Part 46: Empire Tunnels and the Totem Tunnels

Update 042 – The Empire Tunnels and the Totem Tunnels



“We have the Orb. Now what?”

“I sssuggessst we return to the landsss of Exile first.”

“I agree. We're too close to things here.”

“Me three.”

“Oh come on! Where's your spirit of adventure? Your shining desire to do good?”

“Marianna, check her for drink again.”

“On it.”

“Hey!”



“I would love to use my precious Orb to go around this way, but I don't think we could land.”

“How far does the Orb carry us anyways?”

“About 5-6 miles.”

Much like in Exile, the Orb is an item in your inventory that you can use. Once it does, you are considered 'flying', and can go to more places. You get to move five tiles in this game, then it throws you a warning saying that you're about to land. On your next move, you hit dirt. If you don't – say you're over water or a chasm – you die.



“Thisss iz not besszt.”



“Passes please.”

“Here you go, sir.”

“Thank you. Move along.”

“Moving along.”

“One day, that's not going to work.”

“We can take them.”

“Not the point, dear.”



“Too bad the spiders and fungus won't accept our identification and leave us alone.”



“For them, we have fire.”



“Executive decision time! We know there's two Empire Facilities this way. I want to have a look around to know where they are for when we inevitable come back and level them.”

“So why don't we loot the place ahead of time?”

“We don't know what to look for.”

“And besides, information is its own reward.”



“So, we're going that way.”



“Didn't you, or someone mention there was a dragon that lived this way?”

“The Pit Drake's former abode we just left. Up this way is the lair of Sulfras.”

“I thought it was pronounced Sulphras?”

“It's one of those accent things, I think.”

“I think you're right.”

“Didn't we already have this conversation?”

“I think we'll have it again, az well.”



“Hey baby, time to work your magic for mommy!”

“!!!”
“...”

“WHEEEEE!”



“We! That! Water! WHAT?!?!?”

“Calm down!”

“Impresszive.”

“Oh, who's a good little Orb? You are! Yes you are!”

“I'm with Chester. That's just weird, coming from you.”

“You just don't understand.”



“We should be getting close to the Lair now, Sulphras likes to keep the approach scoured as a warning.”



“Wait a second...”



“Basilisks!”

I'm not adding these ones to the Random Basilisk Count as they are clearly part of the defenses of this location. We can't get in here now, and thankfully the enemy spawns two tiles away instead of one, allowing me to bravely run away.

“Maybe there's a way around?”

“I don't know...”



Here's one of the limitations of the Orb. You need space to move with it, and sometimes locations will be described as too 'low' or too 'cramped' for you to Orb your way through. Just a set of road blocks to keep you from running 'out of bounds'.

“An exit.”

“Or a trash pit.”



“Let's see if we can find a back door...”



“Nope.”



dammit, that Basilisk Encounter is still trying to get to me! Run away!



“A nice way to get around with the Orb.”




“We don't have a Grey Pass.”

“Let uz come back later.”



“Not going to go that way.”



“Another check point.”



“Hey! Where's your pass?”

“We're not going through!”

“Pass, Worm!”



I picked this fight to see what was in them...



“Really? That's it?”

“I think they're a rear-guard posting. None of the good people.”

“No magesss. How faulty.”

36 Guards. Not Soldiers. Guards. Heavy defense and HP, they have a ranged attack as well. However, without magical support, they're doomed.



Completely doomed.



“Not in the plan, but come on! Let's get moving!”



“Huh, this place has been renovated.”

“What do you mean?”



“Well, it used to be this:”



“And now it's this:”



“We are officially turning around and leaving.”

“I never thought I'd see the day...”

“Don't say anything! You could ruin the moment!”



“A replacement group is coming from behind.”

“Briskly strolling away now!”



“What is there?”

“Let's check!”



“Nothing.”



“Nothing up that way either...”

I know there are places only accessible by the Orb, so I'm just poking along rivers and chasms every so often.



“We're home free.”

“Not until we get to Fort Remote.”







“Oh come on!”



“I think I've heard of this place.”

“It lookssss like a ruined zity.”

“It was, twice over.”



“Come on, we have places to go.”



“Hey! A campsite!”

“Something seemssss off....”




“Let's not bother them.”





So, I hit up Dharmon to hand in the quest, and tidy up my inventory. That's when I checked out Dmurr's stockpile...



“Wow. I didn't know I had that many. I think I can drop off the plain arrows now, and stick with Bronze-heads as my default.”



“Here are the plans you were looking for.”

You hand Mayor Radner the plans. She eagerly searches through them. "Wonderful! This will be invaluable in dealing with them!" She fetches you a large sack of gold, and takes some notes down. "I will tell the Castle what you have done!"

“Thiss only leavezz the Almaria requessst to retrieve Sixuzz unresolved.”

“Actually, I received a message for you, from a messenger from a man named Anaxiamander. You may find it relevant.” She hands the scroll over.



“That issz... how did he know about the Orb?”

“Ssspiez.”

“Probably.”

“Well, we have a job, and I know the area. Thank you, Mayor.”

“You're welcome.”



“There you are.”

“Um, hello?”

“...”

“... Yes?”

“No. Nothing. Go on.”




“Before we take care of that, I want to swing north, and check on the front lines.”

“Any particular reason?”

“To rub the fact we raided one of their secure facilities in their faces for the morale?”

“I can agree to that.”




“Actually, let's see what this place has in store!”

“Another 'random' shop?”

“Exactly!”

Shaynee is back from Exile 1, and performs the same service.




“Hey! Let's see what you got!”



Ooooh, nice pickings. Magic Rapier is already obsolete for Art, thought I should have picked it up for Marianna. The Ice Shield protects from that element, while the real neat ones are at the bottom.




The Runeshield has the same values as the Lifeshield on Kai-Lyss, but lacks the life-preserving ability. This is going onto Marianna.

“See you later!”





“Such fortifications...”

It's not well described, but what we're seeing here is the equivalent of trench-warfare. The walls are there to slow down attackers long enough for the defenders to kill them all. Hopefully.




“Even I'm not that crazy.”




“Right, that was a bad idea. Let's go deal with that thing Anaxiamander asked us to do.”

“It isz ssso eazy to forget that you are held to another.”

“Ssshe iz free.”

“I don't think you meant that in the way you did.”

“No, I'm not. Not yet.”






“There she is! And you thought you could get away with flaunting us?”

“Really? I mean, really? What is it this time?”

“DIE!”

“I think it iz just on prinssiple they sseeek to sslay you.”

“And they're not even trying hard.”



“I remember this place. Let's see what's over here.”

East of Patrick's tower, if you've forgotten.



“Leave them. Don't need them.”







“Orb or Boat? Orb or Boat?”

“Orb the Boat?”

“Genius!”






“I do not know why anyone would come here willingly.”

“Firewalk?”

“That message, I've been wondering. What was meant by the 'Blessed Athame'?”

“Nothing you need to worry about.”



“A hop. A Skip and a Jump.”



“A lot cooler in here.”



“And there's the welcoming party.”



“And they're far enough away that we can avoid them.”



“Or not.”

A higher level fight than what we're used to. But nothing that can't be over come with repeated applications of Slow Group and Curse All.



“More money! Not like we need it.”




“Really odd.”



“Yet, in this field of rubble, there issz one open ssspaze.”



“A hidden fortress.”

Another hidden dungeon. Thankfully you don't need to have someone tell you where it's at to get in.



“Right, I see doors on the left side of this place. I have no interest in Firewalking all the way to the right just to find it's a dead end.”

“I concur.”

“No singed fur! An excellent idea!”




“This is sick, and very unprofessional for Empire troops.”

“Would not better forces be enough to give them certain lee-way?”

“No, they would be under even greater scrutiny in order to be held as standards to which the army of the Empire should attain.”

“...”



“I would ask for your surrender, but I doubt you would.”



“What do you mean, nothing of value? Those cards would be worth a lot as a luxury item! Do you have any idea how hard those are to make without proper equipment?”



“Ah, intruders! We'll never open the door for you!”

“And you can't get out, either.”

“Oh, we have our ways.”

“Right. Sure you do.”




“This is not going to be fun. Time to cast Firewalk. A lot.”







Firewalking during combat is actually nice, thanks to the fact you get 4+ moves per 'turn' than 1 space at non-combat speeds. And the enemy is usually very against stepping onto lava, giving you a maneuver advantage.





“Hey! Cursing people is my job!”




“A one-way paszage, az usssual.”



“Um... housecleaning?”

“Don't believe you.”





“Indruders!”

“One day, we shall actually exercise stealth.”

“Where's the fun in that?”



“So much stuff here!”



“More giants here. We can leave them be.”



“I hear something.”



“Hydras, in pens. Probably for food.”



“Or as attack pets.”



“Let us advance.”



“You know guys, huddling up against the wall isn't going to save you.”

AI pathfinding at work, everyone!



“Twelve beds and eight chairs.”

“That's what you notice?”

“It's the important things in life, you understand.”



“That's mostly everyone. No serious resistance so far.”



“Those gloves don't even look special.”



“And yet these people really don't want us coming in through the back.”

“What, the river of lava wasn't enough?”

“Oh joy, a demon.”



“Aside from spending more of our magic than I had intended, this was actually pretty easy.”

“I think we are ssspoiled on Raksshaza.”



“I hope that's a trophy, and not another sign of collusion.”



“Really? Where were you hiding?”

“Buying me time!”

“What do you mean?”



“Oh no.”



“Oh no.”

Oh no. The Wizard is summoning a Demon every turn, and the Demons are doing their own summoning. I'm low on SP to Cure/Slow/Bless/Haste, so this is a dangerous fight in close quarters. And yet, those same quarters are what's keeping me alive as there is only so much room to use.





“That was too much!”

“But we pulled through.”

“Barely.”




“It's the Grey Pass!”

“Which means we no longer have to fight our way past certain obsssstacles. I approve.”



I could also grab Royal Clearance now, but I want to finish off the Sixus questline before that.



“Traps, and there's an invisible guardian in the way.”

“These things are never worth it. Let's go.”



“Alright, that's taken care of. We can report this to Anaxiamander and get going on our next goal. I think taking care of that Crystal Soul sounds like a good idea at this point.”

Actually, the next update will be training and the second Great Map Update. So many pictures to take!