Part 133: Chapter CXXX - Priestess, I like to ask you about your cat.

Chapter CXXX - Priestess, I like to ask you about your cat.



We enter yet another level of Watcher's Keep and are immediately greeted by this monstrosity.



The monsters he summons are dealt with swiftly but we can't actually get to the man himself.



Looks like we'll just have to explore this level, that machine probably holds the key to the next one.



These oils will probably come in handy.



To the north is an area filled with mind flayers.



The key allows us access to the inner sanctum.



Vampiric mind flayers, I had no idea those existed. They die just as easy as regular ones.



If we head back to the main area and exit to the south...



Those potions are not going to save you, damn dirty apes!



Always handy, yoink.



Now I really want to know every detail about Irenicus' trials, it probably involved a lot of dialogue.



We steamroll over the last of the Githyanki and head to the next area.





On our way there we snag some more items.



God damn it, I always mess this up! Being a dick is just too tempting.

I can't even be bothered to kill him, I'm sick and tired of dragons. Let's head back to the main area.



Those tinder and oils sure came in handy!







Success!



What a pitiful little man, not even worth killing. The journal should give us some clues as to how to operate the machine...



...Or we could just let Sandrah do it.

Time to head to the next level!



That altar in front of us is our ticket out of here, we just need three keys to get it to work. Time to explore.



First up is the 'globe machine'.



You get a colored globe from it and put it in the corresponding cylinder but you have to fight a battle each time you do so. When you're finished...



One down, two to go!



Bah, we have to come back later once we find the skull.



Three doors, three challenges.



What's behind door #1?



God, I must've seen this area like 20 times by now, each time populated by orcs. These particular ones keep respawning.



After a while the ghost appears and our challenge is won.



Door #2.



...God damn it, not another dragon. And we can't avoid a fight here.



Before leaving we take the warrior's skull from the dragon's corpse. I really should've made a screenshot of it.



Third time's the charm.



Easy enough.



I've always preferred non-combat encounters.



Just one more key left.



We place the skull and...



We're thrust into an honest-to-God text adventure section. This part might get boring so feel free to scroll to the point where I get the key.























There we go, we've collected all the keys!

(I'm pretty sure there's an easter egg here that's accessed by looking at your map in this area, doing so leads to a picture of the original dev team, I couldn't get it to work this time around though)



Every time we turn a key we get to fight something. These are liches.



Not sure what these were supposed to be but they were push-overs.



And finally we're pitted against an assortiment of nasties, the hardest fight out of the three.



I love how these two are competing which one of them gets to hopskotch the plot. Too bad for Irenicus that Sandrah's way ahead of him.



I don't see these two getting together but I've been wrong before.



The portal is opened and we can enter the keep's final area.



Irenicus heads off Sandrah at the pass by telling us not to trust the Helmites. And not a moment too soon...



This goes against my better nature but I don't like being duped.



The portal in the back allows us to leave the keep, time to deal with these Helmites.



...

I'm so fucking done with this shit.

Sandrah can't resist butting in on everyone's problems with sage advice she required by getting a copy of the script. I'm completely convinced that the only reason she didn't speak up during the Deva quest is because Roxanne couldn't get it to work without breaking the entire thing. Either way these conversations are really starting to get to me and I'm getting the feeling that it's only going to get worse from here.

I completely believe that Sandrah's an expert on 'celestial aids' though.



Jesus fucking Christ it's like this mod is trying to get me to stop playing it. Who enjoys this shit!?



Ha, suckers!



That creepy ghost thing is right, though. I can't leave these guys to their fates! We'll have to go back in.



Back again, in the nick of t-



...Oh, what have I done?



Oh crap, it's the Demogorgon! Sandrah was right! How can we possibly defeat the infamous Prince of Demons?



Who needs tactics when you have Sandrah at your disposal?



I can't believe that actually worked!



Come on, Irenicus! You can't leave us hanging like that!







And that was Watcher's Keep. Next time we're going to help out Caelar and make some progress with the main story!