Part 16: Secret Psychic Monkeys

Update 11: Secret Psychic Monkeys



Our update today begins in an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront, where the amulet we received last time from the invisible woman reveals a secret door that we couldn't have found any other way.



It could be a bit confusing at this point, but Huerzyd isn't one of the deities of the Krynn pantheon. It's either a location, a person, or a combination of the two. It's one of three temples in Sanction, and is the temple dedicated to the Gods of Light.



"This seems an ancient building… it's likely that there are treasures hidden here that draconians wouldn't even recognize as valuable."

"They've got no business in this temple, regardless of what they think their purpose is."



"And they're still here!"



Patrol encounters in here are fairly robust, and have a good selection of draconian types. In comparison to some of the other areas, though, they're not really all that bad.



"How long has this place been abandoned?"

"All signs and lore suggest that it was abandoned before the Cataclysm. I'm amazed we can even tell this was food."



"Anything magical is likely to remain preserved far longer than mundane materials."

"Like these scrolls?"

"Mine!"



"For a former temple of the Gods of Light, this place is pretty creepy."



"At times, I don't even understand why these guys are doing the things they're doing."

"Who the hell else did they think was going to be coming through here?"

"I can't tell you, but they haven't been here very long."



"Lot of troops for something that should be a low priority mission."



"Finally, something that's useful."

"Foil Sir Lebaum, kill some blue dragons, and intercept the messengers. Seems easy enough."




"Uh.. guys… there's a psychic monkey talking to me."

"Secret door… north end… leads to big room…"



"Sounds good, but… we've got a few things to look into here before we continue."



"I heartily approve of this priority…wait, are these scrolls?"

"Why would a priest have so many magical scrolls?"

"I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth."



"An awful lot of statues… something says… right here, next to Mishakal's statue…"

"It's pretty useful, though. I appreciate the practicality."



"Alright already, we're almost done!"



"Certainly a haphazard method of hiding treasures…"

"Just a second! There's something… okay, safe."

"Armor and a scroll… at least one of these could be used by a priest."




Once we decide to stop looting and go ahead with the actual path, there's a sequence of hidden doors revealed. It's pretty much a trail of breadcrumbs at this point.



You know you're really getting somewhere, as usual, when the tile set changes. The temple of Huerzyd gives way to volcanic tunnels under Sanction.



"Long passage… south door… no evil… just bats… your problem."



"And we thought dealing with the insole woman was the strangest thing we've ever done."

One uneventful trip down the passages later…





"That's pretty exact."

"And the level of abstract thought necessary to men ally map a location and transmit the map telepathically is impressive."




"We already knew about this, but thank you for the information."

"Creepy little son of a bitch."

"Take ring, armor, javelin…"

"Umm… thank you."




"Kind of funny that all these temples seem to link up somehow."

"I'd bet on clandestine meetings between young priests and priestesses from different temples."




"I can't help but think that our greatest accomplishment might be putting this Lebaum down."

"It'll definitely have a major impact on the outcome of the battles here."



"More and more suspicious."



"I think the part I hate the most about the forces of evil is that they can't seem to resist turning torture into a spectator sport."

"I've got a three word solution to that: kill them all."



I don't even know how they crammed this many creatures into such a small room, but it's easy enough to deal with. Once you can do a bit of damage to the spell casters it's not that hard to finish them off. Even Sivak draconians can't do very much against negative armor classes, either.

Just outside...



"That's why, you idiot."

"Oh, you've heard of us!? I'm honored!"

"It's certainly more honorable this way."




"How in the blazes did he get here from Jelek?"

"I'm just glad to get another chance at the little weasel."

"You and me both, Sam."



"I believe that's referred to as 'icing on the cake'."



"Almost there… just a bit further around the spiral."



"Putting guards around it might just be the worst thing they could have done. If they'd stuck it in a random corner we'd have had a lot more trouble finding it."



Another slightly more challenging fight, due to the close quarters we're fighting in. The bread and butter spell, fireball, is completely useless at this point. One tactic is to hit a central Bozak as hard as you can, since once they blow up they'll keep their neighbors from casting while making them easier to kill them in the next round.



The Dragonlance comes with a few other goodies, but it's by far the most valuable… as for what it does, I'll cover that next update. Suffice to say, it's actually quite spectacular.



"There's really no such thing as an easy day."

"It's a lot more fun this way."



"I think that's our signal to get away from the fray, since the enemy will be quite distracted for a bit."



"… mark that door for our return trip. We need to recover before we tackle this place."



"All eggs to go west for processing. I guess we know where we're going next."





A quick trip to the Trainer preps us a bit more for the next section of the game. Rip hits maximum level, and Ishamel is only about 5K experience away from dealing the same. Boo's not that far away either. We'll finish off the Temple of Duerghast next time, deal with that wretch Skyla, and star the end game section next time.