Part 64: Bonus Update 34.5: Basically the Entire Southern Half of Darkside

Bonus Update 34.5: Basically the Entire Southern Half of Darkside

Okay, so I went a little overboard with the exploration this time. So sue me. Anyway, the Temple of Bark has a massive lead in the votes so I'm calling it now.



The area description for Darkside's southwest undersells the danger just a bit: if you walk straight out of Castleview unprepared and head south, there's a non-zero chance your party will be wiped out by Electrapedes.



I could have sworn Arachnoids did physical damage, but I just double-checked and it is indeed poison damage. That means armour won't help you avoid their attacks, so it'd be an idea to keep a Protection from Poison spell active while fighting them. Also note how, once again, most enemies easily outspeed our entire party.



On the south side of the river you'll encounter Electrapedes and Medusa Sprites; on the north side, Arachnoids and Barbarians. As you can see, there's a pretty high density of interesting locations around Castleview, and we've visited pretty much all of them except for Castle Kalindra.



I've redacted out one monster entry because it only appears in the desert, which we haven't yet explored. Spoilers: it's a lot scarier than any of the other poor saps in this region.



The Temple of Bark and the Great Southern Tower are both here, not far from the southern edge of Darkside. Visibility is low thanks to the forest, so a Wizard Eye spell is helpful for finding points of interest.



The hintbook's recommended minimum party level for this region is pretty spot-on, considering my party was around that level and we still ran into plenty of trouble. All the monsters found in the southeast corner of Darkside are threats worth taking seriously, but Armadillos are the worst by far. If you think Beast Master is too cheap a tactic, Implosion finishes them off handily in one or two castings, but you probably won't have that spell when you first encounter them unless you've brought in a party from Clouds that's discovered Shangri-La.



Staying on the road will help you avoid the Mantis Ants and Killer Cobras, but it's hard to reach Sandcaster without getting past some Armadillos one way or another.



Finally, here's a map of all the Troll Holes. Most of them are small affairs with just a couple of monsters and maybe a treasure chest or two, but some are a bit larger. Keep an eye out for secret passages: there are usually barrels of delicious, poisonous Troll Juice behind them. If you have much difficulty fighting the trolls, you should probably improve your party's levels and equipment before venturing any further east, because the outdoor enemies in the southeast of Darkside will destroy you.

See you next time, when I pack just as much suffering into a more reasonably-sized update!