SPOILERS ALL: Easy to miss story and items, i.e. bringing Dupin to the Artificer

[Cane]

First time playing Solid and Shade. Love this mod so far, superb work.

I started my journey in Solid and Shade intending to discover things on my own. I used the strategy guide only to create a character with the skills I wanted, ignoring most of the spoilers within. I broke that rule once when I got "stuck", fearing the mod had bugged out. When

Spoiler

the Bloodfountain wouldn't elevate me to Summoner rank, even though I had gotten up to Adept just fine simply by completing my Necronomicon practices,

I did a forum search to make sure this wasn't a game breaking bug. Turns out there is a hidden level cap I didn't know about. Great, nothing broke, I can keep playing.

But then I found something, and I realized I am probably going to miss out some story, loot, and possibly quests, without guidance.

Spoiler

I found the Old Salt Mine. The Great Artificer spoke to me, told me about the Cup and the Infinity stone, and gave me items for having Thorn in my party -- items to turn Thorn, Ash, and Oak, into gold. The Great Artificer then disappeared, seemingly forever.

I became curious. Having saved just before entering the mine, I removed Thorn from my party, and entered the mine again. The Great Artificer spoke, saying the same things about the Cup and the Stone, but he didn't give me the items for bringing one of his golems... and then disappeared, seemingly forever.

Then I remembered Dupin. When I met him, he spoke of looking for The Great Artificer. I went back to Ichamur, nabbed Dupin, then went back to the Old Salt Mine. When I spoke with the Great Artificer, he gave me items for having Thorn in my party, then gave me amazing items for having Dupin in my party... and then disappeared, seemingly forever.

Well, crap. Who, or what else could I be missing?

Meeting this figure had a lot of variance to it, depending on what I happened to have with me at the time. Now I'm worried I will inadvertently lock myself out of content by stumbling into things haphazardly. So here is my question:

What things do I need to do or bring to encounters, so that I don't miss the opportunity forever?

 

[N0ught]

The only other rewards in this case are:

Spoiler

* If you are an antihero without any infection - then he will give you the recipe for making Sapper Charges.

* If you have the Undying Sword of Vlad Dracula (for vampires), he will remove its poltergeist, reducing it to basically a fancy Vampire's Decapitator.

* If you have the Hunter's Night set (for Werewolves), he will add a poltergeist to it, turning it into The Relentless Hunter, a companion.