Part 102: Time to Meet the Tristar Logo

I’m having some technical troubles getting a good screen capture program to work with Dragon Fire, but IrfanView has yet to fail me, so…

Chapter 9: Time to Meet the Tristar Logo


What’s this? Even the spear wasn’t enough?
Believe it or not, I’m here to sell, not buy.
Aw, too bad, two too much for you?
No—I mean, yes, but—oh, stop fucking laughing! No, I’ve come here to sell off a bunch of shields I collected yesterday.


That’s right, I took down eleven Hesperian mercenaries!
Went down, I guess you mean? You must have done well to get those guys to give you a shield as a trophy.
Just shut up. I’m not in the mood to spar with you today.
I wouldn’t be either, if I ever sucked that many cocks. The shields look clean, though, so here’s your gold.
Sweet. Say, can I get a magic sword now?
Sure thing. And I bet you’ll just love the sparkling effect, too.


Today we’ll be going farther north from the lava pool. But first, I find a random encounter with goremen, basically an upgraded version of boarmen that aren’t covered in the manual. You can also see a blue oval surrounding Nike: this is the visible effect of buffs in this game. In particular, blue represents an active Protection spell.


What we have here are the toughest damn things in the game: weirdings. The weirding design was actually the subject of a fan art contest held online before the game’s release, and while the actual winning entry seems to have been lost from the internet, the creature’s game design remains.
When fighting something this tough, spells like Dazzle and Calm can be very useful in keeping the ones you’re not attacking from beating you down from behind. In this game, Dazzle only works for a short time, while Calm works for longer but only affects monsters who haven’t interacted with you yet. Also, since you can’t cast spells with anything bigger than a dagger, make sure you keep your weapon on the quickitems bar so you can easily switch between attacking and casting modes. Attack spells may be much less useful in this game, but at this point you have way too many spells for nothing to be useful.


And oh yes, did I mention how weirdings drop the single best armor in the game? And that’s when it’s not dropping vitality and health potions.


I figure that now is a good time to go over how worn encumbrance works. The sword doesn’t affect any stats, but it prevents you from using magical spells (but not paladin abilities, note). A magic sword like this one does more damage than a regular sword, as well as adding 30 points to Offense.

While leather armor doesn’t do anything but increase Armor (and thus damage reduction), that Armor bonus isn’t very good; only 10 points. Magic chain mail adds 20, but reduces Agility by 20, Magic and Stealth by 30, and Acrobatics by 40. These numbers would be even worse with normal chain.

The shield provides an extra 5 points of Armor and 30 points of Defense, in addition to absorbing damage much better with a block than parrying with a blade can provide. However, it lowers Agility by 20, Magic by 60, and Acrobatics by a full 100.

Oh, and as usual, none of this encumbers the hero in any way when they’re not equipped, so long as the weight capacity bar on the left doesn’t hit the top.


This area between the cave and Pegasus’s roost is the most dangerous area of the island, and is where you can find most weirding encounters.


Wow, this valley is huge!


Who put a pillar here? “By the Raising of this Stone, the Dragon now sleeps.” I guess that would explain why no one cares about it any more.


And this must be the Hippocrene. I wonder…

*Taking a drink of these waters, you feel incredible joy and excitement. It’s as if you have been reborn. You feel like you can face any monster or challenge, and be victorious. This is great!*

(It also gives you a full Stamina refill)

WOW! I can see where FA was coming from about this water. Hell, I’ll get two jars full.


Now, how in the world do I get up to his nest? The cliff is way too high for my rope and grapnel to work. Maybe I’ll start by going up that ramp on the right.


Ah, here we are. I bet I could use the grapnel to walk across this. Better take off the heavy armor first, though.




The wizard gets past this part with a couple simple Levitate spells, while the fighter/paladin has to use an odd stone-based seesaw straight out of Warner Brothers to get to the right ledge. Unfortunately, the game believes that it should crash instead of let me actually use the contraption, so I don’t have pictures for you.


I know what to do here.



Yes, the game does play a Tarzan yell when you do this.


Plenty of feathers here. Plus there’s no way I’m trusting my weight to that nest by trying to climb up. But how the hell do I get down again? I could Mystic Magnet my way out of here, but…wait, what about the feathers?



Not pictured: the hero spinning like a top on his way down.


I can’t believe that worked.


And here we have the other benefit to magic chain mail: getting a good 1000 drachmas per suit. That’s one Rites of Rulership entrant per set.


Hey FA, I got you the water you wanted.
That’s it! You’ve got it! I’d know its smell anywhere. It’s got the scent of the wild bull you’re riding, the chill of a starlit night on the top of a mountain peak, the perfume of a lover’s lips…
The taste of Erana’s fruits…
You tasted it, didn’t you? You couldn’t help but drink deep from the Hippocrene. It’s the milk of mother nature, the liquor of inspiration, the very spirit of adventure. How could I ever forget this? It’s the drink that makes men become gods. It’s adventure and glory and life. It’s what you’re here for, isn’t it? It’s why I was here for so long. I just didn’t realize it.
I was actually here because of Erasmus, but it is some pretty good water. I got a spare jar of it in my pack.
Good man.
So you’re feeling better already?
Ask me that question again when I’ve had my quaff of this stuff. I’ve been dead for so long here, and I didn’t even know it. This will bring me to life again. Oh, and I promised you something for your trouble, didn’t I? I don’t have anything with me at the moment, but come back later and I’ll try to find something you’d be interested in.
No problem.
Thanks again, Nike. For the first time in years, I think I’m going to enjoy waking up in the morning.


Julanar’s magic at work.

Thanks, Julie. Hey, Salim, I got you those Pegasus feathers you needed.
Righteous. This’ll really help me keep the shop going. I feel kinda bad just taking your hard work, though. Mind if I give you, say, one drachma per feather?
Um…sure. So when will those potions be ready?
Just give me a couple minutes to whip up a fresh batch.


Remember that shell I picked up off the beach by the pillar? Sarra’s the merchant who will buy it from you.


For all of 1 drachma each. Man, we’re rolling in it now.


Why am I even going back? Oh yeah, bored.


Damn it, not this again. Fine, fine, I’m coming.









Greetings again, Nike. I just wanted to make a grand entrance for once. Impressive, wasn’t it?
That entrance had to be seen to be disbelieved.
I’m still seeing stars from all the colors.
Or you might have looked up. Say, I’ve come up with a new syncopated song: “When you’re walking with your lady and she screams to see a mouse,/You know ya gotta leave her ‘cause she’s acting like a louse.” I call it: rat music.
Do you guys mind if I get a word in edgewise?
Sure thing. Just lay it flat.
Ugh. Look, Erasmus, I’m sure you had all the best intentions and everything, but why didn’t you even ask me about coming here? What if I didn’t want to come? What if I was enjoying myself and didn’t want to leave the party?
I’m sorry, are you not enjoying yourself in Silmaria? There are plenty of things to do there, all those merchants…
Shop ‘til you drop and buy ‘til you cry?
Oh, they aren’t that expensive. But Nike, I chose Silmaria for my winter home because I so enjoy it here. It is normally a very peaceful place, and I don’t generally get involved in things. I thought that you would enjoy staying here too, especially since there is a diabolical plot going on. Heroes always enjoy defeating those.
Not every hero. Although I do suppose I have been having some fun, in between running for my life from the mercenaries, and those weird creatures on the north of the island, and whoever the assassin is. …But there are an absurdly large number of old friends here too, so the place does feel pretty familiar already.
Well there you go, you’re having fun already! Would you like to hear another joke? Did you hear about the man who didn’t pay his exorcist on time?
His skeletons came out of the closet and the ghost played hostess?
No. When he didn’t pay his exorcist, he was repossessed. Re-possessed, get it?
I’d rather I didn’t.
That was almost painful.
Oh yeah, Erasmus can be a real pain to live with at times, especially when he’s swatting flies with Lightning Bolts. Almost burned the house down.
Fenris exaggerates, as usual. I only caught the curtain in flames, and I immediately blew it out with a Whirlwind spell.
One thing you can say about being around Erasmus is that it’s never boring.
Whirlwind? I heard about that one in the HERO magazine, but I never did find a copy myself.
Really? By all means, then, I can teach it to you. Here, take this scroll. It’s quite a “wind-erful” spell, you know. Consider it a sort of apology for not asking you first.
Thanks.


Although Whirlwind isn’t in the game, the QfG4 manual does have an entry for the spell. Here, take a look:
Casting this on an enemy paralyzes it for a time, as well as slowly damaging it. A good time to use ball spells, actually. Oh, and you can get another quick 200 drachmas by teaching it to Shakra.


And now, an exercise break.


Ah, I see you’re back.
Good evening, Nike. I see that you are back here as well. It is always a pleasure to see you, though it is more of a pleasure to do business with you.
Good ta see ya again, matey. There’s not another thief I’d rather see than you walk in right now.
I’m hurt. Are you not pleased to see me?
Ya can’t very well walk in when yer already here, Ugarte. We’re mates, all of us, ain’t we?
Oh yes, great friends. In fact, if you wish to go to the Dead Parrot for a drink, we could mind the store for you while you are gone.
Aye, and set the rats ta guard the cheese? Thank ye, but I’ll pass on that fer now.
Oh well.
So why are you back so soon? Find out something interesting?
No, I am here because Arestes had a letter from my uncle, the chief thief in Mordavia. He had the nerve to call me a little sneak! Little sneak indeed. Soon I will be chief thief here, and then perhaps my uncle will respect me more.
The Fat Man would certainly have a fit if ya were ta win.
Yes, indeed. It will be very good to be his boss. I will be certain to treat him with as much respect as he has treated me. I am looking forward to this…very much.
I never realized those words could sound quite as creepy as you made them.


Speaking of the Fat Man, looks like he decided to raise the stakes last night. I think I will, too.


Yeah, that looks about right.

Like a lot of video game auctions, this one can be broken by making a giant bid early on. Hopefully this will knock out at least half of the participants.

Hmm? Oh right, we had a deal of our own, didn’t we? I am thinking that perhaps the information in which you would be most interested is worth more than I first thought. Give me a few days, and I will know exactly what you are needing. Of course, I am taking a big risk for this. Maybe about 2000 drachmas of risk, shall we say?
Double? Come on, I could enter the Rites twice for that kind of money.
You do not have to pay this, mind you, if you don’t wish to know.
…Fine, appeal to my curiosity why don’t you? But not a single coin until I get the info, alright?
Of course, of course. How about a tip for free? You should not trust Ferrari. He is very fond of using people like you.
Tell me something I don’t know.
I would, but I’m afraid that sort of information costs money.
Well I can tell ya somethin’ fer free. Ugarte over there was tellin’ me there’s a gal at the Parrot what’s sweet on ya. She’d make a fine catch, if one wanted ta set anchor.
Give away all my secrets, why don’t you? But yes, Nawar does look forward to seeing you. She and Budar talk about you all the time.
You mean she’s not just flirting with me? That’s…that’s actually nice to know. I think I’ll be heading to sleep tonight, though.
I will be letting you know as soon as I have the information you need. Farewell.
Have a drink at the Parrot fer me, and good night.


Another good day. Pickpocket’s just about at 400, Luck maxed out, and Agility is…wait.

You’re not reading that wrong, and I don’t have any Agility-buffing equipment on. Each class has one or two stats that Dragon Fire lets rise to 550 instead of just 500. It’s a nice little bonus for getting that far. Next time, I’ll show off the easy way to increase Offense. See you then.