Let's Sail The River of Time - 21 (Rat Diplomacy)

For me, it's impossible to replay this game without ignoring the chest bashing and plant gathering. A second full playthrough would be more challening without bothering to churn potions, but ingredient hunting is one of the things I dislike in TROT.

Grog said:

Though I'd settle for the Gamebanshee subsite.

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The walkthrough side of it has more or less been done for, uh, a month or more? But DAII DB and other stuff has priority before we do the TRoT DB and then publish the subsite. So it goes.

Update incoming...

So Sayyid has finally been put in charge, as it should be. I decide to follow Cano's advice. Ardo is in no immediate danger so let's dick around and grind...I mean resupply and prepare.

You can talk to your party members on the boat to ask their opinion on things.

Yes?

How do you assess the situation?

Maybe I should hold back a bit more, so that Forgrimm doesn't hack me to pieces. Without Ardo ... well, just between us, maybe it is my fault that things went so far after all. In any case I am blaming myself ...

Let's get back to Forgrimm again ...

Doesn't he at some point have to realize which opportunities he passes up by waging battle? Well, I suspect he is only so enraged because he's worried about his friend.

What's your opinion of Fayris?

I'm telling you, Fayris is dependable and believe me, I know women!

Sure thing, buddy.



That's odd. There's some weird, hazy light in the distance.



Oh? Let's listen in...

Don't be afraid, Alrika. It's only one of old Brookbeard's harmless experiments again. I'm sure nothing's going to happen.

Even so, I... I'm afraid anyway.

You don't have to be. I heard the bailiffs have already gone to the tower to clear up the matter with that muddle-headed mage. Come on, let's visit Aunt Uttrud. That's sure to take your mind off things.



Master Brookbeard is in trouble! He is threatened by ignorant peons, again, if nothing else...



A bit further on we bump into recuit Pagol, recruiting people for a militia.

Well? Are you interested in helping our town?

That depends entirely on what it involves.

Mild... uh, no .., I mean service in the militia. We are looking for brave souls to help us shed some light on the nocturnal events here. If you are interested, report to Captain Nimralph in the barracks.

I'll do that. See you soon.

Put that one in our journal for later. But again, aiding the Master has priority.



Angry villagers. Again.

What do you mean, 'No danger'?! First you told us that you were going to protect us from the danger! We have a right to know what's going on!

Sayyid approaches...

Stop right there! You can't go any further this way!

Really? I have to go see Master Brookbeard!

No. It's too dangerous. Didn't you notice that peculiar vortex above the tower?! Captain Nimralph has ordered the access to the magician's tower to be closed off until we find out what happened here!



Not often you get to use Arcane Lore in dialog, gotta jump on it.

Why, that's ... you ... you may pass! Hurry, though, maybe you can still stop the worst from happening!



That does not look good. The tower seems abandoned, until we head into the basement...



Oh, you gave me a start!

Hesindiana, what's going on? What's happened to Master Brookbeard?! Say something!

I ... I found him like that. He must have jumped out of the room with a powerful leap. Whatever shall we do ... he is ... but ... if he had only allowed ... I ...

Hesindiana, try to concentrate! We need to keep a clear head if we are to help your Master. Was he still working on his experiment?

Yes. He ... I, as far as I know, he was close to completing his conjuring formula.

The way I know your Master, I'll bet you were out on one of his errands when it happened?

I was collecting herbs outside when a bright flash of light accompanied by tremendous thunderclap came down on the tower. The ground shook and I was knocked down. And then ... it was only then I saw it: A rift in the fabric of the spheres - directly above the tower! When I had collected myself again, I hurried to the laboratory immediately and ... yes ... discovered this here.

I don't see what else we can do. We'll have to open the door to the laboratory and find out what caused the rift. I presume that the object your Master holds in his hands is the key to the laboratory?

Yes, it is. But be careful! A spell on the door seals it when there is impending danger. Only Fuldigor knows what is behind it. I'll stay here and try to free the Master.

Right. Mysterious experiment, something went wrong, Hesindiana has no idea what's going on. Look like's up to Sayyid to solve everything. As per usual.



Brookbeard is...frozen in some kind of stasis. Completely unresponsive, but apparently unharmed.



Good security on his door, I guess. Needed the key to finish this puzzle. Which is, however, pretty simple...



Create openings for the pieces on the outer edges and slide them in...



Blessed by Rastullah's name, what is that?



Striding into the spell. Unafraid.







The area looks a bit different now. For one, the group is trapped within some kind of bubble, with fire pillars surrounding the circle.



Not long after the group gets up, a bunch of fire elementals appear from the pillars and attack. They're basically like the fire elementals battle mages can summon, which means they're soft but also cause the burn effect, which does a stream of 1 damage (as you can see on the skeleton warrior there) that will quickly chip down your health. Luckily, all the party members (except the skeleton) are protected by burn salve I just happened to have picked up.



In knowing the teachings of Rastullah I have become stronger.



Once the elementals are gone, the party members are knocked to corners of the circles (circles don't have corners you idiot), while a mysterious flame knocks around the pillars, gathering strength.



Then this guy pops out. This is a unique enemy, a greater fire spirit. He's not actually too tough, the challenge lies in having kept your party healthy to this point, because the burn effect can easily knock them out during or right after the fight with the elementals. When you got a full party though...



I don't actually know what's going on in this screenshot, but it's awesome. I pressed a button to make sure.



The master is alright again!

I hardly dared to hope. I had already expected the worst after all this time.

Of course I'm alive! And what do you mean by a 'long time'? The fight didn't last that long.

By the chains of Satinav! You... uhhh... I ... No, several hours have elapsed during your absence.

Hmm ... now that I come to think of it: couldn't this have something to do with your shield, Master?

Not at all. It would appear that my Limbus shield also touched the sphere of time. When you found me at the door, it looked as if I were frozen in ice, just like the encased Fire Spirit. While the river of time was flowing much more slowly inside the shield, where you were defeating the Fire Spirit, on the outside it was flowing at a normal rate. There can't be another explanation for this phenomenon.

Perhaps. The fire creature has been dispatched, at any rate. Has the commotion in front of the tower also died down?



After Hesindiana freed me from my stasis, I tried to seal the rift in the spheres... Yet I also had to maintain the second shield, after all, you were still in there. The Elemental could have escaped, but having observed many hours of your masterly combat techniques - although it all seemed to be in slow motion to us - we were sure that you would be victorious.

Yip, I'm awesome. Reward time.

That's all very well. And I'm very thankful to you, but ...

You will want a reward, of course... and rightfully so! You have performed an invaluable service on behalf of science and ...uh ... me of course, and the mortal world. That's the reason I feel compelled to reward you as follows: Take this magician's hat as your reward! You are justified in being proud of yourself. I will always remember it as a special honor to have been your trainer.

Yes, magical artifacts beyond belief!

Thank you, Master Brookbeard!

No, no. I am the one who should be grateful. Well, what can I say? I shall have to put everything in order here first, before I can continue with my research. But please... feel free to visit me now and then.



Well. That kinda sorta just sucks. I'll stick to my battle mage helmet, if for no other reason than larping. That hat looks silly.



The greater fire spirit dropped this. The lowest level of magical jewelry in this game but heck, better than nothing for Forgrimm's tank role.



Returning to older locations in the River of Time after progressing the main plot not only unlocks extra quests, but also new skills become available from trainers (and new items from merchants. Brookbeard offers a pretty cool staff but it's way out of my price range). Foramen Foraminor pretty much makes Cano superfluous the moment I can get rid of him.

Going through the Efferd temple right after Tollgate gives some really good experience, but is pretty damn brutal.

Ok? I don't think the Temple of Efferd has even been mentioned in the last few updates and I'm clearly no where near it nor planning to go there, but thanks for that completely random tidbit. :/

I think he was replying to your comment about going to places you've been around or near and suggesting one that could be neat/useful?

shit, I've been planning to get to that tower to read later but never got to it...
+5 for recycling old areas and not telling you about it

What I really liked about this sub quest is that it ties in neatly with the quests you did as a wizards' apprentice. The reason that you get these additional quests is partly to show off that all areas can always be accessed after they've been unlocked. This wasn't the case in the first part and was something people complained about a lot.

According to the RoT guidebook (which I don't own myself, but I read about it), a few years after the end of RoT Brookbeard
In the post-Return of Borbarad Aventuria, the Inquisition would've made short work of Brookbeard.

a budda said:

shit, I've been planning to get to that tower to read later but never got to it...
+5 for recycling old areas and not telling you about it

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The game does it. A lot. Most of them are pretty easy to discover. I mean, there's people talking about the tower and werewolf in the harbor square. Others though, like the crypt lice at the mill, easy to miss.

Coboney said:

I think he was replying to your comment about going to places you've been around or near and suggesting one that could be neat/useful?

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Oh. Right, sorry. Carry on then.

I'm not going to that damn temple next though. Well, I'm going there soon-ish, but it's kind of irrelevant to the LP, because screw dungeon crawls.

The temple is boring but easy once you get access to Ice Cold Warrior. I did it before taking on the strongest version of Zant to get more experience and better damage dealing abilities, but even with lots of potions I couldn't overcome its demonic health regeneration. Will you try to kill it without weakening it ?

It's not that hard,

korenzel said:

Will you try to kill it without weakening it ?

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Sure, why not? Like abnaxus said, it's doable with the right equipment, though it takes a while. Not really worth the reward IMHO.

I think the highest level you can hit before taking on Zant is 9, which would require a lot of fighting respamming bears in the Hunting Grounds. Waste of time.

Why does this LP thread keep turning into a gameplay tips thread? Good fun.

drex said:

What I really liked about this sub quest is that it ties in neatly with the quests you did as a wizards' apprentice.

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Oh, and with later side-quests! It's kind of a continuing side-story.

With Brookbeard's problems resolved, Sayyid heads to the barracks to inspect what Pagol was talking about; what these "nocturnal events" are that they need a militia for.

... I'm going to do something about it right now!

I'm only repeating myself when I say that that is the Inquisition's responsibility ... I've already sent a messenger to Grand Inquisitor Dexter Nemrod in Gareth.

Grand Inquisitor? Oh no no no, we don't want that.

And what is supposed to happen until then? A victim every night? No, no! Who knows for sure when the gracious Grand Inquisitor will deign to come here!

Watch your tongue, Captain. You're not qualified to ... to make such a decision ... the Grand Inquisitor Nemrod has experience with that.

I have sworn to protect this city...



Looks like Nimralph's got a bit of Shepard in him.

I wanted to join the militia.

Oh, the militia, eh? Well, you've come to the right place.

Don't involve any more innocent people in this, Nimralph. Leave it to the Inquisition. I already sent for them!

Yes, you said that already, Deont Irian. But how many must die before Grand Inquisitor Dexter Nemrod gets here? Until he does, I will take this in hand!

I tried to warn you... but if you don't listen, I can't help you! The Grand Inquisitor will not be pleased to hear of your actions. I am leaving...

And now to you... the Town Guard needs as much help as it can get right now. Above all, we need people with combat experience!

Tell me more!

Last night the night watch heard someone screaming horribly near the harbor. When they went to investigate, they found the corpse of a man who had been terribly mutilated. We asked the inhabitants. Witnesses said they saw a huge animal with a silver mane... walking upright! If that makes the rounds, the whole town will soon be in uproar.

An animal walking upright?

I fear we have a werewolf in town. That's what Laurelin the Elf said when I told him about the creature. The Praios priest thinks we should wait until the Inquisition arrives... but I don't want to wait and have even more citizens killed by this beast.

Remember the blood wolf from Sayyid's training? Now we know what creature caused it to come into being.

Do you have a plan?

We'll organize a hunt for it with as many armed men as we can find. If the gods smile on us, we'll corner the beast and kill it. I want to have this problem solved by the time the sun comes up tomorrow. I am a man of action, not of words! You can rest in your old quarters at the barracks until the hunt starts tonight. What do you say? Can I count on you?

Definitely got some renegade Shepard in him. Also "old quarters" only makes sense for fighter backgrounds but oh well...

All right. I'm in.

By Rondra, I won't forget this! Come, I'll show you your quarters...



I know that I can depend on you! Nadoret can be proud to have men like you living inside the town's walls!

That's...uhm...that's it huh? Two militiamen, two guardsmen and Captain Nimralph...and a goat? No kidding he needs our help...

Ah, there you are! Now our team is complete. Are you ready?

Of course. Er ... what are you doing with that goat over there?

Very simple, it's bait for the wolf. We'll find a suitable place for it and hide in ambush. Then when the wolf appears, maybe we can surprise it.

You can't do that! What you're doing to that poor creature is sheer cruelty!

Oh Frith. Here comes the hippy parade...



Now you listen to me! I would slaughter a dozen goats if it meant saving only one of my men! Is that clear enough?

Why do you assume that you have the right to do this?

Enough! Shut up, woman!

I have the right to do it because I am responsible for the safety of my men and the citizens of this town! And I would sacrifice much more to do that! Enough of this humbug! If we attack the werewolf, it may try to escape. So we've put up barricades all over town... That way we can corner it. The town gates are also closed, so it won't be able to escape!

Let the hunt begin.

May the Goddess of Victory smile on us this night! Forward, men!



We cross the bridge to a point between the two warehouses...

I'll tie up the goat here. When the wolf leaps onto the bait, maybe we can surround it before it notices us...

Aye, the end justified the means! How humane...

SILENCE!

You better hide with others.





Didn't get a good shot of he killing the goat, but yeah...he kills the goat.





There he is! Go! Attack!!!



Coward.



As mentioned by others, enemies tend to run right through your men to attack whoever they want. The werewolf took out the skeleton mage fast and then goes straight for Fayris. It's annoying.



Thankfully we wound him enough to get him to flee.



Nimralph's plan is working, cutting off his escape route by barriers, we trap him again...



Again, the werewolf really doesn't like my skeleton mage.



Another beatdown later, he breaks out and runs off. We follow him to right in front of the temple of Praios.

Holy Geron, protect us! What in heaven's name happened here?!





Ye gods! He's set a trap for us!



Look for cover! It's about to leap at us!





Oh hi warwilf.



You start knocked down, which is kind of annoying, especially as the werewolf is again clawing at Fayris...



Concentrating everything on the werewolf. I want him gone.



First wave of backup us just wolves, if somewhat powerful wolves, so I keep on the werewolf. Not the smartest method but screw it, I want him dead.





Once again, he escapes, which brings in the next wave, his werewolf buddies. Luckily, they're not as strong as the big bad...







Most of our allies dead, but we prevail.

By Rondra ... that was a close call! These beasts really pressed us hard! I'm pretty badly injured! You'll have to finish it off without me... That creature was already severely wounded when it fled... follow it into the Temple and kill it! ... I'll be there as soon as I can...

Don't worry! Put your trust in me!



And yet, it is. But not for long...













The... the deont was the werewolf? Somewhat unexpected, but makes sense...

Ah, I see you have slain the werewolf...

Right... It was the Praios Deont.

Well, that could explain why we haven't heard from the Inquisition. I'll attend to this matter in due course.

It is unfortunate that we had to kill him. But we had no choice.

Hah. Lying bastard. Sayyid probably would've killed the deont regardless...

Yes, I agree. But the main thing is that it's over. Phew, that was a long night. Let's get back to the barracks. Tomorrow is another day of plenty of work for me and the rest of my men. And you have good reason to celebrate at least a bit.

The following morning....

Ah, it's good to see you. None of us would have survived this day without you... I hope you have recovered sufficiently.

Thank you, those few hours' sleep did me good. You look completely exhausted, though.

Yes, we spent the last few hours repairing the damage in town... and recovering the bodies of many a good man.

Yes, the victory over the werewolf must be tinged with sadness for you ...

At least my people didn't die in vain. And I have you to thank for that! Here... take this Andergastian sword as a token of my gratitude for fighting well at my side!

Thank you, I will cherish it! All the best, Captain!

And by cherish, I mean sell...



Sweet.

So, BN, was the victory over the werewolf tinged with sadness for you?

I've been enjoying the LP.

Little_Robot said:

So, BN, was the victory over the werewolf tinged with sadness for you?

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No. He kept trying to eat Fayris.

And not in a good way.

I'm very protective of my wimminz. Even when they're annoying hippies.

Brother None said:

korenzel said:

Will you try to kill it without weakening it ?

Click to expand...

Sure, why not? Like abnaxus said, it's doable with the right equipment, though it takes a while. Not really worth the reward IMHO.

I think the highest level you can hit before taking on Zant is 9, which would require a lot of fighting respamming bears in the Hunting Grounds. Waste of time.

Why does this LP thread keep turning into a gameplay tips thread? Good fun.

drex said:

What I really liked about this sub quest is that it ties in neatly with the quests you did as a wizards' apprentice.

Click to expand...

Oh, and with later side-quests! It's kind of a continuing side-story.

Click to expand...

These sub quests have improved a lot over the original game. The continuity makes it work so much better. There really went some thought into this.

I liked the werewolf quest as well. Fayris' reactions really fit her archetype; annoying hippie. The captain of the guard leading the charge also fits in neatly with the fighters starting quests.

Zant is doable but extremely boring/frustrating. I don't recall the level on my current party (replaying because of the add-on) but it wasn't that high. My Smuggler (modded archetype) and Fayris used Archery (with their special ability doing sometimes 30+ damage) and Cuano spamming his stuff and Forgrimm being a tank. I think it's more about special skills than equipment. It's just so annoying that it takes to perform that ability again because of the hampered Stamina regeneration.

The rewards are somewhat worth it; the ring is pretty powerful. The special armor is a mystery to me; I didn't see the use at all. I guess they put this in as a sort of optional mega boss. You can decide for yourself if you'd like to do it the hard way or not.

The Hunting Grounds may look a bit like a grind area, but I really was taught a lesson by the Orcs there about the "power of Archery". That made me build a mage specializing in Crossbows so she could spam opponents with spells or (preferably) incendiary bolts. Fayris shows off that combination as well and it's a quite powerful build. Seeing that duo and Cuano take down 2 Ogres with those special attacks is very rewarding.

This werewolves quest was quite difficult for me, the last fight with the multiple waves was tough to survive. Maybe it's because I was playing on Hard. I was actually expecting a final showdown in the church and was disappointed to see the boss was already dead.

As for Zant, it seems the strategy involved two things I never used : archery and Cano's powers. Ranged weapons seemed like they slowed down combat for me, often pausing everyone while waiting for the drawing of an arrow, the aiming and the firing animation. Since my character was an elf fighter, and also because the token elf was annoying, I chose Jaakon instead of Fayris to be able to use the human restricted spells. Cano's star strike seemed relatively weak, and his abilities nothing spells couldn't handle, so I never paid much attention to them.

Still, even with constant triple strikes in between stamina potions, I never dropped Zant below the 1000hp mark, damaging it is possible but then it would teleport or do its knockdown attack and by the time I got back in range it would be fully healed. In the end I used the rune that lowered its health regen and beat it without issue.

The demon armor you get I found pretty useful. It offers good protection for mage/warrior types and allows one more triple strike before running out of stamina. HP doesn't matter much if you don't get attacked, and a lvl 1 summon buffed with Ice Cold Warrior (preferably a fire elemental) will draw all the attention to itself while being invulnerable for a minute.

Brother None said:

Even when they're annoying hippies.

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Curious to see whether Sayyid will take the XTREME! path in the next plot area.

Okay, I finally bought it for only 20 €, gotta love FX Interactive. First impression reminds me of NWN2 (but with less bugs, a more complex character creation system and unfortunately with real time combat too), overall it seems fun. Should I bother with the expansion?

There's still a lot of interesting stuff to do in Nadoret. For one, remember those trolls on the bridge? You can't do much about them at first but go back there now and the game opens the quest Trolls at the Bridge, tasking you to get past them. Using my knowledge of TDE, I know trolls are strong opponents I'd better not try to fight, but I also know they are simple and should be easy to bribe or fool. Let's check up on them.

You there... stop!

Yes. Go 'way! Nothing here for midget man...

Correct. Road end here.

Going through this conversation again...

But the road continues behind your tree.

Yeah. Uhh ... hm...Road go on, yes... But... uhh ...

... road only for Troll! Is Troll road!



With enough human nature, or knowledge gained from another quest (which I haven't done yet), a non-violent path opens itself.

Hmm. I could pay you a toll. Would you let me through then?

Oh, pay boring for Troll... We hungry! Better you give Trolls sweet tongues to eat. Then Trolls make free road. Trolls big swear!

Sweet tongues?! You don't mean candied Kosh bunting tongues, do you?

Yaa, right name. Sweet, good!



Hairy midget man complain all he want, it no matter ... want to past us go, bring you sweet tongues. Mmmm, tastem soooo much gooood!

Alright, then. As far as I'm concerned, you can have your sweet tongues.

But where to find them? I scour the marketplace, before hitting up Crooked Otto, a shady dealer hidden behin the Temple of Praios.

Weelll? Are you looking for that certain something? Then you're at the right place here!

[Animal Lore] That animal doesn't sound as though it feels very comfortable in that cage.

For once, Fayris' hippie nonsense is useful.

No, no, that was a special delivery that somehow fell into my hands. I don't even know who the original recipient is. Now they're looking forward to a new home.

What exactly are they?

Those are the legendary Valpodings! Chimeras that live here in the Kosh. They are extremely hard to find and therefore quite valuable. Well, have I piqued your interest?

[Trade] Can I see them?



The "legendary valpodings" are sabre-tooth rabbits and bellowing hamsters. Funny, but not what we're after (they have no actual gameplay function). The candied kosh bunting tongues though? Expensive, as they usually are, but exactly what we're after. I buy them.

Other than these, Otto sells unusual goods like giant crab's pincers, spider fangs and the like. I pick up some amoeba spores, which no doubt will turn out useful later.



Also on the way back to the bridge, picked up this recipe. Incendiary arrows are amongst the most powerful/useful goods in this game, especially for specific boss fights.

Back to the trolls!

Hmm, little man back! You have sweet tongues?

What did you think? A whole stack of them, even.

You show. Quick!

Here. Feast yourselves on these.

Aahhh, much sweet tongues! Friend, friend, you gooood friend... You pass!

You enjoy those. I'll continue on my way.



He removes the barrier.

We have gift for good friend of Troll. We... uhhh find stuff. You look, you take. Metal thing or cloth lump. You say, we give you.

As a mage, one might be tempted to take the cloth lump. Do not. It's worthless.

I want the metal thing.

Here, for Troll too small. Maybe fit you.

It turns out to be a set of Tulamidian mail. Not bad.



The trolls are in a cave under the bridge now. Also, here is one of the game's few remaining bugs, Fayris (or Jaakon) always whines about you taking the violent path even when you do not. I just ascribe it to her whiny nature.



The mail goes to Forgrimm, of course. It is significantly better than his starting equipment, Forgrimm's Tabard.



Taking on a bear, the only opposition here. The area is rich in plants so I have Fayris harvest as much as she can.



Sometimes exploring leads you to nice bonuses.



Its contents are almost identical to the chest we found prior to taking on Commandant Bloomfold. Odd. The Amulet is another +1 Constitution, of no real use. I give it to Cano.



Interesting. Let's row...

I fought the trolls once, they seemed weaker than Ogers.

abnaxus said:

I fought the trolls once, they seemed weaker than Ogers.

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Yeah, I shouldn't overstate their toughness. High VI, and good damage, but they seem to have extremely low AT/PA scores. They rarely parry and rarely hit. They're doable at level 4/5, but not worth the fight, not when you can get Tulamidian mail out of em by this method.

A lot of my opinion on trolls is colored by that one troll you mean down below the tavern in TDE's classical first adventure module. He beat the shit out of me

We row to the tiny island visible in the last shot.



An odd stone structure, clearly magical, but before Sayyid can reach it...









A voice! Coming from all over the place! Or...from my head?

What ... is someone talking to me? Where are you?



Finally! A houri!

I cannot hear you, but I can sense your voice inside my head ... don't be afraid of me.

I understand your thoughts. But the language of you landfolk is foreign to me. I was afraid that he had come back at first. He lived on land like you. He made me suffer a great deal. But he suffered, too. He hasn't come to this place for a long time.

What is this strange place? Who are you? Do you live here?

This is not my home. But I am a prisoner here. My name is Aililayal. I belong to the water folk. You who live on land call us the Water Nymphs, I believe.

You say you're being held prisoner here? What do you mean?

The one who lives on land, who I told you about ... he shackled me to this place. Do you see these rocks here? He placed a mighty spell on them, so I that I'm unable to leave this island ...

I've never seen a creature like yourself before. Do you really live under the water?



One of your kind saw me on the shore one night and came over to me. He said that I belonged to him now and bound me to this spot ... but I can't survive here. I long to return to my people.

What do I have to do to set you free?

Perhaps there is a way. But to help me you must understand the herbs of the forest. The one who lives on land used them to work the spell. My senses were numb when he brought me here. I couldn't see everything he did exactly. But he placed herbs in the bowls on these stones. A different one in each.

She isn't kidding about needing to know something about herbs...

Please continue.

Then he turned the stones in a certain way and then suddenly there was light in this place that began flashing in a myriad of colors. It was like looking at the sun through a waterfall. Shortly after that it seemed as if my legs were turning into frozen water. Then I lost consciousness. Ever since then that happens every time I distance myself more than a few steps from the island. My body stiffens, as if it is turning to ice, and I lose my senses.



Fascinating magic.

Do you know anything else about these strange stones?

They can be turned, but I can't interpret the symbols on them. However, I do know that the right herbs are needed to work the magic. I beg you, help me! If you find the right herbs and turn the stones in the right way, then I'll surely be set free.

Fear not. I will do what I can to help you.

You would be guaranteed my gratitude for all time. I can't bear this place any longer. I've been separated from my people for such a long time.



This puzzle is a bit of a pain. First you have to turn the symbols to match, which is easy enough. From there on out though, the only hint the game gives you is that you need herbs other than the ones that grow on this island. That excludes a bunch, but doesn't help you match what's left to the symbols. For that you need knowledge of TDE's alchemic symbols. Water (wavy lines) is oneberry. Fire (triangle) is whirlweed. Two circles (humus) is firemoss. For most players of this game, this one can only be solved by way of walkthrough, really.



Do it wrong and get some damage. But do it right...





The chill in my extremities ... it has disappeared ... you did it! I'm free! I'm so happy! I can finally go back to the waters of my homeland! Back home to my own people! Thank you! I don't have anything precious that I can give you for it. But perhaps I can give you a gift that you will think is much more valuable. Open your mind to me ... [An surreal feeling floods your consciousness, while Aililayal shares the knowledge of her people with you. You are a party to insights that only few Aventurians are privileged to see.]

This is just represented by Adventure Points as far as I can see...

That ... that's quite overwhelming! Thank you. Good luck on your homeward journey.

Forgrimm is now level 5, the last of the party ot hit that level.

Well, the girl is free now... Hmm, this place was probably built by Dwarven Geodes... but it was a Xomasho who used it for his own shady purposes!

The question is, what did the Dwarves use it for, huh? Not to merely enjoy the colorful lights, that's for sure.

Yes, I ask myself that too. We had better leave now. This place should be left to its secrets.

This is a good time to show some of the game's crafting.



Broken arrows are common junk. Completely useless? Not quite, since one can recover arrowheads from them, which in turn can be used to craft arrows.



Another example of mostly junk (well, the charcoal and bullet fragments) turning into something useful. But why am I making metal parts, which are mostly used for crossbows?



For this.



The leather cuirass is nice and lightweight, while also offering good protection. It'll go to Cano for now, since he's the softest of the party.



More complex items are also more worthwhile.



Especially these.

That's it for now. There's still plenty to do in Nadoret though. The rat basement is still open to us and we're now high enough level to go there. There's also the arena mission to round up, the Thieves Guild is now open to us with plenty to do there, and there's a man in the docks waiting for us to bring us to his hunting reserve. Finally, we can go back to Thurstone Tollgate and check up on the new commander.

So, plenty of options, and I'll do them all, but which ones do you want to read about? Vote! a) Rat Catcher b) Champion of the Arena Fighters c) Thieves Guild d) the Traveler e) Thurstone Tollgate. Once said updates are past, I'll get one with the main quest, so you decide what you wanna see.

I'm also shortening updates since I think the overly long updates at the start scared some readers off. You guys still there? Hello? *echo*

Meanwhile, think about it while I prepare a small update on yet another side quest called the Dumb Ox.

Do the Thieves Guild first and then the Hunting grounds. I'd recommend adding some additional fighting abilities first though.

Are you going to keep your character as a "pure" mage with a staff? I really find a mage more powerful when wielding a crossbow.