Part 32

Luskan is our second to last mandatory stop on the world map, and it's also displaying a seasonal change. I don't know that the game actually has a seasonal calendar… I'm pretty sure this actually happened as a result of us completing the rest of the missions.



"Really Jagaerda, do we have to go through this every time? Can't we say hello like normal people?"

"This is how normal people say hello in my country."





"Funny thing about that…"



"Way ahead of you. That's actually why we're here."

"That and a generalized desire to piss off the Luskanites. They're kind of dicks."



"That's awful convenient. How long have you been here?"

"Oh, it came with the building. It was a nice surprise."




"Do you think she'll be okay in there, since they tried to kidnap me?"

"If she isn't, we're coming right back. It wouldn't be the first time we've rescued her."



"Feeding the fishes? That's unusually thoughtful of you."

"I'm not sure whose death will be slower and more painful… yours or that of the captain of this garbage scow."



"This was not in the tour brochure, captain. I shall complain to the management."

"You actually just did. Very efficient."



"The least he could have done was give us a guide into the harbor."

"Actually, the least he could have done was toss us over the side and point in the direction of the island. I'm just happy to have a boat."

"It's cold enough even with a boat… let's start exploring indoors."



"This seems like a fairly friendly place."



"I stand corrected."



Pirates on this island come with their own magical support on this island, with the twist that witch doctors are actually tougher than the pirates. They're clerics, and they love their hold person spells. We're also way too close to use fireball spells, but luckily there's only a couple of witch doctors.



"Is that a note for us, or is it for the pirates and talking about a completely different house?"

"We'll never know, since we just killed all of the people who could answer that question."



"Oh, come on. There's two of you… if you leave now, we won't tell anybody that you didn't fight to the death to protect a couple of pieces of paper."

"Looks like they've made their choice. If it helps, we actually won't tell anybody that they died to protect a couple of pieces of paper."



"Wait, isn't that why we were here already?"

"The papers just make it seem more urgent somehow. They'd also be very useful if we had to prove this plot to someone, but that's not the case."



"Yarr! Ye can't have me booty!"

"You've always wanted to say that, haven't you?"

"I'm worried too. I've heard things about pirates and long sea voyages."



More witch doctors and pirates, this time in a much more open area… but unfortunately, a couple of them get a free shot before you can do anything. You can see the results of that underneath the pirate on the upper right. Of course, at this point this encounter is about 10 seconds from ending...





"Sounds like we should visit there to keep any tokens of the island's first family from falling into the hands of the rabble."

"You mean the rabble other than ourselves? I believe that this is probably the house that the pirates' note warned against visiting."



"Did we just break up a group of conspirators, or did we just interrupt some people having a night out away from their wives and then kill them?"

"Hey, they attacked us. If they'd invited us in for drinks and cards it would have been an entirely different story."



"Doesn't look so bad…probably just local superstition keeping people out of it."



"…wasn't the wind blowing the wrong way to shut the door just a minute ago?"

"We're on an island… sudden wind shifts are nothing unusual."



"Neither are the undead spirits of, presumably, the murdered servants of the lord of the island."

"I think it's something that happens in the northern islands. Tropical islands are usually much more cheerful and less haunted."



"Oh, this is getting ridiculous. Quit it with the dramatics or we'll take the lash to your ghosts as well."



"I think that last statement makes this count as a peasant rebellion."



It's not really as bad as all that, honestly. A simple turn undead will get rid of the wights and wraiths, and two spectres aren't a big deal for our front line and some magic missiles.



The prize for this fight is a +3 axe and a +2 shield, which can't be used in conjunction since the ease is a two handed weapon.

"I claim this axe for my house! Blood for the blood axe!"



"There should be plenty of blood for you axe in there… but we probably want to hear what they're up to first."






"Well, I'm convinced. Let's go invade Waterdeep."



"So… what's the social thing to do here? Are we supposed to say something?"

"It only seems polite. There's no need to be rude about ruining their plans and probably killing them all."



"When you're right, you're right… unfortunately."



This is actually a fairly large fight, but the Luskan guards are really cannon fodder and it's easy to drop a fireball and hit just about everybody on the enemy side if you place it right behind one of the enemy mages. We don't have to attack the speaker they were describing, and that's probably a good thing."





"Good man, I like the cut of your jib. And I don't even know what a jib is."

"You have no idea how tempting it is to tell you that a jib is another word for a foreskin."



"You don't even want to know how sketchy you'd have to be for us to turn you down. I mean hell, look at us."



"The fact that they're mostly dead should slow them down a little bit. I'd say completely, but they do like their zombies."



Redleg is actually a max level fighter for this game, with stats that would make a table top gamer weep. His HP is a trifle low, but otherwise he's a fantastic character. Unfortunately, we only get to use him in random encounters and he'll be leaving us shortly.



"You know, the last couple of times we snuck onto an island we hid our own boat somewhere. Why didn't we do that again?"



"Don't feel any pressure to come up and help, or anything."

"Well, he is our boat captain. It only stands to reason."



Somehow, the enemy ended up on both sides of us for this fight. How that happened when we're out on a pier is a mystery, but it's only slightly more of an inconvenience and just means our mages and archer get a bit more beaten up.



"You know, the more I think about it the more I like the idea of capturing a bigger ship. I mean, there can't be that many of them on this island, right?"

"Then we'd all have to learn to be sailors. I'll pass, thanks."



"It would also have been quite premature, since evidently there was already a ship. You could have mentioned that instead of letting us think that boat was the end of the road."




"I guess that between losing whoever was on the ship and losing their puppet to control the sailors of Ruathym, that pretty much puts an end to the plans to invade Waterdeep."



"Luskan again… is there anything left for us to do here except for set the place on fire on the way out?"



"So it would seem. Well, at least Jagaerda will also be here to help."

Character Snapshot





I actually haven't switched the Blood Axe over to being Alaric's primary weapon yet, but he's holding it. Eventually the trade off for damage will be worth losing the three points of AC, however. We can't step out of this room without triggering more events, but it's a bit impressive that we have three characters who are about to level up. Vermunt is going to hit max level with his next level up, although he only gains a couple more spells out of it. Everybody else is just getting HP and THAC0 improvements.

Next update: Clearing Luskan, and heading down to Port Llast for some fun.