After this I went to D'Arnise Hold again and slept to get Dermin to attack. After I beat the crap out of him I went to Athkatla did some quests and then rested for #34. During this time I had done the Skinner Murders quest so I had to go back to Trademeet to finish it. I did so, then finished dialogs #35-#36 and rested for #37.
Now it was time for the Windspear Hills so I went there. After finishing it (and getting the dialog #38) it was time to head home to Athkatla to prepare for Chapter 3, sell some loot and sleep to get propositioned (#39).
Finally, I went outside paused and got the final appearance my Terminsel and got the Harper Pin ... whew!!!
[ 08-14-2001: Message edited by: Valecrion ]
[ 08-14-2001: Message edited by: Valecrion ]
