* SPOILERS *

Jurge Torfinsson in Skjal wants a letter of introduction from the hetman in Thorwal before he is willing to give me his map piece. After travelling all the way back to Thorwal from Skjal and arriving at the hetman's place, I get nothing. The game just says something like, "As you're just sightseeing, the hetman's guards shove you out." No chance to talk to them or anything. This repeats every time I try to get in/talk to them. So, how am I to get the letter of introduction now? I've tried waiting a day and returning then, same response from the guards. I've double checked that I did speak to Jurge in Skjal and returning to him just makes him repeat the quest to get the letter of introduction ("Did you get the letter? No. Then get out."). So maybe I've hit a bug?

What to do now? I know I could try to hex edit the game/save, but I've never done anything like that so I'm a bit wary of that and would use it as a last resort only. But what else is there to do? Stubbornly banging my head on the hetman's gates doesn't seem to do anything (believe me, I've tried).

Oh, and I might have had *some* letter of introduction in the very early parts of the game, or maybe it was just a letter to the armory to get weapons from there - can't remember. Anyhow, I sold the letter after carrying it around uselessly for many hours of gameplay (inventory space being limited and all). Unfortunately; I have no idea where I sold it to (besides I doubt the game saves the items sold to vendors). Also, I do have different letter of introduction, the one from Umbrik Sevenstones that I'll need for another NPC's map piece (in Brendhil), could that be confusing the game? Surely not.

Nevermind. I went and hex edited my save. Acquired the letter that way and thus the map piece from the stubborn fellow. Onwards and upwards! Only 4 more map pieces to go.

can you share your method? my google fu is failing.

It's been so long, I can't remember exactly how I did it anymore. Sorry. But here's something I found, which might very well be the guide I used for my hex editing way back when. Before you do anything, remember to back up your game files!

IIRC, I opened the .GAM file with a hex editor and went to the inventory codes of one of my characters, found an empty inventory slot, entered the hex code for the letter of introduction and saved. That's all. The letter of introduction's hex code is given as EB on the list below, if that's the one your're looking for. Hope this helps.

Everything below is NOT my text, but a copy/paste of Mark Edward's guide from the net. Take it away, Mark...

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Realms of Arkania – Blade of Destiny – Byte level stuff
=========================================
Painstakingly compiled by Mark Edwards

DISCLAIMER: I played around with my disk, and it didn't do any
harm. But I know what I'm doing (at least that's the rumor). If you
are a total klutz with computers, Murphy (whose laws affect us all)
lives with you, or you are afraid to play with your game files,
DON'T DO IT. You can seriously corrupt your files, and make the game
unplayable, by messing with the bytes. With that said, I am
offering this file as information only, and do not guarantee its effects
upon your files. I am not liable directly or indirectly for any mischief
you do to your system because of this information. I have taken great
care to insure this information is accurate on MY system.
Your mileage may vary, a fool and his void are soon prohibited,
close cover before striking, etc., etc., etc.

If you want to modify your Realms of Arkania characters, here is a good
starting point. All you need is a good Hex editor, a little knowledge of
hexadecimal (very little – don't give up yet), and of course, the game,
Realms of Arkania from our wonderful friends at Sirtech.

First, you have to edit a *.GAM file. It doesn't do any good to edit the
*.CHR file. I'll use my setup as an example. The file I used is MARKGAME.GAM
. The hex editor I used is BEAV140.EXE (available on the Internet – I
forget where – but HIGHLY recommended!).

In MARKGAME.GAM, I searched for the name of the character which I wish
to modify, in this case, YARANO. The name is in there twice. Using the
first instance as the beginning, we get the following:


NAME Byte 1

ARCHETYPE Byte 34
Values 00 = Not there 01 = Jester
02 = Hunter 03 = Warrior
04 = Rogue 05 = Thorwalian
06 = Dwarves 07 = Warlock/witch
08 = Druid 09 = Magician
0A = Green elf 0B = Ice elf
0C = Sylvan elf
These are in exactly the same order as in the book. I also
noticed that the archetypes didn't go all the way to 0F as
would be normal, so I investigated further. I found a
surprise!

0D through 1A are the gods (in the same order as in the book),
from Praios to Ifirn. 1B doesn't let you be “The nameless One”,
and I didn't want to do more searching for his code.
You can have fun instead. By the way, I didn't notice any special
stuff as a god-character.

MAIN POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES Bytes 53-72
These are paired off as maximum/current, with a 00 byte between
each pair. For stats of 17 (max)/12 (current), you should see
11 0C 00 on the screen.

MAIN NEGATIVE ATTRIBUTES Bytes 74-93
These are also paired off, same as above.

MAGIC SKILLS Bytes 319-403
Listed in the same order as on your “Magic Skills” screen.
negative numbers are: (-1) = FF (-2) = FE (-3) = FD
and so on.

EQUIPMENT INVENTORY starts with bytes 407 and 409
All inventory fields are 14 bytes apart, begining with
byte 407. Byte 407 is the equipment item, and byte 409
is the quantity, for those items that can be “stacked” (like
food). Example – food is 2D. If you want 31 food packs,
you will see 2D 00 1F.

There are two groups – the body group, and the
backpack group.

The body group starts at the fourth byte after
magic skills (I don't know what those three bytes are – try it
and let me know). The first 7 items are, in order:
Head/Arm/Chest/Primary weapon/Secondary weapon/Leg/Foot.
At the byte level, you can place ANY equipment
item ANYWHERE. You can carry food on your feet (yuck!),
and so on.

The backpack group starts immediately after the body group,
same format.

MONEY – I couldn't locate it. Your guess is as good as mine. Good luck.


Here is the equipment list (256 items)
============================

00 = Blank slot

01 = Sword
02 = Cudgel
03 = Sabre
04 = Knife
05 = Spear
06 = Short sword
07 = Shield
08 = Hatchet
09 = Short bow
0A = Arrow
0B = War axe
0C = Crossbow
0D = Bolt (for crossbow)
0E = Dagger
0F = Iron shield
10 = Francesca – thrown weapon
11 = Throwing star
12 = Two-handed sword
13 = Long bow
14 = Morning star
15 = Obsidian dagger
16 = Torch
17 = Beer
18 = Throwing iron
19 = Lantern
1A = Crowbar
1B = Hammer
1C = Fishing hook
1D = Scroll
1E = Waterskin
1F = Glass flask
20 = Rope ladder
21 = Throwing axe
22 = Brass mirror
23 = Lockpick
24 = Quill
25 = Harp
26 = Drinking horn
27 = Silver jewelry
28 = Clinbing hook
29 = Oil
2A = Bronze flask
2B = Iron helmet
2C = Pike
2D = Food package
2E = Recorder
2F = Alchemy set
30 = Shirt
31= Pants
32 = Shoes
33 = Boots
34 = Snowshoes
35 =Leather harness
36 = Scale armor
37 = Shurin-bulb poison
38 = Arax poison
39 = Fear poison
3A = Sleeping poison
3B = Golden glue
3C = Four-leaf loneberry
3D = Whirlweed
3E = Slimy toadstool
3F = Gulmond leaf
40 = Tarnele
41 = Torch
42 = Mace
43 = Epee
44 = Foil
45 = Quarterstaff
46 = Crystal ball
47 = Whip
48 = Blanket
49 = Shovel
4A = Gold jewelry
4B = Robe
4C = Robe (fancy)
4D = Pothelm
4E = Leather cap
4F = Quilt armor
50 = Chainmail shirt
51 = Toadskin
52 = Plate armor
53 = Chainmail armor
54 = Leather armor
55 = Tinderbox
56 = Whetstone
57 = Cutlery
58 = Dish
59 = Licorice
5A = Sweets
5B = Wine bottle
5C = Brandy bottle
5D = Hoe
5E = Amulet of Praios
5F = Lute
60 = Winter coat
61 = Net
62 = Throwing knife
63 = Sickle
64 = Scythe
65 = Warhammer
66 = Trident
67 = Halberd
68 = Grain flail
69 = Double fleurs (cutting weapon)
6A = Goupillon (weapon)
6B = Basilisc's tongue (knife)
6C = Catchogre (sword)
6D = Mengbilar (sword)
6E = Heavy dagger
6F = Rondracomb (2-handed sword)
70 = Cutlass
71 = Bastard sword
72 = Tuzakiar (2-handed sword)
73 = Bec de Corbin (cutting weapon)
74 = Brabak bully (Cutting weapon)
75 = Rapier
76 = Kunchomer (cutting weapon)
77 = Double kunchomer
78 = Sling
79 = Rope
7A = Shurin-bulb
7B = Belmart leaf
7C = Donf sprig
7D = Menchal cactus
7E = Mandrake
7F = Atmon flower
80 = Ilmen leaf
81 = Finage tree
82 = Joruga root
83 = Thonnys flower
84 = Lotus flower
85 = Magic wand
86 = Skraja (axe)
87 = Hatchet
88 = Orc hook
89 = Cutting tooth
8A = Seal slayer
8B = Wolf knife
8C = Witches' broom
8D = Lotus poison
8E = Kukris (something in a yellow bottle – probably poison)
8F = Bane dust
90 = Toadstool poison
91 = Healing potion
92 = Potent healing potion
93 = Elixir of CR
94 = Elixir of WD
95 = Elixir of CH
96 = Elixir of DX
97 = Elixir of AG
98 = Elixir of IN
99 = Elixir of ST
9A = Magic potion
9B = Potent magic potion
9C = Olgin root
9D = Kairan sprig
9E = Bastard sword
9F = Orc hook
A0 = Short sword
A1 = Sickle
A2 = Amulet
A3 = Amulet
A4 = Bone with rune
A5 = Ring
A6 = Expurgic
A7 = Recipe for expurgic
A8 = Vomic
A9 = Recipe for Vomic
AA = Document about unicorn help
AB = Silver coronet – increase AC by 1-7 points
AC = Sabre
AD = Amulet
AE = Amulet of light
AF = Amulet
B0 = Debt book
B1 = Red moon disc
B2 = 2-handed sword
B3 = Orcish document
B4 = Antidote
B5 = Grimring sword
B6 = Death-head belt
B7 = Girdle of might
B8 = Magic breadbag
B9 = Magic waterskin
BA = Recipe for healing potion
BB = Letter from Jadra to enter arsenal
BC = Amulet
BD = Praise
BE = Membership scroll for the cult
BF = Document
C0 = Sea chart
C1 = Kukris dagger
C2 = Key
C3 = Golden key
C4 = helmet
C5 = Chain mail shirt
C6 = Chain mail shirt
C7 = Sword
C8 = Kukris mengbilar (pointed weapon)
C9 = Platinum key
CA = Recipe for antidote
CB = Recipe for hylailic fire
CC = Recipe for elixir of strength
CD = Recipe for elixir of courage
CE = Recipe for magic potion
CF = Ring
D0 = Key
D1 = Iron key
D2 = Iron key
D3 = Red key
D4 = Bronze key
D5 = Silver helmet
D6 = Sliver mace
D7 = Silver jewelry
D8 = Spear
D9 = Coronet
DA = Throwing dagger
DB = Golden key
DC = Ring
DD = Magic bag of dust – makes a frame
DE = Book – list of booty
DF = Elixir of health
E0 = Book
E1 = Crystal
E2 = Elixir of CR
E3 = Elixir of WD
E4 = Elixir of CH
E5 = Elixir of DX
E6 = Elixir of AG
E7 = Elixir of IN
E8 = Elixir of ST
E9 = Robe
EA = Golden shield
EB = Letter of introduction
EC = Miracle cure
ED = Sleeping potion
EE = Miasthmatic (for use in combat)
EF = Hylailic fire
F0 = Recipe for potent healing potion
F1 = Recipe for miracle cure
F2 = Recipe for sleeping potion
F3 = Recipe for potent magic potion
F4 = Recipe for miasthmatic
F5 = Silver coronet
F6 = Book
F7 = Letter of introduction – from Umbrick Sevenstones to Tiomar
F8 = Black figurine
F9 = Lantern
FA = Ducats (looks like a blade on the screen)
FB = 200 arrows
FC = 50 bolts (for crossbow)
FD = 20 clinbing hooks
FE = no name (picture looks like a blade)
FF = messes up screen

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