Part 103: Banks for the Cash

Chapter 10: Banks for the Cash


Oh hey, haven’t seen you before.
Ah, you are highly fortunate to have entered into the presence of the epitome of the Heroic Prototype. I, Magnum Opus, have graced this guild with my magnificent presence.
Good see hero Nike. Hero Nike not talk too much.
I…see. So how’s it going?
Toro okay until Magnum man show up.
I, Magnum Opus, have transformed the beast’s day from “okay” to a memorable event. And because I, Magnum Opus, know that you will ask me next, I, Magnum Opus, shall reply that I, Magnum Opus, supreme warrior of the city-state of Nova Roma, unrivaled as a spearman, unparalleled as a shieldsman, and unsurpassed as a strategist, am doing quite well.
Wow. I’m surprised your ego even managed to fit in the room.
Understandable. I, Magnum Opus, here to win the Rites of Rulership and rule this backwater city, a city which obviously needs my indomitable leadership skills and matchless statesmanship, am also the peak example of physical fitness, an unfortunate side effect of which is that doors built for lesser men can momentarily impede my progress.
Too much hot air in here.
It is warm in here. Rigorous exercise tends to produce heat.
Smell like sweat.
Sweat is a manly odor, beast. Physical exercise cleans the body.
Water clean body better.
Mens sana in corpore sano [Sound mind in a sound body], I, Magnum Opus, always say. You, what did you say your name was?
I, Nike von Slartibartfast, Hero of Spielburg, Prince of Shapeir, Demon Slayer and Dark One Banisher, had not mentioned my name.
Yes, I’m sure those are all very good lands. You look as if you could use some exercise to build up some muscles. Muscles like the ones I, Magnum Opus, carry.
…Yeah. I think I’ll be going now.
So soon? You’ve hardly worked out at all. You will never become the epitome of the perfect physique as I, Magnum Opus, have become.
Sad see hero Nike go. Sad see Magnum man stay.
Sorry, Toro, but I just really need to get out of here right now.


Welcome back, lad! I’ve wanted to really thank you in return for shaking the cobwebs from my head and dusting me off with the Hippocrene water. Here, take this in return. It’s a stealth charm.
Wow, thanks. Where did you get it?
Got it from a kid that was known as the greatest thief in Gaul. Called himself “The Mouse.” Retired to take up falconry, or so I heard. Anyway, hope it helps you as much as this helps me.
Cool. By the way, what’s your real name? All I’ve ever known you as is “Famous Adventurer.”
Which one do you want to know?
My name is Davy Jones when I sail upon the sea,
I’ve chorused with the Sirens as they sang their songs to me.
I’ve supped on Circe’s island, though she though I was a boar,
And she’s the only gal I hope to never see once more!
Iambic heptameter?
You got it. Say, lad, I never did hear your tales. What say we trade a few right now?
Sure. I guess you could say that my career started just last spring when I entered Spielburg just before a snowstorm came and blocked the pass. At that point, all I thought an adventurer had to do was…

*Hours Pass*

THE Baba Yaga?
You know her?
Know her? If I counted all the times we crossed paths—like this one time when I was hiking across Surria in the winter. It was so cold my spit froze before it could hit the ground. My hands were frostbitten and my feet were gone, and I figured that this was it, my time in this world was done. When all of a sudden, I heard the craziest squawking you’ve ever heard in your life, and lo and behold…

*More Hours Pass*

That’s what I said! What makes these crazy wizards think they can control ancient evils like Iblis?
Well, Solomon managed to bind him in the first place, so that Ad Avis character probably just figured he could match a legendary hero’s power.
But even Solomon needed help from a bunch djinn, and he could only contain Iblis in the end!
Guys like him tend to think with their egos rather than their wits. That’s probably how he managed to translate that prophecy so it said just what he wanted it to say. Reminds me of this time I was up against a Dark prophecy, except that it turned out to be much stranger than that…

*Even More Hours Pass*

I’m telling you, demon lords are just bad news.
And ugly, too. Did I tell you yet about how I killed the demon wizard? It was with this very grappling hook. Now, thanks to a fellow “brotherhood” member, I managed to evade the evil mirror duplicate the wizard made of me and all my friends, so when I got up to where he was I noticed that his back was turned to me, since he was talking to his master. So that got me thinking…

*Dear God They’re Still At It*

You really think you love her?
I guess I can’t say for sure. I mean, in spite of everything that’s happened, I really don’t know that much about her.
Well, from what you’ve told me, she really does sound special to you. Shouldn’t let a girl like that slip away from you. You don’t want to end up my age without anyone to share your company, do you? That’s something even Hippocrene water can’t fix.
I guess not. But what if she won’t go for someone like me? Plus that other problem…
You’ll do fine! But if you’re worried, you could always hedge your bets. Maybe try your luck with the others you mentioned. Ah, but look at the time! You should probably head on out while there’s still light to wander by.
Alright. Thanks, FA, for listening and for the stealth charm.
I should be thanking you. I’m finally alive again. Feels like I just woke up from a long sleep. I think I’ve got one last story to write, but after that I’m off to find some new adventures and new tales. Life’s too short not to enjoy it fully.
See you later.
Farewell, and enjoy every moment of your adventure. Even the worst is better than being dead.

That stealth charm really will help, since it buffs Sneak by 50 points. The fighter/paladin will get a magic helm (direct from Perseus, apparently), which at this point is rare but not totally unique. And the wizard gets…well…


…Yeah. FA talks about finding the scroll on a dying liontaur in Tarna, a reference to the fact that it was first described in the Quest for Glory 3 manual. Here:
Believe it or not, there is a right time to use this, although we won’t see it for a long while yet. And if you use it before that point, you see this:




At least it’s a painless way to die.


Now that Pickpocket is trained up, I can show off just how completely useless it is. See this guy walking around? He’s a target. Just grab the knife and click on any nameless sod and you get his wallet. Sadly, his wallet usually has around 10-12 drachmas in it. And you can only rob a guy once per day.

Well nuts to this crap. I know where to get the real money.


Moving right along, today we explore the southwestern side of the island. Specifically, that skull-and-batwings figure over there.


Looks like a cave, but it’s open to the sky. Oh, and a huge pillar thing. That’s odd, this one doesn’t have an inscription. Oh well.


Nothing else here by the look of things. Man, I could have sworn this place was supposed to be interesting.


And on the west coast, we find the seventh and last Dragon Pillar.


This one happens to be guarded by dragonlings. They’re almost as annoying as batties, but bigger and more dangerous, especially since their breath weapon is a cone of crashing the game. As such, it’s a good idea to stay far away from them and use Dazzle, Whirlwind, and other such spells to keep them from getting close enough to bring you back to the desktop. I’ve heard that pausing the game can help with this problem, but it seems to have limited success at most.
That last part is complete nonsense, since I managed to kill one with Flame Darts. Other spells do work better, though.


“By the raising of this pillar, the Dragon of Doom shall be driven into the cave of Dragon Blood.” So let’s see, because of these pillars, the Dragon is mortal, banished from Marete, can’t fly, and is asleep in a cave full of dragon blood. Hmm, is that what that giant temple in the lava cave is for? Nah, the dragon has to stay away from the island, plus lava isn’t dragon’s blood. Couldn’t be the same place.


One last shot of the island to show where the Pegasus’s nest is in relation to everything else. Oh, and I got the technical difficulties worked out, so here’s an example combat for you:

Plus some combat themes I forgot to add earlier.

I’ve found that Dazzle is actually a very good spell to use in combat. While it doesn’t work for as long as Calm, it has the odd effect of "dizzying" your enemies so they can't target you effectively anymore, at least for a while. I'm not sure if this is intentional or an accident. Plus it always works on everyone and doesn’t have a cooldown time like Calm does. Next time I may show off an effective strategy for full wizards.


So what’s dinner? Or should I ask?
The soup for tonight is lobster brisk!
That doesn’t sound too—
Rover brought in a huge lobster for dinner, but Messie Tessie couldn’t bear to drop the lobster alive into the boiling pot. So the cooks decided to get the lobster drunk first. Soon they were all singing “Little Brown Jug,” with the lobster singing harmony. While Tessie was reaching for the barrel of beer, she knocked over the flour which soon covered everything. So they gave the lobster a bath and a group hug for being such a good sport, and turned him loose. Then they made the soup from his bathwater.
…At least it’s free.


Greetings once again. You are “Nike von Slartibartfast,” are you not? We are to meet in the arena tonight.
It’s not Nie-key, it’s just Nike, as in rhymes with Mike.
You are not named after the Silmarian goddess of victory, then?
The what? No, not at all.
As you say, “Nike.” We shall meet in battle, and may the best warrior win.


*23 seconds later*

The winner of tonight’s duel is Nike von Slartibartfast!


Leaving the arena after a fight gives you a free full restore, and winning as a challenger gets you 250 drachmas (2.5x the amount you paid to enter the contest). It may be after midnight, but despite what the popup says I don’t think the night is over quite yet.


Just you here tonight?
Aye, just m'self.
So, heard of any good jobs lately?
If ya haven’t checked it out yet, there’s an empty house up on Nob Hill that’s fit fer takin’. Not sure there’s anything left since the owners left for vacation, but it’s worth a look.
What about that guard up there? Isn’t there a Raseirian guard by the door at night?
Ah, yer thinkin’ o’ the Fat Man’s house. The fence might connect ‘em, but there be two different places next to each other.
I’ll have to look into that. Anything else?
Well, the best job in town ta be makin’ yer fortune is ta take the bank. It’s a tough job, since the guard patrols the streets o’ Town Square each night. I hear told that there’s traps, too.
The bank manager seemed pretty proud of the trap, yeah. Has it been tried before?
O’ course. Most guild members want ta crack the bank, but not a one of them has tried that didn’t get caught.
Just you wait, then.


And there it is, just waiting for us. First, though, there’s a couple guards that need dealing with.


There’s one that patrols around the entire region during both day and night, but after 6 this guy shows up at the base of the stairs. This is where walking along the raised walkway becomes important. You see, the guard normally turns to face you whenever you approach him.


However, as long as you’re sneaking, you can approach him from behind.


Just so.


Also, while you can kill him with a dagger, it’s generally considered good form to simply hit him with the blackjack instead.


Once he’s out, you can loot the body for a free spear and 30 drachmas, then hide it under Sarra’s stall so the patrolling guard won’t notice.


You can also follow the patrolling guard and knock him out as well, but why bother with that?


So long as he’s on the other side of the bridge, he won’t notice you breaking into the bank. Hell, I even managed to break in successfully while he was just offscreen to the left. But if you do get caught…




Made it in. Now, I just need to get the vault door open…


Child’s play. Now, let’s see about this trap.


An average trap, as you can tell by the number of red and green dots. This kind shows all the figures one at a time, going clockwise. While this trap probably won’t kill you if you get it wrong once, you can still die to it, at which point you will see this:


A pretty generic death-by-trap message. But if you succeed…


Ha ha, got it!


Oh, five thousand drachmas, you feel so good!

And if you check the bar on the left, you’ll notice that for the second time in this series, Nike is being over-encumbered by the weight of his cash alone. Thankfully, there’s a place for him to store all that money, although it’s not open at the moment. I’d also recommend withdrawing all your money from the bank before you rob it; I don’t remember if your own funds get added on top of the 5k, but better safe than sorry.


Although you can exit the bank normally and no one would notice the difference (not even the guards you knocked out), I think it’s time for bed.


One last thing to add to today’s update: shadow boxing. For whatever reason, in Quest for Glory 5 Offense goes up every time you attack, rather than every time you connect. As such, you can simply weigh the attack button down for five minutes, then come back to an Offense score that’s gone up by 50 points or more. Sadly, this benefit does not extend to Defense.


On the other hand, for no particular reason, attacking while unarmed increases Acrobatics. Score!