Part 33: Crystal Crisis
Chapter 28 - Crystal Crisis
Music - "A Forest Dark and Deep"
Download (Thanks to Grawl)
Mort and D.K. went to see the witch Cassandra.
I sense you want something from me. Am I right?
I've come about that warlock you turned into a tibar. Oh, you met him… how do you like him in his current form? I think it's a vast improvement…
I doubt we can convince her to undo the curse, we have to find a way to force her!
Mort noticed that Cassandra happened to have some bat guano nearby, but without the other ingredient, he decided to leave it there for now. He went to the kitchen to see about the cheese.
Um, do you have any… old, really smelly chese?
No. We've been having supply troubles. Rebel attacks, maybe you've heard? Yes.
These attacks are starting to have a big impact on morale. We should put an end to these miserable rebels as soon as possible. Maybe you could help? Well, I'm a bit busy right now… Aren't we all? If anything was salvaged from the attack, it might have ended up in the warehouse by mistake.Mort chatted up one of the customers in the bar on his way out.
What brings you here? Do you know those two assassins? They don't lead boring lives, that's for sure! Not for the likes of me though. No, no, I prefer to follow the rankings in a slightly more non-violent way, like all the other cowards around here! Hahaha…
Unfortunately, the warehouse was locked.
Music: "Beyond Divinity"
(Click here to download) (thanks to Grawl)
Mort and D.K. returned to the Crystal Forest and continued their explorations. Eventually, they found someone else.
What are you doing here? Can you help a human who's slowly turning into a crystal statue! Well, I was just looking for some ingredients here. The name is Raven. I have heard of this type of affliction in humans. My name's Mort. Pleased to meet you. You see this chipping on the crystal over here? I bet a small splinter of this crystal must have entered the body of this man you talk about. … That would explain him transforming into a crystal. … No, no it doesn't. Not at all! Or maybe she's an expert on crystals. It's not like you or I know a lot about the strange wonders of this world. …And the small pool of blood over there seems to confirm my suspicions. As you can see, greed has its downsides… How can the curse be removed? Well, I'm not too sure, but I believe a concoction of herbs can cure this. A dose of Eagle's Crest, Foxfairy, and Purple Turnips should suffice. Go fetch them and I will provide you with a cure. From the descriptions, I think we've already seen two of these around. Okay, I'll start looking. Can you teach me anything?
"About the Game" posted:
Our quest is now to find three plants. Two are nearby, the third is near the imps I mentioned earlier, which is why I asked - the chances were good that I'd trigger that quest before finding the third plant. As is standard in RPG's, there is always only ONE of quest plants.
Raven teaches Ethereal magic. Ethereal magic also includes Flash (Teleport) and Swap Places (from Divine Divinity) Hmmm… This Swap Places magic might be interesting to use in conjunction with traps. Age Objects reduces the armor value of an enemy by 2 per skill point for 20+ seconds. It's crap. Elder Fire is basically a flamethrower which does a lot of damage. The trick is aiming properly, because unlike other spells, it WILL hurt your allies. Fireball is a huge fireball which does a lot of damage and will also hurt you if you're in the blast. This makes it tricky to use because you want to get enemies to cluster up to make use of this, and that means that someone will likely have to be at ground zero as bait.
In a game where magic is absurdly expensive, Ethereal magic stands out as being some of the most expensive of all. I wasn't kidding or exaggerating when I said now that I had more than 300 mana I could cast some spells.
One of the plants Raven wanted was near the site of the ambush.
Another was near the teleporter.
Just one more to go… Any idea where to start looking? I guess we'll just have to pick a direction, I guess.Not too far from the teleporter they encountered a giant crystal. It seemed to pulse with life.
What is it with you demons? First you desecrate my altars, and now you come here to spit in my face and laugh at the misery of my forest… I'm a human, not a demon. Ah, a h-u-m-a-n. Fine! Well then, if you're not a demon, would you be so kind as to restore the spirit altars for me? It's of great importance to the survival of this beautiful forest… Sure, I'll give it a go! That's very kind of you. Now listen carefully. There are four altars and the areas surrounding them are infested with demons. … As you're a superior h-u-m-a-n that shouldn't be a problem for you. To restore the altar you need to solve the riddle that's inscribed on it. … Do this for all four, only then will the power of the forest be restored and the demons vanquished. I get the idea. So now we're ecowarriors? I hate doing favours for foliage! We're still looking for that other plant, we may as well while we're here.
Rain… But it doesn't look like it's going to rain. So…Mort spat upon the altar, and the grooves started glowing.
Air…Mort blew on the altar and the grooves started glowing.
That bush over there looks pretty dry. Let me see if I can…Mort lit the branch on fire and placed it on the altar. The grooves started glowing.
Mort picked up a handful of the loose, ashy earth and placed it on the Altar. The grooves stared glowing.
You have succeeded. I can feel the power returning to the altars already. We are most grateful. Let me bestow a blessing upon you. Thank you. Farewell. You have proven to me that even in the darkest times, light can come in many unusual forms."About the Game" posted:
This gives you a Permanent Survival potion. It's only a +1 though, so I gave it to D.K.
Don't hurt me… I'm… wait, you're not one of those little trolls… Trolls? Where? Imps!... They're hunting me… little devils, been after me for days now… Why are they hunting you? For absolutely no reason… maybe they're after my treasure… Hummm *treasure*… I like that word! What treasure do you have? Here is where the Damned One entered the world… so I was looking for any signs he might have left…
He'll be looking for a long time, then… because this is NOT where Damian awoke. And I found something… an artifact of Damian himself… and it has great magic powers! Preposterous! Lucian, that *coward*, left him with NOTHING when he arrived, not even his own MEMORIES! Maybe we should take a look at it. Can I see the artifact please? If you want to see it, you'll have to do me a favour first… What is your name? My name is Oren… I live here, at the place where the Lord of Chaos entered this world… How do you know the Lord of Chaos was here? I found the signs… we must build a statue here… to honour his arrival! This fool thinks that the arrival of Damian here was an honour? That it should be celebrated? Remembered? No!! Your Lord of Chaos was tricked, made a fool of by thrice-damned Lucian!! There is NOTHING here that should be celebrated!!! What kind of favour? I would be grateful if you would kill the imps that are hunting me… I'll think of over. Bye. Are you really going to help him? No. Good.
Here's the last plant, finally. Wait… do you hear something? There's fighting nearby.
'uman found us… kill, quick…
Wait… this not 'uman we look for… You right!... But maybe they know where 'uman is… Let's mix things up a bit… tell these creatures we've met their prey! We've met the man you seek, and he said you hunt him without reason. Without reason? There *is* reason… he madman… he burnt our village… to watch the pretty flames! Insanity would certainly explain his delusions about Damian. Many imps died… we must stop him! We look for mighty weapon, then we kill… There's a weapon around here? Yes, weapon in cave… but we not able to get it yet… maybe you bring weapon, 'uman? Yes, I'll do it. *mumble* *mumble* stupid imps *mumble* why do *I* have to do this *mumble *mumble*Mort and D.K. entered the nearby cave.
"About the Game" posted:
While you can't actually accept a quest from Oren to kill the imps, refusing to fetch the weapon from the imps will make them angry and attack you. But you get much more experience from helping the imps.
The large water elemental was clearly why the Imps hadn't retrieved the weapon yet.
It wasn't a problem for someone who knew how to plant mines.
That wasn't too hard. But we didn't really need to do it, either.Mort and D.K. took the weapon back to the imps.
You found weapon? Now we able to kill mad 'uman… How about a reward, imps? Reward? Hmmm, we not kill you… that good reward!... But… if you kill 'uman for us, we not need weapon… so you can keep… Agreed? Agreed. We happy! Weapon too big for imps anyway… go kill madman, 'uman… So… you're going to run around for these imps… for a reward you've already *got*? … You amaze me sometimes, human!
The winds of Chaos are whispering something in my ears… the winds are talking about betrayal, yes… the imps are still alive, and the betrayer comes back to spill human blood… But the betrayer will not succeed… he will become a slave of the Lord of Chaos for all time!
Oren ran into the insect trap Mort had prepared, and he dropped something which was presumably the artifact of Damian.
That's a decent weapon… but Oren was mistaken about it belonging to Damian. Thank you… your help is much appreciated… keep weapon, as promised…"About the Game" posted:
You get additional experience if you report back to the imps once Oren is dead.
Mort and D.K. made their way back to Raven.
That took you long enough! Hand them over now… Here you go. She sure is a perky witch! Great, this should do the trick! Yummmy… those purple ones always taste great! … There you go! Use this poultice on your *patient* and he should be up and dancing again in no time!
Thank you… *ugh*. I certainly… *uhhh… hope this works better than it looks. I just hope it works better than it smells!Mort and D.K. returned to the man who was turning into crystal.
You're back again. Did you find a solution for my problem? I think you may have gotten a crystal splinter in you when you were in the forest.
Hummm, ever since my return, I have felt a recurring stinging just below my left knee. … That must be where it entered my flesh. But I'm so stiff, I can't even fold my legs to have a look at it. … Still, it won't be easy to remove, and it might not even reverse the curse. Do you know anything that can help me? This poultice might work… That looks gross, but I haven't got much to lose, right? So go ahead… It's worth a try!Mort applied the poultice to the afflicted area.
Woooow, I feel great! That yucky stuff did the trick! Thank you so much, this calls for a reward! You're welcome. Bye!
Alas the funny options like "Put Death Knight on Altar" just say "Nothing happens."
I checked, and you do get all 3000 Rank points just for solving the crystal guy's quest.
The Chapter title for the next update will be identical to a chapter title from Divine Divinity.
Yes, the novella was written by THAT Rhianna Pratchett.
The Map
The crystal forest is DONE. We've covered everything but the Missing Monks cave. In general, the other islands won't be shown off as completely as this one because they have sidequests which we won't be doing.
I noticed that in the conversation log, there was a glitch after you encounter the Raanaar patrol. The game is trying to figure out who says a line that doesn't exist. Also, check out the description of the day: 3th.
Optional Reader Participation
As always if there's anything from this update you want to see in video format, two or three requests and I'll do it.
0) Should the new thread title be a) Beyond Divinity:So now we're ecowarriors? I hate doing favours for foliage!, or b) Keep the current thread title
Riddle me this…
These ones might be hard, so I provided the choices the game offers you in spoiler tags. But I'd like it if you try and guess before peeking, as a challenge to yourselves.
1) Sparkling like your eyes, my beloved friend.
2) Shining like the sun, my greedy friend.
3) Cold as your heart, my cruel friend.
4) Food for the fire, my solid friend.
Choices offered by the game for questions 1-4:
a) Stone.
b) Gold.
c) Crystal.
d) Wood.
5) It is born from evil, and causes itself. It can be carried over time and help its violent cousins. It can mist the mind and strengthen the courage.
Choices offered by the game:
5a) Violence
5b) Evil
5c) Hate.
5d) Stupidity.
5e) Courage.