Part 15: No End to It

Update 10: No End to It



With literally nothing else left to do, we might as well start on the endgame at Sanction. We haven't quite reached the point of no return, but it's coming. On the way we get treated to another non-combat random encounter. Actually, I've only had one hostile random encounter the entire play though.



The selection is rather underwhelming, although that's not a bad price for a wand of magic missiles. The scrolls have nothing noteworthy, as I found out after buying two of each.



Sanction is the southernmost town on the world map, and was one of the main hangouts of the Dragonarmies in the previous war. Even after their defeat, it's… well...




"What a wretched hive of scum and villainy."

"Where do we even start looking?"







"That recruiting ring sounds like something we should probably break up."

"And someone there should probably have more information.. if we beat it out of them."



"Oy, you little bugger! Tell me everything you know or I'll put this mace so far up where the sun doesn't shine that you'll be coughing up spikes."

"Please sir, not me corn hole!"



"Good enough. I don't even know what I would have done if he hadn't talked."



"Shouldn't ever make a promise you don't want to keep. At least our next problem is easy to figure out."



Minotaurs are a big favorite around here. They're big, beefy meat walls that do an appreciable amount of damage if they actually hit anything, but are fairly easy to take down due to their relatively large profile. A fireball followed by some good old fashioned violence will tear these guys up.



"Hey you short-horned walking t-bones! Are those loincloths covering udders or are you going to actually fight us like bulls?"

"Any hope of ending this brawl is definitely gone by now."

"Good."



"Alright kid, you're caught fair and square. Tell me something useful and I'll forget this ever happened."

"There's a thieve's guild here that is trying to prevent the city from being taken over by the minotaurs."

"Hmm. Allies perhaps?"

"Or a location where most of the local wealth is concentrated. Either way works for me."



"Now we've come to something of interest to me."



"I hope you share my disappointment. This has to be the worst magic shop I have ever seen."



"Truly, this day keeps getting better and better. How are you all catching them?"



"It's not that hard. You just make sure your money pouch is tied tight, put the copper on top, and sure there's not too many layers between your skin and the pouch. Now talk, you little rat."

"The guild is connected to the same building as the inn. The door is on the west wall."

"Sounds like we'll be able to kill two birds with one stone."



"I think this is worth investigating, but shall we deal with the inn first?"

"That'll probably do the most good for the good armies."

Proceeding to the South Sanction Inn...



"To join the Army and see the world!"

"You guys don't even know what's going on. You've been Myrtani's told and you don't even know why. Too bad."

"Is that a no?"

"I've had enough of this. Boys… get 'em."



It's every bit as underwhelming as it looks. Ordinary humanoids start to really seem lacking at this point, especially since the game doesn't try to even the odds by giving them magical equipment.

"Hmm. This looks like it might be significant..."



"The ambush sounds like something we should care about… but this would be a lot more helpful if it was actually telling us what they were going to do, not what they've already done."



"This town… what a place."

"Shouldn't we help?"

"As soon as we finish up with the thieves' guild. If we went chasing after every scream in this town, there'd be no end to this."




"Crap. I don't think I know the local cant."

"Just wave your arms around. Can't be that hard… lemme give it a try."



"I'm not impressed."

"Can we PLEASE go after that woman now?"

"Sure, sure. Looks like the vault door is stuck anyway. We'll come back with a knock spell later."



"The captive's lung capacity is quite impressive."



"Looks like we're just in time."

"What on Krynn would a bunch of minotaurs want with a woman?"

"I can't think of many things, and none of them are pleasant."



"Well, at least this is going to be entertaining."



They're not anymore impressive now than they were earlier. A few moments later…



"Meet me at the end of the south pier. I must hurry."

"This might be one of the strangest thing we've ever dealt with."





"Wait, a Death Knight? Bloody…"

"Wait, maybe he's not very good at it?"

"Not very good at it is probably far more than we're able to deal with."



"I found this. It may be significant for you."



"I hate, hate, HATE finding out that we've been played for pawns."

"I had kind of wondered why everyone was so fixated on a single Dragonlance out of the hundreds used in the war…"

"I think we've done all we can here. Should we head back to the thieves' guild?"



"I wish I could complain about everything in their vault being perfect for me, but I promise I'll use these for the good of our cause."

The treasure in this case is a set of Bracers AC4 and a Necklace of Missiles. While you'd expect it to cast magic missiles, it actually does short range fireballs.




To end the update, we'll finish with a visit to the local training hall. The last few locations in the game have their own training halls, in order to ease the difficulty of traveling back to an outpost in order to gain levels. That said, the question of how they enable Knights to change Order is better left unanswered.





Not much change at this point, but we've got a few heavy experience adventures coming up. We're still at or near the cap for all of our characters except for poor Elon, who probably won't reach the level cap in this game. Next time we'll explore the various temples and, finally, get our hands on some of the treasure we've been looking for.