Part 3: Seriously, fuck Teron

Part III: Seriously, fuck Teron



: Do you have time for a few questions?



Woof. Alright, let's go through these...

: Hear anything interesting?



As you can tell, the innkeeper is a fountain of information.

: What do you think of Lord Antidas?





He's also an unrepentant suck-up.

: What can you tell me about House Daratan?







Totally unlike Antidas, I'm sure.

: What can you tell me about prospectors?









: Why are there so few towns?







: Do you think it will ever get better?







Oh, good. Meru's crucifixion-happy.



tl;dr: Everything sucks. Anyway, let's get a room.



For 100 imperials, this had better be the best room in the place!



The nice thing about renting a room is it gives us a handy place to store stuff we don't need right now.



Time to sneak around and steal valuables! I won't show off everything here, as it's generally going into rooms and lockpicking chests. We don't have a high enough Steal skill to grab everything, but we get enough. The game is pretty lenient at this point -- getting caught just means being kicked out of the room.



The sole exception is this chest. It's trapped, and traps can be deadly even this early. Let's try to disarm it -- how hard could it be?



Oh. Whoops.

Death Count: 1



Never mind that. Let's talk to this guy instead.



: I'd like to learn about alchemy.



: If I know what to do with it?



Ew.



: So, uh, what can I make?





: Can I heal myself during a fight?



No, you can't heal during a fight. This is a hardcore RPG, motherfuckers!





We'll buy the reagents. Every little bit helps!



Here's a dress I, ah, acquired. Do I look pretty, goons?



Here's the trading plaza, where we'll offload our ill-gotten gains.





We'll become familiar with the Commercium in another playthrough.



Hey, that sounds pretty sweet. Forget what Feng said, we're joining the Imperial Guards!





you know what forget it



While strolling through the graveyard (as we do), we meet this dude.

: What do you mean?



Christ, everyone's an asshole.

: Pleasure then.



And everyone has a scam. This had better be worth it...



If by "rare quality" he means grifters and murderous loremasters, then I agree.





My man, have you left this graveyard recently? Teron is one bad day away from becoming worm food.



MAKE TERON GREAT AGAIN









Yeah, thanks for wasting my time. *grumble grumble*



Yo, maybe you could get off your ass and bury this body?



Yuck. At least we get a grappling hook out of this.



Near the palace is this crowd.





"zeal. And for a moment more the spell holds, the crowd subdued in the face of his conviction. But only for a moment."

Methinks we've found one of Meru's zealots.





We could throw a stone at the preacher, but let's see what happens.



"I think we've heard enough, old fool," the heckler again. He spits his contempt at the old man's feet then turns, smirking, and pushes his way out through the crowd. At this, the crowd begins to disperse, grinning and making jokes.

He makes the mistake of talking down to his audience and everyone leaves.



High intelligence gives us an opportunity to get in the preacher's good graces.







: Who are these Gods you speak of? Where did they come from?



: Why did the Gods leave? Why haven't we seen them? If they wish to help us, why did they leave us to starve and struggle?



: You spoke of false Lords...



: Tell me of Lord Meru.





Sounds like we need to visit Ganezzar. For now, we need to get back to business...















...like observing what a backwards shithole Teron is.



Weren't we going to show our map to Antidas? Let's get that over with.



The easiest option is to talk our way in.



This is Dellar. Dellar will be a constant pain in the ass, save for one playthrough.

: Master Feng has sent me to see Lord Antidas.









uuugggghh





: What else can you tell me?





: Can you give me any men?









: I'll think about it.

Thanks to Biggus Dickus, we can't go in. We could try and solve those problems he mentioned... or we can find another way.



We'll try the palisade route.



How about the grappling hook?



Hey!

Luckily, our DEX and STR are high enough.



Did I mention failing the checks from this point results in instant death?





It may seem suicidal, but we're going for the guard house.





Heading west...



shit shit shit go back



I strongly advise against killing the guards unless you've got high charisma and good persuasion skills -- Antidas will call you out for it, and if you can't convince him? Game over.

The back of the guardhouse might be safer.



It's not, but we can get some loot for our trouble.





Another option: impersonating a guard. Since we have no points in Impersonate, it's time to go upstairs.



Yet another option: pretend to be a servant. We'll try the tower from this level.



nope

We make our way back outside and investigate the ground floor.



nope!

The only option open to us is going to the east side of the compound...



...climbing onto the roof...





...and hastily picking the window lock.



Into the dining room!



Thank god no one glances under the table.



Time to check out the display room.





I really need to put some levels into Traps. We might juuuust make it...



...

Death Count: 2



A perception of 7 gets us out of this mess.





A combined score of 11 not only opens the door, it allows us to find a hidden chest.





We can't read the scroll at the moment. Looks like the only way out is downstairs.



DELLAR!



Never mind swearing loyalty; it's time to show Antidas the damn map.





"crumbling towns, still fighting each other like savages."





Antidas really likes to hear himself talk.





At long last, we have our long-term goal: find the temple of Thor-Agoth.

: I want to learn more about your House, my Lord.



Seriously, fuck Teron.

Next time: Digging for artifacts and killing a bunch of people.