The Thief and the Grimoire

We’ve been told to ask some thieves about the location of Salomet’s Grimoire, so off we go to the Ruins of Aernst Castle. The thief leader, Maul, won’t help, though. He confirms that he has the tome, that’s it.

How did I first discover the answer to this quest? I don’t remember. The book is up high on a broken parapet. I must — ugh, ack, geh — platform to get it. Afterwards, Maul has no idea we’ve taken it. It’s a weird fetch.

I turn the book over to the person who asked for it, Steffen, who tells me that Salomet was a scholar, the leader of a council of sorcerers . . . until the day he went mad. He promises to repay me sometime in the future for retrieving the grimoire.

And now I go back to Maul (again, when did I figure out the thieves had a second quest?). He’ll speak only “with folks possessed of their own will.”  I have to prove myself worthy by ridding him and his gang of a traitor, someone who left without leave.

It’s the Thief we caught in the village.

He’s living there now, as Maul puts it, as an innkeeper’s pet. (He’s apprentice to Pablos.) A terrible fate: he’s “a weakling, adrift on fortune’s tide.” 

In this game, you’d better exert an intention. Choose and take responsibility.

I tell the Thief to go back to Maul and accept his consequences.

And it works! The Thief chose to follow my advice and now Maul says he’s “proved the strength of his will” by returning. In order to reward such growth, Maul won’t execute him. Yay!

Now I’m Maul’s equal and I’m granted freedom. (Did I not have equality with a gang boss before this? Should I be proud?) Maul’s Badge of Amity ensures me safe passage, which completely confuses me as the bandits always attack, badge or no.