Great Artificer Undeath Quests and Blindness

[Aducan]

Hey guys, thought I'd jump in with a quick question.

I'm having trouble completing the 3rd request of the artificer, to bring him that which:
"Was dead in stone but now puts life in the earth." Or something of that nature.

I thought it was iron but the Great Artificer won't accept it.
The quest comes from the Undeath reason for leaving chosen in character creation. If anyone can tell me how to complete all his requests and/or point me to a guide (the official strategy guide downloaded with the mod doesn't mention his quests) I would be very appreciative.

Also, if someone could please tell me how I'm supposed to play picking the "blind" reason for leaving, that would be great.
It seems literally unplayable.

Thanks all!

EDIT: Typo

 

[N0ught]

* There is a level requirement for the Great Artificer quest progression: 0 for the first quest, 4 for the second, 14 for the third, and 19 for the fourth. These are the same for Poseidon's piety progressions and the Bloodfountain's rank progressions.

* And Blindness is very difficult - navigation in scenes is only really possible via the corners of the screen, limiting exploration - I would say melee combat is nearly impossible, unless you are a god at fighting anyway (*cough*) and ranged combat is entirely ineffective.

There are two ways to help blindness - one is via the Evil Eye - when you banish fog (with the Z key) you will be able to see in a very limited fashion, but this makes close, single combat reasonable. The other is with the Eye of Izanagi (the Antihero equivalent of the Evil Eye), which actually completely cures blindness when used to banish fog - but to acquire it you will have to fight the final battle at the Museum blind - that battle is already very difficult, so good luck.

For regular battles you have a few options - you can rely on your troops to protect you, for one. With this option I recommend using a mount and just ride around out of harms way, directing your soldiers to protect you or attack as need be. The other option (much less effective) is to use the "Send your soldiers to fight while you stay back" option for combat. This comes down to rolling the dice on numbers, and does not always go as well as a battle in which you directly participate.

Blindness is meant to be a huge handicap - because it is! Also note that you can be blinded during play when you lose a battle, as well. Do I get designer points for realistic immersion?

 

[Aducan]

Immersion is one word for it.

It just seems that getting blinded in combat would just result in a restart or quick load.  Not being able to fight well is one thing, not being able to witness the huge army you've been cultivating for the whole game is another. I see no incentive to keep playing at that point.  But hey, someone might like it, and it's a pretty neat idea to have so I'll give you designer points for actually having the balls to implement it. Less so for the actual feature, but eh.

Mod has come a long way since I last played, looking forward to future updates!