Part 35: Seeing Double

Update 23: Seeing Double



"So does this town have a cave under it or something? Maybe that's where they keep all the real treasure."



"It's worth a look. It'd be a shame if all we got out of this trip to Erliquin was a few hundred gold, several outstanding arrest warrants, and a lot of broken industrial-grade diamonds."



The cavern under Erliquin is an interesting little place, and a fairly safe one. The monsters are as weak or weaker than the ones in the cavern under Dusk, and it's not full of traps. On the other hand, it has magical barriers all over the place which will make it somewhat hard for a low-level party to get around.



"A locked door! This must be the town's secret vault!"
"Haven't we stolen enough from these people already?"
"No."



"Damn it all, there's even less gold down here than up there. What a ripoff."



"I bet they keep all their really valuable treasure behind this magic barrier in the middle of the room. I'll just Etherealise us all through it, and..."



"... yay! Shiny things!"
"This is ridiculous. We couldn't even fill our packs with food at the Erliquin market with this money. Where are they keeping all their treasure?"



"Well, if there was a little treasure behind a wooden door, maybe there's a lot of treasure behind this metal grate!"
"Drewjitsu! Stop helping them steal!"
"Sorry, I guess I kinda got caught up in the spirit of excitement."



"A talking wall! Awesome!"
"Do you think we can take it down and sell it somewhere?"
"You can try if you want, but I'm not carrying that thing around."
"Um, guys? Didn't it say something about an access code?"



"Maybe it wants that code that was written on the wall in the cavern under Dusk. Why I see you to me three!"



"That code makes no more sense than it did last time we heard it, but I won't argue with results."

Every magical barrier in the cavern has now been deactivated. If the party wasn't simply able to teleport past them, this might be more useful.



"Well, this was fun, but I guess it's time to go back up to Erliquin."
"I don't think this is the passage we entered the cavern through. For one thing, there's a whole lot more sunlight coming through it."



"I coulda sworn I remembered Erliquin having more walls and fewer trees."
"Hmm. If I'm not mistaken, we're on the outskirts of the Quivering Forest."
"Why's it called that?"
"Oh, probably just rumours of ghosts or something. Come on, let's get back to Erliquin. It's freezing out here."



"It's freezing in here, too, but at least there's slightly more treasure."
"Hey, Tarquinn, give me your sword! I wanna try something with a new spell I've learned."
"Hell no. When you want to try something it always ends in tears."
"Aw, c'mon. I promise it won't hurt you."
"Fine. But this had better be good."
"Oh, I'm sure it will be."



"I've made enough The Flamberges for everyone! Come and get 'em, boys!"
"Stop that! You're making a mockery of the definite article!"



"On one hand, I'm kind of pissed off that my sword's not unique any more. On the other, hey, new boots."



"How come I didn't get any new gear out of this orgy of item duplication?"



"New boots and a giant sword! Could this day get any better?"



"Well, now I find myself in something of a dilemma: when in combat, do I favour my ridiculously powerful bow, or my ridiculously powerful sword? Also, my diamond shoes are too tight."



"The only armour I need is my faith and the only weapon I need is my devotion, but that doesn't mean I'll say no to a good pair of magic boots."



"I wish I had those old bracers back. It's too bad I can't duplicate things I don't have."

In the next update, the party will start doing quests for one of the nobles of Varn, and you get to decide which one! King Alamar isn't an option yet, because he's in seclusion and won't see us, so our choices boil down to:

Lord Hacker. He's into alchemy, so he'll want the party to fetch various items for an experimental potion. As it happens, they're already carrying some of the ingredients around.

Lord Inspectron. He's into archaeology and exploration, so he'll mostly send the party off to discover various landmarks and ruins. They've already done a few of his quests and don't know it yet.

Lord Ironfist. His interests mostly involve combat and treasure, so the party will be doing a bit of exploration and a lot of fighting. His quests are among the most difficult, but the party's done a couple of them already.

I'll be out of town tomorrow and maybe the day after, so you'll have at least a couple of days to vote. Choose carefully!