Pyramid
Reload.
Time for more wilderness exploring.
We couldn't cross the river because it's being heavily polluted. I recall the council giving us a quest to find out the source of the pollution, so we set out to check out the upriver area.
Ah! Seems like the pyramid building is the source of the pollution... But it's in the middle of a lake, and we can't get to it.
But wait! Someone was kind enough to leave a boat here for us.
We didn't come this far just to stop here. Enter the pyramid!
The pyramid is another area in which automap is not available. Guess we'll have to draw our own map.
Seems suspicious... Let's throw a rock.
Ah, a teleporter. We leave it along for now.
But when we walked into another 1x1 room nearby, we were teleported away without warning.
Our party now find themselves in a completely strange area. This place is fairly maze-like, with identical environments and many secret doors.
There're also monsters to fight in this area. This time it's just some lizardmen, so we didn't have any trouble.
This is much more troublesome, however.
Displacer beasts. They have many HP and low AC in addition to being very accurate and hit fairly hard.
They had put up quite a fight before we managed to kill them.
Later, we ran into some human thieves who smiled at us. Maybe they're friendly?
No.
Level 7 thieves don't use their weapons; rather, they zap their MM wands at you like crazy. Magic missiles don't deal much damage, but they never miss.
The magic missiles have wounded our fighters quite a bit. I should have used Hold Person.
We take their wands with us.
This time our enemy are three strong fighters.
Again, I forgot to use Hold Person, so our guys took some major damage.
We ran into a human priest.
Great. He didn't attack us, but he's a goddamn lunatic. I wanted to kill him, but I've got the feeling that he's gonna be useful later... Alright, you may live.
A drider fight.
Driders are nasty. They are hard to kill, and their attacks can paralyze you. Thankfully they don't hit that often.
Driders can also cast Haste spell which makes them even more dangerous.
But we lucked out and won the fight without any casualties.
Since our party aren't in good shape, I attempted to rest. But a group of dwarven fighters attacked us while we were resting.
I FINALLY remembered to use Hold Person this time.
Hold Person has made that fight much, much easier.
Seems like we have cleansed the map of random encounters, since we're finally able to rest now.
We went to check the priest again and found out that his dialogue has changed.
We have broken through the walls!
Escaped!
Our mission was not complete, however, so we went back again.
We ran into a teleporter which teleports us into another part of the pyramid.
Some random encounters.
Hold Person makes the battle a cakewalk.
More driders.
Time to spam Fireballs.
This area also has some minotaurs, who we easily killed.
...Kobolds? At this level?
A new kind of enemy!
I vaguely recall stirges being able to do some nasty things when they hit you, so we killed them ASAP.
Also, Sleep works just fine on stirges.
:yawn:
Another encounter with some elven mages.
Hmmm... A map, nice. Too bad I have already mapped out most parts of this level. And this Yarash guy seems to be the one in charge here. Guess we'll have to hunt him down.
Another teleporter takes us to the second floor of the pyramid.
We have stumbled into Yarash's laboratory.
This is starting to look familiar.
We were confronted by lizardmen in another room.
We explained to them that we're not servants of Yarash, so they left us along. Apparently they don't think Yarash is their god after all.
These black liquid... They're the source of the river's pollution, aren't they?
As we examined the vats we were attacked by
super mutants lizardmen!
Mutated lizardmen are stronger than normal ones.
But who gives shit, we are even stronger.
Eww.
Another laboratory. Nothing to see here.
Another teleporter with rocks scattered around it.
Stepping into this tile teleports us back to the entrance.
I got stuck here for a while, but I eventually figured out what I'm supposed to do here:
The trick is, DON'T throw any rocks into the teleporter before teleporting. It will change the destination of the teleport.
After teleporting into a new area, we came across another teleporter.
We threw a rock and teleported.
Another teleporter. Again, we threw a rock and teleported.
And not we're in Yarash's lair!
The dwarvish runes translate to NOKNOK.
I missed a few screenshots here. Anyway, in the room we found some pipes with mysterious liquid in them. They are the source of the pollution.
We attempted to destroy them, but they wouldn't break so easily, so we hit them a few more times, and...
BAM!
Our party have taken major damage in the explosion. Bee in particular was left with only 1 HP.
We found some lizardmen slaves in a nearby room.
They doesn't seem hostile.
Ah, good. We can now make friends with lizardmen.
Oh, and the word is SAVIOR, in case you're wondering.
Finally, it's time to confront
The Master Yarash!
Bee starts the battle with a Fireball, which killed two mutants and almost killed Yarash.
However, Yarash has a Wand of Paralyzation which he used to paralyze Bee.
But then again, it's not like we can't win the battle without her.
:yawn:
Still a very easy fight.
Yarash has left us with many nice loots.
This device changes the destination of the teleporter in this room. Right now it's set to blue, and the teleporter will take us to the exit. Setting the dial to other colors allows us to get to Yarash's treasure vaults (more on that later).
Warning: infodump incoming
Entry 33
An official looking notice
Yarash,
'The time has come for you to add your power to the growing legions of my followers. Come and supplicant yourself to me and I will reward you as an important officer in my magical forces. You will serve as the advisor to the cohort of soldiers to be based at Sorcerer's Island. Resist and you shall be crushed before my almighty power. I except your positive reply within the week.'
Signed,
The Boss
Entry 49
A letter on clean white paper in a strong hand
To:
The Boss
Valjevo Castle, Phlan
Sir,
'I categorically reject your demand that I submit my island and my powers to your control. I am a free man and I will remain free. No petty tyrant can order about a true mage.
'If you or your troops make any move toward Sorcerer's Island I shall send an army of my unstoppable aquatic creations down the Barren River and sink your precious castle. Until now you have been beneath my notice. If you value your empire, let us keep it that way.'
Signed,
Yarash, the Sorcerer
Defeating The Boss with your "unstoppable aquatic creations". Yeah, good luck with that, buddy.
Entry 27
An impressive announcement.
'BOUNTY of 10,000 GOLD!
'I will pay 10,000 gold pieces for a live sahuagin! I will pay 1,000 gold pieces for a recently dead sahuagin in good condition. I need a specimen of this man-like salt water aquatic creature for my studies.
'Bring your specimen to the shore of Lake Kuto and build a fire as a signal. Your specimen will be examined. If it is truly a sahuagin you could end up with 10,000 gold pieces. But beware, I will know any forgeries, and I will punish any attempt at deception.
'So, capture a live sahuagin, bring him to Lake Kuto, and walk away a rich man!'
Signed,
Yarash, the Sorcerer
Entry 56
An unsent note written on sturdy parchment.
'An active dragon has made it's home in the Dragonspine Mountains to the northwest. Keep search parties away from the area so as not to catch the dragon's attention.'
Entry 40
A quick note on an often used piece of paper.
'Both kobolds and hobgoblins exist in large numbers to the east. Experiments show neither makes good breeding material.'
Phew! That's some major infodump here, although the last twos were the only real useful ones. Okay, now go check the teleporter!
First, we set the dial to copper color and teleport.
Some spellcaster gears.
Then we set the dial to silver color and teleport again.
So many loot. So many junk.
Then we set the dial to gold color and teleport again.
Okay. Now that we have looted Yarash's treasure vaults, we set to dial to blue color and escape the pyramid.
We were rewarded with many potatos.
We have also obtained a new quest. Lizardmen, you say? The friend word we just learnt should come in handy.
We identified the treasure we found in the pyramid. Notable ones include: a +3 fauchard (two-handed weapon with really low damage), an AC4 bracer (goes to Bee), a +1 quaterstaff (goes to Bee), a +2 longsword (goes to Elwro).
Our hireling was the only one who was eligible for another levelup.
DUNGEON MAPS
Pyramid, Floor 1:
Pyramid, Floor 2:
(Note: The floor 2 map isn't very accurate. Actually I don't think it's even accurate at all.)
(Another Note: Large balls are teleporters; small balls are teleport destinations.)
We enter the pyramid from 16A on floor 1. The teleporter at 15H takes us to 6L. We then take the teleporter at 15J to 1A. The teleporter at 7B takes us to M1 on floor 2. The teleporter at 16I can take us to 4N but we can just walk there. The teleporter at 16M takes us to 1P. Then, after a series of teleporting, we eventually arrive at Yarash's lair in 1A. After killing Yarash, we can take the 7A teleporter to 5J, 6N or 13N. The 7A teleporter can also take us back to 16P on floor 1.