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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Demetrios1453" data-source="post: 9350262" data-attributes="member: 6801060">Pool of Radiance (Part 65): Valjevo Castle (Part 8) - Valjevo Castle and GAME completed!This is it! Time to finish Tyranthraxus off and complete the game![ATTACH=full]364129[/ATTACH]As we stand in front of the stairwell looking down, it's obviously time to buff up. I didn't memorize haste as I have several potions of speed around, so it's time to start using those.[ATTACH=full]364130[/ATTACH](At the start of the next combat, each character who used a potion of speed will get a message that they have aged, which will add one year to their age on their character sheet. As Baroness Bella is the only human with a relatively short lifespan, this doesn't matter too much, and for her, elixirs of youth are available in later games once we start using the potion's equivalent spell haste on a more frequent basis)Also, it's time to use those potions of giant strength I've been hoarding.[ATTACH=full]364131[/ATTACH]What? Wrong class? I guess the modded paladin and ranger classes are causing it to bug out. This is seriously annoying. Well, at least the potions of speed work. Bant and Brother Baltor use the ones they have as well.[ATTACH=full]364132[/ATTACH]The potion of giant strength works for Bant at least.Brother Baltor casts his buffing spells:[ATTACH=full]364134[/ATTACH](Oops, I only got a screenshot after he had cast bless and prayer.But now, for the BIG buff:[ATTACH=full]364135[/ATTACH]I've been saving the dust of disappearance until this point. It's like a hugely overpowered mass invisibility spell that lasts for a very long time and doesn't drop even after attacking or casting spells. Basically, no foe can target anything but melee attacks on those immediately next to them, and even those are at a negative. As no equipment or items transfer to Curse of the Azure Bonds, there is simply no reason not to use it now.Here is what the party looks like buffed out:[ATTACH=full]364136[/ATTACH]Weird. I'm not sure if there's some bugs going on here, but characters under the same effect have different durations. I've never seen that happen in one of the Gold Box games before. I'll chalk it up to PoR early installment weirdness.All buffed up, we head down the steps.[ATTACH=full]364137[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]364138[/ATTACH]An ancient bronze dragon? How unusual! But we've read multiple accounts concerning Tyranthraxus taking over host bodies, so probably the dragon is an unfortunate victim to that process.(Also, an ancient dragon in 1e is nowhere near as ominous as it would be in later editions).[ATTACH=full]364139[/ATTACH]Whelp, the inevitable guards and fight against them.[ATTACH=full]364140[/ATTACH]Wait, it said two guards previously. That's 12! Oh well, we should be able to take them out pretty quickly, especially being buffed and invisible.Both magic users go quickly, and both immediately decide that fireball is the best option here...[ATTACH=full]364142[/ATTACH]Both will choose the same target location.[ATTACH=full]364144[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]364145[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]364146[/ATTACH]Both get decent damage from them. But these guards have 87 HP each, so it's going to take a bit to wear them down.[ATTACH=full]364147[/ATTACH]As they can't see me, the enemies outside of melee range just stand there and guard.Since they remain lined up, my magic users decide to use some other items...[ATTACH=full]364148[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]364149[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]364150[/ATTACH]And I don't have to worry about the guards moving to attack them when they are all isolated out there due to the invisibility!We've started to grind them down after a couple of rounds.[ATTACH=full]364151[/ATTACH]Buffy tries to get into the magic action.[ATTACH=full]364152[/ATTACH]But with less than spectacular results.[ATTACH=full]364153[/ATTACH]As the melee have started to take down the ones directly in front of them, Brin switches out to her bow, but Bragir launches another bolt from his wand.[ATTACH=full]364154[/ATTACH](This one made his save, it was actually a 16 point damage bolt)After that, we take care of them pretty quickly. Buffy tried to get in some backstabs, but just didn't have any luck.[ATTACH=full]364159[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]364160[/ATTACH]Nice!  That's enough for Brother Baltor to level up![ATTACH=full]364161[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]364162[/ATTACH]As for their treasure:[ATTACH=full]364163[/ATTACH]I failed to get a screenshot of it, but they are all plate mail +2, which is an improvement for the magic-users. They quickly equip it while Tyranthraxus waits impatiently to have his BBEG final battle speech of gloating and hubris.Here's how the party looks going into that battle. We didn't even take a hit from the guards.[ATTACH=full]364164[/ATTACH](The level limit on cleric is really hurting Brother Baltor's hit points here - he goes up significantly at the start of Curse of the Azure Bonds when he can level in cleric again. He's out two cleric levels at the moment because of the limit!)We make ourselves comfy for the inevitable incoming Big Bad rant.[ATTACH=full]364165[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]364166[/ATTACH]Really? We just carved through your guards like they were butter.But the game forces each character to choose yes or no. If you have evil NPCs along (hirelings, for example), they will choose to join him.[ATTACH=full]364167[/ATTACH]After we all choose "Attack", the final battle starts![ATTACH=full]364168[/ATTACH](The icon actually looks pretty good, other than the wings, which just look completely wrong. Thankfully, dragon icons in the later games actually look really good. In fact, there's an overall graphics improvement for all things, including foes, in all of the games after this one)Really, the only problem is that he has a very low AC, but with the weapons we have, that's not as a significant problem as it could be. Also, most of our buffs are still up, including most importantly, the invisibility. We hit him a few times (and a few misses) before his turn comes up. He attempts to use his breath weapon (which went so quickly that I didn't get time to get a screenshot), but because he can't see a target, he aborts it! Meaning, by the middle of the second round...[ATTACH=full]364169[/ATTACH]Well, that was a bit anticlimactic![ATTACH=full]364171[/ATTACH]He wasn't even worth as much XP as his guards![ATTACH=full]364172[/ATTACH]And no treasure as well? A tyrannical leader of a city in dragon form should have oodles of treasure! I guess we forced him into bankruptcy due to him trying to replace all the followers we disposed of?But, anyway, our attention is drawn towards the dying dragon...[ATTACH=full]364190[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]364191[/ATTACH]Gulp.[ATTACH=full]364181[/ATTACH](Not shown, the quick animation as he's sucked down into the Pool, and the Pool going empty. In the module, Tyranthraxus can actually jump to a new host like a party member at this point. Thankfully they didn't put that in the game)[ATTACH=full]364182[/ATTACH]The game just teleports you to the entrance to Civilized Phlan, instead of making you walk all the way back through the hedge maze and five zones. That was actually very considerate of the game designers! Thanks![ATTACH=full]364183[/ATTACH]We drop the head of the defeated dragon-demon, and just behead the guards right there in the street, in front of the cheering crowds. If anything, the cheering grows louder.On to the City Clerk![ATTACH=full]364184[/ATTACH]I would hope so![ATTACH=full]364185[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]364186[/ATTACH]Wow! 45,000 XP![ATTACH=full]364187[/ATTACH]Nice of them to give us so much. Not that it will be of any use at all, since, here in a few minutes, the characters will be transferred to Curse of the Azure Bonds and lose everything, including the piles of gems and jewelry that we've been given. But it's the thought that counts, right?But the reward was not for naught though. The XP will stay, and not only will that help once we get into Curse and start to be able to advance level-blocked characters again, it's enough to allow Buffy to level now![ATTACH=full]364188[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]364189[/ATTACH]And that's that! The game is won! The city clerk says we can continue on adventuring around if we wish, but we've pretty much done everything we can - we could wander around the wilderness a bit to find random encounters for some extra XP I guess, but that would be a tedious endeavor for little gain at this point. Time to move on - Curse of the Azure Bonds beckons!I'll do a quick post to show how everyone looks at the moment, and maps of the final two zones. After that, I'll do a post in the next few days on my thoughts on this game before starting up Curse. Please feel free to post your thoughts on Pool of Radiance as well!</blockquote>

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