Introduction
"I can see pretty easily what other people consider "good" an' "evil," and tell the difference, but I just don't understand why people get so concerned about doin' one or the other. Strikes me that the wisest thing to do is whatever the wisest thing is for whatever situation you're in, not whatever you've decided is some overarchin' truth. So I do "good" if I can profit and "evil" if I can profit and I won't get caught, and the hells can take the hindermost for all that I care which is which."
Dace Linton is a Chaotic Neutral human female bounty hunter, about 33 years old. She will come over and speak to your PC if you leave or enter through the lower archway of Waukeen's Promenade, where you can find her standing on the steps.
Dace is a slight, wiry woman with short brown hair and clothing of a decidedly nondescript colour and practical cut. She speaks in an unremarkable contralto voice, clipping some words strangely and finishing others with a slight lilt. She has a somewhat crooked grin, as though some emotion other than amusement always manages to twist her smile slightly at the last minute. Dace seems very fond of the notion of practicality but doesn't always practice what she preaches, and occasionally shows a streak of whimsicality that borders on ridiculousness. Ninety percent of the time she is operating on Full-Sarcastic, Half-Obnoxious mode, but she is also capable of brief moments of unique insight and kindness.
•BACK TO TOP
Installation
PC
The Dace NPC mod is a WeiDU mod, packaged in an extractable .zip archive. Simply unrar "dace_vx.zip" (WinRAR) into your Baldur's Gate II directory and run "setup-dace.exe".
To uninstall, run "setup-dace.exe" again and select the uninstall option.
Compatibility and Installation Order
Dace should be compatible with all WeiDU mods, however, we cannot test every single one. If you do encounter an error, please contact K'aeloree (kae@spellholdstudios.net) or alternatively post on the forums.
Although it is not required for the Dace NPC to function properly, it is always a good idea install the latest version of the BG2 Fixpack.
Throne of Bhaal must be installed to play Dace.
BACK TO TOP
Details
Friendship and Romance
Dace can join up with, befriend, and romance any PC of any race, any gender, any alignment. In theory. There are variables that will help to determine whether she actually chooses to do these things or not. Some evil characters might be able to keep her around, while others won't be able to. It depends upon how the PC acts, not upon the PC's alignment. However, if you're roleplaying a Lawful Good PC with any sort of integrity or reasonability, Dace just isn't going to dig your character much.
Dace talks a lot. If you like your NPC's quiet, if you play fast and don't have a banter accelerator installed, or if you get frustrated when an NPC seems to have something to say at nearly every turn, you might not be overly fond of Dace. She has a lot of banters with all the Bioware NPC's (at least five with each character and a rather longer "friendship" track with Viconia), a lot of interjections, and a very long set of tracks with the PC.
Dace's "tracks" with the PC are a little different from some of the standards out there, so be careful if and when you're using variable-forcing to speed up her talks. She begins on one set of dialogue and will switch to another if the conditions are right, i.e. if she likes your PC. After a while, she'll branch into one of two dialog "tracks," which could be considered the "romance" and "friendship" tracks.
Dace's "romance" portion sets in rather late in the game if you're playing normally. Your PC might very well be in or through a romance with another NPC at the point when Dace would conceivably switch to a romance track. If you are in a burgeoning romance (i.e. the romance variable with that NPC is set to "1" and the character is expressing interest in the PC) or in a committed romance (i.e. the romance variable with that NPC is set to " 2"), then Dace will not present the option of switching to her romance track. She'll see that you're either involved with or interested in someone else in the party and just won't even try--for various reasons, that's just the way she is. How you deal with this is up to you. You can play a different romance in the first part of your game and end it later if you want to romance Dace, but if you don't end it in time then you're out both romances. Yes, this means that Dace doesn't have "traditional" romance conflicts, and yes, this unfortunately means you might have to be a little bit of a jerk to Aerie/Kelsey/Sola/Viconia, etc. So if you're trying to romance Dace, keep that in mind. Otherwise, she'll always default to the friendship track if you're reasonably nice to her and can put up with her.
Dace's mood can swing pretty wildly, as can her responses to PC initiated flirts. These have a good number of various random outcomes, though, and they change several times during the game, so don't be afraid to keep bugging her. Her occasionally odd or crabby reactions do not mean doom for your possible romance.
BACK TO TOP
Credits
Writer: Tess Grey
Coder: K'aeloree
Testers: Arconian03, Oracle
Music: "Lone Pine" by Gayle Ellett & Todd Montgomery, "Fall to Earth" by Jeremy Sherman. Both of these are royalty-free and available for purchase online in their entirety.
Audio mastering: -AkumA+
With thanks to: Celissa, who was a brilliant editor and advisor, and K'aeloree, who did all of the hard work and really made Dace happen. Also, heartfelt thanks and/or sincere apologies to Trajan, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, and Ikkyu, all of whom were either quoted or totally ripped off in this mod.
Programs/tools used in creation:
Copyright Notice:
The Dace NPC was developed by Tess Grey, based on material from the game Baldur's Gate II and its expansion.
All mod content is © Tess Grey.
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal © TSR, Inc. The BioWare Infinity Engine is © BioWare Corp.
Please note that any and all redistribution and/or hosting of this mod is prohibited without permission from the author(s).
•BACK TO TOP