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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Demetrios1453" data-source="post: 9542716" data-attributes="member: 6801060">Curse of the Azure Bonds (Part 27): Yûlash (Part 1)This section done, it's time to move on. As the map doesn't continue further south (into what would be Sembia), we head back north, to Essembra.[ATTACH=full]390486[/ATTACH]Yeah, not much choice here.[ATTACH=full]390487[/ATTACH](A quick look at the GBC overland map, which is labeled, since I wasn't always able to get the blinking cursor indicating which location the party is currently at)[ATTACH=full]390488[/ATTACH]We actually do enter the city, even though it's not necessary, to top off on arrows. We used quite a lot of them, and even though we were able to grab some while looting, we're getting a bit low. The general store in Haptooth Village didn't sell any, annoyingly.[ATTACH=full]390489[/ATTACH]I get everyone at or near 255 arrows, which is the max (almost certainly since 256 is 2^8, which made it the highest number available in these early CRPGs), and then head onward north out of town.[ATTACH=full]390490[/ATTACH]Back to the Standing Stone it is![ATTACH=full]390491[/ATTACH]But not before another Monty Python-esque copy protection check! With the code wheel protection deactivated in the current iteration of the games, you don't have to do anything but hit Enter for each of his three questions.[ATTACH=full]390492[/ATTACH]With that, we continue towards the Standing Stone.[ATTACH=full]390493[/ATTACH]Our mysterious stranger from the last time we were here![ATTACH=full]390494[/ATTACH]We thank him for the info.[ATTACH=full]390495[/ATTACH]Well, all our options to the northwest are through the forest. We'll take the road to Hillsfar to the east, and then double back on the road along the south shore of the Moonsea.[ATTACH=full]390496[/ATTACH]To Hillsfar it is![ATTACH=full]390497[/ATTACH]Those Fire Knives just won't give up, it seems![ATTACH=full]390499[/ATTACH]Since we were ambushed, they go first, and shuffle around a bit trying to get angles to shoot at us with their crossbows, since (as you will see), this outdoor map is pretty full of trees and other obstacles.[ATTACH=full]390500[/ATTACH]Brother Baltor moves up, but his movement allowance ends right next to his target, making him unable to attack with his mace. Well, he has other things he can do![ATTACH=full]390501[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]390502[/ATTACH]Both fighters near him are held! (he couldn't target any of the others due to the trees)Even though Bant can't quite make it to the main group, he can definitely deal with the unfortunate victims of the spell...[ATTACH=full]390503[/ATTACH]Brin takes a much more direct approach after moving forward to get a better view.[ATTACH=full]390504[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]390506[/ATTACH]This leaves the remaining foes badly wounded, and, once my melee get up there, they make quick work of them.[ATTACH=full]390507[/ATTACH](Also, I accidentally hit "Q" when attempting to aim - which would have been "A" - with Buffy at the start of combat, which placed her into an automated quick combat mode. So she annoyingly just sat back and threw sling stones instead of advancing and using her bow.  This used to be a bit of a disaster in the previous versions of the game, as the only way to get a character out of quick combat was to hit the space bar as they moved, which was often hard to time correctly. And, worst of all, they stayed in that mode permanently until you got lucky enough to hit the space bar just right, so it could be several battles before you regained control of the character. If this happened with a spellcaster, they'd cast pretty much random spells, either useless ones, or not caring if they got party members in the AoE! Thankfully, these days, it's auto-reset after an encounter.)[ATTACH=full]390510[/ATTACH]Meh, not much XP, and no magical treasure. Well, onward to Hillsfar![ATTACH=full]390511[/ATTACH]We took no damage, and used a single spell. So we'll just journey onward.[ATTACH=full]390512[/ATTACH]We'll head northwest towards Yûlash, although it is interesting to see our old stomping grounds of Phlan make an appearance (it's the city in the far northeast corner of the map).[ATTACH=full]390513[/ATTACH]The Red Plumes are the military of Hillsfar, and they are often at war (as they are at the time the game is set) with Zhentil Keep. Unfortunately, as mentioned previously, one of our magical tattoos is that Zhent symbol. So we have no choice but to fight.[ATTACH=full]390514[/ATTACH]12 this time! This will be a bit tougher than the previous battle.As they are bunched up together, and this outdoors battleground is much less cluttered than the last, time for my magic-users to do their stuff![ATTACH=full]390515[/ATTACH]The only problem is that, per 1e rules, fireball has a smaller radius outdoors than inside. So it's only going to have the radius typical of ice storm and not effect as many targets. But Bragir will still get most in the AoE, since they have yet to move and are still nicely bunched up.[ATTACH=full]390516[/ATTACH]Well, that will clear the field a bit![ATTACH=full]390517[/ATTACH]Only a couple made their saves, with the remaining six within the AoE dying outright. Things suddenly became much easier. Also, my melee have moved as far forward as they can in the meantime, and are set to "Guard", which will mean once any foes move forward to them, they'll get a free attack.Brin will follow up on Bragir's success...[ATTACH=full]390518[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]390519[/ATTACH]Not quite as good, but it will knock the ones who fail their saves into single digit HP. With minimal HP left, we just pummel them with melee and ranged attacks, and they swiftly go down.[ATTACH=full]390520[/ATTACH]Again, pretty minimal XP, and nothing in the way of any real treasure.[ATTACH=full]390521[/ATTACH]With that done, we quickly reach Yûlash.[ATTACH=full]390524[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]390525[/ATTACH]Well, that doesn't sound particularly promising! Next time, we'll enter Yûlash and see what the battle inside the walls is all about!</blockquote>

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