The Let's Play Archive

Might & Magic: World of Xeen

by Thuryl

Part 19: Renovator's Nightmare

Update 11: Renovator's Nightmare



"So are we really paying 50,000 gold for this dump? Seriously? We can't talk him down even a little?"
"We can afford it. What else are we going to spend all that money on?"



"I'm regretting it already."



"That was quick. I guess we'll just mosey on into our... pile of rubble."
"Flench see potential problem here. Hard to search through thousands of tons of fallen rock. Also, given age of building, probably asbestos in there. Not want to mess around with that."
"If it is so bad, should it not be called asworstos?"



We can't even enter Newcastle until we've fixed it up a bit, so off to Castle Burlock we go!



"Hey, no hard feelings about robbing your castle and killing a bunch of guards the other day, right? By the way, there might be a liiittle bit of rubble that needs clearing away before you can start rebuilding, so you may want to bring some empty carts. Big ones."



"We are greatly appreciating this, my good man. We will be overlooking your work presently, and we will be expecting much of you. With the prices we are paying, you had better not screw upwards!"



"Huh, not look so bad now. Even look like they managed to salvage some of original construction."



"Hooray! Fubar never say no to free rock!"
"Ooh, I bet this is the opening stone to that tomb down south in the swamps or something like that! Maybe there's still treasure inside!"



"So we own a castle now. It feels kind of empty, though."
"Indeed. Even the grandest of worldly possessions are ephemeral, and incapable of providing true satisfaction."
"No, I mean it's literally empty. Just look around. We are in dire need of an interior decorator."
"Hmm... Thousand Terrors. Prophecy in Witch Clouds say something about Megacredits in dungeons of Golem, Terror, and Yak."



"Look! Fubar find hidey-hole!"
"Wait! We don't know if it's safe down-- why do I waste my breath?"



"Look what Fubar find! Another free rock!"

Some of the pits and piles of rubble scattered around Newcastle's foundations can be searched for low-level random treasure. It's nothing to write home about, but we might as well pick it up while we're here.



"Hmm. Clairvoyance say searching woodpile is bad idea. But it just woodpile. What worst that can happen?"



"Flench have to admit, Flench not see that coming."

Wood Golems have a single moderately powerful physical attack, decent HP, and they're heavily resistant to cold, electricity and poison. The hintbook calls them the second-strongest type of golem in the game, but they're actually the second-weakest, and can be destroyed fairly easily with physical or fire attacks. They drop a few gems when killed.



"You'd think the cleaning crew would have bothered to bury all these bodies while they were moving the rubble away."



"Gyuh. Mushrooms growing on bones. Fubar try to pick, mushroom go pop -- big cloud of dust all over. Breathe in mushroom dust, feel like mushrooms grow in lungs. On bright side, find this belt!"

Rooting around in the bones will disease a character, but can sometimes yield a low-level item. Since we can cure disease now, it's not like it costs us much to search.



"Well water not good to drink either. Taste a little like rotten meat, except bad."

Until we fix up Newcastle further, the well will poison us.



"Aw man, I thought owning a castle was gonna be a hoot, but it kind of feels a lot like work right now. Guess we'd better go see if we can hire any more help back at Castle Burlock."



"Nuts, we're two Megacredits short."



"Shall we take a different route back to Rivercity? It'll save us time, and give us a chance to enjoy the beauty of the sea."



"There is somebody living in this sea? What a surprising place to call home! Perhaps she is another mermaid!"



"Ah. Well, hope bounces eternally."
"We ought to help him. Those sea monsters aren't just a threat to commerce: if they consume all the fish, they'll go hunting for larger prey before long."



"If we're gonna be hunting sea monsters, a drink from this might help get us in the mood."

The Olympian Fountain temporarily boosts Might, Endurance, Speed and Accuracy, although only by +10 each.



"Flench see one now. Get ready."

The sea monster can attack us from range, and hits the whole party for a very respectable amount of Cold damage, even through the party's protection spells. Fortunately, ranged attacks only work in straight lines, and in the open sea it's not hard to manoeuvre around so that it has to approach from an angle.



Once we're in melee range, the Water Dragon is powerful, but not too scary. It's quite fast, immune to cold, heavily resistant to fire and poison, and has a solid 200 HP, but its AC is quite low so physical attacks will take it down quickly. If you have the Dragon Sleep spell or an equivalent item, that can work on it: the trouble is that it has a good chance of being resisted, and even if the spell sticks it'll wear off as soon as the dragon takes damage.



"Well, we can easily get to Darzog's Tower now that the dragons are gone. Aaand just as we guessed, we're gonna need a key to actually get in."



There are three dragons in the lake, and we have to take down all of them before our quest is complete. Just make sure you don't attract the attention of more than one dragon at a time, and this dragonslaying expedition can go surprisingly smoothly for a well-equipped level 10-12 party.



"I don't know if there's anything a fisherman could give us that would help, but okay."



Helping Medin with his dragon problem earns us 100,000 experience and a single random item, which can be of very high quality.



"Wow, where'd he get that? Has he been diving around the wrecks of treasure ships or something?"

We got pretty lucky with this reward: the Accelerator Belt gives a +23 bonus to Speed. It's not the absolute best thing we could have been given, but it's more than welcome.



"Look like someone set up camp on northwest shore of sea too."
"Hey, I recognise him! It's that ferryman from Rivercity!"



"That certainly sounds serious. We do have other pressing business, but we'll help you as soon as we possibly can."

Video of Captain Nystor's request is included below, because who doesn't love pirate impressions?





And just like that, we've wrapped up another update. Next time, should the party do some more outdoor exploration while helping Captain Nystor and Tito, or should they raid the Tomb of a Thousand Terrors in search of more Megacredits to expand our castle? Vote now!