And we're in.
Detecting traps.
I think this level is safe.
I think you might be lying to get me killed, so fuck you.
'I think this level is safe' MY ASS!
One trap. Big deal.
Actually, there's nothing interesting here - this is the level which You visit when getting here on a tourist trip from Ulgoth's Beard. I think you can talk to the skeleton visible in the screenshot then, since he was unresponsive now.
Tourist trip? Really? I thought you were joking about that.
Uh, no, unfortunately.
Level completed.
Time for the second one. This time you should definitely detect traps.
I'm on it!
A ghast, watch out.
It's just a slightly stronger ghoul, no sweat.
Uh... what?
Death count: 68
Reloading.
'Just a slightly stronger ghoul'?
Fuck you.
Here, ghasty-ghasty.
OW! FUCK! HELP!
What the fuck...
Death count: 69
Loading.
Am I wrong, or have You defeated ghasts before? You know,
without dying. He didn't even paralyze you this time!
Just a string of bad luck, I'm sure.
Try to kill it before it gets close!
What the fuck do you think I'm doing!?
Shiiiit! BURN!
Fuck! I forgot I can't move when this spell is active!
YES!
Burn, motherfucker!
HA!
I pity the fool that would charge into the room seeing that ghast from before.
Yeah, charging into this room could definitely be a bad idea.
Eep.
Uh? Sleep?
I don't think it works on the undead.
Damn! Don't fail me now, sw-
Oh, great.
*sigh*
Death count: 70
Reloading.
I think resting and replenishing my spell supply would be a good idea.
Can't hurt.
Alright, now I'll show them who's boss!
Go, web, go!
Haha, they are so fucked now... Oops.
Retreat!
Boom! Headshot!
I see you, little helpless roach!
Thought you could get me? Wrong!
Damn, this web is not as effective as I thought.
Ghasts must have pretty good saving throws.
But they aren't that tough when shot from afar.
Geez... Another one?
I don't like your kind, mister!
We backtrack to the Erdane to sell some stuff. Laeral's Tear Necklace that dropped from the greater doppelganger was definitely worth the effort.
I'd say!
Sorry, guys, not in the mood to fight you
again.
Back to the tower, detecting traps.
Some of the containers are also trapped.
I can spot a trap that's most likely bulit into a chest's lock from afar? How does that make any sense?
Well, it doesn't.
We find some potions. The red one is potion of strength, setting STR to 18 for a period of time. Useless for The Codex, who is normally stronger.
I rule, baby!
Another trapped chest.
I sense good loot!
Unfortunately, it turned out pretty lame.
This whole place is crawling with ghasts, it seems.
Not getting killed by these anymore.
Fighting them is only a challenge in melee. Some circling around the table gets the job done from distance.
And yet another trapped chest.
Not saying anything about the loot this time, not to hex it.
It's not bad, actually.
It's a trap!
Starting to repeat yourself?
Oh, just wait until BG2's vampires and Twilight jokes.
Level completed!
Time for the third one.
A library! I predict cool spell scrolls!
But we only find some books in here. Rather disappointing.
Well, this sucks.
We meet this Riggilo guy and have a nice chat with him, but he doesn't seem to like The Codex.
And the feeling's mutual.
Another Wand of Awesome?
Unfortunately, no. Just a regular wand of lightning. Not that it's a bad thing to find, though.
And the thing we actually came for -
The Book.
I have to say, that was one dumb movie.
Well, there's reason it's called 'Fallout 3: The Movie' by some.
It's the Tome of Understanding. Reading it won't actually make you stronger in any way. You would have to find three of these to really see any difference.
Well, yes, but I
will find three of these, won't I? I mean, there that many in the game... Right?
Sure You will.
As I said, raising Wisdom from 12 to 13 doesn't give
any bonus at all not even an increase in lore by a single point. Lame.
We rarely use healing potions nowadays, but anything useful counts as significant loot, I guess.
We meet a ghost of some unspecified friend of Durlag and try to negotiate with it.
It doesn't go well (surprise...). The ghost goes hostile and spams a fuckload of spells, disappearing.
It couldn't have gone far.
There you are! Skulltrap!
After an embarassing incident of getting wounded by his own Skull Trap and letting the ghost teleport away, The Codex catches up to it in the center of the level.
You're so fucking dead now!
Well, he
is a ghost
Don't fucking piss me off!
That's weird. Normal arrows seem to work fine against him.
Yeah, kind of lame.
Worse. It doesn't make...
...any sense!
Damn, he mirrorimaged himself. I'll burn them away with Magic Missile!
Good idea.
What? Immune to magic? The fuck? Is it Borda's ghost, or what?
He's casting something. Don't let him!
Yeah, kinda working on that!
But, he's immune to magic...
So, Magic Missile doesn't inflict any damage, but it
does interrupt his spellcasting?
Yeah, I know. It doesn't...
...make any sense!
Who You gonna call?
The Codex!
A trapped container.
Two less-useful potions and one mysterious one.
It is a mystery.
Huh? What was that?
It is a mystery too.
Again! Heard that?
I heard nothing. You must be going mad. I knew it was just a matter of time.
Let's just move on...
Level completed!
Fourth level. It's the last one, I think.
Some nice loot.
I'm pretty sure my robe is better, but the cloak looks promising.
Back to the merchant guy to identify and sell some stuff.
Having all three items (ring/amulet/cloak) of protection will give us maximum flexibility in equipping other magic items. Now, we switch the ring for a cloak for mundane reason - we might find some more rings in the tower and additional equipment slot can be useful.
The unidentified magic potion turned out to be a 'potion of invulnerability'.
Awesome! I'll drink it right away!
Why? It looks nowhere like other potions of this type we've encountered.
Exactly! Don't you realize what it means?
That it's a deadly poison?
Of course not! It means that the potion's effect is permanent!
I somehow doubt...
Drinking now!
I guess we can really call that a 'permanent effect'.
Death count: 71
Reloading.
I guess it was poison after all.
Seems so, yes.
I am disappoint.
Well, hello there, Ms. Nice Legs.
Careful, she might be dangerous.
A pretty girl like that? Be serious!
I'm on it!
You actually agreed to help her?
Of course. I can already think of at least twelve ways she will be able to repay the favour.
I'd like to see that... Or no, scratch that. I would most definitely NOT want to see that.
You're just jealous, admit it.
We find a nice sellable Halberd +1.
Ghasts!
Not again...
Unfortunately, yes. And we make the mistake of letting one of them approach too close
AGAIN.
Death count: 72
Reloading.
That was some fucking stupid tactics there.
If You forget about this incident, I promise to never bring up the 'invulnerability potion' topic.
Deal.
We decide on a shoot'n'run tactics, as the one that usually yields the best results.
It's a bit more difficult with three enemies at a time, in an enclosed space, but we manage to kill one.
We use our Paralyze It Gambit, but the ghast makes a save roll.
Shit!
Situation looks dire at one moment...
...but The Codex somehow manages to win unscathed. Sometimes we're just lucky, I guess.
Whew. That was rather intense. Being eaten alive by these things really isn't the best of experiences.
Another chest promising good loot.
Don't hex it!
Some magic darts. Should sell for a reasonable price.
And yet another bunch of ghasts.
Boom! Headshot!
Distance is the key, as always.
Back to Riggilo guy, with a gift, I guess?
Here, take this lock of nymph's hair. I'm sure you'll like it!
He even gave us something in return.
Sucker!
What? You lied to me? That's... not fair.
Women. I know.
This XP reward would be much more impressive, if The Codex didn't already reach the level cap.
Not fair...
Level completed! And it was the last one, too.
But we still have some outside to explore.
Such nice legs, she had...
Heads up! A basilisk!
And she... What? Retreat!
What the fuck!? It followed me!
Kill it, quick!
Better idea! Paralyze!
And it worked. Good.
Go back to the chamber of secrets, reptile!
That was a lesser basilisk, but there might be some greater ones here too, so we cast a suitable protection spell.
Which I conveniently have prepared, for some reason.
Not now, gnolls, this spell won't last forever. Go to sleep!
Sleeping gnolls are easily and quickly dispatched.
Wow. There really
are greater basilisks here!
Who would've thought?
You-can't-hurt-me-but-I-can-hurt-YOU!
Another one! These guys are basically free XP, in bulk!
Pity that XP is useless for us now. Oh well.
And stay down!
Oh, look, a stash.
Watch out-
AAAAARRRGHHHH!
Yeah, it might be trapped.
Ah, whatever, I survived, and the contents are definitely worth a few burns.
Acid arrows. Would have been be nice to have them when we fought Mustard Jellies.
Stop spitting on me! I am invincible!
Uh, mister invincible, your protection spell has worn off...
WHAT!?
Death count: 73
Loading.
It's all those gnolls' fault. I'm going to fucking kill them!
I think You already have.
I will wait until they respawn and kill them again, then!
Reloading takes us back to before setting off the fireball trap, so we disarm it this time.
Luckily, we have another Protection From Petrification ready.
That seems rather unlikely.
Mere coincidence.
The fight result is quite predictable in this situation.
Here, let me thank you for our earlier encounter!
And stay out of my way, or I'll kill you again!
We meet some doppelgangers on the way to some unexplored spot.
Fuck... Did they see me?
One did.
Nice, gangbanger. We may yet get along, right?
But he won't be reasoned with and chases The Codex all the way back into Durlag's Tower.
I'm not running away! I'm just... luring him into a trap! Yeah! That's it!
Well, he's defnitely lured. What now?
Magic Missile!
And now?
Fuck! Run away!
Die, fucking reptile!
He's
still alive.
Then, I'll just kill him in mel- FUCK! That hurts!
Just remebered I have another Magic Missile, heh, heh, heh!
Wow, you managed not to die when fighting a single doppelganger. Congratulations.
Fuck you.
The other two are passed while hidden, so we don't get too repetitive here.
And we reach the previously unexplored spot...
Well, I consider it explored now. Let's go back. And fast.
But of course we have to reach all reachable spots. And we find one letting us kill doppelgangers from distance.
This is a good spot.
And so, they are killed.
No more gangbanging of The Codex!
The way back is free of incidents like failing a hide check, luckily.
Area completed! (As much as can be, at least.)
So... Why exactly is this area called 'Durlag's Tower'? We haven't met any Durlag. Have we missed something here?
Nope. Nothing at all. It's completely completed.
You sure?
Yes.
Definitely.
The last enemy we encounter here is a gnol that attacks The Codex on a rest attempt.
What a joke.
Go bother someone else!
We manage to rest on a second try.
This scimitar was found together with acid arrows. It's pretty good, but useless for us, and sold immediately.
And we finish up by putting the ring of protection into our stash at FAI.
Having all the books that could be currently found on the world map, we will now follow the plot all the way to the city of Baldur's Gate, where there are a few more.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next time: we rob a lot of houses and buy some neat stuff.
Seems like a neat update without any death!
Yes. It definitely does
seem so.