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Okay, searching the mountains around Minoc, I was able to find the dungeon Covetous in the cliffs along the coast. After descending deep into it (and dealing with some of the most annoying secret door puzzles I have ever seen) I managed to find an altar with the Orange Stone on it. So that's three down:
Really, at this point, it's looking like the best way to find dungeons might be to just sail around the coast a bit.
Tried doing that. North of Skara Brae, I found a deep river I could sail down into a lake in the mountains. There was the dungeon Shame.
Shame...seemed to have some sort of weird trick going on that I honestly couldn't figure out. You walk in, and there's a ladder straight down to the lowest level, which features only one room: a haunted crypt with no exit.
Figuring there must be more than that, I used "Z," the downward teleportation spell, which landed me in a hallway that led me straight to the altar with the Purple Stone on it.
There was probably some means I was actually supposed to use for that, but screw that. Maybe I should try that in Despise.
Anyway:
Next, I'll sail to Skara Brae to resupply, then maybe around the coast back toward Britain.
So, in my spellbook, there is a spell called "View." It lets you get a bird's eye view of the land around you. This would be great for looking for dungeons. BUT. It requires two very special ingredients: Mandrake Root and Nightshade.
I have no idea where to get either one.
I think I may just travel around for a bit looking for a mage who could tell me more.
Okay, so someone in Yew was able to tell me that Mandrake Root can be found in the Fens of the Dead and the Bloody Plains where the ground is damp.
After a bit more wandering, a mage in the woods in Trinsic told me that Nightshade could be found at latitude J'F", longitude C'O" on the darkest nights. Excellent.
Gathered a decent supply of Mandrake and Nightshade.Then I went to the Serpent's Spine and cast View. It revealed to me a hidden valley, which I was able to Blink to. And there it was: an altar with the White Stone on it. Wow, that made that a lot easier.
So...Despise, a dungeon I haven't found, and...probably another dungeon I haven't found.
I know the Z spell will probably help me in Despise, but...I think I'll try the other ones first.
Okay, traveled around mountain ranges casting View.
Pretty quickly found the dungeon Destard, which was really straightforward, except for the bit where I got attacked by moving magical fields. That said, I got by it really easily, and found the Red Stone pretty quickly.
So...
So I could go after the Yellow stone, but I think I'll ask about the Green stone in Yew first. Might be easier.
Well, I couldn't get any info in Yew, so I decided to just check my map for mountain ranges I hadn't searched for dungeons, then examine them via the View spell. Doing that, I fairly quickly found Wrong, which contained a completely absurd number of secret doors, and, more importantly, the Green stone. So...
...now I have to go back to Despise. Hopefully the tricks I've learned from other dungeons (search everywhere for secret doors, and use vertical teleportation if stuck) will help me out there.
And after that, I have to find the altar rooms for Truth, Love and Courage to get the actual key.
After that, I'll gear up and head into the Abyss. Success draws ever closer.
(OOC post)
So...I'm almost done with the game. And my move count is around 85,000. I'm curious whether I'll finish the game before I hit 100k.
Probably.
Well, the thing is, I have to re-explore the dungeon I already wandered around fruitlessly for an hour or two in. Then I have to find the altar rooms, which I think are different from the altars I've found and which I haven't encountered at all, and then I have to descend into what sounds suspiciously like hell, which might be difficult. So it might be close.
Despise went much, much, much better this time. I started off just teleporting down until I found an area I hadn't seen. Searching it with a careful eye for secret doors, I eventually found the Yellow stone.
Of course, that left me to search for the altar. To that end, I ventured deeper into the dungeon's depths. And eventually, yes, I found the Altar Room of Love. When I placed its associated gems (yellow, green, orange and white for compassion, justice, sacrifice and spirituality) on it, it opened up, revealing what I guess is a third of the key of three parts.
Now, here's where things got weird. I noticed that there were four exits to the Altar Room, and when I left by a different one, I found myself in an area with extremely different stonework -- clearly a dungeon I hadn't explored yet. Poking around in there, I found an altar room of Truth, from which I was able to get another fragment of the key.
I'm not really sure what was going on there, and I was very tempted to search around for an altar of Courage, but I was on my last torch and had no idea where I was, so I went back the way I came until I was certain I was in Despise, then cast an exit spell.
After that, I resupplied on food and torches, and now I just need to find an altar of courage.
Presumably, it would be in one of the dungeons I got its associated stones from. Thus, Destard, Shame or Covetous.
I think I'll try Shame, since there's a ladder straight down for seven floors, but the other dungeons had eight, so if I teleport down from there, I might find the altar.
Just remembered what a pain reaching Shame was. Destard it is.
Teleported to the bottom of Destard, then searched all the rooms there. When none of them were the altar room, I started looking for secret doors. Sure enough, I found one and headed to the altar. Got the last piece of the Key.
I now have everything I need to enter the Abyss.
To celebrate this occasion, I showed a guard in Britain how to take a photo with my phone and had him take a picture of the eight of us. The picture quality on my phone camera isn't very good, but it will do:
Onward to the Abyss, then.
Things went very well in terms of getting into the abyss. I sailed to the island, broke through a pirate blockade, stood at the pit of lava that serves as the entrance, cast the skull of Mondain into it, then rang the bell, read the book and lit the candle. The entryway opened, and I entered.
And then I discovered that the monsters in the Abyss are completely invulnerable.
I'm back at the entrance now; I need to go get to Britain and resurrect Katrina.
Okay, made it back safely. And an injured soldier in the healer's office told me what I was doing wrong. The creatures of the abyss, it seems, are vulnerable only to magic. So I need magic weapons. Seems I've found something to do with those thousands of gold pieces I've found in dungeons.
Okay, I went to Minoc. They sell two types of magical weapons: magic swords and magic throwing axes (which return like a boomerang -- it's pretty awesome).
So, with 4000 gold, I was able to buy one of each. The only party members who can wield either one are me, Julia and Dupre.
So, I need some gold to get Dupre a sword, then I need to find some ranged magical weapons for the rest of the team.
So, I managed to buy Dupre a sword. After some wandering around between towns, I eventually found that Buccaneer's Den, which I had entirely forgotten existed, sells magic bows and magic wands. Thus far, I've only been able to buy two of the former, for Iolo and Shamino.
Katrina can't wield magic weapons at all, so that means I need another magic bow for Jaana, and a magic wand for Mariah.
Interestingly, the merchant let slip that the high-quality crossbows we'd been using were actually made by Iolo, who is apparently the finest crossbow-maker in the world. Huh. He never mentioned that. I'm impressed.
(OOC Post)
Stopping for the night. Move count: 100238.
Aw, you didn't finish before you hit 100k turns
Everyone now has magic weapons except Mariah and Katrina. Mariah has an absurd number of spell components, so she should be fine. Katrina, meanwhile...wants to come along again even though she knows she can't hurt the monsters. I'm impressed.
Well, let's head to the abyss again.
Completed the first floor of the Stygian Abyss.
It wasn't too hard, per se, but it took forever because we decided to focus on survival.
Once we'd gone through the first hallway, we found an altar. As I approached, a voice asked me what virtue stemmed from Truth. Easy enough -- I put the blue stone of Honesty on the altar, which slid aside to reveal a ladder. So...probably seven floors left. This could take awhile.
Found a ladder on the second floor. Unsurprisingly, it went nowhere; I had to go hunting for a secret door before I could find the altar. It asked me what virtue stemmed from love. Used the Compassion stone, and now I'm on level 3. That one went a lot faster.
Level three was...well, it probably would have been pretty difficult if I had actually kept fighting the demons after I realized that there was an infinite number of them.
I don't think moving on violates Valor once that happens, since, you know, blatantly unwinnable.
And speaking of Valor, the red stone was the solution to the third altar. On level four now.
Okay, the fourth floor was just annoying. There was a series of monster-infested rooms, leading to...a dead end. None of them had secret doors. I had to spend ages poking around and eventually found a secret door right next to where I entered the floor. From there, I managed to make my way to the altar of Justice. Half done.
Fifth floor was the worst floor so far. Basically, a ton of hidden switches, a ton of monsters which could both put us to sleep and poison us. And...I ran out of the reagents necessary to cure poison. So...don't get poisoned, I guess? Anyway, I found the altar, used the orange stone of Sacricfice, and now we're on the sixth floor.
The sixth floor can go fuck itself.
Massive, massive maze, complete with dead ends, monsters, secret doors, secret door switches, and barriers that need dispelling.
Interestingly enough, the reagent I ran out of is also used to dispell barriers.
So...Time to go back to the surface, save up some gold, and buy more.
Fuck.
Oh, and did I mention that exiting the abyss involves a poisonous swamp?
Because exiting the abyss involves a poisonous swamp.
Back at Britain.
Nobody died.
I really have no idea how I managed that.
Okay, back at the entrance to the abyss, with twice as many reagents. Let's try this again.
Finished the sixth level.
I really, really hope that was the worst of it.
Seventh and eighth levels weren't too bad. Lots of searching for secret doors, a battle with some mirror versions of ourselves. The last secret door, funnily enough, was found because a monster tried to flee through it.
Anyway, I unlocked the codex chamber with the key, and then a voice asked me for the Word of Passage. I was very lucky on this one -- in my list of possibilities, it was the first one.
Then it asked me some other questions, to demonstrate an understanding of the virtues. Some of them were a bit ambiguous and could have referred to more than one, but it was kind enough to give me second chances. Don't know what would happen if I failed both.
Anyway, as I answered, it drew the symbol of the codex to demonstrate its meaning -- very interesting. Finally, it asked me what encompassed Truth, Love and Courage.
Well, I'd been told that they encompassed everything, so after a good deal of thinking, I went with "Infinity."
It then told me that I had attained avatarhood and was allowed to claim the Codex.
And...then it returned me to the circle of stones on Earth, with a directive to try to emulate the virtues on Earth as I did in Britannia.
I would honestly think that was all some sort of weird hallucination, but I still have the Ankh.
Well, I guess now I'll set about acting as virtuously in my Earth life as I did in Britannia.
Also, I'll probably need to find a new job.