Lets Play The Temple Of Elemental Evil

[HoonDing]

The problem is I'm limited a bit by the maximum allowance of ten screenshots per post. The game is very dialogue heavy.

[sorophx]

well, there's no point in waiting for you, guys, to contribute, so I'll just continue from where I left off.

 

now, I had to reroll the whole party due to alignment conflicts. and while on it I decided to change Pidesco and Monte a little bit.

 

Pidesco wasn't out-of-this-world enough for me, so we went all Grace Jones (of Conan fame):

 

 

a slightly different stats and an undying affliction for bastard swords.

 

Monte, on the other hand, wasn't enigmatic enough. here's the new him:

 

 

I had to go into my meta-gaming mode and switch from rogue to fighter, I'll split him in a couple of levels, for now I'd rather have a back-up tank for the upcoming fights.

 

and that's it! we're ready to roll. here's an introduction (where our characters get to see each other for the first time, and upon meeting, are pulled into a whirwind of happenings, which binds them together and sends them on an epic journey).

 

'twas a warm summer night in Mitrik. the tavern packed full with all sort of bad folk. but, as with any story about heroes, among those one could find a few brave and noble souls, their hearts yearning for an epic adventure. and that day destiny had picked four warriors, for a mission that was anything but suicidal.

 

a group of four exits the tavern. and what a colorful bunch they are. a giant half-orc fronts them, seemingly absent from the discussion, juggling his greatsword lost in thought. a few feet behind him, a small gnomish figure, covered in robes tries to keep up with a heavily armored dwarven woman. they're having an argument. dwarf is the leader of the band, it seems. she has a noble stature about her and an emblem of a crimson heart on the chest-plate, undoubtedly the mark of a knight. they are followed by a tall woman, she is listening to their conversation, but judging by her grimace she can hardly understand them. the giant sword on her back only confirms her alien nature, you don't see a lot of obsidian bastard swords in Greyhawk, let alone Veluna.

 

suddenly, a shadow jumps at them from behind a corner. the green giant takes the full blow to the body, which doesn't seem to bother him one bit. the barbarian is more than twice the size of the attacker. the hooded figure drops on the ground in front of the group.

 

BARBARIAN: What in Nine Hells?

 

the assailant jumps on her feet and without a word attempts to run off into an alley.

 

BARBARIAN: Where do you think you're going?

 

the half-orc, with an amazing speed for his size, throws out his arm and manages to grab the woman by the hood. the rest of the party surrounds them. and at the same moment they hear an inhuman cry:

staggered, the group tries approaching the man, but then they see a dead body lying at his feet. looks like a fight is inevitable.

 

KNIGHT: Who are you? What have you done to the woman? Is she dead?

MAGE: Wait, who's he speaking to? I think these two know each other. points at the roguish woman in barbarian's hands.

 

what happened next happened so fast, nobody had any time to interfere. the hooded woman reached for a throwing knife at her belt with her free hand, and before anyone could stop her, let it fly. the knife pierced the bandit's skull, dropping him dead.

 

MAGE: Gromnir! Can't you hold her tighter? You look like someone capable of subduing a small-frame elf. And a woman too!

GROMNIR: Shuddup. We isn't seeing no immediate threat to us. Easily could break her in half if we wanted to. *pfft*

MAGE: Hey! You, elf, what's your name? Who are you?

ELF: Who I am is of no importance. What is important is that dead woman over there.

KNIGHT: And what's so important about her?

GROMNIR: Obviously it's important enough to have gotten her killed. We say search her.

MAGE (turning to the knight): Gromnir's right, my lady. Might pour some light on this mysterious figure we were so lucky to encounter.

 

they search both bodies, finding nothing but a small golden symbol and a letter with a seal of the church of St. Cuthbert.

 

ELF: I know this woman. It's Canoness Y'dey.

MAGE: And how, may I ask, do you know her? I'm beginning to suspect, this man was after you. Why? Maybe it was you who killed Canoness?

ELF: It's a possibility. But before you jump to conclusions, hear me out. The closest church is in Hommlet, I suggest we take this letter and the emblem there, show it to the chief cleric and...

KNIGHT: Excuse me, "we"? Who is this "we"? I see no reason to drag you along. What's more, I see no reason to trust anything you say either! We should just drop you at the jail and let the sheriff deal with this mess.

ELF: Look, my name is Monte Carlo, I'm from Hommlet myself, I was a guard for one of the trading caravans. There's some serious trouble with the bandints in Hommlet. They could use people like you there! You'll kill two birds with one stone. And I'll get to confirm my story. It's a win-win situation.

MAGE: Hmmm, for a brute you make too much sense, maybe we should go to this town of Hommlet, what say you, Lady?

KNIGHT: Well, how far is it?

MONTE: Only 1 day away, if we march immediately, we'll get there before dusk. Besides goes to whisper, I heard there's a dungeon nearby, overrun with undead, lots of treasure to be found, I reckon.

KNIGHT: Great... Bandits *and* a dungeon with the undead. What could be better? This is exactly what we need right now, bump some bandits' heads and spend the next couple of weeks underground, plowing through hordes of undead...

GROMNIR: Ha! Good fun!

 

end of introduction.

 

anyway, I'm not going to show you the town business, since Night had already done that. when we come back, I'll show you a couple of battles. ta-ta~

[Azure79]

Good start!

 

I'm looking forward to the mighty exploits of Gromnir.

[sorophx]

Ugh, hullo! My name is Elmo! I am from Hommlet. I grew up with my brudder Otis, Otis is very good. Not like Elmo, no, sir. He's smarter than me. Otis went off to find his fortune. I always wanted to be a adventu- re.. adventurer! But Otis not take me with him. I got very sad and started drinking. I wus very lonely. But I ain't lonely no more! Elmo has friends now, yes, sir! They come to Hommlet yesterday. Elmo wus first to meet them, Elmo always greet guests, it's hostil- hospitality! There's a purdy lady with a creemsun heart on her chest. And creemsun lady says to her friends, "oh my, look at this poor creature. he can barely stand on his two feet. he obviously needs help" and then creemsun lady says to Elmo, "don't worry, Elmo, I will help you", and I remember, I need 200 gold to give back to inn keeper's wife. And creemsun lady said, "Elmo, will you promise me you'll quit drinking if I give you 200 gold?", and Elmo said, "yes, ma'am, creemsun lady!", and then lady and her friends left to fight bandits... And Elmo is all alone again. But as soon as creemsun lady comes back with 200 gold, Elmo will give it to inn keeper's wife and then Elmo be free! And then Elmo will go with creemsun lady and her friends, and then Elmo will find Otis!

 

being the dungeon detector that he is, Monte led the team straight to the ruins of an old moathouse. Night already showed most of it. one good thing about the moathouse is that you can rest inside the small tower (after you get rid of the spider that lives there). clearing the structure itself is very easy, a couple of critters and a group of bandits, easily dispatched. we hit level 2 after this fight. I split Monte into a fighter/rogue to help ease the process of opening chests and disarming traps (and sneak attacks!). also split Grommy into a barbarian/fighter for the extra trait. by the end of this session Gromnir will have had the most kills under his belt, 53.

 

MONTE: Wait! I feel a soft breeze coming from underneath this rock Monte pointed at a completely flat wall with no cavities or cracks of any kind on it's surface, there's bound to be a secret passage here, I know it!

LADY CRIMSON: Pelor, give me strength! Why such a great affinity for caves and dungeons?

GROMNIR: We think this could be a trap. Remember, the identity of this hoodlum is yet to be confirmed.

MONTE: Hey! I wasn't the one, who insisted on coming here first. It was the "crimson lady's" idea. Those poor villagers have been suffering for so long, isn't that so? And then there's that Elmo character...

LADY CRIMSON: Shut it. You couldn't possibly understand. I could see it in their eyes, the broken dreams, the lost souls. They need me.

GROMNIR: Ha! Right, more like you needs them.

LADY CRIMSON: I didn't expect you to understand either, and since we're talking about Elmo, yes, I think we should help him. He's a good soul, I can feel it. He just needs a little pushing. Don't forget, all the money we find here will go to Elmo.

MONTE: Over my dead body.

GROMNIR: We could arrange that, would amuse us greatly.

LADY CRIMSON: Bah, don't worry, I'm kidding. I'm sure there's a lot more than 200 gold to be found here.

MONTE: Okay, okay! You want to know why I'm so attracted to dungeons? I'll tell you. I'm half drow.

GROMNIR: Ha! We has ourselves a thief who doesn't know whether he's mole or elf! Good fun!

LADY CRIMSON: I should've guessed. Of course! I bet you spent your whole life fighting in tunnels.

MONTE: Yes, as a matter of fact I did. I loved every minute of it. And guess what? In a couple of minutes you'll have a chance to appreciate the good old tunnel fighting!

 

with these words Monte pressed several stones, and a large section of the wall slowly moved to the side, opening a narrow staircase leading deep underground

 

MONTE (grinning): Ladies first.

 

the hidden staircase leads straight to the ogre. he was easier than I expected (after what happened to Night's party, although I did reload twice after he'd killed Grommy with a single blow on both occasions). first, since he's too big to go through the archway, I started the fight by bombarding him with magic missiles and arrows. thus Monte and Tig took half of his HP away before we even had to engage him in close quarters. then I 'zerked with Grommy, threw a Bless his way, he went in and... with a single hit finished the beast. OFF WITH THY HEAD! (I lucked out, really, Grommy scored a critical on my third attempt, doing around 30 damage to the ogre, way to go!)

 

in the ogre's room we found the remains of Night's party lying in the corner.

that huge horned monster is non other than Gromnir in his Bhaal-spawn mode

 

sadly enough, there was nothing to salvage, the only thing not chewed or torn was a magical cloak. guess it's better than nothing. we also found 3 torture victims in the prison cell adjacent to ogre's room. they were Gleem, Chanda and Nybble. Nybble kept saying something about people in strange robes, who had been visiting the ogre pretty often. before letting the losers go we extorted everything of value they had left (read: one lousy ring). clearing the rest of the dungeon was easy, we did lose a couple of guys to a Giant Crayfish, luckily there was an exit to the surface nearby, we used it to rest up a bit before checking the last big room of the dungeon. first we killed the single sentry, who was guarding a long corridor (it's possible to bluff your way past him or intimidate him into leaving, bluffing isn't the best of ideas because it will get your character in the center of the room right in front of the boss and his 12 henchmen, intimidating is pretty much the same as killing, just get rid of him before he can sound the alarm)

 

once you reach the room, a battle will inevitably ensue.

just look at this! 14 of them! including two lieutenants, (or mini-bosses)

 

I was pretty certain that a direct approach would result in a very quick death. so we tried to work out a strategy. first, we lured the melee fighters away from the room, separating the enemy forces into two groups. then, after these had been finished, we used a decoy tactic: Lady Crimson (who has the most HP and the highest AC) would stand in front of the archers, drawing all fire, while Pidesco and Monte stuffed the bastards full of arrows. the result:

one boss behind a closed door. easy prey he had some interesting things to say before we kicked his butt, though:

 

As you will die soon anyway, I will tell you a little of what you have stumbled upon. This place is but an outpost for the Temple of Elemental Evil reborn. Here I rebuild our forces and gather loot for the full restoration! Soon the Temple will be fully operational once again. I shall ride to victory in the service of Lolth as her most favored priest! You have earned my wrath!

 

he did give me trouble though. he can heal himself, and when he's not healing he casts Sound Burst, that damages everybody in the area of effect and has a chance of stunning them. good thing we have Grommy. 2 blows were enough to make Lareth reconsider. once at near-death, he was begging for his life.

 

LARETH: Enough of this madness! I am Lareth (wiping the sweat from his brow). Some say The Beautiful (now a bit angry), but not in this undignified state to which you have subjected me. Now what is your reason for this most unkind intrusion?

LADY CRIMSON: We came here to resolve the situation with the bandits that had been plaguing Hommlet. You are obviously their leader, no sense in denying it.

LARETH: Yes, you are right of course. And there is nothing more for you to discover here. Your path is at an end. Now I beg of you to leave me be and disturb me no further.

GROMNIR: You gots to be crazy. We not leaving here 'til your puny soul is crushed along with your mortal body.

LARETH: I would like to see you try, you ugly beast.

GROMNIR: Ha! Good fun! That will require a mere fraction of my power (makes a couple of steps towards Lareth readying his huge sword)

TIGRANES: Wait, wait! We need information first. Spill the beans, Lareth, and then *maybe* we'll let you live.

MONTE: Yeah, *Lareth*, where's the gold you've been storing here in the name of your beloved Lolth?

LARETH: Huh? (amused by Monte's look) This is most peculiar, do I know you from somewhere? There is something to your eyes, I've seen that look before! Would you mind removing your hood, if only for a moment?

MONTE: (makes a few steps back, annoyed) Don't change the subject. Where's the gold?

LARETH: But why settle for gold, when I can offer you a lot more!

LADY CRIMSON: And what would that be?

LARETH: I offer you the chance of a lifetime! A place where you can find wealth beyond your wildest dreams and experience the stuff of legend. I can show you to the temple... the Temple of Elemental Evil! I can guide you to an unguarded passage inside!

MONTE: That's not good enough, Lareth. Your surroundings here suggest you must have something to offer us right here and now.

LARETH: (desperate) Fine! Take my golden chain - it is worth more than your pathetic life tenfold! (takes the massive chain off his neck and throws it at Monte) Now take it and begone!

GROMNIR: We not think you be going anywhere without us (grabs Lareth's shoulder, grinning)

LADY CRIMSON: That's right, I'll hold you to your promise. After we visit Hommlet, you'll take us to the temple.

LARETH: Are you mad? Those villagers will kill me on sight! How about I wait for you here?

MONTE: (digging in Lareth drawers) Fat chance. Hey, what's this? (takes out a small book, that looks like a diary)

LARETH: That's personal! Give it here!

 

well, basically, there's two choices here. take Lareth with you, he will join your party in that case. or kill him. killing Lareth updates the moathouse quest in Hommlet. if you decide to take him with you, he will leave your party once you enter Hommlet. I was too lazy to check if he goes back to his dungeon and I really wanted to see this secret passage to the temple. so I asked him to take me there. he'll lead the party to a small tower guarded by a single sentry. after seeing "Master Lareth" he will let you enter. if you're foolish enough to proceed inside, this is what's waiting you:

yeah... Lareth will attack you at this point. for some reason I couldn't act (either a bug or a spell), after one turn, at some point, my characters' icons disappeared from the queue, and I could only watch as my party was being destroyed.

 

so I reloaded and decided to kill Lareth. the thing is I couldn't find the dialogue option to make him hostile and I lost my savegame, made prior to him joining. so I figured "to hell with this quest", took Lareth out for a walk and fed him to bears.

Lareth has some very cool things, a "freedom of movement" ring and a +6 Plate in particular. the only bad thing about this is I don't know how to find that tower again once I'm ready. probably should've left Lareth alone for a while. at least he was kind enough to mark a new location on the map, a village called Nulb.

 

that dead giant in the pic is a part of another quest, the Blacksmith in Hommlet will ask you for the head of a giant. not sure what it does though, presumably the smith opens his special stock to you. whatever. the giant can be found in the middle of the Emridy Meadows. there's also some nice loot where he dwells, and a bear. the area itself is swarming with undead. they stay underground until you come close enough, at which point they pop up. there are 3-4 clusters with undead. one of them contains another quest item, an artifact of the Church of St.Cuthbert. it's under a rock called Rainbow Rock. once you grab it, a party of undead will pop up and attack, so have to be prepared.

 

anyway, that's it for today. the party is lvl 4 already. the next update won't be coming for some time because I have to do all the quests in Hommlet off screen. when we come back, we'll travel to Nulb and see what's up in the north.

 

P.S: sorry about these posts being text-heavy. I keep forgetting to make screenshots whenever I reach a point of interest.

Edited January 14, 2011 by sorophx

[Tigranes]

Yeah, more screenies would work well. Man, TOEE really sells itself short with the fugly UI and the opening area, the game actually looks really nice as it goes on.

[HoonDing]

I was pretty certain that a direct approach would result in a very quick death. so we tried to work out a strategy. first, we lured the melee fighters away from the room, separating the enemy forces into two groups. then, after these had been finished, we used a decoy tactic: Lady Crimson (who has the most HP and the highest AC) would stand in front of the archers, drawing all fire, while Pidesco and Monte stuffed the bastards full of arrows. the result:

Web spell would've made things much easier.

[sorophx]

I had sleep and grease, the bastards saved against both

[sorophx]

hey, I take it back, there was some stuff in Hommlet worth showing. I think it's enough for a whole update. there's even a fight, and a tricky one too!

 

anyway, we took Elmo with us, as promised. I can already feel the electricity between him and Lady C actually, this update is full of love and matchmaking! and it's all thanks to Tig and his awesome speech skills. first, we went to visit the woodcutter to tell him that the giant spiders had been dealt with. he didn't seem to be happy about it, so Tigranes pressed him a little to make him open up. turned out his little daughter Amii had been very ill. and Terjon refused to heal her (probably just wasn't capable and didn't want St.Cuthbert's name stained). the woodcutter told us to try Jaroo instead, the local druid of the Old Faith.

hey, Jaroo, weren't you killed in Neverwinter during the attack on the city's academy? regardless, time to look for the Swamp Lotus, and we have a pretty good idea of where it might be.

 

but first! we really wanted to pay homage to the great heroes of Verbobonc we've been hearing so much about:

a green dragon, aye? sounds like something kids made up. let's go ask the heroes themselves.

hmmm, I guess it's true then, why would they lie to us, right? and of course the mighty heroes wanted us to help them out. it was something about the castle and it's build orders being constantly altered or stolen to hinder with it's construction. Tig assured Rufus that finding the culprit would be a piece of pumpkin pie and enabled his Sherlock mode. first, he went to the camp to ask about. there he heard about a guy named "Feefee", who had been hired by the foreman to handle the papers. Tig went straight to this Feefee character, who turned out to be a the guy Rufus was looking for. Feefee suckered the foreman into hiring him, then took over the logistics and kept sabotaging the construction in order to keep himself employed for as long as possible. for 100 gold he spilled the beans. He was hired by Rannos Davl and his companion Gremag, the two were running a business in Hommlet. it smelled fishy, so Tig and the gang decided to investigate and see where the thread would take them.

Rannos and Gremag had a very nice establishment. the party decided to take a peek inside.

at first glance they seemed like an honest bunch, a couple of respectable traders with reasonable prices. but why would they want to sabotage the castle's construction? Tig asked around some more. this time he was told that some shady character had been visiting the store every other night, only at nights. after checking the store's barn, Tig found the guy.

 

approaching the hooded figure

TIGRANES: Hey there! I was wondering if you could answer some questions about your stock here. You do have a very nice selection, I must say~

HOODLUM: Oh, excuse me, miss. I do not work here. If you would like to barter here, you need speak with the owners, Rannos or Gremag.

MONTE: As if this wasn't the point, do you really think we would go to a barn to look for supplies? Come on~

TIGRANES (stopping Monte): Well, I had a talk with the teamster who lives next door. And he thinks you are very suspicious. Going in and out of town at night, evading other villagers, what is it that you do for Rannos and Gremag?

HOODLUM: Sef holds suspicion over everyone ere he lost that cart of his. 'Tis best to let it pass and take no bother to him.

GROMNIR: You'd like that, ain't it so, huh? What's your name, boy?

TIGRANES: Gromnir, please...

HOODLUM (with a shaking voice, intimidated by Gromnir's presence): It's Rocutio.

TIGRANES: Well, Rocutio, you look like a smart guy. Certainly a proud intelligent man like yourself doesn't want to get mixed up with the likes of Rannos and Gremag, though.

ROCUTIO: I have no quarrel with those two and yet I care for them not. Methinks they have overspent their welcome. They're getting careless. in short, it's time we got some new spies down at the Temple.

LADY CRIMSON: What? Spies for the Temple? Is that what they do?

ROCUTIO: Yes, yes. Spies for the Temple of Elemental Evil. They report to me and I report back to the Temple. (looking Tig over as if sizing him up) This week's report will be very interesting to say the least. Now, let me go. Farewell.

 

with these words Rocutio pushed small Tig away and before Grommy had time to react slipped through the barn's doors. Grommy and Monte were about to pursue, but C stopped them.

 

LADY CRIMSON: Let him go, he's but a pawn in this game. We'll meet him soon enough, s it seems all roads in this country lead to the Temple of Elemental Evil. We'd better go inform Rufus or Burne of our findings.

 

so they did, Rufus promised to look into the matter personally. but it wasn't enough for our guys. they decided to check on the spies for themselves.

 

entering the shop LADY CRIMSON: Huh? Funny seeing you here still...

GREMAG: Beg your pardon?

RANNOS: What can I do for you, friend? May I offer you the services of my man-at arms?

MONTE: So how's business, Rannos? Your prices seem a little high for the market.

RANNOS: Our prices are quite fair. Still, we might be able to make a deal. Between friends.

MONTE: Cut the crap! You're no friend of ours, scum.

TIGRANES: I got your courier to talk, Rannos. I know you and Gremag work for the Temple.

RANNOS: This messenger of yours is (teeth gritted) lying! I cannot say what little games you or he are playing, but he is simply an agent for our supplier.

TIGRANES: Yet he told me your entire operation. I could even point out where you keep your log books from the Temple.

RANNOS (stays silent for a moment, exchanging looks with Gremag, who is pale as a ghost): What is it that you want from us?

MONTE: Money of course, stupid.

GREMAG: Would 100 gold satisfy you?

MONTE: Don't be a fool, you can afford to give more.

RANNOS: Hmmm, perhaps a friendly gift might buy your silence on this rather sensitive issue? No cause alarming the good folk around here. This is not about them. What do you say to this exquisite sword. It's a work of art, don't you find?

MONTE: I'll take that, thank you (grabbing the sword from Rannos's hands).

LADY CRIMSON: What do you mean "it's not about them"? What is it about then?

TIGRANES: Does it have anything to do with Rufus and Burne?

GREMAG: I see no point in continuing this discussion, you got what you came here for, now we expect you to leave and never come back.

LADY CRIMSON: What we came here for were answers. And so far we haven't gotten any. Keep talking.

RANNOS: Guard, see this people out, this conversation is over!

GROMNIR: It'll be over when we say it is (pushing the guard away)

GREMAG: That's it! Rannos, I think it's time for us to disappear (readying some powder).

GROMNIR (unsheathing his sword): Ha! Good fun!

 

the fact is you can't provoke these two into fighting, but you can kill them without any immediate consequences. the tricky part is you have to kill them in one round, because at the start of the second round they both will flee the shop. I'm not sure if you're supposed to meet them later, but the party definitely could use the loot right now. most of the stuff these two are sporting is +1, with two notable items: a chainmail +3 and a neck chain that nets 20000 gold if sold.

well, nice knowing you, but you really have overspent your welcome. the rest of Hommlet is pretty trivial, it's a converting/matchmaking fest. we'll go into that in greater details in a few moments.

 

interlude.

 

MONTE: So, Tig, how's your progress with Pidesco? He still doesn't talk much.

TIGRANES: Actually pretty good. He seems to understand most of what he hears.

PIDESCO: Ya.

TIGRANES: We were having a conversation about this village just now. We seem to agree this place has a lot of misery and unhappiness going on for it. It's a little over-the-top for such a small community, don't you agree?

MONTE: Yeah! Definitely. Just look at Lady, she's having the time of her life!

PIDESCO: Ahahaha!

MONTE: Hey, you do understand, good to know we got ourselves a savage with a sense of humor

 

end of interlude.

 

for the rest of this update I'm gonna be showing you some key points in Hommlet. they all revolve around marriage one way or another. first, Fruella. her father wanted to get rid of her so much, that he was prepared to give her to a complete stranger. First it was Kirottu. and not even a week had passed before Fruella was up fro grabbing again after his gruesome death. these people have no heart, I tell you.

yeah, since Grommy's the only male character in the party, Tig had to persuade him to play along. but ever since the ceremony Grommy has been very grim. I fear Fruella will share Lareth's fate. and you know what, this isn't the only marriage in our party.

That's right! Tig has grown so fond of the herdsman's little boy, our sorcerer feels it more than just an arrangement to save their family from being cast out. could this be love? we'll find out soon enough!

 

anyway, that's it for Hommlet. I had 70 screenshots from this session but writing 7 posts didn't feel right I'll cover some of the more interesting stuff in the next update.

 

we still have a couple of quests there which I have no idea how to resolve. I'll make a note here: 1) tattoos, 2) Corl, the boy who poisoned the sheep, 3) blacksmith's mysterious box that nobody knows how to open, 4) Valden's lost wife, 5) two suspicious character in the inn, the warrior and monk duo. this is what you can look forward too. but the next big update is going to be about Nulb.

this is how the game greets us, once we've gotten there:

 

Just a half-day's journey afoot from Hommlet lies the disreputable community of Nulb. this vile place has always been rumored to house thieves, brigands, smugglers and pirates. There are many bad folk in Nulb.

 

The village is filthy and ramshackle. the buildings are of turf, mud brick, crudely hewn logs, and old timbers from boats. one or two have stone foundations and proper boards, but even these are in need of repair. The everyday inhabitants of the village are boatmen, fishers, herdsmen, farmers, and the like. It is apparent that no one manages to make much of a living in Nulb, and as it is such a poor place, it is generally ignored by lords and bandits alike.

 

A small amount of commerce moves into Nulb from the Velverdyva, as Imeryds Run is wide and deep enough for the small river vessels to use for offloading cargo and likewise embarking it.

 

What a ****hole well, 'til next time! when it's going to be Elmo time

Edited January 15, 2011 by sorophx

[Tigranes]

Nulb? NULB!

 

Clearly we need some killing going on to control the amorous impulses in our female party.

[sorophx]

Nulb? NULB!

yeah... not a very good name for a town guess it's the taste of things to come.

[sorophx]

time for a new update I'm sitting on a ton of screenshots, so this update won't fit into a single post, more like 3. so, it would be a good idea to get to a new page. I think we're 5 posts shy still. so don't expect another update 'til we're on page 7

 

here's a little screenie as a bonus:

our old friend Jaroo, during his time with the Neverwinter academy. he was a nicer person then. definitely grew an attitude with the years. although, he does provide free resurrections, so we can deal with it.

[Tigranes]

Wrong thread much?

 

But yeah, let's get this to the next page.

[sorophx]

yeah, because an update is long overdue

[HoonDing]

Moar!

[Walsingham]

Jesus. Big update. NO time to read it all.

[sorophx]

I'm guessing this post should appear on the next page, thanks to your efforts so we continue.

 

well, Nulb definitely lived up to it's name. this is my most depressing update to date. but we'll be getting to that later. I forgot to take a picture of the panoramic view for you, so this pic made by a random guy will have to do:

 

 

so, where does a band of adventurers go once they're in a new town? to the inn of course. Nulb's inn is a very special place though. it's called the Waterside Hostel. it's run by two mean-looking guys. first, there's Wat, the bartender.

 

 

nice, Tigranes, very diplomatic! that was enough to persuade him, and as any normal evil character he immediately offered our party - this group of suspicious looking characters that got to town, like, 5 minutes ago - a job, on behalf of the Fire Temple's High Priest.

 

WAT: Here, I'll mark the Temple on your map. When you reach the Temple, don't go inside right away. Go around it, there's a small tower in the backyard. Tell the guard I sent you, and he'll take you to the High Priest. You'll get your instructions there.

MONTE (whispering): Hey, isn't that the tower Lareth wa~

LADY CRIMSON (giving Monte the elbow): (Shut up!) A-HEM, thanks for the tip, Wat, we'll set out for the Temple immediately.

 

there's also Rentsch.

 

 

he looked very suspicious, but other than the fact that he was missing an eye, you couldn't say what was wrong with him. he looked tough, though. he also seemed to get agitated whenever one of our guys tried to strike a conversation with Dala, the local serving wench. she acted very suspicious also, Monte figured her out right away, she obviously was trying to pick-pocket every new face in the building. but so far none of the obsidianites (named so after Pidesco's sword, mind you) has been able to catch her in the act. and then none of them knew what to expect from Rentsch if they did. so leaving that awful place seemed like the best possible idea. but not before Monte had robbed the owners blind

 

next stop, local smith. and this is where things got really bad.

 

 

the character's name is Otis. yes, that's right, Elmo's brother Otis. for some reason whenever I tried talking to him, he'd attack me, I'm not sure why. I tried with different characters, it was no use. what's more, if Elmo is anywhere near Otis at the time, he will immediately turn on you. but wait, there's more. Otis is a level 10 (!) fighter, and taking him with you to the Temple is the only way of getting another good NPC (a level 9 cleric). so, by killing Otis you effectively lose three (!!) best (!!!) NPCs this game has to offer. good thing the CO8 patch made it possible to lose him and NOT lose access to masterwork equipment in the process(they copied it over to Hommlet's smith, which should have been done by Troika from the start, god damn it). THAT would be a disaster. I have a theory about why it happened with Otis. I'll go into that later. but the bottom line: Otis had to go.

 

 

and seriously, I can do without Otis, but losing Elmo would have been awful.

 

 

you really should hear him do it, that voice... it's priceless! if I don't forget, I'll FRAPS it next time. Elmo's great, good thing he's a retard, otherwise he might've gotten suspicious of the fact that the party had sent him back to Hommlet where he got the news his brother was dead, killed in Nulb.

 

Otis's apprentice Sammy turned out to be a rat, by the way, he offered to show us Otis's stash for 200 gold (why didn't he take the treasure himself is beyond me, especially now, that Otis was dead). the stash wasn't anything special, a +2 sword and a +2 mail, would've not been worth it if Otis had lived, that's for sure.

 

after all that'd happened the party moral was down. they needed a good fight to get back on track. and fortune presented them with an occasion. in one of the houses they found an old pirate named Grud Squinteyes.

 

 

he was one of the more respected citizens and doing him a favor could prove useful. he asked the obsidianites to catch a fish, but not just any fish, it had to be the Giant Gar. he marked the location on the map where the fish could be found. our guys could hardly wait.

 

 

well said, Fruella! besides, there was a chance of finding a Swamp Lotus for Jaroo too. so they went to the Imeryds Run. and there they got ambushed by lizardmen, a swamp hag and a King Toad. the fight was quite challenging. infact, it was so intense I completely forgot to take pictures of it in the end we prevailed though:

 

 

we did lose Monte. luckily Lady C had a scroll of Raise Dead, so no permanent losses. whew, I'd hate to lose everybody's favorite tunnel-fighter. the lizardmen themselves don't pose any kind of threat, since they tend to swarm on Grommy, who can take the whole bunch within one round with Cleave. the hag and the King Toad were nasty. the hag is a barbarian/monk with a chance to poison on every attack AND a magical resistance. the toad has the ability to swallow party members whole and digest them. so we had to work fast.

 

once they were done, finding and catching the fish was a trivial task.

 

 

I don't know if you can see it, it's right there, under the rock, to the left of Elmo. they didn't find any lotuses, though. guess the woodcutter's kid will have to hold on a bit longer.

 

so, after receiving the fish from the obsidianites Grud promised to spread the word about our heroes and make sure the pirate community appreciated everything that was being done to help the people of Nulb. technically this means we get a reputation entry in our log book. we have two more there, one stating that Hommlet doesn't appreciate our friendship with Lareth. wait, could it be that Otis attacked us for this reason? but why would he care? he left Hommlet a long time ago! well, I'll tell you all about it in a few moments.

[sorophx]

to be done with Grud, he has a friend named Preston Wetz.

 

 

Preston is in a very bad mood and won't talk to you unless you pass a diplomacy check. good thing we have Tig on our team. unable to resist Tig's charm, Preston proceeded to tell the heroes about his terrible tooth ache. the only guy in town who can treat it is some pirate named Bertram, and it will cost Preston, a lot. but Preston doesn't have any money. and he won't accept it from us. there is a way to help him, though.

 

Preston is a pimp. he gets the dough from Ophelia, who's in charge of the local brothel. Ophelia has been having trouble with her girls lately and can't pay Preston. there's another woman involved, too. Mona the gypsy fortune teller owes Preston 500 gold coins, surprisingly she's been having trouble with her business too! wow, this town is in a really bad state. well, at least we don't see any broken people around, or this would turn into another Lady fest. anyway, I'm not sure what will solve Preston's problem, helping Mona or Ophelia. we'll look into both eventually. but first.

 

the party enters a small room, there are a lot of shelves filled with bottles, all kinds of liquids in them, the smell of dried plants is almost unbearable. an old bent woman is standing behind the counter. she turns to Tigranes, who's first to approach her.

 

 

the old bent woman walks up to Tigranes.

OLD LADY: Welcome to Mother Screng's Herb Shop. (mysteriously) How may I help you?

TIGRANES: Good day to you. My name is Tigranes, and these here are my associates, we're a band of adventurers and have arrived to Nulb just today~

MOTHER SCRENG (interruptin Tig): Oh! Where did you say you've come from?

TIGRANES: I didn't. We hail from Hommlet, the vi~

MOTHER SCRENG: Say, dear, you wouldn't know anything about the recent death of our smith, Otis, now, would you?

LADY CRIMSON: Tig, I'm sorry, I'll have to take over. (drawing Screng's attention) As I am the leader of this band, I'll take full responsibility and admit that it was indeed us who slayed the blacksmith. But I can tell you we didn't do anything to provoke him~

ELMO: Poor brudder, Elmo is sad, I nevah had chance to speek to Otis...

MOTHER SCRENG: Dear me. You even have his brother walking with you. What kind of a sick joke is this? Have you any idea what you've done?

FRUELLA: Well, he attacked us first! What did you expect from us? I don't know about you folk here in *Nulb*, but I DO NOT appreciate arrows being shot at me! Why, I~

GROMNIR: Shuddup.

FRUELLA: What? What I say? Did I say anything wrong? (Gromnir sighs and looks away) No, wait, tell me. Go on, tell me! Dear?

MONTE: For heaven's sake, will you please stop? I hate scenes, especially when you're involved, Fruella. Nothing personal, Gromnir.

GROMNIR: None taken.

LADY CRIMSON: Could you all just shut up for one minute? Thank you! Mother Screng, you were saying~

MOTHER SCRENG: As you are from Hommlet, I'm sure you're not associated with the Temple of Elemental Evil in any way. So I guess keeping it a secret from you isn't worth it. Well, Otis wasn't a simple blacksmith. No, he came to Nulb for reasons far more important than supplying pirates and bandits with weapons. Otis served the crown. He was sent here by the king himself to keep an eye on the locals. His mission was to survey this area and look for the Temple's agents, find out about their operations and report back to the king. Otis could detect any evil presence. This is why he attacked you, you had a taint on you. Tell me, have you had any dealings with the Temple's priests?

LADY CRIMSON: I'm afraid yes. We had been accompanied by a priest named Lareth for some time. In exchange for his life he promised us he'd show us a secret passage inside the Temple. But tried to trick us by leading into a trap.

MOTHER SCRENG: And where is this Lareth now?

LADY CRIMSON: He's dead. We encountered him in the ruins of an old moathouse to the south of the Temple, where he had tried to accumulate resources for his army.

MOTHER SCRENG: Ah, so you were the ones who cleaned the moathouse. I'm relieved.

MONTY: Wait just a second, lady. How do you know about Otis's relationship with the king's court? This whole shop is just a cover-up, obviously. You're an agent for the king too, aren't you?

MOTHER SCRENG: No, no. I'm with the church of St.Cuthbert. I'm Canoness Y'dey.

 

dum-dum-dum~

 

how about that? remember that woman we saw get killed at the beginning? well, turns out she wasn't the real canoness but a decoy. an interesting twist. anyway, if we had Otis with us, we could ask Screng/Y'dey to join us, she's the lv.9 cleric. also, on the second floor of her shop is a woman named Hruda, she's Screng's daughter, and would join the party, if Screng was in it. by killing Otis we lost this possibility (and almost lost Elmo too!). thanks, Lareth. I guess you did harm us even from beyond the grave.

 

well, enough mourning, let's go see what we can do about that business with Preston's money. first, we visit the brothel.

 

 

Ophelia reveals to us that a couple of girls had left her some time ago, and now she has to make the best out of what she's got left. the problem is two of the girls don't make any money at all. Tig agreed to look into it, but of course C insisted on leaving the place. Tig did catch one other thing though. apparently, the brewer's apprentice from Hommlet named Mickey has been coming to Nulb for entertainment and developed quite a nasty habit of beating up Ophelia's girls. Preston isn't man enough to handle him, obviously. we'll have to pay Mickey a visit.

 

so the party went with another lead: Mona, the gypsy. we found her outside her house.

 

 

when confronted with her debt to Preston she told the party that her crystal ball had been stolen. until she gets it back there's no way she can repay Preston. but the surprise part only comes now: it was Mickey who took it! oh, that Mickey, we'd better go find him immediately before he does something even more despicable.

 

 

when threatened Mickey not only returned the orb but promised to not go to the brothel ever again. that's good news for everyone, I guess. so we took the orb back to Mona, while Tig went to speak to Ophelia. Mona was very pleased, especially after we bought Serena off her hands. wait, who?

 

 

Serena was Mona's slave basically. she came to Nulb to look for her sister (who had been working in the brothel all this time), made some enemies here, got into some debts. well, Mona payed her debts off after employing Serena, effectively binding Serena to herself. Lady C couldn't just walk by so she payed Mona 500 to set Serena free. but being a very proud individual Serena told C she wouldn't rest until she payed our party what she presumably owed (hint: she's a recruitable NPC). she also would read the obsidianites' fortune if asked.

 

this reading fortune business is a way for the player to determine some events later on in the Temple. you pick a line thus choosing one future occurrence. I haven't seen which answer leads to which even yet, we'll look into that later.

 

anyway, back at the brother, Ophelia asked Tigranes to provide some psychological help to one of her girls. coincidentally Tig chose Serena's sister (whose name escapes me at the moment).

 

 

when spoken to, the hooker will hint at the possibility of buying her out (what the hell is wrong with this family?). Tig decided to free her and payed 500 gold out of the team's budget. Lady Crimson approved.

 

next stop - the pier. there's a funny looking character.

 

 

his name is Bertram, and he's the one that takes care of people's teeth around these parts. furthermore, he's a slave (god, what is it with this place and slaves, everybody and their mother seems to have one) of a guy named Tolub, who usually hangs out at the local tavern. Lady C couldn't just walk by, again, and she insisted on helping the guy out, again. Bertram did look out of this place. with a purple bandana and all. and for some reason he showed a lot of affinity towards Gromnir (making Fruella very angry).

for those of you who haven't figured it out yet: he's openly gay.

 

 

the only way to free Bertram was to go have a talk with that Tolub character. off to the tavern they went.

 

 

and there he was, waving his hands like a windmill trying to pick a fight with everyone. most pirates have chosen to avoid him, most women were in awe. Tig couldn't get Tolub to talk about Bertram, the only way was apparently to kick his butt. Gromnir stepped up to the challenge. a hand-to-hand bar brawl is definitely good fun in Grommy's book. we decided to buff him up, though, just in case. he then went into Rage and kicked the crap out of Tolub.

 

this is a tricky part in the quest. you can free Bertram even if you lose, but you have to bring it up right after the fight. if you lose you get to buy Bertram for 1000 gold, if you win, you can pressure Tolub into releasing Bertram for free. for some reason I didn't get the needed option after beating him with Grommy (because of low intelligence maybe?) and it didn't occur to me to reload and lose to him with another char (I didn't want to pay 1000 gold, but I guess I lost more in the end because the quest is now unfinishable). I'd like to think that Grommy just hit Tolub too hard on the head, so the poor guy forgot who Bertram was. let's pretend it all ended good.

 

the party has done a lot of good in one day, to finish it on a major note they decided to go to Preston and bring him the good news. well, the guy was so happy he proposed to sell the party his house! shaving half of the price off was no problem for Tig, so now our heroes had a base of operations, from which they could strike the Temple's forces and to where they could make a swift retreat. a very welcome purchase, because they had already established the next day's objective. they were going to the Temple on a reconnaissance mission.

 

 

see you next time, in the Temple of Elemental Evil!

[sorophx]

we're not done with Nulb yet. there are still quests I have yet to initiate. not to mention tying up all the loose ends in Hommlet. first, I tried roaming the country hoping to get into a special encounter or something. no such luck. I did have a chance to admire the rich flora and fauna in areas surrounding the Temple, though.

 

 

I was hoping to at least find a Swamp Lotus on their remains... nope, nothing. and so, the party has finally arrived to the Temple's gates.

 

 

here's what the game has to say about it.

 

The road to the Temple is rutted and spotted with rank weeds - thistles, burrs, thorns, nettles, etc. Some foot and animal traffic has been using the track, but it is not a busy thoroughfare.

 

As you approach the temple are, the vegetation is disconcerting - dead trees with a skeletal appearance, scrub growth twisted and unnaturally colored, all unhealthy and sickly looking or exceptionally robust and disgusting. The ruins of the Temple's outer works appear as dark and overgrown mounds of gray rubble and blackish weeds. Skulls and bones of humans and humanoids gleam white here and there amidst the weeds. A grove of some oddly stunted and unhealthy looking usk trees still grows along the northern end of the former Temple compound, and the stump of a tower juts up from the northeast corner of the shattered wall. The leprous gray Temple, however, stands intact, its arched buttresses somehow obscene with their growth of climbing vegetation.

 

Everything surrounding this place is disgusting. The myriad leering faces and twisting, contorted forms writhing and posturing on every face of the Temple seem to jape at the obscenities they depict. The growth in the compound is rank and noisome. Thorns clutch, burrs stick, and crushed stems either emit foul stench or raise angry weals on expose flesh. Worst of all, however, is the pervading fear which seems to hang over the whole area - a smothering, clinging, almost tangible cloud of vileness and horror.

 

Sounds seem distorted, either muffled and thrill or unnaturally loud and grating. Your eyes play tricks. You see darting movements out of the corner of your eye, just at the edge of vision; but when you shift your gaze towards such, of course, there is nothing there at all. You cannot help but wonder who or what made the maze of narrow paths through the weedy courtyard. What sort of thing would wander here and there around the ghastly edifice of Evil? Yet the usual mundane sounds of your travel are accompanied only by the chorus of the winds, moaning through hundreds of Temple apertures built to sing like doomed souls given over to the tender mercies of demonkind and echoed by macabre croaks from scattered flapping, hopping, leering ravens.

 

and we haven't even stepped inside yet. good fun!

 

here's the layout of the main floor:

 

 

there are no enemies on this level. there are, however, 4 chests found in 4 different parts of this area. each chest contains 8 robes of a certain Temple (fire, air, earth and water). I guess they're supposed to make it easier to go around different Temples? we'll see. there are 6 possible exits in total, but 3 of them don't seem to lead anywhere. there's even one locked door, which raised Monte's interest at first, but when he picked the lock, it turned out there was nothing behind it. maybe it will be used later? we'll see.

 

so, now we have four options. 1) we can go straight to the Earth Temple and see what's rolling in there, 2) we can go to the Water Temple, 3) we can drop down to the Air Temple via a secret passage in on of the wells, 4) remember these guys?

 

 

well, they're guarding a secret passage to the Fire Temple (hey, whadda ya know, Lareth wasn't lying), and since Wat offered us a job there, they will let us pass, but only this once. the downside is, we'll be blindfolded and taken straight to the High Priest Allrem.

 

 

after he's done with the party, we'll be able to leave, but some priests will still recognize us as impostors and attack. this is the site of one of the more challenging battles, by the way (along with the one in the tower). so I'd rather wait a bit and level up. oh, I can't decide. so many options! I'll have to dwell on this.

[Tigranes]

4), because there's not enough near-death experiences in this LP yet.

 

Never got into TOEE and I'm not regretting it yet, the writing is pretty horrible and it just seems like such a silly project for Troika to have done - they could have done the faithful tactical TB D&D combat thing in a more original setting.

 

this reading fortune business is a way for the player to determine some events later on in the Temple. you pick a line thus choosing one future occurrence. I haven't seen which answer leads to which even yet, we'll look into that later.

 

This sounded cool though.

[sorophx]

4), because there's not enough near-death experiences in this LP yet.

there will be plenty of that soon i'm in the Temple right now, the dungeons are huge and there's no way of resting safely. running all the way back to town seems too much.

 

I have to agree, the writing is awful, the dialogues and the story. but I don't think they could've done a better job with a different setting. well, DarkSun maybe. Troika's games are very messy, I can understand why some people love them, but all in all I'm glad Troika's story is over. I'd hate to see them make a Fallout game, which would probably be a mix between Bloodlines and ToEE.

[Nightshape]

4), because there's not enough near-death experiences in this LP yet.

there will be plenty of that soon i'm in the Temple right now, the dungeons are huge and there's no way of resting safely. running all the way back to town seems too much.

 

I have to agree, the writing is awful, the dialogues and the story. but I don't think they could've done a better job with a different setting. well, DarkSun maybe. Troika's games are very messy, I can understand why some people love them, but all in all I'm glad Troika's story is over. I'd hate to see them make a Fallout game, which would probably be a mix between Bloodlines and ToEE.

 

Real men play IRONMAN!

[sorophx]

people at CO8 say ironman sin't safe really, losing 2 hours of progress doesn't sound nice

[Tigranes]

What? Ironman is game over when your party dies, not two hours. Or does TOEE have NWN1 OC-like resuscitation?

 

Arcanum was fantastic and there's no doubt that Troika had the talent to make great, if buggy, games. I just can't understand why they picked this project to begin with. Did they really think it was going to sell well because of the 'brand value'? Maybe in 1987. It just made zero sense, and after the lacklustre sales of Arcanum it was like jumping on a suicide train.

 

Glad this LP will let me see how it turns out, though.

[sorophx]

What? Ironman is game over when your party dies, not two hours. Or does TOEE have NWN1 OC-like resuscitation?

doesn't it let you load a state from the last time you were in a town? I thought Ironman was something akin to the tough cookie trait in FOT

[GreasyDogMeat]

I tried to beat ToEE multiple times, usually quitting early on. Eventually I did manage to make it to the final boss but ended up rage quitting during the battle and I haven't picked it up again.

 

That was something about the Infinity Engine games, even the hard Icewind Dale 2 was worth playing through to see what would happen next. Its games like ToEE that remind me how vital a good story is to a RPG.