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Completed Let's play Wizardry 4!
Discussion in 'Codex Playground' started by Crooked Bee, Mar 24, 2012.
Whisper Arcane
Apr 5, 2012 Stats Ignoring
Waiting for more.
From all of these comments I noticed a trend: Old Skool RPGs were difficult because they required persistence and hard work to figure out how to get to the end. Newer RPGs were challenging to finish because they get so boring you don't even want to finish them (c)
Occasionally Fatal Prophet
Treading water, but at least it's warm
Another quality update.
Arpad Educated
Great update! Your LP makes me want to try the game again. Was the first crpg I tried along with Betrayal at Krondor. I managed Krondor with the help of dictionary but I never got Werdna to the surface.
Arpad said: ↑
Was the first crpg I tried along with Betrayal at Krondor.
From what I understand about this game (expert scenario, etc), that seems very unfortunate. May I ask why it was one of the first crpgs you played?
Occasionally Fatal said: ↑
May I ask why it was one of the first crpgs you played?
I remembered and tried from a crpg article. Dungeon Master next, which at least was doable at the time.
Crooked Bee wide-wandering bee
Apr 12, 2012 Stats Ignoring
4: The Death of a Thousand Cuts
B8F is a minefield.
Exploring it is like playing Minesweeper, except blindly and in first person. Minesweeper was a popular segment of the puzzle game genre in the early 1980s already, so it might as well have been an influence on Roe R. Adams when he designed this floor. In particular, it could've been influenced by a 1985 Minesweeper-like called Relentless Logic, or simply RLogic, in which you controlled a US Marine Corps private who had to cross the minefield starting from the top left corner to the bottom right corner in order to deliver an important message to the Command Center. In contrast to the regular Minesweeper, the size of the minefield was fixed and it was not necessary to clear all non-mine squares to accomplish the mission. RLogic was top-down, but the main features are similar here. And holy shit, there's a lot of mines on this floor. If you are the kind of RPG player who thoroughly explores every tile, this floor is your personal Hell.
Getting from the stairs to the pentagram isn't exactly trivial with all the mines in your way. But even though it will take you many deaths to reach the pentagram, it is getting from the pentagram to the exit that is pure insanity. Things are further complicated by a bunch of tough random do-gooder encounters, as well as by the fact that there are two plot-critical items hidden among the mines, at (0,5) and (0,9). Yes you can get there, and there are two ways to do it. One involves finding a certain piece of equipment later that should make accessing those items easier and going back to grab them, but there is also a particularly masochistic way of getting them without the special equipment. And the more masochistic, the more authentic kind of experience this LP conveys, so we'll be getting them the hard way in this update.
After all, that's how I discovered them, trial and error style, in my first play through.
In contrast to Minesweeper, there is some room for error here because stepping on a landmine doesn't strip Werdna of all his HP at once, only a part of it. The farther south you go, the more powerful the mines get. Unfortunately, a landmine isn't destroyed after you've blown up on it, and if you move back to or remain on the same tile for another turn, it will detonate again.
As you can see by the map, you should head east from the starting point, yet the game tries its best to make you go west first by deliberately pointing you in that direction.
Along the way we trap the Wandering Oracle again, but this time we don't have enough gold to pay him for a clue.
Arriving at the pentagram, Werdna surveys the summoning options.
This is a pretty great pentagram.
Monsters A, B, and C all come from Wizardry I. Rotting Corpses are undead monsters with 2d8 HP and AC of 6 who can paralyze on touch and attack up to 3 times per turn. Dragon Flies have a breath attack, 20% magic resistance, and their regular attack has a chance of putting its target to sleep. Spirits, called "Unseen Entities" when unidentified, are low-AC mythical beings with 25% magic resistance who regenerate 1 HP per turn. They have solid HP of 7d3+2 and their attacks may cause poison. Finally, they cast 3rd tier Mage spells. All in all, a perfect summon at this point in the game. Harpies, arriving from Wizardry III, and Bugbears, a rare case of Wizardry IV introducing a monster type that wasn't there in the previous titles, are neither particularly strong nor useful in any other respect. Wererats can inflict poison, but not much else.
Ronins are Wizardry III's samurai enemies who cast 2nd tier Mage spells. That makes them a relatively appealing summon, if inferior to Spirits. Gaze Hounds are strange animals from Wizardry I and this pentagram's tanks. Not only can they paralyze their target, but they also have 4d8 HP and AC of -1, which is very low at this point. In PS2's Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land, Gaze Hounds have a special paralyzing ability, "Glare," separate from their regular attack. Early Wizardry games aren't, however, that advanced, so here Gaze Hounds only paralyze on touch, not with their gaze. Banshees (Wizardry III) and Shades (Wizardry I) both have the level-drain ability and high resistance to magic, which makes them highly worth summoning; Banshees' level drain is more powerful, but Shades have considerably more HP and, in contrast to Banshees, aren't prone to fleeing from combat at the most inopportune moment.
Lvl 5 Priests are capable of casting 3rd tier Priest spells. Those are Lomilwa, a more enduring light spell than Milwa; Dialko, or "Softness," a spell that softens the target's body and cures it of numbness caused by sleep and paralysis; Latumapic, or "Identification," only handy when facing an unidentified group of monsters, which means it isn't of any use in Wizardry IV; and finally Bamatu, a "prayer" spell that lowers the entire party's armor class by 4. On an unrelated note, Lvl 5 Priests were a formidable foe in Wizardry I, where I remember them always paralyzing my characters down on the fourth dungeon floor.
We go for Spirits, Shades and Lvl 5 Priests, which is definitely one of the deadliest combinations at this point. An even deadlier combination could be achieved by summoning Banshees instead of Shades, but at the same time that would make our group more vulnerable due to Banshees' cowardice and lower HP.
Having reached level 3, Werdna now has 30 HP and 11 in all his attributes. But even more importantly, he can now cast 3rd tier Mage spells. The Spirits we've summoned are also capable of casting these spells, which greatly adds to our party's collective might.
There are only two 3rd tier Mage spells, but they are both very powerful and deal mass damage. Molito, or "Spark Storm," does 3d6 points of damage to a group of monsters. It is the spell the Pyramid's Outer Guardian could cast back on the starting floor. The second one is Mahalito, or "Big Fire," one of the most indispensable Wizardry spells. It is another group target spell, and it deals 4 to 24 points of damage. As you may remember, B10F's end boss, the Pyramid Guard, had access to it. We only gain access to these spells now: the balance in Wizardry IV isn't tipped in your favor.
It is worth noting that spells in Wizardry are elemental-based: Halito and Mahalito are fire elemental, Dalto is cold, and Molito is lightning. Different monsters have different resistances to these elements. For instance, Dragon Flies are resistant to fire, Frost Giants to cold, Creeping Coins to fire and cold. (I am not aware of any monsters resistant to lightning, though.) In Wizardry I, Werdna himself was resistant to both cold and fire, but he was still powerful back then; now he is not. I haven't been able to find out how exactly elemental resistances are implemented in the early Wizardry games, but my impression is that they do not reduce the damage taken, but rather represent a percentile chance to resist a spell of the respective element. I may be wrong on that, though.
The first do-gooder party we encounter on B8F are Abduul's Artful Dodgers.
Interestingly, this is an evil "do-gooder" party. Even evil-aligned adventurers haven't got anything on Werdna, who is beyond D&D evil, and are therefore "good" by this game's standards.
The Artful Dodgers are an assortment of all Wizardry classes except Ninja and Lord. This kind of variety is what makes them dangerous. Thankfully, we now have mass damage spells to take them out with.
However, for some reason enemy spellcasters decided to target Werdna all at once. Oh well, thankfully I saved the game right after the pentagram. (Which is what you should always do.)
The second do-gooder party on this floor are Arcturus's Avengers. Despite there only being two parties here, there are many individual do-gooders on top of that and you're bound to die every other step anyway.
It is again an evil do-gooding party, probably to signify how evil the floor itself is.
This fight is, however, significantly easier than the previous one, because the Avengers are mostly pure Fighters.
Assisted by level drain, Mahalito makes short work of them.
Neither the Artful Dodgers nor the Avengers drop anything useful, so fighting them is there for the sake of challenge alone.
Thieves continue to be the most annoying kind of do-gooders, attempting to steal everything we don't have equipped.
Incidentally, I have a feeling the name Memole is a reference to "Little Memole," a 1980s Japanese anime television series. Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams were both huge anime fans and later went to found AnimEigo, a company specializing in licensing, translating and distributing anime and samurai films.
From Spell-Weaver, we obtain and equip a Mage's Staff, marked as a "stick" when unidentified.
It only deals minor damage (1d5) and doesn't improve Werdna's to-hit chance, but it can be useful against weaker enemies.
(Also, I believe I forgot to mention that the items we currently have equipped are marked by an asterisk in the inventory.)
A bearded Fighter named after a female pop duo... The wonders of user character submission.
Other do-gooder names on this floor include Tars Tarkas, Aspergil, Dreadnok, and Lord Gwydion.
Meanwhile we have reached the southern wall of the dungeon in one piece.
We still have things to do on this floor, but for now let's enter the southwestern room.
We have, actually, but that can wait a bit.
For the time being, let's focus on the fixed encounter that awaits us at (1,1).
It's Glum the Assassin.
Glum is important enough for one of the Wandering Oracle's sayings to refer to him:
The Wandering Oracle of Mron said:
Secrets abound all around you! Psst! Have you met Glum yet?
He is a Ninja, and he can decapitate on a critical hit.
(Note also that Werdna's AC has changed to "Low" thanks to all the defensive spells his allies have cast on him.)
Why is Glum important?
Because of a certain item he drops, "a weighty cube."
This is arguably the single most important item in the entire game, the Black Box.
The Black Box is basically a holding bag. It can hold up to 19 items, and more importantly, we can equip it so that it doesn't get stolen by thieves. We will have to un-equip it at times, but for the most part we should be safe from thieves from now on. The items inside the box cannot be used during combat, but there are going to be some puzzles that can reach directly into the box for the necessary items.
Technically, you can put the Black Box inside itself, but it just disappears if you do, together with all the items it contains.
Look how neat our inventory is looking now.
I won't exaggerate it if I say the Black Box is a godsend; without it, given the sheer amount of special items we're going to need, the game would be even more - much more - unbeatable.
With the Black Box equipped, we return to (14,1) for a special event.
It takes some imagination to picture a grove of majestic oaks here.
Pools are going to be important throughout Wizardry IV. This particular pool conceals an item, but later on they will also have a different kind of purpose. We won't necessarily need, or want, to wade into every pool we meet, but this time we do want to.
This is going to be painful.
Oak wood is rich in tannic acid!
You have obtained A FORKED STICK.
Despite the pain, Werdna holds onto the prize.
The forked stick is a Witching Rod, and we place it inside the Black Box. When used, it casts Kandi, or "Locate Dead Soul," a 2nd tier Priest spell that lets you spot the location of Trebor's ghost. It is also a key item needed for a certain plot-essential puzzle at a later point, so we better not use it lest it breaks.
All that's left for us to do is acquire the two items at (0,5) and (0,9), protected by the many landmines surrounding them. Exploring the mine tiles isn't too tricky: just be sure you're well stocked up on potions of Dios. It also helps when you already know where the items are.
Random encounters continue to pop up with the same frequency when walking over landmines. Unfortunately, mines don't harm do-gooders. This game is just unfair like that. On the other hand, they don't harm the monsters in our group either. These are special anti-Werdna mines.
Making your way through them is relatively straightforward, if tiring: move a step -- gulp a potion or two -- if out of potions, wait for a random encounter to get healed by your allies during combat and loot even more potions afterwards.
You have obtained A STONE.
At (0,9), we pick up the third precious stone, the Golden Pyrite, and carefully put it inside the Black Box.
Yet another stone is located at (0,5).
It is a beautiful Amber Dragon, and in the box it goes, too.
On our way back to the exit, we trap the Oracle once again. It gives us a belated hint about the Black Box... but it may as well be a reference to something else entirely, something that awaits us much later.
At (0,0), there is another - optional - fixed encounter.
It has us pitted against Golem.
Golem is just a Fighter, so he isn't too tough. He doesn't drop any worthwhile loot either.
Now that we've made sure we haven't forgotten anything, we climb the stairs up to B7F.
And then we step into the darkness...
rlogic_008.png
harpy.gif
ronin.gif
banshee.gif
Master Chris Avellone upon seeing a bee fly vertically said:
Nothing straight is worth doing anyway but crooked, from a beeline to an arrow flight.
LeStryfe79 said:
All of my actions on this site are procedurally generated
Brofist x 8
Clockwork Knight Arcane
Castelo da tia Vânia
Along the way we trap the Wandering Oracle again
"Sweet! If the Oracle is waltzing around the floor, maybe the secret is to follow him for a safe path! I'm so smart. "
"Oh. "
Kz3r0 Arcane
Werdna fights Mohamed Abdul's terrorists(aptly evil aligned) and is afraid of nothing.
Nice trick with the black box, obviously a tesseract.
Aspergil, for real?
Which Codexer sent this one?
Arcanum Schematics///Kz3r0's wordless art thread///Artist by Artist:Index///10.000 Famous Freemasons///Natal Charts
CappenVarra phantasmist
Ardamai
Kz3r0 said: ↑
Also, you didn't even comment on the poor Looters, Bee - I know you were distracted by the priests, but really - Looters are bros, they share tendencies with all cRPG players
What savage manners, what people! What senseless nights, what uninteresting, uneventful days! The rage for card-playing, the gluttony, the drunkenness, the continual talk always about the same thing. Useless pursuits and conversations always about the same things absorb the better part of one's time, the better part of one's strength, and in the end there is left a life groveling and curtailed, worthless and trivial, and there is no escaping or getting away from it -- just as though one were in a madhouse or a prison.
Cassidy Arcane
Wow, how many times are you dying and reloading from a previously saved game every seventy minutes? If less than seven times, I'm impressed.
then they came for Bruticis, and I spoke up... then they came for Absalom, Menckenstein, Sam Ecorners, Multi-Headed Cow, ironyuri, dnf, DakaSha, shiteatingnippledick, Jim the Dinosaur, Thor Kaufmann, agentorange, Irenaeus, Broseph, Roqua... and now they are selling out. #RPGCODEXSHILLGATE -----> Current state of RPGCodex' sellout
Let's Plays: NEO Scavenger | 卐Fatherland卐 | Kerbal Space Program | Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri | 卐 | Jagged Alliance 2 | Europa Universalis III: Serbia
Crusader Kings II: 1200s Pagan Lithuania | EU III: Magna Vinland | Victoria II: A Slum Divided | Prisoner of Life: The Call(On Hold CYOA)
"What is happening in Greece is just early portents of the massive congoid bunghole bongo party that is approaching." - Cleveland Mark Blakemore
Cassidy said: ↑
Goat Vomit said: ↑
Relegating all SJW discussion here seems dumb since it permeates the industry to such a large extent these days. The recent ruckus about obsidian's censorship should be in the PoE subforum where it belongs.
How many in the Staff are Obsidian shills and/or SJW cucks? Obviously not enough to completely take over the Codex or this place would currently be as shit as rpg.net or RPGWatch, but still there are clear evidences they might exist as well as hints pointing to a collusion between RPGCodex and Obsidian Entertainment. Nothing substantial. Could be nothing more than the usual rabid fanboyism for Obsidian instead.
#RPGCodexgate
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?misc/style&style_id=5
Jaedar Arcane
Such an evil level. Forcing you to walk through a minefield to get essential items is hardly sporting.
lightbane Arcane
A turn to the right, and a random encounter pops up. In Wizardry IV, encounters happen often, very often.
Just like Jrpgs, which means that Wizardry 4 is a proto-jrpg.
lightbane said: ↑
In fact, it is, as D&D.:p
Wasn't the first JRPG pretty much a straight Wizardry clone?
Of course later they, or most of them, evolved to shitty emodrama fests on par if not worse than Biowhore "story is more important than gameplay" crap, but originally they were first and foremost dungeon crawlers with blob combat.
Ask the Horse for more info.
Quetzacoatl Liturgist
Aztlán
I was hoping for an iron man. But carry on Miss Bee!
Blaine:
Quetzacoatl said: ↑
I'm just giving you verbal abuse. Not ad hominem.​
Bow to me motherfucker.​
—Quetzalcoatl, the Aristotle of the 21st century and clear claimant to the moral high ground
☭ ☭ ☭ ☭ ☭ ☭ ☭
Mmm, more RPG nutrients. Also, the whole minefield thing would make more sense if it was simply labeled as a FUCK WERDNA-field. As a minefield it looks like bullshit, but as a FUCK WERDNA I find it quite compelling. Also, I may be drunk.
SCO Arcane
Crooked Bee said: ↑
influenced by a 1985 Minesweeper-like called Relentless Logic, or simply RLogic, in which you controlled a US Marine Corps private who had to cross the minefield starting from the top left corner to the bottom right corner in order to deliver an important message to the Command Center
I'm amazed at the depth of information you're bringing to this LP Bee.
The Last Express no-cd Blade Runner no-cd Azrael's Tear "no-cd" Setting up Morrowind QFG5 no-cd Wikileaks
In nomine IEC, et ISO, et ANSI sancti...
Krraloth Prophet
Boringland
Cool LP, a lot of info.
Also, it's scary how hateful the devs were with this scenario.
PS. Stay away from the Bee-eaters :p
In nomine veritatis mendacia efferimus.
Great0ldOne Educated
R'lyeh
This is one of the most interesting LPs I've ever read. Including the lulzy NSFW ones. Moar, plz!
Patiently waiting for more updatan.
Update, you little bee!
5: Temple of the Dreampainter
As you may remember, B10F was called "The Pyramid of Entrapment" but was rather a ziggurat viewed from the top. Taking the gimmick even further, floor 7 represents a side cross-section of a ziggurat, which makes things somewhat trickier and more unique, exploration-wise.
In other words, this floor's gimmick is the verticality. Here, north represents up and south represents down, so that you start out at the base of the ziggurat and climb your way up to the exit. That implies you can also fall off the edges of the ziggurat if you stray even one tile too far from them. It is, of course, a bit hard to imagine how or why anyone would put an entire ziggurat inside a standard dungeon level, but Wizardry IV does not allow itself to be troubled by such trifling considerations.
The ziggurat's internal layout is intentionally confusing, with doors and dead ends placed so as to make navigation harder. Most paths you can take eventually lead to a dead end, and given that all these rooms basically look the same you'd do well to always keep track of your coordinates and the direction you're facing when exploring this floor. I've also noticed an inaccuracy in the map, corrected above: the door at (8,13) - the one leading to the exit - is a secret door, which may significantly impede your progress if you enter the room without a light spell active. In fact, that's what the darkness tiles at the beginning of the level are there for: to extinguish your light spell when you arrive.
There are also two items we cannot yet reach on this floor: one at (7,8), which requires a means of getting into the closed off room that contains it, and another at (6,18) that we cannot access without somehow learning to fly first.
As per usual, the first thing we do is make our way to the pentagram at (4,1). Here, new summoning options are available.
Blink Dogs are intelligent magical beasts from tabletop D&D who have a limited teleportation ability known as "Blinking." They do not appear in Wizardry games prior to IV. Blink Dogs' damage output is low and they do not have the Blinking ability here, but on the other hand they have the lowest AC and second highest HP among this pentagram's monsters and, just like ADOM's Blink Dogs, can summon more of their kind, making them worth summoning if "tanks" suit your play style. Bushwackers, the warriors you may remember from Wizardry I's very first floor, and Moat Monsters, the (kinda) serpent-like fortress guardians in Wizardry III that you could attempt defeating for some good exp early on, are weak and completely unremarkable at this point. Strangler Vines also come from Wizardry III. They are resistant to magic and poisonous, attack up to four times per turn (the vines are numerous!), and you can summon up to eight of them (numerous again!). Their HP, however, is low, and their AC only equals six. A decent summon nevertheless, even if overshadowed by other options. Giant Toads first appeared in Wizardry I; they are poisonous and resistant to fire, and attack up to three times per round. Not as good as Strangler Vines, though. Vorpal Bunnies, as their name implies, decapitate on a critical hit, and they were a lot of pain back in Wizardry I. Unfortunately, the chance of landing a critical is somewhat low for them in this game. The term "Vorpal Bunny" was first used in the Monty Python scenario in an edition of Steve Jackson's Space Gamer in the early 1980s, a reference simultaneously to the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Vorpal Sword from Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, and D&D's Vorpal Blade, which made its appearance in the Greyhawk supplement in 1975.
In the second column, we have Giant Slugs, low-level enemies from Wizardry III. With their AC of 10 and no special abilities apart from minor HP regeneration, they aren't exactly the best monsters you can summon here. Goblin Shamans, on the other hand, are well worth having at your side. Arriving again from Wizardry III, the Shamans cast both 3rd tier Mage and 2nd tier Priest spells, and their magic resistance is pretty high. They also have more than decent HP (5d6) and relatively low AC of 4, and you can summon up to six of them to accompany you. Make sure to not mistake them for simple Goblins, though, who are completely useless. Cockatrices further expand the presence of Wizardry III monsters. The Cockatrice is a mythical creature whose reputed magical abilities include turning people to stone. Therefore it comes as no surprise that, apart from high magic resistance and decent HP, the Cockatrice's regular attacks have a chance of petrifying the enemy. You can summon no more than two of them at once, however, and they have the tendency to flee from combat, making them a risky and unreliable ally. Next come Ogres, who have the highest HP among this pentagram's monsters, but that alone doesn't save them from being generally unexciting.
Finally, Priestesses are female Lvl 7 Priests capable of casting 4th tier Priest spells - a must to summon. The new spells are Dial, the stronger healing spell that restores 2 to 16 hit points to a single character; Badial, the reverse of Dial that targets a single enemy for 2-16 points of damage; Latumofis, which cures poison; and Maporfic, or "Big Shield," a spell that improves the party's AC by 2 not just for the duration of combat, but for the entire expedition.
Apart from Priestesses, I summon some Goblin Shamans and Spirits from the previous pentagram. I'm playing it safe.
Werdna himself is level 4 now, with 12s in all attributes and access to 4th tier Mage spells. Those include Morlis, or "Fear," which instils fear in an enemy group and makes them much easier to hit (roughly 2x easier than Dilto can make them); Lahalito, the "Flame Storm" spell we're already familiar with from the past update, which sets all enemies on fire for 6d6 points of damage; and finally Dalto, a powerful Cold element spell that also target an enemy group for 6d6 damage points.
Trying to exit the ziggurat's interior prompts a clue about the importance of the Z-axis on this level, for the player who has forgotten or hasn't found out about it yet.
Trying to explore beyond the edges of the ziggurat causes Werdna to fall off the edge.
Before the fall, Werdna had 25 HP. Falling down from the 1st ziggurat level only damages him for 4 HP, but obviously the higher he falls, the greater the damage he takes.
The game's tendency to give do-gooders random wacky names continues on this floor too.
Apart from Ac/Dc, there is also a Fighter by the name of Lignin Lord on B7F, a reference to the comic book villain Lightning Lord who first appeared in Superman #147 (August 1961), as well as Priest called Vee Dub and a Ninja named Killer (who drops a Shadow Cloak, a fairly useful protective item which reduces the wearer's AC by one).
Thorin's Tramplers are here to stomp Werdna to the ground.
No wonder they are the toughest encounter on this floor.
Thorin, the group's leader, is a high level Bishop. The most powerful spell I've seen him throw around is Molito (3d6 Lightning damage to a group), with Halito and Katino being the two other spells he particularly likes to cast. Luckily, none of them can kill Werdna in one hit. Molito can be quite devastating to our monster allies, though, especially given that with his 300 HP Thorin is likely to survive several rounds.
Thorin's companions can also be problematic. For one, Laenger too is capable of a Molito. The two most dangerous do-gooders in Thorin's party are, however, Arawn, a relatively high-level Mage who has a special fondness for Dalto, and Zevs, a powerful enough Samurai to be able to cast Mahalito (up to 24 points of damage to a single target) and have AC of 0. I must admit this fight took me quite a few reloads.
One interface-related thing I didn't tell you about earlier is the auto-complete function for spells, which is there to help you conserve key presses. In this case, we enter "La", press Enter, and the game lists all spells that begin with "La". Note that even though we cannot cast Lakanito yet, it still shows up on the list.
Unsurprisingly, Thorin is the only one left standing by the end of the encounter. A Spirit casts a Katino putting him to sleep, and the battle ends. We got lucky.
Among the loot, there is a special item called "A Charge Card," dropped by Thorin. It shows up as Mordorcharge in the inventory and is the in-game equivalent of the Mordor Charge Card that was included in the Wizardry IV package.
The card is generally useless, even though it has a unique optional use that I'll show off later.
The second do-gooder party on this floor are Sorriman's Sorcerers.
Despite their name, they aren't all spellcasters. This group is powerful, but not as powerful as Thorin's Tramplers.
Two characters, Warmtung and Sorriman himself, are the ones to particularly watch out for during this encounter. Sorriman is a high-HP Mage capable of casting Lahalito, and Warmtung is a potent Priest with access to Litokan, or "Flame Tower," a 5th (!) tier Priest spell causing a pillar of flame to strike a group of enemies for 3 to 24 points of damage. It is worth noting that that even a 5th tier offensive Priest spell is not as damaging as 4th tier Mage spells; in general, Priest spells are about one tier behind Mage spells as far as damage output is concerned.
Another relatively powerful spellcaster in Sorriman's party is Webbiran, a Bishop who casts Molito and Mahalito.
The **Use Me** Cape dropped by this party is a trap. "Use me" in the name seems to encourage you to equip it, but in fact it is a clue that should keep you from doing that.
The Cape of Jackal, as the **Use Me** Cape appears in the inventory, is a cursed item that raises your AC by 4 and, similar to the infamous Ring of Death from Wizardry I, makes you lose 5 HP per turn when equipped, sucking the life out of you. In Wizardry, you can't disequip a cursed item, so putting on the Cape of Jackal means sure death for Werdna. Thankfully, Wizardry IV doesn't have too many cursed items, surprisingly enough.
Sorriman's Sorcerers also drop two Jeweled Amulets in case you might need to cast Dumapic to find your way around.
A lone do-gooder Mage called Sakura drops a Staff of Mogref. As its name implies, you can use it to cast Mogref during combat, but that is rarely the best use of a turn.
Tele-Vipers is an extremely dangerous Mage capable of casting Makanito, a deadly 5th tier Mage spell that has a chance of instantly suffocating the target. The chance depends on the enemy's level and HP, and given that Werdna still remains low-level, it is pretty high.
Tele-Vipers drops a Staff +2 that we equip in place of Werdna's current Staff of Mogref.
Voltar is another Makanito-casting do-gooder, accompanied by yet another Mage this time. Ouch.
Not having Milwa active when we arrive to (8,13), we use the Black Candle we're carrying as a source of light in order to reveal the secret door there.
The exit on the left side of the upper room is the "Priest's Hole."
It is a shortcut to the item at (6,18), but there's no way for us to access that tile yet. Moreover, the door disappears behind us as we enter it, meaning the only way out of here for us would be to fall down the entire ziggurat.
And the exit on the right side of the upper room leads to... a scenic vista?
Again, the way back is closed off. Even in such minor things, the game is doing its best to screw you over.
And I wonder what kind of scenic vista can exist inside a dungeon and why it would even be here.
At the very top of the ziggurat, at (9,19), the temple's altar is located. The three depressions are there for us to accommodate the three precious stones we found earlier. Doing so would give us a choice of three powerful weapons that would give a significant boost to Werdna's attack power and survivability. However, choosing one of the weapons would lock us to one of three evil ending routes, and this being a completionist LP, we don't want that yet.
Therefore I'll be delaying this choice as much as possible, even if this means being decidedly underpowered for most of the game. We'll be sure to return here later - much later.
For now, let's see what happens if we sacrifice half of our gold at the altar.
Can't say this was unexpected.
Placing the wrong item on the altar leads to the same result. We leave it be for now.
From here, the only way forward is up.
And with this, we enter the Realm of the Whirling Dervish.
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Brofist x 13
I was viewing this at work and a friend came over to look at what I was doing. Turns out trying to describe the ziggurat thing is pretty difficult to someone with little to no context. Anyway, another solid update!
Ulminati Kamelåså!
DiNMRK
Another fine updatan. Many brofists were given.
~12112
A cat's desire to be inside or outside is a readily available macroscopic view of quantum superposition
hoverdog dog that is hovering, Wastelands Interactive
Jordan, Minnesota
I masturbate furiously to Bee's posts