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Update 30: "Golden Treasure" We'll hold off on purchasing any new armor until the next update. We are near enough to Wolfram to head on back, and as you'll see in this post, we will be more than able to afford those purchases.  They continued their journey, and while not all homes were of interest to them, there was something about this house that worried the group.    It is horrifying to think of what beastly creatures like trolls would do to women. The distributing thought doesn't decrease in the slightest as they searched the barn that was only feet away from the entrance to the home.    Could this have been the work of trolls as well? The savagery of it was shocking to Owyn, who apart from his most recent travels with Locklear, Gorath and now James had seen little of violence and the grisliness of battle.  Seeing no trolls in the immediate vicinity, the group continued their journey towards Dencamp, but noted that to the southeast was a house nestled between two large hills. Concerned that this house too might be ransacked, they went to investigate.  It was abandoned. Whether it was due to the trolls or not was unknown. Inside was a handful of golden sovereigns, which James scooped up, alongside an old battered shovel, but they had no need of that and left it where it lay collecting dust.  Finally they had reached the next village along this northern route of the kingdom to the village of Dencamp. Officially, Dencamp was known as 'Dencamp-On-The-Teeth'. There had been some speculation that this was because of an desire by village elders to increase tourism within the village itself, but given the proximity of the village to the Northlands, and the threat of trolls, goblins or moredhels attacking, it was doubtful it would have much effect.  Many of the homes were abandoned, but this house had a helpful occupant.   Although Gorath was of the opinion that the easiest way to kill goblins was to stick a sword through their bellies, or to hack off their heads, James thought it would be useful for them to follow up on the group that the red haired man had mentioned.    "I suppose we should go ask the red haired man what the new password is, if he even knows."Unfortunately they would not ever find out. Repeated knocking on the door provided no answer, and peering in the few windows it seemed that the man had left. "Guess we'll have to continue to kill Goblins the old fashioned way then."Apparently whether or not you get the actual password is dependent upon your version of the game. In version 1.01 (the original diskette version), you are allowed to talk to the red haired man again to give you the correct password "Diamonds". The soldiers would then admit the group, tell them about poor Lionel, a Magician who "burned those Goblins' brains out with some spell," but whose spell "didn't work as well on the Troll that killed him.", and give the group the scroll with that spell 'Mind Melt', only available here and efficient against Goblins. In version 1.2 (cd-rom version), you can only visit the red haired man once and get the wrong password and cannot revisit his house again, and thus Mind Melt is not available. Looks like it would have been really good at melting brains. It is a damage spell, cost of 3 Stamina/Health to start with, casting it at a maximum of 15 at a Goblin would cause 90 points of Damage.  The small brown shop was stooped over, and even though Owyn was still a novice in the magical arts, he could tell that this was a magician's shop. Given that Lionel might have been a local magician, perhaps that had something to do with the shop being in Dencamp.  James and Gorath browsed casually through the items, having no real use for most of the items, though Owyn was particularly interested in some of the more exotic items for sale in the shop.    The Scrolls are: Dannon's Delusions Bane of the Black Slayers Nightfingers  Eliaem's Heart allows the user to cast the 'Riversong' spell, which summons a Rusalka to fight with the party until the combat is over. Four Rusalka per combat are allowed.  Glory Hand is needed in order to cast the Nightfingers spell, which is available for sale in this shop as well. Nightfingers allows the caster to steal all items from an enemy's inventory so long as they are not in use. The hand is consumed by the spell once used.  Infinity Pool increases Spell Damage by 50%  The downside being that you have to use it before the spell is selected. Still, this could be quite powerful depending on what spell is used, and I can see it helping to take down extremely powerful enemies.While there were many items of interest to Owyn, they tabled purchase of any of them for the moment, deciding that it would be best to rest at the local inn and there discuss what might be of the most use for the group as they continued their journey.   Those assembled inside the tavern looked up as the three of them entered, but quickly resumed their game. While they had their dinner that evening, they nearly had one startling incident with a magician who was also relaxing.    Gorath snorted in contempt, while Owyn suppressed a laugh.  "Magicians!"I've never seen this message pop up before. I don't know if it is unique to Dencamp given the Magician's shop here or not, but I love the magician's insult at the end.  As was their custom now, Owyn took up the lute and began to play.  Although his performance still contained a few errors, the melody was pleasant and he was rewarded with more then enough money to pay for a room that evening, along with their supper. His progress as a musician had certainly improved since his debut back in LaMut. Leaving the inn the next morning, they continued walking through Dencamp. James admitted he was curious whether they could find the red haired man again, or perhaps somebody else who knew what the password was.   The food was still fresh and preserved well, and so James gratefully accepted the woman's offer. Just north of her house was a barn, which James had been told by the woman was a kind of community barn. Curious about this arrangement, he thought he should take a look and see what was inside.    In some ways, 'Jimmy the Hand' was still very much alive in him.  Leaving Dencamp now, the halted when they saw a dead body lie alongside the road. Gorath surmised that the man had been there for some time now.  Perhaps the man had been an assassin of some sort, if he was carrying this kind of poison? Gorath was not sure, but pocked the poison. At some point in the future it was possible they would have need of it. If nothing else, it could always be sold for coins in certain shops.  As they left Dencamp, James considered their route. Although Northwarden was out of the way on their journey towards Romney, he thought it would be worth visiting the nobility there. They could also be having trouble with trolls, or goblins, and he they could render any assistance then they would certainly try to do so.   A small dirt road led to house, where they could ask for some water. Of more interest was a small entrance to a cave of some sort that Gorath pointed out.     There was no reason to deny her request, given her hospitality. The payment of the fine wooden crossbow was also generous of her. While neither James nor Gorath had need of it, they knew they could sell it at a good price at armory in Northwarden.    As they approached the entrance to the cave, James halted the group. They watched as yet another magical trap sprung up before them.  After taking a minute to look around and discuss how they might disarm and proceed through the trap, the solution became clear. All they had to do was push the transparent crystal forward. This would trigger the fireball trap, that would strike the green pole, disabling the lightning field that it would generate. They could then walk through the posts and be safe.    Not too deep inside the cavern entrance was a door, which was strangely unlocked. Of course, what had promised to be a few minutes took much longer than that.  A rough brick hallway greeted them. This area is called 'Diviner's Hall', though I don't know where that would be referenced in-game. I have no memory of this area at all, but as far as dungeon maps go, it is not very big.  Gorath put out an arm to help Owyn from stumbling into the pit. Owyn gasped and backed away quickly, looking a bit sheepish. He had nearly made the same fatal mistake in the sewers of Krondor. James had plenty of rope, so a way to transverse the pit trap was quickly devised.   They rounded the corner, and Owyn saw a troll. Though to be honest, the smell came before the sight of the creature. Quickly the three planned their attack, took a few steps forward and saw that it was not one trolls, but several that they would be facing.    The trolls did not expect their attack, and James took advantage of this opportunity and the reverberations of the chamber and used the tuning fork to produce a shrill tone that nearly made his own ears bleed. He and the others watched as the trolls howled in agony and attempted their escape from the cavern. As they pursued, they heard the howling suddenly stop. Gorath cautiously edged his way towards the edge of the pit they had recently swung over and thought he could see them at the bottom of the pit, now lifeless. They returned to the chamber where the five trolls had been, but it must have been a sleeping ground for them, as no chests or anything else of value was found there.  As they left and went to continue to explore this strange place, they nearly ran into two more trolls. It was unclear whether they had heard the vibrations of the tuning fork, but given their determination to kill them, it seemed unlikely that they had done so.  Two trolls would be easier to take on then just one, but James saw an opportunity to test one of the magical items they had picked up some time ago. He had his doubts whether it would really work. If nothing else, it would confuse the troll he faced in front of him.   It did work though. The troll was frozen in place, its' hands clawing towards its' eyes in a futile effort to dislodge the ash that had been thrown into them. James quickly joined Gorath in dispatching the remaining troll that had been furiously attacking Owyn. Fortunately, Dala's blessing proved useful as Owyn continued to defend against the savagery of the troll. With one of the beasts down, James, Gorath and Owyn concentrated their attacks on the remaining troll and it was only a minute later before it had died.  Trolls rarely carried anything of value on them, but Owyn noticed a vial of some sort that one of them carried. He passed it to Gorath who confirmed it was Naphtha, which when coated on blades and set aflame would do severe damage to even the most armored opponent.    They were nearing the end of the strange cavern. A simple lock was on one of the doors, and it was a matter of seconds before James had picked it. Three dead bodies lined the room, and Gorath did a quick check of them, finding nothing of interest save for a very peculiar egg. The Wyvern's Egg is required for 'Thy Master's Will' spell, each Egg being good for one casting. According to the online resource, this will push a Wyvern towards the edge of the Combat Grid where it will remain frozen until killed. The Egg is consumed by the spell. Owyn could only assume that the egg was valuable, and insisted they he hold onto it until they could find a use for it.  In the final chamber of the cavern were two chests, each were Moredhel Wordlock Chests. Raising an eyebrow at this strange placement, Gorath translated for the benefit of James and Owyn.    "A carpenter left some wood, Would not take it back. I saw some dust where he left it, But couldn't find his stack.""I don't think I understand the riddle.""I do."Gorath chuckled softly as he moved the letters, solving the puzzle. Wordlock Combination Letters posted:C E O R L I Y  Gorath smiled as he opened the chest, discovering two gems of fairly high quality along with a bundle of rope. He quickly pocketed all three. More gems to sell. You may notice that the party funds are in the 3000s now. This is because I found a cache of gems outside of Highcastle and sold them at the magicians shop for quite a lot of money.  Having solved the first chest, the three stepped over to the second, and James and Owyn listened as Gorath cleared his voice and began to translate for them. "Neck, but no head. Arms, but no hands. Waist, but no legs."Unlike the previous puzzle, which Gorath had understood right away, this one puzzled him and others for a few minutes before Owyn laughed and then whispered something to Gorath. The Moredhel smiled as he put in the solution that Oywn had whispered to him and watched with satisfaction as the chest thumped opened. Wordlock Combination Letters posted:M A O H L L  Another Wyvern's Egg was inside! Owyn carefully put it inside his pack where the other lay. After he had finished his task, he looked up at the others.  "This is the end of the cavern, is it not?" "I imagine it is, squire, unless we should find some another hidden passage as we leave. Just as well, this was only to take a few minutes and we've been down here for well over half a day at least. Let us continue on to Northwarden."That ends the update. Next time we continue our exploration and see what is in Northwarden. We do have a large amount of money to spend now, and will have even more once we sell the rubies. There has been some discussion in the thread already about buying new armor, and we can certainly afford to do that now and get Dragon Plate for all three if we so desire. However, we can also buy some new spells at the Grumbling Magician's in Dencamp, along with other magical supplies. What should we buy, if anything? I've tried a new narrative format for this update, and I like it. I am curious in everybody else's feedback though. More narrative? Less? Or is what I've got going on 'OK' for the time being?  BONUS UPDATEElsewhere in this thread and the previous one there has been mention of the 'Cheat Chests' that are available in each chapter. Now that we've exited the Diviner's Hall, let us divine up some magical wordlock chests to open! To access the cheat chests, you need to go to the overhead map. Then press Alt, Right Shift, and ~, holding down all three keys for a few seconds. This calls forth a special Moredhel Chest out of thin air.  It is still password protected though.  Each chapter has its own code. Chapter 2's is 9216.   This is Chapter Two's chest contents. A really nice haul. I didn't show off Chapter One's while we were still in it, but here is what is in that box.  Pretty much the same thing, just with the Royal Key of Krondor inside as well. Chapter 1's code is 6478. What if we didn't know the password and canceled out?  You get the usual 'Gorath rubbed his temples' message, but with this one as well congratulating you for not cheating. Good on you for not cheating! 
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