Part 9: Dim Adventurers In The Woods, Part 02
Update 09: Dim Adventurers in the Woods, Part 2
We pick the West option since we still have a last couple of local chapter 1-ish quests to clear up.
This map is just for reference to help show what a hilariously roundabout route the team has taken so far.
It's good to be back on a normal road again, now, we should-
What? Go to Armengar? Elvander? Queg? The Kingdom of Roldem? ...I was going to say "take a stroll up to Loriel to investigate that stolen ruby."
So much for your theory that this route would throw my people off our tracks, squire. Obviously the moredhel are too primitive for my advanced stratagem, so, new plan: we murder every moredhel south of the Teeth of the World.
Finally something that makes a bit of sense.
I almost feel bad for this guy. He's either the bravest or the dumbest moredhel in existence. I've been feeling that way about a lot of the ones we've been killing. Delekhan hasn't been sending his best.
He gets to be embarrassingly smacked into the dirt by Owyn's staff.
BaK posted:
A piece of paper dangled from the doorknob.
"At all costs, travellers should avoid contact with Orno, known widely as Orno the Pale" Owyn read aloud. "A contagion of unknown proportions has already lead to the illness of three people. Avoid any contact with..." The door swung open. "...him." Owyn straightened himself as a haggard looking man in his mid twenties appeared in the doorway, his face covered with a bloody handkerchief. "You are Orno?"
"Yessss," he wheezed through his handkerchief. "And you're...on...my dohstep. Get away afore you get yourselves in-fec-ted."
"What is wrong with you?"
The man shook his head. "Don't know, doctor's don't know, priests don't know. Nobody knows. Only persons that's survived is Michele the Healer, but she's a ways off in Loriel."
"I see," Locklear said. "Well, we'll be off now. Sorry to have bothered you."
Again the man nodded. "I'z sure you will be. I'z sure of it."
...
No one wished to speak about it.
Seeing the glazed looks in each other's eyes and sickly pallor each had begun to exhibit, it was more than obvious they had fallen prey to a virulent plague.
Silently, Locklear hoped they would reach a temple soon before they all died of it.
And here I was wondering how this detour could get any worse. Do we still have some healing herbs?
Thankfully Orno only gives us a "light" plague of 21%, which I counter by dropping healing herbs on everyone. Without it, the Plague % would slowly rise, with it, it drops instead and I tell the party to take a quick nap.
It should be obvious that we could just sleep this off, but since we're headed to Loriel anyway... let's see what Michele has for us.
Loriel is one of those towns that's only relevant in one chapter, in this case chapter 1. It never gets any refreshed content and the only reason to visit would be to hit up the inn for more bard bucks when they refresh, and the two points of interest are Michele and Kiefer.
BaK posted:
A thin little man greeted them at the door.
"I'm Keifer Alescook. Have you come to buy or sell some gems?" he questioned in a frail voice.
Locklear moved closer to the door. "We're looking for a ruby that may have been stolen by a group of Grey Warriors. Have you purchased any gemstones from such men?" "I don't know what you're talking about," the man said quickly. "I don't buy stolen merchandise. You might try talking to a fellow I ran into north of Hawk's Hollow about it. Name's Isaac if I recall." The man looked about nervously. "I'm...er...not open for business right now. You'll have to come back later."
Before Locklear could say another word Keifer had closed the door.
That was remarkably suspicious. We should drag him outside and interrogate him. Impossible, an upstanding citizen of the Kingdom would never lie to me, a squire. Let's head off to Hawk's Hollow... once we get our plague sores cured, that is.BaK posted:
The house's occupant was talkative.
Careful not to divulge any details about their trip, Locklear steered the conversation towards the townspeople. "Everyone here's fine folks, all except for Michele the Healer. I hope you're not planning to visit her."
"Why?" Locklear asked.
"She's a snake," he said. "Told me I was going to die, but you know what? I got better. Oh, I felt horrible enough for three or four days and thought I was going to die, but no, I made it through alive. I tell you, I think she and Orno the Pale have some kind of deal. He's giving them some kind of contagion and then she's administering some kind of phony medicine. It's indecent."
Whoops, wrong house. Not a lot of them around here, though, we probably won't get the wrong one twice in a row.BaK posted:
Michele escorted them inside.
The house was small but well appointed, its furniture very tasteful indeed for someone who seemed to be only a commoner. "You require my services," she stated. "You are ill."
Locklear shifted in his chair. "You sound very certain of yourself."
"You have the signs. I can heal you, but I require payment. 25 sovereigns. Will you pay?"
[YES]
The exchange was made.
"Very well," she said, taking the money from Locklear. "Lay back for a moment and I will do my work." Unplugging a small vial of a clear liquid, she passed it under her patients' noses and then patted each on the head. "You are all healed. You may go now."
Despite the town's residents making every effort to make Michele sound suspicious, and her own behavior not helping much, Michele is actually entirely on the up and up. She'll cure the Plague condition, and only that, but she'll do it far cheaper than any temple and for all party members in one go. Thankfully I think the game has only like, two other places you can get yourself plagued, so we won't have much need for revisiting her. If we didn't want to trust her, though, we could head out the back of town and visit the Temple of Ishap isolated in the woody nook behind it...
We've already seen what the other services temples offer are, so let's take a look at the local head priest's dialogue.
BaK posted:
Acolytes escorted them.
After passing through a maddening series of arches, they finally were let into a large chamber upon whose floor a seven rayed star was formed in mosaic by dark blue tiles. A small priest stood in the symbol's center, his back turned towards them.
"We are looking for the high priest of this Temple," Locklear said. "Would you know where we could find him?"
"I am he." As the man half-turned, Locklear suppressed a gasp at the priest's hideous visage. Stuck to the left side of his face was a dark brown strip of cloth, a ragged hole torn in it to allow a pinkish looking eye to peer out at them.
"What is it that you want?" he wheezed, his frame shuddering with each breath. "Are you new acolytes?"
"No." Locklear swallowed with some difficulty. "We are...travellers."
"As all under the heavens are," the man said, making a feeble gesture at the vaulted ceiling above them. All travellers. Please, let us talk a while."
When at last many of the candles in the chamber had burned low, the priest nodded his head. "I have enjoyed this," he said quietly.
"As have we," Locklear replied graciously, rising to leave. "Oh, before I forget, where was the interesting statue again that you mentioned?"
"The oracle? In the hills to the east of Malac's Cross," the priest replied. "Perhaps your journeys will take you there soon."
I genuinely am sad that the religions of Midkemia don't feature more in the stories, because what little snippets we get genuinely make it sound like there's something interesting there at times. Anyway, time to head south to Hawk's Hollow! Little of interest happens during the trip except for a few moredhel suicide pacts deciding to end their lives on the team's swords.
Hey! Be careful, I almost tripped over that guy! I'll try to be more noisy about it the next time I dispatch an assassin sent for us. Perhaps you'd like a notarized letter? Or a warbling battle cry? I just don't want to put my foot in his everything is all.BaK posted:
Locklear smiled.
Although the approaching man seemed half a hand shorter for the passage of eleven years, his halting stride was still as personal to him as his signature. Ages past Isaac had suffered his limp proudly, worn it like an injury sustained on a field of battle and for that he had gained the respect and admiration of Krondor's young squires, Locklear among them. His tragic expulsion from Arutha's court had been a blow to them all.
Scoundrel, I would have thought you strung up for impersonating a Duke by now! How are you, Isaac?! It's been since Arutha' s wedding, hasn't it?
The very day. You should have heard the fit Master of Ceremonies deLacy threw when he found out I wasn't the Count of Dorgin's son. I daresay he would have tossed me over the palace walls himself if he hadn't been busy with the details of the blessed event. I've kept busy since then, spent the last few years on the road doing odd jobs along the border. You'd be surprised at all the things I've learned and seen since I've left Krondor. Surprise me then. You alway were a rumormonger. Well...what would you like to know about?[SAFE PASSAGE]
I've just returned from a military assignment and it's imperative that I get south as soon and as inconspicuously as possible. Are there any places you think we should avoid? At all costs, you'll want to avoid the road from Eggley to Tanneurs. There is a festival to be held in Eggley and it's likely your elven companion would be spotted right away. What makes you think we're off to Krondor? Elves don't come much out of Elvandar and they are even less likely to travel in the company of a boy and seigneur when they do take to voyaging. Whatever you three are about, I assumed it must involve the good of the Kingdom. Krondor would be the only logical place for you to go.[MIND READERS]
These roads seem littered with those anxious to anticipate our movements. Do you know of anyone in this area that seems to have unusual skills? Some one who seems like they know your thoughts? No... For a fact I can't say that I have, but a certain pokiir player that I lost a great deal of money to in Eggley comes to mind. Name of Devon, I believe. It took me quite a while to make up the funds I lost during a single night playing against him. He very nearly took every sovereign I'd made in a month's time.[STOLEN GEMS]
Did you by any chance purchase a ruby from Keifer Alescook in Loriel? He told us he sold it to someone named Isaac and the description he gave us sounded like you. Why? You want to buy it from me? It's not like it's the only ruby in the world you know... The ruby he sold you was stolen from a Tsurani magician who was passing through LaMut. The Garrison would like the stone back. We were hoping we could talk you into at least returning it to Keifer to get your money back. I'm sorry to hear about your dilemma, but I had no idea the stone was stolen when I paid Keifer's price and I have my own little problem. I need the stone so I can pay off a sword crafter and get my blade repaired. Can't you pay him with gold? He specifically barters in gems and the ruby will cover my costs plus a little more. I should have enough left over to eat for a month or more. What if we can repair your sword for you? What, here? In the middle of the road? Since I don't have a workshop, I don't see that we can do it anywhere else. Well...I suppose. My blade is fairly expensive and I'd hate to see it further damaged. It's conceivable you could do more harm than good, so unless you're really skilled at weaponcraft...well... Do you really think you're that good? Good enough. Your blade? Please be careful, I paid quite a bit for it.[CLANGING ENSUES]
Well, I have to say this, you appear to know what you're doing. It looks much better than it did. And it will hold the edge?: You could cut up the whole of Delekhan's moss-rangers and it'd still be sharp for a month after. Well...it looks as if you've come through on your end of the bargain. Remind me to give you the ruby before you leave.This entire detour is canon(though it has some additional parts in the book that we haven't seen yet...) and, surprisingly, Isaac gives us no static, coughing up a 1% quality ruby. There's a competency cutoff for being able to fix his sword(45% weaponcrafting on any member of the party), and trying while below that will screw up the quest as Isaac insists on keeping the ruby to get his now completely fucked sword repaired. I presume it's intentionally a 1% ruby so the player doesn't fuck up and accidentally sell it because it's worth money before they get to LaMut.
Speaking of screwing things up, wasn't there something else we needed to do down here by Hawk's Hollow?
I'm only reminding you of it so Locklear doesn't haul is back here when we're almost at the gates of Krondor, but we were looking for a chest. Oh, yes, that scribe wanted us to take a poke at a chest down here for entirely unsuspicious reasons. We'll go through Hawk's Hollow and poke around for it.
Hawk's Hollow is a small town with few points of interest, but one of them is very interesting though, in all honesty, from a min-maxing standpoint, I shouldn't be making use of it until chapter 2(the reason why being a spoiler, so ask me again when we reach chapter 2).
BaK posted:
A man invited them inside.
"Come in. My name's Lucan," he introduced himself as he slapped his guests on their backs. "Nice to meet you. I haven't had visitors in some while. You know it gets kind of lonely up here and the kids don't come down too often. You have kids? They're a marvel don't you think and..."
Locklear seized Lucan's wrist and gave it a savage twist, forcing a shiny sovereign to fall from the man's pained fingers. Everyone watched in shocked silence as the gold clattered to the floor.
"I almost didn't feel you nabbing that from my purse," Locklear said. "You're not bad thief, but not good enough."
"Don't kill me," Lucan pleaded. "Please. I don't have anything to give you, but I'll do anything. I'll...I'll teach you!"
"You'll what?" Owyn sputtered.
"I'll teach you, yes, that's it!" Lucan said, his face brightening. "Spare my life and...and I'll teach you what I know about locks! Everything! What do you say?"
[YES]
Locklear arched an eyebrow... "Very well, Lucan," he said. "You may teach us, but if we leave here with any less than we came in with..."
"No, no, no. You have my word. Just sit here and I'll be right back. I'll go and fetch my practice locks and I'll be right back."
"Nice try, but no. You're staying here." Locklear pushed Lucan to a seated position. "Just tell Owyn where your practice locks are and he'll fetch them. Then we'll start our lessons..."
Having resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to escape, Lucan lectured and demonstrated for the better part of the day before he set his practice locks aside.
"That's it," he mumbled, wiping perspiration from his brow. "That's all I know."
"Good enough," Locklear said. "I think we will be on our way now. And Lucan, for your continued health, I would suggest that you get out of the thieving business."
Lucan provides a 5%(without training) boost to everyone's lockpicking skills. Once again, extremely invaluable, especially in the early game, since some "will mangle the entire party" trapped chests have a 90% skill requirement to not blow up everyone's faces.
There's one other interesting house in Hawk's Hollow...
BaK posted:
The door opened a fraction of an inch.
"Your hands," a voice commanded.
"Pardon? What did you say?" Locklear asked.
"Show me your HANDS," the voice repeated from the darkness. "Palms up, thumb out. And don't make any sudden moves."
Faintly amused, Locklear complied and did as asked, extending both his hands for the stranger's examination. On command he turned his hands over, again waiting for the judgement of the voice in the house.
"You pass," the voice in the house pronounced at last, but his voice did not sound relieved. "All right then, listen carefully and don't ask any questions."
"What was all that hand business about?"
"I said no questions," the voice snapped. "Suffice it to say, I know that you can be trusted with what I have to say because you don't bear the sign. You should be on the lookout for scrolls or anyone bearing scrolls. Read them carefully. They could save your life. Be safe."
"Scrolls?" Locklear asked. "Why? What's on these scrolls? Does it have anything..."
Abruptly the door slammed shut.
As far as I'm aware, this is never explained or tied into anything else, but it does help with the feeling that about half the Kingdom of the Isles is suffering from some form of psychosis. There are a lot of weirdos around.
I'll say, sometimes it feels like we're the only normal people in the Kingdom. Um, who're you talking to, squire? Never you mind, let's go find that chest.
The chest is actually a bit challenging to find without a guide, as the scribe up near Yabon only says it's "west of Hawk's Hollow" and that describes a pretty decent section of the map. Still, the gang eventually stumble upon it behind a hill, guarded by a trio of rogues.
It turns out that while they may be dab hands with swords, they're not competent ghost busters and, once again, River Song saves the day.
Something seems suspicious about this errand. Pipe down, Gorath, I've almost got this l-
... Do you, uh, want a hand getting the half-molten remains of the lock out of your forehead? Please.All the chest contains is an emerald, which is still nice. Also thankfully the trap is less murderous than the one in the Mac Mordain Cadal, only handing out 25 damage which the party could've weathered right out of the gate.
Easy for you to say, I've got splinters. Splinters. Luckily I remember there's a temple west of Hawk's Hollow...
BaK posted:
They were shown to a chamber.
Here, there were no flagstones or chipped tiles underneath their feet, but instead a thick carpet of grass jeweled with dew. At the far end of the room, a pair of yew trees overarched a throne of woven reed, upon which was seated a striking looking woman, her shoulder length black hair bound behind her back with a green cord.
"I am the High Priestess of this Temple," she said musically. "Killian welcomes you to her domain. Come. Be seated."
Listening with keen interest to the stories told by Locklear, the priestess remained as motionless as a statue. At last, she folded her hands in her lap and sighed heavily.
"That was most entertaining," she said. "I particularly liked the part about the drunk. But I would advise you in the future to keep an eye on the food you eat. You shouldn't simply gulp down the first thing you find without taking a look at it first."
Properly chastened, Locklear shrugged his shoulders and promised he would be more careful in the future. Cheered, he didn't mind when the High Priestess escorted them from the room.
I will never understand the relationship you humans have with your gods. What do you mean? Every temple we've visited, the squire simply barges in, demands to talk to the person in charge, and then bores them until they tell us to go away. I'm not sure how else you expect to get anything out of the gods. How do you moredhel deal with yours? We break into their abandoned basements and steal their stuff. Perhaps we can learn something from the moredhel after all...
And with that, we're mostly done with the detour. We're back to the north/south road from LaMut to Krondor. Now we just gotta get back to LaMut, hand in the ruby, then head up to Yabon to tell the scribe that we're not very happy about the medical bills he got us. On the way is a minor town, Zun, known only for regular duels between the hard-drinking witches of the area. In the game, it's even less of a place than Loriel, but it does have a reason to stop by...
Namely, two of the houses have some unique dialogues if you harass the residents.
House 1:
BaK posted:
Locklear knocked on the door of the small wooden house, then waited patiently for someone to answer. After several seconds, a woman appeared and ushered them inside."I don't have time to talk unless it's really important, sirs. I have to finish preparing some mushrooms that I picked for the shopkeeper over at Keges. He nearly ran out of healing restoratives yesterday and you know what they say, 'You can kill me but you can't eat me'."
"That's a strange expression," Owyn said. "What does it mean?"
"To tell the truth, I don't know," the woman replied, her face brightening with a wide grin. "It was something that the Baron Kevin used to say. Never could make any sense out of it. Now if you'll excuse me I really must be running along."
House 2:
BaK posted:
The door swung open.
Bleary eyed and smelling of alcohol, a fortyish looking man sneered at them. "Well, what do you want?" he shouted. "Out with it!"
"We were hoping you could give us directions."
"Directions?! Directions?!" The man's eyes blazed as he snared a wine bottle from the floor. "I'll give you directions!"
Before Locklear could react, he felt the impact of the wine bottle against his skull...
And if you're wondering? Yes. That does actually do damage to Locklear. It's not just descriptive text.
Next time, someone else gets to open the door.Anyway, let's skip northwards, no reason to chronicle the trip. First LaMut...
BaK posted:
The Garrison was impressive.
Sitting high on a hill overlooking LaMut, the military outpost had been constructed years earlier to head off a possible moredhel assault on the western border of the kingdom.
They followed a road that snaked through town and up the rocky hill upon which the garrison sat. After speaking with the sentries at the gate, they were lead under the fortress’s massive iron portcullis.
Captain Belford greeted them with a smile. "What brings you back here?" he asked cordially.
Locklear drew out the ruby they had discovered. Holding it out for Bedford to see the gemstone caught a shaft of sunlight, splashing the walls with thousands of twinkling red spots.
"Are you returning Makala's ruby?" asked Belford.
[YES]
Locklear handed the ruby to Captain Belford.
"I'm glad you found this," he said, placing the gemstone into a small velvet lined box. "It will be good to get Makala off my back. I've sent so many men out looking for this blasted thing there's hardly anyone left in the garrison!" He retrieved a pouch from a locked chest in the corner of the room. "Here you are, 100 gold sovereigns. Thank you, Gents."
Locklear put the pouch in his pack and they left.
Selling looted stuff from Dimwood has kind of put the party ahead of the curve, I don't think I've ever had this rich a party before at this stage of the game(and I left behind so many suits of armor, weapons and consumables that I couldn't carry...), but if it's your first time playing and you're playing the game "straight," then beelining for Hawk's Hollow to get the gem isn't a bad idea!
Now, for the scribe up by Yabon...
BaK posted:
Locklear angrily shoved open the door to Jeremy's house.
"We shall have a word with you scribe," he spat. "You suspected that box was rigged to explode -- that's why it was the only one you hadn't surveyed."
"Believe what you like, but no. I had no idea it was trapped."
Locklear glared at the bald headed man who returned their gaze with contempt. "We should take it out of your hide, but provided you hold up to your end of the bargain, I suppose we'll let you be, as we have more important matters to attend to."
"What? More important than threatening scribes?" Jeremy snapped, picking up a book and thrusting it into Locklear's hands. "I'll not have you accusing me of being a shyster on top of any other crimes you care to manufacture about me. Get out of here."
Without a word they left, slamming the door behind them.
Interestingly, if you never met the scribe, but already found the chest, the dialogue is quite a bit different:
BaK posted:
"I really should have that cleaned, I suppose." Locklear jerked upright at the sound of the gruff voice. Padding from around the corner of the house, a balding man stopped next to Owyn and held up a palm stained with black ink. "A scribe tends to make quite a mess. Occupational hazard."
"Scribe?"
"Among other things," he said. "Currently I have accepted a commission on behalf of a travelling merchant to do a survey of all the mercantile boxes in the area. Perhaps you would be interested in helping..."
"And what would we profit of it?" Locklear said quietly.
"Information," the scribe replied. "I've acquired a book I think you'll find very interesting. There's a box just west of Hawk's Hollow, on the southern side of a small hill. I suspect it has been trapped. Find out for me and I'll give you my book."
Locklear frowned. "As it turns out, we have already found that particular box. It was trapped," he said.
"Oh! Well, better that you discovered it than me," he said. He walked to a small book shelf in the corner of his house and drew out a large volume. Returning he handed it to Locklear.
"Happy reading. Now, I really must be about my business."
Either way you get your reward. In general the game is good about allowing for these little twists, or preventing them from happening in the first place by only unlocking later "steps" in a quest after you've done the first one(s). A lot of dialogue also changes per chapter, for instance, the Kenting Rush/Cavall Keep area actually has quite a bit of dialogue exclusive to Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, which most players would probably never see(I'll show it off any "missed" dialogue from earlier chapters where we didn't visit an area, when we do get there. There's no "gameplay content" to miss in the area, after all.).
The book he hands the party has a description that implies it's worthless, and a use text description that sounds much the same...
BaK posted:
Many times [Gorath] flipped back the cover of the book to reaffirm that the title had in some way been connected to the migration of birds. While the author had begun a discussion on winged wildlife, he had quickly meandered into a discussion of the famed battles of Midkemia, continued on to a reiteration of various battle songs, diverted to a rant about the prices of ale in the Kingdom's taverns, tangentially lamented about the plight of magicians and then ended on a humorous anecdote about his mother-in-law having consumed a vial of Fadamor's Formula to outslug a Tsurani warrior in a bar brawl.
But in reality, what it does is provide a guaranteed +5% bonus to all skills on first use, with an 8% chance of actually functioning on subsequent uses. Since it has 100 uses, you would probably squeeze another few successes out of it if you spent them all, but each reading also consumes 15 in-game hours(and with it, rations). Reading through the entire set of "charges" would consume 62.5 in-game days and thus quite a lot of rations as well. Not that it would necessarily be a bad idea to do, even so, after all, sufficient resting actually increases the characters' health and stamina(or, possibly, simply passed time, based on some FAQs).
Enough theory, however, it's time to cap off this update by getting back on the road!
Ahhh, south of Zun at last! I can practically smell the sea from here! It'll be refreshing to visit some warmer climes. I've had just about enough of mountains and winter weather. I thought you moredhel would be used to it, living up in the Northlands. Being used to it doesn't mean we're happy about it. Hmmm... but is this the right way?VOTE
Run straight south to Krondor?
OR
Detour through Questor's View, Eggley and Tanneurs? Taking this trip will add an extra wrinkle to the Isaac/Stolen Gems subplot.