[spoilers] Supporting the orc mercenaries and the Hashishin

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Brief background: The path of Innos has been straight-forward - so far so good. The path Xardas offers has struck me by surprise - I've decided against that as a fire mage. The path of Beliar likely involves supporting the Hashishin - that's something to give a try in a future playthrough, too.

So, when supporting the orcs and sort of becoming an orc mercenary, I wonder how long to wait with clearing the rebel camps? How do you do it usually? Do you visit all villages of Myrtana and support the rebels as long as you don't need to fight orcs? And then eventually you switch sides and turn against the rebels? Or do you start early with an attack of Reddock?

[Sugar]

You need 75% reputation with the Orcs to meet Khan and it's impossible to do it, without destroying rebel camps. Hell, even getting the 40% reputation with orcs for the heavy merc armor is a pain without doing it.
Very few quests from orcs give you reputation with them. I once played for them to see what happened. To get to Khan, I had to destroy all the rebel camps, kill all the druids, bring the 50K gold to Trelis, kill the slaves and collect all the fire chalices. You know what I got? Nothing. I could tell you what happens, but I don't know if you want spoilers. For the sake of optimality, I did the quests for the rebel camp and then destroyed it. You could always destroy one rebel camp and still not get the other rebels to aggro you on sight.
+ when you take the quest to destroy a rebel camp, the rebels at said camp don't become suspicious of you(i.e. turn orange) so you could cheese them one by one, unlike the orcs in the cities.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Reputation with orcs shouldn't cause any problems. I've noticed lots of options to please them, and reading the following topic confirms it:
http://forum.nordicgames.at/threads/137011-Guide-for-REPUTATION-with-Orcs-huge-spoiler

Still I'm not sure yet when to turn against the rebels for the first time - and due to that I will continue to support both and eventually become a betrayer.

[Sugar]

What do you mean by "cause any problems"? Most of the quests you can't do, unless you're absolutely sure about playing for the orcs(destroying the rebel spies). Without doing that, you can get a total of 35%. I just did the math using the guide you posted. Just know that deciding to help them in some cases will cost you reputation with the rebels, so you won't be able to get the best gear(well, armor)from them, which you will need in Nordmar and Varrant.
My recommendation is this(without spoiling anything) - if you're 100% certain you're not going to play for Innos, you can safely destroy all rebel camps before leaving for Nordmar. Just finish their quests first for some extra experience.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by Sugar:

What do you mean by "cause any problems"?

There are enough opportunities to raise Rep with the orcs.

Nevertheless, I'm going to work with the rebels for some time, too, and turn against them late.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

The ultimate betrayal works well. Many opportunities to work with the rebels, even bring them reinforcements, but later eradicate their camps.

Once I've been to every city/village of Myrtana except Faring, I've taken the long path to Bakaresh over the sea to do some quests for the Hashishin there and learn mana regeneration. Then, returning to Myrtana, I've cleared Ardea, Reddock, Okana and Nemora. Attacking the outside guards, all rebels pop out of their camps.

At Faring, orc reputation is at 67, rebel reputation at 32.

There are a few quests where you need to choose sides, and if delaying those as long as possible, one can be busy in Myrtana and keep both paths - rebels or orcs - open. There is no penalty for killing the roaming orc patrols - the rebels give a reward for that and get crushed later nevertheless.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Haha! Upon entering the desert at Braga, I observe an orc patrol attacking Riordian. Running closer, it turns out I cannot join the fight unless I attack Riordian, too. Seems I'm considered an ally of the orcs, and they are not targetable. Shortly afterwards, the Hashishin from the village entrance help the orcs. For role-playing purposes and in Hashishin armor, I've helped killing Riordian - and it finished some quest to get later.

That is exactly what I had hoped for with chosing the betrayer/Beliar path in the game.

[白起]

Wait and see how thankful the orcs at Nordmar's ore furnace will be about your choice. Their hospitality is unmatched.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

So far, reputation with orcs doesn't stop some orc patrols from attacking right away. They start red colored = hostile. Ran into a small camp at the far north-east of Bakaresh. Two leaders, one shaman, multiple melee fighters.

[Sugar]

Yeah, there's a heavy chest there. I think that the story behind them is that they're after a druid. Reputation with the orcs is only useful in Myrtana. In Nordmar, orcs attack you on sight. And in the desert they don't really do much outside of maybe having a few quests or something for you.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Ewwwh! Maybe I've messed it up.

In Varant I've supported the Hashishin so much that currently my Rep with them is 76 while the orc Rep is only 74. Talking to Kalesch, the orc supervisor at the temple of Mora Sul, there is no choice - the dialogue is scripted and leads to an improper answer from the nameless hero that causes Kalesch to attack. The other orcs join the fight, so I will have to kill them all.

[Sugar]

Yeah. You can't really do much in Mora Sul. After you get the 4 keys, Kalesch will want you to give them to him. Only thing you can tell him is to go to hell.

If you just fight Kalesch in front of the Temple where there are no other orcs, you won't have to fight them.

You haven't messed up. It's just that supporting the orcs is kind of badly made.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

The nameless hero answers automatically - there are no choices. Kalesch can be lured away and knocked out to fetch the key, but afterwards he will attack again if coming to close. The other orcs have not joined the fight when luring him away.

Al Shedim next - and hunting water mages.

[Sugar]

I usually do Al-Shedin first and then Temple of Mora-Sul. Personal preference. Kalesch really doesn't do much afterwards. Make sure to kill the undead commanders with Merdarion(think he was near Mora Sul). That's a lot if XP. You can always kill him afterwards

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

No worries about XP.

For this run, so far it's a level 58 black mage with 177 LP saved. Ancient Knowledge 334 - a bit low as I've spent stone tablets before reaching AK 250. Mana 438.

Haven't been to Nordmar yet except for a brief visit of the monastery.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Now I remember why I wanted to go to Mora Sul first. Temple at Al Shedim contains three Undead High Priest - whereas temple at Mora Sul contains only one.

Fabio at Lago: that has been hard to figure out a solution how to get his key. Everything I had tried made the entire village attack me. Shooting him with multiple headknock arrows worked finally.