[LP] Might and Magic 6, the Mandate of Heaven

Well in Consideration of Vaugeness unless Tor Getting a Shield would significantly improve his ability to punch magi in the face like an Elder scrolls Block master who is a Breton Alteration Master, BlackSmith, Enchanter, And Sorceror (IE the Mage Raper) I vote.

[X]Over Land Map then Up Spec then to the Misty Isle For our Party is filled with Magi in need boosting but we must fortify.

 

Right, so without other suggestions, it's clear the overmap as much as possible and then catch the next boat to Mist?

Waiting a little bit for headache to hopefully clear up before I do anything.

 

[X] Goof around by the side of the bucaneer's guild.
-->[X] Oof. Wait. Where are you, and where did these dragons come from? Craaaap-
-->[X] Duck inside the weird temple. At least this '3d0' cult is friendly... Ish.

 

Re: [LP] Might and Magic 6, Greenskin Genocide.

Today, we go out and, in the fine tradition of adventurers since time immemorial, just start killing everything that looks at us funny.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/menbvshjz/2014_02_26_01_35_47_Greenshot.png[/img]

We begin with the path up to the... Abandoned temple of Baa. We aren't going in. Oh no. But there are a few goblins and mages squatting outside of the doorstep for some reason, and they have treasure.

And hey, new monster type means talking about monsters again.

The mages come in three flavors... Apprentice Mage in red, Journeyman in green, and full blown Mage in blue. Ranging from 6 to 40 hp, their physical capabilities and attack are underwhelming. But how hard they can bonk you on the head with a stick is never a mage's first concern.... all three tiers are spell casters, starting with the apprentice's flame arrow. He's not particularly good at magic, though, and so this will more likely than not miss every time. The journeyman mage is starting to get his act together, and instead uses Cold Beam, a spell where he might not be particularly skilled, but it hardly matters.

The mage casts Lightning Bolt. Now I'll grant you, he's not a great mage, and only casts it with a skill level of 2, but with infinite mana to throw around, a Mage in blue is the most dangerous thing you can find on this map.

That said, these guys are just chump apprentices, and so we mash them to bits without any significant resistance and loot their boxes.

I'll note here, the bridge leading out this way has a sneaky ambush prepared. Cross it heading this way, and a few goblins will spawn directly behind you just as you get close enough to aggro the group clustered up by the dungeon entrance. Just one more reason for the first thing you do to be anything but the temple of Baa.

With that out of the way, we head up north a bit.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/6673mb8pr/2014_02_26_01_41_59_Greenshot.png[/img]

And by toying with an otherwise ordinary buoy, trigger what appears to be a volcanic eruption! That's right, now you too can be in charge of earth-shattering geological events. Or something like that. Our Robot Ninja Wizard is particularly unimpressed by the display, perhaps consumed with thoughts of the day that he can belch forth flame in a similarly incineratory fashion.

There's probably something interesting in the caldera, with that many fireballs defending it. But the sides of the volcano are sufficiently steep that even if you brave the apparently highly acidic ocean water in order to get there, you're still not getting inside. You need the Fly spell to get there.

Now, with one demonstration of things not being all they seem, have another.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/qrlve7qan/2014_02_26_01_55_56_Greenshot.png[/img]

I doubt any screenshots have shown this clearly, but when you hover the mouse over an object, a description of it appears above your character portraits. This includes background decoration that you would think they could get away with not labeling at all. Why bother, right? There's a reason. What you won't have seen is that those static background objects, rock tree or clump of flowers alike, are all spelled without any capital letters.

Clearly this is a Rock, however, and not a rock. What gives?

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/zb59byyn3/2014_02_26_01_56_20_Greenshot.png[/img]

Because this Rock is hiding a dark inner secret. Gold! It is in fact secretly a disguised chest, ripe for the looting.

There are many little things throughout the game that reward a keen eye and paying attention. Spot the differences!

With that shown off, there's a small and rocky plain to the east with a number of goblins on it.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/d0hec01cv/2014_02_26_01_57_53_Greenshot.png[/img]

For the most part, they're going to be ordinary goblins. We kill them. All of them. They're guarding treasure boxes that we have to open. It's a traditional compulsion.

For the most part, there's nothing much of interest. Except one mildly lucky find.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/akfky5ja7/2014_02_26_02_06_02_Greenshot.png[/img]

Nothing particularly spectacular, but it's going to save a few gold when we finally get everyone the bow skill. Torg will be pleased to finally be able to contribute to ranged combat.

Moving past the loot, a single house stands, and within....

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/9jfc912an/2014_02_26_02_07_48_Greenshot.png[/img]

Is this guy.

He insists that he is a trainer, and that if we can seek out and locate mysterious weapons from a lost age of wonders, he can teach us how to use them well. He doesn't have one to demonstrate, however. Neither can he adequately describe what these mysterious weapons are, and he even admits that they may be completely lost to the sands of time.

.... if they ever existed. He insists that he's not crazy, but I don't know, guys.... that doesn't seem like a trustworthy mass of phleghmy saliva dribbling off of his beard to me.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/dtylicwrj/2014_02_26_02_10_45_Greenshot.png[/img]

Outside, and from the beaches, you can easily make out offshore land masses. As you may be able to tell from the twisted and cracked black volcanic scorched earth, we are not supposed to be there. At all. We could, but the only thing over there worth investigating is the entrance to a dungeon that we can't get into right now and would be near-instant death if we could, and the trigger for probably the most difficult fight in this region's overmap.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/3l64cj8pr/2014_02_26_02_11_03_Greenshot.png[/img]

The small island over this way is more important.

You're not supposed to go here yet either. The developers don't prevent you from doing so, but they try to gently shoo you away by filling that island with a cluster of enemies heavily weighted towards Goblin Kings and Mages.

You see, the trainers for Air and Water magic are dicks. The Fire and Earth trainers are happy to live in ordinary houses in town, and take your word and skill level for it when you come knocking and offering to give them money for expertise. Not so with the Air and Water trainers. They want more proof. The air trainer is in a second floor room with no stair to it, and the ledge cleverly constructed so that the only way to get in and talk to them... is to already have the Fly spell, and be conversant with flight controls. Similarly, the Water trainer wants you to have to cast Water Walk in order to get to him... though, you don't actually need the spell. The island is close enough that you can easily jump in the 'water', run forward as it eats away equal fractions of your health as you walk across the surface of the ocean, and make it there with plenty of HP to spare.

The spell doesn't mean 'you can walk on water' now, you see. It means you can walk across the surface of the water painlessly. The whole process is supposed to simulate drowning, I guess?

But in any case, looking at that, the developers nodded and slapped down the second hardest fight of the map, right there. Try to run across and then fight directly, and you will almost definitely die.

We want that expert rank, though, and so I'll be getting us there and clearing those enemies, at least. That comes a little later.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/nh23s2pr3/2014_02_26_02_15_15_Greenshot.png[/img]

Instead, we start clearing the lower half of the map. There are a few clumps of goblins camped along the southern coasts, in twos and threes, but the largest group is right here. Blocking off the boat like the green jerks they are. They drop like flies... and what's this? Not only a box, but barrels?

In this game, you love barrels of various brightly colored liquids. For some reason, there's only ever enough inside for one person to drink from them, but if you do? Free +1 to the stat that the color represents. The ones here are Orange, or Intelligence, Blue, or Personality, and Yellow, which I forget at first but turns out to be Accuracy.

Selias chugs them all. This is very good, because if you recall, at character creation I stopped their points for both Int and Personality at 20. Twenty one, however, is the magic thresh-hold number at which things get better. With those barrels, Selias has just taken the clear lead in total MP once more.

And what are these red dots to the south? More mages! Somehow I fail to screenshot them, but they are mostly apprentices and die rapidly.

There are two houses to the south. The first...

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/aqxvezhsv/2014_02_26_02_29_33_Greenshot.png[/img]

Is this one, and houses the Staff trainer. He also isn't satisfied with living quietly in town, but at the very least, you only have to walk and fight a bit to reach him.

Approaching the other, over a field strewn with broken corpses, shows the other house. Never mind the island to the south, there's actually nothing there as I recall...

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/h5wwbnoin/2014_02_26_02_41_07_Greenshot.png[/img]
[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/on63qve1r/2014_02_26_02_41_35_Greenshot.png[/img]

Why, if it isn't our buddy Falagar! What the hell, stun, are you kidding me? Magic arrow and Fire arrow? He ignores any complaints levied, however, and I just noticed that his title is 'Gate Master'. In other words, the same as a hireling that can only cast town portal for you once a day. At master ranking, but even so.... well, it explains some.

He's not off the hook, though, even if he does clearly spell out the Main Quest Line.

There's nothing more to do in there, though. What's left is to clear up the bodies, collect their purses, any un-broken weapons, and loot the boxes. Not much to speak of, with one exception...

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/9shicp4gv/2014_02_26_02_47_44_Greenshot.png[/img]

A fairly nice shield, more for its actual construction and sturdiness than the enchantment placed upon it. One any resistance... is better than none, perhaps, but still not really worth much. The goblin Kings have tens in resistance across the board, and it barely helps them at all. Still a better shield than a bit of door or scavenged pot lid.

....

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/ml5mcmg2n/2014_02_26_02_56_44_Greenshot.png[/img]

With all of the mainland cleared...

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/ccd56ss0v/2014_02_26_03_12_41_Greenshot.png[/img]

It's time to get to that last island, and Latrio's Water expertise.

As you can see, the best way to do this takes multiple steps. First, get on the shoreline, pressing yourself as deep into the ocean as you can get without jumping over the ankle-high invisible wall and starting to take damage. This will get you close enough to be noted by some of the enemies, and they'll happily come into range of your spells. If the little blip by your portrait is green, however, then everything is too far away, and far from 'always hitting' the target, actually landing a shot or spell is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Still, just standing on opposite shores and flinging magic at each other should thin out, and eventually drop, the small number of enemies you've drawn.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/hcaleqxnj/2014_02_26_03_16_15_Greenshot.png[/img]

You'll want to do this from both possible sides, just to thin the herd a little more. Note, with lightning bolts being thrown around, even with just a couple mages you are likely to take heavy damage. Don't be afraid to back off and heal! None of them can fly, so they can't follow and keep harassing you.

Eventually, however, you'll draw all the enemies you can from the shores, and you're going to have to take risks.

There's two ways to do this.

First, jump in the ocean, and run to the island. Then keep running. You'll get everyone's attention, and though they're slow about following, they don't move back to their original position once moved. Run across the island, and then across the water and back to the mainland again, and as long as you don't get cornered you can continue to draw a few off at a time until the remaining enemies are easily managed.

That takes a long time, though.

We go the second route. Stand and fight. At this point, it's still dangerous, but not impossible, depending on your luck, lightning-dodging reflexes, and assuming you know what you're doing.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/7ge3suh9b/2014_02_26_03_24_08_Greenshot.png[/img]

And what we're doing is taking advantage of the terrain.

If you recall, I mentioned before that sometimes things just get in the way of spells? Trees often do this, causing a false impact trigger for the spell, where arrows fly neatly through. The best bet for it, however, is walls.

And conveniently enough, this island has not one, but two walled buildings to take advantage of. The AI is just good enough that they won't all funnel directly into a kill-zone, of course. Some of them will try to go around different sides, taking other routes. But as long as you can keep the terrain in mind, between you and the majority of the enemies as much as possible, you'll find you're only really fighting a few at a time.

It's slow, but just focus on one after another and eventually...

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/aoil5w3j3/2014_02_26_03_40_53_Greenshot.png[/img]

The last mage falls. Conveniently enough, on the steps of New Sorpigal's shrine of luck.

There's nothing left to do but loot the bodies, rummage through the one box on this island...

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/bs2phuo67/2014_02_26_03_49_02_Greenshot.png[/img]

And savor that sweet, sweet expertise.

In any case, doing all of this? Netted us a lot of money.

I promptly blow a lot of it buying everything available from the non-magic guilds. Because when it comes down to it, while skill points are important character decisions, gold is easily acquired.

Speaking of skill points! You probably guessed, but all of this provided more than enough for you to train up a level. Which means everyone has five more delicious skill points.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/vb7ar7mxr/2014_02_26_04_09_49_Greenshot.png[/img]

Torg is rocking that set of chain we found earlier, as well as a helmet, ordinary leather cape, and spiffy new pair of boots. For the moment, still swinging that pirate cutlass. The nice axe we found is in their inventory, and does slightly more minimum damage... but with fewer skill points invested, is a little less likely to hit at all, too. Not that there's been much close up melee, but being able to actually hit what you swing at is nice.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/m78vqrlcv/2014_02_26_04_09_55_Greenshot.png[/img]

Selias is wearing a set of leather slightly better than the ordinary sets we keep picking up and selling off. A couple extra points in armor class never hurt. They also have a new set of boots and a spiffing blue cape. Along the way, I also seem to have picked them up a copy of Deadly Swarm and Harm. For the most part, though, without a lot of skill points invested it's cheaper to keep firing the cold beam.

Un-skilled equipment such as helmets and boots can be worn by just anyone, naturally. No armor skill required! However, they don't gain benefits from skills, either. With that said, one more slot for something enchanted, right?

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/rwp4b2rj3/2014_02_26_04_10_00_Greenshot.png[/img]

Tim, the Robot Ninja Mage is only rocking an ordinary set of leather vest and cape. No boots either. Well, there'll be more looted equipment along the way. If we get desperate, might even purchase some!

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/khzsip5nj/2014_02_26_04_10_07_Greenshot.png[/img]

And finally, Latrio pried a new, slightly stabbier knife out of some guy's cold dead fingers. Still no more than normal leather, but hey! His cape is blue.

With that said, cold beam doesn't scale with the skill level, but at Expert its price is reduced to one. As such, though it doesn't sound like much difference, with the big spells that get flung around costing 4... while Latrio has less mana in total, it's probably going to last a lot longer overall.

Well, until we find him some nicely hurty ice magic, anyway.

And now, I said that I would progress on to Mist, but this is a great time to break off. I'll introduce you guys to the islands... next time.

 

Should I keep upgrading my Learning skill? I'm thinking that it would probably be a good idea, but I want a second opinion, from someone who has actually played the game. It might be a better idea to level two of my level one skills, after all.

Hmmm... yeah, I think I'll get Learning and... would Merchant, Disarm Trap, or Perception be best?

 

Learning is bonus XP. For every skill level, 1% more. 2% at expert, and 3% at Master. With a 2 in Learning, you're getting a 2% bonus in XP over everyone else right now. The short of it is that levels come slightly faster, so you have more skill points to throw around sooner. In the early stages of the game, when an enemy Mage splits 200 xp four ways, it's not such a big deal, though it's a nice icing on your XP cake. Later on, when every Titan you fell divides up nearly five thousand, it's a much more significant matter.

There aren't any really bad decisions, though. For example, just putting everything into Fire until it hits 20 means that you'll probably be way behind in many other areas, since it would start to get expensive in terms of points very fast. However, by then you'll have the level based mana to keep casting cheap spells for a long time, and you'll still be doing solid damage with any spells that scale with fire magic, unless what you're targeting is out and out immune to flame.

Which is unfair, because of how Resistances work, and the fact that you can never be completely immune to stuff. But I guess you aren't made of fire or anything, either.

 

I was actually wondering if Disarm Trap, Perception, or Merchant had more practical use, at the moment. Not sure if adding a level to Disarm Trap would have a noticeable effect, at this level, or if I should go with Merchant, so we can get more gold, when we sell things. Also, the description of Perception says that it "allows your character to notice treasures where others would not." Does that mean things like that Rock chest? If so, since you apparently know where they are, are you just going to automatically get them, or do the "in character" thing of only getting the ones that Perception allows the characters to find?

 

Depends. Merchant, obviously, means you get more gold from selling your loot. How it works, though, is that it's opposed by the shopkeeper's Merchant score. There's things to be said about both advancing it consistently, and finding a nice point to stop and just going back to stores earlier on, with less hard-bitten hagglers. It depends mainly on if you're buying or selling a lot... if you're interested in buying a lot of things, then you want to push the merchant skill up. The good stuff is usually held by people with a high skill. On the other hand, if you mostly just sell and don't mind paying a little extra for the occasional purchase, then it's fine to decide on a point to stop and then just run back to a shop where you get the best deal every time your packs are full.

Being heavily mages, of course, means you will almost definitely have to buy a lot of spell books. Arcane tomes are a little rare to find, and the game will often give you something that, haha, everyone already has a copy of.

Disarm trap does what it says on the tin. If a box, chest, or whatever has a trap on it, it checks this skill to see if it goes off. Higher numbers means it's less likely to explode in your face.

If the trap does go off, then Perception is the skill that avoids it. It's useful to have, but in general if you have a high Disarm, then you don't need a high perception.

Offsetting that, however, is that if you do have a high perception than it helpfully highlights things like that Rock from before, secret doors, trapped floor panels, and a lot of stuff in the hud. Or at least, that's how it's supposed to work. In full honesty, I haven't really put much effort into leveling this most of the time. If you don't already know, or don't remember, where everything is, then it's useful in that aspect alone.

And that said, sometimes the traps are just completely unfair, and perception gives you a second chance to crawl, bleeding, to someplace that can heal you.

Edit: As far as hidden chests go, that Rock one was the only one I really remember. I'll still loot all the ones I find, of course, but it's going to be heavily dependent on spying the difference myself, and in a lot of areas I'm probably not going to be checking every last little flower.

Gonna be too busy running from ghosts and worse.

Secondary Edit: Actually, given that it's sleepy-brain time-ish, I may be misremembering the perception highlighting things in this game. I know it does so in 7, though. Passages and dangerous/safe walking places, anyway.

And I do remember that there are some doors later on that just plain don't open without Perception.

 

Unless skills are Int Limited Tor being the one who doesn't suffer from Multiple atribute and skill dependency should be the one to pick up miscelaneous skills while other dope up on magic of a wide variety.

 

You know what? Fuck it. Level Perception and Learning.

 

Meditation.

 

Re: [LP] Might and Magic 6, Greenskin Genocide.

Also, a pimping pirate hat to go with his eyepatch.

 

Perception and learning for Selias, Meditation and bonus Mana for Robotninja.

.... unless there's an objection, I'll just put another point in Sword so we can get the expertise bonuses for that when we find the trainer, and increase Latrio's Water magic again. We like Water. Oh yes we do.

 

Sounds good.

 

Points decided, I'll go into how a couple more specific skills work. This time, let's have it be Meditation and Swords, since those were what was chosen, and I've already covered the perception and learning skills in detail.

Meditation is bonus mana. How it works, however, is greatly related to your class. Every time you level up, you increase in Health and Mana. Or just Health, for our Knightly sorts. How much depends on your class Bonus. For Knights, the HP bonus would be four, while the MP bonus is zero. They can never learn magic, and so there is no use for a mana bar. For our Sorcerors, the HP bonus is only one, but the MP bonus is four. Every time they level up, therefore, a Knight receives an increase of four maximum health, while a sorceror increases by only one health, but four HP.

This also effects your stats and both the body building and Meditation skills. Every point in meditation will increase your MP by your class mana modifier, just as Body Building will increase your HP by your class health modifier. As such, they're better for some classes than others, though everyone should eventually get them. Similarly, every critical benchmark in the relevant stats will increase you by that same modifier.

As a note, the Druid MP modifier is only three. However, they draw mana from both Intellect and Perception. As such, as long as Selias keeps up with both his mana stats, they'll stay well ahead of the sorcerors, who have a better 4 in mana, but draw from intellect alone.

Expert and Master level meditation and Body Building are good, but uninteresting. No quirks, the bonus just increases the skill's effect. At Expert, the effect is doubled, and at Master it is tripled. Torg, at an expert rank of four, gets as much HP as a normal rank of eight would get them. With an HP modifier of four, that is quite a lot of health. Thirty two, in fact. Odds are very good that, throughout the game, if something goes wrong? It's going to be Torg that drags the rest of the party back for healing, simply on the basis of them having so much more health for anything to chew through.

Walls of beef.

Sword, now. Sword is your basic weapon skill. For the most part, all weapons are pretty similar and, at least at normal rank, they all get the same skill bonuses. Every point in the skill increases your attack bonus... more clearly, it makes it more likely that you'll land the hit. At Expert, your skill also reduces your recovery time with the sword. In short, you land more hits and you swing faster. At master, you gain the ability of dual wielding. The sword is one of two weapons, along with the dagger, that you can hold with your left hand.

There's trade-offs for that, of course. Swords aren't great parrying weapons, like some others, and there are much better weapons for direct damage. With that said, sword is a solid choice even if you don't intend to sling two weapons around like a living blender.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/akp890ezj/2014_02_27_06_58_37_Greenshot.png[/img]

"Welcome aboard." the salty captain calls, as we step onto the rocking ship.

From New Sorpigal, you don't have much choice in the way of travel. You can go west, by coach or by foot, and reach Ironfist castle. Or you can take the boat north, and reach the islands of Mist. Either way, as I've said, generally speaking? The further south and east you are, the safer you are. Mist and Ironfist alike, both regions are somewhat more difficult than New Sorpigal. Fortunately, we've dallied in the area enough to pick up a few levels, so we'll do fine.

"Where can we go from Mist?" You may be wondering.

The captain will answer that for you.

"Ye can always take the shipping vessels back t' New Sorpigal. Fine trade between the regions. Elsewise ye have two choices... set off for the Castle Ironfist, or put off in a ship bound full west, fer Bootleg Bay. North? Ah, we don't go north. Due North of Mist be deep and treacherous waters. Infested with Eels, they be, and so you'll find hearty eating by casting the nets... but them eels serve as supper for vicious monsters of the deep as well, and they don't take kindly to tresspassin'. There's ways to find a safe port on the islands north, and a few mad folk who live on them, but none passin' north from Mist. Ahoy lads! The tide is pulling. Raise the anchor and set sail, 'tis time to cast off!"

The trip to Mist takes three long, seasick, heavily fish scented days before you arrive. In the meantime, enough time was spent in New Sorpigal that a new month has begun, making this February. February is a very good time to visit these islands, as you will see. Soon.

However, the second your feet hits the docks, you are greeted with loud shouts and the sound of charging spells. Followers of Baa are here.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/sos8tncnz/2014_02_27_06_59_30_Greenshot.png[/img]

What? Oh, no no. She's just a peasant with questionable religious beliefs. Sheer circumstance. Also, hidden behind the image is a barrel... it's empty, though. Unfortunately, barrels aren't guaranteed to have liquid in them, and may be empty... or worse, have black liquid within. You like black Potions. You don't like black Liquid.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/nrj9ma02n/2014_02_27_06_59_49_Greenshot.png[/img]

These are the followers of Baa I mean. They're sitting outside the light-houses to both the north and south, waiting, presumably, for you. None else recieve their ire on arrival, at least.

The Follower, Mystic, and Fanatic of Baa are a new series of enemies, ranging from 9 to 25 hp. Hardly problematic. They are, in effect, the new goblin. Curiously, the Mystic is the only caster, and will fire a weak Mind Blast at you from time to time. However, the Fanatic is not, and the Mystic doesn't seem to cast as often as others, for me.

The main role of these angry religious zealots is to charge at you and attempt to beat you with sticks.

They drop like flies.

And with them out of the way, we proceed directly to one of the big reasons that sorcerors love Mist. Mage guilds.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/cgglxwt7j/2014_02_27_07_06_44_Greenshot.png[/img]

"Members only." the swarthy, bearded guildmaster says, rejecting your interest in spells.

Don't give me that. We just butchered close to a dozen similarly dark of skin and grey of beard men. And this aside, we payed our dues to the guild of elements. What gives?

Well the fact is, these aren't the same guild. The guilds of the elements pay homage to all four of the elemental spheres relatively equally. These guilds, however, focus on just one. In a practical sense, what this means is that you have to purchase membership to the local initiates guilds of Air, Water, and Fire individually.

It's worth it, however, as they have a much wider range of spells inside of their Sphere, stocking the first through the seventh spell. Even better, as they only draw their stock from those seven books, you're far more likely to find what you are looking for than the guilds of Elements, which are chancy.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/o6ujfalzz/2014_02_27_07_13_55_Greenshot.png[/img]
[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/kbr5cq2u7/2014_02_27_07_14_52_Greenshot.png[/img]

The local alchemist and general goods are like any other shop of their kind, and don't contain anything of note at the moment. I'll talk about armor and weapons instead.

The arms length spear shop, much like the Knife shoppe in New Sorpigal has a specific weapon specialty. They sell polearms. Not just spears, but also staves. They may also rarely sell pole-axes, I'm not certain. In any case, the featured halberd falls under the skill repertoire of Spear rather than Axe.

The armor shop, by contrast, doesn't really have any specialties and is just slightly better than new Sorpigal. I posted an image, because they happened to have a couple interesting pieces of equipment.

Interesting. Not good. The 'Doom' enchantment sounds a lot nicer than it actually is, and offers a +1 to a number of things down the line. However, when all is said and done, +1 doesn't really matter much unless you are right on the edge of a stat thresh-hold... and even then, it's better to wear a piece of equipment enchanted specifically for that stat, which will push you a little closer to, or over, the next.

It's a rarer enchantment to see come up, but when it comes down to it, if you try to seriously use it then the doom it refers to is yours. It's shop fodder.

Moving up north, we acquire membership in another guild of weapons, and draw the ire of the other new set of enemies.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/rt0crxsdb/2014_02_27_07_17_06_Greenshot.png[/img]

Once again, very.... ethnic. The cut-purse, Bounty Hunter, and Assassin have no ranged options, and as such aren't very special. With nine to twenty five HP again, just keep firing spells or arrows at them, and they drop before they get close.

And you want them to. Because they have... unpleasant tricks to attempt. Let them engage you in melee, and the cut-purse and bounty hunter will attempt to steal from you. I can't recall if this is 'just' in regards to your gold, or if they actually fish things out of your inventory... I go out of my way not to let them get that close. The assassin, however, has a nastier trick.

She can kill you. Let her get close, and if you're unlucky, you'll see one of your characters go from full health directly to dead. Even if she doesn't, she still inflicts a nasty amount of damage with her normal attack.

Fortunately, with only 25 hp, she goes down like a poorly thought out dating analogy.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/ubm1sme3j/2014_02_27_07_21_06_Greenshot.png[/img]

Once they drop, we look into Duelists edge to discover that I am apparently in error. The guild offers training in Mace, Chain, Bow, Shield, and Body Building.... and apparently Selias actually can learn how to use maces. Startling, but so can the cleric, so I suppose it's not completely dumbfounding. It offers a melee alternative to the dagger, if Selias decides to start using shields, anyway... unlike the spear, a Staff can only be used when you have both hands on it in a solid grip, so you can properly wallop enemies with the knob on the end.

Without waiting for input, I immediately buy the Bow skill for Torg, and equip that nice-ish crossbow we found. Now the poor Knight doesn't have to just stand there and feel awkward as everything on the overmap is killed loooong before it enters melee range, and can actually pitch in! And keep firing after the mages are out of mana! Naturally, you have infinite arrows and crossbow bolts. Why wouldn't you, after all?

After killing the last enemies on the main Island of Mist... we check out that castle you might have seen in the assassin screenshot.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/938db6zmn/2014_02_27_07_24_22_Greenshot.png[/img]

It's important.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/fuyse1om7/2014_02_27_07_24_28_Greenshot.png[/img]

You can tell it's important because it actually features gate guards. As a note, guards such as these are the only times you will ever cross paths with law enforcement through Enroth! If it's important to speak with the people behind these doors, then you'd better keep your nose clean. If you've already done all the quests that require you to pass a gate check by, however, you can feel free to massacre the peasantry to your hearts content! Your reputation will suffer, but you will never ever be held accountable for it beyond people not wanting to talk to you.

More importantly, Lord Albert Newton, one of the six Lords and foremost Sorceror of Enroth, rules Mist from this castle. And he has quests for us to collect.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/qvtxj2gv3/2014_02_27_07_24_43_Greenshot.png[/img]

The first is the Council Quest. You'll need to do this eventually to advance in the main plot. But like all Council quests, trying to charge off and do them right away will get you hilariously slaughtered.

This is a two stage quest. You have to go through a dungeon, and collect a key to unlock a completely different dungeon that actually holds the item we want. At the moment, just the first is going to be a struggle. Even if we get the key, the second is basically going to roast us alive! So, you know, keep that in mind.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/osjibeh27/2014_02_27_07_24_56_Greenshot.png[/img]

The second is the Sorcerous Advancement quest.

You remember how there are six Lords? Each of them is the most politically important member of a specific class through the land. One for each.

Each of them will offer two quests to advance your class in rank. Doing so increases your Class Modifiers... I mentioned those earlier. Almost every class increases your Hp and Mp modifiers by one each. It doesn't sound like much.... but when this applies to Level, Stat, and Bodybuilding/Meditation bonuses, it adds up to quite a bit.

Knights like Torg, though? They don't get MP. As such, their advancements will, both times, increase their HP modifiers by two.

Walls of beef.

In any case, if you want to be a Wizard, you have to drink from a specific fountain and return. The game doesn't tell you which fountain you want... where, rather. If you don't know where it is, then you're stuck just drinking from every pool of water you happen to see, and checking back frequently to hope you've found it, and this is a frustrating quest.

If you know where you are supposed to go, however, then this quest is arguably the easiest advancement quest there is.

All in all, there's never a reason to not advance, if you can. The only 'drawback', if it can be called that, is that it costs more money for a more advanced character to level up. With that said, the advanced class and extra length of your health and mana bars, means it's easier for you to kill enough things and complete enough quests to level up. And gold is easily acquired, for the most part.

With the quests in our log-book, we check one more feature of the main Mist island.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/sqbdejt9b/2014_02_27_07_25_50_Greenshot.png[/img]

Their shrine. The shrine of intellect, stat most essential to a Sorceror. You see, it's currently February. And February is the month of intellect.

This means, if you pray at the shrine in February...

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/vyfurlfj3/2014_02_27_07_25_54_Greenshot.png[/img]

This... is not what happens.

This is me, once again, missing the momentary notification that pops up when you do something. Damn it. Latrio is unimpressed.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/ivk88bpb3/2014_02_27_07_26_41_Greenshot.png[/img]

This should be a better view.

You see that Intellect stat?

Pray at the right shrine, in the right month, and you receive a permanent increase to something across the whole party. In February? That's Intellect, baby. All the brains. Torg doesn't get much out of it, but it's a nice thing for our casters.

Supposedly you have to talk with a Certain Person to activate these quests, but I've always found that the first, at least, goes off automatically. That's usually Intellect, just because it's easy to get to it in the required time-frame. January's shrine visit time has passed us by... until next year.

In any case, this is the other big Monthly matter. And it's repeatable. Come back here next year, pray again, and we'll get another... +3. It's the first visit that has the big boost.

Little left to do but check the Mage guilds again, now that we're enrolled.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/65fzv8hcv/2014_02_27_07_28_25_Greenshot.png[/img]
[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/5tyjih0wv/2014_02_27_07_29_08_Greenshot.png[/img]
[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/ah4lk8o9r/2014_02_27_07_29_13_Greenshot.png[/img]
[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/5jr0z4man/2014_02_27_07_29_55_Greenshot.png[/img]

A few spells stand out, in between the minor buffs and low level stuff.

Lightning bolt, our characters are familiar with by now, having been hit by it enough. 1d8 damage per skill level is pretty good, and electricity is a solid choice of elemental damage.... but with only one skill point in the magical discipline, a cost of ten mana is just too much to justify using it at all. We pass on this one.

Ice bolt is much better. With five points in the skill, Latrio casts this for 5d7 damage. I'll grant you, however, that 8 mp is still a little much to throw into a single spell at this point of the game. For the most part, he'll still stick with cold beam, since there's not much that really needs to be absolutely crushed right this second the second you see it, yet.

Better still is the Enchant Item spell. With an Expert rank of five, Latrio has a solid fifty percent chance of placing a wide range of enchantments on most items.

Or, he would. We aren't buying that one yet, though. We pick up a Water Walk utility spell, but right now we don't have much that he could actually cast it on. The spell needs quality to work. Quality!

Besides, we have to save our money for the last interesting spell on the list.

The classic fireball. With four points in Fire, our robot ninja wizard casts this for 4d6 damage.

Which, yes, isn't quite as much as the d7 or d8's that get thrown around. But there's one reason you want fireballs, even if you have only a couple points in fire, and even, or especially, at the beginning of the game.

Splash damage.

A fireball hits, and then it damages everything in its radius. As such, groups of enemies drop much more quickly than picking them all off one at a time. It's not the best of the mob-clearing spells, of course, but it has the bonus of being able to use it indoors, and comparatively cheaply.

Right now it's still a little expensive, but we want this. Oh boy do we want it.

The purchases wind up being Ice Bolt, Fireball, and Water walk. Can't really afford more.

Before we shop, sell, and pick up spells, though, it just passed ten oclock. Which means that the town hall is open.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/ur1wzdpen/2014_02_27_07_30_29_Greenshot.png[/img]

Charles D'Sorpigal, the mayor's armsmaster and bodyguard, is worried about the Silver Helms. He wants us to storm their outpost, the only dungeon in Mist, and acquire Evidence that they're a sack of dicks.

Which they are, no doubt. And eventually, we're going to have to go there... it's where the key for that council quest is found. For now, though, it's a little tricky still. Depending on what's spawned inside, and in what numbers, it may or may not be feasible.

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/ufkgmm8yn/2014_02_27_07_30_47_Greenshot.png[/img]

In stark contrast to Charles' concerns, the Mayor is pretty cool with the idea of just handing over all his authority to the Silver Helms, and just letting them have free run of the place. They're only going to kill evil people, right?

[img width=600 height=450]http://s25.postimg.org/vvvz4rbvj/2014_02_27_07_31_03_Greenshot.png[/img]

Finally, the clerk offers the February bounty. This month, it's set on a Thief.

Not a cutpurse. A thief, specifically.

I'll note, try as you might, you will never find so much as one Thief in all the region of Mist. You'll have to travel elsewhere, search until you find one, and then travel back, offering probably a huge waste of time and money for a reward that really isn't worth it. This is more or less what you can expect from the bounty hunts. If we happen to find a thief somewhere, and can get back here in time, I guess I'll try to remember the bounty but there's no promises. 800 gold really isn't worth the headache.

In any case, no images, but Mist contains trainers for Expert Staff, Spear, Repair, and Leather, and Master Fire, Air, Water, and Meditation. Those master skills mean a lot for Sorcerors, as Mist is the only location where there is a Master trainer for them. There's a lot in Mist that Sorcerors will find important. Fits, given that it's ruled by the big cheese of sorcery.

In any case, we've seen all the quests on offer. There's one thing, though, that isn't exactly a quest...

There's a string of smaller islands to the north. If we water-walk there, there's a lot of easily-killed followers of Baa and cutpurses. Alternatively, there's someone who will activate a teleporter and wish us luck in clearing them out. It's mostly good for a few xp and some loot.

At this point, our choices are:

Clear the islands, there's no reward specifically but less hostiles is good.

Desperately flail at the Silver Helm Outpost. It's a bit tricky at this point, but not impossible.

Or Catch a ship elsewhere. The rates for leaving Mist are a bit more expensive than getting there, mind, and we're starting to run a bit low on funds.

 

[X]Murder. Everything. Evil.

 

[X] Murder everything.

I consider myself a moral relativist.

 

You can indeed murder everything!

But the peasants 1) give shit xp, 2) lower your reputation and 3) count as the Crime of Murder if you kill them.

Which, no big deal, but you'll get arrested the next time you try to visit a Lord. And there's a lot of Lord Visiting in your future. Still, your call.

 

[X] Clear the islands

Also, was it just me, or were most of those screenshots really blurry?

 

The forum seems to automatically shrink them slightly. Not sure what's up with that.

It's all still visible, but try clicking them to get the real size. Things sharpen up some.

Edit: it's still not quite the same as I see it while playing, because that's stretched across the full screen and so is slightly distorted! Somewhere between unclicked and clicked. Still can't make it run in a window.

 

[X]Clear the isles.
What does it take for Master fire?

 

Skill rank 12 and four thousand gold.

It's going to take a few... well, more than a few, levels before you can get double digits in any skill, though. As you gain levels, you'll eventually start getting more than just five points per level... can't recall just offhand when. And not much more, right off.

 

My Murder Everything is a vote to clear the isle.

 

Check... well, pretty much all of the ones from the start of the latest update to "This means, if you pray at the shrine in February..." Looks like they started off really small, and then got stretched to the normal size.

 

[X]Murder. Everything. Evil.

 

You all sure you didn't roll a bunch of Paladins, now? XD

 

My knight, at least, recognizes that there is no such thing as evil and everyone is the hero of their own story.

 

Is your knight intelligent enough for that?

And again I mean slaughter all the monsters. Clear that map

 

With a +10 bumping them up to 15, Torg's at least above average intelligence now, rather than 'dropped out of junior high'.

Statistically, it doesn't do anything for them, and they weren't getting penalties from having it low, but there you go.

 

..Wait tha Shrine was dat good? Man you must want to go there each and every month you can.