Ambermoon: One Small Step for Dwarf

 

Who needs Starfield?

       

Ambermoon's story so far: The granddaughter of the hero of Amberstar sets out to uncover a new threat to the world, delivered in vague hints as her grandfather dies. As she pieces together clues and artifacts from her grandfather's old party, it seems that the source of the threat is going to be the Brotherhood of Tarbos, a monastic order dedicated to the wizard/demon whose imminent return drove the plot in Amberstar.

      

But it turns out that the Brotherhood is just a front. They couldn't care less about Tarbos. They are, instead, lizard-like invaders from another planet. They've already tricked the dwarves into building some kind of terraforming machine meant to make Lyramion more like the invaders' home planet. Then they "rewarded" the dwarves by sending them off on a flying ship to a jewel so enormous that it looks like a moon--except that it's really a forested hellscape on which the dwarves are now stranded.

   

In the last session, the party stormed the stronghold of the Brotherhood and killed its high priest. They also killed Thornahuun, the King of Hell and the father of Tar, who became "Tarbos" when he united with his father in the distant past. Apparently, when the moon on which Tarbos had been exiled crashed into Lyramion, Tar and Thornahuun were separated--Tar eventually wandering into Spannenberg, insane. The healers there imprisoned him (for his own safety and others') in the basement beneath their temple.

   

As I wound up the last session, I had found two amulets that I felt were necessary to restore Tar's sanity, but I didn't know what to do with them. Fortunately, in reviewing all my notes on the game after a long absence, I was alerted to a woman in Burnville who would repair broken jewelry. I visited her as this session began. She repaired the amulet, though angrily, as it "is the work of the devil" and has "the name of the God of Chaos!"

      

Having a space between letters lets you know it's a powerful amulet.

     

We returned to Spannenberg and showed the amulet to Tar. It caused him pain at first, but then somehow cleared up his madness. For the first time since his childhood, he was both sane and separated from the demon. He collapsed crying into a corner. "I brought so much evil, sin, and suffering to everyone . . . How can I settle the debt I have incurred. How can Lyramion ever forgive me for the wounds I have caused?" Sensing that we were about to face great danger, he offered to join the party and "dedicate [his] life to this good deed!"

     

As painful as it was to give up Nelvin, I really couldn't pass up on the opportunity to have the villain from the first game join my party in the sequel. Such is not a unique occurrence in CRPGs or fiction in general--the Fast and the Furious franchise seems to thrive on it--but it is somewhat unusual. This might be the first appearance in CRPGs. (Werdna is the first example of a previous villain coming back as a PC, but he doesn't join a "good" party.) The only other one I can think of right now is Sarevok in Throne of Bhaal.

      

Tar's full name is Tar the Dark; let's hope the sobriquet refers to his facial features. He joins at age 40 and Level 35 (two years younger and one level higher than Nelvin). His skills and attributes are actually a bit worse than Nelvin's, but he has about 25% more hit points and 12% more spell points. He also comes with every mage spell already memorized. I shifted most of Nelvin's equipment over to him and sent Nelvin back to the alchemist's tower.

     

Let's talk for a minute about the "the Dark" part of your name . . .

         

We then returned to the Brotherhood of Tarbos and to the flying ship we had discovered on our last trip. We put the Navigation Stone in the receptacle for FOREST MOON. The ship came to life, lifted off, and landed on the new planet.

     

The moment we emerged from our airship, the game told us that we encountered a nine-foot tall, bearded, red demon who snatched our broomstick, smashed it to splinters, and disappeared. This is the game's ham-handed way, I guess, of not allowing easy transportation options while on the Forest Moon. I don't know if he would have smashed the magic disc, too, as I didn't bring it. [Ed. I later read that the "red demon" is an insert for producer Erik Simon, who hated the broomstick.]

        

Some games have been clumsier about this.

         

Directly north of where we landed, just a few steps from the airship, was a walled city. As we approached, we were greeted by excited dwarves. "Your arrival is a sensation!" The dwarves explained that they arrived 20 years ago to learn that they'd been betrayed. Their promised "jewel" was instead a hot and steamy moon full of dangerous predators. Nonetheless, the leader, Kire, insisted that it be named Kire's Moon and that the first city be named Dor Kiredon. As time went on, the dwarves became divided between those who clung to the old ways and continued to see the moon as a hostile place and a younger generation, born on the moon, that strove to learn more about the plants and animals and live with them in harmony. This latter faction eventually left Dor Kiredon to form their own city of Dor Grestin. The dwarves then gave us the bad news that Navigation Stones last for one trip only, so we're now stuck on the moon, too. 

      

The town had a lot of encounter text.

      

I started exploring the town. The first place I entered was Ferrin's Smithy, a large building where I could get repairs, buy ammunition, and sell excess items. The NPCs in the building were sad and crying, and Ferrin eventually told us that his young daughter disappeared from the storage cellar. He gave us the key with the implicit hope that we might be able to do something. 

       

Some nice lighting effects in the basement, I thought.

        

I briefly considered exploring the rest of the town first, but instead I opened the door and headed downstairs. The basement was a top-down level, but it soon led to a first-person cavern beneath it. Both areas had boxes and barrels stuffed with shovels, ropes, pick-axes, crowbars, lockpicks, lanterns, and torches. I had not left these items on Lyramion, but these caches would have been helpful if I had. I also found a bottle of Ferrin's Liquor and a random Amber Stone on the floor.

       

Hmmm, that seems to be the same size and shape as the Navigation Stone.

         

The cavern area was small, and I fully explored it in a few minutes, finding nothing. Valdyn's "Map View" spell showed a corridor to the east, but none of the walls seemed to have secret doors. Some of the wall textures looked a little odd, though, and given that the game had just tried to put crowbars, shovels, and pickaxes into my hands, I decided to try these. At one wall, the using the pick-axe caused it to collapse, as if "the bricks were held together by a kind of gluey saliva."

       

Would you have thought this was anything special?

     

On the other side, I found a hole leading upward and thus had an opportunity to use a rope for the first time. I was surprised to find that they're one-use items, but "Levitate" works as a spell backup. (Most items have spell backups; I wonder why shovels, pick-axes, and crowbars do not.) In the upper area, where I had to use the pick-axe multiple times to progress, I encountered numerous pairs of beasts called "tornaks." They were clearly modeled on rancors in Star Wars. They had lots of hit points and a devastating physical attack every round, but I was able to keep up with healing. Fighting them, I realized that none of the "earth" spells from Lyramion (e.g., "Mudsling," "Rockfall," "Earthquake") work on the Forest Moon.

       

Why isn't it the "wrong world" for wind and water, too?

      

The last battle in the area had us fight three regular tornaks and a larger one called "tornakweibchen," or a female tornak. I guess they're a matriarchal species.

       

"Tornakweibchen and the three Tornaks" would be a great rock band name.

       

Another hole dropped us into a cavern absolutely full of tornaks, but fortunately they were docile. Ferrin's daughter was in the middle of the group, apparently having made friends with them. We convinced her to go home to her parents, and the monsters let us leave. (This is all told automatically in text, of course; there are no role-playing options like this in the game.)

        

Nobody sneeze.

       

Ferrin's parents were overjoyed to see her, and Ferrin gave me a magic crossbow that almost any class can use and requires no ammunition. 

   

As for the rest of Dor Kiredon:

    

• There is a little "crystal garden" showcasing treasures found in various expeditions. I don't know how they got here.

       

Why did you bring them with you?

      

• Kire's palace is enormous and ornate, suggesting the dwarves have suffered few privations during their two decades of exile. 

         

Where did they get the raw materials for this?

        

• In Kire's house, I met Storgat, the "head of the digging team at the test mine of Dor Kiredon." Apparently, some years after the dwarves arrived, they did what dwarves do and sunk a mine. The results were disappointing, just some amber and shiny rocks used for floor tiles. Lately, it's been overrun with tornaks. Kire has the key.

• Kire was happy to hear about what had happened on Lyramion recently. He mentioned that his wife, Dorina, disappeared 10 years ago, but she has recently been seen in the "swamps to the south of Dor Grestin." He gave me a message to give to her. He wouldn't even consider giving us the mine key.

• Various chests in Kire's palace held food, adventuring supplies, and basic weapons and armor.

• A dwarf named Doreb runs an inn in the center of town. He said that Brog, who visits in the evenings, might be able to tell us more about Dorina. She was apparently a talented magician.

• Donner, a dwarf from Gemstone in Amberstar and namesake of Donner's Old Labyrinth in this game, was hanging out at the inn. He gave more context on Dorina's disappearance: it happened after Kire's son, Ketnar, stormed away from home after an argument with his father.

• Darbog, another inn patron, comes from Dor Grestin. It lies to the south and west. He warned that "the forests are not exactly safe!"

• Brog, a rare dwarf mage, confirmed Dorina's talent for magic and lamented her loss.

• Multiple dwarves refer to the Forest Moon as a "compost heap."

       

At least you have plenty of liquor.

          

• At night, the town is threatened by curse wasps, annoying creatures capable of causing sleep, blindness, and madness. They suck up damage like stones  and only deliver 5 experience points!

      

Leaving Dor Kiredon, I noticed that the locator device still worked for the new planet. It showed Dor Kiredon at (180,130).  I was curious about the dimensions of the new world, so I set off on a one-way expedition to find (0,0). I was almost immediately attacked by more curse wasps. I realized after a few of these pointless battles (honestly, why are the experience rewards so small?) that you can see these random encounters in the exploration window. There's a barely-visible symbol in the squares that have the encounters, but it pulses on and off, making it a bit easier to see. I wonder if this was true of the locations that had outdoor encounters on Lyramion, and I just didn't notice.

        

Kudos to the developers for making the place look alien.

     

The alien landscape had interesting flora and fauna. There were numerous bulbous or tentacled plants, giant mushrooms, and twirling masses of vines. In addition to curse wasps, monsters included gizzeks, which look like giant grasshoppers, and also offer virtually no experience for some relatively tough battles. We crossed swamp and all got poisoned. Eventually, without finding any dungeons or habitations, we made it to (1,1) which crossed immediately to (300,300). So it's only a little smaller than Lyramion and does seem to make use of all the space.

     

Reloading, I explored south and west, looking for Dor Grestin. I found it surrounded by cylindrical stalks that looked more like plants than anything manufactured. The inside of the town continued this theme. The dwarves had clearly tried to adapt themselves to the planet rather than the opposite, creating a town with plants and trees for boundaries, natural pools of water, and little mushrooms that scurried away at our approach. The few buildings were made of wood rather than stone.

          

What happens when a bunch of hippies build a town.

       

Encounters:

    

• The first NPC we spoke with, a dwarf named Darla, had already heard of us somehow. She mentioned the town leader, Ketnar, and suggested we speak to him at the Council Hall.

• A dwarf woman told us that their healer, Asrub, is the best healer among the dwarven people. He knows a lot about valuable herbs.

• In the northeast corner of town, I found Asrub in his healing shop. He said he prefers herbs and natural processes to magic. One of his patients survived a tornak encounter at the mine in Dor Kiredon. When asked about HERBS, he mentioned that many of the plants on the moon have a permanent effect on the body or spirit.

        

I thought it was cute that the healer had a poster with a diagram of the body.

       

• A dwarf named Gorban was sleeping in one of Asrub's beds. He told me that he discovered that tornak's seal passages behind them; I guess maybe I was supposed to get this hint before rescuing Ferrin's daughter.  

• An inn called "The Nest."

• A food shop called "The Treasures of the Forest."

• In the Council Hall, I met Leira, Ketnar's wife, before Ketnar himself. She told me that Ketnar misses his parents. The game's tunnel vision when it comes to dialogue is reflected in the fact that Leira has something to say when you ask her about KIRE, but when you ask her about KETNAR, she gives the default response: "I don't know anything about that."

• Ketnar was sitting on a throne surrounded by trees. He reiterated the philosophy of his city: cooperate with nature rather than fight it. He wouldn't say much about his missing mother, but he was clearly worried about her. When I showed him the letter his father had written his mother, he relented and said the password SCHNISM would open the way to her.

       

Is that really how you're supposed to sit on that?

     

• A chef in Ketnar's kitchen, Drongeb, sold herb pies.

• Randor's Shop sold giant eggs and various plants from the moon as well as ropes and potions. Unfortunately, I didn't bring much money from Lyramion. I sold some minor scrolls to get enough money to try each of the herbs. It appears that Fragrant Herbs increase strength, Glowing Blossoms speed, and Sparking Mushrooms magic resistance. But they only increase the current value, not the maximum, and most of my characters were at or (because of equipment) above maximum in all these values anyway.

    

As I wrap up, I'm headed out of Dor Grestin to find Dorina. Can we safely say that this is the Ambermoon? Or does green not describe "amber" any more than red does?

And since "Forest Moon" has put Endor permanently in our heads: Does the "Forest Moon of Endor" mean a) the forest moon called Endor, or b) the forest moon that orbits the planet of Endor?

Time so far: 68 hours