Part 48: Upper Exile, Erika's Tower and the Islands of South West Valorim
Update 042 – Upper Exile, Erika's Tower, and the Islands of South-Western Valorim
Today's update is just me running around doing things now that I have the Orb of Thralni.
“Where are we?”
“Not dead, thankfully.”
“So, uh, what would have happened had we materialized inside rock?” “We would have died instantly, but in that instant we would have felt excruciating pain like nothing else.”
“We're back here?”
“Well, as that's the case, it should be easy to get out.” I am honestly surprised that this is still considered a populated dungeon.
“Now what?” “Now we prove that the Orb should be used, by using it!” “How about we make sure all the paperwork is in order first?” “You're no fun!” “Perhaps heading back to the Tower first? If the pattern holds, we still need to collect a reward from the Magi down there for our actions on the surface.” “But first, I have to got rub this in Levy's face!” “And get his face all over the Orb?” “... Good point.”
“Anaximander! I'm back!”
“That was quick. I assume Dmurr is alive?”
“She was the last I saw of her. She was going to try and collect the survivors.” “You left survivors?” “We're as surprised as you.”
“Levy! Guess what! I've got my Orb back!”
“All I heard was 'It is safer in her hands'.” “Back to the Tower! I can't wait to brag to Peregrine!”* * *
“Come on!”
“Oh, Art? Peregrie had to head out for a meeting. He said he would be back in a couple weeks.” “DAMMIT!” “Also, Solberg has passed your party off to X. He's in the library.” “X!” “Thanks.”
“And why are we here?” “Because we can. And so people can get more practice with Dispel Barrier.”
“Like that.” “One more to go.”
“LIIINNNNNDDDDDAAAAAAAA!”
“So, this is where the Triad meets. I wonder if they'll notice if someone sits in one of those chairs...”
“Guess they would notice, and would mind.” “Well, let's go see X then, and get your guy's reward.”
“Where did I put it?” “YOU!”
“Yes? I am called Linda.” “Sass! Bronwyn! Help hold Art down!” “Hello. What do you do?” She looks down, and is silent for a while. Then she looks up at you. “I do research.” “Research? Into what?” “Wow, she's strong!” “That's not strength, that's leverage!” “Let me go! Just one punch!” She begins to speak in an odd sing-song voice. “That is the job of a mage. Magic is a huge, unexplored forest, and there is much of it that is still virgin.” “That is certainly an interesting way to describe magic.” “Yes. I explore many of the bolder, more fascinating areas.” “Areas? Such as?” She looks agitated. “I study various creatures. I prefer not to say their names.” 
“Adze-Haakai!” She gets a blank look on her face. “I don't know.” “And there she goes, wandering off again. You guys can let Art up now.” “Thanks. She's tough for an old woman.” “...”
“Ah, the true library of the Tower. Such books!” “Seems dusty.”
“Hello, archmagus. We have completed another quest, and have been sent to you for our reward.”
“I think we'll skip the former, but the latter has certain implications...” “Power Overwhelming!” “That too. And while were here, let's pick up some more advanced priest spells.”
“Oh 6th Circle spells. Soon, I will be able to drop Divine Thud, and go Avatar on my foes.”* * *
“Now what?” “Now, we have the Orb. Let's go exploring.” The Orb of Thralni is the last major thing we need to explore the whole of Valorim and Upper Exile. I'll be doing a bit of cleanup over the next couple updates now that we can access places that require the Orb.
“Nothing over here.” “That flying feels like I'm standing on sand.” “Just a factor in the magic.”
“That's just out of reach, I think. We should be able to get down there using a boat.”
“You're not going to cross here, are you?”
“Especially when it seems like there's a small passage we could have used to get here instead.”
“Bah, we're flying!”
“And now we're rowing!”
“We go north here.”
When I get around to identifying it, it's a Magic Buckler, a 0 Encumbrance shield that will probably wind up on Matthias or Ni'aurrl.
“That's a lot of monsters.” “Eh, we can take 'em.”
“Time to visit Erika!”
“This is entirely the wrong direction! We're north west of New Formello “Eh, I'll get there eventually.”
“ow.”
“We can go that way!”
“This was a mistake.”
“Yeah, but not for the reasons you think.”
“What's this?”
“oooh!”
“This could be bad.”
“There's one of them.” 
“So, where next?” “East!”
“North!”
“Skip.”
“You know, we never went this way when we first talked to Erika. Perhaps we should check to see if there are any problems this way first?” “I'd rather not, but I know we will anyways.” “Yay!”
“And not even attempts to dissuade us from getting closer.”
Ogres aren't a challenge.
“That's curious. Did they remove everything of value because we were approaching, or because of some other reason?”
“Why are there Sliths here? And why are they violent?” “And again!” “This was too methodical for a quick evacuation.”
“And I'm trying to figure out why they're cooperating like this.”
“Target rich environment. And even I'm having troubles caring at this point.”
“And that looks like the last of them.”
“Whelp, there goes my lethargy. This was totally justified!” “Ewww....” “Well, waiting for the traps to be sprung now...”
“There they are!”
“Actually a potential problem. Especially with that Vampire in the back.” “Or we could cast Firestorm and Flame Strike multiple times, and then let the melee brawlers take care of the details?” “I like that plan.” Another battle where I completely outmatch the opposition
“Time to visit Erika!” “Why are we doing this again?” “Because she can?”
“Except, let's go around back.”
“I guess even Erika needs to throw out the garbage every once in a while.”
“Well, Goos aren't dangerous.”
“Before or after they start splitting?”
“On the other hand, Gorgons could be a problem.”
“Emphasis on the 'could'.”
“Well, hopefully this wand is worth something.”
“Stupid lock!”
“And who makes their locks out of Electrum?” “Erika does.”
“Hey, Red!”
“What?” “Gonna poke my nose into things.” “Don't let it get bitten off.”
“Where she does her metalworking.”
“Look at all these materials!” For once, not complaining about random Greymold – if anyone is going to have some lying around like this, it'll be Erika.
“Empty room.” “Not quite. Looks like a Brazier in the corner.”
“That's not good.”
“Run!”
“Safe!” “Except for some scorched fur.”
“I can see a tight passage through these pillars.” From the door, the path that I found was: W, W, SW, NW, SW, NW, SW, S, S, SE. Then nothing. Can someone fill me in if I missed something?
“What does this do?”
“Fires fireballs at whatever is on the rune apparently.” I'm just going to reload after that. Also, couldn't find a way into that little room in the corner. “Nothing important. Let's go see what she's keeping in the cages.”
“Ruby Skeletons.”
“Oh, one of those.”
“I thought they were all dead!” “Not dead enough it seems.” “And I don't see anything in the last cage.” “Time to go to the other side!”
“Huh. This lock is almost too easy.”
“And that's why. Teleporter trap.” “And we can't leave the room because it's in the way. Hrm...” “Found the exit!”
“Rings of lava.” “Firewalk.”
“And the exit is blocked.” “Found the way out!”
“Except we're outside now.”
“At least we know we can skip the next room. More quickfire?”
“This one, we skip.”
“HORSE!” “And we're leaving.”
“Boring.”
“This isn't a trap at all.”
“No, because this is all a trap, and we're not touching this stuff.”
Random Basilisk Encounter posted:
“And because we lack the key, we cannot reach her inner sanctum.” “You done?” “Yep! See you later!”* * *
So, I went and ID'd things.
From Erika's trash. Sold.
Still haven't decided who gets this.* * *
“Let's check out this hidden passage. It may just be a source of extra magma, but you never know.”
“This is really easy.”
“How would anyone see is take this stuff? Anyway, I'm going to leave it here. No sense in robbing Fort Emergence.”
“Let's check out some islands!”
“Already did this one. It's where I got the Ravage Knife.”
“Nothing out here.”
“And here we are, on the far western shore of Krizsan. Why are we out here again?”
“This!”
“I meant that!”
“Hello?”
“Let me heal all that up...” “Well, it's obvious he wants his privacy.” I don't think there's any land further west than this island – and the only reward for reaching it at this point is to have everyone hit with two levels of disease.
And the game will tell you that you can't fly over the ocean if you get too close to the edge of the world map.* * *
“I hear something from across the river.” “Like the other stone circles?” “Yeah.”
“There it is.”
Everyone whose Dex was below 20 has it raised by one point. 20 will not improve to 21, sadly. And that's the Krizsan Circle. Just have two more to locate.
“What do you know, we could have gotten here through this pass from the north, instead of relying on the Orb.” “Don't you dare insult my baby!”
“Another island, this time to the west of the port to port Townsend.” “You forgot it's name, didn't you?” 
“Yes.”
“What is that?”
“We can probably sell all this for a tidy sum.”
You can loot the shipwreck as many times as you want. Though, you're getting more than just Iron Bars...
Some of them are randomly Silver bars as well! Methinks this was a smugglers ship. And if you wanted to, you could keep going back and forth until you had all the money you could ever want.* * *
“And now we're on the south coast of the Isle of Bigail's spur.” “I can barely see the land over there.”
“This is delightfully quiet.” “Which means it's probably home to hordes of nasties.” “Probably right.”
“Except there's nothing out here.” “That feels ... wrong.”* * *
“And now we are nor'west of Sharimik, about to go island hopping.” “No, that's too far away to hop properly.”
“Hrm... best direction is...”
“Found you!”
“Same style as the Ravage Knife.” “No traps. Taking it.” Just to give you an idea...
And that's it for this update. Next time, we go back to Lorelei, and explore a lot more. So, voting time! Do I go:- A: North from Lorelei, up towards the central lake on the continent, with a whole bunch of towns?
- B: East from Lorelei, toward the coast, then south? There's at least two towns that way, and a whole bunch of unexplored places to connect down to the Tomb of Vahkos.
- C: West from Lorelei, toward the isle of Bigail, and regions northward of that? Who knows what's out there!