Part 41: Interlude: Terrible Things
Interlude: Terrible ThingsLet's take a look at one thing that didn't happen and one that did.
Level 30 is the level cap. As you can see, Solution's pretty close! Still, we won't be maxing levels during this run. There's no particular reason to do so, and we've already conquered the toughest combat endurance dungeon in the game.
The most important bit to notice here is that we have a bunch of unused skill points. Let's return to an earlier zone...
You march southeast to the peaceful vale and down into the lair of the drayk Syros.
"Have you come to trade with me?" Syros rumbles. His lair still reeks of sulfur.
You swallow. You're not afraid of a simple drayk, not anymore, but you are afraid of what Syros represents... yet that power might help you make it off Sucia Island alive. "All right," you say, "What are you offering?"
"As I told you before," Syros says, blowing smoke from his slit nostrils. "Precious information for a nibble. Magical skills for a bite. Arms and armor fit for a warrior for another bite."
Nauseated, you nevertheless nod your understanding. "I would like the information."
In an instant, Syros lurches forward and snaps his jaws. You feel dizzy. You stumble back, disoriented. Eventually, however, your senses return to you. You feel slightly weaker.
"I will tell you this, Shaper. This island was Barred because my creator, Danette, created the Geneforge. It is in the research halls at the northeast corner of the island. If you use it, you will gain power beyond your imagining."
It wasn't worth the exchange, but you're giddy that you survived such a close call with a drayk's jaws. "Fine. The magical skills and weaponry, then," you say.
Syros lunges at you again and snaps his jaws once, twice, and then sits back in sinuous repose.
You feel much weaker. As your stumble about, you hear clicks from both doors. "There, Shaper. Past those doors are your rewards." The drayk chuckles.
The canisters are Create Artila, Heal, Searing Orbs, and Speed. This isn't worthwhile for anyone but an Agent, really.
We already picked up a pair of these much earlier in the game.
This is an okay shield for a Guardian if you get it early enough.
The penalties to attack skills and fire resistance, a relatively common damage type thanks to the proliferation of fyoras during the early and mid-game, aren't really balanced out by the additional energy and stun resistance in my opinion. The armor value is nice, but I don't feel that a Guardian really benefits enough from this equipment to merit the permanent loss of skill points.
But Solution never makes a deal with this devil. Instead, she levels up her fire and magic shaping and bumps her intelligence.
"Your kind is forbidden to exist," you say as your creations array themselves against Syros. "I must end you."
"Fine!" The drayk belches a righteous tongue of flame. "Long have I dreamed of feeding on a Shaper. Now, at last, is my chance!"
Dmar whips Syros across his muzzle, interrupting his flame breath. Geokinesis and Talow concentrate their spells on the drayk and leave him quivering under their malign influence. Wedgekree zips forward and, as TooMuchAbs's magical fog envelops Syros for the last time, smashes the drayk's skull.
It is done. Syros will menace your dreams no longer.
Syros didn't stand a chance at this point. Your reward for slaying him is a pair of quicksilver boots, which grant 1 AP in exchange for -2 strength. The extra AP is generally worthwhile when you consider that extra AP can give you double the per-turn attacks, or even triple if you're also using the speed spell. The total extra damage that represents utterly dwarfs the slight penalty to damage, especially if your strength is 12 or more. Quicksilver items also stack, so if you slap on any of the three quicksilver body armors, you're really swimming in AP.
"There were many terrible things in my life and most of them never happened," Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays.