The Let's Play Archive

Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga

by Stabbey_the_Clown

Part 74: The Horror of High Hall





Chapter 56 – The Horror of High Hall



The Haunting of Farmer Gobie
Bonus: Ghostbusting
The Horror of High Hall
Zagan




Music: Dungeon Stealing



Music: Troll Village


Video: Divine Descendant


Before we go talk to that crowd that suddenly gathered, let’s go into this house. It’s normally empty, but while playing this LP I discovered something for the first time. This is where Saul goes after you rescue him.




(Saul) Home, sweet home!
(Yara) So what will you do now?
I’m going to stay here. Damn the Slayers, I say. High Hall is a nice enough spot and I’m sure I can make a living as a gem miner. So thank you for what you did for me. You saved my life.
See you, Saul.
Goodbye, friend!
I’m not sure hiding in your own house is the smartest idea for a fugitive from the law, but he should know that as well as I do. It’s not my problem anymore.




A man came running out of a house, his face pale.




(Eamon) Greetings, good sir! You seem startled. Whatever is the matter?




(Gobie) A ghost! A ghost appeared in my farm! This place is cursed! Haunted! Lordy lord, what must I do?
Truly? Then worry no more, because, by a remarkable stroke of coincidence, I am here – and, more importantly, so is my wife: who possesses powers granted by the Divine himself!
Really. This ought to be good.
What? The Divine? She doesn’t… look Divine to me at all! Very much of this earth I should say! Yes Sir-ee Bob!




(Mona) Watch your tone, commoner, for I assure you I am the Divine Descendant!
Settle, Mona, dear! Obviously our good friend here hasn’t yet noticed the birthmark on your face, shaped exactly like the Divine’s famous scar.
Could it be? My word, I do apologize! I am your humble servant, madam, and I beg of you, please: banish this horrid spirit from my home!
You realize of course, the Divine’s blessings shall not be used frivolously.
Of course. And here it comes…
So we will need a small fee in return for our sacred services.
Oh, I… I see… I don’t have much to offer though. Life is tough in these mountains… Lordy lord, I will have to think about it if I may, kind sir.
All right, but be quick. We have other matters to addend to, and remember: can you really put a price on your well being? Who knows what that ghost in there is planning to do to you…

Divine Descendant
Our quest is to deal with these people and stop the haunting by means of our choice. There are a few ways to do this. The thread opted to investigate these suspiciously convenient saviours over driving the ghost out ourselves.




Oh, lordy, lordy lord, my farm! Haunted by the most terrible ghost you ever saw! What to do? What to do?
Have you tried offering it milk and cookies?
No, no I haven’t. But I don’t think it would help! This is a fierce creature, and that’s a fact! Appeared a little while ago, booing loudly and threatening me!
(-300 XP) So scared, so scared…
BOO!
Huh! Exactly like that, yes! Boy, you scared me there! Oh, I need help! This lovely girl has the power of the Divine and offered to cast it away. But I’m afraid I can’t afford it, unless I sell my pigs! Lordy lord, what to do?
This ghost, what does it look like?
Horrible is what it looks like! With a vicious long face and long claws. Brrr… From now on, I’ll be sure to look under my bed and check the closet before I go to sleep, Yes Sir-ee Bob!
How can you even see the ghost? They only appear to those with silver eyes.
I ain’t no Slayer. No Sir-ee Bob, but I know what I saw! This is a fierce creature, and that’s a fact!
Why on earth would a ghost attack a peaceful farmer?
I don’t know! Why target me? I’ve never done nothing wrong and now I’m stuck with a ghost! What rotten luck!
Did the ghost say anything to you?
Booed and hissed, it did. Nothing more.
Hang in there, Gobie.
I’m trying, but it ain’t easy!




Greetings to you! I’m Eamon, and this lady here is my lovely wife Mona.
Good to meet you.
And you, I’m sure. Is there anything you want of me?
How did you meet Mona?
With all due respect, I don’t really think that is any of your business.
What do you do for a living?
We travel from place to place in search of people with problems that no ordinary mortal can solve. Hauntings, curses, paranormal phenomena: you name it, we’ve seen it all. Thanks to Mona’s Divine powers, we are able to aid these unfortunate people. You could say we’re true philanthropists, really. Paid philanthropists, but still…
How does Mona’s blessing manifest itself?
She has many magical abilities, her most notable being healing powers. But I noticed you’re a Dragon Slayer! Mona could easily improve your fighting skills if you so wish.
Gobie doesn’t seem to have a lot of money. Can’t you get rid of the ghost for free?
Oh, how I wish it was that easy. I truly do. But the blessing of the Divine is a valuable commodity and we too have to make a living in this harsh world.
Sounds like you’re only trying to make easy money off his back.
Believe what you will. But know that Mona and I have saved many lives, and it is only fair that we ask for something in return!
Perhaps. But whether he’ll pay remains to be seen.
Oh, he will. They always do!
Goodbye!
May the Divine watch and protect you!




(Mona) Hello. Dragon Slayer. How can I be of assistance?
Tell me about yourself, the Divine Descendant.
What more is there to tell? The blood of the Divine runs through my veins, as do his powers. I use them to do good, just like he did. He is my hero and greatest example.
From where do you two hail?
My grandparents were wanderers, having fled from their village when it was razed by the Black Ring during the Great War. Farglow it was called, I believe. And Eamon – I met him on the road. Never did say where he came from, but he took care of me. He saw my potential and taught me how to channel my powers.
(-1200 XP) I hope this Gobie is gullible enough to believe us, not like that time our tricks went awry and we had to run for our lives.
I know you two are con artists, so why don’t you tell me the real story?
It was Eamon. I was young, in love, and he did save me from the life of a vagabond. He came up with the whole Divinity scheme and… gave me the scar. The birthmark he called it.
That bastard!
I felt I owed him, so I played along. But deep down I knew it was wrong. Eamon, though, he enjoys every minute of it.
Bye, Mona.
Goodbye.




(-1200 XP) I hope this stupid peasant pays us before he realizes this is all a scam…
Yes?
Mona doesn’t really have any powers, does she? You’re both frauds!
How dare you! The Divine himself granted her his powers. Denying it would be pure blasphemy! Apologize now, or feel the wrath of the Divine!

At that, Yara gave Locke a solid punch with her mailed fist.

Ow! What did you do that for? I’m bleeding, you maniac!
Aw, did I give you a scar?
The Divine will surely punish you for this!
How about you shut up and prepare to die?
No! What do you want from me, anyway?
Leave this place and never come back.
I… Fine. Come, Mona, it appears these people wish to deal with their ghost problems themselves! Good luck to them! Ha!
“Divine Descendant” complete! Quest Reward: 4500 XP, 800 Gold. Bonus Chosen: 2250 XP.






Lordy lord, I still can’t believe them frauds were trying to rob me!
Try to be a little less gullible next time!
Will do! Yes Sir-ee Bob, will do!


Video: The Horror of High Hall




(Beatrice) I can’t believe it! You did it! You rid us of the trolls!
I was glad I could help.
And kind and modest, too! Oh, I can’t believe I’m asking this after all you have done. But we could really use your help still.
Kitty stick in a tree?
Oh no, we just call for the Champions when that happens. This is the problem: a day before the attacks, our well suddenly dried up. The water supply is pretty much gone now and we’ll have to go down to the fortress with buckets if we need more, which is arduous labour indeed! The men here haven’t had the time to check what went wrong and now they’re too tired from the continuous fighting. But you, you look fresh as a daisy! Please: descend the well and have a look, yes?
(-3600 XP) I hate to send such a warrior to all-but-certain death, but Zagan needs to be appeased!
Only to come eye-to-eye with Zagan, you mean?
What? How did you… I… I…
Why would you try to pass me as a sacrifice, Beatrice?
Zagan rests in his lair beneath High Hall. He made himself known to us and promised not to raze our houses and kill us if we bring him sacrifices. We always try to lure warriors here so perchance the Demon might be vanquished. But, so far, no one has.
So you lure innocent people here, ready to be of assistance!
I know it’s wrong, but what else can we do? Listen, we always knew the hero who killed Zagan would be very cross with us. So we agreed to give that hero two malachite gems, worth thousands of gold coins, should he or she succeed. If you still go down there now, we’ll give you four. I know you can do it! I’m sure you can!
Don’t tell me you’re considering going down there. We already have a date with a demon, in case you’ve forgotten.
Then some extra practice wouldn’t hurt, don’t you think? I know it’s dangerous, but I just can’t let this situation continue.
Far more than a handful of lives in one small village is riding on your own life, Dragon Knight. Remember that.


The Horror of High Hall
Okay, we’ve got a quest to kill a demon. Normally, I would have dealt with Mundus and the Dragon Patrol much earlier, when I was a lower level. But this quest, the one to kill Zagan? This one I would have saved to do this late even if I had unlocked it the chapter after first reaching High Hall. This is a seriously dangerous quest and in fact I do die attempting it.

Don’t forget to mind-read Beatrice before accepting the quest, it doubles your reward from 2 Malachite Gems to 4 – the most you can get from any quest in the game.




The entrance to the well cave is located between the teleporter and the path up to the mine entrance. It’s locked until you accept the quest.



Music: Dungeon Stealing




If Zagan wanted to keep up the “solve the mystery of the missing well water” fiction, perhaps he should have told his demons to hide out of sight of the entrance door.






Uh… this is the well? It seems to be pretty short on water.

I’ve discovered that lava no longer instakills me, hooray! It seems to do only about 700 damage, which means that if I accidentally brush it, I have a slight chance to avoid death!






(Kezzz) Come for the well, have you? Begone! The water’s ours! You’ll not make it down!

The demon teleported away.




There’s a key that we’ll need for later, and a Dragon Skill book to the right.




An elevator which uses levers, not buttons.




This is not where we want to be. Note the lever on the right, and the absence of a lever on the left.






Angry Remark





Ta-da, one missing lever found.

Music: Lair of Barnabus





(Kezzz) The water here is very hot! Careful you don’t trip…




Thanks for the advice.


Video: BOSS: Zagan


According to the guide, there’s allegedly two Malachite Ore veins down here, but I have never been able to find them.






(Zagan) Ah. Here comes my well-deserved tribute, prompt as ever!
(-2400 XP) Zagan likes what he sees: your outfit will look well in his collection for armours and weapons. But he doubts you carry anything as unique as his prize piece: a Dragon helmet.
And what do we have here? Another Demon to fillet?
Ha! You’re bodacious, little creature. Most sacrifices pass out in fright. Makes it less painful to be eaten I think. Hehehe!
You have no clue what painful means. Not yet anyway.
Hahaha! And how exactly do you think, puny human, you will be able to so much as scrape my steel-strong skin?






Oh, bugger!

Music: Fly, Dragon, Fly





Zagan

This is the only boss we fight in Dragon form, not counting the optional Xanlosch summons in the Fortress of Stone. This is a bit of a problem. My human form has high health and high health regeneration. My Dragon form only has slightly higher health, but NO health regeneration whatsoever. Worse, even maxed out, my Dragon healing spell doesn’t heal much and has a horrifyingly long cooldown. You’re also unable to change back to human form in this room, not that it would be easy to land someplace safe.




I’m 14 levels higher than Zagan. He’s actually not the real problem here, he goes down fast if you focus on him.




Zagan himself isn’t even the real problem. It’s the two hard-to-see Nest Towers which constantly spew out Flying Demon Bosses. Even though they’re also Level 20, they’re insanely lethal because of that spherical spell – Dragon Burst. It does hundreds and hundreds of damage, and there’s no fucking room to dodge in this death chamber! The Demon Bosses are also immune to Polymorph.

Luckily you can use potions in Dragon Form. I had brewed up a bunch of the Rank 10 (Ultimate) Healing potions, and they were life-savers here.

EDIT: One useful technique that makes the fight almost trivial is to ignore Zagan and immediately take out both the Nest Towers as soon as you get control of the Dragon. If they don't spawn Demon Bosses, then Zagan is easy to take out.




‘Oh Bugger’… Hahaha! Famous last words if ever there were any!




Fly up to the ledge at the top of the chamber and you automatically transform back into human form.






This is your only chance to get the items in this chest, so don’t miss them. If you leave the underground chamber after Zagan dies without getting them, you can’t return.



These really suck.



I already have another helmet which does that, I’m sure.




You… you made it back! Then he is dead!
You seem surprised to see me!
We always hoped, but never dared to think… Oh, this is wonderful! Unbelievable! I do feel bad about regarding you as just another potential champion after all you did for us, but now you succeeded! The four malachites are yours! Please accept them with our apologies and undying gratitude!
“The Horror of High Hall” complete! Quest Reward: 4500 XP, 800 Gold, 4 Malachite Gems. Bonus Chosen: 2250 XP.
Tell me about High Hall.
We’re just a very small community of miners, here since the end of the Great War. The whole area is rife with all sorts of gems and precious stones, so we make a comfortable living. The work itself is hard, but worth it: you won’t see many jewels in Aleroth that weren’t dug from the ground by High Hall miners.
What can you tell me about the late Zagan?
He just showed up one night many years ago, a nightmare hovering above our hamlet. He told us to bring him living human flesh at the beginning of every new season. It was that our else our annihilation. To my great regret I must admit some brave warriors died beneath our well, but you have put a stop to his horror!
See you around, Beatrice!
Fare the well, Demon slayer!



We now have 14 Malachite gems, not counting the two I gave to Simeon to replace his eyes. The four I got from this quest increased my total amount by 33%!






You guys are great, thanks for the new page. Sorry for the long delay, I lost three days of production time for various reasons. Next update will be the final optional Flying Fortress.



The Haunting of Farmer Gobie
Bonus: Ghostbusting
The Horror of High Hall
Zagan




Music: Dungeon Stealing




Marching Orders


Alchemy Treatise



The Map




Yara’s Current Auras / Equipment Updates



Current Scorpion Set Bonuses:
Necklace: +7 Heightened Reflexes
Ring: +64 Hitpoints
Belt: +0.44 HP Regeneration
Helmet: +4 Vitality
Cuirass: +9 Melee Armour Rating
Leggings: +7 Ranged Armour Rating
Bracelet: +10 Strength




After getting precise directions from the Larian forum, I finally found the two Malachite gem veins in the well cave – far too late for me to actually try and get them, but I found them. The arrow points to the approximate rock you need to reach to get them.




Here’s where they are in comparison to the ramp.




And here’s what the view of the ramp looks like if you get onto the rock. Try staying as far to the left as possible and you could make it up.

Unfortunately, in DKS, getting onto that rock is hard to do without triggering the Zagan cutscene, and if you do trigger the cutscene, there’s no way back down.




Last night I was able to somehow fall off the ledge without changing into a Dragon, and I made it down and across the rocks by the lava. But today, everything I tried to get off the ledge just changed me into a Dragon automatically.







With Mundus appeased, Nicolas the merchant opens for business.

(Nicolas) Close call, them trolls. But you sure handled them well! So, let’s do some business!
Do you have anything special in your stock?
Hmmm, I do sell something under the counter I don’t usually disclose. But you saved the village, so… If you’re interested, I can sell you some Drudanae – a herb that was once used for healing, but now is forbidden. The effect can be… pleasurable, but it’s very addictive. You can buy it from me, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Where do you get your Drudanae from?
I grow it on the mountainside. Nobody ever sees me up there, though, because I only pick the leaves at night. I dug a tunnel that leads from my cellar to my private little herb garden. Clever, no?





Nicolas sells the Hunter Bow.

We’re almost done the act, but can you believe that we’re still short pieces to finish off all three of the remaining Act 3 sets: The Hunter Necklace, Archmage Helmet, Archmage Belt, Scorpion Earrings, and the Scorpion Gauntlets. It’s crazy.




There are a couple variations on how you can deal with the con artists.

Oh, lordy, lordy lord, my farm! Haunted by the most terrible ghost you ever saw! What to do? What to do?
How can you even see the ghost? They only appear to those with silver eyes.
I ain’t no Slayer. No Sir-ee Bob, but I know what I saw! This is a fierce creature, and that’s a fact! Appeared a little while ago, booing loudly and threatening me!
So you ran away like the brave and fearless man you are?

Oh, lordy, lordy lord, my farm! Haunted by the most terrible ghost you ever saw! What to do? What to do?
Why on earth would a ghost attack a peaceful farmer?
I don’t know! Why target me? I’ve never done nothing wrong and now I’m stuck with a ghost! What rotten luck!


We can deal with the ghost in person.

Video: Ghostbusting


How about I kill this ghost myself? I could do it for free and I assure you it wouldn’t be my first.
Really? Are you sure? It looks so scary… Well, here’s the key to my house. Good luck!
Excuse me. What are you doing?
What does it look like I’m doing?
You’re about to enter a haunted house, which is a very foolish thing to do! You can’t go in there! The ghost will most certainly hurt you! Let us professionals take care of this matter, will you?
Sorry, I just feel like slaying something.
W-why do you have to interfere? This is or business! Fine then! We will leave you to it, but don’t come crying for our help afterwards! Come, Mona! We’re leaving.




Boo! Ooooo! Woo! Fear me!
Oh no, I’m becoming weak with fear!
Yes, this is what happens when you face a terrible ghost like me! Woooo! But who are you? You’re no farmer!
I’m a Dragon Knight, once Slayer. Also a ghost slayer when I have nothing better to do…
What? No! This can’t be. You should be scared!

Boo! Ooooo! Woo! Fear me!
Don’t you have anything better to do than scare innocent peasants?
I am the ghost of a very powerful warrior, and you are not to question my actions!
(-300 XP) My throat is sore from all this boo-ing!




Where are the others? This is not how they told me it would happen! I’m out of here!!

Have you done it? Have you killed the ghost?
The ghost turned out to be a fake, just like Mona and Eamon. They were trying to scam you.
Really? Lordy lord, I can’t believe this! What luck you put a stop to it! Here, take this. It’s not as much as what they asked, but at least you deserve it. Yes Sir-ee Bob, you do!

Have you done it? Have you killed the ghost?
After a rather epic confrontation, I was able to remove your haunter!
Lordy lord! What splendid news! Here, have this little something. Least I could do, eh.





You can ask Mona for a blessing.

Could you cast a spell on me to make me stronger?
Of course, but ask Eamon about it. He’s the one running the business side of our.. er, I mean he’ll discuss the terms with you.

I noticed you’re a Dragon Slayer! Mona could easily improve your fighting skills if you so wish.
I’d like Mona to improve my skills.
Excellent! It will cost a purse full of gold. That may sound pricey, but such a blessing is both unique and everlasting – so you won’t regret it.
Here you go. 500 gold pieces.
Mona will prepare the spell straight away!
…
Hello again.
Your spell didn’t work! I’m staring to have serious doubts about your powers.
I do have powers! I swear! I…
Eamon might be a smooth talker, but you’re not that convincing at all…
Okay, I admit it. I don’t have any powers. But please, don’t tell Eamon. I don’t want him to get angry…

I don’t notice any differences. Mona’s spell didn’t work!
Of course it did! It just takes a while before it takes effect. Worry not, you shall slay your enemies with ease starting tomorrow!




Mona is not who she claims to be, Gobie. She doesn’t actually have any powers!
What nonsense! Didn’t you see the mark on her face? She was blessed by the Divine, no doubt about it!