When people are in a rush or otherwise not paying attention, they can hire and immediately fire Samuel by clicking on the highlighted "fired" keyword. By the time they try to enter the Necropolis, they may have no idea why Samuel won't help them or let them in. The three solution I see are: 1) Remove this as a keyword for Samual in Ardoris or at least don't make it clickable 2) Remove the mechanic altogether 3) Allow Samual to be hired outside the Necropolis in some way. Perhaps for a fee, a short quest in the Necropolis. I'm sure there are other solutions too. But, anything that would prevent people from having to all the way back to Ardoris would be very helpful.
You can't hire him, until you obtain the keystone for necropolis. I think where the confusion might be, is that you are given a quest to find a Spirit Talker, of which, after you find one, you cannot hire them when you do not yet have the keystone. And they tell you this. After you do acquire the keystone for necropolis, players forget they now can hire one of the spirit talkers now. No quest or task is given at this specific point to possibly remind the player they now can hire a Spirit Talker. And what most players do at this point is just go to the necropolis, forgetting that they first need to hire them. That's pretty much what I have observed for the most part from other players comments.
I find it quite logical and easy to follow - under the condition that one actually reads the journal entries. Both Kardamon and Samuel, when asked to become the spirit-guide, will mention that one needs a keystone and even that a collector of artefacts might have one. They even mention that Ming Lee Tang may likely have one. And Ming confirms that he has one but asks one to meet him in the Swamp Tower first...
