Part 10: Words, Words, Words Part 1

Update 10: Words, Words, Words Part 1



Southwards it is!




As soon as we move south of Zun, though, we get a pop-up as a result of the party having sufficient Scouting skill. Gorath alerts us to a small bird suddenly flying out of the brush, as though startled...



Which is actually kind of a problem for us, it means we've reached a dangerous threshold, because as soon as we take another step forwards...



We start gaining skills. Fuck. To explain, this means our skills have gotten over the threshold where we can spot some "ambush" attacks and also move past them without actually getting attacked, which gains us XP towards becoming even better at said ability, and there's no way to opt out of being sneaky, to pick all the fights we can. We're now utterly locked out of certain fights(all of them generic, though, nothing containing any plot), which is on the one hand useful: less getting stabbed. But on the other hand trouble: less getting to train for stabbing enemies and less chance to pry valuable stuff and packed lunches off their corpses.



Strange... I was sure someone was lurking in ambush.
So much for your vaunted "elven senses."





The Bitter Sea... I haven't been here since I was a child, before humans settled the area.
Wait, just how old are you?
About two hundred years.



Well, it looks like you're not the only one camping around here.
And if they're moredhel, that means they'll also have left out chests!




DAY NIGHT

With us having jumped a bit off the intended track in terms of progression, most chests down the coast road have nothing that interests us except for spare change, occasional food and some gems. This one, though, contains a Flamecast scroll which would be our first new spell for Owyn if we'd headed straight south. As it is, we still keep it in our packs since spell scrolls tend to sell for really nice prices, more than a full suit of armor or high-quality sword, despite only taking up one space in a character's backpack.





Most of the encounters are pretty mild, too, just moredhel warriors and the occasional quegan in packs of two or three.




This area also has a lot of the little blue-ish sidepaths which lead nowhere, not to chests, not to enemies, not to homes. I think this is about the only one between Zun and Questor's View that actually leads to something, in this case..






Of course, we can't just have a nice walk without getting ambushed by someone.



Please stand still and wait for my friends to come cave your skulls in.



These particular moredhel are a marker for the party to turn off the road and run into the woods where they've hidden some chests...



And a trap.



This one I don't quite get. There seems to be no solution other than having someone tank a fireball and then running to the end line. Thankfully, however, Owyn has Black Nimbus by this point.



And with the zappy poles disabled, Locklear can go under the fireball cannon and up behind it.




RING



SMOKE



EYES

Hey, didn't we already have a chest with EYES as the answer?
You try coming up with hundreds of riddles without some repeating answers, boy.
Why even have the riddle? Why not just lock the chest?
When you're 200 years old, you'll understand.
What Gorath means is he doesn't have a good answer but doesn't want to admit a human one-upped his race.

All three chests just contain minor valuables, the sort of thing that's irrelevant to us at this point but would be necessary for affording supplies to a party going straight down the road.





It's no surprise that the party makes it to Questor's View unscathed, and Questor's View actually has some useful things going on! Chatty NPC's, a working inn and a trainer!




True to their word, these nice people will literally just hand us free rations.



Here Owyn bards up some more spare change and we get one of the rare "sleep" dialogues upon taking a day's rest to cap up the hit points that we can't recover from resting in the wild.


It's an odd note since none of the party ever make an effort at disguising their names(either in the game or in the novelization), except to occasionally rename Gorath to "Thorgath." Perhaps it was originally meant to be a bigger deal that they were travelling in secret.

In any case, there are two more houses to check out...


And here I thought I'd never be impressed with human warrior spirit.
Pretty bloodthirsty, I'll give them that. I guess that's what you get here in the wild West of the Kingdom.

Then, of course, we're going next door to Tad's house.


Tad is another +5% melee skill, but if you pick up some training from both him and Sumani, you'll get pushed well ahead of the skill curve. It's enough, in fact, that Locklear might well hit 100% Accuracy: Melee before the game is over, which would be great.




Hmmm...
Squire?
I'm just wondering... between Isaac's comments about mind readers and that nightmaster taking an interest in our names. Maybe we haven't thrown the Moredhel off our tracks yet.

_{Humans? Have you noticed the warriors up ahead?}

Don't tell me you're planning to take us off on another wild goose chase.
Just because you can't see the brilliance of my plans doesn't mean it isn't there.

_{Die, dogs of Delekhan!}

I suppose they have made sure we're not short of travelling funds.
See? That settles it, we're taking the route to Eggley and Tanneurs for now. Say, where's Gorath? He'd usually have some salty interjection by now.



Did you two not hear a thing?
I was busy convincing Owyn that we need to turn north at this intersection. You're outvoted two to one, so don't even argue.






The roads in the triangle formed by Questor's View, Hawk's Hollow and Eggley are an absolute mess of minor paths and, in at least two cases, pointless roundabouts that exist purely to disorientate the inattentive traveller.





I take a brief detour because A) I want to collect some more temple dialogue + another teleport option and B) I know there's something of interest up here.



These "Quegans" are pretty far in-land.
I must agree with Owyn, don't "pirates" usually ply their trade at sea?
Pirates or cosplaying bandits, they're trouble either way, let's tell them to shove off.



These guys get a special bit of ambush dialogue, but, considering that they're just three Quegans without mage support or exceptional gear, they die as easily as anyone else.







Once again, we've accidentally helped someone out.







Just for killing three Quegans, we get 60 Sovereigns, which is almost more gold than we'd be likely to earn during the entire trip from to LaMut to Krondor if we just shot the most direct possible. Clearly, good works are their own reward. Now, to head down to Eggley...



We get five steps away from Franklin's house before the party stumbles straight into an ambush.



If you lose initiative against enemy mages, you can expect to have one or more party members knocked out on round one, either via health loss or high-cost Grief casts(or a few other nasty spells we don't see as much of). Despair Thy Eyes is a rare showing, but actually a relief when it does, since it only lasts two rounds.



It's a fight that, honestly, could easily go badly if you don't have River Song to even the numbers and harass the mage or Grief to lock him down with. And even if you just Griefed him, Owyn and Locklear would still be facing 3:2 odds from the warriors who'll prevent Owyn from getting off more than one or two spells unless their AI decides to do something wonky.



As it is, one of them "luckily" gets stuck on trying to carve Gorath down, but I manage to conclude the battle before he gets it done, and the mage doesn't get a chance to hit Owyn or Locklear with any more spells. This fight is, in my opinion, not one you're gonna win without surprise if you get here as early as possible(i.e. straight down the coast then shoot through Questor's View right away).



The boys pull through, though, and make it a whole five more steps down the road before they stumble into an ambush of flavour text.


Huh, just looping around the same area again and again? Sure those aren't our tracks?





...this town feels a bit empty.
Strange, it's supposed to be a minor, but active, farming town...
And didn't Isaac say they were organizing a festival? That usually draws more people, not less.

All the buildings in Eggley are empty, and the store is locked(much too well for us to open for a while yet), in fact the only one we can interact with meaningfully is the tavern.



Bartender, a mug of your strongest exposition!




I do believe this is the loneliest tavern I've ever visited. Where is everyone?

Everyone is elsewhere. With the exception of Rake, myself and a handful of boarders that have wandered in from off the road, there's not been another soul in town since the Festival.

Everyone? Why? What happened here?

Come the eighth hour of last evening, a cloaked gentlemen entered through that same door there and took a seat. He ordered a joint of beef, a loaf of bread and a mug of ale. I remembered these things because I had ordered the same. Soon as he had finished his meal he went to the tavernkeeper and tossed down fifty golden sovereigns, turned round and was gone by the door. Before the first of those coins stopped their spinning on the counter, the rest of the people in the tavern rushed out after him. The keeper didn't even latch the door...

Some sort of deal?

Nope. Some sort of damn local ritual. It seems I arrived in the middle of a ceremony that was called the Festival of the Stranger. Traditionally the elders of the town would gather in the tavern and draw lots and the one with the longest lot was dubbed The Stranger. On the first night of the festival, The Stranger comes around and offers the members of the town fake sovereigns - they called them nimptos - and then the citizens of the town leave to sleep in the fields. Of course, I wasn't aware of what was going on.

And they're supposed to stay in the fields?

Ah, no, no, no. The next morning, the elected Stranger is to circle the village three times while swinging a strand of hemp over his head. When he is done, he cuts the length of rope and sets it on the road to let the people know that they can come back. They then know that Killian is looking with good fortune on their township and that she won't strike their fields dead. If the strand is not placed, however, it means that she is displeased and any citizen that attempts to return to town will be struck dead.

Was the Stranger killed by Killian?

No, not Killian, but by a man named the Collector to whom he owed money who didn't know about the town's tradition. It didn't matter to the citizens of Eggley, though. They still chose to see it as a sign from Killian and they haven't returned since, think the place is cursed and won't return until the curse is lifted. They've relocated in Tanneurs, Hawk's Hollow, and a few in Malac's Cross. They all believe they've done the right thing and have given me permission to do whatever I wanted here. Out of respect for them, I've decided to keep the old town name of Eggley.

I don't know. It seems people would have to be pretty thick to believe all of that.

Would they? Would you have the nerve to spit on a shrine of Ishap?

No...but...I guess I can see your point.

Everyone has their beliefs. Many people in these villages at one time were farmers, and it is difficult for them to simply turn their backs on the goddess of nature. They require her blessing before they can go on to new lives. You should remember that before you judge something to be ignorant. So - as my new job as bartender of this tavern, I suppose it's my duty to see if you need anything? Can I set you up?

With the initial greetings sorted, Devon has a number of keywords, though some of them are only available because we talked to Isaac earlier, it should be relatively obvious which ones those are.

[FESTIVAL]

Which god did you say this Festival of the Stranger was in celebration of?

The fertility goddess - Bringer of Harvests, The Earth Mother, Silban. Pick a name. All mean the same thing. She's the wench to whom ma and pa ugly pray to have little runt ugly and enough wheat to eat through the winter. Can't say I have much use for her.

Is there a temple of hers nearby, or...

Straight west of Eggley, then north at the crossroads. Big white building with the columns, smells like a whore's bedchamber. Hard to miss.

[MOREDHEL]

Someone we ran into up the road told us they had seen a moredhel near here. I don't suppose you've seen him have you?

Him? I've seen enough moredhel to start a barrel ball city league. Whole clump of them came by here a few weeks ago heading south in packs of twos and threes down the road towards Tanneurs.

Were they armed?

Like the war god Tith's own legions. Looked like they might be out to sign up as caravan guards, but who would hire them?

Did you get a look at any of them?

None of them came close enough to the Stranger that I could get a good look at them. Now that I think of it, it's kind of peculiar. On the off occasions when moredhel will crash through a town, they'll usually kick up some kind of ruckus with the locals to prove who's the toughest kid on the block. These just marched through town like they were in a parade review, like they were expecting someone to watch them come through.

This whole conversation is weird and lore-violating. Canonically Moredhel are never seen south of the Teeth of the World except as raiders overrunning a human border town for loot and perhaps slaves/prisoners. They have no trading relationship with humans except weapon runners and smugglers, they barely even recognize humans as fellow sapients, filing them alongside goblins and trolls as some sort of noisy wild animal instead. I mean, this is honestly way more interesting than Feist's usual handling of non-humans, who tend to have very un-nuanced, mono-culture existences where everyone is either good or evil. Only the Kingdom, Tsurani and Keshians really get to have any depth, internal cultures or internal politics in the main-line books.

[BUILDINGS]

With a whole town to yourself, I'm surprised you haven't opened up any of the other shops or houses.

I'm leaving them be until I know what's eventually going to happen here. Never know when some folk is going to show up and want his property back. I don't want to be the idiot holding the bag. If most of the folks were smart, they probably locked their houses and I'm not much of a lockpick.

Know anyone who is?

Strange character named Abuk. I ran across him when I was working for the Dauphiness Cassandra of Queg. We discovered him once when we boarded a Keshian vessel. After he helped open a few choice chests of mercantile, we chained him up in the belly of the ship so we could make a present of him to Cassandra. But when we docked in Palanque, all we found in the hold of the ship was a note saying he could be found in Silden if ever we needed his services. I've never hired anyone else for a lockpicking job since.

[POKIIR]

Now I think of it, a man we know told us he lost at pokiir to a Devon here in Eggley. Would you be he?

Depends on why you're asking, now doesn't it? If you're interested in playing a hand or two, then I might say I'm the same man. If, however, your friend decided to send round a few bravos to collect what I rightfully won from him...

What's yours is yours as far as I'm concerned. I was just wondering how good a player you were. Isaac said that you had an unusual talent for it.

Isaac? Isaac said I had an unusual talent for it? Now if that's not the pot calling the kettle black, I've never heard it at all. While we we're playing, it was as if that scuff knew every thought I had in my head. Every time he would fold he'd just look over at his elven friends with a big smile.

Elven friends? Like Thorgath here?

They could have been brothers by the look of them. Yeah, he looked kinda like your friend, but he damn sure wasn't an elf. He was wearing the clothes of one of Delekhan's moss-troopers. Moredhel. No doubt about it.

Once again, why in the fuck would a moredhel that everyone recognizes as dressed like one, just be hanging around in a Kingdom town? This is handled somewhat better in the novel where, even though the party never reaches Eggley, the guards around Hawk's Hollow clearly have no idea what Moredhel look like, being so southernly, stating clearly that Gorath can't be one because he lacks the glowing red eyes and giant vampiric fangs they usually have.

At this point, we can now gamble with Devon, however there's a hidden bit of dialogue here which is only triggered if we start the gambling dialogue, then back out without actually gambling.

[A GAME]

I'm more familiar with pashawa, but I've played pokiir a few times with men from the Shamata garrison. You play by special rules?

Straight game. Mercy's rules, full deck, nothing wild. Only special rule I have is you cheat, I ventilate your liver. Simple as that. Interested in playing?

[NO]

Not today. It's nothing personal you understand, I just don't feel Banath's with me at the moment.

I've had runs of luck like that. Once I was riding high while I was working for the Dauphiness of Palanque, won fifteen straight games of lin-lan in a tavern against this miserable old seadog, but he refused to give up. Middle of the sixteenth game, he pulls out a diamond half the size of my fist and says he wants to bet it. I tell him I don't have enough money to match a bet like that, but he suggests I put up the purse I'm carrying for the Dauphiness.

How did he find out about it?

Let's say the liquor told him... So, I put up the purse. He pulls out a Blue Lady, a Red Knight, two Yellow Squires and a King's Jester. Lost the whole lot to him. The Dauphiness was less than pleased. I had to work for that witch as a bodyguard for two years to pay off what I lost in that purse.

This opens up the SELF-DEFENSE keyword...

SELF DEFENSE (if Isaac)

If you were a Dauphiness' bodyguard, you must be a superb swordsman. Perhaps you could teach us a thing or two?

I have my tricks. You don't stay alive as long as I do without picking something up here and there. I might be able to give you a few pointers if you're willing to pay. Eighty sovereigns a session. Interested?

[YES]


This provides an incredibly huge boost to Defense for everyone, +10! 15 if it's the only skill tagged for everyone. Completely crazy and increases the party's survivability by a lot. Now we can finally say goodbye to Devon and get back on the road.

Thank you for your hospitality, Devon. It was a pleasant respite from travelling the roads.

Remember that next time you talk to someone about Eggley. Time to start some new rumors.

That we will. Goodbye, Devon.



That was a hell of a lot of dialogue but... there's more to come. Obviously at this point we're gonna hoof it back to the Temple of Silban to ask what the hell's up with the Festival before heading back down here, if we do...






Why are we wasting our time with these fool farmers and their superstitions when we should be heading to Krondor?
Well, firstly, because there's probably a reward. Secondly, because any chaos in the area will be to Delekhan's benefit if it comes to war. Lastly, because now you've made it a point of pride that we'll be doing it to spite you.

[Continued in another post since, despite being only 1 hour of gameplay, this was already up to 80000 characters by the end]