RAGPICKER'S SQUARE
If the Hive is the slums of Sigil, then Ragpicker's Square is the slums of the Hive. This is the place where you have been told to look for the elusive Pharod. But just to spoil your day: You won't find him here!
Map Key
People and Places in Ragpicker's Square
Marrow-Friend at 1 is a deranged Collector who is chewing on an old finger-bone. You can offer him a bite of yourself (and take 3 HP damage) in return for the finger-bone (demand to get the bone before letting him bite you!). Use the bone to replace one of your own fingers with it (and take another 4 HP damage) and you will gain Mempa's Biting Ring.
At 2 you will find an empty house. When you open the door, a portal opens. Enter the portal to be transported into a room with no exit. Wait a short while for three men to enter (Vlask and two Collector Thugs). Vlask offers to sell you the key to the portal for 100 copper pieces and you can either pay up or fight him and his goons and take the portal key from his corpse.
Each of the Thugs drops some random treasure. Vlask drops:
Use the Portal Key to open the portal and escape. Once outside you will break the portal so nobody else can enter.
You can enter Sharegrave's Kip at 3. The Collectors inside won't tell you anything of value but Sharegrave himself can tell you that you should follow the platforms north and west to find a gate that leads to Pharod.
Before you can get Sharegrave to tell you this, you have to tell him that Pharod has some things of yours. Don't tell him that you just want to talk to Pharod, or that Pharod is a friend of yours, or he won't tell you anything – and if you persist, you'll have a little fight on your hands (nothing too hard; none of them are expert fighters).
Sharegrave's interest in Pharod is due to the fact that they are rival Collector bosses and that Pharod has found a mother-lode of bodies, which Sharegrave would love to take over from him. You will get the quest of finding Pharod for Sharegrave; you solve the quest simply by finding Pharod in Act 3 and then reporting back to Sharegrave any time after that (I suggest that you wait until Act 4). You can then tell him either the truth, which you will know at that time (Pharod is taking bodies from the Catacombs under Sigil and selling them to the Dustmen, who then bury them again!), or you can lie and say that Pharod is just lucky.
At 4 you can find Ratbone. His most important role in the game is that he can train you as a Thief for the modest price of 50 copper pieces. Even if you don't want to play as a thief, you should still get the training – you can be trained back to a fighter or a mage by speaking to the appropriate trainer or to Dak'kon if you have him in your party. You gain 2,500 XP from the Thief training, which immediately makes you a 3rd level Thief.
Ratbone can also tell you that Pharod is nearby (though he doesn't know exactly where) and that you should be careful when speaking to Sharegrave.
Yellow-Fingers at 5 is a pick-pocket in disguise. He claims that Morte is his skull. You can play your cards right to observe his technique for 200 XP, or you can turn him hostile; your choice.
The empty house at 6 contains five Cranium Rats. Kill them for 65 XP and one Cranium Rat Tail apiece. The tails can be sold at the Office of Vermin and Disease Control in the Southwestern Hive Sector.
Enter the hut at 7 and speak to Jarym the mage. Jarym wants you to find a spell ruby. To solve this quest, you first have to complete the Mar's Box quest (see Northwestern Hive Sector). Then, speak to Aola the priest in the Alley of Dangerous Angles again and buy the stone from the box from him (he will demand 300 copper pieces, but you can negotiate the price down to 200). Bring the stone back to Jarym and he will give you 200 copper pieces for it, so you gain nothing except the 250 XP you get for solving the quest.
In the Midwife's Hut at 8 you will find Old Mebbeth. Mebbeth sells some charms plus scrolls of Remove Curse (she does keep limited stock, though; she never has more than 3 of any item), she can heal your entire party for FREE, and she will let you rest here – also for free! And she can tell you that Pharod is not IN Racpicker's Square; he is UNDER the square. Alas, she doesn't know how to get down there.
Most importantly, if you ask her if she is a witch, Mebbeth will agree to train you as a mage. However, you have to run some errands for her first:
When you have completed all of her quests, Mebbeth will train you as a mage (2,000 + 5,000 XP). She also gives you:
After becoming a mage, the first thing you should do is get Dak'kon to join you if he hasn't already and then ask him to teach you the Way of Zerthimon.
Nodd at 9 is a slightly deranged Collector. He wants you to find his sister Amarysse. Agree to do so for free or for money. You will find her standing opposite the entrance to the Smoldering Corpse Bar in the Southeastern Hive Sector. Speak to her and, if you wish, promise to take 100 copper pieces to Nodd for her. On returning, you can be Lawful and tell Nodd the truth, that Amarysse is a harlot, or you can tell him a gentle lie (Good), that she is a servant in a tavern in the Hive. Or, you can be Chaotic Evil and tell him that she is a foul whore, in which case he attacks you.
"Forgetting" to deliver the money from Amarysse is also Chaotic Evil. If you tell Nodd that Amarysse is a foul whore, or if you keep the money for yourself, you don't want to talk to Amarysse again. Unless of course you want her, and every other Harlot and Thug within eyesight, to attack you!
At 10 you will find a blocked passageway. A pity you can't get through, since you need to get to the door at 12 to proceed to Act 3. However, you will soon realize that there is a portal here that will allow you to pass. If you carry any Junk with you, you will also notice that it is glowing because it is the portal key. Otherwise, go ask Ratbone if he knows the way through. He doesn't but refers you to Creeden outside the Office of Vermin and Disease Control in the Southwestern Hive Sector.
When you ask Creeden, he doesn't know the portal key either but refers you to Iron Nalls, south of the Market. Nalls tells you that the key is Junk, and she also gives you some Junk so you can open the portal.
The exit to the Northwestern Hive Sector is at 11.
At 12 you will find the exit to the Trash Warrens and Act 3. Before proceeding there, I suggest that you go to the Hive Market (Southwestern Hive Sector) and sell off any stuff you don't need. Stock up on healing charms, you're in for some hard fights. And check the list of uncompleted tasks in your journal; there should only be these tasks on the list: