Noob question - did I take this quest too early?

[Dhansak]

For context - my character was Level 12 when arriving at the main city. She is a Strider level 6 and has never been anything else. This is my first playthrough and is at normal difficulty.

I accepted a quest (the only one) from a noticeboard in the inn - to escort Ser Berne to a fort. I figured this would be reasonably straightforward as it was only the second escort quest I had been given (the first was escorting Madeleine between the 2 early locations).

However I find myself going through the Altar of the Water God to get there. In here I went from level 12 to 15 and have handled everything up to the Cyclops there. Almost got him but lost my 2 hired pawns. My save is now just me, my main pawn and Ser Berne ready to try again.

Do I:

!) Keep trying till I get better at playing
2) Ferrystone back to the city and try again later at a higher level (can I abandon the quest and pick it up again later?)
3) Find another path. Did I choose a really unlucky route - is there another way to get to the fort?
4) Do I just need better gear - I pretty much have the same stuff I acquired after about 2 hours into the game.

I have googled videos but have seen details about giving Berne lots of knives before the quest appeared; I have never done this - the quest was sitting there at the inn on my first visit. Also people doing this seem to be level 40+. However it may be that I am confusing stuff about Berne - it may just be things he is involved with later in the game that I am seeing.

Sorry if this is really daft - am a bit overwhelmed and don't know if it's my lack of skill, level or gear. Knowing which would help greatly!

Thanks.

[Striker]

The escort mission for Ser Berne requires going to the shadow fort and the Waterguard Altar is in the wrong direction. So you made a mistake there. Notice board quests are not based upon a characters level. Attempting some of them while at a relatively low lever (like you are) is a sure way to get yourself killed. To get to the shadow for you must go through the Ancient Quarry. Not a good idea at level 12. Can't say more without spoiling things for u.

This game has stages. At each stage it is possible for some missions/quests to no longer be available. Escort missions can also disappear since an NPCs affinity towards you decreases over time. The missions or quests that say things like "go here and kill this" or "kill this many of that" do not go away. You can do them at any time. Once you start an escort mission you either complete it or fail. No do overs until New Game plus. I usually avoid the escort missions until I put a portable port crystal at the destination. This allows me to then accept the mission, use the ferry stone to travel to the destination with the NPC I'm escorting and it's a done deal. No worries about the NPC getting killed along the way.

[Dhansak]

Thanks Striker - it looks like I have bitten off more than I can chew! Appreciate you not going into too much detail on that to avoid spoilers :) I will ferrystone back to the city to avoid further derision from the cyclops.....

When I try and look at a noticeboard it doesn't show me anything - just asks me if i want to abandon my escort mission. Obviously I will have to do that to see anything else - but do you happen to know if such an abandoned quest will be somehow available later?

Cheers.

[Grr. [SG CMD] Majah Lazah]

First escort quest I did. Rusted weapons.

[Krydx]

Originally posted by Dhansak:

Thanks Striker - it looks like I have bitten off more than I can chew! Appreciate you not going into too much detail on that to avoid spoilers :) I will ferrystone back to the city to avoid further derision from the cyclops.....

When I try and look at a noticeboard it doesn't show me anything - just asks me if i want to abandon my escort mission. Obviously I will have to do that to see anything else - but do you happen to know if such an abandoned quest will be somehow available later?

Cheers.

I think that abandoned escort quests can be restarted again, but I never tried that. You can sleep at the inn, then do this thing and check, if you don't like the result, restart from checkpoint (the moment you wake up at the inn).

Escort quests are tied to the progression of the main story, in other words, once you do certain story relevant quests, the escort quests will disappear and new ones will appear.

[Dhansak]

Thanks guys - just checked by teleporting back and abandoning the mission at the noticeboard. It appeared back on there available to take again - along with 2 other escort missions.

Think I'll avoid those for the moment and stick to something with a bit lower risk!

[Guh~hey~hey~♫]

Well....if you got a portcrystal already (you should find your first one at the bottom during the pawn guild quest), you can:
- first put a marker on the map at the destination of the escort quest
- tp back to gran soren and cancel the quest
- rush (aka run past all ennemies) to the destination you marked and place your portcrysal there
- tp back to gran soren again to retake the quest at the board
- finally tp to your portcrystal with the NPC to complete the quest.

[Andrey Ⅱ]

I escorted Mercedes to Shadow Fort around that level.
I didn't know about ancient quarry back then and went around it. My first meeting with Drake , have to run from him. Mercedes barely made it, without the mage in party I wouldn't succeed :)
Also it gave me opportunity to place portcrystal in SF which turned out to be very convenient.

You didn't need to give Ser Berne knives to get his quest, you had it probably because you did training mission in encampment.
I'll advise to do some escort quest early, especially this one if you have warrior pawn, or planning to play as warrior.

[Dhansak]

I don't yet have a portcrystal - but it looks as if I have the quest that could lead me to one (pawn guild). When I get it, I'll get into the escort business ... lol that came out wrong :)