Part 34: A Very Dramatic Twist

Update 34: A Very Dramatic Twist





So, the end of chapter 6 dropped us back to Locklear, James and Patrus, as well as shuffling us from Northwarden to the Dimwood. This is reasonably canonical to the book, missing the part where the three of them only arrive there in record speed because of massively abusing Restoratives(which in the book only give a feeling of being fully recovered rather than actually healing any damage or exhaustion done. James feeling the consequences of this is actually relevant to the start of the following book.)





Reasonably enough we're at the northern entrance to the Dimwood, next to the Fife and Laurel which is the only shop we're getting for this chapter and which would be shuttered if we hadn't done the quest for Craig either in chapter 3 or 6. Not that it's very useful to have the Fife and Laurel open since they're lacking in basic necessities like rations, though they do have restoratives and antivenom. If you didn't exit Chapter 5 with a full stash of antivenom, buy as much as you can afford here. If necessary fight a fight or two, cart back some armor and swords, sell them, and then buy antivenom. I've complained about poisoned weapons before, but Patrus, Locklear or both Patrus and Locklear were poisoned at the end of practically every fight I got into here, and with rations in short supply(enemies are carrying almost none), resting out poisonings is somewhat difficult.

The way around this is that several of the otherwise-empty treestumps in the Dimwood have been stuffed full of huge piles of rations. If this is your first visit, you might stumble upon them normally, but since most containers don't get refilled, I could see most players reasonably ignoring containers they've emptied during previous visits.



The Dimwood has, of course, also gotten repopulated with new encounters. All encounters from previous chapters, except the one group of Pantathians from chapter 3, are swept away and replaced with encounters which are, by and large, tougher. There are no more wild animals, instead it's all goblins and moredhel(and a quegian or two) carrying top-quality gear, often boosted with naphtha, ice, poison or clerical oilcloths for that extra little sting to keep the player on their toes.




The northern section sees the least changes, though, so I immediately head for the bridge to the northeast section, prompting a dialogue pop-up as I'm almost there.




Not the most difficult thing Arutha ever had us do. Remember that berry hunt we went on after the Riftwar? Very nearly wouldn't have found them if we hadn't realized the rain fall had been heavier that year. I'm just sorry we had to drag poor old Patrus along on this one.

You worry 'bout your own skins, you whelps. I ken I can run with the best of 'em and you two ain't no exception. Get runny nosed on me and I'll brain the both of you.

Better listen to him, Jimmy. He's a killer.

Umhum. I believe you're right. So, where do you think we should start looking for this rift machine? Your guess would be a good as mine.

Since we just came from the north, I'd say it's a good bet it isn't up there anywhere. That still leaves east, west, south and everything in between. Like spearing fish in a barrel.

That being the case, I suppose we just try to be as systematic as possible. I say we make a sweep east, then maybe move to the south or the west.

East? Why? West seems as good a direction.

Not sure. But the instinct that's telling me east is the same one that's kept me alive this long, and I've learned not to ignore it. If you've got a better idea, I'll follow your lead...

This bit of conversation would matter more if the only way to go from here wasn't east. There's no bridge across the river between the north and west sections.






We get this far without running into any battles, shockingly enough. Mostly by happenstance, not because I was avoiding them. You can pretty much blaze through the northeast section of the Dimwood without giving a damn, but if you either don't know what you're doing or just want to get as much content as possible, you want to head over to the easternmost part of this section, in particular the gap between two large hills...




Prince Arutha told us that a Tsurani magician has given over a rift machine to the moredhel for use in this battle. We've come down here to locate and destroy it before Delekhan can get full use of it. How did you get here? We never saw you at the castle.

When a portion of the Southern Arrow company began to fall back from Northwarden, I decided to follow after them and make sure they weren't up to any mischief. As you might have guessed, they had that infernal machine of theirs set up a few miles to the north, but they spotted me and assumed that I was a human mercenary that was slacking behind...

...so you played along and went through the gate and ended up here. How did you know you wouldn't end up in Sar-Sargoth?

I didn't, but I was surrounded by moredhel. I imagined that my best hope for survival lay on the other side of wherever that door led. Whenever we emerged here, I told the captain that I had to rejoin my unit and I was off. There were a few close moments along the way, but I won free at last.

Why didn't you try to destroy it?

I thought about it, but the device was surrounded by moredhel at the time so I decided I'd try to gather some help. You three are the first humans I've seen in a week.

[RIFT MACHINE]

Relative to where we are now, where is the rift-machine? Is it nearby?

I'm not sure. To escape the moredhel camp, I slipped under a stack of canvas bags in the back of a supply wagon they brought with them. After we had travelled for a few hours, they pulled over for a nature break and I was able to get away. I do recall hearing water as we were moving out, however.

So you were near a waterfall or a river... At least that gives us an idea of where we can start our search. Anything else we should know?

From listening to the wagon drivers talk, I get the feeling I wasn't the only unexpected visitor through that machine of theirs. Apparently some rebel moredhel chieftain came through and caused them a good deal of grief, then headed south towards where one of their warlords is staging for the attack on Sethanon. They were none too happy about him being on the loose. I'm hoping I can find him myself so I can ask him a few questions.

Any idea who this warlord in the south is?

I believe it's Delekhan's son Moraeulf, though I couldn't be certain of it. They were bandying about names so fast, I was having a little trouble understanding all of it. My moredhel isn't all it used to be.

[SETHANON]

What is it with Sethanon and the moredhel? This is the second time they've attacked there and I never understood why they struck ten years ago. There's nothing in Sethanon but a heap of ruins.

At least the last time we had an army to get in their way. Even at a forced march, Prince Arutha's men can't get here for another few days and they'll be exhausted once they arrive and...now that I think of it, why is Delekhan bringing an army? If he expected to arrive at Sethanon behind our lines, he could simply walk in, take what he wants, then turn around and walk through that rift-gate without a scratch unless he expected someone else to be there! Who does he think will be at Sethanon? What does it mean?

It means they didn't get what they came for the last time they raided. It also means Delekhan has been watching Sethanon for quite some time, possibly as long as the end of the last battle. He knows Squire Phillip's men will be in the way.

Squire Phillip's men? What would a squire be doing leading a counter-attack?

It would take me too long to explain it to you at the moment. Suffice to say, I don't think Delekhan and his men will be having a good day once they get to Sethanon. If we're lucky, they will be deterred long enough for Arutha to start nibbling away at their flanks.

[SUPPLIES]

The one major advantage I can see in our favor is that we and the moredhel are at equal disadvantage. Neither of us will have a clear supply of materials and they will have to hold some of theirs out so they can retreat to the Northlands when the time comes.

If they intend on retreating. They didn't seem to be too interested in it the last time they came. A bit of advice though. If you come across any food, I'd suggest holding on to it. We've found several of their food caches and poisoned them as we did at Northwarden, and with two armies marching through here at the same time, I imagine food is about to get scarce. As unpleasant an option as it may seem, you may have to resort to taking food off dead moredhel.

So this appearance of Martin's is as close as we get to canonical for him in the game. In the book, he shows up in the Dimwood along with Calin, having arrived with a team of elven rangers more or less just-in-case. They've been engaged in a running battle with the Moredhel for a while when James and his gang show up, and James ropes him into a scheme to get into the Moredhel camp.

In any case, we should probably head south and look for this renegade moredhel chieftain. It might be someone we know.





I soon run out of luck in terms of avoiding battles, and start seriously wishing that I'd had the foresight to have James bring some Weed Walkers with him out of chapter 3, because losing surprise in these battles is super rough. The init system works weird, too, and even when I do win surprise, usually James and Locklear get to act and then enemies act before Patrus, often spoiling his chance to get any spells off. Anyway, this is what happens when I completely lose surprise.



I swear, almost every enemy caster in Chapter 7 knows Fetters of Rime and it suuuuuuucks.



Patrus is reduced to using only items, because even when the only neighbouring enemy is paralyzed, it still distracts him. Also the remaining Quegian just calmly stands there pumping crossbow bolts into Locklear's head while James tries to chase down the enemy wizards. Thankfully Locklear is sturdy enough to survive the five or six bolts that are lodged in his forehead by the time this is over, somehow.



Yep, even while his friends are screaming in mortal agony in the background, all this asshole can think of is how funny it looks when the bolts stuck in Locklear are plentiful enough to spell out "LOL."



Who's laughing now?





Ahem, in any case. If you head straight south and a little bit west from Martin, you're almost guaranteed to hit the next dialogue trigger before you hit the river.




You're assuming quite a bit. I don't think any of us have good reason to trust you, moredhel.

Just now you all felt the pelt of my stones, each which hit your heads just as easily as would have a moredhel throwing knife. If I had wished you harm, you would already have been dead.

You speak the Kingdom tongue remarkably well. Handy skill for a spy.

We cannot trade our goods with the traders who come from the Kingdom or from far off places if we speak only our native tongue. It would seem it is beneath them to learn our language.

Granted. I'm still listening.

There is a device which is being used by Delekhan to invade this wood. If it is left operational, it will mean utter defeat for you. If Delekhan succeeds in his goal, he will use whatever it is hidden in Sethanon to gain the power that eluded Murmandamus' grasp. It will mean a new tyranny for your Kingdom and for mine.

We already know about the device. Bled it out of one of the field captains that attacked Northwarden. If you really mean to help us, tell us where to find the device.

On a peninsula where the rivers meet. It is accessible only by passing through an illusion of a mountain created by the Six, though I am not sure from here where it is located. I have been looking for a magical artifact since I slipped out of the camp.

Artifact? For what purpose?

Shortly after they began staging soldiers through the rift, I discovered the gate could be disrupted by something they called a Waani, a word foreign to me. I found such an item on a magician who was guarding the gate. Before I slew him, I discovered if thrown into the maelstrom of the gate, it would cause it to collapse. I had thought it permanently destroyed...

Delekhan has a number of tricks up his sleeve. So, do you think we might be able to find another of these devices?

From what little I learned before I slew the magician, they are necessary in the creation of a gate. If one is to build a bridge, it is usually wise to bring more planks of wood than necessary in case one should snap.

Seems to be a reasonable assumption. Now it's just a matter of locating this...Waani? Who would have them?

If any would know it would be the leader of the rearguard, Moraeulf. He has his troops preparing themselves for the final advance near the southern tip of this wood...

Then I suppose it's time we went and had a talk with him.

Had a talk with him, Jimmy? Do you propose we simply walk up to him and ask for this device that will destroy his campaign?

Not without saying hello first. We'll pose as Quegians and hope he doesn't see through us. In all this chaos, he can't possibly know everyone in all his companies.

An admirable gamble. I approve...

Hear that, Locky? The moredhel approves. It must be a good idea. Let's get moving before I regain my common sense. Goodbye, Obkhar.

Obkhar's presence here is entirely non-canonical, in the book he just sets a route straight back to the Green Heart and his clan. Also once again, the writers of the game trying desperately to make the Moredhel more than one-note villains.

In any case, now it's time to head to the southern section of the Dimwood.





Except that shit, the moredhel are actually smart enough to set a big pile of goblins to guarding this bridge. Now, if you're psychic, you'll go to the northernmost part of this zone, crack a few chests and learn that one of the chests you already cracked last time you were here contains a note with a password for these green dorks. That'd just let you walk past them. Now, on the other hand, if you didn't do that...




Five goblins aren't inherently tough, but since you can never get surprise on them, they're almost guaranteed to get some hits in and every single one of these pricks has a poisoned sword. So, yeah, once again Locklear and Patrus are smacked full of silverthorn. Thankfully I wasn't an idiot and brought a stack and a half of antivenom out of Chapter 5, but even that supply is getting strained.





Now we can either go east or west. West would be best if we're just aiming to speedrun the chapter, but going east provides a bit of lore and also some information that would be useful to a new player, so we're headed that way first.





The encounters this way are mageless and thus not a threat of any caliber, letting us get to the next dialogue prompt easily.




Uh...we're...Quegian, warlord. If you could stay speaking in the Kingdom tongue, may be we could understand one another better?

Sebah! How progresses the transfer from the Tsurani gate?

We were ambushed, Lord Moraeulf! Several men, heavily armed were moving through the Dimwood. We were lucky to escape!

Kingdom soldiers?

Perhaps... I know they weren't under our standards so they probably weren't mercenary. We heard sounds farther off from where they came from. It might be a whole army.

Obkhar may have reached someone and raised the alarm. Damn! This will complicate the march to Sethanon. How close were they to the Six's rift-machine?

No idea. We got turned around during the attack... Our couriers were killed and we needed field reports. We hoped you could help us.

What do you need to know?

[RIFT MACHINE]

The magicians at the rift-machine tell me there seems to be a malfunction with the gate. They need one of the parts they had stored away.

But the gate still functions?

No. Failed just before the magicians sent us and it is beyond repair with what they have. They said they need the devices they stored with you.

It is hidden in a box, locked with our...special...locks. Victory is the password. You will find it in a canyon being near the southwest corner of this wood. The box is there.

In the book, they get Calin and Martin to chase them right at Moreaulf and his bodyguards, lending credence to their claims of being Quegian mercenaries. Then they casually mention that it's Calin and "a huge man with a longbow" that have been chasing them through the woods, which gets Moreaulf all het up and sends him screaming into the trees, since the Moredhel of the Northlands hate both Martin and Calin considerably. We've got a bit farther to go before we can get near the rift machine and sort it out, sadly we can't just talk our way in.

This gives us our next waypoint, though, off we are to the southwest...






This trip only results in walking into a single pack of goblins. It feels as though the developers knew how easy it would be to paint the players into a corner if they didn't bring enough supplies from chapter 3 into 5, and then from 5 into 7, and resisted the temptation to absolutely plaster the Dimwood in new spawns. The downside is that it somewhat detracts from the feeling we're supposed to have that the Moredhel are pumping troops into the Dimwood as quickly as they can get them lined up and walked through the rift in Sar-Sargoth.





Considering that Moreaulf already told us the password, I suppose I don't have to spoiler that this one's VICTORY.



All those rations are poisoned, by the way, which would be a rude surprise if you were low on rations and didn't think to check them before hauling them into the party's inventory. After your first poor surprise with spoiled or poisoned rations, though, you learn to be a bit obsessive about checking every single sandwich the party finds. No magical spare part, though, hmmm...


Still, at least that gives us another waypoint to follow! This time we're headed northwards, which completes our circuit of all of the Dimwood except the easternmost bits where the Pantathians were hiding out in chapter 3.





Can you see the waiting ambush in this screenshot? Several of the fights in chapter 7 have absurd activation radiuses, meaning that even if you have good scouting/stealth stats, sometimes it's actually hard to spot the enemy before the combat triggers due to proximity.





The Dimwood's also gotten a fresh supply of magical traps shipped in from the Northlands along with the fresh supply of murderous non-humans. This one's a bit tricky since you could technically paint yourself into a corner if you shuffle the crystals around in the wrong order or into a position you can't get them out of again.



This is the correct solution, in any case.



And this is our destination on the far side of the trap, and also where I realize that I actually missed a sidequest, accessible in chapters 2, 3 and 6, where the resident of this house, a witch named Wilindi, asks your help unpoisoning her well since her prick neighbour poisoned it on account of him being a prick.

I promise that's the only bit of missed content, though! Honest!

In any case, if you can see the goblins that are about to jump on the party and poison Locklear until his bloodstream's more silverthorn than hemogoblin, I applaud you, because I sure can't.



Welcome to die. Seven goddamn goblins who get init on me.



Amazingly, though, they just invite Patrus to the "hit by crossbow bolts ten times in the same battle"-club, rather than swarming him with swords, allowing him to finally make use of the Infinity Pool we found on one of the six moredhel magicians back in Chapter 6(not to be confused with the OTHER six magicians that have been part of the plot since chapter 1).


The highest payout in terms of raw damage is obviously Evil Seek, and starting at 90 damage rather than 60 means it gets to harvest a lot of heads.



Killing three and setting one to fleeing, it's what turns the battle around. Without that, even with Patrus using his Lightning Staff(which is what blows up the fleeing goblin before it gets away), they would've almost certainly have managed to wear down Patrus and/or Locklear, and then been able to pile on James. While his sky-high Defense makes it unlikely they'd hit him with swords, the crossbow bolts only care about user accuracy, and a few hits from those would take chunks out of his Health, reducing his Defense, and then it would've been a downhill slide.



Lotta dead goblins! Now would you believe that if I took another step forward, I'd be in another huge goblin fight? Once again, fucking huge aggro zones. So I step back and rest the gang up, then walk up again.



This time one of the goblins is visible. Part of it is that for every step you take, enemies "move" within their aggro zones. Their location in terms of starting a fight doesn't change, but their visible position to interact with changes. Sometimes they wobble a bit around the same spot, but in other cases their movements are huge. I'm guessing that since they have a huge aggro zone, they also move around a lot and are thus sometimes on the far side of their aggro zone and out of view.




Only six? Child's play. They get added to the pile. Sadly these ones actually charge Patrus on turn one(even spotting them, I flubbed the ambush check), forcing him to churn out some Rusalki with his Eliaem's Heart and otherwise spam some Skyfire from his Lightning Staff.

Now let's check out that damn house.




Sethanon Garrison? I've never heard Arutha mention anything about troops being stationed near Sethanon and you're far too young for senior duty.

How old do you think I am?

Eighteen, maybe nineteen summers. About the same age as a squire we know from Tiburn.

While Count Beleforte's son Owyn was taking his first baby steps, my wife and I had already had a son for three years. I'm thirty seven summers old and hold the rank of Captain in the Kingdom Army. When my commander noticed how young I looked, even as a veteran officer, he struck on the idea that I would make an ideal courier for the secret garrison.

Sink me! A spy for the Kingdom!

Even if the things you say about yourself are true the rest of your story's impossible. Arutha would have told me about a secret garrison.

Has he ever explained to you why there is an absolute ban on visitation to Sethanon? Can you recall any other occasion in which Prince Arutha or King Lyam have forbidden people to visit battle sites?

No, but I always assumed he wished to keep it as a memorial to the battle there.

A memorial that cannot be visited by its veterans? You're trying to rationalize, Seigneur. Not even the members of the garrison are allowed near Sethanon unless an armed force approaches. Their orders are to destroy any who come against it. And now I must find a way to get word to them that the moredhel are advancing. Do you have any ideas on the subject?

[SUPPLIES]

I don't know how my friend Locklear here feels, but I would appreciate it if you could point us towards a decent meal. We've had trouble finding anything to eat.

Not surprising. We've had evidence the moredhel were spying on Sethanon for several months now and it's logical to assume they've been stripping the local resources to pave the way for this attack. They pulled the same trick the last time they headed to Sethanon. We anticipated something was up and took the liberty of making some of our own provisions. Wilindi has graciously lent us the use of her house for a while to store goods. Take what you need, but please no more. We are far short of necessities. If you keep an eye out for old tree trunks, you'll find some of the rations we've stored against this possibility, though I would be careful if I were you. Some of them have likely gone bad by now.

[WAANI]

We found your note in the moredhel chest. Do you still have the Waani that was in it?

If you mean the magical device, yes, though neither I nor Wilindi have been able to find out what it's used for. We were hoping it could be used against the moredhel somehow.

Pah! No toad-stickin' witch could figgur how! It's Tsurani and probably one o' those infernal Greater Path ob-e-jects. Pompous little buggers made up a whole new magic just to make my liver itch!

Though she might have said it differently, I believe Wilindi would agree. She's still studying it intensely. I'll fetch it before you leave.

[GOODBYE]

We need to get back to our mission. Will you be able to hold things together here?

Unless another band of goblins come round, I should be all right. I need to stay here and keep an eye on the supplies, but you'll be welcome if you need to come back.

That's appreciated. Farewell, squire.

Lotta words! And not entirely non-canon. The entire Waani thing, of course, is for the game only, and Squire Philip doesn't feature in the book, but the Sethanon garrison does feature because, well. So the Valheru have come up a few times, and their thing was that they flew to other planets(yes, other planets) on dragons, stripped them of treasure and slaves, and lorded it up on Midkemia. Then once the gods appeared, the Valheru made war on them by turning themselves into a giant kaiju made up of all their kind, a fight they lost. But the Valheru did also make their secret weapon, the Lifestone, a sort of anti-life nuke which they hid under what's now Sethanon. Without mortals on the world, the gods would wither away, while the Valheru would somehow survive it.

The entire plot of the Magician books, Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon is the attempt of the Valheru Kaiju to return and trigger the Lifestone. The Valheru, known to the Tsurani as The Enemy, attempt to return through the Tsurani rift, which triggers a lot of dumb bullshit and a lot of deaths because Macros can't just fucking tell people shit. Then when Murmandamus 2 declares war on the Kingdom, it's actually entirely to kill a shitload of people for magical power to simultaneously activate the Lifestone and draw the Valheru back to Midkemia.

Evil fuckin' rocks, always trouble.

Anyway, let's see what Philip's got for us. First there's the Waani.



Weird fucking thing. Now, about those supplies...



He wasn't joking. Though it does seem a bit pointless that you have access to this huge storehouse AFTER dealing with most of the big battles of the chapter. It would seem a bit less cruel if you had access to this at the start of the chapter, perhaps if there was a bridge connecting the north and west sections of the Dimwood. Still, we're loading up on everything that could possibly be handy here, especially Restoratives, and I keep the party topped up even beyond what resting can do since I'm now drowning in the stuff.

As for the Rift Machine...



It's immediately south of the N on the Dimwood map, on the little isolated peninsula, as Obkhar said, behind an illusionary mountain. Technically I think you can walk through said mountain even in chapter 1, 2, 3 or 6, but there's nothing there then, not even a chest, just a puzzle.





Approaching the illusionary mountain gives you a surprise that's not as nasty as it seems, since neither of these dickhead wizards have any save-or-die spells, just damaging spells.





It's mercifully low-population for an enemy army camp, but it does have a trap and one nasty encounter.





Once again, the main threat is painting yourself into a corner. Novel as it is to put one of the party members in the Shame Triangle, it would be a bit more interesting if you somehow needed all three.





The final hurdle of the chapter(yes, it's really THAT short) is two magicians.




Two magicians who both have 130+ health, know Fetters and know Grief. Let's try that again.



Second time around I spot them before engaging but still flub surprise, but this time they settle for making Patrus' head explode rather than paralyzing him, so he can whip out the Infinity Pool again and blast them with a 1.5X max power Evil Seek, which really fucks up their day.




Surely, this cannot possibly go badly.






This is done SO much better in the book. Lacking the Waani or other magical thingummy for busting up the Rift Machine, and with Moredhel troops pouring through at regular intervals, they know they gotta shut it down fast, so Patrus intentionally sacrifices himself to destroy it. Just having him blow up as a more or less random thing feels pointless and a bit cruel to one of the funnier characters in the game.



Oh and then the chapter ends just as someone else is teleporting in! Sucks to be James and Locklear.








This is the worst vacation I've ever been on.

Meanwhile, Gorath and Owyn are on another planet. On another planet and they've turned off the magic, how am I supposed to commit war crimes now?

I mean they wouldn't make me do an entire chapter without magic... right? Right...?