Betrayal at Krondor: Right to Roam, Part 1

The party's travels during this session.

      

This session begins in Chapter 3 of the game. The Moredhel (evil elves) are amassing to the north, and Sir James, Owyn the apprentice mage, and Gorath the rogue Moredhel are trying to figure out their plans. It's clear they've purchased the services of the Nighthawks, a guild of human assassins. We went to the city of Romney to meet a contingent of the king's soldiers, only to find them all slaughtered in the Black Sheep Tavern. Evidence shows that the Nighthawks arranged for the soldiers to get intoxicated to make the killing easier. The killers inadvertently left behind a spyglass and a silver spider. We're now looking for the Nighthawks' headquarters, and we've determined that our next clue is in Cavall Keep.

    

Cavall Keep is two towns to the north of Romney, but I'm going to get to it the longest way possible, pushing the boundaries of this open-world game.

     

First, though, we clear up a few things from the last session. We accidentally broke the quest chain by finding an NPC on the road before we finished the quest for Joftaz in Silden. I fix this by returning to Silden and burglarizing the house with the stolen pouch, then returning it to Joftaz. (Thanks to Wild Juniper for the hint.) He tells me that he sold the Silver Spider to someone who looked like a Nighthawk, bound for Krondor on a ship. On the matter of the Spyglass, he suggests I seek out the trader, Abuk, who I encountered last time. 

   

Meanwhile, commenters suggested that there might be more to the Silver Spider and Spyglass than just quest objects. This turns out to be correct. The Silver Spider will add poison to a weapon, and the Spyglass helps you find objects in the immediate area. Right away, we find a locked chest we'd missed, although it just has a suit of standard Kingdom Armor. 

      

This comes in handy a few times.

      

We next run up the road to Romney, fighting a Nighthawk ambush on the way, to tell the Duke we convinced the head of the Ironmongers' Guild to return to the negotiating table. As the Duke gives us some coins and a key as a reward, he introduces a new word to my vocabulary: "One day the enfeoffed of the Kingdom will cross swords with the Guilds and it is not likely to be a bloodless affair." The "enfeoffed" are the serfs of the feudal system--those given land based on the promise to work it for a liege.

       

With now a reason to visit Krondor, I head south and west along the road. We check places we've already explored on the way back through, but I won't bother relating all of the "we've already been here" messages. I'm also not going to relate every chest we open, every skill book we buy, every night we camp or stay at an inn, every time we repair our items, every item we loot and sell, or every time we make some money singing for our supper. I will mention that we go from 2,615 sovereigns to 1,127, almost entirely because of a new staff.

     

Owyn still doesn't get a lot of praise, even when he makes money.

    

Let's get on with it:

          

• The first new thing we discover is a pair of Pantathians--serpent men--on the road to the Oracle of Aal. They are hard. Their spells absolutely lay waste to the characters. They always get to act first in combat, so my only hope is to surprise them with multiple buffs. They have a lot of hit points. In six tries, the best I'm able to do is one Pantathian dead, one fled, and two of my characters in the single digits for hit points.

          

A Pantathian takes Gorath out of commission.

       

• At the Oracle of Aal, I find that Owyn can ask about the murder in Romney. The Oracle will only tell us that one of the two objects we have "indicates a murder you may not have realized has taken place" and that in determining where to go next, "the brass Spyglass will guide you to your path." That would suggest we can ignore the Krondor lead. But of course we don't.

      

I'll be the judge of what I "truly wish to know."

     

• In Malac's Cross, we stay for a couple of days at the inn to recover from the Pantathian battle. Owyn earns more in barding than the room costs. In the Temple of Ishap, Abbott Graves offers some insight into the Silver Spider: It costs a great deal of money, so the person who used it must have been wealthy. Furthermore, he probably has connections with Kesh, where the spiders are made. We also spend 20 sovereigns for a lecture on tactics which increases our "Assessment" ability.

     

I have this screenshot of the innkeeper complaining about students at the Temple of Ishap, but I don't remember that anything came of it.

       

• Five Nighthawks attack us on the road between Malac's Cross and Darkmoor, and I surprise myself by defeating them, although it leaves us battered (about half-health). Their gear loads up our inventory.

• In Krondor, we stash some quest items in James's room. We speak to Katala, who says that Pug and Arutha have been acting secretive lately and aren't telling her anything. She also says there's been an outbreak of Quegian Fever at the ports. James gives her some messages for Arutha.

• Several battles with pirates that don't give me much trouble. 

      

I have no sympathy for any of you feculent maggots.

      

• Three fairy chests at some point: "It flies without wings, strikes without beak, teeth, or talons. It has no eyes in its pointed head, but it can kill birds in flight" (ARROW). "They feel no pain, no sorrow, no greed. They have no anger, no hatred, nor need" (THE DEAD). "The strongest chains will not bind it; ditch and rampart will not slow it down. A thousand soldiers cannot beat it; it can knock down trees with a single push" (WIND). I don't think I found anything special in any of them.

• In Tanneurs, which we have never visited, we find an abandoned house with a Horn of Algon Kokoon. It turns out to summon a couple of hounds who assist in battle. I bungle a trap north of Tanneurs, and James suffers serious damage.

      

Still can't figure out what I was supposed to do here.

     

• We make a disastrous side trip to Sethanon. With all the buffs and spells at my disposal, I'm unable to defeat groups of multiple shades. After five or six tries and a lot of wasted time, I reload. 

     

Still can't do anything with these guys.

     

• The town of Eggley is mostly vacant and abandoned. A guy named Devon tells us what happened. During a recent annual festival, a key figure was killed before a ritual could be completed, leading the townsfolk to believe that the village is cursed. They've relocated to other nearby towns.

• We're attacked so many times by pirates and Moredhel between Eggley and Questor's View that it starts to get really old. Owyn is left near-death. We leave so much good equipment on the road that it physically hurts. This game could seriously use more shops more often.

      

The most infuriating message in the game.

     

• A trapped chest yields a Tsurani light crossbow and a note indicating that the Moredhel are still searching for Gorath.

• In Questor's View, we finally unload some equipment. In the tavern is a guy named Grimm who never laughs and none of our options get him to laugh. A week at the inn does virtually nothing to get Owyn off death's door. We need a temple.

      

Over the next few hours, I start to get seriously annoyed with the game, because we can't walk 5 steps in any direction without getting slaughtered by Moredhel or Black Slayers. In fact, there are two of the latter stationed just outside Questor's View, and they're so good that we can't seem to exit the town in any direction without triggering them. I begin to wonder how we got into the town in the first place. It's my fault for adventuring without enough herbs or potions or whatever, I guess, although I don't remember the last time we found a place that sold any of those things. Earlier, I said that I liked the weight and realism that came from taking wounds and poison and such, but the game could have perhaps been a little more forgiving. Getting knocked out in combat practically cripples you for the next four hours--real time.

         

I'm also a bit irked that surprising enemies hardly ever works, and that many of them can't be surprised because they don't exist in the environment until you wander into their patch of ground. Gorath is always stopping the party to warn us of danger ahead, but other than putting some oil on our swords, there isn't much that you can do with this intelligence. 

     

Enemies lie in wait as we approach a bridge.

      

• Eventually, we break through to the south. In Sarth, we spend basically half of what we have on a Lightning Staff for Owyn. I don't even really know what it does--just that it's better than the regular wooden staff I already had. It has 40 "uses." I guess we'll see what it does in combat. We also spend a fortune getting Owyn back on his feet. Of course, this just cures his "near-death" status; it doesn't actually heal him. So naturally we're attacked by rogues on the way out of town, and Owyn is immediately knocked out again. On a reload, I try the new staff, and it casts a lightning bolt spell on one enemy. It's okay. Maybe not worth 1,200 sovereigns.

       

Owyn's new staff helps take out the Black Slayers.

     

• We take the road all the way down to Krondor and then back north again. This makes sense if you look at my map. We're in much better shape when we reach Questor's View again, and this time--with a combination of luck, buffs, and spells--we prevail against the Black Slayers. One of them has Dragon Plate Armor, the best armor we've seen in the game so far. 

• Chests on this route that I opened in previous chapters remain emptied.

• We find a random shop northwest of Questor's View which has the first herbal packs we've seen in a while. We buy a lot.

       

Owyn freezes an assassin.

      

We're attacked a lot as we head north, by bandits and Moredhel. I use the occasion to experiment with spells. I also note that Owyn's new staff makes him a player in melee combat, although it naturally isn't the best use of him.

     

• "Fetters of Rime" (1-20 points). Damages and freezes opponents for a few rounds. Very useful, especially since you can cast it at a low cost if you want.

• "Flamecast" (1-20 points). Casts a fireball that damages the targeted creature most but also does ancillary damage to anyone within 2 squares. Unless enemies are in the right formation, I'd rather use the points on "Fetters of Rime."

       

"Flamecast" damages one guy for a lot and a second guy for a little.

      

• "Despair Thine Eyes." Reliably takes one mortal creature out of action for a couple of rounds. Great low-cost spell, but I don't think it works on undead or magic creatures like the Pantathians.
  

• "Steelfire" (10 points). Causes a blade to do extra fire damage. I only cast it for the purposes of experimentation. It works very well, enhancing the power of melee attacks. But I think I'd rather spend the points on "Fetters of Rime." 

      

James's "Steelfire"-enhanced sword does extra damage to a bandit.

       

• "Invitation" (1-10 points). Pulls the target forward. Usually, I want to keep targets away. The only time I've used it is in a trap encounter when I pulled an enemy into the trap.

• "Hocho's Haven" (7-14 points). Shields a target from damage. I have to experiment more to see how useful it really is. I'd rather take an enemy out of action for 6 rounds for the same number of points.

• "Gift of Sung" (1-20 points). An armor spell. See below.

• "Skin of the Dragon" (4-20 points). "Invisible armor," the description says. I always have trouble prioritizing defensive spells over offensive ones, especially when you cannot cast them before the battle begins.

        

Moving on, we find that combat is slowly getting easier. Or perhaps we're just fighting easier enemies.

    

• Not much happens until we reach LaMut, where the barkeep in the tavern tells us a long and complicated joke that depends on understanding Tsurani customs and mores. We don't understand it. But it might be what's necessary to make Grimm laugh in Questor's View--if we ever get back there.

• The dude that Gorath killed in the game's prologue is still lying on the ground at the start of the game.

     

Most bodies disappear between chapters. Not this guy.

      

• In Yabon, Owyn still doesn't want to visit his aunt.

• A guy living in a house, Jeremy, wants us to find a box just west of Hawk's Hollow and return its contents. He'll give us a skill book. I think I've met him before. I just didn't do his quest.

• South of Tyr Sog is new territory for me. I'm immediately attacked by four Moredhel with three dogs. 

     

I don't like killing dogs.

     

• The city of Loriel has nothing going on. Except for one shop, all the buildings are closed.

• South of Loriel, we're attacked by a new enemy: giant spiders.

           

I'm not sure the game needed these.

     

• Hawk's Hollow is barely worth visiting, but we do find Jeremy's chest to the west. It is trapped, but I'm used to casting a trap-detection spell before opening chests. The chest has emeralds and a few doses of Redweed Brew. We return to Jeremy, yell at him for not telling us about the trap, and take from him a skill book called Thiful's Bird Migrations. Despite the unpromising title, it increases every skill by about 5 points. That was certainly worth it.

         

It takes each character 16 hours to read. Any idea why it increases every skill?

       

After returning to Jeremy, we're at the crossroads east of Tyr Sog again. Whether we go north or east, we're in brand new territory. This session has been largely about re-exploring ground we covered in previous chapters, particularly Chapter 1. I look forward to seeing what the next session has to offer, and I'll draw conclusions about the game's open-world approach then.

      

Time so far: 30 hours