Hello everyone! This is my first post but I've read the forum for a while and played the game quite a bit.
While reading the forum I saw that most people, just like me, were wondering how you could rest in the Crossroads Guardhouse. They say only Feygard's friends are allowed, but no matter how much you help Feygard, you are still not allowed. Will it require some quest added in the future? Well, no! Most likely you have blown your chance before even reaching the Guardhouse. Here is how:
It's the Night Visit quest you can get in the Thieves Guild from Farrik, Umar's brother. He actually warns you that this might upset some people, but a seasoned RPG player doesn't take such warnings seriously. Well, here you should. If you don't take this quest at all, you can probably rest at the Guardhouse for a payment. I couldn't check it becouse I foolishly overwritten my savegame and I'd need to train a new character to at least lvl 10 to be able to get past the Larval burrowers and Anklebiters. (If only there was a cheat for such testing purposes!)
When you talk to Farrik, most likely you take the answers that come naturally and go along with his plan, give laced mead to the guard captain etc. Curiously this upsets the guards not in Fallheaven but in the Guardhouse, that's why they won't allow you to rest.
You can also choose a counterintuitive answer and say "Maybe I should tell this to the guard captain". Farrik, instead of cutting you to pieces right there or at least sending you to huy, only says smugly: "Go ahead, he won't belive you anyway!". Well, he does belive you, and sets a trap for the thieves. And he will be very greatful to you, and, again, the Guardhouse guards will love you for this, and allow you to rest for free. But of course then you upset the Thieves with this. If you took a quest you can finish it and get your reward but Umar will not give you another quest. It's a worse outcome than not getting a rest at the guardhouse, becouse the Thieves pay very well.
All in all, I think this Night Visit quest is a beginner's trap, where the consequences of an early action will affect the whole game. It's probably best not to take it, it pays some 700 GP and 1500 XP, wich is nice but not so big deal. Or maybe take it after you have finished all of Umar's quests - but even than it might not be a good idea upsetting the thieves, maybe they'll have more quests in future updates. On the other hand one can live without resting at the GH but it's a little annoying still.
Maybe in a future update the quest shoul be a) removed; b) appear only later; c) give a much stronger warning that your actions will have consequences.
Some other hints:
Resting in Loneford:
The guards ask a ridiculus 600 GP for a resting place in Loneford. But if in your quest you side with Feygard and show them the proofs that the well got poisoned, out of gratitude they will let you rest for free.
Cheap out the "A young merchant" quest:
When you meet Burchyd the 4th time and he says he brought a shipment of "fresh" fish from Remgard, you offer to buy that shipment for 1000 GP. It's still early in the game and that 1000 GP will be missed, there is so much you could spend it on, and screw Burchyd, you don't get much from him, why spend so much on a stranger?! But hey, what if you don't have 1000 GP on you at the time? Well, you still offer to buy the entire shipment - for 100 GP! And he still accepts it! So when you meet Burchyd the 4th time (including the very first meeting), make sure you don't have 1000 GP! Spend it on anything you could use, it's not a waste this time, better spend it on yourself than on that idiot, am I right?
The Undead's Necklace
This artefact doesn't get much love in this forum. Everyone is talking about legendary items for wich you have to farm for days, murder 5-7000 monsters or more, like the Ring of Lesser Shadow and the Rapier of Lifesteal. Well, why farm for the RoL, when you get this nice necklace for just killing one Lich? An it does the same. Oh, but it is curesd, you say, it drains your health? Well, no biggie, it can be negated by getting two levels of the Regeneration ability. It's a very nice ability to have anyway. And then it is the best artefact to be had when you need to get trough lots of low level monsters in quick succession, such as while traveling and "hunting" the wildlife and in the Green Maze. Becouse no matter how high your BC and your Dmg Resistance is, some critters manage to hit you once in a while and they slowly chip away your health. But this necklace restores it quickly. You rarely need to use any health item.
You can rest at the guardhouse if you help the guards catch the thieves, not otherwise. This is a really minor benefit though. This is not likely to change in the future. New content is more important than rehashing old content.
These forums go back a long way, and the Necklace of the undead is a relatively recent addition, so you can't judge it's popularity by the number of posts. Based on what has been written here and on Discord I think quite a few players are using it.
Thanks for the clarification.
Then either you should just take the Night visit quest and help the thieves if you expect to get more Thief quests in later updates, or if you don't expect such, then complete all of Umar's quests first, take the nice sword in the end, and only then take the Night visit quest and help the guards. Otherwise just another resting place won't compensate for all those rewards you can get. Still it's good to know that actually there is a way.
