by Michael Eckenfels, 28 May 2023
Champions of Krynn AAR: Part 6, Of Dice and Phlegm
We make our way back to Throtl, only to immediately be jumped by wandering Hobgoblins.
Hobgoblin ~ “We ain’t wanderin’.”
Izzie ~ “I’m wonderin’ why you’re wanderin’.”
Hobgoblin ~ “We…uhh…wait, whut?”
Smashen ~ “No one can keep you from living as your nature requires. Nothing can happen to you that is not required by Nature.”
click images to enlarge
I guess they don’t like the cornbread, either.
This time, I don’t even bother to waste spells nor Izzie’s banal insults on these things. We just wipe the floor with them.
Thirty-one XP! Hahahahahahahaha! The world is ours!
Well…maybe not the world. Yet. For now, we just keep ess’plorin’.
Soon, we enter yet another room without being invited. The nerve. Or verve.
Curious.
Should we follow?
Of course we should.
And, it’s a treasure room.
For characters as lowly as this party’s, this is quite a haul.
Maybe not a Monty Haul, but still.
We deal with more wandering monsters, this time in the form of Giant Centipedes and Giant Rats. Must be the South.
These things aren’t anywhere near a threat as Hobgoblins, which are not. At all.
The only challenge here is the Giant Centipedes can poison the PCs if they hit. Fortunately, not one of them has a chance to. Heh-heh.
I’ve noticed after this “battle” (more like a “playground comedy”) that the other four characters in the party are ready to level up. So we hoof it back to the Outpost once again.
Once there, I head them over to the Commandant’s Office, just to see what’s what.
Hmm. Closed.
What’s this…a notice?
“Find Caramon in Throtl.” Yeah, I guess we should get to that.
I mean, it IS Part 6 already. We should be on our way to the Main Questline TM that must be explored. It might be pretty boring describing endless battles with rats and skeletons and rip-off vendor stalls.
Since we’re here, we head over to the Training Hall to take care of business.
We then head over to the Inn to top off those spellcasters that advanced a level, to ensure they’re maxed out in that department.
Then…back to Throtl.
It’s quiet.
TOO quiet.
I spoke too soon.
Yet another random encounter.
And hardly worth scribing on and on about.
AHEM
Now, as I was saying…
We explore.
As I recall, this initial area of entry into Throtl is L-shaped. So there’s a whole area to explore on the west side of this grid, as you can see in the following map:
We go north as far as we can, until we run into that locked door.
We can Bash, Pick, or just turn around and go home. Just go home and play Borderlands 3 or something.
Ha, where’s the fun in that?
BASH!
As soon as we do, an Arrow Trap nails us for a bit of damage. Not too bad, but still.
A bit further in and a “soldier” approaches our party. He wants to talk.
Journal Entry 35:
“I was with a party of knights and others under Caramon that came in here to explore. We haven’t really found anything. Caramon’s already left to report. I guess you must have missed him.
“Oh, one thing we did find out was that there is a treasure left over from the previous occupants of Throtl. We got word of it from a hobgoblin who was sneaking in to claim it. Before he died, he told us that it was located in the south-central area of the city. Tell you what, if you help me find this treasure, I’ll split it with you. All right?”
Izzie ~ “Wait, let me get this straight.”
Soldier ~ “Yes…?”
Izzie ~ “You want US.”
Soldier ~ “…”
Izzie ~ “To SPLIT.”
Soldier ~ “…”
Izzie ~ “Treasure. With YOU.”
Hmm…sure, let’s trust a total stranger here in these dungeons. Of course, his first thought is to split treasure with six heavily-armed yet fresh-faced magazine models posing as PC players in this game, instead of rescuing Caramon or Carmack the Magnificent or whoever the heck the guy is we’re looking for.
In any case, our answer is, of course, NO.
Oh, he’s sorry to hear that.
Not as sorry as he’s gonna be.
Heh-heh.
Another cool feature of this Gold Box edition in Steam is, the map to the right actually doubles as something of a threat indicator. The boxes in green are our characters, while the gray one is the active one. The ones in red are, of course, our enemies. And helpfully, they all have the number of Hit Points (HP) displayed in the center of the box.
It’s pretty obvious the 42 HP creature there in the upper left corner of the map (yet just out of sight on the main display to the left) is probably the guy that tried to lure us into a trap. So he’s probably a mid-level (for this game, anyway) fighter type. The other major hint to this, of course, is that the game called him a “soldier.”
We first start with Sleep spells as well as Izzie’s Patented Insults.
This battle is a bit rougher as the Soldier is damned hard to hit. We whiff many of our strikes on the guy.
Fortunately, we begin to get our licks in on him, while the Hobbos around him fall like cordwood.
However, these licks are few and far between, and it’s highly annoying hearing that ‘swish’ of empty air as our characters time and again miss this guy. All the while, the Soldier is missing too, but he’s connecting more often than not.
Finally, after about close to five solid minutes of whiffing, I have one of our spellcasters do a Charm Person on the Soldier, in the hopes of ending this monotony.
Well. That went better than expected.
And with him Charmed, the battle has ended.
See? See how easy it is to succeed when you want to be nice, and not some kind of backstabby jackass?
CHAMPIONS OF KRYNN AAR
PART ONE ~ PART TWO ~ PART THREE ~ PART FOUR ~ PART FIVE ~ PART SIX ~ PART SEVEN ~ PART EIGHT ~ PART NINE ~ PART TEN
PART ELEVEN ~ PART TWELVE ~ PART THIRTEEN ~ PART FOURTEEN ~ PART FIFTEEN ~ PART SIXTEEN ~ PART SEVENTEEN ~ PART EIGHTEEN ~ PART NINETEEN ~ PART TWENTY
PART 21 ~ PART 22 ~ PART 23 ~ PART 24 ~ PART 25 ~ PART 26 ~ PART 27 ~ PART 28 ~ PART 29 ~ PART 30
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There once was a game called Krynn,
With warriors, mages, and dragons within,
In Champions of might,
They battled all night,
For glory, for honor, to win.
The heroes were brave and true,
Fighting foes, both old and new,
With spells and with swords,
They faced their rewards,
To vanquish the dark and break through.
From the streets of Solace they roamed,
To the lairs where dragons called home,
With quests to fulfill,
And battles to thrill,
Champions of Krynn, on they’d roam.
