Larian Studios Forums Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis (English) Help/Tips/Tricks Rothman

I have found all the secrets within Broken Valley with out help but for the life of me, I cannot get this dude out of the hole and I could use a bit of help.

The thing is - I have rope. I have twelve bloody ropes in my inventory. I walk up to Rothman and I am asked if I have rope. I do but the only option I am giving is:

'I don't have rope yet.'
and
'I got salt and pepper.'

I cannot find a 'beam' which to tie the rope to in order to get him out. Could someone help me? Its driving me nuts.

There is no beam or anything extra required; a conversation option should just show up if you have rope in your inventory.

Try selling all the rope you have and buying one back (or pick up a different piece of rope; there are a couple in the bandit hideout, if you didn't get those yet). Maybe that will fix whatever the glitch is with the game not recognizing that you have rope.

If that doesn't help, try emailing support@larian.com, with a description of the problem and maybe a link to this topic.


Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the welcome as well as the quick reply help. I'll do as you suggested about selling the rope. I think I have picked up all the ropes in broken valley but I'll try to purchase it back. I haven't gotten far into the game when I decided to start it all over again. I only got to the sential island but can't get pasted the study of Laiken. I read somewhere that those beast are a high level and I only reached level seventeen. So thought I would try and gain extra levels by going back to things I might have missed. The man in the hole was a problem on my first round as well. Again, thanks for the advice.

You can head to the fjords early, if you wish (take the path to the far south west in Broken Valley). Only the starting section is available before you take over the battle tower, but there is lots of experience to be had there.

You may be past this point now, but your first encounter on Sentinel Island you can mindread to go up a level, so the higher level you are (I made it to 22 in the fjords) the more of an experience bonus that will be. You don't need to get to a high level, but it is better to reach a new level before entering, to get a full level bonus (and equip anything you have with a Wisdom boost, so rescuing Rothman first would be better).


In Laiken's study, did you have your creature summoned (and possibly a ghost or demon, if you learned the ghost skill or have jewellery with a bonus to either), maybe lower the difficulty setting, use stat/resistance potions, etc? Depending on your character build, a change in tactics may help. I think the abominations there are level 17 and 18, so you shouldn't have to get too creative to survive. Level 1 of Evade helps in close quarters, even if you are playing a ranger or mage (higher levels of the skill don't give as much of an effect per skill point). Did you check the merchants in Broken Valley again since you last levelled, for equipment or enchantment upgrades?


Speaking of maybe missing things, did you do any swimming around the island? There isn't much to find, except near the windy peninsula.

Wow- thanks for the advice!

I still am not having any luck with Rothman. I am afraid it will be useless but I'll give that email a try. I sold all the rope, purchased again, destroyed, found rope from the island and still no luck.

I have ventured into the island with this character. She is a mage mostly. The last one, the one I got stuck on, he was all malee. The magic seems easier to me. I have lowered the game play...should had done that on the first go.

I wasn't aware I could go into fjords. I thought it was a no turning back once you entered. Its good to know. I might jump there before going to Laiken's study.

With my mage character, I hadn't gotten to Laiken study, I am almost there. The old character, as I said, was a warrior. I had evade level 2 and my creature along with a demon. But the demon died quicker than I did! So I hadn't opt to have one and the ghost, I'm not sure what kind of damage it could do. I am very new at this game.

I keep checking with all the merchants but it seems as the stuff I have is better than what they are offering me.

Yep, I swam around the island. I kind of cheating by taking my foes out from the water's edge. I found it. I picked one because I couldn't defeat them both in my last character.

As of now: I have not got the guy out of the hole. I have rope but it won't work. I am on the island, just taking out creatures. I haven't picked my helpers but I know which I am going for. I haven't been in Laiken's Study with this new character. Everything that I could do in Broken Valley is done- 'cept Rothman. So I am almost where I stopped at before I restarted the game.

You are so helpful Raze! I really do appreciate you helping me out on this. Any advice I'll soak it up - I love spoilers so you won't damage my fun. I read books from back to front all the time.

I have not tried any summons (either with my warrior in the original release of D2:ED or ranger in DKS), despite the creature being helpful. The ghost can use a fireball spell, but I think is more useful for its ability to heal the character.

It's indeed strange what you've with Rothman .... can it be you said something to him that break the option to free him ?

but if you like to use a bow, take the one of Hermit (Mister Shooty L16 with Ranger Stealth +1 on it) ... you can pay with Spoons ...

For me a melee character is more difficult to play with because the melee battles are to fast for me ...
I discovered ca. a year ago that a Priest build suits me best.
Charm, Blind, Fear, Curse, Summon Ghost(!), etc ... love them all !!

For my Priest build a Creature with a Ghoulish Head (Fataltiy & Rush Attack) I like most and comes in handy to attract enemies so I can Charm, Blind or Curse them ... or whatever I like (using Polymorhp, Thousand Strikes, ... via skill boosts on yewellery) .

I do not believe I had said something to break the option of freeing Rothman. He is in my quest log to do so. At first I couldn't find the white rabbit or the chicken but once I started over on a new game, they appeared. I hope this is the only glitch I find on the way.


The melee wasn't so bad at first but once the creatures got to a higher level, magic was use more often I noticed. Again, I haven't gotten out of Sentential Island. The creatures would fire at a far distance, I would use a rush attack to get near them and they'd run away always shooting the magic. So I thought Magic would be more helpful than melee. Currently I have a pretty good mix, I think. Mostly Wizard. Archery really is nice. I played Fable and loved archery in that game.

I am not sure what really is the difference between Priest and Wizard in this game as they both seem to relay on magic.

The ghost can heal the character than... Does it take more mage power to summon the ghost than the 'Healing' Power which pretty much wipes me out if I use it.

I don't know exactly how many the mana costs are for Summon Ghost and for Healing, but if you wish to know I can search for you

If you don't have so many Mana better upgrade Summon Ghost and use this for healing. You can summon the ghost too if there isn't any enemy. If your health is (very) low after a few seconds the Ghost will heal you and how higher his level how more he can heal you in 1 time.
In battle the Ghost can heal you more than once (if needed), but attention : if enemies attack your Ghost he need to protect himself and can't heal you, so what I do (mostly) is attacking those enemies that are attacking my Ghost (Blind them or Charm or kill them )


The Healing skill is also useful, but use more mana in comparison with Summon Ghost for your healing. Having both at your disposal is, of course, (the best) a good thing.

And if you don't wish to be detected (by enemies) better use Healing ! O, and you can also use Hide in Shadows + Healing and nobody can see you whilst you use the Healing spell . But don't try Hide in Shadows while you're under attack ! First jump away from the line of attack .
If you've still the "Talisman of the North" you can try Hide in Shadows

In the Skill Tree the Priest Skills are the ones that stay most left. For a Mage or Priest I believe investing points in Spirit is more important than for other builds.
I prefer the Aleroth Archmage Set because of the Belt . I say no more .

Rangers try always to run away, so what I do is combine 2 skills:
first shoot a Stunning Arrow and second use Rush Attack and start to defeat with a melee weapon or use Firewall (in the time I play more a mage type).
As a Priest I prefer : Stun Arrow >>> Rush Attack (if needed) >> Blind OR Charm (or Curse).

But there're more combinations of Skills you can use ...

You can not learn the Healing spell until you reach level 15. The Summon Ghost spell can be learned on level 1.

If you have a couple free skill points, you can put them into Mana Efficiency. In D2:ED with my warrior I maxed it (level 5) so I could summon the creature and have enough mana left over to be able to use the Healing spell if I needed to. In DKS with my ranger I boosted it enough (level 6) that I didn't need to increase spirit or intelligence for my ranger (especially once I started getting armour with 2 enchantment slots, so could use Increased Mana in addition to Life Line).

I give Vitality AND Spirit so far (now level 20) from the beginning boosts via equipment, so I search for them and found very nice boosts !
And like Raze said: enchantments like Life Line and Increased Mana are nice ! And all things with Mana or Health boost also + the enchantment Mana Leech or Life Leech on a weapon

For example:
a)Laiken's Sword L18 : 35 HP (use it for the Summon Mastery +2 skill boost)
b)Shield : 1 L11 with + 5 to Spirit and 1 with + 5 to Vitality (found yesterday)
c)Mister Shooty L16 : 24 HP (+ 1 to Ranger Stealth) - enchanted it yesterday with Mana Leech L7
d)2 HW L16 with Mana Leech enchantm L8

e)CRS : Barbarian's Heavy Army Cuirass L19 : Vit +6, Spi +5, Life Line L6 (+15 HP) +2 empty charm slots!
f)LGG: Shaman's Regular Army Leggings L9 : Vit +5, Spi +5, Life Line L5 (+12 HP) +2 empty charm slots!
g)HMT : Priest's Heavy Battle Helmet L20 : Spi +4, 2 empty charm slots
h)GLS : 1 with Vit +6 & 1 with Spi +4, each with 1 empty charm slot
i)BLT : Wolf's Star Belt of Aleroth : Vit +4, +26 MP, Healing Aura L4

All together I can give only Spirit a big boost (around +23 = 23 x 7 = +161 MP ) already, even without boosts from yewellery included !

Raze, thank you so much for suggestion going into fjords. That was huge experience points and gained so quickly!

Thanks for the weapon information, Joram. I will need to write down my weapon information see what you all think/suggest to mine.

I am now a dragon but I must say, the battles with the nest and weapon tower thingies are difficult! I did fly back into Broken Valley, curious you know and that place is now out of my gaming skills. Hopefully by sticking to fjords I'll gain some strength. But where do I go after fjords?

Thanks again for all your help.

Oh and the situation with Rothman. I did send an email as suggested and I did receive one back. I just need to dig into the computer to send a file back to them and see what happens from that point. Currently, Rothman died in that hole, I could not save him even with rope in my inventory.

If you hit Target Lock you can circle around the nests and ballistas to take them out with Dragon Breath at close range, or Fire Spheres at long range.

Did you finish clearing down the mountain path at the start of the fjords, swim over to the other beach and the path to the depleted ore mine? Once you get the barrier down, if you have not done so yet, the easiest opponents would be found continuing down the path from the depleted ore mine to High Hall and the harbour building. There is a travelling merchant along that path who you only meet once, so make sure you have lots of loot to trade with. He has There are a couple caves in the starting section of the fjords, as well (one near the start of the waterfall across from the teleporter shrine, and another in the cliff a little left of where the anti-dragon shields are/were around the bunker).

On Sentinel Island you can teleport to the shrine outside, jump up the rocks and run over to where there are no overhanging tree branches in order to change into a dragon (IIRC you may also be able to find a spot on the path down to transform, or jump off and turn into a dragon before you get too deep into the poison gas). There are probably a few remaining attackers, left when you automatically returned to the battle tower, as well as a few places you can now reach as a dragon (including the ship in the tree, though you may want to use the treasure yourself, rather than complete the quest to bring it to Turgoyn, who moved up by the teleporter).

If you don't have the barrier down yet, then fly out over the water from the start of the fjords, and you should see the bunker high in the mountains behind some anti-dragon shields and defenses.
You can either use a teleporter to get up there (the Camp Sentinel View teleporter, on the west side of the island in the middle of the channel, will bring you to Camp Eagle's Nest, where you can access the bunker) or it is also possible to fly above the anti-dragon shield and drop down in human form, if you find the right spot.

Stone's fortress is the easiest one (teleporter on the north east end of the island across from the dragon cliff castle), followed by Raze (mountain across from the harbour), Broken Valley, Keara and then Kali (Rivertown Gorge).

Thanks again for the information!

I did run into the merchant, not realizing that would be the last time. I did not have enough stuff and sadly missed my opportunity with him as he did seem to have a lot of nice items that was way out of my price range. I will need to find my target lock that will help. I've been blasting the ballistics first than ducking behind cliffs, that's on the U-bend of the map. Past Raze's fortress entrance (which I had not tried any fortress yet). I believe I had killed off most of the imps along the cliffs and those birds. I haven't gone into any of the caves yet 'cept for the one behind the water fall, which I am collecting seeds and the one beside the waterfall which I did not succeed.

I have broken the barriers and was able to get into the bunker with out a problem.

I hadn't found anything in Sentinel Island that I was not able to reach before being a dragon, except that ship. On first arriving at Sentinel Island I was able to find places to force a jump to some ledges, it was where I took out most of my enemies and was able to find some things, such as the burning note. The ship I am having trouble with. I can land on it but am not able to find a way to leave it. Every spot I tried said I needed more room to morph into dragon and yet if I do not change, I am poisoned on hitting the ground. Any suggestions?

I will do those fortress in the order suggested. Can you please tell me which cave I would have more difficulty in. Also, how do I boost my dragon's defense and offense rate? Also, I do not have a high lock pick, I believe it is a three. Am I really missing out on the locks I cannot pick?

Find at least 1 of each of the 3 types of zeppelin parts (most of which are in or near wyvern nests throughout the fjords) and you will be able to go to Aleroth, where there are a couple good merchants. I stuck to level 9 enchantments (other than healing auras, which always require a malachite gem), and had plenty of malachite gems to spare (reloading at veins to get 2 or 3 from each).
If you want a spoiler for the zeppelin parts, here is a map of the fjords, showing the rough locations (marked with an S ). Alternately, from the walkthrough,

With the Xbox version Target Lock is the left trigger; I don't know what it is for the PC version.

Outside on Sentinel island there are several chests or other loot in wyvern nests in trees that you could not reach before. The only nest you need to worry about getting is one with a dragon skill book (from the ship in the tree look at the left side of the battle tower and that nest is along that path).

You should be able to jump off the ship and transform before hitting the poison, but if not it is thin enough you shouldn't take much damage, and can transform from the water.

If you fly in the direction of the fjords you should be able to find the raft Michael was building on the beach, now caught on a rock. There is no poison gas there, so you can transform over the raft or rock and find/read his diary.


I don't think there is a huge difference in difficulty in the caves at the start of the fjords, at least not that I noticed being level 23, or so, when I took over the battle tower.

The dragon's defence and offence are determined by its level. Did you check the battle chest contents? You should have dragon equipment with a +40% offence bonus and another piece with +40% hit points (later you can find +40% to defence and mana, though offence/defence are each on a cuirass, while hit points/mana are on leggings, so you have to chose which you prefer).

Other than that, the dragon shield spell helps somewhat going into tough fights, and the summon spell gives you a wyvern which draws off some attacks that would otherwise be meant for you.

If you are having trouble with dragon combat, just focus on human combat first, and come back for the dragon sections later when you are at a higher level. In DKS I did the human portions of the flying fortresses first, except for the headquarters, then the dragon sections (in an attempt to level higher, since towers, etc, give a fixed amount of experience), then did the headquarters.

There is nothing essential in any chests that you need Lockpick for, but in general a level 4 or 5 chest should give you better random loot than a level 3 chest.

Thanks again. I did manage to take out all the ballistic towers and nest in fjords area but I saved it wrong or loaded it wrong - either way I find that I must do it all again.

What is throwing me off - I believe it is anyways - is the 'walk through' I had read. It is useful but at the same time it seems a bit wrong as well. In it I read that melee was the best option, I am finding mage and bow is working best for me. Also that the caves were terrible hard in fjord, yet I am having no problem with them.

I am having trouble getting into the well cave near the troll caves in High Hills. And Gobles (sp) cabin.

I had tried to shift into a dragon in the water and it didn't work so I assumed that I could not do it. I did try at your advice and it works now - as well as when I am falling I can change. So I was able to get to the boat. I didn't find a skill book though. I found the drifted boat, the loot in the ship on top of the tree and a nest but not a book. I will look again.

I flew to Aleroth by accident and reloaded, again I wasn't sure I was able to finish Fjord if I went there. If it doesn't change anything in fjord's I think I will go visit it.

Again, I appreciate the all the information you are giving me. It is extremely helpful.

Playstyle has an effect on difficulty in addition to skills, stats, level, equipment, etc. Even if the walkthrough accurately represents most people's opinions on different builds, there are going to be some who disagree with various aspects. There were also some balancing and other changes made for DKS, so opinions based on the original release may not be valid for DKS, and vise versa.

Did you talk to Beatrice and get the quest to explore the well? If so (preferably after mindreading her and confronting her with what you learn), then if you are near the well, the entrance door to the cave is a little left of the direction of the Camp High Hall teleporter.

The only way to get into Gobie's house is to tell him you will slay the ghost yourself during the cutscene conversation when you first approach that area. Other solutions to that quest do not result in Gobie giving you the key, and there is no other way in (though being a poor farmer, there isn't much loot to be had there, anyway).

You can head to Aleroth and not worry about effecting anything in the fjords. You can even talk to Zandalor in the ministry building, and (despite his 'urgent' request for help) tell him you need more time before starting the main plot quest there. Past the merchants, by the ministry, you will find a teleporter shrine, so can teleport to and from Aleroth rather than having to head to the harbour to catch a zeppelin.

Melee is (imo) strong if you go dual wielding, but I don't like dual wielding, so that's not a option for me. I prefer sword & shield (for the boosts in spirit and/or vitality on a shield if I find such) or a 2-handed sword for melee attacks.

But Priest Skills are all big big fun
By the way: playing as a Priest I find the game easier, even on nightmare difficulty, than with all other builds (even without putting charms in empty slots, and I can place many charms if I wish!).
But I always invest some points in Stun Arrows(2 p), Healing(1 p) & Lockpick, but other points go to Priest Skills and many extra's are coming from skills on Yewellery etc ...
Only the Aleroth Archmage Set (the Belt + at least 1 other of that Set wearing) is important for me . Why ? Because of it's super boost to MP regeneration !

Ronja, the Ranger Priest, who has Priestly-big-Pleasure !