Called by Name

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

The quest starts with Zora, who walks the track between the road and the fire at the Tser Pool Encampment. Ask her "Heard anything interesting?" and, among her other news, she tells you about Big Tobar's boy Nelu, who stood up from the fire three nights ago and walked off toward the falls after his dead mother's voice. That puts the quest in your journal.

Then find Big Tobar, the huge man mending a wheel at the east side of the camp. He is there at any hour. Once you have heard Zora, he has a new option: "Zora says your son went after a voice." Without Zora's rumour that option never appears, so talk to her first.

Step by step

1. Hear Tobar out. He tells you about Nelu calling "Da, come down" out of the gorge. You can try Insight DC 12 to read whether he thinks the boy is alive (he doesn't, really); pass or fail, the conversation carries on the same way and he asks you to go to the falls after dark.
2. Go to Tser Falls at night. In this game night runs from 7 in the evening to 6 in the morning. Take the path north from the road and head for the cairn glade on the west side, where a new spot appears: "The edge of the gorge". By day it is just a gorge and nothing happens, so wait for dark if you arrive early.
   
3. Face the voices. At the edge, the lights in the gorge call each of you by name in the voice of someone you've lost (your companions each hear their own), and under it all a boy's voice. The party's best makes a Wisdom DC 14 check. Pass and you hold your ground; fail and someone walks toward the edge, and the fight starts with your party surprised.
4. Fight the wisps. It's Will-o'-Wisps: three if your lowest party member is below level 4, four at level 4, five at level 5 or higher. They have AC 19, resist slashing, piercing and bludgeoning (and acid, cold, fire and necrotic), are immune to lightning and poison, and can turn invisible. Each hit is 2d8+2 lightning, and one can finish off a party member at 0 hit points with Consume Life, so pick up anyone who drops at once. Force, radiant, psychic and thunder damage hit them at full strength.
5. Bring Nelu up. Examine the edge of the gorge again. Nelu is alive on a ledge twenty feet down. Get him with Athletics DC 13 (rope off a pine), or with Misty Step or Spider Climb if someone knows the spell. A failed climb costs half an hour and a bad rope burn, but it isn't final: just try again. "Shout that you'll be back" lets you leave and return later.
6. Take him home. Go back to the camp and talk to Big Tobar.

While you're at the falls, it's worth searching around: an Arcana DC 13 check at the stone heaped with tokens reveals a Pearl of Power (search DC 13); Religion DC 12 at the cairn of names reveals a Necklace of Adaptation (search DC 13); climbing the claw-marked pine (Athletics DC 13, 1d6 damage on a fall) shows a satchel with Goggles of Night (search DC 14). The fallen trunk hides a Bag of Tricks (Rust) (Investigation DC 12), a woodcutter's stump has a Weapon, +1 (search DC 12), and a rain-soaked pack holds rope, torches, a Potion of Healing and 6 gp.

Choices and endings

There is one ending. When you bring Nelu back, Big Tobar gives you 100 gp and an Efficient Quiver, and Thistle (+2), Godrick (+2), Kip (+1) and Wren (+1) approve. From then on Nelu sits by the fire at the camp, and Zora's news changes to say the numbers match again.

If you're stuck

• No option with Tobar? You need Zora's rumour first ("Heard anything interesting?").
• Nothing at the edge of the gorge? It only appears after Tobar has asked you, and only does anything at night.
• Stay off the lip of the falls at night unless you want a fight: stepping onto it after dark springs a Werewolf, a Dire Wolf and two Wolves on you, with your party surprised. The gorge edge you want is in the cairn glade to the south-west, off the lip.
• Don't fall out with the camp. If you fight Stanimir's people or threaten Madam Eva into turning them hostile, Big Tobar and everyone else at the fire is gone for good, and the quest can't be handed in.

Rewards

• Efficient Quiver
• 100 gp

What your companions think

• Thistle: +2 you brought Big Tobar's son home from the falls
• Godrick Pendlebrook: +2 you brought Big Tobar's son home from the falls
• Kip Smudgewick: +1 you brought Big Tobar's son home from the falls
• Wren Featherfoot: +1 you brought Big Tobar's son home from the falls

Fights

• The lights come up out of the gorge like lanterns climbing a stair, and every one of them is still talking in…, in Tser Falls: Will-o'-Wisp. Scales with your level.

Journal

Related

• People: Big Tobar, Nelu, Zora
• Places: Tser Pool Encampment, Tser Falls
• More in The Old Svalich Road: The Count's Huntsman, The Dancing Bear, The Grey Mare, The Hanged Man at the Crossroads, The Lantern in the Roadhouse, The Spiders' Gully, The Tinker's Wagon