Part 17

So we're on our way to the final stages of the game, but to get to Ascore we have to pass through Sundabar. It's been a while, but if you don't remember this is actually to the east of Silverymoon and Everlund. It's pretty much on the ass end of nowhere, which is appropriate. Let's just skip straight to exploring the town, shall we?



"I'd say that you're crazy for staying in your house and waiting for them. Do you think they're going to knock politely on the door and then go around when you don't answer?"





"Actually, we call him Percy… it's good to see that we're pissing him off, though."



"I'm with Kedzie on this one. It's not really going to make a difference whether you stay indoors or not… well, maybe to the mercenaries but trolls are notoriously indiscriminate."



"Maybe if the mercenaries and the trolls found this door first they'd have left everyone alone?"

"And maybe we should keep those mirrors handy, since they seem to have medusa just randomly wandering around inside of town."



"Either that or the locals are even uglier than I thought. One way to find out…"



"Oh man, this is going to take forever!"

Ten seconds later...



"Perhaps we should have been clued in by the fact that those with bows and other missile weapons didn't bother to shoot at us."



"This town is actually a dump, now that I look at it more. Let this be a lesson about why you need a good sturdy roof."



"Wait, didn't Auld Macdon have a farm?"

"Evidently he decided to trade up."






"You've obviously not gotten any reports about how we've had to literally drop money at times because we've had more than we could carry. No thanks."



"Just one monster? You're going to have to do a lot better than that."



This could be a slightly challenging fight if there were more than one statue, and if we didn't happen to have a +3 sword of stonecutting. Because of those two factors this lasts for seconds and is mainly interesting because this is the only place you can find this enemy in the game.



"I'm shocked and appalled that Percy would add petty vandalism to his list of other crimes."

"I'm just hoping that there's another exit heading east."



"You're welcome to just walk across that empty space if you want, but the rest of us are jumping."



"So, how is it over there?"

"Not another word! Now come over here and help!"



"I've got this nasty feeling that we're being funneled in this direction. The only compensation is that it's going to turn out much worse for them."



Weird amalgamation is definitely right… it's pretty much everything but the kitchen sink put together, although thankfully no mages. It's a short road bump, and pretty much the last thing we're going to be doing in town before proceeding to our ultimate destination.



"I take it that they really liked their privacy here.

"...and possibly had an unhealthy fixation with griffons."




"Does anybody actually know what happened to this place?"



"Search me, but it's definitely creepy."



"I'm not sure if the skeletons or toy ships are the real souvenirs, but either way it's just a bit weird."

"Maybe this place used to be on the water, and everybody left when it did?"



Ascore skeletons get their own special sprite and stat block, but they're essentially identical to skeletal warriors right down to our characters being able to turn them. The different appearance is the only relevant detail.



"Well, this is unsafe and violates any number of fire codes!"



"Not nearly as unsafe as putting it out, you idiot!"



This battle introduces the second unique undead enemy here, the Ascorian Mummy. I'd say they were just ordinary mummies, but there aren't any mummies running around so they're a bit more unique than the skeletons. They've got a chance to cause disease, so you don't want to mess around with these like the skeletons.



"This is kind of making me feel like Goldilocks."



So a troll was voluntarily using fire as a way to keep undead away? This is just a bit of a letdown fight. The smaller enemies on the flanks are hobgoblins, who we've pretty much avoided up to this point as they're scarcely more than slightly jumped up goblins. Of course, there are more interesting things lurking within the ruins...



"It's a giant… you don't have to wake it up to have a fair fight. I think the rules are suspended in their case."

"You know, I try not to judge but I think having two heads actually made him twice as ugly."



This area is full of unusual enemies. The Ettin is substantially tougher than most of the troll and giant enemies we've dealt with as far as hit points are concerned, but they've got no special defenses and thus go down very quickly.



"Well, I guess we can give it a try…but there's still a lot of city left to explore before we start knocking on walls."



"Knock knock!"



"Just a bunch of random adventurers thrown together by fate who are here looking to kill a guy named Percy who calls himself Vaalgamon because he's a prat."





"That's… that's nice. We're just going to kill you and take your stuff, okay?"



It's a choice of whether or not you're going to attack him by surprise or if he surprise attacks you when you come back here. It's easier to get it over with now, and he actually has some decent bracers.



"Man, Percy's even a really lousy boss. I thought he was just bad at being a villain."

"I wonder if there's any connection between this mage's mirrors and the ettin's directions?"



"Wait, so if this is the visitor's center why did they hide it behind a bunch of hidden doors?"

"We already saw from the gift shop that the Ascorians weren't the friendliest people."



"This isn't helpful, but I honestly don't know what I was expecting."



"Either those are the ghosts of tourists past, or they're… right… behind us…"

One use of turn undead later…





"This might be the worst map I've ever seen. I had no idea where this is even supposed to be!"





"This one's not much better… although it might connect with the other one."





"I think this one is actually everywhere we've already been. I'm not recommending this visitor's center to anybody else."



"They're also way behind on their floor maintenance… although at least there's treasure here."

In this case, the treasure is a couple of cure disease spells and an Elven Longsword +2 vs Undead. All things that would have been much more useful when we first got to Ascore, naturally.




"Looks like Percy's been working his boys pretty hard… did we ever find out who that "M" person was?"

"It's not ringing any bells with me, but I'm sure he thinks that he's important as well."

"Did anybody else just hear a skittering noise?"



Giant spiders out of nowhere. Why? Because, that's why. Also, what kind of ancient ruin would it be without giant spiders?



"So… were those pyramids built down into the ocean, or on islands, or did the water come… this place is really bizarre."

"If it weren't for the skeletons, I would wonder if it were built by humanoids at all."



"I just know those are mummies… we should have brought some oil and torches so we could solve this without poking them and waking them up."

"What if we just used a really long stick so that they'd wake up far away from us?"



"You just told us where it is. Ass."

"What you are about to face is different from any battle you have ever fought! There will be no rest between each combat! If you defeat one enemy, another shall present itself until you are destroyed!"

"That's pretty much what you tried in the Arena… and if you remember, things didn't work out so well."




"Okay, I don't know about the rest of you but I figure it's about time we shut him up."

Character Snapshot





Our heroes, before heading into the final confrontation. With that AC Galen is a monstrous tank, and he's also our more accurate attacker. Kedzie's 13 combined character levels have enabled her to stand in the front row, and she's no slouch in the defense department either. Alaric is only a bit behind Galen, and he's got the HP to stand up to a battering. Nobody else has really changed, but some equipment updates have improved our mages and Vermunt's chances of surviving the climactic battles.

Next update: We finish it… and prepare to begin anew.