Summoner Part #8 - The Catacombs, AKA Skeleton Party

Part 8: The Catacombs, AKA Skeleton Party

Alright, time for our first cool dungeon, the Iona Catacombs.

It has a nice atmospheric soundtrack.

Soundtrack - Iona Catacombs
*Actual interesting music begins around 2:30*

I was also a little unfair with our new friend, Blackfire Elemental.
He has some utility to him, and it will come in useful in this dungeon.
He comes with 3 spells. Blind, Fire Arrow, and Dark Wall.

He is the only one in the game that can cast Dark Wall, it looks pretty cool, and I think it can cause any debilitation such as Curse, Blind, and Silence.
Though I am not positive on that. Curse makes enemies take more damage, always good, and is a level 10 holy spell. So, it's cool that he can do that. Just don't let anything hit him.

Though things can get a bit out of hand with a Blackfire Elemental running around.
He can also run fast as hell, if you control him and go full speed he can run outside of his summon range and unsummon himself by leaving Joseph in the dust.
He comes with some nice chain attacks that he will belt out to, including Silence.

Which comes in handy against the numerous undead mages down here. One punch from the Blackfire and the mages have to resort to uselessly trying to slap us with their brittle nerd paws.

They also have a cool death animation.

The undead down here have some really neat designs, like this 3 armed guy.

This rendering is the model used for the archer variants.

These are the melee guys, the one in the middle is obviously the coolest.
He has skulls for shoulders, a dragon skull for a fist, and two heads. He also hits like a truck.
There is a metric fuckton of skeletons down here you guys.

All in all, this is a really cool looking dungeon. It opens up into a big cavern further in.

We eventually reach a fork in the road. The middle path is our ultimate goal, so let's go for it.

Knight of the Order of Iona?

Sir Erthgi of Iona: I am finder of the books of Vorhannen, slayer of the fell sorceress Ursahla, and wanderer of the Gehemene Marches! I serve none other than Carados the Builder!

Sir Erthgi was among the knights who vanished with Sir Carados. He would have died centuries ago!

Sir Carados?

Sir Erthgi of Iona: Aye, but you'll go no further, unless you unravel the enchantment of this place.

Unravel the enchantment?

Sir Erthgi of Iona: The riddle of the spheres! For upon their pedestals they sit: two dark suns, their life extinguished.

Basically, we need to go down the two other paths. This one has a bridge covered in archers. Kind of a pain since all the undead down here are resistant to Flece's weapon of choice.

Once the orbs are clicked (Some riddle) they glow and look cool. We also pick up some useful stuff.

With the new dagger, we have just about every element covered now for exploiting weaknesses energy, fire, and ice. This is also the third and final glass shard.

Back at the center path after having interacted with the spheres...

The way forward is now opened to us! And we find something we did not expect.

Carados Lives

By the blood of Urath! It's Sir Carados!

Sir Carados: I am Vadagar, God of the Khosani. Consort of Doomed Iona.

Sir Carados: Who dares violate the tomb of my queen?!

He's gone mad! He thinks he's a god!

Shit, Rosalind. We knew he was mad, the fact that he is still walking around after a couple centuries is the bigger shocker maybe? Also...

Books
Not even once.

I forgot to mention. When I unlocked trip on Flece, I instantly maxed it out. Sir Carados spends this fight on his ass.

All two stabs of it. It would have been quicker, but he is very resistant to piercing!

He also has an even cooler death animation than the mages.

We get this nice sword from him. Joseph will switch to this unless we run into some fire heavy foes.

We also find the Ring of Light, though I neglected to even remember to check out the Mist Elemental. We will get to it later.

We also found a revive scroll laying where Carados was standing, this must be Iona and Vadagar desperately wanted to bring her back to life, but nothing would work.

Speaking of Vadagar and the Catacombs in general, this place is really weird for catacombs. Let's have a different perspective.

So, the catacombs are the remains of the giant 3 headed serpent god Vadagar, his center head focused intently on Iona's resting place.
This trip to Iona has basically confirmed that the crazy ass stories about the creation of the world are all 100% fact.
Which means...

Remember the old bigot grandpa from the docks?

Samael: Ask the monks about the island. They say Vadagar himself lies buried in this rock. If that's true, then I've got Laharah in my bum.

Evil Goddesses? In my anus?
It's more likely than you think. Get your prostate checked annually.

On our way out, I remember there is a somewhat hidden chamber when you first arrive at the cavernous part, it holds an armor upgrade that would have been useful if I had remembered it, damnit!

Joseph sporting our grave robbing spoils.

Rosalind got something out of it as well, this robe gives her an extra point to Holy, which is pretty useless. And she will never again wield a melee weapon. Hooray!

Yes.

Novice Sama: To whom did you give the book?

Brother Morhan.

Novice Sama: Brother Morhan? He's a good soul, and I trust he'll return it to the library. Did you tell him who gave you the book?

No.

Novice Sama: Thank you, wanderer. You have kept your word. Now I must go to my lesson. Mother Eghane will be furious with me!

Give him the axe.

Brother Wid: For bringing me the Axe of King Ikus, I give you this reward.

We get a ring of health that gives +30 hp, which goes straight to Rosalind for obvious reasons. Did you know? Monsters can chain attack as well, and they do so incredibly often on Rosalind. Like she gets butchered in seconds.
We then depart to make our way back to Lenele.

We are interrupted along the way though.

Looks like one of Murod's four riders has found us.

This is the Ghost Rider. He summons skeletons, which are just as durable and potent as any others we have faced. Take too long and this will be a loss.
It's also not wise to use any summons in this battle, it can be too chaotic, take too long to cast, and he looses his maximum and current health when he summons, and when they die he only regains his maximum. (Thanks Disco Infiva)