Part 9: Six! Six Heroes!
Update 5: Six! Six Heroes!
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Bat Queens attack twice a round for a solid chunk of physical damage, and can inflict Weakness. They don't have much HP and aren't likely to actually kill off the whole party, even in a large group like this, but they can knock someone out and break their equipment. Interestingly, they don't count as undead.
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Until we fix this town's well, it'll do 50 damage to anyone who drinks from it. No wonder everyone in town is dead.
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The Guild is the only friendly building in Nightshadow: it doesn't have an inn, a trainer or any of the other amenities to be found in Vertigo.
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I'll cover the new spells available in Nightshadow in a bonus update. For now, I'll say that we definitely want to pick up at least Heroism, Holy Bonus and Turn Undead for clerical spellcasters, and Power Shield for sorcerous spellcasters.
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Gnome Vampires hit even harder than Bat Queens by a significant margin, and their physical attacks can drain a party member's spell points to 0. For some reason, this ability seems to make the Identify Monster spell bug out, messing up the display of both their ability and armour class (it's supposed to be 18, which is still high but not insanely high). They're doubly buggy, in fact: their attack is supposed to selectively target Paladins, but it's not implemented properly and they attack randomly instead. Which is arguably worse for us, because Ms Swallow is our most heavily armoured character.
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Many of the coffins in town contain treasure: this one had a Dense Shield, which is like a regular shield but with +9% Energy resistance. Energy damage isn't very common, but the few monsters that do inflict it tend to be quite dangerous, so we might as well replace Anleisa's normal shield with this.
Some coffins also contain vampires. Make sure to search the coffin again after killing the vampire, because some contain both a vampire and treasure.
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Two rooms that are a bit larger than the others, the Gnome Home and the Treasure Trove, both contain ambulatory vampires in addition to multiple vampire-filled coffins.
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The party manages to pick up some more loot from clearing them out. A Glass Shield is the same as a regular shield except more expensive, but the Steel Scale Armour gives a +4 AC bonus over regular scale armour, and is perfect for Fubar. Steel is one of the best materials you're likely to find in the early game, for both armour and weapons. (Oddly enough, Leather Scale Armour is exactly as effective as regular scale armour, except cheaper.)
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Other interesting treasure includes a Fast Belt (+5 Speed) and a Horn of Dragon Sleep, which casts a spell that, well, puts dragons to sleep. I'll hang on to this in case we have occasion to fight any dragons.
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Before opening this coffin, rest up and cast all the buffs you've got. You'll need 'em.
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Count Draco is a tough customer. He's got 130 HP, very high AC (it's supposed to be 25), 60% resistance to physical attacks, 90% resistance to cold, electricity and poison, hits the entire party for enough magical damage to mess us up even through Power Shield's protection, and can drain spell points just like his underlings. By the second combat round, everyone in the party is at 0 SP.
His SP-draining ability can severely limit your tactical options once the fight starts. If you have any items that cast Fireball, Energy Blast or Turn Undead, now's the time to use 'em. Beyond that, just have your spellcasters blast away with those spells for as long as they still have spell points, and have everyone else attack for whatever damage you can manage to do.
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A party that's completed both the Dwarf Mines and the Witch Tower can probably outlast him, although it can be a close thing if luck isn't on your side, and there might even be a death or two.
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In the end, we all pull through. One more round and I'd have started to worry for Vandesloof's survival.
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That dream isn't actually related to our being in Nightshadow: it has a small (I'd say 5-10%) chance of happening every time the party rests. Who the hell was that guy, you ask? I guess you'll just have to keep following the thread to find out.
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Whatever you do, don't forget to search Count Draco's coffin after killing him -- you'll miss out on some very nice bonus experience and treasure!
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The loot from Count Draco's coffin can contain higher-level items than anything else we've seen so far. This time, it included a Blazing Broad Sword (+20 Fire damage, goes on Fubar immediately), an Iron Shield (a little stronger than a regular shield, also for Fubar), and a Rod of Town Portals (teleports us to any town, 8 charges, potentially good for getting us out of trouble).
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With Count Draco dead once more, the well now grants +10 temporary levels, which is a great boon considering that 20 is a pretty normal endgame level for Clouds of Xeen. (Yes, this means we've already gained half the levels we're ever likely to in this half of the game; things are going to slow down a bit from now on.)
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Update's over, so it's that time again! Should we check out Rivercity or the Temple of Yak? Or now that we've got the Levitate spell, should we go back and explore the clouds above the Witch Tower? Vote now!