Queen of Sheba Sword and Pickman

Gameplay
#1

Come on Warhorse. There needs to be an alternative way to complete this quest.

1 - It is ridiculously easy to finish the Aquarius quest before you even know the Queen of Sheba sword quest exists. If you spend any longer then the bare minimum of time in Rattay than is necessary, you are almost certain to encounter this quest.
2 - There is little to no indication that Pickman would even have a piece of the sword (that I have found) unless you feel comfortable extorting desperate refugees. The quest specified blacksmiths, yet Pickman does not seem to fit this descriptor. I was forced to go online to try to figure out the location of the final piece after hours of inquiries and searching within the world.
3 - You can only complete the quest if you correctly assign Pickman to a task which cannot be renegotiated or undone.
4 - Pickman seems on the fence regarding carrying shit, due to the promise of double pay. ALL other NPCs save for one either vehemently do not wish to carry shit, or don’t have the option to ask them about it (Antonia). This makes him seem a logical choice.
5 - You cannot obtain the sword piece in any other way. If you are 30 hours past the Aquarius quest when you learn pickman has the sword piece, you are shit (zing) out of luck.

It’s really easy to make this quest rewarding for correct behavior without wasting player time. If you want to encourage players to dig deeper and find the correct assignment for folk, you could offer a conversation option where NPCs complain about their jobs. Kicking off a sub-quest with the baliff to reassign some of them.

More directly, you could add a conversation option to Pickman allowing him to sell the piece to the player at a later time. If you assigned him the shit carrying job, he might sell it to you for 200 Groschen so he can buy his way out of a shitty job. If you don’t give him a job, maybe he’ll sell it to you for 1000 Groschen, just to stick it to you. Even easier, you can simply make the piece obtainable via pickpocketing or murder an have the refugees spread rumors that Pickman is hiding something very valuable that he stole form a blacksmith somewhere.

If you prefer not to take the “After the fact forgiveness” route, provide an indicator in the game that pickman has the piece. Have him mention it up front during the Aquarius quest, or throw in a lootable Bill-of-sale or line of dialogue from one of the blacksmiths elsewhere in the world that he sold it to some poor miner or refugee that came through town as a lucky charm.

Literally anything. Right now this quest seems extremely brittle, and it’s very frustrating to learn it cannot be completed at all simply because you felt a single refugee might not mind carrying poop for extra money. I understand that you’re not supposed to complete every quest and find every secret, but this smells like lazy quest development for an open world/open roleplay game.

22 Likes
Mec kralovny ze saby
#2

Hoping an alternative way gets added as well. Unless Pickman has keestered the sword fragment, it makes no sense that he shard isn’t there at all.

2 Likes
#3

Would be nice, at least fail the quest when Pickman is already assigned to carry the shit… not the water => no reward for player…

#4

Sword sucks, is plain looking and has the durability of 10

#5

Maybe durability is bugged too… Should it be fragile by the design? Because you have to get pieces and after you have to pay ~1000 g for it, so it make not too much sense, that sword would useless

1 Like
#6

Yes, I have same problem, any another way?

1 Like
#7

Totally agree with this post, I’ve been hunting for the last piece of the sword for so long I just had to look it up online (which I’ve been trying to avoid like the plague). Turns out I messed this up in my first couple of hours of play. There needs to be an option to either buy or steal the part from pickman or at the very least fail the mission so it’s not in my quest list anymore but I’d defiantly prefer a way to get the piece

4 Likes
#8

+1 I agree

Please make it possible to get the last shard trough an alternative way.

There are zero indications that a non-smith (Pickman) own one of the shards. That is not fair.

You could add a sidequest to pickman.
As example: Pickman need help, because his sister is missing. You must help to investigate where she is. Pickman is tormented because he does not know if she is okay. So find her, dead or alive, preferably alive.
A Quest with 2 possible outputs:

  • If you find her and save her from the cuman nappers, he will give you his shard of the Saba-Sword.

  • If she dies through an arrow while you fight against the cuman nappers … there could be the following final-dialogue:
    Henry: "I am so sorry, i found her, but i couldn’t save her"
    Pickman: "Oh no! No! cry At least you have tried it."
    Henry: "Sorry again. Tell me if you need more help."
    Pickman: "I have to bury her and a i want to buy a gravestone for her. She deserves a beautiful grave. But i have no money for a expensive Gravestone."
    Henry: "How much money do you need?"
    Pickman: "The cheapest most beautiful gravestone would cost 15,000* Groschen. Before Skalitz got raided, i bought this shard of the saba-sword from a smith. I wish i wouldn’t have wasted my money for a senseless piece of steel."
    Henry: “Order the gravestone from the quarry of talmberg and i will pay it for you, if you give this shard to me afterwards. Coincidentally i need this shard.”

*just a example

Maybe a Side-Quest like this :slight_smile:
It was just a example, but please again, give us the possibility to get the last shard, after aquarius-quest got completed. Because You have forgot to set an indicator, that pickman has it.

i believe one of the smith’s is saying, that he has sold his shard. He should say additional tho who he sold it. Or it would be like finding the needle in the haystack.

3 Likes
#9

Where i can find this Pickman? i have 4 pieces and only missing 1 piece. Thank you.

#10

If you assigned hin to carry water he should be Walking back and forth at the lower Rattay gate. I think in the morning at least i Saw him there.

#11

He is one of refugees near to Ratay lower gate.

1 Like
#12

@WernerWolff
I have seen him yesterday on the street, between the lower gate of uptown and guard pazderas home, carrying a bucket.

But even if you find him, you cannot pickpocket his shard. And it is also not possbile to get the shard by overwhelming and plundering him.

You can only get this shard during aquarius-quest, by asking for a reward, if you give him the watercarrying-job instead of wastecarrying-job. Or somehow.
It is the only way.

If you have already done this quest and not asked for the reward, you will never get this shard. That is what we complaining about here.
There is the issue, that you will find the saba-sword-quest most likely a looong time after you have already completed the aquarius.quest.
And even if you would find the Saba-Sword-Quest before the Aquarius-Quest, there is no indication that a non-smith named pickman has this shard.

2 Likes
#13

I have 4 shards even before i started that quest. Lol. Thanks for your information mate.

#14

Its a junk sword, doesnt even look special. Dont bother.

The sword of St. George can be found in an easy locked chest under a big tree with a small fence around it out in the woods. Thats the longsword you want. If you prefer a short sword and shield, “like a proper knight”, go dig up Stinger.

#15

I’m having a big problem out it too. I also did finished that quest first before I knew of the sword. Also he did say he would give me a reward for it. Though I did assign him his prefer job of carrying water yet he still hasn’t given me the sword piece nor does he have it when I tried to pick pocket him while sleeping or loot Him while he was unconscious.

#16

This sword… At first I was expecting it to be an awesome sword after all the effort spent, it also cost a thousand. But turns out it’s just another junk that I could grab from a dead bandit. It’s name worths something, but nothing so queenish.

I also think that the quests together is stupid, by not telling one of the shards is permanently missable.

1 Like
#17

hmmmm, just like in real life? This game prides itself in being the kind of game where stuff happens with or without you and you can miss stuff by just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe that’s why it’s so rare? Like, 99% of people won’t even get the chance depending on the water mission. Not biggie to me, kind of makes it more appealing to play a second time without stressing so much about potential timelines in the main story :slight_smile:

#18

You should definitely be able to steal the shard if Pickman has it. This shouldn’t be too hard to patch in.

4 Likes
#19

That I could get behind; but then you should be able to steal it from all of them…you just have to find a key/be able to pick a very hard lock and maybe its not in a chest you would expect but like maybe they have a map on them. Idk, apparently the sword is shit anyway so I’ll just wait until next time for the rest of the achievements I dont get this run, if its an achievement

#20

@Skullzr5
I think you have to talk to Pickman again, while he is doing his job.
So find him and talk to him. There should be a dialogue-option for it. Then he should give it to you.

I often see him carrying a bucket, on the street between the lower gate of uptown and guard pazdera’s home.

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