Part 15

"Well, that's a cheerful poem about death as we go to hunt a dangerous monster."

"The part about beards means it doesn't apply to elves. So, everybody got your mirrors?"



"I'd say we're getting close, but we've seen seeing single statues scattered all over town so this doesn't mean much."



"Is this a good enough sign for you? Or do you need glowing magical letters that say 'The Medusa is over here'?"



"Nah, this'll do just fine."



Naturally, the medusa comes with some friends. The hounds aren't the issue here, though, and in fact neither is the medusa. The adventuring shop did indeed have mirrors, which can be worn in the shield slot and have the effect you can see here. The medusa gets turned to stone as a result, which I'm not sure if they actually get a saving throw to avoid. The other option is to take your chance with everybody making their saving throw against the medusa's gaze, which is a considerably more risky proposition. After the fight it's a good idea to get a rest, which will trigger the same thing that entering any shop in this town would have...



"I knew it! She didn't look nearly as trustworthy as the previous innkeepers!"



"I'm amazed we're alright, but that's got to be the most needlessly complicated method of bringing people down here that I could have imagined."






"All this, just for us? You really shouldn't have Percy."

"And the ogres I can see over there are just taking it over the top with kindness."



"And yet you're leaving us all of our weapons, armor and tools. You're going to be paying for that later."

A short, boring skirmish later...



"The ones roaming the keep above must have been escapees."



"I think they buy their monsters wholesale… that's why they have so many of the same kind."



Many in this case being 4. Despite their large experience awards, this fight isn't really any more threatening than the other two.




"You've got one thing right… you're afraid. The only thing you seem to be good at is leaving us behind to wreck your bases while you're gone."

"He was even kind enough to tell us where he's going… I think you might be on to something. We're his minion disposal service."



"This bunch of incompetents will probably send a single guard to let us out, so we'll just kill him then and be on our way."




"Yoink!"



"I think it'll be a bit more just if we toss him in the cell along with a good supply of the swill he was going to serves us."



"Fair enough, but the first sign of treachery and we're going to messily butcher you. Nothing personal, but it's kind of what we do."






We'll be safer together than by ourselves. I'll join your party and fight for you… if you can stand to be with a half-orc."

"Nah man, you don't have anything on an otyugh. As long as you're cool with us we can get out of here together."

"We don't really need your help, but you won't hurt our chances either."



So our new party member is sadly under leveled for this portion of the game and none to bright… or pretty… but he's at least more meat to throw at the enemies. Lawful neutral is a bit of a strange alignment for a half-orc, but overall he'd be a decent party member.



"Wait, they keep the arena monsters locked up in the same cell block as the prisoners? That makes no sense at all!"

"We should probably let them go now rather than later, so they don't get in the way when we're leaving."



"Well, that was unexpected… still, I suppose he'll definitely create a distraction for us."



"Not only did you not specify who you would kill if we let you out, you're also ogres. You can get out on your own."



"I think the animal inhabitants of this prison outnumber the humans."



"He's looking at us like we're lunch… I think one way or the other he wants to fix that ratio."



"Ha! Not so tough when you're the ones who are outnumbered, are you?"




"Yeah, go Fluffy!"

"They must not like fire, or else they'd have torn him apart by now."



By several, they mean about 10. Somehow the hell hound is behind us now, since he saw the way the wind was blowing. We could open a hole in the lines to let him fight, but it's easier to just deal with the mess ourselves. As you'd expect, this fight is worth a ton of experience points and they're perfectly clustered for any crowd control spells.



"Right where it's supposed to be… but you know, it's really inconvenient to have to go through the floor of the arena every time you want to get in here."

"Considering that they built this entire structure underneath an existing town, I don't think they had much of a chance to design for convenience."



"That one griffon must have done something pretty bad to be put into jail while everybody else gets to run around free and eat at the buffet."



"Considering that he left this here and probably the other statues, I'm thinking that Percy actually doesn't even really care about these things."

"He's probably just taking them at this point to be a dick."



The Zhentil Commander is a bit of a change up from standard encounters, but otherwise this one is pretty standard except for some utterly stupid placement. The griffons should be up front as a meat wall, with the archers in back. They wouldn't really last much longer, but they'd at least be smart about it.



The commander's gear is magical, but it's all +1 stuff so it's not really all that great. The crossbow and quarrels might be handy, though, for another magical ranged option.





"If we get to Ascore, he'll probably go running off into the desert and promise that he'll crush us under his bootheel at some unspecified later date. We're not worried."




"Good luck with that whole "being a half-orc" thing. You'll probably do better out here on the frontier than you would anywhere else."

"I guess we've got one statue left to get… and only one place we can get a clue."



"If birds can't, then how are we supposed to… never mind. We'll figure it out."

Character Snapshot





We've actually got a level this time around! Our characters had to dump some some money in the bank to actually be able to move around. We're still carrying a lot of wealth around in the forms of gems and jewelry, so any expenses won't be a problem now. We're very close to end game so there shouldn't be too many changes, but it would be nice to see more levels for our fighters.

Next update: To the Star Mounts, our destination.