angelfromanotherpin wrote:What did the book we never read do?
It gives us a warning about the very next encounter - the Crystal Gaze of those Death Angels. So yeah, it was a waste of space if you don't read it immediately.
angelfromanotherpin wrote:What was the shrinking potion for?
Like the book, it's used to resolve something that's almost right next to it: the shaft which we found the dead body from which we looted the potions. Basically, it's an airshaft, but the air blowing up from below isn't
quite strong enough to break our fall if we choose to jump in to investigate. Drinking a potion will enable a character to lose enough weight to float down to the bottom gently. The Sage is the only one who doesn't need the potion, since he can Levitate. The party can also be split up here (although the group that stays behind doesn't get t do anything, and just waits for the investigating players to get back).
There are 6 potions, and we'd only need 3 to get down, so why would there be a need to split the party? Because to get back up the same way, you need to be even lighter, and therefore need 2 drinks
each to float back up! Of course, thee are ways to get around that. There's a hidden path below that allows the players to find their way back up to the top if they find it. The Sage again, doesn't need any of the potions to get back up. Finally, there's a spot below with 5 seats that each gives one player a 1-shot spell (if a player takes the same seat more than once, or if more tan one player takes that seat, he gets a penalty depending on which seat it is....some of them are lethal), and one of them is a Flying spell that allows 1 player to fly back up. That spell can also be used to allow the entire party to flee from one combat.
Like I mentioned, there were 5 seats, which means 4 other spells. One of them is a Super Prediction spell that allows the players to see into the future...namely, he can read ahead ALL the options he's given in any one section where he uses the spell. I think the best place to use that would probably be when we're asking the Homunculus about the 5 rooms....which means we get to find out about all 5 rooms at once.
That's where I always use the spell, at least.
Another spell is the Blade Sharpening spell, which adds 1d6 Damage to any one physical weapon permanently. It can be used on both melee and missile weapon.
The 4th spell is Magic Enhancement. It maximizes the effect of any one spell cast (it also allows the spell to be auto-cast without the need to roll any dice, although Reed can pretty much auto-cast anything he wants anyway). This means that a Nemesis Bolt (7d6+7) automatically does 49 END damage! That would have made short work of even a True Magi.
The last spell is basically a free Nemesis Bolt. Like the previous spell, it can be auto-cast without having to roll, but it does normal damage. Otherwise the only difference is that any player who sits on the seat can use the spell, not just the Enchanter.
So, as you can see, lots of nice power-ups and boosts we missed in the early parts of the game. As I mentioned before, the 5 entrances right at the beginning of the book offers different paths to the spot where you find the airshaft, garden and stairs. The one we took (through the giant's carcass) happened to be one of the least profitable, if also least dangerous. Blue Moon's Portal, as mentioned before, steals all of our equipment (besides Blood Sword), but also takes us past a Dragon's lair, where we get the chance to kill/free it for some treasure. The most profitable one is probably the one that takes us past an armoury where we can find a set of magic equipment including a magic bow (does 2d6 damage), magic javelin (3d6 damage but with more limited range than bow), magic shield (absorbs damage on a roll of 1/6), magic faerie ring (summons Faltyn without penalty) and even a sword that auto-casts Sheet Lightning. Those were probably there in case we couldn't ruin the ritual in time and had to take on al 5 Magi (and we'd certainly need it then!)
Darth Rabbitt wrote:Anything interesting we missed by avoiding further penetrating the garden?
Not really. There's a fairly long sequence of sections used for the garden, and most of it involves the player risking all sorts of punishments from poison to wasting diseases that cripple their stats as they proceed deeper, as if to discourage them from proceeding further. If the players persevere and reach the heart of the garden, they find a fountain where they can drink from......which cures them of all the afflictions they just picked up.
So yeah, mostly a trap (if you turn back too early, you'd pick up the penalties for nothing), and a waste of sections.
Darth Rabbitt wrote:What would've happened if we turned down the old man's quest, or went down one of the other 4 corridors?
Nothing...we just miss the side quest and go straight to the 5 doors with the 5 rods.
Darth Rabbitt wrote:What do the curseboots or the cursed axes do if equipped?
The cursed axe mind-controls the player. If the player is alone, he's dead, as he can't fight back when more black knights arrive. If the player is in a group, AND one of his companions is the Warrior, then he can be saved as the Warrior can carry him while running away. Otherwise, he's still dead as his companions are forced to leave him behind.
The shoes themselves actually don't do any harm. The problem was the path you are walking on. What wasn't revealed (unless you take the boots) is that you were actually walking over the body of a sleeping giant. Anyone wearing those boots while walking over him will wake the giant up.
Here's what the giant's stats look like:
Snorrid the Giant
Fighting Prowess: 11
Psychic Ability: 11
Armour Rating: 10
Endurance: 950
Damage per blow: 20 Dice
Awareness: 11
Yes, he's even stronger than Thor! He'd totally have wiped out Susurrien's pet gods, too! Hell, he could have taken on the True Magi!
At least the book allows you to flee from him.....although bizarrely, it also gives you a section to turn to if you actually claim to
win the fight. Not that you actually gain anything by cheating and claiming you won fairly, though. There's no rewards at all.
I think the above mostly covers the stuff we bypassed. Once we reach the 5 rooms, the path becomes quite linear.
The Horn of Heroes basically made the last encounter a lot easier, because it frees all the sacrifice captives AND give you double the usual time to kill off the Disciples before the ritual completes. Without it, it's still doable, but it won't be as easy.
Basically, if we can't kill the Disciples before they complete the ritual, then we'd have to roll dice to calculate Sacrifice points. Every person that des after the ritual is completed adds one dice of Sacrifice (that includes dead Disciples, dead heroes, and dead captives). If the captives aren't freed, they add 5 Dice worth of Sacrifice point.
There are basically 4 "levels" of results depending on the total Sacrifice. The lowest level is basically what we went through: the Magi are destroyed but Blue Moon makes a last-ditch attempt for comeback. The highest level is basically Game Over as the Magi come back in full force. The 2 'mid-level' points are where the Magi return, but are still weak enough that we can still attempt to fight and kill them before they regain all the powers.
Each Magus is basically like Magus Tor: same stats, and their END and PA increase every round during battle, so they need to die
fast. At the second-highest level of Sacrifice, they start with 75 END each. At the second-lowest, they start with 55.
If Karunaz dies, and the Warrior dual-wields both swords, his END gets doubled and he gets a +3 PA boost, and if he hits an undead (including a Magi) with both swords (pretty much guaranteed thanks to the FP bonus), the enemy needs to roll against PA on FOUR dice and gets auto-killed if they fail (thus making it possible to auto-kill them even if their PA grows beyond 12)!
You may have noticed that the flavor of the writing for most of this book doesn't feel quite the same as the last 4. From what I heard although this series was originally meant to be co-written by 2 guys, Oliver Johnson ended up being engaged in a different project, and Dave Morris pretty much wrote all the first 4 books. Oliver Johnson put all his input into this one, and Dave just came in and wrapped this up by writing the last scene (probably where we meet Karunaz) to tie it back to the first 4 books. Allegedly, Oliver only knew the rough plot and hadn't read any of the other 4 books when he wrote this.
Last but not least, here's the "mass suicide" martyr ending (it leads to the same ending section as if we fight Tor/the 5 Magi):
You compose your thoughts and hurry over to the edge of the roof. 'Allah is great!' cries Karunaz, and launches himself off into space. He falls without a sound until he is swallowed up in darkness.
Breathing a last prayer, you jump after him. Behind you, Magus Tor gives a long, low groan of despair. Ironic that in his final moment he desired above all else that you, his greatest foes, should not die.
The wind whistles up past you. You do not feel your impact with the ground. Your oblivion spells doom for the resurrected Magus, whose existence in reality is still just a flickering illusion. With no other mind to take root in, he is destroyed.
Your sleep of death does not last long. A trumpet note awakens you. Karunaz is beside you. 'We live again,' he says, sitting up. 'As do all the dead, for it is now the Day of Judgement and we are called by our Maker to stand before Him.'
It seems like the heroes just broke Jesus' record! They don't even need 3 days!
And that's a wrap. Again, thanks for playing, and hope you've had fun!
