Part 59: Bonus Update 38.5: The Last Two Castles

Not a real update tonight, but I spent all day writing an essay on AIDS activism and the Chernobyl disaster (don't ask how these things are related), so unless you want to read that, this is all you get.

Bonus Update 38.5: The Last Two Castles



Not much to say about this area. The entire northwest quadrant is the King's Orchard, and it's full of monster encounters. Horatio Harper is in the southern forest, and he tells you the day's password so you can get into Castle Alamar. (You can also get around the lion statue by teleportation, but that's hardly sporting.) See that hint about the "cold emotional princess"? This area is also where we can use the Diamond Key... but you'll see that in due course.



This has one of the best hint blurbs in the game: it suggests a lot without spelling anything out. Of course, none of it is a spoiler any more. The fake King Alamar's actually an alien, his quest is an unsolvable waste of time, and this entire castle is full of loads and loads of powerful monsters.



The Pool of Health is in the glaciers in the southeast corner: you can try to get to it early in the game for maximum benefit, but that's easier said than done. Dark Rider is in the southwestern forest (and we'll find out what all that "One by Land" stuff is about soon enough). He's not that tough if you're strong enough to survive wandering around this area in the first place. Castle Doom is in that little spiral of mountains in the far north, and as you can see, it's much less painful to get to it if you know Etherealise.



Finally, Castle Doom. The monsters here are probably the strongest you'll find anywhere in the game. The Endless Spiral is a pain, and there are a few strategically-placed spaces where you can't use magic, so it's non-trivial to Etherealise your way to the centre. You can either cast Location every step and map out where the teleporters are, or cast Jump randomly and hope for the best. Finding the real King Alamar is one of the few things you absolutely have to do if you want to win Might & Magic. In fact, I'm pretty sure the Eye of Goros, the Coral Key and the Key Card are the only three essential items in the entire game. That's right, folks: of the last 38 updates, 35 were completely skippable. Don't you love how games used to be in the good old days?

Voting is pretty clearly leaning toward letting the party finish exploring Varn before the final confrontation with the false King Alamar, so that's what I'll do. There's one cave and a few interesting outdoor areas we haven't seen yet, but we're very close to the end now: it should all be over by the 45th update (which still makes this the longest LP I've done so far).