Part 4

So this is the world map screen. It's a bit disconcerting at first, since you have to change direction and then press the forward button to move in the direction of the arrow rather than just using the arrow keys directly.



It's not exactly safe to be wandering around, either.

"A blight on all the civilized lands. They breed like gnats, or else we'd have wiped them out ages ago."



For being the first encounter you can run into right out of the gate, these guys are pretty rough. They prefer to hang back and throw boulders at you, and can easily do 10-12 damage if they hit. They're pretty inaccurate, though, but it doesn't get better when you get up close. They are, however, worth about 1000 experience for a group like this and drop more than 1000 gold.



"Well, now I know what I'll be seeing in my nightmares tonight."



At this level Anhkheg are surprisingly difficult to hit, and they have a disconcerting habit of spitting acid at your characters. This does a fairly decent amount of damage, and their normal attacks can also have additional acid damage added in. They also don't give any loot.



"Aww man, I can see it like right over there."

"Shit. I guess we're going to have to shell out for a boat."



"Thank you, thank you. We're doing our part to clean up the wilds, so you just keep on guarding that gate."

One boat rental later...



"Put your backs into it! Turn that rudder astern!"

"…nobody else knows anything about boats, do they? Just… just give that to me."



Nesme is a little square on the map. Navigating on the river means a reduced chance of encounters with restricted movement, and is actually necessary to progress since some of the rivers are too deep to pass otherwise.



"…oh. That makes me feel a bit better about the cost."



"Nice place. Kind of scenic."



"Riders of Nesme? Never heard of them."



"This is probably a pretty good place to find out."





"So a power grab backed by barbarian hordes? This is likely to end well."

"Maybe they'll need some help with those trolls? They're pretty flammable, from what I hear."

"We should find out more before we do anything… maybe there'll be somebody among the servants in the stable who can fill us in a little bit more."



"We get it… or don't get it…I'm not sure. Are we supposed to get it?"

"Somebody should beat that knave… I would, but it's not my place to flog another man's servant."



"I think I found out where the horses have been going."

"How did they even build a secret door in a wall on a public street without anyone noticing?"



"And now we've found the thieves. Idiots, you never stay this close to the scene, especially with something as bulky and noisy as horses.

I actually kind of forgot to screen cap this fight. I promise it wasn't very interesting… three bandits and a generic guy in robes with a longsword.



"In a town like this, someone like the harbormaster is always in the know on things."





"That sounds like a problem for exterminators, not for adventurers like us."

"Especially since he didn't say anything about a paycheck."



"Think they'd stand us a beer since we found the guys who were stealing their horses?"

"We'd have had to tell someone we found the thieves before that would work."



"D'you think if we told them about the infestation by the river they'd pay us to burn the buildings down?"

"Thats generally not an accepted method of pest control. Unless you're dealing with fire rats, at which point it become an inevitability.



"We can talk with the head of the town after we get a rest."



"Especially since they're evidently paying good money for wholesale slaughter. We can do that."



"Do you… do you have a sister?"

"Several. And a bunch of nearly identical cousins."



"It's either a bad sign or a really good one if the main temple in a city is dedicated to wealth and coins."

"Coins smoins. Let's go set some warehouses on fire."



"I don't even know why we agreed to this…"

"A question for the ages. Just like "when did they start raising lizards for meat here?"



Lizardmen hanging out by the river in a city, without being dealt with by the population? Sure.



They're relatively beefy for low level humanoid enemies.

On the way to our next destination...



Those rider guys really weren't kidding about barbarians, were they? Where did they dig these guys up?"

"You're thinking of undead barbarians. I'm… pretty sure these guys aren't? You can't tell from the smell."



These guys are actually weaker than the lizard men, but they like to throw their hammers. That said, I haven't seen a single one of them actually hit anything. They're also dirt poor and don't give much experience.





"Yeah, we kinda kicked their asses already. You might have bitten off more than you can chew with them."

"I was kinda expecting longer tresses… not cinnamon buns."



"I think we've officially seen just about everything in town… and still no sign of the Banite cleric. You think they could have given us a hint better than just a town."

"Well, if we've been everywhere else, there's nowhere else they can be but where we'd have no reason to go."

"Back to Yartar! They've tricked us!"

"Not quite."



"Well, this isn't suspicious at all."



"I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Maybe it's a rat hole, because exterminators have to think like rats."



"Those don't sound like exterminators to me."



"Not unless they're the most open-minded employers I've ever heard of."



Added variety… not that orcs add that much. They're just so flimsy. For a staple of the fantasy genre, you'd think they'd be a bit more threatening.

Moving on...




"At least they support the arts, which is more than you can say for most people."

"Banites are not the kind of people you find an upside for, Dude."

"Please. It's The Dude. And everybody's got their good points, am I right?"



As if we were planning on it.



Sleep or a good hold person spell can end this one pretty quick.

"These guys don't. So… that was it? He wasn't so tough."

"If that was him. Not like you can tell when they're in those robes."



"Guys? That might not have been him."

"We can sort it out after we kill them all. Unfortunately, we're all out of fire."



This is a much bigger fight, with enough enemy attacks to ensure that something is getting through. If you have hold person then the clerics are priority targets. Experimenting with the spell shows that orcs meet the definition of people but lizards don't. Despite being our target, this nameless cleric doesn't merit his own unique battle sprite.





"…we kinda screwed this one up, didn't we?"

"It does kind of look like we just stopped him from stopping a giant Zhentarim army from invading, yes."

"The cleric wasn't behind anything here in this town… were we set up?"






"Considering that we're evidently the second set of people who went after this guy, I think the answer is yet. Also, we really should have killed them."



"Actually, I don't think that'll be a problem."

Character Snapshot





Not much change, although as the first person to get a level up indicator Vermunt is the first person to get a level up once we have the money. Unfortunately, that's all we can afford yet…. but we'll see what we can do to fix it next update.

Next update: The great troll hunt, and another river trip.