More sewers? I thought you said we were done with them?
This is only technically a sewer, we will meet no more of the enemies from the previous area.
I can live with that.
I would like to retract my previous statement. Bring back goblins and kobolds if you have to, but DON'T MAKE ME FIGHT MEPHITS FOR FUCK'S SAKE!
Oh great, it's a farting mephit too. And just when I tought they could not get any more annoying.
At least there's only one. Besides, we also have some shadows sneaking up behind Your back.
Did someone already tell you that you suck at comforting?
DIE!
It seems that Shadows' attack cause some kind of status effect.
Apparently they are draining Your strength.
I do feel kind of weak, but thought it was just general discouragament from seeing that mephit.
Still have enough strength to do this!
It's a dead end.
We'll need to check other corridors then. Luckily, since it's not a Mass Effect game, we have more than one to chose.
We won't be choosing this one, though.
There was another one near the entrance.
Oh-Kay. This totally does not look like a trap room.
And yet there were no traps. Something is fishy.
Watch out for the shadows.
Yeah, yeah, I know. let me just retreat a little, and...
...Oh fuck.
Ouch! Bad dogs! Fuck off!
Here, have some ice! FUCK! Why isn't this working better!?
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!? WHO WHO WHO WHO!
Um, sorry about that.
Death Count: 94
Loading.
I hate dogs.
Look at the bright side, at least You were right about that trap.
I hate being right.
I will show them what it means to anger a demigod!
Show me what you got!
Funny, the Hell Hounds did not appear this time. I think You've wasted your ability.
Wasted?
FUCKYEAH, SLAUGHTER! See, not wasted at all.
I think I found the "release the hounds" button.
Are You going to? To take revenge, and stuff?
No. Fuck them.
It is kind of weird that You missed this trap before. Maybe You're losing Your touch?
I'll show you what it means to lose touch when I chop your hands off and them to you through your nose.
Watch out, another Shadow.
Just one? not worth attention.
Unless it's Ender's Shadow.
Well, yes. But it's not.
Oh, look, it brought friends.
Done.
Flawless victory.
Check again.
They did drain You a little.
Minor setback. I will be back to normal in no time. Let's move on.
On the other hand, maybe I should stay in this here spot for a few moments.
After a brief, our hero embarks on his epic journey once again.
Only to end up in new trouble seconds later.
Wait, it's a chamber and it's full of poisonous gas. This must mean...
Please don't. We worked so hard not to say this back in update #14.
I'm The Codex. I can say anything I want!
'Perhaps turning it will reveal its function'? Gee, I don't know, is that possible? Fucking retards.
Cool, but these white dudes are still blocking my way out.
Fuck, it hurts.
Potion time.
I'm not really sure how does fighting mist with a sword work, but whatever.
We ended up using two potions, if someone cares.
Here's a hint: nobody does.
I know, Lilarcor, I know.
I think we've reached out destination.
Time to engage my keen investigation skills and learn what is going on here.
Ok, this was easy. Can we go back now and finish this quest up?
Of course not.
Figures.
Spoiler tag below contains the plot of the new part of the quest.
Here's the summary: go somewhere and kill shit and then kill more shit. Oh, and bring something back while you're there.
The item description above is a good TL;DR version of the conversation with Gaal.
So, these guys are worshipping a beholder...
Wasn't I supposed to just investigate the cult? I could go back to the temple now and report my findings.
We should make sure if the cult is evil before doing that.
Well, I guess they could prove to be pretty harmless. Just a bunch of weirdoes living in the sewers and plucking each other's eyes out. I mean, they are hiding behind an army of shadows and hell hounds, as well as locking potential visitors in a chamber full of poisonous gas, but that's all reasonable caution in times like ours.
They're evil.
Yup.
We're still going to run their errands?
Yup.
I hate my job...
...but it does have its perks.
Spoiler tag below contains the details of our looting in the cult chambers. If you're interested, check it out, but it's mostly minor stuff, so there is no point in commenting every screenshot.
One of the nicer things we found, was the Animate Dead spell.
Won't be using it, unless I can summon at least vampires.
This one is ok, but I still prefer cloudkill.
Both spells are added to The Codex' repertoire.
So, why exactly are you guarding this pit? Afraid someone will climb back out of it?
Gaal's key allows us to enter the previously unavailable corridor.
Of course, Haal forgot to mention that there was a trap directly behind the door.
Gaal. He must have forgotten.
Or he's a dick. Either way, he dies for this.
Appropriately, we got a Thief level up after disarming the trap.
Thief level ups are not really giving us anything substantial (although every hit point helps). Basically, we are waiting to reach level 20 and start getting epic abilities.
Looks like the unseeing eye cult had a schism already, so they are a proper religion after all.
The rest of the latest plot development is hidden in the spoiler tag.
I wonder what's inside the sarcophagus here.
Oops.
Why do You have to touch everything!
I don't really care about your inane bulshit. Do we part ways in peace, or will The Codex have to choke a lich?
Very well, then.
Clever idea with that
shadow clone there, but the ring of fire kind of gives away where you really are.
Still invisible. Damn.
Since I can't hurt you for the moment, I might as well buff myself.
Not good, not good.
WTF just happened?
He stopped time and cast a couple of spells on You, but fortunately, You resisted them both.
He stopped what? Fuck. Remind me not to fight any more liches in the future.
Yeah, I'll make sure to do that.
Here, have some ring of the ram!
It seems to have annoyed him a little.
And again with the shadow clone!
We actually summoned a fire elemental here (using the Staff of Fire), but it did not live long enough to be captured in the screenshot.
This guy is really annoying, I have to say!
Oh crap.
Again with the Maze thing. We'll need to deal with it somehow.
Death Count: 95
Loading.
I hate maze.
I figured You might.
Since the lich is a cheating bastard, I will use all my metagaming skills against him.
First, I'll predict exactly where he appears and summon some help.
Second, prepare myself.
Third, summon more help.
It is worth noting, that we then moved the fire elemental out of immediate vicinity of the lich.
So, the Lich appears and quickly offs our Air Elemental.
That takes care of the death spell, but we still need to force him to use the maze.
But first, I'll dispel him a little.
Our Lesser Fire Elemental serves as a meatshield, or rather fireshield, for both Symbol spells after Time Stop.
Time to ram things up!
That does it for the elemental.
Banshee! 
Good thing this fire staff has mutliple charges, so there's plenty of volunteers to get mazed instead of me.
Haha, casting sunfire on a fire elemental? Desperate or stupid?
And here goes the maze.
Oh yeah!
Improved Mantle is an awesome spell, but it has a pretty short duration.
Shit, another contigency? How many of them does this guy have?
FUCK!
Run away!
Retreat, you mean?
Of course.
Hopefully, we can kill the lich before we run out of elementals.
Better you than me, LFEs.
For the record, we sent two elementals against the lich.
And let's see what you say about that.
Yum yum!
I can almost hear the lich's curses and screams of panic.
It won't hurt to summon another LFE, just to be sure.
Ok, this is cheating. You shouldn't be able to cast protection from magical weapons if you already are immune to normal weapons!
I think Liches are exempt from this limitation.
Of course.
Let's try a different approach, then.
How may I serve you, master?
Alright! Let's see if you have any useful spells.
Die, foul undead!
Yeah, what he said.
FUCK YEAH, Lilarcor! Good job!
Sure thing, boss.
Oh, fuck you, traitorous scum!
And he disappeared before I could kill him.
Why would I want to... Oh, wait I've just remembered I kept even the armor made from human skin, so I guess anything goes.
I wonder if this has any use...
So, if LFE went forward, would he get caught in the trap?
Do You want to check?
And miss out on the trap disarm XP? No.
Go get them, LFE!
It seems that these Shadows and Wraiths can drain levels. I forgot about that.
All the better I have my amulet, then.
That's it for LFE. These things really suck at tanking.
Yes! However, as I don't feel very confident about this encounter...
...It won't hurt to slow these guys a bit.
Okay, done.
I guess nobody gave me the key for this one yet.
A stairway down? I thought we were already underground. What can lie below?
This mystery will be solved in the next update!
----------
Next time: As I said, we will solve the mystery of what lies beneath the underground of Atkhatla's Temple District.
Yeah, what the fuck. It's as if nobody really cares what you say... Oh wait! Nobody does!
Let me rephrase the above. Next time: The Codex dies a lot.
Hey!
