The Heirs to Skull Crag: Knives Out

Kallithera talks smack about her siblings.

         

"The Heirs to Skull Crag" casts the party as a group of caravan guards who just finished a job escorting a caravan to the town at the base of the titular fortress. While poking around, the party comes across the aftermath of a battle that took the life of the Arelin Starbrow, ruler of Skull Crag. One of her three children stands to inherit the keep and Arelin's title of Roadwarden, but first they must recover the artifacts left on the battlefield when Arelin fell, specifically a sword, a shield, and a lance.

    

It seems that you can only work with one of the three potential heirs. Once you agree to one, the other two stop speaking to you. Oddly, you have to agree to work with someone before you hear his or her entire pitch. Thus, I allowed myself to reload after hearing all of them. Each of them wants a different artifact, and each sets you up with a different NPC to assist.

   

• Kallithrea seems to be a priestess of Sune, given that she lives in the Temple of Sune in the keep. She's looking for the shield. She says she'll be the best ruler because Yemandra is too rash and Dazmilar has no honor. She admits she won't wield the arms herself, but she still thinks she'll be best for the region. The companion she provides is a male lawful good cleric/fighter/magic-user named Arderiel.

     

I don't like this guy at first, but he turns out to be rather useful.

     

• Yemandra, in contrast, is a warrior herself. She would replace her mother, both ruling the keep and charging out to face threats personally. She wants the lance. She offers a female lawful-good human ranger named Tornilee.

     

I didn't mean to block her face with the shield.

     

• Dazmilar appears to be a hedonist, living in luxury in the inn rather than in the keep. He's the only one to promise a reward for helping him, but both his sisters say that he's honorless. Even in promising the reward, he has an aside: "If you don't [succeed] . . . well, you won't want a reward, now will you?" The NPC he adds to the party is a male chaotic neutral dwarf fighter/thief named Krondaz.

        

Not even my evil characters like this guy.

       

My party consists of two good, two evil, and two neutral characters. The two good characters would prefer to go with Yemandra, but the evil and neutral ones want Kallithrea. They figure Dazmilar is too much of a risk and Yemandra seems like the type who would kick them out of town once she takes over. Kallithrea is acceptable to the good characters, as her god is chaotic good. Thus, we go with her and welcome Arderiel into the party.

I should mention that the siblings have an older but long-lost brother named Vidraund, I assume he'll pop up somewhere. Also, Kallithrea confuses the location of the game by talking about the danger to travelers in "the Dragonjaw Mountains." Maps of Faerûn place the Dragonjaw (or "Dragonsjaw") Mountains in the northeast quadrant of the land, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Fallen Stars, quite far from any Forgotten Realms game I've played. Later, when I'm outside, it's clear that we're in western Cormyr and what Kallithrea calls the "Dragonjaw Mountains" are on most maps the Storm Horns.

    

The multiple levels of the keep.

         

Before we head out into the wilderness, I decide to explore the keep's basement. (Like the upstairs area, the "basement" is just part of the main keep map, with the stairs warping you to different coordinates.) The basement has a root cellar, a meat cellar, and a lot of prison cells, all empty; I don't know what these people are planning for. There are no fixed combats, but there are a lot of random battles with easy enemies like skeletons, giant rats, beetles, and ghouls. Most of these battles deliver so few experience points that it's not worth the time.

      

And you still don't get experience for turning undead.

       

There's a burial chamber where the game says I feel a "slumbering malevolence," but nothing happens there.

   

The only fixed battle is with poisonous snakes. This is in a large room behind a secret door. In this room, a passage goes down to the "Stygian depths," a sub-basement that finishes off the overall keep map. It's a mini-labyrinth with cells for animals, all long-empty, except a single cell that has two hydras. This is a legitimately hard battle, as the beasts have a lot of hit points and multiple attacks, and I've exhausted most of my spells getting here.

     

"Oddly" is right. What have they been eating?

        

The battle leaves a couple of characters knocked out, so they don't share in the 4,000 experience points. We also earn a long sword +2, a Cloak of Protection +2, and Gauntlets of Ogre Strength.

    

The wandering enemies in this area are more difficult and include umber hulks, margoyles, and otyughs. The game does not allow rest in the dungeon, which is accompanied by a cool graphic, but it does allow "fixing." This is a problem I've had with the Gold Box since it introduced the "fix" command in Curse of the Azure Bonds. "Fix" is supposed to be a shortcut for memorizing multiple "Cure Whatever Wounds" spells, casting them, and memorizing again. It should carry all the risks of resting and memorizing spells for that amount of time. In practice, "fix" often works where resting doesn't.

       

You could have just told me I couldn't sleep. You didn't have to put this much artwork into it.

      

There was no real purpose to either basement level, although the sub-basement did have a mysterious lever that was rusted shut. If this were Power Stones of Ard, I'd spend hours trying different things at the lever, but the Gold Box doesn't give you those kinds of options.

       

PULL LEVER. PUT OIL ON LEVER. TOUCH LEVER. CAST STRENGTH then PULL LEVER. Apparently, that game is going to stick with me.

            

As I left, Choshen (cleric) and Isaac (mage) had both leveled up. The training center in the keep oddly trains everyone but clerics. The priestess in the Temple of Sune says "If you have priests, I will train them," but no training option shows up in her menu, even when the cleric is selected. I hope I find someone else who will train somewhere else.

   

Back in town, we restock arrows, then head to the north gates and go outside. I'm surprised to find a large overland map with a dozen visible locations. I had honestly thought the game was going to have a couple more standard-sized maps and then wrap up. This is starting to look like a full campaign.

        

I later have reason to think this might be a bit deceptive.

     

We have no idea where the shield is, so I figure I'll head to the western border and start exploring systematically. The first thing I find is a small cave. It's not large enough to map, but it's full of displacer beasts, umber hulks, and, if I try to rest, mobats. The main battle with displacer beasts has a couple dozen of them; thank the gods for "Fireball."

      

This is an intimidating lineup.

      

The sheer number of battles is too high, however, and I suffer my first full-party death at the ends of displacer beast tentacles.

     

After taking a game off, the monsters are back to rejoicing.

      

The caverns won't allow me to rest or even "fix" without battles, so I head outside a couple of times to heal up between battles. Outside, however, I still can't rest (though I can "fix"). Thus, I have to take on many battles without spells. In the end, I find a shield +2, a spear, and a cleric scroll with 3 spells. 

     

The next thing I find is a "well-worn path into a thicket," which leads to a "foul-smelling, swampy village of crude huts." It's a lizard-man village, and there are no options (as in Pool of Radiance) to talk with them. They attack when I interrupt a ritual, and the party ends up killing about 20 of them, plus a human priest.

    

Those are some beefy lizard men.

       

There are maybe half a dozen more battles with large packs of lizard men, culminating at a meeting between the lizard men and three black dragons. I interrupt it. The ensuing battle takes a few tries, as black dragons can breathe lightning, against which nothing (at least at my level) protects except for maybe "Mirror Image." I defeat them by using the old "hide around the other side of a wall" trick. They get hung up on the lizard men in front of them. I have my characters delay until the end of the road, then dart into the open and fire off spells and arrows, then return to hiding at the beginning of the next round.

      

About half of the enemies in this battle.

     

In the glade where the lizard men were meeting, there's a tree with runes on it. My smarter characters are able to interpret some of the words in old elvish: "To revenge, the three-fold path depends on ire, rage, and wrath." Sounds ominous.

     

I thought it was ethics, meditation, and wisdom.

      

The lizard man packs all have regular lizard men and three or four "lizard man kings." These kings have +1 shields, swords, and javelins. I haul as many as I can carry back to town and sell them. When I'm finished, even after I buy hundreds of arrows for each character, I end up leaving about 55,000 platinum pieces on the counter of the shop, as I can't carry them. The Gold Box tradition of utterly useless economies remains unbroken.

    

I probably shouldn't have sold everything at once.

       

After leveling Thaxla (fighter) and Gary (fighter/magic user), I head back out. Hemlock's name is colored as if she has enough experience to level up, but the training hall says she doesn't have enough experience; I think this is because of the level cap.

   

We get attacked randomly by dozens of goblins, and I'm delighted to see that "sweep" is back! I don't remember that since Pool of Radiance. It allows a high-level fighter to attack every enemy in melee range below a certain level. 

   

We stumble into an elven village on the banks of a river. The place has clearly suffered attacks recently. An elven princess approaches and explains that they have been beset by none other than lizard men and dragons. Even as she talks to us, alarm bells ring and lizard men, dragons, and crocodiles swarm into the village.

      

How did the crocodiles get here? Did they ride on the dragons?

         

There are only two black dragons in this bunch, but there are no walls to hide behind. It takes me a couple of reloads to defeat them with no party deaths. Fortunately, there are a bunch of elven archers on my side, and as long as the black dragons target them for the first round, I can defeat them in the second. I get a suit of elven chain +2, a composite long bow +2, and some arrows +2 for my troubles.

      

I didn't get a great shot of the battle.

         

Of course, now we find a money sink: A magic shop in the village that sells +1 arrows (for less than regular arrows at the keep), Scrolls of Protection from Dragon's Breath, and mage scrolls. There's also a trainer in town who has no prejudice about who he trains, plus a tavern with some new rumors.

    

At the north end of the mountain range is the village of Eagle Peak. It's just a menu town, which is useful; it makes it easier to heal, rest, and identify items without having to go back to Skull Crag. Alas, the shop has nothing worthwhile, and there's no training.

         

I think we'll take option D.

         

I soon find that I can't cross the Dragonjaw Mountains to get to all those cities on the east side, although there is at least one cave network that may get me there. While exploring just north of Skull Crag, I find the aftermath of the battle where Arelin was killed. An old man is sitting there. Either he's supposed to be Elminster or he just uses Elminster's portrait from Pools of Darkness. 

    

Is that sarcasm? Because Hemlock has a thing about sarcasm.

     

He points out giant tracks leading southwest, ogre tracks leading southeast, and minotaur tracks leading north. The implication is that each group of monsters made off with a different artifact. I'm pretty sure I explored exhaustively to the north and southwest, although perhaps the encounters don't spawn until after you visit this location. Elminster gives us a mysterious stone before he departs; identifying it at the store reveals a Stone of Good Luck.

     

I find two caves in the mountains. Neither leads to the other side, leading me to believe that all those cities we can see on the overland map are just a tease, and the entire game actually takes place on the western side of the mountains. Anyway, the first cave is small and occupied by griffins, who give me a modestly hard battle.

     

Well, now I feel bad.

       

The second cave is occupied by ogres, and it's much longer and harder. It features multiple battles with ogres, ogre mages, and ogre shamans, as well as a couple of special encounters with hydras and hellhounds.

     

The ogre caverns.

       

There are enough places to rest safely that I can approach each new battle with a fresh set of spells, but there are a few places in which the enemy surprises the party and gets a free round of attacks. A couple of times, the ogre shamans get lucky with "Hold Person" and essentially wipe out my party before the battle even begins. 

    

Like this.

         

One battle has us recover a jagged key. In the same room is a crystal ball that shows an image of Arelin Starbrow, alive but imprisoned. Arderiel freaks out: "By the twelve fathers [?], it cannot be. Arelin, alive and well! We must find her quickly!"

       

Is this image from a previous game?

     

We do find her, behind a secret door opened by the jagged key. But the party gets suspicious when her "prison" appears to be comfortable and immaculate. Snarling, "Arelin" turns into a rakshasa and attacks, joined by a companion previously concealed behind a drapery.

         

At what point was he just sitting there smoking a pipe?

           

The ensuing battle takes me a couple of tries. You may recall that rakshasas are invulnerable to spells below Level 5 (and I don't have anything Level 5 or above yet; or I do, but I don't know it yet; see below), have a high armor class, and are capable of casting spells themselves. These two nail my party with two "Fireballs" in a row before freezing almost everyone with "Hold Person," all while my fighters swing and miss.

       

It's not as much fun when I'm the target.

       

On my second attempt, buffed with "Bless," "Prayer," and "Enlarge," I do a bit better but still lose my elf (who can't be resurrected) to a "Lightning Bolt." The third time, I memorize enough "Resist Fire" to cover the party, and my cleric brings three memorizations of "Dispel Magic" to counter "Hold Person." This is enough to get me through it. The dead beasts have the Shield of the Roadwarden and something called the Key of Wrath.

   

Miscellaneous notes:

    

• We found four mage scrolls in the ogre caverns, but most of them are Level 5 or above. My mages have a long way to go before they can scribe those. Are we really going to get that far?

• I noticed at some point that there's a party inventory screen separate from individual inventories. It stores quest items. It was present in Dark Queen of Krynn, too, but it's still a newer addition to the engine. 

        

Party inventory. I still don't know how a key can be wrathful.

      

• In contrast to a lot of Gold Box NPCs who you can't control, Arderiel has been authentically useful. His own castings of "Fireball," "Lightning Bolt," and "Ice Storm" have saved the day more than once. He still doesn't account for rebounds with "Lightning Bolt," however.

• When my life is through, and the angels ask me to recall the thrill of them all, I will tell them: I remember when enemies in Gold Box games used to arrange themselves perfectly for a "Lightning Bolt" or "Fireball."

         

If the Forgotten Realms were a real place, nobody would ever "form ranks."

    

I stop by the elven village before returning to Skull Crag, since it's easier to level up there. Gary gets another mage spell, and I take "Haste." Choshen gets Level 4 cleric spells, so I choose two castings of "Cure Serious Wounds" and one of "Protection from Evil, 10' Radius." 

        

This is always a bit painful.

       

As I head back to Skull Crag, I think the module may be coming to an end. I haven't found the minotaur or giant lairs, but my theory at this point is the game only "opens" the one associated with the heir that the party chose, making it replayable.

   

Kallithrea gratefully takes the shield and rewards me with a mace +3, a shield +3 and a Ring of Protection +3. Arderiel leaves the party, which hurts a bit since I just paid to level him up.

       

Won?

       

After that, nothing happens. I wander around looking for a new plot point or a game-ending screen, but Dutiocs is nowhere to be found, and nothing is happening in the Great Hall. I wander into Yemandra's chambers, and she asks me to help her recover the lance. That's when I realize that I've misinterpreted the game. It wasn't offering me a choice between the three heirs. The player has to help them one at a time. Not that I wanted the game to wrap up so quickly, but I liked the sense of role-playing in my interpretation, so my esteem for it went down a notch or two.

    

The next phase of the quest.

      

Thus, we will need at least one more entry on this, but it's fun, so I don't mind.

  

Time so far: 7 hours