Part 41: Set Sail For Adventure!

Update 1: Set Sail For Adventure!




Well, we're back and it's time to get started on the third and final volume of the Dragonlance games. Sadly the title screen isn't quite as cool as the others two, but it makes up for it with animated flames.



Also, this is the only image in the intro. As this is depicting a scene from the game, we're in for quite a ride.



The first thing to do is load up our characters and get started. You can sort of see the change in aesthetic starting here. Dark Queen of Krynn is in many ways a much prettier game than its predecessors, and has a few useful touches added in.



One of the changes is that now your copyright protection comes from the front page of the journal rather than from the actual journal entries. I can only imagine that people were annoyed by getting accidentally spoilered. Speaking of which, there's not much explanation given as to why we're here. The backstory, told in a full page letter on the journal that results in a 500 KB image file, is basically that Laurana from the Heroes of the Lance heard about our righteous ass-kicking of Soth and sent for us to help with a little matter.



"Identification, please."

"Identification? What the hell do you mean? Who would we even get something like that from?"

"Sir Boo, of the Knights of the Rose. Would this letter from the Golden General do, perhaps?"

"You're sure getting a lot of mileage out of that new title, aren't you?"



"It's really weird having someone as important as that saying we could come at our convenience instead of theirs."

"That's humility for you. Still, we shouldn't keep her waiting for long."



Before that, though, we need to make a stop off. Remember when I said some of our characters had gotten enough experience in Death Knights to advance a level? Sam, Rip, Ishmael, and Gable all go up a level. They weren't showing purple since the game doesn't check for the ability to level up until you're in a battle or gain experience in some other way.



Among other things, Ishmael now has the ability to learn Cone of Cold… and has reached 9th level spells. I take Cone of Cold since you can get a lot more castings of that and it completes the elemental trifecta. Also, there's another reason…"



"Ah, my champions, I am honored by your presence. Come and sit with me. There is a chill in the air this morning. I am afraid I have distressing news to share with you. Once again, our beloved Krynn needs your aid."




"Scouting? Is that it? If there's anybody there, we'll go ahead and kick their asses too."



"Don't worry about it. We'll take care of the situation. It's kind of what we do."



Wandering around Palanthas, we find that Prince is running the local bar. This isn't unusual, as he or one of his clones actually runs every bar in this game.



Bar tales have also changed. Rather than entries that you look up, they now appear in game.



They didn't bother with an over world for this portion of the game… for reasons that will be very clear later. Instead, once you leave Palanthas you have no choice but to go directly to where you've been sent.



"I take it that Caergoth doesn't have a thriving iron and steel industry that would account for a lot of smoke?"

"Afraid not. This isn't a good sign at all."





"I knew we should have killed a few hundred more of those things when they were planning that half-assed takeover."

"With any luck we'll have a chance to make up for it."



"That's heavy work… let us help a bit, since we can't do anything else."

"Bless you gentle folk for your kindness to a poor widow. Beware the flying dragons, lest you meet the fate of the ones I loved."



"Those shapes look awfully familiar…"

"Alright you scaly bastards, come out and fight!"



"Oh really? I think we'll just have to see about that…"



For a warm up fight, this isn't too bad. We've got three dragons, including our first adult green dragon, but they're not actually that bad. Especially since Boo is right in front of one of them with his dragonlance.



By the way, that center command? It's like precision aiming for fireballs. You center the fireball and if you're outdoors it hits everything within two spaces. If you're indoors, the three spaces in each corner are safe but everything else is hit. No more accidentally hitting your own characters again!



"This is… incredibly bleak. Somehow we've missed this side of war in our previous battles."

"It looks like a sword wound… you can't even say this was an accident in a dragon attack."



"And it looks like they're still here!"



In case you didn't catch the blue dragons from earlier. Oh, and you notice how 2/3 of our characters are evidently ready for another level? If you have enough experience to go up two or more levels you go up one level and have your experience reset to one experience point below what you'd need for another level. Fighting those dragons sent all four characters back up over the edge.



"Wait, why did we come back here again?"

"Simply to see what would happen, obviously."

Back to where we left off...



"Well you see, what had happened was…"



"We arrived here late last night to find our city burned and ravaged. The few that remain have told us a terrible tale."



"I'd say that's pretty rough on you, if it weren't for the fact that the people in this city have suffered a lot worse."



"It doesn't look like we have much choice, considering that it seems as though nobody else is going to deal with this."

"Very well. Come, strangers, our adventure begins."



"I've got this unfortunate feeling that we're not going to be seeing Ansalon again for a while."

"On the plus side, we're going on quite an adventure. We'll definitely have a story to tell when we get back."

"That's one of the town's ships run aground. I'm going ashore to investigate. Will you join me?"

"Since the supply of pina coladas has definitely not been up to my expectations, we've got nothing better to do."




"An island cave? This promises to be interesting."

"At least it'll give us a chance to catch up with them."

Character Update





Before going into that, our party. Other than Boo and Amanda we've really pulled ahead, but they're more than capable at this point. One thing of note is that Draenor is a freakin' level 30 paladin. It's anybody's guess how that happened, but he'll be a useful ally. One note is that he has a crossbow, and he absolutely loves to use that thing.