So I've gotten a random "Save the Princess" quest, travelled to the dungeon, run around it for quite a while (it's a two-storey dungeon) and can't find the princess or whatever's supposed to be holding her. I'm pretty sure that I'm within the timelimit for the quest. Does anyone have any suggestions, or should I upload the savegame somewhere and let someone take a look at it?

There are three possibilities as I see it, in increasing order of likelihood.

1. You're in the right place, but she's not there, i.e., you've found a bug. I rate this highly unlikely, as it's never happened to me, but I suppose it's possible.
2. You're in the wrong place. Check your quest log (press the L key) and note the place you were told she was. Then get your current status (press the S key) and note where you are. If those don't match, go to the place noted in your quest log. If they do match, then it's extremely unlikely you're in the wrong place.
3. You're in the right place and she's there, i.e., you just haven't found her. Depending on your own personal dungeon-mapping skills, this is more or less likely. Make sure you have mapped every part of the dungeon. This includes ensuring that you've not missed a level to go down. Also, I believe--and it's been a while so I'm not positive--but I believe that you have to kill a seeded monster to get the princess back. So, uh, do not avoid the monsters.

HTH.

At this rate I'm going to have to passwall the entire dungeon :stare: Any clues as to what the room the monster (err, the guy holding her) is in will look like - size, shape, features?

Edit: It looks like the earliest save I have is 2 or 3 weeks after the quest was given - it's possible that I've travelled to the dungeon once and returned from it. Would that break the quest? Actually, it's possible that I've actually completed it, but that doesn't explain why I'd have gone back to the dungeon (except for loot) - is there any way to tell if the quest is still active? I've just loaded the old save and discovered that it's possible to get a new quest from the save questgiver - does that mean that I completed the first one?

At this rate I'm going to have to passwall the entire dungeon

You will never have to use Passwall on a dungeon. It can be handy in the MQ dungeons, but in the case of random dungeons, Passwall is overkill.

Any clues as to what the room the monster (err, the guy holding her) is in will look like - size, shape, features?

It's random, so, no, sorry. If you do get near the monster, you will get a message on the screen saying, "You sense the [monster] is nearby." Then you'll see the monster and probably the hostage as well.

Edit: It looks like the earliest save I have is 2 or 3 weeks after the quest was given - it's possible that I've travelled to the dungeon once and returned from it. Would that break the quest?

Probably. But the log tells when you got the quest and how long you had to complete it, and the status tells what day it is now, so you can do a calculation on that and see if you've blown it.

Actually, it's possible that I've actually completed it

You'd know if you'd completed it; first, you'd have had to click on the hostage near the monster, who would then tell you to hurry up and get back to the quest giver, and even specifically give you a date (how do they know? ), then you'd have had an icon on your screen representing the rescued hostage till you got back to the quest giver.

but that doesn't explain why I'd have gone back to the dungeon (except for loot) - is there any way to tell if the quest is still active?

Do the math like I described above.

I've just loaded the old save and discovered that it's possible to get a new quest from the save questgiver - does that mean that I completed the first one?

Possibly. It could also be that it's a save from prior to getting the quest (easy enough to tell). Or it could be that you did in fact blow the quest and you're getting a new one; Arena is not like MW, or even DF. Quest givers have no memory of you having blown or succeeded in a quest.

Well I'm within time - but would the act of coming and going in and of itself break the quest?



Well, it was a long time ago (real world time) - I can't really remember :hehe: One other thing that makes me think that I had actually completed it is that I also had (now overwritten) a save where I'd travelled to another city further away from the dungeon, so maybe I really did complete it.



It's definitely from afterwards. Oh well :shrug: Isn't there global reputation or something though?

Well I'm within time - but would the act of coming and going in and of itself break the quest?

In my experience, the game always gives you more than enough time to do the quest. So I would say, no.

Isn't there global reputation or something though?

Nopers! Reputation didn't come into play until Daggerfall.

ive always thought there was, as after doing many many jobs around town (like 25+) i was able to get big paying jobs from the rulers, at lvl 2. My lvl 5 character who doesnt do the little town jobs struggles to get the big jobs from the rulers.

ive always thought there was, as after doing many many jobs around town (like 25+) i was able to get big paying jobs from the rulers, at lvl 2. My lvl 5 character who doesnt do the little town jobs struggles to get the big jobs from the rulers.

I guess I have to allow that you may have found something I didn't know about. My experience led me to believe that it's level-based, and IIRC there's even some documentation to that effect, but I could certainly be wrong about that, there's a lot of Arena that's not documented or documented in error.