Completed Let's light the Magic Candle... Blind!

[CappenVarra]

for sticking with the old party

 

[octavius]

On the other hand, a much bigger concern would be me abandoning this LP due to boredom. Because seriously, fuck, the trash mob in this game is almost on DA:O level. I shudder at the thought of having to clear out Uberion AGAIN once monsters have respawned...

You'll learn to love the Teleport spell by the end of the game. It saves much time, and allows you to avoid pointless combat.
EDIT: I see you already have.

Also,

Uh... Thanks, I guess? But I really don't get why this information would be useful to us.

It will be.

 

[Monty]

Yes, that trick to get hold of the other spellbook def paid off. I suppose it must also be available elsewhere but teleports / fireballs etc are a good addition. Seems like you're making progress, even seen the candle now. And the demon-blob.

 

[CappenVarra]

Since I apparently posted some unwarranted criticism earlier, I have to say: I love this LP and hope it gets updated every day

 

[Monstrous Bat]

Grave robbery

On the next day, the party embarked on their journey to Kuskunn.

It's important to make sure that you hire Kunder to wait for you while exploring Kuskunn, otherwise you'd be stuck there with no way to escape. (Well, you could teleport to Shendy as well, but you need Ishban for that, which you may not have.)

One of the annoying things of fighting in deserts is that the battlefield will be full of cacti. Cacti can block our lines of fire, making it impossible to hit certain monsters with spells or arrows. Worse yet, the fucking cacti are pretty much spell-magnets, as they tend to block our spells when they really shouldn't be.

We won anyway, but the cacti did make the battle take almost twice as much time as it should have.

There's two more patrols on the isle, but fuck them. I'll just check out this temple.

Hey, it's the temple of Nexis! Considering that someone said we should come to Kuskunn before going to Vocha, I'd bet this Nexis guy is sleeping in Vocha.

Incidentally, there's also a luffin patch in the southeastern corner of the isle. Luffins aren't terribly useful, but it's still free loot.

Aaand we're done here. Really, there's not much to do on Kuskunn.

Alhan and Ziyx's armor are still not ready, though, so I figured we might as well explore Shendy a little.

"Advice?"

"Seek Tuten at Bondell."
"Rumors?"

"No time for that!"

Time to fight some monsters. This particular group is hilariously weak, though.

Other groups are stronger, but still not strong enough to actually be a problem. Also, I'm spamming damaging spells like crazy even on weak monsters. It's not the best use of resources, but it makes combats go much much faster.

"Advice?"

"Visit the temple on Fubernel."
"Rumors?"

"They say there is a teleportal house on Shendy!"

Another monk.

"Advice?"

"Visit the temple on Kuskunn."
"Rumors?"

"There is a sermin patch nearby, they say!"

I quickly got tired of fighting the endless horde of monsters and just teleported around to find interesting locations.

Nifts! These are very neat, as stronger monsters can kill even a character in plate armor in a few hits. Always make sure your guys are protected with nifts.

There's an elven maiden to there, but we'll have to kill some monsters to get to her.

Lots of spellcasters here, but our magical prowess surpass theirs!

"Advice?"

"Seek my two other sisters as well."
"Sister?"

"I have two."
"Is Ellidrin one of your sisters?"

"She is my sister."
"We heard you can sing songs."

"Ask me the name of the song you wish to hear."

Unfortunately we don't know nothing about songs, so there's nothing we can do here at this point. :sad:

We managed to find the teleportal house. You can also see Kuskunn in the screenshot -- we could actually teleport there, if we've got the spell and have any reason to.

Well, I said we'll avoid combat, but the bridge encounters are easy enough and rewarding enough that I'm willing to make an exception.

We met another wizard on our way back to Keof.

"Advice?"

"Seek Kurek at Kharin."
"Kurek?"

"He has been to Bedangidar."
"Teleportals?"

"Sphere, pyramid, cube from Shadrum ports to Marmaris."

:takenotes:

Well, not much else to do on Shendy, so we hired Kunder to sail for Isles of Ice.

On the next day, Alhan and Ziyx picked up their armor, then we boarded the ship to Isles of Ice.

I paid Kunder to wait for us. Later, it occured to me that this was completely unnecessary, since we can just use the teleportal in Vocha to escape the Isles of Ice anyway. That's 100 coins that could have been saved.

Anyway, we've arrived at Isles of Ice. As the name suggests, the Isles are completely covered with ice, making travelling on foot rather difficult and time-consuming.

I'll be avoiding combat in the future, but I feel kinda obliged to show you at least one group of monsters here.

Some hraffels, a zorlim and an orc. Nothing serious.

There's a small isle to the northeast of the main island, which is apparently only accessible with the Teleport spell.

On the small isle is a loka patch. In case you forgot, lokas cure poison, which is useful. They're also expensive as hell in shops, so free lokas are much welcome.

Incidentally, there're tons of monster patrols on the Isles. Worse yet, most of them are stationary guards in a choke point, making it impossible to avoid a fight unless we have the Teleport spell (which we do).

The entrance to Vocha is located at the southeastern tip of the main island.

If you look carefully, you'll see a "Level 1" in one of the boxes in upper right of screen. That's right -- unlike Dermagud, which only has one level, Vocha is a dungeon that spans several levels.

The first level is a maze-like one, with little of interest.

We beat up some monsters in a room.

Note that our fighters are now strong enough to one-shot the orcs.

A trap!

Uh. Kodex is poisoned. This is very bad.

You see, getting poisoned in this game instantly reduces your stamina and energy to 0. Creatures in this game don't die until they have reached negative stamina, so Kodex isn't dead yet, although if he suffers any more damage he will be. Healing is useless as long as the character is still poisoned; he can't gain any stamina until the poison has been cured. Fortunately we have lokas for this purpose.

But first, let's check out what's in the chest. Gonshis are useful, and we've been burning through them at a rapid speed, so I'd say this is a nice find.

Now Kodex will eat a loka to cure his poisoning. Lokas don't restore your stamina and energy, however, so Kodex had to use a potion and a sermin as well.

Another battle, with a new kind of enemy: gnolls.

GNOLLS: Gnolls are the most skillful of the soldier types. They seem to be a result of breeding demons to goblins, with some orc and troll blood thrown in. From the demons, they inherit a dislike of daylight. From the orcs, they inherit a taste for the sword. From the breeding program, they inherit a hearty appetite for more breeding. I wish you much luck in your efforts to control the resulting underground overpopulation.

Gnolls are stronger than orcs and goblins, but in the end of day they're still pure melee monsters, so they never stood a chance against us.

Good, this one isn't trapped.

Mirgets! These are also expensive in shops, although not as expensive as lokas. Too bad we don't have any axe users; mirgets don't help sword users much.

To the next level!

The second level is a bit more interesting than the first one, but still mostly empty. There're some ambushes, but the thing is I fucking hate ambushes and avoid them whenever possible. Also, note the long hallway to the east that was cut off from the rest of the level. It's going to be important later.

There're two stairs leading downwards on this level. This is one of them, but we'll explore around a bit more before descending through either of them.

There's also a new dungeon feature on this level: energy fields. They block passage, and must be dispelled with the Pierce spell found in the book of Demaro.

Eflun dispelled the energy fields, and we marched forward.

Now let's check out what were the energy fields protecting.

A fountain, that's what. Also some monsters, which we beat easily.

The fountain was a fountain of strength. Like the one in Dermagud, it's useless to us until we have awakened a god.

Also, some pearls in chest. Nice. Pearls are much less valuable than other gemstones, but they're much more useful in dungeons. Once you used a pearl on a bowl in dungeons, the pearl is gone, so you should make sure to bring multiple pearls if you're going to do some dungeon crawling.

Somewhere else on the level, we discovered a sign on a small isle. Eflun cast a Walkwater so we could read the sign.

We'll be sure to.

Marching forwards, we ran into some more energy fields, which Eflun promptly dispelled.

This is the second stairway on this level. But we've still got more exploration to do.

:yawn:

Another stupid trapped chest which make Kodex ill. A medicin will fix this problem.

The loot was pretty meh as well. We don't really need more luffins.

We were ambushed shortly after descending to level 3.

:yawn:

More looting...

I only took a screenshot here because of the death knight. We haven't ran into any of them lately. Of course, the monsters fell as quickly as ever.

Meh.

Picks can sometimes break when you try to unlock a chest, so it's a good idea to bring multiple picks with you.

:takenotes:

I tend to avoid ambushes if I could, but sometimes it's just not possible.

The fermigons have a crapton of stamina, but our spellcasters can dish out a crapton of damage as well, so it's not really a problem.

The teleportal room is located on level 3, by the way.

We followed the parchment's advice and dug out some nifts. I was expecting gems, but this isn't bad either.

To level 4, then.

The layout of level 4 is much more messy than the previous levels. This is largely thanks to the river which runs through the level; the Walkwater spell is necessary here.

This message would make sense later.

We have do dig under the sign.

Finally, some gems in this dungeon. Took us long enough to find.

Even more looting.

And even more gems.

And even more... traps...

Good thing we've got medicins to spare.

Teleporting instruments? Now this is something I didn't expect to find. These aren't expensive to buy, but hunting down merchants who sell them on the roads can take a while, so it's still a nice find.

By the way, there're a total of three stairs leading downwards on level 4. As usual, we'll explore around a bit more before descending.

More teleporting instruments in a chest.

In another room, we found another fountain and some gonshis.

This is the portal we want to use, located in the left side of the level. There's another portal to the east, which just dumps you on level 1. Avoid that.

The portal dumped us on level 2, in the long hallway that was inaccessible before. At the end of the hallway is a room, in which sleeps Nexis the sun god.

The stat boosts everyone got was the same as the last time, in case you're wondering.

We then used the fountain of strength and agility to boost our current attributes to the maximum. We've yet to find the fountain of dexterity, though.

Free lokas are always welcome.

To level 5!

We encountered a new monster in a room. See the blue winged creature there? That's a gargan.

GARGANS: There have been reports of demons known as "gargans," who cast a spell called "mindblast." This spell ignores all obstacles and passes through any armor (like the magic in the swords of death knights). Magical shields are apparently still effective.

I wonder if it's tough?

Nevermind, I wasn't really interested in finding out anyway.

Delicious loots! You're looking at approx. 4700 coins there.

To the south of the previous room was a crapton of energy fields.

Hmmm, what treasure is precious enough to warrant such level of security?

Uh, that's... not bad, really, but we got better loots from beating up some weakass demons and orcs.

Apparently the orcs don't have much respect for their late chieftain.

FFS just how deep does this dungeon go?

Luckily, the sixth level is the last one. It's also completely devoid of monsters. The whole level consists of a huge hall in the center, protected by a thick wall of energy fields, which Eflun easily dispelled. Inside the hall is Chambur's tomb.

Now we just have to dig Chambur's tomb to find the hammer. I hope he dosen't mind.

That's easier than I thought. Just dig the tomb, and you get the hammer. No need to fight Chambur's ghost or anything like that. Good.

There's a bowl on this level as well, although I'm not sure why would you need to use it.

We've got one thing left to do, though. We still haven't found the fountain of dexterity. So we went back to level 4, and descended through a stairs we haven't tried.

The fountain's here, just as expected.

We quickly dispatched the monsters and used the fountain to boost our dexterity.

Alright, we're done here! Now we just have to take the hammer to the dwarves. Time to use the teleportal to escape.


Bonus content: Book of Sabano

Today we'll go through the spells found in the book of Sabano. I'll also comment on each spell.

The Book of Sabano

Sabano is the book of conflict. Like the other books, it contains six spells. Sabano's spells all deal with the fight against the Forces of Darkness. You should learn several of each of the spells recorded in Sabano.

Boring! These people know about the first three spell books; otherwise Rebnard wouldn't have let them in the door! And Sabano is Ziyx's book, for the gods' sake! I can't teach him anything-he taught me everything that I know. All right. Yes, it's important. I'll explain the spells. In detail, if you want. Well, I'll do Fear in detailnow, and explain the others as soon as I can spare the time.

FEAR instills a fear of combat into an opponent for a time. The length of time depends both on the skill of the magic-user casting the Fear spell and the Dark power of the opponent who is the target. The target will neither move nor attack for the duration of the Fear spell. Your companions may approach and attack your target without danger-from him. But Fear does not paralyze him. He can still dodge your attacks. An inexperienced magic-user will expend almost half his energy on a Fear spell. It will take him about three hours (36 "ticks") of rest time to learn another Fear.

Fear is pretty great. You've already seen how useful it is on enemy spellcasters. Against strong foes, Fear usually shuts them down for 4 or 5 turns, which is more than enough to blast them into oblivion.

CONFUSE avoids conflict when traveling outdoors. When enemy patrols have located your party and are pursuing you, a Confuse spell will cause them to forget about you. They will resume their random wanderings. Of course, there is no guarantee that they will not randomly find you again right away.

Confuse is rarely useful, but when it is, it can be a live saver. Also marginally useful for avoiding tedious combats, but Teleport does that job much better.

SHATTER is a deadly spell in the form of an ice ball which shatters upon contact, with dozens of small ice particles piercing the target. The damage varies greatly from attack to attack, but the average damage done depends on the caster's magic skill.

Shatter is a powerful, but unreliable attack spell. It's extremely useful in the early game, but kind of becomes obsolute when you have gained access to Fireball.

REPEL is the only way to resolve conflicts with the poisonous snakes that infest some dungeon corridors. Each Repel spell clears a path for one person to take one more step. You may need to cast several to clear a path for your entire part.

Critical spell. You've already seen me demonstrating its usefulness when we were exploring Dermagud.

LOCATE can be used either to avoid conflict or to find it. When a Locate spell is cast, the party becomes aware of all the Forces of Darkness in the area. It can only be cast outdoors. Its duration depends on the skill of the caster.

While the Locate spell is anything but necessary, it's still damn convenient. Particularly useful when used in conjunction with Teleport to avoid monsters.

ASSESS gives you knowledge of your opponents. If it is cast during combat, it will give you detailed knowledge of each of your enemies' strengths and weaknesses. If it is cast outdoors, it allows you to determine the general makeup of a faraway patrol or guardpost. The outdoor range depends on the skill of the caster.

I've used this spell offscreen and I have to say it's pretty much useless. If you want to know how many stamina and shield (pretty much the only two relevant attributes for a monster) does a monster have left, simply casting a Shatter on it will answer your question.

 

[CappenVarra]

That Teleport sure seems to be worth having around... And elven maids now require you to know the song names - damn; playing hard to get, are you quite sure you have maxed out charisma?

 

[Monty]

The party have certainly improved their stats, hope there's a tough battle sometime to put it to the test.

 

[Monstrous Bat]

The White Wolf

Back in Keof, we hired Kunder again to sail to Fubernel. This may seem like a waste of time, but we've got plenty of time left, and besides, the party kinda needed some rest after the dungeon crawl.

On another note, Kunder should technically be still waiting for us on the Isles of Ice, but I'm not complaining.

In Delkona, we sold our gems for a tidy profit. We now have around 14,000 coins, which we'll put into good use soon.

While we're here, might as well clear out the enemy HQ in the town. We've got the power.

Note that hraffels hit very, very hard. Make sure everyone is using nifts to protect themselves.

Level 3 cleared!

There're some tough monsters on level 4, so I had Kodex test out a new spell:

FREEZE changes the target's sense of time, paralyzing him so that he is unable to attack or defend. The duration of the spell depends on the magic skill of the caster and the strength of the target.

Freeze is basically the same as Fear, except it makes the victim unable to dodge and also has a much shorter duration. Overall, not as useful as Fear, since we're mostly relying on spells to dish out damage.

Freeze does make the victim much easier to kill with melee, though.

Level 4 cleared.

The guy in red robes is a necroman. Necromen are basically the same as jerrahs, except with more stamina and slightly stronger spells. There's only one of them in this battle, so it's not much of a problem, but when they start to show up in masses... Well, you'll see later.

Ziyx just shut down the necroman with Fear and Shattered him to death.

Level 5 cleared.

There're two necromen on level 6. Also, check out their spell damage!

Did I mention that battles in enemy HQs are always considered ambushes? That's right -- monsters always get the first strike on you. And this time, the necromen did something really nasty on their turn: paralyzing Kodex.

Two can play that game, you know.

However, due to a series of incredibly shitty damage rolls with Shatter and questionable tactical desicions on my part, we were unable to take out the trolls fast enough, and one of them managed to kill Kodex. Oh well, Eflun can resurrect him once the battle is over.

Phew, level 6 cleared.

Eflun resurrected Kodex. As the manual said, Resurrection returns the body from "nearly alive" to "nearly dead", so Kodex was left with 5 stamina and zero energy. At least resurrection doesn't induce a permanent stat loss or stuff like that.

Level 7 had not two, but four necromen on it. This is strictly bad news.

The necromen paralyzed Rexor on the first turn. At least they didn't paralyze anyone important this time.

Kodex and Ziyx used a gonshi each, and paralyzed all the necromen.

However, after a few turns, Ziyx was out of Shatter. Bad news.

An even worse news is that the necromen broke free of the Fear effects, and killed Kodex with a volley of fireballs. I really should've kept track of when the Fear effects wear off.

Still, Ziyx promptly shut them down again with another series of Fear, and other party members beat the necromen to death with their weapons.

Whew! That was certainly a tough fight. Eflun resurrected Kodex (again).

We have finally reached the top of the tower!

Haha, talk about useless rewards. Kodex already have maxed off charisma anyway.

Ooh, scrolls on the table!

"Region of Kuskunn is patrolled by 3 squads with difficulty rating of 5
Region of Heavenly is patrolled by 4 squads with difficulty rating of 5
Region of Fubernel is patrolled by 8 squads with difficulty rating of 2
Region of Isle of Giants is patrolled by 9 squads with difficulty rating of 7
Region of Isle of Giants is patrolled by 4 squads with difficulty rating of 2"

Meh, it's just some rather useless info about monster patrols on nearby isles. Stationary guards are not mentioned in the scrolls, making the scrolls even more useless.

The chest in the corner contains a lot of rubies. Nice treasure, but I kinda expected better rewards for my trouble.

Then we sold the rubies, replenished out supplies, and hired Murdar to sail to Blue Crab Beach.

It's expensive as hell, but we've got the money.

I also bought a longsword for Rexor, who now has a strength score of 30.

We used the time aboard to learn spells.

The ship dropped us off in Marmaris, just a bit southeast of Soldain.

Now we just have to offer the hammer to Okdark.

We asked for hoyams, of course.

Hoyam obtained!

Our next mission is to use the hoyam on the "wolf rock" in Phaleng to lure the white wolf.

We could've went north to Pheron, then go to Phaleng from there. But I decided to try a different route: Marmaris -> Meram -> Shertuz -> Phaleng. This way, we'll get to explore Meram and Shertuz on our way.

"Advice?"

"You can probably sell my 'gems' for a profit."
"Rumors?"

"I heard none down at the mines."
"You said you have gems?"

Gallen sells rubies at the price of 60 coins each. Not as profitable as buying topazs or diamonds, but still, it's pretty much easy money. We bought all of his gems.

We found a mirget patch in Meram. I'm pretty sure I also took a screenshot showing the location of the patch, but I can't find it now. As I said, mirgets aren't that great, but still, it's free herb.

There's also a tower located in Meram. You could actually see it on the world map, if you'd look closely.

This tower is basically the same as the one in Delkona, but with much weaker monsters.

Piss easy. We hardly had to use spells.

Level 2 was similiarly unimpressive.

The goblins managed to get a few hits on Rexor, but otherwise the battle went smoothly.

Level 3. The slimes could be dangrous if left unattended since they ignore armor, but the wolvinga could hardly damage us through our armor.

Somehow the wolvinga managed to dodge like a million strikes from us, making this battle a royal slog. Should've just fed the fighters some luffins.

Monsters on level 4 were strong enough to warrant some spells to kill. Note that Kodex can now one-shot slimes with his Fireball.

Level 5 was actually kind of nasty, as Kodex was paralyzed by jerrahs on the first round.

In the end, though, it's nothing we can't handle.

Level 6 marks the first apparence of the necromen.

However, this one didn't bother using Freeze, so the battle went rather smoothly for us.

There're three necromen on level 7. This could potentially have been very nasty, but I kinda lucked out and they didn't paralyze anyone important.

Ziyx shut them all down with Fear, and the rest of the battle was a cakewalk.

Another tower cleared!

Like the tower in Delkona, this tower also has scrolls with useless information about monster patrols in nearby regions. Meh, I'm not going to bother transcribing them this time.

Also, some rubies. Not bad, really, but hardly worth the time and resources spent to clear out a tower.

Afterwards, the party went north to Phaleng, through Shertuz. I didn't bother exploring Shertuz however, because that would take too much time. I doubt we're going to miss anything other than a few herbs anyway.

"Advice?"

"If I was a gem cutter, I would go work at Keof."
"Rumors?"

"They say the chosen hero will save us."

"Advice?"

"I saw sermin mushrooms in Pheron."
"Rumors?"

"I pay no heed to rumors."

Another nift patch is located in northern Phaleng. Nice! You can never have too many nifts.

The wolf rock is here, located in a narrow valley.

Now we just have to use the hoyam on the wolf rock, and...

...The white wolf appears, along with the star key!

We took the star key off the wolf's neck. He apparently doesn't mind.

Now we just have to take the key to the gate keeper in Lymeric.

Incidentally, there's a lot of isolated islands like this in Phaleng. You might think they have treasures or other important stuff on them, but in fact they're just empty.

Finally, in the northeastern corner of Phaleng, we found a brick building.

Inside the building was a lever!

Kodex pulled the lever down just for the heck of it.

As we left the building, however, the lever automatically springed back to the original position.

Now, you might remember that we have heard of these levers before. According to what we have heard, there're three of them: one in Piyan, one in Dakland, and one in Phaleng. We also have to pull all three levers at once, presumbly by splitting the party and have three party members pull a lever each at the same time.

Of course, we still have no idea as for why would we want to do such a thing. But I'm sure that'll become evident to us sooner or later.

Back on our way, we met a wizard on the road.

"Advice?"

"Seek 'teleportals'!"
"Teleportals?"

"Three cubes from Vocha gets you to Meram."
"Rumors?"

"I hear of a teleportal at northern Pheron."

Another wizard.

"Advice?"

"You may sail to Isles of Ice or you may teleport!"
"How do we teleport there?"

"Pyramid, cube, sphere from Dermagud ports to Isles of Ice."

:takenotes:

The village of Lymeric is just south of us, but we can't enter from the north.

We met another farmer while going south.

"Advice?"

"Pick drelin by the Brelleht lake."

We've successfully made our way to Lymeric!

We've got several important things to do here. But first, let's knock on some random guy's door and interrogate him for information.

"Advice?"

"You must read about obelisks at the library of Delkona."
"Rumors?"

"They say the time to understand the 'obelisks' is upon us."
"Obelisks?"

"They were left by the Eldens."

Do you remember this guy's name? You better do!

Because he sells books of Ishban. And Ishbans are awesome! They're kind of expensive, sure, but we can afford them. I bought one for Ziyx and Eflun each. Ziyx's Sabano went to Nazim, and Eflun's Demaro went to Alhan. Now everybody in our party has a spellbook! (Everyone that can cast spells at all, that is.)

"Advice?"

"You must have 'walkwater' as you go down below."
"Walkwater?"

"Without a good stock of walkwater spells, you are doomed to fail!"

Good thing Eflun still has around 20 copies of Walkwater memorized, then.

The gate keeper lives in the northeastern corner of the village.

That's kind of a weird name, but I suppose it beats Fagharn.

"Advice?"

"Only the holder of a Demaro will succeed below."
"Rumors?"

"Hrmph!"
"What do you know about this star key?"

"It opens the vault."
"Vault?"

"It's down below, beyond the gate."
"And beyond the gate is Sudogur, right?"

The gate keeper can open the gate of Sudogur for us. Sudogur is another dungeon, and the Zirvanad is (I presume) located somewhere inside. I'll leave exploring Sudogur for the next update, however.

"Advice?"

"Cube, pyramid, cube gets you to Darvale from down below!"
"Rumors?"

"I hear of a loka patch at ice plain."

Finally, visiting this guy is one of the main reasons to come to Lymeric.

He can boost our learning skill. And he charges much less money than the teachers in Bondell and Soldain. Kodex, having already maxed out his learning skill, has no need for that, but everyone else will be training here until they have maxed out their learning skill.

Different characters get different amount of skill boosts for each lesson. How much they learn from a lesson is apparently character-specific and can never be changed, much like the attribute boost from gods.

Also, there's some more people in Lymeric whom we didn't have the chance of talking with before.

"Advice?"

"You can find dvarves mostly in Marmaris, Phaleng, and Kendar."

Yes, the game said "dvarves". It's not my fault.

"Rumors?"

"They say celebrations started at Mondar."
"Mondar?"

"Shush! Source of all evil!"

"Advice?"

"Inquire to inn keepers about 'captain'."
"Rumors?"

"I hear of a luffin patch in Shertuz."

So what, like hell am I going to search the entire Shertuz for a few herbs that we don't really need anyway.

Okay, that's it for this update I think. Next time, we'll (hopefully) retrive the Zirvanad.


Bonus content: Book of Demaro

The Book of Demaro

Demaro is the book of protection. Its spells are used to prevent harm, to remove obstacles, and to repair damage.

ENERGY restores the target's energy to its maximum possible. The maximum is lower when the target is ill or poisoned.

The effect is very useful, but you could use a sermin for the same effect. Its main use is to have a spellcaster cast it on another spellcaster, so as to restore the other spellcaster's energy without wasting an action to eat a sermin.

PIERCE removes the energy fields that the Powers of Darkness use to block access to vital areas of their strongholds.

A critical spell, much like Repel in the book of Sabano. Necessary in certain dungeons.

DISAPPEAR protects the person on whom it is cast by making him invisible for a short time. The duration of the invisibility depends on the magic skill of the caster. An invisible person can attack an opponent with no chance of missing, but the attack immediately makes him visible again.

Never used this spell, although I probably should have. Maybe useful for protecting someone. Maybe not. I'm really not sure.

WALKWATER congeals portions of underground pools and streams, allowing the caster and his party to walk on them. It is not effective on deeper and swifter bodies of water, such as oceans, lakes and rivers. The distance that can be covered during each walkwater spell depends on the magic skill of the caster. Several walkwater spells may be needed to cross a large pond, so it is important to plan ahead.

Critical spell. Also need to obtain certain treasure.

SHIELD erects a magical shield around the target. The shield protects against magical attacks only, not against physical attacks, poison or disease. The strength of the shield depends on the caster's magical skill. A second shield spell will increase the strength of the shield, up to a maximum of 99 magic points.

Useful spell. It's usually better to just shut down any enemy spellcasters with Fear before they get to act, but sometimes that's simply not possible. Shields won't expire on themselves, so there's no reason why you wouldn't have everybody walk around with 99 shield, just in case.

RESURRECT is the most powerful spell in the Demaro book. It actually raises the dead. But it has its limits. The person to be resurrected must have been slain in combat with the Forces of Darkness, and cannot have been dead for very long. The resurrect spell should always be cast as soon as possible.

Useful when you've just gone through a tough fight and don't feel like reloading.

 

[CappenVarra]

Man, keeping track of what each NPC is named, when and where can they be found, and what to ask them gets quite... bureaucratic in this game.

 

[Monstrous Bat]

Man, keeping track of what each NPC is named, when and where can they be found, and what to ask them gets quite... bureaucratic in this game.

It's not as bad as you think, really. Especially since nowdays you can always tab away from DOSBox and add a few lines to your mcnote.txt. I find the endless trash mobs a hundred times more annoying.

 

[Monstrous Bat]

Zirvanad

A few days later, everyone's learning score was maxed out. The training cost us somthing like 7000 coins, but it's worth it.

Anyway, now we're ready to start exploring Sudogur proper.

The first floor is small.

However, here we met a new kind of monster: the zumagins.

ZUMAGINS: We recently captured a marauding wolvinga, which I had the opportunity to interrogate. He told a story of a powerful demon called "Zumagin." This demon, according to the wolvinga, casts a ray of deadly light from its "diamond-like eyes." The wolvinga claimed that neither armor nor magical shields can resist this "death ray." All this information may, of course, be false.

Zumagins' attack may ignore armor and shields, but nifts are apparently still effective. They also have terribad accuracy, making them even more of a joke.

We quickly dispatched the monsters.

We've already found the stairs down, but I want to explore around a bit more before we descend.

A nearby room has a few wolvinga and zumagins inside.

We killed the zumagins with fireballs, and the wolvinga soon followed.

Meh, lame loot.

These monsters may seem intimidating, but they're no match for our magical firepower.

Pearls. Not especially valuable or anything, but a nice find nevertheless.

There're acutally three stairs leading down from level 1. We took the one farthest from the entrance, because it's the most counterintuitive option and therefore must be the correct one.

In a room on level 2 was some zorlims, two of which decided it'd be a good idea to position themselves near the entrance, where they'll be vulunable to melee attacks.

I decided to have some fun with them.

The two zorlims close to us were beaten to death with weapons, and the other two were dispatched with spells.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Get used to this message. You'll be seeing it throughout this update.

Nice find.

There're three possible exits from the room. Let's try the southern one first.

A small river. Eflun cast Walkwater to get us across.

On the other side were three chests.

Two of them contained information about treasures.

And the last one contained a teleportal combination that we already know about.

Because you can never have too many rubies.

A few random trash mobs later, we managed to obtain even more gems.

...Huh? A random sign with some numbers on it. Is this supposed to be a clue?

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

We're going to be filthy rich (again) when we get back to Delkona with all these gems.

What's the thing with this floor and zorlims?

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU

You can see our party on the map. We want to make it to the southwestern corner, but there's a long stream in our way. With repeated casting of Walkwater, though, we were able to make it through.

And then got teleported away by a portal.

The stairs downward is just right of us. But let's check out the chest first.

Warning: do not go further east than our party in the screenshot, or you'll be teleported back to level 1 by a portal. Just stand here and dig the tile to the east.

See the green things on the floor? They're another dungeon gimmick, called parasite mosses. They drains the energy of whoever steps on them, and unlike snakes and force fields, they can't be exterminated, ever. Fortunately we're fully stocked up with sermins, and the mosses don't drain that much.

The party found a fountain. Also some weak ass monsters nobody cares about.

Somehow I just don't get excited about finding loots in dungeons like I used to.

The fountain will be useless to us until we have awakened a god. I don't even know if there's a god sleeping here, but even if there is, we wouldn't know the prayer to awaken him anyway.

The party rested in the room to learn offensive spells and walkwaters. Especially walkwaters.

The stairs down was quite easy to locate.

Level 4. The first notable feature of this floor is the big island in the northwestern part.

A god sleeps on the island. Unfortunately we don't know who he is, or the prayers to chant here. So there's nothing we can do with him at this moment.

Later, we beat some weak monsters and received some weak loots. This is starting to get tiresome.

blah blah trash mobs blah blah fireball blah blah

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

At least the treasure was almost worthwhile.

blah blah trash mobs blah blah lame loots blah blah

Multi-exit rooms. There're a lot of them in this dungeon. You'll see.

The sign says this way leads to a portal back to level 1, but it actually leads to a chest with information about treasure.

Rubies. Also, you can see the stairs down in this screenshot, but don't go this way.

Rather, you want to use a portal nearby. The portal would drop you on level 5, the last level.

We better are. I'm getting bored with all those trash mobs.

The game pulls off this trick again, only this time, the way really leads to a portal back to level 1. Don't let the game's mindcraft fool you, and don't go this way.

Hey, guess which game all the trash mobs are reminding me of. Hint: it begins with "Dragon" and ends with "Age".

(yes I know it actually ends with "Origins" can you shut up now)

Picks randomly break when you tries to open chests, so extra picks are nice to have.

To the south!

Another pond. We crossed through with the help of Walkwater.

Hey look it's another room. I wonder what's inside!

OMG IT'S MORE TRASH MOBS, WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING

Good loots, lame loots, I don't even care anymore. Just fucking hand me the Zirvanad already.

What did I tell you about multi-headedexit rooms?

Well, two doors here. Which one leads to Zirvanad? I guess it's... the one on the left?

zzzzzZZZZZZZ

I sure hope we had chosen the right door.

Seems like we have!

This room does look like it holds something important.

It's the vault of Zirvanad!

Kodex used the star key to open the vault.

The Zirvanad can't be removed, but it can be read with a lens.

In the event that the candle starts to melt, the following steps must be taken to prevent Dreax's escape. Three magic users must enter the hall and locate the three lighting stones. Each magic user must possess one of the following items: The white amulet of light; The green ring of order; The blue ring of power. The holder of each item must stand on the stone of its color: blue on blue, white on white, and green on green. The holder of the white amulet starts the process by chanting the "ritual of awareness". It is essential that the steps described herein be executed in the exact order specified. (Three of the following spells must be cast immediately after using magical dusts and ashes. Do not allow the dust to settle before chanting the magic words.)

Next, the wearer of the blue ring must throw crystal dust into the air and conjure a "Bubble of Captivity." The bubble will cage Dreax while the candle is being repaired. Once the bubble is formed, it is time to transfer Dreax from the flame of the candle into the bubble.

This is done by the green ring holder, who sprinkles elven dream dust in the air and chants the "three words of will" while the dust floats around the candle. Without the effect of the dream dust, Dreax cannot be contained within the bubble for more than a few seconds. Following the transfer, the green ring holder chants "Ude", "Samaid" and "Dehuble" to prepare the candle for repair. Immediately, the blue ring holder must fling a pinch of shir-aka ash into the air and change "Exiteralmisto", "Haxobez", "Behsaim" before it settles. At this point, if all was done properly, the candle will be whole again. There now remains one last step, the task of transferring Dreax back into the candle's flame. This operation is performed by amulet holder chanting: "Ekburamitral", "Hox" and, finally, "Begone".

Well, in summary, we need:

- The white amulet
- The green ring
- The blue ring
- Crystal dusts
- Elven dream dusts
- Shir-aka ashes

Seems like acquiring these items will be our main goal from now on.

Our clues as to how to obtain these items:

- Faruk on Fubernel is said to possess a magical amulet, which may or may not be the white amulet
- An unicorn has the green ring
- The mad wizard on Wizard's Isle has the blue ring
- Gourney in Sumruna knows about a dust
- It's said that there're no more dream dusts in Theldair
- The wizards in Shiran are said to know something about shir-aka ashes

In addition, we'll have to ask Pindalf in Crystal Castle about the "ritual of awareness".

However, we're not done here. We still haven't located the teleportal yet. So we'll have to check out the other door after all...

Nah, it just leads to some monsters and a milky bowl.

The portal back to level 1 was actually not just a trap -- it's also the only way out of here.

We took another stairs on level 1 and ended up on level 3.

The teleportal room was just to the south.

We used the teleportal to get back to Pheron.

Someone advised us to visit Belazar again after having read the Zirvanad, and we'll do just that.

"Green ring?"

"You must get it from the unicorn."
"Who's the last unicorn?"

"It is said that the unicorn will come to 'Sherro's high call'."
"Sherro's high call?"

"Elves may have this knowledge."

In case you forgot, we read about Sherro's legend in the Keof library a while ago. Seems like we'll need the elves' help to get the green ring, then.

Back in Port Avur, we stocked up on gonshis and sermins.

And hired captain Garlin to sail to Fubernel.

In Delkona, we sold the gems for approximately 10,000 coins.

And here's how we'll spend the money: the spellcasters will get some magic lessons. (Also, note that Ziyx can train here, despite having a magic skill of over 70. Odd. Maybe each school will only train you once, and Kodex would still be able to train at other schools? I'll have to do some test later.)

On the other hand, Kodex and Rexor, who were unable to train in the magic school, went to get some archery lessons.

Hmm. After a training session, Kodex was able to enroll for another one. Apparently each school can train you more than once, then.

However, after the second training session, Kodex was unable to learn any more from the school.

The other group was also unable to train further after two training sessions -- except Ziyx, who has already maxed out his magic skill but is somehow still eligible for training.

You know, I think I've figured out how learning in schools works. But to verify my theory, we'll need another trip to Keof.

The archery school in Keof was also unable to train Kodex further. Okay, now I'm sure I know how this works:

Each character can only get a fixed amount of skill boost from training in schools (probably 30 points). Once the limit has been reached, the character will become unable to learn anything in schools. So for example, a character with an initial magic skill of 20 will be able to boost his magic skill to 50 before graduating, while a character with 60 initial magic skill will be able to boost his to 90. Particularly noteworthy is Ziyx, who had over 70 magic skill before going to school. As skills max out at 99, it's actually impossible for him to gain more than 30 points of skill boost from schools, so he could train at schools indefinitely, although that's obviously a waste of time and money.

...I hope I explained that clearly enough. I'm pretty terrible at explaining game mechanics, especially when doing so in a foreign language.

Anyway, I had Nazim and Alhan enroll for two archery lessons.

Here's our latest character sheets.

And I shall end the update with our hiring captain Kunder to sail to Point Hena. In the next update, we'll start to explore the eastern parts of Deruvia proper.


Bonus content: Book of Ishban

The Book of Ishban

Ishban is the book of change.

Hokum! All spells make changes-otherwise, there wouldn't be any point in casting them, would there?

FIREBALL changes the very air to fire, and propels it toward your chosen opponent. Like Shatter, its strength depends on the caster's magic skill. Unlike Shatter, its power is always predictable.

Fireball is great. It's basically an upgraded version of Shatter, which was a pretty neat spell to begin with. But Shatter has a few annoying habits, such as doing 1 damage to an monster with 2 stamina left. (No, seriously, this has happened. Multiple times, in fact.) Overall, Fireball is just plain superior.

TELEPORT changes the location of the caster and his companions. The teleport spell can only be used outdoors, and only where conditions are proper for it. Its range is limited by its caster's magic skill. The most powerful mages can save several hours of travel by teleporting, but Teleport is more often used to cross impossible terrain than to save time.

Oh, what can I say about Teleport? Suffice to say, this is the spell that makes overland travelling tolerable. Was it not for this spell, I'd probably have gone insane four updates ago.

HEAL changes the stamina of its target to be as high as possible. It does not cure illness or poisoning. For that, you need magical plants, or a visit to one of the monks' sanctuaries.

Your guys shouldn't get injured that often, and even when they do get injured, you're probably better off feeding them a potion. Still, it's not a bad idea to learn a few copies of this spell, if just for emergency.

WEAKEN changes the target opponent's armor to sand, and its magical shield to air. Later attacks on that opponent will then do far more damage.

I've never used this spell, but I probably should have. It's probably more efficient than whitting down that necroman's 50 shield with fireballs.

VISION changes doors to glass for a brief time. After casting a vision spell, the magic user can see the hostile occupants of the chamber his party is considering. (The wizard's code prohibits using the vision spell to invade the privacy of friendly folk.)

This spell is pretty much useless. The monsters in that room die to a volley of Fireballs, and that's all I need to know.

FREEZE changes the target's sense of time, paralyzing him so that he is unable to attack or defend. The duration of the spell depends on the magic skill of the caster and the strength of the target.

Compared to Fear, this spell has an additional effect (making the victim unable to dodge), but also has a much shorter duration. The former only matters if you're using physical attacks, which generally aren't that useful. I'd say this spell is inferior to Fear.

 

[Azira]

 

[CappenVarra]

As Kodex opens the chest, there appears an update

 

[SCO]

Bump

 

[Monstrous Bat]

Crusaders of Khazan

Captain Kunder dropped us in Kendar, to the south of Gambode Pass.

For some reasons Teleport isn't castable in Gambode Pass, so we'll have to fight out way through.

We can handle this just fine.

Also, check out these 54-damage fireballs!

Many elves wander the roads of Trilliad.

"Advice?"

"'Ashes' of shir-aka may be needed."
"Ashes?"

"Ask a 'conclave' member at Shiran about ashes of shir-aka."
"Conclave?"

"Beware! Much 'charisma' is needed to deal with the conclave."
"Charisma?"

"About 55, I'd say."
[Perception] "Dammit man, you just ruined my immurshun."

The party quickly made their way to the city of Merg, though they were unable to enter until dawn.

"Advice?"

"Consider buying 'methreal armor'."
"Methreal armor?"

"Only dwarves can make them."

The other guard:

"Advice?"

"They have a crash course at the combat school of Sumruna."

As I said, we're in the city of Merg right now.

Alhan bought a brom bow at the shop here. It's pretty expensive, but we're left with tons of money of very little things to actually spend them on.

"Advice?"

"Ask about 'food' to farmers you meet on road."
"Food?"

"I sold all mine."
"Rumors?"

"They say roads are not safe."

They are if you've got four spellcasters tossing fireballs around.

In the center of the city is a statue of Lord Merg II. As far as I know, we can't do anything with it.

There's a gem cutter's shop in the town as well. However, now that he has a spellbook, Alhan would be much better off learning spells than working in a shop for some cash that we don't need anyway.

Also, here's a magic school with ridiculous price.

"Advice?"

"Ask Remulda about Ishban."
"Rumors?"

"They say Queen Fay needs help."
"Queen Fay?"

"She holds court at Theldair."

:takenotes:

"Advice?"

"Pick mirgets at Khiriss."
"Do you know anything about temples?"

"Temple of Sur is in Shertuz."
"Sur?"

"He is the bird god. He sleeps in Sudogur."

Ugh. So I did indeed miss something by not exploring Shertuz.

"Advice?"

"Don't search Sudogur until you have the 'star'."
"Star?"

"It opens the vault in Sudogur."
"Rumors?"

"I hear of a enemy tower in Sumruna!"

"Advice?"

"Hire Tomola to get to Udar."
"Tomola?"

"Tomola gets here around noon."
"Rumors?"

"They say the food at Knessos is poison."

There's also a museum in the city. I wonder what's it useful for?

"Advice?"

"Enjoy the elden 'artifacts' on display here at our museum."
"Artifacts?"

"One of our best prizes on display is the 'crown of Kumakdgan'."
"Crown of Kumakdgan?"

"He was a fierce and cruel king of gnolls."
"Rumors?"

"They say the flames of hades are hungry."

Well these are intersting but I'm not sure what do they have to do with our quest.

"Advice?"

"Pick gonshis at Selderad."
"Rumors?"

"I hear Ruknet is not well."

Oh I dunno, we've just met him and he seemed pretty well.

"Advice?"

"Find a dwarf that can tell you Bedangidar's secrets."
"Bedangidar?"

"Brennix was lost there."
"Brennix?"

"I would love to own it."

In case you forgot, Brennix is the sword which the dwarves forged for Zilbann during the elden war. It's probably very powerful.

"Advice?"

"The more you hunt, the better you get."
"Rumors?"

"I hear of good hunting in Trilliad."

Like we're ever going to hunt anywhere.

"Advice?"

"We are searching for Somona, so should you!"
"Somona?"

"She's the queen's sorceress."
"Rumors?"

"The 'queen' awaits thee."
"Queen?"

"Queen Fay rules my kin."

"Advice?"

"Seek the three 'elven sisters'."
"Elven sisters?"

"Baelin knows one of them."
"Baelin?"

"He lives in Theldair."

"Advice?"

"Did you dig Chambur's tomb yet?"
"We did, thank you. Rumors?"

"They say enemy has treasures hidden in their evil towers."

Tomola is the captain here, and he could take you to several places. We won't do that just yet.

"Advice?"

"Seek my friend Pugar at Kharin."
"Pugar?"

"He hunts cyclops."
"Rumors?"

"I hear the breweries of Fubernel are closed down."

"Advice?"

"'Elven maids' can give you a gift in a song."
"Elven maids?"

"There is a famous song about one!"
"Rumors?"

"Come now, you can't depend on rumors! Seek the facts!"

"Advice?"

"Seek 'elven maids'."
"Elven maids?"

"Baelin is in love with one."

"Advice?"

"Tomola may sail to Kraken Bay."

"Advice?"

"Don't pick locks unless you carry loka."
"Rumors?"

"They say gnolls put traps on treasure chests!"

Indeed. It's not just gnolls, actually -- pretty much all monsters do this.

"Advice?"

"Perhaps the bird god will help you."
"Rumors?"

"Have you heard of the drelins in east Fisestar?"
"Temples?"

"There is a temple in far southeast Kherbel, at the end of a road."

Finally found Ruhbear. We've got stuffs to ask him about.

"Advice?"

"My old 'master' may be able to help you."
"Master?"

"He was the late king's wizard."
"Was your master Debaramos?"

"My master Debaramos gave up practicing magic and became a wandering 'hermit'. He also changed him name to Rufus."
"Hermit?"

"He usually wanders around Trilliad and Bihun."
"Teleportals?"

"Three cubes from Kherbel ports to Merg."

:takenotes:

A hermit! But no, he's not the hermit we're looking for.

"Advice?"

"Fizkreto sells the most powerful spellbook."

That would be Zoxinn. And Fizkreto lives in Shiran. We already know that, sorry.

"Advice?"

"You may buy passage from Merg to Bay of Meric."
"Rumors?"

"They say 'temples' are for gods."

Well of course they are, dumbass. What, did you think temples is an innuendo for sex clubs?

"Advice?"

"You must ask by the name of the spell book you wish to buy."
"Rumors?"

"Have you heard of the drelins in east Fisestar?"
"Teleportals?"

"Sphere, sphere, pyramid gets you from Sudogur to Marmaris."

"Advice?"

"You'll get best value for your money at the magic school of Delkona."
"Rumors?"

"I hear of a gonshi patch by the sea, south of Crystal Castle."
"Teleportals?"

"Pyramid, sphere, cube gets you from Meardom to south Kendar."

Okay, we're done with Merg for now. Next, we have to check out road encounters in Trilliad.

In a stroke of luck, we ran into Debaramos shortly after leaving Merg.

"Advice?"

"Magic is not the answer to all!"
"Rumors?"

"Hrmph!"
"Are you Debaramos?"

"I was!"
"What do you know about Meardom, then?"

"You want to go in eh? Well, ask Beratt about Meardom."
"Beratt?"

"He is an old servant at the king's castle."

That's it? We had to check libraries, ask several peoples, and travel across half the world to find Debaramos, and all information he has to offer is some crap that we could and did figure out easily by ourselves? I'm disappoint.

This guy, on the other hand, actually has very important information to offer.

"Advice?"

"Seek the 'unicorn'."
"Unicorn?"

"Sherro loved them."
"Do you know Sherro's high call?"

"Ask Gilondo about Sherro's high call."
"Gilondo?"

"He lives in Theldair."

:takenotes:

"Advice?"

"Find Pax in Piyan."
"Pax?"

"God of eye. His temple is in Rosus."

"Advice?"

"Hunting is good in Trilliad."
"Rumors?"

"They say the hermit wasn't always a hermit."

"Advice?"

"Seek Hextaris."
"Hextaris?"

"He lives in Theldair."

The village of Theldair is located in the middle of a huge forest. Travelling in forests can take very long, but as we teleport everywhere it's not really a problem.

Found Theldair!

"Advice?"

"Maybe we can get help from the land of faery."
"Rumors?"

"Is there a land of faery, I wonder."
"Do you know anything about unicorns?"

"Only one unicorn is left in our world now!"
"I heard you know Sherro's high call."

"Sherro knew how to summon the unicorns. Her high call was: 'sherro', 'hoy', 'dumanfir'."

Good. Now we just have to figure out where to use the high call.

Like Soldain, Theldair also has a council hall. It's not open yet, though.

"Advice?"

"Seek my love Suerfin in Trilliad."
"Suerfin?"

"Oh how I yearn to hear my fair maiden's 'song'."
"Song?"

"She sings the 'sparrow song'."
"Sparrow song?"

"Ask Suerfin that."

I don't think it's a good idea to tell a band of powerful career killers about your beautiful girlfriend who lives alone in a huge forest. But then again, I guess the Deruvians are just more innocent.

"Advice?"

"Truk the wizard knows teleportals like no other!"
"Truk?"

"He resides in Crystal Castle."
"Rumors?"

"I hear there is a curfew in Delkona."

"Advice?"

"You can pick nifts if you go east from Theldair."
"Rumors?"

"I hear of an elven maid on an isle."

Hextaris lives here.

He sells spellbooks. Unfortunately, we don't know which spellbook he sells. However, there're only 4 spellbooks, and we already know about the seller of Sabano, Ishban and Zoxinn, which leaves...

Bingo! He sells Demaro. However, there's no reason why you'd want more than one Demaro in your party, so I didn't buy any.

The village hall is open now. Let's ask some questions.

"Advice?"

"Somona the sorceress could help you."
"Somona?"

"She is our sorceress."
"Rumors?"

"They say Azraels are coming!"

"Advice?"

"Knock on Gilondo's door."

"Advice?"

"Help so you can be helped!"
"Rumors?"

"Only an Azrael could overpower Somona."
"What happened to Somona?"

"She is the maker of the dust."
"Dust?"

"Somona can help you about that."

Well sure, but where is Somona?

"Advice?"

"Elves everywhere are advised to help you however they can."
"Where is Somona?"

"She is the maker of the dust."
"That's not what I asked! "

"Advice?"

"Only Somona can give you the dust you seek."

"Advice?"

"Ask about the 'elvish cloak' at the museum of Merg."
"Elvish cloak?"

"It is on display at Merg museum."
"Rumors?"

"Some say there is a prison in Mines of Bedangidar!"

"Advice?"

"Stay away from Bedangidar!"
"Bedangidar?"

"Bedangidar is an old dwarf mine. It is now infested by the enemy."

We now know this Somona person is important. If only these pointy-eared assholes would tell us where she is. However, with some metagaming, we might be able to guess:

Two courtiers mentioned Bedangidar in their dialogue. They also mentioned a prison in Bedangidar. Also, it's heavily implied that Somona was defeated by an Azrael. So, I think it's not unreasonable to assume that Somona was captured and is currently in the prison of Bedangidar.

We'll see whether my guessing is correct.

Anyway, Suerfin is located here, not far away from Theldair.

We asked her about the sparrow song.

Her song gave all party members a permanant +1 boost to speed! Unfortunately, that's all we could do with her.


Wait, did I say "unfortunately"?

We then followed Galhail's advice and asked about the elvish cloak at the Merg museum.

Interesting. I remember someone in Crystal Castle talking about the cloak, as well as a "thief king" who was buried in Crezimas. I wonder if the two things are related...

Back to Theldair, there's one last elf we want to inquire.

"Advice?"

"Seek Paladin in Bedangidar."
"Paladin?"

"He is the god of moon."

Well. We ran into a temple in southeastern Kherbel some time ago, which had a moon icon symbol inside. That must have been Paladin's temple.

Next, we went to Sumruna to ask Gourney about dusts. He doesn't know anything about elven dream dusts, but he does about crystal dusts:

:takenotes:

Next, we checked out Hissen's temple, which was located in southwestern Kherbel.

:takenotes:

The teleportal in Kherbel is located in the middle of nowhere, so it can take a while to find.

We used the teleportal to teleport to Fubernel. But why am I doing that?

Well, you see, I'm trying to find the unicorn and obtain the green ring. We don't know where the unicorn is, but once again, with some metagaming, we should be able to guess. Gilondo, who apparently knows a lot about unicorns, repeatedly mentioned the "land of faery" in his dialogue. As we all knows, Heavenly is the land of faery magic. And Heavenly is an isle covered with magical forests -- seems like a place an unicorn would love to live in. Therefore, I believe it's not unreasonable to assume the unicorn is located on Heavenly. However, no captain would sail to Heavenly, so the only way to get to there is through Khazan.

Speaking of Khazan, it's entrance is here. Note that this part of Fubernel is unaccesible without the Teleport spell.

The words Pupin told us opened the gate.

Welcome to Khazan!

Khazan's teleportal room is located near the entrance. We won't use it. Yet.

The first level is pretty straightfoward.

Some high-tier monsters would start showing up in Khazan. The red-and-grey thingy on the sides are mongors, and the horned figures in purple robes are hibliss.

MONGORS: Like fermigons, mongors are true monsters, showing the crudity of the sense of humor of the powers of Darkness. Mongors have the ultimate in bad breath, which they use as archers use arrows and cyclops use boulders. Sturdy armor will allow you to resist its corrosive effects somewhat.

Mongors are a bit special, as they can't cast spells but still have magical shields to protect them. Not that it helps much.

HIBLISS: In the caves of Mount Mandarg, in the heart of Gurtex, in Hibliss work their evil magic. It is the Hibliss who created the mongors, the fermigons and the death knights. It is the Hibliss who trained the jerrahs. But, as far as I know, none of the Hibliss has ever left their home caverns.

Hibliss are the first type of monster to boast three-digits stamina, making them rather hard to kill. Their Fireballs do more damage than jerrahs'. They could probably cast other spells as well, but I'm not sure about that as they're usually incinerated before they could do a thing.

Against high-level spellcasters, Weaken is quite a nice spell. It instantly removes all armor and shields on the target, making it much easier to kill them with Fireballs.

Fear also works on hibliss just fine, although with their high level it won't last long. Then again, two rounds should be more than enough to blast them into oblivion.

Also, it appears that I was wrong with my statements regarding zumagins. Their attacks do ignore nifts, but shields are still effective. Well, whatever.

With their 125 stamina, the hibliss can take some time to kill. Still, we were never in danger of losing.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Hrmph!

We quickly descended to level 2.

You need to have a lot of Walkwater spells memorized for level 2. And all the levels afterwards.

Also, say hello to our old friends: the snakes!

There's a big island in the middle of this floor. On the island is a portal.

The portal placed us in a small room.

On the other side of the room is a chute, which dropped us on level 3.

These narrow corridors are especially maddening if you only have one character capable of casting Walkwater, as they forces you to split up the party.

Because no RPG is complete without pirate treasures.

We used a portal on an small isle...

And ended up in a enclosed room on level 2. A parchment we read before warned of a portal in the middle of four signs, so we shall avoid the central area of the room. What you want to do is reading the four signs:

It's the teleportal combination to Sargoz!

The portal in the room ports you back to level 1, near the teleportal room. We could use the teleportal immediately to enter Sargoz, but for obvious reasons we didn't.

Back to level 3, here's a map of the level.

In the southwestern corner of level 3 is a stairway leading back to level 2.

Here we met another new kind of monster: the gaems.

GAEMS: Gaems are major demons in Gurtex, the home of Darkness across the Eastern Sea. Their powers seem to be similar to those of gargans, but are probably greater in effect. I have not heard of any Gaems invading Deruvia. Yet.

Well, now you have! The most notable thing about gaems is not their magical prowess or their stupid name, but their long-ass attack animation which takes something like 20 seconds to play. Thankfully they'll be pretty squishy once Kodex has nuked their shields with Weaken.

We quickly dispatched the monsters and acquired some moderately shitty treasure.

The map of level 2. This level may look complicated, but there's not a lot to do here. Your main goal is to make it to the southeastern corner of the level, located where is a stairway which leads to another part of level 3.

Indeed, Holcombu's island is just to the west of this one.

Buried on Holcombu's island were five diamonds. That's pretty good treasure, I guess.

Also, some parts on this level are covered with lava. Fortunately, I bought a pair of boots for every party member as soon as I heard they're needed in Crezimas. With boots, lava are mostly harmless. They do reduce your energy when walking on them, just like parasite mosses, but it's a very minor effect.

Meh.

To level 4!

Level 4 is deceptively straightfoward. There're some minor treasures, but they're not really worth the time wasted to obtain.

So rather, we went straight to the hall of lost souls, which was in the top middle.

There's a portal in each corner of this hall. The one in northwestern corner is the only useful one, as it takes you to level 5.

We're pretty close to getting to Heavenly now. But there's another thing we have to do.

Finding Heru, that is.

By the way, here's the map of this level. Heru's room is to our southwest.

Say hello to Heru! Kodex chanted the prayers to awaken him.

The party got another series of stat boosts. Now, we could use the fountains in this dungeon to boost our current attributes to the maximum, but we won't, because I want to test out one of my ideas. You'll see later.

At the southeastern parts of this level are devious tunnels designed to make you waste tons of Walkwater spell.

To the east of this sign is a portal which would take us back to level 1. We don't use it, of course. Rather, we head further north, where the exit to Heavenly lies.

Before we can get to Heavenly, however, we have to defeat one last group of monsters. And the monsters were pretty strong, with two azraels among them!

AZRAELS: The leaders of the forces of Darkness, while the archdemon Dreax remains imprisoned, call themselves "dark angels." I cannot give them that dignity, perverted though it is. I call them "azraels," after the first of their number. Father Gostav, I believe, will explain their history to you. My task is simply to tell you that the azraels exist, and the some of the are leading the invasion of Deruvia. Their powers are beyond my comprehension. I hope that, by the time you face the azraels, as I am sure you must, that your comprehension will be far beyond mine.

In case you're wondering, yes, I asked Father Gostav about azraels when we first met him and no, he didn't offer any interesting information. Anyway, our tactics will be as usual: Kodex will nuke the monsters' shields, and the others will bombard them with spells.

With their 250 points of stamina, azraels are hard as hell to kill. Even the combined firepower of Ziyx and Eflun was only enough to take out one azrael in one round.

This doesn't really matter though, since azraels are still vulunable to Fear. Power beyond comprehension my ass.

We killed the remaining azrael on the next turn, and the rest of monsters fell easily.

Now we just have to go up this stairway, and...

ITZ HEAVAN(LY)!

Also, it turned out that a mage with maxed out magic skill would be able to directly teleport back and forth between Heavenly and Fubernel. So going through Khazan was in fact complely unneccesary. Well, then again, we got some nice stat boosts from Heru and I had some fun crawling through Khazan, so I guess it's not a complete waste of time.

Anyway, the unicorn is indeed on Heavenly. One for metagaming!

Facing you from a prudent distance is the legendary last unicorn!
You are mesmerized as she gazes at you with calm blue eyes.
Then suddenly, before you can make any moves, she disappears!

Time to use Sherro's high call.

Success!

Hell yes!

The green ring obtained!

Ritual checklist:

The green ring
The blue ring
The white amulet
Shir-aka ashes
Elven dream dusts
Crystal dusts

We're one step closer to completing our quest!


Bonus content: Weapon Store Catalog

Normally, the damage you deals with your weapon is equal to your strength score. If your strength is greater than the maximum damage of the weapon, or if you're using a mirget, the damage will be equal to the weapon's maximum damage. There's also a strength requirement for each weapon, which is probably to prevent you from buying your wizard a grand sword and feed him a mirget to make him deal 99 points of damage with one swing.

 

[CappenVarra]

Wait, did I say "unfortunately"?

 

[SerratedBiz]

I remember playing this game as a very young kid and being absolutely oblivious not only of the main quest, but of the importance of actually taking notes and being methodical about exploration. I just had fun wandering around with my party and killing crap.

Reading through this LP, I just need to say 'dang'.

 

[Monstrous Bat]

octavius please tell me the quest to get the crystal dust is the most banalshit quest in the entire game. It has to be.

Also, this page is getting kind of cluttered, with nearly 500 images on one page. I would really appreciate a new page now...

 

[octavius]

Crystal Dust quest? Was that the one where you have to clear out all the ambushes in the dungeons under the Crystal Castle for the queen?
Yeah, that was not the best quest in the game.

 

[octavius]

Getting the Blue (?) Ring from the crazy wizard was another memorable quest...

 

[octavius]

There's quite a bit of having to clear out dungeons infested with monsters to get a quest item at one stage of the game. I had to take a break from the game at myself, since the combat became too frequent and the rewards for in ever decreasing.

 

[octavius]

So, have you gotten Methreal armour yet?

 

[circ]

Better than PS:T. In your face MCA. I don't remember that much though. Except an insane amount of content and hard ass dungeons. And some dungeon called Crezimas? And me thinking it sounded stupid. And some guy in a village in the center of the main island selling the good spells. Some rock northeast where you had to some Sherro Hoy chant. Walking to some dungeon near Crystal Castle? Then seeing the bridge was broken and had to walk back to buy rope. Ugh. I probably bought 99 ropes just in case.

I also can't think of a single RPG that lets you stick your groupmates in stores to earn you money and then get better at that profession too I think? That was amazing.

 

[CappenVarra]

candlewaxbump

 

[Azira]