The Art of Persuasion

Librarian Normantis on Amber Ledge wants you to use the Neural Needler on the Imprisoned Beryl Sorcerer until he reveals the location of Lady Evanor.

• Prisoner Interrogated
• Neural Needler (provided)

It is fortunate you're here,.

You see, the Kirin Tor code of conduct frowns upon our taking certain 'extreme' measures - even in desperate times such as these.

You, however, as an outsider, are not bound by such restrictions and could take any steps necessary in the retrieval of information.

Do what you must. We need to know where Lady Evanor is being held at once!

I'll just busy myself organizing these shelves here. Oh, and here, perhaps you'll find this old thing useful....

You will receive:

• 15,100 XP
• +150 reputation with Kirin Tor

Well, do you know where Lady Evanor is being held?

Excellent! It was crucial that we collect that intelligence.

Well done, friend.

When using the needler each time, the sorcerer whispers the following:

• whisper

• whisper

• whisper

• whisper

• whisper

''At this point, you achieve the objective of Prisoner Interrogated. You still hold the Neural Needler, though, and are able to continue.''

• whisper
• whisper
• whisper
• whisper
• whisper
• whisper

This quest, wherein you torture someone for information, is noteworthy for its relevance to real-world events and morality. A reaction to it - on game design merits, rather than morality issues - by Richard Bartle (here, with replies found here) gained significant publication (on sites like these). The game design points raised seem largely to have been overshadowed by the reaction to the torture elements of the quest - the very shock Mr Bartle was thinking of when he first commented.

The whole premise is that the librarian character won't torture someone because of the morals of his group, but you (the character ... or the player) can. In fact, to complete the quest series, you have to.