Inactive Let's break some boots in the RoA! (Escape from Castle Orkenstein)

[Pussycat669]

Nah, just the chance for a divine miracle by Phex decreases drastically so it's nothing what a donation couldn't fix. There are cases which we might yet see that are a lot worse. There is an evil spider god that can curse the party in RoA1 which means that they get instantly killed when they try to enter a dungeon or something equally harsh as far as I heard.


First level up just occurred and the roster has been updated. Apologies for the little decision time. I really should have mentioned this earlier.

:
Some good rolls there but I increased charisma this time since I don’t know if wisdom really improves social interactions so I wanted to be sure. I also set some wrong priorities with the body skills and ran out of attempts. Won’t happen again, promise.

Charisma +1
Avarice -1 success!
Magic resistance +1
HP +4

Weapons:
Pointed weapons +1 (+1 parry)

Craftsmanship:
Pickpocket +1

Body:
Climb +2
Swim +2

Social:
Convert +2
Haggle +2
Lie +2

:
Really bad rolls for you for he most part I’m afraid.

Strength +1
Superstition -1 failure
HP +4

Weapons:
2-hnd swords +1 (+1 attack)

Intuition:
Danger sense +1

Body:
Climb +2
Phys. control +2
Stealth +2
Swim +1

:
Has a lucky streak, no doubt about it.

Intuition +1
Curiosity -1 success!
Magic resistance +1
HP +3
MP +4
MP +7 by converting spell attempts
Convert skill attempts? No

Combat:
Pole arms +1 (+1 parry)

Intuition:
Danger sense +1

Lore:
Alchemy +3
Ancient tongue +3
History +1
Ritual +1

Body:
Climb +2

Domination:
Horriphobus +3
Respondami +3
Somnigravis +3

Healing:
Balm +1

Clairvoyance:
Analyze +2
Odem Arcanum +1

Illusion:
Duplication +2

Combat (magic):
Lightning +1
Fulminictus +1
Ignifaxus +2
Plumbumbarum +2

Transformation:
Magic armour +1

Transmutation:
Silentium +1

:
Should have improved the healing skill while I had a chance.

Intuition +1
Acrophobia -1 success!
HP +2
MP +4
Basic attack/parry +1
Convert skill attempts? No

Combat:
Pole arms +1 (+1 parry)
Missile weapons +1

Nature:
Herb lore +2

Intuition:
Danger sense +1
Perception +1

Body:
Acrobatics +2
Climb +2
Phys. control +2
Swim +2
Self control +1
Hide +2

Dispell:
Domination +2

Domination:
Ball and Chain +1
Evil Eye +2
Confusion +2
Master Animals +2
Dance! +2

Demonology:
Banish Spirits +2
Conj. Spirits +2

Combat (magic):
Lightning +1
Iron Rust +1
Ignifaxus +1

Transformation:
All the increase spells except for charisma

:
Strength +1
Necrophobia -1 success!
Magic resistance +1
HP +5
MP +3 (confused the options there, sorry)
Basic attack/parry +1

Combat:
Swords +1 (+1 parry)
Missile weapons +1

Nature:
Track +1
Orientation +1
Survival +2

Intuition:
Perception +1

Body:
Climb +2
Swim +1

Domination:
Bambaladam +1

Healing:
Balm +2
Rest the Body +2

Clairvoyance:
Eagle’s Eye +2

Combat (magic):
Lightning +1
Accurate Eye +2

Transformation:
Eagle, Wolf +2
Visibili +2

 

[korenzel]

Good progress all around, hopefully the spells won't fail as much as the party grows in power.
I seem to remember some dungeons require Penetrating to see past walls and Transversalis to teleport to somewhat secret rooms, you should begin to increase these two on Murrow. I believe you can attempt to cast spells when they are at a minimum of -5, and mana is no issue for magicians as they can just meditate and stuff themselves with healing herbs to regain hit points.

 

[Pussycat669]

I seem to remember some dungeons require Penetrating to see past walls and Transversalis to teleport to somewhat secret rooms, you should begin to increase these two on Murrow.

Thanks, I'll try that if Murrow doesn't sound any objection.

Could anyone perhaps explain to me again how to brew potions? I've totally forgotten how alchemy works in this game.
I remember that you need an alchemy set and a bronze bottle but I can't for the life of me remember where to get recipes.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Truth be told, I remember alchemy being quite worthless. Never worth the trouble, at least. Oh, and recipes are scarce and few and I very much doubt you can find one in the beginning of the game.

But I may be mistaken, of course. Perhaps someone who knows the game better than I do can correct me.

 

[korenzel]

I don't think I used alchemy at all during my run of the game. Whirlweeds are more than enough to deal with any healing needs, and they have the convenience to stack up to 99 per inventory slot and don't weight too much.

Magic potions can be useful for difficult fights, but you'll find a fair amount of those.

 

[Pussycat669]

The party follows the river inland. While this is a safe and fast route, it will also likely be quiet unexciting.

We don't actually bother to go to Tjoila itself since we would need to use the ferry for that.

Local drunkards say that there is a clearing on our route which is a perfect spot for camping so we continue onwards right away albeit a bit merry.

Toastboy makes himself useful that night while Korenzel collects a fairly large bundle of herbs.

We press on once everyone is rested.

Quiet true.

I'm starting to wonder if we’re going to see any action during this trip.

Some decent shops around these parts but our group is already well equipped. Pass.

The part about dwarven mining awakens our interest. Sure enough we soon find an entrance to one of their caves.

Please, don’t let this be a puzzle.

Whatever it does, it doesn’t prevent the dwarves in the next room to attack us on first sight without provocation.

The little bastards are tough but thankfully they’re also fairly open to magical suggestions.

With two extra hands, the enemy lines are soon thinned out.

All in all a well earned and fittingly rewarded victory.

But dwarves have more to them than their battle prowess.

The hole drops everyone in a hallway with a teleporter trap.

We need to go backwards if we don’t want to get teleported to a dead end. Once we figured that out and one locked door later, we are still not home free.

As you may notice, Holga is hard pressed to get the next door open but then we finally find ourselves in the relative safety of the old trap filled hallways where more encounters with the dwarves are waiting for us.

Ingerimm is the god of blacksmithing so we drop one of the looted weapons as a sacrifice.

No idea what deeds he’s talking about but I know where to look.

Without any real clue about what we just did, we stumble around aimlessly for a while.

I finally figure out where to look but at that point Holga is almost 2000 exp ahead of everyone else in the party because the door in the flooded room gets locked every time when we enter and picking locks give extra exp rewards. Talk about accidental exploits

More traps…

And even more traps.

Health is running dangerously low. If there is a boss fight in this dungeon then we’ll have a serious problem.

Figures. This will be painful.

Never get tired of that one. Now Holga will need some help as well.

We’re actually getting close to surviving this fight in one piece when one of the two brawling dwarves retreats. If it is the charmed one then we’re in trouble.

Luckily the little guy is still with us until Murrow shoos him away with another Horriphobus spell.

Double

But the joy doesn't last. The spear trap triggers a second time when we try to leave.

It's a scrap of comfort that our magic users had a chance to really shine before the reload but it still hurts. Turns out you need to pull the arm of the statue at the beginning of the dungeon downwards to deactivate most of those traps.

Yeah, like this is going to happen again. After repeating the fight with the elite dwarves, we can finally continue our journey.

Asking for directions…

And finally, the first piece of the puzzle:

Let’s take a look at the thing.

Not much to go with. We’ll definitely need more pieces to figure this out. Since following the river back south to reach Angbodirtal would be a little tedious, I decide to go after the woman in Vidsand. Getting there will require of us to cross the western mountains and past a place called Orkanger. I heard that name before.

The fun really never stops in adventure land

 

[golgepapaz]

I don't know how the level -up mechanism works but I liked your choices . decreasşing superstition(albeit failed) and increasing strength is the way to go considering the dwarvess is the tank. if you are able to choose go with the body and tactics .....

 

[Crooked Bee]

Please, don’t let this be a puzzle.

Turns out you need to pull the arm of the statue at the beginning of the dungeon downwards to deactivate most of those traps.

I just love things like that.

 

[PrzeSzkoda]

I am enjoying this LP as much as the Darklands one. Might give the game a spin once I'm done fooling around in 'em Darklands which I finally got to run thanks to DosBox extravaganza.

SHE'S INJURIES

 

[Pussycat669]

@golgepapaz
Will do

One quick update where we get our arses handed to us by bugs.

Mountains are always dangerous for travel as they are good places for an ambush and there are often obstacles that can get you killed with a single failed climb check. We try our luck anyways.

It doesn't take long for the first signs of trouble to show up.

The corpse has a letter on him.

Translation: find unicorn, get a map piece for free.

Not an optimal line-up. These brigands are a bit tougher and even use bows. Murrow soon has a few arrows sticking out of his chest as his magic again fails him. The last brigand tries to run away but he can't expect any mercy.

The reward is a special dagger, some swords and we won't have to deal with those bandits ever again.

Minor correction, after this we won't have to deal with those bandits ever again.

Sometimes I don't even know why I bother.
The party gets beaten up fairly badly and all the collected loot is dragging us down. We'll need some rest and a shop soon.

Oh jolly good.

An out of the blue dungeon romp? Why not?

Sadly, this was just an isolated corner. There is still a whole level waiting for us. At least we won't run out of food so quickly.

This place is primarily occupied by goblins. They are mostly harmless little critters and this one in particular.

Of course, not all of them go down so easily.

These were guarding a room.

We find three cursed leather helmets which decreases the charisma of the wearer. Goblins have their very own perception for valuables it seems.

Better try to treat that one as wounds during such events tend to cause infections.

Ok, later then.

At least they won't harm us. These pests on the other hand, all the more so.

This fight is nothing but a nightmare as a) you don't get enough room for your bowmen to shoot b) those critters are freaking tough on the HP side c) have an incredible armour value to boot and c) they are also hard to hit. After watching the computer battle this out for about fifteen minutes without much happening except for Golgepapaz's sword to break, I reload and try a more unique approach. All we learn from that is that druids explode when they die.

It's no use, we'll need to heal up, get rid of the surplus loot and pray that we get improved initiative.

Naturally, this place lacks an arms dealer to sell the loot to. We'll have to go all the way back to Upper Orcam for a store, as I don't want to venture further west yet. Before that though...

Just my luck, Holga's strength starts to dwindle. Korenze tries to treat the sickness but only manages to worsen her condition. At least there is a capable healer in this town. Once we got our strength back, it's another trip through the mountains.

I said no more bandits, you mother...
Fast forward to Upper Orcam and back to the cave, Toastboy finds a spot that we've missed before.

Guess we asked for it. Following that is bugs vs. heroes, take three.

We are able to break up the formation which means there are finally some arrows flying that will be a great help during the fighting (although they too miss a lot).

First two bugs are dead about ten turns in. Bee has been severely wounded despite her fairly excellent swordplay. She retreats further back to relocate the pressure on Holga, who is still in good shape. All those precautions don't help her much during a fumble however.

I'm at a loss here.

80+ turns later. MPs are gone, as well as all the arrows. Turns out you can't exchange items during combat, meaning that Murrow can’t provide any resupplies. I just want the suffering to end.

This was probably the toughest battle in rpg history ever and ironically also the most tedious. Good thing for Bee that unconscious party members still count as active. I don't think I could have endured this encounter another time. And what is our reward?

...Let's just get out of here.

No need to stop here again.

We make the first acquaintance with recruitable NPCs. They are all fairly strong if I remember correctly but will only remain for a limited period of time.

Moving on...

Not much to mention about this place except the food.

And finally...

This time we don't even have to look around for long.

Now we're getting somewhere. That's two map piece collected in less than a month, despite the minor setback at the goblin cave. We might as well start exploring before continuing our search. That island on the left side of the map intrigues me and who knows? Maybe another piece will surface on our travels.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Congrats on winning that battle!

 

[Pussycat669]

Thanks, Bee
Words really can not express what a pain that fight was and a lot of rage was spilled all over my monitor that day.

The roster has been updated. So far we were able to retrieve two more map pieces and are about to acquire the next which should justify another update. We just need to smoke out some pirates and sail to the other end of the world and back to get that blasted writ while probably sinking a ghost ship in the process. I somehow doubt that it's a coincidence that the person who asks for the piece of paper lives in one of the most remote locations in the entire game.

Level up!
Not great rolls but we’re keeping the healthy average with the fail/success quota.

:
Wisdom +1
Avarice -1 failure
HP +2

Weapons:
Pointed weapons +1 (+1 attack)

Intuition:
Danger Sense +1

Craftsmanship:
Pickpocket +1

Body:
Stealth +2

Social:
Haggle +1
Streetwise +2
Human Nature +2

:
Strength +1
Superstition -1 failure
Magic resistance +1
HP +4

Weapons:
Swords +1 (+1 attack)
2-hnd swords +1 (+1 attack)

Lore:
Tactics +3

Body:
Climb +1
Phys. control +1
Self Control +1
Stealth +2
Swim +1

:
Intuition +1
Avarice -1 success!
HP +2
MP +8
Convert spell attempt into MP? Yes
Convert skill attempts into spell attempts? No

Craftsmanship:
Train Animals +1 oops

Body:
Climb +1
Phys. Control +2
Swim +2
Hide +2

Dispell:
Gardianum +2

Domination:
Horriphobus +1
Respondami +1
Somnigravis +3

Movement:
Foramen +2
Transversalis +2

Clairvoyance:
Analyze +2
Odem Arcanum +1
Penetrating +2

Illusion:
Duplication +2

Combat (magic):
Lightning +1
Fulminictus +1
Ignifaxus +2
Plumbumbarum +2

Transformation:
Magic Armour +1

:
Wisdom +1
Acrophobia -1 success!
HP +2
MP +5
Magic resistance +1
Convert skill attempts into spell attempts?

Combat:
Pole arms +1 (+1 parry)
Missile weapons +1

Nature:
Herb lore +1

Intuition:
Danger sense +1
Perception +1

Craftsmanship:
Treat Poison +2
Treat Diseases +1
Treat Wounds +2

Body:
Hide +2

Dispell:
Domination +2

Domination:
Confusion +2
Master Animals +1

Demonology:
Banish Spirits +1

Combat (magic):
Lightning +1
Iron Rust +1
Ignifaxus +1

Communication:
Necropathia +1

Transformation:
All the increase spells except for charisma

:
Strength +1
Violent Temper -1 success!
HP +2
MP +3

Combat:
Missile weapons +1

Nature:
Track +1
Orientation +1
Survival +2

Intuition:
Danger Sense +1
Perception +1

Body:
Stealth +1
Self Control +1

Domination:
Bambaladam +2

Healing:
Balm +2
Rest the Body +2

Clairvoyance:
Eagle’s Eye +2

Combat (magic):
Fulminictus +1
Accurate Eye +2

Transformation:
Eagle, Wolf +2
Magic Armour +1

EDIT:
@korenzel
Uh, I just found out that druids can't use missile weapons from Star Trail onwards. Mind if I stop increasing the skill now before attempts get wasted?

 

[golgepapaz]

Bee:

Avarice -1 failure!

what did you expect?

golgepapaz:

Strength +1
Superstition -1 failure

My my, not again!!

 

[korenzel]

@korenzel
Uh, I just found out that druids can't use missile weapons from Star Trail onwards. Mind if I stop increasing the skill now before attempts get wasted?

They can't ? I didn't know, my spellcasters were always magicians for the ease of meditation.
Stop increasing the skill if you feel it's good enough, but if it's useful in the first part it's worthy of a skill attempt per level up in my book.

 

[Pussycat669]

Your druid is a fairly decent shot so I think we should be fine for RoA 1. Besides, we'll need all the attempts we can get in treat disease before reaching RoA 2 if my fading memories are any indicator

My my, not again!!

Oh yes, and yet again as we just hit level four. Tired now so the roster must suffice as a summary at the moment but overall the dices were against the heroes. On the upside, we have four new map pieces overall and, when I look at it, quiet a story of woe to tell. I'll try to get it up later this day if I'm able to find the time. It's fairly long though and my bandwidth is in the red so every friendly bump pre- and post update are greatly appreciated as always.

 

[Pussycat669]

*Bump*

And here is there delayed summary (or should I stop with those? They're fairly clunky and probably inaccurate). It went down far better than I remembered.

:
Charisma +1
Avarice -1 success!
Magic resistance +1
HP +4

Weapons:
Pointed weapons +1 (+1 attack)

Body:
Acrobatics +2
Stealth +2
Swim +1

Social:
Convert +2
Seduce +1
Haggle +1
Human Nature +2

:
Strength +1
Superstition -1 failure
Magic resistance +1
HP +4

Weapons:
2-hnd swords +1 (+1 attack)

Lore:
Tactics +1

Body:
Climb +1
Phys. control +1
Stealth +2
Self Control +1
Stealth +2
Hide +2

:
Wisdom +1
Violent temper -1 failure
Magic resistance +1
HP +2
MP +10
Convert spell attempt into MP? Yes
Convert skill attempts into spell attempts? No

Combat:
Pole arms +1 (+1 attack)

Intuition:
Danger sense +1

Lore
Ritual +3
Tongues +3

Dispell:
Gardianum +2

Domination:
Horriphobus +3

Movement:
Transversalis +2

Clairvoyance:
Analyze +2
Odem Arcanum +1
Sensibal +1

Illusion:
Duplication +1

Combat (magic):
Lightning +1
Ignifaxus +2
Plumbumbarum +2

:
Intuition +1
Violent temper -1 success!
HP +2
MP +3
Convert skill attempts into spell attempts? No

Combat:
Pole arms +1 (+1 attack)

Intuition:
Danger sense +1
Perception +1

Craftsmanship:
Treat Poison +2
Treat Diseases +2
Treat Wounds +2

Body:
Phys. control +1
Stealth +1

Dispell:
Domination +2

Domination:
Ball and Chain +1
Great Need +1
Confusion +1
Master Animals +2
Dance! +2

Clairvoyance:
Eagle’s Eye +1

Illusion:
Duplication +1
Camouflage +1

Combat (magic):
Lightning +1
Iron Rust +1
Ignifaxus +1

Communication:
Necropathia +1

Transformation:
All the increase spells except for charisma

:
Agility +1
Necrophobia -1 failure
HP +1
MP +2

Combat:
Swords +1 (+1 attack)
Axes +1 oops
Missile weapons +1

Nature:
Track +2
Orientation +2
Survival +2

Intuition:
Danger Sense +1
Perception +1

Body:
Stealth +2
Self Control +1

Domination:
Bambaladam +2

Movement:
Acceleratus +2

Healing:
Balm +2
Rest the Body +2

Clairvoyance:
Eagle’s Eye +1

Illusion:
Chameleony +2

Combat (magic):
Lightning +1

 

[Crooked Bee]

I enjoy these summaries you provide, but if you don't feel like typing them you could just post the updated character profile screenshots, I guess.

Charisma +1
Avarice -1 success!
Magic resistance +1
HP +4

 

[Pussycat669]

No, no, the workload is fine. It's just that those sitreps are fairly long and some people might get annoyed scrolling through all this stuff. Maybe shrinking them down into quote boxes from now on would help, I think I'll try that.

Good news everyone! I was finally able to overcome my own paranoia and purchased Shadow over Riva on GoG. While I couldn't figure out how or if you can still make screenshots with their DosBox configurations, I was able to isolate the important files and copy them into my original Riva folder. So now we've got English subtitles for easy copy&pasta work. Still need to get to Riva first of course but I'm starting to feel optimistic.

 

[Cassidy]

It can be tough to defeat the game's first enemy:

its interface.



But besides the clunky interface, the fact buildings with important NPCs have no distinguishing features, and how the straight 90º turns can be a bit disorientating after getting used with Betrayal at Krondor which has softer turns, I'd say it wipes the floor with Drakensang.

Carry on, atlhough I'll be skipping this for obvious reasons.

 

[Pussycat669]

If you should decide that you don't want to deal with the interface, I would recommend that you still give RoA 2 a chance at least once after that. They made many improvements there, added some good comfort functions and a 3D environment. Plus the ruleset got properly implemented as they apparently made some mistakes in RoA 1.

 

[golgepapaz]

If you should decide that you don't want to deal with the interface, I would recommend that you still give RoA 2 a chance at least once after that. They made many improvements there, added some good comfort functions and a 3D environment. Plus the ruleset got properly implemented as they apparently made some mistakes in RoA 1.

I am also put off by the interface. I've tried to take the party to the dungeon in the starting city. but the infernal combat interface , straight line of shoot made me drop it. I'll switch to ROA2 as per your recommandation

 

[Pussycat669]

As you probably notice, we will cover a lot of ground in this update so I hope you brought some iron butt for the occasion (Protip: skip the bard). We continue our travels across the coastline.

You don't necessary need to know the names of the important NPCs to find them. Bumping into random houses can speed up the main quest quiet a bit, like in this case.

Looks like we're going to have to put some effort into retrieving a map piece for once. It probably will only get worse from now on.

The fight is quiet a breeze, at least compared to the bug fight but golgepa's sword breaks during the confrontation and right at a time where he would need it.

Some heavily armed orcs are guarding the entrance. They provide us with a new sword for golgepa and a bag filled with magic powder.

This has opened the door to a secret room.

Going downwards...

Who or whatever this woman was, she just gave the party a big courage boost and a free potion. This should help us against the evil sorcerers who are roaming the place.

Our first one tries to flee but toastboy, heartless as ever, kills him with an arrow in the back.

The level two and three are a small maze of teleportation traps and fake walls but eventually we're able to track down the thief Yasma was talking about.

Funnily enough and due to a bug, Murrow can and does still hit the fiend with his stick while running away. Despite some very powerful attack spells at the start, the guy is mostly smoke and mirrors just like the rest of this place.

Time to collect our reward (there is also a hidden chest nearby containing lots of coin. Nice!)

Murrow finally gets a chance to do some research work.

And with that we fast travel to our original destination.

I'll skip the south coast for now so we head straight back over the mountains.

Travelling mountains is more of a pain than that though.

A short rest later…

Bad choice there.

Really bad choice. Reload and repeat from the start

Ships are usually a very fast and safe way to travel but they’re heavily tied to the random factor (speed, price and destination).

So much about safety. The heroes dispose of theses pirates Dragon Age style: in a big cloud of blood and gore.

The taverns in this town are overflowing with drunken sailors hence getting any useful rumours is nigh impossible. At least we find another NPC for hire during our investigation.

There is heavy ship traffic coming in and out so besieging the harbour is probably our best chance to find the boat we're looking for.

Sounds like we messed up that one. You usually get only one chance at this per NPC so we reload and try again. Mentioning the Hetman seems to do the trick.

We sail to the place where I originally wanted to go to at the start.

The town is barely 10x10 fields large, finding Tiomar is therefore not a problem.

First things first…

toastboy totally fails to hunt them down and we later take shelter in another mountain hut on the way.

Turns out the guy disrupts our guard chain and we get ambushed by harpies. Thanks for that, dude. He does have some interesting information though.

We'll watch out for them alright.

Like with every pirate hideout of old, this place has locked chests everywhere. So many in fact, that Holga breaks her lock pick for the first time in ages. They mostly just contain junk however. Other interesting titbits:

Eating the nasty soup will trigger a fight with some jealous pirates and increase everyone's hunger somewhat. There are also water barrels nearby. Those can be used without concerns.

What's wrong, Viking? You're lost? Hua! Hua! Hua!
One of the slain pirates has a paper on him.

I'm not sure if it is of any use but we'll take it along regardless.

Sadly, no one in the party has anything on him/her that would please the deity so whatever it does shall remain a mystery. We find another piece of paper.

No fantasy setting without its evil gods it seems.

Oh, I remember this part quiet vividly. You'll know why.

It's a complete party kill for one wrong decision. The only true way to know you're playing the old-school way.
We're almost done with the cave. There are some secret doors no one of us can open, a storage area,

and a lookout.

There are also some levers located in the central hall which will open the secret doors from before but someone will have to stay behind to operate them. I pick Murrow for the task since it apparently requires a bit more of brainwork.

We walk straight into a deadly trap but the chests we find afterwards contain some valuables. Just need to survive the way back.

That's my addition to the valley of broken dreams. *reload*

The ship connection is a lot better here than it was in Brendohil and we soon find a boat that can get us to Prem (a large seaport and another place we're going to skip here) in less than a day. From there it's back to Thorwal.

It's the most exciting thing to happen on the trip, thankfully. The Hetman won't greet us anymore so we'll have to improvise.

Now we're again able to talk to the man himself.

Not so fast.

We use the opportunity to replace some broken equipment and find ourselves back in front of Tiomar's door a few days later.

I initially think that you maybe need the writ before you talk to him but that too turns out to be a false presumption. Not sure how to deal with him and unwilling to end this update on such a sour note, we sail back to Tjanset and wander towards Orvil to meet the druid there.

I was originally going to leave all the unimportant places uncommented from now on but this barren wasteland of a town has earned a little sentence on it’s own.

It is a terrible slaughter. I just hope that no power from above will take offense in our violent actions against animals.

Quiet a large city. It takes a while to find the right hut.

We can play that game too, y'know?

No subtle solution for this one.

The wolves charge right at us, resulting in a big pile of sweat, blood and fur. korenze's quarterstaff breaks and he gets mauled by the beasts. The other druid doesn't seem to move a muscle in the meantime.

Two harpies join the fun as well as the druid who blinds both Bee and Murrow. korenze is able to calm one of the wolves but the other two continue to chew on him.

Numerical superiority my arse!
Holga and Murrow are able to punch the druid good a few times and he tries to flee. Murrow uses his last bit of MP to throw a fire lance after him but the spell fails. The evil doer escapes while the fight rages on.

Oh, gimme a fucking break!

Toastboy saves us from any more embarrassment.

Yeah! Just need to deal with the bewitched wolf and that one harpy That, Just, Won't, Die! and we can wrap things up.

The party force marches back to speed things up which makes korenze faint. I put Holga in the leader position and we go right back the way we came from. This move I’ll soon regret.

Well, that was easy.

Just one more for the road.

We finally retrieve the piece of rock but, to my own great dissatisfaction mind you, the party doesn't automatically travel back to Orvil like last time but continues the march towards the mountains. I try to figure out how to turn them back but it’s to no avail and you can't save during travels. At least the team has enough healing herbs to get back into fighting shape, thanks to korenze's advice. If there is any more of those instant death situations on our path then I will be really pissed.

Please, make it stop

We finally get through to the nearest village. It's saving time and there is also that new ring we found in the druid's hut.

toastboy makes use of his increased tracking skills on our way back.

This will be the last one for this update, promise.

Displeasing Boron will make later resurrections harder to achieve but we're fighting against instincts here and they're just too strong. We get a silver helmet out of it. Pretty much the only headgear Murrow can use.
While wolves lack the sophistication for complicated traps, rest assured that the designers of this place still found ways to rob the heroes of their HPs.

More proof of our superior tracking skills:

Another pack of wolves... carry on.

Holga just won't quit. This time it was worth it though.

Going further inside...

One more corpse

and another thing we haven't seen for a while.

Our search for a worthy pile of crap continues. We hit the real jackpot however when we find some wolves that are having a meal.

There is a book to find among those bodies.

Map piece number seven here we come! Before that though...

and finally...

More than you, I would wager.

At last, the mystery is solved!

If there's anything our heroes have earned after all this, it’s getting drunk

 

[Crooked Bee]

Awesome large update! And that bard bit is hilarious, yeah.

Bad choice there.

Eating the nasty soup will trigger a fight with some jealous pirates and increase everyone's hunger somewhat.

It's a complete party kill for one wrong decision.

Poor doggies.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Huh, so in a test of agility and jumping, our dexterous thief and warrior perish, while the mage (with poor agility and dexterity) and the dwarf survive. That's unexpected.

Keep up the good work.

 

[SCO]

Weighted down by the armor i'd wager.