Enchantasy: Bells and Books

 

I use the I)nvoke command for the first time to open a path in the Forest of No Return.

     

Things are looking grim for the land of Savallia. After centuries of peace (following the defeat of the Dark Lord), monsters are roaming the land again. Evil men seem to be bent on the discovery of the Eternal Grimoire, a massively powerful spellbook that must not fall into their hands. Accordingly, the Mage Council has tasked an apprentice mage (well, perhaps not anymore) and his friends with finding the Grimoire first. Only during the last session did I finally get some information on it: It was buried ages ago; there's supposed to be a map out there somewhere; and I'll need something called the Magian Gem to find it.

 

My party has otherwise mostly been solving side quests while learning about all kinds of new problems. The king has just died, for instance, and his heir has run away somewhere. Also, someone seems to be killing the members of the Mage Council. The leader, Rudimon, was aware of two deaths, but we've stumbled on at least three bodies: Keenan, Abelard, and Riddock. I suspect we'll find more.

        

Keldar

In addition to general refreshing, restocking, and training, I wanted to visit for a couple of reasons. One was to find Santon, who according to Thorndyke in Kadaar, could tell me the way to the hidden town of Udim in the Forest of No Return. I hadn't logged an NPC in Keldar named Thorndyke, so I began systematically exploring the town again.

   

During my explorations, I realized that a locked door in the basement of the library had a sign reading "Mage Archives"--and in the last session, I had found the Archive Key on the body of one of the murdered mages. I had thought I'd find the archive in a different city for some reason. I unlocked the door and explored the few levels of the archive.

      

I assume the one being dismissed is the one who voted against it.

      

Four separate books had minutes from a meeting held "Sabo 28, 977 ADL." I'm not sure how long ago this was or if there's any way to tell how long ago. "ADL" must mean "after the Dark Lord." The minutes list 10 mages present at the meeting, at which they voted to expel a Council member for "the practice of evil magic." The vote was 9 to 1. The Council member's name was withheld from the record, but the list of voting Council members is interesting: Degas, Daumier, Morisot, Conax, Abelard, Keenan, Sigwald, Waldo, Riddock, and Oxton. You'll note that three of them are dead. They might all be dead, in fact; I haven't met any of the others.

    

The archive also held two books--"Archive 2067" and "Archive 2068"--written in the ancient language. I've given Chester a few points in "Languages," but only enough to read about 50% of the letters in each word. Fortunately, I found someone in Aramon who will translate cheaply.

       

The game's way of interpreting a low "Language" skill.

    

I found Santon in the tavern. He confirmed he was from Udim, which is hidden and only revealed by a magic word: EMANI. The town bell has recently been stolen; if I want to help, I should ask for the Mayor. 

       

The next thing you know, your son is playing for money in a pinch-back suit.

     

I was tempted to go directly there, but I was more interested in what the tomes had to say. So I went to the docks and headed for:

     

Aramon

I headed directly for the translator. Alas, it was a red herring. The two books simply mention the appointment of Rudimon to the Mage Council. As this took place in 978 ADL, he seems to have taken the place of the expelled member. (Incidentally, I spoke to Rudimon before leaving Keldar. I fed him as many keywords as I could think of, and he had nothing to say about the expulsion or the murders.) The list of mages who signed the document is identical to those who voted for expulsion. [Ed. No it's not. That's the danger of playing at 03:00. It seems that Conax is the expelled member.]

      

Well, that was anticlimactic.

     

I also used the occasion to buy force swords and bronze shields for my fighter and ranger, who are strong enough now.

   

Back we sailed to Keldar, then out the southern entrance and into the Forest of No Return.

On the Way to the Forest

We naturally face several battles. Since I have several magic potions to get rid of (my inventory is almost full), I take time to take some notes about the game's spells. I started with the first two and earned two per level through Level 10. The number in parentheses is the number of spell points the spell takes. At Level 16, I have 55 maximum spell points. The only ways to restore spell points are through potions or a night at an inn.

• "Minor Healing" (2): Heals 6 hit points. Useful at the beginning of the game. Eclipsed by "Major Healing" later on. You can only cast it outside of combat.

• "Fireball" (3): Does about 4-6 damage to a single enemy. Never misses. Only useful until you get "Lightning Bolt," which does more for the same cost.

• "Cure Disease" (3): Cures the "ILL" status of a single character. You get ill rarely, so it makes more sense to save the spell points and carry a vial of medicine for such an emergency.

• "Weaken" (3): Cuts an enemy's strength in half (rounded down). Not really worth it, especially once you get "Poison Burst". The reduction in strength only slightly lowers the damage the enemy does.

• "See Secrets" (3): A very useful spell that scans a two-tile radius and shows you a question mark if there's anything special about the tile, including items of furniture with treasures to find and secret doors. Basically saves you from manually having to S)earch as many as 25 tiles.

       

"See Secrets" reveals a secret door.

      

• "Lightning Bolt" (3): Does about 6 damage to a single enemy. Never misses. A decent one-enemy spell for the rest of the game.

• "Neutralize Poison" (3): Cures the "POISON" status of a single character. You get poisoned rarely, so it makes more sense to save the spell points and carry a vial of medicine for such an emergency.

        

Healing Shyra.

      

• "Deathtouch" (5): Does about 15 points of damage to a single enemy adjacent to the caster. This is almost always enough, as the spell's name indicates, to kill it.

• "Create Food" (3): Creates 3 units of food for 3 spell points. I suppose it would be useful in an emergency, but food depletes so slowly that you'd have to be particularly ignorant to let it get to that point.

• "Poison Burst" (3): Immediately halves an enemy's strength and skill, then carries a chance of instantly killing him after every character or enemy's turn. An awesome spell--if you can afford to wait.

     

Isn't it ironic?

     

• "Glass Door" (3): An interesting but somewhat useless spell that I've never seen in any other RPG. [Ed. I apparently forgot its counterpart in Ultima V.] When cast at a door, it shows you what's on the other side of the door. The problems are: a) there's almost never anything particularly interesting immediately on the other side of a door; b) it only shows you a couple of squares, which isn't enough to assess anything; and c) it doesn't help you subsequently open the door. 

Great, there's a chest of drawers and a table. I still have to pick the lock to get in.

      

• "Paralyze Legs" (4): Despite its name, seems to paralyze an enemy entirely and take him out of combat long enough for you to fill him with arrows. Very useful.

• "Major Healing" (5): Heals a single character for 8-15 hit points. It can only be cast outside of combat.

• "Mystic Shield" (6): Supposedly increases everyone's armor class. Since you can't see armor class during combat, it's hard to verify that it's working. It doesn't feel like it makes any difference.

• "Magic Unlock" (3): Unlocks magically-locked doors. This will be useful if I ever find a magically-locked door. I haven't so far.

• "Flame Frenzy" (7): Does about 4-7 damage to every enemy on the screen. Like "Lightning Storm," it's very tempting to use this to end combats quickly, which is why my spellcaster has 3 more levels than everyone else. But it costs so much that I often save it until I know I can rest soon.

• "Seek Exit" (4): Takes you immediately to the exit of a dungeon. There are magic onyx stones that do the same thing. Despite its low cost, I don't find it worth it (yet) because enemies never randomly spawn in dungeons and dungeons are small.

• "Lightning Storm" (9): Does 6-8 damage to every enemy on the screen.

       

"Lightning Storm" blasts a foe.

      

• "Resurrection" (9): Resurrects a dead character. It's painful to spend so many points, so you naturally would rather avoid having to use it.

• "Thunder Clap" (9): Does 6-9 damage to every enemy on the screen. I honestly don't know why it exists when it does basically the same thing as "Lightning Storm" for the same cost.

      

I spend most of my points these days on mass damage spells and healing spells, but I like "Paralyze Legs" for single enemies and "See Secrets" for rooms dense with furniture.

    

Apropos of combat, I should mention that my ranger got two attacks per round at some point. I hope everyone gets to that point as they level up.

     

Udim

We followed Santon's instructions and cast it at the appropriate place in the Forest, which caused a tree to disappear, revealing a long path beyond. We nearly didn't make it. Maximum enemy difficulty scales with the party's level, so every long wilderness trip these days is a slog through a dozen large battles.

      

We reach the city, almost ready to drop.

      

We met Mayor Morven in his office. He said that Udim decided to hide itself from the outside world after the War of the Dark Lord. During that thousand years, an ancient bell served as the symbol of the town. As time passed, more people found out how to get into Udim (like us), and they started to lose their protection. Recently, thieves slipped into town and stole the bell. The mayor thinks they took it to a cave south of Keldar. I've seen that cave, but I can't find a way to get through the mountains to it. The mayor's assistant, Latham, had the word: CYQIE. The mayor will be happy to talk to us about the Magic Horn when we recover the bell.

   

Elsewhere:

    

• Darby says he works at the armory and can repair broken weapons and armor, which isn't a mechanic in this game, but may be necessary later for a special item or quest. He alludes to the silver armor worn by Sir Kenway, an ancient knight, but has nothing to offer on its location.

• The armory has a great sling, an upgrade from my hunter's sling. It also has iron shields, but none of us are strong enough to carry one.

• Botolf attributes Santon's spilling of the password to his fondness for drink (to be fair, I found him in a tavern). This distresses Santon's mother, Clarice, when I visit her later.

        

He's in good company.

       

I found several magic and healing potions in various bits of furniture. The general store sells more. This is a good thing because the town has no inn, so we had to use potions to get ourselves in shape for the return journey. Even so, we ended up fleeing a lot of battles on the way back to Keldar. If you're counting, that's my fourth return from the Forest of No Return.

Caves South of Keldar

I had originally tried to enter these caves hoping to find the Prince, who had run off with his friend Jamal "to the mountains" (according to a note). These are the closest mountains to the Royal Castle. I had been blocked by a boulder in front of the dungeon entrance, but the password provided by Latham moved it--after I went all the way back to Udim to get it again because I wrote it down wrong the first time.

    

I don't know what the dungeon was trying to evoke with its bright colors. Many of the corridors dead-ended at an underground lake. I found several corridors blocked by boulders, which I had to use the pick-axe to clear. These oddly respawn if you leave the dungeon and return. Nothing else does, as far as I can tell.

       

Destroying a boulder.

      

Combats were frequent and large, and I retreated to Keldar twice for healing, potions, and more arrows. One thing that is starting to annoy me is that inventory space is so limited that you really can't carry many potions, which in turn limits the utility of the economy. I'm probably going to stop carrying shields at some point to save more space for potions and other usable items.

 

I routinely face enemies with their own "Lighting Storm" spells these days, so I have to take them out of action as soon as possible.    

       

Hitting a sorceress with "Paralyze" before she can attack. Unfortunately, there's still a necromancer.

       

I found Udim's bell in a chest in a corner. I found no sign of Jamal or the Prince, so I'm not sure what mountains they went to. Maybe the ones west of the castle.

  

We took the long forest path back to Udim, where the mayor gratefully accepted the bell and immediately gave us the magic fog horn. I imagined he'd just tell us where it was, and there would be another whole quest. He told us to use it "on a dock northwest of Kadaar" where "the legend will be revealed."

      

I can't wait!

        

That's about all I have time for this week. I had to go back to work again. This game is getting pretty long. While I still enjoy the main plot and the many side quests, the battles are getting to be overwhelming. I cringe every time I level up these days, which is not the reaction you want from a CRPG player. 

   

Time so far: 27 hours