Dark Sun: Emancipation Day

The party finally finds an ally.

      

This session begins with a return to the wyrm caves so that we can report our success in destroying Balkazar to the spirit Tanelyv. He rewards us with his paladin armor, which I equip on Violencia the gladiator. It's a good set, lowering her armor class from 2 to -6. 

   

We continue counter-clockwise around the borders of the game world. There's no way to move east or north from the wyrm area, so we backtrack to the area labeled "Red Mesa" and take the canyon north. We arrive in a map area with a swamp. There are critters jumping about, but I can't figure out anything to do with them. Literally the only thing that happens in the entire map area is that we meet the announcer from the arena (at the beginning of the game) surrounded by a bunch of guards. In exchange for his life, he tells us of a chest buried in the "salt flats" near the "dragon's eye."

    

An interesting area in which I could get nothing to happen.

        

North of this area is another desert map with some fences in the northwest corner. We have to stop for a quick battle against some blue slaads and bulettes on the way there. Guards stop us as we approach and we demand to see their leader. An escort marches us into the inner area, but then demands that we surrender our weapons and get into a pen. We refuse, and he yells for guards. A long but easy battle ensues. There are about a dozen guards, some with bows, but my party is well above the level that any non-magic human enemy has much of a chance against us. Yester finds a couple of good opportunities for mass damage spells, and in general we mop the floor with them.

   

Afterwards, some captured slaves from various nearby villages thank us and flee the area. I gather that we've interrupted an expedition from Draj collecting slaves for the arena.

       

In the midst of combat with a bunch of slavers.

      

North of this area is a dead-end canyon with a parked wagon caravan. A guard challenges us as we enter their pickets. He warns us against violence but says we're otherwise welcome to visit the wagons and rest. Some fire eels attack as we explore the area, but otherwise the little settlement is violence-free. Drisana, the caravan master, occupies a huge wagon in the middle of the area. (There is no indication whatsoever as to what pulls these wagons.) She tells us that the caravan has been attacked repeatedly by bandits riding wyverns and asks us to try to stop them. They're coming from somewhere in the southwest.

      

This wagon is pretty cool, but what in the world pulls it?

     

At the campfire, we meet Katura, Chahl's daughter from Teaquetzl, and I'm a bit disappointed that the dialogue only allows us to ask things like "Teaquetzl?" and not to tell her that we've already met her father and know who she is. She recommends that we visit the wagon of Kel, a magician-in-hiding who has "amazing" stuff.

        

The dialogue options are disappointing here.

    

I don't know about Kel. He claims to be a mage hiding under a false name because he's made so many powerful enemies, including sorcerer-kings. That doesn't seem like something you volunteer. He's traveled far and wide, he says, looting ancient magic items from ruins in places we've never heard of. We look at his stuff and ask him about it, but most of it doesn't seem to be even magical (at least, according to the statistics), and it's all suspiciously cheap. We buy some anyway, because if you don't otherwise have a helmet or cloak, you might as well buy something called "Departea's Helm" for ¤20 and something called "Koeatl's Cloak" for ¤40. He does have a couple of (expensive) spell scrolls that Yester buys and learns. I forget what one is, but the other is "Web." He also has the gem for this area's monolith.

        

One of the few places in the game to spend money, and I can't tell what this does.

     

A weird thing happens in the wagon of Tobrian, the wine-maker. She gives us a free sample of wine, and the game alerts us that it has a particularly bitter aftertaste. The dialogue options include one in which we can accuse her of poisoning us. That seems like a heck of a leap of logic, but I go with it because I've just saved. She expresses shock at the accusation and demands that we go see Drisana, the wagon master. Drisana hears both our sides of the story; Tobrian claims that we barged into her wagon and demanded wine while we tell the truth (though there is an option to lie). Drisana decides the matter in our favor, fines Tobrian ¤5,000, exiles her, and gives us ¤500. So I guess it all worked out except that I'm not convinced that Tobrian did try to poison us. I've tried lots of wines with bitter aftertastes.

   

We wrap up the area with a visit to the wagon of Larissa, a self-proclaimed seer. Like everything else in this caravan, she seems to be a sham. For ¤35, she gives a generic prophecy: "A rising storm troubles your heart. I see your pain. You seek trust in those you befriend. Fear not! Place your trust where faith demands. In turn, truth shall provide friends to earn that trust." Meanwhile, she disparages the abilities of the seer in Teaquetzl.

   

The caravan area is a dead-end, so we backtrack to the "slave pens" area. There, another group of guards tries to capture us, saying, "See? We didn't need to pay Tobrian. They come to us like a dog to its master." So I guess Tobrian was bad after all. They mention capturing us for a "Commander Obour," sent by the Templars of Draj. Combat is inevitable. The six human guards would be easy, but for some reason four daggoran (froglike beasts) get involved. One thing I forgot to mention is that Yester is fighting with Balkazar's staff, which automatically casts "Slow" on the surrounding area every time it hits something. I wonder if it will run out of charges.

       

Balkazar's Staff casts some area-effect spell every time it hits something.

      

When the battle is over, we leave the area to the west and onto a new map, which seems to be just more generic desert. There are exits to the north and west (Teaquetzl is to the south). At first, it looks like we're not going to find anything in the area, but eventually we run into "a man wearing the livery of a Draja messenger." He announces that he "will not be stopped!" and summons a blue slaad. In the second round of combat, he summons three more. We kill both them and him in short order. On his body, he has a message from a Templar Pentuci to a Count Kalkin. It is coincidentally about us, warning Kalkin about our escape and asking that he watch for us. He also has a "Fire Shield" scroll.

   

Finding nothing else to do in the area, we leave to the north. The landscape finally changes from featureless desert to one of grass and trees, so you can imagine our reluctance to pay heed to the face-painted lunatic who runs up and yells, "No! Leave this area while you can!" He says that the area is teeming with monsters, which killed his companions. Sure enough, two mastyrials attack us immediately after he leaves, followed by three mountain stalkers.

     

The party assesses two mastyrials as combat begins.

     

My party is killing it in melee combat lately, particularly with three characters' strength above 20 thanks to various magic items. My overconfidence proves to be my downfall in this area, as shortly after the mountain stalker battle, we're attacked by six air elementals, who absolutely take us apart. We win the battle, but with virtually no hit points and healing spells--and then we get attacked by three more mountain stalkers. They knock out Yester and Featherweight in the first round and Violencia in the third. Sunstroke wins the battle with 7 hit points to spare. As we see yet another group of air elementals floating towards us, Sunstroke grabs Llod's Rod and warps us back to the monolith in the caravan village. 

   

The gate guard greets us as we arrive. He tells us some rumors from Draj. Earlier in the game, we heard that the sorcerer-king was "missing." The guard tells us that "the templars in Draj are desperate, fearing the sorcerer-king will withdraw his power." This time as we arrive at the campfire, we meet not Katura, but a woman named Tidzio and a man named Metikit. Tidzio is an adventuress, and she shares intelligence about some of the surrounding areas. Metikit is a con man who is happy having recently fleeced a templar. 

         

We warp back to the safety of the caravan camp.

       

After resting, we make our way back to the grasslands, this time hustling through as fast as possible. We run into a party of lizardmen who are waiting to purchase gladiators from someone named Arant. I guess everyone is involved in the slave trade in this setting. Upon questioning, they say they were hired by some mage named Wyrmias to buy gladiators from Arant and resell them to the mage. There doesn't seem to be anything else to do in the area, so we continue out of the region to the north, fighting a few air elementals and mountain stalkers on the way.

   

Like the previous area, this new area is set on grassy mesas surrounded by ocean. I suddenly realize how unexpected it is to see an ocean in this setting. But it almost completely surrounds the elevated peninsula on three sides, so it's reasonably sizable. ("Almost" because there's a thin strip of land heading west.) As we move forward, a magera challenges us and says that "our kind" isn't welcome here. We ask why not, and he relates that the drumming we hear in the distance is to summon their master, Dakaren, a great beast who can consume all of us. They have a sacrifice chained up to the northeast to offer to him. When we refuse to leave, he attacks with three compatriots. We have to kill a few more as we head north.

   

We reach the mageras' little drum circle, and when we're unable to convince them to stop drumming, we let "Fireball" do the convincing for us. 

       

It's like they set this up with "Fireball" in mind.

     

A colossal statue blocks our way across the bridge where the sacrifice must be (we don't find him or her on our peninsula). We don't find a way past it, but we do find a grappling hook near a tent to the northwest. This lets us snag the fallen end of a collapsed bridge and pull it up so we can reach the east side of the area. At the north end of a promontory, on a small island accessible only by walking down the skeletal spine of a dead sea monster, we find a woman chained to a rock. As an aside, when we get to the bottom of the mesa, it turns out we can just walk across the water. I guess it isn't an ocean after all. Either it's very shallow or what I interpreted as water is something else.

      

Some more excellent artwork.

      

As we free the woman, who gives her name as Jasmine, tentacles erupt around us. I don't know how tentacles are coming out of water so shallow we can walk across it. I pause the game to consult the manual for help, and I see numerous references to the "silt sea." I guess maybe what I perceived as water is in fact salt blowing over dry land. The monster must be under the salt.

        

Tentacles erupt beneath us as we free the chained woman from the rock.

      

There are about 10 tentacles, but they each only have about 10 hit points, so we deal with them in two rounds. When the tentacles disappear, a druid appears. "I am betrayed," he shouts. "How dare Wyrmias send people to kill me! I promised him my piece of statue in return for sacrifices! I kept my part of the bargain--how dare he betray me!" Before we can explain we have nothing to do with "Wyrmias," he attacks and we're forced to kill him. His body has a piece of a statue and some magical +3 leather armor that bestows the "Free Action" spell. I give it to Featherweight.

   

Jasmine explains that Wyrmias has taken over her town, Gedron, and is controlling all of the villagers. He's apparently obsessed with a statue he's building; Jasmine suggests we use the piece to complete it and then kill Wyrmias while he's distracted by it. She gives us her spellbook to prove to her sister, Linara, that she's alive, plus a couple of spell scrolls. 

   

We take the thin strip of land going west, hoping it will lead to the town of Gedron. Alas, we find ourselves on yet another mesa sticking out into the Silt Sea. Before we've walked more than a few steps, a human guard orders us to halt and state our business. He's not very good at his job, admitting that he's "just too tired" to yell and threaten to kill us the way he's supposed to. He freely admits that his company is rounding up villagers to serve as gladiators. The detainees are all surprisingly docile, worried that someone back in their village will kill their families if they resist. That must be this Wyrmias.

  

At the center of the camp, I meet Arant, their leader. I don't know what race he's supposed to be. He has pointy ears and what looks to me like reddish skin. He curses his lazy guards and says he's waiting for some ssurrans (I guess that's what I've been calling "lizardmen") to show up with payment. We ask if he'll sell them to us instead, and he quotes a price of ¤10,000 or a magic sword. We could just kill him instead, but we like the role-playing element of it, plus it gives us something to do with our money (we have just over ¤12,000). We pay him and he takes his guards and leaves, giving us the camp, which although it has a fire, lacks the official fire circle that we need to rest and heal.

       

Perhaps enriching a slave-trader is a bad use of "role-playing" options.

     

We find the slaves, about eight of them, in a pen to the north. They thank us but refuse to return to Gedron for fear that Wyrmias will kill their friends and family. We tell them to wait there. We find nothing else in the area; the only exit is to the south.

    

South at last brings us to the village of Gedron, which consists of seven buildings. All the people we speak to are in some kind of trance, talking lunacy and praising Wyrmias. The one merchant in town, Melkor, is convinced there's a carnival going on around him. He has nothing but junk for sale.

      

Gedron. Note that the northern "exit" is barely there, but as long as even the smallest piece of land touches the border, you can usually transition to a new map.

          

The mayor greets us with senseless babbling until Wyrmias takes control of his body from somewhere else and demands to know what we want. When we insult him for taking control of the village ("only children play with puppets"), he says he'll kill everyone if we mock him again. He offers to release the village if we bring him two statue pieces. Sensing that we already have one, he asks us to meet him at the well in the center of town.

        

The dialogue options suggest the party is fond of the "direct confrontation" method of addressing mental illness.

       

Before we meet Wyrmias, we finish exploring the town and meet Linara, a mage who is unaffected by the spell. She is Jasmine's sister from a couple of maps ago and is also the one to whom we are supposed to bring the pith extract. In exchange for the news of her sister, she tells us that Wyrmias hangs out in a room behind a tapestry in the mayor's house and has a safe hidden under a rug.

   

We find Wyrmias hanging out near the statue. He demands the piece that we carry. Since I've recently taken a save, I refuse. In the ensuing combat, we kill him in about two hits, but true to his word, he manages to kill literally everyone in the village. This seems antithetical to the alliance that we hope to form, so I reload and we give him the statue piece. He demands that we get the second one from the ssurrans to the east.

   

We visit, and they demand either the gladiators or ¤25,000 for the statue piece. None of the dialogue options will prompt combat. I don't like killing people if they don't attack first, but we don't have anywhere near ¤25,000, so I reluctantly order the party to attack. The battle is simple, and soon we have the second piece.

      

The ssurans price themselves out of continued existence.

      

We bring it back to Wyrmias. After he installs it in the statue, he keeps his word and frees the town from his control. Then he challenges us to combat. "I will even give you the first hit," he offers. We've seen The Green Knight, but we take the challenge anyway and kill him in a single blow. 

   

Moments later, the stone statue comes to life and slithers from the platform. We feel "waves of evil magic radiating from this thing." It speaks in Wyrmias's voice: "I have achieved my destiny! My death has propelled me to greater power than you can imagine . . . you have no idea what you have set in motion--a new age for Athas!--under my command!" He says he'll spare us for now, but the next time we see him, we will die. "I must be off to begin my conquest of Athas!" he proclaims, and starts to slither away. Figuring we'd better solve the problem we just created, we attack.

     

The leader of a town sheds his mortal body and turns into a giant serpent. Wasn't this a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode?

    

The statue hits hard--up to four times per round, up to 20 or so damage per hit. After he kills Featherweight the first time, I reload and have Sunstroke cast a series of buffing spells before combat begins. We also summon a fire elemental to distract him. I have Sunstroke attack him in the first round but hold back the other characters until Wyrmias exhausts his first-round attacks on Sunstroke, who has over 100 hit points. Then everyone else closes in, swinging away. Wyrmias dies early in round two.

   

I have to run back north to convince the gladiators to return home. I loot Wyrmias's chambers (my thief is able to pick and disarm the safe) for a +2 sword called "El's Drinker" and the gem to the area's monolith. Finally, I speak to the mayor, and although reluctant to imperil his city for a second time in a week, he agrees to ally with Teaquetzl against Draj. Finally, an accomplishment on the main quest!

      

I think that the "psi-bracelet" can only be used by psionics.

      

As I played through this session, it struck me how perfectly it anticipates Baldur's Gate. Although there's a main quest, the party is largely free to just explore, and that exploration is rewarded with at least a couple of fixed encounters per map, usually with more than one way to approach them. If Dark Sun had featured a fogged-in map that slowly clears as you explore, it would be almost indistinguishable except for combat. Again, I wonder why Dark Sun isn't remembered as more of a landmark.

  

The portion of the world map that I've explored so far.

    

I only have three significant complaints about the game. First, the level cap, which I've already ranted about. Second, any game set in this kind of setting really needs a survival element. It makes no sense to tell us that "water is more valuable than gold" and then have such a statement play no role in the subsequent gameplay. Third, the control system is a bit clunky. I really want to like it because it offers dual mouse/keyboard controls, but there are small things that don't work well. The mouse often gets stuck, the inventory and character screens take just a little too long to open, and having to right-click all the time to change the mouse cursor all add up over time. Beyond those things, I can't see why we're not looking at a very high rating for Dark Sun and a place on the "must play" list.

    

Time so far: 23 hours