Part 36: Mirror City

Update 13: Mirror City



We're winding up the game at this point. Based on the normal storyline you would find out Ariela (with the note about how she often visits her sister in Cerebus), get directed to Dulcimer and Voice Woods where you're again told about Cerebus and how you really.should.visit.it. The game is basically really, really telling you to go here. It's about the last thing we have to do before the final dungeon, so it's really about time.



"This place is giving me a really creep feeling."

"Yeah, after visiting Dulcimer first it's just strange to see living people walking around here."



"It's like he tried to copy it down to the last detail…"

"But somehow missed the essence. He copied the blueprints down to the letter, thinking that would actually mean something."



"At least this building isn't going to be full of zombie chickens."

"I can't help but think I missed out on a lot by joining you all when I did."



"Eh, sure. Go ahead."

"Your future is dark. The path you walk leads to suffering and death."

"Are you sure we can't have zombie chickens instead?"

"He didn't say who would be doing the suffering and dying. Maybe it'll be our enemies."



"Tavern looks like it might be a lot more tolerable here too."



"You don't know? Some coward murdered the mayor in his sleep. THe funeral's at the graveyard over the hill. Everyone's going."

"That's great and all, but about that drink?"

"I've got to respect a man with a mission."



"What's this about the mayor now?"

"I'm sure you've heard about the assassination of the mayor. I suspect it was part of a larger plot… possibly against all of Krynn."

"You're not wrong, completely, but… you might be giving your mayor a bit too much credit."

"That aside, what can you tell us about the looming evil keep just to the north?"

"Free the servants in the keep. You must lift their geas by destroying their captors. We of Cerberus would be grateful for their rescue."

"Huh, first we've heard of it."

"There's no more I can tell you. Talk to the people in the tavern if you need to know more."



"They weren't kidding about the graveyard being over the hill, but why the separation?"



"It's one heck of a graveyard. It almost seems like it's been here longer than the town."



"I think I figured out why they're not closer to the graveyard…and now it just seems like good sense."



"Awww, who's a good boy? Want some jerky?"

"I can't tell if it's the leather armor or the jerky that's doing it, but he's following us. Where did you get that jerky, anyway?"

"On the Kua-Toa ship. Why?"

"…please tell me you haven't been eating that."





"This priest… wasn't very good at his job, was he?"

"A huge ruby is literally a giant red warning sign."



"I've got a bad feeling about the entire place, but this spot is particularly bad."

"Eh, this is probably where they'll need us the most then."



"Hey, your mayor's turning into a zombie or something!"

"No he's not!"

"Look at him! He's twitching and everything!"

"Quiet down, you! We're trying to have a funeral here!"



"Not going to say we told you so, but…"




"This really is well organized."

"Well, we might as well get started if we want to get it done."

"There must be an easier method than destroying every reanimated body in the graveyard. Perhaps we should investigate the gravedigger."

But first, a couple of things found when wandering the graveyard...



"This kind of hesitation is odd. What are they saving him for?"

"Later."



Gotta love fights in tight quarters against enemies who are immune to a lot of your disabling spells. On the plus side, not having anywhere to run doesn't stop enemies from being turned.



"Is this… is this going to be alright?"

"He's better off now than he was earlier, and we can't exactly take him with us."



"C'mon dog, help us out!"



"I've never seen undead act like this before. It's really strange."

"Working out pretty well for the people, though."



Hey look, it's our old friends! You can run into just about every common undead enemy in the game here… and some that aren't so common.



One of the nice things about befriending the dog in that he'll actually guard you and help you get uninterrupted rest. Considering that there's no place that's safe in the graveyard during the attack, that's pretty damn useful.



Scratch that "common undead" comment. You can even get freaking vampires in here.



Although it would be a lot more intimidating if a marauding band meant more than 2.



"Alright, hand it over and we won't have to hurt you."

"Hell with that. We hurt him just a little bit and then apologize for it later. Like this."





"Everything I know about heroic behavior says that shouldn't have worked."

"That's because they taught you about ideals, not practicality."



"You might have not done the best job, but you didn't deserve this."

"Considering that his killer was a grave digger, you'd think he wouldn't have left the body here."




The rest of the quest at this point is just replacing the four runes at the cardinal points of the graveyard. The dog is just icing on the cake. That isn't to say that the trip is uneventful…



"That has to be the biggest bird I've ever seen."

"Imagine the omelets!"



Undead rocs? Sure, why not!"



"Halfway through. We've got the town still to go"

"Stay here, dog, and take care of business."



"Considering how long we were fighting in the graveyard, I'm amazed that the townspeople have held out this long."

"They seem to be tougher than you'd think, but they still need our help."



Enemy encounters here aren't much more difficult than in the graveyard, but they're a bit more damaging due to level drain. On the plus side, we're in wide open areas so fireball is a thing.



"Zombie giants, too. Where'n hell are they getting all of these things? I didn't think there were that many giants in the world."

"If there were before, there aren't now."

"And I'm not complaining."






"Wait, you have a stockpile of magical weapons and you actually locked them up where only one person can get to them in an emergency?"

"I shall look forward to inflicting his prediction on that fortune teller."



"Of course."

"To the chicken-coop!"



"Looks a lot more like Dulcimer now."




"I'd give you a prediction, but just killing you is faster."



Five wizards right up in front of our line. There's no good ending to this story. The gold mage is a high wizard, but he's also the one who has three fighters able to hit him.



"You mean you could have opened the armory at any point from anywhere in town?"

"He's a cleric, not a tactician. And it shows."



"After as much crap as we've had to deal with here, you'll be amazed at what we think is fair."



Treasure here includes some Gauntlets of Ogre Power (go to Rip to even him up with the other fighters), a Mace of Disruption (same destination), some useless Chain Mail +2, and a Ring of Protection +3. There's actually a bug where you can get the treasure multiple times, but I'm pretty good with doing it once.

Character Update






Levels are stacking on for our last couple of people, and I'm pretty sure that several of our characters actually have enough experience to gain a level if the game would let them. You can really tell the difference in experience between a Paladin and a Knight, since Boo and Amanda are the same level despite Boo having 450,000 more experience. On the other hand, Boo has access to 4th level cleric spells and will eventually get all of them. It's actually pretty fair to consider Knights as multi-classed fighter/clerics who get to use pointy objects than to compare them to other straight fighters.