Part 18: Session 14.25: The Mage Tower Endurance Run: Floor #2

Session 14.25: The Mage Tower Endurance Run: Floor #2

“Ah, good old pepperoni.”

Are we ready to get back to the game?

“Let me wipe my fingers…alright, go ahead.”

So where we left off,



But…




Since it’s just a one-on-one combat between two warriors, I figured I’d show off the autocombat feature. I normally don’t use it even in warrior combats (you’ve seen how the AI is, after all), but since there’s no other target to waste her time on, we get to use turbo mode.

Aw, Suzie always gets the cool combats.
You could have volunteered to go first.
What was that about diamonds?

After Belle killed the skeleton, she noticed that its glowing blue eyes were actually diamonds. I assume you’ll want to keep them?

Oh hell yeah. I’ll hold on to them myself.

First you need to get up there, though.

Fine. I make Paul’s character lower the basket, then go up after her.

Everyone else?

Why wouldn’t we?



Very well. Once you reach the second floor, you notice a chest sitting in the corner.

I’ll pick it open. What’ve we got inside?



A regular magic potion, an elixir of Courage, some shurin bulb poison, a fairly normal sword, a Skull Belt, and a scroll.

Skull Belt? What’s that do? Can I put it on?

You already have a Belt of Might.

Fine, then someone else puts it on. So what’s it do?

When you wear it, your Necrophobia drops by 4 points.

That doesn’t seem really important.

That’s because you haven’t seen the map for this floor.

Uh oh.
So who has the highest Necrophobia? We might as well use it to minimize weaknesses.
I got a 5.
Let’s give it to him, then.
Congratulations, your Necrophobia is now only 1.
Yay.
So what’s on the scroll?


Hmm. I believe the first is short for “north” and the last would be “south,” but what’s a rebl? Or a reye?
“Want some reye? ‘Course ya do!”
*Odd look*
It’s a reference. I thought it was funny.

Can we move on?


This is an incomplete map of the second floor. The north half is blocked by a door, one that we’ll only be able to unlock properly after clearing all the rooms. So what’s in all these rooms with pillars and sarcophagi?

Combat,

Combat,


A mysterious statue,

What the hell?
Sounds like the demon thing we killed back in the dwarf mine.

Not exactly; rather than being bull-like, the head is actually more like a dog. Also, it speaks [In game, too. It’s a bit surprising the first time it happens.]. “FIRE.”

Let’s kill it with that.
Is it actually doing anything aside from saying “FIRE” over and over?

No. In fact, it’ll only do that each time you approach it.

So it’s a demonic motion-detecting light switch?

I wouldn’t put it like that, but it is just about that harmless in the end.

In fact, you can destroy the statues any way you feel like, and there are absolutely no repercussions for destroying it or not destroying it. The only difference is that you can’t get their clues again if you bust them up.



And, lest we forget, more combat.


Another dog head? Did we pick up any more figurines?
No, just a ton of these colored diamonds.
They’re probably part of the key, then. So how do we do this? Are there any sort of holes or slots the diamonds could fit in?

Since you ask, yes, there are two holes, one in each ear, that look like the diamonds could fit inside.

Damn it, I didn’t want to gather all these diamonds just to waste them all.
This is probably the only way up. We should be careful, though; I doubt that the wrong diamonds will plop back out of its mouth. Now, what did that document say again?


That’s right. So, north, something, something, something, south…ordered north to south? Since this is probably the southernmost door that uses these things, we should look at the third figure first. I get R as in red and Y as in yellow, but what color starts with an E? Has this been translated correctly?
Dude, the second letters in yellow and red are “E.” Duh.
Ah, that makes sense. Stuff a red and a yellow gem into the dog’s ears, Alex.


I still wish we could save these.
If the number here is right, we’ll only need six, which means we get to keep two of them.
Oh, cool.

I’m embarrassed to say that this puzzle threw me for a loop the first time, forcing me to reload a save in order to avoid wasting gems. At least when you get a gem right, it sticks in place.

The gems fit into place, and the door rises into the ceiling.


You mean we can’t go back?!

Not back through the door, no. You might find a way out sometime later, though.

But what if we hadn’t gotten all the gems the first time?

Well…you’ll see.


Now this is the full map with the upper half revealed. As you can see in the larger image, there’s another statue near the center of the area. This one is blocked by the second dog door, this one needing green and blue diamonds. The exit itself isn't blocked by any diamond doors, preventing you from getting horribly stuck. There is a good reason to use them, though, unless you're cheesing your way through a second run.



Like the first statue, this one does little but shout a word at you. In this case, the word is “WASHES.”

“Fire washes?” Someone should probably be writing this down.
I’ll do it. I’ll just scribble the words on the side of Bob’s gem note.


This is the third door, right? We’ll need a red and blue gem for this.
I sure hope this is the way out or some kind of treasure trove. I really hate wasting these gems.



Behind the door are two more statues and a rather suggestive slab of rock.

Oh? Does it like photographs? Eh? Eh? Wink wink, nudge nudge?

What? No, I meant it looks like it’s covered in dried blood.

Ah. A little less sexy, that.
Unless you’re into that kind of thing.
Who’s into ritual sacrifice?
I thought you were the guy who spends all his free time on the internet.
I usually try to stay away from the horrible shit that reminds me of my day job.
Oh.
SO! Talking statues! What do these say?

_{Thank God…}the first one says “BLOOD,” while the second one goes with “CLEANS.”

Hang on…all right, got it. But if there’s nothing else interesting here, we should keep going.


This room is a fair bit more difficult than you’d normally think.


What, zombies? About damn time. I was getting sick of all the skeletons.

No kidding. Okay, everyone roll for strength. *Rolls*

Oops.

Hmph. When you open the door and enter, you are met by a horrible stench of decay. William is totally overpowered by it, and becomes ill. In fact, you’re so weak, you have to drop back a bit. Now, since these zombies are particularly disgusting, I’d like everyone else to roll against Necrophobia.

Uh oh.

Damn…Well, Suzie, Belle is so terrified by the zombies’ appearance that she flees in a blind panic. Looks like this is going to be between Boxter, Kurzmann, vVhorpax, and Thorgrim.

At least this will make up for Suzie getting to solo that skeleton champion earlier.


Remember back when this many zombies could give my whole party a run for their money? What a difference some decent equipment makes.


This is the last door, past the stairs up (the curly bit on the left side of the map).


The truth? This is what all those other statues were saying, isn’t it? Let’s see…does “Fire washes, blood cleans” work?

Sadly, the statues does nothing when you say that.

Nothing at all? Hopefully we get a second chance, then. So if the one way doesn’t work, how about…



With a tremendous noise, the statue falls back. Inside its hollow pedestal, you discover a chest.


This chest is full of what I like to call HOT DAMN. It may very well be the single best haul in the game.

So what all is in there?

There’s an armband that lowers Acrophobia, another Skull Belt for Necrophobia, a strong magic potion, a miracle cure (it can heal massive amounts of damage and has a chance to cure disease and poison), 5 healing potions, 2 regular magic potions, another elixir of Courage, and a suit of Mirror armor.

Mirror armor?
Oh my. That’s the sort that raises Magic Resistance, isn’t it?

Yep. By five full points. It also weighs slightly less than regular scale, although its defense stats are the same.

Can I have it? Please?
I thought you got that Skull Belt.
Nah, I got that.
Come on, guys, you haven’t let me use either Belt of Might, and I’ve still only got the one magic sword. I’ll let one of you two use my lightweight scale.
Wait, your what?

Oh yeah, that was my bad. Yeah, so it turns out that the suit of “scale” you guys picked up in the dwarven mine was actually a set of enchanted chainmail whose stats are exactly like scale, except that it weighs the same as chain. I only figured out the mistake earlier this week and told Suzie about it then.

Well, call me bribed, then.
What about the other things?
We’ll figure it out later. Someone just write it on their sheet for now.


Now, on to the next level!
Hang on, can we take a quick break? I really need to use the bathroom.

Alright, fine, we might as well all take a break at this point. Hal, break out the Red Bull. Suzie, did you bring anything to watch?