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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Demetrios1453" data-source="post: 9435504" data-attributes="member: 6801060">Curse of the Azure Bonds (Part 16): The Cave of the Dracolich (Part 3)Well, let's see what else is in those treasure chests![ATTACH=full]376590[/ATTACH]Of course![ATTACH=full]376591[/ATTACH]Sometimes the character you choose will just take damage and not reach the chests. Annoying, but not too big of a problem. We are much more successful in the next try, as, besides the money (the same amount of money is in each chest), we have some magic items as well![ATTACH=full]376592[/ATTACH]We'll take those and look at them later after we've gotten the treasure from all six caskets.I switch out to Baroness Bella, as Bant has taken some damage and she now has the most hit points.[ATTACH=full]376593[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376594[/ATTACH]Grumble. We switch out to Bant. He manages to get a chest with just the money, but when he tries again:[ATTACH=full]376595[/ATTACH]This is getting irritating.The next time, however, we get some further nice treasure.[ATTACH=full]376596[/ATTACH]Well, all that money is causing issues, as we're too overloaded to take the far more important magic items. We drop some of the cash, and are able to take the loot this time.[ATTACH=full]376597[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376598[/ATTACH]After that, Baroness Bella gamely goes in again.[ATTACH=full]376599[/ATTACH]Grumble.The next time, she gets a chest with just the money, but only takes the gems and jewelry. Finally, in the last chest, we get some nice loot again:[ATTACH=full]376600[/ATTACH]When we try once more:[ATTACH=full]376606[/ATTACH]Well, let's see what we got![ATTACH=full]376601[/ATTACH]Well, Brother Baltor gets that mace. He has a drow mace right now of equal power, but this one won't evaporate once we leave the area. I'll keep the dragon slayer sword as a backup for Baroness Bella to use when we encounter dragons (if I remember to switch it out). The ioun stone is also quite the find, as it's the strength one, and we have a character that's under 18 STR.[ATTACH=full]376602[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376604[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376603[/ATTACH]That's definitely better, and will help out with her melee attacks and carrying capacity.[ATTACH=full]376605[/ATTACH]Brother Baltor has the remainder of the items we found here. The magic-user scroll, as well as the one Baroness Bella has, will go to our magic users. We'll keep the dragon breath scroll handy in case we need it. As for the gauntlets... perhaps we can finally improve Akbar?[ATTACH=full]376607[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376608[/ATTACH]Apparently his stats are hard-coded in the game. There's no reason for this, especially when using magic items, but that just seems to be the way it is...At least he and Brother Baltor are ready to level![ATTACH=full]376609[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376610[/ATTACH]Brother Baltor has gained enough ranger levels that he can now memorize and cast some low-level druid spells (this is the only way to access druid spells in the Gold Box games). However, they aren't particularly exciting choices.[ATTACH=full]376611[/ATTACH]7th level and 4th level spells for Akbar! Let's get that ice storm!But before he and Brother Baltor memorize their new spells, let's see what was on those scrolls.[ATTACH=full]376613[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]376614[/ATTACH]Some nice spells for both to scribe!So, let's rest, heal up, and scribe and memorize spells![ATTACH=full]376615[/ATTACH]We just get one "Fix" attempt in, healing only some of the party, before our rest is rudely interrupted.[ATTACH=full]376616[/ATTACH]Grumble. At least it's patrol #6, so only three more possible patrols after this.[ATTACH=full]376618[/ATTACH]This time the drow mage doesn't even try to cast spells, but just runs up to melee (he was one space back at the start). Note that his HP total is still green, so he hasn't been hit at all. He just YOLO'ed up and started swinging away with his sword. Um... sure, whatever. I'll take it. He rapidly pays the price for such foolishness...[ATTACH=full]376619[/ATTACH]Soon, we've worn them down, and Buffy ends the battle in a spectacular way...[ATTACH=full]376620[/ATTACH](Trust me, backstabs are so rare and so satisfying that I post all the ones Buffy gets)But we're even lower on health now...[ATTACH=full]376621[/ATTACH]Luckily, this time we're able to rest, and get fully healed up.[ATTACH=full]376622[/ATTACH]But during the battle, I noticed that we're still badly encumbered.[ATTACH=full]376623[/ATTACH]Time to dump even more extraneous cash.[ATTACH=full]376624[/ATTACH](I already dropped the 2 gold before this)[ATTACH=full]376625[/ATTACH]That's much better! I repeat the process for everyone, and soon they are far more mobile again.Time to head south from the fire cavern entrance.[ATTACH=full]376626[/ATTACH]Interesting way of spelling hookah. But then again, in 1989, autocorrect wasn't a thing. At least they could have consulted a dictionary![ATTACH=full]376627[/ATTACH]We say no.And thus begins the single hardest fight so far in the game. Since there are lots of screenshots involved, we'll pick up right here in the next post!</blockquote>

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