The Let's Play Archive

Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga

by Stabbey_the_Clown

Part 95: Crow’s Nest




Chapter 71 – Crow’s Nest



Mardaneus Plaza Zombies (Whirlwind, before and after)
Into Crow’s Nest
BOSS: Nerus
Tom and Taurus


Video: Mardaneus Plaza Zombies


A plot-light update today, thankfully. I thought I’d begin by comparing the damage Yara does before and after boosting Whirlwind. Let’s begin.






I’m doing 400 at the low end of a powered-up Whirlwind. It’s not complete garbage, but it’s not doing much.






(Yara) Hmmm… that didn’t go as fast as I would have liked – and these were pretty weak zombies. I think some training might be in order.




(Hermosa) Let’s get it on.
Your Whirlwind skill can now be increased up to Rank 10! Cost: 750 Gold.
I’m ready for another round if you are!
Your Whirlwind skill can now be increased up to Rank 13! Cost: 3500 Gold.
That was a nice warm-up, but how about some real action?
Your Whirlwind skill can now be increased up to Rank 15! Cost: 10,000 Gold.

That only increased the cap, though. I need to deallocate my skill points. Because I haven’t done that before, it will cost me 5000 gold for the first time, and it doubles each time. The amount of gold you can have is limited to what you can get from merchants, so don’t go too crazy or else you’ll run out of resources to reallocate skill points.



Life Leech


Decreased from Rank 13 to Rank 8

Chance of Leech: 34% -> 24%
HP Drained: 32% -> 22%


Thousand Strikes


Decreased from Rank 12 to Rank 10

Damage Multiplier (per strike): 1.7x -> 1.5x
Mana Cost: 238 -> 220
Cooldown: 20 -> 15 seconds
Knockdown Chance: 65% -> 55%


Whirlwind


Increased from Rank 1 to Rank 12 (+1)

Mana Cost: 11 -> 52 (56)
Cooldown: 5 seconds -> 2 seconds
Bonus Damage (fixed): 1.5 -> 378.5 (451)
Knockdown Chance: 10% -> 43% (46%)


I took points out of Life Leech and Thousand Strikes because I wasn’t planning ahead when I put the points in there to begin with – the Order of the Viper set provides +5 bonuses to each of those.


Video: Into Crow’s Nest


Hey! It’s that Black Ring spy, and… a Champion?
Pause a moment, Dragon Knight, to learn what they are scheming.

(Kenzo) You are late, Nerus! Here, I have the spell. Take it and good riddance!




(Nerus) Calm down! Everything is in place and soon it will begin. This should be a moment of triumph, not apprehension!




Says the man who has but to lurk in the shadows! I had to kill two Champions on the way here and nearly fell foul of a bloody Dragon Knight!




Well, never mind all that now. Your angst was not that misplaced anyhow. You have outdone your use, my friend, but you shall not outlive it!






Damn! I’m sure that whatever that spell is for, it’ll be bad news for Aleroth. I can’t let him get away!
Be careful, Dragon Knight. The streets are swimming in the dead.


We’ve actually met Nerus, the guy who just killed the other guy. He was annoyed at Yara for throwing open the door to the Circle of Trust. No, he didn’t stick in my mind either.


Music: Into Crow’s Nest





Welcome to Crow’s Nest. Population: 16 Living, 800+ Undead. It’s hard to keep count, because unlike the Ego Draconis part of the game, enemies here will respawn after a while. You can never fully clear Crow’s Nest of foes, and several quests will make you pass through here in and out of the buildings, so repeated fighting is assured.




Now Whirlwind is hitting in the sub-600 rage at the low-end, and it’s going above 1100 at the high end. Much better.






They’ve been here for a while and no one has pulled these before now? The people of Aleroth have more common sense than…
You do?





Rune Handles Pulled: 3/5




Most of the doors in this area have been boarded shut, and you can expect trouble in many of the ones that aren’t. But those are questing houses, and we aren’t here for that yet.

Again, I should note that I needed 140,000 XP to reach the next level after completing the tree quest.







Level 37.

I decided to put points into Dexterity to try and give myself a bit of a boost to Ranged armour, even if it isn’t very much.

That debt was wiped out in pretty much no time at all. Enemies give a ton of XP, although gaining the level means they give me 10% less per kill now. It’s still really generous.


Whirlwind


Increased from Rank 12 to Rank 13 (+1)

Mana Cost: 52 -> 56 (59)
Cooldown: 2 seconds
Bonus Damage (fixed): 378.5 -> 451 (503.5)
Knockdown Chance: 43% -> 46% (49%)




The gate behind Yara leads to Source Square. It’s sealed shut and will never open. Also, there seems to be a woman standing by a house on fire. Just pointing that out for now.


Video: BOSS: Nerus


There he is! What’s he doing to that teleporter?




(Nerus) Stand back! You’re too late anyway!
Relax, it’s not my habit to spy on those who publicly urinate in alleyways.
I see you are prepared to die with a smile of light amusement on your face, O great scaled one. With the magic I acquired, Black Ring troops will soon flood the city! Aleroth will fall!
So the undead uprising is a Black Ring plot?
Well… not as such, no…
Then the Ring controls the giant tree that zaps anyone trying to enter the safe part of the city?
Uh… not quite… Your attempt at distraction has failed!





Now behold as the legions of the Damned One tear ever living thing from limb to limb!
(Behrlihn) (-7500 XP) This fellow is about to fail. Miserably






Any… any minute now, they’ll be here! You just, er… prepare to die, Dragon Knight!






Oh, the painful death you’ll suffer at their hands! Tremble, shiver, cower in fear!






You’d better run and hide and …hope that…




Hahaa! They are here! Damian be praised!
Three soldiers. I’m impressed.
Damn this Ancient Maxos Magic, it’s so unreliable! Come on then, let us deal with the Dragon first!

Yara’s alternate line changes nothing.

Are you quite sure that is what the spell was supposed to do?
Damn this Ancient Maxos Magic, it’s so unreliable! Come on then, let us deal with the Dragon first!





Nerus
The Black Ring were pretty dangerous when I was a higher level than they were. Two levels below them is even more dangerous. This is how much damage I took DODGING half the Magic Missiles. Granted, I didn’t have on my helmet.




Nerus is actually the easiest one to kill, despite being level 40. The others have really nasty Magic Missiles and powerful Healing. They can both take a lot of damage and dish it out, which makes this fight fun and challenging.




The best way to pull through, I’ve found, is to focus on one at a time and wear them down, then use Thousand Strikes to finish them off.

After that, the Crow’s Nest waypoint shrine is open. We now have fast travel to four of the five districts of Aleroth.



Video: Tom and Taurus


There’s another Rune Handle.




Rune Handles Pulled: 4/5




(Tom) Good heavens, Dragon Knight! He’s after me, he’ll kill me!
Tom? Who? What’s going on?
It’s Taurus, sent by the General. Please stop him!
General Augustus? What?






(Taurus) Ha! I’ve got you now, you slippery coward! You may skitter like a rabbit with its tail on fire, but you can’t outrun the fox!
Easy there, Taurus, the rabbit enjoys a Dragon’s protection.
Truly? And what is a Dragon but a mangy reptile that soars instead of slithers? A Dragon indeed! Out of my way, you lunatic, so I can finish what I came here for.
(-22500 XP) This joker has another thing coming if she thinks she’s a match for me and my enchanted bracelet!
And when I return your ring finger as proof of your death, Tom, that sad little stump will be worth many pounds of pure gold!
Am I the only one who remembers about the fleet of Flying Fortresses ready to bombard this place into chunks of stone no bigger than a fist?

Seriously, don’t waste your time on this mind-read. It’s just a waste. The bracelet is the worst piece of “magical” equipment in the game. It has no properties and only two enchantment slots.



Tom is the guy we met earlier in Hansel’s house. This is actually the first time we meet him in the real game.

You can try to tell Taurus to go ahead and kill Tom, but Taurus doesn’t want any witnesses, so he’ll try and kill you first regardless. Don’t worry, while the game won’t let you kill Tom, you can be nasty to him in other ways!  There’s even an achievement for it! 







Despite my low health, this isn’t really a dangerous fight.




(Tom) Good heavens! Well fought, I didn’t think anyone could beat the General’s bulldog!
Okay, let’s stop naming animals and cut to the chase.
That’s the thing, my friend: my story revolves entirely around the most exquisite of creatures. Anne is her name and she is to be the next victim of General Luxurius, the greatest pervert in all of Aleroth. Good heavens, he is a monster, a… a vampire I say, who snatches away each girl his unending lust drives him to possess. Some return with blank, evasive eyes, flushed cheeks and trembling hands laden with the gold that bought their silence. And some, some don’t return at all.
And people know of this and do NOTHING?
Yes, Dragon Knight. Many do know, but they pretend not to.
Wait… I do remember that name from somewhere… Farglow…






How is that medicine coming along?
General Luxurius shall soon feel like he was twenty again.
Yes. Which is not such an appealing image knowing his preferences, but he pays good money.

What a callback, eh?




Apparently standards for what constitutes a good general have slipped since my day.
Now he has my Anne and there is nothing I can do about it!
Why is that?
I don’t dare! Luxurius is a mighty General, he has his own guard of Champions… to challenge them… it would be suicide!
I can handle the guards. Taurus mentioned proof of your death. Perhaps I can use that to talk my way in.
What? You’d cut off my finger? Please, no! There must be another way!
(-15000 XP) Good heavens, Taurus was right: I am a coward. The love of my life is in mortal danger, but still I dare not try to save her!
Hmm…







Mardaneus Plaza Zombies (Whirlwind, before and after)
Into Crow’s Nest
BOSS: Nerus
Tom and Taurus

Maps



I’m leaving this map in every update until near the end, as an easy reminder.




Many of the names on the map don’t mean anything to us yet. So we’re not going there, obviously. Well, except for one place, but we’re only going there for a look, not to do anything yet.








(Nerus) Stand back! You’re too late anyway!
Too late for that chap I saw you kill, yes, but not too late to stop whatever shenanigans you’re up to.
My master plan would be a more apt description! With the magic I acquired, Black Ring troops will soon flood the city! Aleroth will fall!




(Taurus) Ha! I’ve got you now, you slippery coward! You may skitter like a rabbit with its tail on fire, but you can’t outrun the fox!
Then feast away, Mister Fox, and leave me one of his feet for luck!
Its charm will come too late, stranger: witnesses to this execution are quite unwelcome. The General values discretion, you see, and your being here presents a pleasant coincidence: I think I’ll make this whole affair look like a murder-suicide pact.




(Tom) Good heavens, finally he is dead. For a moment there I thought you wanted to leave me to perish by that maniac’s sword, but you came through for me in the end.
Why don’t you tell me the reason for dragging me into a fight to the death?
Because my cause supersedes the cold hand of the reaper: it is love that drives me!
A worthy effort!
None more worthy, Dragon Knight! <snip> Now he has my Anne, and there is nothing I can do about it!
How can I help her?
I haven’t a clue! Luxurius is a mighty General, he has his own guard of Champions… to challenge them… it would be suicide!




(Tom) Good heavens, finally he is dead. For a moment there I thought you wanted to leave me to perish by that maniac’s sword, but you came through for me in the end.
Because I had do. And now I must take my leave.
No, please hear me out! Her life depends on it!


Because my cause supersedes the cold hand of the reaper: it is love that drives me!
Ah, yes, the reaper’s hand or cupid’s arrow: both will strike you down with ruthless force.
You understand then, Slayer, my lovelorn pain!



Reader Participation

1. Tom’s woman Anne has been kidnapped by the greatest pervert in Aleroth – General Luxurius. He’s not a match for Luxurius’s corrupt Champions, so he wants us to help him. How should we help him?

a) Investigate Taurus’ house. (Default = 1 vote –  There’s an extra dungeon this way. )
b) Cut off Tom’s finger to get the guards to let you in, then fight your way to the General.
c) Cut off Tom’s finger to get the guards to let you in, then get paid by the General.

We aren’t necessarily going to do this quest now, this is just voting on the method for when it is time to complete this.