I'm on the Isle of Despair & I want to do the pit fighting, but I'm told I have to go alone. So I told my followers to wait for me (which they did), but my Familiar is still with me & since its considered a Follower and not a Summoned Creature, I'm STILL being told I can't fight because I'm technically "not alone."

My party abandoned me. But luckily, I did save first. On the second attempt, I put the party in a hut & told them to wait, then took Old Yeller (the Familiar) out back & did what I had to do.

[EDIT]

Dammit! I STILL can't fight! I have no followers, summoned creatures, or familiars. I not only told them to Wait, I told them to Leave me entirely, and Gorrin STILL won't let me fight!

So how the hell else am I supposed to get in to see the Dwarf if I can't fight to prove my worth?

Be careful with what followers you ask to wait, and in what order. The first time I did the pit fight, I had Sogg Mead Mug and Virgil with me. I asked both of them to wait, but when I got back Sogg had left and when I got back to the inn in Shrouded Hills to try and pick him up again, he was at [-5] Hostile reaction and simply attacked me the moment I set foot in the inn.

eh, eh, yep the party doesn't take too kindly to that sort of thing ;)

Hold on to that save in case you regret that decision as i think once you kill the familiar he's gone for good.

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You're all by yourself and he still doesn't let you fight ? That's weird. Maybe reload and try to dispose of the familiar and party before talking to the pit boss ?

I think there's a couple of ways to go and see the Dwarf without fighting. Persuasion probably works. I also think you can skip the fight if you have a certain book you should have picked up in Ashbury.

No. You can just resummon it.

Really ? Well, i guess it just goes to show that i really need to replay Arcanum one of these dasy as the details are getting a little fuzzy ;)

Yep, I can re-summon it...it just always takes a Follower slot, but doesn't count towards maximum number of Followers.

I checked the Terra Arcanum site, and none of their listed options will work for me. I think I need to go back to Ashbury to find the ONE book the half-ogre guard is willing to read (I've got other books on me, but the dialog doesn't reflect it).

Yeah, it's not just any book i think, it has to be a specific one. I have no idea where the book in question can be found in Ashbury though.

If you have a save in Ashbury before going to the Isle it's probably a good idea to reload then, seing how the guy is not willing to let you fight, which frankly is a bit weird...

I used another save slot & tried to pick the pocket of the half-ogre for the key. I got caught, had to fight him & a couple guards, and took the key anyway. Got inside & the dwarf was willing to talk to me anyway.

The book in question is in a locked barrel on the pier right right before you get to the ship. All you have to do is wait for nightfall, go up, talk to the captain from the opposite side (so he turns around), go back down and stealth to the barrel and lockpick or unlocking cantrip it.

The book alone is not enough though. I'm pretty sure you need persuasion too. I have no persuasion, but I did have the book. It was enough to make the ogre love me [170], but not enough to make him give me the key.

You can also kill him and steal his glasses or just steal the schematic or just hire the convenient Ashbury glasses man to custom-make them. You can also find the Wheel Clan (and everything else) without having it marked by going to about the right spot and then walking along the map until you find it (not 100% sure it'll open if you find it this way and get the glasses without ever reading the book or talking to Thorvald, though).

Only a few locations actually block you from walking in when you find them (Tulla does, Qintarra and T'sen-Ang might). The quest-important ones and the passes do require you to get very very close before they appear though, unlike some of the mini-areas that you only have to pass vaguely near for them to pop up.

I actually had to enter Gorgoth Pass before it showed up on my map, but I was coming at it from the wrong side. The amusing thing about coming from the wrong side (East) is that as soon as you enter the zone (the world map symbol turns to a scroll), you can then leave and pass through it on the world map [because you're supposed to have to fight through once, but the game assumes that's fighting through from W to E).