Part 67: Dorngas and Wainscotting

Update 061 – Dorngas and Wainscotting



“So, who's next?”

“MEMEMEME!”

“Oh... kay? What's with the eagerness?”

“What do you want?”

“Dangerous question. But yes, what are you after?”

“Remember about that person who said there was an awesome weapon that we had a map for?”

“... Barely? I think we left the sheet in Fort Emergence?”

“That's alright! I have it memorized!”

And I'm using a walkthrough. I know I've already got the map, and been told where the dungeon is, so I can skip those parts and (eventually) go straight there.



“TAI KWAN LEAP!”



“Huh. Our actions have consequences. Who knew?”



“That's a lot of them. I'm counting over twenty?”

“All the more to hit with!”







“And that looks like the rest of them. Well, maybe some sanity can be returned to the islands?”

“After we leave? Perhaps.”



“Never to return!”



Oh, hey! Now that I can make them, there's a Weak Skill Potion in Storm Port's random shop. I buy it and save it for a rainy day.



“So, where to?”

“North-west! Way, way that way! Up past Lorelei!”

“Cool!”



“So, let's keep going that way...”



“I recall that when we first came through here, we simply followed the road around the lake. There was a road that turned westward. Perhaps that can be of help?”



Yeah, this is a large chunk of the map I haven't explored yet. I'm going to be filling in the gaps here as I go along.



“A very sharp divide.”

You don't see this often, but here we see two different overworld map tiles. The right hand side is forested, and the region surrounding the Lake, while the left is a different tile, and is grasslands. I suspect this is an artifact of how Vogel was constructing the overworld map section by section, and forgot to create a 'transition' in terrain with forests on one side and plains on the other.



“What's that?”



“Oh great.”



“I hate Gazers and Eyebeasts!”




“The Alien Beasts.”



“And we go West here, not North.”




“More or less? MORE OR LESS? Who writes that?”

“Places without roads.”

“Point.”



It's been mentioned in the thread a few times, but I've been beating this game's time limits quite handily. If you fail to deal with monster plagues in a timely fashion, then towns start to get destroyed, and vital NPCs move to other towns to escape the destruction.

The town of Dorgas is one of two 'safe havens' for the Golem quest, the other being Lorelei itself. Towns to the north of the Lake, including Gale, have their vital NPCs move here as they are damaged and eventually destroyed.

But because I'm massively ahead of the game, the town is nearly empty, ready to be filled with refugees for a gamestate that will never happen.



“Nicely fortified.”



“Barkeep!”

You meet the innkeeper, a short, stout man with lots of hair coming out of everywhere. He seems on edge. “I'm Radewitz.”

“He has almost as much hair as Ni'aurrl!”

“Don't mind him. He's young.”

“I've seen worse, I assure you. I run this inn. While it survives, anyway. I can give you a room for only three gold. Good rate. Also, for what little they are worth, I sell maps.”

“Maps?”

“Yeah, I used to do good business selling maps of Footracer Province to the north. To passing caravans mostly. Then the Alien Beasts destroyed the whole place. Now my maps are useless. You can purchase one for only a gold. How's that for a price?”

“Quite reasonable. I'll take one.”

“Don't know why, but here you go.”



“And now we have maps of all six provinces!”

“Really?”

“Yep! So, what do you know about the Alien Beasts?”

“The Alien Beasts may come down at any moment and kill us all,” he looks around nervously. “But I don't know much about that. Ask Wray ... he works nearby. He knows more about the things.”

“Thanks.”




Generic shopkeep, but the sign is still worth reading.




“no.”



“Hello!”

You meet a sage, busy at work writing and revising reports and drawings. You look at the drawings – they're all of a bizarre looking beast with eight legs. He looks up from his work, and self-consciously wipes some ink from his fingers. “I am Raye. Have a seat.”

“Thank you. Wait, Raye? Radewitz said your name was Wray?”

“He's a good man, but literacy is not his strong suit. Regardless, I am the town sage. That's how I make my living. But to be honest, right now I'm preoccupied with my research.”

“You are doing research?”

“Yes. I am trying to find out as much as I can about the Alien Beasts that threaten us all.”

“What can you tell us about the Alien Beasts?”

“Yes, that's what they're called. We can think of no better name. You'd know one if you saw one. Five feet high at the shoulder. Six legs. Pure Muscle. Utterly lethal. And there's something wrong with them. It was them who managed to destroy the Keep of Tinraya.”

“We've heard a lot about the fact it was destroyed, but what actually happened?”

“I couldn't really tell you. The Keep of Tinraya was to the north. It was the mightiest and well defended city in Valorim. Its walls were thought to be impregnable, until a hundred of the Alien Beasts found their way inside. Not many survived. It's a sad tale, but, for once, the Empire reacted correctly.”

“How did they react?”

“It was a brilliant move. Footracer Province, in which the keep was, was surrounded by a wall. A dozen wizards came from Imperial Center and cast many spells on the wall to that instead of keeping invaders out, it held the monsters in! Unfortunately, this is a temporary solution.”

“What makes it temporary?”

“Walls crumble. Spells fade. The beasts are still in there. If something is not done, they'll get out and keep spreading. Hopefully, someone in Blackcrag Fortress will figure out what to do soon.”

“What makes you think the solution will come from Blackcrag Fortress?”

“They are the ones who determine who gets in and out of Footracer Province. They are the ones who determine our fate. Unfortunately, they have withdrawn.”

“What do you mean, withdrawn?”



“While you were talking, I found interesting books!”

“You did?”

“Yes, look at this one!”



“Dummies. Right.”

“And this one! I have no idea how to pronounce this word though.”

“Which one?”



“That one!”

“...”

“When something is covered up like that, Sass, the word is meant to be hidden. In this case, the name is supposed to be forgotten.”

“Why? What did that person do to have their name forgotten?”

“Probably protection of the family of the mother. The Emperor never married.”

“Mammal reproduction is confusing.”

“She was politically inconvenient.”

“WHAT? How would you know that?”

“I lived in Imperial Center before my Exile. The mother of Prazac was ... inconvenient from a political perspective. I have old sources from my days in the Imperial Army. There was a lot of talk.”

“Army, or as a Dervish?”

“!!!”

“I'm not an idiot. You were part of her protection detail, weren't you?”

“Yeah. I was there. Hawthrone was only interested in an heir, and the woman was just a tool. I don't regret killing him for that one bit.”



“So, according to this map, we'll have to swing around to the south get to the other side of the mountains.”

“We should still explore though! So much to see!”

“I'm in agreement.”



“I wonder where we are?”



North-east of the Dragon caverns.



“We could almost fly over if we wanted to visit.”

“No thank you.”



“Hello?”



“What?”



“That was ominous. Really so. Vahnatai, perhaps?”

“You're the expert.”



“Hey! There's another one!”



“Who are you?”



“I think our messenger has been compromised.”



Anti-magic clouds everywhere. Rapidly becoming my favourite spell of Exile 3. First it was Major Blessing in E1, then Shockwave in E2.

HEY! I don't have Shockwave yet! Gotta find that spell soon...



“Would this be the work of Rentar-Ihrno?”

“No, she respects me enough to not underestimate me.”

* * *



“The west coast!”



“Mountains to the north of the Dragons.”




“We're supposed to go into the mountains, but I wanna go this way as well.”



“Hey! A sign! Maybe it will tell us where to go!”

“No, it won't.”




“Maybe someone there can help us?”

“Probably not.”



“Hello!”




“Sure!”



Well, I know where I'm stocking up for the end-game.




“Almost there!”



“We're here!”








“This isn't a fun place.”




“Maybe someone here will know what's up?”



“Hello!”

A small, depressed looking man sits at his desk, stitching together a torn vellum page in a thick book. He seems pleased that his library has received a visitor, but not very much. “I am Yar, the Librarian. And what are you?”

“I'm Sass! Sass the Slith!”

“And the rest.”

“Ah. I run the library of Wainscotting. Such as it is.”

“It's a nice Library!”

“Ah, it was a beautiful idea. Ships coming south, coming north, many staying here, most having few books I could buy. I got books from all over, and kept them safe here. Then the disaster happened.”

“Which disaster?”

“Plagues of monsters. Valorim was quarantined. No ships from far-away lands. No new books. Nobody wanting to see or buy the old ones. I sit here, bored. Waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

“I sit around waiting for someone like you to come appreciate my work. Feel free to peruse the books. You're adventurers ... you may find something of interest to you!”

“I will, thanks!”




“Eh... It's not like anything bad happened with those.”



“Hello barkeep!”

A tall, brutish man with the earrings and tattoos that mark all sailors in these parts runs the inn. “I'm Abruzzo.”

“Sass!”

He spits into a rag, and uses it to wipe off the counter. “I got Rooms and booze for you. Rooms are 20 gold. Same for the booze. Got a problem with that?”

“Nope! I want a drink!”



“Your name sounds familiar....”

I then spend several minutes digging through old updates to find the name I'm supposed to tell this guy.

“Oh yeah! Vagro says hello!”

He grins. “Ah, him! Those were the days. Looting, a little piracy. We took a bunch of our loot, and hid it under a statue in this town called Greendale. Then the word got out on us, and we couldn't get it!” He laughs. “Sure, it's not there anymore. Someone must have found it by now.”

Greendale is the town to the west of Tevrono. I'll try to remember to swing by there on my way back north to trigger the events in Blackcrag.



“A dead town, until the ships start sailing again.”

“We should head out then.”




“Take care of yourselves. Let us handle the small things. You do what you can for the big things.”



“Now, if I was a group of renegade soldiers, where would I hide?”



“A hidden clearing?”




“Oh! There they are!”

“Welp, time to put down some bandits.”



“I can do magic!”



Sass, despite having average intelligence, makes for an alright offensive caster. Perhaps it's the innate bonus Sliths's get to magic?



“Well, I still feel better about that. Amateurs.”

“Back to the mountains!”

* * *



* * *



* * *




“Brrr...”



Ice puddings. Not a threat at all.




“Nice!”



“Perhaps the other valley will have something of use?”




I haven't encountered Ice Drakes before. They're blue Drakes, so here's their monster scry:




“This looks...”

Alright, so I'm about to show you something that's accidentally unreachable. From the end of this valley, you can fly to the east, through this 'pass'. If you go north, you're screwed. If you get this far, you're screwed. But if you go south, you see this:



But look at the messages there. I'm one tile away from falling into the mountains and dying.

You see, the next tile over is where the Developers Room is. Much like the Eas Ter Egg code for the Tower Portal back in Exile 2, this is where Vogel stuck his little tribute to the people who made the game, and made it possible.

It's unreachable. It's one tile too far, and you are forced to land on a mountain tile, which is instant death. The only way to get in is to cheat by hacking the game. Which I'm not about to do.

So, on that sad note, I end this update. See you all next time.