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Xander77 posted:I have never once had a decent James. I've spared all the possible training for him, I took him on a trip around the world... not only did he never match up to Gorath, but... well, he never matched up to anyone is all I'm saying. Funny that you should say that.  Update 22: Jimmy the Hand is a badass    We head back into Krondor's reeking sewers. I've already mapped out the sewers last chapter, but with the start of a new chapter, more dangerous enemies have spawned and eagerly await us.  Since I know that that James is much better with locks then Locklear, I move the guys on up to an area where there was a chest that I couldn't open before circled in blue. There is also a group of enemies to the north circled in red, which we'll deal with soon enough.  (Can you guess what I am missing in my key inventory above?) As we examine the lock, a message pops up that I've never seen before.  Sheesh! Small wonder I've never seen it before, I've never run out of lockpicks! Here I neglected to have James pick up the ones that Locklear had left behind. Oopsie doodles!  We hoof it back to the palace to grab the lockpicks and make it back to open the chest.  Ooh, a new spell! Too bad we don't have a magician who can use it.  Having opened the chest, I move to engage the enemies just north of us because I want to try James out and see how well he performs in battle.    Instead of opting to bum rush the magician (Which is what I should have done) James instead fires off a poisoned quarrel at him.  Which hits, doing a good chunk of damage. That the quarrel was poisoned also means that there is a good chance that the magician will be poisoned and will continue to lose health/stamina each turn.  However, the magician decides to ruin my day, and paralyzes Gorath. This is a good reminder not to gently caress around with enemy spellcasters. As I know from the previous chapter, he if decides to do the same kind of spell on James, it's game over for me.  A great thing about James is that he is fast. I rectify my previous mistake by telling James to charge the enemy magician. Gorath is just poo poo out of luck, but he's a tank so he'll absorb a lot of hits from the others before he goes down.  It takes some flailing about the battlefield, but James takes down the magician. The rest of the enemy are focused on attacking Gorath. They continue to hit him too. If Gorath goes down, James will have a hard time taking on all of them by himself.  James takes down one of the remaining enemy. He has two left, one focused on Gorath but now one is focused on him. I'm just waiting for the spell on Gorath to wear off so he can contribute.  The spell doesn't wear off, but it doesn't matter. James takes out the last remaining enemy on his own. Hell, he took out all the enemies on his own.   "They didn't call me 'Jimmy the Hand' for nothing, you know."I am very impressed. Normally James just isn't that great when you first get him. For whatever reason, the James I have in this game is kicking rear end so far.  The magician had this powder bag on him, which makes me suspect that is what he used to paralyze Gorath. This also explains while Gorath was out of commission for the entire battle. The spell that has the same paralyzing effect usually wears off faster.  "Mine now, bitches. Yoink!" After resting for a few days, I decide to have the guys get out of the sewers. While I could have avoided the previous encounter, there isn't a way to avoid these guys.   They get the jump on us, and they have not one, but two magicians in their group. I'm starting to get worried.  As soon as I can, I have James rush the first magician that is closest to him, which will prevent him from spellcasting. I do have to worry about the magician closer to Gorath though.  Or not! The magician by Gorath didn't cast a spell, instead he wandered a bit closer for some reason, while the one James was chasing after predictably runs away.  Gorath gets in a hit, but not enough to take him down. James assists.  Only for me to be rewarded with another bag of powder thrown into Gorath's face.   Still, just as in the last battle, James is fast enough to chase down the magician and take him out before he tries the same trick again.  The rest of the battle plays out the same as before, only difference is that Gorath recovers at the last second and gets in the final blow against the last remaining enemy in what I assume is a fit of rage after being pepper sprayed twice already. We get close to the exit, and then...  Who could it be?!  Locklear? Prince Arutha? Pug? .... Squire Philip? Oh. It's just Owyn.    "Well, after Seigneur Locklear dumped me off after we got here and told me I could go home, I got bored and decided to check out Krondor. Unfortunately there's nothing much interesting going on here, so I decided I would come back to the palace. I tired to pay Gorath an unexpected visit last night, but discovered that the guards had been doubled with orders that no one could see him. I might have fallen for it if I hadn't heard someone snoring in his cell." "Gorath doesn't snore I take it?" "Not a sound. When I realized that something was in the air I went to find Locklear and discovered that he was mysteriously absent, despite a tray of food delivered to his door just moments after I slipped away. Finally, I came down here and talked to Limm who told me you had been down here earlier this morning. At that point, I realized Arutha meant to slip Gorath out of Krondor for some reason." "Are you sure you're not a thief by profession? you think unnervingly like a Mocker I used to know." "So, are we ready? We should probably get moving. Where are we going anyway?"Oh, Owyn. You are adorable.  "You cannot accompany us, Owyn. Our mission is much too important..." "Quiet, moredhel! I'll handle this." "But I could jeopardize your mission! Who knows who might take me captive between here and Tiburn? If I go back to Krondor now, I might accidentally talk to someone. Besides, I'm from the eastern part of the Kingdom. I know the area and I might be able to help." "For better or worse, you seem determined to hitch your fate to catastrophe. But if you want to get yourself killed at a tender young age, who am I to naysay it? I used to pull the same stunts when Arutha wished to pull out of Krondor." "All right then squire, you can come along, but these are the ground rules. One, I am in charge and you do whatever I say without question. Two, under no circumstances do you reveal anything about Gorath or our mission to anyone. If someone asks, we will continue what Seigneur Locklear suggested --- Gorath is an elf. Thirdly, and lastly, you don't wander off on your own. I don't care if you're watering the trees, you ask me first. Is that all clear?" "Absolutely. Whatever you say." "Stop smiling. You're going to earn your keep. I know I'm going to regret this, but let's get moving. We have a long way to go and no time to get there."I'm actually rather happy to have Owyn back. It's good to have a magician on your team to blind the enemy, if nothing else. Or to lob off some fireballs now and then.   We exit the sewer, but instead of leaving town like we are expected to, we head on over to the shops to sell off our excess gear and then over to the tavern to restock on food provisions. Also, we talk to Nivek, who we met very briefly in the previous chapter. Nivek didn't have much to say to Locklear at the time, but here he has quite a bit more to say to James.    A discussion on taxes. Just what we need in video games.   "The ledgers are at a balance, but I daresay my thirst suffers a deficit of catastrophic proportions. Though I handle thousands of sovereigns a day, I fear I haevn't the command of more than a handful of my own use at the moment. I don't suppose you might be in a position..." "What do you say, Owyn? Do we buy a drink for this honorable tax collector or do we allow him to expire of thirst?"Yes No "Operation Slush Fund is a go." "Bartender, a drink for the tax collector! Drink up friend and tell me what you know. you're always a good ear for the happenings in and out of the Kingdom." "Rumors? My goodness me, I'm not the kind to consort with rumormongers. No sire, you should know that. Of course I occasionally hear a few facts that are of interest to people. Accounting is a ... *UHRUP* ... fascinating business you know, all the figures and such..." "Something a little more lively if you please. Stolen cows, cheating wives, dishonest traders --- that sort of thing." "The prurient and the scatological, eh? Hmmm. Well, let me think on it. I believe I heard something last week --- at least I believe it was last week. Maybe it was the week before that. Couldn't have been before that annexation in Malac's Cross ---" "If you please, Nivek. We would like to get out of here before tomorrow." "I... *AHHHP* ... would be most pleased to accommodate you, but seems that my mouth has grown a bit dry. What do you say to buying me another drink?"Yes No "Ahh now. That's much better. What was I saying? Oh yes, about this story. The-re was... *UHRUP* ... this fellow that lives near Sethanon that has filed three new claims on land in the past year. Thr-ee, ya understand that?" "Is there something suspect about his purchases?" "Oh, his selections of land are nice enough. Prime pieces of land matter of fact, but he's without a ... *AAHHHP* ... ti-tle! How'z a person of ignoble birth manage to buy three prime estates? Tell me that!" "What was this fellow's name? Perhaps we should look into it." "What kind of ques---*RUCHH*---question is that now? Ya think I carry my ledger about in my head? I mean you might as well rear end me the name of Prince Arufa's --- Arutha's wife." "You mean to tell me that you can't remember Princess Anita's name?" "No --- what is her name?" "You were telling me about the man near Sethanon. What else do you know about him? Tell me about the man." "Ahhhh... I fink his name was Fibber ... NAH, that's not right, not right at all ... Fleeber ... Monk's finger ... Map's Flipper ... Fever ... FEEBER! Maxie Feeber! Thatsss it! ya know, I'm really, really, getting tired now and maybe I should go home..." "There's still a few things I need to know. Think you can hold out for just a few more minutes?" We are such enablers. Yes No "That hit the --- the ahhh --- What?" "I suppose you mean that your drink hit the mark. Why don't you tell us a little more about this Max Feeber character?" "NAHnahnahnahh... that's bori---*UHRUP*--ng... let's talk about last year. Did ya know that for every cow in Midkemia, we get a golden sovereigns a year alone just for their manure... Did ya know that? BETCHA didn't! An for every duck..." "Max Feeber. I want to know about Max Feeber." "Dokay. Moxie Flipper. Ahm, I know that gee was tryging to buy up some of the propurtee left in Sethanon a few years back from Jared Lycrow but Jared wouldn't sell to no one, so Moxie co--*AHRUP*---cooked up this idea... Sure you don't want to hear about ducks?"I have to admit that I kind of want to know about the ducks. "No. Just tell us about Max. What did he do?" "Ee gots himselk a shovel and dug---*ARRGHA---to try to skeer Jared. Corse jared wasn't skeered of nuthin but it shore fri-teened---*UHRUP*---Nia." "What was he digging up?" "Goin to slep now...Gnite.." "Maybe I could buy you another drink?" "What, you haven run outta mon---mon---money yet? Oh, in that case I'll have nother... if you're buying?"Yes No We are the worst of friends. "Grabeyurd neer Sethnon. Dats whur he wusss diggin. Up---*ERRRRUP*---Frait o gosts n Jer-rud whatnt. Not at ull. Jes Nia. Littl o Nia." "Where do you think he got the funds to buy the land?" "Eee sait that he gots it in na hole! Alz the monkeys...*ARRAH*... moneys in na hole! Jus got go... to get it... Ain't frait no gooset." "What hole are you talking about? Where is he going?" "I tink I go home now..." "One more tankard of ale to keep him going?"Maybe he'll tell us about the ducks? Yes No "Ya nu... Zaa unturducktur key urdn skeywers...trite to sulit tome but... *UHRUP* ... I no crumiminal ... oh gles mr... *AAAGH*. O Ghats! Imna be sich! ha- ho!" "The what? I don't understand." "I sait, mna be SICK!" "Okay, okay. I think I've abused you enough for now. Sleep well, Nivek. I think we know all we need to know."Or DO we?  Let's talk to him again. "*GRRNNMPH!* ... Just let me die, gods!" "Still hung over, Nivek?" "... not so loud ... ohhh please, just leave a poor old soul to die." "Sure you don't want a drink?" "I want you to know that I hate you to the depths of my being right now... the Bitter sea isn't as deep as my loathing for you..." "So I take it you're not in the mood for a talk?" "Go fall off the edge of the world... quitely ... just so long as you don't make any sound doing it. Goodbye, James." "Take care of yourself, old friend."  Nothing like alcohol poisoning to lighten the mood. I suppose we 'ought to get going. "Wait! Let's go back to the palace! I finally purchased a proper pair of pants, and I think I left them there!"   Alright, here is the short term plan. While going to Romney is the goal of this chapter, we are first going to run back up to Questor's view to get some melee training done for the party. (specifically with James in mind) Nivek gave us a side quest lead about something fishy that Moxie Flipper is doing near Sethanon, so we might want to consider taking a detour there as well to check it out. Onward to Questor's View!  We don't get too far north before we find a barn. Now as I recall, we paid a fee to Turns out that Locklear & Co., passed straight on past Rowe's barn and did the Eggley quest instead.  This fight can be extremely difficult depending upon when you do it. Playing Chapter 1 without having done any other sidequests or avoiding fights in general makes this the hardest fight of the chapter. Let's Fight Nago!   Nago has amazing speed, and because of that will always goes first. Here he lobbed off a 'Fetters of Rime' Spell at Owyn which takes him out of the fight for now. Still, even if Owyn can't do anything, it still leaves our heavy hitter Gorath and our speed demon James to take Nago down before too much damage can be done.  Nago does something stupid and goes to attack Owyn himself. This mistake on his part provides me a great opportunity for James and Gorath to cut off his line of retreat.  Realizing his tactical error, Nago attempts to retreat, but having to go around James and Gorath doesn't get him far enough away so he can cast another spell. Our heroes give chase and cut him down. Now it is just a matter of clearing up the guys who are left.  Unfortunately, we aren't fast enough to save Owyn who throughout this entire fight has been getting stabbed in the face.   James and Gorath take down the rest without a problem.  Quit being such a dramatic baby, Owyn.  Just apply some neosporin and you'll be fine. We drag Owyn to a nearby temple to get some aid.        Turns out that I did this quest backwards. Typically, if you do this in Chapter 1, you are on your way to Krondor and would meet with the Priests at Sung first and then fight Nago. If you do so, the conversation on your return goes a bit differently. Return after Nago's Death posted:Kellan greeted them. There are additional benefits to having completed the Sung quest.  Healing! This would be quite expensive in chapter 1, but we have more then enough to just flat out heal Owyn, so I pay it.  To my knowledge, no other temples in the game will let you pay for healing.  We are going to end this update here, just outside of Sarth. Next update we'll talk to Brother Marc again and also get that melee training done in Questor's view, but the direction we take from there is still in question.  Route A: We go the 'straightforward' way. We would get a chance to investigate Sethanon, but other big cities to visit include Malac's Cross and Silden.  Route B: Taking the Northern scenic view. We'd backtrack and could see how things are going in Zun and other places that we've been to already, but we can also check out Highcastle, Northwarden and Cavall's Keep on our way to Romney as well. Which way should we go? Snugglecakes fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Aug 14, 2013 |
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