The puzzle solution here is to step along the name of the god of light, Amaunator, or you get smacked by righteous fire (or was it lightining).
Well, I won't step step out of the way to remind you what it was.
You could have heard him out at least.
I don't negotiate with terrorists. Scratch that, I just don't negotiate, period.
Obviously the shadow is outmatched.
We find the second third of the circle.
I wonder what she is waiting for, as I immediately completely forgot about this and have not brought anything.
Loot!
A sling with +3 damage. Almost makes it usable.
I'm guessing this gem dispells the second shadow barrier, if it is not in a gem bag (where it immediately went after we had found it).
The third ritual scroll (actually not a scroll, just a piece of parchment; if the art is accurate) is what we need to talk to the head.
The Codex is ambushed by shade wolves on his way there.
More like, I stepped on some shade wolves on my way there.
If someone is
really interested in the details of the rituals, you can check them out under the spoiler.
I've just had an XP-gasm.
The symbol is now complete.
As is exploration of this place.
Time to move on to more
pleasant serious stuff.
Oh fuck. Not
again.
Thaxll'ssillyia is not as talkative as Firkraag.
Talk'sillyah?
Our first attempt at beating the black lizard is made in vanilla Codex mode, no buffs.
It doesn't work. I guess our hero is not that
badass broken just yet.
Death Count: 179
Loading.
Remind me not to fight any dragons in the near future. They bite.
Since we have the shadow dragon wardstone, we could perform a Bollywood dance routine in front of Thaxll'ssillyia and he wouldn't notice.
Tax'lister?
We basically do just that.
And more.
And more...
I'm starting to feel sorry for the dragon.
You won't be after you see it dead and pick up the loot.
So true.
And last but not least.
Tenser's Transformation (listed as Tensor's Transformation on the character sheet here) is a spell that turns mages into capable fighters and bards into fearsome killers. The Codex does not get as much mileage from it (as his fighter level is equal to or exceeds his mage level), but +100% HP boost and +2 to to hit and damage is not bad.
BringOnTheWorld!
The fight is rather equal (and rather boring) until The Codex' buffs are dispelled.
And suddenly the situation has lost a lot of its charm
After our hero is knocked against the wall, half-dead, we decide to employ the lightning/fireball ability of the Staf of the Magi.
That and some more stick-whacking is enough to bring the dragon down.
Fuck
We continue the great tradition of getting a level up after killing a dragon.
As it should be.
Thaxll'ssillyia drops mostly gems.
Tall'sista?
I like finding dragon scales.
Don't let your hopes get too high with these.
We also get this shopping list.
tl;dr
I feel marginally stronger, although I was counting on a 7th or 8th level spell.
Not just yet. But another slot for Stoneskin never hurts.
Moving on through the shadow dragon lair, we enter this place and are ignored.
How dare they ignore me!
You are invisible.
Oh, right.
Since they are all hostile anyway, I might as well buff myself before appearing.
We should have also backstabbed someone, but it eluded me at the time, and wasn't really needed.
'I am the light that shall dispel your darkness.'? Who talks like that?
You, apparently.
Let me cast one more spell.
We have replaced Cacofiend with Mordekainen's Sword in our sole 7th level spell slot. Let's see if it works any better.
Well, that was disappointing.
And this guy was even weaker...
Why exactly is this encounter BEHIND the shadow dragon? This is no challenge at all.
Look at the bright side. At least we've tested the new spell and it works pretty well.
Don't mention it. My pleasure.
Let's hope that at least the loot is interesting.
A magical chainmail. What a joke.
This would be really awesome. IN THE PREVIOUS FUCKING GAME!
But wait, there's more!
What.
I guess ol' Amy will need more time to fully recover.
Healing the area hid it behind the fog of war again, meaning we will have to explore it again.
You're not serious.
But I am!
We encounter many dangers, such as wild tigers.
Wild dogs.
Giant lynxes...
This is no better than the shadow stuff.
At least it is brighter now.
Area explored.
Let's get the hell out of here and never come back.
Agreed.
We travel to Umar Hills.
While trying to talk to Minister Looyd to finish up the shadow temple quest, we are reminded about a different quest we've done for him earlier.
He takes the news about the Shade Lord pretty well.
That would make me suspicious in a better-written game.
Our hero drives a hard bargain.
100 gold? Not funny.
At least we can identify the armor he gave us for that money.
I'm sure I will be able to identify it myself.
Guess again.
It must be pretty good then!
We also get a repuation increase. We still don't have it maxed out, though. I don't recall this being so tedious a process in my previous playthroughs.
We also talk to Madulf to get a reward for negotiating with Minister Lloyd for him.
I don't remember any of this to be honest.
Not bad at all.
I briefly considered dropping the dragon shield and taking this one instead, but 5% magic resistance won't make a difference on the rare occasion we employ a shield, while 25% resistance to elements might come handy someday.
Time to go back to Unger Hilldark.
Brothers Hilldark begin a rather lengthy argument. Seriously, they just won't shut up. Considering that the two conversations (this and the previous one with Gorje in the temple) are the only addition to this quest restored by Unfinished Business, it wasn't really worth restoring IMO.
We head in the direction we are pointed to - Bridge District.
We choose a house at random (not really).
Neb appeared also in BG1, where he can help you escape the Flaming Fist prison, but our hero was never busted, so we haven't met him.
That would be quite the day when I allowed myself to be put behind bars.
Neb summons some spirit children and goes invisible with a potion.
It won't help you, midget!
FUCK!
Stop doing that!
I need some breathing room here. Slow down, freaks!
Not this time, candy-man!
We get lucky and Neb is hit just as he drinks the potion, which dispels his invisibility.
DIE!
We get 2500 XP as each child spirit disappears, which is more than we would get for
killing destroying them.
I am only picking this up if you promise not to make any jokes about 'giving head'.
Fine.
Neb's dagger does additional 20 points of damage-over-time on a failed saving throw, which is quite nice. However, it lacks the base damage punch of Sword of the Mask, so it is not as good for backstabbing.
He must have been quite the sturdy little dwarf to be carrying THIS around.
How exactly was he talking with his mouth sewn? Because I sure as hell did not sew it.
Time to wrap this thing up.
First, we get our rightly-desrved reward for killing Neb.
We talk to Sir Sarles next. Turns out he sent us to find 200 pounds of illithium only because he thought it was impossible to find.
There is no such thing as 'impossible' for me.
I can even prove that there were good things in Fallout 3.
Time to pass the good news to Guardian Telwyn.
I hate working for priests, but at least they pay.
We also get a helm. From a Helm priest. Get it?
And it's not a bad one either, although it is somewhat depressing, to not find anything superior to Helm of Balduran yet.
Don't expect that to change anytime soon.
---
Next time: The Codex will rescue a certain effeminate actor. Twice.
Do you maybe mean that guy who played Loki in Avengers?
Sorry, no.