Part 29: Update 026 – The Death of Sss-Thsss

Update 026 – The Death of Sss-Thsss



"Hah! You can't get us! Neener-neener-neener!"

"Ember, don't taunt the enemies when we know they can swim. Also they are a couple miles away and thus, cannot hear you."

"HAH! YOU CAN'T"
"SHUT UP!"



"We should check along this marsh here. See if there is an overland route we can exploit."



:blargh:

"Whatever possessed you to think that was a good idea? I'd expect that from Duncan!"

“Don't worry. We are all cured now.”

“I love my ring of poison resistance!”

“But I did see a passage over there. If we're careful, I think we can make it.”

“Alright, let's give that a go.”



“Something is home.”



“Greetings!”



“Polly wanna cracker?”

“I doubt its name is Polly. In fact, I'm pretty sure I can't even pronounce that.”



“Holy shit!”

“Let me guess.”

“This is the fifth missing crystal?”

“Yes! Just one more!”



“Well, that direction was a bust in terms of our long term goals.”

“I am glad you phrased it in that manner, as I would have had... objections given the current closeness we are to the restoration of that cavern.”

“The currents come from this direction, we should head east and see what there is to find.”

“Gotta agree with you.”

“Wait a minute. Isn't this where the Slith City is? Just to our north?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Nothing.”




“Signs of work. Excavations. Mining?”

“Seems like it.”



“A lot of scree.”



“ATTACK!”









“There is another one over there!”








“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!”
“HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!”

“Anyone else disturbed?”

“A bit.”

“Eh, they don't have the flashing lighting. I suppose we're heading back to that cavern now.”

“Like I'd give you a choice in the matter!”

Alright, I fibbed. I hit up the slaves first, then backtracked to the lizard. It just works better for the narrative, and the whole 'moving west' thing to reverse the actual order. And yes, this means that all 6 crystals are actually very close by, and the reward is certainly interesting.



“Let's do this.”





Everyone gets about 30XP for the quest (remember that you only need 100 to level), and most importantly – everyone gets +2 STRENGTH. Yes, you read that right. Even Peregrine and Ember, who will probably never need to invest another point in that again.

But it gets better from there. While normally a stat can only be raised to 20 through training, quest rewards like this can go over that limit. Thus, if you had a character with 20 strength then you completed this quest, they would have 22 afterwards.

I didn't exploit the reward for that result though. Oh well.



“FIXED, you USELESS archmage! We did all the work while you sat in the tavern the entire time!”

“I suppose you won't be wanting to learn Firestorm like your lady there?”

“no sir. Please teach me.”






“That was... out of character, Peregrine.”

“Sorry. I was still slightly euphoric from the power in that place.”

“I like the new you! Powerful and knowing it, but also ready to back down when it is needed!”

“Your praise fills me with dread.”

“Perhaps we should move on to our current goal?”










“Are we there yet?”











“Are we there... SIGN!”










“This looks... used.”



“It's just a small flood-lake.”

“I'm surprised that there are floods down here. Wouldn't that require a massive hydro-cycle?”

“Perhaps this is a sign of geothermal activity?”

“I see what you mean; the water can be pushed up by increased heat and pressure, flooding out into the proper river.”

“And in layman's terms?”

“Nothing that will affect us. But the marsh here should be very rich in sulphates.”






“Let's be systematic here.”









“We need to be more careful. We didn't harm any of the civilians, but other villages in the area could have more combatants.”

“Yes. But I am sensing some magical force from the north.”



“Oh, that's not good.”





There's actually many such encounters in this area, so yes, I'm reusing screencaptures.



“Something here.”





Not pictured – everyone getting severely poisoned, then dropped straight into combat. I lost Peregrine to the poison, and wound up reloading from an earlier save. I also discovered that you can get Obliterated by poison damage!









“This looks interesting.”

“We can take a look.”



“And of course it's dark. Peregrine?”



“Definitely Slith construction. This fort of theirs seems to have a secure location in the back. And there's a bit of life signs on the other side of these doors.”

“Perhaps we can sneak past them?”



“_{it's dark here}”

“_quiet”

I can't believe I actually did this. I just snuck past everyone in that room!



“How was that possible? I thought they could see in the dark?”



“Nothing of interest here. Just the usual supply room.”



“Shit!”
“SSSSSSHIT!”


“No more need for stealth!”





“Hrm, this one was working on something...”



Nothing special, a Scroll of Stealth, funny enough.



“Another place where we see that the Slith record their history through statues. No defacing them, Ember.”

“Awww.”



“And a secret passage over there.”



“I think there's going to be a lot of secret passages in this fort.”

“Good. That means their secrets are worth stealing.”



“This doesn't look good.”



“KILL IT!”



“Something over there...”



“Oh, bugger.”



“Let's check this big room before we get more into this place.”



“Well, this is annoying.”





“And we could have come in here from the south side too. So many secret passages here.”



“And this boat is pretty useless.”





“ow.”

“There had better be something worthwhile back here.”




“TWELVE?!?!?”



“Well, this is the farthest back location in the fort. There had better be something useful here.”



“I got it.”



“Hey, why is Art going ahead like that?”





“My turn. SHIT!”





“Let's see what was so important...”



“Excellent! A Priest Spell that will allow Art and myself to deal disproportionate harm to any demonic creature!”



“Wait. Don't we already have this?”

“We do.”

“From that Slith fort over south of Corta, right? Where we... ummm...”

“No, it was in the Slith city, where we got the Magic Book. This is the second Onyx Key we've found. It must be important to them on a strategic scale if there are multiple copies around.”

Actually, those are the only two copies in the game. And you need one or the other.

“Come on, lets get out of here. I think there was a passage to the south.”







“Careful, I have a bad feeling about this place.”







“That place looks important.”

“I think we can get around from the south side.”



“Once we're in, I'll map the place.”




“That is an amazing welcoming committee.”

“I suppose it would be rude to not introduce ourselves properly, am I correct?”

“I do believe you are correct!





“Man, even with the fire, this place is chilly.”



“I think I see stairs headed up in there, as well as a lever. Looks like an exit from on-high.”



“ARGH! I can't open this door!”

“It defies me too.”

You don't want to know how much I tried to break into this door, only to fail. I'm pretty sure something important is back here, and I think I know what, but I'll have to check my notes, and come back later.



“Next floor, important things, like where Sss-Thsss is?”

“Well, this is a castle, so perhaps here?”

“It would be our luck to accidentally complete the quest assigned to us by the King while searching for information to allow the quest to be completed by those we deemed capable.”

“Or we find ourselves in over our heads and get killed. That's always an option.”

“Pessimistic much?”



“Interesting.”







“The detect Life spell isn't working properly. Probably natural interference.”

I just forgot to cast it.



“Not taking bets on Demons being behind this door.”

“I think you're right.”



“Nothing? Seriously? What a total letdown!”



“At least there's a secret passage. Into a memorial of sorts.”



“No desecrations.”



“And a more public memorial of their history.”

“I wonder if Sss-Thsss will get a statue?”

“Probably. Either as a warning to future generations that some actions come at too high a price, or as a measure of his triumph. Given his actions so far, I want it to be the former, not the latter.”

“Anyone else finding this place a but too quiet?”

“Perhaps we bypassed the majority of the troops that would be stationed here to guard this place?”

“Or there is nothing to guard.”



“Nevermind.”



“I would love to look through this library at my leisure.”

“After you learn Slith, I assume?”

“I'm sure someone can teach you.”



“And even then, you don't need to know the language to understand this.”

“Come. Let us be done with this horrid business. The only place left is through that door to the north of us.”

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO WATCH THE VIDEO. I am, once again, sorry there is no sound.



Did you watch it? Good.





















"YOU FUCKER!"

"Art!"

"YOU SUNNOVA BITCH!"

"Art?"

"IF YOU HADN'T STARTED ALL THIS YOU WOULD BE ALIVE AND I WOULD BE CLOSER TO GETTING HOME?"

"Well, this isn't completely unexpected."

"You mean how she hadn't said a single thing since we found that collapsed entrance?"

"And now she's letting her frustrations out."

"Except everyone is dead."

"I can hear you, you know. Duncan, start looking around, he's got to have something we can use to connect him to that demon. Take Peregrine."

"Good to have you back."

"Don't compliment me just yet. If this damned demon is reaching out from its bottle to influence Sss-Thsss, who else could be under its thrall."

"Oh."

"Wow. Even I didn't think of that."

"Yes, we have to get back to the Castle with this head."

"Art! Back here, I think I found the path to his private quarters."





"What have we here?"



The Gilla Cloak is an armor with a rating of 6, and Poison resistance. It's actually pretty good.

"Nothing here."

"I found another secret passageway out."






"Can I press the button?"

"Go ahead."



"How about this one?"

"I think not."

"Why not?"






"Professionalism."

Yes, hit the first, but not the second, if you please.






"Now, this looks more like the stuff!"

A Shield of Klin, which can cast 'Heal' up to six times, some money, and most vital, the Nimble Gloves, which improve Lock Picking and Trap Disarming when worn. They go on Duncan for the rest of the game.



"We should leave now."



"And how do we get out?"



"This."





"And now we head back to the Castle to let Micah know that Linda may be compromised."





Sorry, no maps this time as I forgot to take map shots without the Detect Life going on. I'll come back and do those a bit later. Probably when I go see if I missed a piece of the Demon Slayer in the area.