Al-Qadim: Master of None

The family genie screws us all.

         

I couldn't solve the crashing problem that I reported last time, even with a new version of the game that I bought from GOG. I thus started over, and it only took me about 20 minutes to get back to where I was. It's a good reminder that the second attempt at a game is often incredibly faster than the first, which is why it seems crazy to me that HowLongToBeat doesn't make any distinction. [Ed. Apparently they do, in a way. See LanHawk's comment.]

   

This time, I didn't sacrifice a bunch of health to the sword master and I bought a couple of potions before heading out to the desert. The potions are a scam, by the way—each expensive one of them only heals about 25% of the character's health bar. The bigger help was commenter TheOrz's intelligence that the ALT key toggles backing up and turning around when you reverse directions. This kept me alive longer in battle, though I still found it difficult. 

      

I fought in the oasis for a while before determining that it's not possible to clear it; enemies just keep respawning. I visited the mermaid and got her quest. On the way back to town with the purple berries, my mentor, Sinbar, apparated in front of me and said that his daughter, a seer, had a vision that "fate will propel [me] to a most dangerous conflict." She sent a scroll with a phrase that I should say when I encounter my "nemesis": SALAB'LA JASUM ABA. 

       

Good thing my character isn't named "Ash."

    

I returned the berries to Babazar, who administered them to his daughter. She began to improve immediately. I got 360 experience points. Babazar wanted to know if I'd met a mysterious creature, but I lied and said no. "I'm certain I could find a way to make money off a creature like that," he said, and announced his intention to send someone to find her. 

   

The Qadi wasn't interested in talking about the mermaid's message until I got two signatures on the peace treaty, so I headed over to the Wassab house. The patriarch of this rival family refused to sign it unless Aliya and I also signed it, since the original treaty didn't bind us to the same good behavior as it did to our father, mother, and aunt.  

    

My sister accompanied me to the Qadi's house, where we both signed the treaty and swore an oath "never [to] harm the Wassabs and never to instruct the family's genie to harm the Wassabs," That seems awfully broad. What if they attack first? But the game didn't give me the option to refuse. We signed it. I earned another 360 experience points.

      

I took a document to a couple of people. Let's not go too far.

           

I delivered the mermaid's message: "Farid al'Mutan wishes to speak with you regarding the monsters that plague the once pleasant oasis. He fears it is an omen that the Genie's Curse has arisen again." That's interesting. So the subtitular curse was something that people believe happened in the past, not something that's ongoing. Anyway, the Qadi agreed to go meet with Farid at his tower. The tower, by the way, is north of the oasis, but every time I visited, a voice just refused me entry.

   

I returned to the oasis, fighting a few mini air elementals and jackals. I reported to the mermaid that I had delivered her message, and also that Babazar was looking for her. I got another 270 experience points and the right to use the oasis for healing. I returned to it frequently to avoid wasting my pathetic potions. 

       

This would be a good grinding spot, if that made sense in this game.

        

When I returned to Zaratan, all hell broke loose. Some sailors had just washed up from a shipwreck, some belonging to my family's ships, some to the Wassabs'. Our sailors reported that as the two ships passed near the island, a violent storm suddenly arose. It destroyed the Wassabs' ship while sparing my family's. Our family genie, Muliban, could be seen "commanding the storm." The ship was supposed to be carrying Tarik, my brother, but he had missed its departure.

   

The Qadi came rushing up and summoned us to his courtyard.

    

"Avengers . . . !"

     

There, both my family's sailors and the Wassabs' sailors told the same story. It then transpired that the Wassab ship was transporting the caliph and his daughter—my bride-to-be—both of whom were sucked off the ship by the genie. As the Wassabs called for our heads ("Every Al-Hazrad must be killed! THEY ARE MURDERERS!"), the Qadi ordered me to go out and search for survivors.

          

Finish that sentence, buddy.

        

I reached Level 4 as I fought some more monsters on the way to the coast. There, I found the caliph, alive, but he said a few curious things that indicated he was a participant in some kind of plot. He wouldn't answer any questions, though, except that Princess Kara was still being held by the genie. He ordered me to escort him back to Zaratan, but only after we found a golden chest lost in the wreck.

      

How still we see it lie?

         

I found the chest next to some flotsam. Within it was a locket with a portrait of Kara. The caliph claimed that as long as the picture depicted her eyes open, she was still alive.

   

Back in town, the Qadi demanded that my father, mother, and sister summon our genie so he could be questioned. He appeared—huge, floating, and cross-legged—in front of us. When asked why he destroyed the ship, he said: "I did as my masters bade me." When asked who his masters were, he said: "Those whose commands I follow." No one bothered to ask whether my family members were still his "masters" or whether we specifically ordered the destruction of the ship. But this was all enough for the caliph, who accused my family of hatching a plot to marry me to his daughter, kill him, and seize his throne.

      

If we'd wanted to kill you, my plan would have been a lot simpler than that.

        

The caliph ordered my family to swear not to summon the genie again until he commanded it, then ordered that we all be locked in chains in the dungeons of Bandar al-Sa'adat. Mullad, owner of the potion shop, protested that since I just got back in town and also saved the caliph's life, I must be innocent. "The young Al-Hazrad can join the search to find the caliph's daughter," the Qadi said, "And seek to clear his family's name." The caliph agreed but still ordered me exiled from the city. I was expecting worse. I thought my whole family would be executed like in Assassin's Creed II. 

      

I tried to get back in right away. I could threaten the guards blocking the gate, but it wouldn't let me actually attack them. Even with them standing aside, there's an invisible barrier that prevents me from moving into the town.

        

You're doing such a good job blocking the entrance, too.

            

I circled the area, found nothing to do, and eventually made my way back to the mermaid. I explained my woes. "There was more than genie magic in that storm," she said. "There is an ancient evil at work here." She told me that to the northwest, at Dead Man's Reef, I'd find the remains of a magical ship. "If you can restore the ship, it is yours." She said that after I restored it, I should seek the help of Farid al'Mutan, and she gave me the passphrase to his tower. Finally, she gave me the magic words necessary to summon a creature who could take me to the reef.

      

Maybe I should give Faery Tale Adventure another try.

        

The creature turned out to be a sea turtle. I rode his back to Dead Man's Reef and alighted on the sandy shore. The area was strewn with gold and gems, some of which turned into zombies when I approached them. There were also miniature water elementals, ghouls, and more of those damned thorn-shooting plants. I was better with the controls here, but I still had a few reloads, and I had to take the turtle back to the oasis for healing at one point.

     

Some disgusting undead.

        

The wrecked ship was in the middle of the oasis. Some guy on the deck was shooting arrows at me, and I had to run up a plank and kill him swiftly. A hatch led to the hold, but I had to find three keys first, two in hidden chests and one from the corpse of a ghoul. When I opened the doors, I met a mage who was trying to access an inner area. "I will gain control of this enchanted vessel or I will give my life trying," she proclaimed, and then did the latter. A scroll left behind indicated her name was Sashana and that her quest was "fruitless" because the ship's door would only open for the "chosen one."

      

Note the condition of the place.

       

I guess I'm the Chosen One, as the door swung right open. It brought me to some kind of platform in a void, a huge orb mounted in the center. When I touched it, it exploded and left a smaller orb behind—one apparently capable of healing my wounds.

      

This was very dramatic.

        

When I exited this area back to the ship, I found it not only asea, but also repaired and restored. A large golden statue of a corsair stood at the stern. He introduced himself as the master of the vessel, cursed into his current form when he used forbidden magic to open a portal to an "evil realm." He said he could only be freed when the power that cursed him was destroyed. Finally, he said that I could sail anywhere I wanted by simply asking him. However, when I did so, I only had two options: Zaratan and the city of Bandar al-Sa'adat.

      

Santa Catalina.

        

Following the mermaid's instructions, I decided to return to Zaratan. (Sailing brings up an animation of a ship passing a mountainous island, which is cute.) The ship stays off the coast when I arrive at a new location, and I have to board a skiff to actually land. I came ashore south of the oasis and made my way (past jackals, tiny air elementals, etc.) to Farid's tower.

     

Could I put an outboard on this thing?

       

The password got me in, but the voice said, "An audience [with] the Sorcerer is still farther from you than water from the desert sun." It wasn't kidding. I spent the next 90 minutes solving a long, multi-stage obstacle course. It's not worth recounting the blow-by-blow, but here are the highlights:

    

• In multiple places, there was a face on the floor I could walk over to speak to a mysterious voice. Usually it was a man's voice, but sometimes it was a woman's. It generally just told me something of the challenge to come, but a few times, it asked me questions. I generally adopted a humble and respectful response. 

• Puzzle mechanisms involved levers, switches, hidden doors, teleporters, and sliding stones that carried me across vast pools of acid. For instance, I had to find the right sequence of levers to open a path through a bunch of spikes; in another place, I had to pull switches in the right sequence to make a path across an acid pool.

     

Where do you even get this much acid?

       

• One of the more memorable puzzles had me step on a bunch of squares in sequence, chasing a blue light. The voice then asked me questions like which of the squares never lit up and which one lit up twice. I like the idea of this puzzle, but in practice it was too difficult the first time (not knowing the questions were coming) and too easy the second time. 

• There were occasional enemies: bats, giant rats, giant spiders, and acid blobs. There were pools of acid all over the floor, and if I got too close to one, it would disgorge an acid blob.

      

A giant spider approaches as I linger near one of the stone faces.

       

• There were numerous chests and smashable containers with gold, gems, and healing potions. 

    

Towards the end of the sequence, the voice told me a story of a married woman who fell in love with a man and ran off with him, leaving her husband behind. It asked me what kind of a man would steal a married woman. I had three options: "He is a man without honor!"; "He is an infidel! He should be killed!"; and "I do not know. I have not met him." The third answer seemed reasonable to me, and I chose it, but the voice was clearly upset that I didn't take a stronger stance against infidelity. 

               

The woman also asked me this one. A couple of these analogies are pretty funny.

       

Shortly thereafter, a woman's voice came through another stone face and asked me what I thought of a man who kept his wife locked in a tower with him, neither having any kind of social life. I responded that he is a jealous man who should learn to trust his wife. She seemed to like that. Later, the male voice demanded that I swear never to seek out the mermaid again, and it wouldn't let me proceed until I did.

      

Eventually, I made my way into an area with a green floor. I opened a door and found an opulent room, full of birds and a cat. A woman was stretched out on a divan while a man sat at a desk. This was Farid and his wife, and it was clear that they had been the ones speaking to me through the stone faces. I'm confused whether Farid is also the face that kept appearing in the acid, which told me towards the end of the maze that I would need "a voice, a jewel, a sword, and a stone" to complete my quest.

       

You threatened to dissolve me. Repeatedly.

         

In subsequent conversation with the couple, I learned:

   

• Farid's wife is the mermaid. I guess technically she's a pahari, a shapeshifting water nymph that often takes mermaid form. She was annoyed that Farid asked me never to speak to her again; Farid protested that he's always afraid of losing her.

• Farid: "Years ago, my own genie succumbed to the Genie's Curse and I was no longer its master. It appears the Curse has struck again." 

• To find out who is behind the curse, I will need to speak to the Genie Lords. Unfortunately, no one knows where they live. If I can find out the name of their island, the ship will take me there. A hermit who tends a library on the island of Shibaz may know the name of the Genie Lords' island. Farid gave me a magic mirror to "pacify" the hermit. That's ominous.

• The pahari asked if I would bring her a Gilded Dove from the bazaar. A side quest, maybe?

          

You may think she's happy and free from care. She's not, though she seems to be.

         

A short walk later, and I was back out in the oasis. 

               

Miscellaneous notes:

    

• Right outside the main entrance to Zaratan is a duck that attacks me if I get too close. He'll probably turn out to be important later.

       

My anatidaephobia is acting up again.

        

• While wandering around town, I took note of the round wooden roof supports partly jutting out from the sides of houses. I had noticed them on some historic buildings during my recent trip out west, and it made me curious why they exist and why they're common to both new world and old world architecture. It turns out they're called vigas, and they're left jutting out (instead of cut flush) for a few reasons: to provide support for scaffolding during roof and wall repairs; to account for shifting walls; and to hang things from. They originated in the Middle East and made their way to the New World via the Moorish influence on Spanish architecture.

       

This is what I mean.

       

• I have several shards: "Magic Missile," "Sunscorch," and "Water Blast." I found them in various chests this session. They each have between 12 and 15 charges. I haven't tried them yet.

• Here was the passphrase to summon the sea turtle. It's obviously a play on "George Jetson," but how does it make any sense in this context?

      

Did I miss that episode?

       

I hit Level 5 while in the final stages of the maze. The game manual says that the levels only go up to 8, and I started at 2, so I guess I'm halfway through the game.

             

Another one of the puzzles from Farid's maze.

         

I enjoyed the puzzles. They were a little on the easy side, but that's better than the opposite. I like that the game has opened up a little, in the sense that since I became the master of the enchanted ship, I've had two potential places I could go. Overall, though, it feels like things are going to be pretty linear, and I still don't like the combat. Maybe it will improve now that I have those shards. Plus, I'm supposed to somehow get new "combat moves" the moment I can find a trainer.

      

I think I'll go to Bandar al-Sa'adat next. I have a lot of gold to spend, and I like the sound of a bazaar. 

     

Time so far: 7 hours  

     

****

   

Previous entry in this series

   

Next entry in this series

   07/08/2026 

The Search for Freedom: All Parts of the World

 

My world map at the end of this session.

    

Guest post from AlphabeticalAnonymous: 

 

I start this session with mixed feelings. On the one hand, The Search for Freedom continues to serve up decent CRPG fare: a main quest, equipment upgrades, dungeons to explore, monsters to fight, just enough encounters and interactions to keep everything from becoming wholly monotonous, and the satisfaction that comes with leveling up. On the other hand, despite the deceptively small map above, I’m starting to be concerned that this game is too long. The manual promises: "22 dungeon levels, each 20 squares by 20 squares, and 2 outdoor areas, each 32 squares by 32 squares." At the start of this session (after a bit over 30 hours of gameplay), I’ve cleared less than a third of the dungeon levels and explored roughly a quarter of the outdoor areas. Another point also suggests I’m only roughly a third of the way: my characters are all still Level 4, out of a maximum level cap of 13. If the game eventually clocks in at over 100 hours, I suspect that it will have long since overstayed its welcome.
      
The friendly ship captain from Hythenforge drops us off in the Dry Desert in the southeast of Shylyllia Isle. We begin to explore and are quickly thrust into battle with three lesser demons (70 hit points) and 6 fire sprites (30 hit points). I’ve been putting off a detailed description of combat, so here goes.
      

Round one: Fight.

     

Although I’ve found no real use for ranged weapons, the first step is always to try to (F)ire at the enemies because this is the easiest way to scan across the full combat map and see where everything is located. Indoors, there can be walls that allow for some tactics (and that confuse the AI), but outdoors the only relevant terrain is water (impassable) or ground. Here, most enemies are to the south of us, so we’ll focus on them first. Few melee-only enemies seem especially challenging: magic users are much more dangerous (though not consistently, since they often cast useless spells). They’re even more trouble than in Gold Box combat, because here they can still cast their spell even if they were attacked earlier in that combat round. However, if an enemy magic-user is adjacent to one of my characters there’s at least a decent chance that they’ll try an ineffective melee attack rather than casting. In any case, our party tries to surround and kill magical foes as quickly as possible. Having never encountered these enemy types before, we don’t know which (if any) use magic.

Combat order is determined each round by some combination of dexterity and a random roll, with characters and monsters interspersed. In this case we surprised the monsters, so we get a free first turn. Usually my fleetest characters (Kizke, Ruxpin, Becket) move before the slower ones (Durkon, Tyrion), but not always; this time, Tyrion moves first. He (D)elays until Elphaba can move out of his way. Becket is up next but is in the center of the pack, so (D)elays as well. Kizke darts south to swing at, and miss, a Lesser Demon. For some reason it’s now Tyrion’s turn again, so he (Delays) again. Durkon lumbers south, reaching a Lesser Demon but without enough movement points to attack. Becket Delays, and then Ruxpin goes to backstab the same Demon that Kizke attacked. Backstabbing increases the chance to hit and (if successful) does double damage; in this case we get a lucky break, because the Teddy scores a critical hit and immediately kills the Demon. Tyrion marches southwest toward the next-nearest enemies; Elphaba follows close behind, but I decide to have her experiment with spells and turn Tyrion invisible (until he attacks someone). Becket heads down too, and Round Two begins.    

       

Ruxpin (the Teddy in pink) just backstabbed and critically hit a lesser demon.

      

Elphaba delays; a fire sprite moves in from the east; Elphaba delays; a fire sprite closes in; Elphaba delays again; fire sprite; Elphaba. Why did none of my other characters get a turn in that rotation? The demon we were heading for casts "Speed of the Puma" on itself—mostly pointless since that merely gives it more movement points, but now we know they’re a magical threat. Sprite; Elphaba; Kizke lunges at (and again misses) a sprite. Elphaba moves southwest and casts "Slow" on the nearby demon and its attendant sprite; the former resists, the latter is slowed to six movement points per round. Becket and Durkon close in; a Sprite attacks the former but misses. Ruxpin attacks Kizke’s target and connects; the northern demon casts "Speed of the Puma" on one of the sprites near it; Tyrion closes in.  

    

Somehow, I didn't get a screenshot of any of the demons.

    

Round three. This time, four fire sprites move first; several of them attack but either miss or connect for zero damage. My characters have as many as 8 armor points, which means up to 8 less damage than would normally be inflicted. Kizke attacks his sprite again and misses again; Becket moves to the south of the demon and attacks to set up a backstab for Elphaba. He got its attention, anyway: the demon hits back and we receive our first injury of the combat. Durkon backstabs Kizke’s target for 30 damage, killing it. Ruxpin misses a sprite and Elphaba misses the demon, whom Tyrion then hits. At this point, the southwestern demon casts "Hailstorm," which damages all characters and enemies in a 7 x 7 square for 10-20 damage. Ouch, but why didn’t they open with that move? Kizke misses a sprite and Ruxpin backstabs and kills it. Becket and Tyrion miss the demon; the other demon moves in from the north and casts "Lightning Bolt," doing 28 damage to Kizke.

And that’s about it, really. From then on the lesser demons just try melee attacks instead of their potentially-devastating spells, and my characters pair up to set up repeated backstab attempts, first on the demons, then on the remaining fire sprites. We all get 64 XP and a total of 646 gold, both of which are welcome. Kizke is down to 8 hit points; a few other characters are hurt, but none seriously. A somewhat interesting combat, and perhaps I was briefly concerned, but it wasn’t all that challenging and there were minimal options to employ interesting tactics. Part of it is the AI—a more clever pack of demons could have wiped the floor with us—but there’s some other, ineffable aspect that seems to be missing.
      
As it turns out, unsatisfying combat isn’t our only problem. Confident from our recent battle, we soon enter another, identical combat. Wanting more information about our foes, we cast "Identify" on a lesser demon. Though it’s worked before, this time it results in all text becoming invisible, and enemies are suddenly in new positions on the combat map. Then, enemies (and our own party members) occupy many, overlapping positions all at once. I quit and re-load.

      

I love you in every universe.

     

Upon reloading, we instead meet a group of eight laughing lizards with a yellow dragon. The dragon is the toughest enemy we’ve faced in normal combat: 130 hit points, and with a choking breath attack that does 10-20 damage each to several characters. It’s a significantly tougher fight than with the demons, but we win. The secret seems to be Durkon’s "Dragon Bane" spell, which does 70 damage at a time. The rewards aren’t bad either: we get 84 experience each and a chest with 899 gold. Other fights in this area include necromancers and evil heroes; the former can cast "Lightning Bolt" and "Paralyze," but as usual don’t do so systematically. We aren’t even too badly hurt when we finally find our way to Birshada, a town geographically reminiscent of Rimuldar, located in the middle of a lake.

Birshada is another 20 x 20 town with the usual staples: a training center, an arms dealer (with some excellent +2 weapons and armor), a magic shoppe, an inn, a temple, a town square, and even a supply shop selling only torches and lanterns.
      

The best items we've seen yet. Also, a knife and dagger.

       

There are also several unique locations and encounters:

       

• The "Birshada Pottery Museum," which contains over 20 one-square rooms each with a pot. Each pot can be broken, which results in a fight with poisonous rattlesnakes.

• A small gnome with "a pale band of skin on his third finger where a ring may once have been" who promises to tell us where to find a Bloodstone if we can guess his initials. Up to three characters are allowed; for now, we have no idea.

• Nearby, another little gnome introduces himself as Gnimsh. "Can I help you?" he asks. I try RING, INITIALS, GNOME, JOB, HELP, SOULSEEKER, BLOODSTONE, SPHERE, RED SPHERE, KAMAZOL, but get no response.

• A second temple, the "Temple of Bane the Unforgiving." As we enter the high priest approaches us. "What do you say to him?" Whatever we try, he replies "Begone, infidels!" and boots us out. We’ve never heard of any Bane before this.

• A small section of town called the Poor House. A beggar asks for a single gold piece; when we give it to him, he tells us that his cousin "in the North Carpalas Mountains has been to the Isle of No Return and back." That sounds useful except that the Carpalas Mountains are back on the first island/continent, and we have no way to get back there.

• The Poor House is also home to a more enterprising soul, who requests 100 gold for some "very useful information." It’s a seller’s market so we pay: he advises us to look for a hidden temple in the Forest of Spiders (just east of town). Near him, writing on a wall advises that we visit the town square’s beautiful fountain.

• The aforementioned fountain, in the corner of the town square.

• Also in the town square, a colossal statue of a dragon (as usual, described in text but not shown graphically). "It stares at you with cold stone eyes." It sounds like an obvious candidate for the "Stone To Flesh" spell, but the clerics won’t learn that until they reach Level 10. No item that I have seems to affect the statue.

       

Finally, we find Dorf, the man we were sent to by the man in Hythenforge’s so-called blue house. He directs us to a location east of town where he buried a Red Glowing Sphere. "You'll need to keep it out of Kamazol's clutches," he tells us, since three such spheres exist and they are "part of the rituals for restoring the mighty sword Soulseeker."
     
We throw enough coins into the Town Square fountain and are advised that we have "earned a drink from the Fountain of Knowledge." We can choose to drink, or not. If we do, we see a vision of "a great altar," "a great statue of an unknown god," "a large, menacing tower of pure darkness" descending into the ground, "the evil lich-lord" Kamazol laughing to himself, and "a golden throne" upon which sits a faceless, blurry "future king of the realms." Somehow our party interprets this as a positive portent, and we all receive +2 luck "for this morale-raising vision." 

      

Look! Something's wrong with Hen Wen!

       

We trek back to the desert, find the Red Sphere, and return to Dorf. "Very good," he says brusquely, before utterly changing the subject and teaching us all "Mountaineering." After several hours pass in-game, he informs us that we must next reach the Isle of No Return, where the portal to Aegea may be hidden. Dorf recommends that we explore the nearby dungeon Sardain, which is blocked by mountains and so was previously inaccessible. 
                                                                                 
We smash untold pots and fight untold numbers of rattlesnake battles (does anyone remember the old classic, but punishingly hard, beat-'em-up game Battlesnakes?) to clear the Pottery Museum of both vermin and antiquities. After one of the battles, we find a scrap of paper tied with string to a two-handed sword. The paper reads, "DRAGON 3E 4S." The snakes don’t often hit but can poison us when they do. We become too careless and as a result Ruxpin is killed (again). We pay 3000 to resurrect him at the Temple, decide to sell all our goods . . . and the game crashes with a black, blank screen. We reload several times because it turns out the game is crashing only when Ruxpin (not any other character) is the one selling items. 

    

The docents have since denied us re-entry.

      

About this time, I re-read my notes and I realize that I may have missed my chance to get the scabbard from the Pit dungeon on the previous (and now-inaccessible) island. I email the game’s creator; Dr. Feldman isn’t sure, but he suggests that perhaps I'm now in a "walking dead" situation. I’m not yet sure if that was true, but we had definitely missed the scabbard. We reload in the Pit, walk to the scabbard and its forcefield, and (U)se the Bloodstone. "The force field dissipates into a fine mist," and we have the first of three pieces of Soulseeker. (I’m not sure why the scabbard is a necessary part of reforging the weapon, though). Luckily it doesn't take long to re-emerge from the Pit, meet the captain, sail across the river, Flee from every encounter, and march to Birshada.

     

The finest craftsmanship.

     

Clearing out the rest of our to-do list, we (S)earch Spider Forest and find the hidden temple, run by "Father Bob." He asks for a donation of 300 gold, and when we pay it, he "blesses the party." I can’t tell what this has accomplished, and the temple is empty when we try to enter it again. We also repeat all our earlier explorations of Birshada. Meanwhile, the pot clue said "DRAGON 3E 4S." The town square’s dragon statue is five squares east, and three south, of where we found the note. Furthermore, three squares east and four south of the statue is an otherwise-empty square that is curiously labeled "special" on the automap. No amount of looking or searching on either of those squares accomplishes anything. 
    

Not the biggest mystery from this session.

     

The bridge to Birshada is perhaps the best spot for grinding I’ve found so far. Almost every time we cross, we have a chance to enter combat against seven troll fighters and three troll mages! These are powerful fighters and spellcasters: the mages can "Slow," "Paralyze," summon "Hailstorms," and even "Petrify" us. The battles are challenging at first, but the rewards make it worth it: roughly 130 experience per character, and over 1000 gold worth of loot. We grind on the bridge trolls, get everyone up to Level 6, and buy some +2 flails for everyone. These seem to be the second-best "normal" weapons in the game (maybe the best, since they’re one-handed and so allow the use of shields). We also get some +2 shields too. Unsure of how else to proceed, we explore the rest of the continent (finding nothing), grind more, and reach Level 7 and a new sets of spells for everyone.

      

Fighting an infinite series of trolls on Birshada's bridge.

     

I have to say that the game definitely keeps upping the stakes at an effective rate. Enemies start to feel easy for a while, then we reach the next level of challenge and it’s touch-and-go again. Money starts to feel irrelevant for a while, then it isn't because we need to spend 4,000 gold per set of +1 armor. In Birshada, we have no shortage of mysteries; I have no clues as to any of the following: what to ask Gnimsh, how to guess the gnome’s initials, what the statue is about, or what Bane’s temple is for. I suspect (hope) that some of these are linked. Otherwise, our next stop may need to be the Sardain. I’m intrigued by this game and don’t hate it, but I’m not rapturous about it either. I need to find a way to pick up the pace.

   

Time played: 40 hours. 6 party deaths. 3 reloads. 6 crashes.
    

****

   

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   07/05/2026