In the previous episode...
Fighting vicious cultists and demons has given our hero considerable character growth.
The last we saw, I'd escaped the Citadel of Wisdom through a mysterious portal...
We've emerged in a dark cavern.
We're surrounded by curious pale basement dwellers. Thankfully they don't seem to be hostile.
[T]alking to them isn't very fruitful, they all have the same story to tell: evil trolls from some cRPG forum stole their "light" (probably euphemism for some sort of degenerate drug), they want it back. They additionally imply that by returning their "light" to them, I'll get my freedom back.
Oh well, I'll take any excuse to kill some bad guys.
Soundtrack for the LP:
Adventurous moment, I have to spot a secret door in order to progress. Presumably some sort of a muleman safety procedure or something.
Through the door...
...and down the stairs. Seems easy enough.
In the second floor, we find a bunch of Mulemen engaged in desperate fight against a Rock Troll. So far it hasn't been going too well for them.
Seeing me joining the fray, the Mulemen show their gratitude by running away, leaving me fight the troll alone. Thanks guys!
Luckily the Troll decides to chase after the fleeing basement dwellers, giving me a chance to poke at it with my sword.
Unfortunately a second troll joins the fight.
Oh well, nothing a little bit of magic won't fix.
Smells like bacon.
More mulemen getting pummelled. I decide to give them a hand.
Turns out it was a bad idea.
Try #2. Also, remember that you can't save while in dungeons... which means that I have to start from the very beginning of the caves each time I die...
I have stubbornly decided to train my swordsmanship against the trolls.
It's a really, really bad idea. The trolls hide is so tough, that even though I score dozens of hits against them, they're still not even scratched. And when their attack hits you...
With a sword, it practically always takes a critical hit to kill them...
And even if you win, you're probably losing. No amount of magic will grow my hand back. FUCK!
Try #3.
As you go deeper in the tunnels, the number of trolls increases.
Even if you keep killing them left and right, they'll swarm you as you try retreating.
I'm literally running the risk of getting overwhelmed here.
It's time to get creative. First, let's kill the troll behind our back.
Next, I'll need to buy some time for recovering from all the magic use...
There we go! I could've achieved the same with a simple stun, but this high level charm spell is
permanent effect. This way I get more bang for the buck, while with stun I would've needed to recast it several times.
While my new best friend keeps the rest of the trolls from getting to me, I'll get a chance to rest.
Awright, now that I am fresh, time to clear some space. Bye bye friend!
Unfortunately as soon as I am done killing the trolls, more appear from both directions...
Really now?
Time to conserve my shots by using simple single-rune magic.
Even though I've not taken a decent hit, they still manage to score occasional crit with their javelins.
Burn 'em...
...fry 'em
... and more trolls
Okay now it is starting to get silly.
The trolls are big and slow, which gives me a chance to line them up for a shot...
The thing about lightning bolts and streams of molten fire, sometimes they miss or only do damage. Thankfully this time around only one straggler is left behind.
The bastard tries to get me with his javelin, but that's the only chance he'll get, since I still have juice left.
More than twenty trolls dead.
And we're only getting started.
The good thing about all this power use, my control skill is rapidly increasing.
The deeper we go, the more unfair it gets. And every moment I spend resting, the more of those buggers spawn.
Time to try something new...
Obviously that doesn't work, the big fat heavy trolls are almost impossible to push around.
O.K., I'll cover my ass with a stun...
Time to pop some moles!
Well fuck, that wasn't impressive at all.
If fire fails, try lightning.
Fuck. The deeper levels start spawning chiefs alongside normal trolls. Those buggers are brutally tough and hit even harder than normal trolls do.
Seriously though, sometime the chiefs are simply absurd. This one took good six tries to kill.
And fuck if more friends don't show up. Oh well, they'll fry like the rest.
Finally victorious, I triumphantly round a corner and...
FUCK YOU! Due to the LOS of the game, you can't see behind corners. A single rock troll chief happened to be waiting for me there, the end result being obvious.
Try #4.
Did I mention that you can't save while in dungeons?
The deeper you go, the more and more Rock Troll Chief's you meet.
Time to introduce something new. This seemingly simple two-rune magic is the most dreaded weapon in your toolbox: Balefire.
Simple enough. You combine a weave of spirit with fire, then send the resulting stream of bright fire at your foes...
...the ones that fail to dodge, cease to exist, like their very threads were erased from the tapestry of tim-- *cough*
Balefire is as overpowered as magic goes. It is the endmagic. But there is a reason to avoid using it, aside the dirty feeling it leaves afterwards...
Yeah, even with my legendary power control, a single use nearly explodes my heart in my chest.
Even though it may seem effortless in the screen-shots, I am actually getting rekt pretty brutally here.
I'm playing as unfair as I can, but the trolls simply give me no room to recover.
I can kill a good twenty-thirty trolls with ease, but I'll need dozens of turns to recover after that...
Oh boy... at least I am not heroically wetting myself this time around.
I made it, but fuck if that wasn't close. Thankfully no limbs were crippled, everything healed nicely. Though the left hand is now at an odd angle...
Hundreds of dead trolls later, I spot something interesting.
I wonder what's the point of th-
Oh.
So this must be the light they wanted me to find.
And this must be the big bad troll.
Pfft. So what? I've killed hundreds of them already, the only thing different is that he has a name. I'll just stun him and stab him to death!
See? This is eas- OH FUCK!
I don't feel so good.
...
Uh...
Try #5.
And here we go again... The fuck, who's throwing javelins at me?
Oh... it seems we have spectators.
Piss off, sods.
And he is still standing!
Well... fuck.
This isn't going well at all.
FULL POWER!
The fucking FUCK?
I'm dead.
Try #6.
Maybe I can push him out of the way?
No, that doesn't work... I had to use full power, so I was about to die from exhaustion anyway...
Try #7.
Let's think out of the box for a moment. What haven't I tried yet?
...stealth!
Holy fuck, this might actually work!
Wow!
The invisibility spell is just about to wear out. But a simple stun on the other hand...
HAHA! FUCK YOU! I just bypassed the most overpowered boss fight ever. I could make my way back and return the stone now, killing Ragfag was optional.
But we're not gonna do that, now are we?
Try #8.
In all of my years with the game, this is the only way I've found to be effective here. Extremely anticlimactic, but what can one do?
Simply use balefire.
And he is gone. Presuming that you survive the exhaustion, you've won.
Now, remember three things: 1.) you have never had to use balefire before, 2.) the game doesn't give any sort of hint about his weaknesses 3.) if you die, you have to start from the beginning of the three level dungeon...
Damn, that brought back bad memories... time to relax by killing some defenceless trolls.
Oh, and did I mention that you don't teleport back to start once the quest is done?
Oh no, you have to fight your way back.
Finally, the quest is done. The basement-dwellers have their trinket back and I am rewarded by... Well, three lines of dialogue. Whatevz!
A new passage has opened.
And the way out is revealed...
Ah! To feel the freshness of the frozen air, to glance upon the soaring skies and to be free ag-
OH FFS!
The ambushing snow giants will be taught a lesson they won't remember... since they'll be dead.
I'm wearing light armour, wielding a bow and equipped with unlimited amount of arrows. Can you see where this will go?
After a few minutes of dancing around the giants, they're both dead.
So where the hell did we end up in? That hut looks mighty familiar...
Don't worry old man, you won't go unavenged.
Exiting his hut, I am ambushed by some petty thieves.
Buddies, you chose the wrong damn moment.
I think about switching armour to something heavier.
But I realize that Tanned Leather is actually stronger than this junk D'uh!
There is a shrine nearby, so I reckon I should as the old man wished.
Yada yada...
We've come a long distance, you and me.
Now, what about this "shrinegate" magic that the seer told me before dying...?
Aha! It literally teleports you to the entrance of a shrine! How handy.
I wish I had this ten hours ago.
Good, but not good enough.
Protip: try casting a few spells and re-enter the shrine tile... sometimes you're actually quite close to a second "level up".
One thing I really, really hate about this game...
Is the fact that the shrine altar of each shrine...
Is on the third floor...
All this fucking pointless walking, what is this, Oblivion?
At last... I am... complete!
O.K., now to the nearest town... finding it should be trivial with the help of my trusty sextant.
Oh for the fuck's sake...
Anywayz, here we are, time to do the adventurer thing: harass random villager about legends of treasure!
Since I stumbled on the village smith, time to upgrade my armour. Chain shirt is not the best in protection, but it isn't the most cumbersome either.
Oh well, back to talking to random people in the hopes of getting some clues for my quest.
So a magic sword resides in the ruins of an old castle, in the middle of Aleshar...
Before I leave, let's have a chat with my resistance buddies for some post-mission feedback!
Awry? Well fuck you too!
Screw this gay village anyway, I'm off to the legendary city of Hillcrest...
To be continued...