Enchantasy: Island Hopping

The ship routes of Savallia.

      

Overview of this session

 

• Explored the city of Aramon and got some new clues
• Explored the city of Dalia and got some new clues
• Explored Jack's Cave and made a lot of gold 
• Found and rowed my first boats
• Visited Shaaran and got my first leads on the Grimoire
• Learned about the Mystic Bow and Mystic Sword
• Visited Kadaar and saved the city from a monster invasion 

 

Having failed to figure out a way to get through the fire in the basement of the king's castle, to find Blaze in the dungeon of Macino, and to find the magic horn in the Forest of No Return, I moved on to other items on my long list beginning with:

 

Aramon

Aramon is on the island of Hesperios, in the southwest of the game world, the city accessible only by ship travel from Hazlett. I explored the city in my usual circuit, searching all items of furniture, talking to all NPCs, and picking or unlocking all locked doors.

     

• I found a battery in a crate. I wasn't sure what batteries do in this world until later.

        

How would I even know what it was?

      

• A resident named Coyle teaches lockpicking. He has a son named Arnold.

• An unnamed resident will translate ancient languages for 5 gold pieces.

• An unnamed resident is looking for a copy of the Ghost Book, whatever that is.

• In the tavern, a colorful patron named Crazy Charlie likes to speak in rhymes. He insists there are magic fountains, which I know because I've experienced them.

       

You're such a knob.

      

• The piano player is named Ellard and the bartender is named Tavis.

• A guy standing in front of fountains refused to give his name but said he was looking for work. He seemed poised for us to feed him a specific keyword, but we didn't have it. 

       

I'm not sure. Is there anything you'd like to tell me?

      

Our primary purpose in the city was to find Wade, who we'd learned was researching the Mystic Bow. We did find him, in a temporary residence, but he was in the process of packing up to head back to Macino and wouldn't talk to us. He told us to look him up there.

       

I hate when characters in fiction say there's "no time" for something there is obviously plenty of time for.

     

The city was a gold mine for arms and armor upgrades. We went from longbows to ranger bows, longswords to broad swords, and leather to ring mail, cloth robes to padded robes. Chester got an upgrade from a staff to a grand staff. There's even a sword called a force sword that no one is strong enough to wield yet. I should mention that my finances have waxed and waned throughout the game, never getting much more than 300 gold pieces, easily spent on inventory (particularly arrows), but when it gets too low, I can just go to a slot machine and make about 50 gold pieces per 10 minutes of real-time investment.

    

Dalia

      

It's always fun to enter a new place.

       

This was another new city for us, on the western shores of the same southeast island (Meridion) that has Tiernan. Neither is accessible by ship; you have to take a ship to Hazlett and walk down, which is a nontrivial risk now that I get regularly attacked by 10 enemies at a time. Nonetheless, I made it and found:

     

• The body of another slain council member, Keenan, again just left to rot on the floor of his house.

     

Retired and expired, it seems.

      

• And it's not like the city doesn't have cemeteries, because:

      

Well, that's grim.

       

• A resident named Jasmine wants a water-tester. She said that shops no longer sell them.

• Lambert is the head of the Archaeological Society. He said they'd be accepting new members "soon."

• A shop called Halstead Antiques specializes in ancient scrolls from the pre-Darklord era. They're out of stock and expect more "next week."

    

Since there's no timekeeping in this game, I assume "soon" and "next week" translate to "after some plot point."

   

I was primarily in the city to buy a Gold Locator at the general store, which sold for $50. They also sold batteries for $4, and it became clear that the batteries are for the locator. Indeed, when you use them, they go directly into the locator without you having to specify that device, so I suspect there's nothing else powered by batteries.

    

Is it an artifact from another world? Another time?

       

Dalia otherwise didn't have any services--not even an inn--so it was a bit of an odd town. I'm sure I'll be back.

 

I then walked the long road to:

   

Tiernan and Keldar   

     

I came here because it's where I learned about the Gold Locator, and I thought I remembered there was a cave nearby that's supposed to have gold. Alas, while I did learn about the locator here, the cave in question is Jack's Cave back near Keldar. I made a long walk for nothing and had an even longer one back, fighting about a dozen battles--thank the gods for the inn along the way. 

    

My party was all about Level 8-9 when I got back to Keldar, and I spent the training passes appropriately. Chester reached skill level 10 in "Magic" and got what turned out to be his final two spells: "Resurrection" and "Thunder Clap." Further points spent on "Magic" increased spell power but conveyed no new spells. I'll have a rundown of all the spells at some point.

    

 I use "Thunder Clap" against an enemy party in Jack's Cave.

    

I took the time to go to the lockpick trainer in the dungeon for Shyra. She's now at the point that she can pick a lock if the three tumblers all come up less than 50, but that's still only a 12.5% chance per attempt. Fortunately, picks are cheap.

      

Jack's Cave

    

A kid named Jack in Keldar had told me about this place, supposedly full of gold. 

        

I realized I screwed up the dialogue here. I don't know how a character named "Job" would get by in this game.

      

I also wondered if I might find the Prince there, as he was rumored to have fled to some mountains near the castle. I powered on the Gold Locator as we entered, and sure enough, it beeps when you step in a square with gold. You then have to use the shovel on the square and search there. (The game helpfully activates the search automatically if you find something.) Most of the "lodes" were only two gold pieces, though. A few were 5 or 10, and there was one very large cavern with gold in nearly every square. My second battery died just as we started searching here, so I ended up digging every square in the cavern just in case one of them had a major haul. We didn't make life-changing money in the caverns, but I won't have to mess with the slot machines again for a while. 

    

Digging up the final chamber.

     

There were enough battles that I had to leave twice to return to Keldar and restore my arrows and magic points. We were all Level 10 by the time we got done.

We kill the final enemy in Jack's Cave: a "rabid spider." It's not enough that he can poison us; he has rabies, too!

       

The Other Mountain Range

     

The Prince supposedly ran off to the mountains, so my next goal was to explore the range that the map shows south of the castle--closer to the castle than Jack's Cave, so a more likely candidate. It is, on the other hand, on the other side of a river, and to cross the river, we had to loop around to the south until we found a bridge.

      

Since you can't move diagonally outdoors, there's no way to approach this cavern by land.

       

When we finally reached the mountains, we could see a cavern, but there was no way to get to it. All access points were blocked except for one path from the river. Clearly, this would have to wait until we got a boat.

     

We Got a Boat (Shaaran)

     

Continuing our exploration of cities that we hadn't previously visited, we sailed to Shaaran on Enchantasy Isle. And what did we see the moment that we stepped off the ship? Boats! Just sitting there against the dock for anyone to board and row out of the city. We explored the city first, though.

   

Before we even got off the docks, we were approached by a man named Aeneas who said that his friend Baldric had sent him to find us. Baldric is sick and dying but needs to speak with us about the Mystic Sword. He lives in Keldar. We hadn't met him previously because his house is only reachable by using a rowboat to cross a lake, "which I will have waiting for you when you arrive in town," Aeneas said. He then walked off. It was the first time in the game that I've seen an NPC actually walk from one place to another.

     

The party's presence on the docks triggered the approach of this NPC--a new mechanic for this game.

     

Other Shaaran findings:

    

• A ship sails to Keldar from here, but there's no way to make a return trip.

• A beggar named Benedict told me that some "evil" men have been hanging around town asking about some adventurers. This is confirmed by a local named Kell. I never saw any sign of them, though.

• A resident named Yetta normally gets visits from a mage named Abelard who lives "off the coast of Enchantasy Isle," but he hasn't been by in three weeks. It was only now that I realized this island is actually called "Enchantasy Isle." I blame the font.

• The armory has a lot more upgrades (great bows, chainmail, spiked robes), but we're not strong enough for most of them.

• A kid named Michael wanted to play ball with us, but we first had to get his ball back from his sister, Cora. Cora said she'd give it back if he returned her doll. As we went back and forth to each child, they piled onto the list of the things the other had stolen, requiring us to go to the other to ask about it. Cora: carriage; Michael: bat; Cora: comb; Michael: glove; Cora: brush. Michael: teddy. That was the last one. There seemed to be no way to resolve the issue so we left it.

          

This turned out to be a big waste of time.

        

• There's a mages' guild in town. The head, Lucien, suggested that I seek the advice of someone named Zedikiah, who lives in a hut to the west of town. He also said that the name of the island, "Enchantasy," comes from a mystical pond that offers powers to those who speak to it, but you have to know the words first.

• A guy named Romney in the tavern told us that the greatest hunter in Savallia is named Rainger, and he lives somewhere near Tiernan.

   

We left the town on a skiff, which did not turn out to be the solution to all our navigational problems, as you can only row it a couple of squares away from land. You can't cross between the major islands with it. However, while circling Enchantasy and testing it out, we did find the mage Abelard's hut on a small island just to the west of Enchantasy. Predictably, he was dead, but on his body we found an Archive Key.

         

Someone's picking off council members.

     

We found Zedikiah's hut on the southern coast of the island. He was alive, and said that Rudimon had told him we might visit. He offered the first information on the Grimoire: It was hidden ages ago. A map was made to the burial site, but no one knows where it is. Recently, Fridolf heard a rumor about an old map. Zedikiah said I should return when I've found the map.

        

Yes! The Grimoire! Finally.

     

Fridolf was hanging around in Zedikiah's garden. He said that we need to find the Magian Gem, which is somehow the key to finding the Grimoire. It will show its location if we're within two steps. The map will lead us to the general area. He suggested we talk to Glenda, the last known member of the Ransley family, which once was in charge of keeping the gem. Their estate is in western Omphalos. He had no clues on the map, but I wonder if the library in Portsmith is the answer, or perhaps the antiques shop in Dalia. There's also the question of what this Archive Key opens.

     

What does "Magian" mean?

       

I've been feeding the names of the slain mages to all the other mages, and no one has any specific reaction to them, which is too bad. I would think that finding this killer would be a priority.

Keldar and Macino

    

We returned to the docks and took a ship to Keldar. Sure enough, there was now a boat in the pond, and we used it to visit the dying Baldric. He said he wanted to help confront the evil taking over the land. He was the last living descendant of the hero Baldric who slew the Dark Lord in ages past. His Mystic Sword was buried with him, on the top of a mountain far to the west of Tiernan. It is accessible from a cave, but the cave can only be reached by a boat. Somewhere, I clearly need to find that magic whale horn so I can sail all seas.

        

By giving it COVID?

      

We headed to the docks to take a ship to Macino, and what did we find? More boats, now lined up along the docks. I swear they weren't there before. We abandoned plans to go to Macino and instead took a boat down the inland waterways to the ring of mountains with the cave accessible only from the river. Once there, we found another problem: the cave entrance is blocked by a giant rock. Neither my pick-axe nor dynamite worked to destroy it. 

       

Every time I think I've figured something out . . .

      

So we went to Macino after all and found Wade back in his house on the western side, second floor. He said that the Mystic Bow had been owned by the great archer Rotas. He was lost in a sandstorm 800 years ago in the Sonoran Desert. A man there might know more, as might Jonas in Tiernan.

Kadaar

For no other reason than I hadn't visited it yet, I moved across the northern edge of Thule to visit the city of Kadaar. We soon came across a mystic well that added 5 permanent hit points to our total. Standing nearby was a horse, which we could mount and ride, the first we've found in the game so far. Riding a horse cuts down on food, but it's a bit of a pain because to dismount, you have to be next to a tree or structure where you can hitch the horse.

         

I hope for its sake that icon represents four horses.

        

It turns out that one does not simply walk to Kadaar. It's west of an impassable mountain range, but for a thin stream running through the mountains. Thus, we returned to Keldar and took the boat up the river until we reached the city.

   

Kadaar had three levels with the usual shops and services: temple, wholesaler (buys items), general store, armory (nothing new), trainer, casino, tavern. In the tavern, I heard from waitress Elvira that monsters had taken over the mayor's office, forcing the mayor to a smaller room on a different level.

In the inn, I met a traveler named Thorndyke, who had a lot more to tell me about the magical whale and the fog horn that's supposed to summon him. I had previously heard that the horn was hidden in the Forest of No Return, and spent some time last session looking for it, but Thorndyke said there's more: It's hidden in a town called Udim, to which only residents know the way. Thorndyke recently met someone from Udim in Keldar; his name was Santon. I don't have a record of a Santon in Keldar, but I'll look again.

       

I nearly didn't see him, sitting in that chair.

      

Kadaar is unique among the towns in having a jail. Only one cell had an awake resident, so I picked my way in and spoke to him. His name was  Yuri. He confessed that he smuggles weapons and armor, and he said that we could "do business" when he got out of jail. He did not, alas, say where he would be found when that happened.

     

That's vague.

    

A beggar named Kipp told me that people think he's crazy because he saw a spaceship flash across the sky.

We found the mayor in his second floor room (we had to knock and ask for MAYOR). He confirmed that his office had been overrun by monsters and his secretary, Marella, was missing. He told us the key was in a dresser in his room, which we had searched before speaking to him and found nothing. When we searched afterwards, it was there, thus proving that in this game, some inventory items aren't seeded until certain flags are tripped.

     

The game's use of quotes to indicate key words has unfortunate implications in the mayor's speech.

     

The Mayor's Office was on the third level of the city, past a rooftop garden with four fountains. We used the key on the door and found ourselves in a suite of five connected offices. Each one delivered one combat: three crusaders, eight war woocans, one war woocan, three conjurers, and eight evilskels. I mostly killed them all with mass-damage spells, since I knew we could just go downstairs and spend the night at the inn if I ran out of magic power.

     

A typical battle these days.

      

The final room had a woman named Camille who said that she cleans the mayor's offices. Marella had been taken by the monsters to the dungeon. "The prisoner in the jail may know more," she said. I went back to Yuri, and he confirmed that his hideout was in the dungeons. He told me of a secret door at a particular point to the northwest.

I fought my way through about a dozen battles in the city's dungeon, retreating once to restock on arrows and recharge. I found Yuri's hideout but didn't steal any of his items. I ran desperately low on keys and lockpicks, but fortunately there was a lockpick trainer/seller in the dungeon. Not only did I buy 30 picks from him, I gave Shyra two more points in the skill, so now she succeeds if all of the tumblers are below the mid-70s, which happens about half the time.

    

Funny how every dungeon has one of these guys.

        

A final room in the dungeon held the grateful Marella. When I returned to the mayor, he gave me an Ancient Bow that none of my characters is strong enough to wield. I was hoping to learn more from the mayor or Marella about what this kidnapping/monster invasion was actually about, but they had nothing more to say.

      

But not enough to tell us why they took you in the first place.

       

I think I'll wrap up there. I finally feel like I'm building momentum in the game, particularly since I actually have leads on the Grimoire, but wow is my clue list long!

     

The current party status. Chester is earning most of the experience because of the mass-damage spells.

       

One thing I like is that the game does appear to be fair. The quests for which I have been "blocked" have been blocked for reasons, and I just needed to explore more to get the tools necessary to unblock them. That's a lesson for CRPGs and for life: as long as there's a place you haven't explored, as long as there's a square you have not mapped, you're not "stuck."

     

Time so far: 23 hours

 

A few other notes:

 

• Tell me what you think of the structure of this one. I've been thinking about ways to better summarize long narratives, and I thought a quick recap and section headers might help.

• Please note that there's a new page in my blog's navigation called "Recent Updates." Here you can keep track of both new entries and pages that are updated since their original publication. For instance, I received some cool new info on Drygulch (1980) recently, and there's a link to that entry on that page.

• Just after I finished this entry, commenter LanHawk figured out how to remove the copy protection for good. That doesn't mean that Erick Abel doesn't deserve his shareware fee. I am donating 20% of this month's Patreon proceeds to the American Cancer Society in Mr. Abel's name, as was requested in his obituary, and I recommend that other players who encounter this game in the future do the same with their shareware fees.