Part 36

"If we were, do you think we'd actually tell you now that you put it that way?"

"Just saying that proves you're too smart to be from Luskan. You can stay here if you want."



"Well, I've heard of crazy cat ladies, but a crazy ice hound lady is a whole new experience."



That's a pretty good sized room for inside the city. This is a pretty classic encounter to wear you down, since it results in lots of elemental damage that can't be completely avoided. The sorceress, however, is a joke.



"Either that or we just murdered a dog sledding team."



"Well, we've been in enough of them to know. We can probably just let anybody else who's in here go, for that matter."






"Oh Gods no, not another boat."

"Can't be a very long boat trip, there's not much further north to go."



"How do all these people know us? Has someone been passing out pictures?"

"Possibly wanted posters. We should probably be leaving."



"I can only imagine how much work goes in to making those straight lines out in the snow."



"Can these things swim? That's the only way I can think that they'd be able to get between islands."

"I certainly can't imagine them hiding in the holds of boats very easily."







"Er… thanks, I guess?"

"That was kind of random, but encouraging."






"Doesn't seem very forgotten if you just told us all about it."

"How is it that all these primitive people remember exactly what happened centuries ago but civilized people can't seem to remember more than a single lifetime back?"



"Okay, we're going, we're going. What happened to welcoming us and all that?"




"When in a far away land, it's comforting to see that some things never change."




This battle introduces the new enemies that are going to be the bane of your existence in this area. Blackrobed Mages have equipment equivalent to our magic users, and are about the same level… that is to say, they're tossing around 5th level spells. Their particular favorite is Hold Monster, which for some reason works on humans although I'm fairly certain it shouldn't. It appears to give you a save with a penalty, as it works much more often than Hold Person. So we start out with six enemies who can disable a couple of characters each, and then some other guys show up behind us. Blackrobed Masters are much tougher fighters than we've dealt with before, so it's a lot faster to turn your own holding spells against them.





"They're following a little bit less closely than they were now."

"Unless there's more of them running around…we should look around a bit more."




"This reminds me of that place under Mirabar… which makes sense, since these are the same group of nut jobs."




Which it definitely is, with the minor addition of a fire elemental and a group of guys off to the side who you won't see unless you make a habit of surveying the battlefield. Having four spell casters get a free turn because you didn't see them would be Bad. The elemental is just a distraction and a bit of a joke.





"Well, I'm kind of flattered that they're so dedicated to wiping us out."



"I think we've made some friends… although I'm surprised they haven't taken care of these guys themselves."



"No, but we're going anyway."



"Well, that wasn't so bad."



"Wait, the man in black named Bleak Sky At Morning? Or are the two things completely disconnected?"



"Are you named Bleak Sky at Morning?"

"Somehow I'm pretty sure he's not."

"Also, he's dead now."



"They're either running really low on troops, or all the rest of them are already ahead of us. I know which scenario I'd prefer."




"Have we considered just smashing it in?"

"Sounds like a plan to me."

"I hate the two of you for the fact that it actually worked."



"It's… it's got horns."

"I'll take it!"



"I'm pretty sure that this is the middle of a village. There isn't much wilderness for you to be guarding here."






"We are sincerely grateful that you did not send us on multiple quests to find magical tokens and prove our worthiness."

"600 years? That's a long time to wait for a bunch of strangers to show up."



"The time has come, Bleak Sky at Morning."



"If one of them can just keep us from freezing to death out there, I'll be more than grateful."



Beyond the door, the wilderness waits.

Character Snapshot






This has been our last chance to gain levels and do anything with out equipment. Our group has come a long way, and there's not much left that we could improve on. All of our characters have their best equipment ready to go, and the money has been collected in Galen's hands to keep it from slowing everybody else down.

Final Update: Ice Peak, the Men in Black, and Freezefire.