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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Demetrios1453" data-source="post: 9547647" data-attributes="member: 6801060">Curse of the Azure Bonds (Part 28): Yûlash (Part 2)As we enter Yûlash, we get a sudden surprise.[ATTACH=full]391145[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]391146[/ATTACH]Our runaway princess and her beau are still out and about, running over innocent characters, it seems.As we enter the ruined city for real...[ATTACH=full]391147[/ATTACH]Running away is useless, as we'll have to come back here anyway. Fighting makes the one actual faction in the city that can potentially be non-hostile become hostile, so Parlay it is.[ATTACH=full]391148[/ATTACH]Again, fighting and running away are counterproductive, so we're off to see the commander.We move around a bit on the map, and get to sit in the waiting room.[ATTACH=full]391149[/ATTACH]Nothing happens unless you move around a bit out of boredom. It's a pity that the games at this point don't have much in the way of music (PoR and DQoK both have more music, with the latter actually having battle music!), or I'm sure we'd be treated to typical waiting room/elevator music at this point.But any soothing thoughts are quickly ended, as after shuffling around the room for a bit...[ATTACH=full]391150[/ATTACH]I'm kind of curious of what the set up for all this is. The spies are coming out of the commander's office, and, as we will see, they aren't an insubstantial force. Was it a botched assassination attempt? If so, how did they get so many so close to the commander? And how were they unsuccessful? There aren't troops pouring out of the office, so either the spies ran away when they had the commander at their mercy, or any troops driving them out just watch as their foes run away, and give no help as we fight them.Well, whatever happened, we don't like the Zhents very much since they've put their mark on us, so fight it is![ATTACH=full]391151[/ATTACH]There are a good number of them, and they have a cleric and two wizards. This won't be simple fight. (And again, how were they driven off from the commander with such numbers?)[ATTACH=full]391152[/ATTACH]Oh dear, I can't target the wizards directly (there's no "TARGET" option), so they've got some buffs on them.[ATTACH=full]391153[/ATTACH]At least the cleric is right there in the front line, and the top wizard is within reach of my melee. It's that wizard at the bottom that I'm most concerned about!Brother Baltor looks to help even things up quickly.[ATTACH=full]391154[/ATTACH]While Brin attempts to clear out those foes towards the bottom. Invisibility or protection from normal missiles won't help that wizard against AoE attacks![ATTACH=full]391157[/ATTACH]The fireball definitely damage the fighters (I actually got a shot of the fire exploding over one of the foes in progress on screen!), but the wizard remains unharmed. Grrr... they must have a minor globe of invulnerability on them as well as whatever is giving them immunity to ranged attacks (I looked it up afterwards, and it's protection from normal missiles).The bad news is that third level and below spells won't effect them. The good news is that we have quite a few higher level spells available that will harm them!Meanwhile, Brother Baltor's spell has gone off, and successfully![ATTACH=full]391159[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]391158[/ATTACH]That cleric better be praying to (presumably) Bane, as he's not long for this world.Bragir, seeing the fireball didn't do anything to the wizard, adjusts accordingly...[ATTACH=full]391160[/ATTACH]With satisfying results![ATTACH=full]391161[/ATTACH]Brin follows suit...[ATTACH=full]391162[/ATTACH]And our wizard goes down (I mistimed the shot, so no skull and crossbones and death notice).[ATTACH=full]391163[/ATTACH]Annoyingly, the remaining soldiers to the south have moved up on Bragir, so he can't use his bow...[ATTACH=full]391164[/ATTACH]But... they are nicely lined up, aren't they?Bragir has all sorts of spells available now due to his new ring, so let's let one off...[ATTACH=full]391165[/ATTACH]And they get zapped. They were too far away from the wall though for any to get the bounce back which makes 1e lightning bolt so much fun (that is, when it's your enemy that get hits twice - these games definitely like to have foes aim the spell at you when you're next to a wall!)[ATTACH=full]391166[/ATTACH](As for the other wizard, Baroness Bella has been hitting him consistently, and he goes down right after this screenshot)With the tides turning against them, they, annoyingly, start to run away.[ATTACH=full]391167[/ATTACH]Well, that won't do! Even though he only has 1 HP left, Brin goes for overkill in order to make sure he doesn't get too far and escapes...[ATTACH=full]391168[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]391169[/ATTACH]But while he goes down, the other remaining foes also make a run for it. One runs past enough characters to be taken down from behind, but two of them manage to survive and reach this same doorway. Bragir decides to deal with the situation with extreme prejudice...[ATTACH=full]391170[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]391171[/ATTACH]One goes down, but we still have a runner...[ATTACH=full]391172[/ATTACH]Ugh, he's moving away quite quickly. Bragir follows Brin's earlier idea...[ATTACH=full]391173[/ATTACH]Thankfully, Bant has caught up to him and has taken down a lot of hit points, so the magic missile brings him down...[ATTACH=full]391175[/ATTACH]That was a bit of a rough fight, but we persevered in the end with minimal damage.[ATTACH=full]391176[/ATTACH]And have gained a lot of XP! They must have some nice stuff![ATTACH=full]391177[/ATTACH]Indeed they do![ATTACH=full]391178[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]391179[/ATTACH]Those bracers are nice, but for both her and Bragir, the banded mail +1 are just a tad bit nicer, so they both don the new armor.[ATTACH=full]391180[/ATTACH]I was also going to upgrade Brother Baltor, but he's got a ring of protection +3 which is negated when using magical armor, so he's staying with non-magical armor and the ring instead.In any case, the Zhent spies now being dead, it's time to meet the commander.[ATTACH=full]391181[/ATTACH](His name, as revealed in later games, is Priam. He'll go on to be a major NPC in Secret of the Silver Blades and make a short but memorable appearance in Pools of Darkness.)[ATTACH=full]391182[/ATTACH]We go with "NICE". We need a safe area and allies in this war-torn city![ATTACH=full]391183[/ATTACH]At this point, the game is checking for several things to determine his attitude towards you. As we haven't fought any Red Plumes (in Yûlash at least), defeated the spies, and have been polite to everyone we've met here, he's already predisposed to like us. Baroness Bella being a Swanmay is just an additional point in our favor on top of all those.[ATTACH=full]391184[/ATTACH]Journal Entry 22:[ATTACH=full]391185[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]391186[/ATTACH]And Journal Entry 52, as mentioned in Journal Entry 22 (recursive journal entries!)[ATTACH=full]391187[/ATTACH]Well, that's pretty helpful, if incomplete. And, apparently, we're supposed to be visiting the Pit of Moander. That makes sense, since the sage way back in Tilverton told us that one of the symbols (the hand with a mouth in its palm) on our arms is that of the deity Moander, and that it was unleashed in Yûlash last time the this magical tattoo scheme was tried. So, to the Pit of Moander we go![ATTACH=full]391188[/ATTACH]Huh, even after rescuing him from an assassination, we're shown out the back door like the help...We explore around the safe Red Plumes area a bit...[ATTACH=full]391189[/ATTACH]This basically functions as a tavern, so you can pay to overhear tavern tales here.[ATTACH=full]391191[/ATTACH]As there's not much to see here (no shop/armory, sadly), it's time to rest before we head across the ruined city.[ATTACH=full]391192[/ATTACH]Next time - we explore the ruins of Yûlash, and head towards the Pit of Moander!</blockquote>

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