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Let's bathe in the Pool of Radiance - 14 - Kobold Massacre

korenzel

Educated
Joined
May 18, 2010
Messages
278
TABLE OF CONTENTS :

Party Generation - this post.

Update #1 - Getting Started
Update #2 - Magic Treasure
Update #3 - Bar Brawl
Update #4 - Trolls
Update #5 - Level Up
Update #6 - Sokal Keep
Update #7 - Hideout
Update #8 - Scouting Ahead
Update #9 - Desecration
Update #10 - Traps!
Update #11 - (Un)Death
Update #12 - City Cleanup
Update #13 - Random Wandering
Update #14 - Kobold Massacre

---------------------------------

Welcome, to my second LP contribution to the Codex. I will be playing a game I never finished or even got far into on my own, but I found that writing a Let's Play can be a great motivation to keep going.

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SSI ? AD&D ? 1988 ? What could it be ?

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Pool of Radiance, that's what it is !

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Created by the fine people listed here :salute:.

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Let's get started... Where's the "Start Game" button ?
Looks like we're going to have to generate our party, and I will need your help.
We can have up to six adventurers.

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The first step is to choose your race.
Race mainly influences what ability scores you can reach, as well as what class is available to your character.
Note that non human characters have a limit to how high they can advance in most classes, but Pool of Radiance isn't a high level D&D adventure, so don't worry too much.

Human characters cannot have more than one class, while all the others can have up to three.

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Next comes the gender. As you can see in the ability chart at the end of the update, women are weaker than men, and don't get any benefit that I know of.

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The next step is to choose a class. There are four classes available in Pool of Radiance :

Cleric : User of divine magic and decent fighther, can wear the heaviest armors and use blunt weapons.
Fighter : The best warriors are fighters. They can use any armor or weapon and have better chances to hit than anyone else.
Magic-User : Mages are users of arcane magic, generally very potent spells but with a severe restriction on the number available per day. They can't wear any armor and can only use daggers and quarterstaves, but some magic items like bracers can help protect them a bit.
Thief : Decent fighters and good at locating traps and other goodies, they are limited in how much armor they can wear and what weapon they can use.

Multi-Class characters combine the benefits of each of their classes without restriction. That means a Fighter/Magic-User can cast spells freely in full plate while wearing a long sword and a shield. The drawback is that each class advances at half (or a third) of the normal pace.

However, the experience progression is anything but linear in AD&D. While multi-class characters will always need double (or triple) the xp to reach the same level a single class would, they will usually only lag one or two level behind.

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After deciding on your class, you can choose your alignment.

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And finally, you get a first look at your character screen. Don't worry about the stats yet.

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The next step is to choose a head and body.

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Your avatar can have a head and a body of your choosing. Here are the faces available.

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And here are the different bodies. Some are definitely more male or female looking than others, but Pool of Radiance doesn't prevent any combination of head and body.

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Next is the generation of an icon to represent the character on the battlefield during tactical battles.
You can change the colors of any part, as well as use different heads and weapons.
These can be changed at any time during camps. I'll make them fit our party members' heads and bodies as best I can, and change the weapons depending on what they are mostly using.

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Finally, you can modify the stats of your character as you want, in the boundaries of race limits.

Strength determines how hard you hit and how well you use melee weapons.
Intelligence determines how good you are at casting arcane spells.
Wisdom determines how good you are at casting divine spells.
Dexterity determines how hard to hit you are and how well you use missile weapons.
Constitution determines how much bonus hit points you get per level, and how likely you are to be resurrected.
Charisma determines your general appearance and how good looking you are.

Note that ability scores between 8 and 14 generally don't provide any benefit or drawback.

I have no preferred rule to generate stats. Use point-buy, roll dices, adjust as you want or set everything to the maximum, it's your choice.

Fighters will want a high strength, Clerics a high wisdom, Magic-Users a high intelligence and Thieves a high dexterity, as you get an experience bonus when those attributes are high enough.

I will max out HPs for characters on level one.

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The stats and classes available for each race are summed up in this nice little table.

------------------------------------------------------

Recruitment will keep going until we have six or more adventurers ready to begin. If there are more than six, I'll pick the best roll dices.

Now, you may ask yourself "What am I joining for ?". The Adventurers Journal provides the answer :

Adventurers Journal said:
FREE NEW PHLAN!
The New Phlan City Council is leading the fight to free their captive city. Heroes are retaking the city block by block from evil hordes.

RICHES & FAME!
The council is looking for soldiers and rogues, mages and clerics, heroes of all kinds, to come to New Phlan. The wealth and land of an ancient city await those willing to reach out and take it.

GLORY!
Legends will be written about the heroic struggle to free New Phlan! Ships to New Phlan depart twice monthly. When you arrive, see the New Phlan City Council for the latest news and information.

MAKE YOUR FORTUNE IN NEW PHLAN!
 

Orgasm

Barely Literate
Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
1,360
Lawl, I tried to copy the hot blond face onto the naked muscle body and Photoshop crashed :lol:

Blond, hot, half efl thief. Have fun.

edit

Sweet, it crashed again. Disregard my application. I am not gonna follow.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2007
Messages
3,585
Location
Motherfuckerville
I forgot, can human's multi-class in the Gold Box games? If so, then sign me up as:

Human (Half-Elf if need be)
Fighter/Mage
The head with the angry, balding dude with white hair

Str:18:XX
Dex:18
Con:17
Int:17
Wis:8
Cha:4

Or whatever is easiest/least cheesy/most fun/etc. for stats.
 

korenzel

Educated
Joined
May 18, 2010
Messages
278
I'll edit the bodies and faces pictures to add letters for easy pickings.

Humans cannot multi-class in AD&D. They can advance as high as they want in classes, but finding a high level trainer to teach them can be tricky. Level restrictions on other races mean they have the most potential when they multi-class, unless they go for thievery.

The clue book states that the game uses level and ability scaling to some extent, so a party of demigods will face higher challenges than one with characters of mid range stats. I haven't played the game enough to know whether that is true or not, we will see depending on our party and my memories of the game.
 

MMXI

Arcane
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
Messages
2,196
Name
Godfrey

Gender
Male

Race
Human

Class
Cleric

Alignment
Lawful Good

Aesthetics
Head: Second column, second row (F).
Body: First column, third row (I).

Attributes (power gaming)
Strength: 18 (00)
Dexterity: 18
Constitution: 16
Intelligence: 8+
Wisdom: 18
Charisma: 8+

Attributes (fair)
Strength: 16+
Dexterity: 16+
Constitution: 15+
Intelligence: 3+
Wisdom: 17+
Charisma: 3+
 

Azira

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
8,519
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
Gender
Male

Race
Elf

Class
Mage/thief

Alignment
Neutral good

Looks
Head G
Body G

Stats
Str 15+
Dex 19
Con 16
Int 18
Wis 8+
Cha8+

Name
Pariah
 

Crooked Bee

(no longer) a wide-wandering bee
Patron
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:love:

Bee-chan
Half-elf
Female (sorry :P)
Cleric/Fighter/Magic-user
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Head: L
Body: B :P

Str: 17
Dex: 14+
Con: 16+
Int: 18
Wis: 18
Cha: 8+

I suck at AD&D so feel free to adjust my build if need be

EDIT. Also, this thread really needs Kuroneko, female elven magic-user/thief. Too bad Black Cat is MIA again :/
 

SoupNazi

Guest
MMXI said:
Name
Soup

Gender
Male

Race
Dwarf

Class
Fighter

Alignment
Chaotic Good

Aesthetics
Head: H.
Body: B.

Attributes
Strength: 18
Dexterity: 17
Constitution: 19
Intelligence: 3
Wisdom: 3
Charisma: 3

I probably got the stats wrong.
 
Self-Ejected

Excidium

P. banal
Joined
Aug 14, 2009
Messages
13,696
Location
Third World
My dude:

Tried not to cheat too much, I hate games that let you edit attributes, it's too tempting. :P

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juggernaut

Educated
Joined
Dec 26, 2009
Messages
234
Location
Australia
Bloodfist Rageskull
Elf
Male
Fighter/Magic-User/Thief
True Neutral
Head: E
Body: B :M

Str: 16+
Int: 16+
Wis: 3+
Dex: 16+
Con: 12+
Cha: 8+
 

korenzel

Educated
Joined
May 18, 2010
Messages
278
Pussycat669 said:
Are you planing to go through the entire series?
I'll see how the first game goes before making such a long term commitment.

Here are the intrepid adventurers who met on the ship to New Phlan :

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I've taken the liberty to raise the xx+ stats to the maximum, especially when they are critical like dexterity. I have also given Bee-chan godly stats, since we'll need a party spokes(wo)man and everyone used Charisma as a dump stat.

The unlucky codexer who will have to wait for another group will be decided by the throw of a d20 :
1-2 Edward R Murrow
3-4 Godfrey
5-6 Pariah
7-8 Bee-chan
9-10 Soup
11-12 Excidium
13-14 Bloodfist
15-20 Throw Again

And the result is.... 10. Sorry Soup, your dwarf would have been most useful as a tank.
 

Crooked Bee

(no longer) a wide-wandering bee
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Poor Soup. :/

korenzel said:
Pussycat669 said:
Are you planing to go through the entire series?
I'll see how the first game goes before making such a long term commitment.

You should definitely do a Pool of Darkness LP. :P

korenzel said:

Age: 20? :roll:

korenzel said:

Age: 48? Ah, a half-elf. Okay, then.

korenzel said:
I have also given Bee-chan godly stats, since we'll need a party spokes(wo)man and everyone used Charisma as a dump stat.

Yup, my stats are soooo powergamish. Kewl.
Cleric/Fighter/Magic-user is a pretty powerful class iirc, hopefully Bee-chan will prove to be the most useful member of our party. :P
 

MMXI

Arcane
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
Messages
2,196
Excellent! At least we are adventuring with only a single tranny now that Soup was kicked out. I don't think Godfrey could keep up his healing duties on two trannies. Too much maintenance.

For role-playing purposes Godfrey is Edward R Murrow's long lost son. I would have said identical twin but Godfrey seems to be 26 years younger. Now it's just Bloodfist we need to justify. Let's just pretend Excidium cursed him to that body.
 

MMXI

Arcane
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
Messages
2,196
Crooked Bee said:
MMXI said:
Excellent! At least we are adventuring with only a single tranny now that Soup was kicked out.
:P
Pool of Radiance is an RPG. Just because you might be a tranny in real-life doesn't mean that every character you create has to be a tranny too. Plus, your character doesn't have a beard so I can only guess that it is a true female. Bloodfist on the other hand...

:rpgcodex:
 

juggernaut

Educated
Joined
Dec 26, 2009
Messages
234
Location
Australia
Bloodfist is male. He doesn't quite remember exactly which act of random magic he may have cast or been hit by in his 180 years that gave him his fabulous physique, but now that he has it he's not giving it up. Just look at his expression - that is the face of an elf who has found true happiness.
 

Erebus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
4,763
I haven't played PoR, but I played Champions of Krynn, in which the heroes also start at a very low level. Many low-level spells such as Charm Person and Stinking Cloud were extremely useful because the mechanics of 2e makes it unlikely for a low-level character/monster to save versus spell. So, even though you won't get Fireball before long, your large number of spellcasters should be useful.

On the other hand, I suspect the lack of at least one single-classed fighter may become a problem after a while. But we'll see.
 

Crooked Bee

(no longer) a wide-wandering bee
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Erebus said:
On the other hand, I suspect the lack of at least one single-classed fighter may become a problem after a while.

Nope, that isn't true iirc. Even a party of 6 Cleric/Fighter/Magic-users should have no problems beating this game. :P
 

korenzel

Educated
Joined
May 18, 2010
Messages
278
I'm afraid I did not rob Soup of his gold before leaving him on the docks. Still, if a party member dies and cannot be resurrected he'll be available to join the party, I think.

-----------------------------------------------

UPDATE 1 - Getting Started

No sooner has our party touched the wooden planks of the docks that a young man approaches.
He offers a tour of the city of New Phlan.

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Lead the way.

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Temples are important, as they are the only way to bring a character back to life. They charge outrageous amounts of money for their services, so our two clerics will do most of the daily healing.

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The docks we arrived from are behind us, and our ship has already sailed away. Our adventurers are stuck here for better or worse.

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Trainers and adventurers for hire can be found in this building. To advance levels a character needs to train, and each session costs a fair amount of gold.

Mercenaries of a wide range of skills can be hired, but they get their first picks of the loot if they come along, and we don't want that. Still, it could be useful if our party comes up against something it can't seem to defeat on its own.

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The city hall of New Phlan is the main quest dispenser.

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More temples.

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And finally, the entrance to the slums.

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Rolf leaves our party and goes back to wait for another ship full of would-be heroes.

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Going back to the City Hall, our party spends a little time reading the various proclamations on the wall.

Adventurers Book said:
Proclamation LXIV

Be it known that the council is interested in acquiring information as to the disposition of various formerly-living entities in the vicinity of Valhigen Graveyard. A reward is offered to any person who shall travel to said graveyard and return an eye-witness account.

Proclamation LXXVIII

Be it known that the council is offering a reward to any person or persons who can provide information as to the disposition of several council agents who have been sent to investigate the unseemly happenings in the vicinity of Valhigen Graveyard.

Proclamation CIX

Be it known that the council is offering an inducement to any individual who shall serve in the rescue force for the mercenary band of Taimalh-the-Invincible which has disappeared inside Valhigen Graveyard.

Proclamation LIX

Be it known that the council is interested in reclaiming the remaining blocks of the city of New Phlan. To reclaim said blocks they must be first cleared of monsters, vermin, and other uncivilized inhabitants. To this end the council is offering a reward to any person or group who is responsible for clearing any block of the old city.

Looks like a lot of things are happening in the Valhigen Graveyard, but that is out of our party's reach for now.

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Our party goes inside to meet the clerk

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The clerk offers more detailed missions than the proclamations outside.

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The slums need to be cleared of monsters.

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And so does the Sokal Keep.

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We'll keep it in mind.

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And that's pretty much it. We can go to either the slums or the Sokal Keep, but we'll start with the slums.

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But first off, we need to equip our party with the limited amount of gold the members brought along.

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The weapons and armor shops offers a variety of items, most of which are reserved to fighters.

Bee-chan gather all the gold of our party and goes on a shopping spree.

Shopping List said:
3xShort Bow
300xArrows
4xLong Sword
1xFlail
1xSling
1xStaff
40xDarts
4xShield
4xScale Mail
1xLeather Armor

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We're left with two platinum coin, each worth five gold coins.
But now Bee-chan has a decent armor and a good set of weapons.
Long Sword & Shield for close range, Short Bow for distant engagements and Scale Mail for protection.

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Clerics only have access to hammers as ranged weapons, but it's quite annoying as they have to ready a new hammer each time they throw one. For this reason, I've stuck Godfrey with a Flail and he will be our main tank as he has the most hit points.

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Edward R Murrow gets the same equipment as Bee,

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The same goes for Bloodfist.

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Excidium gets a quarterstaff if he is unfortunate enough to be engaged in melee, and some darts.

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Pariah gets a leather armor, the best protection thieves can wear, a Long Sword for defending himself and backstabbing and a sling to throw stones at the enemy.

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Although we are quite broke, let's check the other shops while we're in the market area.
There are a number of them selling silver items.

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They're... quite expensive to say the least.

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Another shop sells some miscellaneous supplies.

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Mirrors, Oil, Holy Symbols ...? I suppose we'll need them at some point.

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There are also taverns in the town.

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We can gamble for money, but we need to keep our two platinum to book rooms at the Inn, so the offer is declined.

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Our party can also overhear tales from other patrons.
Here's what they learn after spending a little time :

Adventurers Journal said:
Tavern Tale 11

The Dragonspine Mountains are inhabited by a race of evil dragons who lure travelers to their lairs and slay them.

Tavern Tale 13

A master thief has set up a hidden training ground deep in the old city, right under the noses of monsters.

Tavern Tale 14

Ogres who live to the east of Phlan are holding captive a princess for whom a huge reward has been offered.

None of that concerns us for now, but it's good to keep them in mind.

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Finally, we head for the Inn and rent some space to rest. It costs one platinum (five gold) but we can then stay as long as we like, until we leave the building.

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So our adventurers make camp, and prepare for the journey ahead.

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What we need to do is memorize spells.
Here's the current cleric selection. For now, we'll give our clerics two Cure Light Wounds and one Detect Magic each.
Cure Light Wound is the only relatively fast and cheap way to heal injuries, and Detect Magic is very useful in sorting out the good loot from the piles of junk monsters leave behind.

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The arcane spell selection is much more limited. Four spells available, and only one cast per rest. Detect Magic can be cast by clerics so it would be a waste of a slot, Read Magic is only needed when we have unidentified arcane scrolls, Shield is good to protect mages from attackers but it doesn't last very long at level 1. That leaves us with Sleep.

But Sleep alone makes up for this poor selection. The spells can disable a large group of enemies, rendering them helpless. Helpless character can't act, but they still block the advance of other monsters while our party shoots them from afar. Most of all, any helpless monster is killed in one blow, be that from a two handed sword critical hit or a poorly thrown dart.

The spell loses its usefulness as monsters gain better saving throws or downright immunity to the effect, but it's the best weapon in our arsenal for now. Each of our mages memorize it.

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The game automatically calculates how long the party has to rest to memorize all the spells.
For now, it's five hours, but it will increase as we get higher level spellcasting.

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After a little nap, it's time to brave the slums for the first time.

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As soon as they pass the gate, the adventurers detect some kobolds.

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Pariah tries to parlay but fails to talk them out of combat.

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And we get transported to the tactical map. Our first battle, and we're already outnumbered. Ten kobolds against our six heroes.

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Despite their high armor class, the monsters are hard to hit in melee.

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However, bows and slings work wonder as character sometimes get another attack, and have generally better chances to hit with ranged weaponry.

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Even the puny darts manage to bring down kobolds, but they run out fast and are not recovered at the end of the fight.

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Godfrey takes a beating while everyone else fires arrows from afar.

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But soon enough, the party prevails.

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Eighteen experience, that's not much. We need at least one thousand to get near the next level, grinding random encounters is not an option.

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224 copper coins ! That equals ... one gold coin, and weights two hundred times as much. Marvelous!
6 silver coins, that's also worth a gold coin.
Overall, we got two gold from the encounter. We probably spent this amount on darts alone.

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At least we can loot the deceased monsters' items. Hopefully they'll sell for a bit of cash.
 

Pussycat669

Liturgist
Joined
Jun 13, 2006
Messages
667
Location
In a fine suit
Looks like the game likes to play rough. I'm already looking forward to the next update filled with low level suffering ;)
Are fights mostly random like in Bard's Tale, Wizardry etc. or do you have more predetermined ones?
 

Crooked Bee

(no longer) a wide-wandering bee
Patron
Joined
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Messages
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Location
In quarantine
Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire MCA Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Marvelous! We're off to a good start. :salute:
 

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