Part 17: Update 015 – Remote Fort and Fort Draco
Update 015 – Remote Fort and Fort Draco
“Say it!”
“No!” “Do it!”
“This is unseemly and childish.”
“But entertaining.” “No!” “Do it!” “No!” “Do it!” “No!” “Do it!” “No!” “Do it!”
“Certainly for the first few iterations, but a joke like this gets stale after a while.”
“I saw a play where they repeated the same action over 120 times before the actual production started. It was humour that relied on excess to work properly.” “I've heard of those. Absurdism plays do not interest me.” “You're mistaking Absurdism – which is a philosophy that recognizes the inherent attempt to find greater meaning will inherently fail due to either its non-existence or impossibility to comprehend -” “No!” “Do it!” “- and the concept of the Surreal Humor, which is based around the incongruous behaviour of illogical actions and the juxtaposition of the mundane with the absurd.” “Where did you learn that?” “Studied to be a playwright. Didn't go very far in the whole thing, but it was a nice groundwork for understanding the nature of narrative.” “Dissapointing, really. In a more general sense. I'm not empathizing with you. The decline of culture can be attributed to the inane and asinine policies of Hawthorne and his circle of advisers.” “Words like that could get you exiled, my friend.” “No!” “Do it!” “ENOUGH!” “We are LOST. Simple as that! Now ADMIT to it!” “...” “...” “we'relost” “SIGN!”
“Oh thank goodness.” “women” “What was that?” “NOTHING!”
“I do not believe this is Fort Draco. Perhaps we can get directions therein?” “Worth a shot.”
“Someone forgot the lights.”
“And no one is here. This is not a good sign.” “There's a building on the island over there. And a boat. Perhaps we should investigate? Worst comes to worst, we fall back, find Fort Draco and inform them of any problems we encounter.”
“Can I row this time?” “Sure, as long as Peregrine helps out.” “WHAT?” “You both need the exercise. The rest of us get plenty of it as it is.” “This is preposterous!” “No, it's absurd. Now row!” “I object!” “Overruled!” “Is there something in the water?” “This is outrageous!” “Fine! Someone with actual muscles will row.”
“It's pretty quiet. Maybe they're all asleep?” “Wouldn't explain the lack of guards at the gate.” “Right then, be on your guard.”
This dialogue box shows up when you're in a boat and you try to move onto a 'bridge' tile. If you tried getting off onto the ground, then you would simply disembark. But this allows you to stay on the water for whatever reason. Usually to reach other places. Interestingly enough, on the world map, if you're in a boat, you don't get any random encounters! “Is that a hymnal being sung?” “Perhaps this is a Monastery fortification?” “We'll check it out, quietly, so as to not disturb the attendees.” 
“KILL THE INTRUERS!” “Oh COME ON!”
See this? Times three. Major, massive numbers of spellcasters here. Unless you want to get torn apart at range, stick to the outside wall and let them come to you through the doorway. I've also been using the opportunity to grind Peregrine's levels. It was.. Quite successful. “Oh crap, there's more of them!”
“Hold the line!” Check the log there. The Evil Priest (in red) cast Flame Strike, a AOE spell with a range of 2 squares away from the centre (think the city-radius from Civilization 1-4). And then cast it such that it only hit Ember and Peregrine, instead of casting it one tile closer and hitting Ember, Art, Peregrin, Rook and Karmas at once. The combat AI can make some... wonky decisions at times.
“Clear!” “I swear! I didn't mean to wander into the central fort of an evil cult out to do evil things!” “I do not know. You seem to have a knack for it.” “Hey! That's not my job now!”
“I really don't want to touch this altar.”
“Wow, that is so evil, it's not funny.” So naturally, I touch it, just to see what demon comes out:
Yeah. I'll stay away from this for a while, probably until everyone in the party is at least level 20. “Split up, see if there's any information about this place.” “Found the library!”
“And there's some interesting tomes.”
Everyone on the party just had their Mage Lore increase by 1 each. It's not a big boon, being worth only 6 skill points and 150 gold worth of training. But it does raise our aggregate total from 10 to 16 in that skill, which will carry us for a while.
“Hidden escape entrance.” You can go north via water instead of south as I did, and use this as a back-door into the temple. Just an alternate path, not necessary.Other than that, there's nothing of real note here. Just a few spawning enemies as I go, and a couple rats and a spirit hidden on the north side of the map. Here's the map!
((I'm really sorry about the map. I'll fix it when I come back and Magic Map everything.))
“Not lost!”
“We still are, but this is a nice find.” “If we only knew what it was.”
“Perhaps we should find someplace else to be?” “Don't be a wuss!” “Says the woman who is scared of Dragons.” “They're DRAGONS!” “Not the point. Motrax is not hostile.”
Grabbing this spawns two groups of Giant Spiders, but they are easy enough to dispatch.
“Finally!”
“This is a mining town. Best not to split up.”
You see an old woman in ragged black robes. She seems to be looking for something. “Have you lost something?”
"I'm looking for my familiar right now. It's being very naughty. Then we're going to go meet the dragon." “I'm Ember. What does your familiar look like?” "Oh, hello. I'm Caitlin." She keeps looking under tables. "Yes, my little lizard. My friend! And helpmate! Who I won't punish! Not at all!" She starts to search faster as she shouts. You hear, from behind you, something say "Yeah. Right." “You're going to go see the Dragon!?!?!?! Why?” "Yes. Mighty and ancient Motrax lives in a cave to the east. He welcomes all humans. He actually likes us. Mages from all over go to learn from him. I'm on my way now, if only I can find that naughty, naughty familiar." She spies a lizard under a table, and leaps after it. It gets away. You see a small green lizard, with a ribbon around its tail and a bell around its neck. “Umm.. Hello?”
"Hiss. My name's Jack. Hiss." The bell tinkles. It looks embarrassed. “uhhh....” "Hiss. I'm a familiar. Hiss. Hiss." It tries to shake the ribbon off. "Hiss. For her nibs, Caitlin. The one who makes my life one long string of torments and humiliations. Hiss. I say, hiss. Hiss?" “Good luck. Um. Both of you.” “Art, this is one weird lady”
“Spectacular!”
Yes, they're using a magma vein to help forge their metals. That's actually pretty awesome when you think about it.
You see a massive bearded man, covered in what must be an inch of soot. The enormous muscles in his arms almost threaten to tip him over.
"Welcome to my shop! I'm Boutell." He clasps your hand in a bone crushing grip. “Master Smith, I presume?” he shakes his hand to try and restore feeling in the abused limb. "Yes I am! The best weapons and armor in Exile come from my forge, and I can repair just about anything as well. I'm the only one with the skill to work the steel well." This guys sells steel weapons and armor, the best non-magical gear you'll find in the game. It's also bloody expensive. I could spend 8-10k gold here to kit everyone out with optimal gear. I'll talk more about this guy in a moment. “I was informed that metalworks were nigh impossible own here due to the lack of metals?” “Proper Iron for making into steel, sure! But lesser metals like wrought Iron, Bronze, Copper, Zinc, that sort of thing? Easier to come by, especially in this region. We got a whole host of mines to the North East, if that's your sort of thing.” “You say you repair things as well?” "I would love to work on a mighty blade! Now that would be a challenge! If you ever find something I could fix, let me know!" Aside from his store, Boutell has two things going for him. First is he's the name we need to tell X. Why?
That's why. Apparently X wants to drop an anvil so big even Bugs Bunny would think he's overdoing it. The second is that his comment about repairing items isn't just for show. While this game doesn't break gear, like say System Shock 2, there is a plot item that can only be fixed here. But we won't come to that for a while.
“Talked to her. The only thing she has is a recipe for a strong poison for 500 gold. Can't afford it, but it will be a good investment if we can find a good supply of Crypt Shrooms.” Apparently it's pronounced E-faye according to her dialogue response to 'Name'
You see a small man with short blonde hair. He wears a belt laden with tools. He's the only guy to sell a boat that can reach Solberg's tower, so buying one here is pretty much required. It costs 300 gold, and I pop it down.
“I have no idea about all this.” “Such industry...” “Bah, material wealth for material men.” “That sounds like a man who's never had a warm bed in his life.”
A sooty beggar rolls himself around the paths on a cart. He has no legs.
"I'm Frank. Give me a gold piece, please?" “Here.” He flips a coin to the man. Then another. “What happened?” "I was once a productive member of society. Then I got thrown into Exile. Then I became a productive member of this society. Then my legs got chopped off in a mine. Now I try to get people to give me a gold. Sad story, huh? How about it?" Just goes to show that even Exile has problems. And we haven't even seen the worst of them yet. And no, you can't actually give him any money. I tried.
“COWS!” “I dread the day we find a sign that is in the shape of a bovine, or even has anything to do with them at all.” “Agreed.”
Sue sells general supplies, but I can get back to Mertis to buy food. There's honestly not a lot to do in this town, as befitting its place in the overall economy of Exile. In E2, it's importance is increased dramatically for certain reasons. Anyways, here's the map! 
“Hold on.” “Wasn't there that witch in the Tower, Zathnia, who mentioned a Phyella here in this Fort? How come we haven't encountered him or her?” BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!