Part 61: Stone Walls Do Not a Prison Make

Update 19: Stone Walls Do Not a Prison Make



"I'm seeing a theme in the architecture here."

"There are indeed a lot of arches. Perhaps the most appropriate use of that word I have ever seen, yes."



"Y'know, you guys probably should have found a door you could lock if you didn't want this to happen."



Remember these guys? That said, this is a return to the weird practice of putting the mages in front of their ostensible shields. Luckily we also have some gnomes in the back to soak up any fireballs sent our way.



"Looks like the gnomes can handle them just fine now that we broke the main group up."




"Remember all the times they've interrupted our rest? I think it's time for some payback."




A nice touch would have been if the dragons were actually wounded, but I don't think the engine could really support that. That said, a fireball and a few seconds of work with the dragonlances will take care of this just fine.




"I think I've… okay, there we go. Let's see what happens."



"…I think I could just sit and watch this happen all day."

"You and me both."



"That's a little weird… what the heck was this room for?"



"If I were forced to guess, I would say waste disposal. Which is what it will be doing now, if anyone should try to enter through here."



I should note that there are no really "safe" places to rest in this dungeon. The best you can do is find a place with a lower encounter rate, which includes a few small rooms like this empty prison cell. You still might have to deal with an encounter in the process of resting, but it's usually something light like a gang of thieves. Once we're healed, it's definitely time to move on.




"Well, this was about the last thing I expected to find in the prison wing, but I'm not complaining.



"Fair enough, but you can just strangle him if you want to. Might be a bit more entertaining, and he probably has some magic that could save him."

"We're not exactly friends, you see."

"You aren't guards! Who are you then? What are you doing here?"

"I'd say we were here to burn this place to the ground, but somehow I don't think that would work."

"Never mind. Open the door! There's one lock I can't get. Don't mind me. I've been in here too long."



"I'm Dahmia Sreem Luminar, but please, call me Dahmia."

"You look kind of familiar…Elea?"

"Elea… my daughter… how the hell did I forget her? Those Hulderfolk bastards!"

"That's not an unlikely reaction for anybody who's dealt with them… but before we can deal with them, we need to get out of here."




"An impressive enchantment for someone locked in a cell with no materials or spell books."

"Elea's mom is pretty amazing."



"This is really impressive, but can we please go back inside?"

"Sure, sure… I think this window over here will get us in on the next floor up. You all get to go in first, since you've got all kinds of swords and the like."



"Er… sorry about that. Maybe we can find a piece of wood or something?"

"Nah, don't worry about it. I'll be fine. I'll just flag down one of those dragons and catch a ride."



"Got to admire their work ethic. Most people would be setting up temporary barricades, but they're building to last."

"Yeah, except they're building in front of the stairs. If we don't want to go back outside again, we should probably put a stop to that."



On the threat scale, this one doesn't rank very high at all. Then again, these guys are supervising a bunch of masons so it's not a shock that they're not the cream of the crop.



"Pretty handy when they line themselves up against the wall for us to kill them, too."

"Unfortunately we don't have enough ammunition to make a proper firing squad."




It really is a LOT of giants. I should mention, though, that Sam's ranger-giant damage bonus is high enough that she's got at least a small chance of one-shotting even the fire giant warriors.



"Looks like we'll just have to go the long way around. There's got to be more than one way to go upstairs."



"Well, I think we know what happened to the other experimental subjects…"




"If this is where they were creating the enchanted draconians… the effort to move them through Taladas must have been considerable."



"I like to think that every time we kill more of them we're undoing all that effort."



All enchanted draconians, all the time. Be prepared to eat some death effects to the face on this one.



"I don't know if this will really slow down the creation process, but it can't hurt."

"Prepare to meet the Queen, you miscreants!"

"Oh trust me, at this point we're looking forward to it."



One fireball and we're shut of this mess. It's actually a pretty sad setup.




"Hold on, Hera.. Hum… Hrum.. pilot! We're coming!"




"Ahhhh! How do you stop this thing!"

"Like this!"



"Well, I found you. But it took some doing, harh!"

"Yes, and thanks to you we're once more at the top of the tower. We weren't quite sure how we were going to get off of that floor."




"Hey, is that Daenor?"

"Make hher burn hhim!"

"Crysia, no!"

"I've had quite enough of this. Dispel!"



"Ssshe hadst slipped the spell! Pussh them both into the abysss."

"Oh, I don't think that'll be happening."



A bit more serious here. It makes sense that most of Crysia's handlers are magic users, although I really do wonder what the hell they needed her for. Then again, they might have done it just because it amused them.



"O brother, the nightmare is over!"

"Those two are kind of creepily close for a brother and sister."




"Please tell me I didn't just see that."

"I really, really wish I could."



"Well, at least they're relatively safe and Daenor has his sister back. We won't have to worry about them now that the time has come to finish this."