Our journey through the fog starts with a cutscene.
Actually, the whole journey is a cutscene. I don't control anything.
We arrived... somewhere.
It isn't very good in the dark, dark wood...
Immediately we're attacked by treants.
A whole bunch of 'em!
They are not very strong individually, but let them surround you and you're as good as dead.
It took me a few tries to clear this corner. From here we can launch a full-scale anti-treant campaign.
Other than treants, this place has some weird portals that teleport you around this area. They also shoot lightning bolts for some reason.
There is something in the middle of this stone ring...
A Seed of Morninglord, eh? What would HHR say...
There are four smaller stone rings inside a bigger one. It's... It's just like that thing Sasha's scroll were talking about!
...each circle of four waits within the greater ring,-- waits for the planting of the seeds. Aye, for only the seeds of divine light, of Lathander Morninglord, when placed to rest within the inner circles may free the prize...
Looks like we need to get four seeds.
The second seed was found nearby...
...but it was the last item on this map!
I had no idea what to do for a while.
But after going through a bunch of portals something strange happened.
The location is the same, but there are new items lying around
And enemies are alive and kicking too!
We got two more seeds, so we're now all set.
Stone ring here got a tree in the middle.
As we place the last seed...
Yeap, the Symbol is ours.
That's how it works.
With this device at hand, we're now ready to confront Strahd.
The only problem is that I have no idea where to go looking for him.
With the help from cluebook, I learned that I've missed a few rooms on the third floor
Or maybe they were inaccessible? I dunno.
On our way there we also found a few missed reading materials.
They are not that relevant though.
What's important is this fancy looking lock.
They key that opens it is hidden behind the secret door on the first floor.
It's also heavily guarded.
Golems are as deadly as they were last time.
So I lure them one by one to the stairs and deploy the old tactics.
The Blood Bat Key is ours, but it took us a lot of time to kill those golems. Also, in the heat of a battle Glorianna lost her throwing knife somehow. No way am I going to fight golems again, so screw the knife.
Behind the locked door we found a card and a stairway.
1. One gem whose blush is deeper than the setting sun's; a stone of red and fiery cut whose value outweighs a fortune in precious gold.
2. A finely crafted elven piece, into the encircling beauty of which have been worked the purest ores of white gold, gold, or platinum.
3. The feather of a wereraven.
4. "The Mists," a card from a Vistani seer's Tarokka deck.
5. A symbol of truth, honor, and religious devotion, but one stolen from its rightful owner, then set free from evil hands. Only then will this item --when combined with the other four-- release its holy power and awaken the forces of the Catalogue.
So we descended all the way down to the dungeon.
Hmmm, what's that in the distance?
OH FUCK NO DO NO WANT
At this point I was close to ragequiting, because, well, fuck golems. Seriously, fuck zombie golems. But then something magical happened. I clicked on 'Turn Undead' and... The golem started spinning like a ballet dancer, while we were beating the hell out of it. This totally made my day.
With our morale restored, we continue exploration of this dungeon.
I feel that we're getting close.
So in this hall we have a few crypts, of which we can enter all but one. There is nothing too exciting inside the crypts, some scrolls, some vampires, no biggie. Outside the crypts we encountered a few zombie golems, but Turn Undead worked flawlessly.
There are three exits from this room.
Two of them lead into a small rooms, to which we shall return later, the third one is surrounded by invisible teleporters, so we can't use it.
I wandered into another part of the dungeon, but there wasn't anything useful.
A few potions, some gear. Meh.
Ok, so back to the small rooms I've mentioned earlier.
Both of these rooms have a button.
Pressing both buttons opens a previously locked crypt.
Inside the crypt is another teleporter that moves us right to the third exit.
We keep going south.
And after a few doors...
Uh-oh.
How dare you show the villagers that anyone, ANYONE can contest the evil of this land. It is a dangerous example. Yet even as you cut your blundering swath of justice through Barovia, never were you closer to your goal than now. The amulet! Yes, the amulet that began your quest is here before you at the end. I, Strahd, have held Lord Dhelt's prize from the first night you arrived.
Smile I say! Smile while I work your fate!
Lord Strahd, I shall smile. Indeed, I shall, but not in time for you to see, I'm afraid. Do you recognize the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind?
What... Yes, I recognize Ravenkind's prized Holy Symbol. Why do you think you are here if not to deliver it up to me? Now die and waste no more of my time. Whatever bauble you hold will be mine no more than a moment from now.
I recognize you now, you played the burgomaster's man in the caverns beneath the Ivlis. Did you enjoy your jest?
I enjoy all jests immensely. I have enjoyed the joke of your tottering, feeble adventure in my land. But the comfort of laughter fades as my impatience grows.
And just like that, the final battle begins.
Strahd is teleporting around the room, throwing fireballs at us.
So the goal here is to avoid getting killed and shoot at him with the Holy Symbol, duh.
Sometimes he goes melee.
We're running around like mad.
It takes 3-4 pew-pews from the Symbol to finish him off.
He's gone! This battle wasn't too hard, but very actiony.
Strahd has left us something.
1. One gem whose blush is deeper than the setting sun's; a stone of red and fiery cut whose value outweighs a fortune in precious gold.
2. A finely crafted elven piece, into the encircling beauty of which have been worked the purest ores of white gold, gold, or platinum.
3. The feather of a wereraven.
4. "The Mists," a card from a Vistani seer's Tarokka deck.
5. A symbol of truth, honor, and religious devotion, but one stolen from its rightful owner, then set free from evil hands. Only then will this item --when combined with the other four-- release its holy power and awaken the forces of the Catalogue.
I guess this is it. Malack equips the Catalogue...
So now what? Do we have to go with the "I regret" routine?
No, not at all. It's all automatic these days.
Oh, great, I just hope this thing will teleport us home and not somewhere else.
You know, bro, if there's one thing I've learned, it's this: nobody knows what's gonna happen at the end of the line, so you might as well enjoy the trip.
*click*
). Never tried bows though. So try doing it the oldschool way maybe, entering passwords from manual and shit?
