Part 38: Riftwar

Update 15: Riftwar

Picking back up with the next update we're still in the middle of Dargaard keep, so we might as well get on with it quickly.



"Well, this place is a lot more ruined than the lower floors."

"That probably means that the living residents were below… and if they were avoiding the top floor, it was almost certainly for a good reason."



"Guessing games? And what kind of death are we talking about here?"



"Snarling weretiger death, apparently."

"I'm more than okay with that. It'll loosen us up before dealing with Soth."



"They're really serious about this whole thing, aren't they? Well, there's no going back at this point."



"Can you just tell us which of the doors has more weretigers? That was kind of fun."



"This uses up your birthday present for the year."



"Really? You already closed off the way back there. I think doing it again is just overkill."



"If you don't have anything more intimidating than a few dozen were tigers, I think your threats are somewhat empty."

"Wait a second… it's that thief!"



"The hell? How did you guys get caught? We were twenty feet in front of the door!"

"More to the point, we there was only one pathway here. We never saw you, and yet here you are in front of us."

"They're looking for me now. Please protect me! I'll give you information in return. For starts, there's a secret passage right ahead of you."

"Who do you think we are? This is all a bit suspicious, but we're not going to make a helpless woman bargain for her safety."

"I guess I'm just not used to people like you."



I sense a pattern…



"This would be a great place for an ambush.. it's really creepy to just find it abandoned."

"The dead just don't think like the living, I'm afraid… although as I'm happier without a bunch of arrows in me I'm okay with that."



"They don't even know how doors work anymore. That's got to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen."

"Secret passage it is, then."



"I realize it's a bit late to bring this up, but that door could be a deliberate attempt to herd invaders into this tunnel."

"Seems like this isn't used often… how did you find it often?"

"I'm a thief, as I told you. Of course I could find a hidden passage."

"I'd have found it in a few minutes!"



"Can we… can we talk our way around these?"

"I'm afraid not. As Iron Golems they have simple commands they obey. We're better off destroying these now so they don't attack us by surprise."



Iron Golems are a bit of a doozy. They can only be hit by +3 or better magical weapons (hope you've got one of those for everybody…) and they have a THAC0 of 3. Even with a -10 AC they still hit Boo 1 time out of 3, and it's much worse for any of our non-fighters. They also do 4d10 damage with their attacks. Mercifully, they only get one attack per round. Iron Golems are slowed by lightning damage, healed by fire spells, and only take normal damage from cold spells. Since Ishmael doesn't have Cone of Frost, that means he's practically useless against these things.




"That laughter… they're watching right now, and enjoying every second of it."

"He's not getting any younger, but then again, he's not getting any older…. we'll ruin them for this."

"They couldn't turn him into a death knight, so instead they turned him into this gruesome parody."



Poor Durfey. He's got the same stats and equipment as before, but being undead has slowed him down and reduced his armor class. It's almost a mercy killing, but he's still capable of doing serious damage if you don't put him down quickly.



The only treasure… Durfey's arms and armor. This is the only place in the game where you can find more Solamnic Plate.



"Rest, friend. You go now to join your comrades who went before you."

"I just hope you weren't really aware of what was happening to your body, wherever you are."



And with that, we've finished the last plot event before the final rush. Beyond this door is the final battle of Death Knights of Krynn, although the game doesn't bother to warn you beforehand. If you don't know better, you're likely to just stumble into the final battle. So, make your preparations here… and this is what you've got to prepare for:



"Because that worked out so well for you down in those crypts, right?"

"And we've learned a thing or two since then. You shouldn't have tipped your hand so early."



This is it. The final storyline battle. It might not look terribly intimidating, but there are about 3-4 Iron Golems just offscreen waiting to attack your characters. The death knights and Lord Soth aren't at all shy about dropping those their fireball spells, either, so if you're not prepared this can end your party in the first round. The best thing you can do is load up on Resist Fire spells and cover every single party member. This reduces the damage down to single digits, and with a few solid hits and spells you can take down most of the death knights. Since the Iron Golems haven't been damaged, fire spells can't really heal them. Once the death knights are down you just have to hack through the Iron Golems. That's a challenge, but it's more tedious than anything else. The biggest danger is actually the death knight's fear effects, which can send some of your fighters off into a corner for the rest of the battle.



"Oh no you don't. Come back here!"




"Kiti-who?"

"Of course. It all makes sense now."



"Hands to yourself, you fake thief!"



"Oh, piss off. We barely gave the actual Heroes of the Lance the time of day, and we're definitely not going to give someone they beat even a shred of respect."

"Release the rod now! I am still in your debt for freeing me from Soth. Release it and you will live!"

"Well, if you say so… by all means, have at it!"



"How did you know that would work?"

"We got the Rod from a place that burned undead to ashes as soon as their protections failed. I figured that the Rod wouldn't be any more tolerant of Kitiara."




"Well, this just saves us a lot of walking."



"Well, you see, what had happened was…"




"You're too kind."

"We certainly could use the rest, after that last fight."




"Before that happens, we'd actually need the Gods to stop cursing Knights who've betrayed their vows. At least they keep things interesting."

"I dunno, I think I could live with boredom for a while."

Character Update





Normally I would skip the character sheets and go into an epilogue, but we've still got Dave's Challenge to go. So with that in mind, this is our party at the end of the regular storyline. It's not dramatically different from last time since we only cleared the one floor, but at the very least this gives you an idea of what you need to beat the game fairly easily. Next time, we'll take on the post game section.