Die Quelle von Naroth: Gib Mir Geld

 

That's what I want.

        

When I wrapped up the first session of Die Quelle von Naroth, I was struggling to pay for the training that I was due. That problem continued well into this session. For a couple of hours, I was trapped in a cycle of being unable to defeat any monsters until I could level up, but unable to level up until I could afford it.

     

You can persuade or fight the guards to get out of town.

       

I ended up solving the issue by leaving Dandall before finishing the dungeon. What I had regarded as an impassable guard at the city exit was in fact a guard open to persuasion. I successfully talked him into letting me out of the city. This takes the player to a non-interactive map (with background sounds of wind and bird calls) with a menu of six cities to visit: Dandall (the starting city), Kospan, Kloster, Arpolis, Lapolin, and Schloß. I tried a few of them and encountered more difficult creatures in their dungeons than I had fled in Dandall.

        

The "outdoor" map.

     

At some point, I realized that Kloster means "monastery" in German. An NPC in Dandall had told me that Benedictinus at the monastery was seeking someone to clear the basement of hostile creatures. I stopped randomly exploring and headed directly there.

    

The monastery was a walled compound with four towers in the corner. Each had a staircase leading to the underground area. In the middle building, I met Benedictinus, who confirmed the quest and asked us to retrieve the Book of Wisdom from the basement.

        

Exploring my second city.

     

Some of the enemies in the dungeon were easier than those remaining in Dandall; some were not. It was during this session that I came to appreciate how much a difference enemy equipment makes. Just because you can handle four ogres wearing leather and wielding short swords doesn't mean you can handle four ogres wielding broadswords and wearing platemail. "Duh," you might say, but in most games, enemies of a particular type are always at a uniform difficulty. The orcs and goblins in Pool of Radiance always have the same equipment. Naroth thus offers a more nuanced encounter system.

          

16 kobolds don't sound so hard; 16 kobolds with longbows and platemail sound hard.

        

For a while, I bounced back and forth between the Kloster dungeon and the Dandall dungeon. I'd defeat two medusas and two ogres in the former only to get smashed by 10 goblins. Back in Dandall, I'd defeat some soldiers and spiders only to get destroyed by four ogres. None of these encounters were getting me any money, and I had annotated almost a dozen places I couldn't pass at my current level. The dam finally broke when I defeated a couple of soldiers in Kloster and got a longsword and plate armor, my first weapon/armor upgrade since the first couple hours of the game. Around the same time, I found a chest with 1,000 gold pieces that, combined with what I already had and some sale items, got me three levels. 

       

The most welcome sight in the world.

     

The Kloster dungeon went down to a second level, where a long hallway ended at a wall with three recesses, two of them holding gems. I had to find a gem in a chest on the first level, guarded by two druids. After I put the gem in the third recess, the wall opened, leading to an area with a chest with 500 gold and another chest with the Book of Wisdom. I returned the book to Benedictinus for a reward of a magic wand, a two-handed sword, and another suit of platemail. Selling the items that this equipment replaced bought me another couple of levels. 

     

The recess in the wall.

      

Back in Dandall, I pushed through a previously-unwinnable battle with 4 well-equipped ogres to find the golden key that Aurelius asked us to find. Rather than give it to him, I used it to open a locked door in the same dungeon and loot the same treasure chest that he was going for. It had a magic (two-handed) sword, a suit of magic armor, and 3,500 gold pieces. The key was consumed when I opened the door, so when I returned to Aurelius, he had nothing new to say.

      

My first magic weapon.

      

With that, I was finally able to catch up with my earned training. In fact, after selling excess stuff, I was over 3,000 gold pieces ahead. Everyone reached Level 5. My cleric has four spells: "Healing I," "Healing II," "Healing III," and "Group Healing." My mage has "Magic Missile," "Magic Cloud," "Fainting Spell," "Escape," and "Panic." "Escape" would seem to be a way out of combat if you're losing. I haven't had much luck with "Fainting Spell" or "Panic" so far, and I mostly just use the mage for the first two damage spells.

     

Ilende checks out her healing options in battle with some ogres.

       

With my new levels, I tried to clear out the Kloster dungeon for good, but there are a couple of parties--principally, a group of 4 trolls and a group of 16 kobolds with longbows and platemail--that I can't defeat. I also still can't defeat the two stupid trolls in the Dandall dungeon. I'll just have to save them all for later.

     

Before moving on to another city, I should mention that at some point, I noticed there was a yellowed piece of paper in my inventory. I don't remember where I got it. When I looked at it, it read:

      

The piece of paper contains three drawings, the contours of which are, however, quite faded and the motifs are no longer recognizable. There is a text under the drawings: "We have acquired the items pictured above and used their magic to destroy the source. Afterwards, as ordered, we hid the items in safe places. I am sending you a messenger with this message, while my men and I are already carrying out a new errand. Sincerely, Gonzales."

     

I'm guessing this refers to the game's backstory, in which the magical Well of Naroth ("the source") was destroyed through unknown means. [Ed. As stepped pyramids points out below, the translation should be "used their magic to destroy the well," rather than "source," making the connection explicit.]  I don't think I found any artifact that the note refers to.

   

We moved on to Kospan, which has the same types of shops and services as Dandall, if not as many. I was greeted in one house by a man named Langsan. He assumed that someone from Arpolis had sent me to retrieve a book of poetry, which Langsan will only trade for the Book of Time and the Book of Life. When I checked at the inn, "Langsan" was not an option to ask about but "Gonzales" was. The innkeeper didn't have anything to say about him, unfortunately. I'll have to mention that name in Dandall's two inns.

         

This new dungeon has a lot of doors and pressure plates.

      

One door led to a dungeon, where I just barely survived six goblins with broadswords. The opening area had a lot of locked doors, some opened by pressure plates, some by keys in nearby chests. I was beginning to wonder why I was even here when I opened a chest and found the Book of Time. I guess I'm after that Book of Poetry.

    

Short entry, but I'm just getting back from a vacation (saw Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde) which, I'm proud to say, resulted in no delays on The CRPG Addict thanks to pre-scheduling entries.

   

Time so far: 7 hours