Part 49: Big Top Mausoleum

Update 8: Big Top Mausoleum

This update ended up being a bit large, so it's getting split into two. When we left off, the city of Kristophan had just been attacked by marauding dragons for some unexplained reason.



"It looks ti mi lak doz beasts are aft a ya! I'll risk ma gourd fee yi but expec some reward! Follow and be hush, safe below."

"I wouldn't worry about it. Most people who hang out with us usually do pretty well."

"Y'know, it doesn't say much for your local architecture if a dump like this is the safest building in the entire city."



The entrance into the tombs looks a bit more intimidating than it actually is. Despite appearances you can leave at any time. Actually, once you've gone into the tombs the first time you don't even have to worry about getting strafed by dragons. The attack ends as soon as they realize they can't get to you.



"Mi fellow guild members, wi kum in peece. Wi only wish to pass an' enter tha tumbs."

"They don't look any happier to see you… in fact, it looks like they're going for their knives."

"Maybe they thought he wanted to enter their thumbs and got offended?"



The only thing saving them from utter destruction is that a fireball would hurt my party to. Lightning bolts, on the other hand…



This is not a random attack. There are three groups of these hanging out in the tombs, although you only need to fight one to continue.



We also, before I can screen shot it, run into our first set of black pudding. These things are practically immune to physical damage and most magical damage. The only way to make much of a dent in them are with fireballs and magic missile. They can supposedly dissolve armor, but I never saw a case of that happening.



"As a purification chamber, this might be a safe place to rest…"



"You were saying? This entire damn continent has a spider infestation."

"You all act like you never see a house spider befo."



The spider infestation also includes disir, which are utter jokes at this point and just serve to add contrast.



"Wow, that's quite a change for just stepping through a door. I guess this is the tomb proper?"

"Most likely. And there's a pile of rubble off to our right that kind of looks like the original entrance.



"Aww man, I hate it when they do that… takes all the fun out of things."

"A good fisherman never complain when de fish jump in de boat."



"Don't worry, I think the fun's just starting."

"Ugh, Hiddukel. God of ill-gotten wealth and an enormous fat-ass."



"Since your God is evil, I think he'll probably be just as satisfied with your blood."

"We're not going to try to get it on the altar, but you know how these things go."




See these guys? We're going to be seeing a lot of them in the future. They're not as bad as all that, however, since the Thenolian wizards don't bother to use much in the way of protection spells and the priests just mostly spend their time casting blade barrier… sometimes with their own people in the area of effect. They've also got terrible armor class.



"I think Fastillion used the same decorator as the creator of this tomb."

"Or was that decorator. He looked pretty ancient."

"Uh, Amanda… that door…"



"Ow! Who filled this place with mimics?"

"Someone with an obnoxious sense of humor."



There's also a few undead encounters scattered around, now with improved artwork.



They're considerably beefier, as you can see here. The one thing that occurs to me is that we see vampire mages, clerics, and thieves, but no vampire warriors.



Through our first teleporter (yes, this is a teleport dungeon) we find a series of doors with mediocre treasure or mimic chests. You have to select one person to open each chest. Due to having the most HP left, Amanda got that duty on a pretty regular basis.



"One could presume that there will be a heart-shaped door at some point?"

"I would hope so, but I'm sure we'll be disappointed when we instead find a heart-shaped key hole."



"Well this is awkward. We don't have a red dragon or lava handy to cook these."



"And we don't even have a recipe for these. Maybe that should be our contribution to future adventurers."

"That's not a bad idea. Hydra head cheese could ensure that nobody ever went hungry again… except that you'd have to be pretty damn hungry to eat it."



The path splits at this point, but either one will lead to the same place. For entertainment value, we'll take the less direct route.



"Ha, joke's on you! We already spent it all!"

"And you did specify steel rather than gems or jewelry."



"Er… I don't suppose we could talk about this?"

"It has been a long time since anyone has taken heed of my tale."



"Well, that's one hell of a disproportionate sentence."

"Funny that you should mention a heart-shaped key…"




"That's actually kind of sweet, in a macabre kind of way."





"So… keep doing exactly what we were already doing? That's pretty damn helpful."

"At least it confirmed which key we need to use. That's more than we had before."

On to the next pathway!



"Heh… reminds me of Soth's castle. Just a bit less final."



"Come in and enjoy. Admittance is only one quarter of all your steel. A bargain as always!"

"You shouldn't underestimate my imagination."

"But you're right about it being a bargain. I've spent more on a good meal."



"Oh man, another frickin' lich? I could have gone another ten years without seeing one of these."

"If you really like it, maybe you'll decide to stay and enjoy it… forever!"

"The worst part is that so many of them aren't overtly hostile. I'd almost prefer that to their habitual insanity."

"You all be doin' dis lots, I be tinkin'."



"He really went all out with this circus idea, didn't he?"



"Unfortunately. I guess the animal training is actually kind of impressive, even though he could have gone a bit bigger than umber hulks."



"Trolls?"

"Definitely trolls. Probably ettins, too."



"I really hate being right sometimes."



"I think we found out where the spider infestation is coming from."



"I'm just glad that they didn't manage to ambush us."





"That's a bit more helpful. Tremor's an odd name, though."

"Some kind of earth dragon, perhaps? Or perhaps the name means that he inspires tremoring?"



"The saddest part is that he probably thinks these are actually pretty clever."

"Bet ya ten gems that it be hydras."



"As if. I never bet on a sure thing."



"Y'know, we could have saved a lot of time if we'd just fought right off the bat."



"I'm not going to complain, since then we'd probably have had to deal with everything at once."

"My, that's a lot of undead dragons. Taladas appears to have far more tucked away than our homeland."



That's not even all of them. Two dragonlances is a real lifesaver here, as well as crowd control spells and undead turning to thin out the accompanying wraiths.



"Hey, dat be fit fer a king… or mebbe fer a fisherman."

"Hands off. There's probably some other sad sack of a spirit waiting for this, since that seems to be how they set this place up."

"You all be no fun."



"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"

"I'm just glad we don't have to go through any more idiotic themed rooms."



This locks a bit more intimidating than it is, and the lich is a bit tougher than the ones we've dealt with… except that he's also vulnerable to turn undead. I accidentally cleared everything except for the vampires with Rip and Amanda.

No update on characters due to this being a split update… we'll get that after we deal with the next 3 pieces of the oracle in Update 9.