Vlad,
My party are at the astrolabe, we have spoken to Larrel re-the possibility of his machine returning us to our own time and he has said he will talk to Geralith. The message then comes up: Journal updated.
*Journey to Ulcaster*
*The second key quest*.
Then nothing, Larrel continues walking around instead of cutscene that was in the previous version. (Hrothgar studying machine, NPC's interjections). He doesn't return after speaking with Geralith.
When approached again, Larrel says *So you have returned...* and then the options:
1. Say farewell and to leave.
2. Ask to be sent to Dorns Deep.
3. Ask to go to Kuldahar.
4. I have some questions about the astrolabe
5. And we will return again.

No. 4. Loops around to Larrel speaking to Geralith again.
Speaking to Geralith once more loops around to speaking with Larrel again,
It appears that without Larrel returning to us after speaking to Geralith, there is no way of returning to our own time via astrolabe.

I'm in the SH right now Jan, finishing it up, and am having the exact same problem as you.

I can go to Kuldahar no problem (normally I do anyway) but the option to leave via the Astrolabe isn't there.

Thanks for confirmation John. I'm always relieved to hear when a prob. is not specific to my game.

Heh, no problem Jan, I feel the same way.



Unfortunately, more confusion at the astrolabe...

There is a lot of dialogue following and I'm not going to write it all down (if I could copy/paste my game window I would ), but I do have screenshots available if anyone wants to see them. So here goes:

If you talk with Larrel and then say you want to go to Kuldahar, Hrothgar interjects.

Hrothgar then urges you against possibly using the portal in Kuldahar and then PC picks dialogue about how Hrothgar is suddenly so much an expert on portals.

Eventually Hrothgar says: "Trust my words or not, but if you are determined to leave this place then it would be safer and a far less wastage of time to ask Larrel about his astrolabe."

PC: "I suppose it does make sense to see if the astrolabe can get me home before making the trip to Kuldahar. I will speak with Larrel."

(*You turn your attention back to Larrel*) I have changed my mind Larrel...

Next Hrothgar interjects about how disappointed he is in you about breaking your promise to help him.

PC stands firm in desire to leave.

Hrothgar says he will not leave his people without hope and will stay. Then urges you to take the astrolabe back to your future.

Now at this point most everyone in the party interjects and urges Hrothgar to come along and every dialogue option chosen inevitably results in Hrothgar coming along and staying.

Eventually we get to... Hrothgar: "Then it is decided, I will travel with you through the future and see what there is to see."

(*You turn your attention back to Larrel*) I have changed my mind Larrel... Could you take us to Kuldahar instead?.

Larrel: "As you wish adventurer..."

At no point during this dialogue was there any mention that the PC should go to or want to go to Kuldahar after he changed his mind to go back home via the astrolabe, never-the-less the party is forced to go there by a choice the PC makes illogically...

John, I'll tell you the truth, it is the most difficult and messed dialogue with a ton of interjections I've ever met in the whole series. Actually I still cannot understand it myself. All this needs to be sorted out and I really hope that someone can do this. It requires sitting and drawing interjection diagrams but I simply have no patience for this. Sorry Jan, it's my problem.

John, I will go through this dialogue again as maybe a reply somewhere has been wrongly diverted as I am sure it all worked ok when reading. Because of the options here, to return home, return to Kuldahar, plus Hrothgar being reluctant to abandon his people to their fate and the group trying to persuade him to remain with them, it has taken a while to get it working smoothly. I had thought we'd cracked it... ah well

If I need it checked, may I please send it to you to proof read John? Bearing in mind that it is a *lengthy* read, and providing you can spare the time?

Just caught your reply Vlad. I wish I could sit down with you and work through it as I am sure it would be really easy to sort through it and work out how to track each reply/ interjection this way However, I feel it is quite an important dialogue so I'll sit down and see what I can do to simplify it for you. Maybe I can split it into individual sections or something similar to what you proposed.

Jan please first of all could you split it into two dialogues (even similiar):

1. with Accalia
2. without Accalia.

Will do so Vlad. I'll get onto it straight away as I have Sharon plus 3 girls visiting at the moment and they hog my computer through the day so it's a great chance for me to sit and look through this dialogue. If you can help in any way by telling me the best way to lay it out just tell me.

Hi Jan and Vlad,

It will be a pleasure to help. Please go ahead and send me the dialogue and I'll proofread through it when I have time. Lately I have had time so that's a good thing.

Hi,

I'm back in the Severed Hand and seem to be stuck with the infinite loop, however I never get the dialogues with Hrothgar objecting and never even get to go to Kuldahar, so as of now, I'm stuck.

The problem you post has been solved a few months ago, everybody who tested this dialogue confirmed that the problem has been solved. You should choose a correct reply option to proceed further, otherwise you can continue talking to Gelarith as long as you wish.