The old one doesn't appear without scholastic cloak? Options

[leozoroaster]

Nec protagonist, still in Chapter 3, have rescued Pasha and forged Memory of the Apprenti, but the old one doesn't appear aftering resting in the sphere. Is wearing scholastic cloak a necessary condition to trigger the old one?

[critto]

I haven't looked at the game files for a long time now, but I am pretty sure that at least some of these things are true: you need to do all the original stronghold stuff and you need to be post-underdark for the new storylines to unfold. The content is too challenging anyway for a pre-spellhold party to handle.

[leozoroaster]

I haven't looked at the game files for a long time now, but I am pretty sure that at least some of these things are true: you need to do all the original stronghold stuff and you need to be post-underdark for the new storylines to unfold. The content is too challenging anyway for a pre-spellhold party to handle.

Thanks. My guess is that one need to return from underdark to trigger the second half of the NEC quest. By the way, I left Athkatla for sailing at 3.91 million exp, with only Orcus unfinished. It seems to me a melee-oriented team led by NEC(+Minsc+Jaheria+Rasaad+Valygar+Aerie) is strong enough to defeat most enemies in Chapter 3. And once NEC reaches 3.4 million exp, even the twisted rune battle is easy to win.