Part 7

Let's see if I can post this before the probation comes down.

Zaroff is dead and we're heading down!



We're low on recall scrolls, so this could be a problem; we have exactly one spare. If I see that spare burn, I'm using the last mechanism immediately; I don't want to hike 15 levels back to town!

We also turn out to be very low on ID. I brought a staff of ID, but it was unidentified, and runs out after two uses. Guess we're gonna have guess at what stuff is worth taking back to town!



An old friend, in its element. Two rounds of combat.



Edison's lamp turns out to be super fucking handy. (It's the Phial of Galadriel, obviously.) Also, it gives Courage on activation, which is nice!



A new friend. They stroll (and teleport) around, dropping traps as they go.



Luckily, most of them are dart or gas traps, which are obviously irrelevant to us.



We start dumping points into search. I really need that passive trap detection.





A new unique! (With some Selenite soldier pals to keep him company.)

He blinks around and hurts us some, but once we get into melee, we kill him very quickly. The problem is...



He confuses us, which is something we have no remedy for. We can't read scrolls when confused, or use powers, and we can't quaff potions or eat, because we're a robot. We're pretty much fucked!

We fuck around and murder quite a large number of selenite soldiers (even in our confused state), but I become increasingly worried as time goes on, our health dwindles, and the confusion doesn't wear off. Eventually, I use that new ray gun to blast a hole in the wall and hide in there.



After a few tries.



Seeing this was a hell of a relief.



Afterward (healed up and all), a number of wood wives spawn in out of nowhere. They were harmless, but I don't know why they kept showing up? It was odd.

We ditch the wood wives and head to the next floor, where we find...



Our quest target!

They're tough, and they can fire a nether bolt that seems potentially a little dangerous, but... eh. Not too much of a challenge, even with a friend or two. Most of the trouble comes in hunting down the required number.

This lady is nastier:





Not a fan of the stun!

We take her down without too much difficulty in the end, though.

We've been seeing walking cards ('two of hearts', 'three of clubs', etc) for a while - from Alice in Wonderland, of course - but here's the first unique!



Three rounds of combat. (He was weak to slicing, of course, like all cards.)

A few K'uei's later, we encounter and kill a couple of Freemason Grandmasters. (Plus one Provincial Grandmaster, who seemed confused and out of depth. Poor guy.) Behind them was this charmer:



Whoa!

He dies, but gives us this:



We'll check it out later.

Just northwest of the Mason and pals, we find another pushover.





He gets in exactly one action before dying:



It... doesn't help.

At this point, I've mapped out most of the level, and can't find the last K'uei. I decide to leave and re-enter the level to spawn a new layout.

A short distance into the new level, we stumble into a dark room & light it up with Edison's Lantern.





I don't like the sound of that (time attacks are bad news, so I back the hell out.








Backing into the corridor worked out overall, though.

Later: a spooky vampire !!! (But not a K'uei.)





Huh.

He attacks about twenty times and hits 0.

Similarly, we get to this guy:





Who does fuck-all. (Also: a mummy, not a K'uei.)



Probably doesn't help that his escort spawned a room away from him. (Note: none of them are K'ueis.)



Finally, we find and kill the last god damn K'uei. Quest complete. And good riddance! (It took about as long to find that last K'uei as it did to find the first 7.)



Number of K'uei in this map: 1


This post is too long as is, plus I might be probated at any minute, so I'll cut it off here - we'll get loot & quest rewards in the next update. They're a doozy.