Exult Forum

When replaying Serpent Isle recently I noticed when you use one of the scrying things in the temples to watch Batlin prepare a reception for the Avatar, with Deadeye there is a mention of him having some unspecified extra reason for wanting to kill the Avatar. Any idea what that might be about? With Deadeye being a pirate, the most obvious thing would be he is Hook's brother or something like that.

good point. No idea...

This has kept me awake at night as well. Well, almost...
I've wondered if he's related to Kalen, the pirate that tries to kill you in Fawn, but other than them both being pirates and wearing a red bandanna on their heads, there's really nothing that proves any relation.

Although it does make a bit of sense, since if Kalen would indeed be Deadeye's younger brother or something, then he has a good reason to want some revenge.

Time for SI fixes to step in
Let's think of a backstory...

You might want to look through the usecode. I remember there was some backstory on Selena that didn't make it in the game, so there might be some cut dialog or something for Deadeye as well.

More backstory than there already is? Since you can make out in-game that Selina is Celennia, is from Moonshade, and that Lydia's her sister. Although the player has to connect the dots themselves.

Interesting bit (that I guess you're referring to) from the wiki:
"Evidence of Selina's involvement with Shmed may be found in unused dialogue in the game's code, which indicates that fishnet stockings were originally planned to have been found on Shmed's person.[7] The Avatar would have been able to trace the origin of these stockings to Alyssand of Fawn, who made them as luxury goods for Moonshadian traders. Alyssand, in turn, would be able to confirm that Flindo was a regular customer of hers,[8] and Bucia would indicate that a "Selenia" used to regularly purchase them from his shop, the Capessi Canton.[9] Furthermore, should the Avatar examine Selina's equipment when she briefly joins the Avatar's party in the finished game, it will be apparent that she is wearing a pair of fishnet stockings."

As for Deadeye's backstory, I'm putting my money in with Kalen. It would be nice if he dropped a scroll written by Deadeye, where he wishes his brother luck with Batlin's command of assassinating the Avatar.
But I guess Hook works too.

Oh yeah, I completely forgot about Kalen. My mistake there.

Don't be silly, it's not your mistake. At the end of the day, there simply aren't any hints about what Deadeye is going on about.

There's so many options. I would think the hatred goes back further than SI though.

The Avatar wounded Deadeye's eye back when he was young and handsome, and now he wants to mangle the Avatar in return. Maybe this happened on the Isle of the Avatar in BG?

Deadeye is woke and wants to punish the Avatar for destroying the Gargoyle's world. #redlivesmatter

Kalen was Deadeye's flunky, and now Deadeye has to do the dirty work himself.

The fishnet stockings backstory is mostly there in Usecode. I wrote code that sets a gflag to begin the search based on reading the scroll on Shmed's body. Full implementation requires a ton of downstream changes to get the full result, and because of the complexity it was rejected from SI Fixes long ago.

I think the plot for it was to both give more of a backstory on Frigidazzi and Selena, and to contrast the typical taste for finery among Moonshade mages and Selena who is rougher around the edges. But in terms of a useful plot device it's just not there. You aren't any more or less suspicious of Selena in Sleeping Bull for example.

Re: Selina
What I was specifically thinking of was a book that didn't make it into the game which told a story about a mage named Celennia who was feuding with Frigidazzi. I'm not sure why this was removed from the game, but this was how I found how who Selina was (though it seems I missed some other clues along the way).

Is that book in Usecode anywhere?

I always thought Batlin was talking about Palos, since Palos was with Batlin when you find them in Shamino's castle. It's been forever since I've played all the way through though.

Ok so reading up on it, I'm pretty sure Deadeye is talking about Selina. She's the only one of Batlin's henchmen that really had much interaction with the Avatar, trying to get you to abandon the party so she can kill you.

Isn't Selina still alive at that point? And I think Palos as well? He's in the same cutscene.

Yeah, Palos and Selina don't make sense; The Avatar has done no harm to those two at that point in the game.

Assuming Deadeye is looking for revenge because the Avatar harmed any of his friends, there aren't many people that fit the bill. Only Kalen and Lydia (Deadeye's lover?) come to mind. Maybe Shmed, because he was a friend? I find it doubtful though, since he's quite weak of character.

Re: Selena

It's Stefano that mentions Celennia, and how she's so dangerous that he'd rather face the wrath of Frigidazzi and Rotoluncia together than Celennia alone. I always figured that must have been Selena.

Lydia gives a speech about "Beast British" but how she knows the Avatar is connected to him is not clear.

That should be clear; Batlin has been badmouthing the avatar at every opportunity he has.
"Hey Lydia, some guy/woman, looking like this and this, is going to arrive in your town sooner or later. He/she is a pawn of Beast British!"

I do not think it dating back to U4 makes sense, it is too long and there is no indication that Deadeye is slow-aging like Shamino and the Earth originating companions.

Were I to create a backstory I would be pretty simple: both Deadeye and Kalen used to be on Hook's crew when he used to be a pirate and are loyal to him. Batlin told him that the Avatar killed Hook when he arrived on Serpent Isle and now they want revenge.

Maybe Deadeye found the body himself.

Here's why I say Deadeye was talking about Selena; she tried at least three times to kill the Avatar and failed:

1. Seducing Shmed to kill the Avatar during and after the Knight's test via traps and finally Shmed trying himself.

2. Getting her sister Lydia in on the plot to kill the Avatar via poison tattoo if the Avatar gets past the knight's test. The Avatar kills Lydia once the plot is foiled...

3. She attempts to lead the Avatar into a trap by trying to convince him to ditch The Companions at the Sleeping Bull and her minions ambush him at the Mint.

She seemed to be eager to please both Batlin and The Guardian, and came up short all three times, so that is why I think she would have been looking forward to another meeting so she could finish the job. When you kill her, she seemed to have more of a personal grudge than the others, saying something about gloating about killing her.