Valjevo Castle
Reload.
The time has finally came. We now stand in front of Valjevo Castle, the lair of Tyranthraxus. Our journey is near the end.
Oh FFS why does everyone know that?
We didn't even have the chance to tell them the password. As it turns out, though, we could just cast Knock on the gate to open it.
And now we're inside the castle!
The castle is basically a very large maze. There're no random encounters unless the alarm is ringing. There're a few fixed encounters, but they're rare and mostly optional.
Remember these maps? We found them in Kovel Mansion. They're very helpful since manually mapping out the castle would be fairly painful. Unfortunately, only the northeastern and northwestern parts are mapped out.
Walls in the castle are not actually walls but hedges of poisonous thorns. We CAN pass through them, but if someone got pricked by the thorns it's an instant death.
We found this man in the northwestern corner of the castle.
Alright. You may go.
I hope this decision wouldn't come back to bite us in the ass.
There's a fixed troll encounter in the northeastern corner of the castle.
We had to fight eight trolls here (one of them was offscreen). Thankfully, the narrow corridor means we don't have to fight them all at once.
And Fireballs make short work of them.
I'd fucked up a bit here, and Elwro was knocked unconscious. But we could just rest here anyway, so it's no big deal.
Anyway, let's take a look at the map. As you can see, There's a large area in the center of the castle that haven't been mapped out - you don't have to be a genius to figure out that it's the lair of Tyranthraxus. There's a door in the northwestern part that leads into the central room which can't be accessed from the northern part of the castle. We're probably supposed to search the southern parts for a passage that leads to the central part.
Fuck that. Completionists can go fuck themselves. Nothing really stops us from just slicing through the hedges anyway. The insta-death sometimes doesn't even happen.
We entered a seemingly bare room, but the southern walls are in fact illusional, and we could just pass through.
And then we found a stairway. Hurrah!
The stairs led to a 1x1 room with another stairway.
This doesn't seem good.
So this is the medusa they were talking about, huh?
The medusa doesn't have many HP. Which is good, because we absolutely don't want to give her the chance to act.
:yawn:
The medusa room was empty. Back to the 1x1 room, however, we discovered a secret door.
Passing through it, we found yet another stairway.
Oh, so the trapdoor just leads to the medusa's room. Boring.
We were attacked by a level 1 thief in another room. He's pious, I'll give him that much.
Who the hell are you, anyway?
No. We're too paranoid for that. Die.
He was easily dispatched.
The loot was an unidentified wand, which later turned out to be a Wand of Lightning.
And finally, after going up another stairway, we found ourselves in Tyranthraxus' hall!
So The Boss IS a metallic dragon after all. Here's a message to the silver dragon dude: Fuck you and your "we metallic dragons are good" bullshit, thank you, end of rine.
Before we can fight Tyranthraxus, we must fight his strongest minions first.
And they're strong indeed: twelve level 8 fighters, all of whom have 87 HP and 1 AC.
Killing them in melee would take forever, so we spam disabling spells to make things a bit easier.
The battle was a tough one, but we did win in the end.
Before we ends the fight, we used spells and potions to heal our wounds.
I also had our fighters drink Potions of Speed, which casts Haste on them. Oh, and in case you're wondering where'd Hero gone: he got heavily wounded in the fight and ran away. Coward.
Oh, and by the way, I had Procrastianna cast Animate Dead for reasons I can't recall. Anyway, it turned out that this spell raises fallen enemy and makes them fight for you. I should've used this earlier.
And then we ended the fight.
They left us with many loots. Not that it mattered.
Of course, everyone voted to attack.
And then the final battle starts!
Tyranthraxus had won the initiative roll, and the first thing he does was using his breath weapon.
Three party members were killed before any of us could act. Things are looking grim for us.
Tyranthraxus' stats. He's AC is very low, but he's also surprisingly squishy. The level 8 fighters we fought before had 87 HP; Tyranthraxus only has 80.
Elwro, Kezerilla managed to dish out some major damage in a single round, bringing the dragon's HP down to 29.
But then Tyranthraxus' turn had came again, and in a single round he knocked out Kezerilla with his regular attack and killed Elwro with his breath.
And then the only ones left standing were Bee and Procrastianna, who weren't able to kill Tyranthraxus fast enough,
...
Wow. The TPK screen. I think I haven't seen this in quite a while.
Reload. This time we prepare more carefully. Before heading into battle: Procrastianna casts Bless and Prayer on the party. Grunker casts Enlarge on Hero, Elwro, Procrastianna and Kezerilla (this spell sets subject's strength score to 18/00 which is as overpowered as it sounds). Bee casts Haste on the party, because if there's one occasion where this spell is worth using despite the side effect it's this one.
This should be much easier now that we have been properly buffed.
Hold Person again proves its usefulness.
Seeing that the enemy fighters have been lined up, Grunker casts a Lighting Bolt spell. The effect left much to be desired however. I should've had him memorize Hold Person instead.
The mage version of Hold Person is different from the clerical version. The mage version is a level 3 spell while the clerical version is level 2; but the mage version can target four targets while the clerical version can only target three.
Stinking Cloud was also very useful in this fight. Not as useful as Hold Person, but still very nice.
Bee has been knocked out. I probably shouldn't have put her in such a dangrous position, but then again she has already exhausted her spells anyway, so it didn't really matter.
Well. All enemy have been disabled now.
Your time has came, Tyranthraxus.
Elwro has won the initiative. A good start.
Elwro hit the dragon twice before he got electrocuted by the dragon's breath. Your sacrifice shall be remembered.
Note that Hero's name is displayed in yellow. He has betrayed us. I knew we couldn't trust him!
We'll deal with you once we've taken care of Tyranthraxus.
Grunker and Magnus managed to kill the dragon before he got another round. This is how dangrous hasted fighters can be.
And the traitor too died to our blades.
We have defeated Tyranthraxus!
Please tell me we don't have to fight another boss fight.
Oh shi--
But Bane came to our rescue. Thanks, I guess.
We were then teleported back to the city. How considerate.
Before we head to the city halls, we asked the priests of Sune to resurrect Elwro.
The manual says that resurrection has a chance of failing. Would Elwro make it?
And our heroes were rewarded with enough potato to last them a lifetime.
Before we leave, let's take a final look at our heroes:
...And with that, this LP has been completed!
