Gerin: I was going around by Onar's farm freelance hunting and came across a trail that led to a big bandit camp. The guard by the bridge made me say Dexter's name and then let me in. I talked to a few of them, then found myself in a tower, and the winding stairway seemed like a good perch to stand on and, since they were bandits, I started shooting. I slew all the ones around that tower, and when I came out I found that Greg had showed up and slaughtered all the rest of them, including Dexter. That annoyed me because I missed out on talking to him and getting a lot of xp, but whatever. I just looted the place and talked to Greg and moved on.
The problem came later when I wasn't progressing in trying to get into the Ring of Water so I read in a spoiler that I need to talk to Dexter before he dies in order to progress in the missing people quest. Now that he's dead and I didn't get any info from him, how screwed am I?
FYI 1. I'm lvl 14 with points in bow and dex, not much str or mana. Next gonna learn to brew dex potions and read stone tablets. 2. Also next gonna find the fragments of the ornament that will open the portal that I assume goes to Jarkendar.
Thanks.

Edit: What if I marvin Dexter back to life? If I do will Greg kill him?

lordhoff: Did you get the letter on Dexter's body?

IwubCheeze: In my last play through of Gothic 2, I never even talked to Dexter. There will be a letter on him body, read the letter and talk to Vatras about it. I'm guessing the spoiler guide should have mentioned talking to Dexter is only one way to start the quest. Finding the note is the other.

So yeah, don't worry, your game isn't broken and you can still access the NOTR areas (which are absolutely excellent might I add :) )

Gerin: I did what you said and got into the Ring of Water. My only worry is that it triggered the start of Ch 2, which I had planned to wait on. Plus I thought I'd wait to join the militia until I did the mercenary quests, but delivering that message also made me join the militia. Is this any problem doing the mercenary or mage quests? I haven't put on the militia armor yet, thinking that might make a difference. My next step is to find Peck, do the quest for finding Isgaroth, then locate the ornaments.
Am I on track? I fear that starting Ch 2 too soon made me miss something but I can go back.
Thanks!

IwubCheeze: Okay, keep in mind I'm going entirely from memory here and I only had 1 full playthrough of Gothic 2 so I am probably not the best person to be giving advice so any other posters reading this, feel free to correct me.

Are you sure delivering the letter automatically made you join the militia? I was under the impression that once you did you quest you would get the reward but the quest giver would tell you if you want to the join the militia/mercs/whatever, that you had to talk to them again, usually with the "I want to join XXXXXXX" dialog option. Don't know if delivering the letter was an exception. I joined the mercs on my last playthrough but I think I was already a merc when I delivered the letter.

Now that you're in the militia, some merc quest will be locked. The fire mage quests were never open to the unguilded so don't worry about those. Apart from quests, the only other thing you miss out on when moving from chapter 1 on to 2 (or after going a guild) is rewards from the innos shrines but in your case being in the militia, nothing changes here.

Wearing the armour doesn't make any difference, the world clairvoyantly which guild you belong to.

IwubCheeze: There's some minor spoilers in this post but I'll try and keep them to a minimum

You don't actually have to be in the militia to see Lord Hagen. I joined the mercs in my last playthrough and if you go that route, Lee will give you a letter to give to Lord Hagen. Talk to the guards outside the upper city and tell them you have a message for Lord Hagen and they will let you come and go as you please. However, it seems your interested in joining the militia regardless but I just thought id throw this out there in case the whole reason you wanted to join the militia was just to be able to see Lord Hagen.IwubCheeze: That looks good to me, just hope you don't have to redo too much stuff. Just some friendly advice when you join the ring of water and find the ornaments to open the portal, don't do what I did and start the NOTR area too late in the game. I think I was in Chapter 4 or something before I started NOTR and found it a little too easy.

Gerin: Thank you. Yes, I did plan to join the militia and paladins but I knew it would close some options, like the thieves guild and what you mentioned about the mercenary quests. But no worries at this point. I will just revert to right before turning in Dexter's note, which loses basically nothing.