Floor 9
In this update, we finally make our way down to the ninth floor and find some of the more powerful loot (even if not yet
the most powerful).
It's nighttime. The party are resting just outside the castle walls.
Mike, why won't you look at me?
Mike, why won't you you me me mike mike mikemike!
What's WRONG, David? I go out to feel the night wind, and guess what, it's you again!
Night wind... So romantic. You're quite a romantic, Mike.
What do you WANT from me, Dave?
...Mike... I've been looking everywhere for you... Like, a lot. Almost... every waking moment, I have.
Pause. Everyone but Gaider, Laidlaw, and Pete leaves. Pete stares, and Todd has to drag him away.
Yeah, um, that sure sounds like a lot of worrying. But it's all fine, I'm here, you know.
......Mike.
Dave?
I feel like... saying some horrible things to you. I'm sorry.
Horrible things?
Something stupid... like I love you.
H-hey, Dave, it's okay. It's just that... you know my heart belongs to... Bioware.
...Right. So you chose Bioware. You'd choose Isabela, but you wouldn't choose me. You'd choose Hawke, but you wouldn't choose me. That single fact is just too much for me to handle. Look, I'm just saying horrible things again. I know I'm just pestering you now, Mike.
No way, Dave. ...Go on, keep going.
...Mike, I have so much affection for you that won't ever go away. Day by day, my feelings for you grow stronger. ..."Why? Why? Why doesn't Mike look at me, forever?" I always think.
Oh Dave...
The screen fades to black.
L-let us never speak of this again.
I don't mind never speaking of it again, as long as we could do it again, Mike.
*blushes*
Having made it to the B4 elevator, we press the B9 button this time.
And here we are.
Thankfully, the Japs didn't redesign the last two floors, so B9 stayed the way it was in the original version. It's a pretty uneventful floor, but it has some nice loot drops and is the only way of accessing Werdna's lair on B10. The teleporter to B10 is at (8,2), and you must make it past the encounter at (9,1) to get there. Encounters get reset when you exit and reenter a level, so (9,1), being located right near the elevator, is a perfectly good place to grind for loot and encounter new and stronger enemies.
At (10,1), our party takes a deep breath.
Alright, people. So we're inside this strange palace, investigating the pervert who hid inside.
What the HELL are you bastards doing here? Do you even realize you're just ASKING for a beating?
So... what's your plan anyway, eh, antagonist? Joining up with that wicked girl to go and screw up the world? Is that it?
If only this were a world ruled by me... wouldn't it be grand? The world itself... would be the ultimate role-playing game! They'd call me "Lord"! They'd call me "my liege"! There wouldn't be the likes of YOU around!
Okay, murder it is. Couldn't be clearer. No more chatter necessary.
Ahaha... you clueless fools! Deal with my minions first, called forth by the power of my amulet, before you even touch ME!
*whirr* Resistance is futile. This new land... this new world... Here and *bzzt* now, we will make it ours. We shall procure it... So that it may become *click* the land of our master.
Aaaah! Scary robot thingies!
Go ahead, cry your eyes out, you bastards! Isn't this just pee-your-pants scary?!
The best kind of enemy you can encounter here are definitely
Giants. They come in four types:
Earth Giants,
Fire Giants,
Frost Giants and
Poison Giants. Of all those, Poison Giants are the deadliest and Fire Giants give very little exp, but apart from Fire Giants, the rest are a real exp treat. In this case, killing off a small group of Earth Giants brings us ca. 10k exp.
Lvl 8 Bishops have a relatively high amount of HP, 8D8, and cast lvl4 Priest and lvl3 Mage spells. No wonder it doesn't take long for Gaider to fall asleep.
ZzzzZzzzZ
Now isn't the best time to have one of those midday slumbers of yours, Dave!
This loser going to take a NAP at a time like this?! Wake him up already!
ZzzzZzzzZ ZzzzZzzzZ
Oh dammit. *leans closer to Gaider* DAVID GAIDER! YOU STILL HAVE 20000 WORDS LEFT TO WRITE TODAY!
*wakes up* Huh?.. Shit, Mike, you almost got me scared there!
Laidlaw's
Mahalito does a short work of the Bishops, however.
Demons look badass. Pictured is a
Lesser Demon (unidentified), who has 10D8 HP, knows Mage spells up to level 3, hits up to 5 (!) times per turn for 2D6/2D6/1D3/1D3/1D4+4, and is resistant to all kinds of spells. Luckily, his AC is only 4, so we can bash him in melee, at least.
Aw, another cute little demon.
I sure never saw any demons like it running amuk in my old home! What do you think we should do with it, Morrigan?
...What do we do, you ask me? Maybe we should take it with us to Ferelden? I'm sure it'll like it.
NOOOOOO! Not to Ferelden! Nonono! Not to a Bioware game!
*Demon flees*
And this is how an identified
Lesser Demon looks. Scary, isn't he? Must be Andhaira's true form.
Trolls look funny, just as they're supposed to. They travel in groups of 1D3, have 6D8+6 HP, AC of 4, regenerate 3 HP per turn, and hit up to 3 times for 1D4+4. Their popamole regenerating health may sound like a problem, but it isn't -- just bash them into oblivion! It's all trolls deserve anyway.
Despite their undead looks and night-time name,
Nightstalkers can't level-drain you and aren't really much of a threat. They appear in groups of 2D3, have 5D8+3 HP and AC of 4.
Lvl 8 Priests look ominous. Black outfit, a cloak of dark green. They can cast Priest spells of up to level 4, but decided to go all
Badial on me for some reason, only dealing negligible damage.
Fire Giants... A heap of muscles that only gives 1410 exp. Decidedly meh.
The way
Gorgons are designed in this game is really random. "Then again, who cares?" (c) the Japanese.
Gorgons have 8D8 HP and AC of 2. They don't hit hard, but may stone you when their attack connects. A single Gorgon is as pathetic as it gets, though.
Wyverns have 7D8+7 HP and, most importantly, poisonous claws!
Sawyer is poisoned, so we cast
Latumofis.
...Er, Josh. How did that spell work exactly?
Isn't it obvious? I scared the poison away.
Oh wow. So it's like an anti-poison shout, huh? Gotta remember that one.
Will O' Wisps are a joy to encounter! True, they have 10D8 HP, AC of -8 (!) and 95% magic resistance (!), but the exp they bring, oh the exp...
Pure
!
As for the loot we've found so far...
Ring of Jewels is a ring that casts Dumapic when used. Useful in your first playthrough when you're mapping the game by hand and don't feel like wasting spellpoints.
Epee of Dismay is a cursed item, so you should get rid of it asap.
Helm of Hardiness is a helmet that reduces your AC by 2, and
Slayer of Dragons is, well, a sword that normally hits for 1D10+1 and deals additional damage to dragons. Cool, but not really too useful.
Mace of Power attacks for 1D8+2, has +4 to-hit and +2 swings.
Sword of Slicing hits for 1D8+1, has +5 to-hit, +2 swings, and 1% magic resistance.
Ring of Rigidity lets you cast Manifo, the paralysis spell, 10 times before it breaks.
Scroll of Darkness has a
Dilto spell (that surrounds a group of monsters with darkness) inscribed on it, and
Scroll of Fire a
Halito, the basic fireball spell.
Rotten Leather is useless... and cursed, whereas
Ring of Shielding can be worn by a spellcaster and allows him to cast
Porfic, which lowers the caster's AC by 4, up to five times.
All ready to level up now!
Pete improves his Agility and Luck.
Todd experiences a major incline, even getting ahead of Pete HP-wise.
Sawyer learns new spells.
Or rather, one new spell,
Badi, the reverse of
Di that attempts to slay one monster instantly. "Instant death to one monster," as the official description puts it... provided it connects, of course.
You've grown quite a bit as an evil priest, Josh. Now you wield death itself in your hands.
I... I'm scared, MCA-sensei.
I know, Josh, I know. ...Some religions teach that death is not something to be feared, that it is part of the natural cycle. But that is not always true.
What do you mean?
The monsters we fight are unnatural, and there is no "life" nor "afterlife" for them. Think of bringing death to them as of bringing peace, not punishment. Think of that as bringing justice... to those who are not meant to be.
That is the real meaning of our alignment, one that fools call "evil."
I'll... do my best, MCA-sensei.
Gaider is getting even closer to the all 17s Ninja requirement. Way to go, David!
MCA also gains new spells. Those are some standard Priest/Mage spells we've already covered before, so I won't be presenting them again here.
Laidlaw doesn't learn new spells, alas.
Back on B9, the first enemy group we encounter is that of 2
Greater Demons, yikes!
Gaider is kicking some serious ass.
And so does the exp.
A
Mace of Snake is our reward, which is a mace that protects again poison and hits for 1D8 with +3 to-hit and +2 swings.
The
B-Plate of Boons is a
really good find, reducing a character's AC by 6 and having magic resistance of 1%. It can be equipped by Priests, so it goes to Sawyer, who is a bit under-protected compared to Pete and Todd.
Frost Giants may be resistant to paralysis, which is bad, but they bring a lot of experience, which is good.
I've gotta say better equipment really does make quite a difference.
And whoa, look at that exp!
The
Neutral Plate is pretty good plate that Priests cannot equip, but Fighters it. It reduces the character's AC by 7, which makes it better than any of our currently equipped armour is.
Sword of Slashing hits for 1D10+2, has +6 (!) to-hit and +3 swings.
In other news,
Murphy's Ghosts are now a regular encounter. Piss easy, though.
Lvl 7 Thieves look a bit... gay, don't you think?
Don't bite at me, you pervert!
They behave as gays, too.
Dagger of Speed is... an interesting kind of weapon. Basically, it sacrifices armour penetration (they have -3 armour class adjustment) and to-hit (which equals -1) in exchange for the number of swings it has per turn (+7 swings!). I'm... not really sure it's worth it, but it could work, I guess.
And again we stand ready to level up!
Pete and Todd now have almost identical HP.
Sawyer learns new spells, which are level 6 spells, yay!
Lorto deals 6D6 non-elemental damage by causing blades to slice through a monster group.
Mabadi is a pretty cool spell, one that JRPGs tend to often have (probably; I seem to remember such a spell in Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light at least), that leaves the target monster at just 1 HP (!) when it successfully connects. This spell is extremely effective, if it works, against monsters with high numbers of hit points. Of course, enemy clerics also use this spell to great effect.
Finally,
Loktofeit is an escape spell that teleports the party back to the castle when things get desperate and grim. BUT! The penalty for use is the loss of all character's equipment and most gold! In addition, this spell may fail!
Wizardry just doesn't fuck around.
Soon to be a ninja!
No new spells for MCA.
New powerful lvl6 spells for Laidlaw, however:
Lakanito, which attempts to suffocate a group of monsters if they breathe air. Lakanito is extremely effective, believe me. (It will be even more effective in Wizardry IV, where you battle human enemies all the time.
) And
Zilwan, a spell analogous to Clerics' Dispel ability that destroys one undead monsters. Not good against groups of undead, but it can help quite a bit in an appropriate situation.
Hey Underlord.
Yeah?
We've made it this far already. Care to tell us what you
really need us for?
Heh, you have some Intelligence, I'll grant you that. There is indeed a purpose to your actions apart from learning how to design proper dungeons.
So what is it, then?
I need you to retrieve the amulet Werdna stole from me. My... pet project cannot function properly without it.
Pet project?
For now, I can only tell you this. The madman you're after... he wants to open the floodgates of innovation... to blur the border between role-playing and real life. I am against all that, I'm trying to contain it, to erect a barrier to his vision of the future.
Fair enough, I guess. But where do we come in?
You see, I'm too conservative, too oldschool... I can't catch up, can't even get close to him. But what I cannot, you can.
We can?
Yes. You've made some proper RPGs in the past... yet you've also designed quite a few shitty... I mean innovative ones recently. So how do I put it? You're at the border of the two worlds, basically, at the fork between the two routes, mine and his. Some would call it C&C.
"C&C"?
Choices and consequences.
A wild mob with pitchforks runs past, futilely chasing after a large white banner. On the banner is written, "Thursday". Innumerable cries of torment and suffering follow as the mob are themselves chased by hornets and wasps.
...Who are these poor souls? It's like they're within Hell yet aren't truly part of it.
They are my people. Don't judge them harshly. They're angry and bitter and suffering for a cause that seems futile... but at least they're pursuing their dream.
Man, that really is kinda screwing with my head.
But that's what choices and consequences are about! ...The future we all are going to have is the consequence of your choice to help me. Naturally, I don't
really give you a choice.
The concept must be familiar to you... right, David?
Yeah, I know what you mean. You're railroading us into retrieving that amulet for you.
Correct. We'll see how you fare. It's not like you're the first to try this... That our future must depend on you, oh the irony! And if you fail... We might as well have already been lost to Oblivion. And so we will simply vanish as the end of the world arrives.
Next time: we'll learn just how much Trebor sucks!
I'll try to dig that up.
