Must I start over?

[frogbeard]

Two things seem to be a problem for me:
(1) I was a good guy, and didn't steal anything on my trip to Darkford. (Like the darn key!.)
(2) I took the shadowy guy quest, killed Lilith, and handed over the amulet.

Am I screwed?

[Kreador Freeaxe]

You killed Lillith before asking her about your amulet? That might cost you some experience, but none of what you did screws you. There are 4 ways into Crackamir, so you've cut one out for yourself by not grabbing the key in Darkford. Actually, there are 5 ways, sort of, but one of them is only useful once you've been there the first time, and one takes a little work (see a recent discussion about Father Michael's retreat).

[acoustibop]

Indeed. You need to find out where and how you use the amulets: the first one is essential for finishing the game. If you haven't given the second amulet to the dodgy guy, don't. You'll be able to get something really good for it, although this may incur the enmity of the dodgy guy if you then give it to him...

[frogbeard]

I'm doing things in a weird order, then. I didn't have any amulets when I went to talk to Lilith - no conversational options, so I killed her to do the dodgy guy quest. Should I have found some another amulet by now?

[acoustibop]

And did Lilith not drop the second amulet when you killed her?

This game is not just for hacking your way through - you have to think as well...

[frogbeard]

Like I said, I gave the second amulet to the "dodgy guy" to complete that quest.

Ok, I figured it out. See, I'm used to the gameplay mechanic where, when you talk to an NPC who has important items to give you, they actually give them to you, instead of saying "go open that chest over there - now, not the drawers next to it, or you'll be committing a crime and I'll attack you..." So I talked to Maddock at the beginning, subconsciously assumed that when he said he had a note and gold for me, that they would appear in my inventory as if he handed them to me, so I never opened his chest. Then I moved on to other things and forgot about it.

Big d'oh!

Oh well, I have a saved point just before I killed Lilith, since I figured that could be a major plot fork. I'll go back to that one; should only lose a couple hours of character development. *Sigh* including clearing Vela, the raptor camp, the mercenary's hideout to get the ore....

Thanks for the help!