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In Progress Lets play the best Storyfag RPG of all time: Betrayal at Krondor!

Nutria

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Strap Yourselves In
The map does help, but I find it a lot more useful when you're out in the countryside. In the dungeons, you just see a bunch of rooms and corridors. So yeah, it does at least tell you where you've already been, but it's not much help in telling you how to get to your destination.
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,636
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Lets continue our search for the hidden entrance into the Palace.

We proceed forward from the last battle and eventually there's a branch going off to the right.

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It's short, and there's a chest at the end!

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This is good...

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But this lock does not look good.

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Locky doesn't like it much either.

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And he can't pick it. We keep trying until one of the lockpicks break.

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None of the keys work. We'll have to come back when our skill is higher.

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It increased due to our efforts at least.

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We go back to the main hallway and continue straight - but that path ends in a dead end.

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So we backtrack a long way to an opening on the left we skipped while going north.

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Eventually that path has a branch going to the right - we take it.

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And notice some enemies ahead.

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Our stealth still needs a lot of work.

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Enemy charges Gorath and misses him.
Owyn pokes that guy for 4.

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Locky pokes harder - 21.

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Gorath does a full on swing - hits. 35.

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Owyn's swing lands as well - 13 and the enemy finally goes down.

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Locky swings and misses.

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Enemy attacks Owyn and misses him.
Gorath charges and hits for 26.

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Owyn defends. Locky swings again and misses again.

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Enemy attacks Owyn but he successfully blocks the strike.
Gorath swings this time. A hit for 38 is enough to bring down the rogue.

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Gorath's stellar performance earns him some more muscle.

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Restoratives are always welcome.

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Bah, boring loot on this one.

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We continue on and notice a ladder up.

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Let's see if this lock is broken too.

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It's not! But we need a very special key. Logically there's no way we'll stumble upon it by wandering around in the sewers. Our only hope is that Sir James is really down here and has the key.

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Let's note the location of this grill on the map. Otherwise we might have trouble finding it later like Nutria mentioned.

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We keep going straight and find another ladder. But its lock is broken.

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Right behind it is a pit. This is why you don't want to be running around here in the dark or in the local map mode.

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So pits can be crossed with the rope item. This is why we've been lugging them around. Unfortunately each use takes a charge. So if you go over a pit and find out you've got to go back - that's 2 charges.

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To make this happen - click on the pit.

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And it even asks you for a confirmation.

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We do so - and here we are on the other side.

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As we proceed there's a path to the left. We ignore it due to how I like to explore these dungeons.

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But looking at the map - it likely connects to some hallways we left unexplored earlier.

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We proceed a bit further and notice another path to the left. We walk past.

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And notice some movement in the darkness. Is that a silhouette?

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When we click on it - the guys try to set up a surprise attack. So I guess so. The enemies are unfortunately NOT surprised.

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Enemies get in range of everyone, but there are no attacks.
Owyn assesses the new enemy type. Nighthawks are members of an assassin's guild. What are they doing in the sewers below the palace?

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Locky lands a swing through a block. 33 damage.

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Gorath tries the same but gets blocked.

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Owyn and Gorath are attacked. Gorath dodges - Owyn does not. 12 damage.
Owyn defends.
Locky's thrust is parried.

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Enemy retaliates with a swing and hits Locky. But only for 10 damage.
Gorath tries a thrust but misses.

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Owyn blocks an attack from the enemy and defends again.
Locky's thrust is good this time. A hit for 24 finishes the first Nighthawk.
Gorath's thrust is parried again!
Enemy strikes Owyn through his guard for 12 again.
Locky starts working on Owyn's attacker. A thrust hits for 21.

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Gorath tries a swing. Its parried.
Owyn manages to parry a strike this time. Defends.
Locky tries a swing of his own. Misses.

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Gorath's strike is parried once again.

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Gorath and Owyn get attacked. Owyn blocks, and Gorath dodges. Owyn defends again.
Locky switches to a thrust - it hits for 21.

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Gorath is getting frustrated - swings for the fences. Misses.

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Enemies attack Gorath and Owyn - same result as before. Owyn defends.
Locky swings this time - hits for 31 and finishes the second nighthawk before Gorath got any hits in on his.

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Taking a hint - Gorath finally lands a thrust for 27.

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Owyn rests. Locky charges the last nighthawk and lands a thrust for 21.

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Gorath hits again - a thrust for 30 is enough to finish the fight.

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While Gorath didn't get much done during this fight - he learned some things.

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These guys are hard to see even up close. Damned ninjas.

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Seems like they get paid more than the mercenaries do.

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Yay! We've been missing healing packs.

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These things sell fairly well.

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Ok, here's what we have explored of this place so far - its sprawling.

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Now that we found assassins in the sewers the story gets more complicated - perhaps the broken gate had more to do with these Nighthawks than with the moredhel trying to kill Gorath? And what of Sir James? We'll find out more next time!
 

Erebus

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
4,763
I don't remember if you can encounter "special" Nighthawks in the sewers or if they only turn up later.
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,636
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Lets explore the rest of the sewers and find out.

We continue straight past the nighthawk bodies and another room opens up.

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It has another ladder. This one too has a ladder going up. Unfortunately its lock is broken.

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But to the side of it, we notice a chest.

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Its unlocked and has some replacement rope.

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As we continue past the room there's another passageway to the left.

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We skip it and continue straight instead - but that hallway ends in a dead end.

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We go back to the passageway we just skipped and eventually it opens up to another room with a ladder. Its lock is broken instead. It seems there's only one "correct" ladder.

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When we continue on the passageway reconnects to that first branch near the entrance. Since we're here - the party exits to sell the loot we've found. Then we come back and take the straight passage - i.e. go left from the location on the map below.

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And we quickly encounter another enemy group.

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Hah! We surprised them.

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Owyn assesses.

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Locky shoots an misses. Enemy charges him and hits him for 10.
Gorath tries the same. Also misses.

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His enemy decides to shoot back rather than charge. But misses him as well.
Owyn charges Locky's enemy and hits for 4.

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Locky swings at his opponent. Hits for 34.

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Gorath charges and hits for 27.

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Enemies attack Locky and Gorath and miss both.
Owyn swings and misses.

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Locky's thrust hits for 25 and puts down the enemy.

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Gorath swings and misses.

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Enemy misses him in turn.
Owyn charges and hits the last guy for 4.

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Locky does the same and hits for 22.

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Gorath finishes the fight with a thrust for 30.

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Getting hit taught Locky a valuable lesson.

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Ooooh, we can finally see the stats for those blue quarrels.

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Seems the general trend with Tsurani ranged weapons is - more damage, less chance to hit.

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A random rogue with silverthorn? Are the Mockers working with Nighthawks?

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We continue on and eventually reach another fork. The right part of the fork obviously leads to the Nighthawk chamber - so we go straight instead.

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And reach some kind of steel door. Maybe this is the secret path Locky was talking about?

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Huh, it goes down and its stuck to boot. I wonder why they expect it to become unrusted at a later date.

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So we go back up to Nighthawk chamber and go north until we find that passage we skipped.

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It opens up to yet another room with a ladder that has a broken lock.

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But there's also some kind of marker here.

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It does not seem like the Mockers have much respect for Swordmaster Corby...

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As we continue we eventually reach the chamber where we got blown up by a trapped chest.

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There's a passageway that goes east from the room - we take it. It reconnects with a hallway we did not fully explore earlier. We go North from there.

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And find a chest in a dead end.

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It's not locked. But does not have much either.

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So... that's the sewers. What are we supposed to do next? I guess let's go back to the Nighthawks - maybe we missed something that they were guarding or looking for. Aha! There was a hallway to the north I did not notice. You get moved after a battle finishes - it's possible our characters got pulled past it after the fight was done and I never noticed it.

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It leads to yet another room with a chest and a ladder with a broken lock.

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Chest is unlocked. Has some rope.

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As we proceed - we encounter someone.

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The infamous Sir James - aka Jimmy the Hand. This character was a big favorite of Feist featuring in many books spanning decades of storyline time. He was one of the mockers and saved the Princess Bride of Arutha. For that he was made a squire of the court and is now a knight along with Locklear. Eventually he becomes the Duke of Krondor in the books. A sort of Charles Brandon to Henry the VIIIth.

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It is interesting that Locky's hair change causes such reactions. Seems like the use of hair coloring is uncommon in this world. To be fair - we've been on the road for weeks. Locky's roots should be showing by now.

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Huh, maybe this is why the Nighthawks were not "special".

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Not sure Lancers are going be very effective down here.

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Yeah, the thieves would just relocate for a bit - the guards are going to stop looking eventually.

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Hmmm, or they could be looking for revenge, no? Well, maybe having an angry Prince of the realm hounding them down is bad for business.

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I'm not sure the game explained why Locky left at all. We never went up north from our starting location - there was an encounter with some border guards that would have explained some things if we did. As I recall from the novelization of the game - Prince got pissed at Locky for something (probably women related) and sent him off to serve at the northern border for a year. I could be completely misremember it though.

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Dark brothers is another term for Moredhel.

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Yeah, Gorath is an all around badass.

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No, we were just enjoying an olfacotry experience.

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Yeah, if it was so easy to get into the palace I doubt the princess would still have her jewelry.

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You do you, James, you do you.

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Yeah, Locky has earned some good rest.

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The passage behind James leads to a pit and a dead end behind it. Think this is one of those spots where the game lets you get yourself stuck. Just swing back and fourth until you're out of ropes. If you're on the wrong side when you've used the last one...

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We check our inventory for that key. Seems priceless. I just love how every item has a great description.

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So we go back to that one ladder with a non-broken lock and...

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Ah, the things we do for the Kingdom.

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Nice, the best time to meet with royalty is right after climbing through the sewers. They simply can't ignore your presence then.

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We always make the best impression.

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The artists did a good job with this game.

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Ooooh, washing maidens sound good.

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I like Locky's get down to business personality.

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I'm not quite sure how Arutha made the connection between Nighthawks and Moredhel. Maybe he means due to Locky's presence?

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Right after this a bunch of animations fire off really quickly one after the other - I had trouble getting good screenshots.

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As Gorath raises his hood - the guy in the back gets out a bow and aims! How in the world did an armed moredhel sneak into the palace?

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An arrow soars through the air! Towards Gorath or the Prince?

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Despite being the archwizard of this world - Pug is also apparently the most aware of all the royal guards.

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He quickly raises his hand and a fireball files out. It flies in the other direction.

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It impacts the arrow and... consumes it before continuing its flight forward.

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And impacting the archer.

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The screen fades... Chapter 1 is over.
 

Nutria

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 12, 2017
Messages
2,252
Location
한양
Strap Yourselves In
I just love how every item has a great description.

Yeah, I think this is what I really love about the game. It's all the short bits of text that make you feel like this is a real world that you're living in.

Chapter 2 is great. My only suggestion is to just keep playing it straight. If you give in to the temptation to metagame and run around the whole kingdom doing all the side quests then you'll get way too powerful and combat isn't interesting anymore.
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,237
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I gotta try that next time I play a mage or sorceror in DnD. Using fireball to counter an arrow shot at me or my group. :obviously:
I am under the impression that magefags typically attempt to solve every damn problem with a fireball.
 

Azira

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
8,519
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
It's been ages since I played a wizard or sorceror. I usually go for quirkier classes. In one of my current campaigns, I've gone nuts multiclassing as a paladin/warlock/bard. It's a mess, but it's a fun mess.
 

Erebus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
4,763
From what I remember of the books, it's repeated about a million times that Arutha is always clean-shaven.
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,636
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Good to hear Falksi, I'm glad this let's play is exposing a few people to this masterpiece.

Meanwhile chapter 2 avaits!

There's a little animation that plays with the dragon breathing fire and II appearing after the fire is gone. Looks like Nighthawks will be the focus of this chapter.

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Is this an interlude that takes us to see what's happening with the big bad Delekhan?

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Ah, this is what that famed magical mind reading is all about. So... why isn't Pug reading the mind himself?

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It's interesting that this Makala keeps re-appearing in the story. Seems like he'd be unrelated - but he keeps appearing.

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The animation plays with Arutha getting up and causing a stir.

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Gamina gets freaked out, the goblet falls.

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Arutha has a point. Gorath better have something solid if he expects the Kingdom to take drastic measures like calling up the levies.

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So you say... Well, and Makala says apparently.

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Yeah, it seems every Tsurani character in this game looks Asian further reinforcing my belief that they were inspired by the Japanese.

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Gorath the environmentalist?

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Barbarians for you... Successful invaders get rewarded with more warriors looking for glory and loot.

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Given that Gorath seems to be against Delekhan its a bit unlikely that he has accurate information on his invasion plans.

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Well, we got Nago a bit ago. Narab is a name that was present on one of the letters we found. But I find it surprising that Gorath is only mentioning Nighthawks now.

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Yes, mistress and son - such foul company. What I don't get is why Delekhan would trust the assassin's guild with his war plans.

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Huh - what's in Romney?

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Provincial eh? Sounds lovely.

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Hmmm, a Nighthawk of a bird perhaps?

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The skills overlap a bit, but it still seems imperfect.

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That's a good idea. Though normally the prince would probably attempt to use his own agents in such an operation.

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Well... perhaps you should use other means to watch for an impending attack prince.

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Fair enough.

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Awww, no more Locky.

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Apparently with Gorath having reached Prince its now safe to send him into the city with the daughter of the chief magician in the kingdom?

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Oooo, a tactical overview.

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Both major towns according to the map.

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Presumably the clan warfare is a thing - so he can't just send undefended supply trains.

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Sounds like Prince is leaning towards the other option.

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Well, aren't these places fortresses designed to keep the enemy at bay until reinforcements arrive?

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Pug runs a magic school on a middle of an isle. But a potential invasion is a good reason to forgo his responsibilities.

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With nighthawks about perhaps its time to make sure the cooks are loyal...

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Sounds like Makala and Gorath's words were enough for the Prince to get some troops ready.

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Incidentally that's pretty close to Romney.

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Which garrison?

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Highcastle's maybe? Leaving an undefended border fort seems foolish.

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So we're not exactly saving the world here. But it does feel like we're a very important cog in the machine.

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We come back to the game in the palace.

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Katala is Pug's wife. She's Tsurani. Wait... James? Sounds like Locky is truly gone for now.

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James is apparently a charmer.

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So that's why Pug is in town.

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Is it just me or is James leaning sideways when he talks?

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James saved Princess Anita during one of the books which earned him his place here. The twins are Prince's children.

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Oooh, smooth as silk that line.

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She's grammatically correct. My wife ALWAYS says 'can' instead of 'may'.

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Not too many topics.

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Hmmm, does James end up marrying Gamina in one of the later books?

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Heh, now James is officially a perv.

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Always useful those.

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Seems like James as a practical side - similar to Locky.

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Yes, Stardock Annex had quite a bit of stuff. I guess we'll see what Dabeh has once we get to Romney's area.

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There's nothing more to talk about - so lets see what this Enter sign is all about.

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Ah, guess this is the mechanism for us to not lose Locky's stuff despite losing him as a character.

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Yeah, there it all is. We won't have space for it all. Gorath's bag is already full. And Owyn is gone. I guess he could proceed back to Tyburn or wherever he was going at the very beginning.

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Looks like James comes with some decent stuff. I didn't need to save that 2 hander for him.

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This also lets us take a look at his stats. Oh man... he's worse with a blade than Locky was when he started. Doesn't hold a candle to him now. At least he has a lot of Health and a very high Lockpick skill after Gorath gave him the Upright Man's amulet.
His stealth is quite good as well. Guess he was a decent thief.

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Ok, time to start our march to Romney.

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Or not... seems like our march will begin with some pungent aromas.

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OK, no time like the present.

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It was your idea James...

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Ah, the romance of the road.

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We're back!

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Next time we'll get outta here and get on the road.
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,237
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Gamina has a natural talent for mindreading. And yeah James and Gamina get hitched later.
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,636
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Yeah, Gorath will have to carry some fights for the near future.

By the way - we have 2 ways to go East towards Romney so I need a vote:

A - The southern route via Darkmoor and Malac's Cross.
B - The northern route that begins by us retracing our steps to Tanneurs before turning East towards Sethanon.

Both paths reunite in a village named Lyton after which its a straight road towards Romney via Silden and Sloop.
 

Nutria

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Messages
2,252
Location
한양
Strap Yourselves In
I vote A. That's the way I went the first time I played so it'll always be dear to my heart. Also it seems like there's more interesting quests and less combat that way if I remember right, so it's a better way to go early on when your characters are weak. James will be really lethal with that sword someday but he's got a lot of learning to do.
 

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