Part 29: Meteorite Falls and Magic Children

Update 7: Meteorite Falls and Magic Children

"Well then, back to Vingaard to get this all sorted out?"

"Nah, we're going to go tool around and visit a few little towns out here in the sticks before we get back at it. Maybe rescue a few cats up trees or something."

"How are you people heroes?"

"You really are new at this. Ishmael?"

"You never know what you'll find in the strangest places. I once thought that power was found by carefully searching along well worn pathways, but it's actually fastest to just wander around and do random heroic deeds in out of the way places like that one over there."

"…really?"

"Ishmael usually knows what he's talking about."



Our first destination is the village of Cekos, which is distinguished from our next destination by actually having a name.




"You don't see that everyday."

"A village where even the children are wizards? You're certainly right about that."



"I am looking for my daughter. Will you help?"

"Of course. Can you tell us anything about her?"

"She just up and vanished, and I don't know where she went. I've got her amulet here so she'll know your from me, and you can have this quarterstaff to beat up any creatures that might be keeping her."

"You say that like you expect that there are creatures around here somewhere."

"Oh no, nothing like that at all…"



"Save my city from the dragons. I give this scroll to you for your help."

"I never quibble about payment in advance."

"Dragons? Really!?"

"Need to find them first. Let's ask around."



"We don't need anything just now, except for some information."

"This town is very strange. I'm new here, and everyone is always so frightened and secretive… well, except the town bum, who tells a strange tale."

"And yet not the strangest place we've ever gotten information."



"I don't know if we should…"

"We might have a couple of steel pieces if you've got a good story to tell."



"…that's certainly a story."

"It's perfect! They must think that they've already won, so they won't be expecting a thing."

"Hmm… and the mages spell books and artifacts could be lying around."



"Must be remnants of the Dragonarmies! Don't know when they're beat!"

"They're about to find out."



These were scary at 4th or 5th level. Now… not so much. Especially when there's only six.



"Y'know, between this and that zombie bar that's two bars in the last month I just haven't felt welcome."

"That's bad. Normally all it takes to make you feel welcome in a bar is a shot of whiskey."

"Next!"



"Sir, would you happen to be one of the mages of this town?"




"We'll certainly be glad to help you return your family's lost property, especially if it's been stolen by dragons."

"Besides, we were pretty much planning on slaughtering them all anyway. One more along for the ride won't hurt."

"Excellent. We can start across the street. There's an evil mage and some sivaks hiding out there."



"Oh, again?"

"What do you mean 'again'? This has happened before?"



"Yes, what she said! You were supposed to be completely flabbergasted."

"It's a bit of a long story, but you're a bit smaller than the last dragon we helped out. "

"Hopefully this ends better."



"Just a minute… what are you all in here for?"

"Don't you remember? The old bum said they locked up all the mages they didn't kill. "

"Besides, I'd rather accidentally release a thief than leave anybody locked up here."



"Sivaks?"

"Sivaks. I think we all know what we have to do here."

About 10 seconds later...



"These ones had better have something worthwhile. I'm starting to worry that there aren't any magical treasures here at all."



"You were saying?"

"I'll pass on just that one."



The silver key opens a secret door in the town mayor's office. The only way to find this without just walking into it is to follow a serving girl from the kitchen down here… an event that's only available in the daytime, and has a chance of failing if you're not stealthy enough. The good news is that assuming you get to the right place with the key and just walk forward you can go inside.



"I feel like we must have killed half the sivaks in Krynn."

"Nah, can't have. I got three fourths of them back in the war."



A well placed fireball takes out all but 2 of the 16 sivaks here. Even making their saves, they still took enough damage to die instantly.



"Looks like we interrupted something."

"Unhand her, you beasts! We're not going to let you devour anymore helpless virgins!"

"What? We never ate any such thing! We were about to uh...play catch."

"She's not even a virgin, either. We dragons know these things."

"Never mind that, these are invaders after our treasure!"

"I'll handle one of them… the rest are up to you."



Welcome to the most dangerous fight we've had so far in this game. Each one of these dragons can and will use their breath weapon, which means we're looking a minimum of 140 damage right in the face. They're also mathematical geniuses when it comes to bouncing their lightning breath off walls and hitting you twice with the same shot. I wiped about a good 4-5 times on this fight before feeding Boo a protection from dragons breath scroll and having everybody else hide behind bends in the walls.



"Of course. We'll be taking you home directly."



"There's still something left for you, in thanks for all your help."

"I'm just happy that we actually got to fight dragons. These little towns are great!"

"They're also how you get your name out there as a hero."

"I don't think I understand."



"Look at a little town like this one. You think the people in this town really know who Soth is or are going to much care about whatever we do to him? They're more worried about their cow going dry than about Soth. But they'll remember whatever we go in here and do, and they'll tell about it. Maybe they'll even hear other stories about us and connect the dots. "The heroes that saved the High Clerist's Tower were here too," they'll say. It gives them a feeling like their little town was part of something bigger… and the people they remember as heroes are the people who gave them that feeling."



"Well, if you insist kid…"

"It's usually not a good sign when they're grabbing strangers as soon as they wander into town."



"Pay no heed to the rumors about the meteorite. It is completely harmless. Seek evil elsewhere."

"An actual meteorite? What a fascinating object! We simply must study it."

"NO! I mean.. it's being examined and prepared for for display. We can't interrupt the process."

"Okay, we'll just be moving on then."

"Good. And remember, pay no mind to any of the townspeople's superstitions."



"Something doesn't add up here…"



"You mean other than the village sorcerer being obviously evil?"

"The meteor appears to have some peculiar ability to affect the personality of those close to it. I wonder why the villagers are unaffected?"

"Maybe this used to be a village full of evil people and a single good wizard?"

"We'll just have to keep looking around until we find the source."



"Bingo!"

No screenshot of the following fight, but it's nothing but mages. They get initiative, however, which is a Bad Thing. Compare the HP before and after.



"Ever since that evil meteorite landed in the tavern, this village has been crawling with evil."

"In the tavern? That is true evil!"

"I'm not at all shocked that an evil sorcerer was able to pretend to be you."

"I'll follow you to the tavern so we can destroy it before it is used for their evil designs."

"To the tavern!"

"But first, back to the impostor."



"You'll not hide behind my face any more, you villain!"

"You'll never take me alive… or at all, if I have anything to say about it?"

"Crap… which one was on our side again?"

"The one not surrounded by fire minions."



Pictured - one mage with a lifespan measured in milliseconds. The fire minions are only a minor threat, being both easy to hit and not having much HP. We'd be better off if we had some cold based magic to use against them, but it's not a big deal. They do cause small amounts of fire damage to everybody in front of them, however.



Random encounters in the village are all collections of undead. Also, you really don't want to try to rest. Any attempts will be interrupted by attack.



I have no explanation for why they're all facing the other direction. Wraiths are a lot like wights, only non-material and a bit tougher.



"Y'know, I've always wondered… what is up with wights and those crazy beards? Do they sprout as part of becoming undead?"

"I'd be more curious about the loincloths… although I'm very grateful for those."

"Who cares? Save the booze!"



The final battle in this nameless village is an assortment of undead. Spectral minions are tougher than the other undead here, but weaker than skeletal warriors.



"Thank you for your help. Evil will leave the village now that the meteor is gone."

"And so will we. Take care, now."

Character Update





So, I kind of forgot to get a screenshot of Ishmael's character sheet for this update either. For reference, he is level 13 at the moment. He's also got Olin's Quarterstaff from the cursed village, which is a +2 quarterstaff with a 50% chance to stun when it hits. A bit of item swapping has improved Amanda a bit, and she's getting close to another level. She won't be behind for much longer. One general trend right now is that we're getting pretty heavily loaded down with coins. Something will have to be done about that soon.