Part 17: Assembling a New Party

TLOD 3: Assembling a New Party



We enter the second level of the catacombs, and go west.



This is the last door to be unlocked with a grey key. It leads here:



A lever will make a skull key appear on the shelf next to it but also launch a fireball from the north. That key can unlock a door to the north, but I'm using it for a different one and going east.




The east path leads to what looks like a dead end with an illusory wall. This is a good time to show how True Seeing works.



This type of button is somewhat common in these levels, and they always remove the wall they're on.




The southernmost section is where the key found earlier will be used.



After going a couple tiles through that door, another one opens. Enemies still can't open doors, even when they're humans. Any door that opens without the player doing it is a scripted event. These clerics can cast Hold Person, which is especially annoying in this game since the whole party being paralyzed is now a defeat condition. On of them drops a holy symbol, and the other drops a Dark Moon key.



This pile of items is a +1 Helmet (that doesn't actually affect AC), Iron Rations, a Long Sword +1, Plate Mail +2, a Shield +1, a Skull Key, and a Spellbook. Some of these items, particularly the casting ones, seem to indicate characters who can use them nearby.



Here's somebody in the same room. This is Calandra, the sister of Ira, the woman we met in the temple's entryway.



If you refuse her:



We accept her into the party and leave the cell.



Just northwest of it is another pair of priests. Like the first guards we encountered, these two are part of a scripted event and won't do anything until it's triggered. Also like them, you can pre-empt it with Cone of Cold.



There's no special screen for this one, so we get a warning from nobody.



We find this in one of the northern cells. There are no elf NPC's to recruit in the first game.




When you release him, one of two things can happen:



He will either just leave on his own or offer to join you. The outcome can be changed by reloading a save.



If you refuse him:



Here are the stats and acceptance messages of our new recruits:



I didn't heal or feed Shorn, he actually does start in perfect condition despite what the text might indicate.



I'm going through this from the east, but it seems like the other way is what was intended. The party should be well aware of what this place is by now. Especially Shorn, who made this comment because most of them are randomly assigned.



A mage will point out another illusory wall. I do still have True Seeing active, and can't recast it because of that. However, causes its effects to no longer be visible. If you're facing the wall when you get here or the other side, the mage will call it a "second-rate illusion."



This is in another cell near where we found Calandra. We head back upstairs and rescue Insal, who replaces the literal dead weight Anya. Ileria has two 6th level spells, both of which are Heal. That restores a character's HP to full. I use it on Insal and Calandra, as well as Create food. From there we go back up to the entryway.



This button is between the staircases. It removes the wall to reveal a teleporter.




This ankh is the only way to revive elves. As the plaque says, it can only be used three times, and there are two sets of elf bones to find. Those characters will just immediately join your party without even introducing themselves.



We have another mage now. He scribes some scrolls brought over from the first game:



He and Shorn memorize spells while I drop the remaining members of the previous party. The four character minimum is absolute. Insal can only run off from a party of five or six, not four. With that, it's possible to force him to stay around for longer, even up to the end of the game.



The ankh room has two teleporters. One goes back to the entrance hall, and the other goes to an identical room with a non-functional ankh. Next time, the real challenge will start.