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In Progress Lets play the best Storyfag RPG of all time: Betrayal at Krondor!

CappenVarra

phase-based phantasmist
Patron
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
2,912
Location
Ardamai
peek into the mine, don't step on any mines
 

SerratedBiz

Arcane
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
4,143
Combat should be experienced while listening to the soundtrack. Unfortunately this is the only version I could find in Soundblaster, which is the superior version imo.



I'd have to replay the game to be sure, but I also recall Owyn being described as a shepherd or maybe even posing as one as his cover story. Eventually it becomes quite clear that he's the opposite, a nobleman's son, but you're not entirely in the wrong that it's mentioned at some point.

Anyhow, this is probably my favorite game of all time. The writing is superb; combat is engaging and deadly (especially if you don't min-max your skills, which is neither necessary or recommended imo) and I even like their take on traps happening within the combat system; exploration is rewarding and not procedurally-generated crap. I wish we'd kept puzzles as the de facto means of opening locked chests in games.
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Yeah, the audio in this game is great. Conversations seem to have their own soundracks. There's clanking sound as soon as I entered the mine, etc.

Today we explore the mines!

We're in!
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Its dark inside.

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We double click on a torch in Owyn's inventory. It changes to lit state.

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And suddenly we can see!

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After we advance forward a few steps, another cut scene triggers. If someone can tell me what was bouncing down the wall - I'd be interested to know.

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Apparently it was thrown by a dwarf.

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Locklear feigns ignorance?

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For some reason Dwarves have quite the accent.

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Is this a continuity failure or is Locky trying to get a better price on the reward? We literally just heard about Brak Nurr in La Mut.

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Sounds like the mines are quite deep.

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I think Locklear is attempting to show Owyn levels of intelligence on purpose.

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Kobolds and Dragons are always a thing, aren't they? I don't like this mention of a "clutch" of Brak Nurr though.

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And 30+ dead dwarves don't sound too good either.

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Lets follow up on Brak Nurr.

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This would be helpful info...

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Sounds like an earth elemental alright.

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Naddur gives us head up that there will be more than just Brak Nurr to fight down here.

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That bit gives Locky the idea to start praying...

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Assassins after you, a mine full of Earth Elementals and bravos trying to stop us from killing them - yeah, divine help might become necessary.

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Kilian is the goddess of the Foresters. Ishap is the creator of all gods and is the god of Balance.

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This option is here because we discussed Armor repair with Sumani.

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We're actually pretty good right now as we still use basic armor and decent quality pieces drop all the time. More of a problem when we find half broken version of better armor.

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Naddur lets us know about a repair shop.

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Locklear has repairing on his mind.

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Sword quality is also not actually a problem just yet. But it doesn't hurt to know what can be done and where.

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Sometimes games make me feel like an ass...

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Locky keeps pushing...

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I guess persistence pays off.

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As Naddur thinks of a win-win solution.

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We promise not to bother any other dwarves in the mine about repairing our stuff.

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We can afford it, but we don't currently have that skill in focus. Also I'm not sure its that great of an investment at the moment as we're trying to save up for Sumani's training.
I'll ask Codex to vote on this one once we've killed Brak Nurr and earned the reward.

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Locky acts like some ladies I've dated.

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No skin off Naddur's back.

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We say our goodbyes.

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Ok, so we proceed down the corridor - and eventually reach a 3 way fork.

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I tend to go to the right in mazes like this, then when there's no more right, to the center, then the left, etc.

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The right path ends in a dead end though.

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So we go down the central path instead.

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Eventually there's another fork. Just 2 way this time. We turn right.

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There's an opening ahead, and some enemies!

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Our attempt to sneak up on the opposition fails again. This type of Hunter god appears in a lot of pantheons it seems.

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Before we can do anything, one of them charges Owyn and hits him for 15 damage!

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Owyn defends to prevent further damage. Locklear sees that he's likely to hit Owyn's enemy. Right after this screen - he does - for 14 damage.

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The other enemy skips attacking Gorath and goes after Locky for some reason. Gorath goes for Owyn's attacker instead.

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Its a hit! For 21.

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I decide to get Owyn out of there so that he can cast, or better yet - rest up as the fighters finish the job. Seeing as the guy hit twice is likely going to be less efficient now. Locky goes after the second guy.

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Its a hit for 13.

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First guy chases Owyn but doesn't quite catch up. Gorath goes after him, its a hit for 22. That guy goes down.

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Owyn rests. It has no effect - I guess the resting button only heals you to the same amount that resting in the wilderness does.

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Locky hits his guy for 13 again.

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He is attacked and missed. Gorath tries to finish the enemy, but misses his target as well.

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Next we have a round of everyone missing each other. Then a round where he parries everyone and hits Locky for 11.
Finally Gorath finishes the job with a hit for 19.

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Now the enemies are just loot bags.

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Ooo, a new weapon.

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A weapon who's whole description is how much it sucks?

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It does more damage than the Broadsword is but is less accurate. That being said - its made for an elf and the Broadsword is not. So the fact that Gorath is an elf means that he was taking a 5% penalty on the 10% bonus to hit - meaning he should be just as good at hitting with thrusts with this weapon as he is with a Broadsword! Also the Swing damage is quite high.

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We give it to Gorath. Locky retains the Broadsword.

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Huh, the second guy had the same sword.

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And higher quality armor. Owyn gets that one.

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Here's our health status after that fight.

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We proceed and eventually reach a large room with a chest.

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It's locked. I recall from earlier playthrough that there are very nasty trapped chests in the mines. Perhaps meant for when the party comes back here in a later chapter. So I click no for now.

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How do we deal with possibly trapped chests? Well lets look at Owyn's out of combat magic. The first school has a spell for indoor illumination. Its cheaper to use torches, but if you run out...

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Aha, this should help.

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Useful stuff.

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Notice the red icon on top - that tells us when the spell is in effect. When that icon is gone - we know it wore off.

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The way the spell works is fascinating...

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Naptha is extremely flammable... And this spell... we'll I don't think I've heard of anything that gives you historic visions about objects before. Some cool Divination for sure.

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So we click no since Locky's lock-picking skill is below average, but for education's purposes I'll show what happens if you try to disarm it. There's a flash animation on the box...

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And Owyn runs out of hitpoints and is put into a Near-Death state. Its extremely difficult to heal out of that state and it makes it very difficult to get hitpoints back. Owyn would basically be stuck at like 1-2 hp for a month unless we pay a heap of gold at the nearest temple. So we'll be using that spell from now on - I had forgotten how deadly the traps can be. We're definitely out of tutorial mode here. Think Locky gets left with 4 hitpoints too - so I guess the damned trap does 85 damage.

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So back to us being smart - notice Owyn's health is now in red after casting the spell. That means he's below the threshold where wilderness and in-combat resting will heal him.

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This is where the box was - there's nothing else in this room, so we have to head back.

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As we reach another 2 way fork...

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We see a chest right in front of us.

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The spell is still in effect... And this time it seems to work the way I would have expected it to work.

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Its safe. Much better.

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There's a lock, but Locky picks it. Not sure why these two piles were separated.

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We look to the right from the fork - seem clear.

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The left, however does not...

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We try to sneak up and fail again. Before we can move, we're charged and a quarrel flies towards and misses Locky. The guy that charged Owyn got within a diagonal so Owyn couldn't cast. In retrospect I should have probably retreated here - I though I was getting into a fight with 3 instead of 4.
There was a guy (currently surrounded by Locky and Owyn) that had yellow pants - think that means he's a spell caster. I charged him with Owyn to prevent his casting as well. Owyn missed. Locky did not. Hit for 21 damage!

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Gorath followed up with 33!

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Enemies attacked Owyn and Gorath, missed both. Owyn defended. Locky attacked the guy we piled up on - 22 dmg, that guy dies. I decide to try a Gorath swing at the guy attacking Owyn since the potential damage is so high.

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Its a hit! But only 30. Seems like that guy has good armor and defense.

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Owyn parries an attack, second guy misses Gorath.

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Since Owyn's staff is so poor at doing Thrust damage and Owyn just parried I decide to try a swing.

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Unfortunately its a miss.

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Locky charges the archer that never fired the second quarrel for whatever reason. Hits him for 13.

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Gorath thrusts at Owyn's attacker - but misses.

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Owyn is missed, but Gorath is hit for 12 with a swing!
Locklear is missed and Owyn defends. Locky thrusts his guy for 13 again.

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Gorath thrusts at Owyn's attacker again. Miss once again.

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Enemies attack Gorath and Locklear, miss both. Owyn defends again.
Locklear hits his guy for 13 for the 3rd time.

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Gorath finally hits Owyn's attacker. 22 damage - he goes down.

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Owyn rests. His sta goes for 24 to 26.
Locklear is parried. Gorath is parried and struck back for 11. Perhaps this defending and counter attacking strategy is better than I remember.

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Owyn decides to blind Locky's opponent.

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Locky suspects that his opponent is now a worse defender and takes a swing. It's a hit - for 17.

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Gorath thrusts for 22. The difference between our two fighters is stark. One hits like a truck but misses a lot. The other chips away.

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Owyn rests. Locklear thrusts and misses. Worried that the enemy might run away due to low health - Gorath switches targets and finishes Locklear's opponent with a hit for 22 damage.
Owyn is attacked by Gorath's previous opponent, but is missed. Locklear attacks and takes a strange path to the enemy, its a hit for 14.

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And Gorath finishes that guy with a hit for 24.

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Yeah... perhaps we did bite off more than we should have.

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In fact we're not really all that much more hurt than we were before the fight.

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Time to loot the bodies.

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Here's the description of the gold coins.

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Ah, this must have been the archer.

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Now we can finally inspect the crossbow's actual performance.

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And that of quarrels. Looks like the base dmg for both together is measly 10. Locky gets both.

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This is yet another key that can open a locked chest once in a blue moon if your skill is not high enough.

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This must have been the mage. Think the armor quality is the reason we were hitting him for more than what the display values were predicting.

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This thing can make our sword temporarily do a lot more damage, it also sells well. I give it to Locky.

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Last guy has nothing new.

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We have a space for another amor set on Locky and only spaces for a single sword on both Owyn and Gorath. We might have to start leaving stuff on the bodies/chests if we do not find Brak Nurr soon!

[/spoler]
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Lets continue exploring the mines!

Since my way of exploring mazes involves taking the right hand turn every time until all paths are exhausted - we u-turn from the bodies of our enemies and proceed in the other direction.

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Eventually we reach another 2 way fork. With yet another chest right there.

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The chest is unlocked but does not have much. Still - those healing packs will be helpful if someone gets seriously hurt.

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We turn to the right at the fork and proceed. Eventually there's another 2 way fork - we keep going straight.

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Here is our current location on the map.

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As we proceed further, the light starts to dim. Looks like the torch is finally going out.

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Recalling that Owyn is slight hurt anyway - we decide to take a short rest before lighting up another torch and proceeding.

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Two hours were enough to top off Owyn.

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Eventually we arrive at a door.

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It opens with an animation. And we see some enemies behind it.

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Our attempt to sneak up on them fails once again - but this time the fight start description is different. Could these guys be the real bravos trying to slay Brak Nurr?

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Locklear is charged and missed. A Crossbowman fires and misses Owyn.

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Owyn blinds Locklear's attacker.

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And Locklear strikes him for 13.

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3rd guy is also an archer. He fires at Owyn and misses.

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Gorath misses the first archer. And is missed by him in turn.

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Owyn blinds the second archer.

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Locky hits his guy for 13 again.

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Gorath misses again. His attacker does not retaliate - must be defending.

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Owyn rests. Locky misses his guy this time.

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I decide to charge the second guy with Gorath since the guy he was attacking previously is attempting to parry. But he misses again.

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Owyn blinds the guy Gorath was attacking previously.

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Locklear is parried.

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2nd archer ignores the giant elf attacking him and charges our mage! Gorath chases and misses. So far a grand total of 26 damage have been done by either side in this fight.

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Owyn rests. I should have blinded the guy charging him instead though. Locky misses AGAIN.

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Owyn is charged again and missed. Gorath misses Owyn's attacker.

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Locklear is missed by his enemy. Owyn decides to swing at his attacker. Misses. Locky finally hits his guy for 13 again. Then Owyn is hit by a swing! For 17 damage. Suddenly his Sta is super low!

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Gorath misses AGAIN. He has hit 0 times.

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Owyn defends. Locklear misses.

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Owyn parries and Locklear is missed. Gorath misses once again.

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1st archer comes over and misses him. Owyn defends.

Locklear hits his guy for 14. Owyn's attacker strikes him THROUGH his block! For 14 damage. Gorath FINALLY hits Owyn's attacker - for 19. But is hit by his attacker for 12.

Locklear is missed.

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Owyn runs for it. He's about to start losing stats and can only take one more hit before being at risk.

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Locky misses.

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Owyn's attacker chases, but does not get close enough. Gorath goes after. Misses. Is missed in turn by the guy chasing him. Locky is missed as well.
Owyn blinds the guy chasing him.

Locky misses again. Gorath misses. Both non-blinded enemies miss.

Owyn rests.

Locky misses. Gorath HITS Owyn's chaser for 19. It appears blind DOES help our guys hit the blinded targets.

Owyn blinds his attacker again. Locky hits his nemesis THROUGH block for 15. That guy finally goes down.

Gorath hits Owyn's attacker for 21. That enemy goes down.

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Owyn rests. Locky misses the last guy. While double checking focused skills I notice Gorath's melee accuracy has gone up.

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Despite this... Gorath misses. Gets swung at, but missed as well.

Owyn rests.

Locky hits for 13. Gorath for 21. Owyn rests.

Locky hits again - for 14. Enemy goes down.

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Whew... what a battle. Here's our health status.

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We notice there's a chest behind the enemies.

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First guy has a new type of armor.

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His rations are SPOILED! We do not take them. We have to watch out for those - always check rations!

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Fancy stuff.

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Its significantly better than the standard kingdom variety. Since its made for an elf - Gorath gets it.

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2nd guy's stuff.

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And 3rd. His rations are spoiled too.

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The chest is safe. And is picked. I screwed up the screenshots for stuff inside, but it was more basic armor and sword.

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Yay for a skill up.

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This room is a dead end. Here's our current location.

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So what should we do? Owyn is quite hurt and will need to heal. If we do that the torch will go out. We're also completely out of inventory space and most of the corpses from this batch still have their stuff. This battle showed us that we're a bit underskilled to be fighting here. Locklear had hit rate of 47% that fight and Gorath had hit rate of 36%. Their chances were even lower when enemies were not blinded. We can afford Sumani's training now and could definitely use a visit to the shop in order to sell.

So lets vote:

A. Rest here and continue exploring.
B. Go back to LaMut to sell and get training.

If choosing B please also vote now on whether we should also train Weaponcraft with the guy at the cave entrance on our way back IF we have 50 gold left over.
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
It's still 2020 as I'm writing this, but it will be 2021 by the time I finish - so Happy New Year everyone. Lets hope its a better one.

Last we left off - we decided to go back to town to sell the stuff we looted, as well as to train.

So we head back out.

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I just love how everything has these little descriptions.

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Of course it turns out its not actually Daylight outside at the moment - its night. However our torch is still on so we can see.

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The torch goes out shortly after - but its close enough to morning. We sell everything at the store and are up to 158 gold. Note that not all stores buy all items. For example this store does not want the expensive Lamprey :(

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Owyn was haggling on everything before selling it so his skill went up, everyone else's did too - guess they learned from Owyn's failures. I did notice that after selling the item after haggling it down when trying to purchase it right before it... might have actually caused me to get LESS money for it. Oooops. Will have to double check later.

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So we go back to Sumani and notice a new topic of conversation.

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Ah, its a way to get info on that other side quest!

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Yup, definitely Ronin.

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I guess I don't quite get how their freedom is taken away though. Freedom to NOT live off the land I guess?

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Now we see Locky's idea.

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Looks like Sumani isn't a Gray Warrior despite my earlier understanding of his status. He also starts dropping the crumbs to the next point in the quest.

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Loriel is a town to the south east. I'll give the option to head in that direction next time we hit the crossroads.

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Locky gets another idea.

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Apparently Gray Warriors are so desperate they don't fear the wizards.

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Foreboding...

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Anyway - we came here to train. So we focus all our skill learning on Defense and agree to the price.

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Sumani makes us sign some legal stuff to make sure its harder to sue him if he cuts any limbs off.

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So Japanese...

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Its on...

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We don't get any battle with the guy. The game just tells us he kicks our ass.

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Once we come out we learn that our money paid for something...

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Everyone gets 5% skill improvement in melee and 7.5% in Defense since that was our skill focus set up. If we picked both they'd both get 6.25% instead.

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We have 84 gold left. Enough to get Weaponcraft training as well!

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We head back to Naddur and agree to the price.

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Like he says - we'll need a Whetstone to actually repair any blades.

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I wonder if the advice is actually sound - probably the authors did some research.

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Naddur is a dwarf with things to do...

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Because we focused on Weaponcrafting exclusively. We get 15% bonus for everyone on the team.

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We keep moving until this pops up, shortly after. Looks like we can just go through the night with the help of torches. Oh yeah - we never healed after that last fight and Owyn was very hurt.

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I activate the healing pack on him.

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This gives him the healing status.

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And he gets to full wilderness rest health quite quickly.

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In fact he's still has the healing status.

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Unfortunately the rest burned out our last torch, so we have to light another one. Just 2 left. We better make them count.

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We get back to the room where we left 4 dead dudes with some equipment but they're GONE! Fortunately I put some of their stuff in that chest.

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Picking that chest led to another lockpicking increase.

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Its still quite low however.

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We head back to the last fork and head in the other direction this time.

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And eventually arrive at a room with bunch of enemies and a chest.

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Our stealth check is finally passed. I don't know how - since we have a torch on...

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4 guys again. Lets hope our improved fighting skills are up to the task.

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Owyn blinds the enemy closes to Gorath.

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Locky charges the guy in front of him. Hits for 13.

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Gorath misses the blind guy...

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Locklear gets attacked by 2, one misses - other hits for 12. Owyn blinds one of Locky's attackers.

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Locky hits the blind guy for 13.

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Gorath swings and misses.

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Owyn re-blinds the guy Gorath is attacking. Guy in the corner is yet to move.

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Locky tries to hit the guy Owyn just blinded in front of him, but misses.

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Gorath swings at the guy Owyn blinded a turn ago. Hits! 29 damage.

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Right after that he's charged by the guy in the corner and hit for 13. Owyn is charged by the guy Gorath just hit. Owyn can't cast anymore!
Owyn swings at him, but misses.

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Locky hits the enemy on his left for 14.

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Gorath charges Owyn's attacker. Hits for 21.

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Enemy on Locky's right swings at misses at him.
Owyn swings again and misses.

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Locky hits the guy on his left for 14 again. Somehow that guy is still up. These enemies are hp sponges compared to earlier fights.

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Gorath thrusts and misses Owyn's opponent. Everyone on our side gets attacked. Only Locky gets hit - for 13!
While checking Owyn's skill focuses since he's now attacking I notice his defense went up.

i-2dB7NhR-M.png


Owyn swings at and hits his opponent THROUGH block. 12 damage - he's still up!

Locky is down to 5 stamina. Attacks the guy on the left again. Hits for 15 - that guy finally dies.

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Gorath follows it up with a 24 dmg hit on Owyn's attacker. That guy goes down.

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The guy who previously was attacking Gorath is smart and charges Owyn. He misses however. Owyn swings back at him, but misses as well.

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Locky attacks his opponent but is parried.

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Gorath swings at Owyn's attacker and hits for 30!

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Locky is hit for 11. I retreat with Owyn in attempt to gain the ability to blind Locky's attacker. Locky is below max health so his stats are lower. Still hits his guy - 12 dmg.

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Gorath misses his thrust. His target chases Owyn!

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Locklear is missed. Not being able to shake his attacker - Owyn thrusts at the guy charging him. Hits for 4 dmg.

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Locky misses his opponent.

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Gorath goes after Locky's attacker. Misses as well.

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Owyn and Locky are missed by their opponents. Owyn swings and misses.

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Locky misses with a thrust.

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Gorath does the same.

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Enemies miss Owyn but hit Locky for 13! Owyn charges the guy trying to finish off Locky and hits for 4.

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Gorath misses him however.

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Locky is down to 36 hitpoints and is forced to use restoratives.

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We get this menu after first use that lets us keep popping them.

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We take another 2 gulps to get to above max health.

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Owyn is hit for 8. Locky is missed. Thinking the guy that just hit him must have low hp to do that little damage - Owyn swings at him. Misses.

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Locky misses his attacker.

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But Gorath hits - 22 dmg. Surprised that guy is still up. thinking that guy must be almost out of hitpoints - Owyn thrusts at him. Hits for 4 dmg but he's still up.

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Locklear hits him for 14 however and that guy finally goes down.

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Gorath charges and misses last guy.

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That guy misses Owyn in turn. Owyn swings and misses. But Locky hits for 15 and that guy finally goes down.

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Looks like Locky got even better at hitting enemies.

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Health status after last fight. We have a torch shortage - so this is trouble.

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Time to loot.

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Ah, the fabled whetstone - new ones have 20 charges, this one has 1.

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More stuff...

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Just one use. But this one makes sword hit much harder. The blue stone we got earlier was actually an armor enhancement - this is a weapon one. Tith is the god of war.

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Another Lamprey. We need to find a place that buys them.

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The box was clicked on by accident while looting.

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Ah, this one is no longer easy. Time for Codex to shine.

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As I said each letter has 4 possibilities:

E T R I O S
R S W L N W
O A O H D G
B U T R T E

So codex, what is the answer?

Until codex helps - our heroes are stumped:

i-tRSj5Zt-M.png
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Impressive. I'd never have gotten that. Haven't heard of barrow being used without the wheel portion.

Well, lets look at what happens next for our heroes.

We put in the wisdom of the codex and the lock opens.

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A lot of new stuff in this chest. One wonders how the dark elves got their chests inside the Dwarven mines however. Perhaps it was brought in by these rogues instead.

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Nothing but Armor, Swords/Staves and Crossbows are wearable. So this ring has to be kept in the inventory. When you activate it - it acts like a lit torch, but I'm pretty sure it sells for a lot more.

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Some dungeons have pits. Each time you want to get across you use a single charge of the rope.

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Gives a large temporary boost to defense.

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Locky got messed up last fight, and Owyn still has the healing status. So we give it to Locky as well and rest. We're back to full health in half a day. That uses up another charge of the torch, leaving us with 1. But we have that ring now.

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We double back and head left we did not take previously.

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Eventually the path opens into a room. Aha! That looks like the beastie we're looking for.

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Looks like we failed our stealth check again.

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Nasty looking monster for sure. But it's initiative is lower then Owyn's...

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This highlights the issue with game's balance - there are no saves against magic - its win initiative or die for single monsters. No matter how badass. Brak Nurr is blinded.

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Locky misses it however.

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And so does Gorath. Perhaps this will be difficult after all. How do you miss a giant rock thing that's blind?

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Owyn rests. Locky misses again.

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Finally a hit! 24 dmg from Gorath.

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Owyn blinds the creature again. You don't want to let it have a chance at hitting one of your guys - it hits like a truck.

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Locky hits for 15.

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Gorath hits for 24 again.

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Owyn rests. Locky hits for 15 again.

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Gorath hits for another 24. We've now done 102 damage to it and its still standing.

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Another blind from Owyn.

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Locky misses this time.

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But Gorath hits for 24.

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Owyn rests. Locky misses again. Strangely Gorath seems to be a lot better at hitting this thing despite having significantly worse accuracy skill.

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Just as I say that, Gorath misses too.

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Owyn blinds it again.

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Locky hits this time. For 16 - enemy must be close to duying.

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Gorath hits it for 26 and that finishes it off!

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We have slain the Brak Nurr!

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And turns out we don't even have to go to the entrance for the reward!

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Locky must have gotten tired swinging at a blind rock for so long.

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Think gold works the same way those magic sprays do on soccer injuries.

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We have completed our first side quest. Congratulations everyone!

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Looks like there's also a chest in this room.

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Brak Nurr does not carry gems or whatever, but we can see our new gold in the total!

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Before we deal with the chest we notice a dead body in this room, must be one of the unlucky bravos...

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Did Brak Nurr eat his arms and armor? Either way - the torch is welcome.

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The food however is not...

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We cast trap detection and deal with the chest. Turns out its not trapped.

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But Locky can't pick the locky...

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Last thing to try is those special keys we've found. And the Peasant key works!

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Nothing new here. But restoratives are great since Locky spent some.

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There appears to be a hallway on the other side of the room. We head that way.

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But before we get too far we run into another angry Dwarf...

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Looks like we can't proceed. Perhaps things will change in the future.

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We double back with another fork and take the left side path.

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It leads to a door...

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But there's nothing...

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In the room beyond.

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Just one last branch we skipped previously.

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It leads to a door as well.

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This one is locked!

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Huh! First time seeing that kind of lock. Well... Don't have much hope of Locky picking this one - but we have to try.

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Oh no! We're down to one lockpick.

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Lets try that Guilder's key. It worked!

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The room beyond is big and has columns.

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We see a chest in the distance.

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Another puzzle lock!

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The letters are:

B R E E L
S H A V E
A L L S T
W I O L D

While Codex ponders that one, I find a side room.

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Which holds another chest.

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Its another puzzle chest!

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The letters are:

T R A K
B I U P
D L C M
E O T H

Once you guys offer suggestions on the chest clues - there's also the question of what to do after as there is nothing more to explore in the mines and our packs cannot fit any more armor or swords.
Do we head back to sell stuff at La Mut again, or proceed to Zun and hope the have a shop there?

i-6MpbL2h-M.png


 

Citizen

Guest
Use dosbox's internal screenshot tool, it saves the uncompressed image without the window border. You can configure and assign a shortcut to it through a config file IIRC
 

CappenVarra

phase-based phantasmist
Patron
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
2,912
Location
Ardamai
yeah, sieve and drum

sell stuff before proceeding, we have all the time in the world and damn the torpedoes
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Our adventures continue:

Sieve works!

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A book?

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Huh, a patchwork journal.

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Hardly unknown if we know his name is Lorgan. Seems like something that could have helped us in some way against the Brak Nurr.

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Drum works as well.

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Weedwalkers!

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Lets see how much!

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Locky has the lowest stealth at 29%.

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And when we give these to him his stealth jumps up by 30%!

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Unfortunately Owyn's stealth is only 2% higher than Locky's so these really only raised our party stealth value by 2%.

When we get back to Naddur we find a new topic. Guess we got it from that journal.

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Locky makes it clear he doesn't know what he's talking about.

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My... toes? Anyway - we learn about a Dragon that passed on fairly recently. How bizarre for a creature that lives for centuries to die so recently. It must have happened in the books.
Speaking of books - Tomas is a major character in them. A boy that finds armor of a demi god - he somehow gets transformed into a demi god. Which made him so cool the queen of the elves married him. Feist sure likes to give his readers what they desire.

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Ah! An explanation for all the moredhel wordlocks in the mines.

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Lets see what the dwarf knows about their origin.

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Locky clearly is suffering from memory loss. Perhaps its PTSD related. He's been in a war...

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Yes... it this thing that you've been opening several times now Locky...

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Good thing Gorath is not Kingdom folk.

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We get back to LaMut and sell. Up to 277 gold now.

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As I leave LaMut I remember that we might want to top off at the inn since we're not destitute anymore. LaMut is dark upon arrival.

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We pay the 5 gold and settle in for the night. The design of the interface is such that you get more health back if you pay for the room in the early morning - as its more hours to heal from that point on to the NEXT morning. In our case we only get like 80% of the night.

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Huh... maybe sleeping in the cold outside was a better idea after all.

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The next morning - we have regained some health over the usual wilderness resting level.

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You can immediately sign up for another night.

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But I say no, we're good as is.

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We head out and head south. At some point past the gray road to the mines I see some hills. Sometimes treasure is behind them.

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As there is in this case!

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Pays for our rest!

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But the ration is bad.

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We walk forward a few steps and Scouting check fires.

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Gorath suggests we should proceed with caution. This means party will automatically try to sneak by the possible ambush. If scouting didn't fire we'd walk into the ambush without any stealth checks.
Unfortunately our stealth fails the very next step.

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Gorath is immediately charged and hit for 17! So I flee with Owyn to the corner and Locky attacks the guy. Hit for 13.

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Gorath misses and the enemy misses him with a return swing.

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Owyn blinds the trailing guy that didn't manage to get close enough to attack during his turn earlier.

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Locky misses.

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Gorath misses too and is missed by the enemy's return thrust.

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Owyn rests. Locky misses again.

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But Gorath hits this time. 21 damage.

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Owyn reblinds.

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Locky hits through block for 13.

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Not wanting to deal with the block - Gorath charges the blind guy but misses him.

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Owyn reblinds the same guy - I messed up the timing, should have rested.

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Locky attacks and is blocked this time.

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That guy attacks Gorath and hits. But only for 7 damage. Seems like he must be almost dead. Gorath retaliates. Hit for 23 and the guy goes down.

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Owyn rests.

Locky charges last guy, misses. Is missed in turn.

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While checking skill selections we find Gorath's accuracy has increased.

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Despite this, Gorath misses.

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I charge with Owyn but he misses too.

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Locky hits for 13. Is missed in turn. Gorath misses.

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Owyn misses.
Locky misses.
Gorath is blocked.
Owyn hits through block for... 3.

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Locky hits through block for 13.
Gorath is blocked and enemy tries to flee!

I blind with Owyn so that the enemy does not get away.

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Locky chases and hits for 14.

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Gorath chases and misses.

Owyn rests.

Locky and Gorath both miss.

Owyn re-blinds.

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Locky hits for 15 and the fight is over.

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Nothing special here.

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Or here...

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I use a whetstone that had 1 charge on Gorath's Lamprey. It goes from 74% to 91%! Quality affects sale prices, so we could start repairing swords before selling them.

As we get back to the main road we see the village of Zun!

i-hVCFkS2-M.png
 

Sergiu64

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,644
Location
Sic semper tyrannis.
Lets explore Zun real quick:

As you might recall me mentioning previously - villages work differently from towns. Instead of having a hand drawn picture you can scroll over and go into different places such as inns/shops - villages are instead a series of houses you can click on. Each one has some text - can sometimes lead to loot or even training. And sometimes they're shops or taverns. The big building we saw closest to us last time is a tavern.

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I guess the tavernkeeper had some people eat and not pay.

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So taverns have the food/drinks menu - but you can't sleep there.

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Tasty - but clearly a bad financial deal. It works just like a normal ration.

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We go to the next house.

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And get assaulted by a drunkard... Not sure why the game didn't let us fight back.

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What's worse - it actually cost Locky 5 stamina points!

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We look at another house and its inhabitant is a lot friendlier. I'm pretty sure Baron Kevin was a character in the books - but I don't remember anything about him.

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This next house seems smaller.

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No luck with this one I'm afraid.

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Onto the next...

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Ah, a looting opportunity! In a way - these houses feel like chests. Or maybe like breaking barrels in some games to see what's inside.

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Not bad!

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Next house looks different. I believe all shops look like this.

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Yup...

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Ah, its a herbalist's shop. Good thing we decided to sell all that arms and armor in LaMut after exiting the mines - doesn't look like there's a weapon's shop in this town to sell them in.

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Alchemy is expensive...

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Some of the items are fairly self explanatory.

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Tith is the god of battle.

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A few more items. Restoratives are actually affordable - but we're still doing good with our current supply.

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A spice and a buff for the xbox skill!

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Well, its finally a chance to sell our Dragon Stone as I think it only helps counteract specific special attacks when put on the armor. We don't expect any of those anytime soon.

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That concludes the town of Zun. So we have a few options next as we are on the crossroads. We can go East towards Hawk's Hollow...

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And either take that path down to Krondor or possibly even head north to Loriel since we have a lead on Makala's ruby out that way.

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Or we can continue on the most direct path down to Krondor by the way of Questor's View since we're not really hurting for money and that happens to be our main objective.

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So Codex - Do we head East, or South?
 

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