Exile 3: Ruined World Part #52 - Marish and the Chasm of Screams

Part 52: Marish and the Chasm of Screams

Update 046 – Marish and the Chasm of Screams

“So, where to now?”

“West.”

“Don't care as long as we get to ride horses!”

“Why that direction?”

“Why not?”

“Reasons are helpful, especially now that we have those crystals for analysis.”

“They're Vahnatai in design, I can tell you that much. No, I want to go west and try to find the dragons first.”

“Any particular reason why?”

“Aside from Anaixiamander saying so? I want to talk to them about the evidence implicating them before confronting Rentar-Ihrno.”

“That sounds like a story.”

“Let's just say I'll take confronting a dragon over confronting her any day.”

“And that huge section of unexplored territory has nothing to do with it, I'm sure.”

“Feeling better?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Hey there.”

“Greetings. Heard about you from the Dervish. Still have to inspect you, you understand.”

“Go ahead. I'm not about to wreck our working relationship by smuggling whatever it is.”

“Skribbane.”

“They're clear.”

“On your way. And good luck.”

“Thanks.”

“And now, on the other side of the river.”

“This is as good a place as any to start heading overland.”

“Mountains where we learned that ritual.”

“Re-learned in my case.”

“Something is in here...”

“Oh, nice!”

“Western coast. That's the Isle of Bigail over there.”

“I have an idea. My precious, activate!”

“What is the purpose of coming out here? I could swim it!”

“THIS!”

“What is this?”

“A very large sandbar.”

“That was... useless.”

“No it wasn't! We explored, and I got to play with my baby some more.”

Matthias is right. There's a very large crescent of those tiny islands to the west of Lorelei and to the east of Bigail which serves no purpose except to be there.

“More horse riding!”

We are now north of Bigail, going along the coast.

“I have to admit, it's nice and quiet.”

“The waters are soothing.”

“Alaska?”

“Alakas.”

“Ugh. I need a nap.”

“There's no road. Not even on this side of the island.”

“Maybe this colony is too new?”

“No. Even though the bridge is there, there should be a road or a path or ... something.”

“That's something.”

“Careful,we're investigating.”

“Great. Gazers and Eyebeasts.”

“I was sure that would work!”

I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that the SP draining ability of the Gazers and Eye Beasts weren't blocked by the anti-magic field. I put these guys on par with Rakshasa when it comes to fighting, and to be honest, even with the average party level approaching 35 at this point, I still find them to be a pain in the ass to fight.

And because this is apparently the first time I've had a chance to Scry a Gazer.

“They're all dead.”

“I feel like island hopping.”

“Art, no.”

“Art, yes!”

“Awwww....”

“And nothing on this island either.”

“Alrght, more mountains. Hopefully we're closer to where we need to go.”

“You mean where you want to go.”

“Eh... close enough.”

“More island hopping!”

“ugh”

“YAY!”

“Well, we are pretty close to Bigail here. It might actually be possible to hop across the channel.”

Turns out you can't.

“Bye!”

“This town is on the map of Bigail actually. I think it's Marish.”

“I don't remember anything important about this place.”

“It is actually the port associated with Shayder.”

“Nice!”

“Rolling the dice...”

This man is polishing a small statue when you come in. The shop is filled with all sorts of unusual and uninteresting items from all over Valorim. “I'm Udell. Welcome to Udell's Miscellany. We have thing ships bring from all over. Sell me your stuff and purchase new stuff to carry around!”

“Sure, we'll see what you have.”

The only thing stopping me from buying that Magic Breastplate is that Bronwyn already has one. And that's what .. the fourth? I've seen in random shops this game?

“Told you.”

“We believed you the first time.”

“Hello!”

You meet the mayor of Marish. He is sitting in his office, the common room of the town inn, looking at some papers. He straightens his mayor's sash and rises to greet you. “I am Mayor Yale of Marish.”

“Bronwyn.”

“I have heard of you. The Mayor of Shayder was quite pleased with your conduct. I, however, am doing the best I can, considering the hard times.”

“Surely being mayor is a good thing?”

“A great honor. When I was too old to be a sailor, this is where I came to settle down. They liked me. Here I am.”

“So, what are the hard times that have befallen you.”

“Monsters. What else does anyone have to worry about? Monsters! Undead and giant lizards are harassing us from the north. That's why we've been looking into adventurers.”

“Hate to break it to you, but giant lizards aren't a big threat. Undead yes, but not lizards.”

“Try thirty-foot long snakes that cast spells.”

“I take that back. So, adventurers?”

Yale looks a you sombrely. “With the plagues of monsters, the Empire has neglected us out on the frontier. This policy is bearing bitter fruit ... we are assaulted by monsters – undead and lizards mostly ... mainly, but there are also those floating eye things. They come from a cavern in the mountains forty or fifty miles to the north. Slay them, and we will reward you as best we can.”

“On it.”

“Hah! Drakes lead to dragons!”

“Curious, Matthias' map shows a bolt hole back here.”

“I feel the sudden urge to check it out.”

“Oh, that's not good.”

“Should we tell the Mayor?”

Nothing ever comes of this, and no one responds to the bodies behind the wall.

“Well, time to do another good thing for people.”

“The end of the road.”

“And the start of the monsters.”

Undead and Ice Drakes. For some reason I didn't take a screenshot of the fight itself.

“I think these are the wrong mountains. We're too close to the coast.”

“...”

I repeat – these guys are a chore.

Oh hey, there's that encounter again! While we're near the objective and until we complete it, there will be these random encounters popping up which involve Wights and Ice Drakes.

“...”

“No, not this way. The tracks don't go in the right direction.”

“I have to agree. This is the wrong direction to find the source of this scourge.”

“You called it a scourge? Really?”

“Yes I did. Now, let's get back around the other side of the mountains.”

“We just had to go back, didn't we?”

“Convenient.”

“B~oring!”

“NOT BORING!”

“This looks to be it.”

“I agree.”

“Poor horsies!”

I'll be honest with you all. This dungeon is practically a gimme at this point. It's boring, and there's no real major reward for it. But completion-ho!

“Ah.”

“Nagas, not dragon-kin.”

“Awww! I wanted to meet Dragons!”

“We will eventually, don't worry.”

“This cold...”

“I'm glad I'm big! I don't get cold easy.”

“At least there's nothing over there on that obvious watch platform to attack us.”

“You were saying?”

“As I said, nothing over there.”

“Not. A. Word.”

“I didn't say anything.”

I went out and camped at this point.

“Sounds like a source of undead.”

“We really need to cast that spell more often.”

“Not undead, but ice lizards and puddings.”

“Ugh. Wights.”

“What is that noise?”

“Sounds like nagas in pain?”

“How would you even know that?”

“Practice!”

“Not overkill at all.”

Very little I can do about someone going from 60+HP to dead in a single action.

“And that takes care of more of the ice drakes. But no Nagas yet, oddly enough.”

“Here they are!”

Do those two Ur-Basilisk's count for the random encounter counter or not? I mean, I have warning they are here due to the Curse All hitting them. I was told in advance that there were giant lizards here (though those are obviously the Nagas and the Drakes), and as you will see later, you can bypass them readily.

“Hah!”

“Still have more snakes to kill!”

“Hold still!”

“I just hope there's some good looting after all this.”

“Well, there are plenty of secret passages, so perhaps?”

“Curious. There are not as many undead as I was expecting.”

“Perhaps the Nagas kept most of them outside to assail the innocent?”

“Sounds evil.”

“Allow me.”

“Darn. Well have to go around for the other treasure.”

There's only a thousand gold in this chest – except I've already hit the in-game cap of 30,000 gold pieces. I need to find something to spend it all on. Thankfully, I know a place to drop 8,000 on.